Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale Review

Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale is an award winning breakout clone which has been out for a long time but if you are new to the homebrew scene you may not have heard about it. Bounce the ball off of your paddle to break all the blocks and advance to the next level. Sounds easy right?











Breakthrough is by far the best breakout clone I have played. The art is excellent. Graphics, sound, and controls are very good as well. KleptoOne has even created a story to go along with the game. This game is unique to other breakout games in that you can control the ball in flight. The left and right shoulder buttons move the ball left and right which allows you to curve around corners or break that one block that is hard to get to. There are many walls and obstacles in the game which make it quite challenging. KleptoOne has also included some levels where you aren't breaking blocks but are gunning for "the bad guy", Reynoldo. There are also a couple of mini-games included.



The only complaint I have is that the level difficulty doesn't seem to progress quite how you would expect so get used to seeing the screen shot above. Playing through the game as a whole the difficulty increases but from one level to the next the difficulty fluctuates. For me level 2 was much harder than level 3. If you like breakout games then this is one you have to play. This is going on my "Best Homebrew" list.

Awaker Review

Awaker is a racing game where you play as a square, racing against another square, over hills and valleys. The object of the game is to beat the other square to the finish line while stopping along the way when the "static field" goes active.

There are poles positioned along the route which will produce a "field" that will send you back to the starting line if you are moving while the "field" is active. The AI for your opponent is not very impressive in the early stages but gets smarter as you progress through the levels. The number of "static field" poles increases with the levels. The graphics are quite impressive (see screen shot below) and the controls work well.



I enjoyed this game but I was surprised that there weren't more levels. I was left wanting more, which I guess is a good thing. This is a final release so I guess I can't expect more levels in future releases.

Despertar del Cementerio v4 Install and Pandora Battery Creation Guide

I have finally caught up with the masses. I now have a DCv4 memory stick and Pandora battery. I know that I am way behind in creating these but I didn't have a spare battery to use. Anyway, here is a little guide on how I created the memory stick and battery:

Creating Pandora Battery:

I used the BatTool v0.5 for 3.XX to create my Pandora Battery. It is easy to use, reversible, and allows you to dump the eeprom.

• Connect your PSP to your PC with a USB cable and enable USB mode.
• Extract the archive and place the "BatTool 0.5 for 3.xx kernel" folder in your GAME folder.
• Exit USB mode and go to the memory stick under Game in the XMB and run BatTool. There are several menu options, pick the one you want.
• Assuming you want a Pandora battery for future unbricking/updating then switch you battery over to service mode and then it'll be ready.
  

note: I dumped my eeprom just in case I had problems in the future.

Installing DCv4:

There are many installers available which will automatically install all the files needed to create a "magic memory stick" but I decided to do it the old fashioned way.

You will need these files:

• Despertar del Cementerio v4
• 1.5 update OFW
• 3.40 update OFW
• 3.80 update OFW

Here is what DCv4 looks like after extracted:



It would be a good idea to follow along with the readme file Dark AleX has provided in DCv4. His "readme" is complete but not as noob friendly as I hope this guide will be.

• Insert the memory stick you want to install DCv4 into your PSP. We need to format it so go to Settings, System Settings, Format Memory Stick and format it.
• Next connect your PSP to your PC with the USB cable and enable USB mode.
  
• Open a Command Prompt (CP). Drag and drop mspformat.exe into the CP window. Hit the space bar and type the letter of the drive which is your PSP's memory stick and hit enter. It will ask if you want to continue and press y (no space this time).

Here is what it looks like:

• Remove the memory stick, disable USB mode, re-enable USB mode, and re-insert your memory stick.
  
• Next create a "PSP" folder on your memory stick. Inside the "PSP" folder, create another folder named "GAME".
• Copy the despertar_cementerio file into the GAME folder. Also copy the 1.5, 3.40, and 3.80 eboots into the root of the memory stick. Rename the eboots 150.PBP, 340.PBP, and 380.PBP respectively.

Here's what that looks like:

• Disable USB mode again and also disable any PTF custom themes you are running on your PSP.
• Now go to your memory stick under Game and run DCv4. Follow it's directions and after it has completed you will have msipl.bin in the root of your memory stick. Copy this to your PC somewhere you can find it easily, we'll be using it in a second.
• Open up the Command Prompt again. Drag and drop msinst.exe into the CP window and hit the space bar. Type the letter of your PSP's memory stick again and hit the space bar again. Now drag and drop msipl.bin file into the CP window and hit enter. It will ask if you are sure and type y (no space) and hit enter.

Here it is:



You can delete the 150.PBP and 340.PBP files, they are of no more use. Leave the 380.PBP because it is used when unbricking/updating.

You now have a DCv4 unbricker/updater memory stick.

Using DCv4/Pandora:

If your PSP's power cord is attached then unplug it. Insert the memory stick in which you installed DCv4 then insert the Pandora battery. The PSP will power-on automatically and give you a menu:

• Press X to install 3.80M33.
• Press O to install original 3.80
• Press [] to dump nand to nand-dump.bin. When done, psp will auto shutdown.
• Press L+R+HOME+START to restore nand from nand-dump.bin

I suggest you do a nand dump and save it to you PC for safe keeping. This is to be used in only dire circumstances/last resort. Restoring the nand from a dump has a possibility of bricking so don't do it unless you absolutely have to.

Hope this guide was helpful.

Lots of New Videos of Crisis Core

There has been an onslaught of Crisis Core video released in the past few days. Bahamut strutting his stuff is the most recent:



PSPFanboy.com has four videos from GDC which are worth checking out also. I can't wait for this game. Is it March 25th yet?!