Being a well known fan of Super Stardust HD, you can imagine my excitement when I noticed that there would be an iteration coming to the PSP. I searched the showroom floor and was disappointed not to find it down there. Fortunately, I was able to get a chance to play it in the “Exclusive” Sony Room.
The title plays relatively identical to its PS3 counterpart. There have been changes made to the control scheme for good reason, no second analog stick. The loss of the second analog stick is made up by using the face buttons to change the direction that you shoot. It felt a little strange at first, but I got the hang of it in a few minutes. Bombs are triggered by pressing the R button and the boost is triggered by pressing the L button. The ability to make a “wave effect” is done by pressing a face button repeatedly. Fans of the flame weapon have no need to fear of losing this ability. You are able to cycle through the weapons by pressing the Up and Down directional buttons.
The level appeared to be a version of the Endless mode. As I said before, it took some time to become used to the controls. It didn’t take long to see why Sony decided to make this game portable after the initial hurdle was passed. This game is still nonstop fun. It takes a bit more patience to make the subtle movements that you can on the PS3, but this ability is still in there. I played for about 10 or 15 minutes before I died. This is a title that I am definitely looking forward to playing again in the future.