Official Website

Platform: PSP

Genre: First Person Shooter

Number of Players: 1 - 4

When you’ve got yourself a handheld system, you’ve got to have a first-person shooter to go along with it. There’s an unwritten law somewhere that states it I believe. But, while the Nintendo GameBoy Advance is too concerned with having rehashed titles released, though there are times when that’s not necessarily a bad thing, Sony has taken a completely difference stance with the PSP. Thus far, we haven’t seen any reissued titles released and instead, everything is fresh and new. Konami makes it out of the gate first with their entry into the handheld FPS title for the pretty little system, Coded Arms.

The world of Coded Arms is set in the not too distant future, and technology has continued to advance. Human minds can now interface directly with computers, but all is not well. A combat simulator knows as A.I.D.A, once though abandoned after its initial beta testing phase has become the virtual playground for elite hackers dubbed Coded Arms. Their purpose is to locate secret government documents to sell to the highest bidder, but A.I.D.A has been creating its own method to stop intrusion. Getting in might be the easy part, but with so many enemies lurking behind every corner, being trapped within the program may be the least of your concerns.

I really have to say that I have some mixed emotions about Coded Arms, though I really was certain that I would enjoy the game. I have actually had quite a good time playing through it, but it’s not necessarily exactly what I had in mind from a first person shooter. That’s not to say that Konami did a bad job though, and there are some rather inventive things that you will find in the game.

Anyone who has played any first person shooter knows that maps are the most important thing, and unfortunately there are some of you that have taken your love of the genre too far. I’ve played online games with people that know the maps inside and out, and if it’s a game I’m new to, getting sniped after 30 seconds because some pro knows every little polygon in the game doesn’t make for a fun time. However, Coded Arms offers a very good solution to this, and you will discover that the stages will be randomly generated. This is a perfect cure-all for anyone who thinks that they are going to simply start over when the going gets tough or when they’ve completed the game the first time, making for some very good replay.

The controls at first really bothered me, and they do take some getting used to from the initial default setting, but actually once you get used to them, they are quite good. You can customize them, but what we’ll be looking at here is the prepackaged set up. More or less, it’s just like your standard console set up, though there is the lack of an analog stick. So, you’re left, and only, analog stick on the PSP will act as your means of movement. The buttons on the right on the other hand will allow you to look around, up is up, down is down, you get the idea. The D-pad on the other hand is what can be used to switch weapons, zoom in, and such, but this is where things can get a little tricky at first. Being the middle of an intense firefight and needing to run and switch weapons can be a pain the first few times around, but once you grow comfortable with it, it’s relatively not an issue. Outside of these controls, the only other things you really need to be concerned with are the shoulder buttons, one for firing and one for jumping, and start will allow you to pause, check your map, switch weapons, and save if need be.

Any first person shooter isn’t only about killing everything that comes into your line of fire, it’s about having weapons, and believe it or not, Coded Arms has 30 different weapons to gather. You’ll start with the standard FPS issued pistol and as you progress, you will find a cache of other items to utilize. What I love is that the sniper rifle is available early on, and there’s just something about capping an enemy in the head that makes my blood race. You’ll also find yourself equipped with grenades, machine guns, pistols that fire bolts of electricity, and the classic RPG launcher, but it’s more than just enemies that you can gun down. There are quite a few destructible bits of background just sitting innocently by that can be eliminated. The one thing however is that ammo definitely is a commodity here and there was a few times I found myself completely empty and having to rely on grenades to get by. Coded Arms even features upgrades that can be found that will improve your armor, the damage done by guns, and even health, and finding these really should be a core mission, not simply finding the exit. These would be none other than, what did you expect, plug-in’s, and there are several to be found in the game.

The enemy AI isn’t too bad, and they do tend to swarm when they get you in their vision and occasionally even hide behind obstacles, making killing them a little difficult from time to time, but this is one of the complaints that I have. The enemies all too often tend to blend into their surroundings too much, making locating them a pain. The good thing however is that you do have auto-targeting, so once you’ve located onto one, it’s just a matter of not moving too quickly and emptying your clip as quickly as you can.

Just like any first-person shooter, you can play up to four different players in various modes of play. The classic Deathmatch is included, and we all should know the rules to this; whoever has the highest score wins. Coded Arms also features that variant, Last Man Standing Match, wherein once you are eliminated, that’s the end of the game. There is also a game of Keep the Mark, similar to Capture the Flag and for multiplayer, you can select to have randomly generated maps or preset maps that you’ve played already. This all goes back to my annoyance at those that have had far too much time on their hands with other FPS games and know every corer of the maps; you won’t find this here.

Coded Arms looks fantastic when you consider that it’s on a handheld system, something that quite a few gamers balk at, but then again, the PSP thus far has really been pushing the limits of what a handheld system can really do. There are lots of great lighting effects, some very good environmental effects such as steam, fire, and opening doors into new areas comes as a real treat as these sections appear in front of you as the computer program generates them, so you’ll have brief flashes of “code” as they appear. The problem however is the much of the games in terms of looks tends to be very repetitive, especially when it comes down backgrounds themselves. There will be a little variation, but for the most part you will find over and over again the same type of corroded technology (think of the internal looks of the ships in the Alien films and you’ll get the idea.) There really isn’t too much variation, and although a stage selection might seems like it’s going to be slightly different simply because of the name, you’ll find that it looks like every other stage you’ve been through.

Coded Arms is a decent first attempt for a FPS on Sony’s little system. I can’t say that I’m completely in love with the game, but I don’t hate it either. There definitely are some improvements that could have been made as far as the look of the maps go, but then again, when you’re dealing with randomly generated layouts, I’m sure that it’s a little difficult to have too much difference. Coded Arms gives a nice variation though for the PSP, especially if you’re one that’s not into puzzle or sports games, or has found some of the platforms games frustrating. That frustration might exist initially with Coded Arms, but nothing really can beat classic first-person shooter gaming, especially when you can bring a few friends into the machine to blast them to bits as well.  

-mike-