There are many popular platform games around and it is fair to say that most of them have fluffy bunnies or cute characters that usually appeal to the masses, however there is one platform game which takes the opposite direction and even though Death Junior cant run at high speeds or fix your plumbing, he does pack a punch.
This time around little Junior has brought his girlfriend along meaning that you have a choice of characters to play with as well as an all new Co-op multiplayer option which is available throughout the entire game.
The great thing about the sequel to the popular Death Junior is that there are even bigger monsters to fight and they come from everywhere, air, ground and grave and with all this on screen action you would be worried about how your psp will cope, but I can say that it copes admirably. The enemies themselves all look fantastic from walking mushrooms and crazy teddy bears to flocks of frantic chickens, the mushrooms even get stuck on your scythe sometimes which is quite comical.
The controls seem to fit the PSP extremely well and they are really easy to get to grips with, using the analogue stick you can run around the environments, with the buttons each being assigned for jumping, dodging, firing your weapon and using your scythe. Getting around the environments can be a challenge, sometimes you will come across canyons and the only way across is to balance on a hook using your scythe and then rock back and forward to gain momentum making sure you let go at the right moment, there are even wire slides enabling you to use your scythe to slide down to the next platform, it’s all great fun.
And then we have the combat, now this is fairly simple to get to grips with, at first you only have your scythe which you can use to great effect, however it isn’t long into the game before you will start to find other weapons such as guns, a flame weapon, rocket launcher and a cool freeze weapon which slows your enemy down, obviously this adds a lot to the enjoyment,
The camera control in Death Junior 2 is fantastic, you can use the shoulder buttons to rotate the camera meaning that if you find yourself at an awkward angle it is quite easy to resolve, this then enables you to make your jump or get to that enemy who is eluding you, the developers have done a good job in this respect as many other platform games have failed when it comes to this part of the game.
Graphically the game cannot be faulted it is very colourful, looks fantastic and the frame rate is superb, quite how it manages to keep up with all the on screen action is beyond me, it is very impressive indeed, likewise the sound, there is some good voice over acting and the combat has a realistic sound to it, the only drawback here is the music which is pretty awful.
The two main downfalls of the game are the Co-op mode and the story, unfortunately the Co-op feels tacked on, this mode has you playing through whatever stage the host player has unlocked, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more enemies, meaning you could be getting a bit scythe happy when you do see one. As for the story, well it is just really hard to follow, I don’t know if this is because it is too bizarre or if it’s just because you get too involved in other areas of the game too much to care, but you will probably find yourself skipping through the impressive cutscences to get to the next bit of the action and therefore letting any part of the story you did understand pass you by.
Death Junior 2: Roots of Evil is probably one of the best examples of a platform game I have played on the PSP, it has everything, weapons, humour, diversity and great graphics, It shows what the PSP is all about and what a great handheld console it could be would more developers create original and fun content like this, Konami have put down a marker, so can anyone get near it?
