PSP – This Is My Joystick!

I doubt that I’ll need to explain to any of you all the heritage of Polyphony Digital, developers of the much loved racing simulator Gran Turismo. The series has reached seminal status since its first release on the PSone in 1997, and with very good reason. It was no surprise then, that when Sony introduced the world to the PSP in 2004 Gran Turismo 4: Mobile was announced shortly thereafter. That seems like an age ago now, as in typical Polyphony fashion the game has taken some time to hit shelves, but sadly it has arrived a different beast to what everyone expected. Now simply renamed ‘Gran Turismo’, available on UMD and for download from the PSN store, the game is shadow of its former self, and most of the concessions can’t be blamed on the hardware.

You’ve got to feel a bit sorry for the PSP; a great little machine that is severely hampered by a lack of a second thumb-stick. We can only really guess at why Sony chose to ignore such an important part of the modern day control scheme, and why they continue to overlook its importance in subsequent PSP redesigns, but it’s fair to say that it puts any company with the intention of creating a first-person shooter for the system at an immediate disadvantage.

Using the face buttons in the same way as you would an analogue stick has become the standard work around, and while one or two developers have successfully crafted fun shooters using this system, it’s extremely rare when it feels anything other than ‘workable’. In fact most attempts to recapture the adrenaline rush that a good FPS provides tend to end in failure. EA Canada decided to try their hand, bringing the Medal of Honor series to the console, and to be fair; they’ve done a surprisingly decent job.