Mastiff

Cute, sweet, and to-the-point, Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure is a brand-new franchise from the minds behind such old-school classics as Ys, Popful Mail, and Brandish. Falcom clearly still has what it takes-I'd even say that their latest is my favorite Falcom effort ever, and easily one of the best PSP games available, bar none.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Suggestive Themes, Tobacco Reference, and Mild Fantasy Violence

Game Description: Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure takes you into a vivid fantasy world, with a colorful cast of characters. A strong-willed girl named Parin is sent to live with her grandfather in a small mining town while her parents are off excavating an ancient ruin. No other kids live in town, so Parin is shocked to see a young girl tormented by a stray dog. The girl is actually an invisible monster that only she can see. Parin is invited to Monster Village—just when Phantoms invade. Only the Legendary Drill can beat back the Phantoms, and Parin sets off to find it.

Well, I certainly feel like a jackass. The first GunGrave was simple stuff, but it had a kind of low-rent charm. Its jazzy soundtrack hit all the right notes (how could you not like those blasting horns at the end of a level?), and it was amusing to send undead hero Grave into a bullet frenzy and see him spew hot lead over every inch of the screen. Besides, the cutscenes were honestly good enough to keep me playing until the end, despite the lack of pizzazz in the gameplay.

Enjoying this game requires a compulsive temperament and a perverse sense of humor.

Oh jeez, sorry! I must have dozed off while prepping for the review of Technic Beat. I sat down in front of my computer to do this piece, but I guess the sandman got the best of me with a little… well, with a lot of help from developer Arika. Anyway, since I'm awake…

Overdose has a whopping total of two positives going for it: the anime cutscenes are still nice (which is to be expected since the game's spawned an anime series of its own) and the main theme of the game (which returns from the first title) still kicks butt. It's a shame that such a badass theme is wasted on such a mediocre title.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Violence