Shooter Video Games

The Fireteam Bravo series returns to PSP with a storyline that finds the four-man squad on a hunt for an ex-KGB agent who may know where weapons of mass destruction are being hidden. As a Navy SEAL commander, you must order your team to perform various tactical maneuvers to ensure your success. Master the new cover system to minimize damage while unlocking gear and weapons by completing objectives throughout the single-player campaign. Also included is cooperative play supporting two to four soldiers via Ad-hoc wireless connection, and 16-player competitive action via Ad-hoc or Infrastructure modes. Once you've completed the main story, continue the action through user-created missions or revisit specific scenarios to earn medals and ribbons. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Star Wars: Battlefront -- Elite Squadron is a third-person shooter that allows players to take part in famous battles from throughout the Star Wars story. As in previous Battlefront games on consoles and home computers, players take the role of a soldier from the sci-fi fantasy series and engage in frontline combat with infantry weapons, light artillery, and vehicles. In Elite Squadron, players can customize their character by choosing weapons, armor, gender, and combat attributes, and by earning and using their choice of hundreds of unlockable weapons, items, and bonuses. In addition to the custom character they develop, in some modes, gamers can also play as central characters from the Star Wars saga, including Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kit Fisto, Count Dooku, and Boba Fett, as well as some main characters originally featured in earlier Star Wars games. Players may commandeer equipment and vehicles in the heat of combat, including AT-RTs and troop transports, as well as TIE and X-Wing fighters. Following the Battlefront design, the main campaign is composed of decisive battles from the six Star Wars feature films, including the firefights on Endor, Yavin 4, and the icy planet Hoth. PSP gamers can also connect online, for multiplayer matches with up to 16 human-controlled soldiers. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Rather than focusing on Nathan Hale, the protagonist of Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2, Resistance: Retribution centers on James Grayson, a former British Marine whose story bridges the two-year gap between the two PS3 titles. After Grayson is forced to kill his own infected brother, he makes it his personal mission to destroy every remaining Chimeran conversion center. Unfortunately, he soon learns the alien-like Chimera have developed a new method of converting humans, but Grayson vows to continue his crusade by joining the European resistance.

Unlike its first-person predecessors, Retribution takes on a third-person perspective, more akin to developer Sony Bend's Syphon Filter games, and makes use of a unique targeting system designed specifically for the PSP. The 20-mission single-player campaign has players following the Chimera, and other nasty enemies such as the mysterious Cloven, through the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Poland, and Germany. Up to eight players can join in for local or worldwide battles in five multiplayer modes, including: "Team Deathmatch," "Capture the Flag," "Containment," and "Assimilation." Gamers who own a PS3, Resistance 2, and a second- or third-generation PSP, have the ability to use a Dual Shock 3 controller when playing Retribution, and players who connect the two games can unlock a new "Infected" mode that changes Grayson's appearance, gives him regenerative health, lets him breathe underwater, and alters the way others interact with him. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Sony's spy-themed stealth series returns to PSP with Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow. With a story line penned by comic book author and novelist Greg Rucka, Logan's Shadow finds lead protagonist Gabe Logan on an international adventure to recover an advanced piece of technology hijacked by an extremist group. Players will explore the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, and other exotic locales as they battle an assortment of terrorists from a third-person perspective. New combat moves let players use enemies as human shields, fire weapons from behind cover, and even engage in underwater battles with spear guns and bolt pistols. Other armaments include grenade launchers, flash bangs, smoke grenades, and sticky mines. The cooperative "buddy" missions introduced in 2006's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror are back with all-new objectives, and an assortment of interactive mini-games have been added to the play mechanics, allowing Logan to perform such actions as escaping wrist restraints, airlifting debris, and more. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

The PlayStation 2's first and foremost online gaming series deploys on PlayStation Portable in SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo. A single-player campaign sends players through 14 missions of military intrigue and action, set in locations around the world. Multiplayer missions are supported wirelessly, between two PSP Fireteam players. The PSP's Fireteam Bravo also interoperates with the PS2's concurrently released SOCOM 3, through special "cross-talk" objectives. These mission goals require players to accomplish objectives in both versions of SOCOM, to move the shared story forward. When a particular goal is reached on either PlayStation platform, players receive a notification that prompts them to connect the PSP to the PS2 through USB ports, so both versions of the game are updated with new goals and rewards. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide