The 3rd Birthday Review: PSP Download Played on the PS Vita

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This picture is awesome. Kill Bill....Anyone?....Too soon?

I feel that the PS Vita’s game library isn’t accumulating as quickly as I’d like. This isn’t to say that the library doesn’t feature some great games; it does. I just find myself looking toward some PSP titles that I missed when I was a PSP Go owner. The bigger screen on the Vita makes PSP titles a lot better. I came across this game and it really surprised me.

The game is a 3rd person shooter/RPG. It does a great job of introducing an amazing battle system and there are tons of enemies and bosses to keep you busy. You get a great deal of weapons to choose from and unlock. You can buy new weapons or upgrade existing ones using the in game currency (BP).

The Story - You play as the heroine from the previous two installments of the Parasite Eve series; Aya. I really don’t want to give too much of the story away for fans of the first two games who never picked this up. Basically the “twisted” need to be destroyed and you use a special time travel/body snatcher way of taking care of them. The story is a bit confusing, but it does make you care about the characters in the game.

[toggle_box title="Toggle Game Details" width="Width of toggle box"]
Title: The 3rd Birthday
Genre: Third Person Shooter/RPG
Developer: HexaDrive
Platform: PSP, PS Vita
Price: $19.99
ESRB: Mature
Release Date: March 29, 2011[/toggle_box]

PRAISE:

• Aya is hot - The visuals in this game are absolutely amazing. I cant believe that this is a PSP game. The cinematic sequences are top notch like any Square Enix game.
• I can do it better - After every mission in the game it gives you a rank and this makes you wanna go back to beat the levels over and get a higher rank (This sucks me in more than anything I swear. LOL!). You can access a computer/save point to replay whole missions or even chapters within a mission. I enjoy playing the missions over when I know exactly what to do. It makes me feel like a bad ass blasting through everything. You also gain BP by playing missions over and this helps to buy and upgrade weapons.
• Help me out man - One of the unique battle tactics in the game is the ability to use “crossfire”. Crossfire shows up when you lock on to an enemy or boss who is already being locked onto by one of your allies. You can order them to concentrate a heavier barrage of fire on the enemy. This is great because you can either shoot with them and deal tons of damage or just let them kill the enemy and target a different one. The bar runs out fast and it takes awhile to charge (you need to not shoot and just lock on an enemy until the bar fills) but it works well.

• WHO AM I!?!? - The most useful battle mechanic is “overdrive”. This allows you to assume the identity of another person on the battlefield. You play as Aya, but you’re rarely actually Aya. You have to play to understand. The way this works is really cool. When your health gets low or you want to take advantage of a different view of the battlefield you can just switch bodies rather than walk to the spot. This comes in handy all the time. Every time you use this you get the new persons health so you can use overdrive right as you’re about to die and not die. You can also use this against enemies when you weaken them enough. It deals some big damage and sometimes you snag some DNA chips (I’ll dive into that tidbit later).

• I got this one- Boss fights in The 3rd Birthday are amazing. They are lengthy but not too lengthy and they each have a nitch that takes time to figure out. I miss games like this.
• PSP Dual Analog trick- Yes! You can use the second analog in this game and it rocks!!! Here’s how you do it. Once you boot up the game, hold one finger on the screen until a PS Vita menu pops up. From here select the second analog tab and set it to the directional pad. This will allow you to control the camera with the second analog stick and it feels like you’re playing a PS3 game. IT IS AWESOME!!!

AWKWARD SILENCE:

• WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!- This game has many moments where you are wondering what you need to accomplish before getting to the next area. It doesn’t give you a clean cut answer but you will eventually figure it out. I wouldn’t say that this is a really bad thing because while you kill wave after wave of enemies you do gain lots of experience. Sometimes its more tedious and annoying than others, especially when it doesn’t involve a boss fight.

• Lock-On…PROTON CANNON!- You lock on to enemies in this game so the shooting isn’t as exciting as it could have been. If you do the dual analog trick you will wish you could free aim. I did. Just use the sniper rifle because you can free aim that.

WELL-DESERVED CRITICISMS:

• DNA- There is a buff system in this game that makes no sense to me. You use DNA chips on this weird tick-tack-toe looking board to boost things about your character. There is no tutorial on how it really works. I figured it out but it is very difficult to make it work really well. That is my opinion. You RPG gurus will have no problem I’m sure. Its just a criticism because they don’t show you how to use it.

Hmmm...I see doctor. So this is what DNA really looks like in my body. LOL

CONCLUSION:

For $19.99 on the PSN this can be yours. It takes up a little over a gigabyte of memory so make sure you have that much to spare. This game is well worth the price. It is a blast to play and unlock all the costumes, endings, and even a hot shower scene. If you are an RPG fan or even a shooter fan check this out. I’m reviewing this game because some recent games that have come out have been sub-par for the price. This is a great and cheap alternative to forking over 40 bucks for a new PS Vita game. I highly recommend The 3rd Birthday. So what are you waiting for? GO GET IT NOW! Oh and tell me what you think in the comments below.

[box_light]We believe that the score is the least important part of a review. It’s tough trying to assign a numerical value to an experience. Furthermore, is there really a difference between a 7.5 and an 8? Gamers place too much importance on arbitrary numbers. This is why our scores are hidden by default. Only look at them if you absolutely need a number between 1-10 to see if a game is worth your time. You can read our review guidelines here.[/box_light]

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Gameplay: 9
Story: 7.5
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8.5

Superb – Better than great–this game’s quality deserves praise. We highly recommend purchasing it.[/toggle_box]

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