Death Jr. Review (no fat)

Game Description

The one and only Grim Reaper has given life, or should we say death, to a son, Death Jr. From the developers at Konami comes an interesting idea to indulge in. Filled with monsters and evil, DJ has a few tricks up his sleeve to combat his enemies and save his friends.

Death Jr. Gameplay

During gameplay gamers will assume the persona of Death Jr. of course, who’s off to class just like any other normal day. However, Death Jr’s cast of friends are all but normal. They range from the oddly-weird to the just plain disturbing type. He even has a friend who is named Dead Guppy, who really is a dead guppy. This goes to show just how quirky the game will be. However, there is no real story line to play through here, which is sad because Death Jr. shows so much potential.

As the game progresses DJ and his friends take a school trip to the local museum, get bored, and head away from their group to find some of their own fun. This eventually leads to DJ cracking open an evil trunk that let’s a terrible power kidnaps a few of DJ’s friends. Now it is up to DJ to save them, without letting anyone know about his little mishap.

While fighting against the odds to rescue his friends, DJ packs a few guns to help him along the way. Oh, yeah, and his scythe, which is what gamers will probably use most of the time to beat away the bad guys. The gameplay calls for a lot of button mashing, as the game is almost all fighting with a few platforming elements thrown in for good measure. During the course of the game, multiples of enemies will come after you. The developers have done this to give the game some element of challenge, as the rest of the game isn’t that difficult, and the boss is a breeze to blast through.

Weaponry in gameplay is somewhat original, as DJ can throw hamsters at enemies that have C4 strapped to their back. He also can shoot short burst of electrical current to stun enemies to the ground. While gamers are fighting their way through each level, they shouldn’t worry about running out of ammo for their guns, as ammo is located almost everywhere throughout each level. In the later stages of the game, you will have to rely heavily on these weapons, so the amount of ammo in the game is a great help in finishing the final levels.

Death Jr. Graphics

Details of the main characters are definitely highlights of Death Jr. They are very colorful and no detail is left un-drawn. The environments in gameplay are pretty expansive, and there is enough content available for gamers to explore. However, almost the entire story of the game takes place in about the first ten minutes of gameplay, during a graphically detailed cutscene, while the rest of the game is dull and uninteresting.

Perhaps the worst letdown for Death Jr. is the extremely lousy camera. There will be times when your enemies will be charging you and the camera will be contemplating a different scenario altogether.

Death Jr. Audio

Audio? What Audio? Death Jr. is almost entirely silent, as voice over in the game are used very sparingly. The sound track in the game is repetitive, and it sounds like the same track is played over and over again with slight tweaking. This may get on gamers nerves, as they will be listening to the same overplayed music throughout gameplay. The sound effects sound a bit odd and bizarre, but they fit the game nicely, as the presentation of the entire game is a bit bizarre.

Death Jr. Final Verdict

The idea of having the son of Grim Reaper in a PSP game was meant to be a breeze of fresh air, instead, the game is let down by its lack of innovativeness and bad gameplay options. To infuriate games even further, you can save the game at any given time, all that matters is that you’ll still start the loaded game from the museum, eventually playing the level you saved all over again! Without a real storyline to accompany this pretty little package (if you are still willing to call it that), anyone looking for some original ideas, enjoyable gameplay, or anything worthwhile for that matter, should stay clear of Death Jr..

Death Jr. Final Cost

The game comes with a $39.99 US price tag.