Do we really need to re-visit the Final Fantasy VII universe? After that movie where everyone hopped around all over the place while three silver-haired bikers looked for their mum, we're not quite sure that we do. Now that Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is here, however, we'd have to say that this part of the Final Fantasy series needs a look back on - a very long, hard one. This is our review of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

 Kratos is back, and he wants to go on another slashing frenzy. Yes, everyone's favorite muscleman with the chip in his shoulder the size of all Athens has made his return, and his adventure is on the Sony PSP. Does it live up to its godly expectations, or does it fall short of its ascent to greatness? Read on after the jump and see what we think of Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Casual gaming has a strange power in the way they'll keep you playing for hours on end over a seemingly simple objective. The same can be said of MumboJumbo's Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge on the PSP, which gave use some new ideas on how to play with balls. Join us over at the full article as we give this game a quick play-through.

So what's it like playing god to a tribe of warlike cyclopean beings? You can read all about it as QJ.NET reviews Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s (SCEI) Patapon for the PlayStation Portable. This latest title from the same creators of LocoRoco features a unique fusion of the rhythm and real time strategy genres. For more information, check out the full article after the jump.

Sony and Bigbig Studios have touted Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice for the PlayStation Portable as one of this season's biggest releases. The game was recently launched and we had the chance to play through it. Is it as good as they say it is? We'll ram through the details hard and fast in the full review after the jump.

Inspired by the need to experiment with something new, we at QJ decided to test the Headplay unit yet again. Granted this wasn't our first time to do so, but it was our first time to test the Headplay gear in conjunction with a portable game console that supported S-video. Thus, the PSP Slim and Lite became the guinea pig for our little experiment.

Check out the full review after the jump!

Headplay is probably every couch potato's dream. Imagine a TV. Now imagine being able to take it anywhere and everywhere you go (except perhaps in the shower), and being able to watch movies or play games on it anytime you want. That's the concept for the new "Personal Cinema System" device, Headplay.

Headplay is a head-mounted device; basically, a TV you wear on your head. You can connect it to your gaming consoles, your DVD Player, your iPod, your PC, and maybe your Betamax player if it hasn't choked on dust yet. If it has a video out function, Headplay can most probably display it. You can also plug in a memory stick and Headplay can run the media files - movies, videos, and images - with its own built-in player.

Once you're behind the lenses of Headplay it's pretty easy to just relax and go dead to the world around you. It's nothing but you and the screen, with the stereo sounds blocking off everything else. It's like your own movie screen inside your living room.

To read the complete review of Headplay - what it is, what it does, how it plays on Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Nintendo' Wii on it - click on the link for the full article.

Not a lot of game franchises can take two genres, meld them seamlessly and come up with something that isn't fertilizer. Even fewer can use the same core model repeatedly and come up with stellar success in terms of media and consumer reception. The Ratchet & Clank series combines elements from a platform game and a shooting title to form a respected brand that gamers just eat up each and every time a new installment comes out.

In February of 2007, the Sony PlayStation Portable received its first taste of the Ratchet & Clank series with High Impact Games' Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. High Impact is a group of expats from Insomniac that still has some of the key members responsible for the success of earlier iterations. The game was scrutinized with excitement and it passed all tests with flying colors.

No rest even if you're not wicked

The lovable tandem's new adventure starts off with Ratchet and Clank getting some time off the battlefield with some rest and relaxation. The heroic lombax and his trusty robot sidekick bask in the sun for a while until a strange girl named Luna approaches them and asks Ratchet for a small favor.

As it turns out, the odd-looking Luna is a huge fan of our robot-busting hero and wants him to pose in his trademark stances for an extemporaneous photo-op. Being the nice guy that he is, Ratchet gives in. A series of events unfold while Ratchet roughs up some robot hide for Luna which leads to the alien girl's abduction. Ratchet and Clank decide that vacation time is over and the two set off to save the girl.

That's not to say that this is a Mario-style plot where you simply have to go through multiple castles to eventually save the hostaged damsel. Fans of the Ratchet & Clank series will not have their expectations dampened as the game features an elaborate succession of plot twists that eventually leads to a huge unfolding that will have you chasing ancient artifacts and encountering a genius race known as the Technomites.

Old and new characters will be present to spice up the game's storytelling sequences. Favorites such as Captain Quark will do cameos with style as they supply excellent humor that nicely complements the script's pop-culture references. Notice that there's no single character who's badly voiced, allowing the comedy to be driven home as well as it should be. Making the dialogue even more immersive is the fact that character expressions are in perfect sync with what they're saying thanks to the dandy visuals that we'll be discussing next.

 

Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction, but I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you, they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I really am and why I say this. Come, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard...

Time. That's one iffy subject. When we reminisce about certain events past, we sometimes think about the "what if's" and the "if only's". Well, we were able to explore the idea of turning back time in Prince of Persia's Sands of Time story arc.

Find out what we thought about this second PSP entry in the series.

 

A couple of days ago, we learned that Electronic Arts is planing to shut down the online servers for some of its older sports titles this coming September and October. Among the long list provided by the company is the boxing jewel otherwise known as Fight Night Round 3 for the PlayStation Portable. Before EA Sports ultimately pulls the plug on this one, we decided to scour through our piles of aging UMD games and have another round with it, so to speak. After all, it's always hard to part with a good friend.

Fight Night Round 3 comes from a long-running boxing franchise that probably goes back to Knockout Kings one full decade ago. The franchise officially changed its name to Fight Night in 2004 when the first title was released on the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox. FNR 3 is actually the first time EA Sports released the game on a handheld console and, if we may say, it's been a tremendous success.

We will spar around its features and dig deep to its very core, ultimately knocking out every doubt some fans had or still have in their minds. We will give a series of steady jabs, right and left hooks, full force haymakers and illegal special moves - all hoping to make you not forget Fight Night Round 3 and include it in your trophy case of most memorable PSP gaming experience.

Read on and finish this fight!