Before its demise in the face of the PS2, Sega’s Dreamcast had a fair share of quirky, fun titles that have largely faded into obscurity.  It’s a shame that many of these games were never able to jump to another platform and enjoy the admiration of a larger audience. Now that Capcom has apparently made it a policy to port pretty much it’s entire library of hit titles to the Sony PSP in one form or another, it comes as no surprise to find Power Stone Collection hitting retail channels everywhere.

I Have The Power!
 
The Power Stone games are Capcom’s answer to the Smash Bros. series.  It’s a frenetic “Arena Brawler” where combatants are free to use items, objects, and even the environment itself as a means of defeating their opponents.  The “Power Stones” are colored gems that can be collected during the battle.  Once a character collects three, he morphs into some bizarre mutated robo-thingie with insanely powerful attacks.

Both Power Stone 1 and 2 were fairly popular on the Dreamcast thanks to the excellent pick-up-and-play multiplayer.  What players with the PSP version get is essentially a faithful port of both games, a few minor tweaks to the game play, and some unlockable content.

Romancing the Stone

The good news here is that it looks and plays just like the Power Stones you know and love.  The sounds and visuals are identical, and the game plays exactly the same.  The camera has changed to allow players to choose from a few different zoom levels. Load times are generally acceptable.  Stage loads take roughly 30 seconds, but there’s a nice option to quickly continue after you’ve lost instead of having to load the character select screen again.

The trouble with Power Stone Collection on the PSP is that this is a game the really shines in the multiplayer. Single player, while fun for a while, tends to come up thin after a few playthroughs.  The PSP version only supports multiplayer via ad hoc mode, so matches over the internet are out of the question.  This hurts the longevity of this game.  Sure there are some mini-games (remember the VMU?  Remember how lame the games were?) There’s also some unlockable content, but there’s nothing here to flesh out the main game.

Solid as a Rock

Power Stone Collection is still a good game. Our beef is more with the choice of porting it to the PSP and then skimping on multiplayer.  Without easy multiplayer match-ups, the game just doesn’t have legs.

Article by: Greg Bemis
Video produced by: Sean Jennings