Platypus (PSP)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.8 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Justin Calvert
• Reviewed on: 12/18/2006
• Released on: 11/17/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Platypus (PSP) Review

Originally released as PC shareware last year, Platypus is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up set in a world made entirely of clay. There's no storyline to speak of, and all you really need to know is that while piloting your titular craft from left to right through six different environments, you need to shoot at everything that moves. The game's biggest selling point, at least as far its packaging is concerned, is its Claymation visuals; but for the most part those are less impressive than and certainly add nothing to the gameplay.

If you're a fan of classic side-scrolling shoot-'em-ups, you'll find that Platypus is an entertaining but very basic, short-lived take on the genre. Platypus is played using only the directional pad or analog stick and a single fire button, and it won't take you long to realize that your craft's default weapon is horribly underpowered. There are a handful of different power-ups that you can collect as you progress through the game, but each one lasts for only 20 seconds, unless you're able to extend that time by collecting another.

Platypus' power-ups are perhaps the most interesting feature of the game, not because they're particularly satisfying or imaginative, but because of the gameplay mechanic that gives you a chance to determine which weapon upgrades you get. In addition to weapon pods that will float above and below your craft providing extra firepower, there are five power-ups that you can get by destroying specific formations of enemy fighters and then collecting the colored stars that they drop. There's a wide shot that's great for hitting multiple enemies; a rapid shot that effectively more than doubles your firepower; a sonic pulse that hits incoming projectiles as well as enemies; a lightning gun that destroys most enemies on contact as you move its horizontal beam up and down the screen; and rockets, which are very effective against most of the game's six bosses. What's interesting about the power-ups is that each is collected from a different-colored star, and you can change the color of most of the stars by shooting them--occasionally making them a more desirable target than any enemies on the screen.

The enemies that you'll be facing move in predictable patterns and generally take only a few shots to kill, but the numbers that they attack in (and the fact that they'll often surprise you from offscreen or from behind scenery) ensure a reasonable challenge--even on the easiest of the three difficulty settings. The bosses that you'll face at the end of each of the game's six levels are much more varied than the rest of the stuff that you'll be reducing to red explosions of clay, but for the most part the boss battles are time-consuming rather than challenging. That's not to suggest that you'll be able to beat all of Platypus' bosses the first time you face them, because that's unlikely. It should only take you one attempt to figure out their attack patterns and weaknesses, though, after which you'll find that most of them can be destroyed with relative ease--especially if you happen to have the right power-up equipped.

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