Power Stone Collection review

Wednesday 11 October 2006
Capcom might be known for its mano-a-mano fighting, but in between dozens of 2D fighters there was Power Stone and its sequel on the Dreamcast, a crazy free-for-all between comedy chefs, rosey-cheeked robot children, fighter pilots and cowboys.

And now, with the PSP offering a new lease of life for ancient games, the team has bundled both Power Stone games together and decided to sell them as a set. Nice, eh?

This isn't just a couple of old Dreamcast games cobbled together and shrunk down to PSP-size, though - oh no. Capcomhas improved the camera system, allowing you to switch between mid, wide and close-up shots on the fly.

There are also some nice multi-player options - although you can only play in local wireless mode, it's possible to game-share one disc between up to four players. Because it's in the free-for-alls that Power Stone works best - one-on-one fights tend to get one-sided very quickly, with one fighter grabbing all the cool kit as soon as he's knocked his opponent down, but when everybody's hitting each other there's much more to play for.

Each level's peppered with guns or comedy extra weapons, but the key is finding the Power Stones themselves - grab three and your character turns into his android/golden samurai/whatever alter ego and dishes out the destruction like a sumo wrestler at a picnic.