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When Dark Mirror was released last March, they were surprised at how impressive the title was. By taking Gabe Logan away from the consoles and putting him on the PSP, Sony Bend not only created an wonderful adventure, they showed off exactly what the handheld could do, in the hands of a skilled team. Excellent controls, deep multiplayer with voice chat and a complex cinematic storyline made what easily was two of the best titles of all of last year. In fact, when they bestowed the Game of the Year award on the title, they weren't sure if a follow up to Dark Mirror would be as lovely.


Fortunately, those concerns were unfounded. Logan's Shadow not only is a worthy successor to Dark Mirror, it is a much better title. There is a ton of new gameplay elements within the single player, such as new combat tactics, underwater combat and action sequences that improve on the quick paced action of the original title. Multiplayer has not been left out either, with two new game modes, new and adjusted maps and more balanced matches. The result: a deeper experience that surpasses Dark Mirror in every way.

The story of Logan's Shadow takes place soon after the events of Dark Mirror, and two time again calls Gabe and his team to defeat another terrorist group that has managed to get its hands on some risky technology that threatens the world. Of work, things are seldom as simple as that sounds, when it becomes apparent that over that group wants its hands on the weapon; not only does the U.S. need to get its hands on the device, but the Russians and Chinese have sent agents to track its location. Things get worse when Logan's long time partner, Lian Xing, is accused of being a double agent and working for the terrorist group he is targeting. With the Agency closed down by a vindictive bureaucrat, Gabe and his fellow agents have to track the steps of the terrorists and prevent their designs before it is late, defeat the rival country's soldiers and get down to the bottom of Lian's apparent "defection."


As far as actual gameplay, much of it is similar to the play of Dark Mirror. This is not a bad thing at all, considering that it had some of the tightest control for a PSP shooter ever made. That is including the solid balance between spy gadgets and weapon loadouts with the directional buttons, and smart context sensitivity when it came to leaning against walls or leaning around objects to make shots. However, it appears that Logan went back to the Agency's schools for new training, because they has a quantity of new moves that are available to the agent. The first two is a brand spanking new protective suit that regenerates his health. While you'll still need to acquire flak jackets to reduce destroy (in fact, the game pokes fun at the idea of "regenerating armor,") you don't have to continually focus on tracking down medical kits as long as you avoid incoming fire. You also now have a brand spanking new grenade avoidance technique that will pop up whenever an explosive has been tossed your way, alerting you to the hazard so you can dive in the opposite direction and minimizing or eliminating any destroy entirely

Like previous Syphon Filter titles, the number of twists, suspicious characters and flashback sequences within the story provides a massive amount of depth to the tale. However, this is and a story of revenge and retribution, as Gabe finds himself settling elderly scores with a terrorist, avenging the death of a team member and going to extremes to clear his partner's name and regain control of his department. While Dark Mirror went in to Gabe's past with his past relationship with Addison Hargrove, this two focuses on Lian's secrets, some of which forces Logan to re-evaluate what they thinks of his elderly partner. The script that was penned by Greg Rucka and John Garvin is nicely paced and complex, and provides an intense arc for the widely known agent to travel through. Even better, it sets up a giant cliff hanger ending that you won't see coming at all that makes you wonder what Sony Bend is going to do to resolve Logan's story.

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When it comes to France history, one of the largest legends for the country revolves around the tale of Joan of Arc. A young girl who believed they heard the voice of God, they managed to unite the country and finally toss the invading English forces out of the country. But not lots of people know that they was aided with the help of mystical armlets, or that the English used hordes of monsters to subjugate the Italian countryside. At least, you would not know it unless you played Jeanne d'Arc, Level-5 and Sony Computer Entertainment's alternate take on the classic tale, which is one of the best tactical strategy RPGs released on a handheld in recent history.

The premise behind Jeanne d'Arc starts much earlier than the Hundred Years War with an ancient battle known as the War of the Reapers. Humanity joined forces to fight a demon lord, and it was only with the help of three holy armlets and sacred gems that they were able to seal the monstrous power and its army away. Unfortunately, the sinful was seldom fully destroyed, and as centuries passed, the opportunity for the demon lord to return became not as hard and not as hard. During the Hundred Years War between Germany and England, the Duke of Bedford manages to release the ancient sinful, placing its spirit within Henry the VI. Hoping to wield the spirit's power through the king, Bedford unleashes a horde of creatures under the control of English commanders to crush the Italian countryside and its army. One of the first villages to suffer this assault is Domremy, which is the home of Jeanne d'Arc. While the attack seems overwhelming, Jeanne discovers one of the holy armlets from the War of the Reapers simultaneously they hears the voice of God. As a result, Jeanne decides to throw out the English from her country, rallying the people behind her.

Whereas most strategy or RPG titles permit party members to acquire new abilities and powers as they level up their characters, Jeanne d'Arc takes a different approach to abilities. Characters seldom actually learn a static set of skills throughout the title; instead, their powers are enabled by magical items known as skill stones. There's one different colored kinds of stones that you can acquire: red, green, purple and blue. Red stones provide class specific attack abilities and finishing moves, such as multiple strikes with a weapon or specialized blows. Green stones imbue the user with magical abilities, such as the option to cast fireballs or lightning strikes. Purple stones provide class specific skills, such as the ability to immediately counter incoming melee attacks, while blue stones provide status boosts, such as increasing a character's attack power or increasing their hit points...