Phantasy Star Portable

Phantasy Star Portable is an action RPG derived from Phantasy Star Universe, adapted for the portable PSP. The development was handled by Alfa System, which built the game on foundations similar to Universe - creating a custom character from several races and classes, missions played on separate levels, and a combat system combining melee weapons, ranged weapons, and magical techniques called Photon Arts and technics, between which players can switch on the fly.

The game offers its own story campaign taking place parallel to the events of Universe, in which the player's character joins a military unit defending a colony against an alien threat and gradually gets to know their own selection of characters from the series' established world. Besides story missions, it also includes a large selection of side quests that can be completed solo or in co-op with up to three other players over an ad-hoc or infrastructure network, which was an unusual scale of multiplayer offering for a handheld in 2008. Thanks to the portable format, players could build up a character, gather resources, and upgrade their gear anywhere, without needing to sit at a home console, which made the game a favorite for long trips. Visually and content-wise, the game remains true to Universe's aesthetic, just adjusted to work well on the smaller display and with PSP controls, and it also offers shared character gameplay between individual players within co-op. Progress is also split into dozens of short missions that can be played between stops, so the game handles being played in small chunks well, which is exactly what a portable console is ideal for.

Why play it: Phantasy Star Portable is a good choice for fans of action RPGs who want to experience the world of Phantasy Star Universe in a compact, mission-structured form suited for playing on the go and together with friends, even without knowledge of previous entries in the series.