as far as my pretty ivory white psp is concerned, it's not so much a gaming device as it is a portable media player. it's not a very good PMP at that. ever since i found out that the dicks-for-brains down at the local computer repair shop neglected to hook up my sound card, i've used it to watch television shows or clips that require sound. it's become invaluable, thanks to both their incompetence and my laziness.

sadly, good psp games are few and far between. once in a blue moon something like locoroco or exit comes out (i'll be reviewing both when they are gamefly'd to me, exit is next) but usually it's a lackluster, handicapped port of a ps2 game. until daxter. it was made from the very moment of its conception to be a psp platformer, taking into account everything; from the uncomfortable analog nub to graphical ghosting and the off disc loading.

visually the game is stunning. once you swing the camera around and take a look at daxter, you can see how much work was put into this game. his eyes are smooth and round, big as saucers. his fur is a bright orange and actually looks fuzzy! little animations like the way he walks, crawls, climbs, swings, jumps and attacks are fluid and comical. your very first mission is in a ritzy hotel. this stage alone pushes the graphical capabilities of the psp. other characters and enemies all have details and characteristics that make them unique, and some look better than most ps2 games.

if you plug in your headphones and listen to the game, you'll find a level of sound design rarely implemented in portables. background noise, such as hovercars passing by or steam from a sewer grate complement the clicks and whistles of daxter's enemy bugs, or our hero's padded paws slightly sticking to the ground he walks on. the voice acting is surprisingly well done also. besides daxter and a few other main characters, the voices are unique and fresh. the dialogue can, at times, be quite superb. ...action movie superb, but superb nonetheless. "speak up before these barrels become both ends of the conversation." classic.

the controls are tight, with the usual jump attack shoot and special move button scheme being standard. it's nice not to have a syphon filter laundry list of controls to remember. also, it either detects whether your psp is japanese of not, or simply uses the circle confirm x cancel default. either way, my psp is japanese, and the circle and x buttons' meanings are switched, and i usually have a tough time with american games because of this (think mgs), so brownie points. if you find it uncomfortable controlling the ottsel with the analog stick (who doesn't), you can change that and the camera controls in the options menu.

checkpoints are well placed, most of the time allowing you to continue from a point more convenient than you'd expect, perfect for a portable. load times are the shortest i've witnessed on the disc loading psp, and the trademark graphical ghosting i'm so used to seeing in other psp titles isn't present at all. it would be a massive understatement to say i'm looking forward to more portable games from ready at dawn.