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FATE/EXTRA
Developer: Imageepoch/Type-Moon
Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment
Platform: Sony PSP
Players: 1

One could perhaps argue that the Fate/Other Noun series was always an RPG at heart, since the original Fate/Stay Night was a story-driven adventure game with an RPG-ish cast to its fights. Well, now it's a proper Japanese RPG, one where the scenario of the original Fate/Stay Night reworks itself into a dungeon-crawling escapade. And it does so without its main character, Shiro Emiya. Instead, there's a player-named male-or-female lead to see all of the game's plot twists firsthand and meet the various sorcerers and servants involved in the War of the Grail. Most of the remaining characters are on hand, though some are noticeably redesigned: Rider's a scar-faced redhead in pirate garb, and Saber's now wearing a red dress that's shockingly open at the front. Rin Tohsaka, of course, looks like she always does. The gameplay follows many of the rules of traditional RPG combat, with plenty of flashing, extensively animated attacks. While the characters look a bit primitive, their story's conveyed through artwork and dialogue much of the time.
Import Barrier: As with previous Fate games, there's a lot of dialogue that'll be lost on anyone who doesn't read Japanese
Chances of a Domestic Release: Capcom's Fate/Unlimited Codes didn't catch on over here, so there won't be much interest in Fate/Extra.

HELLO KITTY TO ISSHO! BLOCK CRASH 1-2-3
Developer: Crea-Tech
Publisher: Enterbrain/Kadokawa
Platform: Sony PSP
Players: 1

It's an alliance long foreshadowed. After decades of selling Hello Kitty and other cutesy characters to children, Sanrio noticed this “moe” thing peddling a creepier brand of cute to older consumers, and now Sanrio wants in. For the past year, Sanrio's worked with popular “moe”-style artists like Okama, Shimeko, Aoi Nishimata, and POP to reach out to Japan's moe fans and create exuberant little girls who just happen to like Hello Kitty merchandise. Hello Kitty to Issho! Block Crash 1-2-3 is basically a Breakout title with about a hundred different levels, but that's not the selling point. The selling point is the cast of aren't-they-precious anime girls, all drawn in varying styles and shapes. Players guide balls through block-hitting stages craftily positioned before illustrations of the characters, and there's a share of themes and digital accessories for the PSP included with the game. All of this is designed to endear players to the heroines and, of course, their fondness for Hello Kitty hats, pins, and other products available for purchase. It's so shameless that it will almost certainly work.
Import Barrier: The dialogue's all in Japanese, but the game's perfectly playable unless the ball-and-blocks concept of Breakout still eludes you after all these years.
Chances of a Domestic Release: Uh…

Let's compare the covers of Metal Max 3 and the second-most-recent proper game in the series, 1995's Metal Max Returns. Metal Max Returns displays a brawny warrior woman armed with a katana, a submachine gun, and a meter-high '80s hairdo. Metal Max 3 presents a willowy lass wearing an impractically long white gown as she revs the engine of a massive bike and hauls ass to the Metal Max equivalent of Lollapalooza. Different as the covers may be, Metal Max still has the same idea that drove it back in the 1990s: a standard RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world instead of a fantasy stage. Metal Max 3 first gives players control of a young man awakened from a long cryogenic sleep. Revived and turned loose, our hero wanders a monster-filled and frequently desolate world, gathering mercenaries, medics, and powerful armored vehicles the same way other RPG protagonists acquire clerics and paladins as allies. There's a standard menu-based battle system beneath the surface, but the game's still a good bet for anyone looking for different themes in the RPG world, and for anyone who enjoyed Atlus' release of Metal Saga, a Metal Max spin-off, back in 2006.
Import Barrier: An RPG requires some knowledge of its native language, but at least you can run it on a North American DS with no trouble.
Chances of a Domestic Release: Not too bad, since Atlus picked up Metal Saga, and an RPG with tanks and mercs is right up many an American player's alley.

Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting started out as The King of Fighters Sky Stage, a simple-looking shooter starring a few signature combatants from SNK's only enduring fighting series. After making its way through arcades, the game's turned into Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting, a larger-staffed and more interesting game. The PSP version features shooter incarnations of popular SNK characters: King of Fighters staples Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Kula Diamond, Athena Asamiya, Terry Bogard, and Mai Shiranui are joined by Akari Ichijou from The Last Blade, Marco from Metal Slug, SYD III from Armored Scrum Object (a.k.a. Alpha Mission), and Iroha, the combat maid who helped bury Samurai Shodown for a few years. The game contains the original arcade title in all of its neon-bullet glories, but SNK added such new features as a story mode and, interestingly, a two-player versus mode. Players even have the option of rotating the PSP to play a tall-screen “TATE” version of the game, just like in them fancy arcades.
Import Barrier: You'll miss little beyond the nuances of the game's storyline, such as it is.
Chances of a Domestic Release: Fairly good, since SNK has a modest following over here. Perhaps a U.S. release of Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting will take some minds off of The King of Fighters XII's mass letdown.

There's a lack of particularly interesting games coming out next week, so it's time to bend the rules and focus on this week's download-only highlights, starting with the super-deformed multiplayer brawler BlayzBloo. Players are dropped into arenas with three other opponents, either computer-controlled or manned by other DSI owners, and…well, everyone pounds each other with cutetified versions of their regular BlazBlue attacks. Other modes invite the cast to play for points or toss a panda around, even though the playable cast is limited to giant-headed versions of Ragna, Noel, Rachel, Taokaka, and that unappealing jerk Jin. It's a simple little brawler that's part Power Stone, part Poy Poy, part Rakugaki Showtime, and part Smash Brothers mini-game. But hey, it's also five dollars. Five bucks won't even buy the squirrel-girl in regular BlazBlue.

I don't want to say that Harmony of Despair, also hitting this week, looks like a fan-made game, but...well, it looks like someone, officially employed by Konami or not, took graphics, characters, and gameplay from previous modern Castlevanias and mashed them all into one big online multiplayer Xbox Live game. The game welds together huge HD levels with traditional pixel-based art and turns them into tests of boss-slaying, action-platformer prowess, and it actually uses its giant levels in its boss battles. There are several paths available to reach the boss in each stage, though it's a far cry from the exploration of other current Castlevanias. Fortunately, up to six players can tackle the game at once, controlling such series stars as Jonathan Morris, Soma Cruz, Shanoa, Alucard, and Charlotte Aulin. It's one of the stranger takes on the Castlevania franchise in recent years, though all signs point to it being better than that Wii fighting game everyone's already forgotten about.

And now for something hitting next week, when the Scott Pilgrim marketing push will be even more of a juggernaut. I won't mince words: I'm just a weensy little bit less than completely amazed by the Scott Pilgrim comic. That's odd, considering how its scenes of video-game callouts and modern wasted lives should interest me. Maybe the movie will change that. Or maybe the game will. As one might expect for a comic that staged a flashback as a River City Ransom tribute, the Scott Pilgrim game is a 2-D brawler with a deliberately sprite-styled look courtesy of Paul Robertson, who's made some seriously insane pixelly game art. Its playable cast features Scott. Ramona, Kim, Stephen, and one character who we're not supposed to reveal, and each has a distinct set of attacks. In keeping with the River City Ransom idea, all of the cast can gain levels and grab coins to purchase new stat-boosting items, while mini-games pop up in the form of the storyline's subspace excursions. This'll add to the game's local four-player mode, where you can actually be nice and share your loot. It's available on the PlayStation Network next week, but it's not on Xbox Live until the end of this month. You'll just have to read the comics or watch the movie. Or play River City Ransom.