Gamertell

The holidays are fast approaching. No matter what you celebrate, whether its Christmas, Hannukah, Festivus or some other winter holiday, there’s a good chance you may be considering purchasing a video game gift for someone on your list. Or, perhaps you’re putting together a wishlist to give to other people, and you’re not sure what you should include on it yet.

Gamertell wants to make shopping for PSP owners easier, so it’s time to present the 2009 PSP game gift guide. There are 15 of the best PSP releases of 2009 listed below, separated by ESRB rating, to look through. There’s also a link to the Gamertell review of each game, if one of our writers has played it. You may just find a game that could make a great gift.

To make things easier on prospective buyers, Gamertell’s gift guide only includes PSP games you can purchase UMDs of. Most are also available on the PlayStation Store.

Everyone

Beaterator
Genre: Music
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Rockstar Games (Rockstar Leeds)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Players: 1
Description: This is a game that’s probably best for the music fanatic, PSP owner on your gift list. Rockstar collaborated with the music producer Timbaland to create Beaterator, a music creator. Its more of an application than a game, so while it’s rated “Everyone,” it probably isn’t the best choice for younger PSP owners.

Gran Turismo
Genre: Racing
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Sony (Polyphony Digital)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Players: 1-4
Description: Gran Turismo, only portable. This version has 35 tracks and over 800 cars. There are three modes, racing, time trials and drift challenges. You can also race against friends and trade cars with them.

LittleBigPlanet
Genre: Action and Simulation
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Sony (SCE Cambridge Studios)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for Comic Mischief
Players: 1
Description: The portable version of the PS3 hit, it may not have the all the extravagent bells and whistles, multiplayer options and user-created stages available, but it has a lot of potential. You get to journey through platformer style levels, and make and share your own.

LocoRoco 2
Genre: Action
Price: $19.99
Publisher (Developer): Sony (Japan Studio)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Players: 1
Description: Even more LocoRoco fun. The LocoRocos must save the planet from the Mojas, who are using a song to kill everything. Its a fun game that’s great for players of all ages.

Everyone 10+

Half-Minute Hero
Genre: RPG, Real-Time Strategic RPG, Shooting and Action
Price: $29.99
Publisher (Developer): XSEED (Opus)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone 10+” for Animated Blood, Language, Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
Players: 1
Description: A PSP game with a little something for everyone that can be played for 30 seconds or 30 hours. There are four different main modes in the game, Hero 30, Dark Lord 30, Princess 30 and Knight 30, each representing a different genre. You must accomplish a goal within 30 seconds. Its innovative, has wonderful retro graphics and a fantastic script.

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Genre: Action
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Sony (High Impact Games)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone 10+” for Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language and Mild Suggestive Themes
Players: 1
Description: Jak and Daxter must help Kiera become a Sage and save the world from dark eco. You get to explore on land and in the skies. It’s probably a good choice for people on your wishlist who like action games.

Teen

Class of Heroes
Genre: RPG
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Zerodiv)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language and Mild Suggestive Themes
Players: 1
Description: If you have a classic RPG gamer on your wishlist, or you happen to be one, this could be a great pick for you. It’s a dungeon crawler where the goal is to level up characters, take missions and explore dungeons. The dungeon crawling part is a first-person, 3D experience, and you can completely customize your team.

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days
Genre: Strategic RPG
Price: $29.99
Publisher (Developer): NIS America (NIS)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Language, Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
Players: 1
Description: A port of the PS2 hit Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. It’s a standard Disgaea 2 port, with an extra Axel side story, the ability to throw and catch other units and the ability to change units into weapons through the Magichange system thrown in.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Genre: Fighting
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Square Enix (Square Enix)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Fantasy Violence, Mild Language and Partial Nudity
Players: 1-2
Description: One of the best games released on the PSP this year, Dissidia: Final Fantasy takes heroes and villains from FFI-FFXII and pits them against one another. There are plenty of great game modes, extra content to unlock and replay incentives to keep you playing.

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble
Genre: Action
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Spike)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Animated Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes and Violence
Players: 1-2
Description: The funniest and quite possibly, most awesome game for the PSP in 2009 was Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble. You play a student on a seven class trip whose goal is to beat up over 45 other high school badasses. And, you can do that dressed as a giant banana. It’s perfect for anyone, really, but fans of beat-em-up games will appreciate it most.

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
Genre: Racing
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Sony (Bigbig Studios)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Lyrics and Mild Violence
Players: 1-8
Description: Another racing, this time set in Alaska. You race eight different classes of vehicles in arctic conditions. There’s also a local multiplayer and the ability to place on an online leaderboard. It’s also available for the PS2 for $29.99.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
Genre: RPG
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Atlus)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Fantasy Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Simulated Gambling and Suggestive Themes.
Players: 1
Description: A remake of the PlayStation game Revelations: Persona and the first game in the Persona series. You help a group of high school students survive against demons and fix unusual distortions in their hometown. The remake also has the Snow Queen quest which was left out of the original localization of the game and a fresh translation.

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Genre: Fighting
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Namco Bandai (Project Soul)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Mild Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes and Violence
Players: 1-2
Description: Pretty much a portable version of Soul Calibur that has the standard story and arcade modes, character customization features and local multiplayer. Yet another good fighting game that debuted on the PSP this year.

Mature

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Genre: Action and Racing
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Rockstar Games (Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North)
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Sexual Content, Strong Language and Violence
Players: 1
Description: A PSP port of the DS game released earlier this year. You must help Huang Lee reclaim the Yu Jian sword, get revenge for the murder of his father and become head of the Triads.

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
Genre: Action
Price: $39.99
Publisher (Developer): Ubisoft (Griptonight Games and Ubisoft Montreal)
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for Blood and Violence
Players: 1
Description: The direct sequel to Assassin’s Creed, players follow Altair and assist him in his mission to assassinate Templers in Cyprus. A good choice for adult gamers who are looking for a new action adventure.

Read [Gamertell]