To be fair, it’s not as bad as the loading times in Spectral Souls PSP. Need to get the small artwork for a character during dialogue? That’s some load times. Enter the save point and it needs to animate to show that you’re there? That’s some load times. Any time players engage in animations other than the standard walk, the game will probably need to pull that animation from the disc.
Despite the fact that the sprites look sharp on an otherwise blurry background, they are subject to a significant amount of hiccupping. That’s not where the issues with the graphics stop, however.
It’s almost as if Gust didn’t create a new texture for the PSP version of the game, but simply tooled down the resolution on previous textures to fit the PSP screen. The textures are incredibly low-resolution, so the floor, the walls, just about everything in the environments looks very blurry. The backgrounds, however, look like they’ve been put through the washing machine and didn’t come out looking anything like they should. That is true to some extent – the 2D sprites look about the same as the first iteration of the title. For a game with 2D sprites on simple 3D backgrounds, however, you’d expect not to see a great difference in the graphics, especially considering that the resolution of the PSP’s screen isn’t that different from a standard-definition television. Most games see a graphical downgrade when they hit the PSP – cars in racing games look worse and your favorite football player looks like everyone else in Madden. The first, most obvious issue is the game’s graphical component. However, the simple choice of them bringing out this title bearing their logo kills a bit of their credibility.
I can’t blame NIS America for any of the faults with the development of the title – the localization, which was good in the PS2 version, remains in the PSP version. In porting the game to the PSP, however, Gust let things slip. All-in-all, it works well, and the positive review of the PS2 version of this title is not undeserving. Item creation plays a big part in this, as players level up not from standard experience points, but also need items to unlock new skills. Players need to complete dungeons and create items to get passing grades in their classes, allowing them to continue through the story. Mana Khemia combines life simulation, traditional RPG, and item creation together into one package. Rather than go incredibly in-depth into the game itself, which is virtually identical to the PS2 version, I’ll link to our review of that version of the game here and give a brief overview of the game before delving into the changes. Much like the Generation of Chaos IV and Spectral Souls ports, NIS America has given us a PSP title that’s not worthy of being published – stateside or elsewhere. With horrid visuals, loading every few moments, and laggy gameplay, there is very little that’s redeeming about this port.
Just under a year later, NIS America has published the PlayStation Portable version of this title, and while it still remains the same game at its core, it is, bar none, one of the worst PSP conversions of a title I have ever played. It wasn’t the most innovative RPG to come out in 2008, nor was it the most entertaining, but it was worth the price of admission. Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-revis was a cutesy, fun RPG for the PlayStation 2. For the review on the PlayStation Network version, check out this review. Editor’s Note: This review is based on the UMD version of this title.