GamersInfo.net

Platypus is a hardcore side-scrolling shoot’em up. Piloting a little air ship, you have to avoid bombs flying at you while destroying your enemy, picking up more powerful weapons and collecting additional points by destroying some of the landscape, complete fleets and fruit. Yes. You read that right, fruit.

Visually, Platypus is bright and kitschy with Claymation 3-D Graphics. The detail is excellent for such a small screen as the PSP. The explosions of plastic clay and details such as enemy pilots jumping ship before they blow up give it that little something more than the run-of-the-mill small platform game graphics.

Crank the sound up. What is a Shoot ‘em-up without sound effects? The weapon fire and explosions sounds are excellent for something as small as the PSP and the music adds to the fun of the game.

Game play is simple. Using the analog stick, you move your air ship. The X button fires. That’s it. Joy for the button-challenged and those of us that prefer a less-complicated game without a huge learning curve. All you have to do is maneuver your airship and kill your enemies. Simple, no?

Simple, yes. Platypus is an entertaining game. Simple to learn, hard to master and I was happy that there was an Easy mode. The game has six levels, each taking you through four diverse areas and three difficulty levels. In Single player mode, there are two games. The Story mode which provides you four lives and two credits in reserve. You earn extra lives as you progress, and at the end of each level you'll be awarded another credit. In this mode, you are given a “continue” option when you’ve lost all your lives in any level, and you are actually starting a new game at that point, with those four lives and two credits. You can choose to start at the beginning of any of the levels that you’ve previously unlocked. So, unlike the old-school arcade style pocket-money eating action, you’ve got “second chances” so to speak.

The power-ups are interesting. Destroy a certain fleet of alien ships and a star shows up on screen. Pick it up and you receive 20 seconds of a more powerful weapon. Shooting that star can change it into a different color and hence a different, more powerful weapon. Destroy more fleets of those alien ships, collect another star and you extend the use of the weapon for a further 20 seconds.

Difficult? The game surprises you. The types of enemy ships are not numerous, however they can surprise you from the landscape and off screen. Just because the ships have passed you, doesn’t mean they won’t take one last pot shot at you from behind. You also can’t take out bombs flying at you by shooting at them. Only the sonic pulse power-up will destroy projectiles as well as enemies. You’ll find that your strategy is to stay alive, learn the attack patterns and weaknesses of each craft, boss & mini-boss in order to equip the correct power-up to take them out.

Platypus also has a second game, the Survival mode. No Easy-Normal-Hard modes here. It’s plain Survival. Don’t start with this mode if you haven't played the game before. You have one life. That’s it. Unlike the Story mode which goes easy on you until you get the hang on the game, Survival mode throws everything and the kitchen sink at you from the get go. I lasted all of 10 seconds my first go at it.

In conclusion, I found Platypus entertaining. It’s a fun little game. The Claymation graphics and lively music lift it out of the masses of the ordinary. For those that love side-scrollers, it’s a definite buy. For the die-hard arcade geeks… ignore the continue option. For this admitted weenie, I like the continue option which gives me the extra lives. I’m mostly an RPG game player and although I grew up with and certainly love arcade style games, sometimes, I suck at these things.