You, of course, wanting to be cool and the hero of the moment, take your okey dokey soul collecting scythe and hack the lock off of the chest. The sound of which causes your friends to stop in their tracks and turn expectantly to see what is inside the evil little box that thwarted Pandora's efforts to enter. Before anyone can say Boo (Boo being the official okey dokey word for those who live in the underworld) the chest snaps open and evil demonic tendrils flow out and grab all of your friends. Well, all except for Smith & Weston - I suppose he's just too weird for evil demonic tendrils to want to eat him.

Whoops! thinks you. Did I err in my attempts to impress a girl… Dad is gonna be a bit pissed at me!

Now you find yourself in a museum that has been trashed by evil demonic tendrils that did not want to eat Smith & Weston and all your friends are trapped in a sort of stasis wrapped up in demonic tendril…ick.

What to do, what to do. Well the only thing you can do is go and try to rescue your friends, and hope that Dad doesn't find out... Each of your friends has had their essence split into three parts and distributed in various zones of demonic possession. All you've is got your okey dokey soul collecting scythe and a set of six shooters that you got out of the "in case of emergency box" in the museum.

Death Jr. is a Sony PSP game that will take you on a wild ride with Death Jr. as he explores the Museum and beyond in search of his lost friends' souls.

The game has a fairly good training section to introduce you to the various controls for the game that are unique to the PSP. Plus once you get past the intro, there is a training hall where you can go back to on occasion to hone your skills if you feel you need more practice.

Each of your possessed friends has had their essence split into three parts. When you enter the area for each of them the first time there is only one portal available. After you complete the first phase and retrieve the first part, a second portal opens up. After you retrieve the second part the third and final portal opens. Each successive portal is more difficult to complete not only in the number and strength of the demons, but also in your dexterity and ability to maneuver through the mazes and obstacles that confront your advancement.

After you complete a phase and recover the missing piece of your friend you are given a new toy to play with by Smith & Weston: flamethrowers, rocket launchers, mini-guns and more. My personal favorite is the electrical gun that shoots arced lightning at the beasties and makes them jiggle as they get electrocuted. A unique aspect of Death Jr. is that when you get a new weapon there is a room with 2 cages in it where you can go and practice using your new toys on a couple of demons without having to worry about them eating your spleen.

Throughout the various phases there are a few things for you to look for like floating skulls that heal you up from the damage you take from the unfriendly demons. There are also chests that contain ammo for your weapons and there are power-ups that you collect to purchase upgrades to your skills and weapons. You will also need to collect souls to get through certain door ways, the souls you'll be collecting of course are those of the smelly and evil demons that are blocking your path, so make sure to get extra just for the fun of it.

The graphics in the game are very crisp and clear considering how small the screen is. And the detail is fairly impressive as well. The sound quality is also very good, though you will want to use the headphones when you are playing the game to hear the music better and to get the full effect of the stereo sound effects. Besides, the music is very catchy and fun to listen to.

The play of the game is not complicated. You can either use your okey dokey soul collecting scythe or any number of weapons that are given to you by Smith & Weston. What makes it a challenge is the size of the PSP and the size of your hands. I have big hands and the PSP gets lost in them on occasion, and after 2-3 hours of play time they start to cramp up quite a bit.

One difficulty is the games view, there is no actual camera control and at times you will find yourself looking Death Jr. in the eye while he's fighting something. Or the view will flip around without warning and make it difficult to figure out where you are and what you are supposed to be doing. This is especially challenging when you're jumping from rock to rock over steaming lava.

Death Jr. has provided me with a number of hours of mindless fun. The best part is that it's a portable game system so I could play the game while waiting in line at the theatre… There is some reading involved so the game may not be good for the younger crowd. Other than the reading portion, it's not a gory game so would be a good game for just about anyone.

One last thing. I've found with this review is that there can be some difficulty reviewing a game without reviewing the system it's played on. Though there are aspects of the game that rely on the system they are played on. So, here are my thoughts on the PSP in relation to Death Jr.

The game relies heavily on the nub-joystick, this makes it difficult to control at times as the joystick does not allow for detailed targeting. There is also the fact that to do some of the targeting requires that you press on the left trigger while manipulating the joystick. Again, with my big hands this can be a challenge to do. Death Jr is a dark game and the PSP's screen is highly reflective. This makes it difficult to see if there is any bright light in the area, which makes playing the game in the car during the day hard to do.