Thexder was originally released for PC’s in 1985. You play a robot that shoots a laser, and turns into a fighter jet! This is an enhanced remake put out from Square-Enix for the PSP, and just last week to the PS3.

I was turned on to this title when I watched the trailer, because the graphics were reminiscent of the remake of Gradius. (Which is excellent!) Just like all video games of this era there is absolutely no plot line. Although the transforming ship is one hell of a gimmick.

The PSP version of this game isn’t very big, (the PS3 version is supposedly longer.) But they are only asking for $9.99 to play it, which isn’t a large investment. It does have different difficulty settings, and some online play features. Even still, I can’t see spending more than a few hours of playtime on this title. Although, I would still be interested in trying the PS3 version that was released last week.

The gameplay and strategy system was good. You maneuver through levels that resemble mazes, 10 of them in total, and you fight enemies all along the way. In this game your laser,  shields, and HP are all attached to a single meter, and when that meter gets to zero you die. I liked that your laser drained your HP, but it was a little annoying that your weapon never changed throughout the whole game. Another slightly disappointing aspect was that there was only a single boss battle.

Overall, I think this is good fun for a limited amount of time. I understand that they were remaking a classic game, but when they are enhancing the graphics to the point of looking as cool as these, I wish they took some liberties to upgrade the game as well. And make no mistake, it looked great.

It’s a fun action game for the PSP, but now that the PS3 version has got its release, that’s supposed to have some extra levels, I wouldn’t recommend buying the PSP version. If you want to buy this get it for the PS3!