Previews// The 3rd Birthday

Overdive is used primarily to help Aya get from A to B in the fastest and safest way possible. Each soldier on the battlefield has a weapon set, health and tactical location and you can switch between these as you please. I was told there is a limit to how many times you switch between bodies but during my 2 hours with the game, I didn’t seem to have an issue constantly switching.

The game controls much like you'd expect of a third person shooter and is tailored well to the PSP. Little things like allowing you to easily switch between weapons by holding the left shoulder button and using the X, square, triangle and circle buttons or locking on with the right shoulder button make the whole process more comfortable. There is even a cover system and evade button for those tricky situations.

One thing I really liked about the battle system was how fast-paced it felt. You can go into Overdive and teleport instantly around the map with the hold of the triangle button.

If you do a certain amount of damage to an enemy you can initiate an Overdive Kill where Aya jumps into the enemy and kills it from the inside. This is done by pressing the triangle button just when a triangle appears over the monster. Overdive Kills can be instant for normal monsters and can do a monumental amount of damage to a boss. If you don’t shoot and hold your reticule over an enemy, you can initiate a command to other soldiers and when the bar is filled they will all start to blast at that monster.

The last thing to mention is Aya’s Liberation skill which is much like the limit break from Final Fantasy. Build up or take enough damage and Aya can activate Liberation mode. Not only does this allow Aya to move about the battlefield quicker as well as increase her fire power, it also auto-evades any attacks coming your way. It makes an upcoming nasty series of attacks much easier to deal with.

Outside of battles, Aya returns to the usual corridor run through. The environments changed up enough to keep it fresh but corridors were already returning about 2 hours in. You run around, kill the Twisted, assist soldiers and try to unlock clues as to what has caused the phenomenon. You’ll travel from room to room collecting information, keys and so-forth to progress.

Luckily the battles are comfortably constant and there are even some you can run past should you wish to skip them. Much like survival horrors, there is still a save room where you can change weapons and upgrade your DNA, which replaces the Parasite Energy tree of the last game. After certain battles, you pick up DNA chips. These can be used to upgrade Aya’s DNA to gain more health, defence, attack power and so forth.

Alongside the DNA upgrades, you can also change Aya’s costume. These costumes can increase Aya’s defence level, making it easier to copy with the battle. Of course, costumes range from a Bunny girl, business woman, maid outfit or even Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. Maybe not practical in appearance, but some of these outfits offer the best defence in game.

It’s the start of a new series, the Aya Brea series. Still undecided on what they will call it, the team are determined to create more. This doesn’t mean we should get used to seeing it as a third person shooter as they are still unsure as to what genre they will take Aya to next. 3rd Birthday is one of the most polished, interesting and exciting PSP games I’ve had my hands on. It’s certainly one to watch out for as we wait for the NGP to reach us.