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Much like the more-often-than-not mediocre Death
Jr., Infected is a title which has been doing the
rounds in the PSP press for quite some time. With Majesco now
entering into publishing  in the UK themselves, the scheduled release has repeatedly slipped, only to
slide of the 2005 schedule indefinitely. But that’s not to say the
title’s gone unnoticed. With a very strong showing at E3
2005, Infected
has all the hallmarks of one of those bubbling-under great
games; no-one could deny its potential.
With a seemingly considerably high-budget considering the
title’s origins, Infected features
support from a list of high-profile Death Metal bands and
Majesco’s own BloodRayne. The title’s premise is pretty
simple, but inherently captivating: playing in a limited arena
linked to others via subways – seemingly a technique imposed by
SONY’s limitations of the use of both the PSP’s Disc-Drive and
CPU - your objectives range from rescuing civilians and killing all
the zombies, to killing all the zombies in an area to allow for
chopper support, to killing all the zombies – generally the best
premise that you could find for a videogame… kill all the zombies.
The free-roaming aspect of the title is far from cityscape seen in Spider-Man
2, but New York is very well represented in Destroy All Humans!-esque sandbox
arenas. In order to take down the enemy, the use of two weapons is
required. Firstly, your basic weapon is fired with the X Button.
Ranging from a  pistol to a grenade launcher, this weapon is used to
drain the enemies health prior to using your secondary weapon; with
the Square Button, launching ammo laced with your blood will
take down enemies for good, or rather, make them explode in a shower
of blood and guts. The controls feel muddled at the best of times
and, while the accuracy of the Analogue is very well accomplished,
some more thought into default layout would have been appreciated as
opposed to following typical PlayStation2 configuration.
Majesco’s first PSP offering provides a very open-ended
style of gameplay - freedom to select Levels, Upgrades and even plot
your own route throughout a specific Level. The early Levels are
particularly linear, but once the game is confident you’ve got to
grips with it, it opens-up no-end, and becomes a game entirely
defined by the user. Occasional Levels, however, do feel like
content extenders as opposed to the next-line in the game’s
challenge; however the Medal System adds a huge degree of
replayability to each of the Missions on offer. Before beginning
each Mission, you are shown the requirements needed to achieve a
Medal on the selected Level, obtaining Bronze usually isn’t too
much of a challenge, but attaining Gold on every Level certainly
provides an entertaining difficulty curve.
Before play, your avatar must be designed. Limited to begin
with, progress will unlock literally thousands of variations –
including the full Slipknot line-up and BloodRayne herself.
The Upgrades and additional choices for your avatar become unlocked
with progression through the Missions, with a few secrets further
extending the longevity of the title. The Multiplayer aspect of the
title is fantastic. While the online modes are, at best, a little
dull, four-player LAN is a brilliantly designed original piece of
creativity. Winning a Match will infect the losers with your Virus,
which in turn will be passed on with theirs until they lose, or beat
three other people. In theory, it’s possible that your Virus will
spread to hundreds of PSP’s who you’ll never meet – and there
is an option to track your Virus online.
Graphically,
Infected isn’t the best title on the PSP; however it does
manage to top the PlayStation2’s average  quite competently. The
draw distance is fantastic, giving the player a sense of being
merely a small piece of the puzzle amongst dazzling skyscrapers and
hundreds of zombies and civilians, while the character animation
parallels the best we’ve seen on SONY’s handheld system to-date.
No expense has been spared in making the title a humorous compatriot
to THQ’s Destroy All Humans!. With a similar sense of
“America Vs. The World” mentality, the entire game is filled
with satirical comments and opinions surrounding American culture
and TV – a comical element that’s genuinely funny.
Infected
is a rare PSP gem. A title that’s both delivered on its promises
and holds a degree of originality. Zombie mashing isn’t to
everyone’s tastes and fans of the likes of Resident Evil
may see Majesco’s choice of a more arcade-esque approach a little
distancing, but Infected isn’t trying to draw you into a
huge over-blown story about genocide and betrayal. Infected is
simply here to play, laugh at and occasionally scream at in
frustration. Simply, Majesco have done it – now let’s just hope
they decide to let the UK see it.
 
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