Gamesugar

Housewives and children set aside their chores and Government’s watch with bated breath as the battle to determine the fate of the world is broadcast live on television. But for all the fanfare, the fated showdown between Demon General Darkdeath Evilman and the invincible Unlosing Ranger is so one-sided, with the Unlosing Ranger being invincible after all, that many simply carry on with their day, even if it includes running over said Ranger on his way to the fight.

NIS has crammed so many bits of cult love into the first ten minutes of Z.H.P. that, perhaps for the first time ever, I laughed like a lunatic at the play of it all before any actual game even begins. The game finds the means to scream at you before you even press start, warning players that there will only be one fight, but that it will be an epic and long one. From there it grabs at super hero tropes and Power Ranger oddities, 80’s apocalypse anime doom, and quick editing that offers cameo appearances from completely random characters, simply because it can.

This is NIS off their medication, with another PSP game with a very strange name (Z.H.P.: Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman) – though this time it isn’t just a case of being crazy for the sake of it, though that is ever present. There’s fertile ground for the character customization to feed naturally through the parody and knit a sweater of awesome out of the cultural threads on hand.

That the game offers customization options for the “me! me! me!” swarm I often catch myself belonging to, helps invite me into an strategy game with a wealth of customization options – without hammering me over the head at the outset, or in simpler terms, not being nearly so stuffy about it as the genre generally is.

Who doesn’t want to play a hand at customizing the ultimate hero?

As for the game that unfolds beyond the first ten minutes, stay tuned. Or if for some reason you’ve no idea what game I’m talking about, catch up with the trailer after the break.