By Boot Scraper
The PSP has recently been hit with a swarm of titles that stand up to their big console brothers in the past several months. Ratchet and Clank, Daxter, Burnout, and many other games and franchises have been faithfully ported or created anew on Sony’s little wonder. The latest in the line of miniature clones is Full Auto 2.

Full Auto 2 bursts onto the PSP with a rocket fuel amount of energy. Just after being released as an exclusive system on Sony’s mammoth PS3, it’s now taking a turn on the little guy. But before then it was a woefully underrated game on the Xbox 360 earlier in it’s life. For those who have not played any Full Auto before (and shame on you), it’s basically a mix between Burnout, Twisted Metal, and Prince of Persia. That may sound confusing so let me explain why: it’s Twisted Metal because of the car combat, Burnout for the insane racing and destruction, and Prince of Persia because if you make a boo-boo, you can rewind time and try to avoid that wall you slammed into. And I’m happy to say that all of that craziness makes it’s way faithfully onto the PSP. All the fun of racing over 200 mph down city streets while machine-gunning and rocket-launching your opponents and random pieces of urban architecture is just as fun on the PSP as it was for the 360 and PS3.

The graphics and sound also make a clean jump to your smaller-than-small screen. Although nowhere near as shiny and realistic as the PS3 or 360 versions, the PSP version puts several PS2 racers to shame. Large explosions and bright gunfire fill the screen with little-to-no slow down, even in the middle of a high speed race down a busy street. It’s also amazing to see how many objects and even buildings can be destroyed in the extremely interactive environment. The sound is just as good, giving the visuals a boost with clean sounds of destruction and a great soundtrack with tracks from bands like The Used and Stone Sour.
The controls also hold up with the great gameplay as the smooth analog nub does a surprisingly good job of steering through all of the destruction. The button layout also does a perfect job of letting you blow away the competition while still being able to cruise your Mad Max-looking ride to the finish line.
You also get a lot of bang for your buck with this game. Not only is there great multiplayer modes like the arena fights which are like a mix between a Destruction Derby and a firing range, but also because of the amount of different ways you mix and match your cars with different weapons to make the most ultimate death machine imaginable. Add in a lot more weapons and vehicles to unlock and you have one hell of a deal.
Full Auto 2 may be just a big, dumb excuse to blow stuff up at high speeds, but it’s one damn fun ride. It’s a shame more games like this aren’t made anymore. It may be an acquired taste, but if you like to shoot things and drive fast, I’d dare you to find a better game.

Score: 9 out of 10.