Majesco's Guilty Gear series has always been a wonderful alternative to Capcom's pixilated fighters, games that feature off the wall characters, tantalizing special maneuvers, and a whacky yet strangely cool heavy metal influence. The games also play wonderfully, especially the upcoming PSP title, Guilty Gear Judgment. I spent some time putting the American release through its paces, and was happy to discover that it not only plays excellently but features two games in one.

A few months ago I imported the Chinese version of Guilty Gear X2 # Reload because I wasn't sure whether the game would ever come to the U.S., but thanks to Majesco it will be included in Judgment. But far more interesting is the other game Judgment, which is a Double Dragon/Final Fight-esque beat-em-up where you, as one of the game's 20 signature characters, wage a personal war against a myriad of horrific enemies across 20 highly detailed stages. It's an all new game that features 20 brand new monsters, six bosses, new details about the characters, and plenty of violence, and the action never lets up. You just walk from left to right kicking lots of ugly monster ass, and the best part, aside from the game playing excellently, is the move lists. Each character has his or her moves from the Guilty Gear fighting games, so if you're at all familiar with the series, or 2D fighting games in general, you'll achieve great results from just messing around with various button combinations. In seconds I juggled enemies, beat them senseless, and even lit them on fire!

There are two reasons why I really enjoyed my time with Guilty Gear Judgment, the first, and foremost, being how polished it is. In other fighting games, the Tekken series comes to mind, the "extra" games are fun but it's clear that the actual arcade experience is the focus, but in this case, the developers actually took the time to craft an all new story, backgrounds, and creatures, so it feels like a stand a lone game.

The second reason has to do with the timing. There's simply nothing else like Guilty Gear Judgment on PSP, and I'm more than happy to welcome its arrival. Sony's hand held is capable of fantastic 3D graphics, but it's good to know that certain developers haven't abandoned 2D gameplay, in particular, games in the vein of Streets of Rage and Sonic Blast Man. Plus, like in some of the aforementioned games, you can play co-operatively (in this case, via ad-hoc) with someone else. You can work together to clear the game's levels, or battle against one another in one of several mini games.

Regarding X2 # Reload, it's your standard issue fighting game. There are 23 characters to select from and a bevy of modes including Arcade, Vs., Survival, and special mission mode. But there's plenty of stuff to do, and the game serves as a nice compliment to the more straight forward Judgment.

Of course, and this is Guilty Gear's pedigree, the graphics are outstanding. Everything, both characters and backgrounds, are displayed at a very high resolution, and as a result the game lacks the nasty jaggies that plague Capcom's 2D fighters. Plus, the crazy cast of characters truly makes the game (and the series in general) unique. There a guy with a bag over is head, a giant muscular behemoth, a female with a guitar, and other strange combatants. The animations are also superb, as characters thrust pool cues, swing chains, and wield guitars with a grace that's fun to watch.

Despite all of this praise, Guilty Gear Judgment isn't exactly a revelation. It's fun, and the fact that it contains two games in one is a great value, but it's obvious that this series won't appeal to everyone simply because it's so bizarre, and its gameplay is hampered by the PSP's design, which isn't conducive to lots of button mashing. But it's definitely a good game/compilation that deserves your attention. We'll have an in depth review shortly after it's April 5 release date, but having played X2 # Reload extensively and getting a great taste of Judgment, I have no qualms giving this title a very high recommendation.