Coded Arms is (as far as I can tell) the first FPS to come out for the PSP. When I first heard of this game, I was a little cautious. Having spent years getting used to dual analog sticks or the mouse and keyboard combination found on consoles and PCs, I just couldn’t see how the PSP could make a first person shooter feel right with only one analog stick. Unfortunately I was right; the odd control scheme just doesn’t quite feel as fluid and intuitive as it does on the bigger systems. But I’ll get to the control issues later.

As for the graphics of Coded Arms, there isn’t anything groundbreaking or new, but that isn’t always bad. The graphics are good and very crisp, especially on the PSP’s bright, widescreen display. The walls, characters and weapons all look as if they belong in a sci-fi movie, which is good since the game’s storyline belongs on the big screen.

As for the music and sound, Coded Arms gets the job done but doesn’t do anything too spectacular. The background music keeps out of the way, but fills your ears so you don’t have to deal with dead air while you hunt your way through the game’s corridors and passageways.

Like I said earlier, the story of Coded Arms belongs in a sci-fi movie. In the future, technology has advanced so much that humans can physically jack into computers and transport their consciousness into cyberspace. This technology had become so common that just about anybody on the planet could network into any computer at pretty much any time – humans discovered aliens, and the military started using the advanced tech against the extraterrestrials.

This military-might created an advanced A.I. system known only as A.I.D.A., used to train their troops – that is, until it went Skynet on everybody. A.I.D.A. was contained and isolated before it could do any serious damage, but the system was still intact and could not be shut down. Years passed, and generations of people used the constrained training program as the ultimate video game.

In order to integrate with A.I.D.A., gamers need to completely digitize their minds and commit themselves fully to the game, leaving a lifeless body waiting for their minds to return. Unfortunately, not everyone gets out of the A.I.D.A. system “alive.” These people who have died in the game are known as sleepers, since their bodies will be asleep forever. Lately, more and more “bugs” and security programs called “bots” have been appearing in the system. These unexpected intrusions have reduced the chances of a player surviving the game to fewer than 40%.

As a response to this, the Earth’s government has cancelled all connections to A.I.D.A. and outlawed anyone attempting to break into the A.I.’s system. You are a hacker and part of an underground organization trying to retrieve valuable rare files found throughout A.I.D.A.’s network. But since only the most skilled hackers were able to get into A.I.D.A., these new uberhackers have been named “Coded Ones.” Like I said, it’s a story worthy of a full-feature movie.

One of the more interesting things about the game is that each level is different each time you play it. Though the overall structure of the game might look the same, the floors or levels within the sectors (basically worlds) are randomly generated when the level is loaded. This means that you can’t just keep hacking away at the same levels and just learn where the baddies will be; you have to grow as a gamer. This also makes the game’s replayability skyrocket.

Coded Arms’ multiplayer aspect is nothing to sneeze at either. This game has three of the staple first person shooter multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, and Keep the Mark (basically a keep-away game).

Coded Arms’ difficulty level is fairly steady. As you progress through the game, you will encounter stronger foes, but gain better weapons at about the same rate. Because of this, the game never gets to be too much to handle. However, since the levels are different each time you play them, you have to stay on your toes and rely on your skills more than your previous experiences in a particular level.

The main fault with Coded Arms is its attempt to translate standard FPS controls to the handheld. The Triangle, Circle, Square and X face buttons are used to look around the world, while the analog stick is used to move around. In the bigger consoles, the right analog is typically used for camera control, while in PC’s that function has been delegated to the mouse. Both tactics work great because you can then move the camera with a fluid, non-digital system. With Coded Arms restricting its camera movement to four digital buttons, it takes more work to look to the left. Instead of simply flicking a mouse or stick in the direction you want to look, you have to hold down a button. I hoped that the more I played the game, the easier it would be to use the camera control, but I never completely got used to it.

So as the first PSP FPS, Coded Arms isn’t the best shooter out there, but given the PSP design, I don’t see exactly how another FPS can handle the control scheme any better.