The PSP was a great portable console that was filled with classic game after classic game. That said, one thing it was never really good at was handling a good first person shooter. In fact, this list covers just about every single one in order to get ten in total.
Let’s take a look at the top ten FPS titles on the PSP from best to worst based on their Metacritic score. And be sure to subscribe to all the wonderful content creators whose videos we use in order to show off all the games on this list in their best possible quality.
Let’s get to it!
- Medal of Honor Heroes (71%)
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You’d expect Call of Duty to sit at the top in terms of best PFS games for a console, or even portable console, but many forget that Medal of Honor came first. Medal of Honor Heroes takes the crown as the highest rated FPS title and was a decent shooter offline, but players and critics at the time praised the online multiplayer. Tons of maps, lots of MoH hero unlocks from past games, and even having bot support for offline/online play made for good time and making this the best FPS game on the PSP. It only gets worse from here.
- Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (69%)
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More of the same isn’t a bad thing and Medal of Honor Heroes 2 proves that. A better overall experience on the whole, this FPS cleans up a lot of the little issues that plagued the original title. It’s really only has a lower overall score because it brings nothing new to the table and shortens the single player experience for more of a focus on online play. The only real critique is that many felt the game was essentially an expansion pack and an excuse to up the multiplayer limit to 32 players at one time.
- Brothers in Arms: D-Day (65%)
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There is going to be a lot of WWII shooters on this list. We were right smack in the middle of the WWII shooter explosion. It’s crazy that I’m writing this as the WWII shooter is now back in full swing. Makes me feel very old! Anyways, Brothers in Arms: D-Day is a tactical FPS, meaning that you can’t just run and gun your way to victory. The single-player campaign was lengthy and worth a revisit even today. If you want some gritty realism in you shooter on the go, this is one to go back and check out.
- Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (64%)
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Call of Duty finally makes its was onto this list with Call of Duty: Roads to Victory. This is your standard Call of Duty only shrunk down to fit the PSP. The problem, one that every game on this list suffers from, has to do with the games controls. Not having dual joysticks (or thumb nubs of the PSP) hurt the experience. The team tried to compensate by implementing an auto-aim that played by its own rules. This wasn’t all bad considering the enemy A.I. was garbage, making the game pretty dang easy.
- Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (61%)
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The PSP saw so many huge FPS franchises experiment on the handheld. Well, I say experiment, but I really mean just shrinking down the main game to fit on the PSP and not thinking about the lack of controls needed for a competent FPS. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is the kid brother of the professional athlete. They have some talent, a lot to prove, and almost always comes up short. Losing the teammates and cover system that helped define the main game sure didn’t do it any favors either.
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (61%)
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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a fun game that fans of the series look back on fondly. It’s also an FPS game that works! That might sound funny but it was an actual take many critics had back in the day. Sure, the PSP was a powerful machine with a sleek look, but it’s controls, or lack of them, concerned a lot of people. FPS titles were all the rage and we wanted a good one on the go. I liked it quite a bit considering it was an FPS that wasn’t a macho WWII shooter.
- Rainbow Six Vegas (60%)
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Rainbow Six Vegas tried to fly to high and got burned by the sun. The production values were strong and the game has tons of features, but it just isn’t all that long or all that fun. This was a time when Rainbow Six was still trying to be an actual real-to-life FPS game, something that served it well on PC and even consoles. The PSP just can’t handle the game and suffers from boring levels, being only a couple of hours long, and controls that made your head hurt.
- Coded Arms (59%)
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It’s taken this long in the list to get ourselves an original FPS designed just for the PSP. Everything else so far comes from a console/PC shooter series or are tied to an anime franchise. Coded Arms comes from famed studio Konami. I know that sounds crazy, but there was a time when Konami not only made video games, they took chances and made original video games. It also has the distinction of being the first FPS game on the PSP. Critics probably cut it a bit of slack because of this. People liked it fine enough but it’s about the most generic an FPS game can be. Not bad for a first go, all things considered.
- Coded Arms: Contagion (56%)
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Konami saw some sort of future with Coded Arms and it did well enough to give them another shot, not only refine the original but to try and be the dominant FPS developer on the platform. Being first is great for sales, but being the best meant a series that could print them money through a console’s lifespan. Unfortunately, Coded Arms: Contagion doesn’t do much to move the franchise forward. In fact, it doesn’t do anything at all. It’s simply more of the same and instead of Konami wanting to make some long-lasting series, they choose to make some to make a quick buck. Now, that’s more like the Konami we know and hate.
- N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (48%)
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Here’s a series that is still around today on mobiles and the only game on this list that was a digital download as a PSP Mini. N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance was most well know for two things: It released as an iOS exclusive in 2009, and was created as a HALO clone. That version was praised and won several awards, but in 2010 it was ported to the PSP to far less success. On a real console the level design feels weak and the controls are, crazy enough, even worse than iOS touch controls. At least the game was cheap at the time at only a few bucks, but it almost helped prove that FPS games couldn’t work on the PSP.
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