Coded Arms

Game Chronicles

With a great premise and a visionary artistic style to match, Coded Arms delivers a solid action-packed shooter for both single and multiplayer gamers.

Stuff

The white-hot fire fights are so intense they actually made our underarms moist. The PSP screen practically shudders with explosions, shotgun fire and discarded shell casings.

Next Level Gaming

I have to say it's one of the more graphically impressive PSP games I've seen in the system's youth.

Gaming Target

As the first FPS for PSP, Coded Arms is a decent try at it, though not one that's really going to rewrite the books on the genre.

Adrenaline Vault

If you are looking for a deep story-driven experience with lots of innovative twists parallel to the latest non-handheld computer and console releases, then you are doomed to disappointment and should not purchase this title.

PSM Magazine

Feels a lot clunkier than your average PC FPS. [Aug 2005, p.84]

IGN

Konami did a great job making their first-person shooter look great. I can't stress this enough – I love this game's sense of style.

Computer and Video Games

The whole experience ends up falling a little flat. The main problem is that there's no great story to really pull you in. Yes, there are over 20 weapons to collect and upgrade, which is fun, but the narrative is sadly lacking. [PSW]

Game Informer

A totally functional shooter. Too bad it's not much fun. [Aug 2005, p.107]

Gaming Age

I would be lying to say this game is a pick up and play FPS, but finding your niche will only take a half hour or so of tweaking and trying controls schemes before you find the one you like.

GameSpot

The controls, while initially weird, can be adjusted to, and it's one of the better-looking games on the system from a technology standpoint. The problems are within the underlying design, which simply doesn't have a lot to offer beyond a bland, unappealing corridor crawl with similarly boring multiplayer.

Game Over Online

What could have been a great game is hampered by a frustrating control scheme and rather bland design. FPS fans are better off waiting to see if anything else comes down the pipe that will sate their bloodlust.

Play Magazine

Played in small chunks and enlivened by multiplayer, Coded Arms can offer a distractive appeal, but the imprecision of the PSP control scheme within the game's incongruous design will be enough to keep a demanding player away. [Aug 2005, p.58]

PSX Extreme

I can't stress enough how dull and tedious the levels are. They totally suck the fun out of what would otherwise be a solid game.

My Gamer

The first FPS game for the PSP, and it's a great start. Although this game isn’t perfect, it does prove that a handheld can handle an FPS game…it just doesn’t prove it can handle it well.

Cheat Code Central

If you love "Doom" you'll like Coded Arms, but if you didn't care for Doom you'll hate this one.

Maxim Online

It all adds up to a decent shooter with 30 weapons to keep you trigger-happy while alternating between single- and four-player "Deathmatch" and "Last Man Standing" modes.

Yahoo! Games

Unfortunately, no amount of tweaking will result in a set of buttons replacing an analog stick -- the end result is less than desirable.

eToychest

It's just so painfully average that its few big problems (i.e., random maps and questionable controls) really drag down the entire product.

DarkStation

Misses the mark as the vague plot and unchallenging gameplay makes for a very tedious shooter.

GamePro

A decent fight that has one arm tied behind its back. [Sept 2005, p.81]

Computer Games Magazine

This will do just fine until the real first-person shooters come out. [Oct 2005, p.90]

G4 TV

A good portable game is one that excels in short bursts; boring you in a few minutes isn't the same thing.

AceGamez

A bit of a disappointing first attempt at a shooter, considering the power of the PSP. The sound is reasonable and the graphics vary between good and excellent, but the gameplay lacks somewhat.

Jolt Online Gaming UK

The aimless blasting across what seems like a countless number of levels that are practically indistinguishable from one another do not a great game make, but if you can play on a friend’s copy, it’s worth doing so to snatch a glimpse at what’s to come. Hopefully...

GameCritics

The kinetic running and gunning is there and it has the right style, but Coded Arms in its present form seems more like the first few pieces of something larger, rather than a complete product.

Loaded Inc

Coded Arms nails the controls and graphics but comes up short where it really counts and that’s in its gameplay.

Thunderbolt

This is a very basic FPS game that might entertain you for a while, but it’s pretty boring and repetitive and I just couldn’t get that excited about it. Sure, it’s got a lot of flash, but there’s no substance to the game.

PALGN

A missed opportunity, the game features hard to learn controls, randomised levels that quickly becomes repetitive and enemies that all look very similar.

Pelaaja (Finland)

Coded Arms feels more like a technological experiment than a fleshed out game. The 3D-engine runs smoothly, multiplayer doesn’t lag, controls are well thought out for a handheld and there’s plenty of imagination in the design of the available weaponry. It’s a shame then, that Konami hasn’t built a decent game around the engine. [Sept 2005, p 58]

Edge Magazine

With the exception of the three bosses, there are no escalations or climaxes, no set-pieces, ambushes, chokepoints or challenges that involve anything more than the eradication of a roomful of enemies by way of laboured strafes and hops. [Sept 2005, p.98]

games(TM)

A blaster of mediocre proportions that might keep you hooked through sheer determination to see it through (if only because you’ll be convinced that mastery of the twitchy controls is actually possible), but isn’t actually much fun to play. [Sept 2005, p.102]

Detroit Free Press

The environments are horribly boring, ranging from drab, deserted cities to drab, abandoned ruins to drab, defunct old bases. And the foes are pretty dumb, too, especially at the game's start.

1UP

The gameplay is classic run-'n-gun style, creature designs are as uninspired as the environments they inhabit, and the unintuitive controls mean shooting often leads to frustration.

GameZone

Coded Arms's clunky controls that are anything but inviting. I had no desire to return to this game after playing it for a measly 60 minutes. None!

Worth Playing

A game with which the player can stay active and engaged, but not one which the player will enjoy with more than the slightest note of glee.

GameSpy

From the boring art design to the painfully weak enemy AI, just about every facet of the game screams mediocrity.

TotalPlayStation

A novel idea that failed in executing the stuff surrounding the running and jumping and shooting, Coded Arms could have been a great, immersive cyberpunk tale, but instead it ends up skimming the surface of what could be a very cool world.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Maybe if this blah shooter had better controls - and maybe if you haven't played a first-person bast-em-up since 1995 - it would be worth your time. Ah, who am I kidding. Coded Arms would still suck. [Aug 2005, p.119]

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Shallow combat meets nonexistente level design in a battle for FPS mediocrity. [Aug 2005, p.89]

Modojo

Rather than trying something new and innovative within the capabilities of the platform, Coded Arms gives gamers the same thing they've gotten so much of already: a straight port that simply banks on the fact that it looks impressive and has never been done on a mobile platform.

Game Revolution

Coded Arms is such a weak rendition of a first-person-shooter, it makes us wonder whether such a thing is even possible on the single-analog PSP.