- Death Jr.
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Death Jr. 
Developer(s) Backbone Entertainment Publisher(s) Konami Platform(s) PlayStation Portable Release date(s) Genre(s) Action Rating(s) Death Jr. is a video game for the PlayStation Portable. The PSP iteration was the very first PSP game ever shown publicly and advertised as a killer-app. It was released to fairly mediocre reviews and noted for numerous problems about the camera, gameplay and uninspiring graphics, but was praised for its Tim Burton-esque themes and quirky characters. Slightly more well-received was the comic book adaptation by Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh, which includes two three-issue miniseries.
Contents
Plot
The game, movie, and comic book are about the teenage son of the Grim Reaper, named DJ. His father tried many times (all of them failed) to stop his son from creating chaos at every school he has been in. Now is DJ's last chance. If he creates chaos one more time, he'll be sent to military school. He meets his new friends at this school: Pandora, a girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and a thing for locked boxes; Stigmartha, a girl who has holes in her hands and bleeds from them whenever she's nervous; Smith and Weston, conjoined twins who are very smart and conjoined at the head; The Seep, an armless, legless, foul-mouthed kid in a vat; and The Dead Guppy, a character who speaks for himself.
The friends go on a field trip to a museum, where they find a locked box that Pandora wants opened, so DJ opens it to impress her. Unfortunately, all hell breaks loose and demons run amok. It's up to DJ to stop them, revert the town back to normal, all the while making sure dad doesn't find out.
In the game, the player has a variety of guns ranging from pistols to a rocket launcher. The controls are simple. The player moves around with the analog nub and attacks people with the square and circle buttons. There is a lot of emphasis in the game on the combos which can be achieved by linking attacks to each other very soon. Death Jr. is a fairly short game with short cut scenes and various enemies. It is worth noting that although Death himself, DJ's father, appears on the cover of the game's case, he does not actually appear in-game.
Weapons
- Pistols: These guns can unleash a devastating blow to all your enemies. Unlimited ammo. Short Ranged.
- C4 Hamsters:The name says it all.
- Shotgun: Short ranged gun meant for blasting enemies.
- Flamethrower: Short ranged weapon that burns enemies.
- Freezethrower: Read title.
- Rocket Launcher: Boom time.
- Chain Gun: Stand fast.
- Electric Gun: Shocks enemies with powerful bursts of electricity.
Main characters
- DJ
- Death Jr. (aka DJ) is the teenage son of the Grim Reaper. He has had many cats which he knows by number because he always ends up killing them (A possible homage to Roman Dirge's "Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl"). He loves his dad, Death, but he thinks he is treating him like a baby. His dad Death tries hard to stop him from creating trouble at every school he has been to (including killing half of his sixth grade class by accident at his last school) but has failed every time. He uses the student reaper scythe, and has killed several demons with it. He has a crush on Pandora (his sweetheart). He doesn't realize he and the others are that much different from normal people, he just sees people by what they are like inside. Death Jr. is kind and brave. He will never give up on anything that happens.
- Pandora
- Pandora is a cute, smart little goth girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder, meaning she cannot look at a box without opening it. She finds a box in a museum class trip and she could not open it so as she walks away, Death Jr. opens it with his scythe to impress her, but it unleashes Moloch the main demon. She (Pandora) has a crush on DJ (her sweetheart), who accidentally kills her when using his father's scythe. Death eventually brings her back to life. She knows a lot about locks, and can open almost anything. She doesn't know trouble but it sure knows how to find her. The Death Jr. games and comic book have become so popular that a manga series based on the game has been created in which Pandora is the main character.[1]
- The Seep
- The Seep is a foul mouthed, limbless fetus in a vat. (He has no arms or legs) He is sarcastic, rude, cruel, and selfish, and he stinks. In the game he is pushed around by Stigmartha, but in the comic he has robotic tank in picle juice. His diaper is frequently removed so Pandora can use the pin as a lock pick, causing grief to both Marty and him. He seemingly leaves the museum before the battle with Moloch, but returns with he most powerful weapon only after the battle is over. They then use it to lock the box. In the game his soul is trapped in Suburbia.
- Smith and Weston
- Smith and Weston are two conjoined twins, joined by the head. Because they are both intelligent and share one large brain, they are born inventors. In the game, they help upgrade DJ's weapons. Weston has a laid-back attitude, while Smith is more of a gentleman. Additionally, in the comics they are further individualized by having Smith be more book-smart, while Weston is smart in "other ways", generally being more of a manipulative strategist. Weston is on their right and Smith is on the left although this is possibly confused in the comics where Weston occasionly says something intellectual, while Smith says something plain or funny, this could possibly be an accident.
- Stigmartha
- One of DJ's classmates who also goes out of the tour group. She is cautious, and is often the one who tells the rest of the group to leave things alone. She has holes in her hands that bleed whenever she worries. It only happens once when the gang is about to open the box. She is smart and is often considered as an outsider to the rest of the gang because she likes school, and wants to become a journalist when she grows up. She also writes the paper about what they learned at their class trip to the museum.
- Dead Guppy
- The last and the least. This character speaks for himself. As long as he is rebelling, he is a rebel. He's been all over the world. And oh yeah, he's dead.
- Moloch
- The main villain of the game, DJ's evil uncle, who is released when DJ opens the box. He holds Pandora captive during the game.
See also
References
External links
Categories:- 2005 video games
- Konami games
- PlayStation Portable games
- PlayStation Portable-only games
- Fictional conjoined twins
- Video games developed in Canada
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