Konami and Backbone Entertainment's Death Jr. II: Root of Evil is the follow-up to the quirky PSP launch title starring the son of the Grim Reaper, Death Jr. The game was widely panned by the media because it didn't quite live up to the hype (which oddly enough the media created - go figure on that one), but sold moderately well despite its bad to mediocre reception. The game must have sold well enough for Backbone and Konami to give it another try on the PSP because the end result is a brand new game in the series called Death Jr. II: Root of Evil.
Root of Evil is a third-person 3D action platformer for the PSP, just like its predecessor, this time following the antics of Death Jr. and Pandora as they try to figure out how to defeat a giant plant like monster named Furi that they accidentally freed from her cocoon. To defeat Furi, they'll be doing the usual amount of jumping, swinging, defeating bad guys and breaking environmental objects to advance.
Visually the world of Death Jr. II adheres closely to the original, which offered very Tim Burtonesque settings and characters. The trademark humor and hijinx are also intact this time around and the environments you'll explore have also been tweaked to look better but in a subtle way that you might not immediately notice. The game uses a unique technology called high dynamic range lighting, which adds a number of nice small graphical effects into these worlds.
The gameplay mechanics in Root of Evil have been tweaked to make the overall gameplay experience smoother and players now have the opportunity to take on a secondary character in Pandora. While the second character sounds good on paper, the biggest problem is that they are too similar to get any kind of unique experience out of either character. Death Jr. uses his scythe, while Pandora uses a whip but all of the platforming elements and the combat feel the same no matter who you choose.
As we mentioned Death Jr. uses his scythe not only for combat, but also for navigating and conquering each environment. He might use it to slide across a vine like a secret agent, or rock and swing to get to another platform that seems impossible to reach like Tarzan. These elements work pretty well and are pretty easy to figure out, but the in-game camera sometimes interferes with that action. Pandora uses her whip in similar fashion to get from one obstacle to another as well, though there's not much of a difference in functionality between her and Death Jr. Both also have their basic melee attacks for cracking bad guys' skulls, and as they advance through the game they'll find projectile weapons in the form of guns that can be used to hit enemies that are slightly out of reach. These guns are pretty amusing to use, though targeting enemies doesn't always work as well as it should.
The biggest problem, aside from the occasionally loose controls and odd camera angles, is that the game doesn't really go out of its way to be different from the PSP launch title on which it is based. But that's not to say that Root of Evil isn't fun – there's plenty of good times to be had for fans of platformers and the series trademark humor and dark characters.
One thing that really does deserve some attention is the game's cooperative play mode. Two players can get together and tackle the adventure as a team, making some of the more harrowing moments in the game a lot easier. Sure, you'll still have to navigate your way through the myriad of action based puzzles , but you'll have an easier time keeping the enemies that tend to respawn everywhere off your back. Cooperative mode is a good addition to the game, provided you have a friend on hand to take it on.
