With every new console comes an opportunity to release every type of genre to a new audience and first person shooters are no exception. It's for that reason that we see Coded Arms hit the PSP in its second run of titles since launch - and not before time! Let's face it, anyone who is a fan of the PlayStation will by now be chomping at the bit for some decent in your face weaponry, combatants and humungous explosions. What's more, as this is a new piece of technology, you would expect that the designers of Coded Arms would be 'pushing the envelope' to make sure that this is the definitive shooter on our new favourite handheld.

The story is certainly interesting, if a little Matrix-esque, in that you play a hacker who has been able to infiltrate a secret military program run amok. You are presented with a series of combat challenges in a Virtual Reality environment, promising access to all you could ever need if you get through, or instant real-life death if you don't. The military computer simulates combat environments and it's up to you not only to make your way through each one, but to beat down any artificial intelligences it puts in your way.

With this as the concept, you know that Coded Arms has a licence to look not quite real, act not quite as a real combat situation might and to include a wealth of pick-ups, power ups and all kinds of other bits and pieces for a super AI to dangle in front of your virtual face, to tantalise and tease you with. That's pretty much what the games does too, providing you with upgrades in the form of bits of information; collect enough and you can add a plug-in to your weapon that increases its power. Besides these, the enemies also drop the usual ammo rounds and health, while some bugs give you a virus that you can cure with a nice 3D purple cross.

The battles take place within a choice of three environments - the city, the factory or the temple. Each one has a different graphical look and also has slightly different ways of giving you the power ups. The temple, for example, has some rather bizarre neon plants growing within it. Shoot enough of these and you should see enough items dropping to take you through to the end of each level. There is one other thing that sets the game apart from other titles of its ilk, but I'm not sure if this is a bane or a boon. It appears that you're never going to play the same level twice. If you die and restart the level, it generates a completely different one. This means two things; first, you're never going to make it through a level by gradually learning the layout and attack patterns and secondly you will have to rely totally on your skills with the controller and your reactions to get through each section.

Some might argue that this puts a certain freshness into the approach, but personally I prefer getting to know an area and being able to beat it through familiarity as much as skill. This is negated completely with the random level generator and you must come to terms with the controls as quickly as possible, keeping your nerve as long as possible, if you want to work your way through. The controls themselves feel a little awkward at first but after a while you do get used to them. The joystick steers you forward and backwards and strafes left and right, while I found it easier to set the shoulder buttons to rotate left and right, leaving the X button for firing. On that setting it wasn't too bad, but each to their own. Adapting the controls to suit you is fairly easy, so that's a plus point.

Unfortunately, the remaining gameplay is fairly tawdry and unoriginal. The antagonists are scattered liberally around and there are a few different types, from crawling land mines to arachnid type things and foot soldiers to end of level bosses. These bosses usually sit in a room with a few cohorts and it isn't until you kill one that you get the key to unlock the gate to the next level. So far I haven't found them that challenging - a few sidesteps to the left and right while hammering that fire button gets the job done. The opposition AI doesn't seem that intelligent; it's fairly easy to bamboozle them and pick them off by ducking in and out of obstacles and around corners.

However, for all the shortcomings of the game environment, it can be said that the graphics are pretty damn good and show off the capabilities of the PSP. The three different settings are very pleasant to look at, the factory being very utilitarian, the city having a certain lived in feel and the temple ancient and mouldy as if right out of an Indiana Jones film. In fact, the temple is probably my favourite. Besides the roughly hewn brown stone effect on the walls and floor, there are also trails of slime seeping down each vertical plane, some bizarre carvings and even stranger plant life. Giant venus fly traps painted in a garish neon are scattered liberally around the temple and when you have a moment to spare it's worth doing a 360 degree stroll around them to soak in their beauty. Although primarily designed to drop items for you if shot, it's nice that the designers have blessed these with aesthetics too.

There are a fair variety of different visual approaches to the opposition and again these vary dependent upon your choice of city, factory or temple. The foot soldiers move realistically, leap about nicely and have a variety of stances from which to open fire. The crawling land mines look creepily spider-like and the resulting explosions when they sense you nearby are quite spectacular. I was also pleasantly freaked out by the giant spider things in the temple, which raise their dripping mandibles at you and fire virus toxin in your direction. This is a sickly looking purple and goes well alongside the wide variety of other weapons fire flung your way, which are always bright, colourful and fast. There isn't much of a frame rate drop either, regardless of the action on the screen and I found my lust for bright lights and big explosions sated.

I'm not as impressed by the sound, but I can appreciate the thought that has gone into it. When it comes to the score, it ticks along nicely while you are exploring and then segues into something a bit wilder when an enemy approaches. It tries to be a nice effect but sometimes the leap from placid to frantic can be a bit sudden and not the smooth transition I'm sure it wanted to be. Also, the pace of the music increases sometimes long before an enemy appears in your sights, so it almost acts like a radar. Is the music blaring suddenly? Then you can expect a creature to either leap out at you or be present once you've opened the door at the end of a very long tunnel. Either way, you've got plenty of time to gird your loins for conflict. During such encounters you have the obligatory gunfire and explosion effects, which although tumultuous are not particularly original. However, the PSP handles them with aplomb and if you have a decent pair of headphones fitted you probably won't be disappointed.

The problem is, despite the randomly generated levels, there's not that much else to keep you interested. Okay, you may find lots of weapons as you work through but there's little or no plot to keep you going and pretty much the same enemies from start to finish. The multiplayer section, for up to four players with a copy of the game also (no game sharing here it seems) is fine, but the levels are fairly limited and may be alright for some off the cuff action, but not for any sustained gameplay over food and a few beers.

Coded Arms is 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. Ultimately, regardless of the random level generator, you'll be mowing down the same old enemies time after time, with no puzzle solving, no plot to keep up the pace and certainly little to maintain your interest. While I'm pleased that the steady frame rate clearly shows off the power of the PSP, Coded Arms just promises better for the future rather than delivering anything spectacular in the present.

Reviewed by Dave Wynn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).