I don't recommend you actually beat this game, but you really should at least pop open an emulator and play it.

Valhalla Knights is a strangely compelling little action RPG with little to no story, VERY PSP graphics, and slightly clunky gameplay.
Crucially, however, it's fun.

There's nothing quite like this game mechanically except maybe its sequels.
It's a big team dungeon crawler with shockingly harsh leveling and economy, there are no random battles, it spawns enemies in that you can mostly avoid if you have to.

The dungeon crawling part consists of pathing out small levels, finding switches to open locked doors, and occasionally finding quest objectives.
The quests give you zero guidance and little reward, except the ones that randomly award you a party member that's absolutely essential.

Almost everything about this game is extremely obtuse, but I kinda just love it.

Combat has a surprising amount of strategy and fun to be had, the atmosphere is perfect.
If you're nostalgic in any way for ps1/psp graphics, this game can be a treat to look at.

I dunno, definitely don't try beating it, after the halfway point the game absolutely DEMANDS you grind your way to max level, which takes literal hours of tedium.
but the first 15 hours is genuinely enjoyable. Just know that the story isn't getting any better than the first hour of nonsense and call it a day.

I've played some wildly inadvisable games on PSP but this takes the cake.

First off take a look at that cover art and take a wild guess what type of game this is... I'll wait...

Didya guess marble platformer? no? well me neither.

Ok fine, I'm a fan of venineth and marble madness, I'll bite... actually it's sort of a marble... suggestion game...

no really, you don't actually play the marble, you play a column of light that DIRECTS the marble, awkwardly.
You can increase or decrease your influence on the marble and even toss it a tiny bit by hovering over it directly. It's one or the other tho, you can't exactly tell it to jump one way or another all that well.

On the whole, a monumentally bad way to control a video game. I cannot imagine this had a very confident development cycle.

Also, the end gates have a massive hitbox meaning you'll finish levels whether you want to or not.

A really well-polished 2-d stealth platformer, the speed-run twist doesn't motivate me personally but the core mechanics are all solid.

It has some of the best stuff from games like gunpoint and trilby the art thief: levels of visibility, and manipulating shadows.
beyond that the tools are a bit limited.

so while it doesn't quite compare to Mark of the Ninja/AC Chronicles, it's still a great stealth game if you're weird like me and crave these kinds of games.

A combination of a maze game and a hidden objects game.
Pierre the Maze Detective has you chasing your nemesis through highly detailed and animated, hand-drawn setpieces to catch your nemesis.

Along the way, you can find tons of adorable interactables and collectibles.

This game is basically Where's Waldo by way of Pajama Sam.

It exudes charm and exemplifies simple fun.

Edgy abrasive outsider art.

I originally didn't give this a review because I feel like it doesn't need any more praise, but it is good.

It exemplifies art that defies its viewer. Some art is supposed to be hard to understand or appreciate. Positivity isn't the only human experience.
if art is fundamentally about sharing ineffable experiences, then why can't we share pain/frustration/despair?

Despair is the easiest to convey, or at least the most acceptable. We can relate to despair but it's usually catharsis that makes drama enjoyable. I challenge you to watch a movie by Lars Von Trier. Stories that unapologetically hate the viewer. His two part Nymphomaniac is an open letter to critics of his past movies and giant middle finger to the audience. Is this allowed? can it be called great art?

I have no idea, but Cruelty Squad is no different.

This game hates you, the dev told you to pirate it, so why would you play this?

Because sometimes feeling pain is its own reward: be grateful for these anxieties, someday they will be gone.

Up the video game was developed by Heavy Iron Studios on the big consoles and Asobo Studios on dinky bois, and published by THQ.

It's safe to say THQ took its Disney contracts seriously because at least on a surface level, the quality is visible.

The game covers an interesting cliffnotes version of the film and captures a lot of the Pixar quality in overall presentation.

Gameplay takes the form of a Co-op puzzle platformer broken up by some log/bird riding, boss fights, and a random dogfight at the end.

I played the PSP version and quite enjoyed it, though I think if you have any interest in playing this for yourself, you should grab it on a console. The game was built for Co-op and I've no doubt it'd be enjoyable.

The core puzzle platforming levels that make up the majority of the game are reasonably solid. It's never particularly difficult but has a few tricks to keep players engaged.

Playing solo (though even the PSP had co-op through wifi which is beyond cool) the AI is surprisingly decent. The only real gripes I had were with some of the level designs and lack of polish in some places, but it was almost never the AI's fault. In solo mode you swap between the characters to use their different features to solve puzzles.

Mr. Fredrickson uses his cane to climb higher ledges, Russel can carry things, you occasionally take control of Dug and Kevin who have a long jump and a high jump respectively, dug can also go through doggy doors.

As you play through the game the boys also pickup some added tricks for dealing with dangerous animals and other minor problems.

The gameplay follows a similar progression to other successful B-games, by offering a ton of variety.
While a majority of levels were just co-op platforming and puzzles, there was enough of all the other level types to stop it ever getting stale, and there's enough different scenery on display to be interesting.

The collectibles are an interesting little bit of icing. I gave up on them by the halfway point but I can definitely see 100%ing this game if I played it as a kid and/or with a dedicated player 2. You compete to collect (or squash) bugs in each level. There's also butterflies for Russel and picture frames for Fredrickson which add a little extra gameplay if inclined, you get a little collection in the main menu from doing so.

There's nothing revolutionary in here, but like with many THQ projects of the time it's perfectly enjoyable. I finished it without ever getting bored or frustrated.
THQ games never fail to bring me back to something nostalgic with a perfectly competent clone of a better game.
I'd say they were taking a lot from games like cookies and cream here, but I'm sure there's a more prominent example.

I think it's easy to get cynical about these games, to say they served no purpose other than to cash in on the immediate success of the related property. And I won't try to claim that they definitely DIDN'T do that.
I'll just say that cynicism like that happens at a top level, below that is a bunch of game developers just trying to make something fun.

THQ games are fun to play, and that's all there is to it.

Unironically quite fun for at least one loop.

The game consists of three little arcadey mini-games, swinging on vines, swimming with gators, and jumping rocks/baddies.

This was probably quite impressive at the time, and it's decently fun today.