This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack for PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack for PlayStation Portable brings together three very different downloadable games on one UMD: flOw, Beats and Syphon Filter: Combat Ops. In flOw, you control a small organism in an abstract aquatic world. You eat other life forms, grow and dive through layers that introduce new prey and dangers. You do not move the PSP itself; the analogue stick controls direction and a button provides acceleration. The calm visuals and music give this part a very different pace from the other two games.
Beats turns music on your Memory Stick into a rhythm game. Symbols approach from four directions and you press the matching face button at the right moment. Difficulty settings, combos and score goals give familiar tracks a new challenge; the included songs can be used if you have no music of your own. A second section lets you build a simple mix with patterns and sounds. Imported music requires a Memory Stick containing supported audio files.
Syphon Filter: Combat Ops is a separate tactical shooter without a story campaign. You select weapons, equipment, rules and maps for battles against other players and can assemble your own missions. The official infrastructure servers and features for exchanging user-made maps have ended and are not offered as working. Local ad hoc play supports up to eight PSP systems, with every player requiring a separate copy. flOw and Beats therefore provide the collection's self-contained content, while Combat Ops remains mainly relevant to a local group with several systems and copies.
Region and language
Our PlayStation Portable games are European editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack uses the standard PSP controls. flOw and the music included with Beats need no extra accessory; using your own music in Beats requires a Memory Stick with supported audio files. Syphon Filter: Combat Ops has no story campaign. The official infrastructure servers and map exchange have ended. Local ad hoc play supports up to eight PSP systems and requires a separate copy for each player.
Manual
PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack for PlayStation Portable includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe released PlayStation Network Collection: Power Pack on 24 October 2008. The bundle was exclusive to Europe and placed three titles previously distributed through the PlayStation Store on a physical UMD. A Puzzle Pack containing Lemmings, Go! Puzzle and Go! Sudoku appeared alongside it. Sony thereby gave PSP owners without a suitable download connection or payment option access to part of its early digital catalogue.
The three games came from different creators. flOw began as a design by Jenova Chen and Nicholas Clark, and SuperVillain Studios adapted thatgamecompany's work for PSP. Beats was developed within Sony Computer Entertainment Europe as a rhythm game using the player's own music collection. Bend Studio built Syphon Filter: Combat Ops on the shooting and multiplayer systems of Dark Mirror and Logan's Shadow, with map editing and player-made missions as major elements.
The collection shows how broad Sony wanted the PlayStation Store on PSP to be: a meditative experiment, a personal music game and an online-focused shooter sit side by side. The UMD preserves the software, but not every service on which that software originally relied. Combat Ops' official servers are closed and shared maps can no longer be retrieved through Sony. flOw and Beats remain playable without that infrastructure; Beats only needs extra storage when you want to use your own music.
Similar games for PlayStation Portable
Puzzle Pack is the companion UMD and likewise bundles three earlier PlayStation Store titles. Its Lemmings, Go! Puzzle and Go! Sudoku all belong to the puzzle genre. Power Pack varies far more between flOw's calm evolution, rhythm action with your own music in Beats and Combat Ops' tactical multiplayer. Both releases make PSP games that began digitally available in physical form.
LocoRoco shares with flOw a colourful world, simple controls and music closely tied to movement. LocoRoco, however, uses fixed platform stages, characters and collection goals, while flOw moves freely through abstract aquatic layers and centres on growth by eating. Power Pack also adds two entirely different games; LocoRoco is one continuous adventure with a clearer stage structure.
Like Beats, Lumines links actions to music and changing visuals. In Lumines you arrange blocks into squares while a timeline clears the field; Beats asks for button presses in response to cues derived from a selected song. Lumines provides a carefully assembled soundtrack and puzzle rules, whereas Beats can use your own audio files and also includes a simple remix feature.
Logan's Shadow uses the same PSP foundations for aiming, cover and multiplayer as Combat Ops, but also includes an extensive solo campaign about Gabe Logan. Combat Ops removes the story and concentrates on matches, custom rules and a map editor. Solo players will find much more lasting shooting action in Logan's Shadow; within Power Pack, flOw and Beats are the parts that function independently without other players.
Every Extend Extra combines abstract shapes, rhythm and score chasing, connecting visually to flOw and musically to Beats. You trigger chain reactions by detonating yourself at the right moment, while Power Pack offers three separate sets of rules. Every Extend Extra is one fast arcade experience; the collection ranges from calm exploration to rhythm input and local tactical firefights.
