College Times

Media Credit: MCT/Handout

With a unique concept, quirky design and easy controls, “Dead Head Fred” manages to be a satisfying and entertaining title for the Playstation Portable. While it’s not without flaws, the good outweighs the bad, and the bad isn’t really terrible. Fortunately, “Fred” has the originality for which most games can only aspire.

In the game you play as Fred, a recently deceased private investigator who’s been resurrected as a brain in a jar. Obviously miffed by his current situation, Fred wants revenge.

Voiced by “Scrubs’” star John C. McGinley, Fred’s repartee with the bad guys evokes memories of the “Evil Dead” games voiced by Bruce Campbell, but with more swear words.

The real hook of the game involves Fred’s head switching. As you guide Fred through a bizarre universe of zombies and freaks, you can switch out the brain in a jar for an enemy head, giving you new abilities and access to new areas, like the bone head, which allows you to climb walls, or the scarecrow head, which makes you impervious to fire. It’s a nifty trick that provides hours of entertainment.

More than that, “Fred” also allows you to select your own missions in the order you see fit, allowing you to advance the story or simply run around town solving problems and dispensing with the evildoers.

From the control standpoint, “Dead Head Fred” is very easy to manage, calling upon every button available to easily switch between heads depending on the enemy, pull off rudimentary fight combos and use health items with a quick flip of the R and L buttons.

The graphics for “Dead Head Fred” are pretty standard for the system, but because the characters themselves are so uniquely designed, it’s enjoyable to immerse yourself in this “Toon Town” gone wrong.

Unfortunately, there are glitches in the game that force your character to fall into nothingness causing instant death, but these are few and far between. The combat itself is fairly simple but it can be monotonous after awhile, making head stealing the most enjoyable thing that can only be completed after an enemy is dazed.

For: Playstation Portable
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Price: $29.95

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