| Death Jr. | |
|---|---|
 North American packaging artwork | |
| Developer(s) | Backbone Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Producer(s) | Jessi Harrison |
| Designer(s) | Micah Russo |
| Composer(s) | Robert Baffy |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action,hack and slash |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Death Jr. is a 2005video game for thePlayStation Portable. The PSP iteration was the first PSP game shown publicly and advertised as akiller-app. It was released to a mixed reception and noted for numerous problems about the camera, gameplay and uninspiring graphics, but was praised for itsTim Burton-esque themes and quirky characters. Slightly better received was thecomic book adaptation byGary Whitta andTed Naifeh, which includes two three-issue miniseries. The game was followed byDeath Jr. II: Root of Evil in 2006 andDeath Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom in 2007.
Death Jr. was conceived during experiments with the engine of the cancelled gamePrime 8, a plannedspin-off to theSpyro The Dragon series.[3]
In the game, the player has a variety of guns ranging from pistols to a rocket launcher. The controls are simple. The player moves around with the analog nub and attacks people with the square and circle buttons. There is a lot of emphasis in the game on the combos which can be achieved by linking attacks to each other in rapid succession.
The game and comic book are about the teenage son of theGrim Reaper, named Death Jr. (DJ for short). His father tried many times (all of them failed) to stop his son from creating chaos at every school he has been in. Now is DJ's last chance. If he creates chaos one more time, he'll be sent tomilitary school. He meets new friends at this school:Pandora, a girl withObsessive-Compulsive Disorder and a thing for locked boxes;Stigmartha, a girl who has holes in her hands and bleeds from them whenever she's nervous; Smith and Weston,conjoined twins who are very smart and conjoined at the head; the Seep, an armless, legless, foul-mouthed kid in a vat; and the Dead Guppy, a character who speaks for himself.
The friends go on a field trip to a museum, where they find a locked box that Pandora wants opened, so DJ opens it to impress her. Unfortunately, allhell breaks loose and demons run amok. It's up to DJ to stop them and revert the town back to normal, all the while making sure Dad doesn't find out.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 63.30%[4] |
| Metacritic | 61/100[5] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| 1Up.com | C+[6] |
| Edge | 4/10[7] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 4.83/10[8] |
| Game Informer | 7/10[9] |
| GamePro |    [10] |
| GameRevolution | C−[11] |
| GameSpot | 6.5/10[12] |
| GameTrailers | 7.1/10[13] |
| IGN | 7/10[14] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [15] |
| CiN Weekly | 68/100[16] |
| Detroit Free Press | [17] |
The game received average or mixed reviews, asGameRankings gave it a score of 63.30%[4] whileMetacritic gave it a score of 61 out of 100.[5]