Full Auto 2: Battlelines in your pocket

So how exactly does a title for a highly-touted, supercharged, next gen musclebeast like the PS3 port into the formidable-but-kind-of-in-a-different-league-to-say-the-least PSP? Shoehorns? Funnels? Tiny candies labeled "Eat Me"?

The answer, as reps from Sega were quick to tell us, is by not porting it at all. Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the PSP shares its name and concept with its PS3 counterpart, but that's about it. The game is being developed from the ground up by Deep Fried Entertainment, a studio founded by some of the lead designers behind some of the more excellent Need for Speed titles. With a pedigree like that, you can bet we were eager to see how Battlelines would handle.

Though "handling" was one of the alpha-est elements of this early alpha build, we were able to drive our gun-laden car through a neon-saturated Asian metropolis level and get a good aesthetic impression of the game. Shiny, destructible environments? Check. Blowing up an overpass with missiles and dodging the huge chunks of debris on subsequent laps? Check plus! Satisfying sense of speed and responsive steering controls? Check back later.