The folks over at Gamepro have an early preview of Level 5's upcoming turn-based RPG, Jeanne D'Arc. Previous information has been gathered from the original Japanese release and now, we get a taste for what to expect when the anticipated title comes stateside.

The game draws obvious inspiration from true-to-life Joan of Arc and appears to be much more light-hearted with its approach to the source material. Early impressions from the Japanese release seem overall, pretty positive. This title should satisfy gamers looking to satiate their hunger for more strategic game play, and having exceptional visuals is of course, a welcome addition to any party. Jeanne D'Arc is headed for North American shores in August. Until then, enjoy the screenshots!

Did you ever get stuck in Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters? Well, have no fear! Sony has just released an interactive guide for the entire game, and we have it right here. There's over 60 pages of inside info for your perusal: not only on how to beat the game, but find its elusive secrets as well.

Download for PC (18.1MB)
Download for Mac (25.1MB)

*Note: Please do NOT direct-link these files! Thanks.

The first Generations of Chaos game for PSP seemed good when I bought it, but the lacking tutorial made it difficult for me to really progress. Hopefully Aedis Eclipse: Generations of Chaos will do a better job of informing the gamer how to play the game. The key idea of this game seems to be that you play a main character and story in three different worlds and get those different perspectives on the war and universe. I love tactics games, so I want nothing more than for it to be worthwhile. In the meantime there are some screens to view.

More screens after the jump ...

There may not be much PSP related news out of GDC yet, but you can comfort yourself by knowing the system has lots of great games already. With that in mind, every day this week we'll feature a new genre and list the top 5 games (according to metareviews), so no matter what you're into, you'll have some idea of what games you should own. Today the focus is on strategy games, which the PSP doesn't have a lot of, but there are some notable and enjoyable ones (like the games on the list below).

Top 5 Strategy games on PSP

1. Sid Meier's Pirates!
2. Metal Gear Ac!d 2
3. Field Commander
4. Metal Gear Ac!d
5. Worms: Open Warfare

I know many gamers hated the Metal Gear Ac!d series, but they are some of my personal favorite games on the system. Actually, I enjoyed all the games on this list, except for Pirates!, only because I have yet to try it. But what do you think about these 5 games? What strategy games aren't on this list that you think every PSP owner should have?

If you missed it, you can check out our previous top 5 game lists:

Action

Racing

Sports

Fighting

[Data Via Metacritic]

Infinite Interactive is working on Galactrix a sci-fi set game that blends RPG and strategy and is described as a match-3 puzzle game, played against an opponent. Each puzzle is played against an enemy whether it be AI-controlled or human. There are claims of potentially hundreds of hours of play, though it is unsure how many of those hours are multiplayer. Speaking of multiplayer, it will allow 2-4 possible players with support for downloadable content. Galactrix also features the ability for you to create a persistent pilot that can gain skills and ships as you complete more battles. You can also gain a crew and each battle is only supposed to require 5-10 minutes, which would be ideal for a portable.

Currently Galactrix is being developed on the PC, but a PSP port is planned.

[Via DCEmu]

You guys guessed it! The new Star Trek game on PSP didn't fare too well at all. The series certainly looks like it's on its dying breath: no new movie, no new television series, and no good games. Let's find out why the critics disliked Bethesda's offering for the franchise:

• G4TV (60/100) - "The actual ship controls leave something to be desired... Since weapons need time to charge between each burst, combat is also rather slow-paced-particularly before your officers reach higher ranks. Overall, the action feels too slow for an action game, yet too arcade-like for a real tactical experience."
• GameSpot (62/100) - "Star Trek: Tactical Assault is brimming with good ideas that just don't feel fleshed out. It's got a nice strategic concept but doesn't run far enough with it. Even with two lengthy campaigns and skirmish options, it doesn't feel quite complete. The underused license is also a shame because a little Captain Kirk goes a long way. Trekkies will find Tactical Assault worth a look, but there isn't enough Star Trek or strategy to give life to the game's promising concept."
• IGN (64/100) - "As far as Trek games go, Tactical Assault beats out many of its predecessors. Sadly, that's not too hard to do. It offers a decent mix of strategy and action, though both halves never gel very well. The option to pilot several vessels in two different campaigns is definitely nice, but the story and missions could have used more variety. Lastly, Tactical Assault looks and sounds the part, though Trek aficionados will still find the game's presentation ho-hum."

In the wake of Bethesda's Oblivion heading to the PSP next year, poor old Star Trek: Tactical Assault seems to have been lost in the shuffle. At least it has to most of us gamers, but I'm sure it hasn't to you Trekkies out there.

Well, to said Trekkies, I'm sure you'll be eager to hear Bethesda has just released about a dozen new Tactical Assault screens.

Just in case you didn't know, long-time Star Trek writer, D.C. Fontana, is penning Tactical Assault's script, and the game is a space-based, tactical-strategy game set in the original Star Trek universe. Tactical Assault is set to release Oct. 3.

[Via Bethesda]

Gamespot has just went hands on with Jean D'Arc, the strategy RPG based on Joan of Arc, at the Tokyo Games Show.

Although they couldn't read a lick of any text due to the game being in all Japanese, they did play enough to tell the main game will be similar to other grid-based games, like Nippon Ichi's insane library of great SRPGs.

One aspect of the game that seems pretty interesting is when Jean receives damage, she, at times, will take a page out of the Hulk's book by transforming into superpowerful Jean and inflicting major damage upon her enemies. After a few turns, Jean returns back to her normal self.

They go on to say all the basic elements of an SRPG are here and graphically, is much better than any other similar game on the PSP to date. Unfortunately for us, there's no definitive information on whether we'll get this game stateside. Keep your fingers crossed boys and girls.

(Via Gamespot)