Not since Gary Coleman got arrested for beating up a female fan has something so small caused so big a fuss. Sony's PlayStation Portable landed in North American stores on Thursday, kicking off the Japanese giant's first foray into portable gaming. One that seems to be aiming directly at the heart - and bottom line - of countrymen competitors Nintendo, who have lorded over the handheld gaming market for nearly two decades.

In honour of the little game machine's big debut, we're doing four pint-sized reviews of PSP launch titles this week (Ridge Racer - Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Remix - Lumines), sampling the handheld's surprisingly deep software selection right out of the gate.

I have to admit I've never been that attracted to Koei's Dynasty Warriors franchise, even though it seems like a match made in heaven: crazed hack 'n' slashin' plus battlefield tactics, all set in ancient China.

The whole experience is fairly complex and somehow very Japanese, though, meaning you have to have the patience of a Zen master to get a grip on the game's tactical depth and unlock its many playable characters and officers.

The controls translate pretty well to the PSP, and your warriors move fluidly, executing strings of deadly combo attacks that send waves of enemies flying. That is, until you're engaging huge hordes of foes, when the slowdown becomes annoying and sometimes even detrimental to the gameplay.

Also a little disappointing is the permanent map display that takes up the right-hand third of the screen and can't be switched off. Some sort of heads-up display or radar option would have been nice, so you could roar into battle using all of the PSP's widescreen real estate.

Dynasty Warriors fans will dig this straightforward hand-held version of the game, if only because they can carry it around with them. It's not likely to lure any new recruits into joining the battle, though.