Halfbrick's Rocket Racing boosts onto PSP/PS3 this month

Halfbrick Studios continues to churn out Minis for the PSP and PS3. Rocket Racing is the fourth title from the Australian studio for Sony's indie platform, following Age of Zombies, Echoes and Blast Off. Based on the Xbox Live Indie Game of the same name, Rocket Racing is one of the few games designed with the PSP Go in mind: the game can be played exclusively with the shoulder buttons, meaning Go owners can play with the system closed.

The gameplay of this top-down racer is rather unique. Each shoulder button represents a side thruster on the vehicle. Players will have to adjust each thruster to cut through corners, and make their way through the game's 24 levels. Hugging the walls won't result in a penalty; instead, the "grind" will result in a speed boost. Unfortunately, due to limitations of the Minis platform, there's no real multiplayer. Instead, gamers will have to resort to pass-around multiplayer, taking turns to go through the courses. Unfortunately, this "Party" mode seems like a rather misguided attempt to circumvent Minis' shortcoming.

Rocket Racing should appear on the PlayStation Store later this month for $4.99. Check out a trailer after the break.