Death Jr., published by Konami and developed by Backbone Entertainment, puts gamers into the robes of the Grim Reaper’s son. While on a school field trip to the Museum of Supernatural History, DJ, as he is affectionately nicknamed, and his buddies happen upon a mysterious chest. Pandora, a gothy dame with a penchant for opening things, is frustrated that she can't open the chest. Death Jr., in an effort to impress Pandora, slices through the lock with his trusty scythe. It turns out that the evil beasties that DJ unleashed steals the souls of his friends - imagine the guilt! So, it is up to you as Death Jr. to head through 17 levels of mayhem and madness in order to save your comrades by collecting pieces of their soul. The story has a great start, but then veers off and becomes all about capturing an arbitrary shiny object. Almost all of the dialogue is text, save for the few video sequences. It is not to say that the Death Jr. universe has no story at all – on the contrary, the comic books based on Death Jr. show off a richly detailed world with more humor and charm that this game can offer. Although the story is dearly lacking, Death Jr. is still a fun action game for the PSP.

Gameplay
Much of the game involves clearing room after room of baddies that stand in your way of the goal. DJ will lock-on to targets with a press of the R button and should the enemy venture too close DJ can whip out his oversized scythe in an instant. A wide selection of weaponry and upgrades provided by friends, Smith and Wesson, help you with this task. The weapons include the standard Shotgun and Rocket Launcher, but also feature more unique items like the C4 Hamsters. These explosive rodents act as homing grenades as they scurry towards their eventual target. Although the Electric Gun (a lightening-type gun) has been seen in other shooters, the use of it in this game is most satisfying - firing off one arc of electricity at one foe will cause other arcs to leap from that beastie to nearby enemies and whittle them all down simultaneously.

To keep from running past all the bad guys and reaching the goal in record time, there is a system in place to stop that. There are "road blocks" that need to be opened for DJ to progress to the next part of the level. To open these doors, he has to defeat a certain amount of enemies, after that, you get bonus points for going the extra mile so-to-speak.

Melee combat is nicely thought out with a number of eye-catching, devastating combos. These combos, like the ranged weaponry, can also be upgraded thought the game with the collection of Widgets. When attacking a group of demons, DJ can jump from enemy to enemy with amazing agility. A later upgrade can even allow DJ to reflect incoming projectiles back to the enemy.

Thankfully, there are a number of platforming elements that help break up the action. There is fairly standard platforming action, such as leaping from tiny rock to tiny rock above a flaming pit of lava or an endless void. Other platforming elements involve the scythe. To reach a higher ledge, DJ can perform a ledge grab with his scythe. Holding the jump button while in the air will cause the scythe to spin like a helicopter blade and allow the petite DJ float to the ground slowly - this can be used to achieve longer jumps. DJ is also able to use the scythe to swing from the rafters and from hook to hook.