Sega announces Euro PSP release for Phantasy Star Portable

Sega has announced a spring 2009 European release date for Phantasy Star Portable on PSP.

The game was recently released in Japan and promptly sold half a million copies in the space of a week. Sega will no doubt be hoping for similar success in Europe with the Japanese-developed RPG.

Taking place just after the events of Phantasy Star Universe, the game has players partnering up with Vivienne – a new character for the series – to investigate an outbreak of wild animals that seem to possess the remnants of a malevolent force.

Numerical fact alert: there are over 150 new weapons, items exclusive to the PSP version, three class types and four different races. As well as a single-player Story mode, there's also ad-hoc co-op play where you can team up with three others for a spot of wild animal slaying.

Exclusive new missions and 'hardcore features' are also promised – which include Item and Enemy Book records and Titles unlocked by achieving difficult goals. All of which strives to add a few hundred hours of replay value to the already massive RPG.

As well as announcing the release window for the game in Europe, Sega has also released the new screenshots (above). Look, enjoy, then patiently wait while us Europeans wait the requisite half a year or so to get the game here.