The Games
Unit 13: A surprising announcement from Zipper Interactive, this is a third-person shooter that will take advantage of the Vita’s dual analogue sticks - something many PSP gamers have been clamouring for since its launch. It’s not a particularly unique or fresh concept.
You’re a solder mans who has to travel around the world and shoot terrorists in the face for world salvation! It feels great though, and interestingly it is built with jump-in and jump-out play in mind, for quick sessions on the bus and train.
Motorstorm RC: Evolution Studios is bringing the world of Motorstorm into bitesize form, which means that instead of monster trucks we’re going to be racing around in radio-controlled toy cars. As a result, the camera takes a top-down dynamic view of the racing action, with both analogue sticks allowing for the same control you would expect from an RC controller. Left stick moves you left to right, and the right stick controls your speed.
The gameplay harks back to the days of Super Off-Road and Micro Machines, and although there’s no online multiplayer or cross play, you do get a Vita and PS3 version of the game for one price. Game saves for hot laps and other data will be seamlessly transferred from both devices over the cloud too. This looks like a great pick-up-and-play title that fans will love when the device launches.
Touch My Katamari: I usually wince whenever I see the Katamari series return these days - especially on a handheld, after remembering the horror that was Me & My Katamari on PSP. But Namco Bandai seems to have fixed all of that, with a wonderfully weird return to form on Vita. You still play as the Prince, rolling things up to please the King of the Cosmos (who has now taken a rather disturbing 3D animated effect), but this time you get twin stick control and optional touch screen support.
This was one of the games in which I made sure to explore the latency of the touch screen - and the response was very good indeed. I’m not totally convinced that scrolling with two thumbs on the touchscreen will be the most efficient way to move Prince around, but if you just want to piss about it’s more than adequate. The touch panel on the back of the device can be used to flatten the Katamari either horizontally or vertically by sliding your fingers in the appropriate direction.
Reality Fighters: This is going to be one of those launch titles that will be thrown away after about half an hour’s play, I just know it. Nevertheless, this game is more of a showcase of the Vita’s tech, and it does so pretty well. The first is the camera - you can take a snapshot of yourself and have it cartoonified as a character to do battle against the CPU and other players.
The second is in the Vita’s Augmented Reality features, with characters brawling right in the middle of the room through your screen. It’s obvious that Sony has used what it has learnt with Invizimals and applied it to both the Vita’s hardware and the software in Reality Fighters, because I had absolutely no problems tracking the characters or inputting commands whilst watching the action unfold. It’ll be an interesting title, but I don’t see the depth being there for a full-price purchase.
WipEout 2048: It’s WipEout, only smaller! What is really noticeable in Studio Liverpool’s work here is simply the graphics - 2048 is an absolute stunner, and comes extremely close to the PS3 HD Fury version to boot. The controls have been tweaked somewhat on Vita, working more like a traditional racer. Right shoulder button is accelerate, left shoulder button is brake, X activates weapons and Square is your airbrake.
There are undoubtedly original courses to tackle here, but there are certainly a number of tracks from HD Fury as well - leading to the big feature of 2048. Cross Play allows for players on PS3 and Vita to race against each other. And it’s as simple as entering a lobby. No complicated features to worry about.
Super Stardust Delta: Housemarque’s stunning twin-stick shooter was demonstrated as an example of downloadable content on the PlayStation Vita. And as you would expect (if you’ve played the PS3 version of Super Stardust) it’s absolutely gorgeous. Just like WipEout 2048, some things have changed during the transition to handheld. The green laser has been scrapped, leaving two weapons to blast asteroids with. Touching the screen will allow you to launch a bunch of missiles at a given target, adding another failsafe on top of your boost and bombs.
The Future
I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the launch lineup, but if you compare the first-party list to what the PSP had going for it back in 2005 there really is no contest - Vita has a much more impressive set of games landing on Day 1. Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer, Virtua Tennis, Super Monkey Ball, Uncharted, Escape Plan... there’s a wealth of games from both the East and the West, which for someone like me makes this even more appealing than a PlayStation 3 in some respects.
For all intents and purposes though, it seems that Sony is doing an awful lot of things right this time around for the Vita. The immediate future has pretty much already been written - it will launch in Japan on the 17th December, and the buzz I felt whilst in Tokyo last week indicates that this thing will fly off the shelves.
Its Western success is obviously a little bit harder to predict, given the PSP’s sinking into general obscurity after relentless hacking led to piracy and pointless homebrew applications. But, with sensible media formats, its alluring interface and actual reasons for Westerners to purchase one (read: games), it’s possible that Sony may have a much bigger hit on its hands here than it did with its last handheld.
Unit 13: A surprising announcement from Zipper Interactive, this is a third-person shooter that will take advantage of the Vita’s dual analogue sticks - something many PSP gamers have been clamouring for since its launch. It’s not a particularly unique or fresh concept.
You’re a solder mans who has to travel around the world and shoot terrorists in the face for world salvation! It feels great though, and interestingly it is built with jump-in and jump-out play in mind, for quick sessions on the bus and train.
Motorstorm RC: Evolution Studios is bringing the world of Motorstorm into bitesize form, which means that instead of monster trucks we’re going to be racing around in radio-controlled toy cars. As a result, the camera takes a top-down dynamic view of the racing action, with both analogue sticks allowing for the same control you would expect from an RC controller. Left stick moves you left to right, and the right stick controls your speed.
The gameplay harks back to the days of Super Off-Road and Micro Machines, and although there’s no online multiplayer or cross play, you do get a Vita and PS3 version of the game for one price. Game saves for hot laps and other data will be seamlessly transferred from both devices over the cloud too. This looks like a great pick-up-and-play title that fans will love when the device launches.
Touch My Katamari: I usually wince whenever I see the Katamari series return these days - especially on a handheld, after remembering the horror that was Me & My Katamari on PSP. But Namco Bandai seems to have fixed all of that, with a wonderfully weird return to form on Vita. You still play as the Prince, rolling things up to please the King of the Cosmos (who has now taken a rather disturbing 3D animated effect), but this time you get twin stick control and optional touch screen support.
This was one of the games in which I made sure to explore the latency of the touch screen - and the response was very good indeed. I’m not totally convinced that scrolling with two thumbs on the touchscreen will be the most efficient way to move Prince around, but if you just want to piss about it’s more than adequate. The touch panel on the back of the device can be used to flatten the Katamari either horizontally or vertically by sliding your fingers in the appropriate direction.
Reality Fighters: This is going to be one of those launch titles that will be thrown away after about half an hour’s play, I just know it. Nevertheless, this game is more of a showcase of the Vita’s tech, and it does so pretty well. The first is the camera - you can take a snapshot of yourself and have it cartoonified as a character to do battle against the CPU and other players.
The second is in the Vita’s Augmented Reality features, with characters brawling right in the middle of the room through your screen. It’s obvious that Sony has used what it has learnt with Invizimals and applied it to both the Vita’s hardware and the software in Reality Fighters, because I had absolutely no problems tracking the characters or inputting commands whilst watching the action unfold. It’ll be an interesting title, but I don’t see the depth being there for a full-price purchase.
WipEout 2048: It’s WipEout, only smaller! What is really noticeable in Studio Liverpool’s work here is simply the graphics - 2048 is an absolute stunner, and comes extremely close to the PS3 HD Fury version to boot. The controls have been tweaked somewhat on Vita, working more like a traditional racer. Right shoulder button is accelerate, left shoulder button is brake, X activates weapons and Square is your airbrake.
There are undoubtedly original courses to tackle here, but there are certainly a number of tracks from HD Fury as well - leading to the big feature of 2048. Cross Play allows for players on PS3 and Vita to race against each other. And it’s as simple as entering a lobby. No complicated features to worry about.
Super Stardust Delta: Housemarque’s stunning twin-stick shooter was demonstrated as an example of downloadable content on the PlayStation Vita. And as you would expect (if you’ve played the PS3 version of Super Stardust) it’s absolutely gorgeous. Just like WipEout 2048, some things have changed during the transition to handheld. The green laser has been scrapped, leaving two weapons to blast asteroids with. Touching the screen will allow you to launch a bunch of missiles at a given target, adding another failsafe on top of your boost and bombs.
The Future
I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the launch lineup, but if you compare the first-party list to what the PSP had going for it back in 2005 there really is no contest - Vita has a much more impressive set of games landing on Day 1. Everybody’s Golf, Ridge Racer, Virtua Tennis, Super Monkey Ball, Uncharted, Escape Plan... there’s a wealth of games from both the East and the West, which for someone like me makes this even more appealing than a PlayStation 3 in some respects.
For all intents and purposes though, it seems that Sony is doing an awful lot of things right this time around for the Vita. The immediate future has pretty much already been written - it will launch in Japan on the 17th December, and the buzz I felt whilst in Tokyo last week indicates that this thing will fly off the shelves.
Its Western success is obviously a little bit harder to predict, given the PSP’s sinking into general obscurity after relentless hacking led to piracy and pointless homebrew applications. But, with sensible media formats, its alluring interface and actual reasons for Westerners to purchase one (read: games), it’s possible that Sony may have a much bigger hit on its hands here than it did with its last handheld.