TVL Magazine #13

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10 Reviews | Developer Features | EGX Round-up

The Vita Lounge M A G A Z I N E


Welcome

Hello Vita Gamers!

ng month April has certainly been another stro many great for releases, and provided us with we recap in this ch experiences to play - most of whi Assassin's for ted exci n issue. Whether you've bee kBox Drin n eve or Rain of Risk Creed Chronicles, ler, we craw n geo Studios' fabulous touch-based dun e. give our opinions on all thre

REGULARS Paul Murphy PMurphy1978

04 EGX ROUND-UP PAUL VISIT THE LATEST EGX IN LONDON AND GOT SOME TIME WITH A FEW UPCOMING VITA TITLES

Founder

ews this month, Of course these aren't the only revi M: Enemy Unknown and Day of the XCO g and you'll find 10 in total includin m ther highly anticipated title in Axio Tentacle Remastered alongside ano s. title er oth few a with g Vita alon Verge, which finally arrived on the interviews as you would expect, and This issue also features some new at ut Severed, and had our first look we spoke to DrinkBox Studios abo out find to es Gam oo Hop with up ght EarthNight from Cleaversoft. We cau ng omi upc the had time to take a look at more about Risk of Rain and even Moon Hunters from Kitfox Games.

ed with the Vita support from Those of you that have been impress ck out our latest chat with the che to t Limited Run Games might wan once e feature from EGX Rezzed, which studio and we also have a four pag Vita few a ured feat and acco Dock again was hosted at London's Tob s. bound title tips feature from PSP Roundup with his Rounding off this issue we have a as l wel as ity mun com Vita the with and suggestions for getting involved e suggestions. gam hot and s ase rele s, new st the late to join this month, and so I'd love for you You'll also notice a few new faces that e hop and ily fam TVL the to ce Ree me in welcoming Artie, Timmy and opinions! you enjoy reading their thoughts and e (and its more SFW cover!) and I I really hope that you enjoy this issu th on June 13th! hope to see you here again next mon

07 NEW RELEASES

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE ON THE VITA THIS MONTH

08 HOT TEN

THE VITA GAMES COMING SOON THAT WE JUST CAN'T WAIT FOR

10 LIMITED RUN GAMES DOUGLAS BOGART FROM LIMITED RUN GAMES TELLS US THE LATEST ON THEIR BOXED VITA GAMES INITIATIVE

44 COMMUNITY FEATURE PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING OUR PATREON – IT WOULD REALLY BE APPRECIATED AND WOULD GO A LONG WAY TO SUPPORTING WHAT WE DO! FOR $9 PER ISSUE YOU WILL GET A PRINT COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! YOU CAN FIND OUR PATREON PAGE AT WWW.PATREON.COM/THEVITALOUNGE 11 Re 11 Re 13 Re 10 Re 10 Re views views views views views ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev elope elope elope elope elope r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea tures tures tures tures tures ! Late ! Late ! Late ! Late ! Late st Ne st Ne st Ne st Ne st Ne ws! ws! ws! ws! ws!

T T The V T T ita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo unge unge unge unge unge M A G A Z I N E

10 Reviews | Developer Features | EGX Round-up

The Vita Lounge M A G A Z I N E

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M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

The Vita Lounge Magazine EDITORIAL TEAM Executive Editor / Paul Murphy @pmurphy1978 Editor-in-Chief / Kyle Wakeling @teflontactics 8 6 7 Deputy Editor / Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Deputy Editor / Jenny Jones @Kitty_has_Klaws Podcast Editor / Tyler Olthoff @imsohappy77 MAGAZINE DESIGN Art Editor / Jhonatan Carneiro @JhoCarneiro

M A G A Z I N E

PSP ROUNDUP ARE BACK WITH THEIR VIEW ON HOW TO BEST COVER THE VITA

46 THESE ARE THE BEST GAMES SO FAR THIS YEAR. HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?

47 PATREON STARS

Issue 13 | May 2016 WEBSITE TEAM Liam Langan @liamhangover Colin Byrne @ColinJByrne 9 Artie Fox @ArtieFox Timmy Garrett @timmygarrett40k Reece Heyworth @rheyworth07

THE MAGAZINE WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THESE AMAZING PEOPLE, SO THANK YOU ALL. WHY NOT PLEDGE AND SEE YOUR NAME HERE?

@PSVitaMag CONTRIBUTORS PSP Roundup @psp2roundup


to your

Magazine!

DEVELOPER FEATURES

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DRINKBOX STUDIOS

14 CLEAVERSOFT

WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE CANADIAN DEVELOPERS AHEAD OF THEIR HIGHLY ANTICIPATED RELEASE, SEVERED

WHEN WE HEARD ABOUT EARTHNIGHT, WITH ITS HAND-DRAWN DRAGONS AND ENDLESS RUNNING WE SIMPLY HAD TO LEARN MORE

16 TOM HAPP IT HAS TAKEN A WHILE FOR AXIOM VERGE TO ARRIVE ON THE VITA, BUT IT'S BEEN WORTH THE WAIT. DEVELOPER TOM HAPP TELLS US MORE

18 HOPOO GAMES RISK OF RAIN IS INCREDIBLE AS ARTIE DETAILS ON PAGE 26, BUT WHY NOT FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GAME FIRST FROM HOPOO GAMES?

REVIEWS 20

Severed

28

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plus

34

Unepic

23

Axiom Verge

30

Samurai Warriors 4: Empires

37

Assassin's Creed: Chronicles

26

Risk of Rain

32

Day of the Tentacle Remastered

40

Blast 'em Bunnies

42

A Virus Named Tom

thevitalounge.net SPECIAL THANKS Cleaversoft @ Cleaversoft Rich Siegel @RichSiegs DrinkBox Studios @DrinkboxStudios Chris McQuinn @kulz Axiom Verge @AxiomVerge Hopoo Games @RiskofRain Limited Run Games @LimitedRunGames Douglas Bogart @LimitedRunDoug

@TheVitaLounge COVERAGE Are you a developer? If you are working on PSVita content and want to get it covered for FREE in either the magazine or on the website, then we would love to hear from you! Please send an email to press@thevitalounge.net and add us to your press lists. If you have a game coming out soon and want us to tell other Vita owners, get in touch!

patreon.com/TheVitaLounge DISCLAIMER The Vita Lounge is an independent PlayStation Vita enthusiast website and magazine. All content featured is used with permission, and is used to promote existing and upcoming titles for the PS Vita. We are not endorsed or affiliated with Sony or PlayStation, or any of the companies featured. Š 2015-2016 The Vita Lounge


Paul Murphy Founder The Vita Lounge PMurphy1978 PMurphy1978

ONCE AGAIN WE HEADED TO THE EUROGAMER EXPO, THIS TIME THE MORE INDIE FOCUSED EVENT IN LONDON’S EAST END AT THE HISTORIC TOBACCO DOCK. THE VITA ITSELF WAS NOT PROMOTED PARTICULARLY WELL (WHAT’S NEW?) BUT THERE WERE GAMES THERE THAT ARE COMING TO VITA. SO WE PLAYED THEM!

YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG This 90s adventure from Ackk Studios features heavily on most wanted lists and for good reason. Colourful, vibrant and with a fantastic story heavily influenced by Japanese RPGs. It features multiple traps and puzzle filled dungeons and weaponised panda plushies over around 25 hours of gameplay. The build played very well and is very close to launch now. yiikrpg.com @ackkstudios

VA-11 HALL-A Stylised as a “booze ‘em up” and labelled as a game about Waifu Bartending, Va-11 Hall-A’s PC build here was the same as we played last September, so we have nothing new to add here, unfortunately. Inspired by older Japanese story driven titles, the game promises a lot a choice based dialogue in the story. waifubartending.com @ sukebangames

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Shu

Kick Off: Revival

This beautiful platformer has a different build to our Birmingham experience and was also the only actual Vita on show. You control a variety of hand-drawn characters as they run, jump and glide across an ancient environment, pursued by a monstrous storm. Shu will NOT be cross-buy when it launches later this year, but WILL be launching on PlayStation Plus.

Playing this evoked many positive memories from years ago on the Amiga, and will be a welcome addition to the Vita’s library when it launches later this year. Employing that classic top-down look and featuring fast and crazy gameplay it also has single button mechanics and that special after-touch. Football fans are bound to enjoy this arcade experience.

coatsink.com/games/shu @Coatsink

facebook.com/KickOffRevival @dndn1011

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Hue In a world where everyone sees in grayscale, you play as the titular character, the son of a researcher who specialises in colour theory. Using a mysterious ring with the ability to alter colour, you begin a quest to recover the fragments of your mother’s research, and your ability to progress is based on shifting the colour of the world around you. This one was very charming! huethegame.com @CurveDigital

Strength of the Sword Ultimate This combination of a 3D brawler and a fighter was playable on the PS4 and looked incredible. The quality combo-based gameplay was exactly as it was when we played it back in Birmingham and was incredibly fun, if challenging. We hope that that beautiful art style makes it to the Vita without too many compromises. swordultimate.com @IventGames

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De Mambo So much has been added to this charming party title since we saw it last, and De Mambo now boasts many new modes such as team battle and the incredibly chaotic ice hockey mode! Featuring single button action, the game is easy to pick up but hard to master, and will also be coming to PlayStation FIRST! We will have more news on the game next issue! thedangerouskitchen.co.uk/demambo/ @TDKitchen

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10 Second Ninja X This game is crazy! As you’d expect from the name you have to use your ninja abilities to solve a level within just ten seconds. Armed with a sword, shuryukens and your reflexes you earn stars based on how quickly you can solve the level. It’s brutal and features 100 levels – 40 of which are remastered from the original title. 10second.ninja @CurveDigital

Lumo Lumo is an isometric puzzle adventure from Triple Eh? Games, and features over 400 rooms to explore as well as many hidden secrets. Described as a “love letter to the golden age of gaming”, there was a lot to do in the demo and it was great fun. Coming soon to PS4, the Vita version will launch later this year. play-lumo.com @korruptor

Also: The Banner Saga Update We also caught up with VS Evil who are publishing The Banner Saga. As you will recall, The Banner Saga was coming to Vita, then wasn’t and now is due to Gio Gorsi getting involved. We couldn’t garner any new information from the team, but they did say that things are progressing well with the Vita port, which has essentially been restarted from the ground up on a new engine, and that will impact development. We hope to get more information soon from the team for a future issue.

On the next EGX! EGX.NET/EGX

@PSVitaMag

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Switch Galaxy Ultra

God Of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP)

Are you happy with these PS Plus Titles? Yes 37% No 30%

Not sure 23% Source: Twitter poll, 524 votes

WE KNOW THAT VITA GAMES CAN APPEAR WITHOUT MUCH NOTICE, BUT HERE ARE SOME OF THE GAMES WE SHOULD BE SEEING THIS MONTH!

Azkend 2: The World Beneath

Neverending Nightmares

Ray Gigant

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies May 10th NA / May 13th EU

The Last Blade 2

One Piece: Burning Blood

May 3rd NA & EU

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May 3rd NA / May 4th EU

May 24th NA / May 25th EU

May 3rd NA & EU

May 31st NA

thevitalounge.net


Ho eN THE VITA GAMES WE ARE MOST EXCITED FOR!

SALT AND SANCTUARY

ska-studios.com/salt @skastudios

heart-machine.com @HeartMachineZ

NEW DANGANRONPA V3

DRAGON QUEST HEROES 2

dragonquest-game.com/heroes @SquareEnix

@spikechunsoft

YIIK

ackkstudios.wordpress.com @ackkstudios

ATTACK ON TITAN

DRIFTER

celsiusgs.com/drifter @celsiusgs

DARKEST DUNGEON

darkestdungeon.com @RedHookStudios

LEGO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

lego.com/en-gb/starwars/games/videogame @LSWGame

@koeitecmoeurope

@PSVitaMag

HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER

SHIREN THE WANDERER 5

aksysgames.com/shiren @aksysgames The Vita Lounge Magazine

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IF, FOR SOME REASON, YOU DON'T KNOW WHO LIMITED RUN GAMES ARE THEN THIS FEATURE SHOULD FILL YOU IN. THE AWESOME OFFSHOOT FROM MIGHTY RABBIT STUDIOS IS PROVIDING LIMITED PHYSICAL RUNS OF VITA GAMES, AND AS YOU READ THIS THE FOURTH SUCH TITLE, FUTURIDIUM EP DELUXE WILL HAVE RELEASED. WE SPOKE TO LIMITED RUN'S DOUGLAS BOGART TO FIND OUT MORE. Hello Limited Run Games! Thanks for talking to us again. How have the last few months been? The last few months have been great! We have seen a lot of growth in our followers and a lot of developers have approached us. We are really starting to feel like a brand people know and love. For those that don't know, you have been instrumental in getting physical runs of Vita titles, initially with your own. What was the inspiration for that? We really don't like the direction the video game industry is going with being all or mostly digital. We are collectors at heart and have always loved owning physical copies of games. There is nothing better then buying a game, bringing it home, ripping off that shrink wrap and smelling that new game smell! Since we are also developers on our Mighty Rabbit Studios side, we wanted to publish our own games. So we used our games as a test with the intention of putting other developers games out as well.

Can you reveal any future titles to us, or are we going to remain in suspense? We can't announce anything yet! But we are talking with a well known Japanese game company as a possible partner for future releases! Both existing runs have sold out completely. Has the demand for these games surpassed your exceptions? They definitely have! We are having to increase the run size for each game now. The trick is finding a balance, while a lot of customers wish we would always have stock, it's just not feasible. To have that many copies of a game would require a lot of capital, which we just don't have yet. We also need each game to sell out so we can make our investment back and so we can pay the developers. It also helps to show a future developer that "hey, look how fast games sell out under our brand!" which is something that has actually proven to work so far in securing new games.

The next Limited Run release is Oddworld Inhabitant's Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. How did you go about arranging that? They actually contacted us! It was pretty crazy especially since our only releases we really had planned were our own releases at the time and a few others.

Who sets the numbers for the print runs? Is it something that has to be limited or can you be flexible with the quantities? We work with the developer to determine a size. We use our past sales and how popular their title is to decide on a size. Some developers don't want large runs however, which is out of our control. In the end, it is their decision.

So far we have Futuridium EP Deluxe, Volume and YIIK: A PostModern RPG as well as Cosmic Star Heroine confirmed for future releases. Just how many games have you got lined up so far? Hmm, good question! We have a ton of titles right now so it's a little overwhelming to remember all of them, there are a lot of contracts out there still waiting to be signed and finalized. I'd say release wise there are at least 30 releases coming. Now that number isn't individual games, but PS4 & Vita releases. Game wise it might be around 18 to 20. Some are exclusive to certain platforms.

How much work goes into securing a game for a Limited Run release? We will either reach out or a developer will reach out to us. What we do is discuss with them how the process works, how much money they stand to gain, how much work they have to put in (which isn't a lot) and then we send them a contract to look over. The process in securing a game can take as little as a week to a couple months. It really depends on how many questions a developer has or if they are just really busy. The actual time it takes after that is about 2 months to get a game ready for sale.

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Many gamers are keen for you to implement a pre-order system with these runs, given how quickly they sell out. Is this something you are looking at? Ah yes, pre-orders... A lot of people want us to follow Vic's system over at Gaijinworks. But we looked into it and it was a logistical nightmare with the system we use to ship out orders. We also didn't like the idea that sometimes there are serious delays in production, which is why we don't like giving out release dates too far in advance and people would be constantly asking us where their game was even though they just had a pre-order. When we announced that we were thinking about doing that or doing a membership, people acted like we put a gun to their heads. So we just want to avoid that right now and keep our current system. With the amount of work we do to keep people from buying more than our limit, we feel like it should work out. We are however looking into a loyalty program for repeat customers. Maybe they will get a day in advance to purchase, free shipping or something extra in their future orders. It's still being talked about!

@PSVitaMag

There are so many titles that would be perfect for a Limited Run release, what would be your dream titles, and how should those companies get in touch with you? We would love to do Axiom Verge, Yakuza 5, Fatal Frame for Wii U (we would find a way to make it happen), any game by Double Fine, Outlast.... There are a lot of games actually! They can email us, reach out on twitter, or even find us at conventions. However they want to reach out, we will find a way to respond! What are your long term plans with Limited Run Games? Do you intend to keep providing Vita titles for the foreseeable future? We do! The Vita is awesome. We want to keep it well supplied with physical titles. It's like the Dreamcast of this generation and as big Dreamcast fans we will support the Vita until it is officially declared dead by Sony. Even then we might still publish more games if they let us.

How many of the Limited Run Games collection do you have so far? What game would you love to see get a Limited Run release? Feel free to follow the team via @LimitedRunGames and send some suggestions!

The Vita Lounge Magazine

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DrinkBox Studios

drinkboxstudios.com @DrinkBoxStudios

Chris McQuinn @kulz

CANADIAN DEVELOPERS DRINKBOX STUDIOS HAVE BEEN BEHIND A COUPLE OF FANTASTIC AND MUCHLOVED TITLES ON THE VITA AND THEIR MOST RECENT TITLE, SEVERED IS AVAILABLE NOW. WE CAUGHT UP WITH CHRIS MCQUINN FROM THE STUDIO TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS EAGERLY ANTICIPATED TITLE.

Hi Chris, thanks for taking the time to talk to us! Can you tell us a little bit about Drink Box Studios and how you/the studio got into developing games? Of course. DrinkBox Studios was founded back in 2008 when a studio called Pseudo Interactive shut its doors. The founders had all been working there and realized there weren’t many other options for game development in Toronto (that was back in the day, before Toronto became the indie games capital of the world) so decided to start their own company. We’ve made Tales from Space: About a Blob, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee!. Oh, and now Severed. :)

upgrades. The world is based in a freaky surreal world where you won’t be sure if you’re in a dream or an alternative universe.

For those that haven't been paying attention, can you explain what Severed is? Yes! In Severed you play as Sasha, a soon to be warrior who is trying to figure out why her family has disappeared. The game is a 1st person dungeon crawler that utilizes swipe-based touch controls to fight monsters, explore the world and solve puzzles. Along the way you’ll sever off monster parts that act as a currency that you use to purchase character

You have developed three games on the Vita so far, Mutant Blobs Attack, Guacamelee and now Severed. Each of these are very different to each other - is this something you deliberately planned? I wouldn’t say that was deliberately planned but came about more from us subconsciously wanting to create fresh experiences. At the end of a project your brain tends to be drained of all creative ideas that had anything to do with your game. One’s brain becomes “design

What was the inspiration behind Severed? Severed was born out of an internal game jam we had at DrinkBox Studios. A bunch of ideas were created and the initial Severed prototype (I use that term loosely) seemed most promising. We spent a bit of pre production time on the idea and liked the result so decided to go ahead into full development.

What gameplay mechanics can gamers expect to experience in Severed? The primary mechanic in Severed is the It's been more than a year since we spoke touch fighting mechanic. While exploring to you about Severed, way back in Issue 2. dungeons a player is going to be jumped upon by groups of enemies where they’ll How has the last year been? have to figure out attack patterns Our year has been really solid. Busy choosing when to parry and when to as you can imagine - besides finishing attack. Multiple enemies will require the Severed, there has been a lot of showing player to take on a Bruce Lee type role off the game itself. Getting the word out keep some enemies temporarily disabled usually requires a lot of travel on top of, while dealing with others, deciding which you know, trying to make a game fun. I enemies to deal with first and which to don’t want to sound like I’m complaining though - it’s been a really great experience deal with later on. We give the player a lot and I’m very fortunate for how everything of choice about how to fight enemies in a play style that best fits them. has gone.

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pruned”. I think there is a naturally tendency for your thinking to shift to a completely different set of ideas so your next game might come from totally left field. Your Vita work is regarded by many as a benchmark. Which Vita games stand out to you? Recently games that have stood out to me have been a Virus Named Tom, Hitman GO and Taco Master (obviously). I think my favourite experience to date though has probably been Spelunky (Tearaway being a close second). Do you have any plans for additional content for Severed? We’re not sure at this point. That usually depends on how well the game initially does and if it financially makes sense to us. We always want to make additional content since so many ideas get chopped. What's next for DrinkBox? Great question. Our first task will be supporting Severed after release - this @PSVitaMag

means fixing any nasty bugs that may pop up (of course, there won’t be any bugs right?). After that we have a couple of options we’re working on internally, there are pros and cons to starting an idea completely fresh or returning to a game we’ve done before - so let’s see where the wind takes us. Of the two Vita models, which do you think is best? The OLED or the Slim? I’m sticking to my guns here despite my preference being very Unpopular. The OLED is a superior screen but I prefer the lightweight of the Slim. There, I said it. I PREFER THE SLIM.

We would like to thank Chris and DrinkBox Studios for their time with this interview. Severed is out now on the PlayStation store, and you can read our review on page 20. The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Cleaversoft

cleaversoft.com @cleaversoft

Rich Siegel

@RichSiegs

Hi Rich, thanks for talking to us! Can you tell us a little bit about how you got into developing games and your studio? I’ve been a die hard gamer since I got a Nintendo for my 5th birthday in 1990. After college I started out working on websites and apps and then got a little too ambitious and made the jump to a fully fledged video game with EarthNight. Cleaversoft is myself, Rich Siegel, Paul Davey (Mattahan) who paints everything in EarthNight and Paul Weinstein (Chipocrite), Philly’s best chiptunes musician. The three of us live in or around Philadelphia. The rest of the team is scattered across the world. The EarthNight team has a core 4 who work full time (myself, Jason Griffith, Mark Bradshaw & Paul Davey) and 4 part-time contributors, Zach Cohen (2d animation), Alberto Tirado (3D Animation), Chipocrite (Music) and Doug Holder (Visual FX). We’re also starting to work with Kevin VanOrd of Gamespot to help me with the level design.

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EARTHNIGHT IS A LOVE LETTER TO CLASSIC PLATFORM GAMES FROM YESTERYEAR WITH HAND-PAINTED DRAGONS AND ENDLESS RUNNING. WE SPOKE TO CLEAVERSOFT'S RICH SIEGEL TO FIND OUT MORE.

Your upcoming game is called EarthNight. Can you tell us a little bit about it? EarthNight is hand painted dragon apocalypse love letter to classic 2d platformers of the past. Dragons have taken over the Earth and the final remaining humans are in space orbiting the planet as refugees. Our outraged heroes Stanley and Sydney decide to skydive to the planet’s surface, taking out as many dragons as they can on their way. Using what I’m calling “hand designed procedural generation” every run you take will be unique but still feel meticulously hand designed. Your path to EarthNight will always be different and riddled with danger. What was the inspiration for the game? I saw a lot of these casual runner platforming games on mobile become very popular and bring in a whole new group of players who had never played platformers before. My issue with them is they lack depth and hardcore gamers wouldn’t consider them well designed. I set out to make the best runner game ever made incorporating the depth of

design you’d expect from a console game. The goal is to make a game that casual players can enjoy and hardcore gamers can play forever. The other inspiration was Mattahan’s art. I wanted to make a game that would bring to life Mattahan’s weird and wild worlds from his paintings of the past. One of our goals at the outset was to make sure that every moment of EarthNight looked like a work of art. What gameplay will gamers encounter as they play through EarthNight? The game alternates between running on the backs of dragons and skydiving through a sea of them. The running sections are frantic, fast-paced and filled with danger, while the skydiving sections serve as a living level select, and a break from the action. Stanley is a good pick for beginners given his simpler control scheme. Sydney is for experts, with a less intuitive — but ultimately more rewarding — control scheme. Players will also pick up items that will change their movement and how they can interact with the environment. Our thevitalounge.net


item count is at 23 right now, not too few but also not so overwhelming like Binding of Issac with its hundreds of items. EarthNight’s controls may feel simple at first but it will take time and dedication to master them to reach the planet’s surface. The difference between a beginner and expert is a wide chasm. What made you want to bring the game to the Vita? Will you be using any of the Vita's features to enhance the gameplay? When we originally started making EarthNight we had handhelds in mind as it’s a great game to pick up and play for a quick run. As we got deeper into development we found we really loved to see all the art up on the big screen. The Vita’s screen, especially the OLED, does a great job of showcasing the art despite its small size. Will there be any notable differences between the Vita version and the other versions? I don’t believe so. The goal is to make the game the same across PS4 and Vita. @PSVitaMag

Has development started yet on the Vita version? How is it progressing? We’re mostly focused on the PS4 version currently but we’ve been keeping the Vita’s limitations in mind as we go. For example, we have half size versions of all the art in the game in the project intended to use for the Vita version so we don’t blow up the system with our absurd amount of high quality 2d textures and sprites. Will there be any cross buy/save with the PSN versions? Have you seen what Limited Run Games are doing and would you consider a physical version with them? The plan is to do cross buy and save across PS4 & Vita. I love the idea of taking a run at EarthNight while you are out on your Vita and then coming home to play on the big screen and all of your progress is right there waiting for you. I do know of Limited Run Games although I don’t have any plans set up with them currently. I would certainly consider a physical release if it made sense.

What Vita games stand out for you? Is there anything you are looking forward to seeing? Spelunky still stands out as my favourite game on Vita. Having Spelunky in my pocket at all times is my favourite feature of the Vita. Slain looks pretty sweet, Risk of Rain on the Vita would be fun, Hyper Light Drifter, Shiren the Wanderer. Lots of fun titles coming to the Vita. Which Vita model do you think is better, the OLED or the Slim? Its all about the OLED because the screen is so much higher quality. I’m happy to sacrifice a slightly larger size for screen quality any day.

We would like to thank Rich for his time talking to us. What do you make of EarthNight? We will bring you more news as we have it! The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Thomas Happ axiomverge.com @AxiomVerge

Hello Tom! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! Can you tell us a little bit about your studio and how you got into developing games? Thomas Happ Games LLC isn't so much a studio as a legal construct made so that I can sell games. It's basically just me in my home office. I'd been developing games since 2003 working on titles like Crash Nitro Kart, NFL Street, Tiger Woods, End of Nations, and Grey Goo as an animator and a programmer depending on what they were hiring for. Axiom Verge was more of a hobby that I worked on in my spare time. We are here to find out more about your upcoming Vita title, Axiom Verge. What is it about? It's a side-scrolling action-adventure. What was the inspiration behind the game? My original idea was to combine a bunch of my favorite games. I actually wanted to mix Bionic Commando, Rygar, Blaster Master, and Metroid, with dashes of Contra, Ninja Gaiden, and others, but it ended up changing as it went on. 16

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IT'S TAKEN SOME TIME, BUT AXIOM VERGE IS NOW FINALLY ON THE VITA! IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE GAME, IT'S A MIX OF MANY GAMES FROM ERAS PAST BLENDED INTO A SIDE-SCROLLING ACTION ADVENTURE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE DEVELOPER, THOMAS HAPP, TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GAME. The game has a very impressive art style, how did you settle on the look and design for the game? It was a mix of trial and error and the gameplay needs. Tiles are very important to the gameplay so visuals that are overtly tile-based were important to telegraphing the properties of the world. So with that restriction the rest was about trying to replicate the way you remember classic NES games versus how they actually looked. For example, there are a limited number of colors in each tile, and usually they have black in them, like the first generation of NES games. But in the background there will be gradients and shades impossible to reproduce on 1980s hardware. Will the game be cross buy/save with the PS4 version? We want to do cross-save with a later patch. But there is quite a bit going on between myself and Sickhead Games (who made the port) and it depends largely on how busy we are in the coming months with all of the trade shows and new platform releases coming up.

Many Vita versions of titles have fallen by the wayside recently, and Axiom Verge did have difficulties during development. Can you share any insight with this, and was there a point where the Vita version didn't happen? Or were you committed to seeing it through? There was never a point when it wouldn't happen. The main stumbling block was not having Mono or Monogame on the Vita, but Sony put Sickhead on the task, and it seems to have paid off. They basically had to write a cross compiler from scratch and replicate all of Microsoft's .net libraries for the Vita. This took many months. Towerfall was the first game to benefit, then Axiom Verge.

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What are your thoughts on the Vita as a system? I like it. Especially how I go to the PSN store and "Indies" is like the 4th thing down. The d-pad is probably the best out there; I wish Sony would just stick the same tech onto the DS4. I'm not a fan of the rear touchpad or motion controls, though. I feel like that stuff is more for casual games on the phone. I do wish there were AAA adventures like we had on the PSP; MGS, God of War, Silent Hill, etc. What is the future beyond Axiom Verge? At some point there will be a sequel or prequel game. You may have to wait a while; I now have a special needs child and he comes first.

@PSVitaMag

Are there any titles on the Vita that have really impressed you? Is there anything coming out that you are excited for (or want to avoid releasing with)? Bloodstained! Also I think I'd prefer Hyper Light Drifter on Vita over other platforms, if it can be done. Finally, there are two versions of the Vita available, the OLED and the Slim. Which do you think is the best? I was late to the party so I just have a slim. Unless you count my devkit, which isn't portable and so not very comparable.

We would like to really thank Tom for his time with this interview, it really means a lot. Axiom Verge is out now. What are you waiting for? The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Hopoo Games

riskofraingame.com @RiskofRain

Paul Morse

@paul_thegoat

Hello Hopoo Games! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today! Can you give us a little background into your studio? Sure! Our studio was formed by myself and Duncan Drummond in our sophomore year at college. At first we just wanted to make a game that we thought would be fun to play together and then starting telling our friends about it and they told us to post it online. Shortly after posting Risk of Rain we noticed a lot of people had similar feelings, so we kept at it.

RISK OF RAIN IS FINALLY OUT, AND WE REALLY THINK IT'S A MUST-HAVE. YOU CAN READ WHY ON PAGE 26 BUT BEFORE YOU DO WHY NOT READ THE THOUGHTS OF HOPOO GAMES' PR EXPERT AND COFOUNDER, PAUL MORSE, WHO EXPLAINS MORE ABOUT THE ROGUE-LIKE ACTION PLATFORMER. That being said the game is very fast paced, easy to pick up and play but very hard to master. We wanted the game to be different every time you played and we think that having over 100 items and 12 playable characters this is something we achieved. Every run can turn out wildly different due to the combination of random items, monsters, and bosses. What was the inspiration behind Risk of Rain? RoR took on a lot of inspiration from games that Duncan and I played growing up. We started off by making lists of all the features or feelings our favorite games had and tried to get similar gameplay mechanics within Risk of Rain. Most importantly we wanted to make sure that game was fun to play, and that might sound obvious but we knew if we could develop the core of the game first, and it was fun and kept peoples attention, we had a game that we could build on.

of the components together in the game to be able to have these long, rewarding playthroughs that always felt like there was something new because of the amount of unlockable content you could find. From achievements, new items, unlocking new characters to Artifacts, we wanted there to be huge replay value.

You have just released Risk of Rain on the Vita. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Fast forward 3 years and we have just brought Risk of Rain to Vita and PS4 with the help of Code Mystics. The port is structurally the same game with performance increases and a completely new online system. The new, smoother, online system is something that we are very proud of because it is something that we know previous RoR fans have struggled with in the past. Now being able to just pick up and play online with friends There are a lot of things to discover in is possible. the game. How does this impact the experience? What gameplay mechanics will gamers Being a small team we knew that we experience in Risk of Rain? would have limited time and resources Risk of Rain is described as an action to create a lot of content so we did this platformer with rogue-like elements. the best way we could think of. We put all 18

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Exactly how much is there to discover in Risk of Rain? There are over 100 items, 12 unlockable characters, monster logs, item logs, and Artefacts that all help the player feel a sense of progression in a game that doesn't follow a strict story-line. Are there any notable differences between the PlayStation versions? Nope! The PS4/Vita version will play the exact same and they are almost identical to the PC version. How did you find developing the Vita version? Originally we tried to port the game over directly from GameMaker: Studio but the frame rate we were getting just wasn't going to cut it. That's when we decided to team up with Code Mystics and do a proper port so the game would be perfect on the Sony systems. What are your thoughts on the Vita as a system? Are there any games that stand out for you? The Vita system is a great way for people to play the games they love on the go, and having talked to a lot of gamers that own the Vita systems they all seem like a very dedicated group of gamers. The Vita @PSVitaMag

is never thought of as being the largest console out there for gamers but the group of gamers that do play on Vita are serious gamers and that is why we think Risk of Rain is going to be perfect for the Vita. What's next for Hopoo Games? Now that we have the Sony ports done for RoR and we recently launched our new game DEADBOLT we are going to make sure everything is running smoothly before moving onto our next project. We have some ideas of what we want to work on next but nothing official yet! Finally, of the two Vita versions released, the OLED and the Slim, which do you think is best? Having only used the Slim while developing RoR I am going to have to go with that one!

We would like to thank Paul for his time with this interview! Risk of Rain is out NOW and should be in your collection, and you can read Artie's thoughts on the game in this issue. The Vita Lounge Magazine

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you’ve lost. There are three great enemies (and countless smaller obstacles) standing in your way, but there are a few souls that care to help along the way as well. This is a strange world, and strange things lie within – both good, and bad.

Written by

Kyle Wakeling

@teflontactics teflontactics

6 12 6 PSTV 225 MB Publisher

drinkboxstudios.com

@DrinkBoxStudios

Developer

drinkboxstudios.com

@DrinkBoxStudios

I’ll admit it; despite the greatness that was Guacamelee, I was more than a bit concerned with the direction Drinkbox was taking with Severed. A touch-based dungeon crawler simply did not sound like something I would want to play – at all. A few minutes with the game however, and I was swiping to quite a different tune… intrigued by the things that lay between the one-armed Sasha and her goal. A few hours further down the line and I was completely enthralled, barely able to put my Vita down. Drinkbox Studios has the secret sauce recipe for games, I’m sure of it. So let me try and sell you on Severed, because as much as I want to lay it all out nice ‘n’ pretty for you, in the end I think this is a game you need to play to truly understand. Hopefully I can get you far enough “in the know” to take the leap though, as it’d be a real shame if you missed out.

Let’s see, shall we?

Released

NA: April 26th EU: April 26th

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The Vita Lounge Magazine

First, let me set the stage for the story. Your name is Sasha, and you’ve had both your right arm cut off, and your family taken from you by an evil dragon. You’ve been given a living sword by death himself, and are sent on a journey to recover that which

Your journey will lead you through three unique areas (aside from an outlying area called The Wilds and what appears to be your house) and pit you against a compliment of unique monsters – including three major bosses. You’ll gain four unique abilities, upgrade a skill tree on three different root systems, and piece together two types of vital organ for a chance at a boost in your reserves. Your fingers will hurt from excessive swiping. Your sense of direction may fail you due to taking too many staircases. That all goes to show you that this is not your mom’s touch game, this is Severed. You shouldn’t expect to find this easy, and that’s part of the beauty. Beneath all that beauty however, the gameplay is where the meat of Severed is. The majority of the gameplay is split between mazes, puzzles, and action bits; the game borrows from the Metroidvania and dungeon crawler genres – in that it contains both an upgrade system that allows you to continue and explore new areas, and that it plays out as a first person “find your way through this maze of stuff” type format. That said, classifying this one is hard as it’s got the unique kind of twist that we’ve come to expect from Drinkbox… and that’s more than okay with me. The non-battle portions of the game will have you navigating mazes and solving puzzles – thrusting you into a multi-layered, thevitalounge.net


Actual fights play out with the touch screen and the movement buttons (if you so choose that option to switch between enemies). The attacks themselves are carried out with swipes on the touch screen, while the upgrades you gain during the game will allow you to blind, steal a buff from, or “power up” for extra hard hits via touch “buttons” on the right of the screen. That said, even with a semisimplistic gameplay style this is NOT an Did I mention that’s just the basics? easy game, and even with all the upgrades Delving deeper you’ll also find secrets, and and your skill tree maxed out you’ll have trouble with some of the fights if your triggerable passages. Secrets are hidden timing and technique aren’t perfect. access areas and functions that allow you to get somewhere (or get something) The key here is skill, whether learned or natural. You’re going to have to bring it if you’d not otherwise be able to get to. you want that platinum, and you’re going Triggerable passages are extensions to be bringing it quite a bit near the end of of secrets that use abilities gained throughout the game to unlock (like blind). the game. There are also “treasure maps” found in Moving on from basic attacks, you’ve got books scattered throughout the areas, the skill tree – which extends past your ways to “warp” into different realities, hidden levers, and more. This game’s not weapon and health to include upgrades to your mana, your additional abilities, light on ideas and tricks up its sleeves, that’s for sure. linked set of locations with various tunnels between them. There’s more than one way to get to any single destination, but there are also other things to consider. Aside from stairs, gates, and layers there are gates that only work in the sun or moonlight (there’s a mechanic for swapping between them), living doors (which require a living key), and trap doors.

As for the actual controls, the dungeon crawling bit of the game is all about movement and triggers; you’ve got multiple door switches, crank wheels, and of course the mazes to navigate. Character movement controlled by either the left analog, d-pad, or PlayStation symbols for movement (basically copying the d-pad). This is combined with touch for anything that needs to be manually operated, as well as the map and certain other in-game features and shortcuts.

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and more. Upgrades are forged with parts amputated from enemies (or found in breakables), though if you get a specific upgrade you can make things much easier by gaining the ability to craft parts from giblets – which are more common than parts, and also found in breakables. Also included in the upgrade repertoire are heart and brain pieces, which upgrade your health and mana reserves respectively. Individual pieces will simply restore your health and/or mana completely, however completing a heart or a brain will upgrade your reserves by a small amount. This is easier said than done however, as most pieces are hidden and/or hard to get to. It’s an uphill struggle for small gains, but they’re worth it. Taking on late game enemies without some upgrades to back you up is suicide. Getting beyond the mere mechanics of things, the look and feel of Severed is mainly fueled by the graphical response and quality views that you get in the game. It’s not all chopping and killing, as there are many chances for you to simply stop and enjoy the beauty of the world. There are many little dead ends and viewpoints you’ll find that offer something helpful like a fruit (for health) or a couple of breakables – but many also (or alternatively) offer a gorgeous view. It’s one of those bits of unnecessary polish that make that game that much more immersive and interesting – and usually points to a destination you’ll be visiting soon enough. That Drinkbox secret sauce

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play-through took me eight hours on the clock (which should actually be plus any reset time from dying, and the ending of the game which it doesn’t record), and the platinum took a total of eleven as I got stuck, a second play-through of the game where I simply aimed for the ending showed it could be done in under four hours total (including endgame and any death resets).

makes a definite appearance here, and the level of detail and quality work that has gone into the title really shines. I thought I was impressed by Guacamelee, but they’ve one-upped themselves this time. The sound is also very beautiful in a way, giving an atmospheric feel that matches each of the areas and situations you’ll encounter. Little things like the cawing of birds, the rustling of moving bodies, and the wind serve to further enhance the experience of being “alone” in these creepy purgatory-like areas. The air swipes as you attack the enemies on screen work well to draw you into the adrenaline rush too.

So if we come down to it, if there’s one thing I took from Guacamelee it’s that Drinkbox Studios has found the formula for the gaming equivalent of “special sauce.” The good news is that they’ve poured it on with Severed, and what a tasty treat it is. Like the lip-smackingly good special sauce on your favourite burger however, once you’ve finished your portion you notice that you’ve enjoyed it so much that you simply engulfed it – and now want more.

In the end, there’s very little that I can say about Severed that isn’t a glowing praise. They’ve pulled off a unique mix of dungeon crawler, touch battle, and puzzle game that had me floored right ’til 100% completion (which my #1 spot on the PSNProfiles platinum list will attest), and then had me go back for yet another run through soon after. The one thing that I will say however, is that I wish there was simply more to play. While my first

Severed is a bloody masterpiece in this very same realm of tastiness, so all that’s left to say is… can we have some DLC, please? *twitch*

VERDICT Severed is a game that's a perfect fit for the Vita, and with Drinkbox's special sauce mixed into the wound it's one bloodbath you won't want to miss. I hope you're quick or dedicated though, 'cause this isn't your mom's touch game - and those who aren't up to the challenge will be cut down in their tracks.

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4.5 thevitalounge.net


him, and reveal what role he actually plays in the middle of this conflict.

Written by Artie Fox

@ArtieFox ArtieMichaels

8 0 21 PSTV 372 MB Publisher

axiomverge.com

@AxiomVerge

Developer

axiomverge.com

@AxiomVerge

Released

NA: April 19th EU: April 20th

@PSVitaMag

Originally released for PlayStation 4 on March 31, 2015, Axiom Verge finally materializes on the PlayStation Vita. Thomas Happ Games’ homage to Metroidvania games of the 8 to 16-bit era made a significant impact on players upon it’s initial release. It’s ability to stir feelings of nostalgia while adding new ideas to the genre are the keys to this success.

The storyline strikes a well-toned (if bizarre) mix of standard science fiction tropes and philosophic ponderings. The rules of reality do not seem to apply in the world of Axiom Verge. Trace’s repeated deaths are met with recovery by way of “blood machines”. There seem to be bloodthirsty copies of him everywhere. The guidance of his robotic “saviors” seems to be kept intentionally vague. Just what is going on here?

Axiom Verge transcends the notion that it is just another indie pixel art throwback, to become a game that is capable of surpassing the heights of the series’ that so obviously inspired it.

The story is ripe with plot twists that will have you guessing at the nature of your allies and antagonist throughout its fifteen to twenty hour length. Additional hidden logs reveal even more details for anyone interested in the background lore; they provide answers and pose more questions that cast doubt on everything you will experience.

The story of Axiom Verge puts you into the shoes of a young scientist named Trace, who dies during an experiment in an explosive lab accident. Or did he? Awakened in a “recovery egg” by an entity named Elsenova, Trace finds himself in another world entirely. This planet – called Sudra – is populated by gigantic, ominous techno-creatures known as Rusalki, who have all but fallen in a war against an invading entity, Athetos. This menace has used a device called the Breach Attractor to summon a force field around the Rusalki planet known as “The Breach,” isolating them to the surface of the planet as they slowly die. As Trace gears up to face Athetos in the final battle he will unravel the strange history of the world around

Let me just get one thing out of the way; Axiom Verge leans heavily on the Metroid side of Metroidvania. Everything about the core gameplay, music, and world aesthetics simply oozes classic Metroid. The art direction and atmosphere is eerie and lonely. The music ranges from atmospheric to adrenaline-fueled. There are a variety of weapons and power-ups scattered around a large interconnected series of maps. You will be backtracking through previous areas, finding new things you couldn’t before by utilizing new abilities obtained later in the game. If you enjoy this genre of game, welcome to a master class of tried and true game design. Make no mistake however, Axiom Verge is more than just a carbon-copy of Metroid. This game has The Vita Lounge Magazine

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paths to traverse. This mechanic is some unique tricks up it’s sleeve that would have even Samus Aran shaking her truly revolutionary, and leads to some incredibly satisfying gameplay moments head in disbelief. as you play the game and upgrade the The first thing to hit you as you play is the beam to it’s fullest potential. With it’s power enemies will become platforms haunting and atmospheric soundtrack. for your traversal, entire walls will give Sounds of isolation follow you through way to hidden upgrades, and occasionally every hallway. The chirps of an ancient you will find a path to a world that is technological society mix with gutteral a complete glitchy mess. These areas sounds that mimic the monstrosities are rendered with scan-lines and are you will encounter. The music is wholly extremely tough compared to the normal original while echoing the triumphant areas of the game. They always seem to soundtracks of the past. Hints of Super house a few power-ups and some of the Metroid abound in the cacophony of most relentless enemies in the game. synthesized mellotron, guitar and piano. Every new area brings a new iconic piece Passwords are also used to interesting that will stick in your mind long after you effect, letting you translate foreign tongues and find secret passages (among put the game down. This soundtrack will be remembered for years as a triumph of other things). music meeting art design. The character sprites and enemy designs are intricate, colorful, and incredibly During development, creator Thomas diverse. Enemies range from the tiniest Happ was inspired by classic action platformers of the bygone era. As such, it sentient spike ball to massive, grotesque stands to reason that he has run into his boss creatures – and their A.I. is extremely aggressive. Enemies that burst from the fair share of the bugs and glitches that ground, hide inside climbable platforms, or were so prevalent in primitive gaming move in completely random patterns will experiences. Axiom Verge has opted to place these corrupted oddities at the front constantly assail you and kill you. Even on and center of the game, rather than ignore normal difficulty I sometimes found the their original presence in it’s predecessors. fast-paced ‘seek-and-destroy’ enemies to be overwhelming. That’s not to say that The game is simply full of static, glitched tiles, and buggy textures that serve as Axiom Verge is too hard; I never felt so functional gameplay elements, rather out-skilled that it seemed unfair, never than errors. so out-numbered that it felt cheap. In the end quick reactions and trying new The early game sees you armed with the tactical approaches to the situations I “Address Disrupter,” a multi-weapon encountered always landed me on top. My of sorts that shoots a beam that can abilities were constantly changing as well, glitch out enemies to augment their and halfway through the game I started to behavior, as well as fix already glitched feel unstoppable. areas of the world allowing for new

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The Vita Lounge Magazine

The originality and variety in the arsenal and tools at your disposal is truly impressive. Weapons like the “Axiom Disrupter” function as a standard blaster, while later areas grant access to even stranger armaments. The “Lighting Gun” shoots an arc of live electricity that automatically locks onto the nearest enemy, “Shards” can freeze the local air moisture to propel ice shards as a projectile, and the “Tethered Charge” is a giant energy yo-yo. These are just some of the varied methods to dispose of the many enemies Athetos has loosed upon this world. Each weapon is appropriately over-the-top in design. Every weapon is viable, every weapon is optional. I was never forced to use a specific weapon, but many times I was rewarded for switching up my attack style. This kept my eyes peeled for enemies that seemed affected by certain weapons more than others, so that when I found them I could simply adapt my play style accordingly. Your means of traversal also change as Axiom Verge progresses. It doesn’t take long to add a drill to your abilities; meaning certain blocks can be burrowed through. Then comes a high jump, so all those just out of reach platforms you’ve been encountering are now accessible. Add a drone, a grappling hook, and a lab coat that lets you teleport through solid walls, and you are soon moving through every environmental layout with relative ease and finding an abundance of hidden areas. Power-ups for your health, weapon range, and power are littered around every corner for those who learn how to cleverly combine the move-set they are provided. Add in a Zelda-style health and

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On PlayStation 4, Axiom Verge used every trigger, bumper and button on the DualShock 4 controller. Some compromises have been made to accommodate this control scheme on the Vita. The four corners of the front The game runs and plays smoothly on touchscreen have mappings for your Vita, until you start to use many skills Address Disruptor beam, Disruptor in rapid succession or a lot of action is Bombs, and toggles for two of your favorite weapons. These choices seem going on at once. Rather than exhibiting some slowdown as one might expect, the odd at first, but with extended play become second nature – and are the game simply hangs up and freezes for obvious choices for remapping the up to three seconds. This was incredibly comprehensive controls of the console jarring, and – given that many of the version. I did find the binding of the game’s most hectic moments were boss fights – lead to me getting hit, or messing weapon selection wheel to the left stick up a sensitive jump. These issues got less to be unavoidable, but the choice still lead to me bumping it when I least expected jarring the longer I played, but remained it; causing mild annoyance and a few annoying and unfortunately never went away. Also new to the Vita port are longer botched shots and jumps. load times upon death, and when moving between chambers. These load times Axiom Verge is a superb example of a weren’t extreme, but they were definitely fully realized artistic vision. The design of noticeable when compared to the the world, the creatures that inhabit it, PlayStation 4 version from last year. and the immersive soundtrack combine to create a masterpiece of retro game design. The strange story of science gone sideways compels you through a world of questions and doubt. The Vita version power container system (collecting five of one power-up grants you a boost in overall health or weapon power), and you have a game that is full to the brim with collectibles and reasons to explore.

VERDICT Axiom Verge is an artistic triumph with some minor issues that hold the PlayStation Vita version back a little. However, fantastic music, visuals, and truly original gameplay mechanics put it a cut above other games of it's genre. If you are looking for a meaty, thought-provoking adventure in the palm of your hand, few games pack a punch like Thomas Happ Games' Axiom Verge. @PSVitaMag

has it’s flaws, but the sum of it’s parts is something truly special – and an excellent example of how to make a retro-style game without overly relying on nostalgia. Axiom Verge is more than a love letter to Metroid, it’s the new standard by which Metroidvania games will be judged for years to come.

4.8 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Written by Artie Fox

@ArtieFox ArtieMichaels

0 6 9 PSTV 81 MB Publisher

riskofraingame.com

@the_hopoo

Developer

riskofraingame.com

@the_hopoo

Released

NA: April 12th EU: April 12th

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The Vita Lounge Magazine

inhospitable surface. As one of the ship’s The forecast is grim (and that’s okay) as Risk of Rain finally makes it’s way to evacuated survivors, the rest of the story is up to you. the power portable. Originally released on PC in 2013, this procedurally generated platformer has spent years topping the “best of” lists of critics and fans alike. What was originally developed as a two-man hobby project, has now grown a devoted cult following not unlike that seen around other titles – like Derek Yu’s brilliant Spelunky or Edmund McMillen’s The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It’s a following that obsesses over permanent death, randomized runs, and the satisfaction that only comes from learning to play better. That’s right, Risk of Rain is in one of the industry’s most polarizing genres; the roguelike. Both hallowed and feared by many, roguelike games seem to delight in the myriad of ways they can punish the player. The odds will always be stacked against you. Your character will die and you will lose everything. Failure is always a mere moment away, but with every death new personal skills and tactics arise from within the player. Determination and perseverance are your only friends in worlds such as this. Be prepared! The story is a simple and conveyed in dialog-free cutscenes upon loading the game. Delivery vessel UES Contact Light is transporting various strange and dangerous items to an undisclosed location. A mysterious figure warps on-board and causes an explosion in Cargo Bay 1, crippling the ship. Safety measures jettison the cargo and crew in escape pods away from the flaming wreckage. The gravity of a nearby planet snares the flaming ship and the falling capsules, drawing them towards it’s

The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive on the planet is that the place is pretty empty. Save for a few idol statues from some previous civilization, crashed capsules, and creeping vines, you are alone (unless playing multiplayer) and hopelessly tiny. The first ten seconds on the surface lure you into a false sense of security as you test your character’s four abilities and learn the basics of traversal. The sudden appearance of enemies around you signals that it’s time to get serious. The first few are pushovers, but the in-game timer is constantly increasing the difficulty and frequency of the enemy spawns. Each kill grants you experience points which level you up in a linear fashion, and money which you spend on items and upgrades you find in some of the many ejected pods littering the landscape. Your goal in each stage is to use these to power up your character and find the teleporter leading to the next level. Teleporters are high tech equipment, and as such require a boot sequence of ninety seconds. During this time, the objective changes to “simply survive” and a boss creature will be set loose upon the level. These bosses are big, have a ton of hit points, and are usually capable of rendering your character’s health bar to shreds in a manner of seconds. Only clever (or overpowered) adventurers will stand a chance. These fights are made even more hectic by the fact that enemies start spawning left and right. It’s very easy to lose control of the flow in battle and end up thevitalounge.net


dead to a swarm of space jellyfish (while a fired a bolt of electricity forward as I Magma Worm goes to town on whatever attacked, the Barbed Wire which surrounded my character with a damage is left of you). Such is life. dealing barrier, and Blood Transfusion which added a tiny sliver of health to my Lucky or crafty explorers will soon find character’s total amount with every kill. ways of exploiting patterns or level When these abilities begin to stack layouts to put the heat on enemies and together, you will end up dying as some boss monsters. Cool heads will indeed pretty diverse individuals. prevail, and before you know it those ninety seconds are over… and now you get to play clean-up crew. In this phase is Also to be found are drones that, when where Risk of Rain can drag a little, as you repaired, will follow your character around either shooting people, or healing him. are forced into every corner of the world Drones will add up if you continue to to hunt down the left-over baddies. The activate new ones and protect the others number of enemies remaining will be from destruction. Some of the most fun displayed during this time, and a helpful runs I’ve had with Risk of Rain involved an arrow will guide you to the locations of your remaining foes, but I still always army of flying drones, buzzing around my found this part to be a bit of a slog. You head and firing off dozens of rounds. It’s must eliminate all of them before the an awesome mechanic that goes a long teleporter will finally let you warp to the way towards you coming out on top. next location – one step closer to finding the wreckage of the UES Contact Light. If all that wasn’t enough to have you drooling (it was for me), the developers The loop is simple and repeated every saw fit to put in challenges that when stage until the final, but it’s never as completed unlock even more things to add simple as it sounds. I still don’t know to the item pool – even additional playable when the best time to fire up the classes! These classes can be minimally teleporter is. Risk versus reward, and all tweaked from the default Commando that. The game is simply full of little class (such as the Bandit, who swaps the variables that intertwine to create a machine gun attack with a slower, complex tapestry of gameplay that usually stronger shotgun blast), to radically results in the player’s death. It is different (like the Chef, who attacks with inevitable, but always lends some insight knives, or the melee focused, robotic on how to play more efficiently. Players Loader). Each challenge is suitably difficult who do not welcome this particular type – some even requiring an exact action in a of learning curve need not apply. Risk of specific area – but the rewards add more to the chaos at your disposal and increase Rain will not hold your hand, even on it’s the fun factor and replayability. easiest difficulty setting. The items you find strewn about in ejected capsules are your chief defense against all the horrors of the planet’s surface. They range from practical to bizarre, and all stack together to create a wholly new character build with every attempted run. Some of my personal favorites; the Ukulele that intermittently

Also upping the fun ante, are the wide array of multiplayer options. Risk of Rain is cross-play with the PlayStation 4 version of the game, and any combination of up to four people playing locally or online is supported. Want to play online from your Vita handheld, while playing with your friend and his brother couch

VERDICT Risk of Rain is an excellent game, though the tiny character size on the PS Vita screen is a major nuisance sometimes. Mop-up bits slow down an otherwise lightning fast experience. Great music and addictive gameplay are the order of the day, however. Features an incredible amount of content for a meager price. An absolute PS Vita must buy! @PSVitaMag

co-oping from the same PlayStation 4, and your significant other wants to join the three of you online from their PlayStation TV? Yeah, you can do that. The PlayStation TV supports local multiplayer with this one as well, putting it into that rarest of Vita game categories. Multiplayer is fun, but the madness on-screen only gets worse. This game could hurt friendships if not played with the right people. The sound design is well done. Playable characters make grunts and bleeps that give them personality. Enemies emit sounds that will chill your blood. Weapons all pop, crackle, and explode the way they should. Every single element at play is given it’s own sound palette and it does wonders for the player’s immersion. The music is phenomenal and eerie. Walls of synth patter your ear drums, while electric guitar wails remind you of the danger that surrounds you (and that it will all be over soon). The soundtrack found in Risk of Rain is a genuine highlight of the presentation; just get used to hearing the music from the first level over and over again.

Risk of Rain is a brutal and rewarding experience. The controls are tight and never let me down. The amount of content it includes is shocking given its budget price tag. The fast-paced action and randomly occurring item drops make every round feel like a fresh experience. It is so close to being the perfect “one-more run” game. Some pacing issues hold it back a little, and the character size on the Vita screen is almost unforgivable, but fans of platformers and roguelikes owe it to themselves to experience this game. Risk of Rain is currently available for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 systems with cross-buy enabled. Buy it for one console and play it on both, it’s a wonderful and adrenaline-fueled addition to the already excellent PlayStation digital library.

4.6 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Written by Timmy Garrett

@timmygarrett40k fitzfarseer

2 11 34 PSTV 2.2 GB Publisher 2K.com

@2K

Developer 2K.com

@2K

Released

NA: March 22nd EU: March 22nd

28

The Vita Lounge Magazine

‘Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying’ – Arthur C. Clarke The opening quote that XCOM Enemy Unknown Plus presents the player with when first starting a new game is a chilling and fitting one indeed, because if there is one thing that the XCOM series encapsulates perfectly it is terror. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I felt truly in power or in control of the situation in XCOM, both with my time spent on the original PS3 version and now on the port bought to the Vita with all the DLC and extra content included. You see the whole emphasis of the game is that you are humanities first and last line of defense against an invading alien menace. You are out gunned, out numbered, underfunded and your backs are constantly against the wall. But it is this feeling of inevitable failure, the constant threat that one wrong move, one wrong decision could turn the tide of the war against you in an instant that makes XCOM one of the most rewarding and engaging experiences of the last generation.

Veterans of the turn based strategy genre will feel right at home in Enemy Unknown Plus. The game is a refined version of the many tropes and gameplay styles we have seen before in the likes of Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics. Your squad exchanges turns with the enemy, on what is essentially a grid based map, as you strategically and meticulously plan your approach to the battle. You will be using cover to your advantage constantly as it takes very little for one of your hardened marines to be turned into a red sticky mess. The threat of permanently losing squad members is ever present and made all the more real and emotionally stressful by the fact that soldiers are fully customizable, down to their race, name and appearance. Want to fly head long into a fight surrounded by your friends and family? Well you can, but be prepared to shed a tear or two when Uncle Derek, your only medic, is crushed beneath the mighty fist of a Berserker, leaving you not only without the ability to heal, but also without the comfort a familiar face offers in the desolate heart of battle. As mentioned XCOM Enemy Unknown Plus comes with all the DLC and added content that can be found in the Enemy Within expansion. This additional content is implemented in a rather ingenious way; rather than having to spend hours and hours playing through all the vanilla content before you can take advantage of what the DLC has to offer, it is in fact subtly woven in and out of the existing campaign.

thevitalounge.net


The DLC includes not only extra missions but also many new strategies and ways to deal with the alien threat. Soldiers can now be upgraded into mighty MEC Troopers through aggressive surgery. Don’t fancy that approach? Then maybe you’d prefer to tinker with the gene therapy route. Meddling with soldiers’ genes will grant almost superhuman traits such as the power to leap incredible distances or telepathically sense an alien’s presence before it gets the drop on you. However in true XCOM form, even with all these new options at your disposal, the creatures you face will still feel one step ahead of you as new, more powerful xenomorphs such as the stealthy Seeker and intimidating Mechtoid step into the ring to make your life a misery.

of hours in Ironman mode before being completely annihilated, but the challenge it offers is some of the most ridiculous fun I’ve had with the game.

once you are finally locked and loaded into a mission you won’t be interrupted with any loading screens for the duration of the level.

However XCOM falls just short of being a flawless conversion. Unfortunately some concessions have had to be made to squeeze this game onto a handheld. Even on consoles Enemy Unknown was never the most beautiful belle at the ball, and was notoriously plagued with choppy frame rate issues, screen tearing and copious amounts of pop in (be it textures or the environments themselves). Time it seems is a cruel mistress and the years that it has taken to bring this game to the Vita have obviously not been spent tightening these bolts. Which might go some way to explain why it suddenly appeared on the Vita store with very little fanfare. Marines and aliens are sometimes reminiscent of Harryhausen Claymation, especially when there is a lot of action happening at once.

The silver lining to all this is the fact that the game never actually crashed on me or froze completely. Thankfully these issues are not deal breakers due to the fact that this is a turn based game; timing or twitch based shooting are not required and as such you won’t ever face defeat due to the games engine stumbling here and there. Although occasional slowdown can take you out of the immersion the game offers, it shouldn’t ruin your overall experience.

XCOM vets will also be glad to hear that Ironman mode has made the transition intact. For the uninitiated among you this is XCOM in its purest form; the game in its hardest settings, constantly saving so you can never load an old save state. This makes every decision permanent and The load times can also feel slightly every death equally so. I’m not going to lie, egregious, sometimes reaching pre-patch I have never made it more than a couple Bloodborne levels of length. Although

VERDICT XCOM Enemy Unknown Plus is a perfect game hidden behind a poorly executed port. For some these technical issues may be enough to warrant not giving it a shot but you would be robbing yourself of experiencing one of the hardest and most rewarding tactical games released in years.

@PSVitaMag

XCOM Enemy Unknown Plus is undoubtedly fantastic value for money, and although cost shouldn’t influence your purchase you can’t argue that for £15.99 there is a hell of a lot of content here and hundreds of hours of tight tactical gameplay. Technical issues do hold it back from being one of the Vita’s best but it is without question one of its greats. You’ll jump for joy, cry, shout, swear and laugh and there are not many games that can offer you that.

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entire play through. The game supports being an all conquering Genghis Khan as much as it does a more reserved strategic Sun Tzu.

Written by Reece Heyworth @rheyworth07 CHEAT07

2 10 38 PSTV 2.9 GB Publisher

koeitecmoamerica.com

@KoeiTecmoUS

Developer

koeitecmoamerica.com

@KoeiTecmoUS

Released

NA: March 15th EU: March 11th

30

The Vita Lounge Magazine

Samurai Warriors 4: Empires is the latest entry to the vast library of Warrior’s games that Tecmo Koei are famous for. Anyone who has played one of their games before knows what kind of game you’re in for, you’ll play as one hero fighting hundreds of enemies in order to win the battle for your army. The Empires spin off series expands upon this basic gameplay by adding a more strategic meta game whereby you must raise the army you take into battle and fight to conquer Japan. Samurai Warriors takes this concept and does it immeasurable justice. The game is almost equal parts strategy and action, it’s by no means a challenging game and you are always able to make up for mistakes. The main game mode is ‘Conquest’ mode, where you tackle a pre-built scenario with a set objective for the army you pick. The premise is simple but offers a nice strategic sandbox for you to play in, with objectives ranging from wiping out a clan to uniting a region of the map. Even when you achieve this objective you’re given the chance to play on with the objective of uniting all Japan. What is truly enjoyable is the freedom the game affords you to play in a style you like, the game isn’t too punishing so you are free to make decisions without having to worry too much about whether it will ruin your

With the game set up you are thrown into appointing your officials who will guide the building of your empire with proposals each turn. Choosing which proposals to employ will make up the bulk of your game time and will be the greatest influence in the way your empire develops. There are plenty of different proposals that can be employed each turn, with more becoming available as you progress through the game. The variety of options here is pleasing as it really allows you to approach problems in the way you want to, like investing in your commerce field and building up your resources for the future or start buying executable tactics and building up your troop strength for an invasion. After each round of proposals you’ll be shown the map and any other battles going on – including any faction trying to invade your kingdom. It is at this stage you can launch an invasion of your own. When you launch an invasion you have to choose which of your generals to take with you, the more you take the more gold it will cost and the more supplies you need to take to give you time in battle. Early on these choices can be tough as you balance your various resources but quickly you’ll find you have enough gold to always take a full repertoire of generals with more than enough supplies to last the battle. After this you are thrown into the battle preparation screen where more choices need to be made. Here you can alter the placement of your officers on the battlefield, though I often felt this thevitalounge.net


was unnecessary. You can also select a formation for your army; which gives a temporary buff in either attack, defence or speed and up to two executable tactics which can be used during battle to help out yourself or hinder the enemy. Once you have set up your army it’s time for the action. Every battle flows more or less the same, you can win the battle by taking bases to reach the enemy’s main camp and then defeating the opposing commander. Each battle has a timer and, as an invader, if it runs out then you lose the battle so there is always a sense of urgency to each battle to keep moving. When you are defending however the timer is your friend, you simply have to survive until time runs out so you’ll often find your army holing up and just bearing the brunt of the enemy.

The other problems in combat are more niggles than game breaking. The screen space is cluttered pretty much all the time which, considering how well screen space is used elsewhere in the game, means that battles can come as a shock to the system. Text updates continually stream across the bottom of the screen letting you know what is going on, the problem with these messages is that they disappear quickly and you’re often preoccupied with assessing the map for information or focusing on the action you’re actually a part of. Most of the text is usually unessential but small updates like tactics being used or reinforcements arriving can change how to approach a battle but are easily lost in the busy screen.

Speaking of things being lost in the middle of battle, there are times where Unfortunately the action side to this game there can be lots of enemies on screen at also bears most of the game’s problems. any one time. To the credit of the game engine, frame rates very rarely drop to Combat is the same as other Warriors a noticeable degree. However the game games, which is safe if a little lacking. manages this by not always rendering While it appears every effort has been characters that are meant to be present made to try and give the combat more on screen. These characters are invisible depth with special moves, the ability to and invulnerable to the action going on interrupt enemy combos and so on it and as character counts drop on-screen, unfortunately all feels too shallow still new waves of enemies and generals will and 90% of conflicts will involve hitting suddenly appear from nowhere. In general that square button repeatedly and the other 10% are your special musou attacks. this does not pose too much of a problem until an enemy general you are trying to There are various combos you can pull kill goes into this disappearing state and off with each character but again there you just cant do anything about it. It’s is never any need to pull them off other frustrating but hasn’t been game breaking than looking pretty damn cool. With in my play through of the game. plenty of different characters (seriously it’s insane how many there are) there are loads of different move sets to try out and find your favourites for clearing out the hordes.

VERDICT Samurai Warriors 4: Empires is a fun strategy action hybrid spin off of the popular Warriors series. Players of previous Empires games should be happy with what is on offer here and those who have even a passing curiosity will find their time rewarded well.

@PSVitaMag

The other main game mode present is called ‘Genesis Mode’, this mode allows the player to customise the scenarios found in Conquest mode and then play through them as normal. You can customise initial army setups and each clan’s objective. The game still functions the same as normal but the option to customise and create your own scenario will appeal to players wanting to enact their own fantasy wars. There is also an edit mode for creating your own officers which can then appear in either Conquest or Genesis mode. There are plenty of options available in edit mode and you can create a great variety of officers of differing shapes and sizes and the more creative player could lose hours here alone. Overall the game offers a nice blend of action and strategy even if compromises are made in both departments to make the combination work. This game isn’t going to challenge your planning skills as much as a Civilization game will but makes up for it with fun action gameplay. For anyone with an interest in Warriors games I can easily recommend this game, for those turned off by other Warriors games maybe this game still isn’t for you unless the strategy element has you intrigued.

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Hoagie 200 years into the past, Laverne 200 years into the future and leaving Bernard in the present day. Here is where the game begins and you take control of the crazy, cartoon-like characters.

Written by Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Chaz3010

1 3 53 PSTV 1064 MB Publisher

doublefine.com

@DoubleFine

Developer

doublefine.com

@DoubleFine

Released

NA: March 22nd EU: March 22nd

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The Vita Lounge Magazine

Having enjoyed Double Fine’s last two Vita games, (Grim Fandango Remastered and Broken Age) I found myself eagerly anticipating the release of Day of the Tentacle Remastered – although I knew practically nothing about the twenty-three year old game. Originally released in 1993, Day of the Tentacle is a point and click adventure game with three playable characters – the nerdy Bernard, Hoagie the roadie, and oddball medical student Laverne. When one of Dr. Fred’s mutant lab assistants, Purple tentacle, develops a hunger for world domination after consuming some toxic sludge that is being pumped out of the back of Fred’s laboratory, Dr. Fred decides the only way to deal with this situation is to kill both the Purple tentacle and his brother, the friendly Green tentacle. Green tentacle makes a cry for help to Bernard, and when Bernard and co. come to the rescue the Purple tentacle escapes. It is decided that the only way to stop the Purple tentacle is to go back in time to the previous day using time machines/port-aloos called the Chron-o-John that Dr. Fred has invented. These breakdown, sending

Even though the three friends have been split across time periods, you will soon learn that the only way to progress through the game is to work together to solve the various puzzles that you are faced with. You can switch between the characters by using either the in-game item menu or by using the left and right buttons on the Vita’s d-pad, and by doing this you can play through the game in almost any order you like. This can work exceptionally well. If – for example – you get bamboozled by one puzzle, you can then switch characters and continue down their story arc, coming back to the problematic puzzle a little later on. I found myself using this option often, as some of the puzzles in Day of the Tentacle will leave you scratching your head for answers! Another mechanic that I enjoyed in the game was the fact that you could share items picked up between the three characters, sending them through time by flushing them down the Chron-o-John. This leads to situations where you will find yourself sending things back in time to Hoagie (or freezing hamsters for Laverne to find in the future) in order for him to use the item to change how the future pans out – creating solutions to puzzles that span the gap in time. I thought this worked really well, and (combined with the humour that is common throughout Tim Schafer/Lucas Arts games) made for some great scenes that will leave a lasting impression! thevitalounge.net


Speaking of scenes, Day of the Tentacle Remastered‘s have been given one heck of a polish. In a similar fashion to that of Grim Fandango Remastered, Double Fine have included an option that allows you to switch between the graphics of the original ’93 release (which don’t look too bad) and the beautifully drawn aesthetics of the remastered version – that also sees the original’s HUD reworked into a radial menu. I found myself switching back and forth during the earlier moments of the game to get a feel for how the game used to look, but after the novelty wore off I stuck to the updated graphics because when they look this good why wouldn’t you?

The voice acting in Day of the Tentacle is also superb, further adding to the game’s charm and sense of humour. It is worth spending the time to explore all the dialogue options when talking to the characters in the game, just to ensure that you don’t miss out on any hilarious quips or useful pieces of info that may help you out. For those of you that wish to learn more about this classic piece of gaming history, there is also a director’s commentary available – although I would suggest that you leave this for a second play-through so that you don’t miss out on anything first time ’round.

VERDICT Day of the Tentacle Remastered is another classic Double Fine title that has been given a facelift for the PlayStation Vita. The puzzles can be challenging and the game can be completed in around five hours, but those five hours will provide you with a hilarious story, great characters and puzzles that hold up even though they are 23 years old! If, like me, you are a point and click fan then Day of the Tentacle Remastered is one you don't want to miss! @PSVitaMag

For those of you old enough to have played the original, one other thing that the remastered version has carried over is that it includes its predecessor, Maniac Mansion, in its entirety as an easter egg. This is something that could be easily missed, but if you happen across a computer during your run then interact with it and give it a go. Two games for the price of one, not bad! Now don’t get me wrong, Day of the Tentacle Remastered is definitely not a game for everyone. The difficulty of the puzzles is sure to put a lot of people off, and the game can be completed in one sitting – providing you don’t get stuck! But for those of you that have fond memories of this classic, or want to play a part of video game history – then Day of the Tentacle Remastered is another Double Fine classic that I would highly recommend!

4.4 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Written by Artie Fox

@ArtieFox ArtieMichaels

1 8 48 PSTV 930 MB Publisher

acrowdofmonsters.com

@CrowdOfMonsters

Developer

acrowdofmonsters.com

@CrowdOfMonsters

Released

NA: March 29th EU: February 5th

34

The Vita Lounge Magazine

The PlayStation Vita is home to a vast array of indie game ports from PC and other consoles. Published by A Crowd of Monsters, UnEpic is the newest digital-only indie to grace Sony’s portable powerhouse. The PS Vita version of UnEpic is a port of a 2011 PC game that has made it’s way to many other platforms before arriving on the PlayStation family of consoles. Developed by lone developer Francisco Téllez de Meneses, it is a RPG/Platformer in the Metroidvania style. Many indie game developers love to cut their teeth making games in this genre, and sprinkling RPG elements into the popular platformer formula has proven extremely successful for many games. The PSN storefront on the Vita has a wide variety of similar or easily comparable games already available and most of them are extremely high quality. With so many other comparable titles already established on the system, does UnEpic have what it takes to run with the likes of incredible indies such as Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, or La-Mulana EX? Well, I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news… The story of UnEpic revolves around Daniel (I renamed him Artie, I regretted it by the end). He’s your stereotypical, smart-ass “Joe Gamer” type, who while playing D&D

with his friends makes a fateful trip to the bathroom. In a bizzare twist, he finds himself transported to the ominous Castle Harkanon. Believing his circumstances to be the result of drinking too much with his buddies, he shrugs it all off as a hallucination. Daniel plays along with his delusion thinking it will eventually wear off and ventures into the depths of the castle. Armed in the beginning with only a Zippostyle pocket lighter and an unearned chip on his shoulder, he is almost immediately possessed by a nameless spirit who dwells in the castle. Daniel, having “no faith” in his surroundings, is unaffected by the spectre’s dominion, trapping the shadowy figure inside his body until he perishes. Naturally, that mystery ghost wants him dead now. The trials are just beginning. On Daniel’s journey he will face many foes, trip countless traps, and try to avoid being tricked into his death by the malicious entity possessing him who just…won’t… SHUT…UP!

UnEpic has a strong focus on being a narrative-driven experience. That it does indeed have a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end makes it successful. That being said, the characters in this game are shallow, cringe-inducing caricatures of “average gamer nerds”…you know, us. A good portion of it’s intended audience. It’s a bizarre choice to seemingly be condescending to the primary audience of your product. It’s almost laughable, but this game made me feel a little ashamed of being so heavily involved with “nerd culture.” Let me make a few things clear about these thevitalounge.net


Now we come to the good news, which is that UnEpic looks amazing on the PS Vita. The colors displayed in the game are vibrant and character portraits are highly detailed. The in-game character models animate in a pleasing, almost puppetlike manner that is extremely charming. Swinging your sword, stabbing with a spear, crouching with your lighter in hand After my initial irritation wore off, I was to illuminate lower areas. It’s obvious that left with the impression that UnEpic has much care was given to make UnEpic look it’s tongue pressed firmly in it’s cheek, visually splendid, even if five years old at and should be played with that knowledge this point. in mind. That being said, I never really learned to like the characters in my No matter how visually striking the art time with the game. The entire game’s design is however, the enemy design script is voice-acted as well, though the is fairly banal. Around every corner character’s voices grated on me SO MUCH generic worms, bats, and goblins will that I ended up turning them off in the accost you. None of their designs are settings menu (a welcome addition). Even particularly offensive, but neither are though I disliked the voice-over work in they unique in any way. Some enemies the game, it was composed of high quality seem to disappear into the backgrounds audio samples and the vocal deliveries due to them lacking any distinguishing of the actors matched the story tone the characteristics to make them pop from game was going for…I just wasn’t a fan of the dreary dungeon backdrops. Especially that particular tonality. the bats. Unlike the Castlevania games characterizations. That’s not my gaming group. That is not the gaming groups of people I know. Those characters are not accurate representations of the gaming community in 2016 and I’m sure they weren’t accurate representations of the gaming community in 2011 when the game was originally released.

@PSVitaMag

that obviously inspired it’s design, it lacks any unique animations when you slay a foe, simply opting to have them vanish in a purple puff of…I don’t know…smoke? Gas? This is nitpicking, as MANY games inspired by Castlevania also fail to take this particular page from it’s playbook. I guess what I’m saying is, other games need to step up their…game. The world design from an art perspective is also fairly bog-standard, but more than does it’s job of making you feel like you are stuck in a labyrinthine castle with danger lurking around every corner and in every shadow. Speaking of shadows, UnEpic has impressive lighting in spades. One of the mechanics introduced at the beginning is using your lighter to ignite torches, candelabras, and oil lamps scattered around the map. Each one adds more light to the overall chamber you are in, until you light them all and are rewarded with a pleasant musical tone and a shiny, shiny particle effects shower. The triangle button also allows you to

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swap between two different viewpoints; zoomed out to see all interconnected rooms in a chamber, or zoomed in for a easy sense of the action in your particular room. This effect is instant, impressive, and insanely useful for navigation as well as combat. The music that accompanies your journey is also pretty generic, but not unpleasant. I left the music on, but never found myself with a particular tune stuck in my head when I put the game down. It was pleasant, moody, and serviceable to the setting. Highlights of the sound design were the sudden flares of battle music when you were spotted by an enemy and that awesome “you lit all the torches” chime. I love that sound. Combat is a bit of a mixed bag. When you press the square button and hold, Daniel swings his weapon over and over, non-stop until you let off the button. This decision is odd as you fail to make that fundamental connection to the combat that you get when each attack is executed with individual button presses. The disconnect it makes is minor and it’s

presence was noticed less as I played more. Adding to the odd, when Daniel attacks he is frozen in place with no way to dodge or block. He just hacks away. This lead to some trouble with a few bosses and even minor enemies (BATS!) knocking me around the battlefield like a crash-test dummy. Again, these issues were addressed by me with subtle compensations and adjustments to my playstyle over my time with the game.

UnEpic is an RPG/Platformer with some chops, but some questionable design choices and input issues hold it back. The gameplay is solid for fans of Metroidvanias, but does nothing new to distinguish itself in the genre. An irritating take on "Nerd culture" is a turn-off and makes me wonder who this game was supposed to appeal to. To skip dialog press X+O.

The Vita Lounge Magazine

Overall, there’s an impressive amount of content on display here and a campaign that runs in the fifteen hour region. There’s no new game plus, but there are five different difficulty settings for additional challenge. It’s hard not to recommend to anyone wanting a game that’s consise in scope, but with some serious meat on it.

It’s an RPG, and as such killing baddies gains you experience which causes you to level up which grants you skill points for Daniel. These are allocated manually by the player, allowing you to craft unique builds. Eventually you will begin to acquire weapon skills as well, which deplete a UnEpic is equal parts charming and dull. “Kill Point” bar to unleash special attacks Witty at times and blush-inducingly specific to each weapon category. crass at others. It’s also middle of the road gaming at it’s finest so serious fans Loot plays a large role in any exploration- of Metroidvanias can afford to take a based RPG, and UnEpic is no exception. chance. UnEpic by A Crowd of Monsters While exploring Castle Harkanon you will is available in all regions, as a digital-only find all manner of chests to raid, and all download for PS Vita and PS4. kinds of things will drop from your slain foes. These range from crafting materials It is not an accurate portrayal of the nerd to create various items, to coveted unique community.

VERDICT

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weapons with epic bonuses and ridiculous names like Vitahandis. That is a unique dagger with “Vita” right in the name and the Life Leech ability. If you’re a fan of inventory micro-management, UnEpic will sit next to Dragon Fin Soup on your Vita with pride.

3.9 thevitalounge.net


to belong to the Assassin Order. Mir must discover why he has come, steal back the item, and protect his friends and his lover.

Written by Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Chaz3010

1 10 43 PSTV 2.8 GB Publisher Ubisoft.com

@Ubisoft

Developer Ubisoft.com

@Ubisoft

Released

NA: April 5th EU: April 5th

@PSVitaMag

A Chinese, an Indian and a Russian man…. No, this isn’t the start of a joke – these are the three assassin’s whose stories form the premise of Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles, a spin-off title from Ubisoft’s popular franchise. Originally releasing as individual titles on the home consoles, Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles Trilogy brings the China, India and Russia episodes together as a single release for the PlayStation Vita release – allowing users to choose which story they tackle first.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China sees players control female protagonist, Shao Jun. After being trained by legendary Italian assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze (of Assassin’s Creed 2 fame), Shao Jun returns to her homeland during the Ming dynasty to exact vengeance against the Templar group Eight Tigers, who wiped out the Chinese brotherhood. Shao Jun’s quest is the first of the three I played and saw me play through stages set in locations such as Macau, Nan’an, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. I then moved onto Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, which is set in the year 1841 as players take the role of Arbaaz Mir. While the Sikh Empire was at war with the East India Company, a Master Templar arrives with a mysterious item that used

To finish off I played through Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia, which is centred around Nikolai Orelov, a man who is trying to leave the Assassin’s order to live a quiet life with his family. Before he is able to do that, the brotherhood assigns him a final mission to steal an ancient artefact – which also sees him become a temporary bodyguard for a princess. All three games use an artstyle that is heavily influenced by paintings and paintbrush effects, with the cutscenes using a watercolour-style aesthetic to deliver each of the games’ stories. This effect worked really well for the cutscenes, it is just a shame that the stories themselves didn’t really leave much of an impact on me for me to care or become invested in the stories behind the games. Unlike the last Vita Assassin’s Creed title, Liberation, Chronicles is a 2.5D platformer – with each of the three episodes tasking you with making your way through twelve stages (lasting approximately ten to fifteen minutes each) whilst trying to achieve a high score. The two different level types will see you scored based on how you play – with stealth preferred over combat. The majority of levels hand out gold, silver and bronze awards after each segment depending on how well you used your assassin skills to progress, with each ranking worth points based on times spotted, enemies killed and general sneakiness. The rest of the stages task you with beating them as quickly as possible, The Vita Lounge Magazine

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anyone who has played a previous game in the series, and there are contextual, unobtrusive prompts that will appear on These points are used to unlock items and screen to remind you of certain controls in upgrades for your assassin, and the game case you do struggle to remember them. will show you the requirements for these Although the game does give you a sword via a pre-stage objective screen – with a to play with, attack is usually the worst post-stage screen giving you your final form of defence in Assassin’s Creed: score. I found that this system worked well in the China and India episodes, but Chronicles. There are multiple types of when it came to Russia I found myself enemies in each of the three games, missing out on most of the objectives with tougher enemies introduced as you – making the game almost too difficult progress. Each of these enemies has a to play in some parts due to me missing field of vision that is displayed via cones in out on the health upgrades that are a similar fashion to Metal Gear Solid, or an much needed. There is a ‘New Game Plus’ area of awareness which is represented mode that you can playthrough using the by a yellow circle that appears on screen. abilities you’ve already unlocked, which If you enter into one of these spaces will allow completionists to beat their you will have a few seconds to escape previous scores and see everything the before a guard raises an alert. If an alert game has to offer. is raised, guards will hunt you down and call in reinforcements, only returning to a Each of the three assassins feel the same passive state if you can avoid them and in the form of how they play. The left lay low until the heat dies down. analogue stick controls the movement of your assassin, with the right trigger used You have two types of attack, with to make them run. In a similar fashion a light attack on square and a heavy to the console games, you will use X to attack on triangle. If you can get a guard jump/move upwards, circle to drop/move one-on-one you will have no difficulty downwards and the left trigger to crouch. with dispatching them, but if there is These controls are extremely intuitive to more than one in your proximity I would with points being awarded based on the time it takes you to complete a level.

Interested in

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?

strongly suggest you explore an alternate option. Although you will get points for killing the guards, you will find yourself overwhelmed and underpowered if you come up against a handful of them at once. In some ways this works due to the fact that you are playing as an assassin and not a muscular powerhouse, but I found myself getting frustrated at times when I was getting killed after one or two hits whereas a weak enemy could take three to four. Luckily, the sword isn’t the only tool at your disposal. As you play through each of the games you will unlock gadgets for your assassin to utilise to aide your traversal of the stages. Mapped to the PlayStation Vita’s d-pad, you start with the ability to whistle by pressing up. When whistling you can increase the volume of the whistle, thereby increasing the area which it covers. This can draw guards to your location, moving them away from a potential escape route. Other gadgets include smoke bombs, noise bombs and throwing knives that can be used to cut ropes to open new routes or drop heavy loads on unsuspecting guards. These gadgets have limited uses, but are never in short supply with loot crates dotted

From the team behind

thevitalounge.net


about stages in China and a ‘loot’ ability added to your assassin’s repertoire in both India and Russia. You can unlock additional slots for these gadgets by attaining high scores but these aren’t really needed.

to the handheld has been kind and the game performs really well and, although not pushing the Vita to its potential, it looks pretty good in places.

There were times when I found myself getting stuck in places due to a climbable wall behaving like a vertical slide or a wall There are various other mechanics that not becoming transparent when I entered will make your life easier, such as the ability to hide (push the left analogue stick a building which required a checkpoint restart to resolve, but these were few and in the direction of the hiding spot) and far between to become a cause of a major also dash between hiding places. These irritation. will make sneaking through the levels much easier and, with the addition of the series’ staple ‘Eagle Vision’ accessible via Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles Trilogy has the touch screen, you will be able to plan been one of the hardest games I have had the best route through any given level if to review. It does everything it sets out you are patient enough – I tended to be to do well enough, but still I felt a little a bit ‘gung-ho’ at times and often found underwhelmed by the whole experience. myself facing a load screen after I’d been There were times when I found myself caught and killed for making a stupid struggling to pick up my Vita to play mistake. the game, and times when I couldn’t put it down. I found myself preferring The Assassin’s Creed franchise has taken the characters and worlds of the India and Russia chapters more than China, a bit of a kicking in recent years due to but all three are pretty much the same some of the issues that have faced the game with a few different mechanics console versions (here’s looking at you thrown in to add variety. Assassin’s Unity), but Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles runs well on the PlayStation Vita. The port Creed: Chronicles Trilogy is a good game,

VERDICT Assassin's Creed: Chronicles Trilogy is a game that I found myself both loving and hating at the same time. With three different stories following three different assassin's, it's a shame that the three games feel like re-skinned versions of each other. While there is nothing I can technically fault with the game, I just found myself a little bored with the game at times. This isn't a game I would encourage for long periods of play, but can be fun in small doses. @PSVitaMag

but I feel like the switch to the 2.5D perspective, and the linearity and focus on stealth has made the series lose its identity – which is quite ironic given that this would be something an assassin would strive to do.

3.6 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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is where one of Blast ‘Em Bunnies‘ main problem arises.

Written by Liam Langan

@LiamHangover liamlangan

2 2 5 PSTV 541 MB Publisher nnooo.com

@_Nnooo

Developer nnooo.com

@_Nnooo

Released

NA: March 8th EU: March 9th

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The Vita Lounge Magazine

Blast ‘Em Bunnies has brought its Bunny invasion to the PlayStation Vita, but is the bunny apocalypse something to look forward to, or will it leave you disappointed? Lets find out. Have you ever played a game where repetition gets the better of you and before you know it you find it becoming more of a chore than enjoyable? Well that’s exactly how I found myself after my first 30 minutes with Blast ‘Em Bunnies. You play as Big Bang Bunny who has a problem on his hands, his fellow bunny friends have gone crazy, and the only way he can calm them down is to fire vegetables at their face. It sounds fun in concept, but it’s a shame that it doesn’t translate over well when it comes to gameplay. The gameplay is very simple, waves of enemies come running towards you, and you use the left analogue stick to move your turret followed by the R button to fire vegetables at your enemies. That literally sums everything up, there is barely any variety to the game. Whenever you kill an enemy they will drop coins ranging in amounts from 1 to 50. These can be spent in the in-game store, where you’ll be able to buy power-ups and abilities for your character, and this

The game has 2 different game modes; Survival and Slaughter. Survival sees you taking on an unlimited amount of enemies until you eventually run out of health, and Slaughter makes you invincible whilst you take out as many bunnies as you can under a 2 minute timer. I found that using Slaughter mode to collect as many coins as possible was the best way to buy more health upgrades in order to make Survival mode a lot easier. The game is very DLC heavy, with your initial purchase of the game you get one environment and one costume for your enemies to wear, however there are DLC packs available on the PlayStation Store ranging from £1.69 up to £7.99 that add extra cosmetics to the game as well as coin multipliers that make the game horrendously easy. Admittedly, the DLC was included with the review code for the game, meaning that I was able to unlock everything inside of 2 hours, but it wasn’t a fun or enjoyable task. Even without these DLCs being included I don’t think I would have enjoyed the experience any further, in fact it would have felt like more of a grind than it did with the DLCs. Weapon upgrades are actually a helpful way to become more powerful in the game, you start off with a standard Carrot cannon, but you can upgrade to homing parsnips which always find their target, and cabbage bombs which can deliver a devastating amount of damage to their enemies. I thevitalounge.net


managed to find a weapon set I was comfortable with using but again, it made the game too easy.

The redeeming factor of Blast ‘Em Bunnies is that it sports full 3D graphics and, for the most part, they actually don’t look too bad. The soundtrack, however, only adds to the repetition of the game as there is only 2 or 3 songs within the game that can become tiresome after hearing them a couple of times.

There is also an XP system in the game, although I was unable to see what benefits leveling up actually had. The level cap is 20 and it is very easy to get to that point, but again, without any visible reward for getting to level 20, it doesn’t The game also offers a trophy list seem necessary to get to that point in the which for the most part is quite easy to game. complete, with maybe one or two of them

VERDICT Blast 'Em Bunnies is a highly repetitive endless shooter that is DLC heavy and fails to leave a lasting impression. It can often come across as too easy and doesn't offer enough to keep it a fresh and entertaining experience.

@PSVitaMag

being challenging, however I was able to earn at least half of the trophies with very little effort at all. It’s very difficult to recommend Blast ‘Em Bunnies. It’s control schemes are very clunky, it’s gameplay becomes tedious after your first few plays and it’s riddled with DLC. If you absolutely must buy the game, then I’d highly recommend buying the Blast ‘Em Bunnies Mega Bundle as it’s better value for money.

2.3 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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Written by Timmy Garrett

@timmygarrett40k fitzfarseer

1 3 9 PSTV 585 MB Publisher

misfitsattic.com

@MisfitsAttic

Developer

misfitsattic.com

@MisfitsAttic

Released

NA: April 5th EU: April 12th

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A Virus Named TOM recently graced the Vita with its presence last week, as it became April’s offering as the free digital title in the PlayStation Plus line-up. Originally released on Steam in 2012 by developer and publisher Misfits Attic, it has certainly taken an extraordinary amount of time for the port (which was originally announced in 2013) to reach Sony’s handheld. But arrived it has therefore it now falls to me to tell you whether or not this indie action puzzler is worth your time. So join me now as we delve into A Virus Named TOM….

AVNT starts off very promising indeed and unlike a lot of other puzzle games on the market actually contains a story line with cutscenes separating the action every ten or so levels. The premise of the game is quite unique and gets to the point straight away. In a future that is visually reminiscent of the classic 60’s cartoon series The Jetsons, we are introduced to a supposedly perfect world in which the creations of Dr. X have brought about a time of prosperity for the human race. Robot dogs alleviate the need for picking up dog poop, holographic suits mean that people can look however they want and automated sidewalks completely negate the need for physically walking anywhere.

However when Dr. X gets fired from the very company he works for, on the grounds of insanity, he hatches a diabolical scheme to get back at MegaTech. He creates a (you’ve guessed it) virus named TOM, which he sends out to infect and sabotage the inventions that society has become so reliant upon. And this dear player is where the meat and potatoes of the game lie. As TOM you basically have to create an unbroken stream of green virus across a circuit board. I think a suitable metaphor would be for you to imagine a toy train set lying in disarray before you and it is up to you to fix the track so there no gaps in it allowing a current to run smoothly from point A to B. Controlling TOM is done on a grid based map and as you approach a piece of circuitry you hold the X button to move around the perimeter of the piece and thus rotate it. It sounds simple enough however MegaTech are onto you instantly and in a bid to stay one step ahead of you they are constantly updating and upgrading their virus defence systems in order to combat you. The obstacles they place in your path vary from super fast indestructible drones, hiding the shape of a specific puzzle piece under a question mark or even keeping some puzzle pieces locked in place forcing you to complete the task in a specific way. TOM however is by no means completely defenceless himself. Occasionally you will receive an upgrade from Dr. X bestowing your virus with new abilities. Very early on TOM gains the ability to drop glitches in the path of drones, with the effect of either slowing them down or destroying thevitalounge.net


them completely if two collide at the same time. Another example of a handy upgrade would be the fact that later in the game when the time limits become more stringent, TOM can steal energy carried by enemy drones in order to add seconds to the timer. On paper AVNT sound like it ticks all the boxes to become a stone cold classic on the Vita. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case. It’s kind of hard to put into words but there is just something missing here. Some hook, some (excuse the pun) piece of the puzzle just doesn’t seem to fit. Apart from the wonderfully stylised cutscenes that positively ooze charm, the puzzle portions of AVNT feel quite stale and uninspiring in comparison. If you were to put a screenshot from the game and a screenshot of a cutscene next to each other I doubt you would be able to tell that they are from the same title. Seriously, everything in the game itself just feels so bland and bare bones. Completing a level doesn’t reward you with a fist pumping moment of awesomeness that games like Super Stardust, Peggle or Resogun do. There is no fanfare, no visual reward for your triumph – the screen simply wipes to green and takes you back to the level select. Although this may not sound like a big deal, for a pick up and play puzzle game I believe it is. There has to be something in place to make you want to push on and try the next level, having the odd upgrade bestowed upon TOM doesn’t feel like enough incentive to keep playing.

as Super Meat Boy and Hotline Miami. But after doing some research it seems that for some inexplicable reason the level progression has been remixed for this Vita port. What this means is that the difficulty spikes up and down all over the place meaning that the natural gentle difficulty curve you get in most games of the genre gets thrown out of the window in favour for what is, honestly, quite a jarring experience. This in turn feels as if it’s robbing the game of its identity as levels now feel slapped together without much thought for how this will impact the players enjoyment. Finally I do also take some umbrage with the music. I’m not going to lie but I quickly resorted to playing the game with the sound firmly off after about half an hour of playing. I tried to bear with it for as long as possible but the constant techno dub did become too much for my ears to cope with, it just sounds obnoxious after a while – and I swear to god if I have to hear the mechanical whine TOM emits every time he dies or runs out of time I am straight up going to infect the Vita with a virus myself!

Now I know it probably sounds like I’m being harder on this game than it deserves and you’re probably right. I really would like to stress that AVNT is not a bad game. It just really really lacks in originality, and honestly, it feels like the kind of by the numbers puzzle game that would get released on the App Store, be a hot download for a week and then get swiftly forgotten about as the following weeks titles drown it out.

A Virus Named TOM is available to download on the PlayStation Store now for free if you are a PS+ subscriber. If you’re not a subscriber I don’t think I could ever recommend paying for this over the Vita’s already robust puzzle game catalogue.

Another problem with the game is the difficulty. Now don’t get me wrong I love a challenge and love tough games such

VERDICT It’s a shame that the originality and charm of the cut scenes and voice acting get lost in translation when it comes to the main game itself. A Virus Named Tom is in no ways a bad game; it just does nothing to set itself apart from the crowd. Meaning that if you took away the narrative, all that is left is a mediocre puzzler that will unfortunately forever sit in the shadows of the other far superior action puzzle games on the Vita. @PSVitaMag

2.8 The Vita Lounge Magazine

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PSP Roundup

psp2roundup. blogspot.co.uk @psp2roundup

CHRIS KNIGHT HAS BEEN WRITING ABOUT SONY’S PORTABLE CONSOLES SINCE THE PSP. RECENTLY HE’S SEEN A STRONG BAND OF LOYALISTS GATHER AROUND THE VITA AND HELP KEEP IT ALIVE, HE INVITES YOU TO JOIN IN THE FUN! ALL HAIL THE VITA COMMUNITY

Something funny happened in 2001, when Sega quit the hardware market and discontinued the Dreamcast. Instead of fading away, with no replacement console to upgrade to, niche developers continued to make games for it, fans gathered around it and a community grew that lives on today. Since then, pockets of love have emerged for every piece of hardware dating back to the eight-bit days. Each system has its own bastion of homebrew coders, modders, restorers, fans and archivists. The Vita, as the latest of these devices, abandoned by Sony in the west, benefits from still relevant hardware, strong support in Japan, millions of owners, limited interest from major developers and a horde of smaller coders. Gluing all that together is a community that benefits from the sticky strands of social media, and a disdain for Sony’s abuse of its still highly capable portable. Let’s meet the gang!

YOUTUBERS HAVE ALL THE FUN Gadget Girl Kylie (https://www.youtube.com/user/ GadgetGirlKylie) A girl who loves getting her hands on the latest Japanese and western vita games and providing detailed playthroughs of them, with PS Vita Reviews (https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCWfYjYnJ2_-QhwE4givrhqg) has over 100 video reviews of Vita games new and old.

Latest Vita Games (https://www.youtube.com/user/ latestvitagames) is quick off the mark with all the hottest Vita titles.

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thevitalounge.net


GET YOUR NEWS, EVENTS AND REVIEWS The Vita Lounge (http://thevitalounge.net/) are the creators of this fine magazine and update their site daily with news, reviews, weekly podcasts and other content. Punk and Lizard (http://punkandlizard.com/) and PS Vita Direct ("http://psvitadirect.com/) provide their own insights and takes on the world of the Vita. Vita in Paris (http://vitainparis.fr/) French online games and IRL sessions in Paris, France. The same guys also bring us Planete Vita (http://planetevita.fr/) for localised news and reviews en Francais. The global support for the Vita continues with Spain’s PS Vita Club (http://psvitaclub. com/), Poland’s My PS Vita (http://mypsvita.pl/), Germany’s PS Vita Deutschland (http://www.yourpsvita.com/) and many more. A few have been around since the Vita launched and followed it through its tempestuous life, others are coming on board new to the scene, all are welcome and everyone seems keen to make the Vita community a bright star among the console groups out there. Anyone can start a blog, join in the tweeting, subscribe to one of the YouTube channels, or create their own. Fans can find their own little niche, be it focusing on Vita indies, flooding Instagram or Pinterest with screenshots, digging into the trade and sales news or entering the enticing world of homebrew. Whatever you can do, from a post a week to obsessive coverage helps keep the Vita alive, brings new games and gamers along for the ride, and helps the community stay strong, so do join in the fun.

HELP PROMOTE THE VITA These sites and many others, plus individual Vita lovers can help expound the benefits of the Vita in many ways, YouTube and Twitter are among the most popular, and those with a Vita TV or modded Vita can record footage for video, it's a shame that Twitch is a little beyond its reach, but one thing anyone can do to help promote and grow the Vita community is post their in-game favourite screenshots, trophy exploits and other imagery on the #PSVitaShare hashtag on Twitter. To do so:

@PSVitaMag

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DIRECTORY A RECAP OF THE BEST GAMES THIS YEAR

AXIOM VERGE

4.8

RISK OF RAIN

8 0 21 372 MB

CRYPT OF THE NECRODANCER

4.5

7 5 16 1.0 GB

ODDWORLD: NEW 'N' TASTY

4.5

5 9 22 1.2 GB

CROIXLEUR SIGMA

4.4 46

2 1330 816 MB

The Vita Lounge Magazine

4.6

SEVERED

0 6 9 81 MB

VOLUME

4.5

8 6 10 904 MB

1 3 53 1064 MB

SENRAN KAGURA: ESTIVAL VERSUS

4.3

6 12 6 225 MB

DIGIMON STORY: CYBER SLEUTH

DAY OF THE TENTACLE REMASTERED

4.4

4.5

1 1434 3.1 GB

4.5

1 7 48 1.5 GB

ATELIER ESCHA & LOGY PLUS: ALCHEMISTS OF THE DUSK SKY

4.4

2 8 42 2.5 GB

XCOM ENEMY UNKNOWN PLUS

4

2 1134 2.2 GB thevitalounge.net


SUBSCRIBE ON PATREON AND GET A COPY OF THE MAGAZINE DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! WWW.PATREON.COM/THEVITALOUNGE

The love for the Vita that some of our fans have is incredible, but the belief in us and this magazine that the following readers have shown is truly incredible. Thank you for your support guys! If you see them on your online adventures, please say hello!

Lates Lates 10 Vit 11 Re 11 Re 14 Re 13 Re 10 Re 10 Re Enth 13 Re t Rev t Rev a Gam views views views views views views usias iews views iews! t Vita | Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev e Rev ! Dev | Dev elope T elope elope elope elope elope elope iews o elope p 10! elope r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea &5D r Inte r | F tures eature Comm tures tures tures tures tures tures evelo rview |C ! ! ! ! ! ! s p unity !|C s! Gre er Inte Lates Lates Lates Lates Lates Lates o T li t New t New t New t New t New t New o n g Mil rview p 10! & Gre ler! s! s! s! s! s! s! s! g!

The V The V ita Lo itaTLh The V The V The V The V The V The V The V The V Vg unge oeun it it it itea Lo it it it it it ungea Loungea Loungea Loungea Loungea Loungea Loungea Loungea Loun M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

Andrew

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

Diehard Vita supporter8 since day zero. Collector of every US physical copy. My top 3 Vita games are Uncharted, Gravity Rush, and Danganronpa. 7

@TomNinetyTwo

9

Favourite Vita games: Unit 13, Toukiden, Killzone Mercenary. Playing this month Borderlands 2.

@2BFLiam SuperBestFriendsPlay.com

Thanks for your generous support and belief!

Curtis

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Matthew Wolfman

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Holt Slack

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unknownwolf123 @ unknownwolf7

Thanks for your generous support and belief!

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@Cowlauncher

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BEST VTom I Grinnell GA T A

Todd

MuggleMind

My PSN isn't related to Harry Potter, honest. 4 5 3 It was the name of my first D&D character way back in 1976. I'd meant to use "muddledmind", but wrote it wrong (I was only 11, so that's my excuse). Vitawise, I play mine every day, usually travelling to and from work.

M A G A Z I N E

M A G A Z I N E

Thanks for your generous support and belief!

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Also, a big thanks for all you who supported us and made this issue possible! Nicholas, Brian G, Wictor, Miguel, Michael, Reckoning, Gary, Matt A, Daniel S, Juan, Erick, Tom L, Mark D, Gabe, Steven B, Richard, GadgetGirlKylie, Daniel H, Andreas, Britta, Seth, Juha, Brad, Jared, Dmitry, Liam, Jose, Ben C, Ryan, Judit, Johnnie, Ben O, David J, Troy, David D, Wilson, Chris, Mark L, Curtis, Lei, Shawn, Benjamin K, Christian, Nelson, Keith, Pierre, Andre, Ethan, Brett, Hayden and Jon @PSVitaMag

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