20 Reviews! Hottest Games! Roll 7 Interview!
The Vita Lounge M A G A Z I N E
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Hello PS Vita gamers!
Welcome to this first issue of The Vita Lounge Magazine! www.thevitalounge.net THE VITA LOUNGE TEAM EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Paul Murphy @pmurphy1978 Editor-in-Chief / Kyle Wakeling @teflontactics Deputy Editor / Charlie Large @charlielarge Podcast/Media Editor / Tyler Olthoff @imsohappy77 NORTH AMERICAN TEAM Brad Gruetzmacher @vongruetz Lateralus1082 @lateralus2801 Hana @YanNeppy Will Hernandez @PlayStationator EUROPEAN TEAM Liam Langan @liamhangover Colin Byrne @ColinJByrne Stephen Guy @stefarno CONTRIBUTOR Shizuka from NeoGAF MAGAZINE DESIGN Jhonatan Carneiro @JhoCarneiro Additional designs by Nick Tree @nicktreedesign Original TVL logo designed by Buramu PATREON CREDITS You have all made this first issue possible! Thanks for your support! Patrick Albrecht, Curtis, Tom Grinnell, Hunter Slasher, Will Hernandez, LowZ98, Benjamin, Viet, Joe Hutchings, Shabbir, Gary Huss, Bradley van der Avort, DeathMoJo, Matt Amato, Kelvin Bombach, Thulsa, Daniel Skantz, Rick Salas-Velasquez, Jacob Montero, Tijder Tijd, Tom Little, Gabe Jackson, Christopher Downey, Steven Bryan, Richard Fernandes, Devin Hudson, Ricardo Benitez, Nicholas Cory, Cliff Johnson, Chris Boers, Stephen Guy, Jonny Ed, leejwesty, Brian Pinter, PixelKnot, Christopher Hill, Rob Remakes If you want to pledge and support The Vita Lounge and also get a print copy of future issues of The Vita Lounge Magazine, head over to www.patreon.com/TheVitaLounge ADVERTISING All advertising enquiries should be directed to advertising@thevitalounge.net
When I created The Vita lounge in 2012 I had no idea that the site would go on to grow the following that it has. It’s no secret that the Vita has struggled to find its place in the gaming world. This is no doubt compounded by many things, and a lack of mainstream media coverage and inconsistent reporting from other places has led to that responsibility falling to enthusiast sites and has seen us become quite useful to many. As we look to spread the news and our content further afield, we thought that an e-magazine would be a great way to connect with even more gamers.
Paul Murphy
PMurphy1978 I suppose that many people are wondering “why a magazine”? It’s true that many publications are struggling as the industry evolves away from print based media, but there is still a desire among many gamers for this medium. Given that the Vita has found itself in a very niche environment, I felt that a magazine perfectly complemented it! Our intentions are simple; to bring the latest and most relevant Vita content to readers, so they can stay up to date with developments in the Vita world in a more convenient format. Vita may be struggling, but there is still a plethora of games slated to arrive on the system and we will continue to push this information to our readers for as long as there is a system to promote. In this first issue we bring you everything that we have reviewed in the first quarter, with Grim Fandango Remastered, OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood and HellDivers obvious highlights. We also look back at what was on PlayStation Plus, and we caught up with London based indie developers Roll 7. We also tell you which games we think you should be excited for that are Vita-bound. We hope you enjoy this first issue, and if you are reading this digitally and fancy a print version, please check out our fundraiser at Patreon via www.patreon.com/thevitalounge. Thanks for checking us out!
meet the TEAM...
COVERAGE If you are working on Vita content and want to get it covered 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. DISCLAIMER The Vita Lounge is an independent PlayStation Vita enthusiast website. 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. © 2015 The Vita Lounge
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Kyle Wakeling
teflontactics Editor-in-Chief and Jack of all trades at The Vita Lounge. Hailing from Canada, he's a long time gamer and aspiring writer - just hoping to spread the word of PlayStation Vita to the darkest corners of the internet... and beyond.
Charlie Large
Chaz3010 Deputy Editor of The Vita Lounge, Charlie finds it hard to split his free time between his PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 - amassing quite the collection (and backlog) of games to choose from.
Tyler Olthoff
ImSoHappy77 Our Podcast Host is in love with almost all types of games, the only type he can't stand (and that's probably because he sucks at it) is fighting games. His favorite genres would have to be shooters, RPGs, and adventure games.
Brad Gruetzmacher
vongruetz A video game enthusiast and family man. He's been gaming since the days of the Intellivision, and while that indicates he's been doing this for quite some time, he doesn't intend to quit anytime soon. Currently he's trying desperately to convince his daughter that there are more games than just Minecraft (unsuccessfully so far).
Contents 04 INTERVIEW ROLL7 TALKS OLLIOLLI, PS VITA, AND MORE
07 REVIEWS
43 MEIN KRAFTING
8 9 12 14
MINECRAFT MASTERPIECES FROM OUR COMMUNITY
16 18 19 22 23
06 PS+ RECAP A LOOK BACK INTO THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE PS+ SUBSCRIPTION
26 28 30 31 32 33 34 36 38 40 42
Hana
DatYandereGirl Hana has been a fan of video games since the early days when the SNES was first released and has been a gamer ever since. She currently owns a 3DS and a PS Vita and plays them constantly. Besides gaming she likes music, anime and manga, and movies.
Criminal Girls: Invite Only Grim Fandango Remastered Joe Danger 2: The Movie Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition Citizens of Earth Atelier Ayesha Plus Woah Dave! OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood Kick & Fennick Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart SpongeBob HeroPants AeternoBlade Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas La Mulana EX Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Sรถldner-X 2: Final Prototype Helldivers Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines Q*bert: Rebooted
Lateralus1082 Colin Byrne
Lateralus1082 Gaming since the 80s and can't seem to get out of the 90's when it comes to music. I enjoy all types of games and long walks on the beach. A huge supporter of the Vita and I import pretty much everything underneath the sun.
The Vita Lounge Magazine | Issue 1 | April 2015
EnterCole A gamer since the age of 10, Colin was brought up on Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon on the PS1. After a five year spell of being a 360 owner, Colin has returned to the world of Sony through the PS Vita, and is loving every second!
Liam Langan
liamlangan Liam dedicates the majority of his life to gaming, whether that be playing games or writing about them. He's a strong supporter of the Vita and has been an owner since launch.
44 HOT TEN TEN UPGOMING GAMES THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO OWN
46 DIRECTORY THE BEST 2015 VITA GAMES SO FAR
47 GadgetGirlKylie HIGHLIGHTS FROM ONE OF THE BEST PS VITA YOUTUBE CHANNELS
Will Hernandez Stephen Guy
I_AM_NOT_A_FISH Will was cursed with the inability to ever be satisfied with his trophy level. You can catch him talking about football, basketball, and gushing about how good Mega Man 2 is on his Twitter page.
Stefarno An overopinionated gamer who spends more time talking and complaining about games than actually playing them. Stephen can be found via our forum (among other places) under the username Stefarno.
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INTERVIEW
Roll7 Talks OlliOlli, PS Vita, and More Following the successful (and critically acclaimed) launch of OlliOlli2:
Welcome to Olliwood, we were able to catch up with the fine folks over at Roll7 to have a brief discussion about their games and their studio. OlliOlli was a surprise hit for many when it launched last year. What made you want to do a skateboarding game? We’re all massive skaters, and John used to be a sponsored skater. We For those who might not be familiar with Roll7, could you briefly introduce really wanted to combine our love of arcade-y, combo-multiplying retro yourselves? Tell us a bit about your games with the real experience of studio and how you guys got into skating. Skating is all about tricking making games. out, looking rad and landing with Of course, man! perfection – and we tried to capture that the best we could with OlliOlli. We were making games for clients for a while and although we were When it launched, it was a enjoying it, we were getting tired PlayStation Vita exclusive. It has of working for other people. So, since been brought to a number of we had a light-bulb moment and realized…Wait?! We could do this for other platforms, but what made you decide to make it a Vita game when ourselves! it seems so many other developers are making games for smartphones? John, our Creative Director, has It was definitely a whole mix of always had some game prototypes things. First, of course, PlayStation already kicking around, so when we had a meeting with PlayStation, they was interested in OlliOlli as a Vitareally liked the look of OlliOlli… and so Exclusive, and we were happy to they asked us to make it for them! do it. Once it was agreed, we got First, let me say congratulations on the launch of OlliOlli2 and thanks for having this chat with us. Glad to be here!
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to work in designing and evolving the game from its original mobile touch-screen prototype. We started to learn all about the PlayStation Vita and it helped us work out and design our infamous controlscheme, the menu layout and of course the rad, pixelated visual style. If PlayStation didn’t want OlliOlli on the PlayStation Vita, it would have been a totally different game! What was your reaction to the critical success of the game? We couldn’t believe it. We set up and got our Twitter working around a similar time, so to see critics and importantly, players starting to rave and compare scores was freaking surreal. It was SO cool. We made a really weird, really hard game, with an unusual control scheme in a genre that hasn’t been around in a long time – so we had no idea how it was going to do. It went so well…
OlliOlli wasn’t a flawless launch however. Many people complained about game breaking bugs and crashes that kept them from playing it. What was your reaction when all this came to light? Were you surprised this was happening? It was terrifying, you know?! It basically threw us back into reality. After the reviews came in, and they were 7s, 8s and 9s, we were over the moon – so when people started sending us screenshots of the game crashing… we realized that the work is far from over! You now have OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood out. When did you decide you were going to make a sequel and why? With OlliOlli, it was our first PlayStation game so we tried to have a realistic set of expectations. And we learnt A LOT. We tried a lot of things – such as getting manuals in there – but we never could do it. So when we finished the game – and we had the blueprint of what OlliOlli is – John sat us down, and excitedly told us the focus of what OlliOlli2 is. We were SUPER ambitious. We wanted it to be everything we couldn’t do the first time! Manuals, RevertManuals, Grind-Switches, All-New Look, Split-Level Routes and more!
It seems like a relatively short amount of time between the launch of both games. Did you learn a lot in making the first game that helped you develop the sequel so quickly? It was still actually a lengthy amount of time for us! We finished on the core of OlliOlli around October 2013 – and we started work on OlliOlli2 in a full capacity in February 2014. We love that it feels like a quick turnover for most people, but it secretly wasn’t so speedy for us! Now that OlliOlli2 has launched, what is the mood like in the studio? Is there time to celebrate or is it business as usual focusing on the next game? Between the stellar reviews (thanks guys!) AND winning a BAFTA, we’ve definitely had some time to celebrate! Never enough time though, because we’re all looking ahead on getting Not A Hero out in the best shape possible! Speaking of Not a Hero, it seems a lot of people are very excited about it. The tone of this game is very different from OlliOlli. How long have you been working on it? Not A Hero, in some form, has been hanging around since at least 2012. John has always wanted to do a 2D, action-film inspired cover shooter and that’s where
the fundamental mechanics for Not A Hero come from. You slide, shoot, excute, slide, shoot, execute. Throw our Purple Rabbit, BunnyLord in there, and you have a colourful world of pixelated, bloody glory.
Not a Hero currently has a release date of “later this year” for the PS Vita. Want to be a little more specific? Or even more vague? Soonish? Maybe? We announced the date a few weeks back – Not A Hero will be hitting Steam May 7th. We will start working on the PlayStation 4 and Vita versions straight after! Unfortunately, we can’t confirm any more than that but it WILL be hitting in 2015! Is there anything else you want to tell the Vita audience (or any audience, I guess)? Anything they should know about your studio or games? We’re all big fans of the PS Vita here. Between it’s kickass screen and bodacious controls, it’s the perfect place to play our types of twitchy, score-attack games. Thanks to the Vita fans for being the best (and playing our games!). Thanks again for agreeing to this chat and congratulations on OlliOlli2 (as well as that spiffy looking BAFTA award you now have). Thanks so much!
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After compiling our thoughts on last year's PlayStation Plus titles for the Vita in one complete article on the website, we thought it would be useful (and easier!) to maintain this reflection as we went along this year, rather than trying to cobble all of the information together in one massive article that you probably didn't read. If you don't know by now, PlayStation Plus is Sony's subscription based service for the PS4's multiplayer features, but before that was the means to access some great games every month for a minimal subscription fee. You gain multiple titles across the three systems (typically two on each now) but is the service worthwhile just from a Vita perspective? We looked back on the first quarter and evaluated the quality of the Vita games that were part of the Instant Game Collection.
JANUARY As we have now come to expect, since September 2014 the IGC service has become more standardised over both sides of the Atlantic and so both regions received Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition and Woah Dave, and because of Cross-buy we also managed to get The Swapper. Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition wasn't perfect by any means and was a port of a twenty year old PC title, but it was incredibly fun, especially in multiplayer. Woah Dave! is a great example of something that is more than the sum of its parts, with hidden depth and charm beyond the simplistic visuals and mechanics. Arguably the true gem in the line-up was The Swapper, with its superb visuals and puzzles and addictive gameplay sure to impress and keep you glued to your Vita.
FEBRUARY Having been spoilt for choice in previous months, you may feel a little let down to have only received two games in February, but what gems they were! Jaywalkers's Interactive, a small indie studio have really pushed the boundaries with Kick and Fennick. With a charming art style and a great mechanic with physics and jumping activated through the recoil of your weapon, you should definitely have picked this up. That wasn't all though, last year's critically acclaimed Rogue Legacy was one of the finest games to hit the system in 2014 and here it is, sitting on the OGC. A rogue-like with excellent presentation, controls and depth this will keep you entertained (or frustrated) for some time.
MARCH Roll 7 burst onto the scene with the brilliant OlliOlli in early 2014. Almost everyone loved the game when it first launched, but you know something is special when it renders the original obsolete in every way and that's just the start of OlliOlli2: welcome to Olliwood. With more tricks, manuals, improved visuals, soundtrack and even more addictive than ever before the only way it could be better is if it was given away for free. Which it was. Did you get it? Dynamighty's Counterspy - which we awarded the gold for best puzzle/strategy - was the other title this month. A studio comprised of former Pixar employees came to gether to make a game and this was the result. A little short perhaps, but fun nonetheless and well worth a play. One of our favourite Vita experiences.
So, that was the quarter. Seven games, some of them that we really, really loved. All in all we would say that it's worthy of a B+ and arguably worth the quarterly cost just for OlliOlli2, but given that these were all indie titles we can see where a lot of you may have less than a positive outlook on the offerings. All three months had a title which launched on the service too, is this just a coincidence? A solid start to 2015 then, and we hope it's a sign of things to come.
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REVIEWS 08
Criminal Girls: Invite Only
19
Atelier Ayesha Plus
32
Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas
09
Grim Fandango Remastered
22
Woah Dave!
33
La Mulana EX
23
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood
34
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
12
Joe Danger 2: The Movie
26
Kick & Fennick
36
SĂśldner-X 2: Final Prototype
14
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation
28
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
38
Helldivers
16
Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition
30
SpongeBob HeroPants
40
Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines
18
Citizens of Earth
31
AeternoBlade
42
Q*bert: Rebooted
OUR SCORING POLICY:
5 OUTSTANDING
Full marks indicates an almost perfect game- or at least as close as it can be. It will almost certainly be the best example of what can be achieved on the Vita and simply must be in your collection. It could also be argued that these games are worth buying a Vita for. That’s if there were loads of them, it will also be very rare to see a game get this score.
4+ EXCELLENT
Scoring above 4 means that this is something that should definitely be in your collection. These games are very good indeed, and serve as great examples of what can be achieved on the Vita.
3+ GOOD
On a five star scale a three is slap bang in the middle and above average. We class these games as good. Perseverance will yield some some fun. These games may suffer with slight presentational issues or have cut back features.
2+ POOR
1+
Hardcore fans of the series or genre may find something worthwhile but generally speaking this is one to avoid.
RUBBISH
The genre may be to your tastes but try as you might you will struggle to enjoy the game.
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REVIEW CRIMINAL GIRLS: INVITE ONLY
Criminal Girls: Invite Only Reviewed by Shizuka You may be used to obedient characters for your RPGs; forget about them! The Criminal Girls are all about defying your authority – simply for the sake of defying authority. Before delving into what the game is all about, I’d like to note some information about the game that should be interesting. Invite Only is a Vita port of an original PSP game only released in Japan, titled simply Criminal Girls. The original developer for the PSP game is Imageepoch (the ones behind other PSP games like Fate/Extra and Black Rock Shooter), while the Japanese publisher is Nippon Ichi (parent company of NIS America, publisher for the Western Vita version). With that out of the way, here is the premise behind the story; in Criminal Girls, you take control of the instructor in charge of a team of girls who need to go through several challenges to finally be reborn into the mortal world. Oh, and have I mentioned that you’re in Hell? As you begin, you’re given a fair introduction to what’s going on and then you’re shot right into the middle of your first area for some dungeon-crawling RPG action. Although you may be the main character, you don’t take part in the action – instead, that’s in the capable hands of the girls you’re helping along. These girls in your care need to fight back, but they may not be in the mood to take orders or do anything movement-oriented. What do you do as their leader? Here, we get to a big point of contention regarding the game; you must motivate them! For the girls to learn new attacks and battle commands, you need to go through a suggestive mini-game where you’ll be punishing/motivating them (depending on your perspective). You’ll spend the in-game currency to do so, and that’s the first thing you’ll do with your money – the second and last one being buying items from the shop. You’ll use the touch screen to tap or drag icons, among other actions, while the girl you’re motivating is in a risqué position. If that’s your thing, do mind that the girls are covered by a fog during these; if it’s not, you can be thankful that they end up not showing enough skin that it might throw you off. After you’ve learned different commands
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through these mini-games, you go to battle. During the battle, your girls will give you one possible action each and you have to choose just one from the given list. That means if one character enables a magic attack and the other enables a physical attack, you’ll be able to choose only one of those actions for the respective turn. Overview during the map is from above, while dungeons are pretty simple. You move through halls, find chests and unlock doors – with random battles cropping up here and there which are unavoidable. If you want to get on with the dungeon crawling without battling however, you’ll have to choose “escape” after the battle begins. The game – unlike most JRPGs – doesn’t boast cities and NPCs. Instead, everything aside from battles and moving through dungeons will be dealt with inside the “Infirmary”. Here, you’ll find all the girls waiting for you – as well as being able to rest (restores HP and MP without any cost), motivate (the mini-game used for learning new commands), shop (buy and sell items) and/or save your progress. You’ll develop bonds with the girls, by granting their wishes. They’ll ask for you to fight certain enemies or to fetch a particular item for them, and after you complete their requests, you’ll be granted bonuses for that character. They also serve another purpose for later in the game, so it’s interesting to try and complete all the requests from the girls. There is post-game content in the form of new dungeons and additional characters,
SUMMARY
but once you hit the highest level, achieve all commands and find all treasure chests, you won’t have anything else to do which limits replayability. The controls are pretty simple, be it during battles or during the dialogue. The circle button is used for opening the map and the cross button is used to confirm actions. During the dialogue, you can either advance with the cross button or skip it altogether by pressing start. If you’ve ever played an RPG before, I’m sure you’ll get along fine with Criminal Girls’ controls. Going through battles, dungeons, and character dialogue I felt there was a good soundtrack behind it all, however that’s just the first impression and I found it can get old fast. I’ve found myself removing my headphones during grinding sessions, as not to assault my ears too much. As for the graphics, they aren’t all that impressive. You can definitely notice it was originally a PSP title, but that doesn’t mean the art is all bad – the girls’ designs are different and unique, with the UI and commands looking really sharp on the Vita. In the end, the game doesn’t get deep, battle mechanics don’t get overly complicated or challenging, dungeons don’t become more elaborate as you advance the story and the only part where you can feel some development is seeing the girls acknowledging their sins and overcoming them. Knowing what you’re getting into, I had a fun time with the game; you can grind, you can explore, you can motivate the girls, and you can get to know them – but there’s not much else to be had aside from that. If you’re looking for a simple yet quirky RPG, you could do worse; if you’re looking for a story-driven RPG or one with a complex battle system, you’ll have to keep looking.
CRIMINAL GIRLS: INVITE ONLY
Criminal Girls feels rather simplistic for its nature, but it may be enough to scratch that RPG itch for some gamers. It feels rather like a PS2 or PSP roleplaying game (which makes sense), rather than a full-fledged Vita title - but that doesn't mean you should dismiss the fun you might have mindlessly grinding, or watching the girls go through the game’s ordeals.
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REVIEW GRIM FANDANGO REMASTERED
Grim Fandango Remastered Reviewed by Charlie Large
that lived a life full of good deeds can have access to the better of the travel arrangements – the best being the Number Nine train that takes the dead to the Ninth Underworld in four minutes. Those that lived a life less kind are forced to walk through the Land of the Dead, a journey which takes four years.
I never thought I’d say this, but a game where you play as a travel agent could possibly be one of the best games I have played on the PlayStation Vita.
room, I was also excited to hear that Grim Fandango Remastered was happening, as it meant that I would be able to experience the adventures of this travel agent for the first time on my favourite handheld.
Now I am not talking about a game where you sell trips to Disneyland, here we are selling travel packages for the recently departed to make their way to the underworld. Although it doesn’t sound as cheerful as Disneyland, believe me, it is just as fun!
After downloading the title and starting it up for the first time, you are thrown straight in to the opening of the game, with the main protagonist – Manuel ‘Manny’ Calavera – discussing travel options with a client whilst dressed as the Grim Reaper. Manny works for the Department of Death in the city of El Marrow and it is his job to sell departed souls travel packages to reach the Ninth Underworld where they can finally lay to rest. Depending on how well behaved his clients were in their previous life determines the travel package that Manny can offer to his clients. Those
Designed by the mind that is a main feature on the credits list of games such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Psychonauts, Tim Schafer’s Grim Fandango originally released for the PC on October 30th 1998 (incidentally, my 11th birthday) to widespread critical acclaim. I missed Grim Fandango the first time around, as I was not much of a PC gamer – the only time I would switch on my PC was to manage my favourite football team on that season’s Championship Manager title.
Manny is not happy as it seems all of his clients are not eligible for any of the good packages and because of this his boss is piling the pressure on him whilst his associate Domino gets all the good clients. Manny decides to steal a client from Domino to take some of the weight off his shoulders, and finds a client called Meche who has lived a good life and is a dead cert (excuse the pun) to board the Number Nine train on her journey to the Ninth Underworld. When the Department of Death computers deny Meche the package she deserves and sends her packing on a four-year walk to her resting place, Manny decides to investigate further and finds out that his boss, Don Capal, and Domino have been rigging the computers so that they can keep the Number Nine tickets to sell to an underworld boss by the name of Hector LeMans. Manny sets out to find Meche and to also put a stop to the criminal goings on that he has uncovered.
Sixteen years later, Double Fine and Sony’s Third Party Production team joined forces and revealed to the world at E3 that the adventure title would be heading to the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 – much to the delight of the attending audience. Watching from the comfort of my living
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REVIEW GRIM FANDANGO REMASTERED
are not that bad and what I found is that the puzzles are some of the most enjoyable and rewarding ones that I have come across in adventure games over the years. You can also inspect all of the items you currently have in your inventory by diving into Manny’s pockets and inspecting them further, potentially revealing things that you may have missed. There is a certain charm that shines through as you play Grim Fandango, and this is definitely helped by the characters and the conversations that you have as you progress through the game.
Grim Fandango’s story plays out in four chapters spread out over four years, each taking place on the same day – November 2nd. During these chapters you will visit many different areas, from the city of El Marrow and the Petrified Forest in Year One, to the city of Rubacava and the gate to the Ninth Underworld in the Second and Third year respectively, before returning to El Marrow (renamed Nuevo Marrow) in the Fourth year. Each area that you visit is full of life and, in a style that will be familiar to those that played adventure games during the Nineties, has pre-rendered backdrops whilst the characters and objects that live in the world are 3D. This Remastered version allows for you to switch between the new animations and the original ones from 1998 at the press of a button (Select), with the game’s lighting and shadows being the main differences that I noticed when switching between the two. Other new additions to the game are the ability to stretch the game to widescreen from the 4:3 ratio of the original, the ability to choose between tank-controls or more modern camera-relative controls and the option to have a director’s commentary available at certain points throughout the game. I chose to play through Grim Fandango using the old-fashioned tank controls whilst having the game play in widescreen
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as I did not like the two big borders that were present in the 4:3 ratio. Although this meant the game was stretched a little to fit the Vita’s screen, Grim Fandango still looks good and I’d argue that even in its original form it holds up well for a nearly seventeen year old game! Navigating through the game using the tank controls was also a really smooth experience, although I did use the PlayStation Vita’s D-Pad to do this opposed to the analogue sticks as it felt more natural to me. There is also the option to navigate through the game using the touchscreen, but I am more of a physical button kind of guy so did not experiment with this much during play. The main gameplay elements of Grim Fandango are the puzzles and the dialogue and I have to say that both of these are executed excellently. The puzzles can be fiendishly tough and, unlike the Monkey Island remasters, there is no hint system if you do get stuck while trying to figure out what you need to do next. However, if you pay attention to Manny you will notice that his head will move to look at items or people of interest, which is a neat variation on the adventure game staple of items that ‘shine’ to indicate their importance. Although, as mentioned, some of the puzzles can get a little tough the majority
The audio in Grim Fandango is fantastic. You will find all-sorts of characters as you make your way through the story, from Glottis the demon mechanic who you befriend at the start of the game to the worker bees who you help unionise in Rubacava, and each of these characters can be interacted with. When you do stop and talk to the majority of the people that you meet you will be greeted with conversation trees that you can work through (doing this will net you most of the
game’s trophies) and voice acting that is both brilliant and captivating. This is backed up by a soundtrack that simply adds fuel to the film-noir feel, with everything combining together to make Grim Fandango a joy to listen to, let alone play.
continue. This is where the lack of an auto-save system in the game could cause people a lot of frustration as if you are forgetful you could find yourself repeating a lot of the game if you encounter any such bugs.
Although I really enjoyed my playthrough of Grim Fandango, there were one or two niggles that I encountered whilst playing. I did come across the occasional bug which caused me to get completely stuck when interacting with objects or transitioning between screens. This meant that I had to quit out of the game and then restart it,with one particular instance where I had to do this four times until I could
That said, the fact that these few and far between bugs and the games lack of an auto-save function are really the only things I can detract from Grim Fandango Remastered is something of a marvel when the majority of new releases need to be patched a number of times before they work. What makes it even better that the overall game is as good as it is. I did feel that the game’s third and fourth chapters were over a little too soon, but looking back, I think that is more down to the fact that I did not want the game to end. From start to end you it will take you a good ten – twelve hours or so to see the end of the game – even longer if you get stuck with some of the fiendish puzzles.
Grim Fandango Remastered is a game
that I have wanted to play ever since it first released. I did have a copy of it for the PC that I never got round to playing for one reason or another but once it was announced as coming to the PlayStation I knew that I would finally be able to experience it. Now that I have finished it I find myself wanting to play through it for a second time to hear the developer’s commentary and learn more about the making of the game. I find myself looking forward to more of Tim Schafer’s and Double Fine’s work coming to the PlayStation Vita. It has been a long time coming for me to play Grim Fandango, but now that the wait is over and I have played through all the puzzles and interacted with every character in this charming, challenging and funny game I have to say, it was worth waiting for!
SUMMARY
GRIM FANDANGO REMASTERED
With a brilliant story and clever-yet-challenging puzzles, Grim Fandango Remastered is a brilliant adventure game that has stood the test of time. With characters that ooze life and charisma yet remain undeniably dead, this tale of comedynoir is undeniably one of the genre's greats and a PlayStation Vita must-buy!
5
5
4.5
5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.9
REVIEW JOE DANGER 2: THE MOVIE
Joe Danger 2: The Movie Reviewed by Liam Langan
Joe Danger returns to the vita, this time, they’re making a movie about his life! Joe Danger has returned to the PlayStation Vita less than 6 months after his debut, but don’t panic, because this isn’t exactly a rushed return to the platform. The original Joe Danger released back in 2010 on the PlayStation 3 and Joe Danger 2: The Movie followed in September 2012, so essentially this game is 2 years old. The game has you playing as Joe Danger,
who after a successful return to the stuntman profession, has been asked to star in a movie about his life, the movie is set to be an action packed adventure requiring a lot of stunts, and naturally, Joe does all of his own stunts. There are 6 different worlds within the game that you’ll visit, including Hollywood, a ski resort and a prehistoric jungle, each of these areas have their own set of levels and goals for you to attempt, goals range from earning a score by pulling off tricks to collecting 6 letters scattered throughout
levels that spell the word DANGER, completing the goals will earn you stars which will allow you to progress throughout the game. Unlike the first game, it’s not just a stunt bike that Joe will be riding, this time he’s got a ski, a snow speeder, and even a jetpack. While most of the other vehicles don’t offer much of a change in the way the game plays, apart from the jetpack. On most vehicles, you’ll press R to accelerate, L to break, the left stick lets you pull forwards or backwards and the right stick allows you to spin while you’re in the air. The jetpack controls are somewhat different the left analogue stick is the main mode of control with the jetpack, which at first can feel rather awkward, especially the first time you try it, but it’s one of those featured where the more you use it the easier it becomes. There’s no denying that Joe Danger 2 is a wonderfully colourful game, it’s bright, it’s cheerful, and each environment looks the part, but the soundtrack is the one thing that lets the presentation down, it seems just a bit too generic, and doesn’t quite match the environments of the game. Another slight problem that I had is that the main scenario of the game is over relatively quick, you’ll be finished within
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are Iota and Atoi from Tearaway are also available to play. I mostly ignored Joe Danger 2 when it launched on PlayStation 3, but thinking back, I never enjoyed the game on PS3 as much I have enjoyed my time with the PlayStation Vita version, it would appear that this is a series that applies to the well known tag line of ‘Best on Vita’ because this game truly feels special on the platform. While it seems that this may be Hello Games’ last Joe Danger release for a while as they’re now off making one of the most anticipated games of 2015, but it is truly a shame as a third Joe Danger game on Vita would be very much welcome. a couple of hours. Luckily, for those that manage to finish the game quickly, there is a hardcore mode and some challenge levels that are exclusive to the PlayStation Vita version of the game. The level creator mode that was found in the first game is also present in the sequel, although I didn’t spend much time with it. The mode allows players to make their own levels and share them with their friends online, the mode boasts more creative options than the original so players can have fun making more complex levels then they could I’m the original game. One great thing about the Vita version of the game is the exclusive character skins available in the game, as a huge fan of LittleBigPlanet I was lovingly surprised to find I could play the game as Sackboy, so naturally I barely saw the star of the game as such because I was happily cruising around the game as Sackboy. Also available
SUMMARY
JOE DANGER 2: THE MOVIE
Joe Danger 2 continues to offer the great gameplay that the original game did when it launched on Vita last year. For those who enjoyed the original game when it launched as a PlayStation Plus title, Joe Danger 2 is the perfect sequel for you, if you've yet to jump on the Joe Danger bandwagon then this is certainly a fantastic place to start. Joe Danger 2 is without doubt one of 2015's first must owns for Vita.
4.5
4.5
4
4
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.3
REVIEW HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA RE;BIRTH 2: SISTERS GENERATION
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation Reviewed by Liam Langan
Does Nep-Nep get a Yep-Yep? Find out in our review. Hyperdimension Neptunia is a rather new Japanese roleplaying series that takes a play on the console wars that plague the real life game industry, Many of the game’s characters are named after – in one way or another – the various consoles released throughout the history of gaming. Re;Birth (which released on the Vita in 2014) was a retelling of the first game in the series (which released in 2011), and in that same vein Re;Birth 2 continues the trend by retelling the events of the second game in the series. The story in Re;Birth 2 follows directly on from the events of the first game; with Neptune defeated and Gamindustri in ruin, a new team form to help fight against ASIC (Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime); an evil organization run by a group of enemies known as CFW (Custom Firmware). You play as Nepgear (the younger sister of Neptune) who is saved by IF and Compa (two of the game’s more prominent side characters) as you embark on a quest to help free Neptune and her friends from a powerful foe. When Nepgear and her friends are defeated by the same enemy however, they manage to retreat and return
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to Planeptune to form a new plan. The gameplay here is very easy to get used to, with the game mostly holding the player’s hand at the start of the game, helping players get the most of the experience. This becomes especially helpful when trying to learn and understand the game’s battle system and various other systems. For the majority of the game, the story plays out much like a visual novel, you’ll be reading lines of text, but thankfully the larger amount of these cutscenes have voiceovers which help you get past the idea of bashing the X button to get through the cutscenes, and there is an autoskip feature so you can press triangle button and the cutscenes will go over at their own pace when the voiceover has finished. A lot of the game’s action takes place on the map screen, where you can see cutscene events which offer interactions between you party. You’ll also come across characters who can offer help and advice as well as give you items to help you out. Thankfully, if you have something to do within a location it will be highlighted on the map so you’ll never feel like you’re without direction.
My main problem with the game was that going into Re;Birth 2 I hadn’t experienced Re;Birth or the original PlayStation 3 version, so trying to catch up with the story and the game’s combat system was quite a
challenge. That said, after a couple of hours I had managed to successfully catch up with where the series was – but it’s definitely worthwhile playing Re;Birth before jumping into Re;Birth 2 as this well help most players have a better experience with the mechanics game and a better grasp on the story so far. In terms of presentation, this is possibly one of the better looking games on the system. It truly looks like a console quality title on a handheld, though comparing screenshots between the Vita version and the PlayStation 3 will show some obvious compromises. The quality of the sound and voice acting is also great, the soundtrack offering the science fiction and fantasy sound samples you’d expect to hear from a title like this. One thing I massively enjoyed about this game is the humour. There were times where the story had some breathing room – where it didn’t need to be serious – and in these cases the game managed to add humour and had me laughing a fair few times. This injection of comedy, plus the character interaction and the chemistry between the cast will help you grow to admire them throughout the course of your play-through. Another stand out point for this game was its easy to grasp battle system. Each character would start off in a circle, and they could move anywhere within this circle; if they moved closer to an enemy they’d be able to unleash around 4 attacks per turn against an enemy. Speaking of attacks, combo’s and strategies are a must – which is especially true when it comes to boss battles, as they can be reasonably challenging.
to become accustom to is the Hard Drive Divinity system, this allows characters to unlock a special form of themselves which increases their stats, giving them more health or making them more powerful, when a character has 100 Skill Points they can use this form in battle by pressing the square button. This system becomes rather helpful when it comes to boss battles as it can give you the advantage you need to get past a difficult boss battles or encounters. The EXE Drive system makes a return to the series, allowing you to customise your parties attacks, this can become helpful when you need to change your attacks depending on what situations the game has put you in. All enemies have different weaknesses, so I found it best to make sure I was constantly tinkering with this system to make sure I found the best strategy for each environment within the game. Like many other games within the genre, this game is a very long experience. You’ll spend at least thirty hours just on completing the main story. The guild quests flooding in at you as you complete them and the lengthy main campaign keeping your attention for an extended period of time as well. In a time where JRPG’s are really becoming popular among Vita releases, Re;Birth 2 is certainly a great step in the right direction. If we get more games in the same genre throughout the Vita’s continued lifetime at a similar quality, then the Vita will truly find a niche similar to that of it’s predecessor; and that’s not a bad thing at all.
The main system that players will have
SUMMARY
HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA RE;BIRTH 2: SISTERS GENERATION
Re;Birth 2 is a great JRPG and fans of the series will be happy to return to Gamindustri on the PlayStation Vita - but the themes and the style of the game won't be for everyone.
4
4.5
3.5
4
4
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
REVIEW DUKE NUKEM 3D: MEGATON EDITION
Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition Reviewed by Charlie Large
Back in 1996, Duke Nukem 3D launched on the PC, giving gamers a less serious alternative to Doom or Wolfenstein. Since its initial launch, the game has since made an appearance on a wide-variety of devices, from the Mega Drive, PS1 and Sega Saturn to the PC, Xbox 360, iPhones and Android devices. Now, almost 20 years later, the Duke has made his way to the PlayStation Vita, courtesy of Abstraction Games and Devolver Digital. The PlayStation Vita release is titled Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition and comprises of the original game and three expansion packs – Duke It Out In D.C., Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach and Duke: Nuclear Winter as well as throwing multiplayer into the mix. This offers players over sixty missions to take on as our ass-kicking hero, adding plenty of value to a game that is Cross-Buy with the PlayStation 3 version and currently free to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Added to the fact that a lot of PlayStation Vita owners constantly cry out for more first person shooters to be made for the console and it sounds like the Duke is on to a winner right? Not quite! Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of things that this game does well, for example the level design and open-feel to the areas is something that a lot of first person shooters still struggle with nowadays or the imaginative array of weapons that the Duke has at his disposal throughout the main campaign and the expansion packs – there’s the Shrinker (that does exactly what you’d imagine) in the main campaign to Super soakers and Pineapples (replacing Pipe Bombs) in the Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach expansion. Before I dive into the rest of the review and I go into detail about what the game does get right, I will start with this – the Duke sure as hell is one misogynistic man. Almost every chapter of the game is full of crude, derogatory remarks and wisecracks from the blonde-haired Arnold Schwarzenegger lookalike. Now it’s not that I’m a killjoy, some of my favourite games deal with adult themes, but when this is a 16-rated game (it has
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been an 18-rated game in previous forms) that aims its humour at those at the lower end of the puberty scale (there are trophies for standing in poo and tipping strippers) it begs the question whether the Duke really is a parody of the action heroes of the Eighties and Nineties as many people believe him to be or just a poorly-judged lead character for a video game. There are those that say that this is just the humour of the time, to that argument I would have to present Duke Nukem Forever as my rebuttal.
Almost everything in each level can be interacted with, if you enter a dark room you can look for a light switch and flick it on to illuminate it or if you come across a pool table you can then attempt to pot the balls (which behave exactly as you’d expect them to). There really has been a lot of effort put into each of the stages that you will play through.
Not only can you interact with a lot of the environment, you can destroy most of it too! If you see a crack in any of the walls as you explore a stage, be sure to fire a rocket or fling a pipe bomb in its direction to expose a new Thankfully, the game’s lack of a story means route or a secret area. Likewise with any air that we don’t get too much exposure of this vents that you come across. There was one mind-bogglingly jock-like character. The level that I played through where I dropped a main premise of Duke Nukem 3D is that the pipe bomb right at the start of the stage, this world is subject to an alien invasion and then blew a hole in the wall right next to me Duke is on a one-man mission to save it. which exposed the game’s exit – allowing me We are treated to an aged cutscene at the to bypass the whole level! end of each of the game’s four chapters where we get to endure some of the Duke’s Duke Nukem 3D’s control scheme also, on the drivel as he mutilates the boss that you just most part, works really well. In traditional killed. first-person style, the analogue sticks control movement, X is jump and the Right trigger is This lack of narrative also makes navigating the shoot button. I did find that aiming with some levels confusing. There were times the crosshair could be a little tricky at times, when I had killed everything in sight, opened thankfully the game has aim assist active every door I could find and still be absolutely throughout to help you shoot down the bad clueless about where I had to go next. This guys. The game utilises the PlayStation Vita’s normally meant that I had missed a small touchscreen to allow for you to switch button or destructible piece of the weapons. You will use the left and right side environment that led to the next location. of the touchscreen to scroll back and forth through the guns at your disposal. Asinine protagonist and simple story aside, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a good There are various items that the Duke can game. It is definitely the best Duke Nukem use to help him defeat the alien scourge and game that has been released (although that navigate the land including a jet pack, scuba is not too difficult) and it is a good first gear and protective boots. These are person shooter. The aforementioned level equipped by using the Circle button and design is brilliant, for a game that is almost selected by using left and right on the D-Pad. twenty years old to offer gamers the My only complaint with the control scheme amount of freedom that Duke Nukem 3D was that crouch was assigned to the Triangle does is something that some modern-day button, making it hard to crouch and aim/ first person shooters should be ashamed of. look around at the same time.
Another neat feature of the game is the timeline. When you die in Duke Nukem, you are presented with a timeline of your progress through the level. You can jump straight back into the game from where you met your maker or you can decide to rewind the timeline and spawn at an earlier part of the stage – enabling for you to tackle the game with a different approach. I think that this is a great addition to the game and it eradicates the need for checkpoints but does allow for you to go back to an earlier part of a stage to take a breather and stock up on items if the action does get a little too much for you. Once you have completed a stage your run is saved and can be viewed under the ‘User Clips’ section of the main menu. From here you can watch your run-through of any level you have played, with the game allowing for you to jump in and play from wherever you feel. This is also the same for the multiplayer. Footage of your online matches is also saved to the ‘User Clips’ section. Although you can’t jump back into the action here you can view it from the perspective of any of the participants in the game. This could potentially help those that are not too great in the multiplayer as they could watch what others are doing and possibly find ways to improve or help them with locating shortcuts or secret areas. These clips that are stored can be shared also, allowing for any of your friends who also have the game to view your moments of brilliance (or stupidity) if you choose to upload them. This is a welcome addition to the game and is something I would love to see appear more often in games.
SUMMARY
The multiplayer itself is fast, frantic and great fun. You can either play co-op, one-on-one with another player, or with up to seven other players (including Cross-Play with PS3 players) in a free-for-all deathmatch. The co-op mode will see you and friends (the lobby screen suggests up to seven other players!) fight your way through the main campaign of the game which will certainly add to what is already an enjoyable campaign!
give you value for money and is a game that is worth a look at. Our hero Duke likes to kickass and chew bubblegum and he certainly does that throughout this game. It is just unfortunate for him and his immature behaviour that I am all outta patience!
The multiplayer does however have a few glitches, there were occasions where I could unload a few rockets into another player and the hit would not register or other times where the game would be plagued with lag. Even with these issues, the multiplayer is a blast and I spent a lot of time having fun running around aimlessly and kicking people with the Duke’s almighty boot! The only question that I have is how long can this game keep it up for? With only a handful multiplayer modes available and a handful of maps, I can’t see it being too long before it becomes a struggle finding an online game with other players. Overall, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a good game. The graphics still hold up quite well for a 19 year old game even if the enemies and the ‘babes’ are a bit on the pixelated side. I found the game to be an extremely enjoyable first person shooter that was ruined by an annoying lead character. I did play the game back in the late nineties as a young, immature adolescent and back then the humour did appeal to me, however now I find the Duke to be a bit on the juvenile side. Gripes aside, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition certainly does
DUKE NUKEM 3D: MEGATON EDITION
Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a game that is definitely stuck in the past. With a crude and crass lead character that definitely does feel out of place in the 21st Century, the saving grace for this title is that the level design and gameplay will keep you hooked! With multiplayer to boot, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a game that is best enjoyed with the sound switched off!
4
3.5
2.5
2.5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
3.4
REVIEW CITIZENS OF EARTH
Citizens of Earth Reviewed by Liam Langan Is being Vice President of the Earth all it’s cracked up to be, or will it leave you feeling a bit Earthbound? Find out in our review! It’s not unusual for games to play on nostalgia in the hopes of winning gamers over, it’s been seen a lot in the indie game circle as of late, but a new RPG has come to Vita that puts it’s own spin on one of the most popular RPGs of the 90s, Earthbound. Citizens of Earth has a lot in common with Earthbound, it’s art style, it’s battle system and the general oddness surrounding the games plot all seem to stem from the classic RPG, but at the same time, Citizens of Earth manages to be it’s own different beast entirely, while the gameplay and graphical elements may be similar to Earthbound, the story seems to differ itself. Citizens of Earth sees you starting you term as Vice President of the World, upon leaving your house with your mom and your brother you see that your hometown has been invaded by unhappy protestors who disagree with you being in your position. Whilst battling through the crowds of protestors you uncover a conspiracist who claims there is something going on with the local coffee franchise, which is aptly named Moonbucks, regarding a particular style of coffee literally growing legs and running away, it’s up to you as VP of earth to discover what’s going on in an attempt to put a stop to it. As you roam from city to city there are countless different types of enemies that approach you, if you make contact with an enemy it will initiate a random battle, however if you press square on an enemy who hasn’t attacked you yet, you’ll ambush the enemy and you’ll be able to attack first.
the catch, before you recruit the citizen, they need you do some kind of task to do, and this is where, for me, Citizens of Earth started to feel like less of an enjoyable game, and more like an endless list of tasks to do which, for me, became an endless plethora of back-tracking and time consumption. Each Citizen has their own particular special trait, whether it’s being able to sell you items at any time throughout the course of your play through or being able to fast travel you to places from wherever you wish, each citizen is different, and it does help to make the game more interesting, and every Citizen seem a little bit different from one another. At this point in this review, I’m going to be completely honest, after 8 hours of playing Citizens of Earth I gave up with it, the back tracking and continuous amount of side quests that the game kept giving me became far too much, and left me ultimately feeling overwhelmed. While all the tasks that you are given can be checked on in the Agenda menu which splits the tasks up into main quests, secondary quests and recruitment quests, it still doesn’t help that they can become quite old quite fast, especially when they require you to travel half way across the map to reach an objective, it can become quite frustrating. The games graphics and art style look like a classic 16-bit JRPG, but with a modern touch up to make it feel a game that was released in 2015, but it definitely feels
like it could be a modern day homage to Earthbound, in fact with a lot of things in this game it’s hard not to draw comparisons with it. One thing I enjoyed above everything in this game is that nearly every bit of communication between the characters is voice acted, although it’s very rarely seen in 16-bit RPGs, it was the one thing that kept the game fresh and unique. As for the games soundtrack, it fit in with the scenarios that the game offered but it didn’t feel like anything special. Also the game certainly doesn’t come without it’s technical issues, for example, I encountered the following error 3 times in the space of 20 minutes in a play session which really hindered my progress within the game and stopped me progressing for a little while, a full restart of my Vita was required to stop it from happening. For all of its flaws however, there is a prolonged JRPG which will keep die hard Earthbound fans content. But for people who want a unique, constantly fresh, and enjoyable experience, then unfortunately I can’t recommend Citizens of Earth due to its repetitive nature and lack of anything in the way of new features. To say that Citizens of Earth was a little bit disappointing is an understatement, going into the game I was rather excited about jumping into a classic JRPG of its stature, but ultimately it relied too much on nostalgia, backtracking and tedium to make it feel more like a slugfest then an enjoyable experience.
For those unfamiliar with the Earthbound battle system, battles are turn based, you select a move for each member of your party, then depending on how the stats play out, your enemies and party will attack each other in turn. Upon defeating an enemy, each member of your party will gain XP and when they earn enough to level up their stats will increase. As the game continues you realise that you need to recruit citizens throughout the game to help you on your quest, but here’s
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SUMMARY
CITIZENS OF EARTH
Citizens of Earth is a game that spends too much time trying to feed on people's notalgia then trying to be unique or fresh. An old combat system is reborn, but then instantly gets old again. It also offers far too much in the way of side quests that the games main quest, which never seems to pick up anyway, even more forgettable.
3
REVIEW ATELIER AYESHA PLUS
Atelier Ayesha Plus Reviewed by colinjbyrne
bolts of the game itself. The navigation system for Plus is in the form of a old time treasure map, which you can look around with the analogue sticks. Certain areas will be lit up to indicate where you can travel to, and as you explore more areas, more places become available to access. Although it is nice to look at, sometimes finding the destination you desire can become a pain, as the only way of knowing what that area is called is by moving the on screen cursor over a small circle. This means that once you open the whole world, it can be frustrating trying to find the place where you haven’t gathered enough resources, or are yet to defeat all the enemies and only by doing this will you open the world map in its entirety. I’ll be honest, JRPGs aren’t my thing. Sure, I’ve delved a little into the Elders Scrolls, and the Mass Effect trilogy remains my favourite gaming series of all time, but when it comes to the world of Japanese Role Playing Games, I’m as uneducated as they come. Even with the PS Vita’s strong catalogue of JRPGs, such as the critically acclaimed Persona 4: Golden, I have still managed to avoid the surreal world of the JRPG. I guess my problem is that I am not a patient gamer. I always avoid the grind of gathering, finding and discovering and would rather be straight in with the action. Reviewing this game without any previous knowledge of the series or the genre, on the one hand, allows me to be fully openminded about the game itself, rather than comparing it to over similar titles. But then again, I can not with any confidence comment on how it stacks up against the competition. So has this experienced convinced me to further delve into the thick catalogue of games in the genre?
missions, slowly building my skills in battle and Alchemy ultimately led to my downfall. In short, being patient led me to failure. Atelier Ayesha Plus is an extended version of the original Dusk title and includes most of the DLC that appeared for the PS3 version of the game. Although it is the 14th title in the series, the storyline is independent from any of the other games. You play as Ayesha Altugle, a young Apothecary who runs a herbalist workshop. After receiving a visit from a spirit form of her sister Nio, who has been missing for many years, Ayesha decides to go on a journey to find out what has happened to her sister, and more importantly learn how to bring her back to the real world. Now you know the story, lets discuss the nuts and
Once you select where you want to go, you will watch an animation of Ayesha running to that area. Although certainly unique, it can become quite tedious, especially if you are travelling great distance back and forth to deliver items. Each move takes a certain amount of in game days, and in is vastly important that you do not constantly move great distances unless it is for an essential main story objectives. Time is of the essence in Atelier Ayesha Plus, as I unfortunately discovered. There are a number of different towns scattered throughout the land, and these are where you will set up shop. Each town has a ‘home’ area where you can save your current game, add memories to your journal or just get busy making new and exciting items with your (strangely) mobile cauldron.
The chance to play and ultimately review Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk Plus was an opportunity for me to experience a whole new world of gaming, and allow me to be patient and achieve the games objective at a slower pace than what I am used to. After over a month of exploring the world created by Koei Tecmo, I ironically found that becoming distracted by side
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REVIEW ATELIER AYESHA PLUS
recycled faces appearing in every area across the land. This isn’t particularly a big issue, but seeing the same facial models time and time again on locals wondering the streets was slightly disappointing, especially when speaking to characters from a completely new town for the first time.
There are three main gameplay elements to Plus- Fighting, performing Alchemy and gathering vital ingredients from the countless areas located throughout the world. Each are essential, and the more you do, the more skilled you will become. It is essential that you give enough time for each to level up. You can have up to three people in your party, who will assist you with battles and gathering ingredients. Each has their own unique skills and special abilities, and as you meet more characters you will learn that some are more useful by your side than others. All the characters have their part to play in the story, and as you meet more people throughout the land, you can choose to have them become a part of your party of three. This not only allows them to fight along side you, but also opens up new story elements as you get better acquainted with your new friends. It can sometimes be difficult to chose who to have in your group. You may have a personal preference to a particular characters personality, but prefer another for their abilities on the battle field. I found myself constantly changing my crew as I felt guilty leaving others behind. Luckily you can pick and choose when to add and remove new members to your party of three whenever you please. Dialogue can sometimes be confusing, presumably due to the original dialogue not translating well. You will sit through a LOT of uninteresting conversation as you look to increase your friend levels. Cut scenes change throughout. Some are voiced (quite unconvincingly) where as others remain silent and just contain subtitles. There were even instances where all that was shown was a still image, as the subtitles appeared at the bottom of the screen. This constant
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There are endless side missions in Atelier Ayesha Plus. These consist of either creating an object, or buying something from one of the local shops to deliver. Although they get extremely repetitive very quickly, side missions are a great way of increasing your Alchemy Skill level, which is essential as you progress through the games main story. All ingredients that you gather can be used to create items for battles, food to increase your health or change was slightly off putting, but all to sell on for profit. All ingredients have contain enough charm to just about get unique properties, with each type providing away with it. different qualities to your creation. As you create new objects, your skill will increase Even with its distressing subject matter, which will open up more options. New the whole of Atelier Ayesha Plus is items can also be learned by buying books surrounded in an overall feeling of from various merchants around the world. positivity. It’s just such a good spirited (no Although the system for creating items, pun intended) game where you will meet an from the outside, seems to have a lot of array of friendly and colourful characters, depth, I found myself just selecting the first all with their own backstory and all with a option for each ingredient without really unique charm. Although I couldn’t help but taking much notice of its qualities. Yet I be sucked into this positive vibe, when you still managed to create high quality items. remember that the main story is a make Perhaps I just got lucky? You will also or break mission to save your sisters life, be tasked with delivering messages and you can’t help but feel disappointed that special items for the main cast. Although there isn’t a bigger sense of urgency. More the rewards can sometimes be minimal, often than not I spent hours deviating from completing these missions important for the main path, instead focusing on smaller keeping your relationships high throughout tasks such as hunting or make food items the game. for the happy locals. I never felt that I was in any hurry to save Nio, as Ayesha seemed The majority of battles in game come just as happy buying bread from the local against wildlife. These range from cute bakers or helping friends with their own squirrels to massive muscly brutes known personal problems. The problem is that the as Carriers. Although there are a few game is just so charming that you’ll want to variations, you will find yourself coming deliver that bread as quick as possible. up against the same enemies time and time again. Though the different variations Don’t expect to meet a variety new faces of each beast have stronger moves, you through the game, as you will quickly find will soon learn which attacks work best
time to unleash your best move. On the PS Vita, Plus looks stunning, with all the characters having their own unique look and towns and forests being full of life and colour. All the variations of environments are extremely detailed, from the skies to the backdrops and I frequently found myself admiring a vast valley or a cluster of mountains in the background of a small town for minutes on end, before I remembered my reason for being there.
against each type of enemy. Defeating enemies gives you XP and the more you get the quicker you will rank up. This will in-turn increase your Health Points and the damage your attacks make. As you navigate an area, if you come close to one of the beasts strolling around, they will instantly chase you. If you aren’t fast enough in getting away, you will be transported to the battle screen. This can be particularly frustrating when your only aim in an area is to collect ingredients, or if you are low on health.
It is difficult for me to focus on my overall experience of Atelier Ayesha Plus, due to the massive slap in the face that was my ending. There are multiple endings, depending on characters you befriend, mission you accomplish etc, and I am in no doubt at all that the ending I received was the worst possible conclusion to the game, especially as I had invested so much time into it. This may simply come down to how I decided to play the game, it could have been that I didn’t read the small print, it could have even been because I
didn’t deliver that loaf of bread in time, but whatever the reason it felt extremely unfair. Due to the nature of the game, my only option was to start again from scratch after said ending. A sweet little tale that ended sour for me, and although I will try to pin the blame on Koei Tecmo, I know that the only person at fault is myself. I let myself down, and worst of all, I let Ayesha down… and she was counting on me! The fact it affected me so much just shows how well designed the game is. It has an engaging story which requires the player to fully embrace exploration. It may be repetitive at times but I still found myself coming back time and time again, wanting to level up to learn new skills and make new and exciting items. Quite simply, I fell in love with the world, and next time I won’t make the same mistakes. I may just have been converted into a fan of the genre. Next stop Persona 4: Golden…
The battle will end when either all your party members have 0 HP, or your opponents have all been defeated. Items you buy can also be added to your parties equipment. Each character has a preferred weapons, and you can find upgrades, such as armour, through gathering or simple seeking them out in the different shops. Battles are fun, and it is very rewarding discovering which combinations of attacks work best and deciding when is the right
SUMMARY
ATELIER AYESHA PLUS
With a world bursting with charm and an intriguing storyline to keep you hooked, Atelier Ayesha Plus is a fantastic JRPG that will keep you coming back until you reach your conclusion, be it good or bad.
5
4.5
4.5
4.5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.6
REVIEW WOAH DAVE!
Woah Dave! Reviewed by Paul Murphy Woah Dave! is without a doubt one of the most difficult games I’ve had to review. Within about an hour or two of playing I was ready to start explaining how this was one of the worst games that I had ever experienced on the Vita, and easily the worst to have been released to the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection. I’m sure that anyone who has spent more than a few minutes with it will know exactly what I am talking about, because it doesn’t look like much, doesn’t have an awful lot about it and is incredibly frustrating. There was one small problem though; I kept going back to it. Once you get beyond the initial frustration, there is something quite addictive and charming beyond the surface.
Developed under the “Mini Visions” arm of BIT TRIP Developers Totally Choice – formerly known as Gaijin Games – Woah Dave! is a single screen action game presented in a very simplistic 8-bit style and the gameplay is inspired by (and an obvious nod to) many 1980s style arcade games, such as Joust and more notably original Mario Bros. arcade game. The aim is to navigate the protagonist, Dave Lonuts, around a series of platforms and defeat your enemies whilst, in the process, racking up the highest score that you can. This is achieved by picking up alien eggs and skulls which you throw at the on-screen enemies. The eggs that rain down from above will hatch though, and the enemies you encounter will have various different forms. If you do not manage to defeat them before they fall into the lava on the screen, they will mutate into another version until they reach their final forms. To eliminate the creatures you can throw an unhatched egg, or skulls which periodically appear, but you have to be quick because the skulls will explode after a period of time, and the eggs 22 | The Vita Lounge Magazine
will hatch, even if you are holding them. The whole game very quickly becomes a frantic mess of “hot potato” with you navigating platforms all over the place, dodging enemies and launching projectiles before it results in the loss of life. Successfully defeating an enemy will earn you coins, with the upgraded versions of the aliens worth more as they progress through their cycle. You only have three lives to play with though, which decrease each time you are hit and once these are all exhausted it’s game over. The game will not reward you with any additional bonuses the further you play through. As your score progresses, you will encounter additional enemies, such as UFO’s (who rather unhelpfully remove platforms) as well as rising lava levels and the loss of platforms over time. It all adds to the tension and stress but even after many failures, I found myself returning to it for another go. And that’s before you unlock the “bonkers” mode, which throws even more enemies and action into the mix. Thankfully the game has one more trick for you to conquer your foes; the “WOAH” block. This infrequently encountered power up is activated by throwing and will instantly kill every alien on screen, leaving only a trail of coins. That’s if you don’t just throw it into the lava, which is easily done! As you can probably guess, the gameplay is incredibly simple. You use the left stick to manoeuvre Dave around the screen and he will automatically pick up whatever he passes. He jumps with the cross button and pressing square will launch whatever he is holding. That’s all there is, but it’s all that you need, and mastery of these controls will determine how successful your run will be. Visually the game isn’t much
SUMMARY
to shout about, but there is something incredibly charming about the characters. The main problems with the game do lie in the frustration that you will feel for each unsuccessful play and the limited longevity. Bonkers mode is unlocked after reaching a score of $1.50 and this is easier said than done. Also, despite there being 16 trophies to play for – some rather cruelly tied to some challenging scores – there isn’t a lot else to do. It’s the type of game that is played for high scores and bragging rights, and once you have grown tired of the charm and can’t get any further it’s highly likely that it will be forgotten. Which is a shame really, it’s not that Woah Dave isn’t particularly special as there is something very likeable but it unfortunately doesn’t have much to it. It benefits from launching on PlayStation Plus, which will give exposure to a larger audience and for those without the service it’s available quite cheaply and is guaranteed to give some satisfaction in shorter doses, but it’s not something you’ll be going back to often.
WOAH DAVE!
Whilst it doesn't look like very much, there is something very charming and ultimately quite addictive here. It won't last you forever, and it's incredibly frustrating but if it catches you, you won't be able to stop, at least for a little while.
3
REVIEW OLLIOLLI2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood Reviewed by Kyle Wakeling
level will unlock the pro level in the area which corresponds to it (ie; beating 2-1 on amateur will unlock area 2-1 on pro), and simply making it to the end of each level without bailing will unlock the corresponding spot in the spot menu. Spots are another form of each level’s contents which focus solely on biggest single combo score, giving you a small area with which to execute the best combo you can without stopping or bailing. For each level (both amateur and pro) there is a spot to be unlocked, meaning that in total you can unlock 100 locations to skate – 50 levels and 50 spots – just like the first game.
I remember very clearly that day just over a year ago when I finally got to hop on board and push on with OlliOlli and man was I impressed. Over the past thirteen months I’ve been sinking many an hour into the pursuit of that perfect run, that epic trick sequence, or that number one position on the daily grind or a spot (I held one of each a few times, however brief they lasted). After a week with OlliOlli2 however, I doubt I’ll ever venture to turn on the first game for a bit of fun again. That’s because while OlliOlli was an amazingly addictive and well-rounded first step into the genre, OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood is the equivalent of a quantum leap forward. But before I get into what makes this one so much better, let’s talk about what the game actually entails.
tricks and more to the roster in an effort to keep those combo going. This means that if you play your cards right, not only will your levels be filled with combos, most of the time it’s possible (and recommended) that you string a single combo together throughout the entire level. Aside from combos and score based tasks, Welcome to Olliwood and its predecessor also assign each career level three other challenges based on things such as item collection, trick completion, reaching a special area, or something of the like – sometimes slipping in additional conditions to up the challenge. Completing all five tasks (stars) in any one amateur
There’s also a new tutorial/move introduction mode called “Skatepark” which provides you with simple, flowing locations to learn the moves (whether new or otherwise) as well as practice them. There are thirteen different tutorials in this mode, ranging from “Pushing” to “Spins” and everything in between. Mastering these skills is what will get you the high scores on the leaderboards, so I’d suggest you pay attention to the tutorials and practice like a madman. Helping you along your journey through all these career levels, spots to own, skatepark tutorials and (of course) trophies is the profiles menu, which not only shows how much of the game’s total content has been completed but also holds onto some quite useful statistics as well.
OlliOlli is obviously part skateboarding game, but it’s also presented as a sidescrolling runner. Unlike past skateboarding games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Skate, Roll 7’s OlliOlli takes a 2D-plane approach to the genre – laying out the course in front of you to be unavoidably navigated using rhythm-game-like lightning reflexes, jump moves, flip tricks, spins and stomped landings before reaching the end point of the level. OlliOlli2 however, amps up the options and lets you string even more tricks together – introducing manuals, reverts, advanced
The Vita Lounge Magazine | 23
REVIEW OLLIOLLI2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD
than the DualShock 4 (yes, this one works on PlayStation TV too), which just goes to show you that this one’s still best on Vita – just like the first. Looking to grinds, they’re executed with a pick (holding the left analog to one side or top/bottom) or a pick and a trigger hold, timed perfectly (or close to it) with the landing on the rail. Perfect grinds can be further modified into grind-switches, using a pick and “X” to swap mid-grind and again up the multiplier and trick score.
Checking your profile’s “Completion” page will give you a quick glance at an overall progress percentage, the number of skatepark tutorials completed, levels completed (gotten to the end of, not all stars), challenges completed (that’s the stars), spots skated, RAD mode levels completed, and Roll 7 developers found – as well as the total available to finish the task completely. Likewise, the “Statistics” page gives you a run down of a bunch of different in-game counts – including perfect variation counts of landings, manuals, grinds, launches, reverts, and revert manuals. The one non-perfect item that it counts is grind switches, which don’t actually qualify for a quality variable (ie; sloppy, ok, cool, sick and perfect) like the other tricks do. As for the title’s replayability, it’s held in things like the spot leaderboards (both individual and ultimate, including a “friends” option), level high-scores, the daily grind challenge, and simply how hard the game can become later on. Over the past week (and not including launch days), I’ve held a record as high as #5 on the ultimate (combined) spot score leaderboard – and yet I still haven’t unlocked the last few pro levels in the career mode because the challenges are so tough. This is one of those games where even the best of us won’t necessarily unlock it all, so be prepared to fall, fall, and fall again on your journey – ’cause this isn’t supposed to be
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easy… and it isn’t. Which brings us to a mode that many of us (including myself) may never see; RAD mode. RAD mode is a super-hard mode for the ultimate OlliOlli player and will only unlock once you’ve completed every challenge in the professional mode of career. It’s actually an option in the level overview menu (you might notice the greyed out “Off” and square indicator on the right), and when enabled will require you to hit every landing, manual, takeoff (of ramps) and grind perfectly or you’ll fail. This mode is both the ultimate punishment and the ultimate challenge to the seasoned OlliOlli veteran (and I do mean seasoned), so I wouldn’t go into the game thinking you’ll be showing off your RAD skills anytime soon. Moving to controls, like the first game this one does way with the typical skateboard game trick formula and goes its own direction – taking cues from them but delivering a play style all its own. Flip tricks and ollies/nollies are executed with the left analog stick, using a combination of swivels and flicks to execute them (the harder ones adding in trigger holds and reverse swivels). Tricks can also be modified with the right or left trigger as well to induce spins, which speed up as you rotate and up your multiplier with each half twist – giving you a better chance at a higher score. As a side note, I found the flip tricks much easier to execute on the Vita’s sticks rather
As for manuals and reverts, they’re variations on landings – with “X” stomping your move in a landing (ending a trick), left/ right on the analog with “X” landing you in a manual, and the right trigger with “X” landing you in a revert. Reverts are unique in that they have the additional option of moving into a manual if you press left/right quick enough after the trick executes, giving you a two-times additional multiplier for one fairly swift set of actions. The tricks and maneuvers in this game are simple enough to execute on their own (save for maybe a few of the advanced flip tricks), but when stacked together in a frantic setting of landings, ramps, rails, obstacles and more stairs than it takes to reach the top of your local “tallest tower” you get something special and tricky in the same right. That’s where that “one more try” mentality comes in, and why I’m sure I’ll be playing this one ’til the next one hits – just like I did with the last. The graphics in OlliOlli2 are certainly not meant to be realistic, however in comparison to the graphics in OlliOlli – again we’ve seen a huge leap forward. The background has gone up in detail and become more appealing to the eye, with perspective-shifting landscapes and cityscapes accompanying each of the 100 locations available. The skater has also become more detailed and fluid in motion, as has the world – with the trickable objects becoming much more plentiful and varied in shape and size. Fret not however, as they’ve added a simple colour scheme to non-obvious objects which leaves rails to have a blue stripe, ground to either be neutral in colour or have a yellow stripe, and hazards to contain
of this review. Is OlliOlli2 perfect? No. There are definitely things (such as a head-tohead S-K-A-T-E-style challenge mode) that I would love to see in an "Olli3Olli3" if one was ever made, and a few issues that could use some TLC – like the coaster cars having a slightly extended collision area… but those things are so minor at this point that I almost don’t care. The bottom line is, if you liked OlliOlli – you’ll love this… and if you didn’t like OlliOlli, this is still an extraordinarily superior game you should really give a chance. In the past year I’ve helped many a game connoisseur get addicted to the first title – both skateboarding fans and otherwise – and I’m sure this next year will be spent doing quite the same with OlliOlli2. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve slipped down the leaderboards while writing this and need to get back to my double heelflips, nose manuals and darkslides. See you on the flipside, Loungers!
green or red colour. This works quite well to give you an overview at a glance, and using these colour hints will ensure you don’t attempt the wrong action on or around the wrong surface. The soundtrack in Welcome to Olliwood was – in my opinion – more fitting and interesting than those in the first game. While I often played OlliOlli with the sound off or my own music, I found myself keeping the sound cranked in this sequel and more often than not bobbing along to the music as I skated. While we’re still missing the mainstays of my skateboard game generation (that punk rock and dubstepesque rap stuff from Tony Hawk and Skate – among others), there’s something about the music that just works. Coming in on where I should be issuing my closing thoughts, I think I’ve given my hand away already – my absolute adoration for this game seeping through into every facet
SUMMARY
OLLIOLLI2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood is truly everything that a sequel to OlliOlli should be; it takes the already amazing formula of the first game and injects adrenaline right into its coded heart, causing that euphoric feeling you got tricking every obstacle to become a level-long high of foot-to-board madness - and I'm addicted. Bravo Roll 7, you've one-upped yourself in an epic way with this one.
4.5
5
4
5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.6
REVIEW KICK AND FENNICK
Kick and Fennick Reviewed by Liam Langan
Kick and Fennick is the first game developed by a two-man team from the Netherlands known as Jaywalkers Interactive, with help from developer Abstraction Games – the studio responsible for bringing Hotline Miami and Rogue Legacy to PlayStation platforms. With an interesting partnership developing this game, how does it hold up? The story of Kick and Fennick follows the adventures of Kick, who, after waking up in a colourful and mysterious world, meets a robot known as Fennick. They’re soon attacked by an enemy, an encounter in which
Fennick’s core battery in damaged. This then gives the duo the task to get to the top of the core tower and repair Fennick’s battery. Kick and Fennick is a platforming game, but the catch here that helps it avoid so many other plaforming game cliches is that there is no jump button – pressing the X button will not help you jump a ledge here, in fact the X button does nothing at all. Instead of a basic jumping mechanic, Kick is armed with a rifle, yep, a rifle, but this rifle fires Kick into the air when shot in any direction, and this is how he will navigate through the levels in this game. The mechanic starts off difficult to master at first, but after a few attempts you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Aiming the rifle displays a straight line and a bubbly line, the bubbly line is what you want to refer to when aiming to navigate Kick to where you want him to go, the straight line however, is used for shooting enemies, which start to appear upon reaching the second chapter of the game. The game is split into 5 chapters, the first chapter has 5 levels and the rest have 10, bringing the total to 45 levels. As you can imagine with classic platforming games, this game gradually gets more and more difficult, which helps make this game feel more genuine and in-line with classic games such as Crash Bandicoot. Throughout each level there are 50 gears to collect, these are normally hidden in special areas of each level, which helps to encourage exploration as you complete each level. Depending on how long you spend in a level along with how many jumps you do in each level earns you a medal at the end of the level. There are four different kinds of medals you can earn, but the Diamond medal is what you want as this helps you unlock new costumes for the duo. Graphically this game is stunning, It’s clear from the get go that the two-man team from Jaywalkers Interactive have really put time and effort into creating Kick and Fennick, their animations look brilliant and detailed – like they have been designed with the due care and attention that AAA
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Kick and Fennick is easily one of the best new IP’s to be exclusive to PlayStation Vita. While it’s not impossible for the game to come to other platforms in the future, Kick and Fennick feels like it belongs on the PlayStation Vita, and hopefully Jaywalkers Interactive plan to branch out and make a sequel, as so much more can be done here. As a first attempt at making their own game, Jaywalkers Interactive have crafted an excellent platforming game that will certainly raise a few eyebrows. Kick and Fennick is a solid platforming game that really does deserve your attention, and can become quite addictive! Even if you are stuck on a certain part, you’ll constantly want get past any difficulties to see what it throws at you next! developers would give to their mascots. The audio has been composed by musicbyjonathan and fits perfectly with the game. In the darker environments the music is quieter and actually gives off a bit of a sinister atmosphere, but where it suits, the audio can be uplifting and quite catchy. As a finished product, Jonathan van den Wijngaarden has done a fantastic job of creating an enjoyable and memorable soundtrack. The main problem that I have with Kick and Fennick is that it seems to be over so quickly, thankfully the 3 difficulty modes really do have a distance between each other and hard mode will really put you to the test. Elsewhere I found that some jumps were rather difficult to pull off, and developer Jaywalkers Interactive have stated that they promise to make things a little easier for players in a future update to the game.
SUMMARY
KICK AND FENNICK
Kick and Fennick is easily one of the most exciting new IP's to hit PlayStation Vita, and as Jaywalkers Interactive's first release, is a very impressive effort. Be sure to pick this up and play it, you won't be disappointed!
5
5
4.5
4
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.6
REVIEW HYPERDEVOTION NOIRE: GODDESS BLACK HEART
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart Reviewed by Shizuka
You play as Noire, the CPU Black Heart for Lastation, one of the four regions of the world. You’re one of the four goddesses, each ruling a region of the world which is known as Gamarket. You’re worshipped by your citizens, giving you more shares, which in turn makes you more powerful. You have generals helping you to conquering more territories, and in a pinch can even transform into your HDD form, making you even stronger than you already are. You have the upper hand, ahead of the other three goddesses – so what could go wrong, right? Enter a distant traveler, promising that there is a way to unite all Gamarket without any more fighting. You follow the stranger and do as she says, just to realize that you’ve been tricked and lost all power and control over your land. It’s time to take back what’s yours and find another way to unite the world. Before getting into the game further, I’d
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like to deliver some interesting pieces of information. This game is developed by Sting – the developer behind PSP games like Riviera: The Promised Land and Gungnir, and published by Idea Factory International – the ones responsible for bringing the Neptunia Re;birth Vita games to the West. It’s also PlayStation TVcompatible, which is great news seeing as how the first Neptunia Re;birth game is still incompatible as of this publication. Enjoying and understanding Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart doesn’t require you to have played the mainline Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth games to understand what’s going on (since it’s an alternate universe take), but it’s definitely more enjoyable if you go into it knowing the goddesses beforehand and what they’re all about. That said, let’s dive into the game itself. The premise of Hyperdevotion Noire is simple; your job as the future savior of the world is to adventure through the land gathering generals to help your cause, all
the while searching for the one responsible for this whole situation. The other goddesses join you to help unite Gamarket and stop other generals who are going rogue and conquering territories. The game is divided into chapters, with each chapter seeing you search out new generals to try and make them your allies. Most of them won’t listen to reason right off the bat, forcing you to fight them in order to prove your worth before hearing you out. That’s the bulk of the story – achieving more allies through battles and adventures, then getting to know and interacting with them. Ultimately, you’ll be ready to face the one behind it all – but first you must gather all your strength, and there’s definitely strength to be had in numbers. You have an overview of a city at your disposal – there’s a shop (to buy and sell items), the item and disc development stations, the CPU hotel (where you’ll be able
to view images, listen to music, and interact with your generals), the Basilicom (your home, where you’ll be able to take requests from citizens and decorate with new furniture), and the mission HQ (where you’ll be able to take on story or side missions). As mentioned, there are two kinds of missions; story missions and side missions. Story missions are required for the story to move forward, where you’ll have scenes before and after battles, and once you clear them, another story mission will be waiting for you. Side missions are mostly comprised of a battle scenario, where you don’t actually advance the story and can repeat them as you’d like. If you’ve read in the introduction that Sting was the developer and that rang a bell for you, you might be worried that the gameplay and battles could become too complex or complicated – but in Hyperdevotion Noire, they’ve pulled back and surprisingly enough kept it somewhat simple. You’ll have a defined number of characters to choose from to go to battle, and after choosing your team the combat will begin. You can move, attack, use skills, specials, lift boxes in order to throw them and be able to reach higher grounds… and that’s about it. It all takes place on a set map, with orientation happening on a gridbased system. The most interesting aspect is something quite common for strategy RPGs; when you’re standing around another character, you’ll be able to use skills for less MP and achieve lily points – which in turn can be used to transform your goddesses to their stronger, HDD forms. All characters will be portrayed on chibi form during active gameplay, which means they show
SUMMARY
up as “smaller” and “cuter” versions of themselves. During battles, both your characters and the enemies can inflict a number of ailments, which is my only gripe for the combat. It’s your usual poison, petrify and freeze – adding over ten other statuses for good measure. While it’s true that the tutorial will show you what each of them does, it’s a little hard to stay on top of what action they take, if they’ll last for all of battle and which item will heal them across that many flavours of malady. The soundtrack is the same as the ones for your other standard RPGs – simply nothing extraordinary. You won’t be humming the tunes after playing the game, but at the same time it’s not an assault to the ears. That said, the voiceover for the game is great – giving you the option of English or original Japanese voice over, and delivering a quality experience whichever you choose. As for the matter of graphics, the game looks sharp – both during battle and story segments – but it’s nothing to write home about. It’s sharp enough to be recognized as a native Vita title though – especially with the pop of the bright colors used for different characters. Also, while the chibi form used for battles might not appeal to every gamer or personal preference, it works and you’ll get used to it after the first couple of battles. One thing I should note is that this game comes full of fanservice. It breaks the fourth-wall, makes jokes about the characters, and even puts those characters in risqué situations and positions. Every time you finish a chapter, you’ll spend some time interacting with the generals you
recruited… and as the game progresses, you’ll be facing some very sensitive and suggestive situations with them. The game isn’t terribly long however, and you can get it over with in about twenty hours if you’re playing on easy mode (there are three difficulties: easy, normal and hard) and are simply going through the story missions, one after the other. There are different endings to entice you back in, but not much in the way of post-game to enjoy. You may want to go back and max out the lily rank with all your characters, but all you’re getting for your trouble there are some additional scenes and trophies. Like the most recent Neptunia games, there are lots of DLC options – both free and paid. The free DLC is mostly comprised of items and equipment that’ll help you get up and running for the beginning of the game, but if you’re willing to pay for it you can get additional party members that otherwise are not present in the game. The most notable of these are Tiara from the Fairy Fencer F PS3 game and both Compa and IF from the mainline Neptunia games. Ultimate sets of equipments for your members are also available for a premium if you want to go that route. In the end, what’s left to say is that Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is a well-rounded game that is appealing to both longtime fans of the series and newcomers. It doesn’t get too complex to jump into as a newcomer, though it can get deep with the lily system and different characters skills. As an original game developed for the Vita and/or a spin-off of the Neptunia series, it’s a great title.
HYPERDEVOTION NOIRE: GODDESS BLACK HEART
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is not groundbreaking in any aspect - but if you’re into fun, lighthearted RPGs with a certain depth of gameplay then look no further.
3.5
4
4
3
3
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
REVIEW SPONGEBOB HEROPANTS
SpongeBob HeroPants Reviewed by Brad Gruetzmacher
“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea!?” SPONGEBOB… HeroPants? Wait, that can’t be right. Wasn’t it…? Things are definitely not normal in Bikini Bottom. Following the events from the recent movie SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water, this new adventure from Activision finds SpongeBob and his friends in a interesting predicament. SpongeBob’s dreams are beginning to leak out of his head and alter the world around him. Now these unlikely superheroes must use their newly found powers to make it through each of the levels and fight off the terrors of SpongeBob’s inner psyche. SpongeBob HeroPants is a 3D platformer that allows you to control one of six different characters: SpongBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton. Each character also has the ability to temporarily transform into their superhero persona to help solve puzzles or fight off attacking spatulas (yes… spatulas. What else would SpongeBob dream about?) Throughout each of the different levels, you’ll collect coins while trying to locate each of the different pages of the magical book that can once again set things right. There are a number of platforming challenges as well as a number of fairly mild puzzles to solve. After completing each level, you can use the coins you collect to purchase upgrades for your character. It’s a quick, simple game that is requires little thought or skill. To be honest, I actually had a really good time with it. There are of course a long list of caveats that go along with that statement, but for what it is, it’s not bad (now that’s a ringing endorsement). As I said though, there is a “but” with that statement. The game does have some technical issues. A number of them. The
framerate is one. There are times when things will drop to a crawl. However, since the game is so simple, it doesn’t cause many problems. You just fight your way through it and it usually only lasts for a few seconds. There’s also a problem with the respawn system. There are times when you’ll fall to your death and the game will have to respawn you back on to a platform. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I can’t tell you how many times it would respawn me under the platform which would cause me to fall to my death again and again and again. Eventually it will just kill you off and start you in a new spot. I guess it’s the game’s incentive to keep you on track. It’s aggravating, but since there is no real consequence to dying, it’s not that big of a deal. Every time it would happen (and it happened about a dozen or so times) I would just wait it out then keep going. The game is also quite short. A complete run-through of the game can be done in just a few sittings. You really have to explore each level thoroughly and collect every coin possible to make the game last awhile. The incentive to go back is that there are a number of collectibles in the game that can only be found by certain characters. Much like the LEGO games, you’ll need to replay the levels a number of times if you really want to find everything. Visually the game is really nice. There’s not a lot going on, but it does a good job of replicating the world that is found in the TV show. Sure there are times when walls vanish and you pass through objects you shouldn’t, but the bright and colorful world of Bikini Bottom is in full force here. And since the game is compatible with the PlayStation TV, it actually makes a decent transition to the big screen. The music is also a plus in my book. There’s something very soothing about playing a simple platformer while that distinctive island music SpongeBob is known for plays in the background. The only downside is that it’s constantly being interrupted when your character feels the need to deliver a witty one-liner. And they deliver it over and over and over again. SHUT UP!! Some of them are cute the first time you hear them, but they really start to get on your nerves about five minutes later when you’ve heard them a hundred times already. Fortunately there is an option to adjust the volume levels and effectively turn the voices off.
SUMMARY
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Obviously though, this game is designed with kids in mind so I let a kid test it for me. I gave the game to my 8 year old daughter and had her put it through its paces. Her reaction? She loved it. It was just the right amount of challenge without getting too frustrating. Those annoying one-liners I couldn’t stand would always make her chuckle, and she’d repeat them along with the character. She played the game through to completion and loved the whole thing. It was a little on the short side for her as well, but that didn’t stop her from coming back to it again and again over the next several days replaying a level here and there. Now, when she’s not busy building castles and escaping from Creepers, she’s popping in SpongeBob HeroPants to take down some menacing looking lollipops (did I mention there’s a candy filled world where you jump from waffle to waffle while escaping lollipops?) For me, the game is an adequate platformer. The controls are simple, but very functional. The characters don’t move overly fast, actually it feels like they go a bit slower than they should, but the jumping mechanic works fine. SpongeBob HeroPants is an interesting mix of both good and tired. On the positive side, it’s a kid friendly game that provides a simple, fun experience. Much like the LEGO games, the focus is mainly on collecting with only a few minor obstacles to get in your way. It’s a great game to play when you just want to chill and relax for awhile. Plus, it has a fairly easy set of trophies which includes a Platinum. On the tired side the game is a buggy mess. The challenge is minimal. The game is short. And the puzzles are anything but difficult. There’s enough wrong with the game which could make you toss it aside and never think about it again and yet… there’s something there. It isn’t great but it isn’t bad either. Much like a Buddhist in a state of zen, it just is. Perhaps not the most glowing recommendation for a game, but pretty apt. SpongeBog HeroPants is a competent 3D platformer with as many bugs and glitches as collectibles to find. The game is clearly designed with kids in mind, and in that regard it does its job admirably. Even with all its frustrating faults, it’s a game that kids can enjoy. It’s a simple, light-hearted experience that may not be what veteran gamers want but it’s a hit with the target audience.
SPONGEBOB HEROPANTS
SpongeBob HeroPants is not a hard game. It's not a long game. And it's not a very well polished game. It is however, a light and fun platformer that's easy to play when the game's technical problems aren't causing frustration. The kids will probably enjoy it more than their parents, but there's a little something for everybody in this game.
2.9
REVIEW AETERNOBLADE
AeternoBlade Reviewed by Brad Gruetzmacher Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Freyja is out for revenge. After her village is destroyed by the diabolical (and demon-like) villain Beladim, Freyja is entrusted with a mystical sword known as the AeternoBlade. Together with the mysterious sage known as Vernia, she must harness the weapon’s time-altering capabilities to defeat Beladim and exact her revenge. That is the set-up for a really good game. On paper, AeternoBlade looks to be a really interesting game, but the reality is quite different. How does a game that is set with such potential fall so far?
Or there’s the problem where you’re in a boss battle and have committed to a long string of combo attacks only to have the boss leap into the air to stomp you. The natural instinct is to dodge, but that’s not possible. You have to sit and watch her swing her sword mindlessly while a behemoth of a monster stomps her down. It’s frustrating and unnecessary. You might ask, “Then why commit to a combo? Why not just do one attack at a time?” The reason is that the collision detection is so bad that you almost have to do multiple attacks at once just to hit anything. Quite frequently you’ll come up against an opponent and swing and nothing will happen. Maybe you’re a bit too far away so you move in a little closer and swing again. Still nothing. Then you try again. Nothing. Then try again and suddenly it hits. Another swing does nothing but the one after that connects again. What the ….? Seriously? It’s a mess. It’s not impossible to keep playing despite these frustrations, but it makes it so that you’re fighting the game’s controls instead of the game’s obstacles.
yesteryear. This might have something to do with the fact that the game originally came out on lesser powered handheld devices, but for someone used to Vitaquality graphics, it’s quite jarring and not up to snuff. The cut-scenes on the other hand look very good. Everything is very crisp and detailed and looks very different from the rest of the game. Vernia especially comes across as a very beautifully designed character who is rich in color. The music is decent enough, however it’s also very forgettable. Listening to it play as the game unfolds brings to mind a hundred other games of the same ilk that have come before it and there’s nothing that makes it stand out. As for the sound effects, again, everything is adequate but nothing great.
Despite the game’s many glaring flaws, it isn’t all bad. The platforming challenges and small puzzles thrown in throughout the game can be quite fun to solve at times. The boss fights are extremely challenging Things do get better as the game progresses and will require a lot of skill to beat. If and you’re able to upgrade Freyja’s skill sets, you can get past the flawed controls and but it never gets to a satisfactory level. bland presentation, then it’s a perfectly serviceable action-RPG. It’s not a bad game One of the big hooks in the game is the per-se, but it’s also not a good one. ability to reverse time in order to defeat certain enemies and solve different puzzles. For what it’s worth, I did find myself Later in the game the ability to time warp is wanting to go back and play the game time introduced which gives Freyja the ability to again just to test my skills. Maybe I could drop a marker in the level and then teleport fight through the controls and play this to it at any time with the touch of a button. thing. It does have its moments of “pretty It’s really cool and at times it provides for goodness” (which is a few notches below So we start off with an interesting some interesting puzzles. The problem is greatness) but in the end, the frustration of protagonist who is out for revenge. Sounds that it’s needed so rarely that it can often playing it was too overwhelming. good so far. It’s a side-scrolling action game be forgotten. Many of the times that I used with a number of RPG elements. You kill bad the time reversal feature were just out of AeternoBlade has lofty goals and the guys to gain XP which you then spend to curiosity rather than need. potential to be a decent game, however level up your character’s abilities, which also the glaring flaws in its controls bring it sounds fun. This game is rife with so much It’s too bad, because when you reach a point crashing down to Earth. Hell may have potential. Unfortunately, AeternoBlade has that has a well thought out puzzle (or even no fury like a woman scorned, but a few major flaws which make any positive a simple obstacle) that requires you to alter a scorned woman has nothing obsolete. time, it can be very satisfying. Unfortunately on someone trying to those moments are actually very rare. play this game. Let’s start by talking about the controls. I’ve rarely played a game that had controls as AeternoBlade is also very old-school in the frustrating and poor as AeternoBlade. Much presentation department. If I didn’t know of it has to do with that when you attack, any better, I would swear that this was an Freyja is committed to a specific attack unaltered PS2 game. It reminds me of one animation. These can often be quite lengthy of a dozen simple fantasy brawlers I played and while you’re in the middle of one, you over a decade ago, which isn’t to say that can’t do anything else. You can’t move. You it’s bad. It’s just decidedly dated looking. can’t turn. You can’t dodge. Imagine you’re Freyja has some impressive character starting off an attack combo against a black animations and looks pretty decent, but knight and in the middle of the combo you nearly everything else in the game is get hit and it spins you around. Suddenly you clearly a muted throwback to the games of watch as Freyja continues an impressive set of attacks, but she’s facing the wrong way. SUMMARY AETERNOBLADE And there’s nothing you can do to change it. AeternoBlade is a side-scrolling action RPG that is rife with potential but is burdened by a flawed control scheme. While the platforming and puzzles can be interesting from time to time, the frustrating controls drain any enjoyment that could be had. Things get better as the game progresses, but it never gets to where it needs to be. AeternoBlade is a side scrolling action-rpg with some really great puzzle elements to it. Dare I call it a “metroidvania” style game? That wouldn’t be too far off as a description. The game is designed around the player having to gain new abilities in order to reach places and solve puzzles that were impossible to complete when first encountered. It’s also designed around the AeternoBlade’s ability to reverse time temporarily, which is necessary to solve a number of the problems (or sometimes it’s just helpful in a Boss battle to back things up and hit him a few more times when he’s vulnerable).
2.5
REVIEW JUNGLE RUMBLE: FREEDOM, HAPPINESS AND BANANAS
Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas Reviewed by lateralus2801 The PlayStation Vita is home to some great rhythm based games such as Hatsune Miku Project DIVA f 2nd, Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit, Orgarhythm, and DJMax Technika Tune. Sadly, I cannot say that Jungle Rumble belongs on that list. Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas is a port of the popular smartphone game that was released in 2014 on iOS and Android. You take control of a Spirit that controls the Mofongo tribe through the game’s three worlds. The premise is simple: collect bananas, knock out red monkeys, and do it quickly to get that shiny gold medal.
As the Spirit, you are to tap the touchscreen to the beat of a drum in order to move across branches, throw coconuts or jump over the enemy. That sounds simple, right? Everything sounds simple on paper, but once you get to it, the game becomes a mess of wrong presses, inconsistent beats and frustration. Oh, by the way – you need to hold your Vita like a smartphone in order to play this game, which can be cumbersome and uncomfortable. When starting the game, Jungle Rumble offers the suggestion to play with headphones for a better experience. At that point, I was eager to see that if it was true – but sad to say that it didn’t turn out to be (at least for me). There was nothing special about the music and the sound effects didn’t even match up to the beat of the drum, which I found completely annoying. Midway through the game, I even ended up just lowering the volume on my Vita and it didn’t help or
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diminish my ability in the game. That said, the biggest frustration and downfall of Jungle Rumble is the unresponsive controls. You are to follow and tap to the drum beat and the pink flash outline in a pattern in order to move your monkey to where you want to go. Too bad that rarely works as advertised. I often found myself wanting to throw my Vita against the wall in frustration because the monkey wouldn’t move to where I wanted it to go, even though I followed the beat perfectly. This caused me to lose a monkey, a gold medal and some of my hair. Even the menu, replay and other buttons have input
issues – which is a bit alarming to say the least. The only bright spot in Jungle Rumble is the visuals. Being a port of a smartphone game it was never likely to tax the Vita graphically, but the game is definitely pretty to look at. It’s very colorful and all the areas are easy to distinguish, be it characters or destinations. Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas started life as a smartphone game and it still feels like one on the Vita. While the game is fairly cheap at $4.99, it’s still hard to recommend as there are other games in that price range with more to offer and less annoying issues. For a game which is based on input and timing, this one has a long way to go in order to be properly playable.
SUMMARY
JUNGLE RUMBLE: FREEDOM, HAPPINESS AND BANANAS
Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness and Bananas sounds good on paper but the execution is flawed and that's a shame. It could have been something special using the Vita's great touchscreen but instead falls flat on its face.
1.9
REVIEW LA MULANA EX
La Mulana EX Reviewed by Liam Langan
village without this upgrade. Now I’m not going to beat about the bush here, La Mulana EX is hard as balls, it is a game that was designed with difficulty in mind and certainly achieves it’s target, however, it can often be too hard. There was many times where I’d spent a while exploring through the caves and discovered plenty of new things only to find myself dying and losing all the stuff I had found as you can only restart from your last save point upon death, even with all this said however, the difficulty is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my problems with this game.
Players take the role of Lameza Kosugi, an Indiana Jones style explorer who follows the trial of La Mulana, a lost ancient city said to be home to a curse, the city is guarded by terrible, ginormous creatures known simply as guardians, your task is to defeat these guardians, free the city of the curse and find your father, who went missing on a journey to La Mulana years ago.
The soundtrack is one of the things I enjoyed most about this game, it definitely felt like it was a game with older generations in mind and the soundtrack was giving me SNES vibes, there was also some eerie tunes to be found when venturing into deeper, more dangerous parts of La Mulana which really did set the tone well, and boss fights are accompanied with blood-pumping, heart-pounding melodies that really give you a sense of urgency and difficulty. The final point I want to talk about is the how this game offers absolutely no clear sense of direction of where you need to go, I spent several hours wandering aimlessly trying to find new things in La Mulana but constantly dying and making absolutely zero progress before figuring out what to do, and at one point whilst investigating I accidentally activated hard mode, just by talking to a statue!
Oh look, a PSVita exclusive remake of a PC game that has actually been localised, are you shocked? I know I certainly was when digging into some research into this game, upon discovering that it was a metroidvania style game (my favourite genre), I was intrigued to get started, so off I adventured to La Mulana. As mentioned above, La Mulana EX is the PlayStation Vita version of a cult classic PC game released in 2005, inspired by MSX games of the past, La Mulana EX aims to give players a nostalgic throwback, and from early impressions, the game certainly achieves this.
changed with up to 12 different skins, but that isn’t enough, and it makes everything on the screen seem small, which didn’t really help me with progress in the game. I’d like to think that a patch will be added to the game in the future to add a 16:9 ratio, but I’m not sure it will be possible.
Completing the game unlocks a harder difficulty, which will annoy most players after having completed what is already an incredibly tough game. There is also a time attack mode which tasks you with defeating a series of bosses in an attempt to set a record, you’re given all of the equipment available in game to try and defeat them which is a nice touch. The biggest problem I had with this game lies within it’s presentation, I can’t think of many, if any, PlayStation Vita games that can only be played in a 4:3 aspect ratio, but unfortunately La Mulana EX is locked to this ratio, however the side columns can be
La Mulana EX really is a game that is not for the faint of heart, it’s takes patience and sometimes bravery to explore beyond areas in which you previously died, but it’s also a game that is let down by poor presentation and by sometimes just being way too difficult. I feel that if the game had been just a little bit easier and offered a sense of direction and a little bit of guidance beyond the games digital instruction manual, then I would have enjoyed its 15+ hour campaign a lot more. If you’re a fan of difficult games then La Mulana EX is definitely worth a look, but if, like me, you find difficulty can be off-putting then it might be best to avoid this one.
Initially you are equipped with just a whip which takes very little damage off enemies, but as you explore the caves and tunnels that make up La Mulana you’ll find stronger and more powerful weapons and even projectiles to help you conquer stronger foes. You’re also equipped with a laptop which you can find and purchase applications for to help you throughout your journey, for example, there is an application that can read stone tablets which offer vital hints to your progression throughout the game, in fact I’d recommend not leaving the starting
SUMMARY
LA MULANA EX
On Paper, La Mulana EX had the potential to be one of the better games on the PlayStation Vita, but it can be overly difficult at times and the presentation is a real let down, pick this one up if you're up for a challenge or a bit of nostalgia, or wait until it's in a sale if you're not too sure.
2.9
REVIEW HOTLINE MIAMI 2: WRONG NUMBER
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Reviewed by colinjbyrne
Devolver Digital have achieved something quite remarkable. With the weight of expectation on the eagerly anticipated sequel to 2012 hit indie smash Hotline Miami hanging over their shoulders, you would have been safe in assuming that we would have just been treated to a re-hash of the original in Wrong Number. We have indeed been given the same gameplay we know and love, but what makes Hotline Miami 2 such a triumphant is it ambition. Mixed in with all that action and bloody violence we have come to expect, is a well-crafted narrative, with a whole host of character that each have an interesting part to play in the overall story.
hours of trying different routes and strategies. Hotline Miami 2 is a form of puzzle game, with each levelled needing to be solved.
For fans of the original Hotline Miami, the gameplay in Wrong Number will be very familiar. In fact, fans will instantly feel right at home. You see the world from a top down perspective, given you a birds eye view of the each area of a level. The aim of each level is to destroy every enemy in sight, with any of the tools at your disposal. These can be anything from knives, to guns or a variety of blunt instruments. The one hit death rule also makes a return, which will undoutably lead to a few Vitas being thrown at the nearest wall in frustration. One mistake and it’s a restart for you, and believe me you will be restarting a lot. Luckily it’s an addictive experience with a true “one more try” attitude. It certainly is a great feeling finally completing a level after
of twisted reward for completing a level, you will walk back through every blood soaked area to exit a level. After such a satisfying feeling from completing the level, you won’t help but feel slightly unclean after looking back at the carnage you have caused.
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Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is not for the faint hearted. But you already knew that. You will rip, tear, slice, shoot, squish, disembowel and behead enemy after enemy, time after time. You won’t do it quietly either, with every hit giving a (disturbingly) satisfying sound. A particularly memorable moment was ripping the head off an unfortunate enemy, spinal cord in tow. You will quickly make a blood bath of each area, and as some sort
It takes good timing, patience and even luck to be successful in Wrong Number. It may feel much more fun going in all guns blazing through each level, but you will soon find that using that tact will more often than not see your innards spread across the floor. The best tact is to plan each move, luring enemies away one at a time to pick them off. There are a few variations throughout the game, but for the
most part you will have two types of enemies: Ones who have guns and ones who don’t. Making sure you are not exposed is essential, but with hidden traps along the way this is sometimes easier said than done. Each level holds different features, which can work both for and against you. Trial and error is definitely and essential part, but not always that helpful as enemies frequently change their movement pattern. Wrong Number is a challenging game, much more so than its predecessor. This is partly down to the much more alert enemies, who will instantly spot you if you emerge into an open space for too long, but primarily due to the level design. As I said earlier, Hotline Miami 2 is an ambitious game, and this once again shows in its level design. Devolver should be applauded for their creative design choices, but sometimes it can seem like they got slightly carried away. When viewing a map on the Vita, you are able to drag your finger along the screen to get a better look at your surroundings. However, as you progress through the game, levels become bonkers with countless room, large exposed areas and window filled spaces which can become quite overwhelming. Also taking into account enemies patrolling every square inch and you are looking at a fair few hours of frustration… and how frustrating Wrong Number certainly is. Imagine planning a route through a level, taking out every enemy with care and precision, only for it to be ruined by an unwittingly camouflaged dog, or randomly concealed enemy. In some instances it becomes borderline unfair, and you wonder why you even bothered investing so much time into the game at all… and then you just restart and the cycle continues. Its not all smooth sailing gameplay wise. During my playthrough I found myself being subjected to a variety of game ending bugs, from required items being thrown past the level walls out of reach, to being trapped inside the walls themselves, with no way of re-entering the level. On a couple of
occasions the game crashed altogether. Although these issues could easily be rectified with an update, for game that was in development for a considerable amount of time I would have hoped these kinds of simple issues wouldn’t have appeared. Alas it has become an all to frequent occurrence in modern video gaming as a whole, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Art-style wise, Wrong Number is a joy to behold. The game plays out as if watching on an old style VCR. After each act is complete, there will be an animation depicting the game fast forwarding or re-winding to a different time period. It really is creative and really fit into the overall feel of the game. I also enjoy the Pause menu, which literally takes the form of a pause screen from an old time VCR. And how could I write about Hotline Miami 2 without mentioning the soundtrack? The question, is does it surpass the original games score? Quite simply, yes, It does. It is amazing. A distinct difference from the original is that there is a much greater range of music as well. Sure there are still the pumping beats, but there are also
songs that varied from dark and sinister, to almost light and fun. Hearing an almost relaxing tune is quite bizarre as you brutally murder enemies, but was also oddly satisfying. As I alluded to earlier, Devolver have managed to tell a story in a non- linear and creative way, which spans a variety of different time periods. Saying too much would ruin the different story elements, but this style introduces the player to a variety of different individuals. You can even play certain level as a character without killing ANYONE. No really, you can actually choose to not kill. With another character you are killing for what seems a just cause, and are actually praised as a hero. It is that diverse, and you will want to keep playing to find out the outcome of each character as you progress through their story arc.
wanted. We also got what we desired in terms of story, with more depth and a better understanding of the events depicted. It looks amazing, sounds even better and will keep you hooked right through to its conclusion. Sure the designers sometimes get carried away with their level designs, and there are a few bugs here and there, but overall Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, is a successful sequel which may even surpass the original. With the constant urge to better your score, and an unlockable Hard Mode, there definitely is reasons to keep coming back. This is a game not to be missed on PS Vita, so long as you don’t mind a bit of blood along the way…
In the original, you were given a choice of mask to wear before each level, which would give you different special abilities. This selection process has, on the most part, been removed from Wrong Number. Each character has their own unique abilities, and there are a few choices here and there, but on the most part you are assigned the skill of that character. This is a shame, but with the large variation of abilities that each character possess, and with each level changing perspective, you can soon forgive the scrapping of this feature. For me, the original Hotline Miami remains one of my favourite PS Vita games. Its style and gameplay just feel right on the Vitas screen, and its fun and addicting gameplay led to me having multiple playthroughs. With its sequel we have been treated to more of the same, which is exactly what we
SUMMARY
HOTLINE MIAMI 2: WRONG NUMBER
Addictive, challenging and most importantly fun to play, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is an ambitious sequel which excels in its story telling, artistic style and soundtrack, Bloody Brilliant.
4.6
5
5
4.5
4
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
REVIEW SÖLDNER-X 2: FINAL PROTOTYPE
Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype Reviewed by Will Hernandez
As the final seconds of Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype’s “Assassin” challenge winded down, I could feel the sweat from my hands dampen the Vita while my heart felt like it was seconds away from flying out of my chest. There was nothing but fists pumps and sighs of relief when “Challenge Passed” in big green font popped onto the screen. But I had only mastered one tiny section of the game, and there was much more anxiety and fun from this chaotic shoot ‘em up to be had.
Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype is a dynamic game. Its ten stages (including The Last Chapter DLC) will have you shooting down enemies from places like a mechanical flagship, the stars in the sky, and the depths of the ocean. Every stage felt unique, and not just aesthetically. The way you play the game changes towards the end as more obstacles are added, and your death can come from not only those trying to shoot you down, but the frozen icicles of Iya Caves, as well. Fundamentally, the name of the game remains to shoot down everything in sight, and avoid as much
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bullets and lazer shots as well. But here is where Challenges come in to warp your previous perception of what is normal in Söldner-X 2. Challenges task you with goals with various barriers. In “Survivor,” if your health bar reaches its end before finishing three consecutive stages, then you better try again. Want to take on “Evasion Master”? You’d better get used to not being able to defeat any enemies. Oh, and did I mention
that you can’t get hit more than three times? Every Challenge will work you to the bone. There is no whining, or complaining. “Practice makes perfect” may be a cliche, but it’s the only way you’re getting out of this game mode alive. What I love most about these challenges are how differently you’ll be forced to approach them, as I stated before. “Survivor” is all about staying alive. Don’t waste your time trying to get an S rank, focus on the impending bullet storm, and how you’ll need to avoid it. Then there’s “Collector,” where getting hit will be the least of your worries, as you’ll be in
a hurry to gather 999 chain rings in only one stage. The Challenges game mode is the toughest part of Söldner-X 2; I wanted to rip out my hair after attempting some for hours. But the satisfaction of finally being able to pull off the insane tasks that SideQuest Studios made is like no other. An issue with Söldner is highlighted with Challenges, though. For some odd reason, basic functions are missing. Why do I have to go to a whole different menu to check what Secret Keys I’m missing? And why can’t I just highlight a stage and have it show me my highscore? Better yet, during missions, there’s no retry button, which sticks out when you’re forced to exit to the main menu, wait for your Vita to connect to the internet, and then finally the game modes load. Failed a mission? That’s too bad. Now enjoy going through the motions of starting from the menu. And the fact that you’re probably steaming from your failed attempt of getting a Secret Key isn’t helping, either. Secret Keys are Söldner-X 2’s collectibles, and also the bane of my existence. Each stage has five to collect, and while most are found by blowing yellow-glowing enemies up, others are found by pure luck. Really. I had to play stage 4 more than my fair share until a purple enemy that tries its very best to fly away from me spit out the golden luxury. Unfortunately, Secret Keys are used to unlock new ships, weapons, stages, challenges, and pretty much everything keeping the game going. If there was only one aspect of Söldner-X 2 I was allowed to praise, it’d be the replayability. There is a ton to do. It doesn’t stop at Secret Keys, in fact, the keys are the means to get to the heart of the game, and to make your life much easier via the Challenges, ie. credits – which let you continue despite losing all lives – and starting a stage with the Shockwave. Factor
need that highscore to show off to the world? Decision time… Among its difficult-to-master nature and high replay value, is high score chasing. Just like most shoot ‘em ups, this is an integral part of Söldner-X 2, heck, some people buy these games just for the bragging rights of being in the top-ten global charts. Going for the high scores means changing the way you play, yet again. Get used to dodging, shooting, and picking up every multiplier and score bonus Extras that appear on screen.
be picked up from fallen enemies, the more useful ones: such as health, a new life, score multipliers, and weapon power ups are received through maxing out your chain bar, which is filled by collecting Sonic the The dub-step-esque soundtrack fits Hedgehog-like rings. Most Extras can be the futuristic nature of Söldner-X 2. fond in the very front of the Vita’s screen Aesthetically, this game knocks it out of – the direction enemies make their way to the park. The one-two punch of a stage’s you through – and it suddenly becomes a final boss accompanied by that frantic game of risk and reward. Is your Magma beat seals the deal. Some enemies are as generic as giant circles, but then mechanical Cannon not getting the job done? Just grab squids will come out of nowhere to suck up that large power up an enemy just dropped. But you’re also low on health, AND you all the creativity. in the amount of time it takes to master each stage, as well, and you’ve got yourself 20 hours of shoot ‘em up goodness.
As a fan of difficult games, I was able to enjoy Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype, despite how angry I’d become after having to retry Challenges more times than I’m comfortable with admitting. Once I got out of the shadow of its rough, difficult start, Söldner-X 2 became one of the more enjoyable and ideal Vita experiences that can be enjoyed in small, ten-tothirty minute chunks. Or, as I did it, can be marathoned for hours because I just can’t fathom being able to sleep while knowing that every stage isn’t unlocked. Through think and thin, I’ll be coming back to Söldner-X 2 for years to come.
Most of the bosses look decent, but I found that their cycles and strategies are varied, and fun. A huge part of the gameplay is rotating through your two-tothree weapons and finding which is most effective in certain situations. I never found any sound logic to it, as powerful beams that blasted through small and medium sized enemies would come up short against tiny exposed areas on bosses, such as an eye. But a lot of how much damage your weapons does is dependent on Extras. Extras are your lifeblood. While most can
SUMMARY
SÖLDNER-X 2: FINAL PROTOTYPE
Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype is a game made for both Shoot 'em Up fans, and those trying to get into the genre. Although it lacks some basic features and has an annoying collectible system, this is still one of the more addicting Vita games out there, and deserves every penny.
4
3.5
4
4
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
3.9
REVIEW HELLDIVERS
Helldivers Reviewed by Tyler Olthoff
Welcome to Hell, in a good way… Helldivers is an action-packed threefourths (semi-top-down) perspective shooter, set in a futuristic world where you find yourself amidst a war between humans, bugs, cyborgs, and robots. There isn’t too much of a story in the game if that’s something you’re craving, however they do have a bit of a humorous narrative (that’s quite enjoyable) and a ton of bad-ass gameplay. In-game, you play as what they call an elite soldier; your job being to go out to planets inhabited by aliens and stop them from pushing you back to your home, “Super Earth”. You go to each of the alien-occupied planets and complete objectives to beat the mission set out for you, and in turn push the aliens back towards their home planets. By doing this you can then move to eliminate them from the war, which would mean that you wouldn’t have to participate in missions against that race again until you’ve reached a conclusion (by either losing or winning the overall conflict). As I opened with, Helldivers may not be a game full of story – but it is most definitely a game full of strong gameplay. Being very similar to Dead Nation in design – where you use the right analog stick to aim, and shoot to take out enemies closing in – it’s a concept that many can easily jump into, but few can master without practice. The game offers you an aim assist feature, but I found myself turning that off instantly as it seemed to mess me up even more. That said, I had my worries going into a game
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relying heavily on perfect aiming – and while I do occasionally miss my shots, I found that more often than not I was getting better accuracy than people playing on other consoles.
that prioritizes your game for other people playing online to join. It’s actually a really good way of calling for help when you don’t have a full game of four divers, and may be one of the most useful perks in the game.
To this end – and since the Vita is missing a few buttons its console brothers have – the developers have instead implemented some rear-touch controls in the Vita version. By swiping down on the left side of the rear-touch it will cause you to toss a grenade, with the right side being a reload weapon command. At times I did find myself accidentally throwing grenades which have ended in the worst possible outcome and that’s because the one key (seriously, pay attention here) thing to remember is that ‘Friendly Fire’ is always on.
As for character progression, Helldivers uses a leveling up system to increase your ability to upgrade your equipment. Every time you level up or find ten samples within the planet you are given a research point, which can either be used on guns or stratagems. By upgrading your guns you can increase certain aspects or even add a new effect, while upgrading stratagems can quicken deployment onto the battlefield, or just help you be more effective at what you’re doing. Due to the nature of the game’s difficulty, guns can feel at one moment very powerful and another very weak. Due to this, some of the enemies can’t be taken down by your guns alone – but by using certain stratagems quickly you can succeed where else you may fail. This really makes Helldivers feel like an action packed strategy game at times; giving you little to no time to think of what to do, and the constant reminder that one mistake can end it all.
After getting used to the placement of your fingers you should be good to avoid most accidental murder sprees, but it is an annoying thing to have happen and it definitely will happen at first. That said, even though killing your teammates is all but bound to happen at some point doing the game, it’s nice to know you have a way at getting them back – and you do, by means of the stratagems. Stratagems are a form of supply drop that can deliver items such as ammunition, a barrage of missiles, or a vehicle; but can also deliver your teammates back to you upon death. For them to deliver to you however, you must call one – and to do that you enter a code using the directional pad while holding the left trigger. If you input the code correctly, you then simply need to throw down the beacon – the object which marks a general location for the supply drop to target. It’s best to throw it away from anyone you don’t want squished to death, as a landing from a heavy object is pretty much an instant death. All stratagems are decided before setting off on your mission, and your choices will stick with you ’til the end of said mission. In the loadout screen you have the ability to change your weapon, perks (laser sight, smoke grenade, heavy armor, etc), and your four stratagems – with special note to the fact that you’re able to equip the same stratagems, and that some are one use only. There are also ones that you will have automatically; re-spawn teammates, nuke [mission specific], and S.O.S – with the latter of those being a unique stratagem
Upgrades are dealt with in the Helldiver Starship. Here you have the ability to change your character’s armor appearance (which is only aesthetic), upgrade stratagems/guns, read up on enemies and general information about the galaxy, and of course pick a mission to deploy into. Now at this point you may be wondering why you’d want to spend $20 to shoot aliens with your friends, and while sometimes you do just that, there are also a few objectives to clear. These objectives vary from mission to mission; and while you’ll end up doing a lot of similar missions at the start, further along you start getting harder and more unique missions. Some basic missions include capturing a point, defending a missile launch, or delivering a package to a certain location – but it’s when you get into the harder missions that things become more intense, as you may see yourself assassinating a specific alien, escorting survivors, or enabling S.A.M. sites – all while being attacked by angry aliens who do not like you being there. It can get pretty crazy. Thankfully, to help you gauge that craziness, Helldivers missions are ranked from one to twelve – with twelve being the
hardest. Also, the smaller the planet the easier they are to complete. When you first select a planet from the Galactic Campaign, you are then given two or three missions which can be completed to finish the planet. A completed planet is replaced by a new randomly generated planet, and by doing this the game can deliver a completely new experience every time you dive into your next planet (even if it’s the same difficulty level). One thing I’d like to note (as we move past all the basics) is that this game is focused around multiplayer, and that fact makes it tough to recommend the game to anyone that likes to play games as a single player experience. That said, if you still happen to be curious about single player it is possible to play the game that way… but around difficulty level 8 it becomes rather challenging to advance any further. With regards to multiplayer, one of the best features of the game is the fact that there’s cross-play. What this means is that anyone playing on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, or Vita can all play together – and because the gameplay is so solid and everything runs so smooth, you really have no idea who’s playing on what system. To that effect, I’ve noticed that there haven’t been very many issues during multiplayer matches – only encountering the occasional stutter here
SUMMARY
and there, though I suspect connection quality played a large part in that. Helldivers may not be the most graphically impressive game to grace the Vita’s great screen, but it’s not the ugliest either. That’s about as good as of a compliment I can give it. The game is pretty muddy looking which it seems was done to make sure the gameplay stays just as solid as the console versions. Personally the graphics don’t matter as long as the gameplay is great, and as you read above the gameplay is just that. That said, outside the graphical downgrade one of the other errors I’ve encountered would be that – no matter the mode – if your Vita goes to sleep, you will be instantly kicked back to the main menu. To get around this you can either go into airplane mode or turn off the WiFi, but that’s only really a half measure to what can be an annoying problem. Being as you’re travelling across the universe you’d expect to see many different environments, and you do – with three different types of planets to explore. You have the snow world, desert world, and jungle world; they all look very unique, and some have environmental effects to weather on your character. In the snow you walk slower, and in the swamps you get the
same effect. Being wary of your surroundings can mean the difference between life or death, the only problem being that the Vita version is cut down in the graphic department and can feel a bit empty in some areas. The game’s sound can be very useful as well, with the ability to use the D-pad to call out voice commands an especially useful feature. You can communicate with your teammates without actually using the built in chat, and while it’s a little limited as to what you can say it can be very helpful in organizing your team. Aside from that, the guns, stratagem drops, and alien noises all put you right into the action and chaos that is planet invasion – helping you to feel what it is to truly be a Helldiver. On that note, we come to the bit where I tell you if you should want to be a Helldiver, and my answer is hell yes. Helldivers is a game full of team killing, bug squashing, and multiplayer madness. With great gameplay, intense multiplayer co-op, and a lot of replay value, it’s my opinion that Helldivers is on the must have list of all Vita owners. On the flip side, if you’re looking for a story heavy and graphically impressive experience then maybe this one just isn’t for you.
HELLDIVERS
Helldivers comes to our Vita falling a little short in terms of graphics, but luckily it's all about that gameplay; which is top notch. If graphics really aren't a deal breaker for you then I would highly suggest diving into this one.
3.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.3
REVIEW ORESHIKA: TAINTED BLOODLINES
Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines Reviewed by lateralus2801
Death, in most games, means game over; in Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, death is just the beginning. With many RPGs available on the Vita, Oreshika stands out with beautiful graphics and the return to traditional turn based combat. The story goes like this; in 12th century Japan, the country is on the verge of destruction when six artifacts go missing and the gods go just a bit crazy. In order to please the gods and bring some semblance of normalcy back to Japan, the emperor decides to sacrifice your beloved clan. Against the emperor’s wishes, the gods decide to bring back your clan to retrieve those missing artifacts (and bring a little bit of payback to the hired hand, Seimei). Once a year after this, the gods transport you to another dimension and pit you against Seimei’s beast of choice in an event called The Feast of Demons. A win against this beast will net you an artifact, and you need six to reclaim them all and in turn calm the proverbial storm. But how will this all play out? Well; during the sacrifice, Seimei left your clan with both the Curse of Ephemerality and the Curse of Broken Lineage – which means that each of your clan members have only 24 months to live an entire lifetime, and cannot reproduce with other humans. These curses lead to a very important mechanic of the game however; mating with the gods. In order to mate, you must collect devotion, which is earned by going through dungeons and defeating demons. Stronger gods are worth more devotion, so there’s the added pressure to save up the devotion to have a strong bloodline. It’s more important to have better stats than just pure numbers when it comes to shaping your clan. After mating with a god, your character and the god will both pass along attributes to the offspring. While things like the curses will always be handed down in full, other things like traits, skills and heirlooms will pass down with the same sort of rules as actual mating – you get some from your mom and some from your pop. This is
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something to think about when growing your clan as the more good inheritance you have available, the better off you’ll be when it comes to dungeon crawling. At the very beginning of the game, you are tasked with creating your initial threeperson clan. After building your “base” clan members with full physical customization and class choices, you are teamed up with the cute and funny weasel Kochin, who serves as your personal assistant. While Kochin is able to hold your hand through the entire game with pre-made choices like equipment load out and town building, not all the choices that she makes are wise for the situation. There are times when she gives you bad advice, such as the time when two of my clanmates had died and she made the ridiculous recommendation
to go grinding with only three members of my party. For the micromanagers out there (and in these sorts of situations) however, fret not; you can disregard her choices and do everything manually when needed. In addition to the Kochin-based help, Oreshika also offers various difficulty options for those who like it easy or very hard. The easier difficulties make the game shorter, lower the HP of enemies, and boost the XP earned from battles while the harder difficulties obviously take these attributes in the other direction. Moving on to the action, battles in Oreshika are quick and to the point – with everyone in your party taking their turn in sequence. During the fight, you are given suggested options such as single or team based attacks, and following these instructions helps build the trust between you and your clan. Usually they end up working, but there are times when it’s needed to make your own choice – just like when dealing with Kochin. The battle system itself is as basic as it could get. With each enemy mob that you face (there are no random battles – if you want to fight, you simply run into the enemy of choice), you are met with a slot machine reel that determines what you receive as your battle spoil. Once that’s over, it’s a classic turn-based system that
traditional anime footage and dialogue driven events. Even though the game looks great, seeing the same environment all the time can get a bit tiring and I wished there were more variety in where you can go while preparing for the next feast of demons. As for the sound, Oreshika is (mostly) fully voiced in full Japanese, and therefore complimented with English subtitles. The voice acting is well done, but Kochin’s voice can get annoying as she seems to repeat the same lines over and over again. The dungeon music is superb though, and it’s one of the best I’ve heard in a Vita title – especially with regards to boss fights.
has you take turns as a group. Before each fight, an enemy is deemed the leader and if you defeat him before anyone else, the battle is over. For more XP, you can simply beat everyone else and save the leader for last. The system isn’t complex, and it fits perfectly in the fast pace that the game is going for. Grinding out the dungeons for XP is essential to tackle the Feast of Demons, and while you may feel that you are breezing through the game, the difficulty spike that rears its nasty head around halfway through will definitely make you rethink your strategy. While the passing time and the threat of your clan dying off shouldn’t deter you from grinding away, it certainly gives importance to shaping your clan with stats and classes that’ll work out for the years to come. Dungeon time is measured in torch symbols, which fade away as the time passes by; fighting, running, and standing
SUMMARY
around wastes days of time – and when the torch goes to zero, the game lets you know that a month has passed. Ignoring the option of going back home too often can have consequences such as fatigue and permanent death. When a member of your party is extremely low on fatigue, he or she can die prematurely and this may cause you to lose a year or more shaping a newborn in battle. Time management is extremely essential here, as aside from wasting time in that manner you can also miss important events that cannot be done again until the year has passed.
Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines is a wonderful, deep game that any RPG fan can appreciate. The initial heartbreak from the death of your best clansmen hurts, but knowing that his or her offspring can take over where they left off makes it much easier to cope. With difficultly levels to suit players of any experience, I cannot help but to recommend this game to anyone who likes a great story and mechanics – and at $19.99 on launch there’s no reason why you should pass it up.
Graphically, this is one beautiful game. It’s extremely colorful and clean looking, making it almost a shame that the game moves so fast it’s hard to take a moment to enjoy the sights. It’s refreshing to see art like this in a video game where it doesn’t depend on half naked girls to open your eyes. Also, cutscenes are shown in
ORESHIKA: TAINTED BLOODLINES
It seemed like ages when Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines was first announced and the wait was worth it. At a budget price, Oreshika delivers full price gameplay, graphics, and story which is more than I can say for other titles out there.
4.5
4
4
4.5
Presentation
Gameplay
Lasting Appeal
Execution
4.3
REVIEW Q*BERT: REBOOTED
Q*bert: Rebooted Reviewed by Brad Gruetzmacher That foul mouthed 80’s arcade icon has finally come to the Vita in Q*bert: Rebooted, which takes a classic game and gives it a modern twist. The core game mechanics remain in place, but they’ve been enhanced with certain features games have acquired over the years. Well, honestly, “enhanced” isn’t quite the right word. It’s more like they took something that was clean, simple, and fun and ruined it by adding too much extraneous stuff.. Q*bert: Rebooted is a mess of a game with a silver lining. It has caused me to curse in frustration more than when Q*bert gets bitten by Coily! @!#?@! Q*bert: Rebooted is actually two games in one. The first is Q*bert Classic, which is a direct recreation of the original arcade game. The second is a modern take on Q*bert called Q*bert: Rebooted which features upgraded graphics, a new layout, and infinitely more problems. Both games play the same however. You control Q*bert, a hopping orange ball of fuzz with a big nose. The goal is to hop from grid to grid and change their colors while avoiding obstacles that fall your way. These include items such as deadly red balls or the infamous purple snake known as Coily. Sometimes the best way to avoid trouble is to hop on a rainbow disc which takes you back to the top of the platform and out of harm’s way. Once the stage is cleared, you move on to another platform with a whole new set of obstacles. New enemies and powerups gradually get introduced as the game
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progresses. The goals will also change because soon instead of having to jump on a grid once, you now need to do it twice. The strategy involved in moving Q*bert to the right place at the right time is a challenge that been enjoyed by gamers for decades, and much of that fun still remains. Before getting all critical, I want to point out some of the strengths found in this game. Namely, Q*bert Classic is a near perfect port of the arcade machine I used to pump quarter after quarter into when I was young. The way it looks, the way it sounds is so spot on that I started having arcade flashbacks. The controls work really well as you use the left analogue stick to move throughout the board. You can also use the D-pad if you prefer, or (and this was cool) the touchscreen. The only complaint I can find is that there’s no easy way to pause the game. Perhaps the biggest frustration though is that pressing Circle will immediately quit your game without warning and bring you back to the main screen. All your progress is instantly wiped away. Q*bert Classic is just as challenging and difficult as it has always been. It’s the same old game on the Vita but now with trophy support. Then there’s Q*bert: Rebooted… sigh. Where to begin…? The visuals have been enhanced, as well as the audio, to bring the game into the high definition generation. It’s hard to argue that it’s definitely an improvement and everything from the character animations to the rainbow discs all look much better. But they change a number of things, added a few more, and these changes seem to get in the way more than anything. The first and most important is that the grid has changed from jumping on square blocks to six-sided hexagonal ones. The theory here is that it provides more options for the player to move about the board. That’s the theory, but the reality is that it makes controlling Q*bert next to impossible. Now with six directions to choose from, the controls become extremely finicky and downright broken. This leads to your little guy more often than not jumping in the wrong direction and straight to his death. On some levels I held the stick down and he hopped down, down,
down, and then off to the left for no reason and dead! Truly one of those “You’ve got to be kidding me!!” moments. This can be compensated for somewhat by using the touchscreen, but even that’s not a comfortable solution. Rebooted also changes the layout of the levels and adds goals to each stage. Completing goals will earn you stars, and you’ll need to collect a number of stars to progress higher through the game. Many games do this nowadays, and it is quickly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves. The worst part about it is that you can’t earn more than one star on a single playthrough. Grrrr. The first time you finish a level you get a star for completing it. Then you’re tasked with finishing it within a certain time. Now, even if you finished it quickly the first time, you don’t get that star. You have to play each level three times to get everything. Three times with horribly finicky controls. The frustration mounts. Then after awhile it becomes glaringly obvious that each of the levels feels nearly identical to the one before it. They’re smaller than the classic levels and are completed much quicker. The repetition starts to get a little dull after awhile. Suddenly you’re replaying a level three times to earn the stars only to move on to another identical level that you have to once again play through three times to get all the stars to move on to another… At this point, the frustration of controlling Q*bert seems to exist just to break up the monotony. Some other additions that are included in the Reboot are new characters that you can unlock with gems you collect in the stages. It does nothing to change the way the game plays, but it gives you the chance to play with someone who isn’t just an orange ball of fluff. The game is Cross-buy with the PS3 and PS4, but for some reason is not compatible with the PlayStation TV. Q*bert: Rebooted is a hot mess of a game. On the one hand you have an amazing port of the arcade classic while on the other you have an attempt to modernize it which ends up failing at every turn. Personally, I think Q*Bert: Rebooted is worth it just for the classic port alone, but as a whole it’s a @!#?@! frustration.
Q*Bert: Rebooted is a two-sided coin that offers up both the good and the bad. It provides a picture perfect port of the arcade classic that plays great and is a total joy. But it's also hampered with a modern re-make that is plagued with horribly frustrating controls and some design choices that are less than admirable. Old school players will get a kick out of reliving this classic, but don't expect the new stuff to bring anything but a feeling of irritation.
2.3
STHEMBISO SIBISI LOVES SURVIVAL AND SHOWS US HIS FARM!
MATTHEW VELAZQUEZ HAS SOME QUITE INTRICATE REDSTONE CREATIONS, HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES.
EVERYONE LOVES A BIT OF PIXEL ART, RIGHT? TAKASAKI SHIDO SHOWS US HOW IT'S DONE.
JOEL GALLARDO LOVES MINECRAFT. ARE YOU LOVIN' IT?
Have you got any Minecraft masterpieces? Any buildings, cities, art or anything that you want to show off? Take a Vita screenshot of your creation and email it with a description to magazine@thevitalounge.net
The Vita Lounge Magazine | 43
SEVERED The latest title from Canadian developers Drinkbox Studios has us all pretty excited at TVL. Anyone who has played their previous hit Guacamole! will probably know why. Set in a "fully stylised twisted reality", you play as a one-armed heroine who yields a living sword. Utilising touch mechanics to execute offensive and defensive moves, defeating enemies will enable you to upgrade your abilities, and as you can guess, severing enemy body parts is a key part of the game!
SHOVEL KNIGHT
"Critically acclaimed" is thrown around so easily these days with indie titles, but there really was something special about yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight. Described as a "hot mashup of new and old that may remind you of Mega Man, Castlevania, or Dark Souls," you play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and save his lost beloved. He wields a Shovel Blade: a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. The PlayStation port will also feature Kratos from the God of war series, possibly as a boss.
DANGANRONPA: ANOTHER EPISODE: ULTRA DESPAIR GIRLS The TVL team just can't get enough of the Danganronpa series, and with Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair being voted as our GOTY the anticipation and execution for this title has exploded! Bridging the gap between Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair, putting you in the shoes of Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa as they attempt to escape a city full of despair. Key features of the game include third person action sequences, tons of different ammo types (such as truth bullets meant to paralyze and link), riddles, puzzles, and even some familiar faces making a surprise appearance during play.
RESIDENT EVIL REVELATIONS 2 We aren't exactly too sure when we can expect this episodic survival horror game to drop, but we do know that it can't come soon enough. Set between the events of Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, the game features Claire Redfield as the main protagonist with Barry Burton's daughter Moira plays a supporting role. You can expect zombies, a decent story, and lots of familiar Resident Evil goodness sometime soon.
DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 With a base unit designed specifically for the Vita and an exclusive blacksuited Spider-Man figure you'd think that these were reasons enough to grab the Marvel branded version of Disney Infinity - but knowing that it will essentially be the console version has convinced us. Launching in Midmay (and just after Age of Ultron hits cinemas) we can't wait for this to launch.
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IT'S A COMMON MISCONCEPTI IN THE PIPELINE FOR THE VI REGULARS WILL KNOW ISN'T EXTENSIVE LIST ON THE FOR REALLY EXCITING US? WE L LIST OF TEN TITLES THAT WE TO OWN WHEN THEY REL
ION THAT THERE IS NOTHING ITA, WHICH LONG TIME TVL T TRUE. KYLE HAS A RATHER RUM, BUT WHAT GAMES ARE LOOK AT OUR COLLECTIVE E THINK YOU SIMPLY HAVE LEASE LATER THIS YEAR.
VOLUME After shooting to infamy with his previous title Thomas was Alone, Mike Bithell's newest title has really upped the stakes. With a stealth and puzzle based re-imagining of the great Robin Hood stories and a great voice cast (as well as excellent narration), there is something here for fans of multiple genres.
NOT A HERO
Bafta award winning developers Roll 7 should be familiar to you now with their two reflex (and patience) testing skateboarding experiences OlliOlli and OlliOlli2 - but you might not be aware of their upcoming 2.5D coverbased shooter, which is simply incredible. An anthropomorphic rabbit/ mayoral candidate from the future named BunnyLord needs a murderous loner to clean up the city during the election; your character heroically offers up his dubious skills with a gun and lack of self-preservation instinct to this mysterious stranger from beyond. With five districts of crime to clear and new heroes to recruit for his cause, you'll be sliding, diving, ducking, and taking cover through hundreds of full-throttle shootouts across the city in this video game cum action movie love letter.
J-STARS VICTORY VS + Developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco Games, J-Stars is an epic battle game featuring anime and manga characters from all over the spectrum. The game features a story mode where players battle through the characters respective pre-fabricated universes, a 2-on-2 battle mode (in which you can form teams of four for bragging rights), and an exclusive arcade mode – giving you three ways to kick some ass with Japanese class.
STEINS; GATE
Haven’t heard of Steins;Gate? You're not alone. Set in Akihabara, the game is a visual novel and follows a group of friends who accidentally invent a method of sending messages into their past. The discovery drags them into a world of conspiracy, where one choice can change the course of history with one move.
MIGHTY NUMBER 9
Coming from legendary producer Kenji Inafune (think Mega Man), and being one of the most successful Kickstarter projects ever with almost $4 million pledged, this game is considered by many to be a "spiritual successor" to the Mega Man series and shares more than just a familiar look with the title. Mighty No. 9 stars an android named Beck, the ninth unit in a set of combat robots called the Mighty Numbers. At some point a form of computer virus attacks the rest of his fellow units, as well as machines around the world. The player (as Beck) must fight the rogue robots and discover the villain who threatens the fate of the planet.
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DIRECTORY THE BEST 2015 VITA GAMES SO FAR
GRIM FANDANGO REMASTERED
ATELIER AYESHA PLUS
OLLIOLLI2: WELCOME TO OLLIWOOD
4.9
4.6
4.6
KICK AND FENNICK
HOTLINE MIAMI 2: WRONG NUMBER
JOE DANGER 2: THE MOVIE
4.6
4.6
4.3
HELLDIVERS
ORESHIKA: TAINTED BLOODLINES
HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA RE;BIRTH 2: SISTERS GENERATION
4.3
4.3
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Hi guys, GadgetGirlKylie here! I’m going to be running through some of The Vita’s highlights over the last six months, and what we have to look forward to later in the year. What I’m going to discuss is by no means exhaustive, but just what I have enjoyed and what I can’t wait for later in 2015. Settle down, make a brew and let’s go! So first up, we have Digimon Cyber Sleuth from Bandai Namco Games. This was a game I was super hyped for, as I loved Digimon from my younger years, so I imported it from Japan, as I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! I love the stylised graphics, and the character models have really impressed me. For those who don’t know Digimon Cyber Sleuth is a turn based RPG game, based on the popular cartoon series. As, this hasn’t had a Western Release, I have played it in Japanese which has been a bit of a struggle, but the sheer fun involved makes it an easy recommendation.
would as the definitive version of Toukiden. For those who are not familiar, Toukiden is an action RPG hunting game, think of it as Monster Hunter-esque but with more story. It includes both cross play and cross save between the Vita and PS4 versions, which is a feature I’d like to see more of! It has online capabilities for up to four players in co-op, and I’ve really enjoyed playing it online with subscribers and viewers. Another game that I have loved is Oreshika:Tainted Bloodlines (Released 4th March 2015) from Alpha System. This is a follow up to the original Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke PS1 release from 1999. Oreshika is another turn-based RPG, with a unique Japanese style of artwork. A great feature of this, is the use of the Vita camera using face recognition. While, it doesn’t have a traditional online multiplayer setup, players are able to visit other players’ village, and perform the Rite Of Union with their characters, and get rarer loot.
As for upcoming games for 2015, I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to any of my subscribers, but the one I’m most hyped for is Sword Art Online: Lost Song. A follow up to Hollow Fragment, it is already out in Japan, and I will be picking up the English subtitled version which is due in May 2015. This is the first game in the series to allow players to play as characters other than Kirito, and even create their own custom characters too! Party numbers are up to three, rather than two. The multiplayer side of things is also improved upon, no more local ad-hoc only with proper multiplayer, allowing groups of four to play together online. I can’t tell you guys how excited I am about this, and can’t wait to showcase it on my channel.
Another game I’m really looking forward to is Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. This is a spin-off of the earlier visual novel style games, but is a third person adventure game. NIS America have confirmed it will be localised into English, Other big Vita news, was the Western release and is due Q3/4 in America and Europe. I’m Tying in with what I have just said about of The Vita TV/Playstation TV, which came excited to see how the gameplay changes it being in Japanese, there is currently a out in late 2014. A nifty way to play Vita work compared to the earlier entries in the petition online called “Operation Decode”, Games on your TV, this was hotly anticipated, series, and I’m sure like its predecessors, it to ask Bandai Namco to bring it to Western and opened up the Vita library to players who will keep me gripped and on my toes from audiences. Youtuber Lowz98 has made a wish to play the games on a bigger screen. start to finish! great video on the subject. If you would like While not every game is compatible with to see Digimon over here be sure to check the PSTV, many are, and I can’t tell you how There are many games I’d have liked out the video, and sign the petition. If you much I’ve enjoyed using it, in the time I’ve to discuss, like Zodiac, which is one I’m remember, Freedom Wars producer Junichi owned it. Like the actual Vita itself, the PSTV keeping a close eye on, but I think I’ve Yoshikazu said, “in the end, it’s important allows remote play of PS4 games, making it a taken up enough of your time. Thanks for players to speak up, so we can know if perfect way to play if your main setup is out for reading, and let me know what you that demand exists or not.”, so it’s up to of action, or for a late night gaming session think. As always, take it easy guys! the passionate Vita community to shout of either Vita or PS4 games in bed! loudly! One of the best PS Vita channels on Youtube, GadgetGirlKylie is a massive Vita fan. She shares her highlights from the last Next up is Toukiden Kiwami,which is an six months. If you love your Vita (and you obviously do) you expanded version of the original game should definitely check her out! from 2014, much like the Delta version of Soul Sacrifice. It has all of the original story youtube.com/user/GadgetGirlKylie from Toukiden, but also new weapons, new characters and story arcs, new Kiwami only twitter.com/Gadgetgirlkylie monsters, and a lot more new Mitama to collect. I guess the best way to describe it
The Vita Lounge Magazine | 47
The love for the Vita that some of our fans has 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!
Patrick Albrecht
@albrechpatr Greetings from a big iffy supporter!
Tom Grinnell
TomNinetyTwo @ TomNinetyTwo My favourite Vita games are Unit 13, Toukiden and Killzone Mercenary. This month I'm playing Toukiden Kiwami!
Hunter Slasher
hunterslasher27 @ hunterslasher13 In the history of owning video game consoles, I've never bought one at launch until the Vita popped on my radar. It's my favourite handheld to this day, I always tell people that and advise them to get one. I always thought of myself as a big supporter of the Vita and I still do, but I always thought I was alone. Now that mindset has gone! Top 5 Vita Games - Sound shapes, Persona 4 Golden, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ryman origins, Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward
Curtis
While not as passionate or devoted a fan as some, I'm nonetheless very fond of my Vita. I am in desperate need of a life, a haircut and more SRPGs to feed my crippling addiction - an addiction the Vita feeds quite nicely with access to older games and the new. Since it's on the smaller side, I feel right at home as a part of the community too. The Vita has everything I like in gaming and lacks most of the things I find irksome - if you ignore the community outrage after every Sony press conference, that is
Will Hernandez
I_AM_NOT _A_FISH @ PlayStationator I got my Vita the Christmas of 2013. If I was a millionaire, it would have been in my possession on day one, but it had to wait a few years. It actually worked out for the best. This way, I never not have anything to play. I'm stuck playing catch up, which is completely fine with me. I started hoarding Vita games before I even got my hands on it. I'll buy a few digital copies here and there, some physical ones if they're cheap, too, but PS Plus gives me a good amount to always have something to play.
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