DEVELOPER FEATURES INCLUDING WIN LIMITED RUN GAMES WITH US! INSIDE!LUMO, 10 SECOND NINJA X AND MORE! WIN! FIND OUT MORE ON PAGE 39!
Filled with the latest PSVita news, reviews, features and content!
‘s
Vitamag Import Reviews ! Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Venus and Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016
REVIEWED!
ERDICT! V E IV IT OUR DEFIN
Welcome
Hello Vita Gamers!
The Vita It's our Birthday, and as you read this - so this old rs yea four ed turn e hav Lounge will ing we have ryth eve of month you'll find a little recap ging you brin as l wel as rs yea done over the last four PSVita! the of ld wor the from tion the latest informa
REGULARS Paul Murphy
PMurphy1978 look cover, and This issue sports a new name, a new nder Fou two ew revi we as our flav e has a definite Japanes our via on r hands and import titles that you can get you e verdicts for Dead or Alive 3 Extreme nitiv defi with , Asia Play at ds frien 6. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 201
y other great reviews including As well as those, we also have man mworld Heist, which beautifully Timmy's view on Image & Form's Stea on Downwell, One Piece Burning icts adorns our cover. We also have verd es! gam Vita e mor y Blood and man ge & interviews, we caught up with Ima For those of you looking for more Triple on ures feat as l wel as latest title, Form to find out more about their ers elop o and 10 Second Ninja X dev Eh?'s Gareth Noyce on his game Lum little a with ee on their upcoming gam Four Circle Interactive explain mor re as well! the n ddo age on a Vita version of Nun some words from Metal Jesus Also in the following pages you'll get the er who recently found a calling to Rocks, a prominent gaming Youtub s pick e gam hot and s ase st news, rele handheld, and we also have the late as you'd expect! e, and I hope to see you here again I really hope that you enjoy this issu next time on August 8th!
WANT TO JOIN OUR AWESOME PSVITA TEAM OF ENTHUSIASTS? WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW TALENT FOR THE WEBSITE AND THE MAGAZINE! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE VISIT WWW.THEVITALOUNGE. NET/JOBS FOR MORE DETAILS! PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING OUR PATREON – IT WOULD REALLY BE APPRECIATED AND WOULD GO A LONG WAY TO SUPPORTING WHAT WE DO! FOR $9 PER ISSUE YOU WILL GET A PRINT COPY OF THIS MAGAZINE DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! YOU CAN FIND OUR PATREON PAGE AT WWW.PATREON.COM/THEVITALOUNGE 11 Re 11 Re 13 Re 10 Re 10 Re views views views views views ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev ! Dev elope elope elope elope elope r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea r Fea tures tures tures tures tures ! Late ! Late ! Late ! Late ! Late st Ne st Ne st Ne st Ne st Ne ws! ws! ws! ws! ws!
T T The V T T ita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo he Vita Lo unge unge unge unge unge M A G A Z I N E
DEVELOPER FEATURES INCLUDING WIN LIMITED RUN GAMES WITH US! INSIDE!LUMO, 10 SECOND NINJA X AND MORE! WIN! FIND OUT MORE ON PAGE 39!
Filled with the latest PSVita news, reviews, features and content!
M A G A Z I N E
M A G A Z I N E
M A G A Z I N E
The Vita Lounge Magazine
M A G A Z I N E
04 BITE-SIZED NEWS
BITE-SIZED NEWS
THE LATEST VITA NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD!
06 NEW RELEASES ANYTHING FOR YOU FROM THE LATEST RELEASES THIS MONTH?
07 HOT TEN THE UPCOMING VITA GAMES WE ARE MOST EXCITED FOR
08 4 YEARS OF TVL AS WE HIT OUR FOURTH ANNIVERSARY WE LOOK BACK AT KEY POINTS OF OUR JOURNEY
37 METAL JESUS ROCKS THE LONG-HAIRED YOUTUBER TELLS US ABOUT HIS PASSION FOR METAL, CLASSIC GAMES AND THE VITA
38 THESE ARE THE BEST GAMES SO FAR THIS YEAR. HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?
39 PATREON STARS
Issue 15 | July 2016
THE MAGAZINE WOULDN'T BE POSSBILE WITHOUT THESE AWESOME PEOPLE
@PSVitaMag
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Import Special! Reviews of Dead or Alive 3+ Gundam Breaker 3 Jikkyou Powerful and Pro Baseball 2016
REVIEWED!
OUR DEFINITIVE
VERDICT!
EDITORIAL TEAM Executive Editor / Paul Murphy @pmurphy1978 Editor-in-Chief / Kyle Wakeling @teflontactics 8 6 7 Deputy Editor / Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Deputy Editor / Jenny Jones @Kitty_has_Klaws Podcast Editor / Tyler Olthoff @imsohappy77 MAGAZINE DESIGN Art Editor / Jhonatan Carneiro @JhoCarneiro
WEBSITE TEAM Colin Byrne @ColinJByrne Timmy9 Garrett @timmygarrett40k Reece Heyworth @rheyworth07
CONTRIBUTORS Metal Jesus Rocks @metaljesusrocks Dennis Price @hunterslasher13
to your
Magazine!
DEVELOPER FEATURES
10
10 SECONDS NINJA X
12
WE CAUGHT UP WITH DAN PEARCE FROM FOUR CIRCLE INTERACTIVE TO FIND OUT MORE ON THEIR UPCOMING TITLE!
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LUMO
LUMO IS OUT NOW, SO WE FOUND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GAME FROM DEVELOPER GARETH NOYCE!
STEAMWORLD HEIST WE CAUGHT UP WITH IMAGE & FORM TO FIND OUT ABOUT THIS MONTH'S COVER TITLE!
REVIEWS 16
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Venus
22
Downwell
28
Bard's Gold
30
Delta Strike: First Assault
18
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016
24
One Piece: Burning Blood
32
Adventures of Mana
20
Steamworld Heist
26
Letter Quest Remastered: Grimm's Journey
34
Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
thevitalounge.net SPECIAL THANKS Four Circle Interactive @FourCircleInt Dan Pearce @GamDesignDan Gareth Noyce @korruptor Image & Form @ImageForm Julius Guldbog @Julius_Guldbog Limited Run Games @LimitedRunGames and Play-Asia.com @PlayAisa
@TheVitaLounge COVERAGE Are you a developer? If you are working on PSVita content and want to get it covered for FREE in either the magazine or on the website, then we would love to hear from you! Please send an email to press@thevitalounge.net and add us to your press lists. If you have a game coming out soon and want us to tell other Vita owners, get in touch!
patreon.com/TheVitaLounge DISCLAIMER The Vita Lounge is an independent PlayStation Vita enthusiast website and magazine. All content featured is used with permission, and is used to promote existing and upcoming titles for the PS Vita. We are not endorsed or affiliated with Sony or PlayStation, or any of the companies featured. © 2015-2016 The Vita Lounge
BITE-SIZED NEWS 2064: Read Only Memories Dated for PlayStation Vita Release
Midboss has announced a release date for the Vita version of mystery adventure title 2064: Read Only Memories.
Finding themselves in Neo-San Francisco nearly half a century into a future, you are smack in the middle of a mystery. Someone has kidnapped the creator of your adorable robot friend Turing – and the only way you can find out what happened is to investigate. Featuring twenty-nine people in its voice-over bits, largely re-written dialogue, revamped puzzles, new character animations, and profile boxes, 2064: Read Only Memories is coming to Vita (cross-buy with PS4) on August 16th.
Physical Release of Shovel Knight Announced
Yacht Club Games has announced a limited physical run of Shovel Knight for PlayStation Vita, and we’ve got all the details you’ll need to get a copy. Shipping in early October, the Fangamer-released limited print of Shovel Knight for PlayStation Vita will come with a physical copy of the game and a 42-page full colour instruction manual. It’ll be the same version of the game as the digital release on PlayStation Vita – so saves, trophies, and other data can be carried over with ease.
Akiba’s Beat – Clarified Game Details, E3 Trailer
Akiba’s Beat is coming West this Winter thanks to XSEED Games. Akiba’s Beat follows Asahi Tachibana, a textbook NEET who is living the sedentary life in Akihabara. Caught up in a time loop, Asahi is somehow one of the only people who are able to keep their memories; the day resetting like it never happened for those around him. Luckily, he teams up with a bunch of other timedisplaced teens and takes to scouring Akihabara for signs of “delusions” – innermost fantasies made real, warping the world around them. Destroying these delusions will hopefully destroy the time loop, but then there’s the pink-caped man…
Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines Each month, those with a PlayStation Plus subscription will get at least two titles for their Vita as part of their Instant Game Collection. In July, Vita gamers will be able to download Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines and Prince of Persia: Revelations (PSP).
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.
4.3 4
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Introducing Strategic RPG Card Game Pox Nora
Desert Owl Games’ Pox Nora has been confirmed for release on our favourite portable. Releasing this summer, Pox Nora is a game which sees you using collectible cards in a tactical strategy RPG setting and offers single player campaigns, CPU battles, and player vs player (PvP) matches among its modes – with over 2,700 hand-illustrated cards to use in play. Pox Nora will reportedly even allow you to share all your awesome combos and moves with your friends, and has been confirmed to come to the platform with a freshly updated interface, an in-game rune manager, a store, a deck builder, and even some new in-development expansions.
Caligula is Coming West Next Year
Atlus has revealed their plans to localize the interesting new RPG, Caligula, with a release window set for next year.
Developed by Persona 1 & 2’s scenario writer, Caligula is an RPG set within a repeating virtual reality nightmare. Occupants are unaware that they’re trapped in this fake world, and come to be complacent with it – forever reliving their school days. That is, until some of the “students” begin to realize that the world is not real… and attempt to find a way out.
Mighty Rabbit to Handle Fault Milestone One Porting Duties
Twin-Stick Shooter Monochrono is PS Vita bound
Monochrono has been unveiled by developer 4 Corner Games and will head to everyone's favourite handheld gaming device at some point in 2017. Described as a twin-stick shooter broken into ten second chunks, Monochrono has hundreds of independently intelligent enemies on screen and a clear mission. Players can, at any point, hold down a button to slow down time in the world by a factor of three, providing the essential hook of the game: players can strategize, position themselves appropriately, and release the button to hit their enemies. Because the player them self is not slowed down by the mechanic, it provides an essential layer of strategy that the game is built around.
Sekai Project was recently in the news for partnering with Mighty Rabbit to bring Ren’Py to Unity. It seems like that partnership is already up and running, as Mighty Rabbit is apparently handling the porting of the science-fantasy visual novel series Fault Milestone One. The game follows the story of a princess named Selphine and her Royal Guardian Ritona. When a sudden assault devastates their homeland of Rughzenhaide, the two are forced to escape…but somehow end up teleported into an unknown forest full of vegetation they don’t recognize. The atmosphere is thick and heavy. There is no sign of life, very unusual in such a lush forest. Something is wrong about the land, but they are too startled to notice what. As you'd expect with Mighty Rabbit's partner studio, Limited Run Games, expect a limited physical run for this too!
Prince of Persia: Revelations (PSP)
Polls Apart!
Seven years after the events of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Prince finds himself constantly hunted by a terrible beast known as the Dahaka. The Prince seeks counsel from an old wise man who explains that whoever releases The Sands of Time must die. Because the Prince escaped his fate, it is the Dahaka's mission as guardian of the Timeline to ensure that he dies as he was meant to. The old man also tells of the Island of Time, where the Empress of Time first created the Sands. The Prince sets sail for the Island in an attempt to prevent the Sands from ever being created, an act he believes will appease the Dahaka. After a battle at sea with an enemy force led by a mysterious woman in black capsizes the Prince's ship, the Prince washes ashore unconsciously onto the Island of Time.
We asked on Twitter if you were happy with these titles for the IGC. The results are:
@PSVitaMag
Yes 64%
Both 24%
One 40%
No 17%
Not sure 19%
The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Lumo
July 5th NA & EU WE KNOW THAT VITA GAMES CAN APPEAR WITHOUT MUCH NOTICE, BUT HERE ARE SOME OF THE GAMES WE SHOULD BE SEEING THIS MONTH!
Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs-Force July 12th NA & EU
Gal*Gun: Double Peace
10 Second Ninja X
Spy Chameleon - RGB Agent
Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate July 26th NA
Laser Disco Defenders July TBC
July 19th NA & EU
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June 19thth NA / July 15th EU
July 21st NA & EU
thevitalounge.net
Ho eN THE VITA GAMES WE ARE MOST EXCITED FOR!
ATTACK ON TITAN
DARKEST DUNGEON
darkestdungeon.com @RedHookStudios
@koeitecmoeurope
SALT AND SANCTUARY
DRAGON QUEST HEROES 2
dragonquest-game.com/heroes @SquareEnix
ska-studios.com/salt @skastudios
NEW DANGANRONPA V3
DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS
dragonquest-game.com @DragonQuest
@spikechunsoft
YIIK
ackkstudios.wordpress.com @ackkstudios
KICK OFF REVIVAL
facebook.com/KickOffRevival
WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY
worldoffinalfantasy.square-enix.com @square_enix_eu @PSVitaMag
DRIFTER
celsiusgs.com/drifter @celsiusgs The Vita Lounge Magazine
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2012 Website
With over 1 million visits in 2015 (and trending to match that in 2016) we still hope to provide you with fantastic Vita coverage for many more years to come! Special Mentions: Jasper, Matt, Jon, Buramu, Will P, Yuuki, Mike, Galvatron, Kyle, Curtis, Nathan, Terramax, Rhys, Tyler, Rheasink, Pace, Brian, allbradflakes, Charlie, Brad, Marcus, littlebighamm, Chris, James G, Daniel E, Magmar126, Colin, Jessey, Fishqt, Liam, Hana, Lateralus2801, Shizuka, Will H, Stephen, Zach, Daniel C, Jimmy, Hikami, James A, Jenny, Kerry, RK128, Jordan Biazzo, Jordan Boyd, Last Real Gamer, Timmy, Reece and Artie!
I bought my Vita in June 2012, having resisted the initial urge to buy one. I needed a way to play games without hogging the TV, and the Vita seemed the only viable option to me. I did immediately notice a huge lack of Vita coverage online, which baffled me seeing as the system was mere months old, and so I thought I’d create a blog. Initially posting my own musings, it started to garner interest and thus it evolved accordingly. Along the way it picked up many new passengers, starting with Jasper and Matt along with a few others before Kyle turned up and transformed it into the very thing you see before you. Over the course of the last four years we have amassed over 6000 posts, including over 400 Vita game reviews and 50 different people have contributed in some form or another and the site would not be possible without their passion, dedication and vision. The site has changed appearance slightly over the last few years – as well as a change of domain in 2013 – but the overall look and feel has remained constant. We are also found on Game Rankings and Metacritic!
2016 #VitaClub
Paul Murphy Founder The Vita Lounge PMurphy1978 PMurphy1978
IT’S HARD PROJECT HA TAKE A TR LOOK AT TH
Which brings us to now, and our main new project for 2016 will be to bring Vita owners closer together than ever before, and we are in talks to provide a monthly Vita meet-up in the heart of London. Would you be interested in meeting other Vita owners in the flesh? Got an annoying Ad-Hoc trophy you want to clear? Are you a developer who would like to get your game into the hands of Vita owners? Watch this space for more news!
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2013 Podcast In late 2013, Kyle, Tyler and Brian (Sharon) worked together to produce the first episode of our PSVita dedicated podcast, The Vita Cast, which today has more than 100 episodes. Condensing the latest Vita news and coverage into a convenient audio format seemed to make tremendous sense and you can still hear Tyler and Kyle most weeks (as well as other members of the team infrequently) as they keep you up to date with the latest handheld happenings. Do you have a favourite episode?
2014 Forum
D TO BELIEVE, BUT THIS FAN-DRIVEN VITA AS BEEN RUNNING FOR FOUR YEARS NOW! RIP WITH US DOWN MEMORY LANE AS WE HE CORE PARTS OF OUR PSVITA JOURNEY!
We launched our FREE community forum in January 2014 and today it has almost 1500 registered members and a fair bit of Vita discussion. If you love to talk about your Vita and its games, or even make some new Vita friends, why not register and get involved? Special Mentions: Kurisutina and Trent!
2015 Magazine Originally conceived in 2013 (thanks Mike and Yuuki!) we finally launched our first issue of our e-magazine in April 2015 once we had the means to do some via the talents of our Art Editor Jhonatan. After moving to a monthly cycle in the June, we have now released 14 regular issues of the magazine (at the time of writing) as well as a Top 40 special. With loads of Vita content still to come, the magazine has become a key cog in our Vita coverage. Special Mentions: Jhonatan for design, the core team for contributions and Mike/Yuuki for the original idea!
@PSVitaMag
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Dan Pearce
10second.ninja @GameDesignDan
10 SECOND NINJA X IS A 100 LEVEL SIDESCROLLER WITH PUZZLE ELEMENTS IN WHICH YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO SOLVE EACH LEVEL. WE CAUGHT UP WITH FOUR CIRCLE INTERACTIVE'S DAN PEARCE TO FIND OUT MORE.
Hello Dan! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Can you give us a little background into Four Circle Interactive and how you started developing games? Hey! So, Four Circle Interactive was formed shortly around the release of the first 10 Second Ninja, which launched on Steam at the start of 2014. The three of us had all helped with the game in some form, as well as all working together on a PS Mobile game called Nunnageddon about a year before.
and prove to the Captain that you are indeed as quick as people say. At the end of each level, you get a three star rating, based on how fast you were.
I personally started working in games at the age of 16 when I won BAFTA's first YGD award in 2010 off the back of a design document that I'd submitted. In 2012 I started learning to code and the first 10 Second Ninja was the project I did that with. In between starting that and releasing it, I made a game called Castles in the Sky, which was nominated for the Best Debut Game BAFTA. I was also named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2013.
What gameplay mechanics will gamers experience in 10 Second Ninja X? So the core mechanics are very simple because the action moves so fast. You can run, jump, double-jump, swing your sword, and toss up to three throwing stars in a level. The puzzle elements revolve around figuring the most efficient ways to use these abilities. Is it quicker toss a throwing star to hit that enemy on the other side of the level? Is that a waste if you're already hitting the enemy above it with your sword and can simply hit them both as you drop down? We expand on these mechanics later by introducing things like enemies that absorb throwing stars, machines that yank the player towards them when they're hit with a throwing star and enemies that electrocute you when you use your sword on them.
You are working on 10 Second Ninja X for the Vita. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Absolutely! 10 Second Ninja X is a blisteringly fast sidescroller in which players have ten seconds or less to finish each level. The player, a ninja, and their forest friends have been kidnapped by the nefarious Captain Greatbeard. Greatbeard wants you to prove that you're the fastest, raddest dude around and challenges you to complete his courses, which he's filled with evil robots. You've got to slash, jump and roll through 100 levels (including all 40 levels from the first game, which have been remastered) 10
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So the game kind of has this Super Meat Boy or OlliOlli style repetition with some light puzzle elements as you try to figure out the quickest route through each level. All of this is tied together with an explorable hub area, unlockable character skins and minigames.
How much is there to do in the game? Quite a bit actually! There are 100 levels total, and getting three stars on all of them takes some serious work. There are also leaderboards across all levels, an extra (more challenging) Marathon Mode for each area, unlockable character skins, collectibles pickups hidden in the
hub, a minigame for unlocking hints and a second unlockable minigame in the form of Nunnageddon 2 - a sequel to the PSMobile game 'Nunnageddon', which we released in 2013. Are there any notable differences between the PlayStation versions? Apart from very very minor graphical differences, not really! From the start, we've prioritized performance on Vita and got 10 Second Ninja X running at 60FPS across all platforms. 10 Second Ninja X was designed for the Vita and it's an ambition we've had since Nunnageddon came out. As people who were early adopters of the system and people who still play their Vitas a lot, it matters to us on a personal level that we make a truly great Vita game. One of the nice things about us running our own company is it actually gives us the opportunity to achieve that and make it a high priority goal. All of the original levels are present in this version, was this something you always planned? It's something that we always wanted, but it wasn't clear for a while if it would be possible. Mastertronic published the first game and we made the decision last year to pitch the sequel to Curve Digital. This put us in a bit of an odd position where we weren't sure what we were and weren't able to take from the first game. At the back end of last year, though, Mastertronic went into administration and all rights to the first game reverted to us, enabling us to polish up the first game and take what we wanted to keep through to 10 Second Ninja X. thevitalounge.net
How did you find developing the Vita version? (Or if it's being developed by someone else, how are they finding it) We've really enjoyed it! We've always been quite excited about the Vita as players and that enthusiasm translated over to developing for it in quite a natural way. We've been using Game Maker: Studio for 10 Second Ninja X and it didn't take long to get it working in a rough state. I don't think a lot of Game Maker developed games have been released on Vita without the help of a specialized porting company, but we've found the experience relatively painless using the tools that Game Maker comes with out of the box. Plus, the Vita's D-pad is one of the best around, we've had a lot of fun out and about with the game so far.
rebuilding it, we spent about a month making a sequel to Nunnageddon from the ground up and we've included it in 10 Second Ninja X as an unlockable, complete with leaderboard support. We've tried to maintain the frantic arcadey pace of it, and there's actually a brief appearance of it in our release date trailer. I'm really glad that we took the time to put it in there. It's kind of a thank you to the people who supported PS Mobile and the first Nunnageddon when we were just starting out. Honestly, it's one of my favorite parts of the game.
What are your thoughts on the Vita as a system? Are there any games that stand out for you? I adore the Vita. Even since before there was a big push for putting indie games on the system, I thought it was You previously released Nunnageddon on PSM. What are the chances of a native a really really nice machine with a lot of potential. I feel like the Vita versions Vita version? We were really big fans of PS Mobile, and of Spelunky and Binding of Isaac are hands down the definitive versions of we're still quite proud of Nunnageddon. those games. Killzone Mercenary is a When the platform disappeared, we technical masterpiece and I still play took a look at finding a way to port Nunnageddon to Vita but quickly realized the Botzone mode quite a bit. OlliOllis that a lot of stuff would have to be rebuilt 1 and 2 are glorious, I got way into Soul from scratch. We felt like it was a great fit Sacrifice, Minecraft on Vita was excellent, for Vita and wanted to find a way to make LUFTRAUSERS was amazing - honestly I could go on forever. it accessible to people again. Instead of @PSVitaMag
What's next for Four Circle Interactive? Hehe, it depends how 10 Second Ninja X does. Maybe we'll be eating beans out of tin cans under an old railway bridge, maybe something else. I will say that there's another project that's been on the backburner for the past six months while we've been finishing 10 Second Ninja X. We probably won't be saying much about it until next year but it's a project I've wanted to do for quite a while. Finally, of the two Vita versions released, the OLED and the Slim, which do you think is best? The slim is very, very lovely, but I still think that Sony knocked it out of the park with the original OLED design. I like the size of it, I like the weight of it, it's slick, it's shiny - just a really good system. I've got a lot of love for it.
We would like to thank Dan for his time with this interview! 10 Second Ninja X will be released on July 19th. Will you be picking it up? Check back for a review next issue! The Vita Lounge Magazine
11
Gareth Noyce play-lumo.com @korruptor
Hi Gareth, thanks for talking with us! Can you tell us how you got into developing games? I've always wanted to make games, so really, most of my life has been about learning how to do it. I started programming on an Amstrad CPC before upgrading to an Amiga. I spent a long time doing Pixel Art and music and started a shoot-em-up project called Neutrino with some friends when we left school. It didn't get finished, as you'd expect, and Uni life and DJing took over for a while, but I got pulled back in by doing art for some open source projects and contributing to some early Linux games. Eventually - 10 years later - I landed a job at Climax Solent as a designer on Sudeki. We are here to find out more about Lumo, which is out now (hopefully!) on the PSVita. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Lumo is a modern interpretation of the old Isometric Arcade Adventures. Think knightlore, Head Over Heels, Get Dexter, Amaurote, Monster Max, Solstice and Equinox, for example. It sticks closely to the genre tempate; emphasis on 12
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LUMO IS MODERN INTERPRETATION OF CLASSIC ISOMETRIC ARCADE ADVENTURES FROM YESTERYEAR AND IS OUT NOW ON THE VITA. WE CAUGHT UP WITH TRIPLE EH?'S GARETH NOYCE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GAME. exploration, lots of secrets, large world, limited persistence, rooms as discreet challenges, etc. It tries to add a few modern concessions like: auto save, infinite lives, more use of physics and lighting, etc. as well as adding a few mechanics that players won't have seen in the original genre titles. Lumo has a very distinctive, old-school look about it and very reminiscent of the old isometric games. What was your motivation behind this look? As mentioned in the previous question, Lumo is a modern interpretation of the old isometric games. The graphics, instead of being pixel based, are contemporary, as its my intention to bring the genre "up-todate". How much is there to find and do in Lumo? There're just under 450 rooms in Lumo, spread across 4 different zones. There's six hidden mini-games, 60 coins, 32 Ducks and a sprinkling of hidden cassettes to find. thevitalounge.net
If there any different gameplay mechanics that gamers will experience on their adventure? You can play through the game in adventure mode, and take it at your own pace, or try the Old School Time Trial mode, and beat the game with limited lives, and no save game - all against the clock :) What was the thinking behind the ducks? The ducks were added, initially, as a bit of a skill test for me as I'd played the initial section of the game a lot during development. They're also a reference to the Ducks we had in the Crackdown series. They've proved to be a good addition and have helped new players get to grips with the game. Leave no duck behind. Are there any differences between the PlayStation versions? Afaik there are no content changes between Vita and Playstation. There are many graphical changes, as you'd expect. @PSVitaMag
Was the Vita version difficult to port? I don't know, I didn't work on it. The console port for Vita was handled by Just Add Water in the UK. They've done a great job. Are there any Vita titles that have impressed you? Jeff Minter's TxK. What is next for you and your studio? I'm going to enjoy the sun and have a bit of a holiday Of the two released Vita versions, the OLED and the Slim, which is your favourite? OLED, all day long. You can't beat that screen :)
We would like to thank Gareth for his time, as well as Lee from Rising Star Games for making this possible. Will you be picking up Lumo? We will have a review for you very soon! The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Image & Form Games imageform.se @ImageForm
Julius Guldbog
@Julius_Guldbog
Hello Julius, thanks for talking to us! Can you tell us a little bit about Image & Form and how the studio got into developing games? The pleasure’s mine! Where to start? Next year marks Image & Form’s 20th anniversary. We first got into game development in the early 00’s. At the time it was simple edutainment games for PC and Mac. When the iOS App Store launched in 2008 we went independent for the first time. After a few (pretty lousy) iOS efforts we actually made a really, really good game called Anthill. It was our first hit, but surviving off App Store sales alone proved to be too hard for us. As the App Store got more and more crowded we slowly moved on to the dedicated gaming platform scene. One day we got an idea for a digging game. That idea became SteamWorld Dig, our breakthrough hit. No one was more surprised than we were. Three years later we’re busy porting it’s sequel, SteamWorld Heist, after just releasing it on PlayStation! 14
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STEAMWORLD HEIST IS THE FOLLOW-UP TO IMAGE & FORM'S HIT TITLE, STEAMWORLD DIG AND IS OUT NOW. WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE STUDIOS' COMMUNITY MANAGER, JULIUS GOLDBERG, TO FIND OUT MORE.
It feels strange summarizing so many years in just two paragraphs, but that’s as deep as I can go without describing what we had for breakfast in the mornings.
are no percentage-based hits here. You have to aim your guns manually and line up your shots perfectly to hit your enemies. Think Worms. This mechanic allows for insane skill You have just released SteamWorld Heist, shots and bullet-bouncing action can you tell us a little bit about it? by ricocheting your shots In a sentence: A tactical steampunk off the environment. space adventure that’s jam-packed with bullet-bouncing, turret weaving, robot There will, for instance, be commanding fun and hats. situations when an enemy is taking cover and you can’t What was the inspiration behind the get a straight shot. Just game? What gameplay mechanics can bounce your bullet off the gamers expect to see in SteamWorld ceiling and you’ll clear your Heist? path of metal meanies I could say something about it being a in no time! This “love letter to classic strategy games”, mechanic encourages but I’ll spare you the clichés. While experimentation and SteamWorld Heist is indeed inspired by players are having classic turn-based games like XCOM and fantastic fun with it! If Fire Emblem, we decided to ditch a few of you miss a headshot you the genre’s core mechanics to make room might shoot off your enemy’s for more action-packed gameplay. hat instead. It acts as a consolation price for failure, Basically, you command a space pirate since you can pick up the hat and robot squad in tactical shootouts. There wear it. There are hundreds to collect.
Besides boarding, looting and shooting your way through enemy space ships, you fly around space preparing for your next heist. This is most efficiently done by recruiting a hearty crew of steamdriven robots and upgrading them with unique abilities, weapons and - of course stylish hats!
similar). Since the game is cross-buy on PS4 and Vita we decided to deliver the same experience on both platforms (except minor UI differences). Why did you want to bring it to the Vita? We’re big Vita fans and the community is fantastic.
both direct sequels and new games with different gameplay styles. Are there any Vita games that stand out to you? What are your favourites? My personal favorite is Virtue’s Last Reward. Can’t wait to play the next one this summer!
What are your plans beyond SteamWorld Heist? Where does the game fit in the We have nothing new in the works at the SteamWorld universe? And what does the moment. It’s SteamWorld Heist all the future hold for the series? way. SteamWorld Heist takes place sometime after SteamWorld Dig. A cataclysmic Finally, of the two Vita models released How was development event of earth-shattering proportions the OLED and the Slim, which do you think has forced the robots out to space. It's for the Vita version? Are there any is best? a robot-eat-robot world out there and notable differences between the OLED all the way. That screen is simply resources are slim. Many steambots have mind-blowing! PS4 and Vita versions? turned to space piracy in order to survive, Vita development is fairly easy and you’re one of them! when compared to how much We would like to thank Julius resources we pour into our other for his time! SteamWorld Future SteamWorld games (yes, we’re ports. Much thanks to the fact Heist is out now and you can planning on making more) might explore that we usually finish the PS4 read our review on page 20! what happened to the steambots while version before moving onto the their planet was still intact. We’re open to Vita (their architectures are very The Vita Lounge Magazine
15
Written by
Kyle Wakeling
@teflontactics teflontactics
2 11 36 PSTV 1.8 GB Publisher
koeitecmoamerica.com
@KoeiTecmoUS
Developer
facebook.com/teamninjastudio
@TeamNINJAStudio
Released
JP: March 24th NA/EU: Not Released
16
The Vita Lounge Magazine
When I received Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Venus for review I was both excited and a bit worried as to what I was getting myself into. I’d never played a Dead or Alive game where there wasn’t any actual fighting before, but this seemed pretty competitive in its own way, and was obviously meant to be a little more sexy and intimate. Well, without giving too much away, I’d like to say that it can be quite entertaining – but also a little frustrating. Let’s delve into the meat of it all, and I’ll tell you what’s up with this much talked about title. First, let’s get what this game is out of the way; Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Venus is a game where you pick one of nine girls and take them on a fourteen day vacation to a tropical island. On this island, you’ll have time to do three outdoor (pool/ beach) activities a day, and unlimited inside (casino) activities at night. You’ll have to do this for fourteen in-game days to complete a vacation, and during that time you’ll be pitted with tasks that will earn you character satisfaction, money for the owner mode, and experience towards upping your owner level. Character satisfaction determines your end score (at the end of the fourteen days) as well as other various reactions you’ll receive when doing things with the ladies (like giving them gifts, or partnering up with them). This works between girls, as well as between the owner and the girls. The owner mode is a mode where you can buy items (including owner-exclusive costumes) for the girls, take pictures of them doing activities during the day, or go
to the casino to try and make more money. It’s a mode that exists outside direct interaction with the ladies on the island, and is a little like being the manager of a hotel that caters to the rich. You want to please the girls, so that your tip is bigger – the only difference being that your tip goes back into swimsuits and other gifts for those girls, and you’re allowed to take pictures of them (haha). As for the experience you gain through completing challenges; your owner level will determine certain unlocks, like Event Paradise mode at level 30 and Pictorial Paradise mode at level 50, so you’re working towards unlocking these bonus modes. Moving on to the activities you’re able to engage in with the girls, they’re all very simple to play – but most are also hard to master, and there are varying levels of difficulty to come up against. Games like beach volleyball can either be a shut out or a shut down depending on the foe, and rock climbing goes from a four button affair to a six with combinations. This may be a vacation, but it’s not easy to say the least; except for when you get an easy opponent that is. Looking to the activities themselves, they come in two main varieties; day, and night. Day activities include balance games like Tug of War and Butt Battle – where you try and knock your opponent into the pool, Pool Hopping and Rock Climbing – where timely button presses are what it’s about, Beach Flags where button mashing is key, and Beach Volleyball – a game of predicting your opponent and keeping the ball in the thevitalounge.net
an awesome swimsuit, or fund a purchase So what do I think about Dead or Alive from the owner store. It’s got something Xtreme 3: Venus after all that? for everyone to aim for (ba-dum-ch)! Well, it seems to me like a good idea and Night activities come in the form of casino As for the way the game looks doing all some great pieces – but the gameplay games, with Blackjack, Poker, and Roulette this, it’s clear that there are graphical options are a bit lacking, and they haven’t issues and downgrades that come with on the menu. All three of the casino made things as accessible as they should the PlayStation Vita version… but they’re have. They lock you into vacations and games use traditional rules (with Poker not game-breaking or nagging for the being the straight variety), and give you schedules in order to participate, and don’t most part. The collision detection between give you any sort of easy access to the fun different betting levels to play at. hair and skin is often off, meaning hair bits! Sometimes a guy just wants to play passes right through the girls’ bodies Day games can be played as the girl (girl beach volleyball, you know? – and the edges are a little jagged here mode), or as an observer with a camera and there, but those things aren’t always That said, when I did get to do what I (owner mode) – while night games are played directly as either the owner or the apparent, and didn’t detract from the pleased the game was quite fun. It offers chosen girl, using each mode’s own pot of experience (aside from breaking focus for some simple but challenging activities, some laughs here and there). money. and some lovely looking ladies to do them with. The controls and frame rate seem I mean, who couldn’t find this a little These games are all part of your journey, solid, and there’s plenty of new swimsuits funny? but they aren’t all there is. Aside from to keep you coming back for more (skin the daily activities available, you can also that is). Titillating, time-consuming, and buy and give items from the Sports Store The biggest annoyance however, is the truly addictive to play, Dead or Alive way that water can look. Often it doesn’t or Zack of All Trades, or even pick up Xtreme 3: Venus is a title you’ll definitely look like there’s a surface, and the exclusive items in owner mode from the want to at least consider for import. owner store (available at night). Whether splashing can look really odd. It’s hard to show in screenshots, but it’s definitely or not whoever you give the gifts to will Just don’t let your girlfriend get the mail. the most distracting thing wrong with accept them is another story though, as they aren’t always interested in what you the game graphically. Thankfully, it only really looks bad when the characters are have to offer. doing things that are cinematic (ie; you’re watching a character relax at the pool in With all these things to do and worry owner mode), so it’s something you can about, you’d almost think that it’s too avoid unless you’re taking pictures. much, or too spread out – but it’s not. The way that the game cycles through This review was sponsored by day (three activities) and night (unlimited As for the audio, it’s the original Play-Asia, who kindly provided Japanese voice-over and it’s done very casino use) gives you plenty of time and the import copy for us to review. opportunity to do all the things you need well. Characters are well played and If you like the look of Dead or expressive, with lots of little quirks and to do, and as long as you’re not in a rush Alive Xtreme 3: Venus we suggest cute inflections. The music used is very for any reason (as I sort of was) you can you give them a visit at www. unobtrusive and even quite nice in a way, enjoy it just like the vacation it’s meant to play-asia.com – both because include. Whether you want to play Beach providing a real island sort of feel when they’re a quality import dealer, it plays. The sound effects are equally Volleyball all day, and Blackjack all night as well as because they’ve been well done, with nothing seeming off or – or diligently follow the challenges – is kind enough to help us out! unrealistic during play. up to you. With that sort of freedom it’s easy to find yourself dug in; trying to find air. There’s also relaxing, though I don’t consider that an activity as much as something nice to look at. ;D
VERDICT Limiting, but undeniably fun and sexy, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Venus is a must have for PlayStation Vita importers - offering an enjoyable set of minigames and ladies to choose from. Whether you've got five minutes, or five hours; this one's got something to keep your attention... unless your significant other has something to say about it.
@PSVitaMag
3.9 The Vita Lounge Magazine
17
@Kitty_has_Klaws Deathskitten
Konami's Jikkyou Powerful Pro series has been around for over 20 years. It began life in 1994 on the Super Famicom and has since appeared on many other consoles such as Sega Saturn, N64 and Nintendo Wii, to name just a few. The series has mainly stayed exclusive to Japan but there have been English releases under the name MLB Power Pros.
When you're in the field defending you can press Circle to throw to first base, Triangle to throw to second, Square to throw to third and X to throw to home.
5 7 26 PSTV
This year's edition, Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 is unfortunately not in English and so this is an import review. My Japanese language skills are fairly limited and so I will not be able to go into detail about any story elements of this game but I can definitely give you my opinion on how easy it is to play as a non-Japanese speaker and if it's worth giving it a go if your Japanese is also quite limited!
When baserunning hold the L-stick in the direction of the base and Square to advance one runner only. You can retreat one runner by holding L-stick in the direction of the base and pressing X. Triangle will advance all runners and Circle will retreat all runners. Pressing L & R rapidly will give you a small speed boost when running.
Written by Jenny Jones
2.7 GB Publisher konami.com
@Konami
Developer konami.com
@Konami
Released
JP: April 28th NA/EU: Not Released
18
The Vita Lounge Magazine
The Powerful Pro series has iconic character designs, known as Pawapurokunâ�to its fans. All the characters look like a cross between Mii's & Rayman with big heads, cute faces and no legs. Graphically the game is very cutesy with bright and vibrant designs but don't write this off as just a kiddy game - it's actually quite a deep arcade-style baseball game!
When batting it's X to swing or Circle to bunt, if you press R then you can switch between power & contact swing.
Versus is a mode where you can play an exhibition match against the CPU. You'll get to pick which team to play as and who you're competing against so it can be a good mode to practice your tactics in.
Once you're comfortable with the controls then it's time to select one of the game's many modes. Pennant mode is this game's manager mode, you pick a team and get to play & When you begin the game you can select manage them over a number of seasons. from a number of different modes such as Pennant, Success, My Life and Versus. I would You're able to play matches against other teams, select the team strategy and train suggest that you start off in Training mode first, just to get used to the controls. You'll get players up. You can also trade players and to practice batting, pitching, fielding and play scout for new talent. some simulated games. With this mode it's up to you if you want to actually be the one batting and pitching The controls are fairly simple: or if you want to purely be a manager and If you're pitching then you can use the D-pad so just set the team strategy and then let the computer play for you. There's also or left analog stick to choose what kind of pitch then press X to throw the ball while you quite a fun mode that you can play where, before each bat, you are given a number of aim with the left stick. thevitalounge.net
seconds to decide what command to issue, with the CPU also selecting a command for it's player. This is a sort of rock-paperscissors game where certain pitches can beat certain batting commands. After a match has been won or lost (and at various points throughout the season) you can see what income and costs you've incurred and how many fans you've gained, or if your team has performed badly, lost. You'll want to try to increase the number of fans you have in order to maximise your income so that you can upgrade the training facilities available. At the same time you're trying to improve your team, the competing teams are also improving and as you play through the season you'll see various news reports detailing what they've been up to, including when they've signed on new foreign players. All-in-all this is quite a deep mode with lots going on and lots of ways to play through it. My Life plays similarly to Pennant mode but instead of managing a team you're creating a rookie and playing through his career. When you begin there are lots of options to create your very own rookie, including changing eye shape, hair style, facial hair and body shape. It's fun to play around and create your very own unique rookie.
There's so much to do in this game, for example in the Success Mode menu I found a fun little puzzle type mini-game There's a lot of text in this mode and if you where you try to increase your various don't have a semi-decent understanding stats and get to the Goal square before running out of energy. The more I played of Japanese then you will find it difficult to understand a lot of what is happening. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 the In Pennant Mode all I really needed to more things I found to do and play around translate in order to understand what to with, there really is a surprising amount of do was the menu screens and some text content. My only real negative comment after each match but with My Life there about this game is that loading matches was loads more text and conversational takes a bit of time but this is really only a options. I found it difficult to really minor point. understand what I was doing and whether certain options I chose were helping or As I mentioned at the beginning of this harming my poor rookie's career. review my Japanese is not particularly great but even without being anywhere Success Mode is a blend of RPG and near fluent I still managed to have fun. baseball game and, from what I can tell, I definitely found Pennant mode the you are trying to train Pawapurokun easiest to understand and so this was the into a professional level baseball player. mode I spent most time with, if you are a Similarly to My Life mode you can choose bit more fluent then I'm sure you'll find My what to do with your time in-between Life and Success mode to be equally as matches - you can train to increase engrossing. Don't be worried if like me you various statistics or go shopping, rest up don't know much Japanese as I still think or go to town and meet up with various you'll be able to enjoy Jikkyou Powerful Pro friends. There are lots of random events Baseball 2016. that can occur and so things seems to be quite different each time you play through it. Again due to how text heavy this is, if you aren't particularly fluent you will probably struggle to get very far. bat or fielding then the match plays out automatically.
Everything in this game seems to have lots of charm and character, from the cute little cutscenes in the story modes to the match commentators and news reporters During this mode you have to manage your interviewing players at the beginning and end of matches. There are also loads of time by deciding what kind of training to do, when to rest up and when to just phone fun little moments, such as when you're pitching; if you hit the CPU batter with the up friends and hang out. After a certain ball then he'll react to it and his eyes will time period you'll get to play matches. grow large, or if you get a home run then During matches you'll only be able to play your players will celebrate and high five as your rookie instead of playing as the whole team, so when your rookie isn't up to each other.
VERDICT Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 is a Japanese arcade baseball game with a surprising amount of content; from managing a team, to following a rookie's career and even an RPG mode. It works really well on the PS Vita but suffers from slightly long load times. Even if you're not particularly fluent in Japanese it's still easy to get into and just enjoy the gameplay.
@PSVitaMag
This review was sponsored by Play-Asia, who kindly provided the import copy for us to review. If you like the look of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 we suggest you give them a visit at www.play-asia.com – both because they’re a quality import dealer, as well as because they’ve been kind enough to help us out!
3.6 The Vita Lounge Magazine
19
Written by Timmy Garrett
@timmygarrett40k fitzfarseer
2 13 26 PSTV 142 MB Publisher
imageform.se
@ImageForm
Developer
imageform.se
@ImageForm
Released
NA: June 7th EU: June 8th
20
The Vita Lounge Magazine
Burn the Land and boil the sea, You can’t take the steam from me SteamWorld Heist is, without hyperbole, the finest example of the turn-based tactical RPG genre on the PlayStation Vita. For those of you who know me – you know that I love my tactical turn-based action. I loved XCOM on the Vita, regardless of its technical issues, and I have been a huge advocate and fan of the Valkyria Chronicles series since it first launched on PlayStation 3. In SteamWorld Heist, Image & Form Games have taken the genre and added their own flavour and twist on the archetype – and the result is something truly unique and wonderful. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For those of you who don’t know, Image & Form studio struck gold (literally and figuratively) back in 2013 with their incredibly enjoyable title SteamWorld Dig. A fun little game that took inspiration from the metroidvania genre and mixed it up with elements of procedurally generated rogue-like games such as Minecraft and Terraria. The result was a winning combination and it could have been very easy for Image & Form to go on releasing sequels to Dig, adding minor tweaks and improvements here and there.
However in a move which puts me in mind of Drinkbox Studios, Image & Form didn’t rest on their laurels and instead went on to release two more incredible games that, although would be set in the same steam driven universe, would be vastly different from eachother. The first of these was SteamWorld Tower Defence and the second was SteamWorld Heist. And although Tower Defence never made it as far as the Vita – Heist thankfully did and it is my absolute pleasure to bring you the review of this fantastic game.
SteamWorld Heist is (as the title suggests) set in a beautifully realised universe that is centred around steam power. There are no soft and squishy humans taking up room in the game’s narrative, instead you take on the role of Piper – a steam powered robot who must traverse the galaxy, recruiting a vast array of colourful and lively companions in order to take on the diesel driven Royalists! The main story in Heist is fairly standard as far as narrative arcs go and apart from one discovery that mixes things up in the latter half of your intergalactic adventure, it never throws any big surprises, twists or game changers your way. However this is more than made up for by the pirate banter (#PirateBants) you share with each and every member of your crew as and when you recruit them. This not only serves to add some real depth and character to the universe, but also really fleshes out (metaphorically of course) your teammates. In fact I fell in love with some of my clanking companions so much I found I was choosing the characters whose personalities I liked the most to accompany thevitalounge.net
me on missions, rather than the ones whose skills would prove most useful. I became obsessed with finding out about circus strongman Ivanski’s soft spot for ballet and loved listening to old Seabrass wax lyrical about his obsession with whales. For anyone who has played titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics or XCOM then you are going to feel right at home when booting up Heist. In fact I think the simplest way in which to describe this game is ‘2D XCOM’, but without the threat of permadeath looming over your chrome domes. When playing on normal difficulty the biggest penalty you will face for a mission failure is the loss of 25% of your total water (money). As the title of SteamWorld Heist suggests – stealing is the name of the game and it’s up to Piper and her scurvy space dogs to board enemy vessels and plunder to their hearts content. When boarding one of Heist’s many procedurally generated ships you and your invading crew will take turns with the enemy to duke it out (often against a countdown) and make off with as much loot as you can carry when evacuating the ship. Similarly to XCOM your squad can move and then shoot/heal/perform an action before their turn is over. Each member of your team is assigned a predetermined class, which dictates what weapons and skills they can wield in the heat of battle. For example Beatrix is a sentry who can wield handguns and heavy weapons, and as such unlocks a very useful ability early on that allows her to fire a powerful rocket which deals massive damage. That means that if, instead of a rocket launcher, you wanted to equip Bea with the more accurate pistol – you are not left entirely
without explosive support during your raid. boss felt incredibly satisfying, especially when wearing it in the following level and All of the characters have a vast array of feeling like a complete badass! skills both passive and non-passive that they unlock as you level them up. This not Finally – the music in SteamWorld Heist only keeps the gameplay refreshing and is phenomenal. Not so much for the exciting as you switch up your tactics on score (although that itself is incredibly the fly, but also encourages you to switch atmospheric, especially the very Mass up party members occasionally to see Effect sounding ambient tones that if anyone has a unique helpful skill just accompany Piper as she sails across waiting to be discovered. the galaxy map), but for the absolutely wonderful vocal tracks that are primarily The weapons and support items also feel heard whenever Piper stops by many of great to experiment with and try out – the shops and bars littered throughout the none of your armoury ever feels pointless universe. Not only are the tracks clever, or just there as filler, everything you witty and often funny, but they also feel scavenge or buy has a purpose. A special so appropriate to the world that Image & shout out of course has to be made to Form have built. Every time I entered a the sniper class weapons. These deadly dive bar to mingle with the hive of neon guns give you a laser sight, which can be lit patrons I felt like Han Solo sauntering used to pull off incredibly satisfying and into the Mos Eisley Cantina. It is such a devastating trick shots that would be near little touch, but one that really gave each impossible to achieve otherwise. location a real sense of character and uniqueness, and I appreciated that to no The environments also deserve special end throughout my travels. mention, as they are the secret stars of the game. Each of the three main areas SteamWorld Heist is an incredibly you will be exploring in the galaxy feel very accessible and challenging adventure different from one another and offer their with a completely spot on difficulty curve own unique environmental hazards, which that made it a thoroughly challenging and can act as a help or a hindrance depending satisfying experience to play through. on whether or not you’ve got your tactical There is great replayability to be had in thinking cap on. Speaking of which… the latest offering from Image & Form as you try to collect all the hats, get the There is also a substantial (if slightly maximum number of stars on every level odd) obsession with hats in Heist. Most and tackle new game plus with your tough enemies you come across will be adorned crew of robots. It is at once charming, funny, tough and rewarding. SteamWorld in either a hat or helmet of some kind, and if you manage to shoot them off and Heist’s bite sized levels are perfectly collect them they then become available suited to a handheld device, with colours to wear throughout the rest of the and animations that vibrantly pop off the game. Although they offer no bonuses screen. Heist showcases a development or advantages to your defence, precision team at the top of their game and I cannot etc. they act purely as visual flavour. And wait to see where their vision takes us. To nabbing a rare hat off of a particularly hard infinity, and beyond!
VERDICT SteamWorld Heist is one of the most memorable experiences I have had on the Vita to date. It is a perfectly portable tactical turn based adventure which will see you return again and again to nab just one more hat or give that particularly tough challenge mission another go. It is a shining example of what makes handheld gaming great!
@PSVitaMag
4.8 The Vita Lounge Magazine
21
you want the ‘young person’ (just think of it as the result of Bayonetta and Baymax having a baby) to use.
Written by Timmy Garrett
@timmygarrett40k fitzfarseer
7 10 5 PSTV 41.1 MB Publisher
devolverdigital.com
@devolverdigital
Developer
downwellgame.com
@moppin_
Released
NA: May 24th EU: May 24th
22
The Vita Lounge Magazine
‘What’s that Skippy? Another Indie gem has fallen down the Vita well? Lead the way boy!’ As Kinda Funny’s Colin Moriarty is fond of saying; ‘Gameplay is King’ – and it’s fair to say this statement is never truer than when talking about Downwell. It may not have the system pushing graphics of say Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Killzone: Mercenary, and it may not have the complex and rewarding storytelling exhibited by games such as Danganronpa or Persona, but what Downwell has in spades is pure, unadulterated, no nonsense gameplay. A quick visit to the game’s official website will tell you that ‘Downwell is a curious game about a young person, falling down a well, battling enemies with gun boots and sometimes visiting shops’. That pretty much sums up this title perfectly, as there is very little more to it than that. However, the addictive and rewarding gameplay hook is completely on point here as two trips down the well will very rarely offer the same experience, and the ever present tease of unlocking new visual palettes and gameplay styles will have you telling yourself ‘just one more go.’
Downwell is a procedurally-generated downward-scrolling shooter of sorts, consisting of four areas and a final boss fight. Before you begin each run you get the choice of what palette you would like slapped on the screen, and also what style
Styles are a very well incorporated risk/ reward mechanic that can drastically alter how your run will pan out. For example, the Boulder style allows you to start your descent with an increased HP pool – however, it also means that when it comes to choosing an upgrade at the end of a level your options will be limited. Although there are some minor platforming elements thrown in, the main meat of the game comes from trying to get to the end of each stage, whilst quickly dispatching enemies to keep your combo up, and collecting as many gems as possible. Often on your adventure downwards you will come across the odd passage, either on the left or to the right of the screen. Having quick reflexes and an eagle eye pays off, as these will offer one of three things. You’ll either find a shop in which you can purchase more health and/or more space for ammo, a nice big pile of red rocks which when shot will spout out a massive fountain of gems, or a new weapon for you to slap on to your feet. Gunplay in the game works as follows; on the right of the screen is your ammo meter – you can shoot ’til your heart’s content as you plummet downwards through the well, however you will only be able to reload (which I should point out is automatic) whenever your feet touch solid ground. This adds a real element of strategy and tactical thinking to what could have otherwise been a mindless shooter. Instead of just thevitalounge.net
hammering the fire button, you’ll want to keep at least a few bullets in your clip – as anyone who has played a round will know; you never want to be free-falling with no bullets left in case you need to avoid an obstacle (or an enemy) that can damage you.
At the end of each stage you are then treated to a choice of upgrades that offer permanent buffs of sorts. These are really fun to mix and match as they range from options such as having a drone accompany you (who will shoot when you do), to having your guns automatically reload whenever you collect a gem, to even having destructible platforms shoot bullets upwards whenever they are destroyed (crucial when dealing with those pesky bats!).
The weapons are also a real joy to experiment with, as they all feel so unique and different. Furthermore, experimentation is encouraged – as picking up some new guns for your feet will also reward you with 1HP (which you If I had one criticism with Downwell it’s will most likely be needing by the time you that the display options feel a tiny bit find one). limited. What I mean is that because this game was originally designed for iOS, the The whole arsenal feels quite varied, Vita version feels like it has been squished and incredibly satisfying to mix up, as into the centre of the screen to maintain each gun feels like it offers an entirely a presentable ratio. This isn’t so much of different strategy of play. For instance, an issue in the opening sections of the the incredibly powerful laser can dispatch game, however in later levels there can most foes with a well placed shot, be so much happening at once that it can however the sparse amount of ammo become difficult to keep track of what’s it can hold means that not only does going on, and where your character is. your accuracy need to perfect, but you’re sacrificing basic character maneuverability (extra shots being a part of that).
Now before you start hammering away at the keyboard telling me that there is a Tate mode that allows you to play the game with the Vita held sideways; I know. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep it in Tate mode for very long at all as I found controlling the game this way to be counter-intuitive. When all is said and done, the display option “issue” is literally my only complaint; and it’s a very minor one at that. In my opinion, it shouldn’t even really affect your choice when deciding whether or not to buy this game. Downwell is one of the best games I have played this year. Everything just feels like it completely fell into place for this title! The price is so cheap (I would gladly have paid double), the music is spot on (and perfectly compliments the 8-bit graphical style), and the gameplay does what any great arcade game should do; it makes you come back for more and more, time after time. This is a video game, a proper, oldschool, hard, rewarding video game – and it deserves your attention!
The constant switching up of gameplay styles is not only limited to your weapon choice, but also to what stage you are playing on. Although the opening areas of the game are quite simple and straightforward, they quickly ratchet up in difficulty as you start having to negotiate spikes, fire and, even a timer on the underwater stages. The underwater stages seem to pump up the panic more so than the others, as your oxygen is constantly ticking down – forcing a more fast-paced style of play as you desperately try and reach the end of the level.
VERDICT Downwell proves that a simple and effective gameplay hook is all that is needed to craft an unforgettably brilliant title. You will lose hours and hours in these dank caverns as you chase high scores and try to do the next run just a little bit better than the last. For this price and this much game on offer you simply can’t go wrong! It’s time to take the plunge down this well!
@PSVitaMag
4.5 The Vita Lounge Magazine
23
Now let’s be honest, you don’t play fighting games for the story – the combat is where it is all at! Luckily, One Piece: Burning Blood manages to be simple enough for you to be able to pick up and play, while offering enough depth and variation amongst the jam-packed roster of weirdo pirates to make you want to switch up your line-up as you play.
Written by Charlie Large @CharlieLarge Chaz3010
1 16 32 PSTV 2.6 GB Publisher
bandainamcogames.com
@BandaiNamcoUS
Developer
spike-chunsoft.co.jp
@spikechunsoft
Released
NA: May 31st EU: June 3rd
24
The Vita Lounge Magazine
Being relatively new to the One Piece franchise (my first experience of One Piece was when I reviewed Pirate Warriors 3 last September) and not being a massive fan of the fighting genre, you may think it strange that I am reviewing One Piece: Burning Blood. To be fair, I went into the game with a similar mentality. After playing for an hour or so, I was already writing it off – criticising it for being too repetitive and being rather simplistic. I stuck with the game and after a few more hours I was hooked! For the past week I have spent every night glued to my Vita, beating up various odd-looking pirates on my quest to become the best! When you play One Piece: Burning Blood for the first time, the only mode available to you will be the game’s story mode – titled Paramount War. Based on the anime’s 22nd story arc (which is also known as the ‘Marineford Arc’) this mode sees the same story told from the perspective of four different characters. Told via a mixture of comic panels and cutscenes, this whistlestop tour of this period in One Piece lore will be enjoyed by fans of the series whilst leaving newcomers a little bewildered.
There are 40+ characters to choose from in the game, and you will use these in various tag-team skirmishes with battles that can range from one versus three to a mammoth three versus nine! You can switch between the characters in your team at will – with advanced tag abilities such as ‘Unity Chains’ and ‘Unity Assists’ available once you have landed enough attacks to build up the ‘Burning Gauge’. I found these tricky at first to pull off, but once I figured out exactly how these worked I was switching between characters like a pro! Each character in One Piece: Burning Blood shares the same control scheme, meaning that there are no difficult combos as such to remember. At first, I felt a little disappointed about this – one of the triumphs you get from a fighting game is when you finally master a character and learn all of their combos – but I soon began to enjoy the simplicity of One Piece’s controls. Without all of the different combos to learn, I found myself jumping into battles with different characters just so I could see all of the crazy appearances and powers that each character has.
thevitalounge.net
The battles play out on a fully 3D stage, so the left analogue stick will move you about the arena. You can block most incoming attacks with the guard button on Circle, dish out attacks with the Square button and perform unique character attacks with the Triangle button. You can perform special attacks using the left trigger and face buttons, and utilise a characters’ ‘Haki’ or ‘Logia’ ability using the right trigger. If you allow your ‘Burning Gauge’ to fill to the top, you can flick the right analogue stick to ‘Awaken’, changing your standard attacks to more powerful moves whilst enabling you to perform an Ultimate attack if you flick the right stick again.
look about them and are the Japanese voiceovers further add to the similarities. Spike Chunsoft have done a great job with the game’s presentation, even the menus and loading screens are full of character and useful information for you to soak in between bouts.
Once you have progressed through the first chapter of the game’s story you will unlock the other modes available in One Piece: Burning Blood, these are where you will spend the majority of your time. The Paramount War story mode is rather short, but the WANTED Versus mode will keep you busy for a while! Here you will undertake battles with certain set criteria with a score given dependent on how well When I first started playing One Piece I you performed. These missions start off relatively easy, but the difficulty is soon found myself using the same characters and moves in every battle I fought, but the ramped up to ensure you are constantly challenged. more I progressed the more I switched things up – eventually learning which moves work best in certain situations and Alongside these two modes there is a even picking characters depending on who Free Play mode, Online functionality for ranked/unranked fights and a mode I was to be facing off against. called Pirate Flag Battle. This last mode sees you (and other players) pick a pirate Alongside the roster of main characters, there is also an equal number of support crew and travel to destinations on a grid map, to battle with other users (or AI) characters. This bunch of helpful ragamuffins will provide your fighters with in a scramble to claim as much of the perks during battle; from increasing your map as possible in a set period of time. attack and defence, to giving you a much Completing a season in Pirate Battle Mode can prove to be quite rewarding, needed health top-up in some of the with massive payouts for the winning longer fights. faction. These battles look pretty good on the So, for someone who wasn’t overly keen PlayStation Vita’s screen. The character models are great and definitely do justice on fighting games prior to this review, it to the anime, I couldn’t help but appreciate sounds pretty positive right? Well, there were a few gripes I had with Burning some of the weird looking fellows (and females) that I would be beating up. One Blood that detracted from my overall Piece: Burning Blood looks and feels experience. First off, there are times in the story mode when the AI difficulty levels exactly like the source material, the 3D take an unwelcome spike to the point character models have a hand-drawn
VERDICT One Piece: Burning Blood is a good fighting game that will appeal to fans of the anime whilst still being simple enough for newcomers to pick up and play. Although the game's story mode is rather short, there is plenty here to keep you entertained and ensure you will be satisfied during your stay in the One Piece world!
@PSVitaMag
where it almost feels unfair. When this happened, I often moved to the WANTED Versus mode to fight and level up the characters that were involved in the particular story mission I was stuck on before attempting it again. Another thing that got on my nerves after a while was the fact that after landing some of your combos, you would send your opponent flying across the map. This meant you were chasing your enemy around the arena and wasting seconds – especially when time is precious in battles that have a sixty second clear requirement. This was made worse when fighting characters such as Mihawk or Bartholomew Kuma, who would often just spam their long range attacks – making it difficult to gain ground on them. Issues aside, my overall experience with One Piece: Burning Blood surprised me. As I mentioned earlier, I am not a particular fan of fighting games, yet I found myself unable to put this one down. I ended up playing for a few hours each night after work, even nabbing myself the game’s Platinum! Although the story mode is a little on the short side, there is plenty of longevity in the other modes to keep you playing for quite a while! If you are a One Piece fan, then this game will be right up your alley (if you don’t own it already)! For those who are on the fence or who are not so familiar with the series, you will find a fighting game that is both fun and enjoyable – even if the story makes no sense to you!
3.9 The Vita Lounge Magazine
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the enemies. Each letter tile has a bronze, silver or gold symbol in the corner to depict how rare they are and therefore how much damage they can cause to the enemy.
Written by Jenny Jones
@Kitty_has_Klaws Deathskitten
1 4 7 PSTV 240 MB Publisher
digeratidistribution.com
@DigeratiDM
Developer
baconbanditgames.com
@thebaconbandits
Released
NA: May 17th EU: May 18th
26
The Vita Lounge Magazine
Enemies have their own nifty little tricks up their sleeves and will attack you back. Some of them will have special skills which can create negative effects on the letter tiles. For example, using a poisoned or spiked tile will cause you damage, whirlwind tiles will change letter every turn and cracked tiles won’t cause any damage if used in a word. Is the pen really mightier than the sword? Bacon Bandit Games, a small Canadian indie studio, aims to prove that they are with Letter Quest Remastered: Grimm’s Journey! In Letter Quest you get to play as one of two cute little Grim Reaper’s, Grimm or Rose, fighting ghosts, wolves and dust bunnies, all with just the power of words. The game was originally released in February 2014 on mobiles and later in the same year on PC. In 2015 Bacon Bandit’s released a ‘remastered’ version for PC with a new soundtrack and an Endless mode. The game has finally made its way over to the PS Vita and what a treat it is. Visually the game is a cartoony delight; it’s bright, vibrant and cute. There are lots of different enemies and they all have bags of charm with silly names and amusing descriptions. The gameplay is fairly simple to understand, battles are turn-based and you’re given a random mix of 15 letters and have to make a word out of them. The longer the word and the rarer the letters you use the more damage your little Reaper does to
The game has two modes for you to play through; Story and Endless. The story mode has 40 different levels and each level has four different stages to play through. The first stage is just normal difficulty, the second stage is a time trial, the third is a special challenge level and the fourth is a hard mode. The special challenges can be anything from finishing the level by using less than a specified number of words to only using words with a certain number of letters. Only by completing the first three stages will you unlock the fourth stage. The fourth stage of a level is usually the toughest, enemies are stronger and have more health, not only that but they also have special conditions; some enemies only take damage if you use two or more letters from the bottom row of the letter grid or only words which begin with a vowel will cause damage. When you first begin Letter Quest you’ll probably find the fourth stages too hard to complete, this is where Letter Quest‘s RPG elements come into play. Defeated monsters will drop gems and with these thevitalounge.net
you can buy lots of different upgrades such as more health, better defence and different weapons. You can also purchase books which, when equipped, will have various effects like giving you more time in time trials. You can also buy health potions which are very handy to use in some of the tougher levels! Occasionally you’ll also come across a hangman-style minigame where you have a certain number of guesses to try to figure out what the word is. This is a fun little game which if you do manage to solve rewards you with bonuses such as shields and health potions. I do wish that there were more of these kind of minigames throughout as it was a nice change in pace. I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity and that there should have been many different types of minigames as this would have added some more variety to the gameplay.
able to get through levels as they don’t know enough long difficult words, with a bit of perseverance, they can level up enough to get through some of the harder levels. Another great thing is that you can see the definitions of the words that you spell out, which is particularly handy when you’ve just randomly put together some letters and by luck happen to have made an actual word but have no clue what it means. The game’s dictionary doesn’t seem to allow any swearwords but I will admit that I had great fun seeing what words it would allow…like poo and fart…yes, I am aware that I have the sense of humour of a six year old…
The actual story of this mode feels a bit pointless, it’s told in comic book style frames and while it looks pretty I don’t really get what the point of it was. It’s just a few frames showing Grimm going out to pick up a pizza and travelling through The RPG elements work really well in various environments to get one. I wasn’t this game, it feels great to play through exactly expecting a Shakespearian epic levels, earn gems and then use these to get stronger. It gives you a reason to keep but when the story is this lame you playing through levels without them ever wonder why they bothered at all, it’s not feeling tedious. It’s actually quite addictive like the game needed a storyline to make it worthwhile playing through. to keep earning gems and buy all the upgrades, which is great as you really will need them in the harder levels! The RPG There are two difficulties available in elements are also really good for if you’re Story mode; Normal & Expert. In expert playing through with younger players with the enemies are much tougher with more a smaller vocabulary. Instead of not being health and stronger attacks. It’s much
VERDICT Letter Quest Remastered: Grimm's Journey is a really fun blend of side-scrolling puzzle game with RPG elements. It's simple to get into but will keep you coming back time after time to play one more level and level up your cute little Grim Reaper or try to beat your previous score in Endless mode. If you like word games then you should definitely give Letter Quest a try.
@PSVitaMag
more challenging and buying upgrades is essential so you will having to grind the easier levels to make sure you can survive the harder levels. Expert is definitely intended more for people who are very good at word games or who want to feel really challenged all of the time they’re playing. Endless mode as the name suggests is endless. It is just one long continuous level where your goal is to try to see how far you can get before you’re defeated. It plays the same as story mode but instead of being able to level up between each level you have to wait until you come across a merchant and buy upgrades with whatever gems you’ve managed to get from defeated enemies. It’s tough but great fun to keep playing through and try to beat your score.
Letter Quest Remastered: Grimm’s Journey is the kind of game which is great to have on your PS Vita, it’s great to play when you only have a little bit of time to spare and is also addictive enough that you will keep coming back to it. There’s a lot of content to play through and it will take you a fair amount of time to complete all levels and upgrade everything. It would have been nice if there was slightly more variety in the gameplay and maybe a few different types of minigames to play but overall it is an enjoyable and intellectual delight.
3.9 The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Written by Reece Heyworth @rheyworth07 CHEAT07
1 3 9 PSTV 91 MB Publisher
bardsgold.com
@aGametery
Developer
bardsgold.com
@aGametery
Released
NA: June 17th EU: June 18th
28
The Vita Lounge Magazine
My opinion on Bard’s Gold changed significantly during my time with it. At first its brutal, no love lost approach to the player left me cold, eventually though I understood the gameplay loop and came to appreciate the finer details that Bard’s Gold gets right.
Bard’s Gold is a rogue like game, the premise is straightforward enough, you have a limited number of lives to clear dungeons and upon each game over you can upgrade your character and start the dungeon again, rinse and repeat. It’s a tried and tested formula, but one that Bard’s Gold tweaks in small ways, with some tweaks working and others that don’t. The player has a limited arsenal with which to tackle the dungeons, you can double jump (remember that point) and you can throw daggers at enemies to kill them. It’s straightforward and mostly works in the game’s favour. Daggers fire out in a straight line a short distance in front of the player, the problem is the way enemies are lined up in levels. Often you’ll find enemies floating in front of you just above or below the line of fire requiring pain in the ass jumping to line up shots. It’s a minor annoyance but it comes up often enough that it’s worth noting.
The platforming in the game is surprisingly robust, you’ll need to jump between platforms of varying sizes and will sometimes need to follow up with another jump or change in direction and the game is able to keep up with you. I never died once from what I felt were loose platforming controls. Each level has an end door and a key to open said door. The challenge is locating the key and then making your way to the door. Between you and the next room there are usually several enemies and obstacles such as spikes, as you progress these obstacles get more challenging as you’d expect. The enemy variation picks up and provides new challenges to keep you on your toes – from slime balls that move back and forth to winged mechs that hover above you firing down pellets of pain. This makes up the bulk of your play time, find the key, get to the door, rinse and repeat. After several doors you’ll be taken to the boss of the area, once you beat the boss, you unlock a new upgrade tree and a new set of levels to beat. There are three modes to play the game: Normal, Retro and Roguelike. Normal and Retro play very similarly in that you have a set number of lives, each time you die you lose a life and return to the start of the level. Roguelike ditches the lives and instead gives you a health bar, instead of dying when you get hit by an enemy you simply take damage and carry on. Lose all your health and it’s game over. There are subtle differences in loot and difficulty for each of the modes and its down to you to find which one suits your play style best. thevitalounge.net
Bard’s Gold definitely doesn’t care for easing the player in and helping them along, sometimes this feels good, I don’t care much for modern games practically guiding you through the game. Other times though it’s just poor design, I’m a firm believer that players shouldn’t need their hand held through the game but the game really should teach you how to play. Some of it is easy enough to pick up (such as how to upgrade your stats), some things, however, are not – like what the hell the magic glasses actually do are just deliberately obscure! Case in point, and this is a touch embarrassing, I had no idea you could double jump in the game, the control scheme simply labels the button as jump. I couldn’t even get out of the first room simply because the game didn’t teach me how to play at first, that’s not a huge problem right there and is mostly me being an idiot but it’s simple things like this that can give a bad first impression. Difficulty through design is always better than difficulty through obscurity. Moving past that though the game is still brutal in many ways, early on many of the times you die will feel cheap – like a deadly book appearing from a bookcase that you thought was just background decoration or a set of spikes falling from the ceiling. These can be frustrating at first but eventually it all clicks; these cheap deaths, you learn which spikes fall, which books come out to kill you for not reading more as a kid. This is the core gameplay loop that this game well and truly thrives on.
it is all about the learning experience. When you hit the game over screen, you’re able to upgrade your character but the real benefit you gain is the knowledge from the previous run. All the rooms you encounter are pre-made and the contents don’t change, as such you’re able to learn the locations of enemies, the key and the door and optimal paths through each level. This is important as it makes those cheap deaths mean something – yes this blow dart caught me off guard this time, but next time I get to this room I can expect it and plan accordingly! All of this is probably just as well because the upgrade tree, I feel, is lacklustre. Initially you can only choose from one upgrade, to unlock more you need to beat bosses. As such the options to upgrade in ways that you feel would help you perform better are extremely limited at the start. It’s only once you progress in the game that options open up and you can work towards what you want to upgrade. On the upside, these upgrades are easy enough to obtain and never feel like they’re too much of a grind to get.
Whilst going through the various rooms there are hidden secrets, usually just invisible gems that when attacked will drop for you. Sometimes though there are entire rooms hidden away that hide a good amount of treasure. The game never feels like it hinges on you finding these secrets as all the ones I have come across so far simply offer more gems to buy items in the shop or upgrades when you die. Overall, Bard’s Gold clearly takes a lot of inspiration from older games in the way it likes to approach gameplay elements and its lack of hand holding. Some design elements are implemented in incredibly clever ways that aren’t always apparent at first though there are still some minor issues present. All in all Bard’s Gold is a different take on the rogue-like formula and, in my opinion, is worth your time and money!
The best comparison I can make is that Bard’s Gold takes a lot from the Dark Souls series due to the fact that the game encourages you to take your time in levels, yes there are cheap deaths at first but
VERDICT Bard's Gold is a frustrating and rewarding experience rolled into one mostly well executed package. Clever design choices and tight controls make up any of the less polished features present and this rogue-like is definitely worth a play.
@PSVitaMag
3.8 The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Written by Dennis Price
@hunterslasher13 hunterslasher27
1 4 5 PSTV 197 MB Publisher
cerberusteam.com
@CerberusTeam1
Developer
cerberusteam.com
@CerberusTeam1
Released
NA: May 31st EU: June 1st
30
The Vita Lounge Magazine
I am not a fan of the flight combat simulator genre, unless we are talking about the aerial sections in the Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank games; I eventually ‘got good’ at those after crashing five times! Wait, those don’t really count do they? Well then I guess I’m really not the biggest fan of this genre, but hopefully that will change after putting a ton of hours into Delta Strike: First Assault… right? That said, I didn’t know what to expect going into Delta Strike: First Assault. All I knew was that it’s from a developer I’ve never heard of before. At a glance it looks like an arcade version of Ace Combat, but with less open skies and more tunnel like locations; basically, a lot of city and desertlike highways to fly through. After many hours of playing and pondering, I can say that this is a game that had the potential to be good, and could have been a great introduction for newcomers to the combat flight simulator genre – but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. I think I’m jumping the gun a little though; the first thing you need to know is exactly how the developer, Cerberus, will introduce you into their world of planes and explosions; one that could even make Michael Bay shed a tear.
Delta Strike: First Assault starts off with you being introduced to the protagonist of the game. His name is Leroy J. Walker and he is fresh out of the Air Force academy,
holding the rank of second lieutenant. Your character meets his commanding officer, a man by the name of General Duncan Steel. One thing I like about the character design is that it looks very anime influenced and I appreciate that. I’ll be honest though, the story in this game is the least important aspect. This is the type of game that has gameplay as the focus. As for how things play out, your character reports to the General and he gives you orders to go out on missions. The major goal of these missions is to bomb an enemy base or transportation with cargo on board. When you accept your first mission, you’re brought to the customization menu of the game. There you’re introduced to your first plane, the Spitfire – an aircraft that Britain and it’s allies used during World War Two. Each mission starts off in a site that is randomly selected, which could be either a city environment at two different times in the day or a desert highway; yeah not a lot of variety there. You start at a certain point on the stage with the goal of each mission to get to the end of the stage and bomb the major target. On your screen you can see a radar and a meter that tells you how far you are from the goal. You have a Gatling gun with unlimited ammo at your disposal, alongside a set of missiles that have a limited use – but are also a guaranteed hit when the enemy is targeted. Enemies in each of the stages can vary from tanks on the ground, to helicopters and jets in the sky. There are also other obstacles; such as a moving laser grid, and people on the ground shooting at you as you go by. At the end of every mission there thevitalounge.net
is quicktime event to bomb the main goal; if you don’t press ‘x’ at the right moment then you fail the mission. The quicktime event was annoying and dumb at first, but when you get use to the timing you feel a little less aggrieved. A little. The gameplay itself doesn’t feel that great. Shooting down enemies gives me some enjoyment, but the fear of easily dying outweighs this as the game employs a ‘three hits and you’re out’ kind of mentality. The reason it’s so easy to die is because of the plane models and camera view, with the planes feeling way too big on my Vita’s screen. I always find myself getting hit, and even when I successfully dodge I feel like I missed getting hit very narrowly. No matter if you complete the mission or fail it altogether, after every mission you are given a certain amount of money and experience. You can also pick up orbs in missions to get extra money and experience if you wish. The money can be used to upgrade your planes and weapons, and can also be used to buy new planes. The experience points you
earn goes toward leveling up and getting a higher rank in the Air Force; you can go all the way to level 99 and acquire the rank of General if you wish! Yes, that’s right, you too can become the same rank as the real American, Duncan Steel if you really try. Leveling up in the game also gives the player skill points – which are redeemable for new pilot skills. With these your pilot is able to learn moves, such as how to do a barrel roll, or turn your plane invisible like Wonder Woman.
Graphically the game looks just like an OK game, nothing jumped out at me that made me think ‘wow this game is very pretty looking’ or anything. All the models and environments look very basic and The level system and customization in the the audio in the game is nothing amazing game are two of the things that I actually either. did like about this game, but there are times I feel they’re disrespectful to the Overall, Delta Strike: First Assault is player’s time. The amount of money from neither a good nor a bad game; it’s just one mission doesn’t seem enough for one pretty average in my opinion. It’s a good upgrade most of the time, making going time waster that doesn’t take a lot skill, into another mission seem like the only and the missions in the game have their choice. It comes to a point where Delta enjoyable moments. If you’re a fan of the combat flight simulator genre then Strike has a lot of replay value, but it comes at a cost of getting boring real fast. there is something here for you to enjoy. For newcomers of the genre however, The game makes you wonder why you’re I wouldn’t recommend getting it – I’d still playing, and there is no real end goal recommend spending your money on in the game which makes it even worse. something else, as it will more than likely be at least a little better than this game! One more problem I have with the game
VERDICT Delta Strike: First Assault is an average combat flight simulator game that will appeal to fans of the genre. The game's level progression will keep trophy hunters busy for hours. Gameplay doesn't feel that fun when compared to other games in the genre and not having any control customization can make the game feel inaccessible to newcomers of the genre.
@PSVitaMag
is the controls. I know inverted controls and planes go hand in hand, but I would appreciate this game more if there was the option to change it. It seems very limiting if you only have your game control one way, especially since it’s a game (not a painstakingly accurate flight sim).
2.3 The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Written by Timmy Garrett
Adventures of Mana acts as a rather interesting history lesson, unfortunately some archaic design choices hold it back from being the adventure of a lifetime.
5 9 22 PSTV
AoM is a remake of a Gameboy title released waaaaaay back in 1991 and marked Square’s first venture into the now renowned Mana series. However slightly confusingly, if not unsurprisingly, Square deigned to originally release the game under the title Final Fantasy Adventure – a move which confused the hell out of a young Timmy as upon having the game purchased for him he realised that this ‘Final Fantasy’ game did not play like a Final Fantasy game at all! This was more like…Zelda?!
Publisher
Yes indeed! For those of you who grew up with the Gameboy and SNES – you will already be familiar with the Mana franchise, but for those of you new to these games let me give you a brief rundown of what separates this spinoff series when compared to its older brother.
@timmygarrett40k fitzfarseer
508 MB
square-enix.com
@SquareEnix
Developer
square-enix.com
@SquareEnix
Released
NA: June 28th EU: June 29th
32
The Vita Lounge Magazine
on the way you shall be meeting princesses, old knights, minstrels and the like, as you plunder dungeons, pick up better gear and cut a swathe through any monster that crosses your path! It is in this regard that I did really enjoy AoM. The combat felt fast and responsive and it was really fun experimenting with a new weapon or spell whenever I bought or managed to find one. There is also a red gauge at the bottom of the screen, which will slowly fill up over time, that allows you to pull off a unique special attack with whatever weapon you have equipped when it reaches completion. My personal fave was using the sword’s spin attack, which turned my young hero into a spinning whirlwind of sharp, metal destruction!
However after a couple of hours into the game, and when my character had a few levels under his belt, the adventure I had set out on lost all sense of challenge. My hero was now dispatching enemies with one, sometimes two hits at most and the almost complete lack of enemy AI was Although some staples of the FF series do indeed carry over to Mana (such as chocobos, becoming very apparent indeed. moogles and some monster designs) the overall feel is that of a top down action rpg. This brings me onto my biggest complaint There are no turn-based battles here, rather with the game – its old school sensibilities. your character has a vast array of weapons Now before I hear cries of ‘noob’ and ‘heathen’ let me make my case. You see I and magic at his disposal and he is free to did own Final Fantasy Adventure on my hack, slash, burn and freeze to his hearts content. little monochrome Gameboy back in the day and I loved it. I had so much fun as a kid The story is quite threadbare and is typical of ploughing hours and hours into that title, as older role-playing game tropes. An evil lord is I wandered aimlessly around the world map, ruling over the land and supressing the will not sure where to go or who to talk to due of the people. Therefore it is up to YOU! Yes to the games vague hints. I was just happy you, young spikey haired protagonist, to save to be playing a videogame! And that was the world! You must pick up your sword and fine back in the early 90’s, however times thwart this malevolent being! And of course have changed and games and how we play thevitalounge.net
and consume them have moved on. You see there isn’t one big glaring flaw in Adventures of Mana – just lots of tiny little ones that are all the product of Square deciding that even though they will remaster the soundtrack and upgrade the graphics, they wont streamline any of the old systems or update any of the enemy behaviour. So lets start with the AI first. Apart from the bosses (which were all genuinely fun to fight) and maybe a couple of standard enemies, every time you enter a new area a number of creatures will appear at random before bouncing around the screen in a trance like state. As I mentioned this completely negates most of the threat presented to you by your foes as you can either dispatch of them with no worries about them hitting back or easily avoid them altogether. This started to make each encounter with foes either on the world map or in the dungeons begin to feel like a hindrance more than a challenge to relish. Speaking of the dungeons – these also presented a mixed bag. Now as I have mentioned AoM is, let’s face it, heavily inspired by Zelda. And while Zelda can boast that – even back on the NES – all of its dungeons felt unique and interesting AoM unfortunately cannot make the same claim. Apart from a couple of standout dungeons such as the Cave of Snowfields the rest of the caverns you explore throughout your adventure just bleed into one and other eventually resulting in the whole experience feeling rather dull. There were also a number of technical issues that made navigating some of the dungeons a chore! For instance in one dungeon there were two pressure plates, which required me to freeze two enemies, which I would then place on the plates thus opening a set of stairs. Now I didn’t know this was the solution at first as only
one enemy was spawning in the room, leaving me very confused and flustered as to what I was meant to do. It was only after checking a message board that I found other people had run into the same brick wall and that sometimes the game didn’t spawn in the right amount of foes for you to freeze. It’s hangovers like this that really shouldn’t have made the cut when designing this remake. And yes I checked – this was an issue on the Gameboy too. So why wasn’t it fixed? Finally I will give you the biggest piece of helpful advice if you do plan on taking the plunge into Adventures of Mana’s desolate dungeons – take all the keys and pickaxes you can carry! You see in the dungeons you will regularly come across cracked walls or locked doors that either require an axe or a key to bypass. Now the biggest problem with this is the fact that these items are consumable and due to your limited inventory you can only carry a certain amount. Now for those of you who remember what it was like playing games back in the 80’s/early 90’s will remember that games only had a certain amount of memory at their disposal. What this meant was that in a game such as MegaMan you could kill all the enemies on screen, but if you moved off-screen and then on again the enemies would have respawned. Now imagine you have been meticulously working you way through a dungeon in AoM, you have just used your last key on a locked door and then back tracked to explore that fork in the road from earlier, only to find upon returning to the door that it is now locked again and you have to walk all the way back through the dungeon to the world map and THEN to the nearest town to buy more keys before heading all the way back to where you left off!! It is this sort of infuriating ‘old school’ design that I am talking about which I feel could have easily been remedied had Square just taken the time to do so (although I should point out that
VERDICT Adventures of Mana proves to be a fun trip down memory lane, however archaic design choices leave you wondering what could have been rather than what you have. It acts as an interesting history lesson as to where the roots of the Mana series began, but unfortunately it amounts to little more than that. @PSVitaMag
the pickaxe problem is alleviated when you obtain the Morningstar). Thankfully Adventures of Mana does have its share of positive points too. As I have mentioned I did really enjoy the combat and the magic. I would further like to add that although not particularly exceptional – the graphics are quite beautiful with bright vibrant colours positively popping off the screen and demonstrating some wonderful character and monster design that felt quite reminiscent of Akira Toryama’s Dragon Quest art. The optional touchscreen controls, although not very practical for combat, made navigating menus a breeze (although trying to sell multiple items at a store was still a pain). However where Adventures of Mana shines the most is in its stellar soundtrack. The remastered score is an absolute pleasure to listen to and even during sections where I was level grinding or just exploring the world, I never once felt tempted to put on a podcast or anything else in order to listen to something different. The price point is also very attractive and it is undeniable that you do get a lot of game for your money. In total the average player is probably looking at about 15-20 hours to complete the game and even more on top of that if you want to go for the games coveted platinum trophy. If the time had been taken to really remake Adventures of Mana from the ground up rather than just slapping a fresh coat of paint onto it then I believe we could have been looking at one of the finest action rpgs on the Vita. As it stands however – AoM will have to be content with merely being ‘good’ rather than ‘great’, which is a shame as the sections where the work really went in (such as the soundtrack), really highlight the potential this title had.
2.9 The Vita Lounge Magazine
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Written by Jenny Jones
@Kitty_has_Klaws Deathskitten
4 6 34 PSTV 2.0 GB Publisher
koeitecmoamerica.com
@KoeiTecmoUS
Developer gust.co.jp
Released
NA: June 7th EU: June 10th
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The Vita Lounge Magazine
The Atelier series is well known for being a mix of RPG, alchemy and time management. So, what happens when you remove one of the key elements? Gone are the regular assignments and tight deadlines. Instead you have a game which, while still an RPG which focuses heavily on alchemy, this time has a much more relaxed pace.
Atelier Sophie is set in a town called Kirchen Bell and within said town lives an orphan called Sophie. She is a budding alchemist living in her Grandmother’s old atelier. One day while working on some basic alchemy recipes, Sophie comes across a mysterious book and after writing a recipe into it, discovers that the book can speak. The book’s name is Plachta – Plachta knows about an amazing alchemy item called the Cauldron of Knowledge but doesn’t quite remember enough of the details about where to find it. Sophie decides to help restore Plachta’s memories which she does by learning new alchemy recipes. When I first started playing Atelier Sophie I found the lack of timed assignments to be somewhat strange. I know that not everyone liked the timed elements of the Atelier series but to me they were an integral part of the series and are what sets it apart from other RPGs. Without it I feel the game loses some of its unique charm.
The time element hasn’t been removed completely; time does play an impact in town life. Time flows from day to night and there is a five day week including a two day weekend. Certain characters are only around at the weekend and at night time shops are shut. The weather also changes making this a much more dynamic world compared to previous entries in the series. Even without the timed assignments the format of the game is fairly familiar. You visit people in town, perform alchemy, and go outside town to find ingredients. Then head back to town, talk to every one again, perform alchemy, venture out again to get more ingredients, you get the picture… Repetitive but oh so very addictive. An important part of Atelier games has always been its characters, thankfully Atelier Sophie doesn’t disappoint. I genuinely did love the characters and wanted to get to know each and every one of them. They all have their own interesting little side stories which I wanted to see through to the end. For example there was Oskar the childhood friend with the ability to understand plants, or Corneria the cute little alchemist with the ability to duplicate items but who shrinks if she duplicates too much. There are a lot of characters to get to know, some of them will join you in battle and other’s will open up shops in town, there are even some familiar faces who make a reappearance from past games. There are tonnes of character interactions and one of my favourite things to do after getting back from a trek in the outside world would be to run around town chatting to every character to see what the latest thevitalounge.net
Of course a very important part of any Atelier game is the alchemy system. This Within town is Horst’s Café which is time you have a cauldron which has a grid where you can go to pick up requests, where you place materials. Each material either to make certain items or fight is a different shape and the more of the specific monsters. Some of the side grid you cover the higher the quality, so quests have a time limit within which to you have to try to slot materials around complete them but as you’re usually given each other. If you overlap any materials over a month of in-game time to complete then the material that was placed down them you’ll never feel particularly rushed. first disappears, lowering the quality. If you place your materials over the glowing These requests are unfortunately fairly lights that appear on the grid then this repetitive. There are a few missions that will increase the effect value of the are supposed to level up the requests that material. If the effect value is high enough you get given but, even after completing then you will gain effects for example these, the requests still don’t really vary. gaining greater fire damage on a bomb. Later in the game you get given vouchers as a reward for completing some requests which can be traded for various items so, although dull, requests are a good way to get money and rare items. interaction would be.
You’ll find different cauldrons as you play through the game and some of them will have different attributes – for example large grids, higher bonuses, guaranteed no failure etc. It’s a fun system to play around with and it also feels fairly intuitive. You no longer buy recipe books to learn new recipes instead you discover them by performing various actions, for example investigating a certain location, making an item with a certain trait or defeating a certain enemy. I really liked this method of learning, you’ll get little clues as to what you need to do to unlock a recipe but then it’s up to you to play around and try to unlock it.
At the Café you can also purchase rumours. Some rumours will change the materials that you can gather in a certain area, others will make strong monsters appear. Although a good idea in theory I found that in practice this system could be quite annoying. At times I wanted specific rumours to appear so I could farm a material but had to rely on random luck and keep checking back to see if the required rumour had appeared yet. I also found it annoying that you don’t know the difficulty of some of the rumour monsters until you’ve purchased the rumour and then gone to visit said monster. Some of the rumour monsters available early/mid game are a hell of a lot tougher then the story battles. Some kind of star or ranking system would have been useful!
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In order to progress the story you need to unlock certain recipes. Some of these are really easy and you’ll fly through to the next part of the story but others will take a bit more time and thought to complete. When you first start to venture outside of Kirchen Bell you’ll only be able to go to a handful of locations but it doesn’t take long for you to get given quite a lot of locations to explore. There are lots of locations to visit but I was a little disappointed, most of the areas feel quite small and are a bit samey. They look pretty but unfortunately there isn’t really much variety and the majority are just one small field which can be very quickly explored. Another point to note is that monsters keep re-spawning which can be a bit annoying when you just want to gather without interruption.
Visually I think Atelier Sophie looks great on the PS Vita, the new weather system and night & day changes means that the world looks and feels much more dynamic. I also liked the various character styles, they’re quite an eclectic bunch to look at but I think it adds to the charm. I found the game camera annoying at first and was constantly manually adjusting it but thankfully it didn’t take me long to get used to it.
While I loved the new alchemy system the same can’t be said for the battle system. I just didn’t find the combat to be particularly interesting, it felt far too simplified. You can take four people, including Sophie, into battle and each character can either be in an offensive or defensive stance. As you fight you fill up a chain link gauge which, depending on the stance of your characters and the level it’s built up to, will automatically be used for special attacks or defensive moves. You also get to use the typical kinds of battle skills you’d expect and use alchemy items.
Overall I did enjoy Atelier Sophie, it’s one of those games where time really does seem to vanish while playing it. I’m disappointed with the battle system and none of the boss fights are particularly memorable but because of the interesting characters and fun alchemy system I still really enjoyed it and therefore I’d still recommend it.
VERDICT An Atelier game without a tight deadline is an odd thing indeed. While many will love the more relaxed pace I can't help feel that it now means you're much more likely to notice the unfortunately lackluster battle system. Thankfully the game has some really great characters and a fun revamped alchemy system which helps to make up for this. Atelier Sophie feels right at home on the PS Vita and, battle system aside, is a great addition to the PS Vita's RPG library. The Vita Lounge Magazine
The main story of Atelier Sophie is slow to develop but I didn’t really feel that that mattered. I was far more interested in getting to know all the characters than seeing the main story unfold. By getting to know the other characters better, not only will you get to see fun conversations between everyone but you’ll also unlock some pretty handy character skills as well as gaining access to new areas and some really fun side quests. So it’s well worth talking to everyone whenever you get the chance to! Without the deadlines of a normal Atelier game there’s much more time to explore and do whatever you want. You no longer have to try to balance levelling up your battle skills with levelling up your alchemy skills as well as trying to not run out of time while exploring every area thoroughly and creating the best possible battle equipment. Unfortunately this more relaxed pace also means that there’s much more time to realise that the game’s battle system is particularly weak.
In Atelier Escha & Logy I felt like I was constantly using different techniques in battle, swapping between front line and reserve characters, using special support attacks and the powerful double draw technique. Atelier Sophie just felt really stripped down compared to that.
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I also liked most of the voice acting in the game but will admit that I find Pamela’s voice particularly grating, she speaks too slowly and for some reason that really irritates me! But as she’s the only one who annoys me so I feel that that is not too bad. Unfortunately the music is mostly bland and forgettable apart from in a couple of the boss fights.
3.6 thevitalounge.net
Metal Jesus Rocks /MetalJesusRocks @MetalJesusRocks
Hello MetalJesusRocks! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your channel? I am a long-haired rocker dude who runs a popular YouTube channel dedicated to Retro Gaming with a Heavy Metal soundtrack. With the help of the Seattle gaming community I cover Hidden Gems, Buying Guides as well as the popular I HATE U series, Gamer Eats and much more. I was also an employee at mega publisher Sierra On-Line in the 90s and I brings my love of big box PC gaming to my channel as well. I release new videos every Tues & Friday! We first spoke in 2015 when you finally got around to buying a Vita. What took you so long? I am rarely an early adopter of a new system because for me, that first year of a console or handheld is pretty thin for releases. Typically developers are just learning the system and that’s not when I like to jump in. For me, it’s all about the games! So I usually hang back for the first year or two and see where the system is going first before committing. Also, there is usually a hardware revision and a price drop around year 2… When you have been gaming for as long as I have, these are the things you look out for :)
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THE METAL JESUS IS A LONG-HAIRED ROCKER DUDE WHO RUNS A POPULAR YOUTUBE CHANNEL DEDICATED TO RETRO GAMING WITH A HEAVY METAL SOUNDTRACK. WITH THE HELP OF THE SEATTLE GAMING COMMUNITY HE COVERS HIDDEN GEMS, BUYING GUIDES AS WELL AS THE POPULAR I HATE U SERIES, GAMER EATS AND MUCH MORE. HE FINALLY GOT INVOLVED WITH VITA GAMING IN 2015, AND WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIS VITA LOVE. What games have you been played so far? Army Corps of Hell - What an AMAZING metal soundtrack! Child of Light - the only physical copy of this great game Gravity Rush - a fun game with some funky controls Killzone Mercenary - a triple-A FPS game that really shows off the power of the Vita! Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - looks and plays great on the Vita Sonic and All-Stars Racing - such a great racing game Uncharted: Golden Abyss - A vita classic Unit 13 - Fans of SOCOM on the PS2 need to check out this game from the same developer Tearaway - a 3D platforming masterpiece. Loved it! The Wolf Among Us - Wow. So many touch choices and great dialog …plus many, many more games. What have been your standout experiences on the Vita? I think for me, the Vita addresses every single complaint about the PSP, which I was also a fan of. The additional analog thumbstick, the solid state media (as opposed to the UMD optical drive), the much improve online store, really just make the Vita better in almost every way.
Is there any upcoming Vita titles that you are excited for? I just got back from E3 and I was hoping, wishing and praying that Sony would step up and acknowledge that the Vita still has life in it… sadly that did not happen, so I’m not really sure what is coming out for the handheld in the future. What is your audience's view on your Vita appreciation? When I first made my Vita video, I had no idea what the response would be… I knew I had to address the whole 3DS vs Vita issue right out of the gate to silence the fanboys…but after that… I was BLOWN AWAY by how many people enjoyed the honest and unbiased view of the Vita. It really was a pleasant surprise. What Vita related content can we expect to see from you in the future? I want to do a big Vita Buying Guide and I’m bringing in OTHER Vita fans to help out with that video. It really will be a love letter to Sony’s ignored handheld and one fans should appreciate. It will also help potential Vita collectors have a better idea what to expect if they do pick one up.
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DIRECTORY A RECAP OF THE BEST GAMES THIS YEAR
STEAMWORLD HEIST
4.8
2 1326 142 MB
DOWNWELL
4.5
7 10 5 41.1 MB
38
8 0 21 372 MB
4.5
8 6 10 904 MB
3 1 0 274 MB
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4.5
6 12 6 225 MB
1 7 48 1.5 GB
DAY OF THE TENTACLE REMASTERED
4.4
4.6
0 6 9 81 MB
CRYPT OF THE NECRODANCER
DIGIMON STORY: CYBER SLEUTH
NEVERENDING NIGHTMARES
4.5
4.8
RISK OF RAIN
SEVERED
VOLUME
4.5
AXIOM VERGE
1 3 53 1.0 GB
4.5
7 5 16 1.0 GB
ODDWORLD: NEW 'N' TASTY
4.5
5 9 22 1.2 GB
CROIXLEUR SIGMA
4.4
2 1330 816 MB thevitalounge.net
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