Sony has responded by pressing the nuclear button for the launch of its rival console, with dozens of games on offer in the first month. Sony has responded by pressing the nuclear button for the launch of its rival console, with dozens of games on offer in the first month.
Sony’s new PlayStation Vita handheld has its work cut out keeping up with Nintendo’s revitalised 3DS. After an embarrassing number of “dry” months, Nintendo hit blazing form early this year with a string of major hits such as Super Mario 3D Land and Resident Evil: Revelations.
Sony has responded by pressing the nuclear button for the launch of its rival console, with dozens of games on offer in the first month, and serious gaming royalty from day one in the form of Uncharted, the Indiana Jones-esque PlayStation exclusive.
The new Vita version, Uncharted: Golden Abyss HHHH shows off that the machine is more than capable of delivering console-quality gaming on its 5in touchscreen - it’s superb to look at, and doesn’t dilute the gameplay. The problem is that the game isn’t quite as good as the PS3 Uncharted titles. The plot feels hastily made and the game feels less like a Hollywood blockbuster and more like a Mario-esque collect-em-up. It’s still the essential purchase for any Vita owner, but it’s lukewarm compared with the polished perfection of the PS3 games.
The other Vita titles are a mixed bag, to put it politely. Army Corps Of Hell HHH is a superb videogame idea fouled up with clumsy execution. You play Satan on a mission to reclaim Hell - but the game looks rotten, and the repetitive gameplay swiftly starts to make you feel like you’re in one of those Greek underworlds where people roll stones up hills for ever.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma HHHH is another outing for the athletic ninja series and is just as fast and furious on Vita. But the game has been released on different formats, and this new version adds little. Oddly, many of the best Vita games aren’t Vita games at all, they’re the huge library of PSP games available for download.
As PSP coughed its last and most British gamers ignored it, several cracking games came out quietly as downloads - best of which is Persona 3 HHHHH, a scary and odd Japanese role-player where you have to befriend people in a high school in order to acquire demonic powers to battle forces of darkness in a tower at night. It showcases fresh ideas that Western game developers could never come up with. - Mail on Sunday