PS Vita: Putting the swagger back in PlayStation Portable

The Vita is alive! Well, it’s alive until the immediate software update required freezes the system (as reported by various users, though the situation should be resolved by now for those early adopters/importers). The February 22 U.S.launch is way closer than you probably think. The hardware is finalized, and now it’s all about pimping out the software that needs to drive the latest next generation of portable gaming.

PS Vita’s success or failure could have a corporation-shaking impact on the games industry. Those publishers that committed resources to support its launch could flourish or perish, while the parent, Sony, could see its empire commence a vital up tick or disastrous implosion, which given other reported woes it can ill afford.

PSP Go was a disaster. Anyone who didn’t see that coming wasn’t watching closely enough. Wrong product, wrong message, poor execution at the wrong time. That wasn’t the PSP we were looking for… PS Vita is.

Get this straight: I still own–and cherish–my 1.0 Japanese PSP. I also have the updated American version, and they both traveled the world with me as the perfect entertainment bundle in my hand. That screen. That slick style. So perfect if you could get the media you wanted on the device.

But I didn’t care for so many of the games. Crucially, the media options were so convoluted it was a nightmare to manage. I’m tech savvy, and getting videos from my computer to PSP was a DRM-dodging disaster. So the new PS Vita has baggage to dispense while it still projects a positive, exciting, and viable future. After spending an evening trying numerous launch- and post-launch games there many reasons to be enthralled while many questions are still to be answered.

On the enthralled side is the device itself. While it’s bulkier than its earlier cousins, the standout is the screen, as was the case with the first PSP. It’s simply beautiful. Large, crisp, and colorful, the screen oozes a next-gen sensibility. The system is also lighter than you’d expect (thanks largely to the removal of the UMD requirement). And, yes, has been often discussed, it comprises two, count ‘em, TWO analog sticks. Frankly, seeing this device makes me wonder who is still employed in the SCE hardware division in a post-PSP Go world given that “upgrade” missed the point so badly.

PS Vita has a point. From a gamer standpoint, the two analog sticks make a difference of such magnitude it’s hard to comprehend the full potential. They make Resistance relevant as it adds a cover system and detailed weapon choices integral to the gameplay. It’s controllable in traditional console style, and that, in itself, is so important. The fact that it fills story holes in the two years glossed over in the narration preceding  Resistance 2 doesn’t matter so much as the ability to play a great-looking, action intensive shooter while on the go.

The other significant hardware evolution is the integration of front and back touch screens. Here’s where it gets potentially tricky if developers try to crowbar in “features” for the sake of using these functions if they don’t necessarily fit so well with the core play mechanic. In Resistance Burning Skies that meant aiming and lobbing grenades using a sweeping motion on the screen… and while it’s kinda cool, it also took my hand off that second analog stick which, in the midst of battle, could be fatal. Still, you have to be impressed by the visual quality, and sheer, fundamental playability (though, oddly, adjusting to the two analogs and shoulder buttons, while taking advantage of the touch screens where appropriate may take a little more practice than you’d expect.)

Then you have games like Escape Plan, my standout pick from the night. With hints of Limbo (it’s black and white), and influences from other puzzlers, it’s still refreshingly original due to its control scheme. Each screen is a single puzzle, and evolves the usually frustrating format of requiring failure while you figure the successful route or manipulation of the environment (I invariably hate that forced death format, but didn’t here). Some obstacles need to be pushed from the back (rear touch screen), some from the front (front touch screen), some with combinations, and what I saw were the earliest levels no doubt barely scratching the surface of the creativity and opportunity–including tilt functions–that the new machine provides.

Among the rest of the line-up, Capcom’s Marvel vs. Capcom played extremely fluidly, with simple multiplayer hook-ups and the expected colorful roster and environments. Reality Fighters, meanwhile, is a different take on the beat-’em-up, utilizing more of the new system’s features for a less slick, but more customizable experience. It lets you take a picture of yourself and then, using Augmented Reality tech, allows you to smack around your opponent with the backdrop of your kitchen, garden, or wherever you happen to be. It keeps the pace of the fighting quick, and also offers a ton of customization options to create either the perfect replica of your smiling visage in-game, or go wild with crazier options. I’m sure this game’s success with fans will depend entirely on whether you have Vita-owning buddies nearby, as that proximity and familiarity adds its own layer of intensity to what seems a more straightforward action mechanic.

With games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and LittleBigPlanet all part of the launch, and Resistance to come shortly thereafter, the PlayStation’s heavy hitters should help drive awareness. We’ve not had the chance to play around with the media back-end so have many questions about how easy it is to manage your music or video content on the system. That’s a process possibly hampered by the proprietary SD card costs ($25 for 4GB, $35 for 8GB, $70 for 16GB, and escalating to a whopping $120 for 32GB). Still, it will have some apps, has Facebook and Twitter integration, and a few other functions to help keep you socially connected.

And it does look oh-so-sweet. So start saving now, here’s what you need to know about the options and bundles planed to be available on launch day, February 22nd.

* PlayStation Vita with Wi-Fi > $249.99

* PlayStation Vita with Wi-Fi and 3G option > $299.99

* PlayStation Vita First Edition (Wi-Fi and 3G version, with 4GB memory card, case, and Little Deviants game) > $349.99

So, will you be in line at your local electronics emporium for Sony’s latest handheld? Let us know what you think.

Rob Smith (@RobS_Machinima)

 

More of the PS Vita line-up:

PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES

Lawn of the Dead

Because it just isn’t a proper Zombie Apocalypse until absolutely EVERY place of refuge is threatened, the Vita Social Club’s lineup offered us the monster Popcap hit Plants Vs. Zombies, which translated well to the the Vita’s crisp screen.  Nothing terribly different—the controls as they exist in present mobile versions of the game certainly work well enough—but there was one minor new scheme that makes the game just that tiny bit more streamlined: Instead of having to jab at the screen constantly with your finger to snap up the falling sun-orbs, you can simply give the Vita a quick tilt to collect all of that wayward solar energy at once…

 

WIPEOUT 2048

Eat My Ionized Exhaust

And it sure as hell wouldn’t seem like a proper Sony plat-launch without a WipEout game. Luckily, you really have to go far out of your way these days to even try and screw up the looks of WipEout, and WipEout 2048 looks and plays gorgeously and smoothly on the Vita. W2048 employs the Vita’s new input methods, including the rear touchpad for acceleration and the touch-screen for firing weapons, as well as the obligatory general tilt-control for the various craft. Oh, and how about voice-activated weapons, courtesy of the Vita’s microphone? Pretty badass. Even bigger than that, W2048 offers true cross-platform online racing (handheld players versus PS3 Wipeout HD Fury), rooted in a ‘mission-based’ campaign structure (place in the upper half of the leaderboard, stick to the ‘higher decks’ of a given course, etc.), which sets its sights on allowing newcomer players an even chance to progress through the game and access new content.

 

HOT SHOTS GOLF: WORLD INVITATIONAL

Different Strokes

Rather strangely off the Vita Social Club’s clearly-on-display path (hidden in the rough, you might say) was another obligatory SCEA launch-title—Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational. This demo version spotlighted character creation and the first few holes of the vividly clement, feel-good Maple Leaf golf course. Two initial available characters, one male, one female—the former slightly more powerful on the drive, the latter possessing somewhat greater spin-control, neither overly cartoony—can be outfitted with a greater range of potentially hideous golfing duds and other look-at-me factors than could be found in earlier Hot Shots entries; shoes, pants, shirts, gloves, visors, clubs, handedness (and, of course, hair)—it’s all here to be tweaked. Mechanically, it’s still familiar Hot Shots turf, offering either the classic swing gauge or the option of a newer-fangled, circular accuracy/power UI. It’s all set amidst vibrant environments of lush, green, seaside fairways under blue skies (career-ruining text-messaging scandals sold separately).

 

MOTORSTORM RC

If you don’t like the way I drive, stay off the H.O.-scale track

MotorStorm RC is…well, kind of a head-scratcher. A miniaturized, Hot Wheels/MicroMachines-scale RC racing game in the unabashedly retro top-down vein of fondly-remembered videogame creekers like Super Sprint (or Super Off-Road)…muddied up a bit and slapped with the MotorStorm moniker. Don’t get me wrong, all those aforementioned elements sound great to this gamer’s ear, but while the general environments seem ostensibly cut from the cloth of previous MotorStorms (ice, sand, doomsday wasteland), the actual mechanics, tracks, and indeed vehicles really sort of …don’t. Lacking the series’ signature split-path tracks (at least on the tracks we know of), acrophobia-inducing jumps (and high-perch courses), pulse-racing viewpoint and even the Almighty Boost, there isn’t terribly much left to call patently MotorStorm. There is, however, the option to play against other players’ best-time ghosts, or to jump into four-player split-screen with the PSN version—whichever version you buy, Vita or PSN, you automatically get the other, and can share leaderboard data and challenges between the two. If you’re into that old-school, overhead-view racing—where indeed, every vehicle does resemble a little toy!—then MotorStorm RC is one Vita title you’ll want to check out.

Chris Hudak

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