Sony’s PS Vita has certainly had a hard year. Low sales and lack of developer support has fed the “Sony Is Dead” articles that have infested the internet over the past year.
It’s not all that bad though, sales are picking up and great games are on the way. So if you’ve made the plunge and got yourself a PS Vita, you’re going to need some game to play on it. Undecided? No problem, this list will steer you in the direction of portable fun at its finest.
In no particular order…
1. Frobisher Says!
Lets start with a freebie, because who doesn’t love a freebie?
Frobisher Says! is a game where you must answer to the every whim of a bossy little English brat. Granted, it may not sound appealing, but trust me, it’s worth your time (and memory card space.)
Filled to the brim with manic mini games that forces you to use each and every one of the PS Vita’s features, you’ll be stirring soup, delivering pudding and fanning passengers on the bus.
Yes, it’s mental, but it’s also fun and best of all, FREE! What a way to start your collection.
2. Uncharted: Golden Abyss
If you’ve played through the awesome Uncharted series on the Playstation 3, you know what to expect.
Set before Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Golden Abyss puts you in the dirty jeans of Nathan Drake in a brand new, original adventure tailor made for the PS Vita.
Gameplay wise, it’s top notch. Sony Bend have managed to capture what made Uncharted brilliant on the Playstation 3, then released it on the PS Vita.
Tight controls which are only possible due to the dual analog sticks, superb graphics, on par with the first Uncharted title, and a long and involving single player story will keep your thumbs busy for many hours. Then once you’ve beat the story, which clocks in at around 12-15 hours, you can go back and beat the game on higher difficulties and mooch about for collectibles.
There’s no multiplayer, but the main focus of the Uncharted series has always been the epic stories and fleshed out characters. Uncharted: Golden Abyss is no different.
3. MotorStorm RC
Next on the list is a cheap and cheerful downloadable title, MotorStorm RC.
A cheap racer that costs less than a fiver? Yep, it’s possible, and what’s more is that it’s actually pretty damn good.
MotorStorm RC is a top-down racer that has you race, as you may have guessed, RC cars. It might sound a bit daft and childish, but it’s a great time killer and can be played in either small bursts or in bed until the wee hours of the morning. I know, I did it yesterday.
The controls are a bit fiddley to get the hang of, but once you do, you’ll be zipping around the huge list of tracks like a pro, unlocking the massive library of RC cars. There’s also some DLC to keep it all fresh once you’ve beaten everything in the game, but that takes ages.
The hook with MotorStorm RC is the asynchronous multiplayer which will have you trying to beat the latest time set by people all over the world. It’ll keep you going back to the courses you’ve already done a hundred times, just so you can beat the sucker who dared to beat your best time.
4. Need For Speed Most Wanted
Another racer for the list, but this ones a bit different.
Alright, it’s a lot different, and it’s bloody brilliant!
Need For Speed Most Wanted is basically the same game that was released for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, albeit with toned down graphics and a little less traffic, and only four player multiplayer instead of 8.
Not that any of that matters, Need For Speed Most Wanted more than stands on its own two feet on the PS Vita, offering the same open city for you to explore, races to get into and an online multiplayer that works damn well.
If racing is your thing, and Need For Speed is your racer of choice, I make a personal promise to you that if you for any second don’t enjoy this game, I will give you £1. That’s right, a full £1*, that’s how confident I am that you will only find enjoyment with this nifty racer.
5. LittleBigPlanet Vita
If you want a full review of LittleBigPlanet Vita, read our review here, otherwise, keep reading for the summary of why you should get this.
A platform game that becomes a platform for games is a novel idea, and probably the best one brought to gaming in a long time.
You’ve got your standard single player story mode which will take you on a bizzare ride, jumping, swinging, pushing and prodding as you use the PS Vita’s various input methods to traverse the set of levels. Along the way you’ll meet some weird and wacky characters and spend a lot of your time collecting all the collectible, of which they are many.
The single player mode is all good, but the highlight of the LittleBigPlanet series has always been the multiplayer and the user created levels.
It’s basically a game that keeps growing and morphing into whatever players think up in their amazing, and sometimes odd, minds. There’s literally thousands of user created levels for you to download and play, you could play ten different genres of games, all from within LittleBigPlanet Vita itself.
There’s no reason to not get this is you own a PS Vita. If you can give me a legitimate reason for not liking LittleBigPlanet Vita, I will personally, out of my own pocket, give you £1*.
6. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
The Assassin’s Creed series has grown phenomonallly since the first outing, and rightly so, it’s bloody good fun!
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation translates the console experience we’ve all come to love, and squeezes it all onto a tiny PS Vita game card. That alone is impressive, but then once you boot up the game and start running across the rooftops of Louisiana, you forget that you’re playing on a handheld.
It’s not without it’ faults though, for those who refuse to play anything in less than 60 fps, you might want to give this one a miss. When the action gets heavy the frame rate dips down, it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen and to be honest, I wasn’t personally bothered, but it’s only fair it gets a mention.
7. Rayman: Origins
2D sidescrollers a making a comeback, we’ve had quite a few popular ones over the last couple of years, but Rayman: Origins takes the biscuit.
Awesome platforming and the prettiest cartoon visuals since forever, you will find yourself in love again with the concept of running from left to right, and rightly so.
It’s more or less a straight port of the console version, but with some touchscreen features that help instead of hinder. Even if you’ve played it on the consoles, it’s definitely worth picking up on the cheap just to be able to take it on the road. Rayman: Origins is actually available quite cheap on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, so get on over there and snap it up.
*The £1 will be mailed in the form of a check, but the cost of mailing the check will actually cost more than £1, so you would end up owing me. Not that I mind that in the slightest…
What games have you got for the PS Vita? Or what games do you intend to get? Let us know in the comment below.