It’s been a while since we put some joystick time in with Street Fighter X Tekken, and since our last preview there’s been new characters and new controversial game mechanics announced. While the build we played didn’t have the new gems system usable yet, we did get to fool around with the new characters and try out the new Pandora system.
Hustle Kings for Vita is about as pure billiards as it can
get – it’s all about hitting balls into other balls and then into some holes. Everything
about it is designed to give the authentic pool experience without having to
navigate around some drunk dude at the nearest bar...
Like
the idea of creating your own electronic music but find the actual process of
fiddling with software a bit tedious? Sound Shapes for the PS Vita makes use of
dual touch panels to allow quick and intuitive song-making, with the added
bonus that your songs are also playable 2D platforming levels. We played the
game recently...
As
the wait for Diablo III stretches out to an agonizing length, more and more
games are seeking to fill the gap. Ruin is a console take on the
dungeon-crawler, calling itself a “social action-RPG.” It features a nifty bit
of tech: you can play it either on your PS3 or your PS Vita, with your save
game transferring between the systems, so you can play on your big TV and home
and then head out into the world...
Don’t
be fooled by Escape Plan’s bland title: this PS Vita game has personality
dripping off it like sweat off a stockbroker slipping through the throngs on
the street to get to his office. It’s a game that highlights the playfulness of
the Vita’s front and back touch panels, where the player directs two lovable
ghost-faced lumps via swipes and taps, navigating...
Whether or
not Rayman Origins actually stands a chance in hell when it arrives in stores
next month remains to be seen, but judging by what we’ve played so far, it
certainly deserves to. It’s vibrant, fast and beautifully animated like few
other games out there, 2D or otherwise. It’s also surprisingly fun, with inventive,
cleverly designed levels that range from quick, easy romps to crushingly
difficult speed runs. Most importantly, though, it has an “OK, just one more
level” appeal that sucked us in and kept us playing for hours longer than we
intended.
That may be too
generous for a preview. We’ve only been able to play through about the first half
of the game, after all, so it’s entirely possible that Origins turns to crap
right after that. Possible, but unlikely...
From Dungeon Defenders’ description alone, it may sound like
the developers at Trendy Entertainment may have bitten off more than they can
chew. But from our experience playing the game, it looks to be combining the
mix of gameplay styles together quite nicely. We had a chance to run through
some of the early levels in our hands-on demo with the developers and get a
small taste of this surprisingly deep downloadable experience...
On
the show floor of Tokyo Game Show, space is at a premium, with crowds all over
the place, and based on the gigantic lines for most titles, it seems the PS
Vita is most popular with attendees. That’s no surprise as this is its public
debut in Japan, but it makes getting your hands on a Vita title incredibly
difficult. Fortunately, one of the first titles we finally got a shot at was
Square-Enix’s just reveal Army Corps of Hell. With over-the-top violence and a
heavy metal aesthetic, you might not think it would remind you of Nintendo
classic Pikmin, but the similarly light RTS gameplay style quickly made this
one of our early favorites planned for the Vita launch...
With PS Vitas
in short supply at this year's TGS, we were pleased to be able to sit down in a
quiet spot off the show floor and play the TGS demo of Lumines: Electronic
Symphony. From our brief time with the game, it looks like Electronic Symphony
is poised to be the puzzle game for Vita as the original Lumines was for PSP...
Since it was first announced for the PS Vita back in January,
Resistance: Burning Skies has been something of a mystery to us. All we really
knew was that it would be a spinoff, and that it was being developed by
Nihilistic, the studio behind 2007’s Conan, Marvel Nemesis and PlayStation Move
Heroes. And while that’s not the most promising track record, any fears about
Burning Skies’ quality were put to rest after a brief hands-on with its
slick-looking demo...