Category Archives: PS Vita

Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso Review

Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso Review

After picking up a Nintendo Switch last July, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the right Japanese game to be my first import purchase for the system. Since the Switch is region free, that means it’s much easier (and cheaper!) than importing things for the Nintendo 3DS. When I heard San-X’s adorable Sumikko Gurashi characters would be getting a Switch game, titled Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso, I knew that I’d have to pick it up!

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Crafty Pixel: Jigglypuff Vita Case

The craft bug strikes me often, but it’s not often that I actually finish a crafty endeavor I start. In the case of practical items, however, necessity requires me to complete them so I can actually use them, so when I decided none of the Vita cases available at retail were anywhere near cute enough for my extremely discerning tastes, I had to come up with something on my own and have it ready to go in a flash.

Game case for size comparison/aesthetic purposes only, of course
A “flash” is a very relative term – I’d say I spent about 3 months on and off working on it, but I never really put more than a few minutes to a half hour on it at a time, and often went weeks without doing any work on it at all. The only thing that forced me to sit down and actually get it to a usable state was my US trip back in December, since I wanted to bring my Vita with me! I don’t really consider it finished, as I’d like to add a button hole for the flap someday, but right now I’m just happy that it keeps my Vita out of harm’s way. 
For the craft-curious, I made the pouch out of felt and embroidery thread, and it was entirely hand-sewed. The Jigglypuff is based off the very adorable Jigglypuff design for the Pokémon Time series of goods (you can find the picture I used as reference on this lovely site). 
I wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means, but I’m pretty happy with how it came out! It’s a really great feeling using something you’ve made – hopefully I’ll get off my lazy butt and do more projects like this in the future.

Thoughts on three recent and radically different game demos

What do fashion shows, deranged nurses, and a talking rabbit have in common? They just so happen to feature in the three game demos I played over the last week! The first week of October was surprisingly busy for game demos, and though I don’t usually jump at the sight of a new demo, all of these happened to be titles I’m interested in enough to give them a shot. I know you’re dying to see what titles I’m talking about (or have you guessed already?), so I’ll cut right to the chase.

Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PS Vita)
It probably won’t surprise any of you to hear that I’ve never properly played a Silent Hill title before. I’ve played and watched various segments of Silent Hill 2 (mostly the beginning, along with the infamous pyramid head scene), and though I know a good deal about the series in general, I don’t particularly have a huge investment in it, nor do I know enough about the games to have a discussion on them. Taking that into account, I was still surprised when I heard that Book of Memories was going to be an RPG. “A Silent Hill RPG? Now that’s something I’ve got to see!” accurately sums up my reaction to the news that the demo was finally up on the North American PSN.
As you can see from the image above (have I ever mentioned how much I love the PS Vita’s screen capture function?), I wasn’t horribly creative with my character, choosing to go for the gothic lolita look and generic goth gal name Alice. Did you know my parents almost named me Alice? Well there’s your random Chic Pixel trivia for the day! 

So, how does it play? I came out pleasantly surprised and satisfied with my time with the Silent Hill: Book of Memories demo. I didn’t find the areas and overall graphical style very appealing, but the gameplay was interesting and made great use of the PS Vita’s touch screen to pick up/use items and weapons. I’d go so far as to say that this game has the best mixture of traditional and touch screen controls I’ve seen on the PS Vita since launch! 
Gameplay consists of exploring various rooms in a randomly-generated zone, battling classic Silent Hill enemies, and collecting puzzle pieces to unlock the door to the next area. All traditional RPG elements are present, including experience points and artifacts that can be equipped for a range of stat boosts. There’s also a heavy multiplayer element that is apparently included in the demo, but honestly I couldn’t figure out how to get a multiplayer sessions going! Will I pick it up on launch? Probably not, as I’m generally more interested in more story-driven RPGS, but this demo has definitely convinced me that Silent Hill: Book of Memories is not some throwaway spinoff. 
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (PS Vita)
The second PS Vita demo I sank my teeth into (figuratively, of course) was for the upcoming sequel to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, the graphic adventure/visual novel for the Nintendo DS which has subsequently been rebranded as Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. For the record, I have played 999, and I definitely consider it one of the standout titles on the DS. The mixture of interesting puzzle segments, a gripping and surprisingly mature story, and gorgeous character designs quickly earned it a special place in my heart, and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel’s English release ever since. 

Like 999, Virtue’s Last Reward features a deadly game that forces its participants to use their wits and make some difficult choices in order to escape from the compound they’ve inexplicably found themselves in. This time around, the game is known as the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition (for reference, 999‘s game was just the Nonary Game) that requires its participants to either betray or cooperate with the other players in an effort to obtain the necessary 9 BP (“bangle points”) needed to escape. In all honestly, I still don’t quite understand how this system works, but in my defense it didn’t really factor into the demo, which only featured a short visual novel segment that introduced the story and an escape portion that focused entirely on escaping from a certain area. 
As always, Aksys’ translation is quite humorous, and I regularly found myself chuckling at the quirky dialogue. The gameplay also remains true to its roots: Virtue’s Last Reward requires you to work out a series of puzzles that involve investigating the world around you, and since this is the PS Vita version (it’s also coming to the 3DS, but the demo is PS Vita-only at this time), there are a lot of touch screen controls. I’ll admit that after playing the Book of Shadows demo I felt like the touch controls here were a little more difficult to get used to, and I often found myself doing actions I didn’t intend to. 

The visual novel section features a quick introduction to the game’s story that, in all honesty, didn’t really grab me, which was unfortunate, but I’m still (perhaps naively) confident that the actual story will end up being just as engrossing as 999‘s was. One final quibble: I wish the game retained the 2D character illustrations of its predecessor rather than making the jump to 3D models, but I can understand why they made that decision. But can you just imagine how lovely Kinu Nishimura’s gorgeous art would be on the PS Vita’s screen? I know I can! 
Honestly, it sounds like I was rather underwhelmed by this demo, and I suppose I untimately was, but that’s only due to the fact that I have such high hopes for this sequel. It’s still something I’m planning on playing –– I just hope the story delivers. 

Style Savvy: Trendsetters (3DS)
Of course, I’ve saved the best for last! Yes, I’m not kidding, and yes, I can just imagine you all side-eyeing me very hard right now. If a game titled Style Savvy: Trendsetters doesn’t sound like something that will appeal to you from the get-go, I certainly won’t try to convince you otherwise, but I’m happy to report that the demo has proven itself to be a competent fashion game and not just another shovelware title destined for bargain bins and 5-year-olds. 
The first notable thing about this demo is that it only gives you a measly five tries, rather than the full 30 that usually come with 3DS demos. Funnily enough, though I never use more than one or two of my alloted demo plays, this is the one title that I think I’ll actually run out of tries for. The reason for this is that though Trendsetters only gives a sample of one portion of the game, the fashion contest, there are at least two different themes you can compete in, each with different clothing choices, and a wide range of randomly-selected models to choose from. At the time of this post, I’ve played through the demo four times (all on one “use” since I didn’t exit out of the demo itself), and have tried both the “pop” theme and the “bold” theme (for the record, I got pop three times and bold once, which leads me to believe these are the only options). 
I guess I must not be very style savvy (pun intended), since it took me all four tries to get first in the competition. The fashion contest pits you against three other stylists, and it’s your goal to select and dress a model according to the theme with the goal of being the best representation of that theme on the catwalk. I’m really not sure how the game determines what’s fashionable and what’s not, but there are certain clothing brands that it indicates as fitting better with certain themes. The above two images are my winning coordinate for “pop,” and I thought I was just phoning it in, so who knows. 
Regardless, if you have any interest in fashion, Style Savvy: Trendsetters should definitely keep you happy. The full game has you managing your own store, among other things, and I must admit it’s a title that I’m extremely looking forward to picking up. Also, it gets major props for featuring lolita fashion and allowing you to dress men as well as women! 
So, did you play any of these demos, or are any of these titles on your radar? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

The “animefication” of Little King’s Story

I don’t believe I’m the only one who noticed that the new art direction for the sequel to Little King’s Story, titled The King, The Demon King and the 7 Princesses: New King Story (now that’s a mouthful), differs significantly from the original. Case in point:

King Corobo from Little King’s Story
“New and improved” King Corobo

I would be lying if I said I didn’t like his new character design at all, as I actually quite like the illustration above, but the fact of the matter is the original had such a unique, quirky art style that has been completely thrown out the window. I assume the majority of the reasoning behind the vast change in art style stems from the fact that anime/manga style art appeals to a much wider audience. With developer Cing dissolved, Marvelous Entertainment probably has free reign to do what they wish with the intellectual property rights. As such, we get this:

Who put thighs and ass in my Little King’s Story? Granted, shots like these are stills from event scenes and probably make up a small percentage of the game, but it’s clear that the series has a new, much more mainstream, direction. With early reports from Famitsu stating that the game will even have “love elements,” it sounds like New King Story is very much trying to catch the attention of a certain crowd. 
In-game screenshot from Little King’s Story 
New King’s Story. As you can see, the in-game graphics are ever-so-slightly more realistic. 
It’s sad to see such an original-looking title changed so drastically for what I can only assume to be an attempt to garner better sales. Though I don’t mind the new art direction, it looks too much like so many other games out there already. Little King’s Story‘s King Corobo was so iconic, but the Corobo from the new title? Not so much. 
Regardless, I’ll still be picking this one up when it’s released in the west (it’s already out for the PS Vita in Japan). And that’s even without having played Little King’s Story. I own it, I just haven’t gotten around to it, okay? Oh, the shame! 

The Vita Post

The things the King of All Cosmos says will never get old.

As you may be aware, a certain beefy little handheld finally made its way overseas on the 23rd (22nd if you live pretty much anywhere but Australia) of February. What do we call it? The PS Vita? Playstation Vita? PSV? Or simply… Vita?

Well, regardless of how you prefer to refer to it (I’ll be calling it the “PS Vita”), it is definitely one fine piece of hardware. You may already know where this post is leading, but to cut to the chase: Yes, I bought one. Not only bought, but Shaun and I preordered an Australian one, making it the first console I’ve ever preordered, let alone picked up on launch day.

My reasoning for this was twofold: My colleagues over at VGW were heckling me to get one, mostly due to the fact that they needed someone with my area of gaming expertise (read: someone who’ll play all those weird Japanese games) who could pick up a few of the titles in the console’s mighty launch lineup. Not only that, but I’ll begrudgingly admit that I only just bought my first PSP last year, and it was used. Shaun and I absolutely love the PSP, and if the PS Vita turns out to be half as good as that system was, I want to give Sony my support (read: cold, hard cash).

Factoring in some exciting titles to look forward to and the fact that Shaun unblinkingly responded with a simple “yes” when I told him I was thinking of getting one meant that come 10 am on Thursday the 23rd, a beautiful new PS Vita was all ours for the unboxing.

Title-wise, I got hard copies of Touch My Katamari and Shinobido 2, along with a download voucher for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, all for reviews. As Touch My Katamari was the main launch title I was interested in, I haven’t felt the need to purchase any of my own games yet.

By the way, have you seen how small these cartridges are?

Teeny tiny!
The cases are extremely small and thin, too. Makes sense, considering that
they don’t contain a manual as a rule (anyone who is interested in holding a
funeral to commemorate the death of the physical game manual is more than
welcome to join me).

I tried to get a few pictures of the system itself, but unfortunately it’s a bit too glossy for me to get a proper photo of. But you all have seen it already, right?

I was told many times before I actually had the PS Vita in my own grubby hands that the system really shines when you get some hands-on time with it. I have to say, I wholeheartedly agree. Though the system looks a little bulky, and it does have some weight to it, it feels great to hold and even better to play with. The directional and command buttons have a real weight when you press them, and the dual analog sticks feel great, albeit a little small. Touch screen functionality is integrated seamlessly into the system’s control panel, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the in-built camera.

Basically, the PS Vita is my equivalent of hardware porn. I was still waiting for my games to come in on launch day, but I’ll be darned if I didn’t just pick up the Vita and turn it on 10 times over the course of the afternoon, just so I could hold it. Yes, my husband thinks I’m crazy.

But what about the launch lineup?

The built-in screenshot function is amazing, if a little hard to execute in some games.
In this screen I’m playing as the pink girl, Platinum, my new favorite BlazBlue character. 

Of course, you won’t find me commenting on such AAA releases as Uncharted: Golden Abyss or the latest shiny Wipeout racing game, but I can tell you about the few Japanese titles I’ll be reviewing.

Touch My Katamari – This was, without a doubt, the title I was most looking forward to. Touch My Katamari is very standard Katamari fare, so if you’re a fan of the series, there’s a lot to like here. I don’t want to spoil my review, so click the link to check it out if you’re interested. Needless to say, I really enjoyed my time with the game, but it was much too short. I beat every single level the game had to offer (and there were a number of repeats from past Katamari titles) in just about 3 hours. Disappointing, but boy, does it look great on the Vita!

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend – A beautiful portable version of BlazBlue: Contiuum Shift. It not only contains the DLC characters from the PS3/Xbox 360 versions, but another new character and dozens of modes to sink time into. The only problem I’ve had with it so far are the load times, and a nasty bug that causes the screen to freeze randomly when a battle is loading while playing in arcade mode (this has happened to me every time I’ve played arcade mode). I’m not sure if this problem is something wrong with my download or not, but I did find someone with a similar issue over in the GameFAQs forums. I’ve contacted Aksys PR to see what’s up. Review forthcoming.

Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen – I honestly don’t know if there’s anything good I can say about this one. It looks and feels like a PS2 title, and the controls are finicky and annoying. The ninja gameplay mechanic is fun, but this title doesn’t do anything that the original Shinobido or the Tenchu titles didn’t do better. In fact, Shaun played Shinobido on the PS2, and agrees that Shinobido 2 feels like more of a glorified port than a sequel. Review forthcoming.

All in all, I’m more than happy with my Vita. The possibility of playing PSP titles downloaded from the PSN with enhanced graphics is another great bonus – I even purchased a copy of Half-Minute Hero just so I could see how great it would look. Though the battery life is nowhere near good enough and there isn’t an amazing new must-have JRPG for the system yet, I do not in any way regret purchasing the system on launch.

Did any of you grab a PS Vita, or are you thinking of getting one? If you’re on the fence and want to ask me some questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!