To get in the Halloween spirit, the North American PlayStation Store is offering some killer deals on spooky and otherwise generally awesome titles. With a whole slew of PS3, PS4, and PS Vita games on this list, it may be hard to decide what to pick up, so here are five suggestions that have the Chic Pixel seal of approval! But don’t delay; the sale ends Monday, October 19th, so be sure to get your purchases in this weekend.
Who doesn’t love a good sale? While some companies are dragging their feet more on the digital sale front than others (I’m looking at you, Nintendo), Sony has been doing a great job of offering a lot of great deals for PS3, PS4, and PS Vita on the PlayStation Store (aka PSN). The North American PS store yearly summer sale is generally no different, but unfortunately the first week was not the thrilling kickoff I was hoping for. Luckily, they’ve turned it around with week two, which is chock full of super discounts on some great titles! But money doesn’t grow on trees, so I’ve narrowed it down to five games I think are most worth picking up this week.
My, how time flies! If the Official PlayStation Blog hadn’t mentioned it, I would never have realized that the PS Vita is now three years old. I bought mine on launch day and haven’t been shy about sharing my love for the somewhat neglected handheld, and while Sony hasn’t been extremely supportive of the system in recent months, it’s great to see them celebrating the occasion with a big digital sale!
In addition to the large list of titles on sale from this week’s PSN update until March 2nd, PS Vita owners will also be able to download the adorable Toro and Friends theme (normally $1.99) from February 26th until the end of the sale. There are also a couple of free items for Destiny of Spirits and Fat Princess – head over to the official post to get all the details.
While you can read the full list of games that are part of the sale over on the Official PlayStation Blog, I thought I’d take the opportunity to recommend a few of my personal picks from the list:
Atelier Rorona Plus, Atelier Totori Plus, Atelier Meruru Plus ($15.99 each with PS+) – If you haven’t had a chance to play any of the games in the Arland Trilogy of Atelier titles, I highly recommend picking at least one of the updated PS Vita versions up. While everyone has their own favorite, Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru are generally much more polished than the first game in the trilogy, Rorona, and the stories aren’t connected in a significant way that requires each title to be completed before moving on to the next. These RPG’s are prefect for portable play, and if you’re looking for something that is a little more relaxing than a regular JRPG, all three are great options.
Deception IV: Blood Ties ($15.99 with PS+) – I normally wouldn’t recommend a game I haven’t played, but I recently purchased a physical copy of Deception IV: Blood Ties solely based on my Nichiest Podcast Ever co-host shidoshi’s glowing recommendation. But let’s face it, how many games that came out in 2014 are based entirely around executing elaborate plans to murder people? That doesn’t sound creepy at all, right? Wait, where are you going?!
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd ($19.99 with PS+) – The Project Diva games are by far my favorite rhythm games on the PS Vita (not that there’s that much competition), and while they’re also available on the PlayStation 3, I highly suggest getting the handheld versions if at all possible. While 2nd is the only Project Diva game in the birthday sale, it’s definitely the better of the two, so I’d say it’s a great place to start. Even if you’re not sure you enjoy Vocaloid music, I can guarantee you’ll find at least a couple tracks to get your toes tapping! If I still haven’t sold you, check out my full review.
Monster Monpiece ($11.99 with PS+) – Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, this is the controversial game where you literally rub your PS Vita suggestively to level up your female monster cards. Funnily enough, the game is actually quite fun outside of the blatant fan service, which I could quite honestly do without. For only $12, though, I’d still recommend it as one of the only card battling games to ever come out in English! You just might not want to whip it out in public…
Unfortunately, my favorite games of 2014, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair aren’t part of the PS Vita’s 3rd birthday sale, but as you can see, there are still quite a few great titles that made the cut! I actually own nearly everything I’d want on the list, but I am eyeing Tales of Hearts R… If anyone’s played it, let me know if it’s worth picking up in the comments!
Unlike the first two games in the series, however, this is one that I couldn’t wait for a localization to purchase, so I went ahead and preordered a copy of the Japanese version after having my mind blown by Danganronpa 2 back in September. Of course, like many Japanese game releases, Danganronpa Another Episode came with some extras, so what better occasion to show them off than the game’s English localization announcement?
The box art for the game is stunning, as has been the case with the past two two titles in the series. Already, it’s clear that two female characters, Komaru Naegi (sister of Makoto Naegi) and Toko Fukawa, are central to the game. I also really dig the Revolutionary Girl Utena-vibe I’m getting from the roses and overall design, but I haven’t played enough of the game yet to say if the comparison is at all relevant. Luckily, NIS America has preserved the original cover art for the English release, though I think something was lost in the logo conversion…
The back of the box isn’t extremely exciting, but I really like the focus on black, red, pink, and purple, and how that carries through not only the game’s overall design, but the character designs themselves.
And would you look at that – an actual game manual, packaged with a game made in 2014! Ok, it’s just a single folded leaflet that briefly explains some basic gameplay and controls, but it’s still a lot more than most titles get these days, especially Vita games.
Because I preordered the game from CD Japan, I received this nice A4 poster of the protagonists. Again, I really love the color scheme! I haven’t figured out where I’ll hang this one yet, though. Honestly, I much prefer the strangely off-putting art of the first two games – I’m not as much of a fan of this cleaner/more anime-esque art style.
Finally, all preorders of the game, regardless of what store the preorder was purchased from, came with this adorable Monokuma cell phone stand. Now I can finally say I own a piece of Monokuma merchandise! Unfortunately, the opening on the top is too small for my new iPhone 6, so I’ll have to find some other use for it.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls will release on Vita in North America and Europe this fall (spring for fellow Aussie folk). That should be plenty of time for me to finish playing through my Japanese copy – honestly, it’s been so fun so far, I don’t know why I haven’t stuck with it! While the new action puzzle-based gameplay isn’t quite as snappy as the trials in the first two games, the story and characters pack more than enough punch to make up for it. If you haven’t had time to play the first two Danganronpa games yet, be sure you do so before Another Episode releases later this year!