Motorstorm RC

Free games can be hit and miss, especially on mobile devices.  Take for instance all of the crap apps and "games" that get released for the various iDevices.  It's all just terrible.  Every once in a blue moon, however, you'll find that one free game that's actually worth downloading.  I have found that game for this moon cycle, and it's Motorstorm RC on the PS Vita.

Yeah, powered by Scion.

This game was released on the PS3 and later came to the PS Vita in March for free.  I snatched it up off the PS Store on day one, as I had basically just gotten the system and was looking for more games to experience.  At first I scoffed at it and balked at the controls.  Later, after I got more used to them, I began to enjoy the game.

Reminds me of the Micro Machines games.

The concept isn't much different than your normal racer, other than you're racing an RC car instead of a real car.  The 16 tracks are scaled down to fit the size of the cars, and each one has it's own flavor, which keeps the game fresh as you play the four different game modes.  To keep the game as real as possible, the controls are set in such a way that it makes you feel like you are actually controlling the car; like you're using the remote that controls it rather than playing a game with a controller.

The graphics are a bit lackluster, but since it's free, I can't really complain.  The same could be said of the sound.  There is a decent array of cars to unlock and choose from, and even some online leaderboards to compete against.  Compared to other free games out there for the Vita, like Montezuma Blitz, this is actually what you would expect from a video game.  I would recommend this any day of the week; like today...I'm recommending it today.

See?  Just like Micro Machines on the NES.

Asphalt: Injection

There have been a couple of racers released for the PSVita to date, but most of them have gotten some terrible reviews, for good reason.  Mod Nation Racers and Ridge Racer are both some pretty awful games, but I'm not here to talk about crap today, I want to talk about the exception of the group: Asphalt: Injection.  To be honest, I've only played the demo, so this is going to be a pretty short review that's based solely on what I've been able to experience.

Probably the most bland screen ever.

As you can see, the game doesn't look that great from a graphical perspective, and thus doesn't push the Vita to it's full potential.  It looks pretty much the same as if you were to buy it on the iOS.  It looks okay, but not what we would expect from a cutting-edge gaming system that's boasting the best handheld graphics on the market today.

The game play is similar to your normal Arcade racer.  You drive as fast as you can while alternating between drifting and boosting with the nitro you collect from pickups or "stunts" like getting air time on a jump.  The controls are pretty simple and only rarely will you not finish in the top three places of a race.  Touch mechanics are limited here and the only one to speak of is the back touch screen that allows you to manually shift.  It's kind of neat, but its not a game-changer in any way.

FP view in the garage is kind of a fun addition, useless, but fun.

There are a lot of unlockables, based upon how many stars you get during races, and a lot of top name car manufacturers.  We're not looking at the same amount as Forza or Gran Turismo, but there's still an impressive library considering that this is a handheld system.  One thing that's kind of annoying is that you are unable to determine what cars you own unless you are in the garage.  So in the shop, you can't determine which cars you already own versus those that you don't; they all show the price and if they are locked or unlocked.  Different paint schemes allow for some customization for you to make your cars yours.  Tons of tracks are also available, though many are recycled from past Asphalt games.  I haven't personally played the other games so they were all new to me and that downside didn't really come into play during the demo anyway.

All-in-all, this game is pretty good, but there are a few issues that would deter me from buying it.  Considering that the iOS version is $0.99 and the Vita version is $30+, it might not be a good buy unless you really, really want it on your PSVita or don't have an iDevice and are looking for a good racing game for your new handheld.  My advice in that situation is to buy this and stay far away from Mod Nation and Ridge Racer, those just flat out suck.

Sumioni: The Dark Arts, a haiku

Since it is very difficult to wirte an entire post on an iPad, I've decided to try my hand at a more creative form of review...creative and short. Believe me, that this is really hard to type all hunt and peck~like.

Sumioni arts,
game of ink and platforms brushed,
leave it to Rayman.

Army Corps of Hell

If you think the title is awful, wait until you play the game.



Don't be fooled by the fact that SE was involved.

 The idea behind this game is that you're controlling an army of minions, in this case they are goblin-looking things, and you need to fight your way through hellish landscapes to regain your position in the ranks.  The core game play has you moving your skeleton general around from platform to platform while you throw your minions at whatever assortment of monsters jumps up at you for the 50th time.

Once you chuck a few of your little guys onto an enemy they start using whatever weapon they're equipped with based upon the type of minion they are.  Soldiers use swords, Spearmen are obviously equipped with spears, and Magi use staves.  Each type of minion has a different special attack and are useful against different enemies.  Soldiers generally do the most damage with a special attack, Spearmen attack monsters that come close to them, and Magi have a good distance strike.  There's not much else to this thing; you move from stage to stage killing things with the same old strategy.  It gets boring very quickly.

It's tricky; looks like it could be good, but it's really not.

To spice it up a bit, you can alter the # of each minion type you have in your army at one time.  Some combos are better than others, but for the most part it doesn't really matter.  The customization options are very limited.  There are different weapons and items to create, you collect materials to make them from fallen monsters, but there's very little reason to not use the newest one that you've created.  Why allow for customization if it doesn't matter?

You can also equip different hats for your minions and different cloaks for your general.  Once again though, the newest one is going to be the best and you run into the same issue with the weapons and items.  IF the customizability was better, this could be a fun game.  I've already mentioned that the combat is really bland, but even more bland is the variety of enemies you encounter. 

You fight the same stupid creatures over and over again.  Once you've seen a set of monsters, the game switches it up by changing their colors and adding an ability.  Yeehaw.  Honestly, I could only play this game for up to ten stages, and after that I just gave up because I couldn't stand it.  I think the only thing that I was really impressed with in this entire pile of crap was the music; that was freaking awesome.  It's all heavy-death-metal-ish and not anything like the rest of the game.  I would buy the soundtrack for this game any day.

I expected a LOT more from Square-Enix's first title on the PSVita, especially since it's a strategy game.  I know that the Vita is still pretty new and that the system is still finding its own niche of games, but this garbage shouldn't have ever existed.  The worst part is that it's basically a horribly butchered Overlord port from the Xbox 360.  Overlord featured similar combat and customization options, but fleshed it out more.  You get a castle, a forge, different spells, etc.

Had SE taken even a small amount of the lessons that came from Overlord, I could have seen Army Corp of Hell being a decent game.  Since they decided to go a different direction, I feel like this is one of those few times where they really fucked up.  I expected more from you Square-Enix.

PS Store or Xbox Live Marketplace?

In recent months I've been able to experience the PS Store.  Since my main console of choice at the moment is still the Xbox 360, I can't help but compare the two online stores to hopefully come to a decision on which is better.  It also has to be said that the version of the PSN that I'm using happens to be on the Vita, so the features of the network are limited by a mobile version so I won't be comparing the Xbox Live features to the PSN ones, that just won't work with the discrepancies in the versions.  Hence, we'll just talk about the shopping experience.

I think the biggest item on everyone's mind when it comes right down to it is the price of the games.  Full-fledged video games, those released in stores and as a downloadables, are priced the same as what they are in stores.  A brand-new 360 game hits the $60 price range while a PSVita game lands at about $40.  Since both networks seem to price their download games at the same rate, equal to that of a physical copy, neither have an advantage.  However, when we come down to the prices of other games, things change.  Advantage: Neither

On the Vita there's the option to download full PSP games, the prices on these range from $5-30 depending on how recent the release was.  The most common games hit the $10-15 amount.  When we look at how the 360 compares, we see that the original Xbox games that are out there don't get quite as low priced as the PSP games.  Though we're looking at the difference between a console game and a portable game, I still think that the PSN gets the advantage here.  I'd much rather get FFT for $10 than some crappy original Xbox game like Prince of Persia.  Advantage: PSN

PS Store on the Vita.

I want to talk about Apps even though the Xbox 360 is a console and the Vita is a new mobile device.  Essentially I'd just like to compare Netflix, since both systems have that as an option.  Neither really beats the other, Netflix is Netflix, and I'm sure we'd see the same when we compare the two Facebook apps to one another.  Advantage: Neither

Let's now talk about Safety and Security...  The PSN track record is awful, we all know that.  I've had my Xbox Live account hacked into though, while my PSN account is still perfectly fine.  Even though my Live experience has been worse than my PS Store one, I have to give the advantage to the Marketplace here.  Even when I had problems, my issues were resolved successfully with my money being returned within a two week time period.  On top of all of that I got a free month of Xbox Live for the issue.  The PSNs recurring issues and vulnerabilities are just too much.  Advantage: Xbox Live

How the Marketplace is organized is pretty aggravating.  You have to figure out what category the game you want is in; Indie, Arcade, full, etc; and then navigate there to find it.  The PS Store is essentially the same way, so there's really no deviation between the two.  I find that both frustrate me unless I know exactly where I'm going, and browsing is usually out of the question.  Advantage: Neither

Last, but not least, let's talk about content.  What do both of these network stores contain?  Obviously we're looking at games the whole time, but what kind of games?  The PS Store has cross-play, PSP, PSVita and Mini games.  The Marketplace has Arcade and Full.  Now, the PSN may have some more variety, but the Arcade for Xbox Live is a powerhouse for games like The Simpsons and X-Men.  However, both systems have a large amount of Indie games, and I hate Indie games...violently hate them.  So with the Indie games balancing out, I have to give the Marketplace kudos for content; bringing back awesome Arcade titles just can't be beat.  Advantage: Xbox Live


Okay, so I can't come up with a clear winner, but, hey, who cares?  I'll have fun getting demos and games from both of the networks and take advantage of the best of both worlds.  Did you really think there'd be a different outcome?