Playstation Vita Console Review
Developer Sony
Publisher Sony
Platform PS Vita
Release date Out Now.
The follow up to the mighty PSP finally hit the stores last week attempting to right some of the previous generation’s wrongs. Not only does it correct previous omissions but is now firmly set as the market leader and sets a new standard for what handheld gaming is all about.
What many found was the Achilles heel for Sony’s first PSP was that it only had one analogue stick. A simple addition of a second stick to the Vita automatically makes all those shooters a much more natural experience.
But it doesn’t stop there in terms of new control features because the Vita is now boasting a whole host of touch controls all over its’ body. The explosion of smart phones and tablets has meant that the touch screen is very much at the forefront of fashionable devices. Sony has not only stuck one of the finest looking screens onto the Vita delivering stunning HD quality viewing but they have also fitted the best touch screen on the market, nothing comes close to it in terms of responsiveness.
For a long time bus riding gamers have had to struggle to play games on ill equipped phones, constantly battling with Apple’s terribly unresponsive touch screens, coupled with the iOS device’s lack of power and the company’s lack of gaming know how meant that the iStore games available are often cheap but not very cheerful, but to be fair the Apple devices are phones not consoles.
The Vita is a dedicated console first and foremost and this gives it a huge advantage. To match this huge advantage is its equally huge variety of games. Starting from your budget friendly Mini’s all the way up to the hard-core full retail games that on the move gamer’s have been crying out for. Gamer’s can expect to pay anything from 1 euro all the way up to 50 euro depending on your taste. PSOne games will come on stream soon and the Vita is also compatible with PSP games.
The Vita has a wide variety of control options built in. The front touch screen is mirrored by a touch pad on the back along with the internal gyroscope that gives you the six axis controls system similar to that seen in the PS3 control pads.
But let’s not forget the old favourite among all this talk of touch controls, the Vita also has good old fashioned buttons. This is what really sets it apart in the handheld market, gamers like pressing buttons. The vita has a D pad, 2 analogue sticks and four face buttons (that are a reduced size compared to the PS3 controller) and two shoulder buttons used for things like aiming and shooting.
So that’s the outside of the machine so what’s inside? Well an impressive amount of hardware lurks inside this tiny shell too including a 4 core ARM Cortex processor, 2 camera’s front and rear, built in stereo speakers and microphone, GPS, WI-Fi and 3Gmobile connectivity as well as Bluetooth.
Battery life depends on a number of things, Wi-fi and 3G being used, the screen brightness and the amount of work that the processor is doing while players are playing some heavy duty games but it will last for a good 5+ hours at full pelt. You can get much more out of it by switching off unnecessary power draining features.
One or two small issue with the console, the first is that the Vita itself does not come with any internal memory so a memory card is an additional purchase, quite a hefty one too with 4gb memory cards (enough to fit around 1 or 2 digital games) will set you back a further 20 euro. The second small issue is the same issue that arose with the PSP and that is people with larger hands developing very sore thumbs from trying to hold the device and play comfortably. It isn’t quite as bad as the PSP but nowhere near as comfortable as the PSP Go is to use.
This is Sony’s strongest launch to date, a console that is hitting the market with no competitors worth mentioning. A strong line up of dedicated games, matched with a huge back catalogue of PSP and Mini games to download.
The Games that are coming on stream very soon will really begin to show off what the console can do. The breath taking Wipeout and Uncharted are just the beginning, titles on the way include a brand new Resistance and Killzone as well as the ever popular COD franchise is set to hit the Vita within the year.
Overall :It’s awesome.
Score 9.5/10
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