Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Ratloop Asia
Genre: Side-scrolling shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Despite the high-minded aims that Sony has for the Playstation Vita, the truth is that one of the things for which it’s best suited is the old-school platformer. Developer Ratloop Asia has delivered just such an item with their Vita port of the PC/PS3 hit Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken, which takes the original game and juices it up a little bit to take advantage of the new handheld’s unique attributes.

All is not well in Albatropolis. An oppressive regime of evil penguins has taken over, led by their dictator, Putzki. A revolution has sprung up among the native fowl, but Putzki’s penguin army is too strong. But arriving to aid in the feathered uprising is Hardboiled Chicken, a one-bird commando squad toting a jetpack, nasty handguns and a bad attitude.

During the next several hours, you guide Hardboiled through 15 stages of combat, both in the air and on the ground. Controls are fairly simple — left stick to move, right shoulder button to fire one of the maximum of three weapons you can hold at one time (use the D-pad to switch between them), left shoulder button to throw grenades (aimed by drawing an arc on the Vita’s rear touch pad). Weapons are the standard handguns and rifles, but there’s one grenade that becomes vital to story progress: the brain bug. Launching one of these at your enemy allows you to take control of him, giving you a free pass to wipe out as many enemies as possible without danger to Hardboiled. But more importantly, possessing an enemy gets you access to elevator buttons and other items that aren’t within your reach as Hardboiled.

Playing through the various levels of Rocketbirds is a blast, once you get used to the controls, which can be tricky and can take awhile to master. Variety is a big plus in the design of the levels. You’re not tied to small corridors and platforms; in several of the levels you take to the skies for aerial dogfights with other jetpack-equipped characters and missiles. Jetpack fuel and ammunition are constantly draining during the battles, so you have to be on the lookout for falling parachutes containing supplies. Accompanying all of the action is an effective soundtrack of songs from the rock band New World Revolution, which keeps the gameplay lively. The game also features an interesting visual style, reminiscent of poster art from the World War II era.

Most of Rocketbirds is very cool to play, but it does suffer from the same problem that many early Vita games have: long load times. Reloading a save point can take 15 seconds or more, which can be annoying during long play sessions. The game includes a tilt-screen feature that allows you to see more screen areas, but I think I only really needed to use it once or twice throughout the three or four hours of my playthrough. The rear touch-screen grenade aiming mechanic is finicky, requiring the most tactile coordination of any control scheme in the game. Timing is also an issue when launching the brain bugs, since they hit the ground and bounce up into the air before detonating; fortunately you have an unlimited supply of the little buggers. As the game nears its conclusion, set-piece battles become more and more protracted and difficult, but the final confrontation with Putzki is merely an afterthought, a setup for the inevitable sequel. Also, Rocketbirds includes a two-player co-op mode accessible either ad-hoc or online, but the Internet-based co-op doesn’t include matchmaking, so you have to invite friends to play. Since none of my PSN friends own Vitas, I was unable to evaluate the multiplayer component.

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is the perfect Vita game. You can play it in small chunks and still progress, the controls are fairly simple, the action is fast and addictive, there’s a great sense of humor in the design of the story, and the addition of jetpack combat segments gives the game a great sense of variety. The long load times are a problem, and the ending is very unsatisfying, but anyone with a hankering for old-time platforming will find much to enjoy.

Our Score:
Our Recommendation:

© Michael Smith for The Adrenaline Vault, 2013. | Permalink | No comment(s)

Publisher: Beatshapers
Developer: Nurium Games
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

In these days when a high premium is placed on innovation, face-melting graphics and cinematic plots, it’s oddly comforting to spend a few hours with a good, old-fashioned gaming concept. Developer Nurium Games has provided us with just such a respite with BreakQuest: Extra Evolution, a shout-out to the long-gone days when all you needed in a game was a fire button and a joystick (and a stack of coins).

Remember Breakout? That vaguely Pongish game that had you bouncing a ball into a wall of rectangular blocks until the screen was cleared? This is basically what you get with BQEE, a remake of the original BreakQuest published for the PC in 2004, later ported to Mac and the PSP. BQEE features 100 colorful levels, each of which is completely different from the others. Your mission is the same as before: clear the screen of breakable objects. But this time there are a few little wrinkles. A shield gradually builds in strength at the bottom of the screen. Once activated with a press of the shoulder buttons, a replacement develops underneath it, which you can bring to the front should your original shield be destroyed (two hits from the ball are enough to wipe it out). Powerups drop from the top of the screen, some of which do more than just lengthen your paddle or divide the ball into three. Some change the shape of the ball, some add missiles and firearms to your paddle, and some do you more harm than good. And after every 10 screens there’s a boss battle, which offers new, sometimes frustrating challenges.

BQEE was originally a Playstation Mini, and it shows. No alterations have been made to the game to take advantage of the Vita’s advanced technology, so there’s no touchscreen or back touchpad integration. Controls are very simple: move the paddle with the analog sticks, launch the ball (and weapons) with the X button. Pressing Square or Circle alters the trajectory of the ball to help you get to those hard-to-reach targets, which is an excellent addition. Also, the ball never bounces in exactly the same direction off the paddle, avoiding the possibility of getting caught in a loop, as you could with the original Breakout. The levels don’t really increase in difficulty as you work your way through them. Instead, they increase in complexity, and sometimes they can be misleading; targets (and your paddle) can blend into the background, making it difficult to tell when the ball is going to bounce back at you, and at what angle. However, once you get into the habit of activating the shield and keeping it fully implemented, you can cruise through all 100 levels in a couple of hours.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is the kind of game that’s perfect for the handheld market. You can play it in short sessions when you only have a few minutes to spare, and it makes your commute or your visit to the laundromat feel shorter. Yet there’s a tremendous amount of creativity to be found here. It’s hard to take such a simple concept and make so many levels that are so individual in their look and character. It’s disappointing that no attempts were made to take advantage of the Vita’s abilities, and not being able to see targets or the paddle in certain levels led to a bit of frustration. But if you’re hankering for a bit of nostalgia with a modern wrapper, then this is the Mini for you.

Our Score:
Our Recommendation:

© Michael Smith for The Adrenaline Vault, 2012. | Permalink | No comment(s)

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Nihilistic
Genre: Shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

The Playstation Vita’s advanced hardware capabilities make it a prime candidate to bring the depth and detail of console shooters to a handheld for the first time. Developer Nihilistic has taken a dive into the Vita shooter pool and has emerged with Resistance: Burning Skies, a five-to-six-hour journey into the world created by Insomniac Games for the PS3. But like most first steps into a new world, this one takes more than a few wrong paths.

This isn’t the first time the Resistance series has arrived on handhelds (that honor would go to 2009′s Resistance: Retribution for the PSP). Whereas Retribution filled in the blanks between the first two PS3 games, Burning Skies fits nicely in the space between the last two. You play New York City firefighter Tom Riley, who responds with his company to a warehouse blaze and discovers an infestation of the Chimera, humans mutated by an alien virus that has caused massive death and destruction in Europe. After several skirmishes with Chimeran forces, Riley meets resistance fighter Ellie Martinez, who recruits him to help wipe the Chimeran scourge from the Big Apple.

Burning Skies controls just as if your PS3′s dual-shock pad had a screen implanted in the middle. The twin analog sticks control movement and camera, while the shoulder buttons handle aiming and firing the full collection of human and alien weapons. Icons on the right edge of the front touchscreen allow you to throw grenades or use Riley’s fire axe on enemies or obstructions. The weapon wheel (a favorite from the PS3 games) returns, allowing you to select the two weapons you can equip an any one time. And glowing blue cubes that you find scattered among the ruins can be used to upgrade your gear.

The visuals in Burning Skies are pleasing enough, although they don’t approach the amazing detail found in the current Vita graphics standard-bearer, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The path through Burning Skies‘ six chapters is unsurprisingly linear, with each level punctuated by a fairly simple boss battle (hit the glowy bits with the strongest weapon you have). The story throws in a curve ball or two, but it’s basically a shoot-anything-that-moves affair. Ammunition for some of the weapons can be scarce, but you’ll probably be able to finish the game without using several of them (unless you’re a trophy hound, of course, in which case this game is an easy Platinum). And composers Jason Graves and Kevin Reipl have created an excellent symphonic soundtrack for the game. Also on offer is an online multiplayer suite that includes three modes for up to eight players. The online play is lag-free with no voice support. Matches are short and surprisingly fun, which is high praise coming from someone who prefers to game alone.

But it’s the little things that can turn a good experience into an average, unmemorable one. You can’t skip the cutscenes that open each of the chapters, so every time you come back to the game you have to wait for the cinematic to end. Nihilistic has practically ignored the advantages offered by the Vita’s rear touchpad; the only thing you can do with it is double-tap to have Riley break into a run. Load times can be long, and the voice acting can sometimes be overwrought. Enemy AI can be surprisingly good, but just as often the Chimera can be dumb as a post. But most troubling is that you can’t start a new game from the beginning until you complete the first play; you can only replay individual chapters after you’ve finished them. I suppose you could delete the game from the Vita, reinstall it and start again, but who wants to go through all of that?

I’m a huge fan of the Resistance series, so I ended up quite disappointed with Resistance: Burning Skies. It’s almost as if Nihilistic was working on a version of the Vita hardware that was very different from the final device. The graphics are good but not great, and the rear touchpad is sadly underutilized. Mix in a merely average story and some overheated voice acting and you get a game that could’ve been much more than it turned out to be.

Our Score:
Our Recommendation:

© Michael Smith for The Adrenaline Vault, 2012. | Permalink | No comment(s)

Publisher: Beatshapers
Developer: Beatshapers
Genre: Arcade puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

PlayStation Vita, Sony’s fancy new handheld, released in early 2012 in North America with more than two dozen launch games. Many of them, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Unit 13, were the type of game that require a considerable time investment in each play session. But most adults who play portable game systems only really use them in small chunks of time, such as on public transportation or while waiting for the end of the final spin cycle. Developer/publisher Beatshapers has helped to fill this void with Stardrone: Extreme, a fast-paced, sometimes-maddening arcade game that only takes a few minutes of your valuable time for each addictive level.

Stardrone: Extreme is the small-screen version of Stardrone, an indie game for the PS3 and the PC that was a finalist at the 2011 IndieCade Independent Video Games Festival. At the beginning of each of Extreme‘s 60 levels, a tiny space ship is launched into a colorful maze of stars, obstacles and floating enemies. Energy beacons are placed at various positions in the maze. Once the ship is launched, momentum keeps it moving constantly forward. Your job is to guide the ship through the mazes by tapping the beacons, which send out gravity beams that attach to the ship. These allow you to alter its trajectory. The beams detach when lift your finger from the touchscreen (or the rear touchpad).

Each level involves one of three general objectives. In Collect All Stars, you have to pilot the ship through the maze, lighting up all of the stars by flying into them. Destroy All Enemies isn’t as simple as it might sound. A meter at the top of the screen fills up as you collect stars. When the meter is full, your ship turns into the Stardrone equivalent of Pac-Man after he swallows the power pill. While the ship is powered up, it can kill almost any enemy with one touch and can breach obstacles that would take many impacts while the ship is in its normal state. But the energy meter slowly drains after the ship is powered up, so you have to continue to kill enemies or light up stars to keep the power flowing. The third game mode has you simply guiding the ship through the maze to the exit point. This is the toughest of the three modes, since powerup opportunities are few and one missed tap on a gravity beacon can mean failure.

The controls for Extreme can’t be simpler — the only control is your finger. You aim the cannon by touching the screen; lift your finger to fire. After that it’s just touching and releasing the beacons to point the ship in the right direction. There are times when using the front touchscreen puts your hand between your eyes and the ship, which can be fatal in the increasingly complex later levels, so learning how to play with the rear touchpad can be a game-saver. The graphics are very colorful, almost psychedelic, set against the flat black backdrop of space. And the music and sound effects remind me of old arcade games, effective and strangely memorable. Some of the enemies require more than one hit to destroy; it almost sounds like they’re laughing at you when you hit them the first time. Also, cross-platform play with the PS3 is supposedly coming through a PS3 patch.

Only a couple of things get in the way of Extreme success. Each level includes a minimap set in the bottom corner of the screen, “mini” being the important part of the description. It’s so small and translucent that it blends into the playfield, making it useless in many cases. If you fail a level (and you will, many dozens of times), you’re given the choice of skipping it and moving to the next, even after only failing one time, so you could theoretically reach the final level in only a few minutes. But most unnerving about Extreme is the frustration factor. The touchscreen controls are very precise. It can take a long time and many failures to finally become comfortable with them. And once you reach the final level (which you can’t skip), you have no stars to gather, which means no power-up mode. It will take the average player a long time and many deaths to learn the pattern of the maze (the minimap is little help) and the locations of all the elements that they have to either reach or avoid. It can take several hours to get through the first 59 levels, and perhaps just as long to get to the end of the 60th. Controller-hurlers will be in serious danger of ruining their $300 hardware. Several times I’ve managed to get my little ship within pixels of the goal, only to hit a jag-toothed wall and dying.

Stardrone: Extreme gives casual players a quasi-arcade game that has simple controls and can be comfortably played in small doses, while making good use of the PS Vita’s powerful hardware. And best of all, at $3.99 it’s probably the best value for your money of any game available for the device. An improved minimap (or perhaps putting one in the pause menu) would go a long way towards reducing the frustration that the game can generate, but it still gives you plenty of on-the-go entertainment that you can probably finance using the coins in your couch cushions.

Our Score:
Our Recommendation:

© Michael Smith for The Adrenaline Vault, 2012. | Permalink | One comment