5 Upcoming Vita Games To Sway Your Wallet

Though slower than many predicted, the PSP Vita is gaining in popularity. Until the inevitable price drop, coinciding with this year’s apocalypse (it is 2012 after all), there won’t really be enough of a user base to justify a mass catalogue of games. However, and until then, for those of you unable to decide whether to finally take the plunge, break the bank and buy a Vita, I made this little list of five games that might sway your decision into getting one. Some are more known than others, but all are more than capable of convincing me to get one.

 

Resistance: Burning Skies

Despite Insomniac Games having closed their chapter on Resistance, the resistance will continue on with Resistance: Burning Skies by Nihilistic Software. Taking place in August 1951, the date the Chimera invaded the eastern coast of America, you play as Tom Riley, a fire-fighter now protagonist determined to do what it takes to survive; though a bit of heroic shaping and character building is almost certainly part of the process. Planning to make full use of the Vita’s dual analog sticks, other touch features and online support; Resistance: Burning Skies looks to be a pretty epic little shooter, especially if it’s as good or better than Resistance: Retribution.

 
 

Gravity Rush

Think of Gravity Rush as a cross between Devil May Cry with gravity altering features akin to Inversion, only more open to manipulation. Your heroine character is set out to save her future in a world collapsing around her. A plot I know we’ve all heard before but when you introduce a great art style that really makes great use of the tech behind the Vita; gravity manipulation mechanics that allow for shifting from the walls of buildings to ceilings and back to good old dirt; and some solid fighting mechanics plus a bunch of Vita functionality tucked in for good measure, well you’ve got one hell of a game. The video I provided is a little slow in the beginning and is in Japanese for the most part, but I promise it’ll win many a Vita fan over.

 
 

Mortal Kombat

Do I really need to explain this? Mortal Kombat for the Vita will support all of its bigger brother’s features as well as all the downloadable content that was made available subsequent to its release, at no extra cost. This, in addition to the little Vita touch features like wiping the blood off of the screen with your finger, makes for a unique situation where the portable version of a fighter is superior to its home console counterpart. So I reiterate, need I say more?

 
 

Grand Knights History

Produced by Vanillaware and promising to deliver an aesthetically pleasing and thoroughly enjoyable JRPG to Sony’s little console that could, Grand Knights History looks to be another great Vita seller. Controlling 4 players of one of 3 classes, each with unique customisation routes of look, weapon, the potential for differing abilities and fighting formations makes Grand Knights History a nifty little game. Its story is slightly generic and involves the usual warring 3 (or so) states but also allows for one more interesting little feature. Multiplayer allows for groups of players to each represent one of the warring kingdoms and so compete against each other online. All-in-all, and if Japanese critics are anything to go buy, Grand Knights History is one fairly decent JRPG package.

 
 

Sound Shapes

It’s hard to describe Sound Shapes. With nothing more than the image provided you might pass it off as another aesthetically simple indie game for a portable console; though it would be a reasonable assumption. However, and this is why you need to pay attention, Sound Shapes is a fantastic idea that makes use of music and sound and uses it, in collaboration with the Vita’s many touch features, as the mechanic for creating some brilliant puzzle gameplay. Watch the trailer and you’ll see what I mean. Despite not having an absolute release date, and composing of only a limited colour palette, Sound Shapes has created quite the little hype storm.

 
 

The Conclusion

This is a mere taste of the variety and quality of some of the games you can expect. While games like Little Big Planet, Super Monkey Ball and a couple others were ignored, these 5 should do just fine in persuading those on the verge to make the leap. Alternatively, wait for a price drop and enjoy the many million triple A games planned for the bigger consoles. I know what I’m doing, see you on the other side.