(Game Sack Theme)
- Hello and welcome to Game Sack.
As you can tell by the shirt I'm wearing,
this episode is all
about PlayStation Vita.
Now, this is a system that
was never really given
much of a chance by Sony themselves.
It almost seemed like
they completely ignored it
not long after it was launched.
Anyway, let's take a closer
look at the system itself.
The Sony PlayStation Vita.
Sony's second entry into
the portable game market
was released in late December of 2011,
and in 2012 everywhere else.
Featuring a gorgeous
five-inch OLED touchscreen,
dual analog sticks, a rear
touchpad and dual cameras,
the Vita was and still
is an impressive piece
of portable gaming technology.
Instead of the disc media
used in its predecessor,
the Vita uses solid-state
cards to store the games.
The system also requires
a proprietary memory card
to store game save data and whatnot.
One of these cards originally
did not come packed in with the Vita.
The controls on the unit
generally feel pretty good,
though the face buttons feel a bit small
and my thumb often hits
the right thumb stick
when I press them.
The Vita is backwards
compatible with the PSP
in the same way that the Nintendo Switch
is backwards compatible with
all of your NES cartridges.
Digital only.
You can play between five and six hours
before the battery runs out.
A slim model of the Vita
was released in 2014
that replaces the OLED screen
with a regular LCD one,
and offers an extra hour of battery life.
The Vita is powered by a
quad-core ARM Cortex-A9
and a quad-core PowerVR SGX 543 MP4+
for the graphics with 512
and 128 megabytes of RAM respectively.
The graphics resolution
maxes out at 960 by 544,
about one quarter of full 1080P HD.
The separately released PlayStation TV
allows you to play Vita games on your TV
via HDMI using a PS3 or PS4 controller,
but many games are not
officially supported
due to their Vita specific features
like the touch screen, touch
pad, cameras and gyroscope.
A big hit at first, Vita
sales quickly died down
and Sony seemed to lose interest
in supporting the system.
It's estimated that anywhere
between 10 and 15 million units
have been sold with about
1500 games released.
(hella awesome music)
In my opinion, that
proprietary memory card
was one of the worst
ideas Sony has ever had,
especially not including
it with the system.
They're always trying to
come up with new formats
and it backfires on them
more often than not.
Anyway, enough of that.
Let's look at some of
the games for the system.
(sweet Gradius Gaiden music)
(triumphant music)
You can't have an episode about the Vita
without mentioning Gravity Rush.
Well, maybe you can, but not on Game Sack!
At the time of its release in mid 2012,
it was one of the killer
apps for the portable system.
You play as Kat, who has amnesia.
You soon find out that you have
the ability to shift gravity,
and as you've probably guessed,
that's the main play
mechanic in this game.
You disengage from normal
gravity by pressing the R button.
You hover as you orient the camera
to the place that you'd like to flow to,
and then press R again.
You can't do this indefinitely though,
as you have a bar in the
upper left of the screen,
which will run out.
If you press the L button,
you'll return to normal gravity
and your meter will quickly recharge.
The amount of non-gravity the bar can hold
as well as other abilities
can be powered up throughout the game.
There's also combat,
which, for the most part,
is pretty simple and fun.
Just attack enemies in their weak spot,
by kicking them with a square button.
Some enemies are floating in the air,
so you may need to target them
and then fly towards
them with an air kick.
Bigger enemies on the ground may also need
to be attacked in this way.
The game uses the touch screen a lot
mainly to advance conversations.
You also need the swipe the screen
to advance the comic-book-like
pages of the story.
What's really bad though
is that the game wants
you to swipe the screen
to evade attacks during combat.
No, thank you.
I'll just move out of the way
with the analog stick, if you don't mind.
The cell-shaded graphics look really nice,
though they do run at a
lower resolution than normal
for the system.
I like how stylish some things are
and whenever something has color,
it really stands out among the
dusty-looking surroundings.
That's good because usually
it's something of significance.
The music is mostly
fantastic with a lot of it
coming from a real orchestra.
(real orchestra music)
This is an excellent game.
However, I personally
would prefer the remaster
on the PlayStation 4
for the sharper graphics
and omissions of any of the
touchscreen shenanigans.
I haven't played that version yet,
so hopefully they didn't break it,
but if you wanna play it on the go,
then it works great on the Vita.
(orchestra music continues)
(Kat grunts)
(Kat grunts)
(majestic music)
Want some sweet Killzone,
first-person shooter action?
Then be sure to check
out Killzone Mercenary
released in 2013.
Unlike the PSP, the Vita
has two analogs sticks,
so a first-person
shooter can actually work
pretty well here.
Obviously I'm playing
on the PlayStation TV
to capture this footage and
the game even recognizes
that I'm using a PS3
controller in the options.
This is a nice high-budget game
that a lot of work clearly went into.
It plays like your standard
first-person shooter game
with similar controls and missions
that involve you moving
from one area to another,
having shootouts along the way.
There's nothing tremendously new here
when it comes to the action,
though I did find the
melee attacks pretty fun.
They require you to
throw the analog sticks
in certain directions, and
once you do it a few times,
it feels like second nature.
Overall, I have no issues with the control
and the game itself is good,
though I'm not the biggest
fan of first-person shooters.
It didn't give me any motion sickness
like these types of games usually do
and the mission structure
kept me interested.
Of course, there are random weapon shops
scattered throughout just like
there are in any combat zone.
The visuals are outstanding,
especially for a portable system.
I mean, look, they're nearly
PlayStation 3 quality.
Sometimes the frame rate
will take a hit though.
Still, if you want a
portable first-person shooter
on a system initially released in 2011,
this game absolutely delivers.
(gun fires)
(character grunts)
- [Character] I'm with you, man.
(guns firing)
- [Character] Money in the bank!
(guns firing)
(electronic music)
- [Joe] Ridge Racer was released in 2011
and it's often referred
to as Ridge Racer Vita.
I was really looking
forward to playing this one,
because Ridge Racer is usually awesome,
especially on Sony systems.
Sadly, that's not the case here,
and the game is mostly a let down.
This one tries to envelop
you in a more social world,
making you pick a sponsor at the start,
and then you're literally
locked in that same group
with other people who also
chose that same sponsor.
That's right, it wants you to
do most of your racing online.
The control and racing mechanics
are actually pretty good
and it's fun to drive
your car around the track.
But sadly, this game has a
really bad single-player mode.
It's completely boring.
All you can do is race a ghost,
do a spot race, which
is considered training
or a time attack.
There's also lots and lots of menus
that are touchscreen only.
The graphics and music are both average,
but there are a couple of
standout tunes here and there.
Sadly, the visuals only update
at 30 frames per second,
which is half as fast as the PSP versions.
I can't really recommend this one.
Like I said, I was immensely disappointed
because Ridge Racer games
are usually pretty darn good.
- [Announcer] Just two laps to go!
(electronic music)
(electronic music)
- [Joe] Air Race Speed from Qubic
is a slightly more
interesting racing game.
Here, you're basically just
racing against the clock
through a series of tubes, just for fun.
There are no other racers besides you
and you need to do your best
not to run into obstacles.
The game reminds me of
Atari's S.T.U.N Runner
combined with Crystal
Dynamics' Total Eclipse,
just without the shooting action.
It's fun to race through the
tubes as the game moves fast
and you really need to
be quick on the controls.
Unfortunately, one time when
I died, the game froze on me,
so it still has some bugs.
I still recommend that
you try this one though.
Even with this little
quirks, it's quite fun.
(electronic music)
This next game I'm gonna talk about
once I get off the screen,
was only available at
GameStop, at least initially.
Ah yes, the old "Let's
limit the number of places
our customers can buy the game" tactic.
Everyone loves that, it
always works out great.
Anyway, it's a nice game though.
(upbeat electronic music)
(gentle music)
This is Tales of Hearts R from Namco,
which was released in 2014.
The original Tales of Hearts was a DS game
and this remake has been
rebuilt from the ground up.
Like all of the games in the Tales series,
it's an RPG with a few
elements from other games
sprinkled in here and there.
You play as an angsty teen trying to find
shards of emotions that were broken away
from a mysterious teenage girl.
That's about as basic as
I can summarize the story.
The characters are all very
stereotypical of a lot of JRPGs
with extremely impatient male characters
who freak out over every little thing
and everyone has their
emotions dialed up to 11.
(Hisui speaks in foreign language)
You have towns with lots
of people to talk to
and things to do.
The combat is mostly real time
with you controlling the main character.
Eventually, others will join
you in battle to help out.
Everyone who participates in battle
gets experience and levels up.
They can also be equipped
with better items and so on.
But not everyone that
travels with you will fight.
Sometimes you'll have to
go into a person's soul
to extract an emotion shard.
Of course, there's monsters
and boss characters
roaming around in there too.
The combat is pretty fun,
though I think I would like it more
if I had never played any of
the games from the Ys series.
Still, it works fine and
the game gives you a break
if you need to use an item.
However, if you do use
one, you need to wait a bit
before you can use another item.
The visuals are roughly
PlayStation 2 quality,
and honestly, that's just fine.
There's lots of anime cut scenes,
which is one of the main additions
over the original DS version.
There's also a lot of voice acting,
though it's all in Japanese.
(character speaks in Japanese)
The music from Motoi Sakuraba
is adequate yet forgettable.
I've always felt that
maybe he got burned out
from being so prolific in the 2000s.
(footsteps crunch)
I do really like this game though,
and I like that it's not puzzle based
like Tales of Symphonia was.
This is a comfortable and enjoyable RPG
that doesn't try to reinvent the wheel.
(mysterious music)
(energetic music)
(character grunts)
(rock music)
Dead or Alive 5+ was released in 2013.
This is a slight upgrade to
the original Dead or Alive 5,
which was on the Xbox
360 and PlayStation 3.
It's pretty much standard
Dead or Alive action,
which is good.
There are a few characters
from Virtua Fighter to fight
and also play as.
The story mode is pretty easy
and sometimes it feels
like you're spending
more time watching FMV
than you are fighting.
The arcade mode can
unlock a few minor things
like extra costumes.
The stages are mostly extremely cool,
many with lots of chaos
going on everywhere,
and you can move into different areas
of the stage throughout the battle,
just like you can in
previous Dead or Alive games.
Well, except the first one.
A few stages are uninteresting,
like the circus stages.
Things added for this particular version
are more training options,
as well as a silly touch play mode.
I'm not even gonna bother with that.
The graphics are all great and move around
at 60 frames per second
with very few hiccups.
The music is fine for the game,
but nothing that I would
consider especially memorable.
If you want Dead or Alive on the go,
then this certainly won't disappoint.
(characters grunt)
(intense music)
(truck explodes)
(upbeat rock music)
Of course, I've got to
mention Hot Shots Golf,
World Invitational.
Like all of the other games in the series,
this one is a joy to play and
a great way to pass the time.
You can choose stroke
play just to have fun,
or you can choose challenges
where you earn points.
You then use these points in the shop
to buy stuff and unlock features.
As always, the gameplay
is quite easy to get into.
Even if you don't like golf
or haven't played a
golf video game before.
The graphics are pleasant,
though they run at a
significantly lower resolution
than most Vita games for some reason.
The music is really nice and
somehow never gets annoying.
I'll always recommend Hot Shots
Golf on any Sony platform,
and this one is no exception.
(gentle music)
(character grunts)
- [Character] Oh!
(character grunts)
Oh!
(fireworks blast)
(upbeat music)
Perfect, I did it!
(gentle electronic music)
- [Joe] Here's a Wipeout 2048,
which is exclusive to the Vita.
It's basically kind of a retooled version
of Wipeout HD on the PS3.
Don't that fool you though,
as this is a really good game.
Supposedly, it also helped
shape the Vita itself
as it was designed along with the hardware
and was a launch game in multiple regions.
As a game, it's quite good
and you have a map that you
move around by touching it,
which grows and grows with
more events as you play.
The events vary from
races to time attacks,
or even just trying to stay
alive as long as possible.
Always make sure to pay attention
to the criteria required.
Yes, the vehicular combat is still here
and some events even concentrate on it.
Having you score enough
points by damaging enemies
in order to earn a clear.
The controls are smooth and I've never had
any issues with this game whatsoever.
It feels a bit easy, but trust me,
it can get pretty intense later on.
The graphics were meant to be a showcase
for the system when it launched,
and it definitely succeeded at that.
I mean, let's be real here,
these are way better than anything
the 3DS could dream of doing.
They also do a great job of capturing
what the year 2048 will
actually look like,
which is only 28 years away
from when I'm making this episode.
Unfortunately, it only runs
at 30 frames per second,
which is weird for a Wipeout game,
which usually run at 60 frames,
but it doesn't impact the gameplay
and it also doesn't make me motion sick.
The music is all
electronic and mostly good,
especially if you like
some dubstep in your games.
If you like your racing
games set in the near future,
you can't go wrong here.
(energetic electronic music)
(whimsical music)
This crazy game is Mobile Suit
Gundam: Extreme versus Force,
which is a Vita exclusive.
First off, this is a
pretty great mech game.
It kinda sorta reminds me
of GunGriffon on the Saturn,
but with faster-paced action
and the ability to have assistant mechs.
That's right, you can pick
various mechs or Gundams
to help you out on your mission.
And your mission can be
one of several things,
defeat all of the enemies, defeat a boss,
or even capture all of the bases on a map.
All of the Gundams that you
choose, of course, costs money,
and you get more of that as
well as level up each unit
as you complete missions.
The action is pretty good.
You can lock out the enemies
and shoot them from afar
or even melee them up close.
It's really quite fun and
blowing up other mechs
is immensely satisfying.
There are tons upon tons
of Japanese voices in here.
And if that's not enough,
there are usually multiple
people talking at once.
(characters speaking in Japanese)
Everyone has a lot to say
and you need to hear it all.
Well, actually you don't,
but the game sure seems
to think that you do.
This might be a good thing though,
as otherwise, the repetitive music
might be too noticeable.
This game was released in the US,
but it's extremely hard to come by.
To my knowledge, the Asian version
is the same and much cheaper.
Check the comments though,
to see if anyone corrects me on this
as info on the different versions
is pretty hard to come by.
Still though, if you can, try
this one out, it's super fun.
(characters speak in Japanese)
(intense music)
(triumphant music)
(upbeat electronic music)
TxK from Llamasoft is a Tempest rip-off.
And that said, it's a
really good Tempest clone.
Basically, you just need to navigate
around the wireframe structures,
zapping wireframe bad
guys as they come at you.
You control your little thing
by pressing left or right,
and I found it easier to use the D pad,
as opposed to the analog stick.
You get a super zapper, which kills
everything on screen that
you can use once per stage,
but here it's called the Super Tapper.
That's a pretty clever way
to be completely original.
You can even earn a jump,
and this can come in handy
if the bad guys make it to the edge
where you're moving back and forth.
I love the vector-like visuals
and it's full of amazing color.
The music is energetic,
but maybe not quite as good
as Tempest 2000's music.
I wish I could remember
Tempest 3000's music,
I played it once on the Nuon,
but, like an idiot, I didn't record it.
Anyway, this is a fun game to play
for a few minutes every once in a while.
(upbeat electronic music)
If you've watched Game Sack
for any length of time,
then you know I've got
to mention all the games
in the Ys series I showed up on the Vita.
I sure did like making these things
for Sony's portable system,
not that I'm complaining.
(upbeat music)
(gentle piano music)
Ys Memories of Celceta was the game
that made me finally buy a Vita
nearly 11 months after it was launched.
This is a remake of Ys 4,
from Falcom themselves.
Previously, Falcom had farmed out Ys 4
to other developers for whatever reason,
and now this is the one
that officially counts.
It's mostly all new and it's not a remake
of either Dawn of Ys for the PC Engine CD,
nor Mask of the Sun for the Super Famicom.
However, it does feature a
lot of the same characters
and the story takes a few
nods from the previous games.
For a while, this one
was exclusive to the Vita
before finding its way to the PC,
and most recently, the PlayStation 4.
You've lost your memories and
you slowly gather them back
through glowing orbs as you set out
to map the forest of Celceta.
The game's action is exactly like Ys Seven
with its three-party system,
but now you have a super attack
once you gain enough energy to do it.
As always, the action is incredibly fun
and the game is engrossing.
However, sometimes you're allowed
to make choices in the game
and the prompts come up so quickly
that I accidentally just select
whatever is the default one
since I'm cycling through
the rest of the text,
as fast as I can read it.
It doesn't matter much anyway,
and the choices are
really out of character
and represent the translator's personality
more than anything.
Also, the game's gonna
proceed the exact same way,
no matter what you choose.
You're also forced to cycle
through what could have been
a printed instruction manual,
which bogs down the game
play in the beginning.
However, I'll take this over
a forced tutorial any day!
The graphics are pretty nice,
but the frame rate can be pretty bad,
especially in the cut scenes.
The music is naturally outstanding,
much of it from the previous Ys games,
but rearranged here.
There's some new stuff as well,
and it doesn't disappoint.
(intense music)
While this game certainly isn't as good
as Dawn of Ys on the PC Engine,
it's still fantastic in its own right,
and should not be missed.
(intense music)
(characters grunt)
(slow violin music)
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is probably
my favorite game in the series.
I bought the Vita version
mainly to support the series
so that they keep translating
them and bringing them over.
I initially played through
it on a PlayStation 4,
but this version is pretty good as well,
though it runs at half the frame rate.
You begin your adventure on a nice,
peaceful cruise talking to people,
but that comes to an abrupt stop
when you're attacked
by a giant sea monster.
Later, you, along with everyone else,
wake up on a mysterious island.
The gameplay is exactly
like Memories of Celceta,
which is a good thing.
Oh, and you can jump now,
so that's even better.
Like Killzone, this one takes advantage
of the PlayStation 3 controller
if you play it on a PlayStation TV.
Oh, and check out the
back of the box here.
Now, I don't read or speak French,
but something is definitely
up with this text here.
This was discovered by the
fantastic site digitalemelas.com,
which is dedicated to all things Ys.
According to them, this
is placeholder text,
and it's saying something to the effect
of "I'm sorry to leave you,
but I have to buy a hat.
I am going to ask these
peasants who've come to meet us
if the way in which they
have passed is bad."
NIS America eventually fixed this
and rereleased it with
the correct French text.
This was the first version made,
and the PlayStation 4 version
has a bit more content,
but I haven't played
far enough in this one
to see what's missing.
Of course the graphics
aren't quite as good
as the PlayStation 4 version,
but as perfectly playable.
You'll also get to enjoy a
ton of outstanding music,
which of course is no big surprise.
(intense music continues)
(character grunts)
(slow piano music)
Ys Origin came to the Vita in 2017,
11 years after it was
initially released on PC.
As a result, this game does show its age,
but it's still an absolute
blast to play through.
This is the only game
in the series thus far
that doesn't feature Adol
as the main character.
It takes place about 800
years prior to his adventures.
You can select to play as one
of two different characters.
The entire game takes
place inside Darm tower,
which is about 100 times
bigger than it was an Ys 1,
maybe even more.
Regardless, the graphics are decent,
though sadly run at half the frame rate
of pretty much any other version.
And as always, the music is incredible.
This is a fun one for sure.
(intense music)
(character thumps)
(majestic music)
Uncharted, Golden Abyss has been mentioned
on the show before, but it simply must be
mentioned in this episode,
even if it's brief.
After all, it's one of the few
true exclusive games on the Vita,
and, as of the making of this episode,
hasn't been ported to any other platform.
It wasn't developed by Naughty Dog,
but instead Bend Studio who
has mostly been responsible
for the Syphon Filter games.
This was a launch game and
probably helped sell a few Vitas.
Wow, both this and Wipeout,
that's actually not a bad launch lineup.
It's expressly designed to use
all of the gimmicky
features on the system,
which is the game's
greatest flaw in my opinion.
During melee attacks, for instance,
you need to swipe in the
direction of the arrows
to finish off your opponent.
This one takes place before the first game
on the PlayStation 3.
You're still exploring ancient ruins
and climbing all over the place,
just like in the other games,
but now you have to worry
about touch features,
which is neat the first
few times it happens,
but it gets old quickly.
Regardless of all that,
this is a solid adventure
with a nice presentation.
If you enjoy the other Uncharted games,
I say take a chance on this one.
If you hate touchscreen
and motion controls,
well, then stay far, far away.
They're worth it for this game though.
(Nate grunts)
(Nate grunts again)
(gentle violin music)
Now, if you want a game that uses
every single gimmick possible,
then Tearaway from the
makers of Little Big Planet
is a good one to have.
This is the only way
I can record this game
as it crashes on a PlayStation TV,
even if it's been hacked.
But then again, the PlayStation
TV doesn't have a camera
and you kind of need that here.
- [Woman] Look, there they are.
- [Man] Ooh!
What is it?
- [Joe] You basically
play as a piece of mail
in a land built of paper.
You'll need to engage the rear touch pad
for things like these bouncing drums.
You'll also be touching the screen
for a lot of basic attacks.
Even the gyroscope is in use here.
This is by no means a bad game,
even with all of these gimmicks.
It's one of the few games on the planet
that actually makes good use
of the gimmicks like this.
However, I'm just not set up
to capture the gameplay this way,
and having all of this equipment
in front of me as I play
started to get uncomfortable really fast.
Still, you definitely
wanna give Tearaway a try.
(suspenseful music)
Lost Dimension from Atlus
is an interesting take
on strategy RPGs.
Basically, half of the
world has been destroyed
by some guy for no discernible reason.
It doesn't waste your
time trying to set up
the entire story at the
beginning of the game,
but instead tells you as you progress.
You control a band of gifted warriors,
each with their own special power
that they can use in battle.
The game works similar
to other strategy RPGs
in that you have a limited amount of space
that you can move and you can
only attack enemies in range.
Gone are the grids and hexagons though,
I really like how it's set up here.
You can choose a main attack or gift,
which is your character's special
ability, if they have one.
Of course, there is a player
phase and an enemy phase.
Between missions, you can
talk to all of the characters
and hopefully build some comradery.
You can also get new items
and set up your characters and all that.
When a mission is over
is also when you gain
all of your experience and level up.
If there's one thing that I
don't particularly care for
is the loading time before attacks
that often occurs during battle.
Other than that, it's all good,
and there are lots of missions to take on.
The visuals are decent
if a bit low budget,
but the music is pretty good.
Definitely check this out
if you like strategy RPGs.
It's also on the
PlayStation 3 and Windows.
(electronic music)
- [Character] How do you like that?
- [Nagi] Commencing assault.
(gun fires)
- Ever since Phoenix Wright on the DS,
I've loved visual novels.
At least the ones with interaction
and actual game play in them.
Now, I don't know what ever made me
look up information on
the Danganronpa series
to see if I'd like it,
but I'm sure glad I did.
(slow electronic music)
(upbeat music)
Danganronpa, Trigger Happy Havoc
was a really nice surprise
when it was released in 2013.
Originally a PSP game in Japan,
I first played it here on the Vita.
I love these types of games,
because it reminds me a lot
of how Phoenix Wright plays.
You're a kid who's been
accepted to a school
for extremely gifted people.
Right as you walk in, you seem to faint.
You wake up and find that
you're locked inside the school
with 14 other students,
and even the windows
have metal plates installed on them.
What is going on here?
You're called to the gym by the headmaster
who turns out to be an evil Teddy bear.
- [Monokuma] I'm not a teddy bear.
- [Joe] His name is Monokuma,
and he says the only way
anyone can leave the school
is if they kill someone.
It doesn't matter who or how,
but if they can remain
undiscovered as the murderer,
they'll be allowed to leave.
Of course, this makes everyone freak out
and not trust each other at all.
The game play largely consists
of lots of conversations.
You can wander around at your leisure
as well as investigate different
items throughout each room.
Eventually you'll go to trial
to find out who killed who.
These can be a bit
convoluted, but they work.
Your goal in the game
isn't to kill someone else,
it's to find out who the killer is.
Like I said, if the
killer goes undiscovered,
they get to leave the school,
but then everyone else dies.
So it's kind of in
everyone's best interest
to find out who the murderer is.
Well, everyone's best interest,
except the actual killer.
There are tons upon tons
of mostly automated
conversations in this game,
but for whatever reason,
I enjoy it anyway,
because they do a good job
of keeping you interested.
The only thing that slightly
bothers me about this
is that sometimes the voice will say
something different than the actual text.
- Come on!
- You hear me!?
- [Joe] Seriously, why even
have the voice play at all
in these situations?
Oh, there is one other thing
that bothers me about this game.
And that's that all the blood is pink.
Despite the game being rated M.
I get that this is
probably a stylistic choice
for whatever reason, but I still think
it looks kind of dumb.
Other than those two things,
I have zero complaints.
I love how everything is in 2D
and drops into a room as you enter.
I love the illustrations.
The music is also extremely good.
- What!?
- Stop talking.
- [Joe] I highly recommend this one,
and it kept me in engrossed throughout.
There are two sequels on the Vita,
which feature new
characters and scenarios.
They both have similar gameplay
with new stuff added to enjoy as well.
(playful music)
(mysterious music)
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
A side story to these games
is Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls.
This one isn't an investigative adventure,
but rather a third person shooter,
which features some characters
from the first two games.
You're hunting down Monokumas
who are absolutely
everywhere, killing people.
Your weapon has different types of bullets
that you can fire.
For example, a green move
bullet can activate locks,
cars, and other things
so that you can progress.
You acquire more kinds of bullets
as you move through the game.
You can also switch to Genocide Jill,
who can slice up enemies
and moves really fast
and has bad camera control.
Mostly this game is pretty good,
but it does interrupt the
gameplay for tons of chitchat,
especially towards the beginning.
This is fine in the regular games,
but it gets kind of
annoying and an action game.
Otherwise this is a
fairly decent side story.
You can also get all of
the Danganronpa games
on the PlayStation 4.
- [Toko] As I thought,
Master's gun is perfect!
Even idiots can use it.
[Komaru] That kid was playing with a body!
[Toko] It's not a rare sight around here.
(footsteps click)
(gun fires)
- [Komaru] Wait, I'm dead.
(upbeat music)
- [Joe] Super Monkey Ball, Banana Splitz
was the last original Monkey
Ball game ever released
at least at the time of this episode.
Is it the game that killed the franchise?
Perhaps.
The game gives you a choice
between normal controls
or tilting controls, where,
of course, you tilt your Vita.
The game also relies on the touch screen
for all menu selections.
Why normal controls can't also be used
for the menu functions is beyond me.
Just goes to show how out
of touch Sega is, I guess.
The premise is simply to
get your monkey to the goal.
Collecting bananas on the way
will eventually earn you a one up.
The small Vita analog stick
mostly suffices for this game.
You think it might be a little easier
using a PlayStation TV and a
real PlayStation controller,
but it actually isn't.
If you play it that way,
you'll also need to worry
about accidentally pushing in
an analog stick, which engages
the touch screen controls
and your monkey loses control.
Also, I've probably said this before,
but I'm gonna say it again.
There is no analog stick on the planet
that can match what the GameCube has.
As a result, controlling this game
is noticeably more
wonky than we originals.
The stages take a few
nods from the past games,
but mostly it's all original.
The beginner and normal modes
can be cleared pretty easily,
but the advanced mode will start
to ruin your life right away.
Rolling across this
dinosaur is outright brutal,
it doesn't look it, but it is,
and you'll need more
luck than skill to do it.
There are a bunch of party games on here,
even Monkey Target, which is my favorite,
but you need to use the
motion controls to play it
and most of the other party games.
The good news is that the
graphics are pretty nice
and seemed to take inspiration
from the absolutely horrible
Wii entries in the series.
But they also seem to start
to flourish on their own
after you get past a few stages.
It's also one of only
a handful of Vita games
that run at 60 frames per second.
The music is great as well.
Overall, this isn't a horrible game,
but it could definitely be better.
I'd say that this is probably the fourth
best Monkey Ball game, behind the first,
and then the second game,
and then the 3DS entry.
- [Announcer] Ready?
Go!
(monkey ball trilling)
(monkey screams)
Goal!
(suspenseful music)
- [Joe] Here's an interesting one
called Soul Sacrifice, which
is exclusive to the Vita.
This one was designed by
Keiji Inafune of Capcom fame.
Well, after he left Capcom, of course.
This game is full of cool ideas.
You're a dude in some sort of prison
who stumbles across a book.
Well, actually, you
don't have to be a dude,
you can design your own character.
Anyway, within the book's pages
are the journals of the final boss
who has you imprisoned,
and also whom you must eventually defeat.
You relive what he wrote in it,
and that comprises the action stages.
You have a bunch of functions
that you can assign to
the various buttons,
and you can switch between
them with the R button.
Once you defeat a monster,
it turns into kind of a black blob.
You then determine if you
will save or sacrifice it.
Saving it will get you some life back,
whereas sacrificing it will restore
some of your attacks as
most aren't unlimited.
You're usually on the battleground
with another character,
and if you die, you can have
them save or sacrifice you.
Most of the attacks are very, very slow
and happen quite some time
after you press the button,
since you need to wait
for lots of animation.
I feel the fighting
mechanics could be better,
as the enemy will often
move out of the way
before you're able to get
some of those attacks off.
You'll be rewarded depending
on how you do in battle,
and before each Phantom Quest,
you'll be able to choose
which kinds of powers
you'd like to take with you.
You can also power them up and
replenish them on the screen.
Despite the laggy controls,
this is still a fun and
interesting game to play.
The bosses are all extremely tough
and require a bit of work to finish off.
The visuals are perfect for the game.
Some of the stronger attacks
you can do look pretty crazy.
The music by Yasunori
Mitsuda and Wataru Hokoyama
is a mix between beautiful
and outright bombastic.
I think everyone should try
this one to see if they like it.
For the most part, I certainly did.
There's also Soul Sacrifice Delta,
which is a slightly upgraded version.
(intense music)
(monster growls)
- [Sortiara] Slow me down
and I'll be coming after you next.
(monster thumps)
- There you go, a bunch
of games for the Vita
that I felt like talking about
for one reason or another.
It's an interesting system for sure,
and I wonder what kinds of
games would have come out for it
had Sony given it more love.
Believe it or not, there are still games
being released for the thing
from time to time from third parties.
It's a cool system, but I got
to say, I like the PSP more.
In fact, I like it a lot more.
But what do you think of the Vita?
Let me know.
In the meantime, thank you
for watching Game Sack.
(Game Sack Credits Theme)
You know, I just realized I didn't cover
any of the 2D fighting
games that are on the Vita.
So let's take a look at
Dengeki Bunko, Fighting Climax.
Even says Sega on the back.
- Wait!
Don't play that game!
- What, why not?
Who are you?
- I'm you from the future,
10 minutes in the future to be exact.
I built a time machine to come back
to warn you not to play that game!
- Why, is this a bad game?
- I mean, it's okay, I guess,
but look what happens
to you if you play it!
- Oh, you're from the future, huh?
Well, then who's secretary
of state in the future?
- (sighs) I'm only from
10 minutes in the future,
so the same one, obviously.
- Do you have flying cars?
- Yeah, of course, I'm
from the future, duh.
- Screw it, 'cause I'm gonna play!
- Noooooooooooooooo!
- Whoooooa!
Worth it.
