Review: Alien Breed for PS Vita

Alien Breed is a bit of a classic. At the start of the early '90s, it was the game that made Team17 a success and allowed the studio to go on and create the huge Wormsseries.

20 years later, it sure feels prehistoric, with level design that boils down to "here are some doors, corridors, and aliens - have fun!"

And yet we found ourselves warming to this special edition release, because it's the definitive way to play Alien Breed - instead of overhauling the game entirely Team17 has lovingly restored it so that modern audiences can see what the 16-bit generation got so excited about back in 1991.

An alien in modern times

Alien Breed involves slowly but surely exploring a space station that has been infested with alien creatures.

You play from a top-down perspective, blasting enemies with your big beefy guns, collecting cash and keycards, and forging a path to each exit.

Along the way you can use your cash to purchase items and upgrades from the shop. Whether you choose to blast through doors with your gun or purchase keycards to move through the ship entirely is up to you.

There's no denying that Alien Breed is showing its age. The action becomes hugely repetitive after a while, and modern twin-stick shooters do everything this game has to offer but better.

If you played through Alien Breed many moons ago, you're probably not going to want to revisit it, lest it tarnish your memories.

Breedom

But there's a saving grace to Alien Breed on PS Vita, and that's just how much attention has gone into making this edition the best money can buy.

From the UI to the new visuals to the various extra game modes and level packs - plus the fact that the entire original game in all its glory is packed in here - Team17 clearly cares about its age-old game, and really would quite like to share that love with you.

And that's not to mention the online functionality. You can play through the entire game online with a friend, which seriously increases the enjoyment levels.

There's also online leaderboards for each and every level, mode, and game. You have to give credit to Team17 for ploughing so much effort into this game.

Alien Breed isn't as much fun as it once was, but this Vita version is chock full with content and love. If you've never played Alien Breedbefore, give this version a bash.

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The Walking Dead: The Game to shamble onto PS Vita later this year

Sony has revealed that The Walking Dead: The Game will be shuffling onto the PS Vita before the year is out.

In a chat with IGN, Sony's director of product planning and platform software innovation, Don Mesa, spilt the beans regarding the latest port of Telltale's acclaimed episodic adventure.

"Having [a studio] like Telltale, a very successful indie developer, coming in to support us sends a strong message," Mesa said.



It's safe to say that any third-party support for Sony's powerful but struggling handheld is welcome at this point, especially when it comes from the team behind the most critically acclaimed game of 2012.

What we'd really like to know is whether Telltale plans on drip-feedingThe Walking Dead: The Game's five episodes to Vita owners, or bundling them together in a single downloadable pack.

Telltale will definitely launch The Walking Dead: The Game for Vita in 2013, though Sony has yet to confirm an exact release date.

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Multiplatform game engine Unity is expanding to PS Vita and PlayStation Mobile this year

Unity Technologies has announcedthat it will work with Sony to make its monstrously popular game engine available to PS Vita and PlayStation Mobile developers later this year.

The Unity multiplatform engine powers a massive number of iOS games, like spooky box fiddler The Room, upcoming zombie killer Dead Trigger 2, and RPG Ravensword: Shadowlands.

According to Unity Technologies CEO David Helgason, the engine's biggest USP is the ease with which it allows studios to port their games to any device it supports (which includes iOS, Android, Flash, Mac, Wii U, and Xbox 360).

"Unity does the heavy lifting when porting games to other platforms," Helgason explains. "Code is automatically converted, and just polish and optimisation for that specific platform needs to be added."

So, will this be enough to convince PC and mobile developers to port their games across to Vita? We asked a few Unity-using game creators for their thoughts.



10000000 creator Luca Redwood told us that he has avoided developing a Vita version of his gem-matching dungeon-crawler so far, primarily because "rewriting the whole thing looked like a bit of a drag".

"I've been spoilt a bit by Unity's 'write once, run anywhere' approach," Redwood tells us. "So, when Unity support hits, I'm keen to do it."

For Redwood, porting his game to Vita would be an enormous gamble. "It might have been worth doing a native port or it could cost ten times more than it makes," he states.

But if it's as simple to port to Vita as it was to re-bundle the game for Android, then for Redwood it's like, "hey, it's worth a punt."

Walk this way

Swedish developer Simogo might make a Vita game. But don't expect to see its wander-'em-up Year Walk or rhythmic robber Beat Sneak Banditon the device.

"We're definitely not ruling it out, but we're not too keen on making ports," Simogo co-founder Simon Flesser says.

"It's always more fun to get started on new things. So, for us, it'd be more fun to make something specifically designed for the unique capabilities of the Vita."



And what about PC devs?

Dan Marshall - of BAFTA-winner Size Five Games - says he'll "absolutely" be looking into a PS Vita version of his upcoming crime caper The Swindle.

"This is really exciting news. The only thing I haven't seen yet is how much it'll cost. Hopefully, Unity and Sony are planning a sensible sliding scale for licensing costs, because that's the sort of thing that suddenly makes launching on console a big gamble."

"As long as all that's reasonable, I'm game."

And how about Dead Trigger 2? MadFinger CEO Marek Rabas tells Pocket Gamer, "we will consider it...

The PlayStation Unity tools will be released in late 2013, with beta versions becoming available at some stage before then. Unity Technologies will be building tools for PS Vita and PlayStation Mobile, as well as PS4 and Sony's future cloud services.

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Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward and Thomas Was Alone heading to PS Plus in April

After March's strong PS Plus freebie pairing of Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection and Puddle, Sony knew it had to pull something impressive out of its digital library to impress Vita-owning PS Plus subscribers this month.

Rather interestingly, though, the PS Plus curator isn't going down the mainstream über-franchise route with this month's complimentary software.

Instead, Sony is giving you PS Plus subscribers the chance to head, well, off the beaten path. That's right: say 'hello' to macabre Japanese adventureZero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.

In this part-interactive novel, part-logic puzzler, Chunsoft tells the story of nine characters who have been abducted and imprisoned by a masked villain called Zero.

As one of the abductees, you must successfully complete puzzles, and choose whom to trust if you want to make it out alive.



The second game in Sony's April PS Plus 'tag team' is acclaimed indie puzzler Thomas Was Alone.

This low-fi BAFTA-nominated charmer from Mike Bithell involves your guiding a number of characters (represented by coloured rectangles) to a series of exit portals.

As you meet new characters, you'll gain access to abilities such as flotation and gravity reversal.

Thomas Was Alone also takes advantage of the Vita's touchscreen and touchpad. What's more, it falls under Sony's Cross-Buy umbrella, meaning you can buy it on PS3 and play it for free on PS Vita.



PS Plus subscribers will be able to download Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward on April 10th, and Thomas Was Alone on April 24th.

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The new trailer for Dragon's Crown shows how cool a Dungeons & Dragons arcade game can look

We still don’t know when Dragon's Crown will make its way to North America, but we know that it sure will be pretty when it gets there.

A new Japanese trailer for the 2D fantasy brawler surfaced today and while it's still a bit light in details, it shows off the glory of the game's hand-animated, 2D graphics wonderfully.

Based on the venerable Dungeons & Dragons arcade game Tower of Doom, Dragon's Crown offers players familiar fantasy archetypes like Fighter, Amazon, Dwarf, and Sorceress to use in battle against beholders, trolls, and dragons.

Not so Vanillaware

Developed by Vanillaware, Dragon's Crown features the studio's signature aesthetic style which we last saw surface in Muramasa Rebirth.

Although the art of Dragon's Crown might not be for everyone, it's a nice departure from the modern tendency toward retro graphics which some Vita owners - like our reader Tiel - feel aren't capitalising on the handheld's powerful hardware properly.

We'll keep you updated with news on a firm release date for Dragon's Crown and the inevitable Atlus pre-order bonuses as soon as we know more.

Until then, sit back and enjoy the trailer.

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Dogfight your way to victory in Vlambeer's Luftrausers for PS Vita

Around six or seven months ago,Ridiculous Fishing developer Vlambeer told us that it would "consider" bringing dogfighting title Luftrausers to "mobiles" once it'd finished work on the Mac and PC versions.

Today, Vlambeer's Rami Ismail has confirmed on Sony's US PlayStation Blog that Luftrausers will definitely be coming - not to mobiles - but to the PS Vita handheld instead.

According to the blog post, Vlambeer is releasing its title on PS Vita because it "loved working with Sony" when it made Super Crate Box.



Instead of worrying about red tape and fulfilling demands, then, the studio has spent time creating new levels and - most importantly - making the plane crashes in Luftrausers more spectacular.

This Vita version of the game will allow you to equip your plane with 125 different weapons (including machine guns and lasers) and propulsion systems before you take it into fast-paced aerial battles against other fighters and warships.

The game will be available this spring for £6.99 / $9.99.

Mobile users are out of luck, sadly. In a Reddit AMA, Vlambeer ruled outLuftrausers for iOS, saying that "the controls simply are even tougher than Super Crate Box to implement."

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Review: Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon for 3DS

According to Nintendo, 2013 is "The Year of Luigi" - although, realistically, Mario's lanky brother is still playing second fiddle in most of his upcoming exploits, including Mario Golf: World Tour and Mario and Luigi: Dream Team.

Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon is where Luigi really needs to shine if he's going to live up to his billing. And shine he does - generally in the direction of nasty ghosty things and the like.

This sequel to the GameCube original is not only essential 3DS gaming, but it's - dare I say it - the sort of game worth purchasing an entire console for. Here is undeniable proof, if any was needed, that the video game industry will always need a bit of Nintendo magic.

Boo Radical

Luigi is back with his trusty Poltergust vacuum cleaner and flickering torch, as the eccentric Professor E. Gadd sends him off to explore various spooky mansions and forceably remove the other-Earthly beings from every nook and cranny.

The main course involves entering rooms, tracking down the ghosts that are hiding in the cupboards, chandeliers, and ceilings, and then flicking the switch on your hoover and sucking them up.

Battling against ghosts is still as awesome as it was the first time around. Once you've got them in your sights it's all about holding back on the stick and watching as Luigi is dragged around the room, struggling over furniture and leaping through the air every now and again to avoid attack from other ghosts.

The action feels wonderfully fluid, and always exciting. Later into the game you'll be surrounded by multiple enemies at once which you'll need to deal with strategically, and the boss battles are also clever and entertaining ordeals.

It helps that Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon is brimming with content. The main game will take you a good 15 hours to complete, and there's plenty of replay value, from finding and capturing the special Boo characters to achieving top ranks and discovering the secret puzzle areas.

The Dark Maaarioooo of the Moon

But a good portion of Luigi's Mansion 2 actually centres around solving puzzles, finding keys, and completing missions. Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon's puzzles are phenomenal at times, with some real head-scratchers that regularly take centre stage over the ghost-hunting.

You're armed with the Dark-Light device which allows you to see hidden items and invisible ghosts, and you can use your flashlight as a sort of flashbang, which has various uses. This means you're constantly mixing it up, rather than doing the same old actions over and over again.

Many of the missions have you retracing your steps through each mansion, but it rarely feels like dull backtracking, as each time you make your way through familiar territory there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences here and there.

But what really makes Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon great is its unrelenting personality. We saw glimpses of this in the original game, but Luigi's presence really comes to the fore here.

From the way that he "do do dos" along with the game's soundtrack, to the various animations he has that signify him jumping out of his skin, it's impossible not to fall in love with the game's overall mood and presentation. This is a title packed with Nintendo love, and you will find a place in your heart for it.

Be a Man, sion

Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon is very close to being the perfect Nintendo 3DS game - nay, the perfect Nintendo game - but slight niggles here and there are impossible to ignore.

For one, it desperately needs Circle Pad Pro support. This is a game screaming out for dual-stick controls, and while you can play most of the game perfectly fine, later battles become incredibly difficult to handle with the current setup.

Fortunately, by this time you've pretty much mastered the art of single-sticking the action, moving along the walls and flipping between ghosts every few seconds. But why there's no Circle Pad Pro support is anyone's guess.

The multiplayer is also a bit of a disappointment. Players band together to clear out ghosts together, both locally and online. It's not bad, but it's far too unfocused and all over the place to even touch on the brilliance of the main campaign.

But please don't let these minor issues put you off, as Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon borders on Nintendo 3DS perfection. This is the game that 3DS owners have been waiting for, and you owe it to yourself to give Luigi a chance.

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