E3 2014: The Vita Isn't Dead Yet

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Diversity isn't just about characters, it's also about gaming experiences. Mike Williams's beat at E3 2014 involves asking if we're getting real diversity in our games, in all ways.

The poor PlayStation Vita. At Sony's E3 press event on Monday, the platform holder barely mentioned the little portable that could, instead choosing to focus on its media-centric sibling, the PlayStation Vita TV. Anyone watching the press conference would be perfectly correct to assume that Sony was leaving the portable behind completely. Jeremy said as much in his look at the event.

So I was surprised to find an entire Vita section of the Sony booth at E3, full of actual Vita games bookending some demo stations for the Vita TV. The company is showing of a number of different titles off for the console, with a bit of retro throwbacks, a few ports, and some fresh indies along for the ride. I spent some time in the Vita section, ignoring the overpowered presence of the PlayStation 4 for a time so the Vita could show me what's coming in 2014.

Legend of Raven

This was the first game I played, a fighting game in the classic 2D-style that most developers have left behind. Nicalis' foray into fighting has eight characters, which seems like a small number until you realize that each character is completely hand-drawn and animated. For me, Legend of Raven was a heavy throwback to SNK fighters like Garou: Mark of the Wolves and King of Fighters. Movement, move sets, and general character design all feel like a continuation of those old fighting game classics. There's a rather good reason for this that I found out later: the team behind Legend of Raven (formerly known as Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm) are former SNK developers, carrying on the magic of their former employer.

Legend of Raven is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well, but it feels more at home on the small screen than blown up on your big screen HD television. Legend is such a throwback that it's actually presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning it's letterboxed on most TVs and the Vita's tiny screen. Yes, it does strike me as odd when "something new" is just the return of "something really old," but I'm glad to see the old SNK style making a come back.

Metrico

This is an interesting minimalist puzzler for the Playstation Vita. The game plays out on infographics, with your silhouetted character making his or her way through pie charts, bar graphs, and line graphs that morph as you move and interact with the world. Metrico wants you to poke at the world, moving and jumping to figure out the rules that define each area you're in. It requires heavy thought and good (not great) reflexes to traverse each area to its end.

The thing that makes Metrico so different is how much it commits to the infographic idea. As you're running and jumping across the stark, polygonal world, there's charts and other items that track different things about your game. Maybe there's one showing your position in X/Y space, another with the amount of time you've played so far, or a pie chart graphing how many times you've died. The overall presentation is intriguing and creates strong two-way feedback between you and the game.

Hyper Light Drifter

Hyper Light Drifter is a game I've written about before, but I finally had the chance to play it on the E3 showfloor. Well, what I played wasn't completely indicative of what the full Hyper Light Drifter game is. The demo is a Horde Mode, pitting the Drifter against an endless wave of different enemies, instead of the straightforward adventure of the story campaign.

That said, Hyper Light plays beautifully. The Drifter has four weapons in the demo: his hard light sword, a precision sniper rifle, grenades, and a quick dash. Each weapon is completely intuitive and in five minutes I was zipping around the arena dispatching enemies with ease. Hell, I even grabbed the top spot on the demo unit's arcade-style leaderboard. I'm afraid to go back though; I don't want to see my score beaten.

Hotline Miami 2

Hotline Miami 2 is more crazy violence punctuated by mind-bending cutscenes. If you've played the first game, which is a wholly unique beast, Hotline Miami 2 is more of the same with a new twist. Instead of controlling a single character with multiple masks, you're now in control of various characters each tied to a specific mask. They all have their own special moves and in the case of one of the demo's levels, you'll actually be controlling a pair of characters at the same time.

These swan-masked characters aren't as difficult to control as you would think; they stick close together. One uses a chainsaw, while the other defaults to guns. If either dies, you have to restart and try again. Once I got over the weirdness of controlling two characters, my Hotline Miami reflexes kicked in. After that level, I was placed in the shoes of a man in a bear mask who plays largely the same as the protagonist from the first Hotline Miami. While the first game included abilities, they were optional; Hotline Miami 2 is about incorporating these special abilities into your strategy. This is a great way to add some life and mileage to what was already a great game.

Plus, are you really going to turn down Hotline Miami 2 when it includes a level editor? I think not.

Entwined

This game was shown off at Sony's press conference, as the result of a development program involving Carnegie Mellon and San Jose State graduate students. Developer Pixelopus brought the students together with veteran developers to make a new game that built on the success Sony had with Thatgamecompany's Flow, Flower, and Journey.

Entwined shares a similar aesthetic, but plays out in a different way. In the game you control a fish and a bird, two characters that can never be together, via the analog sticks. One character is controlled with the left stick, while the right stick controls the other. Both characters are flying into the screen at an unknown destination, with different colored gates to pass through. The aim is simple: pass the right character through the right gate. As you collect energy power-ups and successfully pass through gates, the characters become closer and closer together, eventually forming a majestic dragon.

While Entwined looks great, what I played needs some tweaking. The problem is failing to pass through a gate seems rather punitive; you can lose minutes worth of effort in a few seconds. The gentleman who played the game before me was stuck on the same chapter for 10 minutes before he just gave up. Part of the magic of Flow/Flower/Journey is that anyone could play those simply beautiful games. Entwined shares the look, but not the mindset. It's a new experience, but I think it needed some more tweaks before release. That said, if you're up for the challenge, Entwined for PS4 is available on the PlayStation Store right now.

And these are just a few of my highlights. There's still games like Persona: Dancing All Night, Axiom Verge, Disgaea 4, Don't Starve, Dangaronpa 2, CounterSpy, Galak-Z, Murasaki Baby, Switch Galaxy Ultra, and La Mulana to keep the little system going. I guess not being in first place isn't all that bad.