Ragnarok Odyssey | Review (Vita)

When I fist approached Ragnarok Odyssey, I was expecting a game derivative of Monster Hunter, but with more anime-themed silliness. I was afraid, because as much as I like to admire Monster Hunter from afar, I am super terrible at it and my initial eagerness at the beginning of each game quickly turns to discouraged sadness after the first big dinosaur monster stomps me to death. Much to my chagrin, Ragnarok Odyssey turned out to be much more in line with the likes of Phantasy Star Online with a slight touch of Monster Hunter, which is much more appetizing to me both because PSO was a game in which I was much less terrible.

Orgarhythm | Review (Vita)

Aquire largely has a history in stealthy ninja games, being the creators of Tenchu, Shinobido, and Way of the Samurai. Fans of those games tend to know exactly what they’re going to get when a new game in one of those series drops, and are also usually satisfied with the results, regardless of budgetary limitations. Interestingly, in recent years, Acquire has branched out from their feudal comfort zone, delving into new genres with games like What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? and Sumioni, the former being an RPG and the latter being a touch screen action game. With Orgarythm, published by XSEED, Acquire has given a defiant middle finger to genre convention, and come up with an auto-scrolling real time strategy music rhythm game. No, I did not just make that up. 

Dokuro | Review (Vita)

The world of Dokuro is introduced as a dark place, ruled over by a sinister, shadowy monster known as the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord kidnaps the Princess from somewhere much nicer and brighter than his kingdom, and traps her away in a cage. Meanwhile, a nameless, minion-level skeleton vies to be noticed by anyone. The Dark Lord is too busy to care and he has no friends to speak of.  He is enamored by the Princess, and strives to help her escape. She still doesn’t notice his existence, but he refuses to give up, risking his life (?) to get her safely through all of the Dark Lord’s traps and underlings. 

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention | Review (VITA)

Surprising no one, Disgaea 3 has followed in the footsteps of its predecessors and entered the realm of handhelds, this time on Sony’s new PlayStation VITA platform. In tandem with the previous two games, Absence of Detention offers new features, new content, and a slightly modified subtitle emphasizing its new found portability. 

Sumioni: Demon Arts | Review (VITA)

XSEED Games has been running on a solid, quality localization streak for quite a while now, not only bringing out trustworthy franchise titles (Ys, Lunar, Legend of Heroes) but also a slew of exciting new properties that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by North American gamers (Corpse Party, Retro Game Challenge, Half-Minute Hero). The sad truth that any localization company faces is that eventually, they’re going to get a hold of a dud. Sumioni: Demon Arts, XSEED’s debut PlayStation VITA release, has some neat ideas but ultimately falls directly into that category.

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack | Review (VITA)

Imagine, if you will, your typical high-ish quality smartphone game. You have your quirky, but well-drawn and animated 2D graphics, physics-based platforming, and goofy sense of humor that’s most likely aimed at twenty-somethings. Take that, raise the production values and price point a bit, and put it on the cool new PlayStation VITA system, and you have Drinkbox Studios’ Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack in a nutshell. Unlike said phone games, however, Mutant Blobs is actually fun to play for more than five minutes at a time.