psn — Page 26

What? Two Vita games completed? What will the neighbours say? I mainly bought this game as a bit of a joke. I didn’t think I’d get drawn in and certainly didn’t expect to complete it. I just thought it was a silly game with a silly premise and wouldn’t really be very good.

I was wrong.

For the first few hours, I had issues with the controls and the camera. I wasn’t enjoying the combat, and there was a massive difficulty spike with the first “boss”, who took many attempts to beat. Then I realised that different weapons attacked in different ways, much like in games like Monster Hunter. Then I figured out the clothing and weapon modifying options, improving my attack and defence. Finally, I realised you could press R to centre the camera. Suddenly, most of my complaints disappeared, and although still a silly, sexy game, I was really enjoying it. The combat clicked, and I actively went picking fights to collect more items to improve my kit.

As the story progressed, I realised I was actually really rather close to the final battle, and sort of fell into the last hour of the game and completed it rather sooner than expected. I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t longer, but there’s a New Game + mode and a million untouched side missions should I want to return.

At its original price of £32.99 on PSN (I don’t think the western version even got a physical release), I’d struggle to recommend Akiba’s Trip, but it is surprisingly deep, fun, and has the sort of Japanese quirkiness and game in-jokes I like. At under a tenner, it’s definitely worth a shot. Just try to see past the, er, stripping.

Here’s something unusual – a PS3 game. A completed PS3 game at that. Haven’t had that in months!

Thomas Was Alone was something I did want to play. I thought about getting it on Steam, but then I remembered – I don’t play PC games – so waited until a console release. Sadly, it only hit the PS3 (and Vita, I think), rather than any console I actually use, so I left it. Until I realised I had just over six quid in my PSN account and Thomas Was Alone went on sale for about £2.39 or something.

And I wanted to spend my PSN “cash” before Sony stole it again (if you don’t spend it after a certain amount of time, Sony just take it from you – already had that happen once), of course.

So Thomas Was Bought, played, enjoyed, and completed.

There are two main parts to the game. The first is the puzzle platforming bit. Thomas, a rectangle, and various other rectangles with different names and various physical “powers” (able to jump higher, double jump, have reversed gravity, act as a trampoline, etc.) have to reach matching rectangular door “portals” across about 80 levels of platforming. The graphics are plain, the puzzles mostly simple, and sound effects are almost nonexistent. It’s not a bad game, just there’s no depth and very little challenge.

But there’s another part to the game. The running narration of the progress, feelings and story behind all these little rectangles. They all have distinct personalities, egos and fears. Not a single part of the narration affects how the game plays at all, but the funny characters that it draws out of the shapes you control adds a massive layer of purpose to the game, elevating it above the “drab puzzle platformer” it appears to be.

It’s short, and I spent between two and three hours on it, but it’s definitely well worth playing. And best of all, it uses the d-pad and a single button on the PS3 controller (plus L1/R1 to swap shape) so it’s even enjoyable to control for those of us who hate the Dual Shock 3. Lovely.

Now, what do I spend my remaining £3.80-ish on?

Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed (Vita): COMPLETED!

Thomas Was Alone (PS3): COMPLETED!