The amount of exclusive games on the Playstation Vita is staggeringly low, so when a new title is announced, all eyes are on that game to be the Vita’s killer-app. Not only is Soul Sacrifice an original game coming to the Vita, it’s directed by the legendary Keiji Inafune, perhaps best known for co-creating Mega Man. With the involvement of Inafune, the expectations coming in were incredibly high, and while Soul Sacrifice isn’t the best game Vita has to offer, it’s a solid, welcome addition to a library in need of original games.

In Soul Sacrifice, the main character is a captured slave who is about to be executed by the game’s main villain, Magusar. While witnessing another slave trying to break out, the main character discovers a talking book, named Librom. Librom retells the story of a sorcerer who was once close to Magusar and plays through the sorcerer’s memories written in Librom’s pages. As the player level’s the sorcerer, more is learned about their past and involvement with Magusar. While reliving the sorcerer’s memories, the protagonist learns how to cast spells as well, and at any time can choose to face Magusar – even at the beginning of the game – though defeat is almost assured unless fully prepared.

Meet Librom, your guide for this twisted story.

Soul Sacrifice’s combat is very comparable to a game like Monster Hunter, though it has its own flavor. For every spell you cast, you must sacrifice part of that spell. Each spell has a certain amount of casts before it has expired, though with upgrades the amount of casts can increase. So, at the beginning of the game, you may only be able to cast your ice sword three times per instance. This adds an interesting strategy to Soul Sacrifice by forcing players to manage their spells efficiently. The trick here is that you can only revive an over-used spell in the main menu, so if you overuse your spells, it could spell doom for your character.

Those familiar with any Monster Hunter game may understand the repetitive nature of the combat found in Soul Sacrifice. Combat takes place in various stages where you must complete the objective given at the beginning of the chapter. This may range from eliminating all the minor monsters, collecting soul gems, or killing a giant monster. While completing these taks, you’ll be slaying countless enemies that may only differ in color, which isn’t terrible by any means, but after learning enemy attacks and patters, eventually dulls the luster once found when first playing. This is luckily countered with the fantastic array of spells given throughout the game. Spells ranging from turning into a flaming ball, summoning a giant golem, and sending trails of frost toward your enemies is awesome.Weaknesses for each monster can be found which gives bonus damage and points to increase your overall level score, and influences the player to research each monster type before starting a level to customize their spell load-out.

Save…or sacrifice?

In order to grow in power, the player must choose with each kill whether they want to save the beast they just defeated, or sacrifice their soul. Both of these options grant bonuses in very polarizing ways. Saving the enemy you just killed will grant health instantly to you, and increases your overall health and defense. While sacrificing that enemy will add casts to your spells and increases overall damage. This plays into Soul Sacrifice‘s interesting level set up. The max level achievable is 99. This doesn’t mean 99 for both Life and Magic, it’s the addition of both. So any combination up to 99 is allowed, and gives the option to choose if you want to play the game aggressive or defensively.

If you thought a handheld game like Soul Sacrifice would lack mythology and lore, you would’ve thought wrong. Watching the sorcerer’s story unfold through Librom’s pages is dark, gritty, and compelling. Abstract text and beautiful art fill the pages that detail this story and adds a rich style unique to Soul Sacrifice that kept every unlocked segment a reward in itself. The moody narration of each page sets a great tone when entering each level and enriches the overall experience, giving more insight into the quest that may have been lost without this impressive presentation.

Librom’s pages breath life into the story

While the environments in Soul Sacrifice can be intriguing, they are too few in number. For a game taking about 40+ hours to complete, seeing the same background over and over is tiresome and breaks the illusion that this is a journey, and makes it seem like you’re trapped in a never-ending nightmare. This only is made worse by the aforementioned recycling of enemies, making some levels feel exactly the same as dozens you may have done before.

The AI in Soul Sacrifice can be mind-numbingly frustrating at points. Fighting alongside the “all powerful” Magusar loses its believable context when Magusar is being taken down by petty monsters and is running in circles aimlessly. If you’ve been defeated and are waiting to be saved (or sacrificed!), the ally AI can spend a baffling amount of time just standing still or running in questionable routes to assist your character. In combat, the ally AI is mostly incompetent. Using only basic attacks every so often makes them virtually useless in combat, and they seem more of a hindrance when in the heat of combat rather than an aid.

The AI can be useless at times

Soul Sacrifice totes a multiplayer mode which allows up to four players to play online or through ad-hoc connection. While playing the game alone can  sometimes become monotonous, playing with others is an absolute blast and livens up the experience. Hours can be spent going through countless quests online with others, and it is a phenomenal multiplayer experience for those looking to play their Vita with friends. Those worried about the game becoming too easy with four players can rest easy, as the game’s enemies scale to how many players are in the same game, keeping the difficulty level at a challenging degree no matter how many fight together.

Soul Sacrifice isn’t the Playstation Vita’s best game, but it succeeds in bringing a meaty RPG to a platform needing a much deeper game library. The surprisingly interesting lore helps make the game become more immersive and keeps the interest high through the somewhat repetitive nature of the game’s combat and environments. AI can be incredibly annoying, but can mostly be solved by playing the game with others online. Those looking for a great RPG on Vita may find their answer with Soul Sacrifice, as it is one of, if not the best option for Sony’s handheld.

To reference our previous article, Microsoft has confirmed on its official website that it has dropped DRM control with Xbox One and the need for the console to log in online every 24 hours.

“As a result of feedback from the Xbox community, we have changed certain policies for Xbox One and past policies are no longer accurate.”

Here is a snippet of the letter than can be seen here:

• An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

• Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

If you’ve been watching the news, you’d know that Microsoft’s DRM & Always-On policies have been massively criticized. Enough so, that Microsoft is reportedly in the process of removing those restrictions from the Xbox One. There are multiple sources reporting that Microsoft will make announcement within the next 24 hours.

According to Giant Bomb, “all game discs will work on Xbox One “as they do on Xbox 360 and all downloaded games will work both on and offline.” An online connection will reportedly only be required during the console’s initial setup, but there will be no mandatory requirement beyond that for offline gaming.

In addition to the change in policy, Microsoft intends on dropping the plans for region locking allowing games from all regions to be played on all regions.

Stay tuned for more information.

If you’ve been following SuperGiant games, you’d know that Transistor is their next big project. The game isn’t coming out until 2014, but you can take an extended look at what they have so far by checking out the 15 minute long video below.

We got to take a look at the game at PAX East 2013 and it was excellent so this will definitely be worth the look.

Ubisoft has just released a new trailer for their free-to-play brawler, Spartacus Legends. The game is coming to XBLA first on June 26th with a PSN version coming soon. Take a look at the trailer below and let us know what you think. Will you be picking up this game next week?

If you’ve had some interest in the new XCOM game coming out, you may want to consider what platform you buy it for. Today, 2K Games has confirmed that the title’s first DLC pack is coming exclusively to Xbox 360 if you pre-order the game.

The DLC mission is called “Codebreakers”, and it follows Special Agent Carter and his squad as they investigate a top secret government communications facility that has fallen silent. Once there they must deal with alien enemies and attempt to break a code being transmitted from the station.

Make sure you check out the latest trailer below for a quick peek at the game.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be released on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in North America on August 20, and August 23 in Europe.

If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on World of Warcraft and any of the four expansions, Battle.net is currently running a sale on the game. You can get your hands on World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, Mists of Pandaria, The Burning Crusade and Cataclysm all for $30 dollars. If you want to purchase the expansions separately, you can get The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm for $5 each and Mists of Pandaria for $20.

However, you should act fast if this interests you. The discounts expire on Tuesday, June 25 at 2.59 a.m. ET.

GameStop has just reported that they have hit their launch-day allocation limits and will not be taking any more pre-orders at retail locations. However, the company is still taking pre-orders on its website but they are reservations, not necessarily launch day units. It should be noted that some locations still have PS4 pre-orders available, however individual allotments of PS4 systems were much larger than Xbox One allotments on a store by store basis.

So what do you think of the news? Are you surprised on how well the Xbox One is selling?

In a bit of Kingdom Hearts III news, Square Enix has confirmed that Kingdom Hearts III will pick up after the cliffhanger in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream, Drop, Distance. The game will feature the final battle with Master Xehanort, which is what the series has been leading up to this whole time. It was also confirmed that this game will bring the series to an end.

As for the game itself, it was hinted that there will be a playable Riku and Kairi, updated visuals, an improved AI system, and a new tougher version of Sora. Look for more details on the game during this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Meteor Entertainment, publisher of Hawken, announced their Combat Mech Challenge Art Contest. For those unfamiliar, Hawken is a free-to-play mech first person shooter (check out our interview with Evan Burman, Senior Community Manager, during PAX East 2013). The contest will allow the artistically gifted to earn some loot including gaming accessories and Hawken merchandise. Whether it is 2D or 3D artwork, it will be evaluated and judged by a panel from Adhesive Games and Meteor Entertainment, with 3 winners. Prizes include:

• Grand Prize Winner – NVIDIA Shield: an open platform gaming portable
• 2nd Place Winner – Logitech G-Series gaming Bundle, which includes a gaming keyboard, headset, and mouse (value ~$200)
• 3rd Place Winner – A “We Love Fine Hawken t-shirt” and a copy of Hawken: Genesis graphic novel (value ~$40)

All you have to do is go to the official contest landing page, create a WIP (work in progress thread on the forum), create your mech, and post your entry. The contest will continue on through November 5th, 2013 at 1:00 AM PST, giving you plenty of time to work on the perfect submission.