Z-Run places you in the role of a human running through the city trying to survive while kicking, dodging, and cracking as many zombie skulls as possible. You’ll constantly be running forward, so think of this game being somewhat like Bit Trip Runner, but with a 3rd person angle. When I first started the game, I actually was enjoying myself and had some optimism, even with the instantly noticeable murky graphics. Unfortunately, this optimism faded away as I began to play more of the game.

When navigating your player through the streets, it almost feels like you’re driving a boat. Whenever I wanted to turn, it took the game significant time to react to my button press, so I had to turn right or left well ahead of time to achieve where I wanted to go, but sometimes it’s hard to plan that when Z-Run throws obstacles in your face you can’t see.

The 3rd person camera makes it hard to react to incoming obstacles. Games like Bit Trip Runner utilize a sidescrolling view to give the player ample time to react to incoming enemies and obstacles, but by placing the camera behind the player, navigation is a mess, and often I felt like the game unfairly placed object in my way that seemed near impossible to miss without already memorizing the layout of the level.

Not only do you have to worry about navigating through zombies, cars, and random debris, but when you get physical with zombies and spill their blood, it’ll start to cover the Vita’s screen, and you’ll need to wipe the screen in order to see the screen. This doesn’t add any sort of fun nuance, and it’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the game. When you need to preemptively press buttons and have quick reactions, having to be a pair of human windshield wipers makes the game unfair, and it seems its only existence is to make use of the Vita’s touchscreen, but it’s entirely unnecessary.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Z-Run is the zombie’s inconsistent attack ranges. Zombies sometimes can’t touch you when you’re almost rubbing against them, while the same zombie will sometimes jump across half the screen and attack you. This inconsistency is unnervingly frustrating, and it quickly becomes a game of chance rather than a game of skill.

Z-Run is an okay idea executed poorly. Whatever redeemable value that is found with the concept is quickly stricken away by woeful controls, murky graphics, and inconsistent enemy attacks. The excitement of dodging zombies and surviving the apocalypse may seem like a fun fantasy, but Z-Run captures only the more likely despair.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation Vita game Z-Run by Beatshapers.

5) Minecraft

Release Date: August 2014

Why We’re Excited: The prospect of being able to craft worlds on the go – and this time with physical controls, unlike the touchscreen only iOS version – seems like a dream come true. Minecraft on Vita just may be one of the best ways to play from portability alone, because being able to continue building your world whenever you want, and pausing to put the game in standby mode on Vita will be a brilliantly quick way to jump back into the action.

Why We’re Worried: It’s taken forever for the port to come out, and ported games on Vita have a history of not running as well as their original version. Our hops is that the potentially huge creations Minecraft can host won’t be held back by the Vita’s power.

4) Child of Light

Release Date: June 1, 2014

Why We’re Excited: This gorgeous UbiArt powered game was received incredibly positively by the gaming press, and if it translates half as well as the Rayman games from Ubisoft, Child of Light may have its greatest showing on Vita – especially for the original Vita’s OLED screen to show off the UbiArt engine and all of its glory.

Why We’re Worried: Like many Vita games, the main concern here will be how well the game runs on the portable. The fluidity of Child of Light shouldn’t be ruined by a choppy framerate, so we hope the port doesn’t produce a inferior version.

3) Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Release Date: September 2, 2014

Why We’re Excited: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was a surprise hit for the Vita, and the sequel was announced for Vita right before the first game’s release. While both games have already been released on PSP, those who haven’t experienced Danganronpa are sure to enjoy the engaging – sometimes disturbing – story and universe, and we can’t wait to experience the despair-filled world.

Why We’re Worried: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was simply incredible, so the expectations for the sequel are pretty high. Those who have already played both say that the sequel is actually the better of the two, but after playing the first title, it’s hard to believe. If Danganronpa 2 can surpass the first entry, it may just be one of the best titles to grace the Vita.

2) Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Release Date: TBA 2014

Why We’re Excited: Hotline Miami had one of its best showings on Sony’s handheld, and the transformation from keyboard and mouse to twin stick shooter made the game better. While precision dropped, fluidity increased, and the game became smooth as silk. Playing the short, compact levels in Hotline Miami was perfect on the go, so we can’t wait to have even more Hotline Miami goodness on the go.

Why We’re Worried: The story in the first Hotline Miami was decent at best, and the premise for this sequel seems interesting, but we’re holding out hope until we get our hands on it. Even if the story is a letdown again, the fast paced brutality will always keep us entertained.

1) Freedom Wars

Release Date: TBA 2014

Why We’re Excited: There are plently of reasons we’re excited for Freedom Wars. For one, it’s a brand new exclusive for PlayStation Vita, and unfortunately, we don’t get to say that too often. The game looks and plays a bit like the similar Vita Soul Sacrifice series, but with more depth, exciting weapons and battles. The premise also intrigues us, as the protagonist has to work for the state, and each mission completed will cut down his sentence until he eventually becomes free.

Why We’re Worried: The Monster Hunter type games can be a little dry at times, and we’ve experienced so many titles with that type of gameplay. Freedom Wars looks to really be changing up the pace and action, so any worry we have is minute.

What’re your most anticipated PlayStation Vita games? Let us know in the comments below, and stick to NGN for the latest news and reviews of  these Vita games and more.

Fast forward to today, and arcades are mostly dead outside of a few anomalies. Now, we can enjoy almost any classic arcade game from our gaming consoles by downloading them from the store. R-Type Dimensions, a revisit of the two classic arcade games R-Type and R-Type II, is reborn with new graphics, new music, but it also allows you to play the game just how you remembered it growing up – minus all the money you had to cough up.

Remember how difficult arcade games were? You will, now!

R-Type plays like most side-scrolling shooters, but it differentiates itself by relying a lot on ship navigation rather than blowing up the enemies in front of you. The controls are incredibly tight and responsive, which is absolutely necessary, because the game will throw obstacle after obstacle at you to try and kill you. Ships, aliens, and missiles will appear from every corner, so I ended up holding down the shoot button and focusing more on my ship’s immediate area so I could avoid whatever came my way, because one hit will kill you instantly.

Trust me when I say that R-Type is just as hard as it was when it originally came out. It’s absolutely unforgiving, and those without quick reflexes will die dozens of times in every level. To balance this, R-Type Dimensions gives players the ability to choose either classic or infinite mode; the former having you restart the level after one death, and the latter giving you infinite lives and almost no penalty for death.

Infinite mode is a great way for unskilled players, like myself, to breeze through both games. I completed both games in about 45 minutes, and while it is a short game, this number would have increased immensely if I had played R-Type in classic mode – which I doubt I would have been able to beat. Since the game is so similar to its original, it still has those moments where I wondered if it was even remotely possible to beat the game in classic mode. I asked myself multiple times how anyone could navigate through some of these levels, because there is barely any room on screen for the player to be. Enemies come out with no warning, and even one missed reaction can result in death and a game over. For some this may seem like a worthy challenge, but at least in my case, it just resulted in frustration.

One of the most compelling parts about R-Type is that at any time you can switch between the classic graphics and the new HD graphics on a dime by pressing a button. I succumbed to many deaths, because I often was so curious what some sections looked like decades ago. I actually fancied myself more toward the classic graphics, because the sprites are truly gorgeous; not to mention that while the HD graphics are nice, they lack a certain excitement about them that the classic look just nails.

A comparison of the classic and updated HD look.

What I ended up feeling after beating both R-Type games multiple times was that I just wanted to play the games in their original form. The updated sound and graphics are servicable, but they lack any sort of personality that makes it stand out from the countless other side-scrolling shooters available.

R-Type Dimensions is a great modern revival of a classic side-scrolling shooter. The absolutely brutal difficulty may scare some gamers away, but the optional modern touches create a nice entry point to those looking to sit back and enjoy the entire game free from the consequences of death.

This review is based on a review copy of the Playstation 3 version of the game R-Type Dimensions by Tozai Games.

If you haven’t gotten to play any game in the Worms franchise, it’s a pretty simple concept: up to four teams of worms take turns one by one to destroy their opponent. Your worms can choose from a multitude of weapons, like a shotgun to deliver quick damage, a homing missile that can target any worm on the map, or an old lady who angrily waddles her way toward worms and detonates to leave nothing but dust around her, dealing massive damage. You’ll use all these weapons in an attempt to either lower your enemy’s health to zero, or by forcing them off the map into the infinite water below, which is an instant kill. There isn’t just weapons, though, as gadgets like jetpacks, teleporters, and construction beams can help you maneuver around the map to give a new angle to an attack, or to escape a fatal encounter.

Worms Battlegrounds features a single player campaign, but everything besides the great narration by Katherine Parkinson (best known from The IT Crowd), is forgettable. Missions and puzzle are a little too easy, and the story presented isn’t going to grab attention, either. While the single player is a bit of a drag, the humor laden throughout the entire game will constantly kept me chuckling. The writing for the story may not be great, but the witty one-liners from the narrator and worms gives an undeniable charm and humor that’s hard not to love.

Mutliplayer has always been the crux of Worms, and it’s no different here. The online suite offered is great, and being able to create clans and level them up online is a wonderful addition to really promote playing against others around the world. Even with the enhanced online mode, it’s hard to beat getting four people together to battle on the same TV. Just like other games in the Worms series, you’ll only need one controller to pass around for everyone to use. There’s rarely a better feeling than tossing a grenade halfway across the map and witnessing your friend’s meltdown as the grenade blasts their worm down into the bottomless water.

Seeing as how Worms Battlegrounds is on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4, it’s disappointing to see how little the game takes advantage of the powerful hardware on both systems. Character models looks smooth, and the cartoon look suits the subject matter, but environments and effects are sub par, and they looked dated. If Worms Battlegrounds was a cross-gen title, the graphical limitations would have explained why they weren’t impressive, but since this is on Xbox One and PS4, there should be no excuse why the game’s graphics don’t look more refined and crisp.

If you like to create your own maps, Worms Battlegrounds features a nice level editor that can lead to some truly crazy levels. You can place objects like explosive barrels, mines, and more wherever you like, the only limitation is in how many you can actually spawn. Regardless, the level editor is a great way to experience more abstract and innovative maps that put your worm soldiers in situations that aren’t the norm.

Anyone who’s played a Worms game before won’t be missing much by skipping Worms Battlegrounds. The same  humor is there; the same turn based strategy is there; the same goofy game is there. That’s both Worms Battlegrounds’ strength and weakness: it’s the exact same Worms game you’ve played before, just with a few minor additions.

This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version of the game Worms Battlegrounds by Team 17.

The first new character, Mii Fighter, allows players to put their Mii inside smash and customize their powers.

Brawler is a class that focuses on close range fighting with punches and kicks. The Swordfighter class gives your Mii a sword, and it plays similar to Link. The final class is a Gunner, which gives your Mii an arm cannon. This class is similar to Mega Man and Samus.

When you pick your class, you’ll be able to choose four attacks from 12 Mii Fighter special attacks to further customize your Mii to your liking.

The second new character announced is Palutena from the Kid Icarus series.

Palutena is the 32nd character announced for Super Smash Bros.

Nintendo announced Tuesday during their 2014 Digital Event E3 presentation that Super Smash Bros. on 3DS will be released on October 3, 2014.

Nintendo reiterated that Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is still coming Holiday 2014, though an official date still unknown.

You see, Hyperdimension Neptunia PP: Producing Perfection is a game about being a manager for pop stars – not being the pop stars themselves. So get ready to manage your pop star while you sit in the background! Bored, confused and curious as to what the point of this game actually is.

The game begins by following the story of four CPUs who rule over the world of Gamindustri. A new “idol group,” called MOB48, is topping the charts of the music world, and they’re taking all of the people of Gamindustri’s “shares” of love. Naturally, the CPUs decided that the best course of action is to become pop star idols themselves and top the charts so the peoples love (or shares) will return back to the CPU goddesses. I’m not kidding, that’s the actual motivation for the main characters.

Since these CPUs – even though they’re goddesses – don’t know much about being pop idols, they use their immense power to summon someone who can manage them and make them the best pop idols they can be. They end up summoning your unnamed character, who doesn’t even know what he’s doing either. Regardless, you get to choose from one of the four CPUs, who all but one are based off of the three big video game companies, to manage and help them rise the charts.

As the manager for these pop stars, you’ll decide what these CPUs must do everyday to become more loved. You can train their skills, have them increase their fans by doing various public events, or rest by taking a vacation or spending time with other characters. This is what you’ll be spending the majority of your time doing in Hyperdimension, and it isn’t entertaining whatsoever. You’ll stare at your CPUs face, and most of the events are fairly similar to one another, so there isn’t much to look forward to; even when there is something new story wise, it generally is nonsensical and pointless.

Every so often, you’ll be able to put on a concert to show off your CPUs pop idol abilities. You’ll choose from one of five songs, so get ready to hear those same five songs a lot, and you’ll set up the stage for your idol(s) to perform on. During your CPUs concert, you’ll be tasked with switching camera angles and activating effects to help engage the crowd more and make the performance better. What the gameplay actually turns out to be is mostly mindless button presses and it becomes almost way too easy.

For the majority of the concerts I put on, I simply used one of the three effects I had when I could, and mixed in some different camera angles to capture them. You can hear what effects the crowd likes, and if you mix them in during certain parts of the song, your meter of crowd excitement will build, and it will increase your score. You can also activate your CPUs transformation to increase all effects, which almost seemed like an “I win” button rather than a special boost to use when in dire need.

The songs included in Hyperdimension are fairly catchy, but like previously stated – there’s only five in total through the entire game. Putting on the same song at the same venue over and over again recreates that feeling of hearing a popular song on the radio way too much, because you’ll get sick of each song fairly quickly, but there isn’t a big enough track list to exercise some different sounding tracks to test your producing skills.

There never is a real challenge to Hyperdimension, and while that’s initially okay, management games rely on ramping up the difficulty and making every decision crucial, but since the difficulty never ramps up, failure is nearly impossible, and any sort of accomplishment feels too easy, and it doesn’t have any sort of satisfaction tied with it.

Hyperdimension Neptunia PP is a very odd game, but that’s not a good thing. It introduces some new types of gameplay that you often wouldn’t find in a game, but it never pays off. Changing camera angles and simulating social simulations just isn’t exciting enough to maintain consistent engagement, and the nonsensical story brings little motivation to continue this very odd tale. If management sims aren’t your thing, you probably won’t find a lot to like about Hyperdimension. Actually, even if you do like management sims, you probably won’t find a lot to like about Hyperdimension. With more features, more in-depth gameplay, and more options to choose for non-concert days, maybe Hyperdimension could have actually been as fun as how the CPUs act, but this feature barren title never comes close to achieving much of any fun.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation Vita game Hyperdimension Neptunia PP: Producing Perfection by Compile Heart.

Vainglory will be a 3 vs 3 team MOBA instead of the normal 5 vs 5 teams we’ve all become accustomed to in more established MOBAs. According to the official website, matches will last around 20 minutes, and the game will have new heroes added regularly.

While no official release date is confirmed, Super Evil Megacorp has stated that development is well under way, and they’ll update more information regarding an official release soon.

If you’re curious to see how the game looks and plays, watch the teaser trailer below, and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Make sure to check back with NGN for the latest information on Vainglory and our review upon release.

Monster Monpiece earned its reputation well before its release with trailers exposing the game’s very graphic sexual gameplay that quickly intrigued and offended gamers worldwide. Hidden underneath its incredibly immature handling of the sexual content is a card battle game that’s fast paced, simple, and fun on the go. It’s a shame that developer Compile Heart felt the need to try and differentiate itself with these themes, because the game could have been much stronger without them.

You’ll enter the role of May, a not-so-confident student at an academy that focuses on mastering the use of “monster girls.” Monster girls are beings that co-exist with humans who train to use summoned cards of monster girls to fight. When one of May’s friend Elza gets her mind taken over and becomes “lost,” which pretty much means they’ve gone full on evil, May decides to collect the Magus Quartzes, which are filled with immense power, so Elza can’t use them to gain power.

The story isn’t anything to lose yourself in, but it gets the job done. It’s interesting enough, but the game feels the need to add awkward or forced moments to try and bond characters together through their journey, but it seems more like a bad sitcom than nicely constructed bonding scenes. It’s a good thing the overarching plot is simple, because it can be hard to follow the subtexts or side plots brought up in the game, because sometimes the conversations never seem to end. The characters are nicely drawn, but no one’s personality shines and becomes interesting enough to become invested in.

The game is still entirely in spoken Japanese, but it does have subtitles at the bottom, though I did notice a lot of translation errors or misused words that didn’t make sense to read, at times.

Monster Monpiece features a really interesting mix between Fire Emblem and card battle games like Hearthstone. The game begins on a grid, with a nine by nine grid given to each player with a 1 by 3 grid separating the two. Only the grid’s player can spawn units from drawn cards on their own grid. Each player’s respective turn will end in their units moving up a single space toward the enemy’s grid. At the end of each player’s grid is a castle, and once that castle’s heath reaches zero, that player loses.

With how little the grids are, the matches go by pretty fast, which is a nice ability when you want to play a quick level on the go. The game’s simplicity is beautiful, because it’s fast to learn, and when enough time is spent, strategies start to form which will make battles easier to win.

When selecting your card to play, you’ll place it on your grid, and then a 3D model of that character’s class will appear on the battlefield. The visuals aren’t impressive, but it’s a nice addition for a card battle game since they often lack any interesting story device.

There’s only four card types in Monster Monpiece: melee, ranged, buffer, and healer. Melee cards usually feature high attack and/or health, which are generally placed near the front of the battle to make a way toward the enemy castle. Ranged units are nice to put in the middle of your grid so they can stop enemies from getting any closer,but their only problem is that they generally have decent attack but low health. Buffer units can be placed behind any friendly unit, and they’ll increase the power of their attacks based on their intuition number; for instance, a buffer card with two intuition will increase the attack of the unit in front of them by two. Lastly, healers do exactly what you’d expect: they heal. Putting a high level melee card in front and also summoning a high level healer to heal constantly can change the tide of battle at any time. I ended up using this strategy for most of my time with Monster Monpiece, but having more powerful cards and forming decks up to 40 cards that you can customize to your liking with any unit combination makes it fun to test out certain card configurations.

In order to upgrade your cards to higher attributes, you must initiate what the game calls “First Crush Rub.” Now, this is where the game earns its infamous controversial connotation, and for good reason, because it’s completely unnecessary and borderline perverted. When prompted, you’ll have to hold the Vita sideways and poke and rub tender parts of your female card’s body to raise a meter that when it reaches its limit (or “excitement”), your card will level up and grow more powerful. Not only does your card become more powerful, but the character will then lose clothing and will visually be in more erotic outfits.

Rubbing female characters is how you upgrade cards – seriously.

Touching the crotch, breasts, and other tender areas were always the common theme, and it instantly made it uncomfortable to play, because it doesn’t present it in an interesting, purposeful way; instead, it seems the game is going for shock value or simple exploitation of female anatomy to lure in gamers with an erotic hook.

Monster Monpiece is a satisfying card battle game that takes advantage of simple, easy to learn gameplay mechanics that forges a surprisingly fun strategy game. The unavoidable erotic segments are low and somewhat offensive, and it stops the game from being fun by making certain segments of the game way too awkward. Vita owners craving a decent card battle game may find Monster Monpiece a nice title to satisfy their appetite, but know that the game’s decision to have you fondle girls is unavoidable. If you can get past of erotic content, you’ll find a competent card battle game.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation Vita game Monster Monpiece by Compile Heart and distributed by Idea Factory.

Well, you might not have played this game specifically, but Sparkle 2 is now among hundreds of match three games available to play. More specifically, if you’ve played Zuma before, you’ve definitely played Sparkle 2. Basically, a line of orbs runs through a path trying to fall into a hole that you must prevent them from entering. You control a orb shooter that will carry an assortment of colored orbs that pop up randomly. It’s your job to shoot a colored orb to two matching colored orbs or more. Doing this will cause all of those touching orbs to be destroyed and will make the line of incoming orbs either stop momentarily or retreat a little bit.

Welcome back to a match three game.

Adding a little change-up to the tired formula, Sparkle 2 introduces power-ups that you can shoot orbs at to obtain and use. These range from shooting a giant light beam that destroys all orbs in its path, to a power-up called “fireflies,” which are a group of little lights that change the colors of orbs to better suit your current orb ammunition. These little boosts were a lot of fun to use, and getting one when there isn’t any other moves can be a nice savior if you’re stringing together a long combo.

Sparkle 2 introduces a quest mode to try and add some meat to the game, but it ends up feeling forced and unnecessary. You’ll play a handful of levels to reach a monument, some dialogue will pop up and describe a scene, and that’s about all there is to it. Trying to add motivation to a match three game other than, well, just matching three would be a really great addition, but it doesn’t feel completely thought out or well developed whatsoever.

There’s actually a pretty nice soundtrack included with Sparkle 2. It reminded me a lot of the soundtracks in the Harry Potter films, because it has a nice mix of mystical and mystery. Starting levels has a more fast paced soundtrack that increases the tension, and it provides a more atmospheric tone and setting – more so than the story the game tries to tell. Even navigating through the level selection screen has a ominous enchanting chorus that was absolutely beautiful.

The story of Sparkle 2 is forgettable and unnecessary.

Besides the basic match three quest mode, there’s also a couple of other gameplay options to change things up a bit. There’s a survival mode for those who want to test how long they can destroy orbs before they get overwhelmed, and there’s also a couple dozen challenge levels to will increase the difficulty more so than in quest mode.

When I first received Sparkle 2, I played it on PlayStation 4, but once I tried it on PlayStation Vita, it was hard to even think about playing it on PS4. Using the touch screen on Vita isn’t just easier to aim, it’s also easier to plan out faster moves and strategies for chaining combos. The PS4 version can be played by either using the analog stick and buttons, or by using the touch pad. To make things a bit easier, there is a aiming reticle to counter any the hike in difficulty, but playing on the Vita is so much easier and more precise that going back to the PS4 wasn’t even on my radar.

Sparkle 2 doesn’t do anything new for the genre that makes it stand out as the next great match three game, and the new additions it does bring to the table is hit and miss. Great in bursts, Sparkle 2 is nice to play when the on the go on Vita, but playing it for long sessions at home reveals the same weakness most match three games suffer from: repetitiveness. If you absolutely need a match three game on your PlayStation hardware, Sparkle 2 is a solid game to get, but you could just download dozens of the same games for free on iOS or Android and save yourself a bit of money.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game Sparkle 2 by 10tons Ltd.