We’ve seen Sony’s PlayStation Vita, and more importantly, what it is able to do — but this evening, we touched that Next Generation Portable for the first actual time. How does it compare to its single-sticked predecessor? And should we make another Madonna joke? Discover after the break.
First thing that struck us is simply how light the Vita feels inside the hand. It has got a fantastic five-inch OLED panel , monstrous for a conveyable system, however the plastics utilized in its construction make it seem lighter than the PSP or maybe a few of our weightier smartphones. You are looking at firm glossy and matte plastic surfaces here, with the beginning, Select and gear buttons flush inside the glossy front. The face buttons feel small in comparison to the PSP or a DualShock 3 , but they’re firm and comfy to press, and there is a nice floating D-pad at the left side which sounds like it is able to handle a Street Fighter shoryuken or three. The transparent shoulder buttons do not feel much different than those at the PlayStation Portable, though perhaps a tad springier of their action, and between them there are a couple of iPod nano-like volume buttons and 2 thin plastic covers. One hides the flash card slot, while another reveals a mysterious port of a few sort — not one of the Sony representatives could let us know what it does, though there’s also a bigger port at the bottom of the system which apparently connects proprietary USB and / or networking cables.
Despite the shortcoming of weight, the PS Vita definitely has just a little bulk, and we need to admit it wasn’t completely comfortable to carry as instructed. There are a couple of smooth plastic indents at the back to your fingers to rest on (when they don’t seem to be manipulating the rear touchpad) but they could only work for smaller hands given how close they’re to the sides of the system — we found it way more comfortable to rest our fingers at the touchpad itself, that could potentially pose trouble in certain games that use it, though the jury’s out on that one. Speaking of touch, we found both front and rear screens plenty responsive in early use, and so they really do add a whole lot to well-thought-out games, with both Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet using them to fantastic effect.
Navigating obstacles in Uncharted really is so simple as swiping from ledge to ledge; you’re able to line up an entire series of ledges to have Drake shimmy along by himself; and LittleBigPlanet had us not just dragging objects but intuitively pushing and pulling blocks inside and out of the screen with both touchpads simultaneously — building a staircase of Tetris-like blocks. And the way in regards to the dual analog sticks? We’re glad you asked — they completely blow away the unique PSP’s analog nub, and we do not think first-person combat (or most any PS3 port) can be much of a controversy. In this demo unit, they were slightly looser than those on a DualShock 3, but we had no trouble squeezing off a number of headshots in Uncharted with a little of practice. There have been other games on display, but Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet were by far the standouts here, and that they both look and play fantastic in person. At the 5-inch screen, we need to say neither entirely looked the junior of its console counterpart — given the relatively high PPI, you might want to look closely to look the graphical compromises. We said it before, but we’ll say it again: $250 is a piece of money , however it sure seems like you’re getting quite a few handheld on your money here.
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