My oh my did Sony\’s newest handheld have an identity crisis, though not as bad as the PS3\’s last generation. It was originally pitched as having the home console experience in your pocket and yet very few games were able to come close to that promise. The only two I can think of are Uncharted Golden Abyss and Killzone Mercenary which were both impressive graphically with solid overall gameplay. I still don\’t know how the wizards at Guerilla Games got the Killzone 3 engine from PS3 up and running on the Vita. As fun as both games were they didn\’t justify the purchase for me.
But then something happened—something glorious. Something that made me fall in love with my Vita and that something is indies. My Vita is full of great independent titles from some of my favorite developers like Polytron, Drinkbox Studios, and Renegade Kid with some new favorites like Yacht Club Games coming on board. Sony also started remastering some of my favorite trilogies from the PS2 era. I have a PlayStation 2 folder with the God of War, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet and Clank trilogies. Sitting in front of my PlayStation 2 folder is a PlayStation folder with classics such as Parapa The Rapper, Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, and Dino Crisis. If you didn\’t know the PlayStation Vita also plays downloadable PlayStation Portable games from the PlayStation Store. As you can probably guess I have a folder titled PSP with a few of my favorite games like Burnout, Daxter, and Patapon.
Not only does the Vita have a pretty kickass downloadable back catalogue spanning a few PlayStation generations as well as an interesting indie lineup, it also benefits from Sony\’s game-changing cross-buy and cross-save. This means if you buy a participating game on one Sony console like PS4 you automatically get it on PS Vita as well. It\’s mainly indie games who support this and it\’s a nice benefit but what sweetens the deal even further is if those games have cross-save support. With cross-save you can use your game save across whatever console the game is on like PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. I love being able to carry my progress with me on the go and continue back home on the big screen. To take your gameplay choices even further you can also play everything that\’s available on the PlayStation Now streaming service. The Vita is also a nice companion for the PS4 thanks to remote play. With remote play I was able to play Destiny on my Vita in Florida while it streamed from my PS4 across the country.
As you can see I think there a plethora of reasons to get the Vita but there\’s one thing I can\’t stand about it and that\’s the damn memory cards. They\’re way too expensive. I imported a 64GB card that set me back $99 while a 64GB micro SD card for my new 3DS XL cost me under $20. That\’s a significant markup that\’s shitty for the consumer. Perhaps you\’re sold and your final question is to track down an original Vita with the OLED display or the newer slimmer Vita with the LCD display. You can read my more in depth comparison here but I\’d say go for the slim Vita. It uses a standard micro USB port rather than the original\’s proprietary connector and it\’s quite a bit lighter making it a lot more comfortable for extended bursts of gameplay.
