Best PS Vita games: The 12 best PS Vita launch games

By Steve Boxer for computerandvideogames.com

The launch of a new console can be a fraught time, with your joy at getting hold of a shiny, pristine piece of hardware somewhat tempered by confusion over which games you should buy to play on it.

Launch game line-ups are always pock-marked by ugly, quick-and-dirty ports of games that weren't even any good in the first place. And the PS Vita, with its impressively large roster of 33 launch games is a case in point - some of its games have even been ported from mobile phones. However, buy any of this lot, and you can't go wrong.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Nathan Drake's latest starring vehicle isn't some knock-off constructed from bits of old Uncharteds that Naughty Dog found lying around in the garage: it's a bespoke effort for the PS Vita, made by Sony's Bend Studio (although it was overseen by Naughty Dog). It looks magnificent, and offers the full Uncharted experience - climbing, third-person shooting and puzzle-solving - with some added concessions to the PS Vita's unique attributes, such as reassembling ripped-up maps by touching and manipulating them, negotiating rapids and narrow beams by tilting and, ahem, making charcoal rubbings.

Drake also gets a new female sidekick, Chase, who is good for the customary banter. In other words, everything you'd expect from a proper new Uncharted game is present and correct - except, for the first time, you can carry Golden Abyss around with you.

Read the Uncharted: Golden Abyss review.

WipEout 2048

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If a new Sony console was ever launched without an accompanying WipEout game, it's possible that the world would, as a result, stop turning. Thankfully, WipEout 2048 should postpone the apocalypse for a while longer. It is, of course, a futuristic hover-racing game, with a pumping techno-trance soundtrack, and a set of glorious swoopy and vertiginous circuits.

Visually, it's breathtaking, it contains straight races, Zone races which reward precision and Combat races that are all about weaponry, and it has a much gentler learning curve than previous WipEouts. Bound to be a massive draw online, particularly since it lets you play against people with PS3s, via the PS Vita's Cross-play feature.

Read the WipEout 2048 Vita review.

F1 2011

Codemasters' has rightly won an awful lot of praise for the Formula One games it has made since acquiring the official licence, and this PS Vita take on the pinnacle of modern motor-sport was developed in tandem with the console versions. Which explains why F1 2011 looks amazing - and plays more or less exactly like its fixed-console siblings. The launch line-up proves that the PS Vita is a great platform for driving games - but f1 2011 is the only one among them with proper simulator credentials.

Read the F1 2011 Vita review.

Comments

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Im_Money on 20 Feb '12 said:

I thought it was Fifa Football not Fifa 12 =P
Only games I'll be getting at the moment are Fifa which came with the Vita, and then four titles including Rayman if Amazon honour their miss pricing which made them under £6 each, they've not been cancelled yet and they come out in two days so here's hoping Do need to purchase a memory card though, that'll have to wait till Friday Unless Amazon do cancel lol
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satanscraft on 20 Feb '12 said:

Gravity Rush isn't a launch title; that might need to be corrected.... Aside from that though, good article!
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AndyR on 20 Feb '12 said:

Thanks for the corrections chaps
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gearyboy on 20 Feb '12 said:

The chap above is spot on about the FIFA name. They wouldn't want to name it as 12, seeing as 13 will no doubt be 'coming soon' so that vita titles fit in line with the main console releases.
Of these 12 games the two that sing loudest for me are Gravity Rush and Escape Plan. One a hard copy release, the other a download only title but both ORIGINAL and not just a straight port / spin off of something we can already play on the vita's big brother.
More of these please - I bet you'd find a direct correlation between the increasing number of releases and IPs unique to the Vita and sales...
EDIT - Now that CVG has moved Gravity Rush from the list (not a launch title) my above post doesn't quite make sense but, for me, it's still the most interesting game that's been announced for the first few months of the Vita's life...
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Ali_ on 20 Feb '12 said:

Uncharted, Wipeout, Modnation, Motorstorm RC, Super Stardust and Escape Plan here.
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KrisaimUK on 20 Feb '12 said:

I got the Platinum on Uncharted and everyone buying a Vita should try it, brilliant. Played Fifa and it's so smooth and has looks to die for. Gravity Rush is like a floating Assassins Creed, sort of. Anyhoo, the demo is brilliant and once you've played it I think you'll buy it.
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humanhand on 20 Feb '12 said:

I bought six titles here in the US. Uncharted, Fifa, Hot Shots, Lumines, Katamari, and Shinobido 2. I plan on getting Mortal Kombat when it's out, and possibly the Show 12. Gravity Rush looks the best though, I wish that was out.
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BOYD1981 on 21 Feb '12 said:

The only Vita game I'm interested in is WipEout 2048, so I think it'll be a few years before I actually end up buying one as I would much rather play it on my PS3
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Wakacha on 21 Feb '12 said:

Wait, if it's the top 11 then why is the page titled Top 12?