DDNet's Games of the year 2013: PlayStation Vita Game of the Year

A couple of months ago we asked you to vote on your favourite games of the year (up to the end of October, except for the blockbuster of the year award, which is still running now on the site). You've voted and now, in the coming weeks, we will unveil the results.

The process: Earlier in the year we asked you, our readers, to rank nine different games per category in order of preference (or how interested you are in a game, if you haven't played it before). We have taken those rankings, averaged them up, and the resulting list below are the top four games - three runners up and the winner.

The Vita might not be setting the sales charts alight, but that's not from a lack of game quality. The Vita has some truly incredible games available on it... provided you're willing to look beyond AAA-grade games for smaller and independent releases.

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Review: Ys: Memories of Celceta (Vita)

Review by Clark A.

A surprising number of franchises have been able to achieve the 25^th anniversary milestone considering the relative youth of the games industry. However, much fewer IPs have histories as rich and remarkable as Ys. Nihon Falcom hasn’t been shy about making complete visual and mechanical overhauls, outsourcing titles to other developers, or bringing the series to obscure platforms. It’s extraordinary that such a prolific property can maintain its quality despite that.

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Review: Rainbow Moon (Vita)

Review by Matt S.

Are you a fan of old school RPGs that involve a load of grinding and not much else? Rainbow Moon is the game for you. I loved it back when it released on the PlayStation 3, and I love it that little bit more on the Vita.

The game hasn't changed in any meaningful way in the transition to the small screen. It's a little more difficult to appreciate the vibrant colours that was a big part of the big-screen Rainbow Moon's charm, but in every other way the Vita game is every big as slick as its predecessor. Cloud saves even allow you to share the save file between versions. 

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Review: A-Men 2 (Vita)

Review by Nick H.

The first A-Men was a title that caught me completely unprepared when it first came out. It was listed as a strategy game, but it also blended in some light platforming. Also, when I think of strategy I tend to think more of tactics title such as Fire Emblem, but here Bloober Team assembled a game that was more like progressive puzzle-solving. There were things about A-Men that I liked in my review, but there were also aspects of the game that were somewhat frustrating when I gave it a go on the PlayStation 3.

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Review: CastleStorm (Vita)

Review by Matt S. 

CastleStorm bustles with energy, creativity, and humour. It combines Zen Studios' impeccable sense of aesthetics with a combination of some of the most popular gameplay systems that we've seen in recent years. There's a bit of Angry Birds in there, as well as some button-mashing action and a touch of tower defense.

It's all good. In fact, the biggest criticism that can be leveled at the game is that it doesn't give players the time to appreciate it.

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Preview: Tearaway (Vita)

Preview by Sam M. 

There aren’t many games that make me stop and look at every little individual aspect of a game. Tearaway does that. Brought to you by Media Molecule, the same team behind the LittleBigPlanet series, Tearaway brings the same creativity and pure joy that you would expect in a LBP game.

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Review: Proteus (Vita)

Review by Matt S.

I sat in the middle of a ring of stones, on the top of an icy mountain. Roughly humanoid in shape these menhirs told no story of their own, and so I was left to sit there and puzzle over them. And so I sat, with nothing but the freezing wind to keep me company.

At length I decided to descend from my perch to explore the world beneath me. I approached a tree, and the noise started. At first it was one note, but as I made my way into a thick forest of pink leaves that one note became a cocophony, somehow jarring and at the same time serene. This soundscape was my own; I created it through my own movement, and that sensation of ownership connected me to the unique soundtrack that only I would ever hear.

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What I'd like to see Nintendo learn from the PlayStation Vita

Opinion by Matt S. 

It's been a long time since I cared about a big game release on the PlayStation Vita. Reading that sentence you might assume that I'm not playing the console any longer, but that couldn't be further from the truth; if anything the Vita is my most used device.

For instance, TuneIn radio launched on the Vita this week, giving me easy access to Japanese radio stations when I'm out and about. Also on my Vita are applications for Twitter, Facebook, and my E-mail account, and the interfaces and general experience of using these apps is the best I've experienced in any format. And then I've got access to millions of music tracks while on the go via Music Unlimited.

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NISA is on a roll; now we're getting the Hyperdimension idol game!

Just yesterday we reported that NISA is localising Mugen Souls Z for the western market in 2014. It has backed that news up today with even more exciting news; Hyperdimension Neptunia PP on the PlayStation Vita is getting a western localisation.

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Review: Valhalla Knights 3 (Vita)

Review by Clark A. 

To say Valhalla Knights 3 expects the player’s full attention immediately would be quite the understatement. Before hitting the half-hour mark I witnessed a gratuitously detailed history of the world’s nations, a corrupt emperor turning on an already corrupt world, the legend of a master thief, an uninformative flashback of my character, men being hacked up, women getting berated, and the fall of the nation. If that last sentence sounded muddled, you’re in for a treat. Constant perspective swapping and informational tidbits thrown into the midst made for me a rather muddled introduction to the series.

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Review: Worms Revolution Extreme (Vita)

Review by Matt S.

Well, it was inevitable that Worms would eventually make its way to the PlayStation Vita. The folks at Team 17 have adapted the insanity to every other platform, so why not also Sony's powerhouse?

Now, these games don't have a good track record on the handheld consoles, it must be said. It wasn't until the Nintendo DS that a portable Worms title has been even playable, let alone entertaining. But, after the iPad's rather excellent Worms 3 release, and the sheer quality of the original Worms Revolution, I had high hopes for this Vita title.

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To hell with Call of Duty, Nnooo's announced a shooter with bunnies

After a couple of announcements about games that it is set to publish for other developers, Nnooo has finally unveiled its first game since escapeVektor; Blast 'Em Bunnies.

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Review: Killzone Mercenary (Vita)

Review by Matt S. 

The genre that Vita owners have been crying out for like none other is the shooter. With a powerful processor, nice wide screen and dual control sticks there is every reason that we should have had many entertaining shooters so far on the console, but we just haven't.

With many attributing the lack of shooters for the Vita's poor showing in the western markets to date, eyes turned to Killzone Mercenary to reverse the fortunes of the console. Good news! It does. While Killzone Mercenary is perhaps not the outright classic shooter that will sell Vita consoles by the shipload, but it's certainly an A-grade game that will help people recognise that the Vita does, in fact, have titles of note.

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Review: Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut (Vita)

Review by Sam M. 

I'm often intrigued by games that try to offer more than just an enjoyable experience. When something comes along that has solid gameplay, but also brings with it a deep set of undertones, it makes the venture into the game much more worthwhile.

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Review: KickBeat (Vita)

Apart from its undying love to the way of the pinball, it seems like developer Zen Studios is just as passionate about kung fu and dance music, and it shows in KickBeat, the team's latest PlayStation Network title. Music gaming has been on the decline as of late, but KickBeat harkens back to the early players in the world of console music gaming, such as Frequency or Elite Beat Agents, and then changes things up by mixing the likes of heavy metal, rap, and kung fu moves. It’s an odd premise for sure, but Zen Studios has made a formidable attempt foraying into the music genre, even if it's a slightly underwhelming one.

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Review: The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character (Vita)

The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character, a remastered version of the PS Mini title, still provides the same fun and colourful atmosphere on the Vita. Players control an orange octopus in an effort to retrieve all of its offspring scattered throughout the world. Birds, bulldogs and projectile-throwing hats are only some of the things that Rotating Octopus Character needs to avoid to stay alive.

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Vita TV; a painting of the future of console gaming

It's been a big day of announcements for Sony. Of all the announcements of new games and new Vita hardware, was the most exciting announcement of all: The Vita TV.

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A new 'casual' Vita? Sure, Sony, why the heck not!

Sony has announced an all-new PlayStation Vita model that it hopes will be more attractive to a broader, more casual audience than the original console.

Given that Sony's messaging in the lead up to the release of the original Vita was that it was a console for "serious" gamers, this casual push might be seen as an admission that the "core" gamer isn't enough to sustain a console. Either way, though, this new device promises to be a slick bit of kit, being thinner and lighter, and coming in multiple colours including yellow, pink, blue and grey.

The price of the new console will be about $200 come release. Given that the Vita is one of the most underrated devices on the market with a truly brilliant lineup of games, we can only hope this new device helps boost overall Vita sales.

For those of us who already have Vitas, never fear because Sony's got our backs too - there's a 64GB memory card on the way. While that might not sound exciting let's put it this way; I need two of those. Imagine how frustrating it's been having to swap between 32GB cards.

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Review: Real Boxing (Vita)

Real Boxing is another one of those indie games that was originally a mobile game and then remade for a handheld console. The thing is, I can't imagine playing this on touch screens now, having played the incredible dual-stick setup of this Vita version.

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Review: Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims in HD (Vita)

Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims was originally a PS Mini title for the PSP, and one that was held in high acclaim. It was a unique horizontal shooter in the same vein as The Game Atelier’s Flying Hamster, but wasn't quite as much fun as, in my view, the controls were less than ideal. Dakko Dakko has brought the title back once again as a native Vita title in HD, and the Vita’s second analogue stick rectifies those control issues in the process.

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