The gaming community is quite strongly divided on the subject of Sony’s PlayStation Vita, it may have struggled a little bit in the first year but there’s plenty to look forward to for Vita owners in 2013. From the looks of it the Vita could very well have it in the bag, with some brilliant handheld titles just around the corner. Here’s just five of my most anticipated Vita games this year:

Frozen Synapse Tactics

The self-proclaimed ultimate strategy game. It’s an exciting turn based game, full to the brim with tension and incredibly rewarding when your best laid plans come together. It’s  intelligent, fresh, chaotic, competitive and coming to Vita with a brand new visual style. It was a hit on the PC and with the fresh lick of paint and visual overhaul it’s getting I think it will be perfect on the Vita too.

Killzone Mercenary

Killzone Mercenary recently showcased some amazing looking gameplay and phenomenal graphics that strongly resemble its older sibling the PS3. You play as a gun for hire who’s playing both sides against each other for profit and it’s shaping up to be the best handheld shooter anyone’s ever seen. While the Killzone series isn’t known for its storyline, the gameplay looks fun as Hell(ghast), utilising familier mechanics we’ve all come to know and love, while adding cool features using the Vita’s touch screen and rear touch pad to brutalise enemies.

Soul Sacrifice

Games like Monster Hunter, one of the most popular games in the East, have proved that the handheld can be an excellent platform for some truly epic RPG experiences with online play. While Nintendo currently acts as the exclusive home of Monster Hunter games, Sony hopes to capture some of the series’ popularity with a game called Soul Sacrifice, from the mind of Kenji Inafune, who previously was responsible for some of Capcom’s notable titles including Resident Evil, Dead Rising and Onimusha. It has some very interesting new concepts, including the ability to sacrifice fallen co-op partners in exchange for power ups and bonus experience, some addictive, fun gameplay and a gruesome storyline. In short it’s a game that looks to fill a particular gap in the market and I personally can’t wait for it.

Phantasy Star Online 2

It has been an agonising wait for Phantasy Star Online 2, veterans of the Dreamcast era will know how historically important to the online multiplayer gaming community Phantasy Star is. As one of the first console games to allow gamers to play online together in large groups, the original Phantasy Star Online is a beloved classic. The prospect of having that amazing online experience all over again on the Vita makes us giddy as a child at Christmas. It looks gorgeous, with huge environments and, best of all, retaining the best features of Phantasy Star Online, updated to today’s standards.

Tearaway

Media Molecule are a very talented bunch of creative people, responsible for the monumental LittleBigPlanet series. But up until recently LittleBigPlanet was all we had seen from them (in fact they didn’t even work on the quite brilliant Vita version of LittleBigPlanet) well now they’re expanding into new genres and styles. Tearaway is their next game coming to Vita and it looks absolutely fantastic utilising all of the Vita’s unique features for interesting craft-based gameplay and giving us a throughly charming story in a brightly coloured origami world. The art style has inspired some new platforming and puzzle elements that will almost certainly make for a great game.

itsactuallyadam (90 Posts)

Although a writer for the site, Adam is perhaps best known for his regular, incoherent ramblings on the newbreview.com podcast. Hater of the mainstream, lover of the obscure, he favours an eclectic mix of gaming, including a deep love for arcade classics of the 80's. If he'd never discovered video games, he might even have turned into a normal human being.