- Joined
- Jun 15, 2009
- Messages
- 1,923
Finally picked mine up today. Gotta say, it's pretty damn awesome. Granted, I don't have any games yet :thumbdown: FIFA wasn't available at the best buy so I had it ordered from amazong and doesn't come till friday.
Anyways, a small little review for those who may be thinking about one.
Hardware
The things feels solid, even though its made out of mostly plastics and is really glossy. It feels downright nice, it's light too surprisingly but the build quality is definitely top notch. The screen is nice, OLED etc, but don't expect to use it outside like sammys Super AMOLED+ displays on smartphones. While its a qHD resolution and looks really good, it's a bit lacking just cuz its spread across a 5 inch screen but it still looks damn good because the screen isn't that big. The dual analog sticks are finally here, i've wanted them since i got the original PSP when i was in like middle school. They obviously a lot smaller than an xbox or ps3 controller but they still work really well. Will definitely need some time adjusting to. I also wish they could be depressed like on the consoles, would help with things like sprinting and such for FPS games.
Feel
One little annoying thing is that the rear touchpad really does just get in the way. Those two little dimples for your hands are useless if you have fairly medium-large hands. It feels weird trying to get your fingers on the dimples to keep from touching the rear touchpad. I just decided to hold it differently. I put my trigger fingers on the R and L shoulder buttons as usual but place my left and right middle fingers right below them resting on the plastic part above the rear touchpad. It's surprisingly comfortable like this and doesn't get in the way of the touchpad. Then kinda curl the last two fingers downwards towards the body and rest them at the bottom of the Vita. Works well and i feel like most people will end up holding it like this just so they don't have their fingers resting on the touchpad.
Interface
They did a really good job trying to imitate a smartphone like experience. It's simple and intuitive. Background apps are opened like HP's WebOS cards and you can swipe left and right between them and the bubble icons are like any other OS. A little annoying thing is that when you open up an app or a game......it takes two clicks and this can become tedious after a while. Idk why they didn't just make it open once you clicked it but yea.....you click an app, it opens up a "Card" then you have to tap start.
Cameras
The cameras obviously aren't that good. They get the job done for AR games though and I honestly didn't expect it to be on par with a smartphone. I hate how so many reviews out there are hating on the Vita cuz the camera sucks....like really?? It's meant for gaming, not taking pictures.......
Games
I downloaded the FIFA demo just because i don't have my actual FIFA game in hand yet but I have to say. Graphics are absolutely stellar. FIFA is probably one of the closest ports to it's console brethren. I'd say the only reason why it's not exactly the same is because of the resolution, especially if you put it straight up to your face. But either way, best graphics i've seen on a handheld and definitely mimics the console on the go experience. Rear touchpad is put to good use in FIFA with it mimicking a goal, but they definitely made it way too easy to score with the thing compared to using the regular shoot button "O".
I also tried out an AR game called cliff diving. Take one of the AR cards and put it anywhere flat, the game builds a virtual level around it. Once it's built the level, you can move the Vita around at any angle to get a different view on the game. It's neat but the game gets boring, but its free and shows of the AR capabilities.
Price
Ahhh the biggest factor of them all......I just went for the $250 wifi model. The 3G bundle requires you to actually activate and pay for a 3G plan for one month before you can even get that free 1 month of data and PSN game which is Super Stardust. So that turned me off getting the bundle when originally I was considering it. You can't even use the 3G to game or anything, only to browse the web and send Text Messages but idk why you would do that if you have a cell phone. The 8GB memory card is also probably the best buy for $30, it can hold up to like 4 full games depending on the size of course, but I plan on buying the physical game cartridges off Amazon or something. It saves space on your memory card since the game cartridges are somewhere around 4GB each.
Is it worth it? Yes.........honestly, Quad-core CPU and Quad-core SGX GPU for $250. It's totally worth it IMO, especially with the gaming experience you get. If the price drops, then so be it but I think this is a really good price. It's the same as the original PSP when it came out? I think? And at least it isn't like $350-400 like everyone was originally guessing.
Conclusion
BUY ONE AND PLAY ME IN FIFA!!!! And Call of Duty or Battlefield when they come out. Call of Duty has already been announced to come out this year but idk about Battlefield.
Oh yea, I also got it cuz I don't have a console or TV and stuff in my dorm. Plus this saves space haha.
Feel free to add me if you have one. PewPew93
And ask any questions you have on it
Anyways, a small little review for those who may be thinking about one.
Hardware
The things feels solid, even though its made out of mostly plastics and is really glossy. It feels downright nice, it's light too surprisingly but the build quality is definitely top notch. The screen is nice, OLED etc, but don't expect to use it outside like sammys Super AMOLED+ displays on smartphones. While its a qHD resolution and looks really good, it's a bit lacking just cuz its spread across a 5 inch screen but it still looks damn good because the screen isn't that big. The dual analog sticks are finally here, i've wanted them since i got the original PSP when i was in like middle school. They obviously a lot smaller than an xbox or ps3 controller but they still work really well. Will definitely need some time adjusting to. I also wish they could be depressed like on the consoles, would help with things like sprinting and such for FPS games.
Feel
One little annoying thing is that the rear touchpad really does just get in the way. Those two little dimples for your hands are useless if you have fairly medium-large hands. It feels weird trying to get your fingers on the dimples to keep from touching the rear touchpad. I just decided to hold it differently. I put my trigger fingers on the R and L shoulder buttons as usual but place my left and right middle fingers right below them resting on the plastic part above the rear touchpad. It's surprisingly comfortable like this and doesn't get in the way of the touchpad. Then kinda curl the last two fingers downwards towards the body and rest them at the bottom of the Vita. Works well and i feel like most people will end up holding it like this just so they don't have their fingers resting on the touchpad.
Interface
They did a really good job trying to imitate a smartphone like experience. It's simple and intuitive. Background apps are opened like HP's WebOS cards and you can swipe left and right between them and the bubble icons are like any other OS. A little annoying thing is that when you open up an app or a game......it takes two clicks and this can become tedious after a while. Idk why they didn't just make it open once you clicked it but yea.....you click an app, it opens up a "Card" then you have to tap start.
Cameras
The cameras obviously aren't that good. They get the job done for AR games though and I honestly didn't expect it to be on par with a smartphone. I hate how so many reviews out there are hating on the Vita cuz the camera sucks....like really?? It's meant for gaming, not taking pictures.......
Games
I downloaded the FIFA demo just because i don't have my actual FIFA game in hand yet but I have to say. Graphics are absolutely stellar. FIFA is probably one of the closest ports to it's console brethren. I'd say the only reason why it's not exactly the same is because of the resolution, especially if you put it straight up to your face. But either way, best graphics i've seen on a handheld and definitely mimics the console on the go experience. Rear touchpad is put to good use in FIFA with it mimicking a goal, but they definitely made it way too easy to score with the thing compared to using the regular shoot button "O".
I also tried out an AR game called cliff diving. Take one of the AR cards and put it anywhere flat, the game builds a virtual level around it. Once it's built the level, you can move the Vita around at any angle to get a different view on the game. It's neat but the game gets boring, but its free and shows of the AR capabilities.
Price
Ahhh the biggest factor of them all......I just went for the $250 wifi model. The 3G bundle requires you to actually activate and pay for a 3G plan for one month before you can even get that free 1 month of data and PSN game which is Super Stardust. So that turned me off getting the bundle when originally I was considering it. You can't even use the 3G to game or anything, only to browse the web and send Text Messages but idk why you would do that if you have a cell phone. The 8GB memory card is also probably the best buy for $30, it can hold up to like 4 full games depending on the size of course, but I plan on buying the physical game cartridges off Amazon or something. It saves space on your memory card since the game cartridges are somewhere around 4GB each.
Is it worth it? Yes.........honestly, Quad-core CPU and Quad-core SGX GPU for $250. It's totally worth it IMO, especially with the gaming experience you get. If the price drops, then so be it but I think this is a really good price. It's the same as the original PSP when it came out? I think? And at least it isn't like $350-400 like everyone was originally guessing.
Conclusion
BUY ONE AND PLAY ME IN FIFA!!!! And Call of Duty or Battlefield when they come out. Call of Duty has already been announced to come out this year but idk about Battlefield.
Oh yea, I also got it cuz I don't have a console or TV and stuff in my dorm. Plus this saves space haha.
Feel free to add me if you have one. PewPew93
And ask any questions you have on it
