For us it was a slow burn; the more we understood, the more fun we had. Once you start getting past the learning curve you'll find yourself more and more absorbed by all the complex little dramas that swirl around your nobles; you'll know you're getting there once you start feeling the urge to fill in other people on your crazy, possibly immoral medieval exploits.

Excellent control options aside, a lack of major platform-specific extras doesn't hold Plants vs. Zombies on Vita back from being one of the best versions yet.

It's well-executed, it's got an appealing look and a sharp sense of humor, and the pacing works well for handheld play.

This aimed for Vanquish and missed – but in doing so it at least made a decent Terminator game that's better than any actual licensed Terminator game.

Escape Plan is a fantastic concept, and one that often makes use of the system's greatest features to amazing success, but the final product left a great deal to be desired, and left us more than a little conflicted.

This is virtually identical to previous Dynasty Warriors games. If you're new to the series and thinking of picking it up with your system on launch day, Dynasty Warriors Next is a game that will keep you busy for a long time. So long as its action-packed gameplay doesn't bore you to death first.

No doubt a niche offering, but it does what it sets out to do really well and is perfectly suited to on-the-go gaming sessions.

I know I sound mad when I say the lack of content doesn't kill it, but it truly doesn't. I can tell I'm going to be coming back to this for months, even without the extra tracks. This is a surprisingly fun game and I'm glad it exists. Good ol' Ridge Racer.

Just one warning: The co-op missions do not scale with player count at all, and they are definitely designed to be tackled with four players. Three players? You'll probably do fine, if you're careful. Two? Really stretching it. And solo? You'd have to be a masochist to even try.

Gamers with more interest in the spectacle of F1 than actually being good at driving will probably like this very much. And at least the good points bode very well for the next one.

Ends up being more inviting than ever to new players, with a clearer plot and goals. The game knows what it does well and highlights it instead of trying too many hit or miss concepts. Despite the sometimes limited scope of its world and objectives, it's a great downloadable that hopefully will introduce a whole new audience to one writer's unique world.

Kudos to Namco Bandai for raising the bar on 3D fighters' frame rates, but beyond that, it's tough to get excited about a game that seems content with the bare minimum.

Warp strikes a good balance between stealth-focused sneakery and brain-teasing puzzles.

The gameplay feels more like an action game jammed into a horror story. It's a good action game, but it never quite feels like it belongs. Don't let the moments of monolithic combat or the lack of terror throw you off, though. The strengths of Alan Wake's narrative outweighs shortcomings that need to be mentioned, but can't ruin the experience.

As potentially deep as it is, though, Shinobido 2 still feels weirdly antiquated next to the rest of the Vita's launch lineup – and while we didn't opt for much grinding, it only took us around seven hours to play it from start to finish.

Feels like a game from a different era, and despite half-steps to make it more approachable, is painfully frustrating in ways that probably can't be changed without altering the core of the game. If you can get past that, NGSP is a deep, lengthy adventure, with combat that's still one of the best in 3D action gaming history.

It never takes any chances but delivers an overall solid beat 'em up. Inconsistent difficulty, nonexistent story and a lack of gameplay variety hold Shank 2 back, but those looking for a better playing experience from Shank's last outing might want to give the sequel a try.

Despite the various quibbles with the port quality, Tales of the Abyss is still a superb RPG. It's got excellent combat, a secret-packed world to explore, and a wonderful cast of characters you'll come to love adventuring with.

While this is visually the best looking Michael Jackson game ever, we find it difficult to recommend this title to anyone but the most rabid of fans, unless there's a promise to deliver DLC in the future. Fifteen tracks does not a King make.

It's the perfect type of game for a handheld, easily playable in short doses or long sessions, and it's a triumph of clever, captivating game design.

A novel experience and one of the few launch games with a real budget that isn't an updated port or half-sequel. And Pikmin fans desperate for anything that copies the series will have a good time for a little while. Yet Army Corps of Hell comes up short in the end, probably thanks to a lack of time or money.

Despite being light on levels, the replayability and charm of Touch My Katamari is likely enough to keep gamers interested for months to come. The changes shrinking and expanding add to the formula shouldn't be downplayed, as they really are the most significant additions since we first laid eyes on the wide-faced Prince, and we're happy to see the developers experiment with great success to create one of the most charming entries in the series yet.

With Lumines: Electronic Symphony, the series grows and expands in ways that render prior games as more spin-offs than true sequels. It reinvents itself for a new medium and showcases Sony's new handheld, just as its predecessor managed in 2005. Mark our words: you will remember why you loved this game so much.

While its character roster is smaller than previous games, and its multiplayer seems disappointingly basic next to its single-player campaign, Twisted Metal is nevertheless a compellingly badass game filled with fun things to discover and unlock. This isn't a perfect Twisted Metal, but as comebacks go, it's pretty strong.

Perhaps due to its simple style Rhythm Heaven Fever is launching at a value price, but it's bursting with addictive content you'll want to experience over and over again.

There's also no denying that Liverpool has overextended itself just a bit with Wipeout 2048. At its best, it's incredibly fast and beautiful; breathless, even. The little compromises chip away at the experience though, from the framerate to the slightly chunkier handling. It's a tremendous racer as always; but as far as grand ambitions go, Liverpool has fallen a tiny bit short.

In small doses, Little Deviants is an enjoyable experience and a great way to become familiar with the PS Vita's new tech. But beneath all that charm and googly-eyed cuteness, there isn't much to offer beyond the 30 minigames, with a chunk of them repeated on a various maps. It seems like Little Deviants would have been better suited as a tech demo, and should have come bundled with the system.

It's a complete misfire, and no amount of goofy skins or nifty track editors can make up for the seriously busted fundamentals.