Too little, not deviant enough

Remember when systems came with a game packed in? Buy an NES and get Super Mario Bros. or a copy of Tetris with your new Game Boy—titles designed to show off the system and provide hours of enjoyment. Things are different these days; to keep system prices down, you have to spring for your own games. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Sony was including a copy of Little Deviants with the PS Vita First Edition bundles. No, it’s wasn’t a free game, and it wasn’t with every system, but it’s something, right?

Nope. If it were included with every system, at least you could say Little Deviants was there to show off all of the Vita’s gadgets and gizmos. Instead, Sony made the game seem more appealing to those who didn’t get a copy free, perhaps convincing some of those who didn’t get the early bundles to pick it up. After all, Sony wouldn’t have chosen it for this great honor if it weren’t a good game, right?

Wrong. Little Deviants is anything but a good game; I’d classify it more as an uninteresting tutorial showing off an extremely interesting handheld. Maybe there’s a story buried in Little Deviants somewhere. I’m not sure, because I was too busy tilting my handheld around, swiping my fingers on the front and rear touch surfaces and generally trying to find something fun. But, alas, fun was nowhere to be found.

The graphics are pretty enough, and the soundtrack’s actually kind of catchy, but the minigames just feel flat. The game offers plenty of new minigames to unlock, as well as extra Deviants, though they’re the same as all the other Deviants, so really there’s no point.

Sony should’ve preloaded Little Deviants on every Vita so that people could try all of the system’s different functions. Charging consumers even a nominal fee for the game dials the fun factor down to zero. Charging them $30 is a crime. So, unless you get to play for free, just avoid this one and get yourself a good game instead.

SUMMARY: What should’ve been a fun collection of minigames showing off the Vita’s capabilities ended up a completely unappealing tech demo. There isn’t enough game here to justify the price. In fact, there’s barely enough game here to call it a game. We get it—the Vita’s packed with more features than any other handheld. Now, how about a game that does more than show us how they work?

• THE GOOD: The catchy soundtrack will stick in your melon.
• THE BAD: Uninteresting minigames that get repetitive after 10 minutes.
• THE UGLY: That Sony would insult fans by releasing this as a $30 game

SCORE: 4.0

Little Deviants is a PS Vita exclusive.