Ever since the release of the Wii and the never-ending slew of shovelware which came with it, “minigame collections” have gained a negative connotation. As a result, the term has almost become synonymous with mediocrity but every so often a game like Little Deviants comes along to remind us that these quick fire compilations can sometimes be a whole lot of fun!
Out of all the Playstation Vita titles that will be available at launch, Little Deviants does the best job showcasing what the hardware is capable of. The game ingeniously utilizes all of the systems unique features including the touch screen, rear touch panel, microphone, motion sensors and camera. The developers at Bigbig Studio (creators of the Pursuit Force series and Motorstorm: Arctic Edge) have already proven that they know how to create gems on Sony handhelds and from what I’ve played so far Little Deviants might be their best game yet.
The final game will feature at least 30 minigames and last week I was lucky enough to check four of them. Bots Blast is an augmented reality game which challenges you to move the Vita around to locate and shoot flying robots that appear in the environment around you. Hole Roll Control is a Marble Madness/Super Monkey style game where you use to rear touch panel to adjust the terrain and guide your ball-shaped Deviant in to a vortex while collecting stars and avoiding enemies. House Of Whacks was my favourite game in the demo and used both the touch screen and the rear touch panel. In this minigame you’re presented with a 3 x 3 grid of doors which robots will randomly pop out of. Depending on the direction they’re facing you’ll either have to poke them using the screen or the back panel to push them through the doors frames. I also played a sky diving game which used tilt controls but at this moment the name escapes me.
As you progress you’ll unlock more challenging versions of each minigame and leaderboard integration will allow you to compete with friends and/or other players across the world.
I’ve only just scratched the surface of Little Deviants but already I’m enamoured by it. If Bigbig Studios can keep up this level of quality for the other 26 or so minigames you can expect a glowing review from myself shortly before the game launches in February.
