![]() ![]() That’s a bit of a lie like the rest of the internet, I too love Robot Unicorn Attack. My instinctive description of OlliOlli is “it’s like an endless runner, only not shit”. And if you’ve played those latter two titles, you’ll understand the breadth of that compliment. OlliOlli is an efficient game, in play and presentation, joining similar ranks held by Hotline Miami and Super Meat Boy. No, I think “ efficient” will do instead. “ Dense” isn’t the right word, because you won’t be juggling a spreadsheet of numerical stats or meticulously plotting your grand strategy take over of 1940’s Europe. It’s the kind of game that mobiles have been inundated with for years now, rewarding short term investments by trimming bloat and condensing addictive gameplay feedback loops into the smallest window. You can predict where I’m going with this, so after two paragraphs of romanticising portable gameplay let’s just cut to the chase: OlliOlli for PlayStation Vita is as arcade as it gets. ![]() But they weren’t really arcade games, or even really portable games. When given this attention they came alive, brightening up a lazy Sunday afternoon and illuminating the dark of night from the comfort of my bed. They were investments, of time and emotional energy. But nevertheless, these were not games I kept in my pocket for a quick play behind a bin whenever I felt irresistible twitches coming on in public. I enjoyed Killzone: Mercenary and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon well enough, too. Tearaway and A Link Between Worlds were two of my top ten games of the year. Many of the most prolific 3DS and Vita games of recent times have been everything but pick-up-and-play. So my odd observation is that these days most of these games (no, not all, picky readers) find a home on mobile. A generation or so ago portables were almost unanimously dedicated to pick-up-and-play quick-fix arcade games, best suited to those short commutes, marginally longer toilet breaks, and longer again prison stints where time to completely lose yourself in grand adventure simply wasn’t realistic out of fear of missing your stop or getting shivved. No, I’m talking about the types of games that have hit portable devices, divvied up between Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and yes, mobile too. Honestly, at this point it’s a disservice to call mobile as anything less than firmly established in the medium. I feel the landscape of portable gaming has changed notably over the last few years, and I’m not just talking about the advent of mobile. ![]()
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