Vib-ribbon Ps1 Classic Still Able to Read Cds

Vib Ribbon has been a long time coming to the PS One Classics range. Released dorsum in 2000 and developed by the creator of the classic PaRappa the Rappa, Masaya Matsuura, as with his other games, this was a unique accept on the music rhythm games starring a charismatic rabbit, Vibri…

Unusually for the PS I, gamers in the UK and Europe were well served with the game equally it was released here as well as in its native Nippon but not in the USA, unusually and it's just now with its release as role of the PS I Classics range that it's available officially for our American friends. But has it been worth the wait?

Earlier I continue I do want to stress one thing about Vib Ribbon and this review in particular. As with almost every PS One Classic that is bachelor to buy from the PSN Store, this game runs on the PS3, PSP and PS Vita but while I take played the game on all three systems, I am only looking at it in relation to the PS Vita for the purpose of this review. This is especially important in the case of Vib Ribbon every bit I'll explicate subsequently on…

As with the other games adult by Masaya Matsuura, Vib Ribbon is a somewhat surreal feel. Vibri can exist best described equally a dancing rabbit living in a monochromatic word who hops, skips, and jumps along a never ending line avoiding obstacles in his way. His only "companion" as he travels the line, the Vib Ribbon, is music that helps him along the way but any he is listening to affects the ribbon, shaping it, and distoring information technology, placing obstacles in Vibri's manner that he has to negotiate.

Four main types of obstacles are thrown in his path – blocks, pits, jagged lines and loops and these can be traversed past pressing the appropriate button on the PS Vita – L, Down (on the D-Pad), X and R respectively although timing of these is critical. Mistime the button press and the line starts to misconstrue and eventually Vibri devolves into different creatures including a frog and a worm making traversing the Ribbon more hard merely successfully featherbed enough obstacles and Vibri can evolve, the tiptop of this is his winged form. Y'all need to be careful though as if Vibri devolves besides many times and collides with too many obstacles then it's game over.

The game is split over three difficulty levels – bronze, silver and golden and each of these is split into ii rounds. Each circular features two songs (performed by Japanese group Laugh and Beats) and as you progress through each round and level, the tempo increases, and as such the rate at while the obstacles announced increases every bit well. I the tougher settings, combined obstacles also appear that require multiple button presses adding an actress twist to the game.

Visually the game is incredibly simplistic as the screenshots show opting for a vector graphics approach seen in the arcades in the early 80s simply this works surprisingly well. Vibri is still full of graphic symbol and at no betoken does the game look cluttered or confusing and everything is easy to make out. Sound fits the game well to with an undertandably J-Popular approach but with plenty of cutesy sounds effects and speech that bring Vibri to life. There are enough of short animations throughout the game using the wireframe engine featuring him that really do bring our long-eared friend to life remarkably well and while he'due south not a character that you could encounter taking the atomic number 82 function in a major title, he's incredibly charismatic in his ain unique fashion.

Information technology'south not all good though… on offset impressions loading up Vib Ribbon, the title screen starts off well and sets the tone for the whole game and introduced Vibri waling around the screen while the title runway played… although the outset signs of the game'south limitations bear witness hither every bit the title rail lasts mere seconds earlier looping and quickly grates. Looking at the astonishingly small file size, I immediately began to wonder only how much music was actually present on the virtual disc… Not a lot as it turned out.

Every bit I said, including all three difficulty settings the total game is carve up over 6 rounds but each time you play the same pieces of music are used meaning that in that location are only six pieces of music on offer in the unabridged game. For a game that centres around music this isn't actually acceptable. If I decided to buy a game in the Guitar Hero series, I'd at least want to have a reasonable selection of songs to play on the game and I expected the same here. At first this may have seemed similar a massive mistake past Sony when start developing the game, but this is where Vib Ribbon'south original gimmick came into play and what leads to information technology's downfall on the Vita.

Originally, the game allowed you to remove the game disc and insert your own audio CD into the PS One and use that to create your own custom game soundtrack. When doing this you could play the game against a single rail or an entire album and it left yous in total control of the game'due south difficulty. If you wanted a more laid-back experience all yous had to practise was insert a slower more relaxed CD merely if you wanted a hardcore gaming experience then all you had to do was find a fast tempo CD and let the game exercise all the work for you. The concept was brilliant and the execution of information technology was fabulous and gave the game unlimited replayability making information technology a true classic. Without it, Vib Ribbon would have just faded into obscurity.

Now, on the PS3 this role has been retained so you lot can yet use your own CDs – it'south a great gaming experience and short of being able to use your own MP3s every bit groundwork music for any game it makes for a perfect music game and combining that with the piece of cake to larn nonetheless addictive gameplay you actually tin can't go wrong with it. But this isn't a PS3 website and I'm not talking about playing Vib Ribbon on a PS3. The more than observant of you may have noticed that the PS Vita can't play CDs. It only runs PS One games through emulation (different the PS3 which tin can play PS One games physically) and then that leaves us with something of a quandary. We may be able to run the Vib Ribbon game from the PSN Store, only when it comes to using additional music the game simply won't let us to. There's no MP3 support, nosotros can't simply "change discs" (the game doesn't back up virtual disc swapping the aforementioned way PS One multi disc titles do, and even if it did, we'd yet demand music converted to virtual discs for it to work) then we're stuck with the half-dozen included songs and nothing else.

It's incredibly frustrating because I genuinely enjoyed playing the game and – as with all the PS I Classics – it looks better on the Vita'south screen than it does blown up onto a TV screen through the PS3. It's just and then frustrating that the entire game – all six rounds – takes around twenty minutes to play through and that'southward all there is to it. Beyond that, in that location'south no echo play value other than attempting to meliorate your personal best scores and achieve a better performance on any of the rounds in the game. That would exist all well and good only the game fails to make any apply of the Vita'south virtual PS One memory cards so if you do manage to get onto the game's hi-score tables, any records are lost once you quit the game. While this may seem like nitpicking, for a game that offers hi-score table support, this really isn't adequate for a PS One game from 2000 when games released at the start of the console'due south lifespan were offer that as standard.

I really had high hopes for this game because its pedigree but – on the Vita at least – I was sorely disappointed. While I certainly enjoyed playing it, it was incredibly brusque-lived and failed to deliver on its true potential and because of this information technology's non something I can wholeheartedly recommend to PS Vita owners. Strip away the ability to use custom soundtracks and the games shortcomings are all too apparent and it offers too picayune long term appeal to be worth considering for play on the go. Past all means buy this if you are planning on using it on the Vita's big blood brother, but if you're simply interested in this for your handheld then look elsewhere.

Simon Plumbe

At A Glance

• Title: Vib Ribbon
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
• System: PSOne Classics
• Format: PSN Download
• Cross Buy: No
• Online Multiplayer: No
• Local Multiplayer: No
• PlayStation Tv Compatible: Aye
• Retention Bill of fare Space Needed: 25Mb

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Source: https://www.vitaplayer.co.uk/game-review-vib-ribbon-ps-one-classics/

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