System: PS Vita
Dev: Digital Reality
Pub: Grasshopper Manufacture
Release: November 20, 2012
Players: 1-8
Screen Resolution: 544p	Strong Language, Sexual Themes

But that’s okay, because the gameplay more than delivers, even to the slow-witted buffoons who won’t understand the genius of the incredibly well-written story. This is a fast-paced, insane bullet hell that very rarely lets up. And the basic premise is completely awesome: Instead of having a health bar, you are constantly racing against the clock. Taking damage subtracts precious seconds from the countdown timer, while destroying enemies will add chunks of time. Not only is this a really cool and inventive game mechanic, but it ties the gameplay to the time-travel elements of the storyline in a way that’s completely seamless.

The downside to all this? The story mode is incredibly short. This time through, I finished the game in about two and a half hours. With the Vita version being slightly easier (due to the size of the screen, as I mentioned earlier), it becomes painfully obvious just how short the campaign is here.

But the game comes stuffed with bonus features, like the insanely difficult Arcade mode, a mode that lets you re-fight any of the game’s bosses, and an exclusive Challenge mode, which is said to be so hard that even the developers struggled with it. Obviously, I didn’t finish this mode. But it’s hard. Very hard.

Now, I did take some time to explore some of the less-talked-about features. For example, the Trophies here are all based on getting yourself promoted through the ranks. Being promoted requires you to accomplish various tasks as you play through the game, and some of these tasks seem completely random. Thankfully, Sine Mora has a handy Trophy menu that tracks your progress through all these ranks. The obsessive Trophy hunter will definitely put a serious time investment into the game in order to unlock them all.

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I guess this is the part of the review where I remind you that, besides the scaled-down visuals (which are still damn pretty), the PS Vita version of Sine Mora is the bees’ knees. If you have a Vita and haven’t played this yet, you absolutely need to. It’ll give you an excuse to dust off that little guy for a bit, anyway.

By Josh Wirtanen Editor / Social Media Date: December 4, 2012