It has been around two years now since Sword Art Online stormed onto the anime/manga scene, fascinating people with its take on virtual MMOs and fully developed ladies. After releasing the first part of the game series, Infinity Movement, Bandai Namco Games have now released Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment for the PlayStation Vita. The game released in Japan and in China, the latter version of which has English menus and subtitles, which is the version I will be tackling today. Strap yourself into the Nerve Gear and log into this review now.
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "A recent piece of news doing the rounds revealed the PlayStation Vita’s top 10 selling games in the United States of America, and it makes for some grim reading. While Uncharted: Golden Abyss rightfully tops the list, it only managed to shift a little more than 400k copies in the States, which is low by the series’ standards and paints a dire picture overall given that it's above all other AAA titles on the list, including Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, and Ki llzone Mercenary (although it’s worth noting that this top 10 doesn’t include any bundled software, otherwise Borderlands 2 would be at the top and Call of Duty at #2)."
I would think Uncharted Abyss and Killzone Mercenaries should be included in the list.
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "the handheld was unable to attract certain types of software – western AAA development quickly evaporated, as did Sony’s own support, because there weren’t enough consoles out there for such titles to be profitable. But that doesn’t mean that every publisher failed to find success. Indeed, there are a number of franchises out there that have been able to appeal to the Vita’s niche and which have seen positive sales numbers and critical reception, leading to them becoming mainstays on the handheld.
It’s these series that I intend to examine in more depth this article – what they are, what entries we’ve seen, what success they’ve had, and what it’s meant for the console’s future. I’ll be using known sales figures where possible to back things up, hopefully demonstrating that the Vita has been a solid home for a number of great series despite its otherwise weak commercial performance on the market."
Save big on Resident Evil 7, Sword Art Online and other top titles as Amazon offers huge PS4 deals this week.
Both of my siblings are super into SAO, I really need to watch it sometime. Maybe this game will get me excited.
I miss .hack
Great review. Love this type of game but there aren't too many options here in North America.
Awesome. The Vita is best handheld period can't wait for this baby in August. Sorry if i offended any Nintendo diehards because i know any good comments for the Vita make you cringe.
Opinions on gaming is serious business : p
The review reads like a 8.0-8.5, but still good overall.
I need to check out the anime.