Happy Friday! As promised, here is the third portion of April's Recap featuring: stayedstar, blaze6106, & Hist.  If you haven't been keeping up with April's coverage, be sure to get caught up here and here. 

Also, as a reminder blaze6106's remaining April responses will be coming in a future post, followed by the first ever Recap Archive where you can access all of the past year's (April 2011-April 2012) coverage in one convenient place.

That being said, this time we will be looking at some of the games from this month's Review section and last year as well (in more ways than one), so let's get started:

REVIEWS:

Derreck:

Contrary to last month where I didn't have the chance to play any of the games in the Reviews section, this month I more than make up for it seeing as a lot of the games reviewed this issue were Vita launch titles, which I got to play all of mine and then some.

Twisted Metal - In short, I absolutely loved this game, despite its questionable difficulty, and it stands as my favorite game of 2012 so far.  This was the first Twisted Metal I ever got the chance to play and it did not disappoint.  I loved the variety in the gameplay and the live action cutscenes.  I don't want to spoil any of them because if you own a PS3, I feel this is one of those "essential" titles, but the stories here (There's 3: Sweet Tooth, Mister Grimm, & Dollface) rival some modern day horror movies in my opinion, particularly Final Destination in terms of creative deaths.  Twisted Metal also sets itself up for a sequel that if and when its done, should have an interesting plot to say the least.  So what are you waiting for?  If you are a PS3 fan like myself, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss - The Vita installment of Uncharted was set up to be the first must have Vita title, and it was a good one at that.  However, when compared with the rest of the series, its only firing on as many cylanders as the first game did, meaning the excitement the series has come to been known for with the second and third games isn't really here.  Neither is much of the iconic cast outside of an appearance from a series mainstay towards the end of the game.  It's an impressive Vita game, and a testament that PS3 type experiences are possible on a handheld.  The Vita exclusive features weren't really impressive (I can't recall any noteworthy ones), but Uncharted more than makes up for it with the great gameplay and a lengthy story.

Little Deviants - In my Vita First Impressions Blog, I stated Little Deviants served as a better, more engaging Vita tutorial than the built in Welcome Park.  I still stand by that statement today after I played all the game has to offer.  The only catch here is you have to pay $30 for the better tutorial (unless you got a First Edition Vita Bundle).  Yes, Little Deviants is nothing more than a mini game compilation, but I believe it serves as the best way for a new Vita owner to get familiar with its unique features.  Some of the games were hit or miss, but the ones that were good are addicting on a similar level as WarioWare.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Very rarily do I wish that a video game series would just disappear, but when the same problems from a prior installment are present in a new one (the case here: campaign loaded with awful cutthroat AI drivers and no changing difficulty option) aren't even addressed, then I just have to shake my head in frustration and wonder what went on during the development of this game while I wish I never played it.  The thing ModNation Racers did right are also present here too, like the awesome creation tools, but like I mentioned the things the game did wrong are also present as well, and they are too big to ignore.  While its nice to get a decent racing game on Vita for now, oddly enough multiplayer and the ability to import purchased DLC Mods & Karts are currently next to nonexistent.  United Front Games did eventually listen and fix the first game, so maybe they will do the same here.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Vita Version) - I couldn't afford Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 back when it came out during last year's crowded holiday season.  By the time I could afford it, I heard it was being ported to Vita, so I figured I would wait it out so I had another reason to get a Vita at launch.  This game impressed me in that after playing it, I doubt it is any different from its console counterpart outside of this game being portable.  Going off the first Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which I have for PS3, I found the graphics and gameplay here on the Vita were pretty much one in the same, which is what really wowed me.  I would have probably enjoyed Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 regardless of what system I got it for, but now I know that fighting games work really well on the Vita and can't wait to get some more.