We are at CES this week showing off the latest, near-final build of Unit 13 and we have something special in store for the PlayStation.Blog community.
First, in case you missed the announcement from the PS Vita CES keynote yesterday afternoon, Unit 13 is scheduled for release on Tuesday, March 6th. We are quite excited to bring this new title to PS Vita. Thanks to the excellent dual analogs sticks on the Vita, Unit 13 represents the first full shooter experience on a portable gaming device. But don’t take our word for it: the press have been playing it and really like what they see. Check out the recent coverage from Kotaku, Destructoid, and IGN.
There’s no sense mincing words: The next game from SOCOM creator Zipper Interactive represents a fairly radical rethinking of the competitive shooter genre. The game doesn’t include a traditional single-player story or a conventional multiplayer battleground, instead focusing squarely on bite-sized, highly replayable scenarios that can be played alone or with a friend. In dropping the well-worn ways of the past, Unit 13 is positioning itself to be on the forefront of an entirely new way to think about multiplayer. The game will track and report your virtual exploits and broadcast them to friends both far (via PSN) and near (via…Near).
To get a handle on this brazen new approach to shooter design, we asked Creative Director Seth Luisi to outline Unit 13’s feature set and functionality in a video tour. Afterwards, we looped in with SCEA Producer Ara Demirjian to get answers to our burning questions. If you have any burning questions of your own, be sure to leave them in the comments!
On behalf of the entire team at Zipper Interactive, I am proud to announce a new shooter, Unit 13, designed from the ground up for the new PlayStation Vita. It’s been very exciting developing a game for the first portable console with precision dual analog sticks, the perfect platform for a fast action, hard-hitting, third-person shooter like Unit 13. In addition, Vita’s front and back touch interface provided a unique and fun way to interact quickly with in-the-world elements of the game.
Fast action, on-the-go gameplay was a key goal for the Unit 13 team. The game is designed for players to move quickly into the action, choosing from one of six Operatives with unique abilities to tackle 36 action-packed missions across nine unique locales. Missions come in a variety of sizes and difficulty. Some are smaller bite-sized battles; others are longer, more challenging, multi-objective missions that are a good test for any skilled shooter fan. As you make your way through the variety of missions, you unlock the right to take on the tougher High Value Target (HVT) enemy battles. After completing an HVT mission, you can share them with friends and nearby players through PlayStation Vita’s “NEAR” feature.