Chronovolt
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| Chronovolt

If you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber and you own a PS Vita, you'll no doubt be aware that PS Plus is now available for the Vita, giving you lots of lovely free Vita games.

What's great about PS Plus is that while you get a nice selection of back catalogue titles you'll also occasionally get brand new titles, as with the PlayStation 3.

Chronovolt is the first new title that we've received for free via the service. Good thing we got it for free as well - if we'd paid for it, we'd be crying now.

No charge

You play Jessica Chase, a girl sent back in time to stop a mad scientist from destroying the world. She rides in a giant metal ball, and must roll around worlds collecting Chronovolts.

There are numerous obstacles to roll around and across, like spinning platforms, boxes that open up and allow you to fall through, and enemy balls that attempt to knock you off into the void.

But you have a trick up your sleeve. By holding two thumbs down on the screen you can rewind time to any point, removing a lot of potential frustration. You can also touch items to stop them moving briefly, which can be very helpful at certain points.

Unfortunately, these are the only real plus points in a rather dull and buggy game.

What a shock

For one thing, there is an awful amount of graphical slowdown throughout play, making some of the tighter sections far more difficult to complete than they should be.

But the real issue is that the entire game just feels unfinished and unpolished. Animations are irksome in such a way that if you jump on a platform that's moving up you'll keep bouncing awkwardly rather than moving up smoothly.

Fall through the floor and you'll find it's just a single layer with nothing underneath it. It's as if you're falling out of the game entirely, and it feels incredibly amateurish.

Then you've got buggy text boxes that occasionally flash up the wrong text for a moment, terrible draw distance that adds and removes the backdrop as you move closer and further away, and movement that's not tight enough at all.

And that's not all - Chronovolt soon reveals itself to be a pay-to-win game. You start with only one type of ball, and with this you can't get three stars on the majority of levels, simply because you're not fast enough.

However, if you pay 99p, you unlock a bunch of extra balls that are faster and stronger, allowing you to buy your way up the highscore tables.

Given that Chronovolt is currently free for PS Plus users, you might as well grab it anyway and see for yourself. But don't put down any money for it. There are far better PSN games to grab.

Chronovolt

Buggy and unpolished, Chronovolt isn't worth your time, no matter how many times your turn the clock back
Score
Mike Rose
Mike Rose
An expert in the indie games scene, Mike comes to Pocket Gamer as our handheld gaming correspondent. He is the author of 250 Indie Games You Must Play.