Wolf Fang

Before committing to a purchase of Wolf Fang, you need to ask yourself a simple question.

"Am I prepared to spend $5.99 on a retro arcade-style action game where I won't know what's going on unless I can read Japanese?"

If you answered yes, click away from this page and grab Wolf Fang from the PSN - you'll probably enjoy it a great deal, even if you have no idea why you're piloting giant robots around Australia and New Zealand.

If you answered no, then read on and see if you can justify the purchase price to yourself.

Wolf Fang is a PSOne era game from 2001 that gleefully recalls days spent plunking shiny coins into arcade gaming cabinets.

You get to select one of four giant mechs - called 'modes' - that you'll use to do battle against a horde of sci-fi baddies.

The mechs offer a great degree of versatility to suit different play styles, from the Tachikoma-looking battle tank to the high-flying beam-sword mech, but each have their share of limitations as well.

Being a firmly retro game, for example, you can forget about firing directly above your mech in Wolf Fang - 45 degrees forward or behind is the best you'll get.

If you're willing to work with this limitation, you'll find a challenging game buried underneath the Japanese text that bookends each mission.

Wolf Fang's levels are bright and laid out well, and - sure - enemies do follow predictable patterns, but once two or more are on the screen simultaneously you'll struggle to dodge their attacks and shoot them down at the same time.

At its best, Wolf Fang recalls classic bullet hell gameplay and it's difficult not to smile as you dash through a gap in an enemy's barrage of laser bullet... thingies... to deliver a killing blow to its flashing weak points.

While this is all good fun - especially for those looking to indulge in some retro action - it really is difficult to get too invested in Wolf Fang when you have no idea what's going on.

MonkeyPaw Games posted a guide to explain the controls and a bit about the story, which is quite charitable, but Wolf Fang in its current form feels incomplete.

You're never really warned about the language barrier jumping into Wolf Fang - and it's really difficult to assess how much of an impact that will have on your enjoyment of the game until you start playing.

While MonkeyPaw Games should be praised for its campaign to bring Japanese-language PSOne Classics to the PSN for a new generation of gamers, Wolf Fang still feels like an odd easter egg hidden on the store.

Certainly, it has its share of fans who'd like to play the arcade classic on the go - and these fans will probably find enough to enjoy in Wolf Fang to make up for its asking price.

Those who stumble onto it unawares, however, will likely be in for a rude, and disorienting surprise once the mission text begins. Still, if you've got an active imagination, you can probably fill in your own words for the dialog as it scrolls past.

You certainly won't boot Wolf Fang up to show off what your Vita can do - but instead, you'll fire it up to it to show off the incredible variety of games that the Vita has available for it.