Ah, Micro Machines. For a child of the '80s, there was nothing better than waking up on Christmas morning to find stacks of the tiny scale miniatures under the tree…only later to have them end up underneath the feet of a disgruntled relative after trying to reenact the booby trap scenes from Home Alone. And then, of course, there was the video game--an addictive top-down racer developed by Codemasters that was epic fun, particularly if you shunned the rules of personal space and opted to share a controller with a friend for some insane eight-player races. Sadly, the series has been out of action for some time, leaving our inner child throwing a tantrum worthy of a Super Nanny intervention while our older self got all serious with the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo.

Fortunately, MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios is bringing a Micro Machines vibe to MotorStorm RC, which is coming to the PlayStation Vita and Network in time for the handheld's launch next year. MotorStorm RC is an arcade racer with tracks based on locales from each of the franchise's console outings, but instead of driving dirt bikes and trucks, you pilot little remote-controlled cars. There are 24 of the blighters to choose from, each with different handling characteristics and speeds, some of which will need to be unlocked as you progress.

In our hands-on, we checked out three circuits based on Pacific Rift, Arctic Rift, and Apocalypse, with environments consisting of sand, ice, and a postapocalyptic wasteland respectively. Immediately noticeable was the reduced scale of the tracks, which eschewed the multiple pathways of their console cousins. They still shared the same beautiful visuals, though, with plenty of details, such as shards of ice, rickety bridges, and plumes of dust, adorning them. Their reduced scale meant that corners were much tighter than we expected, and jumps were more frequent, but they were ably dealt with thanks to the distinct handling of the RC cars.

Unlike traditional vehicles, the RC cars had a very tight turning circle, making it possible to get through the tight hairpins and sharp corners. They controlled differently too, with acceleration handled by the second analogue stick, much like how a real RC car is controlled. While our job was ultimately to make it round the track in front of our AI opponents, MotorStorm RC relies heavily on social features to up the challenge. In each race you can see the ghost trails of your friends' lap times, which propagate using the Vita's SpotPass-like NEAR functionality, meaning you're always given a fresh set of challenges.

There are leaderboards too, and you can manually send challenges to any of your friends, as well as post lap times to Facebook. While there isn't traditional cross-platform play with the PlayStation 3 like in the upcoming Wipeout 2048, leaderboard data and challenges are shared between the Vita and PSN versions. If you're playing the PSN version, you can also look forward to four-player split-screen, which--given the arcade handling and top-down camera views--is more than reminiscent of those hazy days spent playing Micro Machines on the Megadrive (that's Genesis to those across the pond). Plus, if you buy the PSN or Vita version, you get the other for free, which is a great touch.

MotorStorm RC will be available on the PSN and Vita at the handheld's launch next year. Keep your eyes on GameSpot for more soon.

Fans of Studio Ghibli's stellar animated films are sure to be in for a fine treat with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, set for release in North American early next year. We managed to snag a Japanese version of the game and play through the first few hours to test out a different range of combat skills.

The game puts you in the shoes of young Oliver, whose mother has passed away. When his childhood toy comes to life (a fairy-like thing called Shizuku), he's told that he can revive his mother in an alternate dimension called Ni no Kuni (or "Second Country" in English).

Basically, anything Oliver comes across in real life will become a fantasy version in the alternate world. Case in point: the pet cat owned by Oliver's mother's friend becomes an anthropomorphic cat king in a cat-themed village (complete with a paw print motif) in Ni no Kuni. Accompanying Oliver on his quest are the cheery Marle and the trickster Jairo, who come equipped with their own helpers called imajinns. Serving as the antagonist is the White Witch, who oversees Oliver's actions from an undisclosed location.

Ni no Kuni adopts Pokemon-style party management, which means Oliver and his comrades have an assortment of imajinns to help them out in fights. You can also raise them by feeding them all manner of junk food on the Nurturing Cage screen.

Feed the cape-bearing sword-wielding imajinns a candy bar, and their strength goes up; stuff them with a few ice cream cones, and this will boost their agility. Some imajinns are partial to certain foodstuffs--feed them their favourite food, and they'll be happy, temporarily landing critical hits and dodging attacks during combat.

Combat in the game is handled in real time. When you go into battle, you choose which of your imajinns participate in a battle. You can even have Oliver himself go into battle in place of the imajinns. An imajinn can stay on the battlefield for only a certain amount of time in combat before it becomes weakened, so switching between them tag-team style using the L1 button is a must.

Pressing the triangle or square button changes your party to either an offensive or defensive stance. Alternatively, you can select the party AI command in the combat options and choose how each individual party member handles a situation automatically on the battlefield.

Oliver can opt to go into combat himself, using his assortment of spells to fight off foes. Based on the first five hours of the game, his range of spells includes healing, fireball, and ice, which can sometimes stun enemies. As for Marle, she can cast the Song of Friendship, which can recruit enemies to your cause. However, this spell can be cast only on fallen enemies with a heart marker. She will have to cast it quickly before the marker's gauge is depleted and the target runs away.

Green and blue orbs sometimes fall to the ground during battle, either from damaged enemies or from Shizuku himself, thrown at random intervals. This is definitely a bonus, as a last-minute green or blue orb drop seems to make a huge difference between surviving a surprise onslaught with some mana intact and seeing the game-over screen.

At rare times, a giant golden orb can also be put into play, and we noticed this after we landed a critical hit. When we commanded Oliver to pick it up, he cast a powerful spell that dealt a lot of damage to its target. This seems to be the game's equivalent of a Final Fantasy summon animation, so we wager there will be other sorts of finishing moves for our protagonist later on in the game.

Based on our time with the game, we can say we are just as excited as before about seeing more of it upon its North American release on the PlayStation 3 in early 2012.

It's a usual habit for gamers to dismiss any title that's tied in to either movies or anime properties due to their reputation for being nothing more than cash-ins to take advantage of fans and their hard-earned money. Games like Bleach: Dark Souls and Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, however, are huge exceptions to the rule. Based on what we briefly saw and played, the PSP game adaptation of the cult hit anime Black Rock Shooter may be leaning toward the aforementioned mandate.

You control the title protagonist Black Rock Shooter, or BRS for short, who is awakened from a capsule in the year 2051. Her dress sense consists entirely of a black leather jacket, hot pants, and the top part of a two-piece that is overshadowed by her huge cannon and crooked katana she brandishes for combat. Her left eye also emanates a bright blue flame for some reason.

All that's missing from these scenes are the obligatory speed lines.

The world is in ruin, thanks to a war between humankind and aliens. Naturally, BRS is siding with humankind as she helps the remaining human resistance combat the otherworldly menace while finding out more about her origins in role-playing game combat glory.

Black Rock Shooter's main appeal is its combat system. Whenever you engage an enemy on the map--major kudos to developers Imageepoch for ditching the random battles concept--you'll enter a battle screen where you defeat enemies in real time. The D pad and left analog stick is used for moving and aiming your reticle, while the square button is used for shooting. The X button is used to guard, while the circle button is used to evade to the left or right side of the battlefield. Shooting at enemies and evading builds up heat on the heat gauge; if you max it out, you'll overheat and can't perform any action while stunned for a short duration. Additionally, having the gauge at 50 percent and above limits the effectiveness of your cannon.

Because of this, you cannot just mindlessly shoot and dodge to your heart's content. You have to study enemy movements to efficiently dodge their moves and pelt down their health while keeping your heat gauge at a manageable level. While low-level robot grunts are easily dispatched, the bigger enemies, like black scythe-bearing robots, take some finesse; they blink three times before slashing at you for huge damage while shooting projectiles on the fly.

Luckily, Black Rock Shooter has special actions that do not use up heat. Holding the R trigger brings up the menu where you can activate any ability mapped to any of the face buttons. Examples of such tricks to work around the heat gauge include temporary defense or offense buffs, a damaging one-shot blast, and a Vulcan cannon mode that temporarily puts your gun in rapid-fire mode without overheating it.

Don't misuse your dodges unless you want to end up stalled in the heat of battle.

Another notable skill is the Sniper mode, where Black Rock Shooter zooms in automatically and shoots an enemy at its weak spot. This stuns any enemy, including bosses, for a brief moment. We misused this skill at a frequent rate by following it up with buffs and the Vulcan mode. While these skills have a cooldown meter, they are immediately refreshed upon encountering a new foe.

The majority of the game consists of you controlling Black Rock Shooter as you go from point A to point B killing enemies. Each stage is usually broken down into six segments, with the last segment usually being an optional stage called a "hunt" to earn rank. Speaking of which, you gain in-game achievements for each action you perform in a stage, whether it is killing a number of enemies or using an ability a specific number of times.

While the first stage set in a run-down San Francisco felt more like a tutorial level for players to get used to the combat mechanics, things picked up when we fought the first boss, Mefe. She's a warrior just like Black Rock Shooter, but she's dressed up like a witch and fights with a pair of giant claws. Her main repertoire includes charging up close to BRS and slashing her, boosting up her attack ratings, and throwing three projectiles in a row.

When she's upset, she can either summon four orbs that launch at BRS one at a time or slash left and right consecutively four times. We initially bit the dust because we were guarding too much and couldn't figure out her pattern. By the second time, we got into the groove of her attacks, as well as timed our dodges and attacks without maxing out the heat gauge. It also helped that BRS's special actions turned the tide of battle.

The second boss fight was also challenging and tense; the red-haired Mzma could summon body doubles to confuse and get the hit on us, as well as do a supercharged multi-slash attack that damaged us pretty badly even if we blocked it. After any fight, BRS will clash swords with her opponent to deliver the coup de grace; we had to repeatedly hammer the circle button until the bottom meter filled up to win the entire fight.

Who's going to clean up this mess after this photo shoot?

Our play session wasn't just relegated to running and shooting. On the second stage, we had to travel from location to location across a ruined New York City on a bike. This segment is a nod to Super Hang-On, where you move your bike left and right to avoid oncoming enemies. Shifting left or right at just the right time enables BRS to deliver a slash attack to an obstructing enemy in front of her. BRS also has a smart bomb of sorts on her bike; pressing the square button unleashes a torrent of plasma bolts to kill anything in front of her with extreme prejudice. Each bike segment in the game gets harder than the next, with narrow pathways and enemies with different obstruction patterns mixing up the challenge level.

Our sole sore point with our play-through was the environments; they felt too sparse and empty, even for a postapocalyptic setting. In one area set in a vast snow field labeled "Snow Storm," there was anything but. We are well aware that the PSP is capable of more than this in terms of graphics, and it's a shame that Imageepoch isn't trying hard in this regard.

Still, as far as gameplay is concerned, the few stages we checked out seemed solid. The battle mechanics were fun, thanks to the enemies thrown at our direction. The save points littered in each map were also generous, and achieving medals for extra stat boosts for BRS was a fun minigame in itself. While the Japanese version of the game is out, expect an English version to come out courtesy of Nippon Ichi in the near future for Sony's portable.