Gamescom '11: Hands-on with Pew-Pew, Hyperlight, They Need to be Fed, and more on Xperia Play

The Sony Ericsson stand at Gamescom may not be as large as your Activisions or your EAs, but the very fact that the phone manufacturer is here in the first place is testimony to the Swedish/Japanese’s firm’s commitment to promoting the Xperia Play as a gaming handset.

Having managed to politely decline several offers to ‘help out’ from the booth babes (maybe later, ladies), I managed to grab a short time with some of the new titles heading the way of the Play in the next few weeks.

Naturally, the biggest release the company was keen to push was Minecraft Portable Edition, but we’ve already dug into that title and struck a Silver Pocket Gamer Award, so I’m not going to talk about it here.

Instead, I'll focus on some classic Android and iPhone titles that were also quietly pre-loaded beside Mojang’s game, because they ended up being a more striking indication of how much physical buttons add to the mobile gaming experience.

I, of course, made a bee-line for the excellent PewPew and its sequel, PewPew 2 – two high-scoring dual-stick shooters from the Geometry Wars mould.

The pace and flowing nature of these games, as well as fellow twin-stick title Hyperlight, suited the phone down to a tee, with movement smooth, and the action enough to make me swear under my breath when I was finally taken down.

Another couple of games on their way that long-time readers should recognise are Micronytes and the mind-bending They Need to be Fed – two platformers that benefit greatly from the new control scheme.

Micronytes received a fair old kicking when we looked at it earlier in the year, but this was almost entirely due to the crazy control scheme that involved tilting your handset, as well as the inaccurate touchscreen replacement that was added a few weeks after release.

Needless to say, with the control problems eliminated it seems to be shaping up to be a fairly decent ride, although it’s up against stern competition in the shape of both Meganoid, and They Need to be Fed when it launches.

That latter title is heading to Xperia Play with a ton of new worlds and levels (which will also be appearing on the iPhone version). Again, it’s hard to argue against the benefit of having physical buttons, with its mind-bending gravity jumping far more manageable than on touchscreens.

Elsewhere on the stand I happened across what looked like the same build of Desert Winds that Rob played at E3.

While the game is great-looking, I came away from the demo with the same reservations as our esteemed editor. The gameplay feels a little too shallow and a little to easy, while bugs with the camera (I couldn’t work out how to move it at all) mean it still felt very much work-in-progress.

But apart the occasional blip (and the mad Plants vs Zombies traffic cone hat that PopCap forced onto my bonce), it looked like a very strong showing from the new gaming phone.

With plenty of exclusives to the platform on their way soon, including the likes of Sleepy Jack, as well as Android-exclusives like Dead Space and FIFA 12, the Xperia Play appears to be gathering quite a bit of momentum going into the last part of the year, in terms of developer support at least.