PS Vita Slim review

The PS Vita Slim arrives just after the PS4, and Sony is hoping that you'll be getting the two together for some Remote Play fun.

You'll have PS4 Remote Play out of the box, and syncing the Vita and console together is as easy as tapping the PS4 Link app on the handheld.

So what can you do with this nifty feature exactly? For starters, you can have your PS4 experience right in the palm of your hand, all streamed to the Vita over Wi-Fi.

Remote Play lets you play PS4 games (all except titles requiring the PlayStation Eye camera), move around the PlayStation 4 UI and even browse through the PS4 store all on your Vita.

It's truly impressive, although the latency can be noticeable if your home network isn't totally up to scratch. A little bit of lag wasn't a big deal when playing through some rounds of Resogun, but in those intense online Killzone matches you're going to find it a bit more annoying.

You may also be wondering how the Vita can replace the Dualshock 4 without a second pair of shoulder buttons. These have been mapped to the rear touchpad instead. It solves the problem, sure, but it's not the most elegant solution - especially in any FPS game that demands pinpoint accuracy.

I also found that very occasionally the controls would stop responding when I jumped back to the PS4 home screen, but this was too rare to be a sticking point.

But it doesn't just stop at your local Wi-Fi. You can also use Remote Play over the internet, the precondition being that your PS4 is switched on at home. This does add more lag unfortunately, but it's pretty nifty if you want to start a download from work and have it ready to play by the time you get home.

The other feature of Remote Play lets you use the Vita as a replacement controller if your Dualshock 4 runs out of power. That also means it can be used as an extra controller for multiplayer too.

Again, the lack of a second pair of shoulder buttons means the Vita can't match up to the Dualshock (it's certainly not as comfortable, either) but it's a nice added bonus.

At the end of the day, Remote Play is exactly what the Wii U should be offering gamers. The ability to move your PS4 game to your palm and wander round the house with it almost justifies the PS Vita's existence alone - and gives the PS4 a fantastic new weapon at the same time.