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So, you're buying a PS Vita! A guide to the best games to buy

With massive games like Black Ops: Declassified, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Persona 4: Golden (In America) and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, sales of Vita should be heading skywards in the coming weeks and over Christmas.

But once you've got stuck on, or tired of, your shiny new game, there are hundreds of other titles you can download for the Vita across various categories. So, if you're a new PS Vita owner (or are planning on getting one) here's my personal list from across the board.

My reviews page has detailed thoughts on some of these choices. Quick hint: PSN isn't the best place to buy any newer titles, but has some good sales for older ones, especially PSP games. Check out PS Vita at Amazon, or Shopto.net for the best prices, other stores are available, your mileage may vary.

PS Vita Games

Gravity Rush: The Vita's first major original title and thing of beauty. You don't even have to play the game or the many challenges much, just enjoy defying the laws of physics and explore the beautifully crafted cities with heroine Kat and her feline friend. (This game is well ahead in the PSVR game of the year poll)

WipEout 2048: The last game from Studio Liverpool and a finally crafted racer as you'll even find. And you can play your PS3 owning buddies in multiplayer races too. Don't forget to pick up the Fury expansion pack to expand this game to mega proportions.

LittleBigPlanet Vita: Sackboy in the palm of your hands is a brilliant thing, and the level designer with touch controls is genius. Either way you can have near endless fun exploring the user-made levels or building your own long after the official game is done and dusted.

Unit 13: Until Black Ops shows up, the Vita is a little light on shooters, with  Metal Gear HD being a decidedly sneaky affair. So, give Unit 13 a go, with tightly constructed missions, and plenty of intense action, it proves a handheld can do an FPS.

Metal Gear HD: Two of the best games ever for the price of one. Meet one of gaming's more enduring heroes and enjoy (or relive) his adventures fighting those batshit crazy super-enemies.

Bonus Picks: Lumines Electronic Symphony, Uncharted, Virtua Tennis, Disgaea 3 and any one of Mortal Kombat, BlazBlue or Marvel vs. Capcom.

AVOID: Ridge Racer, FIFA 13, Asphalt Injection

Budget PS Vita Games

MotorStorm RC: Literally endless fun across a huge range of challenging courses, trying to get the medals and beating your friend's times.

Escape Plan: Another Vita exclusive, quirky and great fun, if you like watching your characters die repeatedly.

Sound Shapes: A disco in a puzzle box meets an arcade game, strange but compelling stuff.

Sunflowers: The sunniest game on the Vita by miles, pure simple fun

Pure Chess: Learn to play, take on friends, or just admire the glorious HD visuals.

Bonus Picks: Super Stardust Delta, Burn the Rope

AVOID: Doctor Who, Foosball 2012

Free PS Vita Games

Ecolibrium: Grow and maintain your very own ecosystem within the confines of your Vita.

Treasure of Montezuma Blitz: Don't pay for the extras, just have the odd burst of this addictive gem.

Treasure Park: Challenge other games to simple Minesweeper likes challenges.

Augmented Reality

PulzAR: A decent effort at a tense puzzle game set on your own table top or living room.

Cliff Diving: A fun little free diversion, worth a couple of plays to see your diver disappear through your table.

Reality Fighters: A brawler with a sense of humour that brings the action into your house or street

PlayStation Mobile

The newest arrival on the Vita store offers cheap games that you can also play on some Android devices. You're guaranteed quick bursts of fun with:

Fuel Tiracas, Super Crate Box, Hungry Giraffe, Aqua Kitty, Beats Slider, Rebel and probably most of the others too.

Sony PSP Games

There are hundreds of PSP games you can download for your Vita at knockdown prices, to be enjoyed with mildly filtered graphics on the bigger screen and improved controls. It would be a huge list to pick even the best, but my favourites are:

Persona 3 Portable, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Monster Hunter 2 Freedom Essentials, Commander: Europe at War, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Flow, God of War, Innocent Life, LocoRoco 2, Patapon 3, Patchwork Heroes, Resistance Retribution, Sid Meier's Pirates, Split/Second Velocity, Tekken 6, Tron Evolution, (hey, its £2!)  and Valhalla Knights.

Sony PS One Games

Although thre aren't as many games as there are for the PSP, the curation level means this list would be even longer than my PSP games list, suffice to say there is many year's worth of gaming across endless classic genres and franchises from Final Fantasy to Parasite Eve, Metal Gear, Resident Evil and more.

Even the Vita can't drag some of the games out of the visual mud but some like the original Rayman and Crash Bandicoot really sparkle on the OLED screen.

So, despite the negativity, there are hundreds of great games to play on your new Vita. And I'm sure I've missed a few, so let us know your favourites.

Currently playing on my Vita/PS4/PS5