Sony has taken an interesting track with the Vita. There are precious few new games being launched, but there is certainly a deluge of PSP titles rehashed over the past few months. They are a guilty pleasure of mine though, so I actually enjoy jumping into them, good or bad. Class of Heroes 2 is my latest foray into the back catalogue of PSP RPG’s, and may have cured me of my addiction to them.

In typical JRPG fashion, Class of Heroes takes place in a, you guessed it, school. You helm a group of teenage heroes-in-training who try to balance their monster slaying with their scholastic obligations and, more importantly, their developing sexual attraction to each other. Nothing there is new, but really, no one expected it to be. The plot setup is just like a Disgaea game in that you can ignore it or indulge in it at will. If you can’t stand it, skip it and focus on the game play. If you enjoy the over the top and ridiculous tale being woven by students and teachers, then it’s there for you. Games like Class of Heroes are meant to live and die by their ability to offer compelling mechanics that encourage obsessive replaying.

Who doesn’t appreciate a classic onomatopoeia?

Class of Heroes’ dungeon setup put me into a nostalgic place fairly quickly. My first dungeon crawler was Might and Magic II on the Genesis, and I looked fondly on that game for years. I actually booted it up a few weeks ago and realized just how terribly it held up over time. One would imagine that over multiple generations and numerous improvements on the archetype a game on the PSP would at least be serviceable, but no, it really isn’t. The navigation system is atrociously, frustratingly awful given the Vita’s architecture. Trying to use the twin sticks will result in motion sickness if you aren’t careful. Navigating areas is done by a “one step, turn direction, move one more step” style that makes keeping track of your progress difficult. There is very little difference between this game and games that came out more than a decade ago, and not in a fun Mario way.

We all knew pumpkins were evil.

The fun comes from the old school combat, being the usual turn based encounters that everyone expects from JRPG’s, and the character customization. There are a lot of options, 10 classes to start with and more available as you level up, and aside from the usual mages and warriors you can select puppeteers and pop singers, allowing for a very diverse and personal experience. It really is depressing that the main function of the game is so lackluster, because I’ve always wanted to have a group of pop singers and puppeteers save the world.

I understand the desire to fill out the Vita’s library by filling it with rereleases, the cheapest means of doing it, but a lot of them do not hold up. Class of Heroes I and II landed to mediocre reviews (and that’s being generous), so why anyone thought it would fare better on Vita without a massive overhaul of visuals and controls is a mystery. At the price point of $25, it is hard imagine anyone justifying the value. The flashes of originality are mired in far too many layers of poor mechanics and unnecessary difficulty spikes making Class of Heroes II a very lackluster addition to the annals of JRPG’s.