October2016
Review PlayStation VR Worlds (PS4)
A worldie?
No new hardware launch is complete without a minigame collection; PlayStation VR Worlds, however, is not your average Wii Sports knock-off. Developed by Sony's own London Studio, this is a hodgepodge package collating the half-dozen or so tech demos that the studio has concocted over the years. As such, while the compilation includes some...
Topple the blocks
Ah, humble Tumble – the underrated PlayStation Move title that really proved the power of Sony's motion wand. A little dull on paper perhaps, virtual reality revisit Tumble VR stands taller than the sum of its parts, using three dimensional motion tracking to turn tower building into world beating entertainment. You may just have...
Review Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PS4)
Ghost train
The camp thrills of Supermassive Games' interactive horror Until Dawn elevated it to a status that few expected; the deliciously dumb drama out-Quantic Dreamed the real Quantic Dream, and the silly scare-fest still very much sits among the very best experiences that the PlayStation 4 has to offer. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, a virtual...
September2016
Review The Tomorrow Children (PS4)
Russian around
The Tomorrow Children is something of a departure from Q-Games' vibrant, punchy, arcadey PixelJunk titles. This is a game far grander in scope, darker in tone, and more varied in gameplay than anything from the Japanese studio's previous gen efforts. It also explores new territory, treading the lines between genres and feeling...
August2016
Every opinion procedural
We can't believe our luck. For all the planets and moons in this system, most of them scorched and practically lifeless, the last one we visit is a bonafide world of paradise. Lush bright blue grass stretches out to the horizon where it meets a scarlet sky, the space station hanging just close enough to make out its shape...
May2016
Review Shadow of the Beast (PS4)
Adios, Amiga
Of the numerous reboots, remakes, and remasters this generation has brought us, this one may just be the most drastic. Originally released in 1989 on the Commodore Amiga, Shadow of the Beast was well received and lauded for its mind-blowing visual fidelity. Heavy Spectrum's modern take on the hard-as-nails classic has been a long time...
April2016
"I like to keep this handy, for close encounters"
Housemarque is renowned for a couple of things: its consistently brilliant arcade titles with incredibly moreish gameplay, and its gloriously colourful visual effects. The Finnish developer's body of work is a kaleidoscopic tour-de-force, the games as vibrant as they are deceptively deep. It should...
January2016
Review Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4)
Katnip
It's a good thing that ex-PlayStation Vita exclusive Gravity Rush is getting a sequel, because playing PlayStation 4 port Gravity Rush Remastered highlights the untapped potential that this fledgling franchise harbours. Four years removed from its Japanese debut, the upside-down action platformer feels a little lacking in the mission variety...
Sweet goof
Hardware: Rivals shares few similarities with Rocket League, but somewhere in the build-up to its uneventful release, someone deemed it unlawful to mention Sony's unneeded car combat reboot without tacking a reference to Psyonix's soccer smash on the bumper. That opening sentence is Exhibit A. The resemblances that it does share are...
December2015
Review Fat Princess Adventures (PS4)
Care for a slice of the action?
While Fat Princess Adventures maintains the cartoony, colourful aesthetic of the previous instalments, it veers off the beaten path and enters a different genre altogether. Gone is the frantic, calorie-packed multiplayer the series is known for, this is a Diablo-like hack-'n'-slash RPG, with a story to follow,...
A blastonbury
BigFest is Theme Park with more Wellington boots and Bulmers – and it's worth buying for that fact alone. On the Metal's musical management sim was announced for the PlayStation Vita an eternity ago, but tickets are finally on sale from the PlayStation Store, and thankfully we reckon that it's more Oasis than Beady Eye. But what is...
Review Phineas and Ferb: Day of Doofenshmirtz (PS Vita)
When are they going back to school?
There's a hundred and four days of… You know the drill. Two cheeky lads try and make the best out of their seemingly eternal summer vacation by producing eccentric contraptions and inventions from thin air, only for a crazed scientist – the titular Dr. Doofenshmirtz – to get involved. Oh, and their pet...
November2015
Review Bloodborne: The Old Hunters (PS4)
Byrgenwerth it
And so another yarn has arrived from Yharnam just in time to remind us why Bloodborne is one of the best games of the year. The Old Hunters is a full-blooded expansion, boasting nightmarish new environments and a bevy of brutal beasts to slaughter, but it's the vast array of original equipment that will have moon slaves practically...
October2015
Honda way up
DriveClub has become a kind of PlayStation 4 comfort food for this reviewer. With the troubles of its launch firmly planted in its rear view mirror, Evolution Studios deserves credit for maintaining the relevancy of its arcade racer over a year removed from its original release. This new motorcycle expansion – available as both an...
September2015
Review Tearaway Unfolded (PS4)
Card to beat
Leave it to Media Molecule to find a purpose for all of those gadgets that Sony stuffed into the DualShock 4 controller. Tearaway Unfolded, a remixed edition of the Guildford-based developer's underappreciated PlayStation Vita exclusive, may feature a papery protagonist named either Iota or Atoi, but it's the PlayStation 4's input...
August2015
Review Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4)
Rapturous
There are still bed sheets hanging on the clotheslines in the deserted streets of Shropshire. They sway lightly in the wind; the ethereal vestiges of a place that once was. In many ways, they're the perfect analogy for Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, an experience which is astoundingly gorgeous in a subtle, unassuming, and overwhelmingly...
July2015
Pilgrim's progress
Journey is as magical today as it was when it first released on the PlayStation 3 back in 2012. thatgamecompany's masterpiece is a thought provoking, emotional experience that everyone should try at least once, and now that it's on the PlayStation 4, complete with cross-buy support and enhanced visuals, there's never been a better...
June2015
Review Ultra Street Fighter IV (PlayStation 4)
No contest
While the eyes of truly dedicated Street Fighter fans will undoubtedly be fixed on the forthcoming fifth main iteration in the popular series – exclusive to the PlayStation 4, no less – Capcom has seen fit to do a bit of preliminary groundwork by bringing the previous entry to Sony's new-gen system. Ultra Street Fighter IV on PS4...
April2015
Review MLB 15 The Show (PlayStation 4)
Infield home run
It's hard to believe that MLB The Show is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Despite dominating every other baseball title for the majority of these years, Sony's series has never shown complacency. Instead, it's aged like a fine wine, and gotten better with each new release. When booting up MLB 15 The Show, there's nothing here...
Review Run Sackboy! Run! (PlayStation Vita)
Sack race
Ah, the endless runner: a sub-genre almost as ubiquitous in the promotional game space as the everyday Puzzle & Dragons knock-off. Unfortunately for developer Firesprite – a UK studio made up of ex-WipEout veterans – the awkwardly punctuated Run Sackboy! Run! doesn't possess quite the same originality as the parent property that...
March2015
Review Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines (PlayStation Vita)
Boned by blood
Imagine being born as an adult, and then only having around two years to live; that's the terrible fate that awaits your cursed clan in Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines. But this depressing destiny doesn't just act as a backdrop for the story – it also forms the basis of gameplay and progression, as you work your way through generation...
Review Helldivers (PlayStation 4)
Lead farming
Super Earth is expanding, and it's your job to do the dirty work. The Helldivers are called in to slaughter alien life forms so that mankind can extend its reach across the galaxy, and that means you're going to need a lot of big guns, air support, and explosives. A co-op shooter for up to four players, both locally and online,...
February2015
Review Resogun: Defenders (PlayStation 4)
Offence is the best form of defence
Goodbye doesn't always have to be the saddest word – it can be explosive, too. Resogun: Defenders marks the last of the post-launch expansions for Housemarque's critically acclaimed PlayStation 4 shoot-'em-up, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's something of a humdinger. Packing two brand new modes – Protector...
Review Hustle Kings (PlayStation 4)
Worth a shot
There were no shortage of pub games on the PlayStation 3 by the end of its tenure as Sony's flagship format, and the PlayStation 4 is picking off right where its predecessor left off. Following the release of VooFoo Studios' pretty Pure Pool last year, the Japanese giant has decided to port Hustle Kings – ironically, also originally...
Review The Order: 1886 (PlayStation 4)
Out of order
The Order: 1886 dares to tread where so many others have fallen, by attempting to fuse interactivity with cinematic qualities. And in some ways, it succeeds: developer Ready at Dawn has clearly sipped from the Holy Grail of the graphics gods, as this is arguably the most technologically accomplished title ever released. However, in its...
