August was a busy month for the team here at Push Square, in which we reviewed 21 new releases in total. Of course, only one game can be awarded the prestigious Game of the Month accolade, and so we looked to the highest rated titles, which included wildly anticipated adventures such as the ridiculous Saints Row IV and the magical Tales of Xillia.
After furious debate and several brawls, we eventually managed to pick out a winner: Rayman Legends. Ubisoft's latest picturesque platformer flows like a water colour painting on the PlayStation 3, prompting a fantastic score of 9/10 from our very own Greg Giddens. "The release takes Rayman Origins' fundamentals and polishes them to within an inch of their life" he wrote, adding that "this is a game that masterfully links each individual part of its makeup into an exquisite whole, culminating in a true sensory treat". Platforming praise doesn't come much higher than that.
Elsewhere, scores of 8/10 permeated throughout the site, with the aforementioned Saints Row IV and Tales of Xillia both highly praised, albeit for vastly different reasons. Summing up the president's virtual adventure, this particular author stated that "there’s still nothing in gaming quite like mowing down alien scum in a nitrous-charged golf cart, all while blasting Haddaway’s What Is Love from the radio", while JRPG enthusiast Katy Ellis fell in love with Xillia's colourful aesthetics, stating that "the title consistently wows with one beautiful setting after another".
Smaller releases such as Do Not Fall and Open Me also garnered similar attention, while Omega Force's delightful adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga had us collectively singing sea shanties in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2. Unfortunately, you have to take the good with the bad – or in Killer Is Dead's case, the disappointing. The title's "relentless idiocy doesn’t make up for its offensively average gameplay", noted a disgruntled Sammy Barker, giving the game a mediocre score of 5/10.
Don't agree with our choice of Rayman Legends? Remember to vote for your favourite in our poll, and plead your case in the comments section below. And if you missed any of our August reviews, we've compiled a handy list of links for you below:
Narco Terror (4/10)
Hot Shots Gold: World Invitational (8/10)
Tekken Revolution (7/10)
Tales of Xillia (8/10)
BreakQuest: Extra Evolution (7/10)
Spartacus Legends (6/10)
Die! Die! Die! (6/10)
The Smurfs 2: The Video Game (3/10)
Time and Eternity (3/10)
Saints Row IV (8/10)
Do Not Fall (8/10)
Open Me (8/10)
Lost Planet 3 (7/10)
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 (8/10)
Killer Is Dead (5/10)
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (5/10)
Dragon's Crown (8/10)
Snowy: Treasure Hunter (4/10)
DuckTales: Remastered (6/10)
Spelunky (8/10)
Rayman Legends (9/10)
What was your favourite game in August? (22 votes)
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
- Rayman Legends
- Saints Row IV
- Spelunky
- Tales of Xillia
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 17
Saints Row IV would be my pick. It was just fun.
Saints of Rage!
Yeah, it certainly seems that Rayman Legends is the frontrunner - doesn't it? Sounds like a fantastic game, but you can't go wrong with many of the titles on that list. A pretty huge month all around.
Sadly, I haven't played any of these games. My last game purchase was The Last of Us, with Ascension coming before that, so I'm kind of in a gaming rut.
I can't understand love for Spelunky.
And Rayman Legends, meh. it's good, better than Origins, but it feels like game without soul, can't make myself to play it. I hope next game about Rayman will be in 3D, like Rayman 3, for example. To tell you the truth i never liked 2D Raymans. can't understand why. But something is wrong with them.
i cant understand the love for splelunky myself but hey atleast alot of people play this! i thought saints row would be on the top myself
In other news the PSVita version of Rayman Legends is getting the invasion levels with a free patch. (So basically full version + 5 exclusive levels and for a cheaper price, and it's portable of course)
http://blog.ubi.com/rayman-legends-out-now/
Pretty sure Time and Eternity came out last month.
Should we bother holding our breath for Sept's winner?
Of those games I'd go with Saints Row IV but the one that isn't on there that should be is Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
@rjejr Nah, it's clearly going to be Puppeteer.
@get2sammyb - Funny, that was honestly the only game I could even find for a distant 2nd b/c I didn't think you'ld consider KH given it's a remake, and DIII got universally panned originally. An overall slow month, but Oct. looks a lot more interesting.
Though in the US we get Rayman in Sept. so this whole thread is invalid. and I'm really looking forward to W101 myself (I honestly think it would have done much better on PS3.)
Guess it will be gta5 for September
For August, I play most time for walking dead anyway
Rayman da bes.
Managed to get a chance to buy it (I forgot I had a 360) and it's a right riot. Very nice looking as well.
@get2sammyb October = Rain
Personally, I think all the hatred toward Spelunky is absolutely unfounded. I really like Spelunky and I think it's an amazing game that is very challenging and encourages the player to think quickly and the frenetic game play only adds to the joybomb factor. Of course, Rayman Legends on the PS Vita is a must own game as is the first Rayman Origins.
It looks as though I may have to add this to my game collection.
Once the PS:Vita version has been patched to include the levels that are currently missing from the other versions, I will be purchasing it, as Lionhart has stated before me this really does look like a ''Must Buy''
Off topic -
I would just like to say that this is a mighty fine site, I previously frequented the forums on OXM, however will be purchasing a PS4 on launch, so it became apparent that I would need to find a new site to sate my desire for gaming news and after a search I can find no better place - The writers are great and the sites community seems to be both friendly and knowledgable.
@MrGuiltySparks Hey brother! Welcome to the fold! I've got to agree that Push Square definitely is a nice community. The folks are kindly, the staff is so fine that they feel like homeboys and well, there is plenty of milk in the trough to keep us PlayStation hungries feeding till the cows come home.
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