See, this is what happens when you remember to organise the staff Game of the Month vote too early. Your humble host put the internal poll together before September had even begun, and now here we are, over a week later, and the damn article is only just being written. Still, we can at least push some of the blame onto that whole PlayStation Meeting kerfuffle.
Anyway, let's get on with Game of the Month for August 2016, shall we?
Bronze Trophy: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X
Whoa now, before you think Push Square's come down with severe case of weebitus, let's just take a step back and admit that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X is probably one of the best rhythm games on the PS4. In fact, according to reviewer John Cal McCormick, it is the best rhythm game on the PS4. John gave the Vocaloid's latest a score of 8/10, praising its replay value and superb gameplay mechanics. Funky.
Silver Trophy: ABZU
"Hey, isn't this basically just Journey except underwater?" Well, yeah it is, kind of, but what the heck's wrong with that? Boasting some truly wonderful moments and actual underwater controls that don't completely suck, ABZU is "a triumph of exploration and atmosphere", according to reviewer Kell Andersen. Concluding that Giant Squid's first title is "an utterly unique and rapturous experience", Kell awarded ABZU a 9/10.
Gold Trophy: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Adam Jensen's back, punching terrorists through solid concrete walls and slapping civilians in the street with cardboard boxes. Turns out that both of those activities are actually pretty fun, as evidenced by our 7/10 review. We concluded that "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an intricate, intelligent journey through a well crafted cyberpunk world", heaping praise on the title's fantastic level design and clever mix of stealth, shooting, and role-playing.
Platinum Trophy: Inside
We don't want to say too much about August's Game of the Month because you should really go and play it for yourself. A gripping indie from Limbo developer Playdead, Inside is a tense, harrowing title with a mysterious premise that strings you along effortlessly – and when all's said and done, it's one of those games that you'll still be thinking and talking about for days to come.
Reviewer John Cal McCormick called Inside "the new benchmark" for puzzle platformers, awarding it a top score of 10/10. Game of the Year contender? We reckon so.
Do you agree with our Game of the Month winner for August 2016? Do you agree with our nominees, even? Vote for your favourite game of last month in our poll, and then tell us why in the comments section below.
What was your Game of the Month for August 2016? (52 votes)
- ABZU
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
- Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X
- Inside
- Other
Please login to vote in this poll.
Comments 26
Inside for me. Solid game.
What about valley D:
Inside is an incredible game.
@get2sammyb this is one of my favourite sites so please don't take this the wrong way, but how can you give a game 7/10 and then place it higher in the monthly round up than a 9/10? I dont get it!
ABZÛ for me.
No Man's Sky.
I need to check out Inside
Inside looks amazing. Will pick it up once it hits the sales. Got to save those pennies if I want to get a PS4 Pro.
Inside, but Abzu was also great.
As one with severe chronic weebitus, I'm thrilled to see Hatsune Miku make this list.
I've still not played Inside or Abzu but even so, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is one of the best games I've played this year.
@Mergatro1d Yeah, it's like @Neolit says. The Game of the Month articles are based on a staff vote that we do, so even if a game like Deus Ex only got a 7, if enough staff vote for it, it can end up higher than a game which scored higher.
We reckon that this is just a fairer way of doing things since not all of our staff will necessarily agree with every review score.
Good show, Deus Ex for me. Did NMS come out in August? Can't actually remember. If so that's in second for me
Hatsune Miku might be best rhythm game on PS4, but lets step over into Vita-Land shall we? Not such a big bad rhythm game now, are ya?
I do find it odd that despite the kinda groundbreaking game that NMS is it failed to make the list, it's a fairly average month apart from inside. If I were to make a list of 10 must play games on PS4 I think I'd probably definitely have NMS on it.
No Man's Sky by a mile for me.
@ShogunRok @Neolit thanks guys. In other news, looking forward to trying out Inside.
Where's videoball?
Gal Gun: Double Peace, by far.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi It illustrates how angry people are about the game (No Man's Lie).
@TimeforTravel I've read the list of alleged promises that were made that didn't end up in the final game, gotta be honest I didn't follow the production of this game a great deal so didn't feel personally cheated when those bits were missing, but the expectations fans put on the game from the beginning was rediculous, the writing was on the wall for a while before release. I havnt seen a single person admit that they were unrealistically overhyped, instead they are blaming the developer for lies they told about missing content that probably wouldn't have made much difference to the game in the scheme of things anyway..
@kyleforrester87 @TimeforTravel what lies, y'all just misinformed ragers, they didn't promise anything they didn't deliver, internet ragers are trying to burn it down, scream and rip their eyes out in protest. It's all a little immature.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi There are enough lies, I'm not going to name them all, just look on YT for people to talk about the lies, including proof.
@TimeforTravel I agree, there seems to be plenty that has been cut from the game. There is lots of evidence of this. Now, I think this is par for the course with game development - of course it's been made more obvious due to the huge spotlight on the game, and perhaps a small team overreaching combined with some misguided PR. But as I said, would the inclusion of these cut features really have made such a vast difference to the experience, or did people just get stupidly, unrealistically overexcited only to be let down when it inevitably didn't deliver.
@kyleforrester87 I don't know because I didn't play it. But just watching the video of Sean Murray lying to people makes me angry. I think the biggest deal for me would be the mundane-ness of most planets. Where are the dinosaurs and giant earthworms from the trailer?. Also they advertised as "Find out what's in the center of the Universe". I won't spoil it here, what happens, but I also see that as a big lie.
I can't Judge the rest of the missing features because I haven't played the game myself.
@TimeforTravel Ahh..well, the game is pretty good, you should give it a go some time. The mundane planets are sometimes some of the more interesting ones, oddly, and they do contrast well with the busier ones. I agree, the animals are not as interesting as some shown in the initial trailers - fortunately I reckon that is something they can work on with future patches. At any rate, I and plenty of other people had concerns that a game utilising randomly generated elements as heavily as NMS does would be able to sustain player interest for as long as many people seemed to expect. I think people thought they'd be getting something like GTA5 or Skyrim on a universal scale lol. Small tweaks, changes and something cooler at the centre of the universe won't fundamentally change what the game is at present, and what it was always going to be.
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