PS4 Game Reviews
Smash 'n' grab
Smashbox Arena is like a goofy PlayStation VR mix of SOCOM and dodgeball. Wielding two required PlayStation Move motion controllers, you’re armed with suction weapons that can be used to catch balls and propel them in the opposite direction. Your goal is to fling said spherical shapes in the direction of your opponent in order to...
Dope mine
What if an idle clicker tasked you with more than bashing buttons and twiddling your thumbs? Vostok Inc is the answer: a galactic greed-‘em-up that pads profiteering with twin-stick shooting. This kitsch clash of genres comes care of The Hungry Horde developer Nosebleed Interactive, and shares its penchant for offbeat bonus content...
Review Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure (PS4)
A cynical review
It’s safe to say that point and click adventure games are - and mostly have been - something of a rarity on console, let alone the PlayStation 4. Discounting remasters, only eight point and click adventure titles have been released on the the console (according to Wikipedia, anyway), varying from the high of Broken Age to the low...
King conga
A game about conga lines, what could possibly go wrong? Conga Master is a bit like Nokia 3210 favourite Snake with more fancy footwork and less Angel di Maria. This pixel art arcade title sees you attracting deserted dancers to your own personal party, as you attempt to maintain your mambo momentum all the way back out of the fire escape...
My feet are killing you
Republished on Wednesday, 26th July 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of August 2017's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Well, well, well – if game juice were a real beverage, then Downwell would be the Um Bongo of the fruit flavoured sugar water...
A hankering for Scorpio
Republished on Wednesday, 26th July 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of August 2017's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Just Cause 3 can be best described as a catalyst for fun. The huge array of tools at your disposal, the sheer size of the...
Labyrinth and repeat
The tale of Theseus isn’t exactly a bad starting point for a video game. One of Greek mythology’s more popular yarns, it obviously depicts the titular warrior’s conflict with a murderous Minotaur – and his relationship with Ariadne, a descendent of Zeus. And that’s exactly the subject of this third-person PlayStation...
Review Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (PS4)
Tactical Samurai Action
PS2 Stealth classic Commandos 2: Men Of Courage was a unique title that's never really been matched on consoles since. The game had you take control of an elite squad of soldiers in World War II as they tackled clandestine missions behind enemy lines. It was a deeply satisfying and stripped down experience, far removed from...
Review Infinite Minigolf (PS4)
Tiger W∞ds
Infinite Minigolf may be a bad name, but it’s a potentially accurate one. Zen Studios’ follow-up to forgotten PlayStation 3 putt-‘em-up Planet Minigolf is packing some nifty cross-console features, meaning that its pool of user generated courses can be accessed regardless of your system of choice. This means that you could,...
Rites of Spring
Supergiant Games has made its name as one of the most dependable indie teams. Its first two titles Bastion and Transistor are two of the best games released on digital storefronts, and excitement for its third venture Pyre has been high for some time. Most impressive is the fact that all three of the developer's titles are...
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Tiny Trax is one of those games that’s just really good, y’know? Velocity 2X developer FuturLab rarely ever disappoints, and its PlayStation VR debut is predictably spot-on. A vibrant Scalextric-style slot racer, this arcade delight places you inside 12 fantasy dioramas and hands you control of one of several miniature vehicles,...
Aventually
Aven Colony tells the story of the human colonisation of an alien world, and each mission of the fifteen hour campaign is a variation on that one, singular idea. Like Earth, the planet offers everything from frozen tundra to lush, fertile landscapes capable of supporting the growth of crops like corn and wheat. The aim of the game is to...
Destination heaven
Parkour as a mechanic has become synonymous with the first-person shooter genre as of late. The likes of Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare and the Titanfall series brought the art of wall running to the masses, but rarely does a game outside of the FPS family incorporate free running to the point where it’s the way to get about...
Review Cars 3: Driven to Win (PS4)
Rocky road
Pixar’s Cars movies are widely regarded as some of their weaker works, but they probably have the most straightforward path to gamification. Cars 3: Driven to Win is a simple arcade racer, featuring characters and locations from the films, and it’s almost exactly what you’d expect. However, the amount of variety and fun on offer...
Slow whoa
On paper, SUPERHOT VR is probably the coolest game ever made; in practice, the first-person shooter is merely a very good PlayStation VR release. The homicidal hit assigns you the detached digits of an assassin in a whitewash computer simulation where time only moves when you do. Your objective? To annihilate a band of polygonal villains...
Running the gauntlet
Remaking the little known but well-received PC title Iron Fisticle – yes, that name is hilarious – Tikipod’s charming medieval twin-stick shooter Iron Crypticle sees you and up to three other co-op partners attempting to rescue the princess of Cryptonia and the kingdom's riches. Naturally, there's a maze of...
Review Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire (PS4)
Fallen short
When Princess Cecille's father unexpectedly passes away, control of the embattled kingdom of Fenumia is passed over to her. She's quickly handed a magical, talking book that was apparently a prized possession of the recently deceased king, and this Grimoire is more than willing to impart advice to Cecille on how she should proceed in...
Review Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles (PS4)
Not a cloud in the sky
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is quite possibly the most pleasant game on PlayStation 4. Constructed by the tiny indie developer that is Prideful Sloth, it's a rather ambitious little title that fuses open world exploration with lite crafting and farming elements. It takes clear inspiration from a number of different...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 1: Hero in Residence (PS4)
Blockage
It’s a fresh season for Minecraft: Story Mode and what better way to kick it off than with the same old mechanics and tiresome gameplay that everyone complained about in the first season. We don’t want to write the game off in the first episode but it certainly doesn’t provide a promising introduction to the season. The game begins...
Review Toby: The Secret Mine (PS4)
Mine your manners
Toby: The Secret Mine is a game full of promise and potential, but unfortunately isn't able to reach the lofty heights it strives for. Despite taking clear inspiration from a game that in the past several years has made a serious impact on the puzzle-platform genre, one man developer Lukáš Navrátil isn't able to quite nail the...
Clean getaway
Joining the not-so-crowded sub-genre of post-mayhem caretaking sims, Serial Cleaner puts you in the shoes (sneakers?) of a crook hired to clean crime scenes before the cops find any clues. This includes removing bodies, clearing up blood spatter with your trusty hoover, and pocketing evidence for yourself along the way. The kicker is...
Review Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PS4)
Absolute bangaa
Final Fantasy XII has aged very well indeed – and that's not something you can say about a lot of role-playing games that launched over ten years ago. Following on from the admirable remastered collection that is Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster, Square Enix has seen fit to rework one of the most divisive mainline Final Fantasy...
Black magic
The magic of an independent game is that one can come from pretty much nowhere and completely blow you away. Black The Fall, the debut game from developer Sand Sailor Studio that was successfully funded via Kickstarter back in 2014, is a perfect example of that. Pitched as a 2D puzzle platforming game, the title is actually so much more...
Space ace
A call has been sent out to all commanders in the Pilot Federation for help. Apparently things have been getting a bit rowdy over in the Rakapila system, and they’re after some able pilots to come and hunt down any wanted ships in their system. The rewards are good, and with the credits you earn you’ll be able to buy some much needed...
Review Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (PS4)
A crack in time
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today is a post-apocalyptic point-and-click that may have slipped under your radar. Depicting the tale of an amnesiac named Michael, this weird and wonderful graphic adventure deals with the fallout of a global catastrophe named the Great Wave, which has left humans plagued by a pandemic that forces...
Review God Wars: Future Past (PS4)
God loves a trier
God Wars: Future Past is a strategy RPG developed by the makers of Natural Doctrine. Whereas Natural Doctrine attempted to do too many new and different things and ended up becoming overly complex, God Wars has taken a more traditional route and thanks to this, it definitely feels like a much more solid game. Events kick-off with...
Oh you
One of the more surprising parts of Sony’s E3 2017 pre-show this year was the unveiling of That’s You via a gameplay trailer featuring everybody’s favourite President of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida. It seemed like a fun game, albeit a niche, gimmicky party title that couldn’t contend with the likes of...
Review Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (PS4)
Crate out of ten
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is billed as a blast from the past when you boot it up, and it's not playing around. Vicarious Visions has done an outstanding job sprucing up Naughty Dog’s iconic 90s adventures, but don’t let the lick of paint deceive you: these are the exact same games that you enjoyed huddled in front of a...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode Two - Under Pressure (PS4)
Space Shoddity
The biggest problem with the first episode of Guardians of the Galaxy was that the whole thing felt like a pale imitation of the James Gunn movie of the same name. The game isn't set in the same continuity as the movie or any of the comics, and that strategy can be used to great effect as Telltale demonstrated with its Batman...
Review Valkyria Revolution (PS4)
Shite of the Valkyries
Valkyria Revolution is a spin-off to Valkyria Chronicles that eschews much of what made that game popular and fails to improve upon it in any way. The tactical combat of Chronicles has been radically revamped into an action role-playing game to disastrous effect, the story is hampered by a catalogue of issues, and on a...
