Tag: Hands On - Page 6
Hands On Tera Seems Like a Solid Free-to-Play MMORPG on PS4
Our impressions from the open beta
Over the weekend, we got stuck into the open beta for Tera, an upcoming action MMO role-playing game from Bluehole. Although our experience was on and off due to the stress test nature of the beta, we did manage to get a decent feel for the title. Long story short, we think it's shaping up quite well on...
Hands On Yakuza 6 PS4 Demo Promises Big Changes for Kiryu's Final Adventure
It's Kamurocho, but not as we know it
We're all big fans of the Yakuza series here at Push Square Towers, so when SEGA (rather messily) released a demo of Yakuza 6 last week, we began swinging bicycles at each other in delight. Last year's Yakuza 0 was fantastic, telling a compelling origin story for main man Kiryu and series mainstay Majima, a
Hands On PSVR Platformer Moss Impresses in Opening 30 Minutes
Happiness in a headset
Moss is delightful. Frankly we could leave our hands on impressions there, because those three little words sum up our sentiments so far. Polyarc’s hotly anticipated PlayStation VR platformer has impressed us every time we’ve tried it prior to release, and now with just days to go until the title drops onto the PlayStation...
Hands On Metal Gear Survive Ditches the Series' Roots, But That May Not Be So Bad
Our impressions a few hours in
Controversy has never been far behind Metal Gear Survive ever since it was announced at Gamescom 2016. As the first entry in the franchise to be developed after the departure of Hideo Kojima, the name carries a certain weight that this instalment is unlikely to ever live up to. However, after working our way through...
Hands On Apex Construct Is a Beautiful But Irritating PSVR Adventure
Crap controls are a mood killer
The name Apex Construct reveals quite a lot about Fast Travel Games’ debut project. Created by ex-DICE employees specifically for PlayStation VR, it’s a narrative-based first-person shooter in which you’re armed with a bow-and-arrow in a distorted dystopian Earth. Despite the striking visual identity, though, it...
Hands On Knockout League Is Pitch Perfect Punch-Out!! for PSVR
Little Mac and cheese
Punch-Out!! is such a great game that it’s a surprise the formula doesn’t get “borrowed” more often. Knockout League does nothing to hide its Glass Joe shaped inspirations, delivering a PlayStation VR experience that owes its entire existence to Nintendo’s legendary boxing series. But while it is shameless to an...
Hands On Kingdom Come: Deliverance Marries the Open World of Skyrim With... The Sims?
Say goodbye to your social life
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is the latest invader to land on our shores, readying its blade to take Skyrim's crown. Much like The Elder Scrolls before it, this is a first person RPG of epic proportions, with a massive game world to explore, side quests aplenty, and as many systems as you have hair follicles on your...
Hands On Sky on iOS Sees Journey's Multiplayer Spread Its Wings
Cloudy with a chance of friendship
Yes, you're right: Sky is a timed exclusive to iOS, so what on Earth is a preview of thatgamecompany's Journey follow-up doing on Push Square? Well, the developer has a close association with PlayStation, having crafted three excellent exclusive titles over the course of about six years. When we received an...
Hands On Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Looks Outrageous on PS4 Pro
On par with PS4's best
That Shadow of the Colossus, a game that originally released in 2005, can be mistaken for a current-gen game is testament to the outstanding work that Bluepoint’s done on this PlayStation 4 remake. This is a complete rebuild of Fumito Ueda’s seminal boss rush release, and while it maintains the ethereal feel of the...
Hands On Suplexing Sinister Spirits in Guacamelee! 2
Winner winner, chicken dinner
One of the standout indie releases of 2013 was that of Guacamelee!, a Mexican-themed Metroidvania with plenty of beat-‘em-up luchador action. It was a wildly creative and fun release that shook up the genre in some notable ways, and stood as the defining game from the team at Drinkbox Studios. Now that some time has...
Hands On Monster Hunter: World Is Shaping Up to Be Something Very, Very Special on PS4
We spent the whole weekend with the beta
Monster Hunter has built up a loving, hardcore fanbase on Nintendo platforms over the years, but we believe now more than ever that its return to home consoles is what will propel the series to a whole new level -- and the amount of interest and hype surrounding the game's PlayStation 4 beta is an indication...
Hands On Jak X Helps Plug a Hole in PS4's Library
Has it really come to this?
Jak X: Combat Racing has released on the PlayStation 4 as a PS2 Classic and it’s made us realise just how rubbish Sony’s new-gen console is for good ol’ arcade racers. They exist, of course: Trackmania Turbo’s fine; DriveClub’s decent (although it’s more simcade than, say, SEGA Rally). But where are the...
Hands On Justice League VR Is One of the Worst PSVR Experiences So Far
Flash in the pan
With a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 41 per cent, Justice League has divided opinion. But the Zack Snyder superhero flick looks like an Oscar winner in comparison to the abysmal PlayStation VR experience that Warner Bros has squeezed onto the PlayStation Store today. Essentially a minigame compilation a tier below the kind of shovelware...
Hands On DOOM VFR Supports Three PSVR Controllers, But None Feel Quite Right
Hell in your hands
DOOM VFR is a very handsome game with PlayStation VR, a statement we’re noticing ourselves make more often as virtual reality titles mature. Bethesda’s also gone out of its way to support all three of Sony’s PSVR controllers: the DualShock 4, the PlayStation Move, and the (underused but outstanding) PlayStation VR Aim...
Hands On Will Monster of the Deep's Final Fantasy Fishing Reel You In?
Hook, line, and stinker?
For a game that’s always looked like a bit of a gag, Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV is surprisingly fleshed out. Packing a story mode, alongside multiple FFXV-esque hunts, there’s a lot to do in this PlayStation VR powered angling adventure. And while the quality is admittedly a bit inconsistent, you may find that...
Hands On Skyrim VR Looks and Plays Great with PlayStation VR
Is The Elder Scrolls any good in virtual reality?
We’re some four hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR and we’ve already got a quest list longer than our armspan, but we can say definitively that this is a great version of the game. Adapted for PlayStation VR, Bethesda’s behemoth open world looks exactly like you remember it – but also...
Hands On Skyrim VR Has Improved a Helluva Lot with PlayStation VR
The Elder Scrolls V's final build fares much better in virtual reality
Our early The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR impressions weren’t exactly enthusiastic. We tested the game in sub-optimal convention conditions with hellish teleportation enabled, and walked away from our demo like we’d just spent an afternoon in The Bannered Mare. The opportunity...
Hands On Stepping Out of SMITE's Shadows Over Hercopolis
Adventure time
Throughout 2017 deity themed MOBA SMITE has been mixing things up via some limited time adventure events. Covering some different ground, these diversions have had varying degrees of success. So, while the kart racing event turned out to be about as much fun as slamming your head in a car door, it was the Trials of King Hercules – a...
Hands On Shadow of the Colossus, One of the All-Time Gaming Greats, Stuns on PS4
Resplendent remake breathes new life into hall of famer
Between the likes of the God of War Collection and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, developer Bluepoint’s rightly earned the reputation of being the masters of remasters. But with Shadow of the Colossus’ impending PlayStation 4 remake it’s taking its work to an extraordinary new...
Hands On The Inpatient Shares Until Dawn's Penchant for Jump Scares
Boo
Yes, yours truly screamed. Are you happy now Simon Fitzgerald? Here your humble host was, sat in a partially empty room surrounded by kindly Sony temps, with cries muffled only by the cover of a PlayStation VR headset. Much like Until Dawn before it, The Inpatient cheats with its jump scares – but goddamn is it effective. (Everyone was too...
Hands On Detroit: Become Human's Escalating Tension Is Unparalleled
White knuckle ride
We’ve played Detroit: Become Human a handful of times now and our takeaway has always been the same: this is tense. Like, it’s really freakin’ tense. We’re, of course, referring to the hostage demo (again), where android detective Connor is tasked with defusing a rooftop situation that sees a small girl inches from the...
Hands On Bravo Team Is Straight-Faced Co-Op Time Crisis for PlayStation VR
Guns up
There are nameless terrorists to slaughter and you’ve got an ally to help you get the job done: PlayStation VR first-person shooter Bravo Team doesn’t really need much introduction. Built with Sony’s underused but excellent PlayStation VR Aim Controller in mind, our hands on demo is set against the backdrop of a Golden Gate-esque...
Hands On DOOM VFR Cleverly Keeps You on the Move in PlayStation VR
Welcome to your DOOM
DOOM is not a stop and pop shooter. In last year’s franchise reboot, developer id Software transformed the kinetic nature of the original games into a game mechanic, with Glory Kills forcing you to get up close and personal with your demonic adversaries in order to recover ammunition and health. It was a genius system, forcing...
Hands On Moss Is a Divine Demonstration of What PlayStation VR Can Do
Mice one
If you’re still not convinced by PlayStation VR then you simply have to play Moss, a cutesy puzzle platformer by Polyarc. We’ve previewed this a couple of times already on Push Square, but it’s the first time that yours truly has got some hands-on time. And it really is the revelation that everyone says it is: this is why virtual...
Hands On Who Has a Hidden Agenda in Until Dawn Dev's Crime Thriller?
Whodunnit?
Republished on Wednesday 25th October 2017: We're bringing this preview back from the archives following the release of Hidden Agenda in North America. The original text follows. The next game from developer Supermassive Games is a lot like Until Dawn at first blush: it has unnervingly lifelike virtual characters, branching plot...
Hands On How Does Gran Turismo Sport Fare with PlayStation VR?
Ups and downs
Around about a year ago, we hopped inside Gran Turismo Sport’s cockpit with a PlayStation VR headset on and walked away somewhat unimpressed. We felt that the game looked fine in virtual reality – better than DriveClub VR, we commented at the time – but we weren’t exactly blown away, especially after seeing the title running in...
Hands On The Evil Within 2 Is a Familiar Yet Different Beast
Daddy issues
The Evil Within was an overlooked survival horror gem. It may have been rough around the edges with some performance and gameplay issues, but it was a much-appreciated return to old survival-horror design philosophies. Scarce ammo, unforgiving difficulty, intentionally limiting controls – elements like these filled the void that...
Hands On The Invisible Hours Is an Incredible Narrative Experiment
Fly on the wall
The Invisible Hours unwinds over the course of 90 or so fraught minutes, and you’re able to manipulate time in order to experience it all. This brilliant narrative feast from RIME developer Tequila Works sees several famous historical figures – Thomas Edison! Sarah Bernhardt! – invited to Nikola Tesla’s mansion moments before...
Hands On Chernobyl VR Shows How Educational Experiences Can Excel in Virtual Reality
Ghost town
The Farm 51 quietly released a new educational experience on the PlayStation Store recently: Chernobyl VR Project. The developer’s perhaps best known for its work on Painkiller or the more recent Get Even, but to our knowledge this is the Polish studio’s first crack at something more akin to a documentary. The premise, as you’ve...
Hands On Star Wars Battlefront 2 Is a Clumsy, Complicated Sequel
Not feeling the force
Have you heard that famous Steve Jobs quote where he implies people don’t really know what they want? It’s all we’ve been thinking about playing the Star Wars Battlefront 2 beta. The thing is, we complained about the original game: we said it lacked depth, customisation, and replay value. And we weren’t the only ones:...
Hands On Shining a Light on PlayStation VR Puzzler Light Tracer
Beam cast
It can seem, at times, like everyone is making the same kind of PlayStation VR games. This isn’t true, of course, as there’s plenty of variety on the headset – but there is an overabundance of cockpit-based mech games and shooting galleries. Light Tracer deserves kudos, then, for at least trying its hand at something new –...
Hands On Rogue Trooper Redux Recaptures PS2-Era Action
Rogue legacy
Oxford developer Rebellion has quite the checkered history, stretching across 23 years and multiple platforms. Now best known for the ball-busting Sniper Elite series, its output ranges from classic (Aliens vs Predator) to not so classic (Rogue Warrior). Now, alongside fellow UK studio Tick Tock Games, it's revamping a PlayStation 2-era...
Hands On Fortnite: Battle Royale Plugs a Gap in the PS4's Catalogue
Winner, winner?
Y’know, whether Bluehole’s got a point complaining about Fortnite: Battle Royale or not, you’ve got to credit Epic Games for being incredibly astute with its capitalisation of PlayerUnknown’s Battleground’s popularity. While we’re sure various other developers are scrambling to implement their own survival...
Hands On Bravo Team Fails to Make Its Mark
Bravo?
Announced back at E3 2017 this year came the arrival of Bravo Team, the first-person PlayStation VR exclusive currently being developed by Supermassive Games — the brains behind PlayStation hits such as Until Dawn, and its soon to be released virtual reality brethren, The Inpatient. Bravo Team’s manifesto offers heart-pumping and...
Hands On Monster Hunter: World Is Already a Game of the Year Candidate
It's that good
Oh boy! Monster Hunter: World is good. Like, potentially Game of the Year winning good – and that’ll be some feat considering that it’s slated to launch in January. Indeed, having spent a good 45 minutes with the title thus far, we suggest you let your scepticism for this PlayStation 4 instalment slide – it’s everything...
Hands On Is Skyrim Any Good with PlayStation VR?
Fus ro dang
PlayStation VR, in this author’s opinion, is at its best when it’s offering brief bursts of immersive gameplay like SUPERHOT VR and Batman: Arkham VR. Despite this personal preference, it’d take a very closeted editor to ignore the pent-up demand for meatier experiences from PlayStation’s very vocal fanbase – and games don’t...
Hands On Job Simulator and Pesky Produce Collide in Shooty Fruity
Clean up in aisle three
You can imagine the design discussions at nDreams. “I quite like Job Simulator,” posits one developer, “and static shooting galleries work well in virtual reality. Couldn’t we, like, combine the two?” Voila! Shooty Fruity falls from a tropical tree. Unsurprisingly, this is a fun but derivative PlayStation VR game...
Hands On Detroit: Become Human Hints at Huge Potential
Quantic Dream's latest dazzles in demo
Quantic Dream probably doesn’t get enough respect. While the Parisian developer’s body of work can quite easily be criticised, the studio deserves credit for building big budget, blockbuster experiences that venture outside of the ordinary boundaries we expect for this industry – and creating an entirely...
Hands On Forgotton Anne Remembers to Bathe in Style
More than meets the eye
You could say that the 2D platforming genre has become a little stale as a myriad of titles release every week hoping to replicate the experiences you remember from 20 years ago, but Forgotton Anne does things differently. A 2D side-scrolling platformer it is indeed, but with a stunning visual art style, surprising mechanics,...
Interview Slightly Mad Discusses Project CARS 2's Early Reception
Hints at future content, too
Since the 22nd September, drivers everywhere have had the chance to grab Project CARS 2 and live the real-life racing experience (or as close to as many of us will get). Already off to a strong start with rave reviews critically, Slightly Mad Studios now hopes to replicate the success sales wise. Building from...
Hands On Sonic Forces Offers Both Slick Speed and Colourless Customisation
To Infinite and beyond
For fans of the Modern Sonic gameplay that was predominantly featured in Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, you can rest your fears as it returns in Sonic Forces feeling just as slick. Switching between the widescreen 3D and singular 2D, Sonic’s pace thankfully never outruns the screen. This issue occurred for some in...
Hands On Can Assassin's Creed Origins Revive Ubisoft's Stealth Series?
By 'eck
Someone at Ubisoft’s been busy playing The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. Though the anticipated Assassin’s Creed Origins whisks you away to the wide open expanses of Egypt, you can sense the White Wolf watching over this surprisingly RPG leaning iteration of the French publisher’s stealth series. Our demo is a perfect example of that:...
Hands On Far Cry 5 Sticks to the Tried and Tested Formula
A stronger party cabinet
If Ubisoft were to give another one of its franchises a bit of a break and a slight reboot, the Far Cry series has to be a prime candidate. Despite entry numbers three and four being fairly high in quality, they followed the Ubisoft open world formula to a tee, with only a radical setting change being the main...
Hands On Knowledge Is Power (Unless You're Thick as a Brick Obvs)
Knowledge is everything in this game
The obligatory trivia game in Sony’s burgeoning PlayLink line is exactly what you’d expect it to be: a jovial round of multiple choice with silly photo opportunities and a host that likes the sound of his own voice. With an eccentric, borderline claymation artstyle, it certainly looks the part – although...
Hands On Dragon Ball FighterZ Could End Up Being One of the Best Anime Fighters Ever
Just Saiyan
There have been a lot of Dragon Ball titles over the years, but only a handful of them can be considered truly good games. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 immediately springs to mind, and the much more recent Dragon Ball XenoVerse series is no slouch, either. Again, good games, but then that opens the case on another question...
Hands On Is Moss PlayStation VR's Next Must Have?
Vibrant adventure is shaping up
As we approach PlayStation VR's first birthday in the coming weeks, the companion device to the PlayStation 4 has had a surprising initial year on the market. With a steady stream of games already released and many more on the horizon, the future is bright for VR titles on PlayStation. One of such titles, is the indie...
Hands On Destiny 2 Is Destiny's Superb Gunplay Encased in a Much Better Game
It's even got a proper story
After smashing through Destiny 2's bombastic opening mission and the rest of its surprisingly lengthy -- and well done -- prologue, we were thrown into the sequel's first free roam map: the European Dead Zone. It was here that for a fair few minutes, things started to feel all too familiar. We were shooting the same...
Hands On Suiting Up in the Gundam Versus PS4 Beta
Will of steel
The long-running Gundam Versus series is finally heading overseas with the aptly named Gundam Versus, which is due out at the end of the month. In preparation for its launch, Bandai Namco released an open beta version of the game that was playable over the weekend. Naturally, we got stuck right in, and it's safe to say that we're...
Hands On Does Call of Duty: WWII Bring The European Theatre Back to Life?
V for Victory
Interestingly enough, we had a lot of positive things to say about Call of Duty: Black Ops III's multiplayer when it was going through its beta. We liked how it was a middle ground between the so-called “boots on the ground” playstyle and Advanced Warfare's twitchy, movement-based skill. However, we came to loathe the...
Hands On Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Proves You Don't Need Nate to Have a Good Time
House of Frazer
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is like a mega mix of iconic Uncharted moments. We’re roughly halfway through the standalone side-story – it’s meatier than you may imagine – but an early embargo means that we can share our impressions so far. And it’s good – like, really good. Make no mistake, the mechanics (aside from a new...
