Tag: Hands On - Page 8
Hands On Running the Collectathon in Yooka-Laylee on PS4
A solid tribute to an underappreciated genre
Back in the days of the Nintendo 64, a particular genre of exploration-focused platformer emerged from the jump to three dimensions, and Banjo-Kazooie was arguably the greatest example of this. Since those days, it seems that the genre has fallen a bit by the wayside, but the developers of Banjo-Kazooie...
Hands On Losing Our Minds with Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy on PS4
A faithful reproduction of a classic
At the beginning of this year, Sony reinvigorated the Ratchet & Clank franchise with the surprisingly excellent PlayStation 4 remake of the first Ratchet & Clank (and a rather unfortunate feature film). That Ratchet & Clank remake proved that there was a high demand for re-imagined old games, and it...
Hands On The Last Guardian on PS4 Is a Breath of Beautiful Fresh Air
Worth the wait
Fumito Ueda and his team have just been waiting for technology to catch up. The Last Guardian may have taken just under a decade to release, but this isn't a title that's been trapped in development hell, clawing at the broken brains of its creators to get out. The game, available on the PlayStation 4 this week, instead merely...
Hands On Why Farpoint Should Be on Your PlayStation VR Wishlist
Take aim
Farpoint, the PlayStation VR exclusive from Impulse Gear, continues to really impress us. We went hands on with the title earlier in the year and really enjoyed the arcade-like first-person shooting, but running a similar demo on the PlayStation 4 Pro this week reminded us how much we're looking forward to the extraterrestrial blast-'em-up...
Hands On Quit Bitchin'! PS4 Pro Is a Big, Beautiful Step Forward
HDR you ready?
As we predicted a few months back, Sony's had a right job on its hands this holiday. Its two latest products – PlayStation VR and the PlayStation 4 Pro – are difficult to sell, because they need to be seen first-hand in order to be truly appreciated. We spent the best part of a year waxing lyrical about t
Hands On Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 Seeks to Be a Safe But Solid Sequel
History repeats
Dragon Ball XenoVerse is a good game in itself, but it's one of those titles that's begging for a sequel. For a first attempt, XenoVerse gets a heck of a lot right, but as is the case with many licensed Japanese titles, it's really just laying the foundations for something bigger and better. Enter Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 - a sequel...
Hands On Does PlayStation VR Really Have Tracking Issues?
Dreaded drift
In some ways, it's a shame that the PlayStation VR embargo had to lift. We'd encountered problems with the headset prior to this week's verdicts, which we outlined in our review: the resolution of the screen, the number of cables, and the flawed nature of the PlayStation Move controllers. But we hadn't encountered any tracking issues...
Hands On Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered Is Far More Than Its Title Suggests
Shock and awe
What is a "remaster"? The moniker implies an older game that has been updated to adequately match the technological standards of the present day in numerous ways, such as with polished assets, minor alterations to gameplay, and so forth. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Twilight Princess HD are excellent examples, but what...
Hands On Dragon Quest Builders Is One of the Most Addictive Games of 2016
Can't stop the block
We can't stop playing Dragon Quest Builders on PlayStation 4 - it's as simple as that. The delightful little adventure is capable of sucking away hours upon hours of your time thanks to its initial accessibility, and once you're hooked, it's difficult not to just keep digging deeper and deeper, expanding your town and taking...
Hands On Playing Non-VR PS4 Games on PlayStation VR
Putting the Cinematic Mode through its paces
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest question we received after publishing our PlayStation VR review this week pertained to Cinematic Mode, the feature which allows you to play non-virtual reality games inside the headset on a simulated cinema screen. But what features can you use in this mode –...
Hands On Playing Our Own Way in Dishonored 2 on PS4
Corvo, blimey?
It's been 15 years since the events of Dishonored, and we've left the city of Dunwall behind for the vast streets of Karnaca. Emily is now banished, removed from her throne by a powerful outsider, and it's our job to set things right as we're thrust back into Arkane's intricate level design, malfunctioning moral compass, and exquisite...
Hands On Looking Through the Viewfinder of Outlast 2's PS4 Demo
Found footage
Well this is a pleasant surprise! We'd forgotten how much we enjoyed the original Outlast, but playing this hastily released demo for its sequel has brought all of those good memories flowing back. This sampler – deployed today on the European PlayStation Store – is set in a dingy rural village, where clearly there's some kind of...
Hands On Battlezone's PlayStation VR Co-Op Is Brilliant Fun
Cockpit moshpit
What more is there to say about Battlezone right now? The forthcoming PlayStation VR launch title is absolutely a must-own, but you already knew that when we previewed it earlier in the year. This week we were invited back up to Rebellion to feast our eyes on the final build, and our opinion hasn't really changed: the Oxford-based...
Hands On Little Nightmares Is a Spooky PS4 Surprise
Sweet dreams
You wouldn't expect a puzzle platformer to be one of the pleasanter surprises at EGX 2016. Perhaps the booth should have been a better indication; Little Nightmares wasn't stuffed away in the corner of the convention, but instead commanded centre stage, with an elaborate labyrinth-like setup involving towering drawers and dressed-up...
Hands On Is Dragon Quest Builders Spades Better than Minecraft?
Dig dug
Minecraft's an interesting phenomenon. Its wide-spread impact is not under question, but old-fogeys like this very author struggle to derive much entertainment from its free-form format. Dragon Quest Builders aims to bring the best of both worlds, then – it's got the creative opportunities of Mojang's masterpiece, but also the quest-based...
Hands On Could Horizon: Zero Dawn Be Sony's Next Big Blockbuster?
Aloy, saveloy
The best thing about PlayStation is that it's reinvented itself time and time again. Sony's original console was defined by Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, but a contractual blunder meant that both series went multiformat. Sony had to reinvent itself, and we saw the introduction of Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper. Now on its...
Hands On Sonic Mania on PS4 Runs Rings Around Recent Entries
Super Sonic
Let's face it: aside from Sonic Generations, the Blue Blur's had a pretty iffy history on PlayStation consoles. The hog's starred in a couple of decent Wii titles – and he's even enjoyed a handful of decent handheld outings – but the character's struggled to live up to his iconic legacy on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and now...
Hands On Destiny: Rise of Iron Seems Like Another Solid Expansion
Bringing the fire
We've sunk about 10 hours into Destiny: Rise of Iron, and in that time, we've completed the main set of story quests, tackled several side objectives, and jumped about ten light levels. We've perused some super cool looking armour, glanced at a few tempting exotics, killed more Splicers than we care to count, and spent minutes at a...
Hands On Trying to Solve a Mystery in Virginia
That game you like is going to come back in style
We recently spent some hands-on time with developer Variable State's upcoming game, Virginia. A first-person mystery title, Virginia sees players assume the role of FBI Agent Anne Tarver. As Tarver, the goal is to discover the whereabouts of a missing person: Lucas Fairfax. We had the chance to play...
Hands On PlayStation VR Continues to Impress in Epic Preview Session
Resident Evil! Batman VR! Farpoint! More!
We've been lucky enough to play PlayStation VR on several occasions now, and the novelty's yet to wear off. Granted, we haven't yet had to cope with cables, plugs, and calibration – a real-world headache that could significantly reduce the thrill of entering a virtual space – but we're yet to walk away...
Hands On How Does Fallout 4: Nuka World Run on PS4?
Please don't be another Far Harbor
If you were around for that whole saga with Far Harbor's horrible frame rate issues on PlayStation 4, then you'll know that we here at Push Square take technical performance quite seriously. Fallout 4's previous expansion ran terribly on Sony's console when it launched, constantly dipping below the 20...
Hands On Does PlayStation Now Stream Successfully to PC?
Power of the cloud
PlayStation Now's been misinterpreted by many. The cloud-streaming solution – often incorrectly labelled as Sony's answer to backward compatibility – is clearly an initiative in its infancy; the service that's available today represents the building blocks of a much bigger ambition, where PlayStation hardware is replaced by an...
Hands On AdVenture Capitalist May Be PS4's Most Annoyingly Addictive Game
Push square
It was only a matter of time before "clickers" started to infect the PlayStation 4, wasn't it? The popular genre – which is defined by its simple gameplay and constantly increasing numbers – is already a smash on computers and smartphones, and now AdVenture Capitalist is aiming to bring a little of the love to Sony's new-gen system...
Hands On No Man's Sky PS4 Is As Bemusing As It Is Beautiful
Spaced out
It doesn't get much bigger than No Man's Sky – quite literally. Hello Games, the humble British developer behind the likes of Joe Danger, caught the imagination with its retro sci-fi romp from the minute that it was announced – but many pondered whether the slender indie studio could possibly deliver. Three years later and the ten or...
Hands On Overwatch's Olympian PS4 Update Scores with Rocket League Mode
Blast ball
It was only a matter of time before Rocket League's herculean impact extended to other games, with Overwatch seemingly the first to "borrow" from Psyonix's sporting smash. Nintendo fans will probably expect mention of Blast Ball from Metroid Prime Federation Force, but seeing as that's not technically out for another couple of weeks, our...
Hands On Free MMO Neverwinter Is Well Worth Playing on PS4
Roll the dice
A massively multiplayer online game based on the fiction of Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter is out now on PlayStation 4 - and it's totally free to download and play. At the time of writing, we've invested around 20 hours into the free-to-play foray, and we have to admit that it's actually quite difficult to put down. That may just...
Hands On Is King of Fighters XIV on PS4 Worthy of Its Royal Title?
Return of the king
Some of us here at Push Square are looking forward to King of Fighters XIV. Honest. Which is lucky, given that a playable demo landed on the PlayStation Store yesterday, giving us a chance to try out this somewhat divisive entry in the series – and we're happy to report that the title shows great promise. But first, let's...
Hands On Seeking the Light in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue
Saving the best for last
It's no secret that the Kingdom Hearts series has transformed into quite a meandering and occasionally confusing beast. After 2005's Kingdom Hearts II, the series spread itself across three additional platforms and continued telling side stories that expanded the lore, but never strictly progressed it any further than where...
Hands On Going Feral with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Another day, another co-op shooter
The Ghost Recon series is one that's never been known for its open world gameplay, but hey, why not jump on the bandwagon? Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands aims to bring a fully featured open world to the classic military shooter series, one that's touted by Ubisoft as being the largest open world to feature in...
Hands On Taking a Trip to the Dark Ages with For Honor on PS4
Look, Mom, no UbiTowers!
Ubisoft is one of those studios that seems to have been content for the past few years to churn out billions of decent but unexceptional sequels in big franchises like Just Dance, Assassin's Creed, and Far Cry. This is fine, but the studio has shown through games such as Child of Light and Grow Home that it's also fully...
Hands On Fallout 4: Far Harbor's Frame Rate Is Unacceptable on PS4
Come on, Bethesda
What a disappointment this turned out to be. Fallout 4 is easily the best performing title that Bethesda has ever released on a PlayStation platform, but its first big expansion, Far Harbor, is in a real state right now. We're just a few hours into the highly anticipated add-on, and we're honestly finding it difficult to keep...
Hands On Feeling Our Way Through Blind on PlayStation VR
Who turned out the lights?
There were a pretty substantial number of games at PAX East that implemented virtual reality: some used the plethora of headsets for gimmicks, some to generate unique experiences, and some as a framing device for titles that would be less interesting if they were made in the traditional way. Italian dev Tiny Bull Studios'...
Hands On Rain World Conjures Up a Storm on PS4
Flash flooding
Adult Swim Games brought a bunch of the games that it is publishing to PAX East recently, but the one that stood out among the pack would definitely have to be Videocult's Rain World. Described as a survival platformer, Rain World definitely falls firmly on the ambitious end of the spectrum when it comes to the genre. We got some...
Hands On Dispatching Demons in DOOM on PS4
\m/
DOOM wastes no time setting out its stall. There a pentagram, a pistol, and one of Satan's soldiers. Pew, pew – off we go. Extremely late review copies mean that we've only just managed to get our hands on id Software's key card collecting sim – but does this unashamedly old-school FPS make a strong first impression? We're about three or so...
Hands On Outrunning a Giant in Fated: The Silent Oath on PlayStation VR
The end of days
There were a pretty large number of virtual reality games being shown off at PAX East. Some awesome things were being done with the headsets, but one of the games that we were most impressed with was Frima Studios' Fated: The Silent Oath. A narrative-focused VR game, Fated sees you assume the role of a mute man as he tries to...
Hands On Thumper Provides a Reason to Jump into PlayStation VR
Like music to our eyes
Thumper was the first experience that we had with PlayStation VR at PAX East. And boy, what a first impression to make! In development for six years, the two-man team at Drool – Brian Gibson and Marc Flury, both former Harmonix devs – gave us some hands-on time with their VR rhythm game, and the experience was nothing...
Hands On Outlast 2 Scares Up Playable Demo at PAX East
Don't let the batteries run out
Horror game dev Red Barrels burst onto the console scene in 2014 with handheld camera horror game Outlast. For a first game, we were damn impressed with it. The subsequent expansion was equally impressive, and in the months that followed, the confirmation of a sequel made us downright giddy. So understandably, when...
Hands On Pyre Illuminates the Night Sky with Playable Demo at PAX East
Build that wall
After two massively successful releases, indie studio Supergiant Games has made quite the name for itself in the industry. Both of its titles – Bastion and Transistor – have been well received critically, and are some of the most beautiful games that we've ever seen. So when the dev announced just a few days before PAX East that...
Hands On Is Nioh on PS4 a Cut Above Its Competitors?
Soul searcher
A bizarre pre-release alpha demo for samurai Souls clone Nioh launched on the PlayStation 4 this week, and given that it's one of the rare releases that's piqued both Sammy and Ramsey's attention, we figured that we'd run a dual impressions article on the upcoming Koei Tecmo exclusive. Find out what we thought below. Sammy Barker,...
Hands On Reliving a Memorable War in Valkyria Chronicles Remastered on PS4
Well in, Welkin
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is a fine example of a game that'll always look bloody lovely because of its art style. When the original Valkyria Chronicles launched on the PlayStation 3 all the way back in 2008, it was a stunner, sporting wistful, superbly crafted watercolour-esque visuals. From start to finish the title was a joy...
Hands On Uncharted 4 Is Bigger and Better Than Ever Before on PS4
Mad-agascar
Madagascar may be best known for its goofball cast of personified zoo animals, but some even bigger idiots are on their way to the enormous African island. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will find protagonist Nathan Drake and his familial allies Victor 'Goddamn' Sullivan and Sam Drake exploring the outback in search of missing pirate Henry...
Hands On Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV Is Well Worth the Free Download on PS4
An interesting glimpse into the game
Announced during the Uncovered: Final Fantsy XV event, Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV is yet more evidence that Square Enix likes to come up with terrible names. It's also a rather interesting glimpse into the inner workings of Final Fantasy XV, and provides a pleasant little adventure to boot. As far as free...
Hands On The Division's a Clinical But Compelling PS4 Shooter
Empire elated?
Hit making is really, really hard. Pop stars like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber may very well have raw talent, but it's down to their respective record labels to extract that in order to turn them into superstars. And it takes a team of incredibly intelligent people – writers, stylists, producers, engineers, choreographers,...
Hands On PS4's No Man's Sky Is Gorgeous, Ginormous, and Potentially Great
Thirty minutes in Hello Games' galaxy
Like all of the best brainiacs, the friendly folks at Hello Games are utterly insane. There's a mad glimmer in studio co-founder Sean Murray's eye as he explains that he's no longer able to see textured terrain in No Man's Sky without the mathematics shaping it. The amiable programmer – appearing endearingly...
Hands On Does Homefront PS4's Co-Op Represent a Revolution?
Derelict teamwork
This game has a past that is not one of secrecy but of an incredibly rocky and public road to completion. Homefront: The Revolution has been tossed between developers like an expensive game of hot potato but it's somehow found light at the end of the tunnel with a release window finally locked in. In fact, it's so close that we...
Hands On Destiny's Sparrow Racing Is Fun for About an Hour
The Bungie jump effect
When Sparrow racing was announced at Sony's PlayStation Experience 2015 press conference, we won't deny that we were hyped. Ever since climbing aboard our Sparrow for the first time in Destiny, we've always wished for some sort of racing system – if only to see how it would work out. As it happens, the Sparrow Racing League,...
Hands On Has Just Cause 3 on PS4 Blown Us Away?
Where does he get those wonderful toys?
The Just Cause series has always done insane spectacle better than anyone, but with Avalanche Studios having already gone pretty much as big as you can go in Rico Rodriguez's first two outings, how do you up the ante yet again? Based on the first few hours playing Just Cause 3 the answer appears to be: you...
Hands On Playing Hide and Seek with PS4's Alien: Isolation
Fresh undies encouraged
From the ashes of Gearbox’s dismal Aliens: Colonial Marines rises an experience that promises not only to reinvigorate its parent property but also the entire survival horror genre. Alien: Isolation bleeds with the key components of Ridley Scott’s blockbuster, and weaves it into a thrilling fight for your life that never...
Hands On Ubisoft Abandons Weapons for Watercolours in Child of Light on PS4
Sweet child o' mine
Female protagonists are a rare sight. Most games lean towards a male lead, allowing women to – at most – occupy the role of a sidekick. Child of Light, however, sees a young girl take centre stage in an intriguing PlayStation 4 production. Elaborately named Aurora, the protagonist is a princess, and although her crown slips...
Hands On Scouting Out Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes on PS4
Looking foxy
You’re no doubt sick and tired of reading about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’ running time, so we thought that we’d give you a break from that line of discussion, and focus on the actual game for a change. Having recently had a chance to go hands-on with Hideo Kojima’s gorgeous next-gen debut, we’ve compiled our...