Tag: Previews - Page 6
Hands On Final Fantasy VII Remake Will Live Up to RPG's Legendary Legacy
What's old is new again
Final Fantasy VII Remake is oh-so anime but oh-so good. If you’re like this particular author, you’ll cringe at physics-defying hairstyles and exaggerated American accents, but protagonist Cloud Strife’s oft-requested return is shaping up to be a sublime role-playing game – even if the jury’s still out on how its...
Hands On Windjammers 2 Needs to Come to PS4
That's all
Under normal circumstances, port begging would be a bannable offence, but we make the rules here and we can’t exactly purge our own accounts. Look, here’s the thing, Windjammers 2 is shaping up to be a superb sequel, but it’s not currently announced for the PlayStation 4 and that’s keeping us awake at night. Having gone hands on...
Hands On Iron Man VR Is the Next Big Thing for PSVR
Stark would be proud
It feels like major PlayStation VR releases have dried up as of late. Sure, the likes of Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and Vacation Simulator were fun enough, but it doesn't seem like virtual reality has really made any waves since Blood & Truth nearly six months ago. It's a quiet period indeed, but there is one PSVR title we're...
Hands On Inertial Drift Is a Promising PS4 Racer That Drives on Its Side
Angle grinder
Life is more fun when you’re on your back – not that we’d know anything about that. Inertial Drift – a name so close to plagiarising legendary anime Initial D that it instantly earned our respect – argues that it’s actually more entertaining on your side, as this so-called twin-stick arcade racer trades on taking corners at...
Hands On Predator: Hunting Grounds Has a Ways to Go Before It Realises Potential
Target acquired
Sony has made it clear that its catalogue of multiplayer-focused titles needs some fleshing out. The days of MAG and SOCOM are long gone, so the hardware manufacturer has employed developer Illfonic to develop a worthy online asymmetric experience that could act as a bit of a test bed before we head into the next generation...
First Impressions Cyberpunk 2077 Looks to Raise the Bar for All RPGs Again
CD Projekt RED's next masterpiece
It's been nearly two months since Polish developer CD Projekt Red shared with us its latest vision for Cyberpunk 2077. A 15 minute slice of gameplay impressed many thanks to the employment of various play styles that allowed you to get the job done in different manners, but there was more to that quarter of an hour...
Hands On Marvel's Avengers on PS4 Assembles One Helluva Set-Piece Opening
A real Marvel
Marvel’s Avengers has come under intense scrutiny since its official unveiling at E3 2019 – strange, considering the Crystal Dynamics developed superhero smash opens in the most eye-popping manner imaginable. Perhaps it’s merely a case of all the criticism leading to lowered expectations, but we came away from a 25 minute hands...
Hands On Ghost Recon: Breakpoint's Open Beta Runs Much Better on PS4
But it's not perfect
We're intrigued by Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Ubisoft's upcoming third-person tactical shooter is more The Division 2 than its predecessor Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and it creates an experience that feels a lot like a Game as a Service would but in a setting that is more than happy to accommodate just the single player. This fact...
Hands On FIFA 20 Career Mode Really Needs a Patch
Poor performance
Poor old Career Mode, consistently left behind to stagnate as Ultimate Team gets all the attention. But hey, EA's finally made some nice improvements to Career Mode in FIFA 20, allowing for custom managers and one-on-one conversations with players, while also making a range of behind-the-scenes tweaks. However, despite all the good...
Hands On How Does Borderlands 3 Run on PS4 Pro?
Performance vs Resolution
If you came across a review of Borderlands 3 prior to launch, it was most certainly done on the PC. The console version of the game has been shrouded in secrecy as developer Gearbox Software focuses on showing off the experience in the best light possible. Now that release day is here, however, we've got our hands on the...
Hands On Madden NFL 20's Superstar KO Mode Channels NFL Blitz
Big plays, big prizes
One impressive Aaron Rodgers drive aside, last week’s NFL season opener between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers was a fairly mundane affair. While there’s plenty to appreciate about the defensive game, the reason we all tune in to football every Sunday is to see the big plays – and that’s what Madden NFL 20’s...
Hands On Ghost Recon: Breakpoint Is Grittier, Better, and Overwhelming
Who forgot to tell us this is Destiny?
If Ghost Recon: Wildlands was the starter, then its sequel feels like the dinners you've been eating for the past week rolled up into one gigantic main course. Seriously, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is huge. We've poured a handful of hours into this past weekend's beta and come away impressed thanks to what appears...
Hands On Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Gunfight Mode Could Be the Next Big Thing
From 100 to 4
As the multiplayer scene continuously finds ways to increase its player count, be it a 64-player round of Battlefield V or a 100 participant strong game of Fortnite, it's perhaps interesting to consider that the next big hit may only require a fraction of that. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's alpha test gives you access to its all-new...
Hands On No Man's Sky Beyond Brings a New Lease of Life to the Ambitious Adventure
Hello again
Let's get one thing clear: at the end of the day, this is still No Man's Sky. That might sound silly, but the excitement surrounding the huge Beyond update may have had people hoping for an unrecognisable, utterly transformative new experience. Beyond does many things to the game, but at its core, this is the very same space exploration...
Hands On WipEout PSVR Will Totally Melt Your Mind
Free patch is a game changer
What the freakin’ heck? Sony casually dropped the PlayStation VR patch for WipEout Omega Collection, and it’s transformed the fast-paced futuristic racer into one of the best virtual reality experiences you’ll find on the platform. This is an extraordinary achievement – it’s so impressive that we’re...
Hands On NHL 20's PS4 Beta Shows Promise
A step forward
EA's NHL franchise hasn't exactly had the best console generation. After skipping the first year of the PlayStation 4 altogether, NHL 15 tripped out of the gate with a pretty weak effort. This in and of itself is pretty normal for sports games, but they tend to improve drastically as the generation rolls on. Unfortunately, that never...
Hands On Concrete Genie's Colourful PSVR Experience Could Cure Sadness
Short but sweet
You need to know one thing about being a games writer: publishers will always ask you what you think when you hand them back the controller. In the case of Concrete Genie, the ever-affable folks at Sony wanted our reaction to the title’s PlayStation VR experience, which is included for free alongside the main game. “You’ve...
Hands On Concrete Genie Plays to the Strengths of Sony's First-Party
Art attack
You’ve never played a game like Concrete Genie before, but this is unmistakably a product of Sony’s first-party. Developed by PixelOpus – a curious mix of game development graduates paired with industry veterans – the third-person adventure sees you painting ethereal monsters onto the walls of a dilapidated sea port, which was...
Hands On Detective Drama Blacksad Will Get Under Your Skin
Paws for thought
Unless you have a moustache and wear garlic in place of jewellery, we’re going to assume you’ve never heard of French graphic novel Blacksad. A favourite among furries, the dark detective series has spawned five volumes, and is actually the work of a couple of Spanish lads – proof, perhaps, that the European Union is still...
Hands On Until Dawn Dev Evolves Interactive Drama with Man of Medan Multiplayer
Holding hands
Man of Medan, the first instalment in Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games’ new interactive drama series The Dark Pictures Anthology, has a secret: it’s fully playable in online co-op – and it’s unexpectedly brilliant. The Guildford-based developer has somehow managed to keep its ambitious multiplayer mode under wraps, but...
Hands On Days Gone's Free Arcade DLC Is an Addictive Addition
A shining Deacon for all
In an age of loot boxes and microtransactions, few things are more refreshing than free add-on packs that add genuine value to an already excellent experience. Sony, to its credit, has been pretty good with post-release support for its blockbuster exclusives – and while its various first-party developers have all plotted...
Hands On Firewall Zero Hour Revived with Operation: Nightfall, But Old Problems Persist
Tense battles, long wait times
We attracted a lot of criticism for docking Firewall Zero Hour points in our review due to its online-centric design. Our point was pretty straightforward: PlayStation VR is a popular peripheral but it’s still relatively niche, and
Hands On Blood & Truth Elevates PSVR to the Next Level
Can you Adam and Eve it?
Back at launch in 2016, we waxed lyrical about the London Heist in compilation game PlayStation VR Worlds. At just an hour, London Studio’s short crime drama perfectly captured the potential of PlayStation VR, immersing you in a variety of interactive vignettes, from a particularly harrowing interrogation sequence right...
Hands On Team Sonic Racing Is a Slight But Solid Co-Op Kart Racer
Joyride
The first of two upcoming colourful PlayStation 4 kart racers to reach the finish line is Team Sonic Racing, the follow-up to the much loved Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Sumo Digital has cemented itself as a talented arcade racing studio, and it seems to have made the most of the game's significant delay. We're currently playing...
Hands On Everybody's Golf VR May Be the Hardest Hot Shots Yet
Fore the pros
Hot Shots Golf has always traded on its instant accessibility, but new entry Everybody’s Golf VR looks set to have a significant learning curve. Make no mistake: this has not suddenly become a simulator – it’s still a colourful, arcade romp. But by favouring motion controls over the click-click-click format of old, it can be...
Hands On Dreams Is an Inspiring, Mesmerising Wonder
The stuff dreams are made of
No matter which way you slice it, Dreams is an incredible achievement. Media Molecule might be taking its sweet time developing this project, but the hard work is clearly paying off. The game is now available in Early Access, allowing everyone to finally tinker with the creative tools, and experience the weird and...
Hands On Tending a Shiny New Bar in N1RV Ann-A
Come as you are
Hot off the heels of VA-11 HALL-A finally being dated for the PlayStation 4, we actually got to go hands-on with Sukeban Games’ follow-up, N1RV Ann-A, at PAX East. For those out of the loop, VA-11 HALL-A is a visual novel and bartending simulator set in Glitch City, a cyberpunk dystopia. The writing, setting, and music are...
Hands On Hamsterdam Lays PS Vita to Rest with Kung-Fu Fighting Furballs
Sure, why not?
Look, it’s a hamster in Amsterdam – what more do you really need to know? Your humble host backed Hamsterdam on Kickstarter on the strength of its name alone, so feel free to discredit any of the opinions herein. But having spent a good ten minutes with the regal rodent at last week’s EGX Rezzed 2019, we can at least confirm...
Hands On Eating Everything in Sight in Wattam
Wattam matter with you?
In our Sayonara Wild Hearts PAX East hands on, we mentioned that another of the games Annapurna brought to show was Wattam. A curious title from Keita Takahashi, the creator of the Katamari games, Wattam is an utterly charming title that, to put it mildly, is incredibly bizarre. The gameplay demo starts with you taking...
Hands On Snooker 19 Looks for Its Big Break on PS4
In the frame
There hasn’t been a licensed snooker game in almost a decade, which seems unusual when you consider the popularity of the sport. Sure, it’s never going to rival FIFA or Madden, but billiards can be brilliant fun – even if you’re not necessarily a baize buff in real-life. Snooker 19, then, is the first game on the PlayStation 4...
Hands On Runnin’ Down a Dream in Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sayonara Bye Bye
One of our favourite booths to visit each PAX East is the Annapurna booth. With an ever-changing, always impressive lineup of interesting titles, it’s usually a highlight of the entire event. This excitement goes all the way back to their first PAX East in 2017, where they brought What Remains of Edith Finch and Gorogoa, and...
Hands On Can Crash Team Racing Compete with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
We go head-to-head in Activision's remaster
Crash Bandicoot’s re-emergence has been one of the highlights of the PlayStation 4 era, with Sony’s former mascot now very much a part of the mainstream gaming furniture again. With the PSone’s seminal Crash Team Racing representing one of the few times the Mario Kart juggernaut has been put under...
Hands On Trying To Be a 100% Actual Human in Speaking Simulator
Bringing new meaning to swallowing your tongue
Nestled in an out-of-the-way corner of PAX East hid a curious little booth. A papier-mâché human head with an alarmingly long tongue signified the booth for Australian developer Affable Games’ Speaking Simulator. It was such a bizarre booth setup that our curiosity was certainly piqued. What we did...
Hands On Beyond Blue Helps Bring BBC's Nature Series To Gaming
Da-Ba-Dee, Da-Ba-Die
Scattered among all of the big titles at PAX East 2019 is a veritable treasure-trove of indie games. One of the titles that grabs our attention right away is an aquatic adventure title, Beyond Blue, from E-Line Media, the team behind the absolutely wonderful Never Alone. A game that blended a great platforming title with a...
Hands On Dangerous Driving Is Burnout 3 on Burnout 1's Budget
Second hand model
Dangerous Driving is the game Three Fields Entertainment has been building towards for the last few years. The small studio, founded by Criterion's top dogs Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, first released Dangerous Golf in 2016, a destructive, score-attack golf game that spoke to the developer's intentions. A successor to Burnout, or at...
Hands On Battlefield V's Battle Royale Mode Is Too Little Too Late
Putting the flame out
Battlefield V's Battle Royale mode, Firestorm, feels like the game's last chance to capture any sort of significant player base. After a rocky launch in November 2018 that failed to light the world on fire, the promise was made that a significant amount of content would be added to the experience by way of a long, long roadmap...
Hands On Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Has No Objections from Us So Far
Pre-order in the court?
We're a mere three cases into the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on PlayStation 4, so we're not quite ready to give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help us Shuhei, the jury is still out. But we have seen enough to allow us to make a pretty compelling opening statement before we render our...
Hands On Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Is a Harsh and Fascinating New World to Conquer
First impressions of From Software's latest
Whether or not you've played From Software's previous action titles before, you're not prepared for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Fans of the studio will have to ditch all their Dark Souls habits, as this game plays by its own rules. It's certainly in the same wheelhouse, but Sekiro is a bold and distinct...
Hands On A Complete Package at Launch, The Division 2 Puts Its Looter Shooter Competition to Shame
Target acquired
The Division 2 is here, and while we haven't yet played enough to bring you a full review just yet, we can go ahead and say that we think the game's off to a great start. For this hands on article, we've got deputy editor Robert Ramsey and senior staff writer Liam Croft -- both of them well versed in the ways of looting and shooting...
Hands On Borderlands 2 VR Is Much Better with the PSVR Aim Controller
The best way to play
Borderlands 2 VR launched last year and played perfectly fine with the DualShock 4 controller, but we weren’t fond of its PlayStation Move support. Unfortunately, the game lacked PSVR Aim Controller support at launch – despite frequent requests from fans for its implementation. Thankfully, developer Gearbox listened, and a...
Hands On Days Gone Has Some of the Flashiest Menus on PS4
User inter-ace
One thing we can be confident of: Days Gone has awesome menus. We haven’t waxed lyrical about a title’s user interface since the hazy days of Persona 5, but Sony Bend’s upcoming open world survival horror does have a pretty nifty pause screen. You can bring it up by pushing the touchpad or by swiping in one of four directions,...
Hands On Can Days Gone Keep Sony's First-Party Streak Alive?
Three hours with Bend's biker horror
Guerrilla Games got a lot of credit when it transitioned from the linear Helghan corridors of Killzone: Shadow Fall to the vast open expanses of Horizon: Zero Dawn, but Sony Bend may be making one of the biggest leaps in gaming history with its all-new apocalyptic intellectual property Days Gone. For the past 15...
Hands On Bus Simulator Blends Crazy Taxi, SimCity, and Train Sim World to Addictive Effect
Just the ticket
There are simulator games for practically everything these days, so it’s perhaps surprising that Bus Simulator is launching so late in the generation. Austrian developer Still Alive Studios has been checking tickets on the PC for a while now, but this year it will make a stop on the PlayStation 4. Recognising this author’s fandom...
Hands On How Well Does ANTHEM Run on PS4 and PS4 Pro?
Better than the demos, at least
After roughly one week of early access on other platforms, ANTHEM is finally out on PS4. We've already put a number of hours into the game, mostly so that we can determine how well it runs on Sony's system. You see, ANTHEM hasn't been doing too hot on PC and Xbox. Technical issues have been present since the demos...
Hands On The Division 2 Is Shaping Up to Be Another Rock Solid Looter Shooter
The usual
Massive Entertainment learned a lot from The Division. The game had a rocky first few months after its launch back in 2016, and it was clear that the developer had work to do. Fortunately, it was able to make positive changes across the board, gradually transforming the title into a truly addictive and well made looter shooter. And it...
Hands On The Amazing Monster Hunter: World Witcher Crossover Event Goes Above and Beyond
Geralt of Rivia, Witcher
Capcom's really gone all out with this. Monster Hunter: World's latest free update adds a new crossover event to the game, welcoming The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt protagonist Geralt of Rivia to the fray. As soon as you start this quest up, you know something's different. There's more dialogue, like Monster Hunter suddenly has a...
Hands On Apex Legends Is the First Compelling Twist on the Battle Royale Genre
No need for titans
Many attempts at Battle Royale have come and gone since Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds exploded onto the scene a few years back, but only a select few have stood the test of time. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode is one of them, and Respawn Entertainment's Apex Legends is set to be the next. Not because it's...
Hands On Jump Force - Does the Most Ambitious Anime Crossover Ever Have Fighting Game Chops?
Super-realistic Saiyan
If there are two things that are pretty huge in pop culture right now, it’s the biggest companies putting together the most ambitious crossover events in history, and Hollywood’s desire to bring every one of your beloved cartoon memories into the real world (and we dread the eventual reveal of live-action Sonic the...
Hands On Dreams Is Arguably PS4's Most Impressive Exclusive Yet
Media Molecule's made a social network for your imagination
Dreams is going to win awards, and we don’t just mean gongs of the Geoff Keighley kind. No, we’re talking real-world innovation awards – the likes of which Media Molecule’s going to have to collect in tuxedos as opposed to its usual hipster threads. The game’s been a long time...
Hands On ANTHEM Shows Promise in VIP Demo, But the Finished Game Needs to Be So Much Better
Rough around the edges
The ANTHEM VIP Demo weekend was a train wreck. Any hype for the thing was quickly buried beneath a mountain of technical issues, from connection errors and constant lag to infinite loading screens and game-breaking bugs. That said, EA and BioWare had managed to straighten stuff out -- at least partially -- by Sunday, and so we...
