Tag: Soapbox - Page 3
Soapbox Cyberpunk 2077 and the Question of Fast Travel
It's all about the journey
In the lead-up to Cyberpunk 2077, I've been revisiting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt during a quiet period in-between PlayStation 4 releases. I already played the game upon its 2015 launch, but five years later, my appreciation for CD Projekt Red's mammoth RPG has only strengthened thanks to some truly incredible quest design...
Soapbox PS5 Will Be Sold on the Strength of Its Sequels
And that's a good thing
This industry craves new intellectual property at every opportunity, but I believe the PlayStation 5 will be sold on the strength of its sequels. Sony has been excellent at re-imagining its roster of franchises every generation: Naughty Dog famously ditched Jak & Daxter in favour of Uncharted; Sucker Punch moved away from...
Soapbox Sony Needs to Share a PS5 Roadmap
Worst timeline
I really don’t think the communication surrounding the PlayStation 5 has been as bad as some enthusiast forums would lead you to believe, but it’s obvious there’s a lot we still need to learn about Sony’s next-gen system. Coronavirus has, in my opinion, turned the industry upside-down – but the manufacturer’s had a few...
Soapbox Why the Harry Potter RPG Is My Most Anticipated PS5 Game
Spellbound
The fact that we’ve reached 2020 without a genuine Harry Potter RPG on consoles is as dumbfounding as Hermione Granger marrying Ron Weasley. J.K. Rowling’s iconic wizarding world has been a huge part of popular culture for over two decades now, but outside of a couple turn-based titles for the Game Boy Color, we’re yet to receive...
Soapbox Everybody's Sports: Resort Is One of My Dream PS5 Games
Sports holiday
Everybody’s Golf is quietly one of my favourite PlayStation franchises. I’ve played pretty much all of ‘em, dating back to the PS1 right up to the most recent PlayStation VR instalment. I love the spin-offs, too: Everybody’s Tennis on the PlayStation Portable is a particular highlight – those of you who played it will know...
Soapbox I Want Better Levels on PS5, Not Bigger Worlds
Size doesn't matter
I think it was GoldenEye 007 that made me fall in love with big, varied levels in games. For those of you who’ve played Rare’s legendary Nintendo 64 first-person shooter, you’ll remember that the title gave you the tools to approach stages in a variety of different ways. In the opening objective Dam, for example, you could...
Soapbox Final Fantasy VII Remake From the Perspective of a Newcomer
Mako. No 5
This opinion piece contains major spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake. Please do not continue reading if you haven't completed the game. Also, please be respectful of spoilers which pertain to what comes after Midgar. At this point in time, it is difficult to play Final Fantasy VII Remake without any knowledge of the source text. The...
Soapbox I Can't Believe How Many Cool Moments Final Fantasy VII Remake's Final Trailer Spoils
A new low
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the story of Final Fantasy VII Remake. What the hell was Square Enix thinking when it cut that last Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer? I'm talking about the one that released on the 3rd April -- a week before the game's launch. Titled 'Final Fantasy VII Remake - Final Trailer', it features...
Soapbox The Sims 4 Is a Travesty on PS4
Escapism at its worst
The Sims may have been usurped by Minecraft and Fortnite in recent years, but I grew up as part of the generation that was obsessed with The Sims 2. I’m not afraid to admit that it’s been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine over the years: I sunk countless hours into the PC version growing up, but also owned copious...
Soapbox Final Fantasy VII Remake's Cloud Goes From Hero to Zero in a Single Side Quest
Liam pulls a 180 on soldier boy
Update: Here at Push Square, we're more than happy to admit when we got something wrong. This is one of those rare occasions. It has become clear that Cloud was instead trying to spur the old man on to do something with his life, so let's discuss how I, a newcomer to the game, didn't pick up on that. Does Final...
Soapbox Why You Must Play Uncharted 4 While It's Free on PS Plus
Drake believe
Linger around the right social media circles and you could be forgiven for thinking Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is one of the worst games ever released. Whether it’s the meteoric rise of Naughty Dog or the fact that it’s a PlayStation 4 exclusive, this title receives some of the most hyperbolic ire online – and considering the...
Soapbox I Wish I Was Growing Up with Games Now
Nostalgia is a helluva drug
It’s so easy to look back at games with rose-tinted glasses, I think. I wouldn’t change my childhood gaming experiences for the world; my jaw hit the floor when I first saw Crash Bandicoot’s N. Sanity Beach on the PS1, and I engaged in a six month adventure with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo...
Soapbox All I Want the PS5 to Do Is Track My Play Time Across Games
Liam wants the stats
I, surely amongst others, really enjoy tracking how much time I've sunk into a video game. From the grand looter shooters of Destiny 2 and The Division 2 through to huge RPGs such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, I always like to take note how of many hours I've played them for. I'll...
Soapbox Assassin's Creed Odyssey Is Free This Weekend, and You Should Try It If You're Staying Home
Rob highly recommends
Did you know that you can download and play Assassin's Creed Odyssey for free right now on PlayStation 4? It's true! The game's totally free to try until Monday, so you've got a whole weekend to get stuck in -- at the time of writing this article, anyway. And no, this isn't some kind of weird sponsored post (we don't do...
Soapbox How PS5's Deep Dive Should Have Been Handled
Improving Sony's messaging
It’s always a pleasure to hear from system architect Mark Cerny, but yesterday’s PlayStation 5 deep dive was a mistake. I’ve already illustrated why it was misjudged in my reaction piece, but effectively I felt like Sony had the eyes and attention of its most rabid
Soapbox Why Dreams Needs to Come Pre-Installed on Every PS5
The ultimate dream
Sony loves a good PlayStation pack-in lately. You may recall the PS Vita shipping with Welcome Park, a pretty simplistic minigame compilation which introduced you to all the features and functions of its brand-new handheld. It followed the same formula with The Playroom on the PlayStation 4, a versatile bit of bundled software...
Soapbox 7 Things BioWare Needs to Fix to Rebuild ANTHEM
This is the ANTHEM, throw your patch up
Do you remember ANTHEM? I do. Despite Mass Effect: Andromeda’s disappointing release, I felt sure that BioWare would be back with a bang, with an attempt at the shared-world shooter, no less – my favourite genre. Of course, what we got just simply wasn’t good enough. Anthem launched last year as a...
Soapbox Forget the Netflix of Games, Dreams Is the YouTube of Games
Broadcast yourself
The games industry loves a good buzz phrase, doesn’t it? Right now, its preference is the ‘Netflix of Games’, but we’re all familiar with former favourites like the ‘Power of the Cloud’. To be fair, this idea of a subscription-based video game delivery system is not a bad one; Microsoft is already demonstrating with...
Soapbox Yakuza 6: The Song of Life Is One of the Best Video Game Send-Offs
Liam bids Kazuma Kiryu farewell
For the past month or so, I've been committing what some people would consider to be a video gaming sin. I started the story of Kazuma Kiryu back in 2017 with Yakuza 0 and ever since then, I have desperately wanted to see it through to its conclusion. Doing that presented some challenges, however. One of those was...
Soapbox Sony Is Not Anti-Consumer for Making PS5 Exclusives
But do you agree?
There will be games that you can only play on the PlayStation 5 when Sony’s next-gen system launches this holiday, and that’s anti-consumer according to some enthusiasts. While the Japanese giant is merely following the natural order of all hardware transitions, Microsoft has thrown a spanner in the works by revealing that it...
Soapbox Why You Must Play Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection While It's Free on PS Plus
God's plan
Have you played Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection? It seems absurd to be asking this question on a website with a readership dominated by PlayStation enthusiasts, and yet I know one or two of you exist. Yes, that includes you sheepishly reading this article – exactly why haven’t you finished Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed...
Soapbox We Need to Talk About Font Sizes in Games
See here
Considering I’ve spent roughly half my life in dark rooms staring at blisteringly bright screens, my eyesight is decent. Do you know what’s making me feel like I’m going blind, though? Video games. This isn’t a case of my peepers slowly withering away and losing their clarity – all other aspects of my life remain unaffected and...
Bewitching
Earlier this week, there were more people playing CD Projekt RED’s outstanding open world role-playing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Steam than there’s ever been. This is a staggering statistic that bears repeating: on New Year’s Day the title accrued concurrents of around 102,000 players, which is the largest number it’s ever...
Soapbox Sony's First-Party Lineup Looks Sublime in 2020
Exclusive: read all about it
Between the likes of Days Gone, Death Stranding, and MediEvil, it’d be extremely difficult to argue that 2019 was a rare weak year for Sony’s first-party – but it’s a criticism that you’ll read online all the same. The Japanese giant is renowned for supporting its systems through until the bitter end, though,...
Soapbox How PS Now Saved Me When I Didn't Have a TV
Stream dream
There’s a reason the Nintendo Switch is so popular: it’s bleedin’ convenient. Being able to take the console out of its dock so that you can enjoy your games anywhere is a killer feature, and it’s why the device is lighting up the hardware charts. See, I’ve been in the unfortunate position of moving to a new house, and...
Soapbox A Shout Out to Slay the Spire, One of the Year's Most Overlooked PS4 Gems
Play your cards right
In our now-defunct Indie Bin feature, we covered a title by the name of Slay the Spire. With so many little games vying for our collective time, it's tough to give everything the same amount of attention. We now try to cover as many smaller experiences as we can with our relatively new Mini Review format, but this particular...
Soapbox Despite Being a Good Game, Life Is Strange 2 Wasn't Worth the Wait
Liam got tired of waiting
When it comes to episodic content, Hitman and Life Is Strange 2 are at complete polar opposites of one another. The 2016 reboot of Agent 47's stealthy escapades was lauded for its approach to content rollout -- giving players a new map, set of scenarios, and tons of challenges every two or so months to experiment with. It...
Soapbox PS5 Must Introduce Price Parity Across Regional PSN Stores
Liam is calling for fairness
When the PlayStation 5 releases late next year, we'll be taking one step closer to an all-digital future. Sure, the next-generation console will launch with a disc drive and support physical media, but the way the industry has shifted focus to digital downloads across the PlayStation 4's lifespan proves that a lot of...
Soapbox Titanfall 2 on PS Plus Isn't Good Value for Money, But It's Still a Great Game
Why you shouldn't skip on Titanfall
PlayStation Plus' line-up for the month of December 2019 was announced yesterday, and as per usual, the response was mixed to say the least. The less said about Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame the better, but it's the inclusion of Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall 2
Soapbox Why Half-Life: Alyx Is a Big Moment for PSVR
I want to be Freeman
It’s been fizzling, hasn’t it? For just over two years, Sony did an incredible job keeping PlayStation VR supplied with top-notch software, but the stream has definitely slowed. While there have been headline titles in holidays past, the Japanese giant is relying on legacy releases like Beat Saber and PSVR Worlds to flog its...
Motions capture
I don't think Death Stranding and Red Dead Redemption 2 are easy games to get into. Both games offer their own unique web of gameplay mechanics and, at times, obtuse systems, and this can initially make them seem boring, frustrating, or convoluted. It's easy to say that any game isn't for everyone, but I think it's particularly...
Soapbox The Most Frustrating Thing About Enthusiast Gamers
Sammy's tired of those who reject new ideas
When you spend as much time in and around real and virtual gaming communities as I do, there are always going to be things that get on your nerves. I used to get really irritated by some of the stuff I read in enthusiast forums. I’m a bit older these days, and my priorities have changed; I’m not going...
Soapbox Return of the Obra Dinn Is Outstanding, Save for One Blasted Trophy
Stephen's quest for treasure has left him sea-sick
I've never really considered myself an avid collector of PlayStation trophies, but my attitude to them has certainly shifted over the last few years. After a long time largely ignoring the supplementary awards, I earned my first Platinum trinket with the excellent Rocket League. I'm not quite sure...
Soapbox Cyberpunk 2077 Could Become a Victim of Its Own Immense Hype
Cyberpunk'd
When it comes to games that I can't wait to get my sweaty palms on, Cyberpunk 2077 is number one on the list. Regular readers will know how much I love The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- I'd go as far to say that it's probably my favourite game, period -- and knowing that CD Projekt Red has another ambitious role-playing title in the oven is...
Soapbox How Has Kojima Productions Managed to Develop Death Stranding in Three Years?
Liam can't quite work it out
In a generation that has had its fair share of huge PlayStation 4 titles, both multi-platform and exclusive, delayed time and time again, Death Stranding feels like an enigma. Developed in the space of three years, Kojima Productions has managed to put out 2019's biggest title probably at least 365 days earlier than...
Soapbox Sony's Made Four of the Five Best-Selling Home Consoles of All Time, And That's Insane
Sammy's staggered by PlayStation's statistics
There’s life left in the PlayStation 4, but it’s already outpaced the PSone’s eye-watering 102.49 million units install base and established itself as the second best-selling home console ever made. It’s got some work to do before it catches the PlayStation 2’s mind-blowing 155 million units,...
Soapbox Why You Won't Be Playing All PlayStation Exclusives on PC
Sammy explains why exclusives still matter to Sony
The announcement of Death Stranding for the PC has sent shockwaves through select hardcore communities, despite the title technically being confirmed for computers back when Hideo Kojima signed his contract with Sony. It is, I suppose, an odd situation: this is a game trademarked by the Japanese...
Soapbox The Outer Worlds Highlights Just How Far Fallout Has Fallen
What could have been
This week, The Outer Worlds was released. Obsidian's sci-fi role-playing game may not push the genre forward in any radical way, but it is an excellent example of what's possible when player choice is promoted above all else. I'm busy playing through The Outer Worlds for the third time in about as many weeks, and I'm still...
Soapbox Doctor Strange x Remedy Is Surely a Match Made in Heaven
Liam ponders the next Marvel mash-up
There's far too much smoke in the air when it comes to Sony and Remedy for there not to be something in the works. Following Control's timed-exclusive DLC on PlayStation 4 and numerous studio visits from PlayStation's bigwigs, we reckon the two companies have something big cooked up for the PS5. It's probably...
Soapbox Why PS5's Reveal Event Will Rival E3 2015
God level
Nothing will ever top the Holy Trifecta™ – ever. That triple-punch of The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Shenmue III is the kind of thing that legends are made of; I’ll be telling my grandchildren about it, and I expect them to tell their grandchildren as well. E3 2015, as I wrote at the time, was the greatest gaming...
Soapbox Assassin's Creed Is Fuelling My Excitement for PS5
Liam's hyped for a next-gen open world
Whenever a new generation of consoles rolls around, it's almost always a racing game that is used in part to show off the graphical prowess of the machine we'll be doing our video game playing on for the next six or so years. It's understandable, of course, because getting a glimpse of the latest and greatest...
Soapbox Sony Is Doing Its Smaller Exclusives a Disservice
Sammy's irked by PlayStation's poor promotion
Concrete Genie isn’t the first PlayStation exclusive to get short shrift from publisher Sony, and it certainly won’t be the last. The platform holder’s back catalogue is peppered with interesting experiences that it failed to commit enough resources to: Puppeteer, Tokyo Jungle, Bound, Gravity Rush...
Soapbox How Sony's Server Shutdown Rallied Naughty Dog Fans into Trophy Hunting Action
A Trophy hunter's end
In recent years, Sony has had the habit of shutting down its multiplayer servers, especially with its first-party PlayStation 3 games. The worst thing about not being able to play a substantial part of these games anymore is the fact that it renders the multiplayer Trophies unobtainable after the servers are shutdown. In May...
Soapbox The Last of Us Online Should Be PlayStation's Next Big Multiplayer Hit
It can't be for nothing
That was a rollercoaster, wasn’t it? Coy interview quotes emerged alongside The Last of Us: Part II’s single player previews yesterday, suggesting that Naughty Dog had ditched the series’ superb Factions mode. The news was met with a mixture of celebration and frustration: some felt that, unshackled from the...
Soapbox Sony Should Celebrate Insomniac's Acquisition with Resistance Remasters
Fall of man
Insomniac Games has moved on to much bigger and better things since developing the Resistance trilogy for the PlayStation 3, but I’m still rather fond of the alternate history exclusives. Launching its infamously expensive next-gen console alongside a game set in Grimsby was a bold move, but the Ratchet & Clank developer made the...
Soapbox In Defence of Death Stranding
Boiling piss
I really do get it, y’know? No, not Death Stranding’s storyline – I’m as confuddled as the rest of you by its pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo. I’m talking about the scepticism. You’re bored of Hideo Kojima being, well, Hideo Kojima, and you want the auteur to be put back on a leash. Maybe not a Konami-branded leash, but a...
Soapbox I'm Collecting Every NFL Game Ever Released on PlayStation
Third and long
What’s wrong with me? I’ve been planning for a while to clear out my cupboards from the countless PlayStation discs I’ve accumulated over the years, but just as I’ve started making progress on that process, I’ve been unable to resist the temptation of adding new cases to my collection. There’s a twist, though: I’m only...
Soapbox Judgment and the Yakuza Series Are the Undisputed Kings of Minigames
Kamurocho's true calling
If you've played a Yakuza game, then you already know how good the side activities are. Often far more in-depth than minigames have any right to be, these optional distractions can be ignored entirely -- or they can soak up hours and hours and hours of your life. I recently played through Judgment for review. Essentially a...
Soapbox Why Sony's PS5 Strategy Will Pay Dividends
Sammy believes giant is right to target hardcore gamers
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the PlayStation 5 is poised to "fail", and op-ed writers around the world are scrambling for the hottest take. One article published by financial site CCN – not to be confused with American news network CNN, to be clear – was bold enough to declare...
Soapbox Nintendo Switch Lite Signals the Need for a PS4 Super Slim
Sammy reckons it's time for one last revision
I don’t know if you realise this, but the PlayStation 4 still costs $299.99 officially. Sony has added value to the console by increasing its base hard drive size and also by bundling in software, but it’s more or less maintained the same MSRP for nearing three years now. That’s a testament to the...
