Tag: Soapbox - Page 5
Soapbox Games Are Allowing Players to Be More Expressive, And It's Ace
You're in control
What was the story of E3 2018 apart from cross-play and an abundance of amazing late-generation games? For me, it was player choice. This is nothing new, of course – the promise that you can “play your own way” has been a buzzword espoused by developers for eons, and it was a particularly prevalent selling-point in last...
Soapbox Why Don't We Hear from Sony Executives Anymore?
Off limits
You can brand me a big fat nerd if you want to, but I genuinely look forward to the executive interviews you get around E3 time. I used to anticipate Jack Tretton joining Geoff Keighley, his Hollywood smile only eclipsed by the sweltering Los Angeles sun. And then for a while it was Shuhei Yoshida’s turn to take the spotlight, the...
Soapbox E3 2018 Demonstrates the Disconnect Between Gamer Demands and Development Realities
You can't flip a switch
Depending on where you look, Hideo Kojima is getting ripped today. Death Stranding got its first gameplay demonstration during Sony’s E3 2018 press conference, and it looked early – I agree. Now you can criticise the platform holder for announcing the game too early if you like – clearly the ex-Konami man was desperate...
Soapbox Sony's E3 2018 Press Conference Will Not Bring More Than the Big Four
You've been warned. Again
As Microsoft rattled off an unprecedented number of third-party announcements last night, I turned to the Push Square team and I said: Sony really is focusing on the big four. And then I had a quick browse of my favourite forums in the aftermath of it all, and rolled my eyes at the ridiculous speculation still going on...
Soapbox Spider-Man's E3 2018 Showing Needs to Come Out Swingin'
Great power, great responsibility
As the classic Offspring yodel goes: as long as you’re swinging strong then you’ll get by. Spider-Man must take these lessons to heart, as it suits up and prepares to thwip into its third successive E3 press conference. Unlike the other “deep dives” that Sony’s promised, we’ve seen a lot more of...
Soapbox Death Stranding Is an E3 2018 Enigma, and That's Exciting
Surprise, surprise
How often does a game actually surprise you? God of War is probably the last announcement that actually took me aback; I was genuinely expecting a repurposing of the franchise’s established format, albeit transposed into a Norse environment. So when Kratos stepped out of the shadows at E3 2016 and Sony Santa Monica introduced...
Soapbox Why Ghost of Tsushima Could Win E3 2018
Samurai warrior
Sony announced its E3 2018 plans last week, initially confusing everyone but eventually getting its message across. This year’s show will focus on four monstrous PlayStation 4 exclusives: Ghost of Tsushima,
Soapbox PS Vita's Longevity Has Been Quite Remarkable
Lust for life
Stardew Valley is coming to the PlayStation Vita next week and it reminded me that Sony’s handheld still lives a relatively vibrant life over six years since its initial release. The likeable handheld has been the foot of all kinds of jibes since day one, and often it’s been the manufacturer itself delivering the punchlines – but...
Soapbox Sony's Muddled E3 2018 Messaging a Matter of Expectation Management
Stand and deliver
Sony’s E3 2018 plans have become clearer, but its messaging overall has been muddled today. I was ready to read the company the riot act when Shawn Layden appeared on a podcast earlier, talking about a “different” kind of press conference. As it happens I’m glad I waited, because further clarifications from the company seem...
Soapbox The Last of Us: Part II Has Plenty to Prove at E3 2018
Give 'em Ellie
I love The Last of Us and I can’t wait to see its successor on stage at E3 2018 next month. Long-haired director Neil Druckmann confirmed at PlayStation Experience late last year that we would get our first glimpse of gameplay during Sony’s press conference, and a select few have already seen the demo behind closed doors...
Soapbox PS Plus Freebie Beyond: Two Souls Is One of Sony's Stranger Games
Go Holmes
I can’t stop thinking about Beyond: Two Souls. It’s just so weird. Ever since the title was announced as part of May 2018’s free PlayStation Plus lineup, I’ve been recalling my two playthroughs of Quantic Dream’s ghost-themed sci-fi story. I was originally rather enamoured with it on the PlayStation 3; I thought the handful of...
Soapbox Why God of War Needs an Expansion Pack
Please sir, can I have some Norse?
I’m rarely ready for a sequel immediately after finishing a game, but if Sony said God of War 2 was out next week I’d be right at the front of the queue. Without giving anything away, one of my favourite things about this game is how it feels complete and self-contained, while still very obviously being the...
Soapbox Why God of War Will Scratch Your Zelda Itch
A link to the past
Of all the games I expected God of War to remind me of, The Legend of Zelda was probably right at the very bottom of my list. I mean, how could the hallmarks of Nintendo’s flagship adventure franchise possibly be present in Kratos’ latest? This is a game about a paternal relationship, like The Last of Us. It has a cinematic...
Soapbox Far Cry 5's Arcade Mode Is One of the Worst Multiplayer Offerings This Generation
Liam's having a curation nightmare
Tacked-on multiplayer modes were something that plagued the previous generation of consoles with poor online options that didn't really need to be there at all. Ninja Gaiden III brought its bloodshed to multiple players at once to little applause, BioShock 2 distributed plasmids online with not a lot of fanfare,...
Soapbox Why You Should Play Shenmue I & II on PS4
But why you need to be very careful
If you could hear beyond my screams of elation, the announcement of Shenmue I & II for PlayStation 4 overnight brought with it murmurs of excited curiosity: a new crop of gamers are finally going to get their opportunity to try out this cult series for themselves. That’s a good thing, as Ryo Hazuki’s...
Soapbox You Should Play God of War III While You Wait for Kratos' Return
Greek tragedy
The new God of War is an extraordinary game and it represents a seismic shift for one of Sony’s most beloved first-party franchises, but with more than a week to go until the title tosses its axe at retailers around the world, you should fill the time with one of Kratos’ previous adventures. God of War III was quietly remastered...
Soapbox A Love Letter to Video Game Developers and Artists
Gabriella puts forward her argument for games as art
I’m an hour into replaying Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game that captivated me in 2017. I meander through the streets, enthralled by its ridiculous attention to detail and bask in its marvellous colours. I put my controller down for a minute, and I’m suddenly struck by the realisation...
Soapbox Sony Has Become Far Too Quiet
Enjoy the silence?
Actions speak louder than words, but I still can’t help feeling that Sony’s become far too quiet over the past few years. At the start of the PlayStation 4 era, this was a company that was firing on all cylinders when it came to community outreach; Worldwide Studios executive Shuhei Yoshida was one of the biggest names on...
Soapbox Don't Dismiss Bloodborne Because of Its Difficulty
Just give it a try
I used to be like you. I dallied with Demon’s Souls when it finally hit European shores, but life got in the way and I dropped it faster than a New Year’s resolution. I then spent several years shuddering at the ‘Prepare to Die’ slogan associated with Dark Souls and vowed never to touch a From Software title unless it...
Soapbox Why Burnout Paradise Makes Perfect Sense as EA's First Remaster
Stephen thinks the forward-thinking online features will thrive on PS4
Remasters and remakes are big business nowadays. Sony released a spruced up version of Shadow of the Colossus a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been extremely well received. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was a surprise success story for Activision, reviewing strongly and...
Soapbox Dynasty Warriors 9 Broke My Heart
Xiahou Done
Bloody Dynasty Warriors 9. What a bitter disappointment that turned out to be. Now that I've had time to reflect on Koei Tecmo's latest and my own review of the game (which you can read through here), I've come to the conclusion that I've had my heart broken by a video game, and I'm still coming to terms with it. Now...
Soapbox I Miss the Mystery of Video Games
The great unknown
At the risk of sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud, I don’t half miss the old days. There was a time when the Internet cost a penny a minute (absurd, I know) and I got most of my gaming news from magazines. I always remember having a rough idea in my mind of when E3 was scheduled to take place, and I’d anticipate the...
Soapbox NieR: Automata Has the Best Credits Sequence of 2017
Stay till the end
NieR: Automata is bursting with bonkers moments, so it’s only fitting that it should bring out a wrecking ball for its finale. After three full playthroughs of its campaign (each revealing different endings and routes to its finish line) the title decides that enough is enough – and instead of simply breaking the fourth-wall,...
Soapbox Everything's Goalless Universe Is PS4's Most Relaxing Playground
Stephen thinks the lack of structure is one of the game’s best traits
There’s a tips page in Everything's Help menu. The first bullet point on this list of hints is by far the most important, and it informs you of exactly the type of game you’re about to play. It doesn’t tell you about a specific feature, or tell you any controls, or...
Soapbox After the Vita's Failure, Why Do People Now Want Console Games on the Go?
Sammy considers how tones have changed
The first console launch I ever covered for Push Square was the PlayStation Vita, so I remember those heady February winter days well. It was 2012 and message boards were aflame with complaints about the infamous Online Pass (remember that?), while the PlayStation 3 was struggling to step outside of the Xbox...
Soapbox Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Is a Better Game to Watch Than to Play
Liam's feeling conflicted
It’s hard to call Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus my most disappointing game of 2017 when Mass Effect Andromeda released just shy of nine months ago. But, if it wasn’t for that let-down of a space excursion, BJ Blazkowicz’s latest Nazi rampage would be taking that less than coveted prize. However, this...
Soapbox Video Game Delays Are Important
Gabriella urges patience
When your most anticipated game is delayed, it can be a painful pill to swallow. Admittedly, I’ve had my fair share of these instances in the past. An example of this came in 2013, when Sony made the bold decision to delay a game I had been looking forward to playing since its announcement back in 2011: Naughty Dog's...
Soapbox Open World OCD - How Too Much Content Can Ruin a Game
More than enough
I recently played through the entirety of Dragon Age: Inquisition on PlayStation 4 again. I had never finished all of the expansions, and I had the urge to go back and see how it's held up after three years. When it first launched in 2014, I reviewed it and awarded it a 9/10. It was a high score that, at the time,...
Soapbox Uncharted: The Lost Legacy's Western Ghats Chapter Is One of the Series' Best
Liam's raving about the open world
The jeep trekking sections of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End made up some of my favourite moments from our 2016 Game of the Year. It was Naughty Dog’s first foray into building an open world environment for a Nathan Drake adventure, and for its initial effort, the developer was incredibly successful. Madagascar...
Soapbox Why PS4's Big 2017 Titles Handle Female Leads the Right Way
Sammy's gabbing on about girl power
I don’t care whether your game stars a lady or a Lombax: I just love good characters. It just so happens that two of my favourite characters in 2017 have been females – and they’ve both been at the beating heart of two of the PlayStation 4’s biggest exclusives. I’m, of course, referring to Aloy from...
Soapbox Pixel Art Is Prolific, and That's Pretty Great
Stephen loves modern gaming's diverse art styles
Video games have been around for a while now. We’ve now reached a position where children who played, and were inspired by, games such as Pac-Man, DOOM, or Super Mario Bros are now making games of their own. Chris Davis, creator of The Escapists, puts it like this: “I also happen to be a big...
Soapbox Why Is Sound So Underappreciated in Games?
Sammy wants you to open your ears
It’s always about the graphics, isn’t it? Video games are, by their very nature, a visual medium – and we tend to judge technical progress by the number of polygons or pixels being displayed on screen. We analyse in deep detail the lighting, the resolution – heck, the rise of Digital Foundry means that even...
Soapbox Hellblade's Permadeath Threat Is What Makes Games Special
Sammy's as worried as you are – and that's the point
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice erases your progress if you let the rot scaling the protagonist’s arm reach her mind. Or does it? I’m not going to get into the specifics of this system because Ninja Theory kindly asked me not to spoil it at all, but it does raise a wider question about games...
Soapbox PlayStation Plus Price Hike - Is It Justified?
Sam Brooke questions the reasons behind the sudden increase
Two days ago, the PlayStation Plus lineup for August was revealed: Just Cause 3, standalone DLC Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, and the addictive Downwell were all confirmed to be coming to the PlayStation 4 in what could be one of the best ever Instant Game Collection lineups on the...
Soapbox You Should Give Evo 2017 a Watch This Weekend
Ramsey reckons there's fighting game fun to be had
Watching other people play video games is not something that everyone considers fun. Our very own Sammy Barker scoffs at the idea of gawking at another person's gameplay, and that's totally fine - but you can't really ignore how popular streaming and gaming 'personalities' have become over the last...
Soapbox Publishers Can't Bloody Win When It Comes to E3
Ramsey's sick of the hypocrites
I write about video games for a living, so I'm used to seeing people overreact on the internet. I've grown accustomed to seeing people spew hilarious hyperbole on a regular basis - hell, I've done it myself - but there's something about E3 that rubs me the wrong way. Namely, the annual Los Angeles event brings out...
Soapbox Sony Will Bring a Tsunami of PS4 Software to E3 2017
Sammy's spotted a change in PlayStation's tact
If you’ve followed E3 closely in the past, you’ll know there’s a different mood about the PlayStation camp this year. Historically, the Japanese giant drags the show out, using the days and weeks prior to any press conferences to release trailers, announce release dates, and sometimes even reveal...
Soapbox Why Did Sony Ditch Two of the Best Games of the Year?
Sammy's worried about Sony's portfolio
PlayStation’s enjoying one of the most prolific periods in its history. The start to 2017 has seen the release of several high-profile first-party games, like Gravity Rush 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. But being a glass half-empty kinda guy, I feel it could have been even better: what the heck happened with What...
Soapbox Gamers Are Sleeping on Sony's E3, And That's a Good Thing
Sammy's enjoying the silence
Ever since Jack Tretton dropped the mic in 2013, there’s no question that Sony’s been the king of the E3 press conference. You could argue that E3 2014 was a lean year, but it followed that up with the Holy Trifecta of E3 2015, a briefing that few thought would ever be beaten – only for it to be pushed all the way...
Soapbox The Persona Series and Difficulty: Is Easier Always Better?
Charlotte Cutts on Persona 5 and its relative easiness
WARNING: This article contains heavy spoilers for Persona 3/Persona 5 and mild spoilers for Persona 4. On finishing Persona 5 at the weekend, I felt what I always feel at the end of a gruelling 80-hour role-playing game-fest: equal parts sad and relieved. I’d played the game on...
Soapbox Sony Should Pinch the Nintendo Direct Format
Sammy reckons there's mileage in Nintendo's marketing
I did something I rarely do this week: I watched a Nintendo Direct. To be honest, I have a weird relationship with the Big N's pre-recorded events: I've watched the E3 ones before and I've always felt that, for everything they gain in pacing and structure, they lack the kind of energy that you...
Soapbox Is PAX EAST 2017 Proof That Annapurna Interactive Is the Next Big Indie Publisher?
Nothing but quality
There are tons of gaming companies that range in size and scope from the big guns like Sony and Bethesda to the smaller groups like Super Giant or Double Fine. But in between all of this is one type of publisher who's been gaining popularity of late: Annapurna Interactive. Annapurna was a film company founded in 2011 that worked...
Soapbox The Worst Thing About PS4 Firmware Update 4.50
Sammy reckons the new Notifications Menu sucks
We can all probably agree that PlayStation 4 firmware update v4.50 is a good update: the external hard drive support is welcome, the custom wallpapers feature is nice to have, and the addition of Boost Mode is great if you're a PS4 Pro owner. But there's one thing about the update that I can't wrap my...
Soapbox Why We Need Horizon: Zero Dawn DLC
Sammy reckons Guerrilla's RPG is ripe for expansion
Well, this is awkward, isn't it? As gaming enthusiasts we collectively rail on companies for Season Passes and day one downloadable content – and rightly so. But if you'll indulge me for just a few minutes, I'm going to be a complete and utter hypocrite, because I kinda want Horizon: Zero Dawn...
Soapbox Horizon: Zero Dawn Has Me Even More Hyped for Death Stranding
Mads world
Do you remember last year when Metal Gear man Hideo Kojima toured the world with PlayStation 4 architect Mark Cerny searching for an engine to run Death Stranding on? The auteur's voyage spanned America and Europe, stopping at every single one of Sony's first-party studios, including Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, and Media Molecule. But...
Soapbox Photo Mode Is a Big Part of Horizon: Zero Dawn's Fun
Paparazzi
Oh God, that headline's going to read like a red rag to trolls, isn't it? If you're here to derail the comments, then get that snark out of your system and check back for the rest of the article. Horizon: Zero Dawn is an amazing game, but there is a portion of the experience that's not really been mentioned yet: Photo Mode. Let me be...
Soapbox Japan Studio Is Currently One of Sony's Best
East becomes beast
Historically when people have talked about Sony's strong first-party network, Japan Studio has been right at the bottom of the list. One of the platform holder's oldest developers, the division is probably best known for the likes of Ape Escape and Legend of Dragoon, as well as Fumito Ueda's output. But during the PlayStation 3...
Soapbox Street Fighter V Is the Best Worst PS4 Game of 2016
Sammy's losing faith in Capcom's fighter
I love Street Fighter V, but it doesn't love me. That's a bit of a cliché, I suppose – but I'm struggling to dream up a better sentence that best describes my relationship with Capcom's brawler. Here is a game that's both breathtakingly brilliant and mindbogglingly awful all at the same time; the Japanese...
Soapbox Why Hitman Is the Funniest Game of 2016
A hands-off approach means excellent comedy, says Sam Brooke
The Hitman series has always taken pride in being a bit odd. The wacky settings of Blood Money, for instance, range from a party based on heaven and hell to a hillbilly wedding where everybody has a gun. However, Hitman 2016 is easily one of the funniest games of this year - mainly because...
Soapbox Overcooked at Christmas Is a Recipe for Success
Stephen thinks you’ll find familial festive fun in this culinary cracker
There's a very select group of games that qualify for the Christmas party treatment. Putting aside board games, which cause as many squabbles as they do genuine merriment, video games have been steadily increasing in relevance for family gatherings. After somewhat of a lull,...
