PS4 Game Reviews
Mini Review Moss: Book II (PSVR) – A Sweet and Wondrous VR Reunion with Mouse Heroine Quill
The Quill is mightier than the sword
The Redwall-esque world of Moss was an absolute joy to play through when it first launched on PSVR. Inhabiting the mantle of the omniscient, invisible “reader,” you guided the ASL-fluent mouse heroine, Quill, on her journey to vanquish Sarffog. Moss: Book II picks up in the immediate aftermath of the first...
Review Weird West (PS4) - Ambitious Top-Down RPG Comes Close to Greatness
Darn shootin'
With the success of Deathloop last year, the comeback of immersive sims from their late 90s/early 2000s heyday seems to be in full swing. Through dogged determination and fantastic game design, Arkane Studios has almost single-handedly revived the genre a decade after releasing the first Dishonored title. So it makes sense that Weird...
Review SpongeBob Rehydrated - Battle for Bikini Bottom Remake Is Rough and Ready Fun
Doing the Sponge
Republished on Wednesday 30th March 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2022's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Say what you like about SpongeBob SquarePants, but there's a reason it's still one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows. The cartoon starring a...
Mini Review Shadow Warrior 3 (PS4) - A Very 2014 Shooter
Wang gang
Shadow Warrior 3 might be set in the demon-ravaged ruins of a futuristic Japan, but the game itself feels like a return to the early 2010s. Protagonist Lo Wang is constantly quipping, breaking the fourth wall and using his own name for dick jokes as he auditions to be the next Ryan Reynolds. There's parkour, grappling hooks, and an...
Mini Review Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden (PS4) - Reshuffled RPG Is Largely the Same
Another round?
Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden is a bit like playing a tabletop game with a slightly altered deck; there are some noticeable differences, but you're ultimately still playing the same thing. This follow-up to The Isle Dragon Roars is extremely similar for the most part — including its faults — but small gameplay changes and a...
Mini Review Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual (PSVR) - Middling Ideas Propped Up by a Great Script
All Max'd out
The first brand new Sam & Max game since 2010 sees the famed duo welcoming a new recruit: you. To make sure you’re up to snuff, Sam and Max put you through a series trials as you prove your worth to the freelance police. The trials wind up being a series of minigames at an abandoned amusement park and periodically, you get...
Cauldron of Dreams
The Atelier games are a somewhat niche Japanese RPG series so it might surprise some to know that it's actually been around for 25 years, with 23 games in the main series and a heck of a lot of enhanced ports and side games. To celebrate this impressive achievement, developer Gust has decided to go back and continue the story of...
Review Team Sonic Racing (PS4) - It's Not Mario Kart, But It's Good Enough
There's no AiAi in Team
Republished on Wednesday, 23rd January, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of March 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Here's the thing: PlayStation 4 does not have many examples of good arcade racing games, let alone kart racers. The few exceptions are trying...
Mini Review Maglam Lord (PS4) - Rough Action RPG Saved By Dumb Sense of Humour
From Hell with love
Maglam Lord is a fish-out-of-water story in which you assume the role of a demon lord named, ahem, Killizerk. Stripped of your once great powers and pushed into a world where everything seems a bit too peaceful, you embark on a quest to restore your former glory. The only problem is that in order to retain what's left of your...
Mini Review Circuit Superstars (PS4) - These Circuits Are Well Worth Completing
Macro machines
At first glance, you may think that Circuit Superstars is nothing more than a more down to earth — er, down to asphalt — take on the classic Micro Machines. And you couldn't be, simultaneously, more/less right and/or wrong. Confused? So were we. Wired to play games like RC Pro-Am as arcadey, loose-feeling titles, we were surprised...
Review EA Sports UFC 4 (PS4) - A Strong Sequel That Knows What Players Want
Stand and bang
Republished on Wednesday 26th January, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. We suppose the biggest challenge that EA Sports has always faced with its line of officially branded UFC games is that players clearly prefer to box...
Dicey Dungeons (& Dragons)
Republished on Wednesday 26th January, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Just in time to gear us up for the 2022 launch of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, one of the best Borderlands expansions ever is back to dazzle...
Review Windjammers 2 (PS4) - Frisbee Flingin' Has Never Felt So Fun
Disc hockey
They just don’t make them like this anymore, do they? French outfit DotEmu is fast establishing itself as retro revival specialists, and Windjammers 2 is another immaculate effort from the Streets of Rage 4 studio. This game of Frisbee blends the best of Pong and Street Fighter to make for a white-knuckle reboot of Data East’s...
Review Persona 5 Strikers (PS4) - A Must-Play for Fans of Persona 5
Honour among Phantom Thieves
Republished on Wednesday 29th December, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Before we get started, let's make one thing clear: Persona 5 Strikers is a direct sequel to Persona 5. It is not the kind of action game...
Review DIRT 5 (PS4) - Rambunctious Off-Road Racer Returns with Plenty of Personality
Va va vroom
Republished on Wednesday 29th December, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. The DIRT franchise has gone through a lot of change over the years. The second and third entries deviated from the pure rally experience, going big on...
You've got to have fate
Just like the game's fateless protagonist, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Fatesworn exists against all odds. This is a brand new expansion to a game that first released ten years ago, from the same development team that brought us the remastered Re-Reckoning in 2020. It's an incredibly strange scenario, but hardcore...
Mini Review Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon (PS4) - A Puzzlingly Great Spin-Off
For Shovelry!
If you’re hoping for a platformer like Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, you won’t find it here. For Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, Yacht Club Games and VINE have created a falling block puzzle game with roguelite elements. Working as a sequel/spin-off, Shovel Knight’s been transported into the Pocket Dungeon after encountering a...
Review LEGO DC Super-Villains (PS4) - It's Good to Be Bad
The better of two evils
Republished on Wednesday, 1st December, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The latest in the long line of LEGO titles is indeed more of the same, but for all the right reasons. LEGO DC Super-Villains...
Review Mortal Shell (PS4) - A Souls-Like for Hardened Veterans
The Stone Roses
Republished on Wednesday, 1st December, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. All forms of art take inspiration from that which came before, but those that do must reflect on those forms and develop upon them to stand...
Mini Review A Short Hike (PS4) - A Sweet, Simple, Animal Crossing-Lite Experience
A walk in the woods
A Short Hike's title does an awful lot of heavy lifting when it comes to describing this game. It truly conveys the core experience in a way many game titles don't. Playing as Claire, an anthropomorphised bird, you are tasked with, you guessed it, going on a short hike. You can jump, fly, and climb, all of which you’ll need to...
Mini Review Epic Chef (PS4) - Silly Culinary Life Sim Mostly Hits the Spot
Kitchen quest
Epic Chef mixes together varied ingredients to create something rather tasty. It's a story-based adventure game about a man named Zest moving to a new town and rising through the culinary ranks, but the gameplay isn't just about cooking. While you'll concoct numerous recipes using weird and wonderful ingredients, the game is as much a...
Mini Review Panorama Cotton (PS4) - Technically Impressive 16-bit Rail Shooter in Unloving Port
Welcome to the infamy zone
It's pleasing that United Games Entertainment is working alongside ININ Games, and Ratalaika Games on port programming to bring Japanese only retro games to modern consoles, like the Mega Drive's Space Harrier-esque rail shooter, Panorama Cotton. It's magical to witness on ageing 16-bit hardware — which unimpressively...
Mini Review Bloodshore (PS4) - Silly Interactive Action Movie Mayhem
Battle Royale with cheese
Battle royale is a term that sends shivers down the spine of many a gamer, evoking thoughts of garish, costumed shoot-'em-ups, egregious monetisation, and an entire generation of children for whom flossing has absolutely nothing to do with dental hygiene. Stop liking things we don't understand, kids. Play Yakuza. Anyway,...
Welcome, foolish mortals
There’s a real craft that goes into the best of PSVR’s horror experiences, and Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is masterfully executed. You play as a photographer — well, more accurately, the spirit of one — trying to solve your own murder as well as escape from an estate you seem to find yourself trapped in. But be...
Mini Review Carrion (PS4) - A Grotesque Metroidvania with an Incredible Atmosphere
Feed the birds
Ever watched John Carpenter’s The Thing and thought how cool it would be to play as the organism? If so, Carrion is the game for you. You play a small organism that escapes from a holding cell. Upon reaching the vents you find yourself in a massive, sprawling research laboratory with two goals: spread your infection throughout the...
Mini Review Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality (PS4) - Rickety Time Travel Title Struggles to Dazzle
Not quite the trip of a lifetime
Playing through Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality, we can't shake the feeling we've been here before. Maybe it’s because we’ve just travelled backwards in time. More likely, though, it's because this is an enhanced version of a previously released VR experience — only now with added David Tennant! Knowing this...
Mini Review Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (PS4) - A Memorable JRPG That Loses Steam Later On
Between Bliss and Blight
Don't let the name fool you — Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is not a card game. You're not building a deck or duelling opponents for a chance at winning their prized possessions. Instead, you're going on a very traditional, surprisingly straightforward role-playing adventure. Voice of Cards is a turn based Japanese...
Review The Persistence (PS4) - Virtual Reality Roguelike Is Sensationally Unsettling
Space race
Republished on Wednesday, 28th October, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of November 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The Persistence is a perfect name. Yes, it relates to some sci-fi mumbo-jumbo buried at the very core of the game’s lore, but really it...
Review Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Rough Remaster Is Still Fun to Play
Fatal attraction
Republished on Wednesday, 28th October, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of November 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. As regular Push Square readers may already know, we decided to hold off on our Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning review back when the...
Review Knockout City (PS4) - Excellent Multiplayer Brawler Is One You Shouldn't Dodge
Bold strategy pays off
Republished on Wednesday, 28th October, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of November 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. We've already waxed lyrical about Knockout City, but it's a message worth repeating: this is a fantastic online multiplayer title...