Latest Soapbox

September2024

May2024

January2024

December2023

October2023

July2023

May2023

April2023

March2023

  • Soapbox PSVR2 Already Feels Like It's on Course for Failure

    Liam's worried for the headset's future

    No matter whether the reports of Sony shifting only 270,000 PSVR2 headsets since its February 2023 launch are true or not, it seems safe to say the future of the platform isn't exactly guaranteed. While current owners are enjoying a long list of launch titles and a handful of games released since 22nd February...

  • Soapbox I Can't Stop Thinking About Kung Fu Rider on PS3

    Bums on seats

    While casually browsing the Nintendo Switch’s painfully slow digital storefront this week, one game in particular caught my eye: it’s called, amusingly, Gekisou! Benza Race -Toilet Shooting Star- and the typo-laden description explains that you’ll be riding a bog in various racing scenarios. The provided screenshots look scrappy,...

February2023

December2022

September2022

  • Soapbox Ask Push Square's Video Producer Anything

    We're on the hunt for your burning questions.

    Hello there Push Square community! My name is Aaron, and for the last six months I have been your resident YouTube video producer. It is a great gig to say the least, where I get to discuss, rant, and dissect my favourite (and least favourite) aspects of the PlayStation world. This week marks six months...

  • Soapbox Bring Back Warhawk on PS5, You Cowards

    Pretty please

    Republished on Wednesday 21st September 2022: It's the 15th anniversary of Warhawk, so we thought we'd bring back this Soapbox from the archives to celebrate the classic PS3 shooter. The year 2007 was a particularly good vintage for online multiplayer. Most notably, this was the year Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare launched, and its...

July2022

June2022

  • Soapbox I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It

    Born of the Bloodborne, undone by the Elden Ring

    Despite never having played any of FromSoftware’s previous releases, the presentation of Bloodborne was too intriguing for me to pass up at launch. I played for a few hours, beat a couple of bosses, and I didn’t like it. Fast forward to 2022. Elden Ring launches, and all my friends excitedly talk...

  • Soapbox PS Plus Premium Has Turned My Email Inbox into a Nightmare

    Thank You For Your Purchase

    The new PS Plus tiers are only a few days old here in Europe, but they're already wreaking havoc on my email inbox (which, let's be real, is a total mess to begin with). If you don't know, every time you buy something from the PlayStation Store, Sony will send you an email receipt. Fair enough, but you can get absolutely...

  • Soapbox I Really Miss E3

    Liam wants his week of excitement back

    And so here we are: the week in June we have come to expect all the biggest gaming news for the year to take place in has arrived. E3 has been the event on the calendar every fan, journalist, and developer alike would look forward to, safe in the knowledge something big was about to go down. It was an...

February2022

  • Soapbox It's Okay to Enjoy Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West

    Why not both?

    History has a way of repeating itself, and just like Horizon Zero Dawn in 2017, the discourse surrounding Horizon Forbidden West has been destroyed by the arrival of an alternative open world game. Twitter is awash with the repetition of an increasingly tedious gag: apparently gamers can’t wait for the third instalment in Guerrilla...

  • Soapbox Draw Four and Don’t Sleep On UNO

    One is the funniest number that you’ll ever do

    It’s 2 AM. The raucous sounds of laughter ring throughout the house. Try as I may, I just can’t stop my cackling. You see, I just drew another card, bringing my total hand size to thirty. And my friends and I can’t help but find the whole situation hilarious. When it comes to gaming, there are a...

  • Soapbox Sony Is Making More Live Service Games for PS5, PS4, And I'm Excited

    You read the headline right

    Aw sh*t, here we go again: it’s time for the classic contrarian video game website opinion to stoke comments and clicks. Most people are mad about Sony’s decision to make more live service games, and now this chump has come along to tell you why you’re wrong all along. It’s a tale as old as time, and clickbait at...

January2022

  • Soapbox Sony's Bet on PSVR2 Is Brave and That's a Brilliant Thing

    Innovate or stagnate

    I saw a tweet earlier this week that basically said, amid heightened competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony could do without the distraction of PSVR2. I understood where the poster was coming from: I too have been guilty of looking at this medium through the prism of an ongoing business battle, where games are ammunition...

  • Soapbox Don't Let F.I.S.T. Pass You By

    Liam likes this Metroidvania

    F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch is a poor name for a pretty darn good game. I started and completed this Metroidvania over the Christmas holidays, and I think it's gone underappreciated. Not a world-beater by any means that'll rival the love Hollow Knight gets, but it's still an impressive first outing from TiGames. Its...

December2021

November2021

October2021

September2021

August2021

July2021

  • Soapbox PS5 Is Beautiful When Its Distinctive Features Are Used Properly

    Sammy's a big fan of Sony's new console when it comes together

    I’ve got to be honest: unless it’s a first-party game, I’ve come to expect the worst when it comes to publishers using PlayStation 5’s unique features. Many of them will talk a big game prior to release, but once you get your fingers on the pad, it falls apart. Titles like DIRT 5...

  • Soapbox What Makes Returnal So Special

    Liam found a rogue-like to love

    Generally, I don't like the rogue-like genre. Just the idea of having to restart an entire game over again upon death sort of rubs me the wrong way. I want to be making progress at all times; having to replay sequences never entertains me. That need is probably why I so rarely replay games in general. A few classics...

  • Soapbox Why I'm Less Excited for Deathloop on PS5 Than I Should Be

    As State of Play looms

    Deathloop is undoubtedly one of my most anticipated games – or, at least, it should be. Despite being rightly acclaimed, I still feel the Dishonored series is a little underrated: Arkane’s stealth sandboxes pack masterful level design, providing a real sense of freedom allowing you to tackle problems however you see fit...

May2021

April2021

March2021

  • Soapbox Why Must Assassin's Creed Valhalla Still Be So Glitchy?

    Just let me be anonymous

    I feel like my struggle to find a game to truly invest in for the first couple of months of 2021 is becoming fairly common knowledge. I'm set once Returnal launches, but I've been absent from our What Are You Playing This Weekend weekly Talking Point most of the time and I can't bring myself to replay games. I feel like I've...

  • Soapbox PS5 Has Turned Me Into a Total 60FPS Snob

    PS5 master race

    I've always been an advocate of the hallowed 60 frames-per-second. Even back on the PlayStation 3, when we had the excellent Killzone 2 running at a not-so-smooth 30 frames-per-second, I was desperate for that sweet 60. What I didn't realise at the time, was that 60fps wouldn't become the console norm for another decade. With the...

  • Soapbox PSVR's Crap Load of Cables Has Put Me Off

    Spaghetti city

    I love PlayStation VR, I really do. I’m very proud of how we covered the system on Push Square over the years; I’d like to think we were one of the best sources for virtual reality gaming at its peak. All of the excitement surrounding next-gen PSVR has made me want to dive back in and finish up the dozen or so titles I missed –...

  • Soapbox Sony Needs to Bang Down Valve's Door to Get Half-Life: Alyx on PS5's PSVR

    Steam works

    Sony surprised us all this week by revealing its next-gen PlayStation VR controllers. It mentioned in the PlayStation Blog post that they’re being sent out to development partners imminently, which is perhaps why it decided to unveil them – there’s always a chance they’ll leak once they arrive in studios, right? To be fai

  • Soapbox PGA Tour 2K21 Has Quietly Become One of PS4's Best Sports Games

    Hole in one

    2K Sports’ recent acquisition of HB Studios encouraged me to revisit PGA Tour 2K21 this week, a game which I liked a lot when I reviewed it last year but felt was still one iteration away from excellence. To be honest, I’ve been blown away by many of the improvements made, and while there are still obvious weak areas, I think the...

  • Soapbox Why Do You Replay Games?

    Liam can't quite work out why

    I've never, ever been one to replay games. The act isn't completely foreign to me — three immediate playthroughs of The Last of Us: Part II, I'm looking at you — but I'm almost always looking ahead to what's next after rolling credits. That is unless the Platinum Trophy is somewhat achievable, of course. I generally...

  • Soapbox How I Would Handle The Last of Us Factions

    Liam makes his pitch

    At some point over the next year, Naughty Dog is presumably going to finally unveil the multiplayer offering it has in the works. Supposedly too big and ambitious to ship with The Last of Us: Part II, expectations have understandably risen as Neil Druckmann and co keep us guessing as to what it might entail. A reveal during some...

  • Soapbox One Year Later, Call of Duty: Warzone Has Consumed Me

    Liam reflects on 12 months of Battle Royale action

    Looking back on the comments I made in my Hands On piece for Call of Duty: Warzone, which celebrates its one year anniversary today, is a strange experience. While I thought what Infinity Ward had to offer at the time was completely fine in its own right, I was concerned by its overt simplicity and...

  • Soapbox How Yakuza Proves Bigger Open Worlds Aren't Always Better

    Size matters

    Bigger is not always better – at least, that’s what I try to tell myself every time I hop in the shower. Alright, I’m probably lying to myself: after all, no one orders a single patty from Five Guys, do they? I do believe, however, that in the case of open world games, a smaller, denser environment is preferable to gigantic open...

  • Soapbox How I Hustled My Way Out of FIFA 21 Ultimate Team's Division 9

    Born again winner

    Since breaking my Madden NFL 21 duck earlier in the year, I’ve traded handegg for football, because I paid full-price for FIFA 21 at launch and I figured I should get my money’s worth. My relationship with EA Sports’ soccer simulation is a storied one: I lost countless lunchtimes to FIFA Football 2003 – the one with Roberto...

  • Soapbox Man, Remember Black?

    Criterion's first-person shooter turns 15

    Criterion Games was absolutely on fire in the early noughties. Having made an incredible arcade racing series — the brilliant Burnout, of course — it decided to turn its hand to a totally new genre. This is something that you don't see too much of; usually, a studio finds its comfort zone and sticks to...

February2021