@Dogbreath it's definitely an odd case for this game. I know that people have had issues with 4K 60 FPS displays before the latest update introduced the 120hz option, and depending on your display you may need V Sync enabled if you don't have a form of freesync. Much like PC performance, it seems players are getting a bit of a mixed experience depending on their gaming set up, and the combination of options they select.
I've had a play around with the settings in game and found a combination that works for me and my set up. The game looks fantastic and feels pretty stable (I think I've had a couple of stutters, but nothing that made me go "eww"). Hopefully it may help others too...
I'm running a PS5 Pro with a 4K 120Hz TV with freesync. In game settings: Balanced mode. HDR on. V Sync off (for uncapped frame rate). 120hz on. Blur effect (motion blur) 0. Depth of field off.
@ShogunRok just an FYI, the artifacting with the lighting & textures isn't caused by PSSR, it's (weirdly) just the in game lighting system. If you're on the Pro, you can switch to Quality mode which is native 4K, no PSSR with Ultra RT, and you'll still see the same issue... Or look at PC footage and you'll see the same thing happening there too.
I only mention this as I was thinking the same thing as you. Turns out the upscaler is working just fine, it's the soruce that's being weird (for want of a better term!).
Otherwise, I agree with the points you make. It's a game that seems as vast as it is vague. I know it almost feels cliché to say, but once you hit a point 10+ hours in things start to click and just...wow. I went from being unsure to really feeling like this is going to be the game I'm playing for the foreseeable future. I just can't put it down It absolutely needs some QoL stuff added though. The sheer amount of button combinations and in game systems are 🤯 I'm sure some of the systems are just ideas that were left in and never used outside of the introductory quest too (sweeping the chimney for example!).
Man, not even an attempt at allowing Firewall Ultra to go out in a "blaze of glory"... Sony should have made it free to play (PS Plus) from now til switch off.
Ideally they would have had someone patch the game to run in P2P like Firewall Zero Hour still does to this day, but I guess it's kinda difficult when there's no more studio
It's a shame as it was a genuinely good/decent game, caught up in the hype, delivering reworks of the first titles maps, and missing full VR control implementation (interactions with doors etc)... Sadly the closure of First Contract Entertainment with no clear sign of support from Sony picking up the reigns made this incredibly hard to recommend to friends to purchase... And did the game ever even go on sale?! I think maybe once?! Madness.
"Screamer uses both analog sticks in a similar way to Inertial Drift. The left stick steers you as normal, while the right stick is dedicated to drifting."
So I'm guessing you can't play with a steering wheel then? Or can you? You really should be adding this information into reviews for racing titles please. It's kinda essential information.
CGI Labs had a load of titles in the upcoming games section, like, a LOAD, so I'm not surprised they've been axed.
I had noticed that the upcoming games had started to get more and more bloated with the Ai & shovelware slop again. I guess someone at Sony noticed too!
It's not selling because it released somewhat broken, incomplete, with some questionable mechanics, and in need of work, which fans were awaiting fixes for...
It's not being played so much because there were a smaller set of gamers who stuck with the game while the issues were being fixed over time.
New people aren't buying in because after FCE shuttered, Sony stepped in and said they would continue or provide support, and then went radio silent... So between FCE going out of business until now, we've had absolutely no information or road map to go on as to what was gonna happen to Firewall. Many of us suspected they'll just pull the plug at some point with little announcement, which is what we're seeing here.
I really think that when Sony were "maintaining" the game, it should have been added to PS Plus Extra so lots more people could have got in on the action! It seems like it would have been a no brainer to me anyway, especially as they'd potentially spend money in the game on packs and items anyway.
It also royally sucks that with First Contact Entertainment now gone, we won't see them add P2P hosting so they game can remain playable (as they have on Firewall 1), unfortunately we're just left with the server side hosting, meaning as soon as those servers are off, this game becomes dead 😓
Starfield? Ehhh, I mean it's ok. It's not a bad game by any means, it's just that if you've played any of Bethesda's other games you're going to feel like you've been there, seen it, done that, got the t shirt etc all before, but better in Skyrim & Fallout. It all just feels kinda dated, which is a shame considering this was their first new IP in over 20 years. The ship building aspect is very cool though!
Definitely not. It's both anti consumer and undermines game preservation.
And a big no to delaying physical releases until after the digital release too. That's a sure fire way to speed up the process of erasing physical releases altogether.
I don't see Sony releasing the PS6 and the handheld in the same year.
Most of the people who would be interested in the handheld are going to be from the more invested Playstation gamers, so releasing both in a similar launch window would mean people would have to choose one or the other, which would obviously directly affect sales.
Sony already made it clear they wanted to avoid this very thing happening when they launched the PS5 and PSVR 2 (wanting to help interested gamers to avoid having a huge outlay all in one go).
I think a more realistic approach here would be that the handheld releases in say 2027, being able to play PS4 and PS5 games, and the PS6 releases the following year.
Speaking as someone who owns every Playstation console from launch, including the PSP (Japanese import at launch) & Vita, and PSVR 1 & 2, I can't honestly say that I'm on board for either a new Playstation console right now, or the handheld, unless it can offer something very special... And I'm exactly the sort of gaming enthusiast these things are marketed at 🤷🏻♂️
@OldGamer999 the global PSSR 2 update will be part of a firmware update, due sometime this month. It will add a toggle in the settings menu that will automatically change games that use PSSR to use some of the features of PSSR 2.
It's expected that the games that get full PSSR 2 upgrades will see the biggest improvements, while those that use the auto mode will be enhanced, but we don't yet know to what degree that will be.
That's sad to see that their games aren't making enough sales, despite pretty much all of them being praised by critics.
I can't speak for everyone else, but personally I'm just not that interested in their output. The Yakuza games are fun, but like any RPG require a lot of commitment & time to play. Persona is a quality series, but again, demands lots of time to play.
Maybe they're just not prioritising the right projects? I know some of these are in the works, but personally I'd be day one buying a sequel/remake/remaster of Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi and Outrun, and why not port over the House of the Dead series with VR (or at least 3D in a VR headset) compatibility to give them something fresh? Sure, there are the recent remakes for HotD 1 & 2, but they weren't exactly great and could be massively improved with some extra time and care... Or just release a HotD remastered collection. Plus I suspect a current gen reworking of House of the Dead Overkill would go down a treat!
My point is, with all of Sega's library to choose from, the new games and sequels they're putting out aren't really games that do anything for me for the most part 🤷🏻♂️
I'd also add in the rise in game prices as a factor too. I know that I'm more likely to take a punt on a game if it's cheap enough, but paying £50+ on a whim just isn't the one.
@RoomWithaMoose exactly this. And if the PSVR 2 adapter works with it then it could potentially be attractive to PSVR 2 gamers too. A PC device capable of playing VR games for around £1500 or less would certainly be a lot more appealing than building a PC where the graphics card alone will cost you a similar price!
But it's all speculation for now. Hopefully they'll deliver us some real info on the specs in the coming weeks.
I don't know why you guys insisted the rumour said Dragon's Dogma and Final Fantasy were coming this month 🤷🏻♂️ (it didn't, just that they were coming to Extra).
Anyway, Space Marine 2 is great for anyone who hasn't played it. Well worth checking out. Persona 5 Royal is a win too (didn't we get P5 standard on Plus some time ago?).
Metal Eden is meant to be decent too so will take a look at that one. Can't say the rest are doing anything for me though.
@awp69 Condemned Criminal Origins is awesome. It's been a long time since I last played... This has made me want to go fish it out of storage too! 😎
My Mrs has never played it before so I might have to just watch her play through the game. She loves a good detective / puzzle / horror game so this is right up her street.
I wouldn't be surprised if it launched at £1200 tbh, I've been expecting to see it in the £1200 to £1500 range if it's going to be anything like the rumoured specs are true.
I've also been saying for a long time that it's not going to be a console that plays PC games, but a PC in a box that also plays XBox games... The only question I have there is whether it uses a dual boot system (XBox OS and a Windows OS), or just runs a modified Windows 11 OS and uses the XBox Gaming Mode they pushed out with the Asus device. I'm expecting it'll be the former, and I really hope they steer clear of just whacking Win 11 in there and running with it, it's not exactly their best OS and comes with a number of its own issues.
Ultimately this is going to be an expensive device, and I think it'll probably irk the more casual XBox fan boys (and no doubt some enthusiasts too!), but even at £1500 it could still be a much cheaper way to get into PC gaming than trying to buy an equivalent gaming PC, especially in the current economy. Hell, if it can handle running Steam games with mods and support VR headsets with decent settings this could even appeal to the VR enthusiasts over the Steam Machine, which I'm guessing is gonna come in around £600 - £800, if not slightly more.
@BamBamBaklava89 that's a good shout, trial modes for both games does seem like a plausible explanation if this rumour has been garbled along the way somewhere... although the trials are only on Premium, not Extra. I still wouldn't rule that out as being what we end up seeing though.
Does the final release still only offer 30 FPS, and did they fix the stutter/frame drops, or is performance exactly the same as it was in the demo? Thank you.
It's all still a rumour, but even so, the rumour was that both games may be coming to Extra soon, but there was no mention of it being in March, and not together.
"Moving forward, $10 will net you 1,120 LUX, enough for a skin."
You know what would have made more sense? Adjusting the price of the skin to 1,100 LUX 🤷🏻♂️ why mess around with keeping an additional fiddly bit extra when there's a much cleaner solution?
There's no excuse for the artificially inflated prices outside of currency packs forcing people to spend more if they want to buy a skin (in any game), and there should be regulations in place to prevent this practice.
@Northern_munkey lol I know what you mean with the audio... I spent a good while in the Server Slam just pootling around listening to the ambience sounds and music, and enjoying the scenery & locales.
I do really wish Bungie had added a campaign to play through so everyone could experience the atmosphere and have more time to take in everything they've built here. As much as the Extrafil gameplay is slower paced than a typical FPS, you still don't wanna be caught with your pants down (so to speak!) looking at the scenery (or in a loot bag, if you've seen the Ninja video 😂).
As much as my personal experience from the Slam being "probably not for me", I'm always willing to try different games and genres, and the things I'm hearing from the full release are certainly making me more enticed to try again. Unfortunately that won't be for a while as I just don't have the money for it right now, but if I do get a ticket to Tau Ceti in the future I'd love to give you guys a shout if you're still recruiting for more Runners! 😎
ETA: thanks for the detailed reply. This is the sort of genuine hype the game needs more of.
@Northern_munkey "it's much improved over the server slam I played last weekend."
This is exactly why there should be in progress reviews rather than the approach a lot of sites, Push Square included, are taking of just keeping up their server slam impressions and waiting for the Cryo Archive release before writing up a review.
I'd imagine the game could become a lot more appealing to many of those left with doubts or questions after playing the server slam when hearing feedback about the final product, but it seems the media are shying away from doing that.
You're spot on that there are too many people who just want to spread doom and gloom about Marathon, and equally there are many who would die on the hill of defending the game & Bungie even if it absolutely sucked, so it's good to read actual impressions from familiar faces on here
I definitely want to check out the demo as I've been looking forward to this one.
I'm hearing that the performance leaves a lot to be desired though (also evidenced by comments above), which kinda sucks, especially for a remake of such a classic.
By this logic though you should never put a score on the game then as there will be more maps and content coming in future updates post Cryo Archive 🤷🏻♂️
A reviewer should critique and praise the current product, not a future promise or iteration. This is the game as it's meant to be played, is it not? And if not, then why release it now?
Surely it would make more sense to include an addendum to the review once the Cryo Archive becomes available?
Personally I feel it's way too soon for a next gen upgrade, and with the tech economy being so screwed right now pricing is gonna be way up there too. This is definitely an interesting concept, but let's not pretend this is anything other than a PC in a box that can also play XBox games. Not that that's a bad thing, but I suspect we'll see the XBox console games side of things slow down, especially from third party devs. Why spend so much time on an XBox specific version when you can just put a "Helix spec" mode in your PC version.
I love Returnal, and Saros is looking pretty great too, but man, £70 RRP for this type of game is just too much. It should be £45 tops. I paid £50 for Returnal on disc at launch and that was expensive imo.
I gave it a fair crack, but ultimately the gameplay loop just didn't do anything for me. I found the whole thing rather vapid, tedious and boring
The whole time I was playing and the game was trying to chuck lore my way all I could think was how this would have been so much better as an actual campaign with the extraction stuff added as a separate game mode.
And those menus and items. Oof. I dunno what they were smoking when they came up with those, or how they made it through internal and external play testing to this point. Everything is so convoluted, items look samey to the point of needing to read the text each time to know what they are (which isn't what you want in a game where you're supposed to be watching your back), and the whole factions and contracts thing feels like it was tacked on to give people a sense of something to do.
I dunno, if you enjoyed it then more power to you I guess, but I just found the whole experience dull. There wasn't any excitement or thrill.
All of the above coupled in with today's announcement that your progress will be reset each season just solidified that this game won't be getting my money.
Monster Hunter Rise is the only one that really interests me here.
Elder Scrolls Online is good though, well worth a play seeing as it's included. I've already spent way too long playing this years ago, but it looks like this will give me a bunch of dlc that I don't own... Not sure how claiming this on PS Plus is going to affect the digital licence from where I already bought it though 🫠 that's kinda a worry... Although I suppose you need Plus to play online anyway, so might be a moot point in this case.
As I mentioned in other Requiem threads, I'm waiting on them ideally adding a PSVR 2 mode.
That said, the performance on the Pro is definitely tempting, and makes the prospect of playing through the game in flat mode a lot more appealing! I may well grab a copy when it's on sale. In the meantime I think I'll replay RE4 & Village in VR, and I may even bust out the old PSVR 1 to play through 7 again because that game in VR is just chefs kiss
This is a very short and mediocre review imo. No mention of how many tracks the game has, or whether it supports racing wheels? 🤷🏻♂️ Those are kinda important items to cover off in a track based racing game.
As a fan of Ridge Racer ever since playing the orignal game in the arcade waaay back some 33 years ago (jeez I feel old!), it's safe to say Rave Racer is an instant purchase for me tomorrow 😎❤️
Obviously I haven't played it myself yet, but by the sound of it perhaps Capcom should have gone down the Resident Evil 2 route and had the complete game path playable as either Grace or Leon from their perspective (without the switching between the two), with you only seeing the other character when their paths cross. It could have made it more cohesive and might not have felt so lopsided. Perhaps even to have this available as an option or an unlock after completion.
Anyway, it sounds good! I think I'll wait on picking it up though. If it was straight up survival horror (RE7 style) it would have been more appealing to me, and the lack of any PSVR 2 mode means I'm in no rush... Although I guess there is the fact it looks and runs particularly good on the Pro which helps motivate me towards playing the game in flat mode.
@spikes91 I would imagine Activision own the rights to the game, but they can't do anything with it without renewing the licensing from Disney. Much the same with all the Transformers games too.
We're at a point now where, let's be completely honest, very few gamers are sad to see another live service project fail. If anything, every failure is one step closer to leaving this business model behind. It's just a shame that so many studios have to suffer for it along the way, and worse because some of those are through no fault of their own.
No matter what you say Hulst, we all can see that you're having to make cuts because your live service push failed. That same push that put renowned single player adventure game studios to work on online multi player live service games in the hope you'd find a cash cow. If the live service push hadn't happened studios like Bluepoint would have been years deep into developing their next new title that people actually wanted.
Imagine if Bluepoint had been tasked with making that Bloodborne remake a reality? You would have been rolling in money.
The worst thing here is that it's clear other studios involved in that live service push may also be affected... I honestly wouldn't be surprised to hear that Bend Studios is up next.
I love Suda51, but his games always come with expected caveats (namely jank)... It sounds like this needs at least a few patches before it's worth our time though, especially with a £50 price tag. One to consider on a deep sale I guess.
If this had the same art style as the main Horizon games, allowed you to create your own character and play co-op with a Monster Hunter vibe it would have been far more appealing.
Let's face it, no one asked for Horizon re-imagined as a Dauntless imitation, and especially not as a live service hero game. You'd have thought Sony would have learnt people are sick of live service hero games with Concord, and yet here we are again 🤷🏻♂️ The crazy thing is, the graphics aren't even bad! It actually looks pretty good for a cartoony art style, but it's so far removed from the other games it's jarring. It almost feels like they're trying to appeal to the younger crowd, but completely missing the mark in all respects, and in doing so putting off their older demographic too.
It looks more like a sequel to Dauntless than it does a new game in the Horizon series. Not really sure how I feel about it tbh, the graphics look nice, taken on their own, but I'm not sure about the gameplay loop from what they've shown (plus, another hero based game, ugh). As a Horizon fan, this isn't really what I was expecting, nor dare I say, what I wanted.
@PuppetMaster it's free to play and due to release in a few days...there wasn't really any time (or arguably need) for a Beta or demo between TGA and launch. Probably for the best after the response from the reveal.
Can't say this is doing anything for me, but at least it's F2P I guess.
I'm remaining cautiously optimistic for this one. I love the orignal trilogy, despite it really peaking with the first game/parts of the second, but you never know what you're going to get with a Fable title (the whole second act in the third game for example!)...plus we have a new studio developing this title, so everything has a question mark over it.
With that said, it's looking rather nice, and it's great news to see that a) it's not fallen fowl to being cancelled, and b) it's coming to Playstation day and date. If it's Pro enhanced it should be the best place to play too (outside of having a top PC).
Sadly not too surprising to see UbiSoft taking this approach, but it is mind boggling to scrap the Sands of Time remake when it seemed like it was near enough ready to go. I can only assume it was because they couldn't find ways to milk it with micro transactions 🤷🏻♂️
Unfortunately this leads on to the larger issue here, namely that UbiSoft are looking for IPs that they can leverage for "sustainable growth". They make it quite clear with the statement "exceptional AAA games, when successful, have more financial potential than ever" that they're not focusing on what the player base wants, more what they believe will be a financial success, and we already know that UbiSoft have quite the disconnect between what they think gamers want, and what gamers actually want. In short, it sounds like we're in for a lot more UbiSoft cookie cutter open world "go here, do this" template games.
@Veritas7Ax I suspect you'll probably love Burnout 2, but FYI there's no takedowns, they were introduced in 3... Burnout 2 is straight arcade racing, but my god is it good. I have fond memories of chaining burnouts while staring at the road in the horizon watching for traffic up ahead. When you complete a race still boosting on that very first burnout from the start chefs kiss
It would really make the perfect pairing with Burnout 3 for a remake/remaster compilation as they're the best two games showing both sides of the series. If you do get a chance to play, I hope you enjoy!
Oof, removing co-op sucks. I can see that being a big sticking point for lots of people tbh... Especially if the game itself isn't the greatest / suffers from some of the usual survival game jank. It's much easier to overlook said jank when playing with friends, not so much when you're playing alone.
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Re: Round Up: 'Already a GOTY Contender': 5 Things We Learned from Saros PS5 Previews
The previews for Crimson Desert had it pegged as a Game of the Year contender too, so 🤷🏻♂️
Re: Crimson Desert (PS5) - A Generational Open World Buried in Early Access Cruft
@Dogbreath it's definitely an odd case for this game. I know that people have had issues with 4K 60 FPS displays before the latest update introduced the 120hz option, and depending on your display you may need V Sync enabled if you don't have a form of freesync.
Much like PC performance, it seems players are getting a bit of a mixed experience depending on their gaming set up, and the combination of options they select.
I've had a play around with the settings in game and found a combination that works for me and my set up. The game looks fantastic and feels pretty stable (I think I've had a couple of stutters, but nothing that made me go "eww"). Hopefully it may help others too...
I'm running a PS5 Pro with a 4K 120Hz TV with freesync.
In game settings:
Balanced mode.
HDR on.
V Sync off (for uncapped frame rate).
120hz on.
Blur effect (motion blur) 0.
Depth of field off.
Re: Crimson Desert (PS5) - A Generational Open World Buried in Early Access Cruft
@ShogunRok just an FYI, the artifacting with the lighting & textures isn't caused by PSSR, it's (weirdly) just the in game lighting system. If you're on the Pro, you can switch to Quality mode which is native 4K, no PSSR with Ultra RT, and you'll still see the same issue... Or look at PC footage and you'll see the same thing happening there too.
I only mention this as I was thinking the same thing as you. Turns out the upscaler is working just fine, it's the soruce that's being weird (for want of a better term!).
Otherwise, I agree with the points you make. It's a game that seems as vast as it is vague. I know it almost feels cliché to say, but once you hit a point 10+ hours in things start to click and just...wow. I went from being unsure to really feeling like this is going to be the game I'm playing for the foreseeable future. I just can't put it down
It absolutely needs some QoL stuff added though. The sheer amount of button combinations and in game systems are 🤯
I'm sure some of the systems are just ideas that were left in and never used outside of the introductory quest too (sweeping the chimney for example!).
Re: These 12 Major PS5, PS4 Games Will Be Delisted in March and April
Man, not even an attempt at allowing Firewall Ultra to go out in a "blaze of glory"... Sony should have made it free to play (PS Plus) from now til switch off.
Ideally they would have had someone patch the game to run in P2P like Firewall Zero Hour still does to this day, but I guess it's kinda difficult when there's no more studio
It's a shame as it was a genuinely good/decent game, caught up in the hype, delivering reworks of the first titles maps, and missing full VR control implementation (interactions with doors etc)... Sadly the closure of First Contract Entertainment with no clear sign of support from Sony picking up the reigns made this incredibly hard to recommend to friends to purchase... And did the game ever even go on sale?! I think maybe once?! Madness.
Re: Sony's PSN Rebrand Is Well Underway, and the Clues Have Been There All Along
Everyone is still going to call it PSN.
Re: Screamer (PS5) - Finally, a Racing Game Doing Something Interesting
"Screamer uses both analog sticks in a similar way to Inertial Drift. The left stick steers you as normal, while the right stick is dedicated to drifting."
So I'm guessing you can't play with a steering wheel then? Or can you? You really should be adding this information into reviews for racing titles please. It's kinda essential information.
Re: 'We'll Still Release on Switch, Xbox, and Steam': Dev Responds to Delisting as Sony Axes 1,000s More PS5, PS4 Games from PS Store
CGI Labs had a load of titles in the upcoming games section, like, a LOAD, so I'm not surprised they've been axed.
I had noticed that the upcoming games had started to get more and more bloated with the Ai & shovelware slop again. I guess someone at Sony noticed too!
Re: PSVR2 Takes Another Hit as Sony Nukes Exclusive Shooter Firewall Ultra
It's not selling because it released somewhat broken, incomplete, with some questionable mechanics, and in need of work, which fans were awaiting fixes for...
It's not being played so much because there were a smaller set of gamers who stuck with the game while the issues were being fixed over time.
New people aren't buying in because after FCE shuttered, Sony stepped in and said they would continue or provide support, and then went radio silent... So between FCE going out of business until now, we've had absolutely no information or road map to go on as to what was gonna happen to Firewall. Many of us suspected they'll just pull the plug at some point with little announcement, which is what we're seeing here.
I really think that when Sony were "maintaining" the game, it should have been added to PS Plus Extra so lots more people could have got in on the action! It seems like it would have been a no brainer to me anyway, especially as they'd potentially spend money in the game on packs and items anyway.
It also royally sucks that with First Contact Entertainment now gone, we won't see them add P2P hosting so they game can remain playable (as they have on Firewall 1), unfortunately we're just left with the server side hosting, meaning as soon as those servers are off, this game becomes dead 😓
Re: Microsoft Is Putting 3 Xbox Games on PS5 in Just a Few Weeks
South of Midnight is well worth your time.
Starfield? Ehhh, I mean it's ok. It's not a bad game by any means, it's just that if you've played any of Bethesda's other games you're going to feel like you've been there, seen it, done that, got the t shirt etc all before, but better in Skyrim & Fallout. It all just feels kinda dated, which is a shame considering this was their first new IP in over 20 years. The ship building aspect is very cool though!
Re: Crimson Desert's Mandatory PS5 Update Sparks Debate About Games Which Break Street Date
Definitely not. It's both anti consumer and undermines game preservation.
And a big no to delaying physical releases until after the digital release too. That's a sure fire way to speed up the process of erasing physical releases altogether.
Everything about this is a terrible idea.
Re: PS6's Rumoured Portable Could Be in Your Hands as Early as Next Year
I don't see Sony releasing the PS6 and the handheld in the same year.
Most of the people who would be interested in the handheld are going to be from the more invested Playstation gamers, so releasing both in a similar launch window would mean people would have to choose one or the other, which would obviously directly affect sales.
Sony already made it clear they wanted to avoid this very thing happening when they launched the PS5 and PSVR 2 (wanting to help interested gamers to avoid having a huge outlay all in one go).
I think a more realistic approach here would be that the handheld releases in say 2027, being able to play PS4 and PS5 games, and the PS6 releases the following year.
Speaking as someone who owns every Playstation console from launch, including the PSP (Japanese import at launch) & Vita, and PSVR 1 & 2, I can't honestly say that I'm on board for either a new Playstation console right now, or the handheld, unless it can offer something very special... And I'm exactly the sort of gaming enthusiast these things are marketed at 🤷🏻♂️
Re: Experience Two of PS5's Best Games with a 'New Level of Visual Fidelity' on PS5 Pro
@OldGamer999 the global PSSR 2 update will be part of a firmware update, due sometime this month. It will add a toggle in the settings menu that will automatically change games that use PSSR to use some of the features of PSSR 2.
It's expected that the games that get full PSSR 2 upgrades will see the biggest improvements, while those that use the auto mode will be enhanced, but we don't yet know to what degree that will be.
Re: SEGA's PS5 Games Get Good Reviews, So Why Aren't You Buying Them?
That's sad to see that their games aren't making enough sales, despite pretty much all of them being praised by critics.
I can't speak for everyone else, but personally I'm just not that interested in their output. The Yakuza games are fun, but like any RPG require a lot of commitment & time to play. Persona is a quality series, but again, demands lots of time to play.
Maybe they're just not prioritising the right projects? I know some of these are in the works, but personally I'd be day one buying a sequel/remake/remaster of Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi and Outrun, and why not port over the House of the Dead series with VR (or at least 3D in a VR headset) compatibility to give them something fresh? Sure, there are the recent remakes for HotD 1 & 2, but they weren't exactly great and could be massively improved with some extra time and care... Or just release a HotD remastered collection. Plus I suspect a current gen reworking of House of the Dead Overkill would go down a treat!
My point is, with all of Sega's library to choose from, the new games and sequels they're putting out aren't really games that do anything for me for the most part 🤷🏻♂️
I'd also add in the rise in game prices as a factor too. I know that I'm more likely to take a punt on a game if it's cheap enough, but paying £50+ on a whim just isn't the one.
Re: 'Exclusives Are Absolutely Not Happening': Xbox Helix Will Share Library with PS6
@RoomWithaMoose exactly this. And if the PSVR 2 adapter works with it then it could potentially be attractive to PSVR 2 gamers too.
A PC device capable of playing VR games for around £1500 or less would certainly be a lot more appealing than building a PC where the graphics card alone will cost you a similar price!
But it's all speculation for now. Hopefully they'll deliver us some real info on the specs in the coming weeks.
Re: 7 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for March 2026 Leaked Early
I don't know why you guys insisted the rumour said Dragon's Dogma and Final Fantasy were coming this month 🤷🏻♂️ (it didn't, just that they were coming to Extra).
Anyway, Space Marine 2 is great for anyone who hasn't played it. Well worth checking out.
Persona 5 Royal is a win too (didn't we get P5 standard on Plus some time ago?).
Metal Eden is meant to be decent too so will take a look at that one. Can't say the rest are doing anything for me though.
Re: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake (PS5) - A Terrifying New Angle on a Survival Horror Classic
@awp69 Condemned Criminal Origins is awesome. It's been a long time since I last played... This has made me want to go fish it out of storage too! 😎
My Mrs has never played it before so I might have to just watch her play through the game. She loves a good detective / puzzle / horror game so this is right up her street.
Re: 'Exclusives Are Absolutely Not Happening': Xbox Helix Will Share Library with PS6
I wouldn't be surprised if it launched at £1200 tbh, I've been expecting to see it in the £1200 to £1500 range if it's going to be anything like the rumoured specs are true.
I've also been saying for a long time that it's not going to be a console that plays PC games, but a PC in a box that also plays XBox games... The only question I have there is whether it uses a dual boot system (XBox OS and a Windows OS), or just runs a modified Windows 11 OS and uses the XBox Gaming Mode they pushed out with the Asus device. I'm expecting it'll be the former, and I really hope they steer clear of just whacking Win 11 in there and running with it, it's not exactly their best OS and comes with a number of its own issues.
Ultimately this is going to be an expensive device, and I think it'll probably irk the more casual XBox fan boys (and no doubt some enthusiasts too!), but even at £1500 it could still be a much cheaper way to get into PC gaming than trying to buy an equivalent gaming PC, especially in the current economy.
Hell, if it can handle running Steam games with mods and support VR headsets with decent settings this could even appeal to the VR enthusiasts over the Steam Machine, which I'm guessing is gonna come in around £600 - £800, if not slightly more.
Re: Rumour: PS Plus Extra Tipped to Add Two Giant PS5 Games This Month
@BamBamBaklava89 that's a good shout, trial modes for both games does seem like a plausible explanation if this rumour has been garbled along the way somewhere... although the trials are only on Premium, not Extra. I still wouldn't rule that out as being what we end up seeing though.
Re: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake (PS5) - A Terrifying New Angle on a Survival Horror Classic
Does the final release still only offer 30 FPS, and did they fix the stutter/frame drops, or is performance exactly the same as it was in the demo? Thank you.
Re: Rumour: PS Plus Extra Tipped to Add Two Giant PS5 Games This Month
It's all still a rumour, but even so, the rumour was that both games may be coming to Extra soon, but there was no mention of it being in March, and not together.
Re: 'We're Discussing Ways to Improve': Marathon Dev Tweaking Monetisation and Difficulty as FPS Fails to Blow Up
"Moving forward, $10 will net you 1,120 LUX, enough for a skin."
You know what would have made more sense? Adjusting the price of the skin to 1,100 LUX 🤷🏻♂️ why mess around with keeping an additional fiddly bit extra when there's a much cleaner solution?
There's no excuse for the artificially inflated prices outside of currency packs forcing people to spend more if they want to buy a skin (in any game), and there should be regulations in place to prevent this practice.
Re: Marathon PS5 User Reviews Remarkably Positive After String of Live Service Disasters
@Northern_munkey lol I know what you mean with the audio... I spent a good while in the Server Slam just pootling around listening to the ambience sounds and music, and enjoying the scenery & locales.
I do really wish Bungie had added a campaign to play through so everyone could experience the atmosphere and have more time to take in everything they've built here. As much as the Extrafil gameplay is slower paced than a typical FPS, you still don't wanna be caught with your pants down (so to speak!) looking at the scenery (or in a loot bag, if you've seen the Ninja video 😂).
As much as my personal experience from the Slam being "probably not for me", I'm always willing to try different games and genres, and the things I'm hearing from the full release are certainly making me more enticed to try again. Unfortunately that won't be for a while as I just don't have the money for it right now, but if I do get a ticket to Tau Ceti in the future I'd love to give you guys a shout if you're still recruiting for more Runners! 😎
ETA: thanks for the detailed reply. This is the sort of genuine hype the game needs more of.
Re: Marathon PS5 User Reviews Remarkably Positive After String of Live Service Disasters
@Northern_munkey "it's much improved over the server slam I played last weekend."
This is exactly why there should be in progress reviews rather than the approach a lot of sites, Push Square included, are taking of just keeping up their server slam impressions and waiting for the Cryo Archive release before writing up a review.
I'd imagine the game could become a lot more appealing to many of those left with doubts or questions after playing the server slam when hearing feedback about the final product, but it seems the media are shying away from doing that.
You're spot on that there are too many people who just want to spread doom and gloom about Marathon, and equally there are many who would die on the hill of defending the game & Bungie even if it absolutely sucked, so it's good to read actual impressions from familiar faces on here
Re: Play PS5's Fatal Frame 2 Remake in a New Demo Out Now
I definitely want to check out the demo as I've been looking forward to this one.
I'm hearing that the performance leaves a lot to be desired though (also evidenced by comments above), which kinda sucks, especially for a remake of such a classic.
Re: Site News: Where's Our Marathon PS5 Review?
By this logic though you should never put a score on the game then as there will be more maps and content coming in future updates post Cryo Archive 🤷🏻♂️
A reviewer should critique and praise the current product, not a future promise or iteration. This is the game as it's meant to be played, is it not? And if not, then why release it now?
Surely it would make more sense to include an addendum to the review once the Cryo Archive becomes available?
Re: PS6 Competitor from Xbox Revealed as Project Helix
Cats like Felix, like Helix!
What a weird way to confirm the hybrid console.
Personally I feel it's way too soon for a next gen upgrade, and with the tech economy being so screwed right now pricing is gonna be way up there too.
This is definitely an interesting concept, but let's not pretend this is anything other than a PC in a box that can also play XBox games. Not that that's a bad thing, but I suspect we'll see the XBox console games side of things slow down, especially from third party devs. Why spend so much time on an XBox specific version when you can just put a "Helix spec" mode in your PC version.
Re: Saros Offers Up Another Crumb of Delicious PS5 Gameplay Footage
I love Returnal, and Saros is looking pretty great too, but man, £70 RRP for this type of game is just too much. It should be £45 tops.
I paid £50 for Returnal on disc at launch and that was expensive imo.
Re: 'We're Not Hiding Anything': Crimson Desert Dev 'Sick' of Claims Around No PS5 Footage
Also, if you're still "cooking" two weeks out from release, that should set off serious alarm bells!
Re: 'We're Not Hiding Anything': Crimson Desert Dev 'Sick' of Claims Around No PS5 Footage
If only there was an incredibly simple way to put those concerns and queries to rest... 🙄
Re: Hands On: Marathon Is Dense, Demanding, and Drop Dead Gorgeous
I gave it a fair crack, but ultimately the gameplay loop just didn't do anything for me. I found the whole thing rather vapid, tedious and boring
The whole time I was playing and the game was trying to chuck lore my way all I could think was how this would have been so much better as an actual campaign with the extraction stuff added as a separate game mode.
And those menus and items. Oof. I dunno what they were smoking when they came up with those, or how they made it through internal and external play testing to this point. Everything is so convoluted, items look samey to the point of needing to read the text each time to know what they are (which isn't what you want in a game where you're supposed to be watching your back), and the whole factions and contracts thing feels like it was tacked on to give people a sense of something to do.
I dunno, if you enjoyed it then more power to you I guess, but I just found the whole experience dull. There wasn't any excitement or thrill.
All of the above coupled in with today's announcement that your progress will be reset each season just solidified that this game won't be getting my money.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for March 2026?
Monster Hunter Rise is the only one that really interests me here.
Elder Scrolls Online is good though, well worth a play seeing as it's included. I've already spent way too long playing this years ago, but it looks like this will give me a bunch of dlc that I don't own... Not sure how claiming this on PS Plus is going to affect the digital licence from where I already bought it though 🫠 that's kinda a worry... Although I suppose you need Plus to play online anyway, so might be a moot point in this case.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Resident Evil Requiem?
As I mentioned in other Requiem threads, I'm waiting on them ideally adding a PSVR 2 mode.
That said, the performance on the Pro is definitely tempting, and makes the prospect of playing through the game in flat mode a lot more appealing!
I may well grab a copy when it's on sale. In the meantime I think I'll replay RE4 & Village in VR, and I may even bust out the old PSVR 1 to play through 7 again because that game in VR is just chefs kiss
Re: Here's Your First Look at the God of War TV Show
Atreus looks like an Ewok 😂
Re: Mini Review: Tokyo Xtreme Racer (PS5) - Unapologetically Old School for Better and Worse
This is a very short and mediocre review imo. No mention of how many tracks the game has, or whether it supports racing wheels? 🤷🏻♂️
Those are kinda important items to cover off in a track based racing game.
Re: It's a Big Week for Fans of Arcade Racing Games on PS5
As a fan of Ridge Racer ever since playing the orignal game in the arcade waaay back some 33 years ago (jeez I feel old!), it's safe to say Rave Racer is an instant purchase for me tomorrow 😎❤️
Re: Resident Evil Requiem (PS5) - Two-in-One Horror Not Quite an All-Timer
Nice review
Obviously I haven't played it myself yet, but by the sound of it perhaps Capcom should have gone down the Resident Evil 2 route and had the complete game path playable as either Grace or Leon from their perspective (without the switching between the two), with you only seeing the other character when their paths cross. It could have made it more cohesive and might not have felt so lopsided. Perhaps even to have this available as an option or an unlock after completion.
Anyway, it sounds good! I think I'll wait on picking it up though. If it was straight up survival horror (RE7 style) it would have been more appealing to me, and the lack of any PSVR 2 mode means I'm in no rush... Although I guess there is the fact it looks and runs particularly good on the Pro which helps motivate me towards playing the game in flat mode.
Re: The Simpsons: Hit & Run Studio Returns, and Fans Are Hopeful for a Remaster
@spikes91 I would imagine Activision own the rights to the game, but they can't do anything with it without renewing the licensing from Disney. Much the same with all the Transformers games too.
Re: Yet Another Live Service Game Bites the Dust, But PS5 Players Get a Full Refund
We're at a point now where, let's be completely honest, very few gamers are sad to see another live service project fail.
If anything, every failure is one step closer to leaving this business model behind. It's just a shame that so many studios have to suffer for it along the way, and worse because some of those are through no fault of their own.
Re: 'I'm Confident in the Direction We're Headed': Under-Fire PlayStation Boss Tries to Explain Baffling Bluepoint Closure
No matter what you say Hulst, we all can see that you're having to make cuts because your live service push failed. That same push that put renowned single player adventure game studios to work on online multi player live service games in the hope you'd find a cash cow.
If the live service push hadn't happened studios like Bluepoint would have been years deep into developing their next new title that people actually wanted.
Imagine if Bluepoint had been tasked with making that Bloodborne remake a reality? You would have been rolling in money.
The worst thing here is that it's clear other studios involved in that live service push may also be affected... I honestly wouldn't be surprised to hear that Bend Studios is up next.
Re: Sony Makes Shocking Decision to Shut Down Bluepoint Games
Not that we needed more proof, but much like closing down Japan Studio this just further demonstrates how out of touch Sony have become 😓
The sooner they replace Hermen Hulst the better.
Re: This Is How PS Plus Premium's Time Crisis Will Play with PS5, PS4's Gyro Controls
VR would be the perfect home for porting these light gun games... Time Crisis, House of the Dead, Virtua Cop... Us fans would lap that up!
Re: Awful PS5 Dino Shooter Code Violet Will Get a Sequel... for Some Reason
It feels like the developers are just trolling us at this point.
Re: Romeo Is a Dead Man (PS5) - Absurd, Entertaining, and Tedious All at Once
I love Suda51, but his games always come with expected caveats (namely jank)... It sounds like this needs at least a few patches before it's worth our time though, especially with a £50 price tag. One to consider on a deep sale I guess.
Re: The Internet Has Not Been Kind to Horizon Hunters Gathering
If this had the same art style as the main Horizon games, allowed you to create your own character and play co-op with a Monster Hunter vibe it would have been far more appealing.
Let's face it, no one asked for Horizon re-imagined as a Dauntless imitation, and especially not as a live service hero game. You'd have thought Sony would have learnt people are sick of live service hero games with Concord, and yet here we are again 🤷🏻♂️
The crazy thing is, the graphics aren't even bad! It actually looks pretty good for a cartoony art style, but it's so far removed from the other games it's jarring. It almost feels like they're trying to appeal to the younger crowd, but completely missing the mark in all respects, and in doing so putting off their older demographic too.
Re: Sony Finally Confirms Horizon Co-Op Game, Horizon Hunters Gathering for PS5, PC
It looks more like a sequel to Dauntless than it does a new game in the Horizon series.
Not really sure how I feel about it tbh, the graphics look nice, taken on their own, but I'm not sure about the gameplay loop from what they've shown (plus, another hero based game, ugh). As a Horizon fan, this isn't really what I was expecting, nor dare I say, what I wanted.
Re: Game Awards Closer Highguard Lives! PS5 Trophy List Live Now
@PuppetMaster it's free to play and due to release in a few days...there wasn't really any time (or arguably need) for a Beta or demo between TGA and launch. Probably for the best after the response from the reveal.
Can't say this is doing anything for me, but at least it's F2P I guess.
Re: Fable Announced for PS5, Releases in Autumn 2026
I'm remaining cautiously optimistic for this one. I love the orignal trilogy, despite it really peaking with the first game/parts of the second, but you never know what you're going to get with a Fable title (the whole second act in the third game for example!)...plus we have a new studio developing this title, so everything has a question mark over it.
With that said, it's looking rather nice, and it's great news to see that a) it's not fallen fowl to being cancelled, and b) it's coming to Playstation day and date. If it's Pro enhanced it should be the best place to play too (outside of having a top PC).
Re: Prince of Persia Remake and 5 Other Games Cancelled by Ubisoft
Sadly not too surprising to see UbiSoft taking this approach, but it is mind boggling to scrap the Sands of Time remake when it seemed like it was near enough ready to go. I can only assume it was because they couldn't find ways to milk it with micro transactions 🤷🏻♂️
Unfortunately this leads on to the larger issue here, namely that UbiSoft are looking for IPs that they can leverage for "sustainable growth".
They make it quite clear with the statement "exceptional AAA games, when successful, have more financial potential than ever" that they're not focusing on what the player base wants, more what they believe will be a financial success, and we already know that UbiSoft have quite the disconnect between what they think gamers want, and what gamers actually want.
In short, it sounds like we're in for a lot more UbiSoft cookie cutter open world "go here, do this" template games.
Re: Star Wars Racing Games Are Back in Galactic Racer, Out for PS5 in 2026
@Veritas7Ax I suspect you'll probably love Burnout 2, but FYI there's no takedowns, they were introduced in 3... Burnout 2 is straight arcade racing, but my god is it good. I have fond memories of chaining burnouts while staring at the road in the horizon watching for traffic up ahead. When you complete a race still boosting on that very first burnout from the start chefs kiss
It would really make the perfect pairing with Burnout 3 for a remake/remaster compilation as they're the best two games showing both sides of the series. If you do get a chance to play, I hope you enjoy!
Re: Terminator Survivors Delayed Indefinitely, Drops Co-Op Multiplayer
Oof, removing co-op sucks. I can see that being a big sticking point for lots of people tbh... Especially if the game itself isn't the greatest / suffers from some of the usual survival game jank. It's much easier to overlook said jank when playing with friends, not so much when you're playing alone.