Titntin

@Northern_munkey Delighted you are enjoying it my friend - Gran Turismo and NMS alone are great reasons to have a headset. I'm so gutted I get so ill with VR, the scale is awe inspiring and I'd love to be able to participate!

@lazarus11 Yes mate, I threw myself out of the abyss and landed there. In the minute or two before I got roundly destroyed by the army I seemed to land in the middle of, I thought - this is pretty!

Didn't require a second of thought.
Crimson Desert is the best game I've played since Elden Ring, and may go on to be better by the time I've finished it (sometime next year no doubt!).
Its fantastic to see a developer use a custom engine to such results, and even better, to do things there way, not copying and pasting other teams solutions.
Is it perfect? No, but its such a phenomenal achievement I'm not looking for perfection. The best versions of most things have little flaws and I'll take them every day in a title with such depth.

Anyone taking any notice of Patcher and his dumb and always wrong predictions clearly hasn't been in the gaming space for long.

Decent mix, should be something that appeals to most.
I'm happy to have the tomb raider re releases - its not something I'd have paid for, but I'll be happy to have them available - perfect Plus material!

The art direction is really sublime and the music can be pretty special too. Unfortunately, the game play doesn't match this with a lack of any finesse in the combat and issues with level layout such that I got stuck in the scenery once to often. But theres some good boss encounters - one in particular I'll always remember.
I was fortunate to play it on GP, but I'd recommend waiting for a discount if you think its undoubted charms need to be experienced!

@Oram77 @AnginaPectoris I'm obsessed with Crimson Dessert - I may take a break for Saros, but I cant imagine putting CD down for very long!
Nice to be blessed with so many titles I really want to play 😃

With Saros coming very soon, this one will have to wait, but it looks great so It'll definitely get to it!

I remember playing the original game in in about 1990 when I was 26 and hanging around the Soho arcades in London. I always knew it as Tatsujin untill there was a western version released on the mega drive and they called it Truxtun, a name I don't find as appealing.
I loved this back in the day, it was tough, but you could learn it and succeed as you could many of the great schumups in that time period.
I hope this new version keeps the playability, and I'm keen to hear the newly composed music. I might wait till its in a sale, but I'll definitely be buying this and hoping it lives up to the originals playability.

@hol_up Two screen taps mate.Its not hard to see you came here specifically to troll.

Games have made more money than films for a long time now - its not surprising the very biggest of them will cost the same budget as an epic film.
Its endlessly amusing to see people without the slightest idea of development process's talking as if they know how they are made. I guess the internet made everyone an expert eh?
Just like films, there are a large range of budgets and costs associated with games. The investment can be high, but the returns for a worldwide hit can be even higher. Its the standard risk/reward based investment that's been happening for 40 years or more and wont stop because some journo calls it unsustainable.

@ElectricWizard That may be the case, but Playstation support physical media while Xbox doesn't (look at its own titles to check - no physical). I'm digital only, but I think theres a lot of people who would choose to have competition from physical discs and prices rather than a digital reseller.
I could be wrong mind you, but there seems to be strong support on this site for physical (I'm all digital myself).
Have a good one. 😀

@RoomWithaMoose
Off course life isn't a console war - who said it is? You are the only one to mention such a thing.
I'm merely remarking that Xbox and its supporters are much more suportive of MS than Sony players are of Playstation. Part of that is editorial decisions on this site, but the difference is quite notable and I noted it.
I tend to play most on PS rather than Xbox or Nintendo, but I engage far more with Pure as a site as the users are not so quick to jump on a hate bandwagon and you can usually get a better conversation there. For all his faults Fraser actually supports Xbox, in strong contrast to this site.
Have a good one 😀

The practice of offering targeted discounts has been running on Xbox for over a year with no one really remarking on it.
The difference is Sammy likes a rage bait headline,and the ps members he's attracted here with this over the last couple of years love to attack their own platform.

What a shame that using Push Squares new scoring policy this game is a 'Major Disappointment', it sounded like you quite enjoyed it.

I do like a good arcade racer and am tempted to try it regardless!
Good write up Stephen thanks for this.

@MARl0 The four trigger design on Sony's pads is not 'one or the other' they are used to give several options at the same time. There is no mandate that you will not have to use both triggers and unless you are only playing driving games, using multiple triggers is a part of gaming.
I'm delighted you have access to statistics on 'what most people do', would you mind linking me to the statistics that show this please. Unless of course you are just assuming that everyone does what you do?
I still contend that if you have issues hitting two triggers at once you are clearly not much of a games player and its a mechanic that's been used in a large number of titles for launching a special move.
If you wanna cry that hitting two triggers is too difficult, then maybe gaming is not for you and you certainly should not be reviewing a title on a PS website.

I know not everyone agrees, and it has some jank, but Crimson Desert is an epic world to get lost in and I'm slowly unraveling its charms. I suspect I'll be playing this for a long while to come.
I'll break this up with some old school schumups and get my fighting stick out for a while too.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have a lot of fun!

I haven't had time to play for very long, but I must admit I have no real issue with what I've played so far, and if using a button combo like R1 and R2 at the same time is difficult for people, I wander if they've played games before? Theres nothing even remotely difficult about that.
The arm wrestling mini game however had me screaming at the screen. Got an online tip and put it back in performance mode and completed it immediately. So far the voice acting and script have been OK and though the story is a bit obscure, I don't mind it at all. I think many might be put off by the sheer number of side missions mind you. Maybe they grow into more interesting distractions later, but initially they are basic fetch quest type objectives. I'm happy enough to do such busy work, but I understand that these will disappoint some!
I never thought this game would be for everyone, and I can understand why. But it IS for me, I'm happy so far.

@HonestHick I'd say its just me, but it surprising how often I hear other people with capable PC hardware say similar. Its miles better these days to play on PC than it used to be in the past. With no so much tinkering required. You still need to get decent settings for your system and apply them, but theres decent sources for that info and its pretty easy to keep your drivers up to date for the latest games. I tend to prefer gaming on the couch, and I was pleased to drop the PS4 pro and turbo charged cooling - unfortunately a lot of PC's will spin up their fans and sound output when you push the GPU and become radiators, not something I enjoy, and having worked on a PC most of my life, it still has a 'work' association for me I cant shake. Best selection of games though, and cheaper than the alternatives, so there's that.. I might buy a steam box or MS new PC box, as putting it under the TV with a front end so I don't deal with Windows is definitely removing several issues for me. Meantime we have 2 PS5 pros, a series X and a Switch 2 with docks on the two telly's in the front room, so theres also little reason for me to use the PC just to play a game. I might be tempted if I ever replace the fans that have gone noisy over the years and get the unit quieter!

Push Square review scoring policy:

1/10 — Abysmal
2/10 — Terrible
3/10 — Bad
4/10 — Poor
5/10 — Average
6/10 — Not Bad
7/10 — Good
8/10 — Major Disappointment
9/10 — Excellent
10/10 — Outstanding

Another bait headline from this site, I come here less and less as the quality of journalism is so poor here.
Imo 82 average is a good score for a game - I've never seen push give a score an 82 and claim its a major disappointment?
I guess the message from most of the reviews I've seen depends on wheather you resonate with a large open world with lots of variety, or want a more curated story with better writing and more meaningful quest lines.
I like huge open worlds with plenty to explore, so I'm sure the game will suit me, but I get that people who are tired of the open world formula and running fetch quests might have wanted a lot more and will be disappointed that's not on offer here.

@HonestHick Yes mate - I use Topaz Video AI. I actually bought it back when that was an option, but I've seen it's now sub only at about $300 a year. Stuff that!
I've seen good results with video from VHS and yes, if you do it right and set the correct parameters, the output is like DVD.
I did a lot of pretty rough DVD's and got great results like a decent Bluray @ 1080p. The amount of detail it manages to extract is pretty crazy. I can only imagine the more modern AI models are even better than I've seen, but I'm not paying for any upgrades!
My card is a EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 ULTRA, but if I sell it I'll only have to buy something else and go through reconfig issues. I'll use it till the PC dies. I have a smaller fanless PC that's on 24/7 as my plex server, but I'd rather not do any work on that one, so this one stays till it drops!

@HonestHick I think you may need to reread my comment? I'm not against using AI to do some things - I've been using it for over a decade to upscale old TV shows and video to higher Res for example. I suggested that there is a line that should not be crossed, which is when it changes the artistic vision of the content creators. I'm happy for it to build better image quality and stability, just not happy for it to change a character design.
I'm still sitting on my old PC, where I paid £2k for a special edition 3090. Lesson learned - I still cant stand playing games on my PC and short of speeding up video conversion, the GPU was a waste of time for me.
That Nvidia would attempt to normalise making AI character design the norm so they can increase demand for their GPU's doesn't surprise me at all as I believe they are a scummy company.
Its a shame they've done this, as the actual upscaling and image quality they can achieve is exemplary and we should all be celebrating this advance rather than lambasting it, but they done it to themselves.

I think once these tools interfere with artistic intent, rather than just producing just excellent image quality, a line has been crossed.

Its important to let Nvidia know what's unacceptable, as if they get away with it, it will become the norm and no doubt make it into future PS tech.

Up early for the F1 racing, but I intend to play a lot of the day.
I bought Monster Hunter Stories 3 last night, which should keep me going until we get Crimson Desert next week.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have fun!

If pc owners want this game, they should have bought Returnal. Simple.

@Globo No problem, Im pleased you are better informed now. You have a great day.

@Globo There's no point in a discussion when you have no idea of whats happening. Go and read what the court case is actually about and then come back to apologise. Till then, your just making yourself look stupid.

@Globo Other than in the us, thats exactly what this test is too.. specific discounts. Its absolutely exactly the same.
Except for the us, and my ability to feel sorry for them evaporated some time ago.

The current court action is nothing to do with this pricing model, you are confusd.

@Globo "Xbox doesn't have dynamic pricing though?"

xbox have had targeted discounts for a very long time.

I read that other than the us, these are targeted discounts. I have no issue with that at all.
The perpetually angry crowd will no doubt explode with rage and I love to see it. I don't wish them any happiness at all 😆

I'm confident this game will deliver. Confident enough that I have it pre ordered.

Sandfall do not own a common phrase and should wind their neck in.

@Darude84 par for the course mate, gpu are makng a big deal of cyberpunk addition today too, despite that being 5 years old and having sold for under $15.
If you buy a lot of games, these services are pretty hit and miss 👍

Im rather selfishly hoping this is not the case as I own and have completed both!

Finally finished Tainted Grail - if you want a Bethesda type rpg you should try this one!
I also completed Neva last night and loved it.
No idea what I'll start today, but there's a few titles on GPU worth my attention!

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have fun!

@Boxmonkey Thank you for proving my point.
Either engage with a comment and counter the points it makes or move on. Your post is pathetic.

@CielloArc...and most people will only have ever played one game from Bluepoint - some may have played two, and lets remember, those games were not Bluepoints, they were created by teams with more creative game ideas. I bet not one of the people venting here know the names of the studios heads without looking them up or any other of the dev's for that matter. BTW Spliced inc is not in Montreal.

People simply like to jump on the next hate wave.
I would have preferred it if Bluepoint remained open of course, but when they can't pitch a decent game proposition in over a year, there's no corp or publisher gonna cut that amount of slack for ever..

@datamonkey Of course not - they are making a game and not simply trying to pitch one. It's not even close to the same thing.

The modern phenomenon of fake outrage and organised attacks is very pathetic sign of the times.

I worked 20 years as a AAA dev, till 2009, and I was in closed studios 3 times. Its always happened.

Bluepoint pitched a live service gow game which got cancelled. They last delivered a title 6 years ago. They have been bankrolled by Sony for over a year while they pitch new ideas to them - clearly not successfully. That process can not continue indefinitely.

Meanwhile, since this news, Ubi are firing another 40 devs from ubi Montréal. Tencent just shut dowm TiMi Montréal. Netease are starting redundancies at Spliced. Barely a word spoken about these devs, nevermind the pitchfork bragade.

I have followed this buisness and been part of it since computer entertainment started. I have more choice of more wonderful games now than I ever have and still love the buisness. But I cant stand the so called 'fans' who spend most of their time looking for the next reason to vent their spleen.

Nice, hate most sports sims, but golf is chilled.

Still making my way through Tainted Grail. Im a bit ill so its taking me some time!
Cairn is calling me. I feel a need to try it so I may get to starting that this weekend too.
I retire next week (ill health retirement) so I should have more time to hit the backlog.

Whatever you are all playing, I hope you enjoy it!

On the surface this looks like a crazy decision.
There must surely be more to the decision than simply saving money? Bluepoint were too good to throw away for slight increase in profitability, and Sony are usually content to play a longer game?
Whatever the reasoning, thats 70 more devs without a job, and sony losing a great development team.. I hope all the workers find decent jobs soon and I hope whomever is responsible for this decision explains what they are doing and why they made it?

I really don't care. But they were completely unnecessary and very naff in the original titles so if I were 'remaking' the title they would 100% be out. They add nothing except cringe.
But if they are in, it wouldn't stop me buying the remakes...

@somnambulance Sending wishes for you to feel better mate..

Still grinding through Tainted Grail and still loving it.
When I get a chance I intend to finish Keeper, my wife finished it last week and was left really moved by it.

Whatever you are playing, I hope you have fun!

@Zeroo I'll buy it day 1 - or day 3 however you see it It's rare for me to buy deluxe editions

Hate this trend. But at least Sony wont release it on their game service two days after launch and still claim the service has day 0 games - that's absolutely the worst BS.
Really looking forward to this game, I put a lot of time into Returnal, but it unfortunately was just too hard for me to get to credits despite trying for 80+ hours. Sounds like I might do better with this one...

Fantastic Work. I'm more likely to come here and search now than on the machine!
It also shows just how good value this service is.