Despite feeling out of date in one too many key areas, Terminator: Resistance manages to serve up a campaign just about worthy enough for those looking to switch their brain off and enjoy some mindless action. Its efforts to heighten the importance of relationships and interactions go a long way to differentiating the experience but held back by technical deficiencies, the vision isn't quite fully realised.
Valfaris doesn’t do anything noteworthily new, but the hectic, intense, satisfying experience it offers shouldn’t pass you by.
Following years of mysterious anticipation, Death Stranding delivers on all fronts. An accomplished, fascinating set of gameplay mechanics allow you to make deliveries the way you want to, while social features let the game live on once you've put the controller down. It may become slightly tiresome as you hit the halfway mark, but the phenomenal narrative is on hand to pick things back up again and its outstanding visuals are the cherry on top. Death Stranding doesn't raise the bar for any particular genre, it creates an entirely new one.
By keeping simplicity at its core, Monkey King: Hero Is Back offers an entertaining if somewhat mindless distraction to the blockbuster titles releasing around it. Sure, it's a little bit too short, the narrative isn't particularly gripping, and it looks like an early PS3 game, but that all falls by the wayside in the heat of battle. Thanks to fun brawling mechanics, Monkey King: Hero Is Back does just enough to deserve your attention.
Despite running into one too many difficulty spikes, Indivisible successfully blends the RPG and Metroidvania genres into one stunning experience. Its plot may be simple and some characters bothersome, but the 2D platforming that bridges the gap between those narrative beats is a dream. Indivisible is a little bit too forgettable in a couple of aspects, but it makes up for that when the tough gets going.
The problem is that while A Brave Plan has some neat ideas for this narrative-based adventure, they’re implemented poorly.
While its campaign is enjoyable in the moment, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep never manages to truly shake the fact that we already went to the Moon five years ago. For better or worse, this is just more Destiny, and that's a positive for those enamoured with the franchise, but anyone who was hoping for a more dramatic overhaul of its core systems and mechanics will be left wanting. Bungie has huge plans for the future of Destiny 2, but Shadowkeep only delivers a small piece of that vision.
It can't hold a candle to a From Software joint, but The Surge 2 will satisfy those chomping at the bit for the next take on the genre.
In refusing to dramatically innovate, Borderlands 3 continues to occupy a unique position in the RPG genre. Its blend of looting, shooting, and comedy makes for varied gameplay sequences, deep and meaningful player progression, and a couple of laughs along the way. It's not going to convert anyone who wasn't a fan of previous iterations, but in doing so, Borderlands 3 sticks to what it does best.
Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels is adequate in every sense of the word - it doesn't do anything impressively well nor insultingly bad. It's just okay, and while that might be enough to convince fans of the series to take a short trip underground, it's something that anyone else can safely skip.
Its live action overhaul gives returning players a new way to experience the game, while newcomers are sure to be captured by its quirky cast of characters and a plot that'll keep you hooked through to its conclusion.
There's no doubting that Control is a good experience, but it's not one that'll go down in the history books. Its explorative and combat-focused gameplay is a major highlight thanks to abilities that give you the chance to get creative, but the unreliable framerate that goes with it puts a stop to the enjoyment far too frequently. This is most definitely worth playing, but that's about as far as any substantial praise can go.
Erica is an intriguing, admirable experience that those looking for something a little outside of the video game norm will surely latch on to. With an impressive set of performances, a story that'll have you hooked straight from the off, and meaningful decisions that have a major impact on the game, FMV is making waves all over again.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD shows its age in pretty much every way, but its enjoyable and simplistic gameplay loop is enough to give you something to chew on. Alongside one of the most insane narratives in all of video games, it's a From Software joint that needs to be seen to be believed.
The Church in the Darkness has some good ideas, but they're not properly realised. Gameplay never ventures out of its basic boundaries, while the narrative doesn't offer up enough variety or compelling subplots to engage with. The Church in the Darkness is competent for a couple of playthroughs, but it's an experience that you'll quickly forget about.
Thanks to questionable tactics, a tedious and boring structure, bullet spongey enemies, and a narrative that's completely throwaway, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is far and away the worst entry in the franchise this generation. Some of its inventive combat mechanics remain intact, but they're completely overshadowed by throwaway side quests that we were tired of five years ago. This is a boring, tedious slog through Nazi-occupied Paris that you can probably skip.
Etherborn is well worth checking out if brain teasing is your thing. As it toys with gravity and shifts surfaces to the forefront while you traverse them, mechanics come and go to keep the experience fresh at all times. This environmental puzzler doesn't last particularly long, but it's sure to provide an afternoon's worth of challenge and enjoyment.
It's hard to call Sea of Solitude a bad experience, but it feels very pedestrian at almost every turn. Bland gameplay means you'll rarely be doing anything too exciting, in turn making the short run time all the more suspect. Beautiful visuals and themes that may resonate with some are minor highlights, although they're not enough to make up for insipidity.
The Sinking City is a captivating detective undertaking that dives into the hauntings of H.P. Lovecraft with a compelling narrative that is sure to question your viewpoint as well as reality itself. If you can look past its presentational shortcomings and mediocre combat system, the plight of private eye Charles Reed is one worth seeing for yourself.
DayZ is a complete and utter disaster on PS4. Not only is it profoundly outdated in 2019, it's also technically inept. A horrendous frame rate brings the experience to a standstill on a worryingly consistent basis, while numerous bugs and glitches are a bewilderment. After taking five years to release, we can't help but feel like this was an outright waste of everyone's time.