I've never played a game that's affected me as much as SOMA, and to be honest I'm not sure I want to ever again, although I'm very glad I did. It has the DNA of movies like Alien, 2001, Sunlight, and Event Horizon, with a splash of the original Dead Space and Bioshock, but brings plenty of new ideas to the table. It makes you think about what it means to be alive, and indeed how you classify life, and is a brilliant example of just how far video games have evolved.
Ultratron is a simple game in which you move around a single screen and shoot bad guys. That said, it does that single screen shooting very well. I would have liked some variation in the level design, and the graphics can get rather muddled at some points, but overall it's a polished little package. The local co-op is great for when you want a quick game to play with friends – younger players will love it – and the Vita version will be excellent for killing ten minutes on a bus journey.
Project Root is a frustrating game because there is a genuinely good shooter hidden under a number of poor design choices. It is rather like a Michael Bay movie in that when it works, it works really well, with explosions going off left, right and centre, hundreds of bullets and a genuine sense of excitement. However, it also shares the same problems and the levels are far too sprawling, the plot is terrible and sometimes you have no idea what is going on. I really hope there will be a sequel and the team do some serious play-testing and refine the game.
I really enjoyed the time I spent with We Are Doomed but I cannot overlook the price and length of the game. At a lower price point it would make a great Vita game, but on PS4 there a number of other titles that you could buy for the same amount of money and get many more hours of gameplay. Sadly I have to dock a few points from the score for that which is a real shame.
Minutes does exactly what it says on the tin and it does it beautifully, which is quite a feat considering developer Red Phantom Games is actually just one person, Richard Ogden. An essential title for on-the-go gaming on PS Vita, and a damn fine puzzler on PS4.
With nearly eight hours of content for such a small price it will keep you entertained for many a bus journey to work.
Despite borrowing a lot of well-worn themes from other games and movies (Hello, creepy shop mannequins from Silent Hill), The Evil Within feels fresh and exciting. It's easy to recommend to fans of the original Dead Space and the earlier Resident Evil games.
In its current state the game should have been a £1.99 PlayStation Mobile title, not a £7.99 PlayStation 4 game. The title is coming to PS Vita this week and will be cross-buy but not cross save, and is certainly more suited to short bursts of gaming on a bus.