Kyle Prahl
- Persona 4 Golden
- Final Fantasy X
- Kingdom Hearts
There’s little value and almost no substance in Harmonix Music VR. Its drab modes and environments fail to add anything interesting to the music listening experience.
Knack desperately wants to be the 3D platformers of old, but dull combat and a half-hearted story leave it difficult to recommend.
The Golf Club nails its simulation of the greatest game with an emphasis on shot variability that defies precise, predictable results. But just about everything else leaves much to be desired.
Songbringer is a coda of the past that retro-inclined gamers will want to leave on repeat. Others may want to skip to a different song.
As a story, Zero Time Dilemma matches up to the ambition of its predecessors, with some missteps. As a game, it’s significantly less polished, with ideas and changes that nearly always step backward.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture spins a good yarn, but it does nearly all the spinning, leaving little for the player. Its impact falls flat after trudging slowly across a world with little of substance for players to find, explore, or interpret.
Engaging cooperative puzzles and local co-op are reasons to consider an otherwise indistinct game that's over way too quickly.
Hohokum's worth greatly depends on one's ability to revel in simple, charming discoveries. There's no lasting impact, meaningful message, or even resolution to its shallow core mechanics, but a playful aesthetic and relaxing music make being in its spaces enjoyable for a time.
Beyond its central conceit of virtual-reality shooting, Farpoint is the very definition of mediocre. But that shooting--especially in Cooperative Mode--is compelling, well-executed, and undeniably fun.
Caught somewhere between a reverence for its forebears and an unwillingness to forgo MMO traditions, The Elder Scrolls Online is a hybrid game that's exciting and off-putting in equal measure.
In its attempt to iterate on Killzone trademarks, Shadow Fall comes up short of greatness, but has enough tight action and expanded lore to please series enthusiasts.
There's tense, creative stealth action to be had in Thief's fun-but-flawed triumph over technical flubs, wasted narrative potential, and cringeworthy dialogue.
Killzone Shadow Fall's Intercept expansion uses fresh ideas to raise the dramatic intensity on both ends of the win-lose spectrum, but the novelty wears thin, leaving predictable co-op fun that struggles to make a lasting impression.
LittleBigPlanet 3 boasts more creative capabilities than its predecessors and tutorial levels for teaching the basics to patient newcomers. Adventure mode fails to innovate in the same way, relegating the most interesting additions--playable heroes OddSock, Toggle, and Swoop--to a small handful of levels.
Like Resistance: Fall of Man, The Order: 1886 comes early in a console lifecycle to set new visual benchmarks and give us creative, compelling fiction. As a game, it's significantly less ambitious.
The Frozen Wilds extends the already fantastic Horizon experience into a region worth exploring, but uneven difficulty and only a few surprises await.
In Arkham VR, you are Batman like never before, thanks to Rocksteady’s convincing virtual reality and an involving story full of satisfying moments.
Bound is a vague but undeniably powerful game. Its sweeping environments and spellbinding aesthetic invite you to look closer, appreciate its story, and find meaning through your own interpretation. The gameplay beneath is pleasant (if unremarkable) and dutifully supports the greater aim of giving the player something to reflect on. If that level of engagement suits you, Bound is one of PS4’s best games. If not, there’s still a resonant message to take away, though its brief journey left me pining for more time with the dancer in her beautiful, strange world.
The element of disguise makes Chambara surprisingly deep, though its shallow content leaves nothing for gamers uninterested in local multiplayer.
A brief delight with satisfying gameplay and irreverent charm, Job Simulator is an early standout on PlayStation VR.