PlayStation LifeStyle
HomepagePlayStation LifeStyle's Reviews
Jurassic World Evolution is – in many ways – the game that you make it. Fans of the franchise will jump for joy as they stumble across the classic original movie skins for the ranger jeeps while Dr. Ian Malcolm explains his theory on the meaning of life in a voiceover. They'll be so happy that a lot of the flaws can and will be overlooked by those people. For those who maybe only have a passing interest, there's still a solid and overly addictive game to be found, but they'll have to look past a fair few missed steps.
It somewhat goes without saying, but Unravel Two feels like the organic evolution of the franchise. The introduction of cooperative mechanics proved to be just enough change to keep things fresh, while still preserving what made the original so special. Weaving the matured puzzle design in amongst the already stunning art style produces a visual patchwork quilt that is unlike anything else on the market. If you can set aside the odd storytelling decisions and the occasional platforming quirk, Yarny's newest quest is one you won't want to miss.
At the end of the day, Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a cautionary tale. Jokes are not funny just because you say them. Nor are they funny just because they raised over $450K. But being not funny isn't a cardinal offense for a video game. Being dull and soulless mechanically is.
Taking large strides forward in terms of accessibility, MotoGP 18 regrettably has a lot of issues and is undoubtedly a casualty of the annual format. Cinematic, customization and an enhanced career mode are all done to such a minimum that they barely make any impact. Fine tuning your bike has worthy detail with the tracks themselves being better recreated than ever before, yet this only goes so far. Extended loading times, washed out textures, and an unobtainable online infrastructure crucify what could have been a fresh start for the franchise. Worst of all, the personalities behind the sport have not transcended whatsoever – taking away one of its greatest assets. If released in 2014, MotoGP 18 may have held up (apart from the atrocious online) and even be considered innovative. Nonetheless, this is 2018 and with so many games on the market, one of this quality cannot be recommended.
That's a question Earth Atlantis doesn't have an answer for. Perhaps the point, the game would like you to believe, is the “thrilling” boss battles. But if that's the case, these battles should've been more engaging and memorable—adrenaline-intoxicating, if you will. It seems Pixel Perfex wanted to create a boss rush game similar to Acid Nerve's Titan Souls or Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus but tossed the flood of mindless enemies in to keep you from sinking into the abyssal depths of boredom. Unfortunately, it's too late, as Earth Atlantis doesn't so much sink in the depths of the ocean as much as it drowns in the boring and tedious repetition it's so engulfed in.
With Conan Exiles, you're either in or you're out. There's a hardcore fanbase out there that loves this game, but there's an exceptionally high learning and enjoyment curve that will keep more casual players from getting invested enough to explore its deepest content or even wade around much in the shallow end. On a quality level, the game simply doesn't feel like it made it out of early access even though this is the full release. Add that the game is hardly optimized for controller and living room TV play, and this is a title that is hard to recommend outright. That said, for fans of survival games, there's a very intriguing game layered underneath walls, road bumps, and cliffs that need to be scaled to get there. And it's easy to lose hours of time simply figuring out how to build a house, or, you know, put on pants, but a lot of that can be chalked up to poor and barbaric design.
Chances are, you already know if you're in Cross Tag's intended audience. If you're an avid anime fan, understand fighting games, and know one or more of the included series, you'll love everything here. Even if you fall into only one or two of these subsets, this may be up your alley. The mechanics are solid, and mostly provide the perfect environment for beginners to transition to the more complex styles introduced in other Arc System Works games. I'd say it's also just complicated enough to intrigue fighting veterans. Setting aside the DLC-based blemish, the roster is packed with unique, fun-to-play fan-favorite characters. The Episode Mode delights, and successfully hones the panache of all four franchises. BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle offers a little of everything for everyone, and does so in splendid fashion.
What we can be sure of though, is that Codemasters has at least put together a great foundation on which to build. They've promised that as well as that ranked mode, new content and features will roll out to players going forward and if they make the right steps, Onrush could end up being an absolutely huge deal. At launch though, it serves as a great taste of what could be, even if it could go with just a little bit more fuel in the tank.
Promising a world where you can get lost and yet find peace is a hard sell, though when everything falls into place, Shape of the World provides some noteworthy moments.
If you've been following Everspace from the beginning and have just been waiting for the time when your PS4 can get it done, your patience has been rewarded. If you've never heard of Everspace and aren't sure if it will play at your speed, give it a shot. Dollar to donuts: you'll spend far too much time playing it.
Sluggish combat aside, Vampyr will provide hours of blood-sucking entertainment. You can be the vampire you always wanted to be, as ruthless or benevolent as you desire. Weighty life-or-death decisions all but ensure that players will want to run through the campaign multiple times to see how things would play out differently by killing or saving certain individuals, or by upgrading certain abilities earlier or later. Vampyr is a cinematic, single-player experience well worth your time and money. A harrowing adventure await those who are willing to sink their time into Vampyr.
Milanoir provides pleasure in its own roundabout, corny, lighthearted way. Sure, its combat is very obtuse, awkward, and confounding. I became emotionally detached from Piero as his dense, cocky attitude drained my soul. But with a few neat mechanics and a well-rendered art style, this whimsical crime-film imitation flatters some of its ancestors and lightly entertains with the same campy charm.
ONE PIECE: Grand Cruise feels like a trip aboard a dinghy rather than a pirate ship.
Yoku's Island Express is the open-world pinball adventure you never knew you wanted, but that you desperately need to play. The vibrant art, expansive world, and fun story come together with the best elements of metroidvania and pinball games to create a new experience unlike anything else out there.
Dark Souls Remastered is a great trip back to Lordran. While the original game may be showing its age, and various mechanics have been improved in later entries, this may be a trip down memory lane worth the asking price of $39.99 USD for fans of the innovative original. New players to the franchise could do much worse to start here, since the smoothness of the action ensures that each death is due to their own lack of skill and nothing else. This is certainly the best way to experience Dark Souls on console.
Moonlighter is going to be a game you'll pick up, play, and instantly want to tell your friends all about. It encourages discussion – how much a certain item costs, how to navigate the metagame of the increasingly tricky Resident Evil 4-style inventory system with its cursed items requiring a shuffle of your bag – and feels like, honestly, the endgame of all roguelikes. After that, there isn't much more the genre can hope to accomplish. It's all here in one gloriously gratifying package that will have you coming back for more, more, and more again. An incredible dungeon crawler with a cutesy consumerist twist that'll provide you with some of 2018's best moments – and capital fun it is, too.
At the end of the day, Sega Genesis Classics is simply a collection of 50 games from 25 years ago that will inspire brief moments of nostalgia. It's not the first collection of Sega games to release, and I'd be hard pressed to say it will be the last.
It is a worthy replacement for Out Run, in that it does everything those games did but with a shiny coat of paint and some bells and whistles that are genre-staples nowadays. It doesn't make any noticeable attempt to improve on that formula in anyway, though. For someone looking for something a little more than sprinting around flat tracks in pretty places (or playing online with your friends) you may be left in the dust.
Whether you're looking for something that'll provide a hearty challenge, something that will get you nostalgic or a game with plenty to do and plenty more to explore, then Fox n Forests is for you.
Pixeljunk Monsters 2 does the original great justice by lifting the core experience and spreading it across a big, bright, three-dimensional playing field. But if feels like a typical tower defense game from the 2007-08 boom.