PlayStation LifeStyle
HomepagePlayStation LifeStyle's Reviews
If you're looking for a feel-good gaming experience, it's probably best to steer clear of The Town of Light. It's a darkly haunting narrative that touches on a subject matter that doesn't get anywhere near enough attention nowadays, while also avoiding falling into the trap of sensationalism. As long as you can get past some of its legitimate structure issues, not to mention a general lack of a cohesive gameplay thread, it provides a depressing, yet unforgettable quest into a person's descent into madness. While this is definitely not an experience that I plan on putting myself through ever again, it will undoubtedly stick with me for a long time.
DiRT 4 encompasses all that it means to race. To spend hours tuning your car, taking it out for a ride to test, bringing it back in to the garage to tweak some more, and repeating until everything is perfect. To have the stressors of the day simply fall away the second the red lights turn off and you are given the “GO” light. To have a perfect run and relish in your victories, as well as to have a devastating setback at the last second, but to learn from your mistakes and carry your head high as you give it another go.
The WipEout Omega Collection is all the WipEout goodness a fan could want. You've basically got the most modern rendition of a PlayStation classic in UHD and HDR, at a blistering frame rate and with an accompanying booming soundtrack. Yet for those of us who played these three games to death, this collection will serve as a painful reminder that we haven't seen new WipEout material on a home console in a long time. Regardless, given all the content on offer for a sub-$40 asking price, the WipEout Omega Collection is a no-brainer purchase for gamers of all kinds.
Despite wasting a wonderful setting and story setup, Cladun Returns still manages to be a triumphant comeback for Nippon Ichi Software. The game's fast-paced brand of dungeon crawling separates it from its competition, and the game is only beginning once the story wraps up. There's enough content here to keep players entertained for months if the game grabs players, although those looking for more structure will end up disappointed.
Despite never playing the PC version of Polarity, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I had seen everything that the Ultimate Edition had to offer. While the puzzles are all well thought out, there isn't anything that'll be remotely challenging for gamers that have completed Antichamber or Portal. The lack of complexity is paired with a disappointingly short experience that brings absolutely nothing new to the table for first-person puzzle games. It's not bad, but it's certainly forgettable.
Victor Vran takes the isometric action RPG genre and puts a different spin on it. The game's combination of gameplay mechanics set it apart and its execution, while simpler in some aspects than its constituents, is excellently accomplished, making it one of the more polished games in the genre. And while it does feature dark and serious themes, the game doesn't take itself too seriously, allowing for some elements of humor which add even further to its appeal and enjoyment. The Overkill Edition also comes with some excellent pieces of DLC that not only provide an additional element of replayability to the game but also combine to give players three significantly different yet enjoyable experiences in a single title.
Tekken 7 remains an addicting technical fighter that constantly beckons you for just one more round. There are so many moves for each character, mastering even one complete move set will take nothing less than complete dedication. While it doesn't feel as though Namco Bandai has done much to innovate in the genre from the surface, those who prefer Tekken's brand of fighting than those of Capcom's or NetherRealm's will have be in for a treat. Fans of the series will feel right at home, while those looking to ease their way into the series will find a lot to chew on. All that being said, Tekken 7 is a formidable entry into the fighting genre, and will provide hundreds of hours of fun for fans and newcomers alike. Just be prepared to learn a lot of new stuff.
Friday the 13th: The Game shouldn't have been released in the sad state it currently is in. From glitches that make players invincible to terrible matchmaking that had me waiting over 10 minutes to get into a room, it's putting it nicely to call the end product a mess. It's really heartbreaking to see since there are still positives that mange to shine through if one can look past the galling lack of polish. The core gameplay, when it works properly, can be fun when played with friends, and there are some refreshing ideas underneath the jank. Several months from now it may become the multiplayer hit it strives to be, but right now it's an embarrassing release that can't be recommended.
Rime is a game about loss. Rime is a game about grief. Rime is a game that I'm not ashamed to say made me cry. It's a beautiful journey and doesn't seek to simply entertain, but rather to touch the player's soul on a deeply emotional level through engagement and interaction. On the surface Rime is a great looking adventure full of puzzles set in a mysterious and living environment. At its core, Rime is something so much more. By weaving stunning art and engaging gameplay with a brutally emotional narrative, Rime blurs the line between touching the heart and entertaining the player in a way that few games have truly achieved.
Mechanically speaking, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is very much yet another musou game from Omega Force. There's much more to the title than just that, though, as the new focus on just one family allows it to tell one of the most interesting stories from feudal Japan. It's an entertaining history lesson (although as expected it does take certain creative liberties) that also provides a thoughtful look at why war can't always boil down to good versus evil. Despite some dated graphics and gameplay that is sometimes too simple for its own good, Spirit of Sanada ends up rejuvenating a franchise that had been treading water.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception features an interesting story and great cast of characters coupled with excellent 2D visuals and voice acting, making it an easily entertaining experience in spite of its few shortcomings. While those looking for a complex and deep tactical RPG experience may find themselves disappointed, fans of the visual novel genre and the Utawarerumono series will definitely enjoy Mask of Deception and will end up looking forward to Mask of Truth.
It's the case of a small issue that turned rampant and hindered my play experience, but Shadow Warrior 2 is such a fast-paced, irresponsible, chaotic joy ride, that the mental pain I had to deal with from this annoying decision was well worth it in the end.
It's hard to talk about a game like Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island without the phrase, “garden-variety” coming to mind. To put it rather bluntly, it's a garden-variety platformer, featuring garden-variety combat mechanics and a garden-variety narrative. There is nothing especially wrong with the game in any respect. It just doesn't necessarily do anything overly special in any specific areas either. It's a perfectly fine way to spend three hours of your life, as long as you go in with tempered expectations. Remember: sometimes simply being good enough is more than enough.
Injustice 2 may have the best single-player campaign of any fighting game. NetherRealm has hit a solid groove with their fighting games. A few new blocking mechanics help to add a touch more balance to the game's environmental damage options, and the loot system is second to none. Microtransactions are always a tricky issue with any game, but by sticking to cosmetic items, purchases using additional cash aren't necessary in order to get full enjoyment out of the game. Fighting game and DC fans alike should add this game to their collection as soon as possible.
If you're in the mood for a more light-hearted take on the procedurally-generated survival genre, then you may want to check out Portal Knights. Its inclusion of major RPG elements gives you new unlocks to look forward to and experiment with, and its easy yet robust crafting system always tasks you with collecting something different. Combined with specialized and upgradeable crafting stations, Portal Knights feels like it has more focus than many games in the procedural genre. These varying gameplay mechanics all meld together to produce a game that is good fun to play with friends.
Farpoint is a long awaited title for PSVR, and one that does as many things right as it does wrong. It's as revolutionary as it is dated, being a necessary forward step in the evolution of virtual reality, but ultimately a game that will be as forgotten as any console's launch titles. The gunplay and story are both good experiences, but decidedly separate from one another. Farpoint is best experienced with the Aim controller, ending up as a game that highlights the amazingly immersive capabilities of this new peripheral while never really making a strong mark for itself.
Akiba's Beat is in a strange position, having been released right after two other Japanese role-playing games dealt with very similar topics. While it doesn't have strong enough writing to eclipse these titles, it does feature a few story beats that keep it from being a D-grade Persona. From a combat perspective, the game feels like a Tales game, but without any of the polish. There's room for improvement in practically every area, but it's still a decent RPG that is worth playing for those that somehow ran out of RPGs in their backlog.
Deck13 has built on the successes and mistakes of Lords of the Fallen and has created something that is able to not only stand toe-to-toe with the Souls franchise but is also capable of standing on its own with its unique identity. The new and different systems The Surge has introduced makes it an enjoyable and different experience for both newcomers to the genre and those who have already played Souls-like games previously. Deck13 has done a great job at combining the familiar and the new to create a unique vision that's both fun and challenging.
If you've got money to spend, and don't mind waiting for any sort of conclusion, then Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is the best way to experience the first half of Idea Factory's visual novel. The new scenes help to flesh out the existing stories, and the additional characters help make a familiar story feel new again. It's a shame that all the hard work gets marred by splitting the story into two games, but it's still a very enjoyable read.
Ten years after its original release, LocoRoco is still an undeniably fun experience which has aged incredibly well, owing to its simple yet beautiful aesthetic as well as its unique and straightforward gameplay. While the remaster doesn't add much in terms of content, fans of the original might enjoy replaying one of the PSP's most delightful exclusives at a higher resolution and with the new motion controls. And those who weren't able to play it on the PSP will definitely enjoy the endearing yet brief experience of LocoRoco in its best form yet.