This was my second Let’s Play, and to be honest my first proper attempt at playing a shooter that isn’t Grand Theft Auto. I think I did okay, considering!
This is my blind play-through of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. When I decided to play the game I had no idea that it takes the turn it does in the second third of the game. Still traumatised.
My first ever Let’s Play, back when I recorded and edited everything on the PS4 console and made my thumbnails on Microsoft Paint!
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is a Walking Simulator set in the fictional British village of Yaughton. Wandering around, we get to know the residents and start to unravel the mysteries of what went down in this town.
PS. I had no idea what Rapture meant.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
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Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Reminder – If you are a PS Plus member, remember to add the games to your library each month, you don’t HAVE to download them. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever play it, it is worth having in your library just in case. You never know what is going to take you by surprise!
On my quest to play all sorts of different games, I have decided it would be fun to go back and play through my library of PS Plus games that I have never even looked at. I am (eventually) going to go through each month, from most to least recent, trying out these games and having my say about each one. I do hope this can be helpful to someone but if not, at least I’m finally trying these games!
P.S. I am only going to go through the PS4 games for now. Between my huge backlog and my slow old console, I’ve decided that will be best. Since I am not yet playing the PS3/Vita titles, I am going to write a quick summary from the info I find from my friend Google, just for my own future benefit/anyone curious about the full months line-up!
PS4 – Stories: The Path of Destinies
Stories: The Path of Destinies is an ARPG, choose-your-own-story game with a twist, developed by Spearhead Games. You control Reynardo, a rebel fox. In the war with the ravens, we try our best to figure out a way to win, only it isn’t always that easy. Each chapter you are given options as to where to go next, and with over 20 endings, the possibilities are almost endless. I personally do not enjoy the ARPG genre as combat is never my favourite part of a game. While playing, I roll my eyes when the enemies so obviously pop up whenever you enter an empty space. But yet I keep playing. And I am going to keep playing.
The story is funny and charming and the way this story is told is awesome. If there was more to do other than just combat I would be singing this game so many praises. Even so, the chapters are fairly short so it is easy enough to deal with. Thankfully, this won’t be an issue for most people anyway because when gaming you expect combat, it is just a personal opinion that I found the combat annoying and slightly boring. The overall concept of the game is amazing. If your curious, you must at least do one play-through. It will only take you 1 or 2 hours and since that is only the beginning of the game, most people will probably come back for more. And they should. It’s great.
PS4 – Invisible Inc.
Invisible Inc. is an intense turn-based spy game developed by Klei Entertainment. If you are into strategy then I think you will love this game. It’s funny because I had just been thinking about how long it’s been since I played a great turn based strategy game (see Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops below) and then suddenly I’m playing one. And I think it is a great one. I have only played the tutorial and the first mission and my heart is on edge. I think it is such a clever game, not only do you have to decide how to best use your own turn, you have to prepare yourself and anticipate what the enemies are going to do. Should you hide? Should you attack? Should you run and risk it?
Thankfully there are many different difficulty levels and beginner is a very forgiving way to ease you into the game while still making you feel like your jumping straight in. Then, I bet that the harder difficulties will give you an immense and even more intense challenge. If you are fancying a game like this then I seriously recommend it. Not only is it a fun example of the genre, it feels very well thought out and has more depth than I would have expected. Very fun game for sure. I also enjoy the music. Take the music from The Wolf Among Us and speed it up into a tense spy thriller tune. It’s awesome.
PS4/PS3 – Hyper Void
Hyper Void is an arcade space shooter developed by InFramez Technology. The game plays around with depth perception and warps around to give you a more exciting experience. This isn’t a game that I would ever personally choose to play and doesn’t seem to have much depth to it at all but it will be fun for anyone who enjoys a fast paced, shoot-everything-out-of-your way, worm-holey kind of game in a trippy, 3D, space environment.
PS4/PS3/Vita – Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops
Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops is a charming little twin stick shooter developed by Plunge Interactive. The cute 3D graphics and different objectives set this game aside from other twin stick shooters I have played. Admittedly, this isn’t my genre, but I played this one longer than I did any of the others. Your characters have names and progress throughout the missions, and if they die they are gone and you get replacements. You can buy weapon and character upgrades for the numerous missions such as defeat the enemies, destroy their buildings, protect the people and survive. Although the game plays nothing like it, I was getting serious nostalgia from the ever so slight ‘Worms 4: Mayhem’ vibes I was getting. Instead of wanting to carry on playing however, it made me seriously wonder whether we will ever get a remaster of that gem. To sum up, this is a nice little twin stick shooter.
PS4/Vita – Colour Guardians
Colour Guardians is a game developed by Fair Play Labs. I am pretty sure this game is in its own Genre but I cannot figure out what it would be called. You know those games where the character runs along at a constant speed, and there are three paths that you can switch between. Usually there are collectables and traps on these paths, forcing you to calculate your movements to dodge and weave and grab everything you can? I have definitely tried numerous other games of the sort but I couldn’t name one. Well Colour Guardians is just like that. Personally, it is not for me at all. I find these games quite boring, but I can see the appeal of mastering them. I can definitely see how this game could end up being really tricky on the higher levels and would serve well to pass sometime on the Vita while commuting, but other than that I would never pick it up. If you do enjoy the genre though then it would be a nice addition to your collection. It has its own flavour, the graphics are nice and it will keep you playing for a while.
Vita – VVVVV
VVVVV is an indie, 2D, side-scrolling platformer developed by Terry Cavanagh. All I can really say about this one is that I am not too sad to be missing it as it is not my kind of game at all. It has decent reviews if you are into that type of game but that is all I really can say since I don’t own a Vita.
Summary – Five games for the PS4 for the third time so far. I do understand people that are wanting fewer bigger games that they can really get into rather than five potentially hit or miss games. It would be very lucky for someone to like them all. But I think that’s the point, there is a little something for everyone. I’m not saying that loads of smaller games is always the best option, but I do think this month had a great variety. Sure, I didn’t like them all but I did discover some games that I really like and definitely would have never bought. I suppose that is the nature of PS Plus isn’t it, every game is not going to suit everyone and what is a great month for one is a crap month for another. I’m beginning to appreciate that you can’t please everyone.
Did you enjoy Decembers line-up?
Reminder – If you are a PS Plus member, remember to add the games to your library each month, you don’t HAVE to download them. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever play it, it is worth having in your library just in case. You never know what is going to take you by surprise!
On my quest to play all sorts of different games, I have decided it would be fun to go back and play through my library of PS Plus games that I have never even looked at. I am (eventually) going to go through each month, from most to least recent, trying out these games and having my say about each one. I do hope this can be helpful to someone but if not, at least I’m finally trying these games!
P.S. I am only going to go through the PS4 games for now. Between my huge backlog and my slow old console, I’ve decided that will be best. Since I am not yet playing the PS3/Vita titles, I am going to write a quick summary from the info I find from my friend Google, just for my own future benefit/anyone curious about the full months line-up!
PS4 – This War of Mine: The Little Ones
This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a side-scrolling, survival, base-building game, developed by 11 Bit Studios. There is a civil war going on and you control a group of survivors. By day you can craft in your base to provide the bare necessities of survival, then by night you choose who sleeps, who guards, and who goes out to scavenge. I had already heard of the game, and the whole survival and base building concept piqued my interest. One of the reasons that I have never bought it though is because it puts me off, the thought of putting hours into the game then having everyone die because I’m crap at resource management.
Upon beginning my game, I was surprised by how much I felt it had to offer. The not only are the graphics unique and ambient, the whole atmosphere of the game is one of desperation, sadness and gloom. They really hit that nail on the head. Trouble is, it’s borderline depressing. I know I am going to have to be in the right mood to play this game. That is still a good thing though, I feel it is important to sometimes open ourselves up to these things, and as shit as it is to see our characters starving and sick, when we see them healing and content, it is a nice feeling. I know the characters aren’t real and they don’t have much personality to get attached too, but it’s more what they represent to me. And we could all do with learning the lesson of ‘Appreciate the little things’.
Now, as far as game play, the game really really could have used a tutorial. It took me a google search to figure out how to use the stairs, then I accidentally sent a trader away while trying to talk to him. I have done a trial play-through and one of my characters died, but she got killed so quickly that I still have no idea how the combat works. I stopped after that because my other characters were starving and I wanted to start afresh now that I have a better idea of how to approach resource management. If any of this sounds appealing to you or if you are in the mood for something heavy, or something even potentially eye opening, then I suggest checking it out. I haven’t even scratched the surface yet and I will be restarting to make better choices next time.
PS4/PS3/Vita – The Swindle
The Swindle is a stealth 2D platformer developed by Size Five Games. It also has a very minor resource management/skill tree element to it in which you will need to make decisions, so I would say it also falls into the category of strategy. It is set in London in the 1800’s. The concept is simple. You are a master burglar. Scotland are going to release an AI that will thwart your career and you have 100 days to stop them.
Each day takes the form of a new heist, whether you are successful or not is another matter. While performing the heist, if you get seen once then that alerts everyone. Then the second time you are caught. You can also die from falling from great heights or landing on spikes. You will then get a new burglar to take over. The aim of the heists is to earn as much money as possible. You can then return to your ship and buy upgrades, whether they are tools, abilities or security passes for more upmarket areas, providing higher rewards and higher risks. It is up to you how you spend your earnings and your 100 days. This isn’t a great game for me as I don’t enjoy stealth and I don’t enjoy 2D platformers, but I really do love the concept. I played 8 days and I think I earned around £2000, but then I came off it as I don’t really have the patience. I do think this is an enjoyable little game, especially, I imagine, for Vita. One thing I will say is that I could have used a tutorial since it gets a little annoying having to pause and find the controls.
PS4/Vita – Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a point and click adventure developed by Lucas Arts. Purple Tentacle is on the path to world domination and it is up to us to stop him. DotT is considered to be a classic in the genre and I personally had fun with it as my first console point and click. The whole style is fun, from the music, to the humour, to the artwork. There is actually the option to play the original version rather than the remaster, all you have to do is press a button. There is also the full version of DotT’s predecessor, Maniac Mansion, available to play in game.
For anyone that doesn’t know, the idea is to explore and collect items to solve puzzles. That sounds easy but I have got to admit, I ended up using a walk-through. I did everything I could think of but some in some cases I just could not figure it out. Every time I used the walk-through I was pleased I did because I would never have thought of the answer, so don’t worry if you do need to use it. But don’t use the walk-through from the get go. I was surprised at just how far I got without it. This isn’t a long game – I suppose it just depends how long it takes you to figure everything out – but I do recommend only starting it when you intend to commit to it. I did the intro then left it for a couple of weeks. When I came back to it I had forgotten what to do, I was only pleased I was at the beginning because it would suck to forget where you were half way through. I would think most people can finish this in 2-3 sittings, including the platinum, which is pretty easy (I got my 8th platinum, woohoo!). FYI if you are going for the platinum, don’t skip the cut-scenes. I think I would have loved the game a lot more if it wasn’t for one running joke, which – as much as I hate to be a party pooper – left a bad taste for me. But other than that, I enjoyed it and I am really looking forward to dabbling more into the genre.
PS4/Vita – Titan Souls
Titan Souls is what I would like to call a top-down boss fighter game.. developed by Acid Nerve. With only the ability to roll, run and shoot an arrow, rooms of bosses await. I can tell you straight away that this game was not made with people like me in mind. My favourite part of a game is the story, and my least favourite is.. can you guess? The boss fights. So I think I am the opposite of the target audience. I don’t enjoy getting constantly one shotted and I don’t enjoy constantly missing my target
Having said that, I think the style of this game is lovely and the music between bosses is beautiful. It’s not that the controls suck, but it sucks having one arrow then having to retrieve it every time you inevitably miss, while also being chased by whatever beast you are facing. But I do understand why it is that way. I managed to stick around for long enough to defeat my first boss and the feeling of little you, triumphing against the odds is a good feeling. But in order to get that you have to have the patience to keep going, and sadly, I am the opposite of patient. If you enjoy a challenge and enjoy games that are soley about boss battles then go for it, please. If I am not mistaken, this game prides itself on being difficult.
PS4/Vita – Azkend 2: The World Beneath
Azkend 2: The World Beneath is a match-3 game developed by 10tons Ltd. If you enjoy mobile games but without the microtransactions then you will probably enjoy this one. It’s pretty much like most other versions of these games, with different types of rounds, challenges and bonuses. As much as I thought I would want this on my console, I definitely think these games are better on the move, where you can jump in for 10 minutes if that’s all you have and finish a couple of rounds. On console however, it just feels a bit bland. The controls don’t seem to transfer well either, I think it would work a lot better with a touch screen or a mouse. This is just my opinion though. The artwork and music are both nice and if you easily get addicted to these games then you’ll enjoy it. It is certainly nice to get for free, but it is just a game I’d rather have on my phone that I could whack out when I am out somewhere and bored. It’s a time passer rather than a must play.
PS3 – Blazerush
Blazerush is an arcade, racing game developed by Targem Games. Reviews range from average to good, saying that while it is very fun, it lacks substance.
Summary – Five games to try, again, wow! To be honest, I liked this bunch a WHOLE lot better than February’s selection. With this group, I have completed one game, have another one I would like to complete, another that I might complete and the other two were genres that I would have never bought but was pleased to try. Probably one of the most successful months that I have had so far! And I got my first PS Plus Platinum! It was a good month for Vita players too since four of these games are crossbuys!
Did you enjoy Januarys selection?
Reminder – If you are a PS Plus member, remember to add the games to your library each month, you don’t HAVE to download them. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever play it, it is worth having in your library just in case. You never know what is going to take you by surprise!
On my quest to play all sorts of different games, I have decided it would be fun to go back and play through my library of PS Plus games that I have never even looked at. I am (eventually) going to go through each month, from most to least recent, trying out these games and having my say about each one. I do hope this can be helpful to someone but if not, at least I’m finally trying these games!
P.S. I am only going to go through the PS4 games for now. Between my huge backlog and my slow old console, I’ve decided that will be best. Since I am not yet playing the PS3/Vita titles, I am going to write a quick summary from the info I find from my friend Google, just for my own future benefit/anyone curious about the full months line-up!
PS4 – Little Big Planet 3
Little Big Planet 3 is a side scrolling platform puzzler developed by Sumo Digital. It is definitely geared towards kids but I found it more playable as an adult than I did Tearaway Unfolded on my previous post. I first played a Little Big Planet game (possibly the first one) on my PS3 as it was bundled with the console at the time. I played it for probably 15 minutes and hated it. I thought that maybe, with my new enlightened mind, I might enjoy this one. I was at least giving it a fair chance. But honestly, I was just so bored. I wasn’t watching the cut-scenes, I didn’t particularly care about the collectibles and I gave up when I got to the first ‘boss’. I appreciate the customisation allowed, especially since the game has an online presence, but I never once felt invested in the game.
The good part is that it actually ran really well. I have heard a lot about game-breaking bugs in this game but I didn’t even get any minor bugs in my (admittedly short) stay. It is a really detailed game too. The levels look great and are interesting. I suppose if you look at it as a 3D Mario it is pretty well done, but it is just not for me at all and even though I know people enjoy it, I’d struggle to recommend it to anyone.
PS4 – Not a Hero
Not a Hero is a 2D platform shooter developed by Roll 7. This game was a nice surprise for me. Not only did I find it amusing, it is the first time that I have (almost) enjoyed this genre. Bunnylord is a campaigning politician and you play as his henchmen, hired to do ‘jobs’ for him on his road to presidency. The tutorial is great, it tells you everything you need to know in a concise way. There are plenty of levels and each has 3 optional objectives giving the game replay value, as well as unlocking different characters as the game goes on. I am not at all saying that I am a convert. Truthfully, I will probably never play it again, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be mad if it was the only thing that I had to do. Fun little game for sure.
PS4/Vita – Ninja Senki DX
Ninja Senki DX is a 2D platformer developed by Tribute Games. I want to call it Mario Lite, but that’s probably because I don’t know enough about 2D platformers! If, like me, you aren’t into 2D platformers/retro games, you probably aren’t going to like it. If you are, you’ll have to try it yourself because I honestly wouldn’t know how to tell a good from a bad one.
PS4/Vita – TourqueL
TourqueL is a 2D puzzle game developed by FullPowerSideAttack. The concept is that you are in a square, and each button on your controller extends the side of the square that corresponds with the colour. It feels more like a vita game than a console game. In fact, it feels more like one of those browser games we used to play a school whenever we had access to the computer room and the teachers weren’t looking. For me, it is not a game I would buy, I haven’t got the hang of it and I sadly don’t want to get the hang of it. It might suit some people who have some time to kill while waiting around.
PS4/PS3 – Starwahl
Starwahl is a neon side scroller/arena dual type game developed by Breakfall. It is without a doubt the weirdest game that I have ever played! You control a Narwhal floating around in space. There are traditional timed rounds that you have to complete by avoiding the obstacles or collecting the targets (Easier said than done!) or there is a couch co-op multiplayer showdown. The first thing I did was a brawl against 3 AI players and all I could think while trying to flop my Narwhal around was – this is so weird. But it is weird in a good way. It would be fun for a while with some friends, but I personally don’t have the patience for the single player rounds. As soon as I got to the Medium levels where you can die I had to put it down.
PS3 – Anna: Extended Edition
Anna: Extended Edition seems to be a horror puzzle adventure, developed by Dreampainters Software. I don’t want to delve too deeply into this one as it looks very interesting and I hope to play it someday. It takes place in an abandoned Saw Mill. The game is first person and you learn about your characters past by solving puzzles and finding clues. This does sound like an interesting one, however it doesn’t have the greatest reviews so don’t expect a masterpiece.
Summary – Five games, wow. It’s wasn’t until I thought ‘Thank god these weren’t great games or this post would take weeks’ that I realised that.. actually.. I am paying for the subscription so I should not be relieved to get games I don’t enjoy. I do enjoy the absolutely random indies and I am happy that my co-op library is expanding, but I do feel like this has been a particularly weak month, at least for me. Thankfully, in the up and coming months (I am going backwards so the next one will be January) I am particularly excited to try certain games. So, the consensus of this month – I’m just pleased to have got it out of the way.
Did you enjoy February’s titles?
Reminder – If you are a PS Plus member, remember to add the games to your library each month, you don’t HAVE to download them. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever play it, it is worth having in your library just in case. You never know what is going to take you by surprise!
On my quest to play all sorts of different games, I have decided it would be fun to go back and play through my library of PS Plus games that I have never even looked at. I am (eventually) going to go through each month, from most to least recent, trying out these games and having my say about each one. I do hope this can be helpful to someone but if not, at least I’m finally trying these games!
P.S. I am only going to go through the PS4 games for now. Between my huge backlog and my slow old console, I’ve decided that will be best. Since I am not yet playing the PS3/Vita titles, I am going to write a quick summary from the info I find from my friend Google, just for my own future benefit/anyone curious about the full months line-up!
PS4 – Tearaway Unfolded
Tearaway Unfolded is 3D adventure platformer developed by Tarsier Studios and Media Molecule. You control a messenger as you traverse through their paper world, on a quest to repair the tear in the sky. As charming as the game attempts to be, sadly it didn’t really charm me. From the very opening, I felt, kind of patronised. The tone feels VERY geared towards kids. I am not someone that feels like I am above kiddy things. Sometimes I love kiddy things. But there is something about the way that the narrators were telling the story that completely drove me up the wall. I think the game would have benefited from getting rid of them completely.
Technically, this game is really innovative. It uses the motion control feature of your controller as well as the touch pad for drawing things. Not only that, there is a lot of customisation, and if you design something, it will keep popping up throughout the game. Having said that, even the drawing controls can be frustrating. Overall, I think this is a great game for kids. It encourages creativity, it is very forgiving and they can delve in as deep as they want, going for collectables or just sticking to the story. But then for adults, it depends on the individual. I hated the intro and the tutorial section glitched out on me. Usually I would have quit the game by then, but I thought no, let’s give it a chance, for the sake of my experiment. I played for hours, and by the end I just thought to myself, why am I still playing? To be honest, every now and again when I have got the patience, I might chip away at the story just for the sake of completion, but I kind of wish that I had never started.
PS4 – Disc Jam
Disc Jam is an online arcade sport game developed by High Horse Entertainment. It is basically extreme tennis. It is fast paced and honestly, I have had a blast with it. I haven’t laughed so much for a while, it’s even got me shouting out at the TV when I am on my own. So far there are four playable characters with customisation options that you unlock with Disc Jams equivalent to loot boxes. You unlock these by spending the points you have earned by playing games. Thankfully, you earn plenty of points fast and there are plenty of things to win, so that encourages you to play more games. However, that is really the only sense of progression as there is no story or goals.
After playing the two tutorials, there are singles matches and doubles matches. For singles matches it was only taking me 10 seconds to find a game each time, although I did get pared up with the same person a couple of times. It was a lot harder to find doubles matches. After pissing off two partners with my non-abilities, I couldn’t find a match at all. I have to admit though, this game is fun. Apparently it matches you with people with similar abilities, but in my first two games I got absolutely SMASHED. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and everything that happened was funnier than the previous. Then on my third match I got paired up with someone who was even worse than me, which made it even funnier. Then I got smashed again, and then I started getting the hang of the controls. I have got to admit, one of the reasons I don’t really touch online games is because I am crap at them, so it puts me off because I don’t want to spoil anyone elses game. However, I did find it really uncool when my doubles partners were abandoning me near the end of the game, especially when I had got some pretty good shots. This game also contains couch co-op so I might have a crack with a friend some time. I don’t yet know if you can enter your couch co-op team into doubles matches but that would be fun.
PS4/Vita – Lumo
Lumo is an adventure platform puzzle game developed by Triple Eh? Ltd. I didn’t know what to expect with this one but as soon as I started controlling my little character, I was surprised at just how great this game looks. The graphics are lovely and the floating levels reminded me of Kula World from the PS1 days. As I was playing the first section I was getting more and more excited. In my head, a game I would love to try would be like the original Resident Evil, but without the survival horror aspect i.e. a pretty complex puzzle game without zombies. At the beginning I thought wow, that’s what I’m getting here and I decided I am going to finish it.
As the game went on though, I realised that the game was relying more and more on platforming and less and less on brain work. It was disappointing. I tried to keep going and get the game finished because I knew if I turned it off I might not turn it back on, but after getting the trophy for dying 250 times due to an unresponsive jump button and dodgy angles, I gave up. I’m pretty sure I was near the end but I couldn’t force myself to carry on. I am so sad that my enjoyment went downhill because I didn’t think that was the way it was going to go at all. It is worth a try by anyone who got it for free as it is a nice little game, but sadly it just didn’t turn out to be as clever as I thought it was going to be.
Vita – Severed
Severed is an action adventure game and was developed by DrinkBox Studios. It seems to be a very well regarded mobile game but I haven’t found much information about the Vita version.
PS3 – Earth Defence Force 2025
Earth Defence Force 2025 is a third person shooter developed by Sandlot. It is a sequel to Earth Defence Force 2017 and has quite mediocre reviews. In the game you play as the EDF, a military force tasked with protecting the earth from Aliens.
PS3 – Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is a 2D fighter developed by Ecole Software and French-Bread. It is a Sci-Fi Supernatural visual novel, set in Japan. It was quite well received for being fun and unique.
Summary – To be honest, this is the weakest month yet for me (bearing in mind I am working backwards through the months). It was full of games that were promising, and I put time into, but turned out to be just disappointing. Disc Jam was a nice experience to have for free when I would never usually buy it, but I ended up so disappointed in Lumo. It had so much potential but is spoiled by dodgy controls. If they had put the difficulty into puzzles rather than bad angles then I would have loved it, I just don’t enjoy trying to do the same thing 100 times because I misjudged a movement. As for Tearaway, I had a gut feeling that I wasn’t going to enjoy the game but I had hoped it would prove me wrong. Maybe next time.
Did you enjoy the March Line-Up?
Reminder – If you are a PS Plus member, remember to add the games to your library each month, you don’t HAVE to download them. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever play it, it is worth having in your library just in case. You never know what is going to take you by surprise!
On my quest to play all sorts of different games, I have decided it would be fun to go back and play through my library of PS Plus games that I have never even looked at. I am (eventually) going to go through each month, from most to least recent, trying out these games and having my say about each one. I do hope this can be helpful to someone but if not, at least I’m finally trying these games!
P.S. I am only going to go through the PS4 games for now. Between my huge backlog and my slow old console, I’ve decided that will be best. Since I am not yet playing the PS3 titles, I am going to write a quick summary from the info I find from my friend Google, just for my own future benefit/anyone curious about the full months line-up!
PS4 – Until Dawn
Until Dawn is a Survival Horror, interactive movie style game, developed by Supermassive Games. I already own this game, in fact I got it for Christmas at the same time as my PS4. It probably would have been my first PS4 game but it took a long time to download. I wrote a full review of it on this website if you are interested, so I will just write a brief summary here.
If you are a fan of horror movies then I suggest playing this game, even if you are not a gamer. The best way to go into it is first – blind – and second – not too seriously. It is like a love letter to campy horror films. It is full of clichéd characters and clichéd moments, and yet somehow it works. The graphics are wonderful and the atmosphere is haunting. I personally cannot deal with horror but I love choose your own adventure type games. I managed to get exactly half way through before I needed help. If you are like me, it helps to turn the volume down, play during the day and have someone else in the room with you. Just whatever you do, don’t google what’s going to happen because that will spoil it. If you are not like me, please, play in the pitch black in the dead of night and absorb that atmosphere. Or, get together a group of friends, assign characters to each other and pass the controllers around. Girls vs boys works well for this as I would say they get an equal amount of play time. You might be surprised at how much fun you have. I really think everyone should give this game a go, in which ever way it works for you. It is definitely one of a kind!
PS4 – Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is another interactive movie type of game but this one is of the episodic nature and was developed by Telltale Games. I, again, already own this game, except this time, I purposely haven’t played it. I haven’t seen any of the TV series yet but it is on my watch list. I read that this game spoils up to Season 3 of the show so if you are in the same boat as me, I suggest sitting on this one. I can, however, pass some information on that I have read. Telltale have a lot of great games but this, for whatever reason, isn’t classed as one of them.
Edit – I have since watched the whole show and played this game, and all I want to say is please do not sleep on it. I completely disagree with the reviews and would probably rank it as my second favourite Telltale Game after Tales from the Borderlands. What an experience I had.
PS4 – That’s You
That’s You is a PlayLink party game developed by Wish Studios and is actually free on PS Plus until October. What PlayLink means is that you can use your smartphones or tablets as controllers, making the game more accessible as a family game. You have to download the app and everything else is really straight forward and painless.
First Impressions – after a game with my Mam, we laughed a lot, but it was very short. The aim of the game (at least with two players) is to match your answers and prove you know each other well. It makes great use of the phone cameras and the drawing function is fun, and the best thing is that it is really easy to use. My Mam is a bit of a technophobe and she had no trouble. I don’t think I have had full experience yet as it is aimed at more players, but as a family that has played a lot of Buzz and Scene It in the past, the new PlayLink system seems really promising for these fun party games in the future. To sum up, I can’t say I’d be happy if I had paid for it but it is a fun little game for a free laugh.
PS4/Vita – Don’t die, Mr. Robot!
Don’t die, Mr. Robot! Is an indie arcade game developed by Infinite State Games. The aim of the game is in the title. Try to survive by avoiding the many different enemy robots wandering onto the screen and collect fruit to get rid of robots/gain points. When you touch a robot you die. There are 50 different levels with different goals e.g. survive for XX seconds, collect XX fruit, then there are other modes. Arcade mode is like endless mode to see how long you can survive on your one life. There are also two other modes. Time attack mode is where you have a set 2 minutes and 30 seconds to score as highly as possible. The robots seem to be moving double speed, but when you die you come back after 10 seconds. Lastly there is Chill Out mode. Again, an endless mode, but this time everything seems to be moving at half speed. My favourite would have been Time Attack mode but 10 seconds feels like a really long time when you are waiting for your replacement robot.
I appreciate the details in the game, for example there are a lot of customisation options for your little robot, and overall it’s a nice little time killer on the vita, but I don’t really find it too fun as a console game.
Vita – Element4l
Element4l is an indie platformer developed by I-illusions. Since I don’t have a Vita I won’t get to try this one but from looking at screenshots, it looks the most similar to Type:Rider, which is a game I found fun at first, but I became increasingly angry with it. It seems to have average to above average reviews. I’m not too sad to be missing out on this one.
PS3 – Tokyo Jungle
Tokyo Jungle is an action/survival game developed by Crispy’s! It is set in Tokyo, after… the apocalypse I guess. Humans are no more but wild animals roam the streets. You can play as lots of different animals as you try to survive. I actually read about this game recently and fancied trying it out so I am stoked that it is free. No doubt this will be one of the first PS3 games I download when I eventually get around to it. Whether the game is as good as it sounds however is yet for me to discover.
PS3 – Darkstalkers Resurrection
Darkstalkers Resurrection is a 2D fighting game developed by Iron Galaxy Studios. It is the latest in the Darkstalkers series and it plays in the same vein as the Tekken and Street Fighter games. It has some pretty good reviews so if you are a fan of the genre then definitely check it out.
Summary – In a similar thought to April ‘17, I feel like That’s You – like Drawn to Death – shouldn’t be advertised in the monthly line ups and instead should go in the free game section of the PS Store. Other than that, I actually think this is a very solid month. I would be raving about it if I didn’t already own half the games. A particularly solid month for people that enjoy story based games, and the people that skipped Until Dawn, not because they didn’t want to play it but because they didn’t want to buy it. As it seems, people appear to have really embraced it so I do hope this is the beginning of the expansion of the genre.
Did you enjoy July’s games?
CtrlAltNoob 