PS4 Game Reviews
Mini Review Unrailed - Simple Train Survival Game Runs Out of Steam
Do the locomotion
Unrailed is a co-op survival game in which you must keep a train going for as long as possible. It's a novel twist on the genre that sees you and three other players protecting a locomotive rather than yourselves. It even has the usual trappings of survival games, such as procedural level generation and crafting, but it keeps it...
Review 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Excellent Visual Novel Is a Mind-Bending Experience
Lucky for some
Wow, what a ride 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is. Vanillaware — the talented Japanese developer behind impressive action games like Dragon's Crown Pro and Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir — is back, and it's trying something totally new with its latest release. 13 Sentinels is primarily a visual novel with some very light puzzle solving,...
Review Spelunky 2 - Rock Hard Roguelike Is a Superior Sequel
To the moon
Spelunky is the definition of "harsh but fair". A roguelike platformer with a myriad of moving parts, the procedurally generated underground worlds have a strict set of rules, and you must follow them, lest you be punished in surprisingly gruesome ways. It's of course very much the same with Spelunky 2, a sequel that builds upon the...
Mini Review eFootball PES 2021: Season Update - Football, Bloody Hell
Flying without Ings
If you want to know more about eFootball PES 2021: Season Update then you can simply read our review of eFootball PES 2020, as this is almost identical in every single way. To be fair to Konami, it’s been uncharacteristically upfront about the nature of this year’s soccer simulation, pointing out at practically every...
Mini Review Bounty Battle - A Truly Terrible Attempt at Indie Smash Bros
Wanted dead
In concept, Bounty Battle is the Super Smash Bros. of indie games. In reality, Bounty Battle is nothing short of a disaster. It's a terribly made brawler that, at its worst, is borderline unplayable. It's a joyless, almost baffling experience that'll make you wonder how the heck it even managed to secure characters from Owlboy, Darkest...
Mini Review The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon - A Solid But Very Safe Expansion
Welcome back, Captain
Bloody corporations, eh? They've only gone and done it again! Peril on Gorgon is The Outer Worlds' first expansion, and all told, it's a solid excursion. Your intrepid Captain and their crew find themselves travelling to the hellish Gorgon asteroid — a (mostly) abandoned testing site for dodgy space drugs. You're contracted...
Review Buried Stars - We Stan One K-Pop Mystery
A buried gem
Visual novel Buried Stars is an interesting one. With many saying online that the game has come from nowhere, its sudden release has surprised, and delighted, a lot of people. From Korean Studio Largo, Buried Stars follows the events of the titular reality show, which is set in the final stages of a K-pop talent contest. Unfortunately...
Mini Review Tamarin - Tonally Confused Monkey Business
Is that a monkey? He's got a gun!
Tamarin bears some striking resemblance to Jet Force Gemini — an N64 game in which you save a peaceful planet from an invading race of alien insects. The key difference, though, is that in the 1999 Rare title, you play as the titular group of galactic soldiers, while in Tamarin, you play as a tamarin. After a very...
Review NBA 2K21 - Perfect for Those in the Bubble, Good for Everyone Else
Ballers only
NBA 2K21 captures the see-saw flow of real-world basketball so well that you’ll feel at one with thousands of virtual fans when you nail a clutch corner three with seconds left on the clock. Visual Concepts’ simulation has, along with the MLB The Show series, always been a cut above the competition when it comes to broadcast-style...
Review Hotshot Racing - Cracking Arcade Racer Is a Constant Joy
Drifting into our hearts
It's no secret that arcade racers have sort of gone away for most of PlayStation 4's lifespan. Most of the generation's best racing games lean towards simulation, which is fine, but those looking for a more casual experience don't have nearly as many options. This is where Hotshot Racing slides sideways into view, with all...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube152k Watch on YouTube Review Inertial Drift - Arcade Racing with a Twist
Neon dreams
It feels like ages since we’ve had a decent arcade racer on PlayStation. Quick thrills often take a back seat to realism and vehicle calibration. Thankfully, Belfast-based dev Level 91 has channelled the likes of Burnout and Ridge Racer for its neon-drenched title Inertial Drift. There are no comprehensive difficulty modifiers here;...
Review Control: AWE - An Intriguing Must for Alan Wake Fans, But No One Else
It’s not a lake, it’s a CONTROLcean
Alan Wake is a property of Remedy’s that has a pretty hardcore, dedicated fanbase. There have been promising signs by way of the spin-off American Nightmare or the more recent instance of Remedy buying back the right to the IP, but Control: AWE is by far the best indicator yet. Much like Control: The...
Review Wasteland 3 - Fallout Meets XCOM in This Engrossing But Slightly Buggy RPG
Power Armour Rangers
Wasteland 3 is one of those games that you can get completely lost in. Between its world building, its characters, and its player progression, it's an engrossing experience from start to finish. It goes without saying, but the veteran developers over at inXile really know how to make a role-playing game. Wasteland 3 is what...
Review Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series - Star Wars and VR Are Made for Each Other
Be proud of this technological terror
Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series came as a bit of a surprise. We'd expected a bit of a cash grab, but the actual product is decent if unorthodox package. We get a campaign spread across three episodes plus three waves-based challenge modes. There’s actually a surprising wealth of content when viewed...
Mini Review Ary and the Secret of Seasons - A Solid, Good-Looking Indie Action Adventure
A woman for all seasons
Something is amiss in the world of Valdi. The seasons are in disarray, meaning that fierce winter winds bellow in place of gentle summer breezes. It’s up to a girl named Ary to restore balance at the behest of a mysterious society, the Guardians of Seasons. Ary and the Secret of Seasons is an action adventure in the...
Mini Review Nexomon: Extinction - With an Update or Two, This Could Be a Solid Pokémon Clone
Nixomon
Nexomon: Extinction is the best Pokémon clone you'll find on PlayStation 4 -- but admittedly, that isn't saying much. The addictive quality of catching and training often cute, sometimes cool looking monsters is here, but the game as a whole is let down by some uneven design. Nexomon doesn't really care that it's a blatant Pokémon...
Review WRC 9 - A Compelling Rally Sim That's Gone from Good to Great
Don't confuse speed with haste
Annual games have a bit of a reputation for rehashing the same old thing year after year with only minor improvements. Some say it’s a license to print money. Rally is hardly in the mainstream, however, and neither is developer Kylotonn’s approach to the FIA World Rally Championship. With significant strides made...
Mini Review The Last Campfire - Cosy Puzzles from Hello Games
Marshmallow mania
If No Man's Sky is the ambitious, boisterous member of the Hello Games family, The Last Campfire is the subdued, charming one. Released to very little fanfare, this simplistic puzzler does enough to provide a weekend's worth of enjoyment. Just don't expect anything too impressive from those two days of fun. The hazy fairy tale...
Review Madden NFL 21 - Football Brings All the Boys to the Yard
Fumble
Madden NFL 21 finds itself in a particularly peculiar position this year. The football simulation’s launching less than three months prior to the PlayStation 5, and while there will be a free upgrade to the next-gen console, it really shows. Despite bundling in a potential series cornerstone in the Yard, this is a relatively low-effort...
Review Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions - Anime Hijinks Liven Up Uneven Arcade Footy
Missed a sitter
We can't imagine there's a huge overlap on the Venn diagram for football fans and anime and manga and enthusiasts, but here we are. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is aiming squarely for the demographic of people that have both a Sky Sports and a Crunchyroll subscription, and good luck to it, we say. If you're not familiar...
Darkened crystal
The original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the Nintendo GameCube was nothing short of a nightmare to set up. If you wanted to play co-op, each player needed their own Game Boy Advance and link cable. The handheld would become your controller, and its screen would display important information, like inventories and maps. It was...
Review Project CARS 3 - A Somewhat Fun Arcade Racer Going Through an Identity Crisis
Change is good. Or is it?
Project CARS 3 is not a simulator. Those familiar with the series may be surprised by this, but it’s true. It doesn’t look or feel like a simulator, either on the track or away from it. There are over 200 cars with most of the big hitters on the roster, but there’s no celebration of them in the menus like you get in...
Review Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition - A Complete Package At Last
Round 2
Republished on Wednesday 26th August 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. With its Arcade Edition update, Street Fighter V finally feels like a complete fighting game – a title that can fully appeal to both competitive and...
Review PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - Return of the Battle Royale King?
Royale lineage
Republished on Wednesday 26th August 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. While not the first battle royale game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (also known as PUBG to its friends) managed to kick-off a genre land grab in...
Mini Review Hypnospace Outlaw - A Literal Point and Click Adventure
Surfing in the 90s
Hypnospace Outlaw gamifies the structure and horrific custom pages of GeoCities. If you've any nostalgia for this chapter in the Internet's history, you're likely already interested in this obscure title. You're free to explore Hypnospace as you see fit, but your job is actually to scour the virtual space for rule-breaking...
Mini Review No Straight Roads – A Vibrant, Creative Experience Not Without Its Missteps
Mayday Parade
Stepping into the colourful, vibrant world of Vinyl City is a treat. A crazy, dystopian metropolis powered by “evil” EDM music from corporation NSR, No Straight Roads makes a spectacular first impression. Mayday and Zuke comprise rock band Bunk Bed Junction, and it’s up to you to bring rock back into the world. With a...
Review Train Sim World 2 - We're Loco for This Zen Railway Sim
Rail good
When you’re hurtling through the outskirts of Cologne, rain lashing the panoramic windscreen of your ICE 3, there are few gaming experiences quite as zen as Train Sim World 2. The sequel to Dovetail Games’ railway simulation has released at the worst possible time, with a certain aviation-themed title taking up transportation...
Review Descenders - An Addictive, Unique Roguelite Involving Bicycles
Started from the top and now we’re here
If someone pitched a roguelite to you, odds are you wouldn’t expect it to be an extreme sports biking game. But that's exactly what developer RageSquid has delivered with its procedural downhill excursion. An odd pairing at first blush maybe, but does the game deliver the goods? Descenders sees you...
Review Spiritfarer - Feel-Good Management Sim Is a Relaxing Cruise
Good grief
Games are so often filled with death, and it's reached a point where we don't even really think about it. Not only do we kill countless baddies, we also die multiple times in the process -- sometimes, it's even part of the marketing. Prepare to die. Of course, not every game is like this, and Spiritfarer goes one better than just being a...
Review Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time - Jack Returns in a Simple But Fun Brawler
He has a bad feeling about this...
Between 1995 and 2005, Cartoon Network gave us some of the greatest animation ever produced by any lone studio; Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and the original animated Clone Wars is just some of the quality output of that period. Yet, towering above even those fantastic shows, was Genndy...
