PS4 Game Reviews
Review NBA 2K20 - Brilliant Basketball Sim Soured by Businessmen
Tank for Zion
Republished on Monday 29th June 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of July's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. There has to be tensions at NBA 2K20 developer Visual Concepts behind-the-scenes. We’re not ones to gossip, but the California-based team must be frustrated...
Mini Review Star Wars Episode I: Racer – This Old Favourite Still Has Some Magic
This is in fact Podracing
Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a downright classic. Launching on the N64 and PC nearly 20 years ago, the game was a brilliant realisation of one of the most compelling scenes from the deservedly lambasted The Phantom Menace. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would stand the test of the time, but luckily -- and with the help...
Review The Last of Us 2 - Essential Sequel Is Naughty Dog's Best Effort
An eye for an eye
The Last of Us: Part II is a tale of obsession, and developer Naughty Dog clearly knows a thing or two about that. This is a painstakingly dense sequel, and it’s so tightly intertwined with the original that it’s effectively essential material for anyone who has reverence for the original release. While it continues to iterate...
Review Disintegration - Squad-Based Tactical FPS from Halo Co-Creator Unfortunately Misses the Mark
Robot Wars
Marcus Lehto was the creative art director at Bungie for 15 years. During that time he helped create and grow Halo, a series that’s arguably as influential in the FPS arena as DOOM, Half-Life, or Call of Duty. Breaking away from Bungie in 2012 to form independent studio V1 Interactive, he began work on Disintegration, intending to...
Mini Review The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor - Return Trip to Skyrim Is Another Decent Adventure
Hey, you're finally awake
The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor is the MMO's big expansion for 2020. As with previous 'Chapters', players get access to a whole new zone that's yours to explore, complete with a new storyline, new quests, new dungeons, and fresh activities. It's yet another solid outing for those already invested in The Elder Scrolls...
Review Beyond Blue - An Ocean Exploration Sim with a Surprising Amount Below the Surface
The underwater world is your oyster
Following on from the likes of Endless Ocean and Subnautica, Beyond Blue is an underwater exploration game in which you control a human diver. That diver is Mirai and, along with a team of fellow marine scientists, it’s her job to investigate various underwater landscapes with the hope of better understanding...
Review Desperados III - Sneaky Cowboy RTS Mostly Delivers
Tactical Western? This is the best 'un
Desperados III doesn't have much competition for the title of best cowboy-themed real-time tactical stealth game on the PlayStation 4, but that doesn't mean developer Mimimi Games is happy to take the accolade by default. This is a well crafted strategy game and one that is easy to recommend to fans of the...
Mini Review Evan's Remains - Pretty Puzzler Has a Story Worth Telling
Lust for life
The puzzle-platformer and visual novel genres probably couldn't be further apart from one another, but Evan's Remains is proof that the two can live in harmony. While it is by no means perfect, Maitan69 Studios' first major title is one well worth experiencing if you have even a passing interest in either style of game. Told entirely...
Mini Review Project Warlock - A Slick Homage to the Retro FPS
The 90s are back, baby
Over 25 years after Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM blasted it into the mainstream, the 90s FPS is revived by Project Warlock, a slick genre homage that benefits from modern improvements that make it near impossible to put down. Such additions include a between-level workshop where RPG upgrade points can be used to improve stats,...
Mini Review 1971 Project Helios - A Tactical Title with an Interesting World
Don't get frostbite
A turn-based strategy game that takes a few pages out of XCOM’s book, 1971 Project Helios is a pretty solid excursion if you’re looking for a few hours of distraction. Presenting a post-apocalyptic world coated in ice and snow, you guide a collection of interesting characters through hordes of enemies to rescue a scientist...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube152k Watch on YouTube Mini Review Monstrum - A Procedural Game of Horror Hide and Seek
Don't even breathe
Monstrum crafts a genuinely frightening game of procedurally generated hide and seek. As you awaken on a derelict cargo ship and explore its halls, it quickly becomes apparent something else is there with you. Monstrum falls under the run-and-hide genre of horror titles, giving you relatively little with which to defend yourself...
Review Ion Fury – The Shooter Throwback You Didn’t Know You Wanted
Keep strafing
Ion Fury, from developer Voidpoint, has quite the interesting story. Running on a modified version of the Build Engine -- most famously used for Duke Nukem 3D -- Ion Fury is the first commercial release made with Build in 21 years. So it's with some degree of trepidation that we wade into a shooter running on 20-year-old tech. But is...
Mini Review Those Who Remain - Horror Has Never Been This Dull
As above, so below
Those Who Remain is almost everything the horror genre has tried to get away from for the past couple of years. With gameplay that teeters between mundane, aimless puzzle-solving and the hide and seek loop which put Outlast on the map, this experience feels dated the moment it releases. It doesn't do anything terrible -- it's just...
Review Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Disappointing Campaign Is Bested By Entertaining Multiplayer
Iden Versi-oh no
Republished on Monday 28th May 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has had quite the journey to release, hasn’t it? From the promise of more and better content at its E3 showing to the whole
Review Call of Duty: WWII - Safe FPS Is Still a Solid Historical Shooter
Right as Rhine?
Republished on Monday 28th May 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Each Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 2 has put the player in higher positions of power. Whether you’re the unspoken, do-it-all he
Review Mafia II: Definitive Edition - There's Nothing Definitive About This Awful Remaster
Throw away the key
Mafia II deserves better than this. Originally released for PlayStation 3 in 2010, it was by no means the greatest of its time. However, ten years later, anything the game got right has been thwarted by the technical disaster that is Mafia II: Definitive Edition. This remaster fails on all fronts. From an atrociously bad frame...
Review Maneater - Underwater Far Cry Is Fintastic
Get in the sea
Far Cry’s formula may be feeling a little shallow these days, but Maneater breathes new sealife into the open world collectathon concept by setting its action underwater – and putting you in control of a bloodthirsty shark. This moreish aquatic action RPG is a modern incarnation of PlayStation 2 cult classic Jaws Unleashed, and...
That one was for you, Johnny
Hearing Troy Baker shout "get the **** out of here!" as you punch a policeman square in his privates is still pretty funny. In fact, Saints Row The Third in general is still pretty funny — at least, some of the time. The game's almost nine years old, yet Saints Row The Third Remastered is a welcome reminder of just how...
Review Gorn - A Satisfying, Comically Violent PSVR Brawler
Are you not entertained?
Gorn is one of those games you can describe in just a few words. It's a VR beat-'em-up where you engage gormless gladiators in a bloody fight to the death. That's kind of it, really, but that simple concept makes for a more engaging experience than you might think. One of virtual reality's first success stories on PC...
Mini Review Concept Destruction - Destruction Derby with Cardboard Cars
Crash dummies
Concept Destruction’s name tells you much of what you need to know about this pen-and-paper PlayStation 4 racer. It’s a combat game inspired by PS1’s legendary Destruction Derby, and it’s effectively a proof of concept. In many ways this feels like half a game, as you smash your way through Drawn to Death-esque arenas,...
Review Mafia III - Gripping Presentation Marred by Repetitive Missions
An offer you might want to refuse
Republished on Tuesday, 19th May, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of Mafia III: Definitive Edition. The original text follows. 1968 was a turbulent year in United States history. With both the Vietnam War in full swing, and the assassination of Martin Luther King...
Mini Review Thy Sword - Thou Shalt Enjoyeth This Roguelike
Live by thy sword
Roguelikes are dime a dozen on PlayStation Store, but Thy Sword appeals in spite of the genre’s ubiquity. This single-screen side-scroller sees you clearing out enemies in different locations to progress to different levels, many environments culminating in larger-than-life boss fights. There’s a casual mode which makes the...
Mini Review Ticket to Ride - A Basic But Fun Version of a Classic Board Game
Who is John Galt?
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute, didn’t this come out years ago?” you would be correct. But given the pandemic and the fact we never actually reviewed it, now seems like the perfect time to draw some attention to Days of Wonder’s digital version of the renowned board game, Ticket to Ride. While the...
Review Super Mega Baseball 3 - A Golden Era for Virtual Baseball Continues
Deserving of the superlatives
Don’t pay too much mind to the freakish aesthetics of Super Mega Baseball 3’s fictional stars: this cartoony sports sequel has all the trappings of a true simulation, but it’s all packed up in an alarmingly accessible wrapper. It means that practically anyone can step up to the plate and knock out a Home Run or...
Review Huntdown - A Glorious Homage to 80s Action Movies
Remember when I said I'd kill you last? I lied
The future sucks, doesn't it? There's always something. Either we're enslaved by robotic overlords, starving because we ran out of natural resources, or we just blow ourselves up with weapons of mass destruction. We've all seen the movies. Even if by some small chance the human race isn't eradicated by...
Mini Review SuperMash - Genre Melding Experiment Is Novel But Shallow
Will it blend?
SuperMash has a neat central idea, but the game unfortunately can't quite deliver on it. You and your friends have discovered a strange console that's capable of blending two genres together, and you use it to stock the shelves of a game shop. Silly narrative aside, you select two of six genres, fiddle with settings like length and...
Mini Review Fury Unleashed - Comic Book Action Is Almost a Page-Turner
Gypsy king
Fury Unleashed doesn't live up to the name of its developer, but it may still be worth checking out if you’re into Spelunky and Dead Cells. This comic book-inspired rogue-lite is packed with so much action that it quickly becomes the experience's defining trait. Despite it not doing anything new, Fury Unleashed is an enjoyable, if all...
Review Arcade Spirits - A Visual Novel with a Lot of Heart
Ready Player One
Arcade Spirits is a romantic visual novel set in an alternative future where the video game crash in the 80s never happened. Imagine: the now-infamous E.T. game was held back until a higher quality title could be produced, meaning that Atari didn’t have to dump hundreds of thousands of unsold copies in the desert. The gaming...
Mini Review John Wick Hex - Satisfying Tactical Action with a Few Rough Edges
Stop, drop, roll
It takes a little while for John Wick Hex to click, but when it does, the game does a surprisingly great job of making you feel like the unstoppable hitman himself. The title follows an original storyline that takes place before the John Wick movies, with comicbook-style cutscenes playing between each mission. It's a decent attempt...
Mini Review Construction Simulator 3 - Cowboy Builders
Needs more work
Simulation games are a bit of a sore point on the PlayStation 4 at the minute, given the overwhelmingly negative reaction to May 2020’s free PS Plus games. Nevertheless, the genre has become a strong source of entertainment for workaholics, with Sony’s system playing host to dozens of virtual careers, including farming and...
