PS4 Game Reviews
Review The Banner Saga 2 (PS4)
Stop! Banner time
Few games are as relentlessly bleak as The Banner Saga 2. It begins right after the climax of the previous game, but regardless of your prior choices, the story will play out largely the same; the dredge (a relentless horde of warriors) are hunting down the remaining humans and varl (hulking, horned giants), in the wake of past...
Swing when you’re winning
It's been 12 long years since Activision dangled Spider-Man 2 in front of our eyes, and we lapped it up like the Kingpin at an all you can eat buffet. Treyarch's memorable open world outing is widely considered as the web-slinger's finest hour on a games console, and Insomniac will have its work cut out if it hopes to...
Review Full Mojo Rampage (PS4)
Get a Loa this
Roguelikes are ten a penny these days. You've probably played at least one; Spelunky, The Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, and Enter the Gungeon are just the tip of the iceberg. It also happens that they're all excellent, each putting its own spin on the permadeath, randomly generated crunchiness that the genre is known for. Full Mojo...
Review LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (PS4)
BB on board
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a return to the beloved galaxy which is always in constant conflict between good and evil. This time you will be retold the story of the most recent film, The Force Awakens, and you'll be following the new characters Finn, Rey, and Poe as they team up with the well-known resistance fighters from...
Kill me
The premise behind 7 Days to Die is strong: it's an open-world zombie survival horror game smashed together with the crafting and building elements of Minecraft. That description sounds compelling, but the final product doesn't come anywhere near to being fun. Before you jump into the actual game, you are given a plethora of options to...
Review Professional Farmer 2017 (PS4)
Cull the crops
It's never nice comparing a game to an infinitely superior peer – especially when that title scored an uninspiring 6/10 on this very site. Professional Farmer 2017 is so mind-bogglingly bad, though, that it makes Farming Simulator 15 look like Game of the Year in comparison. This is a cynical cash-grab trying to capitalise on the...
Why aren’t you helping?
A cacophony greets your ears upon starting up Asemblance. Alarms blare somewhere in the distance as a synthetic voice asks you why you aren't helping, how you feel, and what you remember. The problem is, we don't remember anything. How could we? We just started. Nilo Studios' debut makes a rather striking first impression...
Review Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (PS4)
Romance is not dead
Strategy used to have a comfortable home on PlayStation: ports of Westwood's Command & Conquer series, Bullfrog's Theme games and the likes of Populous and The Bitmap Brothers' excellent Z, can often evoke fond memories in many a 'Station stalwart. But the genre fell by the wayside in later generations, with a slim selection...
Simply Redfield
Don't let anyone tell you that Resident Evil 5's a rotter – it's only partially decomposed. Seven years removed from its original release, Capcom's controversial African adventure remains somewhat entertaining – even if old problems die hard. This schizophrenic outback outing has a bit of an identity crisis, but its biggest issue...
Die by the sword
Furi has a lot of great things going for it. Intriguing character designs from famed Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki, licensed electronic music from the likes of Carpenter Brut, and a super responsive, intense combat system combine to create something unique and sometimes brilliant – but as a whole, the game doesn't quite...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube152k Watch on YouTube Robbing the robots
Shared universes certainly seem to have become a bit of a thing in recent years, and it's easy to see why they're attractive to game developers. Not only do you get the chance to genre jump between games, but you can also immediately pique the interest of anyone who enjoyed your previous efforts. Such is the case with Image &...
European jank is back
The last time that Push Square visited a world made by developer Spiders, it was in the form of Bound By Flame. The 2014 title had some lofty ambitions but it failed to meet any of them, and thus shipped as a bit of a mess in both the gameplay and presentation departments. Despite those disappointments, though, the French...
Review Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness (PS4)
Lacking integrity?
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness gets off to a bad start. Text-based tutorials greet you from the off, and you're quickly shuttled from one place to another with very little reasoning or context. Early on you'll realise that this game wants things to move quickly, and this only becomes clearer as you progress through the...
The perfect crime
Porting PC simulation games to consoles is fraught with danger, with systemic complexities and control issues abound. Thankfully, Prison Architect manages to avoid most of these pitfalls, and serves as an exemplar of how the genre should make the transition in future. In the game's main mode you'll be presented with a large plot...
Corps party
Being loyal to a franchise's roots and formula is a tricky thing to manage. Veer too close and people will cry out concerns of stagnation and lack of innovation. Stray too far and they'll say it isn't worthy of the series' name. Whether this involves direct sequels or spin-offs, the amorphous goal of striding between faithfulness and...
Maze runner
No, this isn't the 256th instalment in Namco's venerable arcade classic - the number in the title refers to the infamous glitch from the original Pac-Man. Level 256 was impossible to beat due to a jumble of letters and numbers on the right-hand side of the screen, blocking half the maze. It's this glitch, in fact, that you'll be trying...
Review Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival (PS4)
The beautiful lame
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is the latest attempt to resurrect the classic football franchise that began way back in 1989 with the original Kick Off. Back then, games came on cassette tapes a
Review N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure (PS4)
Nothing ever remains enjoyable
N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure is another entry into the "walking simulator" genre. In this instance, however, developer Storm in a Teacup has tried to address the constant criticism that these style of games don't actually have any gameplay. N.E.R.O. is billed as an interactive visual novel and it definitely...
Review Deadlight: Director's Cut (PS4)
Flickers of hope
Arriving in 2013 as part of Xbox's Summer of Arcade, Deadlight reinvigorated the zombie horror genre with its classic 2D platforming and a uniquely bleak dreary tone. With the release of its next project RIME seemingly in development hell, Tequila Works has decided to revisit its esteemed debut to bring it glossier graphics, tighter...
Mighty big shoes to fill
From the moment that the Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9 was announced, there were enormous expectations placed upon it, and it was always going to be impossible to live up to them. The hype came from Keiji Inafune and a team of Mega Man veterans being at the helm of what appeared to be a spiritual successor to the classic...
Review Trials of the Blood Dragon (PS4)
A e s t h e t i c
For all its faux-eighties foolishness, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a very clever game. It took an established franchise, gave it a splash of visual variety, and then injected it with some bizarre characters and mechanics. Above all, it was silly, fun, and endearing. Unfortunately, Trials of the Blood Dragon is none of those things...
Review Atelier Sophie: Alchemist of the Mysterious Book (PS4)
Cooking up a disappointment
The premise of Gust's Atelier Sophie: Alchemist of the Mysterious Book is simple. You play as Sophie, who wants to become the best alchemist that she can following the passing of her grandmother, who was also a creator of magical bits and pieces. After discovering that her predecessor's reference book, Plachta, can speak,...
Review Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (PS4)
A study in Sherlock
Barely an hour into Sherlock Holmes' latest case, while helping a young boy named Tom find his missing father, you'll be tailing a shady character as a plucky newsboy, who almost suffocates while climbing up a chimney. Next, as Sherlock, you'll grill a local lord and gather more evidence at Tom's home, but not before taking...
Life is strange
Narrative is often overlooked in favour of the more natural forms of interactivity that are inherent to video games. But in the last few years, we've gotten a series of thoughtful and engaging titles that have really pushed the medium forward in this regard. Not only have they changed our perceptions of what constitutes a game, but...
Soul sacrificed
Frictional Games' SOMA, last year's sci-fi horror follow-up to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, explored the idea of creating a copy of a human being and downloading it into a virtual "ark", thereby preserving mankind in case of global disaster. It proved to be an engaging central conceit, which touched on ideas of identity, morality, and...
Review Mirror's Edge Catalyst (PS4)
Good Faith
When the first Mirror's Edge released in 2008, it performed so poorly on the sales front that it's really quite remarkable that Mirror's Edge Catalyst exists at all. While the original certainly had its fair share of issues, some gamers look back on it quite fondly – especially since there wasn't anything quite like it at the time,...
Review Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- (PS4)
Cometh the hour
Those that played Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (Sign from here on in) uncovered a fighter with depth, fun, and personality; one that introduced real rewards for aggressive play while also boasting defensive options beyond the genre norm. This bodes well, then, for the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- (Revelator, from here on in) - a newly...
Review Hitman: Episode 3 - Marrakesh (PS4)
Don't Morocco the boat
The beauty, complexity, and atmospheric brilliance of Sapienza was always going to be a tough act to follow for IO Interactive, but the bustling Moroccan city of Marrakesh provides ample room for innovation in this month's new episode of Hitman. With crowded markets, labyrinthine streets, and plenty of interiors to explore,...
Putter fingers
Three Fields Entertainment, the indie studio behind Dangerous Golf, comprises mainly of the same minds responsible for Criterion classics Burnout and Black – and this is abundantly clear from the start. Its debut title is an arcade sports game that shares as much in common with golf as Rocket League does with football. Maybe less...
Review Dead Island: Definitive Collection (PS4)
Six feet under
Arriving as one of the more unexpected remasters of the year, Dead Island: Definitive Collection sets out to resurrect the popularity of the series in the run up to its troubled second instalment. The question is: has the series already been buried too deep for this remaster to restore its reputation? The collection certainly offers...
