PS4 Game Reviews
Mini Review Just Die Already (PS4) - This Game About the Elderly Is Juvenile Fun
Disrespect your elders
Abuse of the elderly is, as a rule, generally discouraged. So, despite belonging to a fairly unshockable generation, we were a little bit taken aback by the sheer gerontophobia of the wickedly funny Just Die Already, which effectively does for the elderly what Goat Simulator did for, well, goats. Pick your pensioner, get...
Hell is whenever
18 years removed from its original release on PlayStation 2, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne still has a lot to offer hardcore RPG fans. In fact, its heavy focus on dungeon crawling and monster management is perhaps even more unique today than it was almost two decades ago, especially when it's placed side-by-side with modern Atlus...
Mini Review The Colonists (PS4) - A Nice and Chill Civilisation Building Sim
Human after all
The Colonists is an addictive little world-builder featuring cute robots. And while it doesn't do much to set itself apart from its strategic peers, it's a relatively accessible game, complete with step-by-step tutorials and a gameplay structure that's easy to understand. In a genre where complexity can be a serious hurdle, The...
Mini Review Skate City (PS4) - Lo-Fi Beats to Kickflip To
Ollie-oop
From publisher Snowman comes Skate City, a port of a 2D mobile game that focuses on trick mastery and moody visuals. The translation from mobile to console isn’t exactly seamless, and performing tricks can be a pain, despite the simple controls. Skate City only rewards absolute precision. Landing what should be rudimentary tricks can...
Mini Review R-Type Final 2 (PS4) - One of the Greatest Shmups Ever Gets a Timely Sequel
Blast the Bydo, again
When you’re taking time to consider the true greats of the shmup genre, a few names tend to crop up with alarming regularity. Darius. Gradius. Space Invaders, if you’re feeling particularly bookish. However, few shooters have had the same degree of impact that R-Type achieved when it hit arcades way back in 1987. The savvy...
Mini Review Battle Axe (PS4) - Top-Down Mix of Brawler and Run-'n'-Gun with Henk Nieborg Pixel Art
Not an old battle-axe, a new Battle Axe
Considering that Makoto Uchida's work on Golden Axe was inspired by combining a fantasy backdrop with Double Dragon's gameplay — alongside the fact that Golden Axe was originally going to be named as Battle Axe or Broad Axe instead — the greatest compliment we can give Numskull Games' PS4 Battle Axe is...
Mini Review Hitchhiker (PS4) - Intriguing Concept Can Be Monotonous
A Hitchhiker's guide to philosophy
In a world of fast-paced action and strategic decision making, sometimes it is nice to play the role of a bystander. Hitchhiker is a game that prides itself on taking you through a journey, instead of letting you create your own path. The end result is a monotonous but thought provoking journey that is closer to an...
Review Wreckfest (PS4) - Technical Issues Fail to Void This Great, Destructive Racer
It's daa-bee, not dur-bee
Republished on Wednesday 28th April, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Racing games have been seemingly few and far between this generation. DriveClub will cease to exist at the end of this month, Codemasters’ GRID...
Review Battlefield V (PS4) - Multiplayer Mayhem Excuses Shallow Launch
V for victory
Republished on Wednesday 28th April, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Battlefield V's road to release hasn’t exactly been smooth, nor typical of an EA product. After a delay for further adjustments to gameplay and the setback...
Soul survivor
NieR always deserved a second chance, and you could argue that the very well received NieR Automata was exactly that. The tale of 2B touched the hearts of many a player back in 2017, but for a while, it felt like the original NieR had been left behind and largely forgotten. After all, the NieR that we got here in the West — the one...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube152k Watch on YouTube Deluxe treatment
Koei Tecmo has re-released yet another Atelier Trilogy, this time giving the Mysterious series the ‘Deluxe’ treatment. Unlike the Arland and Dusk trilogy, this threesome is already on PlayStation 4, so it does seem a little strange that they’re being released again on the same console. However, this is now the most complete...
Mini Review Buildings Have Feelings Too (PS4) - A Management Game Lacking Solid Foundations
Bricking it
Buildings Have Feelings Too is essentially a city-building management game without the people. Instead of keeping a growing population happy, you instead have to please personified houses, office blocks, industrial chimneys, and more as you work through Victorian times to the modern age. It's an odd but likeable premise, and certainly...
Review Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (PS4) - Icy Expansion Is Excellent
Winter wonder
Review republished on 20th April, 2021: With Horizon Zero Dawn primed to be offered for free as part of Sony's Play At Home initiative, we're bringing our original review back from the archives. If it wasn’t for a couple of Nintendo franchises doing what they do best, Horizon Zero Dawn would be a front-runner for Game of the Year...
Review Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - An Outstanding Open World Debut
Bloody Nora
Review republished on 20th April, 2021: With Horizon Zero Dawn primed to be offered for free as part of Sony's Play At Home initiative, we're bringing our original review back from the archives. Horizon Zero Dawn is both unusual and excellent. Killzone maker Guerrilla Games' first stab at the ever-popular open world genre lifts ideas...
Mini Review Cozy Grove (PS4) - A Relaxing Little Life Sim That's Worth Sticking With
A beary nice time
Cozy Grove is a relaxing little game in which you're tasked with helping out friendly ghosts on an abandoned island. There's a definite hint of Animal Crossing about it, but the game's generally less involved than Nintendo's life sim juggernaut. You'll spend most of your time running rather simple errands for the aforementioned...
Mini Review DOOM 3: VR Edition (PS4) – An Improved Version of a Solid Game
Go to hell
Games not designed with VR first have a tendency to be rather hit-or-miss, but the PSVR adaptation of DOOM 3 – the black sheep of the esteemed shooter franchise – is most definitely a hit. A shooter lives and dies by how the gunplay is, and DOOM 3 VR’s shooting is spectacular. While using the PSVR Aim Controller is definitely the...
Mini Review Star Wars Republic Commando - One of Star Wars’ All-Time Classics Has Still Got It
Initiate radical restructuring, commando
When Star Wars Republic Commando launched in 2005, it was ahead of its time. It found a perfect balance between the tactical, detail-intensive gameplay of shooters like Rainbow Six and the cinematic bombast of Call of Duty. It nailed this so well, that now, 16 years later, the game holds up shockingly well...
Mini Review Root Film (PS4) - An Enjoyable, If Standard, Visual Novel
Lights! Camera! Inaction!
While it might not be as compelling as its predecessor, Root Letter, Kadokawa Games’ follow-up visual novel Root Film is still worthy of your time. You’ll visit a bevy of locations and witness the culture of Shimane Prefecture while trying to solve an ever-increasing number of murders. As the title of the game suggests,...
Review Zombie Army 4: Dead War (PS4) - Rebellion's Best Game Yet
Fast and Führious
Republished on Wednesday 31st March, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. For the best part of the PlayStation 4 generation, UK-based studio Rebellion has been improving, tweaking, and fine-tuning its co-operative offering...
Review Days Gone (PS4) - Open World Comfort Food with a Survival Horror Spin
Decent St. John
Republished on Wednesday 31st March, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. The world comes for you is an incredibly apt slogan for Bend Studio’s apocalyptic sandbox. The latest in a long line of Sony-published story-driven...
Mini Review Narita Boy (PS4) - 80s Soaked Action Adventure Is a Digital Delight
Narita Booooooy
Narita Boy is a side-scrolling, 80s VCR-soaked pixel adventure. You play as the titular Narita Boy, a chosen hero of sorts who's tasked with saving a digital dimension from its all-powerful creator. There's a lot more story here than you might think — most of it told through lengthy dialogue boxes — but the gist of it is that...
Mini Review UnderMine (PS4) - Addictive Rogue-Lite Strikes Gold
Good work, peasant
Look, UnderMine might not be the most original game in the world, but it prospects the best bits from rogue-like classics and wraps it all up in a neat new way. The result is an addictive, challenging adventure we struggled to put down. The main thing that makes this rogue-lite so compelling is its steady progression. Playing as...
Actual murder on the dancefloor
The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is the game's second and final expansion. Just like Peril on Gorgon, it's another solid adventure that takes you to a whole new location. This time around, the crew of the Unreliable find themselves on the Grand Colonial — essentially a massive hotel complex that orbits the...
Mini Review Kaze and the Wild Masks (PS4) - A Tough But Fun 2D Platformer
Driving me Kaze
Kaze and the Wild Masks is a 2D platformer described by developers PixelHive as '90s inspired'. This is definitely accurate, as there’s a majorly nostalgic vibe, from the slightly retro feeling artwork and music to the lack of dialogue. It simultaneously feels years old and brand new. The titular Kaze, an anthropomorphic bunny,...
Back from the dead
At its most basic level, Stubbs the Zombie is a relatively simple game. You play the titular monster, and you need to eat your way through the art deco utopia of Punchbowl. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, after the first couple of levels, you’ve been introduced to all the abilities and powers that Stubbs has at his disposal...
Mini Review Mundaun (PS4) - Beauty in Style, But Not Gameplay
Better than swiss cheese
When a game has as much going for it as Mundaun does, it's all the more heartbreaking when one vital aspect lets the whole side down. Compelled to return home upon the suspicious surroundings of his grandfather's death, Curdin's plight for knowledge is elevated by blood-curdling audio cues, a tense and foreboding atmosphere,...
Mini Review Signs of the Sojourner (PS4) - Chilled Out, Card-Based Conversations
Play your cards right
Signs of the Sojourner takes the concept of card-based battles and turns it into something much more tranquil. Playing as a travelling shop owner looking to stock shelves with produce from around the country, the game is about meeting a diverse range of characters and engaging in conversations with them. Rather than your usual...
Mini Review Star Renegades (PS4) - Rogue-Lite RPG Is Complex But Compelling
Breaking the timeline
Star Renegades is another rogue-lite indie game, but it differentiates itself in some interesting ways. It's a turn-based RPG where you fight a threat that spans multiple alternate realities with a ragtag group. Sporting a lovely pseudo-3D pixel art style, it certainly looks the part, and its multifaceted gameplay is complex...
Mini Review Kill It with Fire (PS4) - Enjoyable Chaos, But Not Much Bang for Your Bug
Spider-Manslaughter
Kill It with Fire channels your inner arachnophobe and tasks you with exterminating the world’s spiders. You’re armed with everything from a strimmer to a flamethrower in your quest to commit arachnid genocide. You’re also given a selection of non-lethal tools to attract the little blighters or slow them down with a fire...
Mini Review Taxi Chaos (PS4) - Crazy Taxi Clone Is a Write-Off
Lazy taxi
TAXI CHAOS! That could be the name of a game simulating the experience of loitering in a Newcastle taxi rank at 4AM drunkenly nursing a tray of cheesy chips, and if it was, we'd undoubtedly be more excited about it than we are about this game which is just a Crazy Taxi clone. If the game were good we'd perhaps be inclined to call Taxi...
