Latest Reviews
Handle with care
Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you had to do everything manually? Blinking, breathing, walking: what if your body just decided it wouldn't do them automatically anymore. Well, in Manual Samuel you are tasked with keeping Samuel alive for a whole 24 hours by completing automatic bodily functions manually. You...
Review Dragon Quest Builders (PS4)
New kid on the block
As far as world-building block-'em-ups go, Dragon Quest Builders has to be the most charming example of the genre that we've played. Perhaps that's to be expected of the long running property – which, throughout its many incarnations, has always been a delight to experience – but the Dragon Quest skin lends itself...
All work and no pay
As short-lived girl group The Saturdays once warbled, put your boots on baby and get to work. Some reviewers like to start their reviews by recycling the words of Charles Dickens; here at Push Square we prefer to borrow from the surprisingly short range of Ms. Mollie King. It's the kind of irreverence that we like to think Job...
Review Batman: Arkham VR (PS4)
Behind the mask
Rocksteady's never been shy depicting Batman as the mentally deranged individual that he so clearly is, and with the British studio back on development duties for this short virtual reality story, it's Bruce Wayne's busted psyche that once again takes centre stage. Batman: Arkham VR may only take you about an hour to see through, but...
Topple the blocks
Ah, humble Tumble – the underrated PlayStation Move title that really proved the power of Sony's motion wand. A little dull on paper perhaps, virtual reality revisit Tumble VR stands taller than the sum of its parts, using three dimensional motion tracking to turn tower building into world beating entertainment. You may just have...
Review PlayStation VR Worlds (PS4)
A worldie?
No new hardware launch is complete without a minigame collection; PlayStation VR Worlds, however, is not your average Wii Sports knock-off. Developed by Sony's own London Studio, this is a hodgepodge package collating the half-dozen or so tech demos that the studio has concocted over the years. As such, while the compilation includes some...
Review Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PS4)
Ghost train
The camp thrills of Supermassive Games' interactive horror Until Dawn elevated it to a status that few expected; the deliciously dumb drama out-Quantic Dreamed the real Quantic Dream, and the silly scare-fest still very much sits among the very best experiences that the PlayStation 4 has to offer. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, a virtual...
Review Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors (PS Vita)
I hope that's a PS Vita in your pocket
The original Criminal Girls: Invite Only game was a fun, turn-based JPRG dungeon crawler released on PSP and then reworked for the VITA. Lots was made of the added, er, tactical 'rubbing' of the naughty girls in your party to power them up, which formed a series of slightly dubious minigames alongside the main...
Arigato, Aragami
Aragami is a sight for sore eyes if you're a fan of the stealth genre. While we have incredible games integrating its conventions with Dishonored, Assassin's Creed, and even Wolfenstein: The New Order, they treat stealth gameplay as an equal alternative to action rather than the only realistic option. Seasoned game series like Metal...
Review Hitman: Episode 5 - Colorado (PS4)
ColoRad
It's safe to say that Hitman has been excellent so far, but despite the variety of locations, every mission has been similar in that they've all been set in largely public places. The latest level – set in a militia-held apricot farm in rural Colorado – takes the game in a different direction, focusing more on stealth than previous...
The reich stuff?
For fear of repeating ourselves, one thing that the PlayStation 4 certainly isn't short of is creative, unique, and sometimes downright bizarre indie titles. Just when we think that we've seen it all, along comes developer Lichthund with its arcade javelin-em-up Lichtspeer to prove us wrong. Ported to Sony's system by Crunching...
Signing of the summer
Another year, another FIFA review, although this time around, there's actually a reasonable amount of new stuff to talk about without having dig deep into the finer - and frankly quite boring - technicalities of tweaked gameplay mechanics. Taken as a whole, FIFA 17 is the biggest step forward that the sports series has seen in...
Review Jazzpunk: Director's Cut (PS4)
Secret agent Polybank
Jazzpunk: Director's Cut is one of the wildest rides on the PlayStation 4, despite being a relatively short game. Initially released on PC back in 2014, developer Necrophone Games has finally brought it to the PS4 over two years later. It's hard to accurately describe what exactly Jazzpunk is; sometimes it's a first-person...
Review Destiny: Rise of Iron (PS4)
Can't teach a Young Wolf new tricks
Back near the end of last year, Destiny was in dire need of a revamp. The release had stagnated to a point where many players had simply stopped coming back to Bungie's sci-fi creation, with the game's first two expansions – The Dark Below and House of Wolves – doing little to reinvigorate the title or fix its...
Review Dead Rising Triple Pack (PS4)
They live again
With Dead Rising 4 mere months away – though not for PlayStation gamers – the time is right for an opportunistic re-release of some of the earlier games. Acting as a prefect primer for the series, this re-release triple pack includes Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, and if you don't fancy shelling...
Returning to the first line
With NHL 17 being the second version of EA's hockey sim to be released since the shameful PlayStation 4 debut that was NHL 15, fans of puck-based sports were rightfully expecting the good work done in last year's edition to carry on through and be improved upon even further to really bring the franchise into the current...
Shoulda stayed home
It always stings a little when you get your hopes up for a game and it disappoints you upon release. Sure, there are different tiers to this; for instance, it's hard to find a recent game that upset more people at launch than No Man's Sky. But often that initial letdown leads to hyperbole; there are titles that fall short of...
Solitary confinement
The FMV genre has had a bit of a renaissance lately. Her Story and Contradiction: Spot The Liar both released to a positive amount of fanfare over on the PC, and now it's time for the PlayStation 4 to get its own full motion adventure. The Bunker marks quite a change in scenery for developer Wales Interactive, a studio that's...
Swish
The NBA 2K series has always been the most eye-catching of sport game franchises because of its excellent presentation and attention to detail, not to mention its stunningly realised visuals. NBA 2K17 is no different, and ups the ante to make quite possibly one of the best sporting experiences on PlayStation. Sure, it doesn't have any huge...
Review Slain: Back from Hell (PS4)
Still in hell
Slain: Back from Hell is a game that captures your attention immediately. It's a heavy metal inspired 2D hack-and-slash with some of the most beautiful pixel graphics and art design that you'll see. In an age where games using the pixel-art style are a dime a dozen, Slain stands out from the crowd not only with its metal aesthetic, but...
Review Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 2: Children of Arkham (PS4)
Cobblehot
Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, y'know? The second instalment of Telltale's burgeoning Batman yarn wastes no time reminding you of the most pivotal point in DC Comics lore, with brooding billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne casting a shadow over Crime Alley. Fortunately, the episode quickly deviates from the banal backstory that's been...
Review Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PS4)
Oh dear oh dear
The PlayStation 4 release of Dear Esther sits in a bit of an odd place. The game originally released in early 2012 on the PC and many players will have already experienced its spiritual successor, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. This new version, dubbed the Landmark Edition, does include a few extras such as developer commentary but...
Review PES 2017: Pro Evolution Soccer (PS4)
Klopp of the table
The Pro Evolution Soccer series has always seemed to play second fiddle to FIFA regardless of its quality, what with EA holding all of the licenses to the biggest football leagues in the world. Yet what PES 2017: Pro Evolution Soccer lacks in the licensing department, it makes up for in terms of pure footy fun and passion. An apt...
Going out with a bang
There's a moment early on in RIVE where our protagonist self-acknowledges that there may be "one level of Asteroids too many", and he's not far from the mark. Contextually speaking, RIVE is like a smorgasbord of borrowed elements: the nuts, bolts and upgrades from Ratchet & Clank; the typical double jump aspect of just...
Review The Tomorrow Children (PS4)
Russian around
The Tomorrow Children is something of a departure from Q-Games' vibrant, punchy, arcadey PixelJunk titles. This is a game far grander in scope, darker in tone, and more varied in gameplay than anything from the Japanese studio's previous gen efforts. It also explores new territory, treading the lines between genres and feeling...
Review MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death (PS Vita)
MehQ
From Compile Heart, the developer of the reasonably popular Hyperdimension Neptunia series, comes a new game from a fresh intellectual property. MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is the story of a world that is suffering an eternal nighttime. Legend tells the story of a chosen Machina Mage who must turn the key to restart the world and restore order...
Review Fallout 4: Nuka World (PS4)
Capping things off
Fallout 4's selection of post-release content has been divisive. Many will tell you that far too much emphasis has been placed upon the title's settlement crafting system, while others will swear that Far Harbor is better than the main game. From where we're sitting, it feels like Bethesda's latest hasn't quite lived up to its...
A masterpiece revisited
"1998... I'll never forget it." Well, more like 2005 in regards to when this game first released, but you get where we're going with it. There was a time when the Resident Evil name was practically untarnished, full of conspiracy, originality, atmosphere, and downright excellent gameplay. Resident Evil 4 is no stranger to...
Review Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness (PS4)
Don't worry, be happy
Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness takes place in the same universe as the popular anime show, Psycho-Pass. Set in the year 2112, an always online system named Sybil is constantly monitoring the mental state of the entire population, and pointing out individuals who are psychologically likely to commit a crime in the future. As a...
Review Jotun: Valhalla Edition (PS4)
By Odin's beard
Have you ever realised how much Norse mythology penetrates popular culture? There are numerous spins on its gods in Marvel's movies, inspired elements taken from its races and characters in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels, and countless references spread across video games from Master Chief's Mjolnir armor to equipment and...
