Tag: Soapbox - Page 2
Soapbox I Don't Understand Service Games That Don't Add Trophies
Retention prevention
I just can’t understand it, readers: if you’re designing a game that’s built around player retention, why wouldn’t you add new Trophies to it? I suppose the easy answer is thus: Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone are two of the biggest games in the world and don’t actually have any gongs to unlock, but it still blows...
Soapbox PS5 Is Beautiful When Its Distinctive Features Are Used Properly
Sammy's a big fan of Sony's new console when it comes together
I’ve got to be honest: unless it’s a first-party game, I’ve come to expect the worst when it comes to publishers using PlayStation 5’s unique features. Many of them will talk a big game prior to release, but once you get your fingers on the pad, it falls apart. Titles like DIRT 5...
Soapbox What Makes Returnal So Special
Liam found a rogue-like to love
Generally, I don't like the rogue-like genre. Just the idea of having to restart an entire game over again upon death sort of rubs me the wrong way. I want to be making progress at all times; having to replay sequences never entertains me. That need is probably why I so rarely replay games in general. A few classics...
Soapbox Why I'm Less Excited for Deathloop on PS5 Than I Should Be
As State of Play looms
Deathloop is undoubtedly one of my most anticipated games – or, at least, it should be. Despite being rightly acclaimed, I still feel the Dishonored series is a little underrated: Arkane’s stealth sandboxes pack masterful level design, providing a real sense of freedom allowing you to tackle problems however you see fit...
Soapbox Why I'm Not Expecting a PS5, PS4 Press Conference from PlayStation Next Month
Times are changing
Sony moves in mysterious ways these days, which can make predicting the platform holder’s plans a challenge to say the least. Here are a handful of things I’ve observed of late, however: the company’s announcing and showcasing games much closer to release these days; it tends to focus on one title at a time; it’s over E3...
Soapbox I'm Beyond Excited for PS5's Next-Gen PSVR
Sammy's feeling the hype
I’ve been thinking about PSVR a lot lately. I loved the original headset, and I’m very proud of how Push Square – in my probably biased opinion – had some of the best virtual reality coverage online at the time. I’ll readily admit that I’ve dropped off a lot since the PlayStation 5 came out – that spaghetti of...
Soapbox 69% of PlayStation's Revenue Is Driven by PS Store, But the Shopping Experience Sucks
Sammy's grudging forking out on PS5, PS4
There are many things I don’t understand in this world – wrestling being the main one, really – but Sony’s recent round of financials had me parroting that emoji where the little yellow guy has his chin perched on his thumb and index finger. A staggering 69 per cent of PlayStation’s revenue for the...
Soapbox I Don't Think Sony's Obsession with PS5 Blockbusters Aligns with Reality
Sammy just isn't seeing it
The next three PlayStation 5 exclusives on Sony’s first-party docket are MLB The Show 21, Returnal, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – a baseball simulation, a bullet hell roguelike, and the long-awaited successor to Insomniac Games’ mascot platformer property. The previous three, in case you’re curious, were...
Soapbox My Colleagues Bet on How Far I'd Make It Through Final Fantasy VII Remake
Stephen recounts his time with Cloud and Co.
Note: This feature contains some spoilers for a very old game and a remake of that very old game. Any fans of Final Fantasy might want to stop reading at this point. That's right, the first sentence. Admission time: I never played Cloud Strife's seminal adventure on the original PlayStation, nor any...
Soapbox Why Must Assassin's Creed Valhalla Still Be So Glitchy?
Just let me be anonymous
I feel like my struggle to find a game to truly invest in for the first couple of months of 2021 is becoming fairly common knowledge. I'm set once Returnal launches, but I've been absent from our What Are You Playing This Weekend weekly Talking Point most of the time and I can't bring myself to replay games. I feel like I've...
Soapbox PS5 Has Turned Me Into a Total 60FPS Snob
PS5 master race
I've always been an advocate of the hallowed 60 frames-per-second. Even back on the PlayStation 3, when we had the excellent Killzone 2 running at a not-so-smooth 30 frames-per-second, I was desperate for that sweet 60. What I didn't realise at the time, was that 60fps wouldn't become the console norm for another decade. With the...
Soapbox PSVR's Crap Load of Cables Has Put Me Off
Spaghetti city
I love PlayStation VR, I really do. I’m very proud of how we covered the system on Push Square over the years; I’d like to think we were one of the best sources for virtual reality gaming at its peak. All of the excitement surrounding next-gen PSVR has made me want to dive back in and finish up the dozen or so titles I missed –...
Soapbox Sony Needs to Bang Down Valve's Door to Get Half-Life: Alyx on PS5's PSVR
Steam works
Sony surprised us all this week by revealing its next-gen PlayStation VR controllers. It mentioned in the PlayStation Blog post that they’re being sent out to development partners imminently, which is perhaps why it decided to unveil them – there’s always a chance they’ll leak once they arrive in studios, right? To be fai
Soapbox PGA Tour 2K21 Has Quietly Become One of PS4's Best Sports Games
Hole in one
2K Sports’ recent acquisition of HB Studios encouraged me to revisit PGA Tour 2K21 this week, a game which I liked a lot when I reviewed it last year but felt was still one iteration away from excellence. To be honest, I’ve been blown away by many of the improvements made, and while there are still obvious weak areas, I think the...
Soapbox Why Do You Replay Games?
Liam can't quite work out why
I've never, ever been one to replay games. The act isn't completely foreign to me — three immediate playthroughs of The Last of Us: Part II, I'm looking at you — but I'm almost always looking ahead to what's next after rolling credits. That is unless the Platinum Trophy is somewhat achievable, of course. I generally...
Soapbox How I Would Handle The Last of Us Factions
Liam makes his pitch
At some point over the next year, Naughty Dog is presumably going to finally unveil the multiplayer offering it has in the works. Supposedly too big and ambitious to ship with The Last of Us: Part II, expectations have understandably risen as Neil Druckmann and co keep us guessing as to what it might entail. A reveal during some...
Soapbox One Year Later, Call of Duty: Warzone Has Consumed Me
Liam reflects on 12 months of Battle Royale action
Looking back on the comments I made in my Hands On piece for Call of Duty: Warzone, which celebrates its one year anniversary today, is a strange experience. While I thought what Infinity Ward had to offer at the time was completely fine in its own right, I was concerned by its overt simplicity and...
Soapbox How Yakuza Proves Bigger Open Worlds Aren't Always Better
Size matters
Bigger is not always better – at least, that’s what I try to tell myself every time I hop in the shower. Alright, I’m probably lying to myself: after all, no one orders a single patty from Five Guys, do they? I do believe, however, that in the case of open world games, a smaller, denser environment is preferable to gigantic open...
Soapbox How I Hustled My Way Out of FIFA 21 Ultimate Team's Division 9
Born again winner
Since breaking my Madden NFL 21 duck earlier in the year, I’ve traded handegg for football, because I paid full-price for FIFA 21 at launch and I figured I should get my money’s worth. My relationship with EA Sports’ soccer simulation is a storied one: I lost countless lunchtimes to FIFA Football 2003 – the one with Roberto...
Criterion's first-person shooter turns 15
Criterion Games was absolutely on fire in the early noughties. Having made an incredible arcade racing series — the brilliant Burnout, of course — it decided to turn its hand to a totally new genre. This is something that you don't see too much of; usually, a studio finds its comfort zone and sticks to...
Soapbox The Real Problem with Sony's State of Play Livestreams
Sammy feels like the series lacks Sony's full weight
It was a coincidence that my colleague Liam Croft published an article about the state of, er, Sony’s State of Play livestreams on a week where th
Soapbox The State of Play Branding Seems Confused
Should we be excited for the next one?
I don't know if I should be looking forward to the next hypothetical State of Play livestream, and that's a problem. What was originally designed as an online platform for Sony to showcase upcoming PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 titles (in a very similar vein to a Nintendo Direct) has now morphed into...
Soapbox The Long, Painful Path to My First Madden NFL 21 Online Win
1-16
I like American football games (I’m even trying to collect every one ever made); I’m not very good at American football games. While I can generally hold my own against the computer, I’ve long endured a painful relationship online, getting my ass kicked at every opportunity. I have won matches in previous instalments, but nursing an 0-14...
Soapbox There's a Nintendo Direct Today, But I Wish We Had a State of Play to Look Forward To
Sammy's eyeing the news cycle elsewhere with envy
Don’t worry, I get it Nintendo fans: from what I understand, the House of Mario hasn’t hosted a proper, full-length livestream since September 2019. That’s a long time, and I can certainly appreciate why you may feel starved for news – I hope, for the sake of anyone with a Waluigi avatar on...
Soapbox We Need to Talk About FIFA 21 Ultimate Team's Unfathomably Crap Cosmetics
Own goal
Love it or loathe it, there’s unquestionably something cool about building a squad of superstars in FIFA 21’s uber-popular Ultimate Team mode. Sure, you’ll need to no-life the release in order to add the likes of Mbappe and Ronaldo to your roster, but even if you’re stuck with Raul Garcia and Andy Carroll upfront like this...
Soapbox We Were Here, the Free PS4 Game No One Will Play with Me
Stephen's attempt to play with pals goes spectacularly wrong
I'm sorry, I have to get this off my chest. About a week ago, We Were Here released for free on PlayStation 4. It's a puzzle adventure game in which you and a buddy navigate two separate paths through a mysterious castle, with only a set of one-channel walkie talkies to communicate...
Soapbox 2021 Is the Year to Tackle Your Backlog, Because So Many Games Are Going to Be Delayed
The coronavirus effect
Look, I don't want to be a downer, but 2021 is going to be a strange year for video games. Not only is it the first full year of a new console generation — which almost always results in a fractured release schedule — it's the year where we're going to see the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic. All bigger budget...
Soapbox A Resident Evil Outbreak Reboot Makes Far Too Much Sense
So Capcom probably won't do it
It is quite clear that Japanese developer Capcom loves to experiment with its biggest franchises from time to time, and Resident Evil has to be one of the best examples of that. The series actually went first-person way before Resident Evil 7: Biohazard with the PlayStation 1's Resident Evil Survivor, and questionable...
Soapbox PS5 Backwards Compatibility Has Kept Me Glued to My Next-Gen Console
Sammy on the strengths of a unified library
As far as next-gen console launches go, I think the PlayStation 5 is the best ever. Between the first-party titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls, and the key multiformat releases like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, there’s been plenty to...
Soapbox I Think I Like Battle Passes, But They Do Stress Me Out a Bit
Sammy purchases his first Battle Pass and shares some thoughts
I’ve been familiar with the concept of the Battle Pass ever since Fortnite introduced it a few years ago, but I’ve never actually paid to participate in one. I’ve grabbed some of the free rewards in titles like Rocket League, and I’ve enjoyed the non-premium season structure in...
Soapbox Kentucky Route Zero Was a Game Made Specifically For Me
And I will never be able to thank Cardboard Computer enough
Editor's Note: This article contains some spoilers for Kentucky Route Zero's story. The music slowly falls away. The camera pulls out. Let me just wipe my face. Are those tears? The horses have been buried and the funeral is over. While this may not have been the closing moment of...
Soapbox PS5's Pad Has Made All Other Controllers Feel Ancient
Haptic feedback
At the time of writing this, I’m playing Cyberpunk 2077, and besides all its other issues – and there are lots of them – one thing that’s bothering me is its lack of DualSense support. Obviously this is a PlayStation 4 game so I never expected it to take advantage of the PlayStation 5 pad, but here me out here: it’s hard to...
Soapbox I Can't Keep Up with Service Games
Let it go
The way we play games is changing – or, at least, the way I play games is changing. Historically, I’ve always been a one-and-done player; from my collection of favourites, it’s only really the Shenmue saga that I’ve revisited multiple times. And, strangely, GUN – I’ve beaten the PlayStation 2 Western at least half-a-dozen times...
Soapbox Did You Enjoy Astro's Playroom? Don't Skip Astro Bot Rescue Mission
PSVR platformer is top-notch
I remember, vividly, the review process for Astro Bot’s Rescue Mission. There were certain segments of the media, bound by embargo, who were bursting to talk about the PlayStation VR game. I actually recall one critic – I apologise, I can’t remember who – comparing the title on Twitter to Super Mario 64, in terms...
Soapbox Rainbow Six: Siege Is My Favorite Shooter of All Time and I Hate It
A wretched hive of scum and villainy
The Push Square PlayStation 5 review of Rainbow Six: Siege went through quite a few changes. Originally a monstrously large article, the word count was trimmed by scaling back the amount of time I spent focusing on the game’s problems with cheating and toxicity. But I still have more to say on the subject. And...
Soapbox I'm Really Enjoying Cyberpunk 2077
Sammy wants to acknowledge the game's merits
Potentially controversial counterpoint: Cyberpunk 2077 is a very good game that’s been almost entirely undone by CD Projekt RED’s decision to push it out of the door prematurely. Seeing the game delisted from the PS Store overnight – after a sh*tstorm that somehow stinks more than Fallout 76 and...
Soapbox PS5 Pricing Is Setting Releases Like Returnal Up to Fail
Sammy thinks Housemarque is being done dirty
I’m really looking forward to playing Returnal. I, like everyone at Push Square Towers, have been a long-time admirer of Housemarque and the kind of games it makes. Super Stardust HD was one of my favourite PlayStation 3 games, and I’d rate both Resogun and Nex Machina as must-play titles on the...
Soapbox Help! I Spent Money on Ultimate Team, and I'm Afraid I'll Do It Again
Player power
Confession: I play a lot of sports games, and I like Ultimate Team. There, I said it. Whether it’s building a roster of sluggers in MLB The Show 20’s devilishly addictive Diamond Dynasty or developing a dream team in NBA 2K21’s massive MyTeam, the card collecting modes remind me of my childhood, when I spent most of my time on the...
Soapbox The Conversation About Games Moves Too Quickly
Do you find it hard to keep up?
Let's start this feature on a positive note: for the last decade or so, video game fans have had an embarrassment of riches. If you were to name a year, it will almost certainly have seen the release of at least a couple of fantastic games. That's true on PlayStation platforms, but it's even more so if you consider...
Soapbox I've Missed the Feeling of Having a Backlog
Liam's overwhelmed and loving it
I'm in a rather unique and extremely lucky position where it's my full-time job to cover and play games. As such, rarely does a day go by where I have don't have a handful of hours to invest in the latest PlayStation game each evening, and even into the early hours of the morning on the odd occasion. That's a...
Soapbox Demon's Souls' Difficulty Shouldn't Deter You from Playing PS5's Best Game
Honestly, you're already good enough
I’m pretty average at games. Painfully average. Whenever there’s a leaderboard, I rarely find myself at the top; I rarely find myself at the bottom either. I’m always in the middle. If it’s an online shooter, I’ll never be the MVP, but I’ll find a way to contribute towards my team. In co-op games,...
Soapbox PS5 Is Pushing Me Ever Closer to All-Digital
A slow and steady transition
I think Sony’s been so shrewd with the way it’s handled the transition from physical media to digital downloads. The company definitely would prefer you purchase all of its games from the PlayStation Store: it cuts out retailers and resales, removes physical overheads like manufacturing and storage, and ties you into...
Soapbox Having My PS5 Launch Day Nerfed By Amazon
Unexpected error occurred
This is not the article I was expecting to write after the launch of the PlayStation 5. Much like everyone reading Push Square I've been looking forward to the launch for months, if not years. 4K gaming is coming of age with the latest generation of consoles with more games running at 60 frames-per-second and beyond. For...
Soapbox PS Plus Collection Isn't PS5 Game Pass, But Its Value Shouldn't Be Ignored
The generation's best, on demand
I feel like the value of PlayStation Plus has been overlooked of late. Sony’s membership service is still, by orders of magnitude, the most popular subscription service in games – but obviously the advent of Microsoft’s own Xbox Game Pass appears to have chipped away at its worth. While they’re not directly...
Soapbox I Don't Like Playing Scary Games, But I Do Like Watching Them
Push Square's resident wuss confesses all
As Halloween draws near, we all start thinking about our favourite spooky-scary games and movies. The holiday is a perfect excuse to revisit some horror favourites or discover new ones. That is, unless you're like me, who goes as far as carving pumpkins but would rather eat a sickening amount of sweets and...
Soapbox The Week After PS5's Showcase, Sony Told Us Nothing About Its Next-Gen Console
And it's getting boring now
Sony’s big PlayStation 5 Showcase Event was an entertaining watch from a software perspective last week, but we said at the time that it’d need to kickstart a flow of constant communication from the Japanese giant. I’d expected it to take the momentum from its livestream into this week, as it utilised the remaining...
Soapbox Screw Sony's PS5 Game Pricing, I'll Just Wait for Sales
For the payers
The price of games is going up. Sony, along with 2K Sports, may be an outlier right now, but make no mistake: other publishers will follow. It means the widely accepted price point of $59.99 in the United States is coming to an end; in Europe, you’re looking at price points of up to €79.99 for blockbuster PlayStation 5 gam
Soapbox Let's Give Activision a Bit of Credit, Yeah?
It's not all bad
It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a Real Gamer™ must hate major publishers. None of the big boys escape criticism, whether it’s Ubisoft for its perceived approach to copy-and-paste game design or EA for, well, absolutely everything, really. Activision has oft been a dirty word in enthusiast circles, presumably...
Soapbox Games As a Service Should Be Embraced, Not Misunderstood
More content for less cash
Had this past weekend been the very first time you'd heard of the Games as a Service concept, there's a pretty good chance you would have come away thinking it's the literal spawn of Satan. The announcements of Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gave way to a sea of concern -- not entirely based on...
Soapbox Rhythm Games Are the Real Stars of PSVR
Move to the beat
Reviewing Pistol Whip recently, I started thinking about PlayStation VR rhythm games and why specifically I seem to like them so much. And after putting some thought into it, I think I finally figured it out. Music is a very physical thing. No matter who you are or what kind of music you hear, some part of you is going to innately...
