Gamer83

Have a physical copy pre-ordered from Limited Run. Never played the game before, looking forward to it whenever it arrives.

Great to see for Astro Bot. Hopefully it'll hold strong in October as well. The holidays will be interesting. Definitely the kind of game that could appeal to a parent who's buying the PS5 for a young kid.

My favorite 'modern' DD game is still Neon. This one does have a PS2-era flair to it, hopefully it's fun to play, I wasn't the biggest fan of more recent entries in the series.

@Broosh
Yup, I'm still not even done with Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom or Silent Hill 2 yet and the new Mario & Luigi game releases next month as well. Still going to get this one this week, though.

$50 for a AA, turn-based RPG. It's just not going to work out well.

Demos are always good. Going to give it a try and see if it clicks.

I'll give it a try but the amount of Souls wannabes is getting insane.

I don't love that so many games have followed that formula, but, Uncharted 2 is phenomenal. Some of my favorite setpiece moments in gaming, even today. A great story, colorful cast of characters, fun combat sequences. And visually was a treat at that time. Easily was my Game of the Year pick in 2009.

Been interested in this game for a while, but going to need a demo.

Silent Hill 2.

This generation started strong, imo, but around mid-2022 it took a sharp decline. Not that there aren't great games but most of the best are sequels to games that have a specific audience or remakes. I'd say outside of Astro Bot the best games on PS5 this year are Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Silent Hill 2. Last year's best game was Resident Evil 4. All are awesome but it's been there, done that and the remakes/remasters aren't being balanced out well by great, new games, especially new IP. When you factor in that PS4 is still getting competent versions of many games, it's no wonder sales are slowing. I'll be interested to see how much impact PS5 Pro has. I do think the first 2-4 months will be very impressive, after that is the question.

That leaves Nintendo Force and Retro Gamer as the only two left standing as far as gaming mags for me. One is Patreon-funded, the other deals in past eras and doesn't have to worry about keeping up with current news so hopefully both will last many more years.

@get2sammyb
Never played these but I remember The Last Revelation and Chronicles getting some decent love, at least from fans. Angel of Darkness was panned by everybody, I'm looking forward to finally seeing how bad it really is (or isn't). This collection is definitely a day-one buy.

Never cared for QD's games but I do really like this one. Felt like there was more action and control of events than in other games of this type. Also had a compelling story and characters.

@get2sammyb
Not really sure I'd call this one a 'classic.' I do miss Evolution, though, the MotorStorm games were some great fun.

Stellar Blade not getting any nominations, not even for soundtrack, is ridiculously stupid.

As harsh as I've been on Bloober, I did enjoy The Medium and some of the stuff I'm hearing from people I trust is positive. Think I might end buying this on Tuesday.

@LifeGirl
I mean, I read both PushSquare and PLAY. Some of the features in the mag were good. At least there's still some patreon-funded mags left, at least for Nintendo. Haven't seen any for PS but would support one.

@ApostateMage
I think a lot is going to depend on how people feel about the Ubisoft formula. Seems like burnout on that is real. I still don't mind it, which is why I'll get Outlaws on sale, eventually (haven't bought it yet because there are too many other games I wanted to play first) and I think I'll agree with you. The Jedi games are great for what the devs are aiming to do, but the Souls gameplay style can be a bit off putting after a while, imo. That's also why, as much as I like Stellar Blade, I have 4 games above it for Game of the Year.

Going to need a demo for this one. I want to be hyped, Toyama has made plenty of fun games, but nothing shown on this one is making it seem like a must buy.

Well, this is sure to create some 'fun' discussions on Twitter/X. Shouldn't be a big deal but some people will act like this is the end of the world.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is my second favorite game of all-time just behind Resident Evil 2, and it's a very, very close second, so I will be buying this. That said, just like the original RE 2 is difficult to go back to because of the controls so is MGS 3. Hopefully the remake fixes the clunkiness.

Underestimated how sick some people are of the Ubisoft formula, overestimated the power of the Star Wars IP (still popular but not loved nearly as much as it once was) and didn't consider that maybe letting execs say stupid stuff like 'get used to not owning your games,' isn't a good idea.

@Onearmbandit
Felt the same way, surprisingly. I love Horizon Zero Dawn, it's among my favorite games last gen and maybe a top 3 new IP from that era but Forbidden West just didn't click with me at all. Poor story and I didn't like Aloy nearly as much. Writing as a whole was meh. The gameplay is perfectly fine but given how important narrative is to Horizon, it wasn't enough to make up for that failing.

I don't know if I'd say I've been 'won over,' still believe it's an unnecessary remaster. Admittedly, however, I wasn't going to buy it before, now I will since it's only $10 to upgrade my PS4 copy.

@Nepp67
For those other games I wouldn't be surprised if it's something to do with the engine. With Rise of the Ronin I'm leaning more towards talent. That studio really hasn't been great in a long time, since about the early-mid 360/PS3 days.

@BasedBear
Well, this is a brand-specific website so I'd expect more positive talk than negative. Even here, though, you'll find people who have issue with what Sony does but none of us call the shots. End of the day, all you can do is vote with your wallet and see how the market overall reacts to what Sony does. That'll dictate a lot of these decisions.

Inexcusable that it can't be fixed on the base PS5. Seems like a talent issue at the studio.

It's scummy but scummy practices are what I've come to expect from almost any big company in this industry, even my favorites like Sega.

@BasedBear
I don't think Sony even managed to justify the Pro, certainly not at $700. Probably doesn't matter, however, as an enthusiast product like that is one people are simply going to buy or not. For me, saw no reason to upgrade just like last gen when I stuck with PS4 over the Pro.

The NieR Automata crossover is cool, especially if it adds some story or at least new boss challenges.

Honestly thought it sucked aside from Monster Hunter Wilds (which had already been previously announced and shown off) and the DLC for Stellar Blade and Astro Bot.

Put over 200 hours into the main game and DLC on PS4 but for $10, might as well upgrade even if I don't plan to revisit it anytime soon.

Action based and Majima in the lead role? I'm always hyped for a new Like a Dragon game, but this is going to be even more insane with that guy at the forefront and I can't wait.

@IamJT
He's staking a lot on this, then. That number just comes off as unbelievable for what the game was.

@get2sammyb
He can say what he wants and mention all the unnamed sources he wants but looking at that game it certainly doesn't seem like a $400 mil project. Advertising does factor in and I'd be more inclined to believe this if it was marketed like God of War but even that didn't happen.

Maybe I'm wrong but this seems like attention seeking. Possible he thinks his podcast is slipping into irrelevancy as it doesn't pull the numbers that others do.

@get2sammyb
It might be unethical but these are ridiculous numbers and it seems like Moriarty, who runs what has been my favorite gaming podcast, seems to have pulled this straight out of his backside just to create discussion. He has to have solid proof of that outlandish number and report it immediately. If not, his credibility is 100% out of the window. He's been saying some dumb stuff in general lately.

There's no f'ing way. I'd need to see proof of this from verified sources. Impossible that level of slop cost $400 mil to make and even more impossible to believe that anybody with a functioning brain cell would've seen it and said 'this is the future of video games.' No way.

Going to try to get one of the DualSense controllers to go with the anniversary edition DualShock 4 that I have.

@Icey664
Neither could I, but I know there was an update because it popped up in the Games and Apps section on the Xbox.

@Icey664
It already got patched once but I haven't been able to play it since then so I couldn't tell you what it fixed. At least it does show they're working on it.

@get2sammyb
First just want to say appreciate the review since not a lot of others have covered it, and I trust this website (and the other two) more than most anyway. I bought this on Xbox, first time I've ever played Lollipop Chainsaw at all and I think it's great, one of Suda's best. It is too bad that, for whatever reason, they couldn't optimize better before release. Agree that it will probably be in a better place early next year but if it needed a delay I don't understand why the devs and publisher would opt against it? Not like the time of year is going to impact sales positively or negatively for a remaster of a niche game.

Honestly, most people don't give a damn about metacritic scores. Even myself, I'll look at that website out of interest in how a game is reviewing but it factors in zero percent when I decide to purchase or not. The problem is publishers do care and they're the ones who get final on say on what does or doesn't make it to market.

PS5 - Stellar Blade, Astro Bot (only 3 planets in and if it keeps going as it has, this is easily my Game of the Year pick)

Xbox Series X - Lollipop Chainsaw: RePOP

Switch - The King of Fighter XIII: Global Match, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy

Easily a 10. Might be my favorite PS5 game, but I'll wait until I complete it and have let it sink in for a week or two before saying that definitively.

First time in a while I'm going to say the Premium tier selections are absolute garbage.

@SMcCrae95
Ok, thanks for the reply.

@SMcCrae95
Did you install the game directly onto the PS5 or were you playing off an external drive? I'm just wondering if maybe that has an impact on performance.

As has been stated Astro Bot isn't just a nice celebration for those of us who were there when it started but it's a great introduction for younger players or people new to the brand. If I were a studio head at Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, etc, I'd love to have a game or two referenced. You know a kid is going to play this game see some of the characters and want to give Ratchet & Clank or God of War a try. Maybe they're into racing and think Gran Turismo is worth a giving a play. It's really a no-lose situation.