Lovespuds

I personally have a lot of time for Bethesda, they seem to have a knack of knocking out games that I have consistently enjoyed.

Personally, I thought Prey was fantastic despite not particularly liking the aliens. How they hell the managed to relaunch Doom and Wolfenstein so successfully is beyond me, they are incredible in my opinion. Then there is the brilliant Evil Within series, very under rated for me, I thought they were great games personally.

@bpomber
Agreed, talk about an impossible decision.....thats going to be a flip of a coin for me, I might even abstain 😁

As for this round, Aloy all the way for me, I loved Cloud and FF7 back in the day, but upon replaying it a few years back, it's funny how one dimensional Cloud is. Maybe it was more difficult to make complex characters back then given the limitations of the platform, but Aloy just seems much deeper and more realised than any character I can think of from the PS1 era.

These games have always made me wish that I was good at fighting games, they look so fun and frantic and I love the artstyle too.

I guess it is fun to speculate on what might be, and I am very easily excited at the prospect of what might be shown at E3 but I feel like Sony are trying to play down this year's event in an attempt to calm the expectations of an increasingly rabid fan base.

I am hoping for a couple of surprises but if I am honest, I don't expect much more than the four games they touted a few weeks ago. Even if they only show gameplay of TLOU2 and Spiderman it will be a pretty epic presser I reckon.

I personally book a couple of days leave, stay up to watch the conferences, watch a load of Giantbomb content and hang arounfbof gaming websites reading all the articles etc. E3 is my favourite gaming event of the year by a country mile.

@tomassi
I don't necessarily feel that releasing annually affects the quality to a huge degree, for me, the issue is one of over exposure.

I love Assassins Creed, probably more than most, having played each release to completion and picking up a few platinum trophies along the way but honestly, I feel like I got my creed fix after the plat on Origins, these games are a huge time commitment. I would be more than happy to find that the next instalment wasn't due for another year or so, just to build some anticipation.

Blimey, another instance of PushSquare making me aware of a game I had previously been oblivious too, this looks fabulous, something to play with my wife.

Great review, I must confess I had no idea this game existed until reading this piece and it does seem very interesting to me despite the few niggles, I really like how it looks too.

I still have to pinch myself when thinking about just how good consoles and their games are in the modern age. I still play a lot of 8bit and 16bit games so I have never lost perspective on the incredible quality of contemporary games.

I adore my Pro, God of War was mind blowing and now I am back into Dark Souls for a 4th tour and it's amazing compared to PS3....never been a better time to be a gamer.

@LieutenantFatman
For sure, I have very fond memories of the likes of Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi and bizarrely, Rambo III (as a 17 year old I loved that game for some reason).

I just never saw the attraction with Sonic but then again, I was always more of a Mario fan anyway.

Just going to drop this bomb and walk away......Sonic games were never any good. 😞

#justice4joel

@Shepherd_Tallon
Mine came this morning, good old Shopto, the steel case in a thing of beauty.

I was about to start Gravity Rush 2 today but I have had my head turned by Dragons arriving, I am torn!

I might just persevere with Castlevania III on NES, I am close to beating if for the first time. I am looking to play all of the Castlevania titles, I beat one and two over the last three weeks and feel pretty chuffed, those games were super challenging. Cannot wait to play Symphony of the Night!

Bah, that's a real shame. Looks like I will be picking up Everybody's Tennis instead, although, Mario Tennis looks mighty promising too.

Really liked Everybody's Tennis back in the day, seem to recall you were a fan too Sammy 😊

Loved Adventure Pals, played it with my daughter and had a great time. Very minor quibble though, when things get busy it can hard to tell which character you are controlling when playing co op, very small niggle though as the game is so fun and utterly charming.

Death Road to Canada slipped right under my radar though, looks like one to add to my backlog.

I must be out of touch because, as amazing as GoW is, I don't feel that it's a patch on TLoU, particularly where story telling and characters are concerned.

GoW is unbelievable and in many ways a big step up for the series but the story telling, acting and cast of characters just don't compare to TLOU (nor Uncharted for that matter).

The idea that Naughty Dog have anything to prove is bonkers to me, I think a lot of this is just hype and excitement around a new release.

Having finished GOW I am moving on to new things and haven't really thought about it too much over the last few days (Straight into Castlevania on NES and Shadow of the Colossus). I literally couldn't stop thinking about TLOU for weeks after finishing it and jumped back in for another play through immediately after finishing it.

GOW is one hell of an achievement, I loved it but honestly, it doesn't compare to Naughty Dogs titles in my opinion.

@RogerRoger

Congrats fella, that is a really fun platinum trophy.

I am a little burnt out on God of War having wrapped up the story after around 35 hours, I still have some loose ends to sort out so I will give it a rest for a few days before picking it back up. What a fantastic game!

Finished FarCry 5 in the early hours of this morning too, probably completed 95 percent of the content but I am done as I cannot be bothered with the Arcade mode, so no point grinding the final odds and ends as I wont be getting the platinum trophy due to the trophies linked to arcade mode.

Started Crash Bandicoot 2 earlier today as a change of pace, I am really enjoying it but I have already swore at the telly a few times 🤣 and I am going to start Castlevania on NES this evening.

@YummyHappyPills
Sorry to hear that, hope you and yours come through this all the stronger and closer chief, all the best.

@FullbringIchigo
Blimey, that's a lot of Final Fantasy!!! I am picking up on a vibe that you might be a fan of the series 😀

Great list of games, it's an incredible time to be a fan of the medium.

Personally, I would do anything for a new Bloodborne/Souls game although, if new of TLoU2 dropping this year was announced, I would lose my mind!

Also, Ghost of Tshushima is super exciting too.

God of War really is special but for me, Bloodborne and Uncharted 4 are still ahead in my personal favourite games on PS4.

I think it must be in with a shout of doing well for game of the year awards, only Spiderman or Red Dead 2 could challenge in my opinion.

As an Amiga gamer bank in the day, I will always have a soft spot for Team17.

This game look really good fun, hope it does well for them.

Playing it right now......thankyou Shopto, fab as always!

First impressions are incredible, I cannot believe this game looks, mind blowing!

Not wishing to be 'that guy', but I think this is a case of 'rose tinted glasses' personally.

While it was a somewhat impressive game back in the day (although I recall finding it eye-rollingly dramatic and cheesy, even back then), time has not been kind to the series. I watched bits of a Giantbomb playthrough a few months back and the game is completely outdated.

I fear that for those playing the games for the first time, without the nostalgia from playing the games originally, they may find themselves struggling to enjoy the games.

Started playing 'The Adventure Pals' with my daughter last night and it is absolutely brilliant fun.

Also looking to wrap up Farcry 5, I have completed everything in 2 of the regions so will be working through the final region next. I'll also be mixing in a little MarioKart8 here and there too.

I personally adored these titles. I feel like there is an element of revisionist history going on in respect of God of War, with many commentators and journalists slating Kratos and the earlier GoW titles. Glad to see you still showing some love Sammy 😁

Each game in the series released to critical acclaim and were well received by a public who bought the fames in their millions.

Of course, the franchise needed a revamp, but that should not detract from how fantastic these games are. They were always epic and always pushed their respective platform to its limits with GoW3, in my opinion, being the pinnacle until this new release.

I cannot wait for this new game.

@JoeBlogs
Agreed, fantastic game but that protagonist was a complete Berk!

Great to see so many trying Mad Max, criminally under-appreciated in my opinion, looks like making games available via PS+ really can give older games a new lease of life.

I am replaying Dark Souls 2 again, all the excitement about the remaster of DS1 just put me in the mood. While it might be the weakest souls game, it is still head and shoulders above most other games, I love it to bits.

@LaNooch1978
I played it to death when it released and had an awesome time with it, considering how desolate the world was, I felt it had some of the most beautiful sunrises/sunsets in that game.

I should go back and platinum it really, pretty sure I was only missing 3 or 4 if the racing trophies.

It is looking very congested for sure, I think Spiderman might be the only title that can release regardless of the competition and still sell by the truckload.

It is a shame because I want to play all of those games and consider them all to be day 1 purchases, looks like I will need to prioritise I suppose.

Very excited for this title, a game in this genre comes along very rarely so I always feel keen when one comes around.

I personalky think that Until Dawn surpassed anything from Quantic Dreams so I am interested to see how QD respond to Until Dawn's quality and popularity.

Cannot get the overworld map music from Nino Kuni 2 out of my head, its fabulous. I know it's a rehash from the first game but still, I love it.

@get2sammyb
Great review Sammy, I think I may well pick this up as I didn't buy it last year. I will need to train in resisting swinging at everything again, the hardest part of the Show by far in my opinion.

Do you watch any baseball and if so, do you root for a particular team? I got into MLB about 20 years ago when feeding my daughter in the wee hours, we only had 5 channels on the TV in the bedroom so I ended up watching baseball.

@get2sammyb
The problem is, in respect of new releases especially, those discounts still leave you paying more for the game than you would pay for the equivalent physical release.

The store prices are chronically overpriced in my opinion.

Although I personally haven't benefited from many of the games on PS+ recently, because I buy almost every major title when it comes out, I think Sony are absolutely killing it with their free game offering this year.

@Quintumply
Fantastic soundtrack in that version of the game, I don't think it will be bettered by this new release. I'll still pick it up though as Lumines is tremendous fun to play.

Super excited for this title, although the last two Tomb Raider games enjoyed critical and commercial success, I do feel that they are a little under appreciated as you don't hear them brought up very often (in the same way Uncharted crops up for example).

I absolutely loved these games and while they aren't as important to me as Uncharted, I still think they are incredible titles, a new game in the series will earn a pre order from me.

The only person I can see competing with Nathan Drake is Joel, I hope I never have to make that choice! 😁

Love this feature, congrats and thanks again to all involved for this, it's really good fun.

Never saw the fuss with Mega drive personally, I had a buddy with one and I did love Revenge of Shinobi but for me, the Amiga was THE games machine of the 90's.

@Shepherd_Tallon
Darkest Dungeon is incredible squire, it's tough and the controls are a little awkward at first, but persevere as after an hour or two you'll be hooked.

@Shigurui
Agreed, that character was incredible. He was really tough, but you could just detect a kind nature under the surface, such a well written personality.

@Rudy_Manchego
Hope you are all on the mend fella.

For me, I'll be cheering on my beloved Liverpool and then it's on with Shadows of Mordor which I started yesterday. So far it seems excellent although, the menu stuff seems quite overwhelming so I have some learning to do.

@get2sammyb
Yup, the internet is a pretty depressing place, it's bonkers to me that anyone can take issue with the principles of equal treatment and rights irrespective of gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation etc.

For me, the way Naughty Dog has crafted their stories and characters is beyond reproach, they are masters in their field and the delicacy and subtly of characters like Elle or Bill in TLoU is incredible.

Congrats to ND and to Druckman, as far as I am concerned, they have a perfect track record so far.

The only videogame character I can imagine coming close to beating out Joel is Nathan Drake or maybe, at a push, Sully.

As someone who adored all of the Motorstorm games I am super excited for Onrush.

I only hope they do a better job with the AI though as Motorstorm got ridiculously hard as you progressed.

Pre ordered as soon as it was listed on Shopto, I cannot wait to play this game as I had so much fun getting the platinum trophy in Odinshere and I am gagging for more of the same.

I love the art in this game, it looks beautiful 😍

I loved the utility of the switch cane as it was effective as a short sword on single enemies and brilliant at crowd control in whip form.

Even with my platinum trophy already secured I am tempted to go back for yet another trip to Yarnham, what an utterly incredible game.

I saw this title and immediately this movie popped into my head 🤣

https://youtu.be/HBio0yVZXz0

Battlefield 1942 was the game that lured me away from CounterStrike back in the day, the idea of a revisit to that conflict with those weapons and vehicles fills me with utter joy.

I hope that these rumours are well founded, super excited!

It will be interesting to see if the Bad Company rumours were true.

I would love to revisit WW2 where it all began for me 20 years (ish) ago, maybe even another trip to Vietnam?