My Take on the PS Plus December 2016 Offers

Magicka 2: Base Edition (PS4)

The perfect game to play with your buddies, online. A normal, average game can turn out to be great once played in co-op mode. Its the sense of camaraderie, of working together to achieve objectives and failing miserably too. The game catches you off guard with its bright colors and fancy magics. If you and your buddies are up for some challenge, there's a team deathmatch arena-style fights where it pits your team against another 4-player team. A combination of defensive and offensive strategies applies here if you want your team to survive!

Hyper Void (PS4)

This title is a shoot em up, or shmup. But it doesn't hold a candle to the heavyweights of past shmups. Everything about this game feels generic, from the plain background (its just a blackhole) to an unengaging soundtrack, there's nothing to love. Also the view and the angle of your ship makes it difficult to attack and evade enemies on screen. Only good about it is the laser show.

 Badland: Game of the Year Edition (PS4/PS Vita)

This game has turned out to be a surprising little title which I've enjoyed playing on the PS Vita. Whether you're playing via touch screen or conventional controls, it feels exciting to control the little, flying critters across the level. My kids laughed a lot too watching me play. Jusr a sweet, sweet game that fits perfectly on the PS Vita.

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops (PS4/PS Vita)

A twin stick military shooter which I've had fun playing on the PS Vita. My kids had fun too playing it because of the simple controls. You can upgrade your guns and customize your soldies. You can even recruit a one-off unique soldier that have special abilities to help you out on difficult missions. I can see myself playing this game for quite some time along with Badland above and that's the most unique thing about the PS Vita: Portable fun!

My Take on the PS Plus November 2016 Offers

There's a bunch of PS Plus free games this time around. Here's my take on them.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4)

I get it that not everyone likes this kind of game. A walking simulator game. The pace is slow. No action ever takes place. You are all by yourself with no other person in sight. Same feeling I get when playing other walking sims like Dear Esther, Ether One, Proteus and Gone Home. Games under my radar I've yet to play are The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and SOMA. You could say I'm one of the few who could tolerate games of this genre.

Reasons I stuck with this game till the end was for the story (an enticingly good one at that) and the lushness of the quaint English countryside (made with Crytek's CryEngine). The orchestral soundtrack was aurally pleasing and uplifting. Ultimately, I'll only ever play games like this once. Fortunately, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was a worthwhile adventure while it lasted. 👍

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend (PS4, PS Vita)

Gave this game a whirl on the PS Vita and was awed by the hand drawn animations of fighters havin' it at each other in this brilliant brawler. A perfect fit on the mobile for a quick stress relieving/inducing bouts; depends on how good you are with fighting games 😁

Pumped BMX + (PS4, PS Vita)

Also installed this on the PS Vita due to its short burst type of gameplay. The game controls simply and ramped it up with button combos to pull of crazy stunts. Rack up insane points and get to the finishing line in one piece is the objective of the game. An easy to play, hard to master kind of game. One thing I was not too keen on was the use of the rear touchpad to execute said stunts. The game only registers if you touched the far-reaching centre of the touchpad. Fingering anywhere else won't get the job done 😋

Saints Row: Re-Elected (PS4)

Purple Crazy!

I remembered this game was heavily compared to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game series. Well the open world aspect that is. What sets it apart was the over the top action and humor. And superpowers! With superpowers, you can pretty much get around easily without ever hitching a ride. The game simply won't take itself seriously which is a good thing because video games are a form of escapism bla bla bla. We've been served Gat Out Of Hell expansion in the previous PS Plus offers. Now, time for the main dish! 🍻

Lumines Electronic Symphony (PS Vita)

Lumines games started out way back on the PSP, which I have had a change to play. This PS Vita iteration offers more of the same puzzle-solving, Tetris-style and color matching gameplay. Slick presentation, pulsing music and eye-popping visuals is the order of the day.

My Take on the PS Plus October 2016 Offers

Resident Evil (PS4)

This is the latest iteration/port of a famous game franchise started way back on the PS1. This one though is a direct port of a Gamecube game. Granted this game oozes eerie atmosphere and the grandaddy of survival horror games out there. I actually have the Gamecube version of this game and played it a while back. The difference on the PS4 that I could appreciate was that all the background walls, corridors and decorations were no longer pre-rendered and are actual polygons. All of this makes for a thrilling October frightfest! 

Lords of the Fallen (PS4)

I consider this game to be a Dark Souls lite game. The overall chunkiness of the character designs reminds me of the Overlord games I've played before. Honestly, I haven't played this game before, although I wanted to. I've only seen gameplay videos of it. I reckon I could last a whole lot longer in this one than that other game, heh.

Samurai Warriors 4 (PS Vita)

Before playing this, I've never ever played a Samurai Warriors game before. Any version whatsoever. I've only watched gameplay footages and were quite impressed with how they handled mass fighting in the game. Now that I have experienced it for myself, mass fighting can be a bit bland when you're fighting against opponents that all look the same and the standard grunts barely makes a move on you. So to mitigate this, I noticed, is to inject flavors to all the heroes character to make them look larger than life. Banters between characters interspersed in the campaign mode are typical and not that engaging. At its core, the gameplay style is a fit on the PS Vita and recommended to play in short bursts/quickie.

Prince of Persia: Revelations (PS Vita)

Now this is a title I enjoyed so much playing before on the PC and I played em all you see. The Prince of Persia franchise is one that I keep coming back to for action platformer. This PS Vita version (PSP to be exact) is the same one as Prince of Persia Warrior Within, but with different sub title. The small amount of time that I've played it convinces me that the story and gameplay are directly the same from Warrior Within. Although that's not a bad thing. The combat is pretty slick and were very fun to pull off, exactly as I remembered playing it all those years ago. The soundtrack were very memorable with rock riffs that fits with the tone of the game. I'd recommend this title anytime to those seeking for some challenge although this PS Vita version has blurry graphics considering its a PSP title. Wall-running is still freakin' awesome though!