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!

PS Plus Junior Reporter (September 2016) Winner!

Sweet Christmas! Fired up the PS4 last Tuesday and was greeted with this surprise. Bagged a money voucher for reviewing a bunch of PS Plus free games on the article "My Take on the PS Plus September 2016 Offers" that I posted previously. Thank you Sony Interactive Entertainment Hong Kong Ltd for this little gift. I intend to redeem it on The Last Guardian which will come out early December.

My Take on the PS Plus September 2016 Offers

Journey

I have been wanting to play this game for the longest time ever since i saw it came out for the PS3. I had preferred playing this title on the PS Vita (not available!) because I believe its laid back nature is more suited for portable gaming. As it is, this piece of artwork is a pleasure to delve into and a wonder to behold...the same feeling i got when playing Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2. Just moving around in the sand and gliding down from on top of hills is really a joyous experience. Every once in a while you will be joined by an unknown player and the coop gameplay makes the journey worthwhile. All I can say is that this game needs to be played at least once in your lifetime if you call yourself a gamer.

Senran Kagura SHINOVI VERSUS (PS Vita)

I have heard many naughty and nasty things about this game so it is a no brainer for me to try it out and see what the fuss is all about. I'm very early on so I can't say much what this game has to offer. What caught me by surprise was the engaging combat which lets you perform various skills/moves and are a delight to play. All I can say is that if you love your anime, your ninja/shinobi and a bunch of skimpily clad girls, this game is right up your alley.

My Take on The Crew: The Best Edition

Picked up this sweet,sweet racer through the Hot Summer Deals on the Playstation Store which is currently running till 24th August. While I prefer sim racing games, I'm a sucker for arcade ones and I've only just got Driveclub the previous month. FYI, I'm playing The Crew game without the Wild Run DLC.

My Take:

• This game reminds me so much of the Test Drive Unlimited series. In addition  to the open world (covers the northern USA), cars are driveable off-road which makes for some bumpy and challenging race. Not only that, if your car goes off-road and is not equipped with the specific spec (Dirt/Raid spec), its handling and speed is hampered considerably.

• There's lots to do in the open world. Peppered along routes are Skills markers when upon driving through it triggers tasks for you to perform. Exploration markers gives you points for discovering unique locales. There's also scavenging for car parts when upon completion will unlock a hidden car.

• Races are very fun to play even if most of them are a breeze. Cars handle fairly well and the sense of speed is pretty exhilarating. There's this one race where you're sprinting along the coastline for this one Cape in the East Coast, the experience is very much like the last race in the Need For Speed movie. And I did it with one crew member too (another player). Best moment so far.

• The animation when cars gets upgraded is pretty slick. The breaking apart and piecing back together car parts coupled with boltgun sound effect will never get old.

• My favorite thing to do in this game is to drive from point A to point B aka crosscountry driving. The farther those points are the better. The main story will task you to do this once you've completed all the missions in the area and its one of the joys this game has to offer.

• For the Wild Run update they're upgraded the graphics. From watching a couple of youtube videos like the one below, you can appreciate the difference. Overall visuals look sharp and weather effects are nice. Driveclub still holds the title of having the best water effect so far even beating Project Cars.

• The game would've been a lot smoother if they've done away with loading screens whenever you enter/exit garage or HQ. Also the transition to the big map seems rough as it needs to load important checkpoints first.

Screenshots:

Will update later with screenshots of my own.

My Take on the PS Plus August 2016 Offers

Gone Home: Console Edition

I've already played this on Steam so I'm skipping this one. Will probably play this again if it suits my fancy. You could say this is one of the popular walking simulators out there. What's unique is the contemporary 80's settings prevalent throughout the house you're exploring. You could find VHS, mix tapes and notes left by the inhabitants that really convey the sense of that time period. The story unfolds bit by bit when reading the notes and it's a touching one between siblings at that.

Tricky Towers

It's a balancing game (of which there are few of that kind on the net) but with Tetris blocks. Nuff said. I've played it and its quite tough to be honest. Most physics-based games are since they're finicky at best. Probably need to have a few more rounds with it to get comfortable. (Update 15 Sept 2016): Played this recently with other players online and it's wildly addicting! Saved a couple of videos and will upload them here later. There's a leveling system here with higher ranking = better player title.

Ultratron

Twin stick shooter, with a progressive perk leveling. Bright neon-colored arena pulsing with rhythmic techno soundtrack. Its a delightful fast-paced quickie game that manage to satisfy rounds after rounds ...until you meet your doom. Then you can let out a sigh of relief after busting through so many levels. Another go perhaps?











Patapon 3

I've only ever played the first Patapon on the PSP and I can't wait to play this one...once I cleared up some space on the Vita. Patapon for me was a refreshing experience much like Loco Roco. The styles and gameplay is wholely unique and I think only Japanese games developer could churn out this kind of game. I don't know what new features are added in Patapon 3 since then, but I'll happily give it a go and be glad that I did it.

Time Jump! It is now 2016!

It's mid 2016. A little update here. I no longer game on PC because the OS booted up too slow (takes almost half an hour to get to desktop). Its a shame since I have tons of games on Steam. I now own a Playstation 4 and a PSVita before that. I'm a PS Plus subscriber so I'm getting free games every month for the PS4 and Vita. After gaming for at least more than a year on the PS4, I really missed gaming on PC especially on Steam cause that's where all the big discounts are at.

Here's my PSN ID if you guys want to add me: youze_ps

Virtual Reality/VR is all the craze now. After briefly trying out my friend's Samsung Gear VR, which is my first time with the tech btw, I'm itching to get my hands on one. My best bet would be Xiaomi's VR headset (I have a Mi phone) and the PSVR much much later. The thing about VR headsets are the experience will be a solo and a solitary one. I will probably jump into that without a doubt if I was single; the only time I could put on the VR headset peacefully would probably be late at night after the kids gone to bed. And I will likely be using the headset to watch movies set inside a cinema interior rather than gaming cause...I'm just tired.

Mi VR

PSVR