PlayStation 4

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How Mike Bithell’s Volume has made me play my PS Vita more

Fourteen days into 2016 and reckon I’ve already played my PS Vita more this year than I did for much of last year.

I put that down to two things: a) Going on holiday, so my Vita was a nice portable way to replay some of my favourites like Gravity Rush and TxK and b) I bought Mike Bithell’s (@mikeBithell on Twitter) Volume, which came out on the Vita on January 6. I’ve played my PS Vita more because of Volume.

I can’t express enough joy at what a great game Volume is, not only because of its addictive qualities but that it’s also one of PlayStation’s Cross-play buys, which means if you buy it on PS Vita you automatically get to download it for free on the PS4 (and vice versa).

Grab+3840x2160+Friday+May+29+2015+16_17_37The premis of Volume is simple enough: You take the role of burglar Tom who uncovers a plot involving a military coup and device called the Volume. Using the Volume to simulate high-profile heists, Tom must guide his avatar around industrial environments, avoiding patrolling guards, sentry turrets and dogs while collecting gems. The simulations are broadcast to the internet using the Volume, eventually leading to a stand-off between Tom and the evil Gisborne, who has taken over control of England.

Grab+3840x2160+Friday+May+29+2015+16_25_33Volume is very Metal Gear Solid-esque, with an isometric third-person, top-down perspective, in that stealth and creeping around to avoid detection is to the fore. Get spotted by a patrolling guards (each has a vision cone indicating its field of vision), you have to re-start the level. Each level short – some take less than a minute to complete – but they’re so addictive that you’ll find yourself saying “Just one more. Just one more”.

Bithell is a British indie developer who also make the cutesy game Thomas was Alone, which I like a lot, and Volume has all the trademarks of another hit for Bithell and his team. I initially purchased it for my Vita – and being able to play it on my PS4 for no cost is an added bonus – and if I had any gripe it was the size of the text on the PS Vita version: It’s just too small for my ageing eyes.

So, I tweeted that to Bithell, and guess what? He got back to me shortly after, admitting the text was a little small and he would look at fixing things in a patch. In a simple thing like replying to my tweet, Bithell has proven to me that he’s a developer who cares about his fans and those that pay for his games. That’s something I admire in a developer. Thank, you, Mike.

I’m hoping that 2016 is the year that I play my PS Vita more. It’s a fantastic handheld console but I feel disappointed that Sony have pretty much abandoned it by not supporting it like it should have with first party titles, and left any game development up to third parties.

That said, maybe that’s not a bad thing: Sony is clearly focused on the PS4 and PlayStation VR so perhaps doesn’t want to develop for the Vita half-heartedly. It’s sad, though, that the company hasn’t shown the console more love.

Putting Volume aside (briefly), there are some pretty nice games coming out this year. Games I’m looking forward to include Uncharted 4, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Horizon Zero Dawn, Firewatch, Hitman, Quantum Break, Dishonoured 2, Crackdown 3, Mass Effect Andromeda and Unrave.

Sure, some have already been delayed already and I suspect many some of them won’t make 2016 but it’s a pretty great line up already, don’t you think? It’s a great time to be a video gamer.

What are you looking forward to this year?

 

Paris Games Week: Colour me impressed, Sony

Is Paris Games Week a new games show? I’ve never heard of it before (which doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been going for a while, of course).

Anyhoo, PlayStation had a press even 6am this morning NZ time and showed off a whole swag of games for the PlayStation 4and stuff, like PlayStation VR, Uncharted 4 multiplayer, some unseen footage from Guerilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn and a new game from David Cage, the guy behind Fahrenheit and Beyond Two Souls. I think it also announced a release date for No Man’s Sky.

I didn’t get up for the briefing (I was cuddling my pillow too much) so I watched some videos when I got home from work. Cage’s Detroit Become Human, which seems to be based on the Kara PS4 tech demo that Cage did, impressed, so did Guerilla’s Horizon Zero Dawn, which I’m also quietly optimistic about (at least from what I’ve seen so far).

Here’s a trailer for Detroit: 

And some footage of Horizon Zero Dawn: 

PlayStation also announced an on-rails game for its virtual reality headset, the imaginatively name PlayStation VR, called Until Dawn Rush of Blood. Here’s a trailer for that: 

There is also a new game coming from Media Molecule, the studio behind Little Big Planet. It’s called Dreams and it continues MM’s wacky game style. Watch it here: 

Then there’s Robinson: The Journey, from Crytek (the developers behind the original Far Cry). It has a futuristic feel to it but there are dinosaurs running around. It’s certainly interesting. Here’s the footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOZtqDhQP44

There’s certainly a lot to digest, isn’t there? I’m a little bummed that it seems like Sony has given up on its handheld, the PS Vita. It’s quite disappointing, actually.

Here are some other trailers to keep your eyes occupied:

RIGS Mechanised Combat League

Gravity Rush (which first appeared on the PS Vita): 

Uncharted 4’s MP reveal: 

GT Sport (from Polyphony Digital, the makers of Gran Turismo): 

Street Fighter V 

Something called Matterfall: 

Some more Star Wars Battlefront: 

Seems like it’s a good time to own a PS4.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

And now, a case of shameless self-promotion …

As a trained writer by profession (I was a newspaper/online journalist for 22 years), I love writing so I’ll take any opportunity I can to hone my craft and inflict my prose on the ever-suffering world, whether they want to read it or not.

So in this, a case of shameless self-promotion of my own writing, I’d like you to point your browsers to Cake Oven, a great New Zealand-based pop culture/Geek website run by awesome people and has amazingly talented writers that I’m just happy to be associated with and has the balls to run my writing. What were they thinking???

The cast of Until Dawn: They quite like what I've written about the game they star in, too.

The cast of Until Dawn: They quite like what I’ve written about the game they star in, too.

In my first piece for Cake Oven, I’ve written about PS4-exclusive Until Dawn, which I like to think is a horror video game for gamers who don’t like horror video games. Gamers like me, actually.

I’d love you to check it out and let me know what you think. Also, I cannot guaranteed this will be the last time I self-promote my writing on another site. Oh, you’re good with that? Excellent.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection review [PS4]

Over the course of three games, adventurer Nathan Drake, the star of developer Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, has climbed a lot of cliff faces and shimmied down a lot of drain pipes, all in the name of finding ancient treasure, most of it done with a witty quip or a punch or three.

Drake is undoubtbly one of Sony’s leading men and has been given the re-master treatment by Bluepoint Games in Uncharted The Nathan Drake Collection,  and the company has done a great job breathing new life into a series that debuted on the PlayStation 3.

Among the improvements are all three games are now targeting 1080p/60 frames a second, improved environment lighting, character models and shaders, and increased texture detail. There’s also now a speed run mode, if you’re the type of player who likes to run-n-gun it in the fasted time possible.

BluePoint has also added a photo mode, which is common for PS4 games these days, and reduced screen tearing. It’s a nice package.Oh, another nice touch is that the games keep a tally of how well you do in certain aspects (headshot, melee takedowns) and let you know how you’re doing against your online friends.

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A shot from Nepal, in one of Uncharted 2’s most thrilling levels.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves  was always my favourite game of the series, especially its Nepalese locations and its unforgettable opening moments, and if this remaster has done one thing, it’s shown me how badly the original Uncharted has fared since it’s release in 2007. Despite the remaster treatment, Drake’s Fortune hasn’t aged well, especially in terms of game play and when put up against Uncharted 2 and 3.

Talking of game play, any niggles I have are nothing to do with BluePoint but with the Uncharted series in general. Enemies sometimes seem like bullet sponges, even when you think you’ve got them square in the noggin, and at times Nathan’s punches seem weak as a wet teabag. And whoever at Naughty Dog thought it was a good idea having chase levels where you had to guide Nathan towards the player (ie pulling down on the left analogue stick to make Drake run forward) to escape a chasing threat, needs to be slapped with a wet fish and told it was a bad, bad idea.

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Nathan Drake and Sully discover the German U-boat from Drake’s Fortune.

The three Uncharted games look great, especially Uncharted 2 and 3, with the environments now lush and vibrant (unless Drake and his pals are exploring underground catacombs or caverns so things are a little gloomier) but the The Nathan Drake Collection poses the same question that all re-masters of last-generations do: Is it worth your coin if you’ve played it before?

If you haven’t played them before then, yes, the collection is worth owning (and to be honest, the collection is worth it for Uncharted 2 alone), but if you’ve played the series before it’ll be a harder sell answered by this question which you no doubt will ask yourself several times:”Do I want to play the Uncharted games again?”

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A shot from Drake’s Fortune using the photo mode.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed my time re-visiting the Uncharted series. They look fantastic and show how good the tech boffins at BluePoint games are but at times, the game play niggles frustrated me, especially with Drake’s Fortune.

That said, Uncharted The Nathan Drake Collection is a lot of fun, despite the flaws and I’m looking forward to Uncharted 4 on the PS4.

We have to remember that this is a re-master of an already established series, not a remake, so it’ll still have some of the niggles from the the original games. I really, really enjoyed playing an hour or two of each game at a time, just to see the progression between the two. If you you do decide to pick it up, I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Here’s some capture of my playthrough of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune captured using the PS4’s share functionality. Enjoy. All of the screen shots for this write-up were capturing using the collection’s Photo mode.

 

Let’s Play … Tearaway Unfolded (PS4, no commentary)

The title says it all, really.

Here’s part two of my playthrough of Media Molecule’s PS4-exclusive Tearaway Unfolded. Sadly, again, there’s no audio commentary as I’m still having trouble recording external audio.

I’ll get it sorted. I promise. In the meantime, enjoy the video.

Let’s Play … Tearaway Unfolded [PS4]

OK, I thought I’d do another Let’s Play video, this time for Media Molecule’s PS4-exclusive Tearaway Unfolded, a sort-of remake for the game Tearaway which appeared on the PSVita [a handheld console that seems, regrettably, overlooked by Sony much of the time].

The PSVita game was just delightful and used the strengths of the handheld beautifully. I’m intrigued to see how Unfolded makes the most of the PS4’s abilities. There’s no commentary on this one as I’m having trouble with recording audio so this just has in-game audio.

Enjoy. If you want to see more, Like it and let me know in the comments.

Let’s play Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture

OK, so I thought I’d test the waters by doing a series of Let’s Plays of Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture, the game that I reviewed here last week.

I haven’t done a tonne of Let’s Plays before because, well, frankly, YouTube is swamped with them and it’s likely that my feeble effort will get overlooked in the masses of more professional looking efforts. It’s a harsh reality but a fact.

My son also thinks that Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture isn’t an ideal game for a Let’s Play video series because it doesn’t have enough action in it to keep the viewer engaged. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

I captured the footage using the PlayStation 4’s built-in game play capture feature (which is surprisingly easy) then edited it using Windows Movie Maker, which may not be the best choice but it seemed to work OK for a first effort, although the intro is lame and not very exciting. I’ll work on that if people want to see more of the videos.

So, without further ado, here is part one of my [second] playthrough of Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture. Comments would be appreciated on a) Whether you’d like to see more of the series, b) Whether you’re interested in Let’s Play videos on the site or not, and c) If you are interested, what other games would you like to see (provided I have them, of course).

As always, I appreciate your viewership/readership. Really, I do.