I recently picked up a Playstation 4 in preparation for The Last Guardian (less than two months away now!).
I’m not sure how long I will keep the PS4 after The Last Guardian’s release, but in the meantime any suggestions for other PS4 games are welcome. I’m interested in exclusives or games that are not available on PC.
Here are my thoughts on the games that I’ve played so far:
Uncharted 4. The previous Uncharted games were solid, but nothing too special. I mainly got this as it is (very definitively) the conclusion to the Nathan Drake story. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Uncharted 4. The writing is hugely improved over the previous titles which is not surprising given that The Last of Us writers were at the helm. Nathan Drake now feels like a human character, with more depth as he thinks about the consequences of his choices. It’s still Uncharted, more lighthearted and more cartoony than The Last of Us, but within the context of Uncharted the storytelling is top quality. This, and The Last of Us are the peak of story telling in the action adventure genre at the moment. So Uncharted 4 definitely gets my recommendation if you liked The Last of Us and other “traversal” games such as Tomb Raider 2013. As the Uncharted stories are more or less standalone (like an Indiana Jones film), you can play this one without playing Uncharted 1-3 first; it’s perhaps better if you haven’t played the other titles first as the series cannot help to feel a bit repetitive after four games with very similar gameplay.
Bound. A new PS4 exclusive indie game. A walking similar, the uniqueness factor is that you can dance through levels, each of which are made from geometric shapes. The dance mechanic is under-utilised as a core mechanic, but I imagine that you can do some impressive manoeuvres through the level if you get good with the controls. It’s an odd little game. Try it if you want something different.
Gravity Rush Remastered. I got this on @Draikin’s recommendation. Very unique concept, and overall an experience worth trying, although I’m sure that it’s my kind of game personally. It’s enjoyable just soaring around the level while controlling gravity. I’m not too far into the game; only time will tell if it holds my attention to the end.
The Order 1886. I like trying new IPs and it was cheap. This one, however, feels rather bland. The time period is unique as far as shooters go and the environments are very detailed, but the gameplay, story, and characters feel very forgettable. I haven’t finished it yet, but to be honest I’m not sure that I will.
Heavy Rain Remastered. I was never able to complete Heavy Rain on the PS3 due to the game crashing, so it’s great to have finally had the opportunity to finish it, and the updated visuals make the experience feel more cinematic. There’s one scene that I thought was particularly well done. If you’ve played it you’ll know what I’m talking about. It involves a countdown and a painful choice that you have to make within the time limit. I chose not to take any action in that scene. As with David Cage’s other games, the gameplay often amounts to a series of quicktime events, but occasionally it’s nice just to skip the game mechanics that most story driven games are packaged with (whether they help the story or not) and experience something that is more focused on being a cinematic, interactive story. That said, you could probably watch Heavy Rain on YouTube and not miss out on much.
I also tried The Witcher 3; even though it’s a PC game as well, it doesn’t run too well on my video card. I was a bit underwhelmed, given the critical acclaim that this game has been given. I guess the open world nature of The Witcher 3 had me expecting a game world more like that of Skyrim, but there’s much less to it than an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. For example, even though I travelled from one end of the map to another, there wasn’t much in the way of enclosed places to explore that I could just stumble across. In the largest town, most doors to buildings were locked, and their were very few caves or ruins in the open world. Whereas in Skyrim there are hundreds of underground grottos and ruins to explore. Perhaps more areas are unlocked if you follow the story, but like the other Witcher games, the story felt very slow paced, so it’s not something that grabs at me to continue playing, at least for the time being; I think I’d rather spend more time in Bethesda’s games instead.
