New PS4 owner recommendations • Gaming • PS4 • Eurogamer.net

bone-on 20 Apr 2020 17:49:42 805 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 7 years ago

A new PS4 owner here.

Treated myself after getting bored in lockdown.

I’ve purchased Odin Sphere, Dragons Crown and the Order 1889.

Any other games worth a punt which I might not have on PC?

Edited by bone-on at 17:49:53 20-04-2020

Carlo 20 Apr 2020 18:07:00 21,801 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 16 years ago

Depending on what type of games you like, take a look at all teh Sony Exclusives (Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted, Last of Us... etc.).

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed Division 2, and it's very cheap at the moment, but as it's on PC you may have played it already.

monkman76 20 Apr 2020 19:00:10 18,987 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 13 years ago

I recommend Jeff, he’s most people’s favourite new PS4 owner.

Deleted user 20 April 2020 19:02:01

Spider-Man

oakie007 20 Apr 2020 19:18:56 291 posts
Seen 3 weeks ago
Registered 17 years ago

Days gone is awesome, I'd also go for Tetris effect, Uncharted 4, Ratchet and Clank, Gran Turismo sport, Until dawn, and Mortal Kombat XI. Enjoy!!

richardiox 20 Apr 2020 19:41:12 10,097 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 17 years ago

Spiderman, God of War, Last of Us, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection (free at the moment), Resogun etc etc etc etc

Saul_Iscariot 20 Apr 2020 20:05:28 4,399 posts
Seen 5 hours ago
Registered 9 years ago

God of War and Spider-Man are probably the two games I have enjoyed the most on PS4. If you have a PSN subscription then you can get all four Uncharted games. I have only played the first two. They are okay but I really lost interest as the second had a proper crap bug in it. I would die, respawn then die instantly. It really took the shine off of the game. But that was on the PS3.

Detroit is quite good, but I think that had or is getting a PC release. The Last of Us is supposed to be really good but I have struggled to get into it. I have Dreams sat in the shelf. That is supposed to be quite interesting but there are lots of tutorials to get the most out of.

Edited by Saul_Iscariot at 22:09:18 20-04-2020

Derblington 20 Apr 2020 21:26:40 35,161 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago

Infamous Second Son/Last Light doesn’t get enough love. Still looks fantastic and I really liked the superhero ability stuff.

Deleted user 20 April 2020 22:04:36

Saul_Iscariot wrote:
God of War and Spider-Man

Really this, particularly God of war.

Deleted user 20 April 2020 22:12:22

Bloodborne is the only exclusive I would have really felt I missed out on something had I not got a PS4. It's so good it's worth the price of the console by itself.

TLOU, GoW, Uncharted all those first party Sony games are so beige to me. Decent games, but never top top notch.

Horizon was great but that's not an exclusive for very long. Better to get it on pc and not have it look like a slideshow.

retro74 20 Apr 2020 23:12:08 3,798 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 13 years ago

The Last of Us is a game I think everyone should play. I thought it was very average as a game but it’s a very memorable experience despite this

Deleted user 21 April 2020 07:35:15

The dialogue is good, and the story is decent. But as you intimate, the gameplay is pretty boring. It's really repetitive. I am surprised it's held in such lofty acclaim by a lot of people. I think it's well overrated.

retro74 21 Apr 2020 09:25:00 3,798 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 13 years ago

That's exactly it, it's just a strong, emotive story with great characters and a lot of gamers are suckers for a post-apocalyptic world anyway

If you took that emotional hook away it would be rated no better than the likes of Kane & Lynch

People should play it for the story and setting as it excels in those areas

Derblington 21 Apr 2020 09:48:27 35,161 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago

The gameplay in *all* games is repetitive.
It's how those systems are utilised with with the wrapper, be that a cinematic narrative, combat dexterity, or tactical decision making, that keep them interesting.

If you prefer combat dexterity over cinematic narrative, that's cool, but if you want story and character the Naughty Dog stuff is pretty much the pinnacle of the industry.

Deleted user 21 April 2020 10:07:28

@Derblington I think that's a bit of a misleading blanket statement. Sure most games are repetitive by design, but there are shades. For instance, variety. There's no variety in TLOU. You have a few guns, the type of enemies are limited. Also the locations are designed the same. It got really boring for me. They tried to mix it up with the DLC but even that was dull. You can only play it one way. It's ok, but I don't see many people saying they replay it all the time. A game absolutely should be judged on being a game first and foremost IMO. It was not all that in this regard.

As regards the story, if a derivative, ten a penny zombie story is the pinnacle of gaming storytelling...

One thing I agree with and it did exceedingly well was characters. They are well fleshed out, have great dialogue. Most games recycle cliched character tropes and don't make any effort, TLOU had 2 fantastic, interesting characters, definitely the highlight for me. I would play the sequel through once probably because I liked the characters.

The presentation of the story was also completely bland and uninspired (cutscenes and chatter). Compare to Portal or something where the story is brought to you as you play, hidden in the world. Or Senua's Sacrifice, where whispers in your ears deliver direction and clues. Or Dark Souls where the item descriptions and world itself tell you the entire plot. That's innovative and merges good gameplay with story presentation that compliments the medium.

Watching a couple of rubber faced twats in a 10 minute cutscene is fine and lots of good games do that, but I don't think it's worth the rave reviews. I'd rather watch a film for a 'cinematic narrative' - they do it far better. Let games be games, and tell your story in an innovative way that suits the medium. Stop trying to be Hollywood.

****ALL IMO****

Edited by Steve-Perry at 10:16:56 21-04-2020

Derblington 21 Apr 2020 10:20:49 35,161 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago

All the things you're talking about are specific to certain experiences. It's very clear from your breakdown of TLoU and your praise of BB of what you favour.

Gaming is a spectrum of genres and experiences, we're long past the days of gameplay being the most important aspect, weird as that sounds. Entertainment value is different for different people.
If you look for that primarily, great, then the FROM games are obviously going to be a preference. But it works both ways, so we can largely ignore your criticism of TLoU if we don't share your interests.

There are similar teardowns of Dark Souls being obtuse, unfair and with poor narrative delivery. You obviously wouldn't agree with those either.

Deleted user 21 April 2020 10:29:31

That's fair enough. FROM games are not for everyone.

I want to have my cake and eat it, have a fantastic game with a great story, which is not presented in a juvenile manner, and by this I specifically mean cutscenes in AAA titles, which are written by people not qualified to write what you called 'cinematic narratives'. Personally, it makes my toes curl 9 times out of 10.

And I don't think it should be lauded as the pinnacle of the medium when there are many other games which do it better. I listed a few, but there are a ton more I bet that I haven't played.

TLOU was a step in the right direction for first party AAA storytelling, and ND do it better than most, but it still does not compare favourably to some of the other narrative driven games I have played over the last few years.

Edited by Steve-Perry at 10:32:53 21-04-2020

Derblington 21 Apr 2020 10:51:16 35,161 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago

I liked BB (not played any DS) but I couldn't tell you what the story was other than you're a hunter of monsters in a city that suffered a blood plague because of cosmic beings.
I don't think you can fairly criticise the ND writers if that's what we're using as an example.

On the flipside, I can tell you character names, relationships, motivations, and the story beats of TLoU. That's not just because of good character writing, it's the delivery of story and emotion coupled with the gameplay aspects. I'm not saying it's unanimously better, it's different and it works differently. I prefer it personally and so it's stuck with me. You can play the game for narrative, but the gameplay holds up enough to play for that too (ad I know people that have played the game without paying much attention to the story).

I've nothing against BB's style but I don't really care for their narrative delivery. I'm not reading all the lore and investigating all the in-world things to piece it all together. In that kind of game the atmosphere is enough to deliver the wrapper for the gameplay, and I'm playing it because the gameplay in this game is my priority. No-one's playing FROM games for their stories. It may be something you appreciate but it's not their reason for purchase.

Senua is overrated but Portal is great. Still, different strokes.

Gameplay isn't unanimously king for me. In BB, Trials, Resogun and racing games, yes. In TLoU, Uncharted, Spider-man, CoD, Halo, Resi's, etc, etc, no - I want both. And then there's Detroit, Until Dawn, Life is Strange and the Telltale games which are essentially story only. They're good for being different.

Deleted user 21 April 2020 11:01:23

As I said, gameplay is paramount for me in any critical analysis, and I want to have the best of both worlds, which TLOU was miles away from. The relationship between the dude and the girl was very well done. But almost everything else, gameplay included, was completely derivative, if well polished. Which was my original point. I just felt like I'd seen it all before.

BB has a great, rich world, doesn't hold your hand, the gameplay is fantastic. It's not a 'cinematic narrative' and is so much better for it IMO.

There's of course room for all, but I would not go out of my way to buy a console for TLOU or any ND games personally.

davidfowles 21 Apr 2020 14:10:42 518 posts
Seen 9 hours ago
Registered 2 years ago

The Last of Us Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Witcher 3, Child of Light, Stardew Valley, The Evil Within 2, are some games that I remember enjoying most.

Deleted user 21 April 2020 14:43:36

Journey is a must if you haven't played it before. Hohokum is an interesting anomaly of a game that is worth a go if you like odd indie games.

Saul_Iscariot 21 Apr 2020 15:05:01 4,399 posts
Seen 5 hours ago
Registered 9 years ago

Steve and Derbs, at least the OP will get a considered take on TLoU from two different perspectives that can give them a very informed choice as to whether it could appeal to them or not. As someone that couldn’t get into the game, I found reading both your points made me want to give it a second crack. As soon as I finish Shadow of the Colossus it might be my next game.

To that end, I do not think SotC stands up. Back in the days of the PS2 I thought that it was wonderful, though not as good as ICO. When both were released again on the PS3 I didn’t have the time to give to SotC, but did two run throughs of ICO. I was talking to a friend about something that happened in SotC that I didn’t recall. So I am giving it another run through.

Bone-On, did you ever play ICO or SotC? If you enjoyed those then you might Last Guardian. It isn’t perfect, has some iffy controls and camera angles. But it is quite a unique experience.