PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

There’s no point beating around the bush here; Braid is one of those rare games that make me want to actually thank the developers for creating it. It really is that good, and if you have any interest in puzzle games you really ought to stop reading this now and download the game from the PSN Store. That said, not everyone is fortunate enough to be in front of a PS3 24 hours a day (can you imagine that?), so if you’re one of those unlucky types stuck behind a desk at work, or reading this on a mobile phone while out and about, I’ll give you the lowdown on why Braid is so good.

Braid looks a bit scrappy in screenshots, and is visually reminiscent of old 16-bit games like Kid Chameleon or Magic Pockets. However, static screenshots belie the charm and grace of the graphics, and within seconds of starting the game it’s clear that Braid is no old-school platformer. The art direction of the game is absolutely beautiful, with a strong Impressionist vibe running through the designs and the animations, although simple, make you feel more like you’re watching a picture come to life  than you are playing a game. Each of the different worlds has a different graphical theme, but they are all cut from the same cloth and fit nicely together as part of an overall theme. Read more

Dead Nation is a downloadable title created by Housemarque, the developer behind the magnificent Super Stardust HD (also downloadable on the PSN). Dead Nation uses the same basic mechanics as Super Stardust (Left Stick moves, Right Stick aims) but adds a little more complexity, by introducing several different types of weapon as well as grenades, mines and more. But what sets Dead Nation apart from all the other zombie shooters out there? Well, for a start, the price point is low indeed.

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Back in 2003 there were some great titles released in the run up to Christmas, with games like Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell, both released by Ubisoft. There was however another Ubisoft game, released around the same time, which received great ratings and reviews but was largely overlooked by the game-buying public. That game is Beyond Good and Evil.

Beyond Good and Evil, made by the same team that created the Rayman series and released on PS2/Xbox/GameCube and PC, received widespread acclaim for its story telling and fantastic visuals, especially back in 2003. Now it’s been released in HD for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, this is a great chance to play the game if you missed out first time round.

The plot takes places in the world of Hillys where a war has broken on the peaceful planet due to the cantankerous DomZ; they attack the lighthouse where the main protagonist Jade is working. She’s a reporter, and during the attack tries to protect the Orphans from the DomZ. With help from a pig called Pey’j (who is her uncle), Jade and Pey’j start to get suspicious about what’s really going behind the DomZ attacks and the secret rumours in The Alpha Sections about people being kidnapped on the planet. Throughout the main story, you’ll be going under-cover and taking photographs in facilities in Hillys.

Gameplay: Beyond Good and Evil is an action-adventure with a mix of puzzle-solving and stealth. You play as Jade, and the gameplay is set in a third-person perspective. You can run by holding the R2 button down and using the left analog stick to move; you can move stealthily by holding down L2 to crouch down. During stealth missions, while sneaking around enemies, you can kick them behind their back if they have are wearing a Green-Tank, which itself can make it less easy to sneak around or distract other enemy’s attention.

During combat your only weapon is your Dai-jo combat stick, used for fighting enemies, monsters and bosses; your partner will also help you out during combat, and when trying to solve a puzzle you can press the Triangle button to perform a special attack which will be in slow-motion, and lets you aim where you want to attack or swing away at.

During the game you’ll be required to collect Pearls, which are the currency you’ll be using to upgrade your Hovercraft, which is like your main vehicle to move around the world of Hillys and get through places you’re not supposed to go to. You will need a certain number of Pearls to upgrade your Hovercraft to press on to the story, and you’ll automatically collect many of them by defeating a boss or getting support from the citizens.

There will certain times where you’ll need to buy Pearls from market stands, or if that’s not your thing you can enter Hovercraft races or chase down looters. Another feature which is added in which is taking photos of different kind of animals on the planet; this is a great way to earn some money, as each role of film will earn you a prize from a camera piece or a Pearl.

Graphics and Sound: Anyone who played the original Beyond Good and Evil won’t see any real changes but the graphics do look a clearer and look totally well done in the higher resolution. For a game that was released back in 2003, you can see a huge difference from the original version and the HD version. The art direction and animation have aged gracefully and the world, while static, is very cleverly designed.

It still has the odd problem when it comes to camera control, and this can occur at any point in the game, where the camera will go freely anywhere, but you can use the right analog stick to move the camera around. Since it’s only released as a downloadable title you can try the demo before purchasing the full game, and this will take 1503 MB on your PS3.

The voice acting is still the same as it was back, which is will please long-time fans of the series who like to repeat quotes and memorable lines from the game. But for those who have not played the original, the world of Hillys is set in a European style environment and you may hear the odd Spanish and French accents from various characters and townspeople.

Eight years later the soundtrack is still unique and memorable to hear, from the battle theme music to the Mammago’s Garage, and some of the tracks are quite emotional and make you feel real shock as you witness what you see in various parts of the game.

Overall: If you missed out on the original, now would be the best time to pick up the HD version. Fans who have played the original might be pleased or disheartened to see that there hasn’t been any huge changes but there is trophy support, and there’s only 12 Trophies so it is easy to get 100% for it.

Beating the game can easily take you 12 hours or less, but there are a lot of secrets, leaderboards and collectables to hunt down. As a fan of the original game, I was really happy to see a HD version of Beyond Good and Evil and it really did bring back a lot of memories for me; for £7.99 it’s worth your money to pick up this classic for your collection.

It’s almost been everyone’s dream seeing their favourite Final Fantasy characters battles themselves to the death in the Final Fantasy universe. Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] is both a prequel and remake of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, revealing what occurred before the events of its predecessor.

The game’s story may be the weakest part about this game, and will completely make no sense to most fans out there. It revolves around the twelfth cycle of the eternal conflict between the gods Cosmos and Chaos, who have both summoned several warriors from different worlds to fight for them. With the battle turning in favour of Chaos, Cosmos entrusts her warriors with the task of retrieving the crystals that will help them defeat Chaos. Read more

Puzzle Dimension is a brand new PSN puzzle game that’s made its way onto PlayStation 3 after its initial release on PC/Mac. The concept is simple enough: collect all the sunflowers and make your way to the exit. However, all manner of traps and puzzles lie in front of you as you attempt to finish each level, some of which will test your spatial awareness to the limit.

You control a single ball, which you move along a series of slabs of various materials and contexts. You can roll in any direction but not diagonally, and you can jump. You can even roll upside down, as if the slabs have their own independent gravity or magnetism – however, roll or jump over an edge and you’ve had it. Different types of slab have different effects, for example some ‘ice’ slabs will generate infinite inertia so you won’t stop sliding on them until you reach a non-ice slab. There are also weak slabs that break underneath you after one roll, and a variety of switches, fire plates, gizmos and other interactive hazards to watch out for. Read more

With LittleBigPlanet being one of the bestselling games for the Playstation 3, LittleBigPlanet and its Play, Share and Create mantra has finally made its way to PlayStation Portable via both a UMD version and a download version (particularly useful if you have a PSP Go).

The plot for the PSP version takes place just after the first LittleBigPlanet, where your Sack character decides to go on Holiday. Where you will be guiding your Sackboy or Sackgirl around various places around the world like Australia, China and LA; unlike the first or second LittleBigPlanet games where you have to save the day, players can just chill back and relax. Read more

Over in Japan Monster Hunter is huge, and I mean huge. In 2008 Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G was released and has sold over 4 million copies since then. Outside of Japan it’s known as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. For anyone who has played the Monster Hunter series before on either on the Playstation 2 or the PSP, Freedom Unite is an expansion pack of the original Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP) which was released back in 2007.

There is no plot for the Monster Hunter series in general; you are mainly going on quests by hunting and killing monsters. It’s a kind of online action Role-Playing like World of Warcraft, but on the PSP and without a keyboard. Read more

Portal 2 came as a bit of a shock to PlayStation 3 owners; many were expecting a weak 3rd party port , and some were even expecting the game to skip PS3 altogether. Then at E3 2010, Gabe Newell came out with the shock announcement that not only was Portal 2 headed to PS3 directly from developer Valve, but that it would have Steam integration and would be the definitive console version of the game. That’s a pretty big claim, especially considering that Valve had never developed a PlayStation 3 game before. Then again, this is Valve we’re talking about – and Valve know how to make unbelievably brilliant games. Read more

As you may already know, Sony is offering several full games for free under their ‘Welcome Back’ package which we should be seeing soon. However, if you’ve never played any of the games on offer, you may struggle to choose two from the list of five available. Here at PlayStation Future, we’ve reviewed every single PS3 game in the package so that you know which ones will suit you best.

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Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty was (and still is) Insomniac’s only venture into the digital-download-only market. The game was developed to be the second instalment in the Future trilogy of Ratchet and Clank – set after Tools of Destruction and before A Crack in Time. Quest for Booty was Insomniac’s acid test for digital download – to see if it was feasible to create bite-sized titles at a lower cost, whilst maintaining the same high quality but with a shorter storyline. Compromising game length, though, has somewhat ruined the experience.

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