Allsorts 6 - PS+ Cleanup

llsorts 6 - PS+ Cleanup

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker  

5 minutes in I remember exactly why I stopped. Why is it every Bandi Namco in house game is full of jank even down to the menus. The only good Shoen game I remember playing existing after PS2 generation was Dragon Ball FighterZ and that was developed by the god tier Arc System Works. It just makes me wish someone would liberate the IP from these studios, Sony, Microsoft, anyone at this point so other talented developers could work on the properties. The combat itself isn't too bad even if weighed down by the netcode (or at least my oceanic location) but the actual movement is phenomenal and makes you feel like a wall running kunai throwing ninja. If we could get the combat of Ninja Storm series, movement of Shinobi Striker and an open world setting then we'd have an easy smash hit. I played one match and noticed the game is basically dead, taking forever to get into a queue. Also there is next to no customization for character appearance, likely gated to the stores and unlocks. I remember just how grindy it was to get a katana or Anbu mask; not to mention it kind of ruins the sanctity of earning those items without any substance or story to it. Even a ninja head band has a lot of weight and achievement behind it in the world of Naruto. All the more reason to get a non-Bandai studio to build that RPG. 

Divine Knockout

In a nutshell this is basically baby's first Smite meets Smash bros with a 3D arena. A lot of the gods translate and it's actually fun as a charming casual smite. Unfortunately for my self it was ruined by lag, with a lack of oceanic servers like due to it not being popular. Weirdly the Aussie lag was a little nostalgic, reminding me of when I played Smite and pushed through the lag, learning to adjust my telegraphing and skill shots. I got so used to some of these that when they finally brought out the servers I had to readjust my skill shots, as I was overshooting. Lastly like many of these cutesy games I feel bad stomping the target audience, as I wouldn't be surprised if the opposing team had less years on this Earth if you totalled them up. I wonder how many kids play these games off Daddy's PS+ account. 

Dragon Ball Z: Breakers  

I respect the premise and a novel idea but this just aint it. The concept is cool; another asymmetric multiplayer survival game where you play as the humans surviving the onslaught of the many villains in DBZ. When I saw it I thought we'd be experiencing the horror of surviving the Androids in the Future Trunks arc. But instead we get a small arena with a DBZ skin and a lot of jank mechanics where you run around collecting items, then hold a button to stabilize the timeline and warp the villain away. You can select the spirit of a hero like Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, etc and assume their move set to fend off the villain. Even in a group you can't defeat the villain, it's merely holding them off as you complete the objective. The villains themselves feel cool with all the classics returning. Cell for example starts in his larva cocoon form, too weak to kill PCs but must find NPCs to evolve. As you evolve you can select new powers. Each evolution allows you a one-time attack to destroy part of the map, closing the net on the enemies. A cool way to progress the game in keeping with the world destruction from the anime. Unfortunately their fighting is still bogged down by what feels like the worst version of the Tenkaichi games, combining this with a thoroughly janky collectathon and you have a concept with a lot of potential but fails to deliver dye to Bandai jank. I really wish they played up the horror aspects. Perhaps the villains view was DBZ art style, but from the humans it was dark and the villains looked horrific to play up that DBZ horror vibe. Add in some creepy tense music and you have a cool unique game. As with Naruto I wish this was handed to more talented studios. 

Evil Dead: The Game  

Now this is how you do your own spin on a asymmetric multiplayer survival game. The music, the art, the menus, it all oozes quality and the style and charm from the movies. The concept is similar to Dead by Daylight but so much more with a PvPvE concept. Players can control any of the characters from the series; including like five Ash's each with their own move set and my personal favourite Army of Darkness. As you play you can find items and trinkets to upgrade your character as well as weapons using a loot system similar to action RPGs like Diablo. The combat itself goes hard with punchy melee and ranged weapons. Fighting the cursed creatures and evil dead holds up with any of the zombie games. There's also some surprises here with unique enemies such as trees that lash at your or Eldritch bosses that requires unique cooperation to exorcise them. This is certainly one I'll be coming back to. 

Worms Rumble  

This game was not what I expected. Looking at the art I thought it would be 3rd person shooter worms but it appears to be a quick 2d arena style game ala stick fight where you bounce around the map with one Worm. It seems like it could of been good fun but sadly it's another dead game and with no local co-op I'll be unable to play.

Tribes of Midgard  

Immediately no. Not sure what I was expecting this one but with a Norse theme and survival crafting and building elements I imagined something like Valheim. What I got at surface level was an ARPG with those mechanics and an art style that felt a little budget. There's nothing wrong with that and by all means there could be a lot of depth here, but none that I'm willing to delve deep enough to discover. Especially considering naked Rust man survival games and Diablo style ARPG are a dime a dozen and there are plenty more I'd love to play before I considered this, including the lauded ARPG survival game V Rising. 

Foamstars  

First impressions are not good and the introduction is cringe with its "Foamstars rule!" immediately reminding me of the satirical "Tunnel Snakes Rule". The whole "Vegas and champagne", be a baller, wing big and make it is very cheesy. I wonder if its appealing to the youth and Tik Tok generations of "gotta be a hustler". 

Surprisingly once you get past that the character designs are really cool and unique between each of them. I like the music as well and it amps you up for the tight gameplay. As you foam up the levels you can surf around on your foam and gain map control. Foam up enough enemies and you win. It gets pretty hectic and it reminds me of the awesome mode in Tony Hawks where you grind enough territory to your colour to win. It's a bit chaotic at first but once you get into it it's quite fun. Overall I can tell this one won't be enough to keep me coming back however. 

Aliens Fireteam  

This is a game I wanted to play at launch and my first impression of it was "generic horde shooter". The come from the vents and swarm you, running up the walls. The Xenomorphs have a variety of specials like Warriors, spitters, exploders, and many more in keeping with the theme. You have plenty of machine guns, turrets, grenades, shotguns and "Hoorah!" attitude to go around. In my first match I didn't even realise I was playing with one other player; the NPC was just as good which is a surprise. I thought this was all pretty bland until I discovered the class system and a surprising amount of depth to the weapons system. There's a lot to be explore here and I actually found myself interested to delve deeper, so I think I'll keep playing a while.  

First Class Trouble  

Now here's a game I wish I tried earlier, love the premise, love the idea. I never even knew it was a live service game. I thought it would be entirely dead considering how long its been but surprisingly there's still people playing (albeit some rude Americans). I did however play enough to get a good idea of the game. It's basically a high definition Among Us on a space station. You can interact with a lot more and there's plenty of opportunity for social roleplay. You can get drunk, light cigarettes and schmooze others. You can interact with players, cooperate to unlock hidden areas, set things and other plays on fire and more. Oxygen is limited thanks to the rogue AI (not Hal) and you need to complete puzzles to progress each area or die. The game does require a mic to be worthwhile playing and I couldn't be bothered finding my PlayStation headset. This is certainly one I'd love to play on PC instead. 

Meet your Maker  

Immediately love this junkyard sci-fi style with a touch of grimdark. The junk enemies look slapped together from scavenged parts and remind me of Oddworld meets Doom or Quake. Flesh and machines slapped together to create hulking monstrosities or flying buzzard cyborgs. The setting is so cool and has no right to be this good for the type of multiplayer game it is. Humanity is endangered, Earth squandered and all the remains are bunkers of humans sending out robots to raid other bunkers for genetic materials to create a cure, leading them in turn to create traps and guard their own GenMat. This is where you come in, Meet your Maker. You are a robot being sent to those other bunkers to retrieve the genetics and to do so you must survive the various trap mazes that other players have setup. In turn you must build your own death traps to protect your own materials. I'm not exactly sure how the  raid mechanics work as I never got around to building one, if it's like Clash of Clans or Rust and you can be depleted or you merely get bonuses for other players failing to complete your maze. I suspect its the latter; as wise players can just spend all their materials before they go offline, rendering the economy mute. The gameplay itself is really tight with the grappling hook allowing you to zip around levels, Spiderman to roofs to avoid traps are climb over the maze and view inside and scout. Weapons are limited and require you to pick up ammo; making you carefully consider how often you use it. There's also some unique defence weapons (shields?) that essentially let you parry traps. Along with Aliens and Evil Dead, this is definitely one I'll be coming back to, and might do a full post depending how in depth I get.