With nine new releases, PS4 owners have plenty of potential purchases to consider this week. Hardware: Rivals is the obvious no brainer – it’s one of this month’s PS Plus freebies, alongside Grim Fandango Remastered.
There are no reviews of Hardware: Rivals just yet as it launched just a day ago. Reviews of Harmonix’s long awaited Amplitude (£15.99) reboot are bountiful though, including 7/10s from The Metro and God is a Geek and a 4.5/5 from GamesRadar. “The fact that Amplitude has only arisen from its own coma thanks to crowdfunding says a lot about its niche appeal. It just isn’t as mainstream as Guitar Hero/Rock Band, but that makes it so much cooler†they said.
Hyper Void bares similar psychedelic visuals. It’s a 3D wormhole shooter in the style of Tempest (shh, nobody tell Atari), available now on Xbox One (£7.99) and PS4 (£6.19). PlayStation VR support is promised for the PS4 version, incidentally. We’re sure it was released on PS4 months ago (we recall giving the demo a try) but according to the PS Blog it launches this week. We think there might have been a mix up – a belated PS3 version seems more likely.
Another space shooter launching this week is Zotrix (£7.99). Resembling Galaga and other retro shooters, it’s of the 2D variety. The trailer can be found here. That’s being joined by the dully titled Alien Shooter (£6.49, also on PS3) which is a top-down affair. The PS Vita version was released last May, gaining average reviews.
The PS4 also gets Super Toy Cars (£7.99) – which was met with mediocre reviews on Xbox One and Wii U – Trine Trilogy (£24.98), the somewhat self-explanatory Act It Out! A Game of Charades (£14.99) and a World of Tanks beta, while Mike Bithell’s sci-fi stealth experience Volume (£14.99) heads to PS Vita with Cross-Buy support. The PS Blog has more on that.
Last but not least, there’s the pastel hued Lovely Planet (£7.99) on Xbox One. Due out Friday, it’s a minimalistic shooter that favours speed-runs; bounce around colourful worlds while shooting enemies and making your way to the exit as quickly as possible. The PC version received mixed reviews. “The slight charms of its oddball visuals and chipper soundtrack quickly wear thin, leaving it nothing to sustain interest aside from its dictatorial gameplay and trollish level design†said GameCritics.
PC Gamer found solace within its simplistic nature though, calling it a “great, merciless speedrunning platformer and twitch shooterâ€. Shame there isn’t a trial version available – it certainly had the critics divided.
Next week: Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India (PS4/Xbox One/PC), Hyperdrive Massacre (Xbox One) and more super mystery downloads, no doubt