It probably doesn’t feel like it, but we’re in the middle of the extra-long Easter weekend. I hope you’re all prepped with Easter eggs snapped up well in advance, or perhaps you’re rubbing your hands at the prospect of snagging even cheaper chocolate eggs with a trip on Tuesday?
In the realms of video games, it’s felt like a pretty slow and sleepy week, as everyone either played and advance copy or waited for Final Fantasy VII Remake to show up and play. Still, Sony managed to drop another small PlayStation 5 reveal.
In the News This Week
- The PlayStation 5 controller, the DualSense, has been revealed (and it will have an audio jack)
- Google Stadia now open to all, get two months free Stadia Pro when you sign up
- Saints Row: The Third Remastered is coming out in May for PS4, Xbox One And PC
- No Man’s Sky Exo Mech update is out now
- Pendragon is the brand new strategy game coming from Heaven’s Vault developer Inkle
- Microsoft reveal the next 11 countries getting Project xCloud, but the rollout depends on the coronavirus
Speaking of which, here’s the Coronavirus round-up:
- E3 2020 “online experience” plans shelved, as publishers plan their own events
- All Microsoft press conferences will be digital-only until at least July 2021
- Rebellion, Codemasters & King feature ‘Stay At Home’ messaging in-game in the UK during coronavirus pandemic
- Boston shuts down GameStop stores in “essential” business standoff
Games in Review
We had some interesting games in for review this week, but were any of them essential? Well, maybe if you think about our currently self-isolated lives, they could be.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake – PS4 – 10/10
- Stela – Switch, PC – 8/10
- The Division 2: Warlords of New York – PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia – 8/10
- Panzer Dragoon Remake – Switch, PC, Stadia – 7/10
- Good Job! – Switch – 7/10
- Biped – PS4, Switch, PC – 7/10
- Half Past Fate – Switch, PC – 7/10
- Spyder – Apple Arcade – 7/10
- Gigantosaurus: The Game – PS4, XBO, Switch, PC – 5/10
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III – PS4, XBO, PC – 3/10
And we had a single hardware review, with the unusual mouse with a joystick from Asus on our test bench.
Featured Articles
Outside of the reviews, we spoke to Ori and the Will of the Wisps composer Gareth Coker on storytelling, success and soundtracks, and Sumo Digital’s Nic Cusworth to learn about Spyder, how it came from their internal game jams and morphed into an Apple Arcade exclusive.
Miguel flicked through a bunch of comics to round up Viz Media’s manga highlights for April, while Dom asserted that Animal Crossing’s greatest strength is giving us a semblance of control when we’re deprived of that in everyday life.
Finally, What We Played featured Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil 3 and Animal Crossing.
Trailer Park
Saints Row: The Third Remastered revealed
Sea of Thieves Ships of Fortune update lands April 22nd
Streets of Rage 4 will have playable retro characters, and include the original soundtracks
Your Achievements
Heading into the holiday weekend, you’ve already got a ton of gaming under your belts:
- Crazy_Del made Resident Evil 3 his 420th platinum, though it’s not quite lived up to his expectations. Next up is Dirt 2.0, which he’s snagged from PS Plus.
- TSBonyman is trying to keep busy with gardening and going for walks, but dusted off his PS3 to catch up on his vast library of games. He’s currently replaying Killzone 2 and enjoying how good it all looks.
- It was lots of Borderlands 3 for MrYd, alongside Dirt Rally 2.0 from PS+ and Just Cause 4 from PS Now. He’s also dabbled with the exosuit update to No Man’s Sky.
- “Just Division 2” for Andrewww, who’s loving how much of it there is to explore.
- And ron_mcphatty called Life Is Strange: Before the Storm a “storytelling triumph”. He also reckons Stadia is pretty good and lag free, after playing Grid on Google’s streaming jobbie.
That’s it for this week. Stay safe and healthy, wash your hands, and happy egg hunting!
