Hidden Gems

 After finishing Burial at Sea, I looked around the upcoming games and realised nothing interesting was coming for a while. So then I looked around all the old ps plus games I'd picked up and never played and realised I've already played the ones I had any interest in before. So i went to the PS store and saw the hidden gems sale. Now, there are some good games on there, and then there are some other games. Not necessarily bad but when you're spending £1.50 on a game on PSN you can't expect GTA 6, or even something like Freedom planet. But, somewhere there will be something of interest, I thought to myself, staring hopefully at the terribly designed PSN store layout. So, here's some of them/

FOXYLAND

This is the exact kind of thing I would expect for the low price. It's a 2D platformer (so already in the top 10% of games ever made) that would look at home on the Sega Master system (and that other, more forgettable console from the same time). You're a fox that has to save his girlfriend (good job it's not a Bandicoot for gimmick infringement as that's the only other time I've seen that set up)., so you chase after her by jumping on stuff (y'know platforming). It's an acceptable game that, had it come out in 1988, I might have remembered fondly (albeit I would be 1 years old (yet Alex Kidd in Miracle world came out 2 years before that and I have fond memories of that (wait a minute, that game was awful)), but in this crazy world of games like Guacamele, Super Meat Boy and Super kelemania it's a very forgettable entry in to the greatest genre of gaming. There's an easy platinum trophy here to get, which I did (first since my name is Mayo (Vita edition (already had the PS4 one))) so that was something. There are certainly some cheap deaths where you can't see what you're about to fall on (surprise, it's spikes) that you could only possibly know from trial and error, which led to some frustrating moments for me. After I got the platinum about half way through the game I turned it off and deleted it from the library as I didn't have any real reason to go on or indeed ever play it again. It's far from the worst game ever made but I can't really recommend it even at that price unless like me you're a platform enthusiast. 4/10

Turns out there's a sequel *goes back to the PSN store.

FULL BLAST

Now we move on to a different 2D perspective, a top down one for a shooter. It's a classic scrolling shooter, going upwards, like my favourite ever from this genre, Mega Drive classic, Truxton. This ain't no Truxton. The setting is he very over used flying over some cities and it doesn't look great stylistically, the enemies, which I think are alien invaders (maybe) are very generic and forgettable and this is the same game that seems to have come out hundreds of times (figuratively). Much like Foxyland it's not terrible but very forgettable and doesn't need to be played unless you're a scrolling shooter enthusiast, unlike me. There's another easy platinum, which I got (first since Foxykand) that you can obtain by the end of the third level, which was of course where I again dipped out and deleted the game. What am I doing with my life (and money)? 4/10

GRAVITY DUCK

Back to 2D platformers and another easy platinum trophy. This time there's a twist. instead of jumping up and falling, you swap gravity to the opposite side and in another twist, it's pretty good. This amounts to a sort of puzzle platformer with a clear path to take on each level, requiring perfect runs as the game draws to it's conclusion. There are lots of levels over 4 worlds but they're all very short, somewhat reminding me of 10 second ninja (in the unlikely event people have heard of that game (also very good btw)). I must say it's a very well implemented use of the gimmick. A great pick up and play game, if you've got a few spare minutes you can blast through a handful of levels. Even though the game is on sale the usual price is only £3.99 and I would seriously recommend this one for yet another 2D platformer enthusiast (yes, like me again). Much like the last 2 games you can get the platinum (which I did (first since Full blast)) less than half way through the game, but unlike the other I kept playing, all the way to it's conclusion. For the price this is, 8/10 (yes, really) and I'd rather play this than many 'Triple A' games. I like 'em short and at just a couple of hours long it's the perfect length.

FLATOUT 4

Or Fl4tout: Total insanity if you want to call it by it's 'inventive' cover art. Obviously this is a full game at an A level which separates it from the other games covered here and it was over the lofty price of £4. I remember, way back when I really enjoyed the original PS2 game, yes more than Destroy all Humans, yet it's the only game in the series I played. I loved the stunt games where you launch your guy from the car window to take out skittles and score a free kick and anything else that resembles a target you can hit. There are a lot of similarities with Wreckfest, though the Flatout series came first, though Destruction derby, the original game made by the makers o f Wreckfest was on PS1, so potentially an inspiration for this series. Graphically it's pretty good and the courses are varied and interesting and has a fully licensed rock sound track so there has been a real effort put in to the games presentation. But how does it play? Turns out pretty good, a real fun time bashing cars about tracks and fighting to the finish line, but there is a serious flaw. On every race you from the back of the pack, presumably to add to the difficulty, however many times I found the number of cars and randomness of opponents flying all over the place lead to me being well out of the race withing the first 30 seconds and a whole lot of race restarts. When you can get past this chaos the game opens up and is a lot of fun, but I frequently had to restart races to get to that. As for the infamous stunt games that were fun 15 years ago, they are disappointingly exactly the same after all this time and the online is long dead (to be fair it is a 3 years old A level game so it's to be expected). Overall it's a lot of fun, depending on the game mode, albeit often frustrating. The game is usually £15.99 which is probably the right price if, unlike me are, you a racing enthusiast (though I do enjoy them from time to time). I wouldn't have made the purchase at that price but the sale dragged me in. Obviously with the size of the game it doesn't have an easy platinum, and I sure wont be getting that one. 7/10 (it's no Gravity duck, but what is?).

I've got many more to come and I'll likely have something to say due to being on holiday from work, which has become the only time I write on here now. I like exploring the lesser known games as often there's some 'Hidden gems' (as the sale title implies). I like to have a good grasp of what is going on in a world I really enjoy exploring.