Rating Sony's Future First Party Titles
Quick writing exercise while my laptop is down. Inspired by Kinda Funny's list, here's my ranking of Sony's upcoming first-party titles.
10. The Last Guardian - This places last on my list for a number of reasons, chief of which being I was never that excited for it to begin with and hearing the collective Internet gaming community clamor for it endlessly finally burned my last nerve. But even setting that aside, TLG was never a game I cared about. I missed both of Team ICO's PS2 offerings and my nostalgia for older eras of gaming is so low as to be nearly non-existent. It's world doesn't look appealing, it's story is "gameplay based" and that's never a selling point for me. I'm happy it's coming out for those who wanted it but ultimately I've got no affection for it whatsoever.
9. GT Sport - Racing games are fun, but not really my thing. Ultimately I'm satisfied with the token amount of racing in your average open-world game, so something like this with hundreds of cars, tests, and dozens of tracks isn't going to hit home with me.
8. Death Stranding - Nothing against Kojima, but I literally have no idea what this game is about. He basically tossed a bunch of buzzwords at us the last time he spoke about it, and the trailer's a needlessly pseudo-mysterious mess. When there's an actual game we'll revisit the placement of this game.
7. God of War - This would be at the end of the list if I didn't actually like what I saw of the world and gameplay. It's fine to play as a character that's not heroic, but Kratos is an irredeemable fuckwit that I just can't be arsed to spend 10-15 hours in the shoes of. So yeah, the semi-open world Zelda gameplay is nice, he's got an adorable kid with him and the Norse realm is fucking gorgeous...but still. Fuck Kratos.
6. Days Gone - A post-apocalyptic zombie game feels like it's been done before. But the way this world seemed to be built and the potential to truly explore a world torn apart not just by zombies but the strife that arose amongst the survivors...the story the initial reveal told felt compelling, even to someone who doesn't fuck with these types of games at all.
5. dreams - Considering I don't really know what dreams IS, it's weird to place it this high on the list. But ultimately it got here by being inoffensive enough to make it this far. Like, it hasn't done anything to piss me off, so it earns it's spot here. But really I have no idea what Media Molecule is trying to do here so I confess to only possessing the most cursory of interests.
4. Detroit - Sony company Quantic Dream has never quite captured my attention, and even when Detroit was first revealed last year at Sony's Paris Games Week conference I wasn't terribly impressed. It wasn't until the recent E3 showing where they revealed the game's multiple protagonists and I saw through the eyes of Connor that I realized the title's potential. Strongly emulating the feel of those cyberpunk, Ghost in the Shell-esque stories, Detroit's desire to explore what it means to be a sentient being in a world of emerging AI consciousness is something I'm totally willing to be sold on, if they care enough to build their world up. Even the gameplay, with its focus on branched path storytelling, looks interesting enough. So this is actually a title I'll be keeping a close eye on.
3. Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom - The Kinda Funny crew didn't place this on their list, but the I feel like if Death Stranding, which is also coming to PC and thus isn't a "complete" exclusive, can be on here so can this. It's as good as a AAA title coming out of Japan is going to look for the most part so it fits their qualifications there as well.
In any case, the original NNK didn't really do much for me but the trailer for Revenant Kingdom really wowed me. It looked to be a game that would be more serious and willing to explore mature themes, but without necessarily wallowing in the stuff that comes with that as far as violence, swearing, and so forth. Plus the game's world is gorgeous--pushing the PS4 tech to the limit and making a game that really looks like a cartoon come to life. It's what I'm hoping the next generation of J-RPGs look like when they all finally let go of cross-gen. NNK2 is probably the first title on this list that's a guaranteed buy from me. They've already got my money so long as they don't show me anything that loses it.
2. Horizon: Zero Dawn - I've been anticipating this game since long before it was unveiled, back when it was just a rumor haunting the cloistered echo chamber of NeoGAF. The unveil at E3 last year would've been the highlight of the entire show if Square hadn't brought FF7 Remake. A breathtaking open-world set in a world where humans stopped being the dominant race and have ceded control to the machines, which take the forms of massive dinosaur-like creatures.
Playing as Aloy, a woman beset by curiosity about the machines and the mysteries surrounding her sounds like a blast, and I'm fascinated at the potential different "tribes" of humans the game could offer. It's my hope that this is my next fix for a fantasy open-world RPG, since those are typically quite rare.
1. Spider-Man - This is a no-brainer. Insomniac has shown, time and again, that they're able to pull off the kind of cool traversal mechanics that a good Spider-Man title would need. Outside of that, Spidey has one of the richest universes that's ripe for exploring with a video game. And for me, I could play good superhero video games for the rest of my life and be pretty satisfied--there's little chance this is anything less than great, and I don't think Sony could ever hope to top this short of releasing an Iron Man or Avengers title.
10. The Last Guardian - This places last on my list for a number of reasons, chief of which being I was never that excited for it to begin with and hearing the collective Internet gaming community clamor for it endlessly finally burned my last nerve. But even setting that aside, TLG was never a game I cared about. I missed both of Team ICO's PS2 offerings and my nostalgia for older eras of gaming is so low as to be nearly non-existent. It's world doesn't look appealing, it's story is "gameplay based" and that's never a selling point for me. I'm happy it's coming out for those who wanted it but ultimately I've got no affection for it whatsoever.
9. GT Sport - Racing games are fun, but not really my thing. Ultimately I'm satisfied with the token amount of racing in your average open-world game, so something like this with hundreds of cars, tests, and dozens of tracks isn't going to hit home with me.
8. Death Stranding - Nothing against Kojima, but I literally have no idea what this game is about. He basically tossed a bunch of buzzwords at us the last time he spoke about it, and the trailer's a needlessly pseudo-mysterious mess. When there's an actual game we'll revisit the placement of this game.
7. God of War - This would be at the end of the list if I didn't actually like what I saw of the world and gameplay. It's fine to play as a character that's not heroic, but Kratos is an irredeemable fuckwit that I just can't be arsed to spend 10-15 hours in the shoes of. So yeah, the semi-open world Zelda gameplay is nice, he's got an adorable kid with him and the Norse realm is fucking gorgeous...but still. Fuck Kratos.
6. Days Gone - A post-apocalyptic zombie game feels like it's been done before. But the way this world seemed to be built and the potential to truly explore a world torn apart not just by zombies but the strife that arose amongst the survivors...the story the initial reveal told felt compelling, even to someone who doesn't fuck with these types of games at all.
5. dreams - Considering I don't really know what dreams IS, it's weird to place it this high on the list. But ultimately it got here by being inoffensive enough to make it this far. Like, it hasn't done anything to piss me off, so it earns it's spot here. But really I have no idea what Media Molecule is trying to do here so I confess to only possessing the most cursory of interests.
4. Detroit - Sony company Quantic Dream has never quite captured my attention, and even when Detroit was first revealed last year at Sony's Paris Games Week conference I wasn't terribly impressed. It wasn't until the recent E3 showing where they revealed the game's multiple protagonists and I saw through the eyes of Connor that I realized the title's potential. Strongly emulating the feel of those cyberpunk, Ghost in the Shell-esque stories, Detroit's desire to explore what it means to be a sentient being in a world of emerging AI consciousness is something I'm totally willing to be sold on, if they care enough to build their world up. Even the gameplay, with its focus on branched path storytelling, looks interesting enough. So this is actually a title I'll be keeping a close eye on.
3. Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom - The Kinda Funny crew didn't place this on their list, but the I feel like if Death Stranding, which is also coming to PC and thus isn't a "complete" exclusive, can be on here so can this. It's as good as a AAA title coming out of Japan is going to look for the most part so it fits their qualifications there as well.
In any case, the original NNK didn't really do much for me but the trailer for Revenant Kingdom really wowed me. It looked to be a game that would be more serious and willing to explore mature themes, but without necessarily wallowing in the stuff that comes with that as far as violence, swearing, and so forth. Plus the game's world is gorgeous--pushing the PS4 tech to the limit and making a game that really looks like a cartoon come to life. It's what I'm hoping the next generation of J-RPGs look like when they all finally let go of cross-gen. NNK2 is probably the first title on this list that's a guaranteed buy from me. They've already got my money so long as they don't show me anything that loses it.
2. Horizon: Zero Dawn - I've been anticipating this game since long before it was unveiled, back when it was just a rumor haunting the cloistered echo chamber of NeoGAF. The unveil at E3 last year would've been the highlight of the entire show if Square hadn't brought FF7 Remake. A breathtaking open-world set in a world where humans stopped being the dominant race and have ceded control to the machines, which take the forms of massive dinosaur-like creatures.
Playing as Aloy, a woman beset by curiosity about the machines and the mysteries surrounding her sounds like a blast, and I'm fascinated at the potential different "tribes" of humans the game could offer. It's my hope that this is my next fix for a fantasy open-world RPG, since those are typically quite rare.
1. Spider-Man - This is a no-brainer. Insomniac has shown, time and again, that they're able to pull off the kind of cool traversal mechanics that a good Spider-Man title would need. Outside of that, Spidey has one of the richest universes that's ripe for exploring with a video game. And for me, I could play good superhero video games for the rest of my life and be pretty satisfied--there's little chance this is anything less than great, and I don't think Sony could ever hope to top this short of releasing an Iron Man or Avengers title.
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Sage. Do you think Spiderman can lay the groundwork for what a new Infamous Game could improve upon. Infamous started off essentially, as a spiritual successor to the acclaimed Spiderman 2. Now as we move forward it seems that Spiderman is gonna take its place back ( hopefully as long as the game is well polished and fun)and can show us a new outlook on the open world formula.
ReplyDeleteHad to read this a couple times to catch your meaning. Yeah I could see Spider-Man being the new "infamous" like franchise for Sony easily. It'll do insane numbers and probably stick around until at least the PS5.
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