{"id":29904,"date":"2017-09-09T00:39:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-09T07:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/?p=29904"},"modified":"2017-09-09T08:45:51","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T15:45:51","slug":"semi-handball-pigeon-ps-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/bens-bytes\/semi-handball-pigeon-ps-september\/","title":{"rendered":"Semi Racing, Handball, and Pigeon Dating Comprise Infamous PS+ Games for September"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over the past year, a trend had begun to settle into Sony\u2019s PS+ freebies on a month to month basis.\u00a0 The company would offer a handful of secondary, yet intriguing games that fall in the indie, arcade, or just straight up under-the-radar niches, but neglect to pair them with a substantial AAA or noteworthy title to bolster subscriber enthusiasm.\u00a0 After a righting of the ship over the past few months\u00a0with the right balance, now Sony has gone in the opposite direction. They\u2019ve included one very strong title as the cornerstone of its free downloads, then surrounded it with uninspired, often lukewarmly received indies of several platforms. It begs the question: can one game carry an entire month? It comes close, but not quite this time. Let’s take a look at ’em.<\/p>\n

Click Here to Grab\u00a0a 1-Year PlayStation Plus Subscription\u00a0at Amazon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ps+

Sucker Punch Productions<\/p><\/div>\n

PS4<\/h3>\n

inFAMOUS Second Son<\/h4>\n

Morality systems in videogames — which also falls into the spectrum of a Karma Meter<\/a>\u00a0— can be tricky, as they often wobble along the line between authentic transformation and role-playing of a character and the reward-based system of the player experience. It\u2019s an issue that other action-RPGs have tackled with varying degrees of success across roughly twenty years, from Knights of the Old Republic<\/em> to Fable<\/em>, and it\u2019s surprising how little certain contemporary games stray from the lopsidedness of that paradigm. inFAMOUS Second Son<\/em> delivers a robust third-person superhero experience befitting the entries that came before it. Jumping ahead ahead seven years to tell the story of new protagonist Delsin Rowe, the player navigates a sandbox environment with his newly-gained powers to control elements commonly found in urban environments. \u00a0That aspect of Second Son<\/em> works splendidly, but the game\u2019s responses to his decisions fall into the binary \u201cgood vs. evil\u201d morality system that\u2019s existed for decades, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Strike Vector EX<\/h4>\n

Arcade flight simulators have been in short supply on consoles over the past decade or so, to such a degree that the announcement that Crimson Skies<\/em> — a game going back two generations — would become backwards compatible sent a legion of fans into euphoria. In swoops the like-minded Strike Vector<\/em>, which sets its sights on crafting an experience that captures both the classic, fast-paced energy of arcade cabinet experiences from yesteryear with a science-fiction edge. \u00a0Toggling between first-person precision and third-person speed controls similarly to regular FPS games, Strike Vector<\/em> accelerates through tight spaces for breakneck arena-style multiplayer combat, though a lack of additional content surrounding its well-executed, nostalgic premise might cause it to run out of gas for some.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"PS+

Nordic Games<\/p><\/div>\n

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PS3<\/h3>\n

Truck Racer<\/h4>\n

In the Twisted Metal<\/em> car-vs-car fighting franchise, there\u2019s a semi-truck named Darkside that provides a unique experience when selected as the combatant in the game. Surrounded by fast speedsters and large clunky behemoths with specific powers, the semi’s\u00a0blend of moderate acceleration, power, and control involved with balancing its wheels while hooking around corners\u00a0offered a compelling, albeit underappreciated alternative in\u00a0the arena battle design. That\u2019s the same kind of appeal presented\u00a0by Truck Racer<\/em>, which essentially duplicates the same-old formula of track racing games with a pack of semis speeding and swerving along both dusty and stable roads. With a graphical interface and visual tone similar to Burnout Paradise<\/em>, Truck Racer<\/em> lets its concept speak for itself, capturing the destructive mayhem of the races in a simple, unrealistic, but lively package.<\/p>\n

Handball 2016<\/h4>\n

The sport of handball fits somewhere between basketball and soccer, two games that, obviously, have been highly represented on consoles for decades now. Of course, while playing handball in person, there\u2019s enough deviation in strategy and physicality to lead someone to pursue the sport as an interest; whether the same holds true for a videogame of said sport, which maintains popularity in countries outside the US, is another thing altogether. Handball 2016<\/em> gives it a whirl, though, replicating the sport\u2019s maneuvers alongside dozens of real European teams and with play-by-play commentary.<\/p>\n

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\"PS+

Vertex Pop<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Vita<\/h3>\n

We Are Doomed<\/h4>\n

If the folks at PixelJunk had decided to tackle the Asteroid-like twin-stick shooting arcade game, then it probably would\u2019ve looked a whole lot like We Are Doomed.\u00a0 Much like Geometry Wars<\/em>, Vertex Pop\u2019s creation boasts vibrant colors, unique geometric shapes, and a unique soundtrack, only the aesthetic they go for — blocky designs for transitions and explosions, more pastel and softer colors — lands on something categorically different. Unfortunately, the diversion in art design tends to be the only real distinguishing trait here, almost as if We Are Doomed<\/em> functions more as a skin layered atop previous games than its own creation.<\/p>\n

Hatoful Boyfriend<\/h4>\n

And finally, there\u2019s Hatoful Boyfriend<\/em>, which is also called \u2026 Pigeon Boyfriend<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a dating sim<\/del>\u00a0visual novel that takes place in a school for pigeons, and, well, you can put two and two together in terms of\u00a0what you’ll be doing in this oddity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past year, a trend had begun to settle into Sony\u2019s PS+ freebies on a month to month basis.\u00a0 The company would offer a handful of secondary, yet intriguing games that fall in the indie, arcade, or just straight up under-the-radar niches, but neglect to pair them with a substantial AAA or noteworthy title […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":29907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[855,494,688,1262,25],"class_list":["post-29904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bens-bytes","tag-playstation-3","tag-playstation-4","tag-playstation-vita","tag-ps-plus","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29904"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29915,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29904\/revisions\/29915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}