{"id":31721,"date":"2018-03-09T12:35:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T20:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/?p=31721"},"modified":"2018-03-09T12:35:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T20:35:22","slug":"greatness-blood-sonys-mighty-ps-titles-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/bens-bytes\/greatness-blood-sonys-mighty-ps-titles-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Greatness In the Blood of Sony’s Mighty PS+ Titles for March"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Sony recently announced that their PS+ subscription service will stop offering free PS3 and PS Vita games by March of next year, which might be a welcome reprieve considering the unexceptional filler titles that have been included alongside the more marquee goodies for the PS4.\u00a0 As if they needed to cushion the blow, or perhaps distract from the news, Sony are also offering one of their absolute best slates of free downloads for this month \u2026 at least, in terms of their current-gen console. A complex RPG favorite, a (mostly!) family-friendly title that\u2019s been turned into a successful movie, and a batch of those tempting curiosity games — y\u2019know the kind: those that are interesting, but maybe not interesting enough to buy outside of a big sale — make for a sublime arrangement this time around the PlayStation Plus carousel. Let’s dig in.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\"bloodborne

FromSoftware<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS4<\/h3>\n

Bloodborne<\/h4>\n

The folks at FromSoftware had been making games for nearly a decade and a half before Demon\u2019s Souls<\/em> was released, but it\u2019s tough to ignore how crucial the success of that release was upon their stature, both among the industry and how playing their game led to a degree of gamer street cred.\u00a0 Other, arguably better Souls<\/em> games have come and gone within that time, which added to their very specific reputation: they\u2019re the makers of those hard-as-hell RPGs. Bloodborne<\/em> may not have \u201cSouls\u201d in its title, but it emits the same dark, complex, challenging energy as those games, only with a few notable twists on the world-building and weaponry that make it just distinct enough to stand apart from \u2018em.\u00a0 Difficulty is relative; fans of FromSoftware\u2019s catalog may claim it\u2019s not as difficult, but they\u2019re all in a spectrum of their own.\u00a0 Risk and reward, trial and error, twitch responsiveness \u2026 yeah, Bloodborne<\/em>\u2019s a beast, but one that\u2019s earned the label of being one of the best exclusives, if not the best, on the market.<\/p>\n

Ratchet & Clank<\/h4>\n

The Souls games — and, by association, Bloodborne<\/em> — are incredibly dark and violent, though, so to offset the heavy mature-oriented tone of that title, Sony have also presented to their subscribers a classic lighter-hearted duo: Ratchet and Clank<\/em>. This installment, which has previously appeared in Ben\u2019s Bargains\u2019 Holiday Gift Guide, was released alongside the movie adaptation of the series, both of which reimagine the story of the original, beloved PS2 game. The third-person mechanics that have evolved across time and releases mix with the classic storytelling devices, in which Ratchet meets and teams up with Clank before rushing to stop the destruction of planets across the galaxy. \u00a0While their big-screen debut didn\u2019t make much of an impact, this latest heroic journey with Ratchet and Clank from Insomniac Games may have revved up an idling franchise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"mighty

Inti Creates<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS3<\/h3>\n

Legend of Kay<\/h4>\n

In the early \u201890s, developers took turns throwing different sorts of animals into standard platform games as the main characters. The likes of Gex<\/em> and Crash Bandicoot<\/em> proved that enough variation could be drawn from their individual characteristics, controls, and general tone of the setting to keep audiences happy, especially those in their younger demographic. \u00a0Legend of Kay<\/em> arrived roughly a decade after those other games, matching the structure of a Legend of Zelda<\/em>-style adventure game as the player controls Kay, a feline martial-artist who embarks on a quest to dethrone the authority of the domineering Minister Shen. \u00a0Legend of Kay<\/em>\u2019s blend of martial-arts combat and platform design was remastered for current consoles a few years back, to mediocre reviews directed at its lack of innovation and bland narrative that struggle in the modern climate.<\/p>\n

Mighty No. 9<\/h4>\n

Over the course of a decade — late-\u201880s to late-\u201890s — the Mega Man<\/em> franchise received a slew of installments, amounting to eight (8) entries in the primary canon. Despite having a loyal fanbase, the two-dimensional mechanics and duplication of the concept seemed to have soured with Capcom, as the little blue hero received very little attention for the decade after that, leaving fans waiting a long time for the fabled 9th installment.\u00a0 Desires for that new entry and for a modernization of the concept provided the inspiration behind Deep Silver and Inti Creates\u2019 crowd-funded\u00a0Mighty No. 9<\/em>, which duplicates the general look and level design of Mega Man<\/em> to a degree that almost seems like infringement upon the property.\u00a0 Despite nostalgia and enthusiasm for a similar game, and snazzy contemporary graphics, the execution of the concept comes up short with problematic controls, hitches in difficulty, and seemingly obligatory design imitation of previous Mega Man<\/em> titles. (Also available on PS4)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"claire

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

 <\/p>\n

PS Vita<\/h3>\n

Claire: Extended Cut<\/h4>\n

Oddly enough, Claire<\/em> attempts to fill a similar void to that of the intentions behind Mighty No. 9<\/em>, only in a backwards way and with the survival horror genre.\u00a0 In the vein of Silent Hill<\/em>, the game features a young female protagonist — Claire — who gets lost and immersed in a nightmarish, metaphorical realm shaped by her traumatic experiences. While different from most experiences of its ilk, the two-dimensional pixel-based graphics capture the same shadowy atmosphere as its predecessors, where it\u2019s unclear whether a physical or emotional terror awaits on the other side of corners or doors. Reality warps, mysteries are unearthed, and monsters emerge from the darkness as classic gaming sights-\u2018n-sounds mesh with survival horror accoutrements, though critics of the game will point out the problems of its mechanics as, well, a game. (Also available on PS4)<\/p>\n

Bombing Busters<\/h4>\n

Tucked in with the rest of the recognizable names is Bombing Busters, a straightforward action-puzzle experience with more than a few similarities to the perennial NES favorite Bomberman.\u00a0 What it lacks is differentiation from its inspiration, emulating the concept too closely without many distinguishing traits.\u00a0 \u00a0(Also available on PS4)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sony recently announced that their PS+ subscription service will stop offering free PS3 and PS Vita games by March of next year, which might be a welcome reprieve considering the unexceptional filler titles that have been included alongside the more marquee goodies for the PS4.\u00a0 As if they needed to cushion the blow, or perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":31722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1262,1303,1302,401,25],"class_list":["post-31721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bens-bytes","tag-ps-plus","tag-ps-vita","tag-ps3","tag-ps4","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31721","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=31721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31738,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31721\/revisions\/31738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}