{"id":43066,"date":"2022-02-25T06:43:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T14:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/?p=43066"},"modified":"2022-02-25T07:02:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T15:02:23","slug":"februarys-ps-free-titles-a-wonderland-of-coasters-and-badasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/bens-bytes\/februarys-ps-free-titles-a-wonderland-of-coasters-and-badasses\/","title":{"rendered":"February’s PS+ Free Titles: A Wonderland of Coasters and Badasses"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

To say that February\u2019s a big month for video games would be an understatement, so it stands to reason that gaming subscription services like PS+ would keep from including high-profile free games in their monthly offerings since they\u2019ll likely get overlooked anyway. All points considered, however, this still ends up being a pretty brave month in terms of what they\u2019re offering and an inability to offer them later, from a noteworthy recent sports title \u2013 one that\u2019s essentially locked into being a freebie on the competition\u2019s service — to the precursor-slash-inspiration game behind one of the larger titles to be released in March. Let\u2019s take a closer look at what\u2019s in store, but before doing so, remember to head over and Grab a 1-Year Subscription to PlayStation Plus at Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PS5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Planet Coaster: Console Edition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Despite having the name \u201ccoaster\u201d in the game\u2019s title, Planet Coaster<\/em> shares just as much in common with the classic SimCity<\/em> games of yesteryear as the outlandish ride creation game Rollercoaster Tycoon<\/em>. While this game does allow for the player to cook up elaborate, chaotic coasters, there\u2019s an entire other side of this management and creation sim that\u2019s far more laid-back, relaxing, and therapeutic in tone, found in how the player designs their ideal theme part to accommodate for guests. In Planet Coaster<\/em>, the player can really invest themselves in the minutiae of the park\u2019s aesthetics, from the color of booths and types of light sources for ambience to the placement of benches, bathrooms, and garbage cans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, there\u2019s also aspects of this in Rollercoaster Tycoon<\/em>, but it\u2019s hard to ignore how the semi-realistic 3D graphics of Planet Coaster<\/em> lend themselves to being incredibly enjoyable through the lens of someone who\u2019s lovingly crafting their ideal theme park. The general tone of Rollercoaster Tycoon<\/em> comes across as keeping guests satisfied enough so they\u2019ll stay engaged with the outlandish coasters being created, whereas Planet Coaster<\/em>\u2019s first priority seems to center on providing a satisfying amusement park atmosphere and then building the rides that \u201cfit\u201d said atmosphere, similarly to fitting bigger structures into a smaller developing city in SimCity. Obviously, the comparisons are tough to avoid as Planet Coaster has been labeled the unofficial successor of Rollercoaster Tycoon<\/em> by both players and critics, and this Console Edition tries admirably to bring the mouse-and-keyboard intentions to the PS5 \u2026 with mixed results, in terms of control user-friendliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PS4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tiny Tina\u2019s Assault on Dragon Keep<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a big deal when a piece of spinoff downloadable content for a base game makes the transition into being a standalone downloadable title, as was the case with Far Cry: Blood Dragon<\/em> and Red Dead Redemption\u2019s Undead Nightmare<\/em>. But it\u2019s an even bigger deal when the content\u2019s so appealing and holds so much potential that the creators decide that the DLC isn\u2019t enough, and it deserves further development into its own full-scale game. Saints Row IV<\/em> is kinda-sorta an example of this, where a piece of fleshed-out DLC skipped the add-on phase and became its own thing. Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em> occupies yet another area, though: it\u2019s a full-sized game that takes the concept of the spinoff DLC, a wild high-fantasy extrapolation from the looter shooter Borderlands<\/em>, and develops it into a standalone campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s it about Tiny Tina\u2019s Assault on Dragon Keep<\/em> that makes it so appealing? For starters, it takes the general dungeon-crawling and loot-management joys of Borderlands<\/em> and transforms them into something much more literally inspired by tabletop RPGs, as audience favorite character Tina get the Vault Hunters together to play \u201cBunkers and Badasses\u201d \u2013 yes, Dungeons and Dragons<\/em> \u2013 after the events of Borderlands 2<\/em>, with her as the dungeon master. The perspective then shifts from the post-apocalyptic wasteland setting to a full-fledged fantasy realm, and you gain control of one of six premade characters that have modified, wacky weapons and abilities to confront a new roster of dark and whimsical baddies. With Tina as narrator and game master, Assault on Dragon\u2019s Keep<\/em> becomes a fantasy spin on Borderlands of which players couldn\u2019t get enough, hence the coming full-sized game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UFC 4<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What started as a wacky, taboo cage-fighting event in the early \u201890s — probably orchestrated to capitalize on the popularity of Mortal Kombat<\/em> and Street Fighter<\/em>, as well as of Bloodsport<\/em> and Kickboxer<\/em> playing on cable all the time<\/strong><\/em> — has transformed into a highly authentic, skill-based combat sport. UFC stands as the legitimized face of mixed martial arts, where methods of essentially any hand-to-hand combat discipline are allowed in bouts so long as they follow within the sport\u2019s carefully crafted loose ruleset, ranging from wild punching and kicking strikes to grueling wrestling and grappling. There\u2019s still a \u201cwild west\u201d aspect to the matchups based on the range of disciplines, but between rules, weight classes, and the competitive tactics that consistently work in the octagon, UFC has moved almost entirely away from shock value and into the space of competitive sport.\u00a0 Almost, as fighter personalities are still key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, one shouldn\u2019t go into the UFC games with the expectation that it\u2019ll control like a traditional arcade fighting game, as it\u2019s just as important to get the technical aspects of the sport right as it is to make the fights exhilarating to play. Past installments have struggled with this balance, but UFC 3<\/em> and now UFC 4<\/em> seem to have gotten much closer to the sweet spot, telegraphing the intense striking and grappling of the sport in a polished and entertaining package.\u00a0 Critics are quick to point out that while UFC 4<\/em> tightens up the gameplay and delivers one of the better MMA games out there, it still leaves a lot of room for improvement, especially in the more technical submission and ground aspects of fights. Players, on the other hand, expressed their distaste for advertisements and copy-and-paste game design between UFC 3<\/em> and UFC 4<\/em> (not unlike Madden), knocking the franchise on the ground and in trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To say that February\u2019s a big month for video games would be an understatement, so it stands to reason that gaming subscription services like PS+ would keep from including high-profile free games in their monthly offerings since they\u2019ll likely get overlooked anyway. All points considered, however, this still ends up being a pretty brave month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":43069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2140,1262,401,2266,2364,25],"class_list":["post-43066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bens-bytes","tag-borderlands","tag-ps-plus","tag-ps4","tag-ps5","tag-ufc","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43066","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=43066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43070,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43066\/revisions\/43070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}