Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 (PS4) Review

 

Chapter 3 Season 1 was once again the beginning of a new era in Fortnite Battle Royale. In comparison to Chapter 2 Season 1 it might at first glance have felt less impactful, since it didn't implement a completely new game engine, like Chapter 2 did (not entirely sure whether PS4, Xbox One and Switch could have handled a real next-gen engine anyway). The end event of Chapter 2 was, even though it was well done as well, less stunning than the black hole event of Chapter 1, which felt like a clear cut from the previous part of the game.

Chapter 3 Season 1 on the other hand combined new elements, like a brand new map, with a continuation of gameplay elements. That being said, there were also many new gameplay elements introduced in CH3S01 and I can already say it was probably one of the best Fortnite seasons ever. The coolest one was probably the new Med Mist, which is a healing spray that can be used during movement and that has made Med Kits nearly obsolete. Practically every week new items were dropped on the map. Some of the best were the Shield Kegs (fountains of shield slurp, that can fully shield multiple players), the Spider-Man ability (spider webs that act like a grappling hook, great for movement), the pizzas (healing item) and tents (place to store weapons for another match). There were a couple of "new", but actually rather similar weapons, like the Stinger SMG (similar to regular submachine gun) or the Auto Shotgun (similar to tactical shotgun). The really new weapons were Ranger AR (okay) and the MK7 Assault Rifle (great). The later one was probably the most popular and meta weapon of the season. It switched, while aiming down sight, from the usual third person to a first person view.  

The new Season picked the story right up, where the End Event of Chapter 2 dropped it off. The 'Flipped' theme of the season explains the new map and the Seven take a leading role in the story of the season. They prepare for an invasion by their archenemies the Imagined Order (IO), which return during the season.

Most of the POIs in Chapter 3 Season 1 were obviously new, since the new chapter also introduced a new map. With Greasy Groove, Shifty Shafts and Rocky Reels there were however also some returning POIs. Greasy hadn't been seen since the earlier half of Chapter 1 and was therefore a good choice for a returning POI. Rocky Reels was just a slightly changed version of Risky Reels, which has been a constant in all three chapters. Shifty Shafts returned pretty much unchanged. I generally have to praise the new 'Artemis' map for featuring different biomes, something that Apollo (Chapter 2 map) has either been lacking or immediately replaced them in the following season. Instead Artemis has a constant snow, desert/canyon and a grassland area. From the new POIs Condo Canyon, the Daily Bugle (Spider-Man POI) and Coney Crossroads were pretty much my favourites. The Sanctuary, as the home base of the Seven, however also deserves some credit. The constant content updates during the season also brought many smaller map changes, like IO drills/outposts, melting snow in some areas, tornado storms or the new gigantic Klombo animals. The two biggest map changes during the season were the much celebrated return of Tilted Towers and the new Covert Cavern POI, an enormous IO headquarter hidden inside a mountain. Covert Cavern reminded me a lot of the Grotto POI from Chapter 2 Season 2.

The Battle Pass was also really strong in this season. Gumbo (Chewing Gum person) and Haven (customizable masks, which couldn't save the skin) were underwhelming. Lieutenant John Llama (a Llama person), Harlowe (a Yakuza assassin) and Shanta (an exotic warrior with golden armour) were really good skins. Ronin, a highly customizable Ninja, was already great. Spider-Man and the Foundation on the other hand were amazing. Spidey was an excellent choice for a crossover and even got his own POI and ability, that fit the season well. The Foundation was the skin a lot of players had been looking forward to the most and he delivered with a really nice armour suit.  

Chapter 3 Season 1 also brought the real story quests back (narrated by the Scientist), which was a nice comeback after the lack of them in the underwhelming Chapter 2 Season 8. The season also introduced new features to requeue with the same random teammates, if a player chooses so after their first match and the Crown Royale feature. Crown royales measured the amount of back-to-back wins during the season and were especially prestigious. The annual Christmas event also returned during the season, but unfortunately no story event this time.

 

Pro:

- Cool new Map and POIs

- Relatively strong Battle Pass

- Fun new weapon- and itempool

- Good Content Updates during the Season

- Finally Story Quests again

 

Contra:

- Very long season (3,5 months)

- BP again till level 140

- No story event

 

Result:

Chapter 3 Season 1 was in my opinion one of the best Fortnite seasons and could to a large extend be used as blueprint for future seasons. The amount and quality of map changes at the start and during the season was fantastic. The content updates were generally of the highest quality and introduced many cool items and weapons. The Battle Pass was also pretty good, even though not perfect (but which BP ever is?). Just the lack of a story event and some other minor aspects held the season back. Chapter 3 Season 1 will certainly be remembered very fondly.

 

8/10

Monster Energy Supercross 1 (PS4) Review

 

Monster Energy Supercross 1 is a competitive Racing game with Motocross bikes. I initially believed it was only supposed to be an advertisement product for the Monster Energy brand, but the game is actually based on the 2017 reallife AMA Monster Energy Supercross Series. Supercross 1 was apparently so successful, that it transformed into an annual release game series and Supercross 1 was also a PS Plus game in December 2019. This is actually the only reason I played the game, because I found it hidden inside my PSN pile of shame.

Monster Energy Supercross mainly consists of three different parts. There is the Singleplayer, which includes a career mode, custom championships, single races and time trials. The career mode is okay, but lacks a bit in the presentation department. You can choose sponsors for your driver and there are short cutscenes, if you finish a race on the podium. Apart from that however, there are only static menus and the races themselves. I did enjoy racing in all 3 championships, but the career mode was overall too simplistic and not very engaging. You however have to give it credit for including all official tracks of the 2017 championships.

Then there is Online Multiplayer, which can be quite entertaining. You can race on official or custom maps and drive short championships between the players. I encountered a decent mix of new and very veteran players, which left most races rather balanced, but experiences could vary. There are still around 5-10 different players competing in online races, whenever I was looking. This may not sound overly impressive, but you will at least always get races going, which certainly not every older game can claim (if you can call a 2017 game old). Unfortunately there is no Offline Splitscreen mode in the game, which in my opinion is always a letdown in a racing game.

The third pillar of the game is the quite handy Track Editor. There is a good variety of different track elements available and players can live out their creative dreams and design their favourite courses. These courses can be uploaded and shared with other players online, or be used for Custom Multiplayer races. Overall the editor is really nice feature and has helped to extend the game's longevity.

So let's talk about the probably most important aspect of nearly every game, the gameplay. Monster Energy creates through its tracks and movement a real Motocross feeling, or at least as what I would assume to be a Motocross feeling. I have never been watching the sport in real life, but the gameplay is surprisingly entertaining and the bikes, driving on dirt and sand, move differently than in racing games on asphalt race tracks. This definitely takes a little getting used to, but once it clicks, you can really enjoy most of the races. I say "most of the races", because the Physics and Movement can despite generally doing a decent till good job, sometimes get unpredictable and extremely frustrating. In one instance you simply bump over a track limiting obstacle like it would be nothing. One other occasions those tiny objects can make your bike come to a complete stop or ricochet from them in ways that defy most laws of physics. The camera will also sometimes quit its job and just move into the driver who is jumping a meter behind yours.

Apart from the gameplay the aspect I most enjoyed about the game was probably the atmosphere of Monster Energy Supercross. The visual design of both the tracks, as well as the drivers, the surroundings and even the UI, which is held in a very fitting Monster Energy Green, is really immersive and always made me feel like I am part of the Action. Despite not being able to verify myself, but I have even heard a noticeable amount of people preferring the visual style and atmosphere of Monster Energy Supercross 1 over all of its successor games.

 

Pro:

+ Motocross Feeling (official tracks)

+ Strong Visuals/Atmosphere (better than Motocross 2-5?)

+ Great Track Editor

 

Contra:

- Physics and Movement can frustrate (bad camera sometimes)

- Career Mode not very engaging (only races, menus and short podium ceremony)

- No Splitscreen Multiplayer

 

Result:

Monster Energy Supercross delivers an entertaining Motocross experience. The Physics and movement can in some races leave you really frustrated, but generally the good outweighed the negative in the gameplay department. Overall the game was more enjoyable than I would have guessed, but it is also not going to be a part of my top 10 racing games. If you are interested in a Motocross experience, than this might be the game for you. Just don't expect to find more than a handful of active online racers.

 

7.3/10

Racing Bros (PS4) Review

 

Racing Bros is one of the few free racing games that exists and maybe the only free racing game in the Playstation store. Does that mean it is worth a try? Racing Bros has turned into a kind of meme game. Most aspects of this game are kind of terrible, but in a very entertaining way, which doesn't make it so easy to rate.

There are a couple of different maps and modes available, which range from classic races, to Cops vs Thieves (Mafia) Chases, Downhill Falling contests and modes, in which you have to destroy your opponents. In some you are even piloting a spaceship or a boat instead of a car. The spaceships however control exactly the same as the cars and the boat levels are rather boring and bland, but at least the variety of modes got slightly enhanced. One of the strengths of Racing Bros is the fact, that all races can also be played in 2-4 player offline splitscreen races. Unfortunately there is no online multiplayer available, which is a big wasted opportunity. Regardless of the amount human players, all races also feature a couple of Bots, which drive weirdly around the maps and constantly bump into each other and yourself. There is indeed a lot of mayhem, or let's better call it chaotic nonsense, going on.

The biggest problems of Racing Bros however are the gameplay and driving physics, the visuals, as well as the many Bugs. Your car is going to flip really soon and sometimes apparently random, which can indeed look quite funny, but is certainly not well executed gameplay. The driving controls are very imprecise and the collision detection just feels off. The cars will bounce more allover the place instead of actually driving somewhere. Overall I found the driving in the game to feel rather horrible, which is kind of a big negative for a racing game. It is certainly chaotic, but despite its inherent potential for amusement, I can't say I enjoyed the races too much after a couple of minutes. Playing with friends might entertain you for a little longer, but it can't hide the many gameplay flaws either.

The visuals in Racing Bros are also very underwhelming. If this was a PS2 game, I would ask myself what went wrong in the development. I don't know which visual engine was being used, but all the environments look so bland and empty. There are no details on anything, including the vehicles, and most environmental elements like buildings and trees repeat over and over again, without alternation. The Racing Bros maps remind me of some sketches early in development, but not of finished products. Low budget, free game or not, this flaws could not be excused for a PS3 game and certainly not for a PS4 game.

Racing Bros as previously mentioned also has many glitches. That you can already start driving a couple of seconds before the starting countdown reaches 0 is rather entertaining, but getting permanently stuck in the environment, or being unable to see anything, because the camera is glitching around, is not. At least the winning music is rather good in Racing Bros. I guess that's something???

What I am quite unsure about is how the game finances itself. The PS4 version is free and there is no additional purchasable gameplay or cosmetic content. Maybe the game simply had a very small budget? There is however also a PS5 version of the game, that doesn't look noticeably better than the PS4 version, but costs nearly 10 Euro/Dollar. It does have trophy support, which the PS4 version lacks, but no additional content. Whether this "upgrade" is worth it, can be doubted. The PS4 version of the game released in 2020, the PS5 port in 2021 and maybe there will be a PC port in late 2022. Every couple of months there are some small content updates being released, which is commendable. That being said I have no idea why they keep developing new content for this game, instead of fixing the noticeable issues with the game or releasing a different, better project instead.  

 

Pro:

+ 2-4 player splitscreen races

+ Meme aspects can be funny for a while

 

Contra:

- Bad driving gameplay

- Horrible physics and collision detection

- Ugly visuals

- Too many glitches

- No online races

 

Result:

Racing Bros is obviously just a Meme game and at least some people celebrate it for that, but I unfortunately can't join their praises. Goat Simulator for example is also a Meme game, but that one actually got at least halfway decent gameplay to back its jokes up. The game modes in Racing Bros aren't anything special, which you couldn't have seen in any PS1 game as well, and the gameplay is for the most part just plain bad. The glitches and countless flips and crashes in Racing Bros are not funny, but just annoying. Some will say Racing Bros is so bad, it has already become good again. I unfortunately however believe it is for the most part just bad.

 

3.5/10

Genesis (PS4) Review

 

Genesis was a PS4 exclusive MOBA game, that shutdown on the 10th of April 2022. It had previously released in March 2019 and was one of the few classic MOBAs on console. Genesis was therefore one of the pioneers, that proved that games with the gameplay complexity of League of Legends or DOTA could be brought to a console and be played with a gamepad too. There were apparently also PC and XBOX versions of Genesis planed as well, but they at some point along the way got cancelled (probably due to unsatisfactory financial success).

The gameplay of Genesis is as mentioned indeed quite similar to those of LOL and DOTA. Every player takes on a hero, that he chooses before the match, and has to help his team conquer one of the three lanes on every map to reach the enemies capital and destroy their home base in order to win. Alternatively a side can also win in Genesis by killing 60 players of the other team (in case both teams neutralize each other during the match). Players can feed up Bots on the lanes or in the surrounding areas to level up, become stronger and purchase helpful items. The only real downside of the Genesis gameplay is the slow movement speed of the characters. It can sometimes look like they are running in slow motion. I know that most MOBAs don't have the highest movement speed, but Genesis seems even slower.

One of the other differences to classic PC MOBAs is also that Genesis requires far less buttons and actions. There are only 4 different abilities, which is noticeably less than in most other games. The controls therefore work fine with a gamepad and are not too complicated. Combinations of abilities and items also seem to be less important than in the most of the other competitive MOBAs. Genesis could generally be described as a bit simpler in its gameplay, but it seems to work fine nonetheless. The devs also enabled chats through voice pings to compensate the lack of a keyboard within console games, which generally makes chatting through non-verbal forms difficult, which is something quite common in PC MOBAs.

A standout feature and the reason why I got interested in the game was its Story Campaign. Players could complete different scenarios with any of the multiplayer heroes and there were even cutscenes tying the story together. That being said the campaign didn't look like it would have been good enough to sell it on its own. Missions objectives were rather simple, like defeat this boss or defend against x amount of enemy waves. Non-spoken dialogues were very difficult to read during combat, they could have definitely implemented that better. The campaign could also be played with an online friend in a coop-mode, which is nice. Overall it was nonetheless pretty cool and unique to see a PVE campaign in a MOBA, even though the quality left to be desired. 

Genesis featured 33 different heroes. In the last months of the game all heroes were available for free, but for a long time characters were locked behind a paywall. Some could be unlocked via ingame currency, like in League of Legends for example, but some could sadly only be accessed via money transfers. Such a system is obviously not optimal, if the game isn't 100% balanced. I couldn't fully judge the hero balance, because they game shutdown a short time after I started playing. I have however heard, that Genesis had severe Balancing issues. Some characters were simply OP in comparison to others. Perfect balance obviously can never be achieved, but that would have been a massive flaw.

Fun fact: There was gimmick hero called Mitch&Cuth in Genesis, that could only be played with 2 controllers. You required two humans to play him, which is very funny, but obviously also rather unpractical and more of a Meme/Joke. One player controlled the movement, the other the abilities. At least it was certainly unique.

The visuals of Genesis were generally quite good for a MOBA. I wouldn't call them amazing by any means, but they were probably better than those of some of the older more popular PC MOBAs. Movement and fighting animations also looked alright.

My biggest problems with Genesis were technical issues. At least a year before the final shutdown, US and EU servers were already turned down. All players therefore had to connect to Chinese servers, which made most multiplayer matches for me nearly unplayable. The Ping was so high, that I could barely move along the lanes. Many matches also simply refused to start and even needed to queue a couple of times to play campaign missions. These technical problems shouldn't have been the case.

 

Pro:

- Satisfactory implementation of a console MOBA

- Additional Story Campaign

- Good visuals

 

Contra:

- Balancing issues (Heroes + Paying for Unlocks)

- Too slow movement speed

- Technical Problems (Chinese servers etc.)

 

Result:

Genesis was a decent competitor to Smite, which so far has and still is dominating the console MOBA scene. Genesis proved, that you could also implement a classic MOBA on a Playstation and therefore already deserves a lot of respect. An additional PVE Campaign in a multiplayer focused game is also a real strong asset. The implementation however wasn't optimal and Balancing as well as Technical problems prevented the game from becoming a success. I am admittedly not a MOBA fan, but Genesis was nonetheless a fun game, that would have deserved a bit more recognition.

 

6.25/10