Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

@WebHead Crash was never amazing IMO, and if they kept the same physics as the original games, I can see why this remake doesn't smash expectations. It's more of a nostalgia trip than anything else I guess.

I'm also that weird guy that prefers the look of the PSone games. Not a big fan of the new look.

Man the game is very very difficult very early on. If I was playing alone I probably wouldn't be into it, but at least I have an SO to laugh at my many many failings so it's fun for that.

I liked Crash 2 back in the day (haven't started it up yet on the collection), but playing Crash 1 is reminding me why I was a much, much bigger fan of the Mario games. There's one thing for sure that you can't mess up in a platformer and that's jumping. Never was a big fan of that mechanic in the Crash games back in their time and I'm still not today.

Thinking back on it, Jak & Daxter 1 was Naughty Dog's first truly great platformer if you ask me. It's a shame they strayed so far away from that with Jak 2 and 3.

@Operative2-0 Uh, source? You should also consider that Jak's cartoony art style might not translate well to Naughty Dog's current fidelity and facial animation prowess. I'd like another Jak instead of another Uncharted too, but I really just want them to make a new IP. Both Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2 are gratuitous.

@Haru17 Uncharted 4 was the best entry in the franchise, so I disagree. We'll see about TLOU2. I'm excited because TLOU was amazing, but I've also said that I didn't want a sequel. Some games are better off as stand alone experiences... _Okami...

@Octane I mean Uncharted 4 was 'Uncharted, but we treat these 2007 characters as if they're in The Last of Us.' I really just didn't see the point of that story — it was another Witcher 3 'but dad now' plot, and I felt like a lot of that emotion was poorly conveyed.

All I want from Naughty Dog after The Last of Us is another new IP that can blow us away in the same way that game did — because TLOU 2 certainly won't be able to do that by virtue of being a sequel. I'm not a proponent of the 'bad sequel ruins the first thing' ethos, but at the same time ND games take so damn long to come out, I didn't want to have to wait through Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2 to get to that. I would say that TLOU 2 looks good, but that trailer told us essentially nothing and they announced the game before much development was even done, so who knows.

Uncharted 4 feels like the first fully-realized Uncharted game. Despite the emphasis on climbing, the game only has a small focus on tedious busywork. The combat system, finally, feels engaging and fully fleshed-out. The plot finally treats Nathan Drake like an actual person instead of an Indiana Jones knockoff, and, in doing so, brings interesting themes to light that I thought were doomed to stay mostly unaddressed in this series.

If anything feels unnecessary, it's this newest game, The Lost Legacy.

And, putting my feelings for TLOU aside, I agree that TLOU 2 feels superfluous. Joel and Ellie's story is done, as far as I am concerned.

Regarding Crash Bandicoot trilogy: the Crash games always kind of sucked. The game design has not aged well at all. It might look very, very pretty now, but I really wish the Bandicoot had gotten either a new game or a full remake. Something that fundamentally addressed the flaws in the originals.

I’d argue that that’s not an overly popular opinion. I agree about what you said in regards to Uncharted 4 though.

I happily enjoyed playing Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64 back in the day; they both did their own thing and are both good fun to play.

Crash Bandicoot was definitely the tougher game though - lots of lives lost on the first game! I never played the third one, which is why I am looking forward to playing through it for the first time on the N. Sane Trilogy.

And, IMO, Crash Team Racing is better than Mario Kart 64!

The N. Sane Trilogy is brilliant. It’s a charming, clean and colourful looking game to play, and pretty tough too. Only had a quick dash through the first couple of levels before I went out for the evening.

Half the year has flown by, and I honestly cannot remember a better first half of a year since ... well, probably since I picked up a SNES controller for the first time.

Played ten, completed ten. I’m pleased to knock my backlog on the head too.

My favourite games of the year so far:

1. Horizon Zero Dawn
2. Resident Evil VII (especially on the PS VR)
3. Gravity Rush 2
4. What Reminds of Edith Finch
5. WipEout Omega Collection
6. Tekken 7 (disappointing lack of modes asides, it is superb to play)
7. RiME
8. GNOG
9. Little Nightmares
10. Yooka-Laylee (hopefully the upcoming patch makes it more bearable...)

I have yet to get past the first fifteen minutes of Night in the Woods, which unfortunately came out at a bad time (sandwiched slap-bang between the trio of Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil VII and Gravity Rush 2) and I have only just begun Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy as of yesterday evening.

To think that I have yet to play the likes of NieR: Automata, Nioh, Persona 5 or Yakuza 0!

p.s. Went back to take down some more robosaurs in Horizon Zero Dawn the other day and, visually, it still continues to blow me away. Until God of War and Spider-Man comes out, there’s no competition.

@Haru17 When asked if the team misses the cartoonish styling of their Crash and Jak era, Josh had to say this on the matter:

"No, I don't, because we've got an amazing team of people making some really expressive performances with our current stable of realistic characters. I mean, animating the stylised stuff is a lot of fun, but the stories that we're trying to tell right now are a little bit more grounded and a little bit more grown up than they were back in the Jak and Daxter days." — Josh Sherr

https://www.gamnesia.com/news/naughty-dog-says-no-to-a-return...

To me it sounds absolutely ridiculous that he thinks they're too "grown up" to make games like in their old days. Reminds me of kids that play call of duty because they think it makes them more mature.

I definitely was not a fan of the first one (especially compared to Super Mario 64) and the third was also 'meh' but I thought the second was pretty decent. Of course, we're talking about the late 90s when I played it, once I'm done with Crash 1, which I'm really not enjoying, I'll be interested to see how I think 2 holds up. Agree with you though, that at the very least the full remake treatment would've been nice. I don't care what anyone tells me, the jumping in this game sucks. That part is the most essential to a platformer and it is straight garbage in Crash 1.

@Peek-a-boo Impressive. I'm still working my way through NieR: Automata, but I also started Gravity Rush 2, I just couldn't wait any longer. NieR is weird, but in a good way.

I'm glad the rest of the year is relatively quiet; Uncharted, Mario and Horizon DLC. I think I'm going to finish my current backlog this year + Nioh. Maybe I'll get GT Sport or Wipeout if I'm in the mood for a racing game, and maybe Splatoon 2 if the single player reviews well.

Hellblade, Uncharted, Mario + Rabbids, and the episodic Life is Strange prequel and The Long Dark are all out in August. Two AAA Bethesda games got unveiled for October, one of which releases the same day as Assassin's Creed and Marios. The Middle Earth game also releases that month — not quiet anymore IMO. Certainly not with AAA Nintendo games out each month. The other months may be a little lighter, but there are still great alternatives for people uninterested in this year's shooter buffet. I mean who thought Ni no Kuni 2 and a new Metroid game would be out this year?

@Gamer83 The first Crash Bandicoot (on PSone) hasn’t aged very well, and the third game (Warped) was good fun, but has one too many ‘gimmicky’ or vehicle-related levels. Cortex Strikes Back, however, is a perfect sequel that not only tweaked the admittedly erractic platforming in the original, but removed some of the frustration and made the game a joy to play.

I had a great time playing the second Crash Bandicoot, especially with my friends.

Bearing in mind that we were playing these games in the mid-nineties; of course they (the PSone versions) are going to be cumbersome to play today. It hasn’t stopped N. Sane Trilogy being the most popular game of the year so far on Amazon! People have fond memories of the Crash Bandicoot games on the PSone.

@Octane I have already paid for my pre-order of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which includes Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy as part of the PS2 Classics selection, as well as both Gran Turismo Sport and Star Wars Battlefront II. Outside of that, I am happy to wait and see how the other games are shaping up!

@Haru17 I compiled and posted this line-up a month or so ago, which shows all the console exclusive games on the PlayStation 4 in the next coming five or six months.

June:
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Nex Machina
Valkyria Revolution

July:
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Pyre (from the creators of Bastion and Transistor)

August:
Everybody's Golf
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Last Day of June
LawBreakers
Matterfall
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Warriors All-Stars
Yakuza Kiwami

September:
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Knack 2: Electric Boogaloo
Undertale
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

October:
Gran Turismo Sport ('coming this fall')

November:
Ni no Kuni 2

On the subject of the Life is Strange prequel, I was disheartened to learn that the original voice actress for Chloe (Ashly Burch) won’t be reprising her role due to the voice actors’ strike. It is going to be strange hearing a different voice for a younger Chloe...

@Peek-a-boo Yeah, but good on her for standing strong with her union. That strike could make the next couple of years of games kinda weird, but it's a needed push for these companies.

I'm more worried about Deck Nine Games developing before the storm, but we'll see. Telltale is making a completely new season 2, so we'll have that to fall back on.

Damn, forgot about FF12 remaster. Far too many good and interesting games this year. I still haven't got round to Horizon either.

Is there actually a voice actors strike then? Oh boy, are a lot of people going to quickly find out how replaceable they are with almost zero effect on sales.

I don't think that means it's the most popular of the year. I doubt it'll sell as much as any of those others.

I think that just means Crash is currently (maybe weekly) selling at a higher rate than those others. Because it's new. Check again in a month and I guarantee something different will be on top.

@Peek-a-boo @Gamer83 I fundamentally agree that Crash Bandicoot 2 was the best game in the series. It felt like a more polished follow-up to the original. Too bad Warped was "Vehicle Levels: The Game."

Like anyone else who grew up with a PS1, I had nostalgia for it, but when I went back to actually play these games, I... was DEEPLY disappointed.

It's too bad we're not getting a remaster or the superior Spyro the Dragon games. I replayed the original recently and, controls aside (having to turn the camera with the shoulder buttons is a killer!), the game was still a lot of fun.

Never actually played Crash Team Racing, though.

@Haru17 Oh, I am definitely not against anybody going on a voice actors’ strike, far from it. I hope the whole issue is resolved as smoothly as possible. Just pointing out that we’ll be hearing a different Chloe, is all.

And yeah, a different developer - Deck13 - also has me somewhat concerned, especially considering their portfolio consists of a poor man’s Dark Souls and a futuristic take on the very same formula; The Surge. I tried a demo for the former game (Lords of the Fallen) and... well, let’s just say that I wasn’t overly impressed.

We shall see. As you said so yourself, if the prequel isn’t up to scratch, we still have Vampyr and the sequel to Life is Strange (from Dontnod, not Telltale!) to look forward to.

@Dezzy Before N. Sane Trilogy climbed the bestsellers chart, it was exactly the same three games, the Switch and a DualShock 4 controller that made up the top five. You can sort the games out by month on Amazon, and Crash Bandicoot was perched at the top of the bestsellers list in both May and June respectively.

The price (£30) certainly helps, and the game is out of stock nearly everywhere too. It’s doing very well!

@Ralizah The original Crash Bandicoot is a tricky game to go back to, whereas the sequel and Warped to a lesser extend are still playable, especially on a PS Vita with its fantastic d-pad. I too preferred Spyro the Dragon, and hopefully it will get the same treatment as Crash Bandicoot has received in due time.

As for Crash Team Racing, it is second only to Mario Kart 8 as my favourite go kart-style racing games. It was just plain old good fun, had easy pick-up-and-play controls as well as being a balanced game all round. There’s nothing like the (awful) blue shell either, thankfully.

Tekken 7, WipEout Omega Collection and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. This month has made me feel like a kid all over again, and it’s also why I thoroughly appreciate the nostalgic ways of the PlayStation brand.

@Peek-a-boo I wouldn't know. Sony never bothered making a ton of the PS1 classics available for Americans on the Vita. We're missing all of the Crash games, all of the Spyro games, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and many more. :/

@Ralizah Aw, that sucks...

My PS Vita was essentially a PSone machine outside of the odd original games like Gravity Rush, Tearaway, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Virtual Tennis and WipEout 2048.

Playing all those great PSone games on that OLED screen and using arguably one of the best d-pad of all time was simply brilliant. I actually enjoyed playing some of the PSone games more than I remember due to its original native resolution looking really good on the PS Vita display.

The majority of PSone games were outputted in a 320 x 240 resolution, which scales up surprisingly well with the 960 x 540 display on the PS Vita. Luckily, the large-ish selection of PSone games for the European market at the time made the slow months a lot more bearable.

It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t quite the same for you and other fellow Americans.

After playing some of Crash 1 and 2 for the first time ever, it feels like what would have happened to Mario if he didn't fully embrace 3D platforming. A strange corridor with 3D movement. Like if a 2D game was made to 3D in the strictest way possible.

It's fun, but I can see why time remembers the likes of Mario and Banjo more fondly for their contributions to 3D platforming. Poor playstation didn't get their mold-breaking mascot platformer