In my quest to try every single PS Plus Extra game for at least 1-hour, I have to say that I have mostly been disappointed. A vast majority of the games that I have played I will play for exactly one hour and then don't even feel a little bit or hesitancy to switch it off after that hour, never to play it again.
This isn't very surprising, because of course PlayStation isn't going to shell out 100 really great games when they can reserve those titles to sell to you instead. A great many of the games are pretty damn terrible though. After going through 4 or 5 really bad titles in a row I was kind of delighted to finally play a game that I actually enjoyed. I enjoyed it enough in fact that I played it all the way to the completion of the story, which only took about 4 or 5 hours.
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In this game you take on the role of a late teens or early 20's girl named "Fetch" and how she and her brother are meant to be doing "one last crime" and then they are going to take off together. While the backstory is taking place they kind of hint at the fact that "Fetch" has some magical powers that she has to keep hidden for some reason and this is all fine and dandy until her and her brother get approached by police and she has to set up a diversion. This is where her super-speed powers are revealed.
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This ability is really easy to control and the only times that it gets a bit messy is if you are meant to be looking for a particular underpass or cave or something and then instead you end up scaling the building next to it because Fetch can also near instantly scale almost anything.
I will admit that I nearly gave up on the game in the very first mission because it simply says "evade the police" as being your objective and after running all around the enormous city, the police kept popping up out of nowhere, including on the tops of buildings from the helicopter that is following me. Because the game flowed so well, I looked up what the hell you are supposed to do online and found out that you need to find somewhere that the helicopter can't see. Also you are not supposed to actually attack the police because that will make more of them magically spawn nearby.
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Get past that and the real story begins as do the really fun powers that Fetch has including laser beams of some sort that she shoots out at enemies. Things only become more and more involved and fun as far as combat is concerned later and while I was playing the game on Easy mode for the sake of enjoyment I do have to say that the combat was a little too easy. This chick is almost impossible to kill and the few times I did die, I wasn't really even sure why. It wasn't from getting shot too many times.
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I found it rather amusing that Fetch can run straight up all buildings, even scale the Space Needle and then jump off of it taking zero fall damage, but if she puts so much as a knee into water, she is dead in her tracks and unable to continue. I understand that this tactic is used to keep you from wandering off into the distance but it is always funny to me that this exists in so many games.
Now the graphics are fantastic but I want to talk about the main thing that makes this game so amazing to me. The map is huge, the graphics are probably pushing the PS4 to the limit of its capabilities, there are instances of voice over acting that just comes out of nowhere and plenty of environmental enemies and NPC's yet the game ALMOST NEVER LOADS.
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This is one of the most graphically intense games that I have ever played on the PS4 and the map area is relatively massive. You move exceptionally fast because that is kind of the point yet I never once experienced any slowdown and the few and far between instances where you do have a load screen, it only stays there for a few seconds.
This is amazing programming I think because there are other PS4 games that I have played that are nowhere near as graphically intensive as this and they are stopping to load and reload all the friggin time. I have quit other games that I considered to be good games in the past because I simply cannot deal with massive load times. I quit playing RDR2 because of this.
Seeing as how the graphics in Infamous: First Light are pretty intense, I kind of wonder what it is that they did so well at Sucker Punch to make this game run so flawlessly. Why don't other firms jump on whatever the hell that tech is that makes it possible.
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There were sequences where you have to enter an escort mission or even situations where reinforcements will turn up mid battle and the game never stops, never interrupts you, never stops to show a "loading" icon that is all to friggin common in other games that are like this. This lack of dead time is a huge part of the reason why the overall experience is so good in this game and I seriously commend them for making a game so seamless and fun.
Overall Opinion
This is one of my favorite action-adventure games on the PS4 and once again this has a lot to do with the near complete lack of loading times aside from the initial boot up that all games have. The story is quite short though and this might irritate some folks out there because they try to make up for the lack of an enduring story by having arenas that you can conquer after the story is done. The voice acting is solid, the music is great, the story is just fine, and the game flows so well. This is a wonderful game that will appeal to casual gamers like me.
Games I have tried in my journey to play every PS-Plus Extra game for at least an hour
- Windbound (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended)
- Magicka 2 (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)
- Tearaway: Unfolded (charming casual 3D platformer with inventive graphics and gameplay designed for all ages - recommended for casual players)
- Spiritfarer (casual simulation / resource-management style game with an extremely good story - recommended for all)
- Observation (point and click survival sort of... interactive game of sorts set in space - found it very boring after just one hour and do not recommend)
- Gabbuchi (simplistic puzzle game that I feel is better suited to mobile devices. Not recommended on consoles)
- The Messenger (8-bit style action/platformer that is a throwback to original Ninja Gaiden. It's simplistic fun. Recommended)
- Megadimension Neptunia VII (typical JRPG with some adjustments made to combat for uniqueness. Could be fun and I lukewarmly recommend for someone willing to dedicate 50 hours to a turn-based RPG)
- Monster Jam: Steel Titans 2 (monster truck racing game that will appeal only to people who are already fans of the sport - not recommended for any other people)
- Entwined (Visually appealing rhythm pace game that is very easy to pick up but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so - recommended for anyone that can get it for free.)
- 2Dark (8-bit graphic survival horror/stealth hybrid. The game becomes extremely difficult really fast and therefore failed to hold my attention - not recommended)
- Virginia (interactive-cinema...not really a game and it is over in a couple of hours. Not recommended)
- Trials of Mana (simplistic action RPG that will definitely appeal to the casual gamer that is a fan of old-school RPG combat mechanics - recommended)
- Journey to the Savage Planet (FPS exploration game in a semi-open-world environment. The game is intentionally silly and I loved it - recommended)
- Resogun (arcade-style single-screen SHMUP that will get boring to most people after an hour or so. Not recommended)
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (point and click adventure game that doesn't work on consoles and is just irritating to play - not recommended)
- Mighty No. 9 (it's Mega Man but terrible. Definitely not recommended)
- Moving Out (delightfully funny moving company simulator. It gets boring and repetitive pretty quickly. Recommended for a short laugh)
- Last Day of June (a sad story done in 3rd person perspective that while an interesting story and/or life lesson, quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Not recommended)
- Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom (action adventure RPG with an inventive combat system that unfortunately becomes very boring very fast. Filled with bugs and invisible walls, I lost interest within the first hour. Not recommended)
- Hue (inventive puzzle-platformer that whose basic controls are the reason why it is fun. This is also the reason why it gets old after a couple of hours)
- Dragon Quest Builders (simple building game similar to Minecraft with a quest and story system built it. A lot more fun than I thought it would be and highly recommended)
- Bound: Shattered Kingdom (artistic 3D platformer with an unusual graphical style that has an amazing story. It's only 2 hours long but still very good. Recommended)
- Hohokum (an artistic and relaxing experience but ultimately it isn't really a game because there are no clear objectives. Not recommended.)
- Bound by Flame (basically a budget Witcher but fails in almost every way. This game was frustrating to endure for an hour. Not recommended )
- Stray (a simplistic and beautiful adventure / puzzle game that I think most people would enjoy. However, it isn't as perfect as professional reviews would indicate IMO)
- Alienation (action RPG that plays similar to Diablo3 but set in a futuristic world. Recommended for casual multiplayer with friends)
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (A classic beat-em-up akin to Double Dragon that loses its appeal in the first 15 minutes of gameplay. Not recommended)
- I am Dead (Point and click puzzle-hunt game with a fantastic story that is unfortunately bogged down by very boring gameplay. Not recommended)
- The Gardens Between (puzzle adventure game that has a wonderful story in it that involves no words being spoken. It's a wonderful casual experience and is very-well made although a bit on the simple side... recommended)
- My Time at Portia (building management / RPG that is like so many other games out there that are exactly the same. Since there is basically no innovation here I would give this one a hard pass)
- Infamous: First Light (fast paced action adventure game that I found to be absolutely awesome. Controls are easy to pick up and the game almost never has to load. One of my favorite games on the PS4 and highly recommended)