The PS4 games is Sony’s flagship console. Released in 2013, the eighth-generation gaming machine is a solid choice for gamers looking for a robust games library.
Sony’s PS4 Pro model offers high-resolution play at higher frame rates. Featuring a slimmer design and superior power, the console is great for gamers with 4K TVs or who love a deeper visual experience.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The saga of Hideo Kojima’s sprawling games of khaki-coloured hide and seek has often been accused of being tonally confused, mixing serious points about the military-industrial complex with ludicrous sniper face-offs. But in The Phantom Pain, the series finally lands on its feet – with sumptuous, deluxe game making that combines smart, funny, serious and mystical themes.
In The Phantom Pain, supersoldier Big Boss awakens from a coma to discover his army has been wiped out and his base destroyed. He sets about rebuilding both, and along the way you’re introduced to a slew of new mechanics and tools that make up the most extensive sandbox in a Metal Gear game.
Unlike past entries in the franchise, where Big Boss is a lone wolf, The Phantom Pain allows you to deploy a range of buddies (who are nicknamed ‘buddies’) to aid your mission; whether it’s DD the dog or Quiet the bikini-clad, ripped fishnets-wearing sniper, each buddy adds a new wrinkle to how you approach missions. This expansion is the game’s secret weapon – elevating it to a level of gameplay that makes it more akin to a Hitman or Deus Ex than a typical stealth-action title.
The Last of Us
A post-apocalyptic survival drama with a distinctly humanist message, The Last of Us was a remarkable achievement in video game storytelling, earning widespread critical acclaim for its evocative character work, and in particular, the touching father-daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie.
The story takes place 20 years into the future in a ravaged America that’s been contaminated by Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction and forced its survivors to do some truly heinous things in their desperation. The show follows ruthless smuggler Joel and 14-year-old orphan Ellie, who are both immune to the infection.
The Last of Us stars Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard as brothers Henry and Sam, who team up with Joel and Ellie to dodge both human and zombie threats. While the series’ adaptation of the games’ pacing and combat can feel frustratingly static at times, it ultimately achieves its goal of telling a profoundly human story that resonates long after the credits roll.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the first game in Nintendo’s iconic series to take the franchise into modern open world play. It’s a grand adventure where you are free to explore an amazing landscape and discover towns, shrines, imaginative monsters, and dungeons that provide storming action beats or challenging puzzles.
It has been hailed as the best game of 2017 and is widely considered to be a landmark in gaming. It has received perfect scores from critics at Polygon, GameSpot, Destructoid, US Gamer, and Giant Bomb.
Its narrative setup is familiar enough to make old fans feel at home but leaves enough holes to instill a sense of mystery as you explore the vast, unexplored kingdom of Hyrule. It’s a game that respects you, and it demands your respect in return. And it isn’t afraid to remind you of that with a few quick kills or deaths, which often come from being under-equipped for the area you are exploring.
Bloodborne
Since its release in 2015, Bloodborne has been hailed as an unforgettable video game experience. This “Souls-like” game from esteemed developer FromSoftware is one of the most difficult games ever made, but it also features a unique setting, sound design, Lovecraftian themes, and an interconnected world design that was revolutionary at the time of its release.
The level design is also some of the best in the series; it removes many of the restrictions that plagued Dark Souls 2 and 3 and lets you explore a lot more freely. However, this doesn’t mean that the levels are any less challenging; they still require a lot of experimentation and patience.
The multiplayer mechanics from the Souls games are back, including the Message and Bloodstain systems. Players can also see the phantoms of other players and use them to their advantage to find traps or enemies. On the downside, the online functionality has been problematic for some players due to its frequent downtime.
