In this feature, we’ll be listing what we feel are fifteen of the most disappointing games on the PS4- but disappointing, we should remind you, does not mean bad. Many of these games are a lot of fun, some have improved vastly since launch and managed to turn things around from initial disappointment. Being mentioned in this list simply means that these games, when we played them first, failed to live up to the standard of quality we expected them to hit.

Also note that for the purposes of these list, we’ll only be looking at PS4 exclusives- barring a couple entries that were either only console exclusives at launch, or remain console exclusives to this day.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into it.

DRIVECLUB

When Driveclub first launched, it’s fair to say that it ended up disappointing a whole lot of people. Though it was stunning to look at and hit technical heights that console games rarely do even to this day, there were many who felt that the game was, all said and done, a bit too dull, a bit too uninspired. Developers Evolution Studios would go on to provide excellent support for the game following its release, and arguably pretty much managed to turn things around, turning a disappointing launch into what was a legitimately great driving sim. Their subsequent closure, even in light of said recovery, proved to be a shockingly premature and abrupt one.

For those who’ve been looking for an over-the-top, bloody, side-scrolling, puzzle-platformer, this game is definitely for you. Being created by a seven-person team, Shadow of the Beast looks and feels like a classic indie title rather than a strong triple-A, first party game. Again, that doesn’t really hurt it much in the way of fun as it accomplishes everything the team set out to do with it: simple platforming mechanics, linear level layouts, cool fighting styles, and traditionally simple puzzles to solve along the way. As many indie titles go, however, you won’t find an extensive story to follow; and what story is there has to be unlocked — I’ll discus this later on. You’ll play as the beast Aarbron in the fantastical world of Karamoon where magical realms come to life and enemies are intense and fun to rip to bloody shreds.

"Combat in Shadow of the Beast is actually rather diverse with an extensive range of different melee attacks both ranged and hand-to-hand."

Combat in Shadow of the Beast is actually rather diverse with an extensive range of different melee attacks both ranged and hand-to-hand. You won’t find any guns in this game but the tight attack controls just make it fun enough to where you won’t even be thinking about guns by the end of the first level. From basic attacks, counters, stuns, throws to special attacks, evades, dodge rolls, and a few more, learning these attacks, and using them when you have the appropriate amount of blood — gained when an attack lands on the enemy — will take time. There are seriously a lot of attacks to remember. Luckily the attack controls are in the Options screen. By landing an attack during a “perfect window” you will gain extra score that adds up to points for spending on other items after each level.

Along the adventure you will come across several different enemy types ranging anywhere from human, bug-men, and other worldly beasts. These enemies are often a breeze to take down though every so often you’ll run across one that has a little gimmick — such as “block” enemy projectile once before being able to attack it, etc. After completing each location Aarbron will encounter a boss fight. Boss battles are fun, though slightly scripted. There are only certain moments when Aarbron is allowed to attack. Even if the boss looks defenseless, attacking does nothing until the game allows you to attack; and even then before you land a hit, the boss’s health meter will drain HP. Yes, that sounds a bit strange, that your attacks do the same damage on a boss no matter which one you choose as it is already predetermined. However, the boss battles were fun and exciting, and most of them looked pretty cool.

"Overall, Shadow of the Beast still holds that classic platformer feel and style with linear paths, standard musical tones and tunes, and a lot of blood spilled all around."

The platforming and puzzle elements of Shadow of the Beast are fine for an indie title, but don’t go in expecting Super Mario level complexity. Starting out practically running from left to right you’ll soon learn how to jump, climb and descend various walls and platforms throughout each level. Switch flipping, and portal travel are key puzzle elements that show the simplicity behind this game. I found them a bit too easy, but they were fun for what they were.

Upon finishing each level the players will be given the option to visit the Wisdom of Shadows. Simply put, that is the character leveling up screen. Points you’ve earned while playing through the campaign become spendable and allow you to choose from many different items — many of which aren’t even character related. From gaining health, to collecting extra blood for attacks, to even unlocking the original (albeit emulated) Shadow of the Beast. As I mentioned earlier the story has to be unlocked and the Wisdom of Shadows holds its meaning. While playing through the game you’ll get undecipherable dialog subtitled in what looks like alien font. The only way to follow the story is by deciphering the cut scenes visually. By unlocking story content through Wisdom of Shadow story translations, the subtitles will then become deciphered, but to unlock everything that’s spoken could take upwards of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of points. I don’t know why they developers thought hiding the story behind an unlock wall was a good idea — maybe to add replay value?

Overall, Shadow of the Beast still holds that classic platformer feel and style with linear paths, standard musical tones and tunes, and a lot of blood spilled all around. If you enjoy platforming as much as I do, you should get a kick out of this game, especially if you enjoyed the original.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Shadow of the Beast

Based on the 1989 classic, Shadow of the Beast will see the return of Aarbron and feature a healthy dose of platforming and action. Combat now incorporates combos and counter-attacks. Sure the quick-time events are a little iffy but at least it has traps like the original game. Even the parallax scrolling made the transition! Despite a long development time, Shadow of the Beast will finally be releasing on May 17th for PS4.

Homefront: The Revolution

Even if the closed beta was fairly terrible, there’s still plenty of reason to be hyped about Homefront: The Revolution. With a new story that deals with taking back Philadelphia from the Korean People’s Army. In the large open world environment, players will be able to take on numerous side missions and employ various tactics like stealth, gadgets and guerrilla warfare to succeed. It’s out on May 17th in North America and May 20th in Europe for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

This is the big one. After numerous delays, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will finally be releasing on the PlayStation 4. Along with promising Nathan Drake’s final adventure, the developer is bringing arguably the best-looking visuals of an action adventure shooter in this generation. Multiplayer also looks like fun but suffice to say that it’s the campaign that’ll keep us enthralled. Look out for its release on May 10th for PS4.

Battleborn

Gearbox Software’s first person shooter/MOBA hybrid Battleborn is a beast of many parts. It has a compelling single-player campaign with the trademark dark humour (which also supports five player co-op along with varying difficulties). There are PvP modes involving either minion escort or traditional FPS zone capture. Did we mention the 25 heroes each with their own varying abilities? Battleborn is out on May 3rd for Xbox One, PS4 and PC and judging from the recent beta, it’ll be worth checking out.

Overwatch

Blizzard’s team-based hero shooter has been in closed beta for months, taunting us with its amazing gameplay and features. On May 24th, it will finally be available for PC, Xbox One and PS4 (though the open beta begins next week for all platforms). Overwatch  brings a roster of different heroes together for competitive multiplayer, incorporating different skills and techniques for each hero that can heavily influence the battle. While time will tell just how the world reacts to its strategic FPS gameplay, there’s no denying that Overwatch is one of the most hotly anticipated multiplayer shooters in a long-time.

Total War: Warhammer

Have you waited for the penultimate strategy adaptation of Warhammer? The Creative Assembly has fulfilled your wishes with the upcoming Total War: Warhammer. The series’ trademark fantasy elements and units will be present with four playable factions to control. Magic will play a big part but Total War fans can still expect the usual city-building and conquering. Total War: Warhammer releases on PC, Mac OS X and Linux on May 24th.

DOOM

The king has returned…sort of. id Software’s DOOM is a reboot of the series and returns to the brutal, arcade-like ferocity that defined the first two games. The campaign mode will see players embarking through a demon-infested story, making use of classic weapons like the Super Shotgun and Rocket Launcher while employing new takedowns to violently execute enemies. Coupled with a halfway decent multiplayer and map editor and DOOM could very well be a dark horse of sorts when it launches on May 13th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

Sega’s tactical RPG/shooter classic is finally seeing the resurrection it deserves with Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. Combining an overhead tactical map with up close and personal unit management, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered will also feature revamped visuals running at 60 FPS and 1080p resolution on the PlayStation 4. If you haven’t had a chance to experience it, then it’s worth looking out for on May 17th for North America and Europe.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan

The Turtles return and thankfully it’s not in a Michael-Bay-esque avatar. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is a follow-up to Platinum Games’ hack and slash title of the same name. Yes, the same Platinum Games of Bayonetta fame. With four-player co-op, players can make use of the different fighting styles and abilities of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael to succeed in an all-out war with the series’ classic villains. Watch out for its release on May 24th for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Stellaris

Those in the mood for more strategy gaming, with a 4X twist, can check out Paradox’s Stellaris. The PC, Mac OS X and Linux release will follow the usual conquering, warring, empire-building practice that’s defined the genre’s best. However, things will take an interesting turn in the late game with different crisis events occurring and keeping you from becoming complacent. Stellaris is out on May 9th and we’ll see how well it contributes the 4X grand strategy genre in the long run.

It was announced a long time ago, but Shadow of the Beast is almost here. The reimagining of the classic Genesis game launches on the PlayStation 4 next month, and ahead of that launch, the developers have shared a brand new video which shows off just how the combat will work in the game.

The combat in general appears to be rather simple – the developers themselves admit that most enemies can be finished in one hit – but things get a wrinkle thrown into the mix, when one considers the enemies all have their own pace and rhythm, and that they each respond to different attacks differently. That, plus upgradeable skills, keep the combat compelling and fresh, even hours into the game.

You can check out the video for yourself below. Shadow of the Beast will be available exclusively on the PS4 on May 17. Let us know in the comments if you intend to get it.

The PlayStation 4 exclusive reimagining of the classic action game Shadow of the Beast is now finally complete, and will be launching on May 17, digitally via the PlayStation Network, the developers announced today.

“We’ve finally reached the point where we have to stop putting things into the game – the last tweaks to combat have been made and the final Easter eggs are hidden for you to find,” explained Matt Birch, CEO and founder, Heavy Spectrum. “So now we are focused solely on fixing bugs and getting Shadow of the Beast ready to appear on PlayStation Store.”

The long development cycle for the game has been put to good use, as apparently, the game now runs at a steady 60 frames per second.

“Our small team has been using the extra time to the fullest – we’ve been able to push the game to a solid 60fps throughout, something we feel passionate about as fans of the fighting genre,” said Birch. “With the increased response time that comes with this we’ve been fine tuning the combat experience even more; upgrading Aarbron to the full extent of his abilities and equipping him with some of the mystic artifacts that you find will really add much more depth to the gameplay. It feels quite different to other combat-adventure games, but hopefully people will find it very rewarding!”

Shadow of the Beast will be available in May, exclusively on the PS4. Check out a new trailer for the game below.

Two PS4 exclusives that were due to hit the market in the next few months have apparently had their release dates pushed back. Both Shadow of the Beast and Alienation have had their ship dates changed in the PlayStation store, though Sony has not made an official announcement for either game. Shadow of the Beast now shows a release date of March 2, 2016 while Alienation now has a ship date of March 23, 2016.

It seems that Shadow of the Beast has been pushed back five weeks, since it was originally supposed to be launching at the end of this month. Alienation has now had its release date pushed back about three weeks from when we expected it to go live. Since Sony has not yet talked about the delays, we’re not sure exactly why the changes were made. Considering the releases weren’t pushed back all that far, it’s likely the developers just feel as though they need to have a few more weeks to iron out some details.

If you want to learn all there is to know about these games while you know wait a bit longer to play them, you can check out the wiki for Shadow of the Beast here and the wiki for Alienation here. With the new dates, Shadow of the Beast is now due out March 2 while Alienation will not be hitting your PS4 until March 23, 2016.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Shadow of the Beast was initially announced during Gamescom 2013 as a PS4 exclusive. The first trailer was revealed, along with the announcement of Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs as the new developer for this game. Because the original was produced way back in 1986, the original developer had to be replaced, though Heavy Spectrum has said it wants to change the look of the game but wants to be as loyal to the original game as it can. Specifically On April 2014, when asked “Are there any of the team behind the 1989 game still around?”

David Whittaker, composer of the original soundtrack and Roger Dean, the talent behind Shadow of the Beast’s cover art, and Matt Birch, the studio’s CEO, responded “The music, the art, they were really important to us, and we wanted to make sure we don’t disappoint people.” It has since been revealed that David Whittaker will indeed be brought back to the game and is working on the sounds and music of the new PS4 version.

In April of 2015, the game’s developer released a new batch of screenshots for the game. There is quite a bit of difference between the original game’s look, but the developers have kept the two-dimensional, side scrolling style. At E32015, Sony unveiled a new gameplay trailer and allowed CEO of Heavy Spectrum Entertainment to give a bit of an update on the game. The developer said it expected the game to be released in 2016 but the company has not announced an official release date for next year.

Heavy Spectrum CEO Matt Birch says he wanted his studio to make this remake because he had a genuine love for the original title. During the official unveiling of the game, he spoke at Gamescom saying, “It was one of my first experiences of 16-bit games, I played it and was completely amazed by the graphics, the music. I remember walking away and carrying on thinking about it. It really hit me at the time – it was probably the first game I thought about after I’d walked away, like you would with a book or a movie. It was a real moment of thinking games could do something incredible, and are going somewhere incredible. It’s something that’s stuck with me ever since, and that’s one of the things that makes Shadow of the Beast so special to me.”

At the 2015 E3 the studio introduced a brief gameplay demo along with the new trailer.

Story

The story of this version of Shadow of the Beast has been described as a direct remake with the main character and the main villain being the same as in the original game. In that original game, the story shows a man named Aarbron is kidnapped as a child and corrupted through magic into a monstrous warrior-servant for the evil beast lord Maletoth. This mutated creature’s memory of his human life returns when he watches a man being executed and the thing that used to be Aarbron realizes that he’s been a victim for most of his life when he later recognizes the man who is being executed as his father. Eventually Aarbron decides to seek revenge on Maletoth. A long ardous journey ensues, with Aarbron forced to battle his way through both hostile terrain and Maletoths forces. Not only is the main character fighting Maletoth and his forces for revenge, but he comes to believe he will actually be able to regain his human form if he can win the battle against his monstrous master.

Gameplay

Shadow of the Beast is a two-dimensional side scroller that focuses on rhythm action-esque timing as well as smaller and quicker attacks as well as more savage attacks that are done by using the main character’s claws. Timing isn’t the only way in which players will be fighting as some enemies require counter attacks. There are also shield-wielding foes that the player must duck behind in order to kill and defeat them. Birch also talked about the combat system, saying the company has put in some extra layers when being compared to the original game. The developer says that if the player wants to really get good scores, the player will actually have to use enemies against one another. The player will have to stun them and then throw them into each other. The game also has a “blood system.” Each time Aarbron kills an enemy, he absorbs blood, each absorption works at filling up a meter that lets the player unleash super moves, which in turn allows the player to kill more enemies and kill stronger enemies faster.

When it comes to the world that Aarbron has to travel, there are a number of different side quests that are all there to help you unravel the mystery of how to kill Maletoth. There is also apparently going to be a multiplayer mode that will allow you to bring friends or just random players into your game. There aren’t a lot of details about this mode except the developer’s description: “Discover the souls of other players and summon them to fight at your side, or to lead the way to new locations.”

In addition to the main story mode, there is also a survival mode if players just want to see how many enemies they can kill in one sitting. The enemies will get harder to kill as the waves keep coming.

Characters

Aarbron is the main character in the story and is the hero. After realizing that the monster that had been his master killed his father, he goes on a mission to kill his former master. That master is a giant monster known as Maletoth who is the main villain in the game. There are a number of other monsters and creatures that will appear in the game, though the developer hasn’t specifically named those creatures.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game

The PSN Store on PS4 has gone ahead and made a booboo- overall, it has leaked the release date and prices respectively of three upcoming smaller games for the PlayStation 4. These include Sony’s Shadow of the Beast, EA’s Unravel, and Alienation from Housemarque.

As for Shadow of the Beast, it was leaked by the EU/UK store, which lists it for a January 27 release, with the price of £16. Curiously, the game has no corresponding entry on the North American PSN Store at all. Instead, the North American PSN Store got an entry for EA’s Unravel. The game is priced £15/$20, with a release date of March 31. The release date here could well be a placeholder, since March 31 is the end of the quarter and the financial year, but the price, at least, seems to be legitimate.

Finally, Alienation, which was recently shown off at Paris Games Week, and is Housemarque’s twin-stick shooter, is, according to the EU PSN store, coming out March 2, priced £16. Which means we will probably see that translated to $20 for North America.

So… yeah, if you were looking forward to any of this stuff, now you know.

Shadow of the Beast, a PS4 sidescroller that came onto the scene two years ago before completely disappearing, has recently came back into the public eye. Most recently however, we’ve been shown some pre-alpha gameplay of the game.

Despite being in the early alpha stages of development, the game is visually very impressive, the gameplay however looks somewhat bland, despite packing a lot of visual flare. Here’s hoping this is improved closer to release.

Given that the the game is a side scroller, it will most likely run at 1080p and 60fps. In the wake of some leaked images from a Sony hosted event, Heavy Spectrum’s Matt Birch gave an update on the game. He recently assured players that they are “trying to find right blend to make a compelling experience for players.” This at least points towards some dedication going into making the game.

Remember Shadow of the Beast? The classic Sega game was announced to be coming to the PlayStation 4 via a reboot, but was swiftly forgotten and never mentioned again after that. if you had, however, begun to suspect that the game had joined the ever swelling ranks of PlayStation exclusives that are announced and then relegated to vaporware status, you would be wrong. Today, out of nowhere, we got an update on the game on the PlayStation Blog, assuring us that the title is alive and well, and sharing some screenshots with us as proof.

“The screenshots you see here are taken from the harsh, arid wasteland that is Karamoon’s desert,” Heavy Spectrum’s Matt Birch said, talking about the screens. “The balance between beauty and brutality has been a running theme for us while we’ve been building the game. Our main character, Aarbron, was forged by the evil Maletoth as a living weapon — and his journey through this beautiful, vibrant world is a savage one. We’ve tried to find ways to bring both sides of this juxtaposition to life to create a unique and intriguing setting for the gameplay to live within.

“Alongside creating a range of sweeping vistas and strange creatures, we have also been busy refining the game’s core combat and platforming to try and find just the right blend to make a compelling experience for players.”

He also suggests that we will be hearing more from the game soon, and far more regularly now.

“It’s been a long road to get here (Especially if you are counting back to our original inspiration!) and we thank you for both bearing with us and taking the time to read about our progress. We hope to have more news to share with you before too long!”

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information.