Saturday, December 6, 2014

Sampling Games on PSN

I absolutely love trying new games!  If you're a PS Plus subscriber on Playstation Network you get to try a lot of them.

Every month they give PS Plus subscribers access to a new set of six free games.  Two each for PS4, PS Vita, and PS3.  I always make sure to "purchase" (for free) all of them through their online portal even if I don't want to download them right away.  That way I can play them any time I want in the future, as long as my PSN account is active.

It's a great way to sample games I wouldn't normally try.  Sometimes they fall flat, but they're free games so who am I to complain?

On top of that, occasionally they'll just give away free games to anyone on PSN.  This weekend you can snag Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare on PS4, Need for Speed Most Wanted on PS Vita, and Mirror's Edge on PS3.  All of them are free.  You just need to jump onto PSN and claim your copies before the weekend is over even if you don't have PS Plus.

The PSN games for the month came out a few days ago as well.  Last night I tried Titan Attacks, Secret Ponchos, and Injustice: Gods Among Us.  Titan Attacks was one that fell flat.  It's a bad space invaders clone.  Secret Ponchos was initially intriguing but after a few rounds I knew it wasn't a game for me.  Although, if you're into multiplayer twin stick shooters you might want to give it a chance.  The real surprise was Injustice: Gods Among Us.

I'm usually not a fan of fighting games except for Smash Bros.  Injustice: Gods Among Us is a straight up DC superhero fighting game and not something I would typically even look at.  It feels a lot like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.  Usually I'll play a fighting game like that for about fifteen minutes, get bored, and never come back to it.  But last night I played Injustice: Gods Among Us for a good three or four hours after I put my kids to bed.  It's incredibly polished for a fighting game.

Mostly it was a ton of fun to make superheroes wail on each other.  And the interactive environments let you do sweet things like pick up a car and throw it at your opponent.

Like most fighting games, I'm sure I'll be done with it for good in the next day or two.  But that's ok.

The awesome thing is that I got this game for free and I'm having fun with it.  It's a game I never would have picked up on my own, but I found it thanks to PS Plus.

I wish there were more ways to explore fun games for free.  I'm always looking for a new experience.


  1. Titan Attacks wasn't very good, you're right, but Deadly Premonition is the game that really fell flat for me. Just such a shitty Resident Evil type game with poor graphics and clunky gameplay. I honestly should give it more of a try because I'm sure the story is probably the shining portion of the game, but I don't know if I can stomach it.

    Having been a PS Plus subscriber for a couple of years now, I can attest that there are always going to be games that fall flat, but then there are games that you would have never tried that turn out to be fantastic, or you get lucky and a game you actually wanted but didn't get around to buying will be free. I love months like that :) The worst months are when they manage to find out all the games you already bought and put them out for free. There's been several times where I just bought a game and it's free within a month or two, though that seems to be getting better where they stick with games that have been out for a longer period of time so you don't feel as bad about it.

    I have a bunch of Plus games sitting on my download list that I've barely touched. Every time I beat a game I try to add another one to the rotation to get through that back log, but damn, it's hard with new stuff to play every month!

    1. I "purchased" Deadly Premonition for the month too, but it didn't seem like a game that would appeal to me so I didn't actually download it. From your description I probably won't. But at least it's in my library now in case I ever change my mind.

      I think PS Plus is one of the best investments I've made in gaming. I'm glad to see you feel similarly!