LAST MONTH ON PS PLUS

If you had been waiting for the day to experience one of PlayStation 4’s most talked about launch titles, February’s PS Plus delivered. Knack, a game OPM originally slapped with a 4/10, was finally included in the Instant Game Collection and, well, can you complain about a freebie?

We’re going to.

KNACK follows the titular collection of ancient relics given consciousness by a scientist and enlisted to a fight a war between humans and goblins. Get past the bonkers setup and you’ve got a peculiar mix of design choices (no camera control, simple combat, huge difficulty spikes) that made this a punishing playthrough. But hey, at least you finally got to see why we gave it that 4/10. That said, we couldn’t stop ourselves hitting download on this one. It’s like a madefor-TV movie with a random actor who was famous in the ’80s – Knack is a guilty pleasure of the worst kind.

RIME served as a refreshing palate cleanser. The indie puzzler sees you exploring a mysterious island. While the conundrums you solve are challenging but fair, some inconsistent platforming and storytelling means it doesn’t quite hit the heights you expect it to. Nevertheless, it does look lovely and there’s no cameo from Knack. (Okay, we’ll stop with the cheap shots now.)

PS3 owners headed underground, as they got SPELUNKER HD, a remake of a NES game that also looks a bit like Spelunky, but has nothing in common with that indie treasure. Anime fans had a chance to try out MUGEN SOULS Z, which sure sounds like an anime RPG, and that should tell you immediately whether it’s your cup of tea or not.

Finally, Vita owners got an old-school action platformer in EXILE’S END and secretly great tactical anime RPG in GRAND KINGDOM.