April showers bring low review scores, or so they say. The Month of Fools saw some great releases and reviews here at PlayStation LifeStyle, including MLB 19 The Show, Days Gone, Mortal Kombat 11, and even some hardware. But it can’t all be good vibes and sunshine in a month known for rain, so here we are with April’s lowest-scoring games, along with what they did wrong, what they did right, and some constructive feedback for what the developers could have done to please more gamers. A note: we summarize our three lowest-scoring games, however this month there were two ties across six games. Overall, things were downright cheery compared to March, and especially compared to February! Each of those months had some real low scoring games that we didn’t enjoy, though everything can be improved somewhat!
Our effort here is to provide constructive criticism and feedback for games that we felt were duds this month. There were a lot of games with some great potential, but for whatever reason seemed to miss the mark. Each month we take a look at these games and detail what went wrong, but perhaps most importantly, we try to focus on what the game did right, and how it could have improved on its more negative aspects that earned it a lower grade on the review scale.
The Worst PS4 Games for April 2019
Despite scores averaging higher for this month’s feature, three people each reviewed two of the above-mentioned games: Lucas White, Paulmichael Contreras (that’s me!), and Joseph Yaden. Don’t say we never take some for the team! How’d we do this month? Were our scores too high or low? Any flops you’re surprised didn’t make the list? Let us know in the usual spot.
For more information on our review scoring, please read our Review Policy.
PS4 Participation Trophy For Worst PS4 Games of April 2019 | PSLS
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Skorecery
Developer: GrappleHook Games
Publisher: GrappleHook Games
Score: 5/10
Reviewer: Jenni Lada
Read our review here. If you ever describe your video game as a mixture of such iconic games as Pong and Super Smash Bros., as indie developer GrappleHook Games did in their PR emails, then you should know the bar has been set impossibly high. Thus, it wasn’t terribly surprising when Skorecery failed to meet such lofty expectations.
What Went Wrong?
In a few words, not enough content. There are only two game modes, with four total game types to choose from. Also, despite supporting up to four players, only two characters are available to choose from! Yes, this means that during a full game, there will be at least two of each character on screen, which sounds like a headache to keep track of.
What Went Right?
Despite mashing up a few genres of games, Skorecery does have a control scheme that is easy to understand. There are also several variables to toy with, which can change up how matches progress, ensuring some variety across the meager four game modes.
What Would Have Helped?
For a game that supports up to four players, having at least that many different characters to choose from seems like an obvious thing to fix first. Though, the two characters that are currently available are apparently barely discernible from one another, so any new characters introduced would also need new attributes. If creating more game modes is really out of the question, then including the ability to play against the computer would appeal to all the single players out there.
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Our World Is Ended
Developer: Red Entertainment
Publisher: PQube
Score: 5/10
Reviewer: Lucas White
Read our review here. Our World Is Ended is a visual novel which features an interesting story about a world where a team of video game developers accidentally manage to warp reality through their augmented reality technology. It’s just a shame they didn’t also figure out how to warp a better game out of our actual reality.
What Went Wrong?
Visual novels aren’t so much a game as an interactive story, as the name of the genre implies. But pacing is critically important in visual novels, and Our World Is Ended just doesn’t have the right stuff. It starts off at a good pace, but quickly focuses on zany conversations between characters, without progressing the intriguing core of the story forward. There are also a lot of perverted jokes, mostly about breasts, which get old very quickly.
What Went Right?
The art style, blending the real world with an augmented one, is impressive. The colors also almost pop off the screen, with vibrant scenery helping to set the stage for whatever zany conversation is currently taking place. Outside of the constant barrage of boob jokes, the game’s sense of humor is actually enjoyable, with riffs about the games culture usually landing pretty well.
What Would Have Helped?
Turning to awkward perversion or jokes about body parts is old hat at this point. It’s been done to death, especially in this genre. So, enough of that already. A way to focus on the main plot, instead of being forced to have meaningless conversations with characters that doesn’t, would have helped to let those who are only interested in the actual story to move on more quickly. There are other equally lengthy games to get to, after all!
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Space Junkies
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Publisher: Ubisoft
Score: 6/10
Reviewer: Paulmichael Contreras
Read our review here. Space Junkies is Ubisoft’s attempt at taking an arena shooter, setting it in space for microgravity-based fun (RIP LawBreakers), and putting it all in VR for extra nauseating points. The result is indeed fun, but the frustrating control scheme ended up being its undoing.
What Went Wrong?
The DualShock 4 is a fantastic controller. But it’s great at traditional, non-VR gaming. Using the light bar to attempt to aim a gun in VR is a nightmare. It’s awkward at best, and a drifting, inaccurate mess the rest of the time. Space Junkies (at launch, anyway) offers nothing in the way of alternate controller usage, meaning players are stuck with using the DS4 for now. Cross-platform play is also supported. But cross-platform play is always a good thing, right? Well, in this case, not really. The control schemes available on PC are much more conducive to accurate aiming, and thus, it’s not really a fair fight. To top things off, the online population was already low when Space Junkies launched, and has only gotten lower. The game defaults to searching for any open game session, instead of attempting to fill up a lobby with console gamers if playing on the PS4. This may get games started more quickly, but PS4 gamers have to be ready to get killed a lot, which is never fun.
What Went Right?
The core of Space Junkies is a fun arena shooter. Ubisoft appears to have nailed the formula of arena mechanics just fine. There are sprawling levels that feature tight corridors and a plethora of weapons and powerups to nab, plus a lot more verticality than most arena shooters, as a reminder that players aren’t tethered to the ground like some boring Earthbound mortals. The Unreal Engine powers Space Junkies, which results in a steady, high frame rate which is a requirement in VR to reduce the likelihood of players contracting motion sickness. Cross-platform support is even included, to help boost the chances of getting into a game, which is good as the online population is likely barely in the double digits at this point in time…
What Would Have Helped?
It should be pretty obvious by now but allowing alternate control schemes could have single-handedly boosted Space Junkies’ score out of mediocrity. Admittedly, the Aim Controller might have been a tough fit, but it couldn’t have been any worse than the gimpy result that was using the DualShock 4. Ubisoft is apparently planning to support the Move controllers, which will help things. Hopefully, it’s not too late. Cross-platform play should have also prioritized getting console gamers into games against other console players, especially considering the control scheme issues on console. PC gamers have a huge control scheme advantage in this case.
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Zanki Zero: Last Beginning
Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: Spike Chunsoft / Lancarse
Score: 6/10
Reviewer: Lucas White
Read our review here. Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is a first-person dungeon crawler, with a story told in a visual novel style. It also features survival elements, and plenty of puzzles. Unfortunately, by attempting to be a jack of all trades, Zanki Zero: Last Beginning ended up being a master of none.
What Went Wrong?
Since there are so many systems to keep track of, they don’t play particularly well together. This is even evident in the story, as reviewer Lucas White said “Character drama falls flat,” and that the game “relies too hard on shocking content.” Characters don’t really seem to care about what events just transpired, as they just exclaim one or two things and then move on. Combat is also a droll affair, tasking players with moving out of the way of incoming attacks over and over again, in a format that was designed with turn-based battles in mind.
What Went Right?
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning has a definite vibe, as it features colorful visuals, good characters animations, and even a decent soundtrack. Additionally, tweakable difficulty settings that can be constantly fiddled with enable gamers to get through some of the game’s systems that they’d rather not bother with more easily, or skip some requirements altogether. This further drives the point home that Zanki Zero’s disparate game systems don’t work well together, but the tweakable options help to ensure that those who are only here for a story can get to it without being hampered by the gameplay.
What Would Have Helped?
Paring down some of the game systems would have made for a more coherent experience. Perhaps then more time could have been spent on fleshing out the story, to give characters proper motivation and reactions to everything that occurred to them. Also, it’s okay to embrace some standards in your genre. If the first-person dungeon crawler genre is known to be turn-based, it’s because that style has worked in the past. So embracing what’s worked couldn’t hurt. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
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Dangerous Driving
Developer: Three Fields Entertainment
Publisher: Maximum Games
Score: 6/10
Reviewer: Paulmichael Contreras
Read our review here. Three Fields Entertainment is made up of Burnout veterans. So, they know their stuff when it comes to arcade racing. But just because you know how something works, doesn’t necessarily mean you can replicate it on your own, as we saw with the slightly disappointing release of Dangerous Driving.
What Went Wrong?
Any arcade racing game requires that players react quickly to the action unfolding on the screen, and Dangerous Driving is no different in that regard. Unfortunately, the game can and does get in the way of players reacting in time, as stuttering issues are immediately evident. Worse still, the occasional physics issue also means that grinding against a turn’s wall or railing will occasionally cause your car to go airborne, which makes no sense. We’ve even seen races start where the player’s car spawns in such a way that causes the physics to go crazy, and it gets launched all over the map, which does not allow the race to start. There is also only one game mode, though online racing has been promised by Three Fields Entertainment. For now, though, the single mode is all on offer – split screen isn’t an option, either.
What Went Right?
The Burnout pedigree of the development team is obvious. Truly, the handling and overabundance of sparks effects make some parts of Dangerous Driving feel like a spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise, if only for a few fleeting moments. There are a decent amount of tracks to choose from, as well as a nice chunk of (non-licensed) vehicles to drive. You can even preview upcoming harder classes of cars at certain points in the campaign. Finally, load times are quick, which means you can go from one smashing success to another, or retry an event to attempt to post a better time or score in no time.
What Would Have Helped?
Split screen support in an arcade racer seems like a no-brainer. The promised online modes may see some use for a while after the update is released, but that is likely contingent on servers staying online. Split screen has no such requirement, and thus would ensure better replayability. Some customization of vehicles besides random paint jobs would have been nice, as well. But most crucially, getting rid of all stuttering issues, and maintaining a higher frame rate would have helped to live up to the Burnout legacy that Three Fields Entertainment aims to uphold.
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Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
Developer: Yuke’s
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Score: 6/10
Reviewer: Joseph Yaden
Read our review here. If you’re not a fan of insects, then you either love or hate games like Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain. It features gigantic insects, which you may hate, but you also murder thousands of them, which you may love. The rest of the game could have used some work, though.
What Went Wrong?
The Earth Defense Force series has never been particularly deep. It’s a simple story about saving the world from gigantic insects. Iron Rain continues in that tradition, and all the baggage that comes with: repetitive, shallow gameplay, with more repetitive, shallow gameplay, and some more repetitive, shallow gameplay. A linear, forgettable story, complete with a main menu whereby you select the next story mission to play, makes Iron Rain feel like a game ripped from the PS2 era. The music is also repetitive, fitting in with the general theme of repetitiousness. Did we mention it’s repetitive?
What Went Right?
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain has support for up to four players to take on massive insects together. This is really the best way to experience the game. Honestly, a good group of friends can make even a mediocre game a ton of fun, so this feature is a godsend. The versus mode also struck a chord with reviewer Joseph Yaden, who said he found himself “actually having more fun playing the versus mode than the campaign.”
What Would Have Helped?
A continuous campaign mode could have helped to keep players interested a bit longer. It’s jarring these days to complete a mission and then be taken back to a main menu, instead of being ushered right into the next story mission. More upgrade options could have also helped the game feel less like a game from last decade. More varied missions types would have also done wonders to break up the repetitive campaign.
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World War Z
Developer: Saber Interactive
Publisher: Saber Interactive
Score: 6.5/10
Reviewer: Joseph Yaden
Read our review here. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: four players team up to take on a horde of zombies, as they attempt to reach a spot to defend, and progress in a level. World War Z is actually a game based on a 2013 movie, within the same universe as the 2006 novel of the same name. Beyond a few unique competitive modes, the game could easily be mistaken for a Left 4 Dead clone, just with less polish.
What Went Wrong?
The campaign feels eerily similar to Left 4 Dead. This might be a good thing, if it had any personality of its own. Instead, World War Z lacks witty dialogue, and it also tells you exactly what you need to do at any given moment. This is in stark contrast to Left 4 Dead, which required teamwork to figure out where to go and what to do next. Each of the four campaigns may take place in wildly different locations, but the general flow of progression remains the same throughout, leading to some repetitive gameplay.
What Went Right?
Some interesting PVPVE game modes change things up in meaningful ways, as you not only have to contend with human enemies, but also zombies. A fulfilling upgrade system also allows you to get much better equipment. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the gunplay is solid, as each weapon has a noticeable handling model, and most simply feel good to fire. In co-op modes, the game is mindless enough that you can multitask and chat with friends or even listen to a podcast as you mow down countless zombies.
What Would Have Helped?
Counterintuitively, taking away hints and guides in the co-op campaign would have resulted in more teamwork being forced upon players, which would have led to more satisfying completions. Since the game is loosely based on the movie, drawing more from that plot, or just dipping into the book’s narrative, would have made the story more interesting. We’re not saying World War Z needed blockbuster-type stories, but the short campaigns would’ve benefitted from more exposition in between the waves of zombies.
