Last week we revealed our selection of Xbox Live Arcade's must-have games. Now it's the PlayStation Network's turn.
Much like Microsoft's offering, Sony's digital store has its own selection of exclusive titles not available on its rival's, as well as plenty of great mullti-format games available on both services. This list provides a mixture of games from both categories.
1. Beat Sketcher
SCE Japan Studio/ £7.99 / $9.99
Decent Move-only games are few and far between on the PlayStation Store but Beat Sketcher is a quirky little app which creative types will get a kick out of. Anything players draw adds to the music, meaning you can finally hear the soundtrack created by your patented crude sketch of a man's genitalia. A challenge mode adds a bit of traditional gaming to proceedings, making lines appear and asking you to draw over them to the beat in order to eventually form various pictures.
2. Bloodrayne: Betrayal
WayForward / £5.99 / $9.99
A side-scrolling action game developed by 2D maestros WayForward (currently working on the Duck Tales HD remake), Bloodrayne: Betrayal is very much a Marmite game that's split opinion because of its high difficulty level. A tribute to old-school hack-and-slash gaming, Betrayal is certainly one of the hardest games on PSN but as long as you're up for the challenge it becomes immensely satisfying once you finally master it.
3. Castle Crashers
The Behemoth / £10.99 / $14.99
There are plenty of side-scrolling beat 'em ups on the PlayStation Network but The Behemoth's trademark cartoon art style and brilliant sense of humour makes Castle Crashers one of the few must-haves. While it's a great single-player game it's best played with three other friends, making it easily one of the best local four-player co-op experiences you'll have on the PlayStation 3.
4. Dead Nation
Housemarque / £9.99 / $14.99
A stunning-looking twin-stick shooter in which you (with or without a co-op partner) are dumped in a zombie-infested city and have to blast your way to survival. A clever international leaderboard lets you see how well players in your own country are doing compared to those in other countries, and online co-op pairs you with someone else from your own country. A stylish shooter that does something different with an overused genre.
5. Echochrome / EchoChrome 2
Japan Studio / £7.99 and £9.99 / $9.99 and $14.99
Both Echochrome games are mind-bending puzzlers that make use of perspective and optical illusions. Guiding a little wooden man from one part of a level to another may seem like a fairly straightforward task, but the ability to rotate the stage to hide and expose gaps makes it the sort of thing that would have MC Escher scratching his head (the optical illusionist, not the rapper).
6. Riff: Everyday Shooter
Queasy Games / £6.49 / $9.99
Developed in only a few months by one man, Everyday Shooter is a creative twin-stick shooter that ties its sound effects in with the background music. Don't be dissuaded by its artsy-fartsy and slightly pretentious nature (its sole developer describes it as "an album of games exploring the expressive power of abstract shooters" where "modulating shapes celebrate the flowing beauty of geometry") - play it with a good sound system or headphones and enjoy a unique experience.
Comments
19 comments so far...
GlynCR on 18 Apr '13 said:
Decent list own half of em journey is next to buy off psn for me, also add the excellent guacamelee to the list TheLastDodo recommended it to me well worth a tenner very well made looks great and there are so many little nods/easter eggs to other games great great game
runadumb on 18 Apr '13 said:
I wanted to buy Megaman 9 but the DLC didn't sit well with me so I skipped it.
toaplan on 18 Apr '13 said:
Okami HD.
TheLastDodo on 18 Apr '13 said:
@Glyn: You're welcome
Nice to see Sideway New York in there, only tried the demo but thought it was quite good, shocking name though.
A few others not on the list that folk could check out: Papo & Yo, Costume Quest, Stacking, Jetpack Joyride.
shev on 18 Apr '13 said:
Pretty good list but I think you forgot a few such as:
Guacamelee!
Dyad
Velocity
Mutant Blobs Attack
Okami HD
Shatter
3 on 3 NHL Arcade (a blast with friends)
Bomberman Ultra (also a blast with friends)
...
but I guess you just can't list them all
Mmmmgrolsch on 18 Apr '13 said:
Good to see Sound Shapes on there, nowhere near enough people bought that master piece, I don't think any of the CV regulars bough it either which makes me sad
Good to also see Unfinished Swan and Motorstorm RC on there as well.
Guacamelee is missing which imo is possibly the best or at least top 3 of the PSN games I've played. Muttant Blobs should be on there also instead of crap like Pacman and Megaman
However this is a list made from opinions so it's never going to be able to please everyone.
DAEDALUS79 on 18 Apr '13 said:
Only played 4 of those games...
luke.harwood on 18 Apr '13 said:
Flow.
Alaann on 18 Apr '13 said:
payday the heist is one of the best games on psn and dont mind him about the walking dead survial its a good game.
GlynCR on 18 Apr '13 said:
T'was a top call
TheBusterMan on 18 Apr '13 said:
Dead Nation,whilst fun in co-op for a couple of hours,is highly over rated.
dwhlufc on 18 Apr '13 said:
CVG you are taking the p**s. You absolutely slated Motorstorm RC in your review and now you put it in your top 30 PSN titles!
There's a few glaring omissions on there and its pretty obvious whoever put it together has a thing for side scrolling beat em ups. I like Scott Pilgrim but top 30 PSN games?
NOT A FLIPPING CHANCE!
theideal on 18 Apr '13 said:
No Braid or 3rd Strike again?
alan666 on 18 Apr '13 said:
I'm not clicking through all the pages, but if Kula World is not on the list it dam well should be !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kula_World
tanukilou on 18 Apr '13 said:
Only just got round to playing this. Started it a couple of days ago and it's on another level, just absolutely stunning. I always heard it never did well when it released originally which I find completely incomprehensible?!
Fr33Kye on 18 Apr '13 said:
There are so many psn games i haven't played yet
I've never touched a pixeljunk game or fat princess. I wanted beat sketcher and echocrome. And the sam and max demo was great!!! Now i'm getting vaguely interested in tokyo jungle.
I was a little worried you'd make this list without The Unfinished Swan.
illage2 on 19 Apr '13 said:
Only decent games on this list are Street Fighter and The Walking Dead.
GlobalNightmare on 19 Apr '13 said:
Where's Zen Pinball?
nervedamaged on 20 Apr '13 said:
Shatter was actually on the list. Your list is a great collection!