At a PS4 review event today, I was beset with a myriad of things to do and see. Chief among my options was inFAMOUS: Second Son (check out my hands-on impressions), but in true new-Sony fashion, a diverse array of games from independent developers were on display, as well. With only so much time to do and see everything at the showcase, I decided to sit down with two games whose only common thread is the creative spirit that fuels them.
The first was Tiny Brains, a four-player co-op puzzler from Spearhead Games. You and three friends play as lab animals in a series of puzzle rooms designed to test the critters’ unique abilities. The green rabbit, for example, can pull objects toward him like a tractor beam. My co-op partners, meanwhile, could push objects away, build an ice block for climbing and traversing gaps, and teleport to swap places with a targeted object. The puzzle rooms started off pretty simple, easing our way into the game with simple tutorials focused on one critter at a time, but level complexity swiftly ramped up. By the demo’s end, we were combining abilities in interesting ways–after due deliberation.
My favorite moment involved one character building an ice block so I could stand on it while another player force-pushed it out over a deadly gap. Hovering over oblivion, I used my force-pull ability to grab a ball from a hard-to-reach ledge. The idea was that I would sacrifice myself getting the ball within range, and the fourth person in our squad would teleport to swap places with the ball before it followed me down. We’d both be dead, but the ball would be safely where we needed it be to complete the puzzle. Ultimately, we found a more intuitive solution–but our experience is testament to the fact that puzzle rooms in Tiny Brains can often be solved in several ways.
A nifty part of the experience is the DualShock 4 light bar, which illuminates with the color of the animal you choose to play as. Other options for play include special challenges like working together to keep a rolling ball out of bottomless pits in a stage that’s constantly moving forward. We finished our demo with a round of Tiny Soccer, a 2v2 match where all critters have access to all four primary abilities via the shoulder buttons. Using these, and a good helping of teamwork, you try to score as many points against your opponent before time runs out. Like everything about Tiny Brains, Tiny Soccer was charming, and I left my demo feeling like Tiny Brains could be the perfect way to entertain a group of friends over to see your new console when it releases on November 26. There’s something to be said for accessible couch co-op on any console, next-gen notwithstanding, and after the sexy allure of bombastic single-player launch titles has dissipated, you’re going to want something that everyone can play. Tiny Brains is perfect for that moment.
After my demo of Tiny Brains, I headed over to Gaijin Games’ demo of War Thunder, the free-to-play airplane shooter now available on PC. Gaijin seemed really excited at the prospect of bringing the game to PS4, not the least reason being its complete parity with the PC version. Playing War Thunder on PS4 is like playing the PC version at maximum settings and 1080p, but the numbers say little about how the game looks in action. From biplanes to bombers, there’s extremely impressive detail and modeling everywhere, right down to the surprisingly well-realized towns, farms, and countryside far below. Well, maybe not so far–I crashed into the ground two or three times during my time with a few different mission objectives.
Competitive multiplayer is more focused on dogfighting–an exciting prospect, with any given match having up to 32 players. But the story missions diversify your goals and keeping you switching between aircraft with vastly different properties. My mission started with destroying anti-aircraft guns scattered across a mountain. I had a fairly lightweight, quick-turning plane to make short work of the goal. But later, I was forcibly placed into the seat of a massive, lumbering bomber. I could switch seats inside this craft, alternately manning the rear-facing machine guns, underside bomber cam, and, of course, the pilot’s seat. Managing all these systems was simple enough, at first, as I only needed to defend my aircraft from incoming bogies as I moved closer to the bay where enemy aircraft carriers occupied the waters. Once there, things got trickier, as I had to carefully aim my orbital air strikes on the carriers below while thinking ahead to plan my next target. For this behemoth of a plane, turning on a dime is a completely foreign concept, so the latter bit was especially important.
My efforts yielded mixed success–a particular hangup was the game’s super-touchy sensitivity, which caused my aiming reticle to zip around uncontrollably on fairly low settings. Gaijin says that aim sensitivity is still being adjusted; for such a multiplayer-centric game, that’s no surprise, but since PS4 and PC players can dogfight together, tweaking DualShock 4’s compatibility is particularly important.
As a free-to-play option available Day One on PS4, there’s no reason you shouldn’t give War Thunder a try. Flight combat games usually don’t resonate with me, but genre fans and newcomers alike may find a unique multiplayer experience in War Thunder’s blend of accessibility and painstaking attention to detail.
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