Welcome to another entry in our weekly recap pertaining to all things Inside PlayStation Network. Every MON-FRI, PSU shines the spotlight on a piece of content plucked from the digital delights of Sony’s online service, be it a chunk of DLC, PSOne Classic or regular PSN release. In case you’ve missed out on any of this week’s entries, here’s the chance to catch up and see what titles we dissected under the microscope.
Monday – Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space: Extraction slithered out of the vents back in 2009 as a then Wii-exclusive prequel, offering owners of Nintendo’s HD-less box their long overdue – and to date, only – chance of stepping in to the bloody boots of Visceral’s gratifying gore ‘em up series. It was, for all intents and purposes, the poster boy for the more discerning Wii third party outing. Ironically, punters avoided it like the plague, seeming quite content to part with their pennies on the endless dirge of wonky wii-mote knock offs of big name franchises and superficial party romps. Sniffing out ample opportunity to capture the hardcore Dead Space demographic on PS3, Visceral announced at E3 2010 that it would be bringing the shooter to Sony’s flagship console alongside core sequel Dead Space 2. (Click here for full article).
Tuesday – Sonic Adventure
Sonic’s had a turbulent time of it since vertiginously spin-dashing his way into the realms of 3D gaming back in 1999. For many, the spiky speedster’s transition to 3D inaugurated a period of perpetual decline for the Sega mascot. Let’s not beat around the bush; aside from the anthropomorphic badnick basher’s brief affair with nostalgia in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, our hero’s CV this past decade hasn’t exactly been gleaming with recommendations. Still, while many have wasted countless hours wondering where it all went wrong, it’s worth remembering that Sonic 3D games weren’t always the colossal car crash many perceived. Okay, so a grand total of two games managed to offer more than a modicum of excitement, but the pertinent point is, it didn’t all go horribly wrong post Sonic and Knuckles. Naturally, we’re referring to Sonic Adventure and its sequel, ostensibly the poster boy platformers for the Dreamcast era. Here, we find the original repackaged with a splosh of HD paint for PSN and XBLA. (Click here for full article).
Wednesday – Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Back in 1999, if you had quizzed Lara lovers if they thought the dexterous archaeologist would make a running-jump into the new millennium, their answer would have most likely been an unequivocal “no.” That’s not surprising given the title of that year’s Tomb Raider outing, baring the ominous ‘The Last Revelation’ moniker. 12 years later, she’s still getting into scraps with pugnacious goons, plundering long-lost temples and somersaulting her way over gaping chasms. Back then, though, we all thought Miss Croft had flicked her last switch, so to speak. Ironically, the game would have proven a fitting end for our nimble heroine, for reasons we won’t divulge here just in case you haven’t indulged in this pixelated PSOne Classic. (Click here for full article).
Thursday – echochrome
Sony’s brain-busting mannequin outing echochrome is undeniable proof that great things sometimes come in bite-sized packages. Featuring a stripped-down, yet firmly distinguishing aesthetic inspired by the works of M.C. Escher, echochrome is a cerebrally stimulating puzzler with a unique twist. Based on the Objective Locative Environment Coordinate System (try saying that five times fast) conceived by Jun Fujiki, the game has you manipulating your stick-figure friend’s journey by fiddling with the camera perspective, thereby switching up the layout of any given stage. Indeed, rather than controlling the train itself, you’re essentially laying down the train tracks as it steams inexorably onwards. It’s a simple mechanic, and one that is ultimately far more engrossing that you may have initially perceived. (Click here for full article).
Friday – Dead Nation
Zombies seem to be rearing their decomposing, maggot-infested mugs everywhere these days. Still, from a development point of view, there’s a substantial market for the rotting fiends. Indeed, perhaps the most lucrative, albeit incongruous examples of this comes in the form of the undead’s shambling venture into the Call of Duty universe, which started with World at War’s Nazi Zombies mode before being further solidified in Black Ops. The zombie offshoot proved so popular that it even spawned its own mobile outing. Meanwhile, the mindless meat bags prove equally popular in the online space, with Nazi Zombies attracting a steady shamble of punters like flies to a freshly unearthed cadaver. Dead Nation’s just one of the many Zombie outings to arrive on the scene, following in the footsteps of its contemporaries such as Zombie Apocalypse and Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia. (Click here for full article).