PS Plus & GWG : April 2016

Geoffrey Wright | March 31, 2016 | Feature | 3 Comments

Last week Microsoft announced what games will be part of the Games With Gold service for April 2016. For the past week there have been a lot of debates on whether Sony could top these games or not. Well yesterday saw the announcement of the games that will be available for Playstation Plus during the month of April and like always there is a lot of debate on whether the line up is decent or not. Obviously every one is entitled to their own opinion but I thought it would be a good exercise to do a quick breakdown of what is on offer and see whether I think it is good or not.

The games that are available for April 2016 are;

Dead Star (PS4)
Zombi (PS4)
I Am Alive (PS3)
Savage Moon (PS3)
A Virus Named Tom (PS Vita)
Shutshimi (PS Vita)

Looking at what is on offer for April I cannot feel a little annoyed as one of the PS4 titles (Zombi) is less than 6 months old and this writer brought it in a recent sale, as I thought it would never be part of the line up but this is my issue and not necessarily everyone else’s. If this is so then this is not a bad title to get – it was a AAA launch title for the WiiU that was ported to the PS4 and Xbox One late last year. I cannot comment on what the game is like as it is currently stuck in my back log but there are a lot of mixed reviews for this game so I think it is going to be one of those games where you either will be fan or just outright hate it.

As for the second PS4 title for April we have been given a brand new game from a team that was founded by key members from the Metroid series. Dead Star started out as a space shooter that ended being a 10 vs 10 online experience that borrows elements from RPG and strategy games. Dead Star has been in early access on Steam for a while and has Mostly Positive so time will tell if this is a hit or not.

For the past few months there has been a very noticeable decrease in the quality of titles on offer for the PS3 and Vita. April’s titles continues this trend and it does feel like Sony are running out of titles to choose from for these platforms, especially when you compare it April 2015 when we got Dishonoured & Killzone Mercenary. For the PS3 the two titles look like games randomly picked from the store (I honestly feel that I Am Alive is in there due to Zombi) and the two Vita titles are two indie titles (one being new release).

Now that the April line up is out for Playstation Plus, let’s have a quick look at the games that will be on offer for Games With Gold during the same period.

The Wolf Amongst Us (Xbox One) – one of the best Telltale Games out at the moment (next to Tales from the Borderlands of course)
Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) – an excellent Xbox One exclusive from the guys behind the Resistance series
Dead Space (X360) – the series that brought survival horror back from the dead (and in turn destroyed it)
Saints Row IV (X360) – the latest entry in the wacky open world gangster series that started off a serious game (believe it or not)

If you compare the face value if the Playstation Plus games against Games With Gold (which Microsoft love to do) then it is obvious to anyone that the Xbox has the stronger line up but I recall a quote from Einstein that goes like this;

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Basically, you cannot compare both services for everyone as we are all different and may find joy in something new (this tends to be the Playstation Plus way) or may find great joy in playing something bigger and we’ll know (usually the Games With Gold way).

I must admit that the Games With Gold looks fantastic for April however though you must remember that in this current generation that Microsoft is constantly chasing Sony (where as it was the other way round in the last generation) and offering items like this for “free” each month is going to earn them a few brownie points with fans and new adopters of the Xbox One system.

For myself, I am fortunate enough to have the best of both worlds. I am subscribed to both services so I can happily enjoy all the offerings both companies are giving me for the month of April.