How many of you have Playstation Plus? Ok, ok….not all at once now.  How many people love it? Ooh ooh ME ME!!! I hate to break it to you. There’s a big problem. I have too many games for the amount of time I get to play them. Crap.  Now what do I do? I let them pile up while I’m completing a game I love.

Playstation Plus Free Game Reviews

Then….

Triage. I gotta prioritize what I’m playing. With Plus there’s a slew of games I never would have spent money on but are worth a shot. So to that end, I’ve been taking time to clear out my backlog to your benefit. Prepare for 10 Minute Game Reviews (ten minutes referring to my play time, reading this will take much much longer).

For this special inaugural edition let’s make it a twofer! And yeah, these aren’t gonna be new games all the time but if you’re like me, you’re just getting to them (or are looking for a cheap pickup for the weekend)

Bloodrayne: Betrayal (PS3) Review

This 2d sidescrolling beat-em-up took me by surprise. I’m not completely ignorant of the franchise so “Streets of Rage: Vampire” was not what I was expecting. So I’m a vampire with a gun and some flashy moves. That is expected. There’s some dapper vampire enemies that all look alike and die pretty easily. You can stomp on their head after cutting them in half. That’s neat.

• What has bites: Graphically it’s pretty slick. The general art style and animations are well done. They can be a little cartoony but the blood and gore bring us back to the vampire realm. Some of the mechanics are nice touches as well. Step into the beam of a high wattage floodlight and feel the burn. Make your enemy do it and let them feel the damn burn. Ouch. Me? I broke the lamps. Health can be depleted pretty rapidly but at anytime you can drink the blood of your enemies to recharge. Nice!

• What bites: The controls felt a little sluggish. Maybe the game was just slower than what I’d like. Anyway…SOMETHING made me think of slugs. I want to be jumping around like crazy with 100 different moves chopping **** up! Instead I fall to the earth like a Saturday Morning Cartoon character holding an umbrella. Getting back to my desire for speed and sweet moves, I wish there was a better move set or more varied attack animations. Hello mashed buttons! You’re rated on how well you do but I felt like a high rating would be reflective of me memorizing enemy placement more so than actual skill with the attacks.

How far did I get: Not very. I played the first board and then deleted it for space for more games.

Who is this game for: I think Bloodrayne fans looking for a casual addition would get a kick out of this. The character renderings and vampire feel are all there. Fans of this style of game would also like it for the same reason. While I personally would have preferred faster with better attack animations it’s no worse than many other titles of this genre. And to be fair there could be some really sweet stuff past the first level.

Renegade Ops (PS3) Review

I’m dropped into a world in which a a brutal terrorist is threatening the world’s leaders. One man, and his band of trusty heroes will save the day! In an SUV. With weapons. There’s lots of crashing into things involved and shooting. We’ve all seen the formula: Left stick moves, right stick shoots, other buttons do stuff. Everything is top down view. Thank you camera in the sky!

• The explosive: The environment is expansive with lots of interaction for your vehicle. I was even able to flip it over from driving crazy. Just like real life! Most enemies aren’t too easy to kill. Sure, driving over a lone guy works well but aiming that machine gun, while responsive, is not handed to you. Bigger enemies take some damage before going down. You feel good when you kill something. That’s always nice. Missions are varied and core missions will sometimes (a lot of times) interrupt optional ones. Overall you’re always moving and deciding what to do next.

• The fizzle: I was able to upgrade my machine guns but didn’t see any other power ups that could have been fun. Perhaps in later levels there are sweet SUV mods. Just like most games like this, you’re gonna see a lot of the same enemy types over and over. Controls weren’t as tight as I’d like. Particularly steering. I’m sure in time I would have adjusted but they weren’t intuitive for me.

How far did I get: Not very. I completed a few primary missions in the first area and was working on rescuing prisoners and bringing them to a church or something on the side. This might have been a true 10 minute game before it got deleted.

Who is this for: Anyone who likes a little random carnage from time to time. This game is more victim of me no longer really liking the type than anything else. Apart from the steering it’s what you’d expect from this type of game and feels like an HD update to a classic arcade game. If I didn’t have so many other games waiting for me, maybe it’d still be around.

 

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