With E3 around the corner, this is going to be a busy couple of weeks with both Microsoft and Sony ramping up some pretty great deals that you likely wouldn't see otherwise. It's a pretty good opportunity to stock up on games that you might have been sitting on the fence with.

Playstation
Sony is holding a week of extended sales, including a gold 1TB PS4 slim for $250, and deals on both games and peripherals. There's also a $10 discount off of PS+, which counts towards the $15-off for $100 spent on PSN. More importantly, Horizon Zero Dawn is on sale, so if you haven't picked it up for whatever reason, now's the best time.

Free PS+ Games:

Killing Floor 2:
If you've played CoD's Zombies mode, it's kind of like that, but with greater enemy variety and a focus on building up different character classes (and way more blood+gore). It's a fun co-op shooter, but the lower budget shows throughout, and some matches can be pretty lengthy. Worth a download if you want a fun game to play with a group. [Metascore: 75]

Life is Strange:
An episodic choice-based game that tells a pretty solid story about a girl who can rewind time, but must find the connection between this ability and an imminent disaster. It's pretty great, and talks of a prequel are floating around. [Metascore: 85]

Deals:

Horizon Zero Dawn ($39.59):
A new IP from a studio that has never made an open-world RPG, but which immediately put existing franchises in the genre to shame (and can even stand beside The Witcher 3 as one of the all-time greats). We've hyped it up a lot around here, so if you have a PS4, you really should get it; it's a great experience. You can get the Deluxe Edition for $10 more, if you want another couple of armor/weapon sets and a digital artbook. Not necessary, but I thought it was worth it (and Sammy used the Carja Storm Ranger Outfit throughout the entire game, so like most of the gear in the game, it never really becomes obsolete). [Metascore: 89]

Uncharted 4 ($19.99):
The cherry on top of Naughty Dog's great franchise, Uncharted 4 wraps up Nathan Drake's story in a very satisfying way. You'll definitely miss out if you don't play the other games in the series (which you can pick up for the same price), but you can still hop into this standalone story without knowing everything beforehand. There's a co-op horde mode included, and the multiplayer's not to shabby either. With an expansion (focusing on a different character in the franchise) on the way, you'll definitely want to pick this one up. [Metascore: 93]

Nioh ($39.59):
A Souls game made by the Ninja Gaiden folks, it's pretty much just that (but with deeper RPG elements), so you can expect punishing-but-rewarding gameplay and crazy enemy designs. [Metascore: 88]

Prey ($39.59):
A spiritual successor to System Shock made by the Dishonored team, I spent a total of six+ hours on the demo alone, experimenting and exploring the game's variety (Sammy and I even set out on a personal quest to get behind a blocked-off area that we clearly weren't supposed to get into, and we were able to use unconventional means to succeed, which was really satisfying, and shows just how much freedom players have). [Metascore: 79]

The Last Guardian ($26.39):
Team Ico's third game (and likely the last one that we'll see for a decade, given their track record), it's essentially a puzzle platformer with a giant bird-dog at the center of it. Team Ico's games tend to be slower paced, punctuating long quiet moments with bursts of action and memorable drama. All Team Ico games make for great palate cleansers, so if you need a break from the explosions and shooting, this is one of those games. [Metascore: 82]

Mass Effect: Andromeda ($29.99)
With many of the bugs and general weirdness patched out, now's a good a time as any to pick up this year's No Man's Sky. The future of the franchise seems a bit shaky, so this might be the only chance that folks have to hop into the Mass Effect franchise (until EA finally sees the value in remaster bundles). [Metascore: 71]

======================================================

Xbox
Microsoft doesn't seem to have started any special sale leading up to E3, but there is still some good stuff up for grabs.

Free GWG games:

Speedrunners:
A 4-player party game where you try to sabotage other players to the finish line. A pretty great game to play with friends. [Metascore: 84 (PC)]

Phantom Dust Multiplayer Content Pack:
If you picked up the Phantom Dust remaster, you probably picked it up for the multiplayer, so this bonus content should make you happy.

Assassin's Creed 3:
Not a lot of folks like this entry in the franchise, but the setting is pretty unique, and the story has a couple of significant twists that would resonate throughout the rest of the series, so it's worth a playthrough. [Metascore: 80]

Deals:

Dragon Age: Inquisition ($5.00):
Bioware's good game post Mass Effect 3, this one is definitely worth picking up. Good characters, interesting story, and solid animations... really makes you wonder where Andromeda went wrong. For $5, it's a no-brainer. [Metascore: 85]

Peggle 2: Magical Masters Edition ($4.95):
A fun Pop Cap game that you can pick up and play. A lot of charm in it, and it's as good a party game as any. [Metascore: 77]

Typoman ($6.50):
A unique Limbo-inspired game that involves using words to solve puzzles. A really underappreciated gem. It's pretty short, but should stick with you for a while (definitely a better game than Inside, that's for sure). [Metascore: 73]

For 3-4 people who know each other this game is hilariously fun, but is otherwise just meh.

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Battleborn is a MOBA-esque FPS (A Hero Shooter). It's made by Gearbox (Borderlands 1, 2), and was a pretty dang good game... Which released a few weeks before Overwatch (during Overwatch's open Beta, no less), so it never stood a chance.

It's got a lot of character, and the free characters will rotate periodically, so give it a shot!

PS4 | Xbox

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Yeah, Metacritic is weird. Big websites like Ars Technica and Kotaku loved the game, but their reviews don't count towards a score, while publications like "New Zealand Gamer" (which knocked the fact that you can't fast travel to unexplored areas) bring the overall score down by giving it an 80.

But hey, I link to metacritic so you can locate the publications that you trust. That's why Jim "Literally nothing impresses me" Sterling's review score of 9.5 should carry enough weight to tip the scales in HZD's favor.

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Not to weigh in on HZD since I haven't played it, but video game reviewers for large publications are almost exclusively bad at their jobs. The very idea of a score is kind of silly to begin with. You either liked it, or didn't like it. Siskel and Ebert had it right all along. So to find out the nuances, you read the review, and reviewers today are bad at nuance, and just use a checklist, or worse tally things like Graphics / Sound / Gameplay as if those are separate things that don't weave together.

There's a certain amount of appearances that are maintained as well, similar to the critics who all laughed their asses off at a Baywatch preview screening, yet panned the film. I mean, Abzu scored better than Destiny on Metacritic. Proof right there game reviewers suck at their jobs.

After all that though, you really want to know "Is it good?" when you read a game review.

GREAT POST!

I think the write-ups of HZD and AC3 could use some more emphasis, so I've put my own thoughts down here:

HZD is the best video game I've played in years. It is completely polished from start to finish, has a brilliant script, fantastic and rewarding action, and the difficulty levels are scaled in an unexpected way (at the higher difficulties, the monsters don't hit harder or have more hit points, they are simply far more resistant to damage types that don't specifically target their weak spots. This means that the skills you learn in the lower difficulty settings translate directly into the higher ones, and the weapons you never used because "why would I need to freeze the enemy when I can just shoot him with my normal weapon" suddenly become very, very important. Metacritic is wrong, this game is a must-play, and I'm gonna go so far as to say it's a must-play TWICE OVER AT LEAST. I'm currently playing through on the highest difficulty without using a single fast-travel and it's GREAT. I cannot recommend this game enough.

I give this game a 99/100. It's missing one point because I really want to be able to ride a T-Rex robot after I tame it.

One more bit: Even though the game is spectacular already, the devs keep patching in more and more features. Expect more from this game as time goes on.

AC3 is a 70-hour tutorial that effectively ends before it ever cuts you truly loose to explore the many and diverse systems in the game. Unlike any of the Ezio games, and WAY unlike AC Black Flag, AC3 locked the entirety of the gameplay mechanics behind the entirety of the story missions. You do not unlock all of the mechanics until literally just before the final mission of the game (which has a sense of urgency, so stopping that to go, I dunno, hunt 20 jaguars or something would just feel like you were letting the bad guys win). It's terrible design. You're constantly running across things that say "complete more story missions to unlock this" and then by the time you've unlocked it, you don't care anymore because whatever you'd get from it that would be useful no longer is. There are also quite a few very questionable choices: The unskippable cutscene with disgusting SFX every single time you skin an animal is stupid. And you'll have to skin nearly 100 animals to get the upgrades you need, nevermind if you want to sell some pelts or something. Also, the plot is pretty stupid, too. The boat combat is neat, but is so much better in AC Black Flag that I suggest skipping 3 and going right to BF. The entire rest of the game feels like one long linear progression of not quite letting you do the things you want to do until you no longer care about whether or not you can do them. While making an open world game feel like a linear game is an impressive feat, it's not a fun one and this game should be completely ignored by everyone involved. Even for AC fans, even at the price of FREE, it is not worth your download. Playing this game is like living through the second half of Flowers for Algernon.

I give a literal 0/100. The world is a worse place because I know this game exists.

Battleborn is a MOBA-esque FPS (A Hero Shooter). It's made by Gearbox (Borderlands 1, 2), and was a pretty dang good game... Which released a few weeks before Overwatch (during Overwatch's open Beta, no less), so it never stood a chance.

It's got a lot of character, and the free characters will rotate periodically, so give it a shot!

I will mention: This game is NOTHING like borderlands and a lot like MOBAs. So if you're like me and dislike mobas but love borderlands, you are not going to like Battleborn. It is MOBA first and FPS second, and you should buy accordingly. Players who like Mobas but aren't in love with FPS games will probably really like this and will wonder why every FPS isn't like this.

The closest other game I can compare it to is Evolve, except no one gets to be the monster.

This game is NOTHING like borderlands and a lot like MOBAs

It's a bad game-got it. :P

HZD is the best video game I've played in years. It is completely polished from start to finish, has a brilliant script, fantastic and rewarding action, and the difficulty levels are scaled in an unexpected way (at the higher difficulties, the monsters don't hit harder or have more hit points, they are simply far more resistant to damage types that don't specifically target their weak spots. This means that the skills you learn in the lower difficulty settings translate directly into the higher ones, and the weapons you never used because "why would I need to freeze the enemy when I can just shoot him with my normal weapon" suddenly become very, very important. Metacritic is wrong, this game is a must-play, and I'm gonna go so far as to say it's a must-play TWICE OVER AT LEAST. I'm currently playing through on the highest difficulty without using a single fast-travel and it's GREAT. I cannot recommend this game enough.

I give this game a 99/100. It's missing one point because I really want to be able to ride a T-Rex robot after I tame it.

I just recently finished my third playthrough of the game. After Normal and Very Hard, I wanted to try something that would really change up how the game played. Enter the No-skill-points-used challenge:

(I got REAL GOOD at aiming quickly)

Anywho, currently mid-way through forth play-through. No special restrictions this time, just want to take as many cool screenshots as possible.

This game is NOTHING like borderlands and a lot like MOBAs

It's a bad game-got it. :P

I mean, that's my opinion of it.

Those are awesome shots! I've really got to get around to uploading mine.

Also, wow the no skills challenge.

I was thinking for my next play-though I might do "realistic" mode where I'm not allowed to craft ammo during combat, but no skills... That's a whole new level.

Not to weigh in on HZD since I haven't played it, but video game reviewers for large publications are almost exclusively bad at their jobs. The very idea of a score is kind of silly to begin with. You either liked it, or didn't like it. Siskel and Ebert had it right all along.

No.

I'm so tired of this wave of art is consumed in binary black OR white thumbs up thumbs down narrative. People can and do have ranges of reactions to things. Things can be compared or ranked into more than first and last place (in a tie)

The best you can say is that they had a good idea for a tv review show: turn it into advice. Go see it or don't. But giving buying advice is not the same as criticism, and even within recommendations, ratings can be useful, after all sometimes you don't have time to see every movie that scores 50% or above.

- No text -

- No text -

Not to weigh in on HZD since I haven't played it, but video game reviewers for large publications are almost exclusively bad at their jobs. The very idea of a score is kind of silly to begin with. You either liked it, or didn't like it. Siskel and Ebert had it right all along.

No.

I'm so tired of this wave of art is consumed in binary black OR white thumbs up thumbs down narrative. People can and do have ranges of reactions to things.

The very next sentence, I go on to say that this is true, and that's why you read the review for the nuance of the opinion. I would give a thumbs up to both Gemini Rue and A Golden Wake, but one of these is a decent game and the other a masterpiece. Which is which and why? Ask me to explain, which is ostensibly what the review text is. Bioshock Infinite and Limbo both get a thumbs down from me, but one has at least some things of value, and fails in an interesting and teachable way. Want details? Read a review.

I mean, if the score is out of 100 and so detailed, why have text at all? Just post a score. Uncharted 2 and Goldeneye both have a 96 on metacritic. Does that mean they are equally good? Hell no. So if the score doesn't even tell you that, why have it? And so we see it's useless, and that a like / dislike plus review text does exactly the same job as a score with lots of delineation. It actually does it better.

Most people look at the first digit anyway and judge from there. Whereas with a thumbs up thumbs down, you'd have to read the review and after doing so you'd understand the nuance of the opinion.

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Yeah, Metacritic is weird. Big websites like Ars Technica and Kotaku loved the game, but their reviews don't count towards a score, while publications like "New Zealand Gamer" (which knocked the fact that you can't fast travel to unexplored areas) bring the overall score down by giving it an 80.

I've yet to fast travel anywhere, and right now I don't plan to. I'm savoring every minute in the world.

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Yeah, Metacritic is weird. Big websites like Ars Technica and Kotaku loved the game, but their reviews don't count towards a score, while publications like "New Zealand Gamer" (which knocked the fact that you can't fast travel to unexplored areas) bring the overall score down by giving it an 80.

I've yet to fast travel anywhere, and right now I don't plan to. I'm savoring every minute in the world.

Kermit likes walking simulators, confirmed :-p

Wow, Horizon really only has an 89 on metacritic? I mean, that's a good score and everything, but it's a truly amazing game that's so well designed in almost every single aspect. I honestly expected higher.

Yeah, Metacritic is weird. Big websites like Ars Technica and Kotaku loved the game, but their reviews don't count towards a score, while publications like "New Zealand Gamer" (which knocked the fact that you can't fast travel to unexplored areas) bring the overall score down by giving it an 80.

I've yet to fast travel anywhere, and right now I don't plan to. I'm savoring every minute in the world.

Kermit likes walking simulators, confirmed :-p

Nah, if it's a significant distance I hijack a strider. I actually do like many of the games that are described that way.