PlayStation Plus Free Games for June

Yesterday, the PlayStation Blog announced which games were coming to PlayStation Plus. If you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you might be happy with this list. If you aren't, this list may compel you to join this month. Personally, there's one game on this list that I'm excited for everyone to play. I haven't played it myself, so I'm not quite sure why I'm all that excited, but I know it's a game I'd enjoy playing. And I think everyone else would. That game is Life is Strange. I'll definitely do my best to play it this month. I already have it. I just haven't gotten around to playing it. But that's not what you're here for. You're here to find out which games you're getting and how much PlayStation Plus saves you this month.

June PS Plus Lineup:

• Killing Floor 2 | PS4 | $39.99

• Life is Strange | PS4 | $19.99

• Abyss Odyssey | PS3 | $14.99

• WRC 5: World Rally Championship | PS3 | $39.99

• Neon Chrome | PS Vita | $14.99

• Spy Chameleon | PS Vita | $4.99

Total Amount for June: $134.94

What do you think of this month's lineup? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for visiting!

It's Almost October 14

There are two things I want that are being released next Tuesday. Those two things are Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus and the PlayStation TV. I already have Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus paid for thanks to a Best Buy gift card I had.

The PlayStation TV still needs to be paid off though. I have been trying to make sure that I avoid spending money on games and anything related to games. I have done a decent job about it. I think I have saved over $800. Yeah... I buy too many games. But I don't play them, let alone review them. Sigh.

Speaking of not beating games, I need to finish Senran Kagura Burst on the Nintendo 3DS. It is the game that really got me into the series and I had forgotten how much fun it was. I played some Burst yesterday as I recorded some gameplay footage for both Burst and Shinovi Versus. I thought it would only be appropriate to make a comparison video of the Shinobi Transformations and intros and so forth. For now, I'm only doing a comparison video for Asuka. I may do more down the road, but I'll see how this goes down first.

Like always, I have been going back and forth in regards to buying a PlayStation TV. I already own a Vita and I love playing games on it. It would be pretty cool to play games on my monitor, but I just don't know if it'll be worth it in the end. I'll continue to think about it. I also have to figure out if I really want to sell the games I have been thinking about selling. Yet another thing to think about. I am running out of time though.

There will be a standalone PlayStation TV unit and a limited edition unit. The standalone PS TV comes with the PlayStation TV system, an HDMI cable, an AC adaptor, and an AC power cord. It will cost $99.99.  The limited edition PlayStation TV bundle comes with everything aforementioned, as well as a DualShock 3 controller, an 8GB memory card, a voucher for The LEGO Movie Videogame for PS Vita, and a USB cable. The PlayStation TV limited edition bundle will cost $139.99.

Are you planning to buy either Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus or the PlayStation TV? Or both? Let me know what you're thinking about doing in the comments section.

REVIEW: The Last of Us for PS3

It has been five months since I first completed The Last of Us. I have been meaning to write a review of The Last of Us ever since I finished the game, but I could never find the inspiration and the drive to do so. I just wanted to keep playing The Last of Us. Since Sony is bundling The Last of Us and Batman: Arkham Origins with a 250 GB PlayStation 3, I thought today would be the best time to write a review for the game.

The Last of Us takes a much darker scene than previous Naughty Dog games. Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted are among my favorite PlayStation games. Without fail, Naughty Dog somehow manages improve upon the last game. Their latest game, The Last of Us, does just that and then some.

From the very start, I knew that The Last of Us was going to be special. From the stunning graphics to the amazing story, The Last of Us had me hooked from start to finish. It also had me longing for more. The story is by far one of the most captivating stories I have ever experienced in a video game, and there have been a number of games that have had great stories thus far in 2013, but The Last of Us was able to capture more than any of the other games I had played thus far.

With great story telling, comes great voice acting. Naughty Dog has been using motion capture technology since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and it really has come a long way since then. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson aren't the only actors in the game that do a great job, but it is easy to see why they were picked to take the lead roles of the game. If you have ever played a game that has Troy Baker voice acting in it, you will recognize that it doesn't sound like him at all. Trust me. Try listening to Snow, Booker, and then Joel and tell me that Snow and Booker sound anything like Joel.

When Naughty Dog first unveiled The Last of Us, we were introduced to Joel and Ellie. Not much was known about their past, how they knew each other, or why they were going across the United States. They did a great job of keeping everything under wraps. I don't intend to spoil anything from the story for those of you who haven't beaten the game or haven't bought it yet.

The Last of Us takes place 20 years after an infection breaks out all over the world. The world is in a state of decay, and it is very noticeable in every city you enter in The Last of Us. Nature seems to be taking back what was built upon it, as vegetation begins to grow and buildings begin to crumble. As terrible as the world may appear in The Last of Us, it is by far the prettiest looking game I have ever played on the PlayStation 3.

As you may have guessed, players take the role of Joel, a man with a past that continues to trouble him. Even with his troubled past, Joel continues to fight for survival in a world that has given up on being human. Joel takes on odd jobs to be able to acquire food and clothing, as well as weapons and other necessities to keep oneself alive. Whereas Nathan Drake seems to live a happy-go-lucky kind of life, players will quickly recognize that Joel's luck had run dry a long time ago.

The Last of Us is played in the third-person perspective, much like Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. Joel can take out enemies with his fists, as well as a number of weapons that he comes across on his trek through the United States. Not only does Joel find himself fighting for his life, he also must keep Ellie alive. Even though it is an escort mission, Ellie is no pushover. She finds ways to be of assistance.

The weapons that Joel and Ellie acquire on their journey range from long range weapons to close range weapons. All the weapons that are found in The Last of Us can be upgraded, making it very important to scavenge each location. There are supplies that can be found as well, which can be crafted to make useful tools to take down enemies, such as Molotov cocktails and smoke bombs. Not only can weapons and items be upgraded, Joel has a couple of abilities that can be upgraded as well, such as how fast he can craft things.

There are different kinds of enemies that Joel and Ellie encounter in The Last of Us. To put it simply, there are Hunters and the Infected. Hunters are people who have broke off from the world completely and seek to do whatever is necessary to keep themselves alive. The Infected are those who have come in contact with a mutated strain of a fungus known as Cordyceps. Hunters have weapons of their own to fight against anyone who isn't a part of their group. Infected are like zombies. I don't think I have to say anything else about them.

Action is no stranger in this game, but there are plenty of times when exploration takes over. I found those moments of the game to be the best. During these parts of the game, Joel and other characters will talk to each other to help you further understand what is going on. There are also notes left by people to help you comprehend what is going on in the world. Exploration is an important part of The Last of Us, as it helps the player know that the world really is falling apart. Other objects can be found, such as Firefly pendants, posters, and maps.

The Last of Us also offers quite a bit of replay value. Whether you decide to take on the world in New Game Plus, or play the game in a harder difficulty setting, The Last of Us never gets old. It took me about 15 hours to beat The Last of Us the first time. Once I finished the game, I found out that there was a lot of things I missed. I played it a second time through New Game Plus, keeping all my upgrades and going through each level trying to find every collectible I could.

If you want to give the single-player a break, multiplayer is also an option. The multiplayer is a lot of fun in The Last of Us. It strays away from the typical multiplayer and makes individual gain more of an importance than party gain. The multiplayer goes by the name Factions and has you play as a Hunter or a Firefly. Players have twelve weeks to keep their clan alive. The multiplayer is a lot of fun and I found myself playing it more and more when I figured out the mechanics of the mulitplayer.

The Last of Us has one of the very best single-player stories I have ever experienced. It far surpasses the stories that were told in the Uncharted series. I've played a lot of great games this year, such as Tomb Raider, BioShock Infinite, and The Walking Dead: The Game, but The Last of Us manages to connect exploration, game play, and story together without any issues. With downloadable content already coming out, and with more on the way, it isn't too late to pick up a copy of The Last of Us.

OVERALL SCORE:

10/10

REVIEW: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for PS3

The Uncharted series holds a special place in my heart. I can still recall playing the demo of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune at the closes Fry’s Electronics store to my home. As I played the demo, I knew it was a game I wanted to have for the PlayStation 3 from the moment I started playing it. Demos hardly ever did that for me, but Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune did. From the gameplay, to the voice acting, to the story, to the graphics (especially how the water looked!), I was hooked from what little I got out of the demo.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was released a little over a year after the PS3’s initial release. We are introduced to the main characters from the start: Nathan Drake, Victor “Sully” Sullivan, and Elena Fisher. We immediately find Drake and Elena out at sea near Panama. Drake has discovered the location of Sir Francis Drake’s coffin. Inside the coffin is Francis Drake’s diary, which contains information on the city of gold, El Dorado.

Gameplay then ensues as a group of pirates rain in on their parade. This is where we are introduced to the gameplay. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has us, the player, controlling Nathan Drake. The style of play is rather simple and consists of a cover and shoot mechanic. When in hiding, you can either blind fire enemies by simply pressing the RI bumper button or aim and shoot by holding the L1 button first to aim and then the R1 button to fire. You aren’t limited to just ducking and covering, of course, but if you want to live and not die, it is your best option. Drake can have a two weapons equipped at a time, a pistol and a rifle. He can also carry up to four grenades.

Another element of combat in Drake’s Fortune are melee and combo attacks. Melee attacks consist of single punches by pressing the square button. If you want to get your point across to an enemy while in close quarters, then you’ll want to string a combo attack. You just hit square button several times in order to string a combo attack. There’s also a brutal combo attack. The way to do that is by pressing square, triangle, and then square again. Enemies will also drop double the amount of ammunition when a brutal combo attack is performed. The combat gameplay mechanics of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune are rather simple to get a hold of. I think the hardest thing to get used to is aiming where grenades are thrown using the SIXAXIS feature of the PS3 controller.

At the time of its release, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was one of the prettiest games I have ever seen. It definitely has been foreshadowed by its successors, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, but it is still a beautiful game considering how early it was released in the PS3’s life. A lot of what you see on screen was performed via motion capture, so the voice actors also did a lot of the movements for the characters. This allows the characters in the game to have more realistic movements.

The thing that impresses me most about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was the story. It captured my attention right away. It is a charming, witty, yet direct. Drake’s Fortune is a great example of how video games are capable of telling an amazing story. It is a compelling story and you’ll be asking for more as soon as you’re done playing it. You hear this a lot about Uncharted: I felt like I was playing a movie.

Don’t worry though. If you don’t like Metal Gear Solid for its long cutscenes (I personally don’t mind them), then you’re in luck. That doesn’t happen in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. It is more gameplay than it is cutscenes. The cutscenes are a real treat though, as you get to see how each character develops throughout the game, as well as how the story ties everything together.

I really like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Although it is an old game, it received a patch years ago to include trophies. The trophies aren’t too hard to get, and you’ll be able to get all of them in a maximum of three playthroughs. I have played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune seven time now, and it hasn’t gotten old for me. If you’re new to the Uncharted series, I recommend starting with Drake’s Fortune first, not because it is the first in the series, but because its successors outshine it with new features, updated graphics, and better playing mechanics. Still, it is a great PS3 classic and a must play, even if you already have a PS4 or Xbox One.

OVERALL SCORE:

8.9/10

REVIEW: Dead or Alive 5 Plus for PlayStation Vita

My first experience with the Dead or Alive series was Dead or Alive 3 on the Xbox. I thought the fast paced fighting of DOA3 was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed the over dramatic rock 'n roll music associated with DOA3. I have yet to experience Dead or Alive 4, but when Dead or Alive 5 was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I made sure to buy it. I still found it to be a fun fighting game, so when the PlayStation Vita version was revealed, I pre-ordered it.

Much like the Ninja Gaiden series on the PS Vita, the PlayStation Vita version of Dead or Alive 5 is known as Dead or Alive 5 Plus. You would think that because of the Plus there would be more features included into the game. That happens to be the case, but at the expense of sacrificing other features. 

One of the most notable features missing in the game is Tag Team Mode. The tag fights that occur in Story Mode on the PS3 and Xbox 360 version are still there on the PlayStation Vita version of the game, but if you want to play tag team with another character you're out of luck.

Dead or Alive 5 Plus is still a lot of fun. I got my copy of the game as soon as it was released and I still play it to this day. It is definitely my favorite fighting game on the PlayStation Vita. I have played a few fighting games on the Vita, and I have really liked playing DOA5 Plus the most.

The story in Dead or Alive 5 Plus is the same exact story from Dead or Alive 5 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. There weren't any changes made to the story. I'm okay with that. It isn't the best story ever told, but I actually kind of enjoyed it. Dead or Alive 5, for that matter, does something different than a lot of other fighting games do. Fighting games usually have you select one character to fight as and then you are told the story from their perspective. In Dead or Alive 5, the choice isn't up to the player. Instead, the player must access the story through various characters after three or four fights. This allows the player to use many of the characters from the Dead or Alive 5 roster. Unfortunately, the story does end up becoming a mess, so you shouldn't really analyze it too much.

The story heavily focuses on Kasumi and, her clone, Alpha-152. Kasumi takes it upon herself to seek Alpha-152 and defeat her once and for all. I like that the story attempts to string itself together by sharing each characters' perspective. It just doesn't do a very good job. Then again, I don't play a fighting game for its story. I play a fighting game based on whether or not I find the fighting mechanics fun. Power Blow attacks are a lot of fun to perform. When a character has 50% of health (or less), the said character can then perform a Power Blow which knocks an opponent towards a desired area. Some levels even have certain areas where more damage can be inflicted when using a Power Blow.

Dead or Alive 5 Plus has other modes to offer. These modes include Versus, Arcade, Time Attack, Survival. These modes can be found under Fight in the main menu. There are 24 fighters on the roster for Dead or Alive 5 Plus, 19 of which are recurring characters, like Kasumi, Ayane, Ryu, and Hayate. Two of the five additional characters are brand new for the Dead or Alive series. If you've already played DOA5, then you will know which two characters I am referring to. If you haven't, these two new characters are Rig and Mila. Rig's fighting preference is a version of taekwondo. Mila is specializes in mixed martial arts.

That is something I really like about Dead or Alive. Each character has their unique fighting style. Although there are plenty of ninjas in the game, I have never felt that any of them fought alike. Kasumi and Ayane may have a similar fighting style, but you can tell that their fighting style was tailored towards them rather than being a generic fighting style for both.

The additional three characters come from the Virtua Fighter series. These three are Akira Yuki, Sarah Bryant, and Pai Chan. They even make an appearance in Story Mode.

Training Plus has modes of its on, such as Free Training, Command Training, Tutorial, and Combo Challenge. If you're wanting to get the mechanics down for DOA5 Plus, I highly suggest checking out Training Plus. It is pretty robust for a fighting game, and it definitely helps you improve.

Like Dead or Alive 5, the PS Vita version also allows you to play online with other DOA5 and DOA5 Plus users. This opens it up to fighting various opponents on the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita. I have encountered a fair amount of people playing the PS Vita version of DOA5, which is pretty cool. It is much like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on the PS3 and PS Vita. You can also play locally with a friend using Ad-hoc.

The Dead or Alive series has been rather notorious for its over-the-top breast physics, and Dead or Alive 5 Plus is no exception. In fact, there are three settings: stilled, "natural," and "DOA." That's... something.

Aside from that new feature, DOA5 Plus also includes a touchscreen-based fighting mode. It is fun to play using the touchscreen a couple of times, but it does get old rather quickly. I found myself just tapping the screen over and over again until I won the match. There is no skill whatsoever to it. It is best to just stick to the traditional fighting mechanics.

Even though you'll only really see yourself pressing the kick button and the punch button most of the time, Dead or Alive 5 Plus has an impressive number of combos to connect for each character. As aforementioned, you can learn how to execute these combos by accessing the modes under Training Plus. It goes from teaching you simple mechanics, such as moving your fighter, to connecting difficult combos.

I was pretty impressed with the graphics of Dead or Alive 5 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Dead or Alive 5 Plus looks great on the PlayStation Vita. It may not look as good as it does on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but it definitely looks fantastic for a Vita game. Not only does it look good, but it performs well on the handheld too. I have never experienced any frame rate issues on Dead or Alive 5 Plus. The characters on DOA5 Plus still have their realistic design like the PS3 and Xbox 360 DOA5. There is one thing that bugs me though. For some reason, Leifang doesn't have teeth. Where did her teeth go?

Leifang's teeth aren't the only thing missing from the game. DOA5 had missions to perform in each fight in Story Mode, but that feature is nowhere to be seen in Dead or Alive 5 Plus. There aren't Lobby Matches on DOA5 Plus either. Lobby Matches allowed you to fight against others and let you watch matches while you wait for your turn. I already mentioned that Tag Fights are only available in Story Mode. Another notable feature that isn't on DOA5 Plus is the ability to upload recorded fights onto YouTube. You can still record fights, but you won't be able to put them onto YouTube. Although these features are pretty awesome, I don't think it is deal breaker since you're getting a pretty solid fighting game for the Vita. These features would have been nice though.

If you're a fan of the series, Dead or Alive 5 Plus is definitely worth picking up for the PlayStation Vita. I have yet to stop playing Dead or Alive 5 Plus and I love that I can take it with me wherever I go. I also like the fact that I can play online with PS3 users. Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate recently was released, but unfortunately Dead or Alive 5 Plus can't interact with DOA5U because of the changes that were made for that game. Still, there are people playing DOA5 and DOA5 Plus online. It does take some time to find an opponent every now and then, but I can confirm there are still people looking for someone to fight.

Another plus (pun intended) to owning this game if you already have it on PS3 is that all the DLC you purchased from Dead or Alive 5 carries over onto Dead or Alive 5 Plus. Not only will you be able to access the downloadable content you bought for Dead or Alive 5, you can also transfer your save from DOA5 to DOA5 Plus. Tecmo did a pretty good job of making sure that DOA5 and DOA5 Plus intereacted with one another.

I also recommend this game to those who haven't had the chance to play Dead or Alive, especially on the PlayStation Vita. I've had a lot of fun with this game. If you aren't a fan of fighting games, then chances are you won't like Dead or Alive 5 Plus. If you're looking for a fighting game that is fast paced and has ninjas, then this might be the game for you.

OVERALL SCORE:
8.5/10