Opinion: Games I’d Like to See on PlayStation 4

We’ve really been thinking about our dream lists recently, and continuing on from Adam’s Xbox One article, I’ve had a good hard think about games I’d like to see on my PlayStation 4 at some point.

As always though, we value your input – so please feel free to pop the games you’d love to see resurrected into the comment section at the end of this article.

Motorstorm

Hours of fun

There’s a distinct lack of racing games on the PS4 right now. In the next year it’ll see Driveclub, Project Cars and maybe even a new Gran Turismo . But they’re all track games – simulators; realistic games. I don’t want that, or at least not all the time; if I want to know how a Ford Fiesta handles I’ll go for a drive.

Motorstorm is the antithesis of a driving simulator. A massive rock festival in the back and beyond where rebels from society compete over a series of over the top courses, I can’t think of a better setting for a racing game. This is a series that would look gorgeous on a PS4, stunning backdrops and vistas to the tracks that themselves could be full of life water effects and lava. Apocalypse may have been a turn for the worse, the concrete and cement not exactly as inspiring as the desert or jungle, but a PS4 game could be large enough to cover several festivals, each offering different environments.

WipEout

With track design like this, how can you not have fun?

Think racing on PlayStation and Wipeout is what comes to mind. Slick visuals, smooth racing and brilliant track design, it works as a technical show-piece and a great game, two things that rarely come together. Like Motorstorm, I feel the PS4 needs racing games, and WipEout isn’t a conventional take on that. Instead, it’s like F1 of the future (in the case of the Zone mode F1 on an acid trip). With the power of a PS4, is could not only look better than ever before, but also have a larger starting grid, greater variety of weapons and more tracks.

Before they closed, Sony Liverpool were working on a WipEout for PS4, which rumour says was quite far into development. Sadly that incarnation will never see the light of day, but perhaps the title will be revived one day.

Team Buddies

Editors Note: I’ve not heard of this one either…

You probably have never heard of Team Buddies. Even fewer of you will have played it. Released in 2000 as a PlayStation exclusive, it didn’t sell very well, most likely because the cartoon-y graphics put off adults while the 15-rating (due to some inventive swearing and borderline racist accents) mean that is wasn’t suitable for a young audience.

The premise was simple, build weapons and ‘buddies’ (soldiers) for your army and destroy the other team. The sole resource in the game comes from crates found in the middle of the map, which you place in different configurations on a build pad to form different objects. It was original, playful, and an absolute blast for multiplayer. This kind of game doesn’t get made any more though, which is precisely why the PS4 needs it.

Timesplitters

Amazing art style for its time

So this is technically a third party franchise, but the original was a PS2 launch exclusive so I’m including it. Modern FPS games are all ‘realism’ and brown and blah blah blah. Yes, occasionally one will try and break the mould and add colour (like Killzone: Shadow Fall), but they still lack personality. Sometimes you just want to shoot a robotic goldfish bowl as a giant gingerbread man.

The Splitters series is all about personality. Sure the gags might be cheap, rubbish one-liners (and Harry Tipper dressed as a woman), but it puts a smile on your face. Few games have such variety in their campaigns either, with a haunted house level followed by Sci-Fi in the distant future – you never really knew where the next mission would take you.

But the pièce de résistance is the multiplayer. I dread to think of how many hours my friends and I lost to virus on custom made levels. In an era of camping and strategic team play, Timesplitters is the kid who cannot stay still, matches played at full sprint. A group of fans, with the blessing of Crytek, are working on a HD release of the multiplayer maps, but it’ll never be the same as brand new Splitters. Fingers crossed we get one someday.

Crash Bandicoot

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

There are four Crash Bandicoot games: the original; Cortez Strikes Back; Warped, and Racing. After that his soul was sold. Games that starred Crash, but not Crash Bandicoot games. The originals hold up extremely well, even today. I still play them every six months or so, and there is a market for a great platformer – after all it’s all that keeps Nintendo consoles afloat. Tight controls mean you know precisely how far a jump will take you, and you have too, with level design that demands perfection. The original, in particular, can be a nightmare on later levels, but that’s part of the charm: games that are unafraid to challenge the player are coming back into fashion.

Platform games also have a knack of producing mascots. Mario, Sonic, and Sackboy are just a few, and for the PS4 this was meant to be Knack – who just isn’t going to be a mascot. But Crash could be that mascot again. People want a return to old school platforming (just look at the furore caused by the unfortunate placement of Crash in the PS4 advert). Sony, make it happen.

Over to you…

So there’s five games I’d love to see on Sony’s latest, and most powerful home console. But what have I missed? What are your fantasy games?