Tag: PlayStation

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, A Discount-Bin Curiosity That Confirmed the Discourse

Game Review · Purchased October 20, 2024 · $20.15 CAD via PSN

Key art for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Rocksteady’s live-service superhero shooter launched earlier in 2024 to a rocky reception, a genuine surprise given the studio’s beloved Batman: Arkham legacy, and by the time I picked it up in October at a steep post-launch discount, the game had already become something of a cautionary tale in the industry about chasing live-service trends with a studio and franchise built around single-player storytelling.

The Review

Coming in with lowered expectations and a heavily discounted price actually made for a more fair assessment than launch reviews probably allowed for: the core shooting and traversal mechanics are genuinely fine, even solid in short bursts, with each character controlling distinctly enough to matter. The problems reviewers and the community flagged at launch are still present though: a live-service structure bolted onto characters and a universe that fans wanted a proper single-player Arkham-style story from, and narrative choices (without spoiling specifics) that a large portion of the existing fanbase found genuinely unwelcome.

Playing this months after launch, once the initial backlash had already reshaped the wider conversation around the game, it was hard not to view it as a case study in mismatched expectations between what a studio’s fanbase wanted and what got built.

What I Liked

  • Solid core shooting and traversal mechanics
  • Distinct character playstyles
  • At a steep discount, low financial risk to see the discourse firsthand

What I Didn’t

  • Live-service structure clashes with what fans of the studio’s prior work actually wanted
  • Narrative choices proved divisive within the existing fanbase
  • Full launch price would be very hard to justify given the reception

The Verdict

Rating: 2/5

At the deep discount I paid, this was a reasonable curiosity purchase. At full launch price, this would be a hard no, and the wider gaming community’s reaction backs that up.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator: Shrek Pack, The Meme-Friendly Crossover That Delivers

DLC Review · Purchased October 12, 2024 · $12.31 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator: Shrek Special Pack
PowerWash Simulator: Shrek Special Pack. Photo: Steam

The Setup

The fifth and final PowerWash Simulator crossover pack I bought in 2024, this one sends you scrubbing down the Swamp and other Far Far Away locations, complete with recognizable music cues from the films.

The Review

Of all five crossovers in my 2024 haul, this was the one the wider gaming community seemed most excited about before it even released, and playing it, the enthusiasm makes sense. There is something inherently funny and satisfying about power-washing an ogre’s swamp specifically, and the developers clearly understood the meme potential of the pairing, leaning into it with genuine care in the level design and audio rather than treating it as a cheap licensing grab. Closing out my year of PowerWash crossovers on this note felt appropriate, easily one of the two or three strongest packs in the entire line.

What I Liked

  • Genuinely fun, meme-aware execution of the crossover concept
  • Strong recognizable music and setting work
  • A satisfying way to close out the year’s run of these packs

What I Didn’t

  • Same short-content tradeoff as the rest of the line
  • Appeal leans on already finding the Shrek and PowerWash pairing funny

The Verdict

Rating: 5/5

One of the more fun packs in the entire series, purely for the novelty of power-washing an ogre’s swamp, and a great note to end my year of these crossovers on.

Where to Buy

The LMTD Ace of Spades Blaster: When a Video Game Weapon Becomes a Real Object

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased September 29, 2024 · $92.03 CAD ($67.77 USD) via Bungie.net

The Bungie LMTD Nerf-style Ace of Spades blaster, styled after the Destiny hand cannon
The Bungie LMTD Ace of Spades blaster. Photo: Bleeding Cool

There is a specific kind of joy in holding a physical version of something that has only ever existed as pixels and a satisfying reload animation.

The Background

The Ace of Spades is arguably Destiny’s most iconic weapon, a hand cannon with over a decade of lore, community attachment, and in-game history behind it. Bungie’s LMTD collectibles line, produced in partnership with Nerf-style blaster manufacturing, turned that weapon into a real, licensed foam dart blaster, sold directly through Bungie’s own store rather than through general retail channels. I ordered mine in late September, paying $67.77 USD, which converted to $92.03 CAD on my card.

This is squarely a fan merchandise purchase rather than a general toy purchase, and Bungie’s own marketing around the LMTD line has always leaned into that: these are built for people who already care about the in-game weapon’s design and lore, not positioned as a generic blaster that happens to have game branding slapped on it.

Living With It

Build quality here exceeded my expectations for a licensed collectible in this category. The blaster uses real spring-action firing rather than a cheap, flimsy mechanism, the deco work faithfully translates the in-game weapon’s distinctive rose gold and black colour scheme and engraved detailing, and the packaging itself was clearly designed with display and unboxing in mind, the kind of presentation that makes a purchase like this feel like a genuine collectible rather than a toy aisle impulse buy.

As an actual foam blaster, it performs the way a decent mid-tier Nerf product should: solid range and consistent firing for casual use, nothing revolutionary, and that is exactly as it should be, since firing performance was never really the point of this purchase.

Where this lives or dies, entirely, is prior attachment to the source material. Someone with zero context for Destiny would be looking at a somewhat expensive foam blaster with unusual styling and no real way to appreciate why the colour scheme or engravings matter. For a longtime player, it is a genuinely well-executed piece of fandom merchandise.

What I Liked

  • Build quality and deco work exceeded expectations for a licensed collectible blaster
  • Faithful translation of the in-game weapon’s distinctive design and colour scheme
  • Real spring-action firing mechanism, not a cheap or flimsy toy build
  • Packaging and presentation clearly designed with collectors in mind

What I Didn’t

  • Entirely dependent on prior attachment to Destiny to justify the price
  • Firing performance is solid but unremarkable compared to dedicated Nerf products at a similar price
  • A niche purchase that will mean nothing to anyone outside the game’s community

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For Destiny fans, this is a well-made piece of fan merchandise for a genuinely franchise-defining weapon, and it delivered above my expectations for build quality. If you have no attachment to the game, this price will look steep for what is, at its core, a foam dart blaster, and that reaction would be entirely fair.

Where to Buy

Astro Bot Deluxe Digital Upgrade: The Cheapest Yes of the Whole Year

DLC Review · Purchased September 6, 2024 · $11.20 CAD via PSN

Key art for the Astro Bot Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade
Astro Bot Digital Deluxe Upgrade. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

A digital upgrade purchased the same day as the physical copy of Astro Bot and the limited edition DualSense controller, unlocking extra cosmetics and bonus content tied to the game’s Deluxe tier.

The Review

Given how thoroughly Astro Bot earned its Game of the Year win (reviewed at length elsewhere in this series), an eleven-dollar add-on to an already excellent game is about as low-risk a purchase as exists in this entire spreadsheet. The extra cosmetics and bonus content are exactly what you would expect from a digital upgrade tier: nice to have, not remotely necessary to enjoy the core game, but a pleasant bit of extra flavour for a game I was already thrilled to be playing.

What I Liked

  • Trivially cheap add-on to an outstanding base game
  • Extra cosmetic content is a nice bonus rather than a cynical upsell

What I Didn’t

  • Entirely unnecessary if you are budget-conscious, the base game does not need this to be excellent

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

As a cheap add-on to a Game of the Year-calibre title, this is easy to recommend, more because the base game earns it than because the upgrade itself is essential.

Where to Buy

The Astro Bot DualSense: Buying a Controller for the Paint Job

Hardware Review · Purchased September 6, 2024 · $111.98 CAD via EB Games

Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense wireless controller
The Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense. Photo via PlayStation.Blog.

Sometimes you buy a piece of hardware for what it does. Sometimes you buy it for what it looks like sitting on your shelf. This is very much the second kind of purchase, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

The Background

Astro Bot launched in September 2024 to the kind of reception that immediately tells you something special happened: near-universal critical acclaim, and eventually the Game Awards’ Game of the Year trophy. Sony backed the launch with a limited edition DualSense controller in Astro Bot’s cream-and-blue colour scheme, complete with small Astro Bot etchings and a matching light bar treatment, and it sold out fast enough that I count myself lucky to have grabbed one at EB Games on launch week rather than hunting resale listings afterward.

I bought this the same day as the physical copy of the game and the digital deluxe upgrade, so this was very much a “go all in on launch day” purchase rather than a considered, separate decision.

Living With It

Let’s be completely honest about what this controller is: a completely standard DualSense with a limited edition paint job. The haptics, adaptive triggers, built-in speaker, and touchpad all function identically to the roughly $85 base model. There is no functional upgrade hiding in here, no exclusive feature, nothing that makes Astro Bot the game play or feel any different than it would on a plain black pad.

What you are paying the premium for is entirely the aesthetics, and on that front it delivers. The colourway is genuinely well done, restrained rather than garish, and it photographs nicely if you are the type to post a setup shot. Because these sold out quickly around launch, there is also a small collector’s satisfaction in having one from the actual release window rather than picking one up later.

If I am being fully honest with myself, the DualSense form factor itself is what makes this purchase easy to justify at all: it is already a genuinely excellent controller before you factor in any paint job, with haptic feedback that meaningfully changes how a lot of PS5 games feel to play.

What I Liked

  • Clean, well-executed colour scheme that does not feel gimmicky
  • Same excellent DualSense hardware underneath (haptics, adaptive triggers, speaker)
  • Limited release window adds a bit of genuine collector’s value
  • Paired perfectly with launch day for one of the best games of the year

What I Didn’t

  • Zero functional difference from the roughly $85 base DualSense
  • Pure premium-for-aesthetics purchase, easy to talk yourself out of if you are budget conscious
  • Limited stock meant a real risk of missing out entirely if I had waited even a week

The Value Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Judge this one by what it actually is: a paint job on hardware you would probably buy anyway. If you love Astro Bot and want the shelf piece to match, it delivers exactly what it promises and nothing more. If you are looking at this as a controller upgrade, save the premium and get the base model instead.

Where to Buy

Astro Bot: The Full-Price Game That Actually Earned Its Full Price

Game Review · Purchased September 6, 2024 · $89.59 CAD via EB Games

Key art for Astro Bot on PS5
Astro Bot. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Astro Bot took home the Game Awards’ Game of the Year trophy for 2024, and it did so as a pure, joyful 3D platformer built from the ground up to show off exactly what the PS5 and DualSense controller can do, level by inventive level.

The Review

I bought the physical copy on launch week alongside the limited edition controller and digital deluxe upgrade covered elsewhere in this series, and the game more than justified going all-in on day one. Every level introduces a new mechanic, gadget, or gimmick tied specifically to the DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers, and rather than the usual pattern of a few standout ideas stretched across a whole game, Astro Bot keeps generating fresh ideas at a pace that rarely lets up across its full runtime.

This has been widely compared to the best Mario platformers of the current era, and having played through it, that comparison holds up: tight controls, generous but fair difficulty curve, and a level of craft and polish in every individual level that most platformers, even good ones, do not sustain for an entire game.

What I Liked

  • Constant stream of fresh ideas and mechanics, level after level
  • Some of the best use of DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers in any PS5 game
  • Tight, satisfying platforming controls
  • Genuinely joyful tone throughout

What I Didn’t

  • As a mascot platformer, it will always have a lower ceiling of mainstream attention than bigger franchise names, despite deserving comparison to the best of them
  • Some players may find the difficulty curve too gentle if they want a harder platforming challenge

The Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is the rare full-price game that consistently gets recommended as worth buying at launch rather than waiting for a sale, and having played it, I agree completely.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator: Alice’s Adventures Special Pack, Wonderland Gets the Deep Clean

DLC Review · Purchased August 31, 2024 · $12.31 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator: Alice's Adventures Special Pack
PowerWash Simulator: Alice’s Adventures Special Pack. Photo: Steam

The Setup

Listed in my own records simply as “Alice in Wonderland,” this is officially PowerWash Simulator’s Alice’s Adventures crossover pack, sending you through a grime-covered version of Wonderland armed with nothing but a pressure washer.

The Review

Consistent with every other entry in this crossover line, the whimsical, slightly surreal aesthetic of Alice in Wonderland translates well into the game’s cleaning-focused gameplay loop, and the level design leans into the property’s most recognizable imagery in ways that reward familiarity with the source material without requiring it. By this point in the year, having bought several of these packs already, the consistency of quality across the whole line had become its own kind of reassurance, I no longer hesitated before buying a new one.

What I Liked

  • Whimsical, well-realized Wonderland-themed levels
  • Consistent quality with the rest of the crossover line
  • Low price, low risk

What I Didn’t

  • Same short-runtime tradeoff as every pack in the series
  • Nothing here breaks new ground for the format at this point in the line’s history

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

On brand with the rest of this DLC line’s reliably good value. By this point in the year, PowerWash Simulator’s crossover team had fully earned my trust to just buy on release.

Where to Buy

Life is Strange Remastered Collection: The Right Way to Catch Up Before Double Exposure

Game Review · Purchased August 31, 2024 · $29.95 CAD via PSN

Key art for the Life is Strange Remastered Collection
Life is Strange Remastered Collection. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

This collection bundles remastered versions of the original Life is Strange and its prequel, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, cleaning up visuals, animations, and lip sync from the original last-generation releases, timed ahead of Double Exposure’s launch later the same year.

The Review

I picked this up specifically to refresh my memory before Double Exposure, and it turned out to be exactly the right call. The visual and technical upgrades are meaningful without changing the fundamental experience that made these games resonate in the first place: strong, grounded character writing, a distinctive time-rewind mechanic that the original built its entire narrative structure around, and a willingness to sit with difficult, real emotional material that set the series apart from a lot of its contemporaries when it first launched.

For anyone who only played these on previous-generation hardware, or never played them at all, this remains the definitive way to experience the story that everything else in the franchise, Double Exposure included, builds on.

What I Liked

  • Two well-regarded narrative games bundled for well under $30
  • Meaningful visual and technical improvements over the originals
  • Essential context before playing Double Exposure
  • Strong, still-resonant character writing years later

What I Didn’t

  • If you already own and have played the originals extensively, the remaster alone may not feel like a necessary re-buy
  • Core gameplay remains simple by modern standards, this is a narrative experience first

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Especially as a lead-in to Double Exposure, this is a strong deal: two well-regarded narrative games, cleaned up and modernized, for under $30.

Where to Buy

The Tremortusk: The Biggest Build of My Year, Piece for Piece

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased May 27, 2024 · $782.99 CAD via Vonado

A large brick-built model of a Tremortusk, the armoured four-legged machine from Horizon Forbidden West
A comparable large-scale Tremortusk build. Photo: MOC Brick Store

Some builds test your patience. This one tested my table space, my wrists, and eventually my patience too, in that order.

The Background

Like the Thunder Claw covered earlier in this series, the Tremortusk is an unofficial fan design rather than a licensed LEGO product, this one modeled after the massive armoured machine from Horizon Forbidden West. The specific design lineage traces back to well-known MOC creators in the Horizon fan-building space (versions of this build by designers like Kaelfros are widely recognized within that community), running into the thousands of pieces in its larger configurations, making it one of the most ambitious machine builds the compatible-brick space has produced for this franchise.

Purchased the same day as the Ghost and Star Wars Hangar, this was the most expensive single item in that particular haul, and by piece count, arguably the most demanding build in my entire 2024 collection.

Living With It

This is not a build you sit down and finish in one sitting, or realistically even one day. The Tremortusk’s four-legged stance, articulated tusks, and heavily plated shell require careful, methodical assembly, and I found it genuinely benefited from being broken into several shorter sessions rather than one marathon attempt, both for focus and for hand fatigue with a build this dense.

The payoff for that time investment is real. Once complete, the sheer scale and weight of the finished model communicates the source creature’s intimidating presence in a way smaller builds simply cannot. Leg joints held their pose under the model’s considerable weight without sagging, which speaks well of the engineering behind the design even though it is an unofficial, fan-originated build rather than a professionally tested LEGO Group product.

If I am being fully honest, this is the one build in my whole collection where I would genuinely recommend clearing your schedule before starting rather than assuming you can knock it out over a single weekend the way I did with some of the other large sets in this series.

What I Liked

  • The single most impressive and imposing finished build in my entire collection
  • Strong structural engineering, held its pose under real weight without sagging
  • Genuinely challenging and rewarding build process for anyone who enjoys the assembly itself
  • A machine design that has no official LEGO equivalent at any scale

What I Didn’t

  • A serious time commitment, realistically multiple sessions rather than a single weekend
  • Physically demanding to assemble given the sheer part density
  • Among the most expensive single items in my entire 2024 spending

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

If you love Horizon and want a genuine display centrepiece, this delivers more presence and engineering ambition than anything else in my collection. Just go in with realistic expectations about the time commitment, this is not a weekend project, it is closer to a small ongoing hobby of its own for however many sessions it takes you.

Where to Buy

Memorrha: A Small, Moody Game That Punches Well Above Its Price

Game Review · Purchased May 31, 2024 · $12.09 CAD via PSN

Key art for Memorrha, a moody puzzle-adventure game
Memorrha. Photo: Steam

The Setup

Memorrha is a quiet, atmospheric puzzle-adventure about piecing a broken world back together, built around environmental storytelling rather than dialogue or exposition, in the same general lineage as games like Gris or Rime.

The Review

At just over twelve dollars, this was one of the smallest financial commitments in my entire year, and it delivered a genuinely distinct mood and visual identity that a lot of much more expensive games never manage. The puzzle design is not the deepest or most challenging in the genre, but that was never really the point, the game is more interested in atmosphere, sound design, and the slow reveal of its world than in testing your problem-solving skills.

Games like this live or die on whether the specific mood they are chasing lands for you personally, and this one landed for me: a short, contemplative experience that felt worth the handful of hours it asked for.

What I Liked

  • Distinct, moody atmosphere and art direction
  • Strong environmental storytelling with minimal reliance on dialogue
  • Extremely low financial risk given the price
  • A satisfying handful of hours rather than an overstuffed runtime

What I Didn’t

  • Puzzle design is fairly light, not a game for anyone wanting a real mechanical challenge
  • The mood-first approach will not land for players who want a stronger narrative throughline

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A small, low-risk purchase that delivers a genuinely distinct atmosphere you do not get from bigger-budget titles. Easy to recommend at this price specifically.

Where to Buy