Less than 24 hours after we reported that Sony was making a serious effort to take down PS Store shovelware, a new scam game has appeared and taken top spot in the PS Store Demos section. PS5 players are warned against SWAT Commander Simulator, published by the infamous “developer” Tetyana Vysochanska.
Swat Commander Simulator, a clone of PC game Swat Commander, drops free demo on PS Store
I frequently check the PS Store demos section to see what’s new and upcoming, and almost fell for “SWAT Commander Simulator.” This is a rip-off of the PC game SWAT Commander, which is currently in early access on Steam.
The good news is that SWAT Commander Simulator currently only offers a free demo on the PS Store, but players should take note just in case a full-priced version crops up. As we’ve reported in the past, unsuspecting players do fall for these scams and end up parting with their money, only to be denied a refund.
Tetyana Vysochanska has somehow managed to evade a Sony ban. We’ve known about this publisher for at least a year, and they’re notorious for flooding the PS Store with junk. Players have also been reporting them, but to no avail.
Here’s hoping Tetyana Vysochanska is next on Sony’s ban list.
An incoming PS PlusPS5 game has received a highly demanded update just ahead of becoming free for all subscribers. 2023 RPG Lords of the Fallen has added new co-op features by popular request, including shared progression.
Update details for free PS Plus PS5 RPG Lords of the Fallen (2023)
Lords of the Fallen will be available to PS Plus members tomorrow, April 7, at noon local time. In the meantime, check out the patch notes for its latest update:
Shared Progression: Expanded Freedom
By popular demand, guest players in Shared Progression Co-op now have significantly more control, creating a more unified experience in your joint battle against the darkness.
Just before the weekend, Sony quietly rolled out a new PS Store update that PS5 and PS4 players have been begging for. After years of flying under Sony’s radar, several notorious shovelware publishers have been banned from the storefront, and their games have been nuked.
Stealth PS Store update removed hundreds of PS5, PS4 shovelware and scam games
We know what you’re thinking, and yes, we’ve been here before. But this time is a little different. This is the third such update this year, and the second time Sony has nuked shovelware within just two weeks.
Additionally, the publishers who have been targeted in these updates are those that have long evaded Sony bans and somehow survived previous crackdowns.
Back in January, it was ThiGames — the folks behind Jumping Burrito/Pizza/Taco, etc. — that got banned. In late March, thousands of low-effort games from CGI Lab and Nostra Games were removed.
And now, as spotted by PSNProfiles users, the entire catalog of shovelware studios GoGame Console Publisher, VRCForge, and Welding Byte has been removed. In the spirit of Easter, Sony didn’t even spare the popular “Jesus Simulator,” which has been on the PS Store for a very long time.
It’s finally starting to look like Sony is serious about junk games. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen them plaguing the PS Store sales lately!
Neopets was a phenomenon in the early 2000s, and the virtual pet game still goes strong to this day. Now looking to capitalize on nostalgia for the franchise and capture the attention of lapsed players, a minigame collection of classic Neopets diversions has been made for PS5. Officially called Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey, the compilation includes 26 classic minigames and one all-new one, plus an original story.
Celebrating 26 years of Neopets, the collection has 26 minigames ranging from classics like Kass Basher and Snowmuncher to Pyramids and Turmac Roll (which even has a 3D version you can unlock). There’s certainly some nostalgia to be had and the small creatures have a charm to them, but sadly, even the best of these minigames isn’t particularly good. It might be a fun way to share your nostalgia with your children, but adults are unlikely to get into a high score chase, as none of the minigames grabbed me or made me want to keep playing after I had gotten a score high enough to advance in the story.
The game’s story focuses on a festival in Neopia, which is an excuse to play through a bunch of minigames and hopefully top the leaderboards. Sadly, the actual story text is boring and even features misspellings of characters’ names (Abigail is written as “Abigale”). However, after you get through the slog of a story mode, you do unlock an arcade mode with all of the games available to play.
You can connect your Neopets account to the game, which is nice, and you can get some bonuses for submitting your high scores. However, this minigame collection is unable to shift out of first gear, so you’re unlikely to keep coming back to it. The only new minigame is called Starlight Symphony and is a totally fine rhythm game that is a bit too easy for there to be any real replayability.
Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection (PS5) Review: Final Verdict
Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey is exactly as advertised, but there’s nothing beyond some quick hits of nostalgia. The new minigame falls flat, and there’s nothing here that will compel you to keep chasing high scores. At least the Platinum trophy is easy, so you can eventually delete the game after a few hours that are enjoyable, if not overly fun.
Nostalgia galore
Some of the games are still charming
Most games are one-note or not fun
Plenty of typos and a bland story
6
Disclosure: The publisher provided a digital copy for our Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey PS5 review. Reviewed on version 1.000.001.
Pinball video games have been around for years — I cut my teeth on Space Cadet 3D Pinball, which was pre-loaded on Windows 95. They range from realistic recreations of pinball tables you’ll find at arcades to games that could never exist in real life like 2019’s Demon’s Tilt or older ones like Metroid Prime Pinball for the Nintendo DS or Pokémon Pinball for the Game Boy Color.
I didn’t expect to find a detailed pinball game for the humble and delightful Playdate, but a pair of developers working under the name Amano pulled it off with Devils on the Moon Pinball, which arrived last week. It’s the developer’s third game for the Playdate, and Mario and JP (who make up Amano) pointed directly to Pokemon Pinball as the inspiration for this game. “I think one of my most-played games is Pokemon Pinball,” JP said. “But the idea to make a pinball game came from Mario… he came to me and say ‘JP, I want to make a custom engine for Playdate and we should make a pinball game.’”
I love playing pinball in real life, but owning a full-size table is extremely expensive and takes up a ton of room. But Devils on the Moon completely scratches the itch. The controls are extremely simple: pressing left on the d-pad flips the left fipper, A flips the right flipper, and pressing down on the d-pad launches the ball. Amano also included tilt controls; pressing right or up on the d-pad or the B button shakes the table in a particular direction so you can try and save the ball. Sadly, the crank doesn’t come into play, but I can’t say I have a good idea for how it would be used.
A screenshot from Devils on the Moon Pinball.
Amano
I was impressed with both the physics and table design of Devils on the Moon after playing for just a few minutes. Despite not having analog control, the way the ball reacted when I hit the flippers felt consistent and smooth, and while I was often surprised at some of the bounces it took, it never felt unfair. When I drained a ball, it was almost always something I could have avoided if I knew the game better or had faster reflexes — just like a good, real-life pinball table.
JP and Mario described the game as using “stylized physics” rather than it being fully realistic. “It may not necessarily be accurate to real life,” JP said. “But since the screen is wider than it is tall unlike actual pinball, we needed the ball to feel a little bit floaty and not fall as fast because then it would just zoom straight down the screen.”
The table design feels both grounded in reality while also taking advantage of its virtual nature. There are three vertical “levels,” each with its own set of flippers. The 2D nature of the game means there aren’t any true ramps like you’ll on most pinball tables, but having three separate sections of the game to get used to makes up for that. And provided you complete various modes in the game, you can reach boss battles where you’re tasked with whacking a giant enemy repeatedly to drain away their health bar. Physical pinball tables often have similar encounters, but they have to be worked into the design of the game — in this case, your ball essentially ports to an entirely different space when you battle a boss.
The full three-stage board layout for Devils on the Moon pinball.
Amano
“It's kind of playing like the old pinball machines where the rules are really simple,” Mario said.". "You just have a few things to do. In our case, it ended up going beyond our original scope, but it’s still quite simple compared to an actual pinball machine in terms of rules.” He said the design intent was to make the game friendlier to people who might try it out without a lot of pinball experience while still putting enough challenge into it.
The audio and visual presentation is top-notch for a Playdate game, too. Perhaps most crucially for a pinball game, there’s no lag or stuttering. The game also has a distinct visual identity, something that’s always important for pinball to draw you into the world of the playfield as much as possible. The game’s page cheekily promises “ at least (1) songs” and it delivers on that with a solid theme for the main game that serves well as background music that doesn’t get old if you’re playing for a while, and the beeps and boops the table makes as you play feel well-suited to the game. It doesn’t “sound” like a real pinball table — but it isn’t one, so that’s okay.
A screenshot of Devils on the Moon Pinball.
Amano
I haven’t played a video pinball game in a long time, but the Playdate feels like an ideal platform for this. I can bring it with me anywhere and play a round or two (provided there’s decent light) or settle in for a longer play session. The game is challenging enough that you’ll need to practice a lot to get the hang of it, but there’s enough variety to the three-tiered table to keep players interested for the long haul. After all, the fun of pinball isn’t necessarily playing a table for the first time — it’s learning it inside out so you can maximize your score. I’m looking forward to getting to that point with Devils on the Moon.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/xk51HqF
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