By Marty Mulrooney
Papo & Yo is a downloadable puzzle-platforming adventure for the PlayStation Network that marks the debut release of Montreal-based studio Minority. Players take control of a young boy named Quico as he tries to save his best friend, Monster. A gentle, docile beast with a love of yellow fruit, Monster has a serious problem: he is addicted to eating frogs. Once he does so, he turns into a flaming, raging beast that only wants to attack people. Together, Quico and Monster must journey through a colourful and constantly shifting favela in search of a cure before it’s too late. Papo & Yo was released on the PlayStation Network in Europe on the 15th August 2012.
Smash ‘N’ Survive is a ‘brutal vehicle combat game’ and the debut PlayStation 3 release from Version 2 Games, an Indian development studio and publisher. It is touted as being ‘a unique destructive vehicle combat game, featuring over 30 unique concept customisable cars, 10 massive destructible circuits, an innovative single player campaign, split screen and multiplayer mayhem as players battle it out with up to five others via Sony Entertainment Network.’ It sounds great, but hands-on time with this exclusive PSN game quickly reveals an entirely different beast beneath the bonnet.
Jurassic Park: The Game is an episodic, downloadable video game developed by Telltale Games. It takes players back to Isla Nublar – the site of Jurassic Park – during and immediately after the events of the first film. Dennis Nedry’s lost Barbasol shaving-cream can and the embryos contained within once again become a major plot point as brand new characters and existing secondary ones struggle to escape the infamous dinosaur-infested island. Although the PC version (digital download) was released on the 15th of November 2011 along with the US PlayStation 3 version, the EU PlayStation 3 version (available now via the PlayStation Network) wasn’t released until mid-December 2011.
Martin Mulrooney
Guest/Previous
Alternative Magazine Online 