March is here and the PlayStation Plus games have been revealed and released for the month. We knew there was going to be a change. Sony told us last year, when it seemed so far away, that PS3 and Vita games were no longer going to be included. I and many others have theorised on what Sony may have done instead, if they’ll be a change past the removal of these games. For March it doesn’t appear so. We’ve got two PS4 games.
The two games that have come in March, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and The Witness, are undoubtedly big games. Possibly two of the best games to come to the service in recent years. For me these two games would easily appear in my top 20 favourite games, if not top 10. CoD4 drew me into online shooters like no game before it. I played it with my brother a lot often taking it in turns to play a match, I’ve a lot of nostalgia tied up with it. Simple to understand and control it has a depth of load out options that allowed me, and my brother, to develop our own play styles. It lead us both to continue playing the Call of Duty games for several years afterwards. The Witness is perhaps the best puzzle game ever made. It’s easy to grasp an understanding of the tools needed to solve the puzzles. It ramps the difficulty up really well. I never felt stupid when I couldn’t solve a puzzle. I knew I just needed to learn the language of that set of puzzles better than that initial understanding. The world of the witness draws you in too and gets you searching for those environmental puzzles everywhere. It’s a game in which I lost myself and scribbled with pen and paper for hours.
The inclusion of these games on the service continues an upward trend of bigger budget and great quality games. Games like For Honor and Hitman (2016), both available in February, showed Sony doubling down on the inclusion of bigger titles. This might help people think they are getting more for their money, that in some way they’re not getting less. Quality replacing quantity. This works for me. My time is limited with all the new game releases as it is. Whilst it slims the choice I have on which “free” game to play presenting me with two games I definitely want to play again is good. I know I’ll dive into both of these games this month. That won’t happen every month of course; that probably won’t happen this month for some people. Trying to curate a list of free games is a difficult thing when having to cater to a large audience. That is something we’ll lose from a slimmer choice and those cross play titles often included for the Vita.
Having said that I am a little disappointed there aren’t three games; for one reason. I’d have loved a smaller title this month. PS plus has been a great way for me to discover smaller developers with their indie titles being included. Games such as Rime or Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime passed me by on their initial release and it was great to jump into smaller experiences as a break from the big new releases.
As a final thought what does strike me as interesting for march is the inclusion of third party titles. Sony have yet to lean into the wealth of first party titles they have. We got that a lot in the past on PS3 and Vita with games like Uncharted 3 and Gravity Rush. PS4 hasn’t seen many exclusive titles. We have had first party developed Infamous: Second Son and exclusive Until Dawn but I would like to see more. It wouldn’t need to be every month but peppered into the higher quality pool of games coming through the year. Titles like Wipeout Omega Collection, The Last Guardian or Gravity Rush 2 would, in my opinion, draw a few more people in or at least retain them to the service.
What do you think about the change to the service and are you happy with the games this month? Let us know and we can chat about the future of PS Plus.
