To coincide with ten years of PlayStation Plus, Sony are going all out with the July 2020 offerings. Well, sort of. While you do get one more game as a bonus to celebrate the occasion, it could be argued that all three might not be befitting the occasion.
Rather than giving away some of the very best PS4 exclusives, they have instead opted to go for a sports game as one of the marquee names, and an incredibly polarising one at that.
Still, “free” is “free” and these obviously represent a better deal than if you were to buy them all individually. With games getting substantially bigger and hard drives screaming out for peace, though, which of them are actually worth downloading?
Here’s what you need to know about NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Erica this month on PlayStation Plus.
NBA 2K20
This is definitely the oddest inclusion of the trio. With NBA 2K21 coming out towards the end of this year, 2K20 will essentially become obsolete, as is the life expectancy of all sports games. It was also recently on sale for very little at all, adding to it being just a tad underwhelming.
2K20 has also been one of the most controversial 2K Sports titles in a long line of controversial 2K Sports titles. Absolutely packed with microtransactions that you feel almost pushed into by just how much of a grind it is and with few improvements over last year’s entry, it’s not many people’s favourite basketball game.
If you’re going to play 2K20, do yourself a favour and steer clear of MyTeam and just stick to MyCareer. It’s an absolute money dump that is pretty shameless in its monetisation, as well as becoming obsolete in a matter of months. I will never understand why people pour so much time and money into these things each year.
Still, with 2K16 previously being given out via PlayStation Plus, a game that I poured quite a bit of time (and no money) into and having a good time, 2K20 might be an okay distraction. It’s 48.63 GB at this time of writing, so you may have to clear some space for it.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
A one-time Xbox One timed exclusive, not many people seemed to pick up Rise of the Tomb Raider following its PlayStation 4 port. For my money, it’s easily the best of the nu-Raider bunch and is absolutely worth checking out.
The gameplay remains mostly the same as the reboot, which is to say very similar to Uncharted, except now with some more open-ended levels and a neat little hub world. There’s an absolute tonne to do here as well, from collectibles to secrets to actual tomb raiding and plenty more in-between. If you like ticking things off your list for full completion, Rise of the Tomb Raider has dozens of hours of content and looks bloody lovely doing it too.
There’s even a decent storyline to boot, with Lara slowly growing into the icon of murder and exploration that we know her as. That’s without even mentioning the spectacle of its setpieces, which, at points, rivals its biggest inspiration in terms of whoa factor.
The PS Plus version is also the 20 Year Celebration, meaning that it comes packed with actually quite decent DLC, too. With it being only 20.05 GB, which honestly feels like something of a miracle, Rise of the Tomb Raider should definitely find a home on your hard drive.
Erica
The “renegade” pick for the month, Erica is a game not many people will be familiar with, let alone the fact that it’s exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sony really didn’t do that great a job on pushing this one.
That might be because it is honestly quite a niche game that definitely won’t be for everyone. An FMV adventure that you can control with your DualShock or phone, Erica chucks you into a dark, somewhat supernatural mystery following a grisly murder in which you play as the titular Erica.
By “play”, it’s more a case of guiding them through some tough decisions and sitting through some slightly hammy exposition and patchy acting. Eric is definitely an ambitious game that tries many outside-of-the-box ideas for games in its genre, but it isn’t without a few flaws.
Still, with it being a short game that you can enjoy on a wet afternoon and also play through multiple times for different endings, Erica might be a pleasant little surprise for you. The biggest surprise, however, may be that the game is 40.16 GB, which is surely down to how much of it is HD footage.
So, those are your PlayStation Plus games for the coming month, which will be available from July 7th as it’s the first Tuesday of the month. Really, giving away three games should be the new normal for PlayStation Plus, seeing as how we no longer get PS3 or Vita games as part of the deal. It will be interesting to see how they handle Plus when the PlayStation 5 releases.
What will you be playing, if any? Be sure to let us know.
MORE PS4:
– Best PS4 Zombie Games To Take A Bite Out Of
– Best PS4 Racing Games You Should Play
– Best PS4 Indie Games You Should Check Out
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