As the first week of August draws to a close, we can take a look at the free games on offer as part of Sony’s PlayStation Plus service for August 2020. Given that this month’s titles become available on separate dates, it was necessary to wait a little while longer and review them together once you guys can download them both. Truly a month of variety let us waste no more time and dive straight into the selection.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Premastered
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Originally Released: 31st March 2020
Series: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Certificate: 18
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Beginning with a bang is the highly anticipated premaster of Activision’s blockbuster shooter Modern Warfare 2. This bombastic title takes you back to 2009 and reunites you with some old pals on Task Force 141 such as Captain Price, Soap, Ghost, and Gaz. Following on from its massively acclaimed 2007 predecessor, Modern Warfare 2 drops you headfirst into World War three as a series of terrorist attacks on European and North American soil escalate the global conflict against ultranationalist extremists Imran Zakhaev and Vladimir Makarov.
The updated graphics are truly outstanding as this last-gen classic is brought into the modern world. Never before have the Brazilian Favelas or Kazakh blizzards looked this good. It is often the case nowadays that remasters are more like gentle graphical updates with a hijacked price tag. However, this is certainly not the case with Modern Warfare 2 Remastered.
It must be stressed, however, that this premaster is exclusively the single-player campaign only. That means no quick scoping on Terminal or capturing flags on Estate for the time being, sadly. This is still a wonderfully crafted trip down memory lane of arguably the most fondly remembered Call of Duty campaigns. Let’s just pray a multiplayer reboot does not take an additional decade.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Publisher: Developer Digital
Developer: Mediatonic
Originally Released: 2020
Series: N/A
Certificate: 3
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
A first for PS Plus whereby a new game is launched as a monthly freebie, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout takes the battle royale genre to bizarre new heights. Picture Takeshi’s Castle or Total Wipeout, but in a world reminiscent of a rainbow-splattered sweetshop. Adopting the last man standing mechanic (or in this case, the last jellybean) as sixty pieces of brightly colored confectionary are whittled down in a series of tense obstacle courses and survival rounds before a sugary-sweet victor is eventually crowned.
While Fall Guy’s twenty-five mini-games can boast some tricky challenges, your player’s mechanics are simple; running, jumping, diving and grabbing are your only abilities, so timing is key. Although coming first is the aim of the game, the most memorable moments come when all hell breaks loose as dozens of players bounce off one-another like ragdolls during crazed dashes for the finish line.
Fall Guys is what you would expect if Willy Wonka and Dr. Seuss decided to team up and design an online platform game while on an intense sugar-high. Although fans of Fortnite and PUBG may find Fall Guys a little too sickly-sweet, this truly stretches the boundaries of the battle royale genre to heights that very few would have expected.
Verdict
Those monthly instalments that offer the most variety are often the most fondly celebrated as there should be a little something for everyone. Although this month has two very distinct titles, they come with a pretty big catch. Modern Warfare 2 Remastered is frustratingly just a single-player experience while Fall Guys is equally an online-only title. I can’t help but feel slightly cheated by that as both titles can offer so much online and offline. But you can’t win them all and this month still offers more than enough to keep you busy.
7.5/10 – Good
