September 2022 PS+ Essential games lineup

[Abby_TheLastofUs 5,162]

 

PlayStation Blog

 

Need for Speed Heat (PS4) - 72 Metacritic Score | 6.1 User Score

TOEM (PS5) - 80 Metacritic Score | 4.7 User Score

Granblue Fantasy: Versus (PS4) - 78 Metacritic Score | 6.5 User Score

 

 

 

 

Game info

 

Need for Speed Heat is the twenty-fourth game in the Need for Speed franchise and the last game by Ghost Games acting as lead developer. It's a racing game, so you already know what you're in for. In the story mode your racing activities depend on whether it's day or night, which is chosen by the player. During the day you participate in legal races that reward you with cash to spend on cars and upgrades, while illegal street racing at nighttime rewards you with reputation points which unlocks further car and car part options, as well more missions. Need for Speed Heat received mixed reviews from critics and users overall, but it was seen as a vast improvement over other Need for Speed games in recent years. Most of the praise went to the game's map and all racing activities available, while the game's story and multiplayer were seen as lackluster. Some also felt that it was a lesser version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, a mishmash of past Need for Speed titles that didn't do enough to reinvigorate the franchise.  

 

TOEM is an indie game where you play as a photographer that's travelling across Scandinavia, helping people by using your camera to solve puzzles before moving on to another location on route to their final destination. It received positive reviews, and even won the British Academy Games Award for Best Debut. Critics praised its simplicity, music, and hand drawn-visuals. It has a low Metacritic user score but there are no written reviews to give you any clue as to why, but on Steam it has hundreds of overwhelmingly positive reviews. It's also on the short side and has a minimalist plot, whether that's a good or bad thing is up to you.

 

Granblue Fantasy: Versus is a 2.5D fighting game by Arc System Works, the developers behind titles like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and of course the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises. It's a spin-off of the mobile RPG Granblue Fantasy and features characters from that game going up against each other, like Persona 4 Arena. Unlike other Arc fighters though, Granblue Fantasy: Versus's story mode bills itself as an RPG mode where battles play out as a 2D side-scrolling beat em up. Reception landed on the positive side, although not as much as other Arc System Works fighters, and user reception was more mixed.

 

Unsurprisingly for an Arc System Works game, the visuals and presentation were unanimously praised. The fighting mechanics while mostly positive, with several noting how accessible it was for newcomers to the fighting game genre, it was also criticized by others as too simple and repetitive in contrast to other Arc fighters. On the more negative side, it was criticized for its netcode which made online play cumbersome, it's limited roster at launch and its lackluster story mode, with the 2D side-scrolling gameplay falling flat. 

 

Trophy Hunting

 

Need for Speed Heat's trophy guide by pilotpsk gives it a difficulty rating of 4/10, making up of one playthrough that'll take you around thirty-five hours to platinum. PowerPyx's guide is similar, with an estimated platinum time of thirty to forty hours. There are three online trophies, and none are difficult. One only requires you to complete a daily challenge, and the other two require you to complete a maximum of twenty-five online matches with other players. Most of your time is going to be spent getting all the collectibles, and grinding out the trophies for successfully completing cop chases and taking down cop cars respectively. There are no missable trophies or DLC trophies.

 

TOEM's guide at PlayStationTrophies gives it a difficulty rating of 2/10, that'll take you three to six hours to platinum. As it's a short game there's also this video guide that shows you how to get every trophy. Most trophies are for taking specific pictures, although you'll also need to acquire and equip every item in the game, and complete every quest. Nothing is missable as freeplay becomes available once you complete the story.

 

The Granblue Fantasy: Versus guide by Champ147 has the game's difficulty rating at a 5/10, with the platinum taking two playthroughs adding up to twenty-five hours. PowerPyx's guide rates it a 4/10 taking ten to twenty hours to platinum, while the PlayStationTrophies guide rates it a 3/10 with an estimated platinum time of fifteen to thirty hours. One thing to note is that in order to get the platinum you'll either need to buy the DLC characters or downgrade to an earlier version of the game.

 

This is because the Granblue Know-It-All trophy requires you to complete the side quests that come with the DLC in order to complete the glossary when playing updated versions of the game. Other than that, there are several grindy trophies that require you to perform certain actions fifty to one hundred times. The online trophies are simple enough, and probably won't need any boosting. 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Abby_TheLastofUs

[jonesey46 1,080]

Never heard of Toem but it looks super cute. I will definitely be checking it out.

[breakXedge 529]

I don't think I'm gonna play any of the games. At least I don't alreeady own them.

[Batmannequin 135]

I've had my eye on Toem, so that would be a good month for me.

[OhDearDevilRun 183]

Wow Granblue, sweet. Been wanting to play this. Would had bought it if it ever was on sale for cheap since a lot of extra characters are really cool and wanna purchase. Hope fully character passes go on sale soon haha

[Aviditas90 258]

Started Toem on the Switch but never finished it since i really wanted that plat. Glad i didn't buy it instantly so that's a win for me

[GUDGER666 3,497]

What a steaming pile of s**t!

[Wagszilla 341]

11 minutes ago, Batmannequin said:

I've had my eye on Toem, so that would be a good month for me.

Same here. Good stuff. 🎉

[brianpickers 5]

granblue fantasy... another easy but 'hard' platinum, cause you must buy all dlc first.

 

recommended download v1.0 or buy physical disc. CMIIW

[DrBloodmoney 26,537]

TOEM looks excellent, and I haven't bought it yet, so that's a win!

 

Granblue isn't my thing, but seems like a quality one of those...

 

...and really not too sure about Need for Speed... but I haven't played a racing game in a long time... so...maybe? 

 

Decent selection this month though 👍

[Kefka1986 639]

Sadly nothing I would like to play… 😔

[-SK 62]

NFS Heat is a W for me

[Akrioz 731]

17 minutes ago, brianpickers said:

cause you must buy all dlc first.

What trophy requires all the DLC?

[Sailar91 1,021]

Great lineup this month, I see there is something for everyone! I never tried Grandblue but I’ll try it 

[breakingthegreen 1,630]

I've been eyeing up Toem for months since it came out, but the review I watched mentioned that they finished it in one sitting, so I never felt I could pay the asking price even in sales. But now I can be happy.

[StraightVege 4,304]

Ooh, now Toem I've been interested in for some time. That'll be another nice one to have waiting for me alongside A Plague Tale, for whenever I finally bother to acquire a PS5.

 

The others? Racing and fighting... NOPE.

[Cloemoester 36]

Nothing for me this month, but I have played Toem before and it’s a super cute game! Love the black and white style and if you like taking pictures in a 2D style, then you’ll love this! I do wish that there was a ps4 version of it (on ps plus or not)  so I could platinum it again haha

[zulqarmessi 1,737]

Awesome Granblue 😘

[ArabianSwordsman 481]

Surprised we managed to go through the month of august without a leak (kinda it was a nice change for once. I’ll add these to my library cause you never know when you wanna try something new. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by ArabianSwordsman

[MisterJoint84 28]

30fps NFS Heat, no patch. Racing games at 30fps are awful.

Might try Toem for an easy plat but otherwise very poor month.

[breakXedge 529]

45 minutes ago, Akrioz said:

What trophy requires all the DLC?

It looks they added things to the Glossary for the Granblue Know-It-All trophy.

[sk_lp_him 2,599]

Looks trashy, won't play any of these.

[Ilzakia 11,097]

Toem looks really cute.  I saw she clips from a Let's Play.  GranblueVS is something I've been eyeing too.  Not much of a car guy, so NFS is the only ehh.

[ARobinGaming 24]

Amazing month for me interested in all three games especially after last month as none of them interested me.

[VigilantCrow 1,050]

Just what I always wanted, more garbage.