Skip To...
Being a PlayStation Plus subscriber is usually a good experience, as month after month there are great games added to the service. For years we had the Essential tier, which over time, has provided many excellent games. Over a year ago, PlayStation introduced the Premium and Extra tiers which compete with Xbox Game Pass, as they have a pool of what are supposed to be high-quality games. Usually, the offerings are great, with new additions coming to the Extra tier, and games from previous generations added to the Premium tier. However, August 2023 might be the worst month for PS Plus Premium yet.
What Is Available on PS Plus Premium This Month?
The new games coming to PS Plus Premium this August are MediEvil: Resurrection, Ape Escape: On the Loose, and Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice. At first glance, August 2023’s offerings might seem pretty good to PS Plus subscribers. After all, these three games weren’t available on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 prior to their addition to the service. However, two of them are already available in a manner of speaking. If you haven’t been a deep-cut PlayStation fan for long, you might not have realized that two of these three games are remakes.
Each game sounds as if they are sequels in the MediEvil, Ape Escape, and Pursuit Force franchises. Instead, Extreme Justice is the only sequel, and the other two are remakes of original games that were made for the PlayStation Portable. MediEvil, which already has a remake available on PlayStation 4, was released in 1998 for the first PlayStation. MediEvil: Resurrection was developed by the same studio and released on the PlayStation Portable in 2005. It is a reimagining of the original game and not a sequel.
Developed by Japan Studio, Ape Escape: On the Loose is also a remake of the original game in the series. Again, Ape Escape is already available for players on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Released six years after the original, On the Loose, had controversial controls, and it resulted in substantially lower review scores. The only saving grace of this month is Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice, which was developed by BigBig Studios. The game is a direct sequel to the original PSP game, which is also currently available on the service as it was added in May.
Why Is August 2023 a Bad Month for PS Plus Premium Subscribers?
Instead of getting a port of MediEvil 2, a PlayStation game, we received a port of a PSP reimagining of the original game. What makes this weird is that we already have the remake of the original game on PlayStation 4. This one was released in 2019, and it was developed by Other Ocean Emeryville. It is already on the PS Plus Premium tier. While the game is somewhat different from the original, it’s still disappointing that a port of MediEvil: Resurrection took precedence over so many other games, including MediEvil 2.
Ape Escape: On the Loose is the more egregious title, because there are so many other Ape Escape games that could have been ported instead. But those are on the PlayStation 2, so it would seemingly be more effort than porting the PSP games that Sony has been putting out as of late. We’ve seen Twisted Metal, Syphon Filter, Doom, and The Legend of Dragoon, so is it really too much to ask that we get more gems like these instead of remakes of games that we can already play through the same service?
The PlayStation Blog is quick to point out that the games come “enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters,” but does this make the games better than the versions already available on the service? Not by much of a margin. The couple of things they do have going for them are that both games come with new sets of trophies, so if you are a massive Ape Escape or MediEvil fan, you can add a couple of shiny new platinum trophies to your collection. It’s also a very good thing for game preservation, as these games are no longer stranded on the PSP.
What Would Make the Service Better?
For starters, we shouldn’t really be getting remakes or remasters of games that are already on the service, especially ones that are from the PSP era. The generational leap between the PSP and PlayStation isn’t outstanding enough to have both versions of the game available at once. However, this has been a rare misfire in the strong trend of great offerings, so maybe this is just an off month rather than a sign of things to come.
Ultimately, the true potential of the service seems to be locked behind Sony. Most of the games being added to the Premium tier are games published by Sony. If only the floodgates could open up, then we could see the ports of Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Croc, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy Tactics, and so much more. If we stick with Sony titles, how about Secret Agent Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Daxter, or even the PSP version of Ridge Racer? There are so many better options than what was offered up for this month, and that’s why it feels like August 2023 is the worst month for PS Premium yet. Let’s hope it’s not just the worst month so far.
