<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Sony and Microsoft have managed to ship several million\u00A0PlayStation 4 and\u00A0Xbox One\u00A0units out to customers over the past couple months. While it's thrilling to get our hands on a new generation of consoles, the initial launch lineup for both systems has been pretty bleak.\r\n\r\nHowever, there are a few gems among them. We\u2019ve pulled together our own impressions along with critical and user reviews around the Web to call out some of the best (and worst) titles from this new generation of gaming.\r\n\r\nWe found the Xbox One offerings to be more fun than the PS4, but we also expect that to be temporary. Sony's PlayStation Now\u00A0service will be a game-changer when it arrives in the US this summer, as it will open up access to a collection of fantastic PS3 games.\r\n\r\nSee also: PlayStation 4 vs. Xbox One: Which one is for you?\r\nPlayStation 4 Exclusives\r\nResogun\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe Resogun arcade shooter is the best PS4 exclusive, but that says as much about the game's quality as it does\u00A0the state of the PS4 lineup. It\u2019s free with a PlayStation Plus membership \u2013 which you\u2019ll need anyway for online multiplayer on the PS4 \u2013 or you can pay $14.99 for the title.\r\n\r\nYour job is to pilot a ship around a cylindrical world protecting humans by shooting down their alien captors. When you free a human, you have to pick it up and take it safely to an escape pod.\r\n\r\nResogun\u2019s difficulty ramps up pretty quickly and the screen gets crazy with all the bits and bullets bouncing around. However, both those elements contribute to making the title a literal and figurative blast. This is the one PS4 game that has our full recommendation, but I should also warn that it is very addicting.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Resogun\r\n\r\nKillzone Shadow Fall\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe latest installment of the popular Killzone franchise does an amazing job at showcasing the graphical potential of the PS4, but its many flaws keep it from being a truly great game. That said, it\u2019s still worth a buy if you think you\u2019ll appreciate the stunning visuals and science-fiction first-person shooter action.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll also see the new features of the\u00A0Dualshock 4 controller\u00A0put to interesting use in Killzone. The new lightbar glows with your health status, and you\u2019ll use the touchpad to control your OWL, a drone assistant that can be used as a weapon, shield, zipline and a hacking device.\r\n\r\nKillzone takes you through some gorgeous set pieces, but the in-game world lacks the detail that would make it feel real. We also found it difficult to feel invested in Killzone\u2019s story. Developer Guerilla Games tried to add drama to the single-player campaign, but the game ultimately feels too contrived to care about.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Killzone Shadow Fall\r\n\r\nKnack\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nKnack is ostensibly the most kid-friendly title in Sony\u2019s first-party launch lineup, but it\u2019s also the weakest. \u00A0The game starts off cute, but it doesn't go anywhere.\r\n\r\nYou control Knack, a mystical creature that grows or shrinks as you accumulate powerful relics of an ancient civilization. Unfortunately, it feels much more like an extended tech demo of the PS4\u2019s ability to swirl tiny bits around a flowerpot head than it does a fully-realized game.\r\n\r\nI also encountered some major glitches at launch that, for a time, made it impossible to get through the introduction. After a couple days, the game mysteriously righted itself.\r\n\r\nThe coolest part about Knack is that you can grow to the size of a house, but the game fails to tap into the potential fun that could come of it.\u00A0As it stands, we don\u2019t recommend that you buy Knack unless you think your kids don\u2019t have anything else better to play.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Knack\r\n\r\nNext up: Xbox One Exclusives\r\n\r\n\r\nXbox One Exclusives\r\nDead Rising 3\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI almost gave up on Dead Rising 3 because of long load times, frustrating controls and unnecessary complexity. However, mid-way through the game, I got the hang of it and it became my favorite Xbox One exclusive. Those issues didn't magically disappear; the game simply began to offer more entertainment than annoyance.\r\n\r\nThe immensity of Dead Rising 3's environment is remarkable, and the combo weapons and vehicles are hilarious. There's enough to do in the fictional city of Los Perdidos that it feels a bit like zombie Grand Theft Auto, but with lower production values than Rockstar.\r\n\r\nMy favorite part of the game is running around trying to find silly combinations for weapons and vehicles, but the plot did draw me in. The story had its own share of inconsistencies and jumps, but I cared about the characters and what happened to them.\r\n\r\nIt is disappointing to see load times of a couple minutes, though. If these next generation consoles are supposed to be so powerful, why does it feel like loading is actually getting longer? In one particular section, I got stuck fighting a boss and spent more time waiting for the level to reload than I did actually playing. The whole experience was worsened by the control system\u2019s tendency to pick up the wrong item when you\u2019re aiming so that I'd die because I picked up a crate instead of the food lying next to it.\r\n\r\nOnline multiplayer adds another dimension to the game, but getting it set up is not intuitive. When I wanted to play with a friend, it took more than half an hour each time to finally get a game going. That needs to be fixed.\r\n\r\nEven with its wonky controls and seemingly interminable load screens, Dead Rising 3 is still one of the best Xbox One games this season. You'll need some patience to get through it, but it's worth a play.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Dead Rising 3\r\n\r\nZoo Tycoon\r\n\r\nZoo Tycoon isn\u2019t exactly a blockbuster of a premise, but the game turned out to be surprisingly fun. It has a nice range to it where you can play Kinect mini-games with the family while geeking out on your own to the simulation aspects of it.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNnCPDDGHpY#t=3\r\n\r\nThe animals in your zoo look good. Realistic enough that when coupled with the Kinect motions, it\u2019s easy to develop an emotional attachment to them. It was precisely that attachment that kept me going back to the game.\u00A0I didn\u2019t find much use for multiplayer mode, as my zoos weren't really something I wanted to share with others, but I did enjoy inviting a friend in for the occasional buggy race and to show off my animals.\r\n\r\nZoo Tycoon isn\u2019t particularly exciting, but I found it to be the perfect game to play when decompressing after work. If you have kids or like sims and animals, this game should provide hours of entertainment.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Zoo Tycoon\r\n\r\nForza Motorsport 5\r\n\r\nThe new Forza certainly looks and drives great, but the general consensus I\u2019ve been hearing is that missing content has limited the value you can get out of the game. User ratings on Metacritic have criticized it for being a full price game that leans too heavily on micro-transactions for additional tracks and cars.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhile I'm curious to see how realistic these driving games can get, Forza actually takes things too far for me. I'd like to see the game rethought in terms of how to make the overall player experience enjoyable, instead of focusing on hyper-realism and in-game purchases.\r\n\r\nIf you're interested in seeing what the Xbox One can do graphically, Forza 5 is a must-see, but those of you worried about value will probably want to skip it.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Forza Motorsport 5\r\n\r\nRyse: Son of Rome\r\n\r\nI had low expectations for Ryse, so it turned out slightly better than I hoped, but it\u2019s still not a game that I can recommend. The gameplay is frustrating and repetitive.\u00A0You end up feeling like a really weak God of War.\r\n\r\nRyse is very cinematic, but that often turns out to be a downside. It\u2019s kind of like you\u2019re mashing buttons while watching a very sluggish period piece.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nRyse's narrative is stilted, and even if you do care about it, fighting your way through each level will take an act of Olympian endurance.\r\n\r\nMultiplayer just flat out didn\u2019t work. The concept of battling with a friend in a coliseum is a great idea, but crippling bugs prevented us from killing enemies and advancing, so we would get stuck and have to quit and restart. After several tries, we eventually gave up. It's inexcusable that the product shipped with such a major error.\r\n\r\nRyse has been through an arduous development process, and, unfortunately, it shows. If you're still interested in spite of its flaws, I'd recommend that you rent or borrow it to see if you can stomach it.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Ryse: Son of Rome\r\n\r\nXbox Fitness\r\n\r\nXbox Fitness isn\u2019t exactly a game, but the gamified aspects make it very effective. DVD workouts have been extremely popular lately, and Fitness takes things a step further by showing your silhouette, scoring your performance and awarding achievements.\r\n\r\nThe selection of workouts includes Beachbody, Jillian Michaels and Tracy Anderson, but it's still pretty limited. However, there are quite a few free options for Xbox Live Gold members. If more celebrity trainers offer their videos through Xbox Fitness, this will emerge as one of the best ways to work out at home.\r\n\r\nI would, however, like to see an update to the app\u2019s navigation, as it\u2019s quite confusing in its current state.\r\n\r\nXbox Fitness earns our recommendation simply because most of us could use more exercise in our lives and we've already filled up our gym quota for the year. The gamified features do help me stay motivated to work out, but Microsoft needs to add more videos for this to stick.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Xbox Fitness\r\n\r\nNext up: Both platforms\r\nBoth platforms\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Assassin\u2019s Creed IV Black Flag\r\n\r\nPirates plus assassins is pretty much a dream come true, and Ubisoft has executed well on the concept. Sea battles and stealth missions were fittingly dramatic, and the overarching\u00A0universe of Assassin's Creed has grown into a compelling one.\r\n\r\nI\u2019d like to see more intelligence in the controls, though, as I\u2019d often run up the wrong wall or grab the wrong ledge while in hot pursuit of a victim. Most of that's my fault, but the game does get finicky when there are lots of places to interact with.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe game\u2019s settings and backgrounds look good, but I found the game\u2019s depictions of people to be distractingly unconvincing. Movements and facial expressions just felt awkward and wooden.\r\n\r\nIf you haven't played through Assassin's Creed already on the previous generation of consoles, it's worth picking up for the PS4 or Xbox One.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Battlefield 4\r\n\r\nDICE aimed high with its Battlefield 4 launch, but the game has been held back by its many bugs, which continue to persist months after launch. In fact, the situation has become so severe that the developer released an issues tracker. DICE said it always keeps a tracker going internally to monitor the status of the most high priority issues, but this is the first time it has released one to the public.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBattlefield 4\u2019s single player campaign is woefully underdeveloped, but most of you are probably buying it for the epic multiplayer sessions anyway.\r\n\r\nWe suggest you wait until DICE finishes addressing the bugs before buying the game. This is another case of an incomplete game that got rushed out the door.\r\n\r\nCall of Duty: Ghosts\r\n\r\nGhosts is far from the best game in the Call of Duty franchise, but I still enjoyed playing it. You can definitely see the difference between the Xbox One and PS4 versions and the graphics on the last-generation systems.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe single player campaign tries to keep things intense with space battles, underwater missions and tank madness, but the game suffers from an overabundance of gravitas. I appreciate that the franchise is trying to do something new with its alternate timeline, but it came at the cost of believability.\r\n\r\nThe best thing about Ghosts is a new Extinction co-op mode that pits you against hordes of alien beasts. It's not quite entertaining enough to compensate for the game's other weaknesses, but it does offer something new. Upcoming DLC add-ons will add more to the Extinction story.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019re experiencing CoD fatigue after buying a new title every year, Ghosts will only make things worse. However, if you\u2019re coming back to the franchise after a bit of a break, there\u2019s enough here to keep you interested.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Call of Duty: Ghosts\r\n\r\nJust Dance: 2014\r\n\r\nJust Dance is another solid family game. I was disappointed by the limited song selection, but Ubisoft almost made up for it with the inclusion of Aladdin\u2019s Prince Ali. I'm probably not the target market, but it'd still be nice to see more song choices and a wider range of genres.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IontGEPw_g\r\n\r\nThe Xbox One can accommodate up to six players on some songs, so it\u2019ll work well for parties (or big families). You can play the PlayStation 4 version without the camera, but you\u2019ll be tied to the Move motion controller.\r\n\r\nBuying a game like Just Dance is a very personal decision. While I can always play it off as for the wife and her friends, the truth is that the game can actually be lot of fun for anyone if you're willing to let yourself go a bit.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Just Dance 2014\r\n\r\nWrap-up\r\n\r\nExpectations for next-generation consoles were so high last year that many of us were setting ourselves up for disappointment for the initial games. Even so, there are genuine moments of entertainment and wonder to be found in this crop.\r\n\r\nThe PS4 and the Xbox One won't really hit their gaming strides until later this year. We're looking forward to blockbuster titles like\u00A0Titanfall,\u00A0Destiny, Halo\u00A0and Infamous: Second Son, but we're\u00A0also trying not to get our hopes up too much."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/01/15/playstation-4-xbox-one-gaming-roundup-best-worst-titles-new-console/callofdutyghosts/>