August’s free PlayStation Plus games haven’t been officially revealed, but they have been leaked by the PlayStation website. Assuming the leak is accurate — and there’s no reason to believe it’s not accurate — it’s a disappointing month for subscribers on PS4 and PS5 who have been consistently spoiled in 2021 with great lineup after great lineup. Compared to the lineups Xbox Games With Gold has been producing, this isn’t that bad, but with the aforementioned context, it’s safe to declare this as the worst lineup from PlayStation Plus so far this year.
If you haven’t seen the leak, it reveals that subscribers are getting three games. One of these games is Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, a 2019 third-person shooter from EA. On PS4, the game boasts a solid 77 on Metacritic and it sold appreciably, and this is no surprise. All of the Plants vs. Zombies sell well and typically review pretty well. And this entry boasts a vibrant player base. On paper, it’s a decent addition, but what’s being ignored here is that every Plants vs. Zombies fan would have already purchased this game. So, this freebie does nothing for them. Of course, the angle could be that this will attract new players. And it will, but how many? Who hasn’t already given Plants vs. Zombies a try? There’s been ample opportunity to jump in on this franchise, sometimes for free.
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Unfortunately, the additions go downhill from here. The second game is Tennis World Tour 2, which came out last year and currently boasts a pretty lousy Metacritic score of 55. Not only is tennis not a very popular sport, but Sony has decided to alienate even more subscribers by giving them a lackluster tennis game.
The third and final game — Hunter’s Arena: Legends — is the PS5 offering for the month, and it’s one we already knew about. Hunter’s Arena: Legends isn’t out yet on PlayStation consoles, but it has been available on Steam, via Early Access, since last year, and right now it boasts a “Mixed” User Review score, with only 63 percent of users recommending the game.
To an extent, all of this is opinion, but there is an objective measure at play to back all of this up as well. The mean of the Metacritic scores for this month is lower than every other previous month this year.
All of that said, as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Do you agree? Did PlayStation Plus swing and miss this month?
