For the birthday of PS Plus, Sony has released some interesting data. Among other things, the top 5 free games from PS Plus were shown – and one stands out.
PS Plus is celebrating its birthday: For 10 years now, the PlayStation Plus service has been available. One of the most important features, however, only came in June 2012, two years after the “birth” of PS Plus: The launch of monthly games.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Every month, PS Plus members can download games for their PlayStation at no additional cost. Now, Sony has announced which 5 games have been redeemed the most over the years. They are:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (March 2019)
- Sonic Forces (March 2020)
- Shadow of the Colossus (March 2020)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (June 2018)
- Destiny 2 (September 2018)
This short list features three major shooters with both CoD titles and Destiny 2 – Call of Duty with a Metascore of 83 and 81, and Destiny 2 with a Metascore of 85. Shadow of the Colossus (Metascore: 91) is a remake of a classic masterpiece. It is currently available with other remasters priced low in the PS Store until July 2.
And then there’s Sonic Forces, which seems like a mismatched puzzle piece here.
What is Sonic Forces? Sonic Forces is a platformer centered around the iconic blue hedgehog, Sonic. The game wraps the classic Sonic principle in a modern shell and mixes 2D with 3D elements. The trailer gives you an impression:
However, Sonic Forces did not receive a very strong reception. The game scored only 57 on Metacritic and is not exactly known as a classic. Yet, it makes it into the top 5.
Sonic Forces downloaded more often than many major games – why?
Which games didn’t make the list? Looking at the list of all games that have ever appeared as monthly PS Plus games, you notice that there are some very large titles among them. A small selection:
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End & The Nathan Drake Collection
- BioShock: The Collection
- The Last of Us Remastered
- Batman: Arkham Knight
And this is just the beginning of a long list of strong games. In June 2019, there was even another “Sonic” game that did not make the list: Sonic Mania. It has a Metacritic score of 86 and is thus rated higher than Sonic Forces based on the reviews.
Why is Sonic Forces still on the list? Looking at the timeframe when Sonic Forces landed on PS Plus, the placement makes a bit more sense.
Because: In February 2020, the live-action adaptation of “Sonic the Hedgehog” premiered, which featured Jim Carrey as the villain, among others. The film was quite successful overall and attracted many fans to the cinemas. It’s conceivable that Sonic Forces rode this wave a month later: The game indeed landed on PS Plus in March 2020.
At the same time, “Shadow of the Colossus” was also part of the offering, which could be another reason. It’s very possible that fans of both franchises clicked into the PS Store to download their desired game – and took the other one along as well. At least, both are in the top 5.
Also, it should not be forgotten that many PS Plus games are offered as monthly games only long after their initial release. So it’s quite possible that the “big” games simply had more players than Sonic Forces.
And lastly, it should be mentioned: Even if Sonic Forces didn’t receive the best score on Metacritic, it can still be fun – especially when playing with kids. For MeinMMO colleague Sven Galitzki, it’s even among the 5 games that his children love to play the most.
