Beginning tomorrow, PlayStation owners will be able to download the first two of the six games Sony plans on giving away for free to PlayStation Plus members. Following tomorrow's PlayStation Store update, PS4 owners will be able to download Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition while PS3 owners can get Tomb Raider.
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition, a top-down shoot 'em up set in an apocalyptic, zombie-infested world, was revealed for PS4 last week. As a re-release of Housemarque's 2010 PSN title, Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition features "numerous enhancements" from the original including full 1080p HD, with improved textures, rendering, and effects. Housemarque has also improved the controls, adding a quick weapon select.
In addition to the full campaign mode which can be played solo or co-op, two new modes have been added: a high score Challenge mode and a Broadcast+ Mode which allows livestream viewers (should you choose to livestream your gameplay) to influence the difficulty of the game. Periodically, viewers can vote between a positive effect (additional ammo) and negative effect (spawning zombie packs) that can occur in your game. Should your viewers act d*ckish, you can exact revenge on them as they will appear as named zombies in your game.
Tomb Raider was released for PlayStation 3 in March of 2013. Despite favorable reviews, Square Enix deemed the reboot "financially unsatisfactory" — it only became profitible towards the end of 2013. Regardless of sales, it's a great game and now that it's free on PS3, you should totally give it a try. Yes, there's a Definitive Edition of the game available for PS4 with better graphics, but gameplay just about the same between the two versions. If you don't mind "last-gen" graphics (and even on PS3, the visuals are impressive), then go ahead and download it.
Looking ahead, PS Plus members can also expect Thomas Was Alone and Lone Survivor: Director's Cut on PS3 and Vita, along with Unit 13 and Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite on Vita as well.
[PS Blog]
