Blue Estate is a darkly funny rail shooter that uses the DualShock 4 controller’s built-in gyroscope (motion sensor technology) to allow players to aim their shots (This does not require the PS4 Camera). Designed from the ground up to exploit the unprecedented accuracy and precision of the gyroscopic features Blue Estate offers slick wit and punishing violence through a genuinely fun and intuitive control system.
With a story that goes out of its way not to take itself too seriously, and unexpected arcade fun thrown into the mix makes Blue Estate one of the best on-rail shooters we have seen in a long time. Intense gun fights is what this game is all about and reminded us of a Sega classic ‘Virtua Cop’.
Blue Estate puts players in the shoes of aspiring thug, Tony Luciano, son to one of LA’s most notorious crime lords who loves his ladies. As soon as you start you are thrown into the action fighting over his prize hooker, Cherry with a situation that only gets worse.
The story itself invloves a cast of characters and myriad set pieces that provide huge entertainment as you progress throughout the game. Nightclubs, mermaid strippers and villains, what more would you want from a game?
The game itself is staged across seven chapters, that can be played alone or with a partner via local co-op. Each campaign mission clocks in at around fifteen minutes so we did finish the game fairly quickly but we found ourselves posting huge kill scores to compete for a gun spot on the leaderboards. There are bosses to take on, that once again offer up a solid challenge and feel like serious bosses which need some degree of strategy to beat, even the early bosses are difficult.
The PS4 motion controller worked great and made this game great fun, aiming was straight forward and before no time we was taking down the bad guys. The touch pad is used to open doors, grab health kits, and do other stuff like get Tony’s hair out of his face. The levels also have various unlocks only coming after the entire scene has been completed rather than allowing a checkpoint system.
The overall Blue Estate experience is solid and well produced and makes a great change using the motion controller. The visuals are not next gen but they work well. The game itself is fast paced injected with plenty of action and make the game a decent on-rails shooter with plenty laughs along the journey. With a price tag of £16.99 Blue Estate is a game worth picking up.
Blue Estate is based on the Comic Book series by the same name, created by Viktor Kalvachev.
