We’re still pretty much in the “summer drought” for August, but there’s still a few interesting/noteworthy releases. Even some that might be worth buying! I found 11 games to put in the list for August, obviously ignoring the crap/shovelware.

This month there are: 3 multiplatform releases, 1 PS3 release, 1 Nintendo DS release, 2 Xbox 360 releases, 2 Nintendo Wii releases, and 2 PSP releases. August is PC’s turn not to get interesting exclusive releases.

Read on and see what might interesting you in August!

MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 08/10 (on Playstation 3′s PSN), 08/25 (on Xbox 360′s XBLA)

That’s a game I’m very excited for. Partly because I quite like the Scott Pilgrim comics (read them for the first time in June this year), but also because it looks like a very fun game. 8-bit music by Anamanaguchi (a fun NES chiptune band… here’s an example of their work), classic-looking graphics with a style that’s pretty much like the comics, side-scrolling beat ‘em up gameplay reminiscent of River City Ransom, with 4-player co-op… this looks massively fun. I’m hyped.

Madden NFL 11 08/10 (PS3, 360, PS2, Wii, PSP)

Ah, the yearly “same football game as last year but with different names on some players”. It’s on here because, for some reason, people buy it by the millions every year, despite it being the same as the games in the series in the last 12 years. I still don’t understand why roster updates and minor patches aren’t just DLC by now, but hey, it’s profitable, so who am I to ridicule it?

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days 08/24 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

The first game was pretty bad. Though it was noteworthy for one reason: a reviewer at Gamespot gave his honest opinion on the game, rating it rather low, and he got FIRED for it (yeah, the game reviewing business, for bigger sites at least, is TERRIBLE). The second game… doesn’t look like it will be much better than the first… But there’s still some hype for it. So it should be sort of popular.

Mafia II 08/24 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

I know nothing of this series. Seems like a GTA clone to me, from what little gameplay I’ve seen, and it doesn’t seem too great… But, still, this game has reasonable hype, and I did hear good things about the first. So, if you’re into stories about the mafia and such, I think this could be very interesting. I’m not going to check it out, but I can see the appeal.

Shank 08/24 (on Playstation 3′s PSN), 08/25 (on Xbox 360′s XBLA)

Shank is a 2D action side-scroller. It has good quality graphics and fast violent gameplay. It looks pretty interesting.

XBOX 360 RELEASES

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair 08/04

This looks like it could be really fun. Though there’s no local multiplayer (which is why I’m reluctant to buy it, as I don’t have Gold subscription to Live), the idea is still really cool. Instead of the more adventure-RPG style of modern Castlevania games, this one is more of an arcade-style game with a few short levels, and a fight with the boss at the end of each, as well as the ability to fully zoom out of the map to see what’s going on everywhere (bosses can even attack you from afar). It’s also online multiplayer with up to 6 players, has 5 playable characters (Shanoa (yay!!), Soma, Jonathan, Charlotte, Alucard). It looks like it could be really fun.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light 08/18

Well this is a departure from the usual Tomb Raider style, with it looking more like Diablo than Tomb Raider. This definitely looks like a fun downloadable game from what I’ve seen. It’s getting an early release on XBLA, but it will follow on other platforms in the following month.

NINTENDO WII RELEASES

Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack 08/24

A double pack of rail-shooters by Sega. They certainly look fun, though I never played/seen their arcade counterparts. One minor problem I have with it: no graphical update? Really? I’m not one to complain about a game’s graphics much (and, even when I do, it’s never a game-breaker), but this looks like N64 quality… this could look better.

Metroid: Other M 08/31

This is a game I have high hopes for. The gameplay seems well done, and I’m quite interested in seeing what Team Ninja has done with the series. It’s nice for the series to get out of the FPS genre too. Not that the Prime series was bad, of course, but Metroid is at its best in a side-scrolling style.

NINTENDO DS RELEASES

Monster Rancher DS 08/03

Well, this game has been, in, like, my last 5 or 6 release lists, because it’s CONSTANTLY getting delayed for no reason. Finally, last month, I emailed UFO, the company that is now publishing it and they told me that it would be coming on August 3rd-4th unless another random delay happens. Hopefully there won’t be, because I’ve been waiting for a DS Monster Rancher game to come out in English ever since I got my DS near launch… I’m getting tired of waiting, because this looks really fun.

SONY PLAYSTATION PORTABLE PSP RELEASES

Ys Seven 08/17
(sorry for the tiny boxart…)
I know nothing about the Ys series. I know it’s a long-running series, that it’s an RPG… and that’s about it… So I really have nothing to say about this.

Valkyria Chronicles II 08/31
(another tiny boxart… I’ll try to find better ones soon…)
It’s a bit weird for the sequel to the PS3 exclusive Valkyria Chronicles to be on the PSP, but I think the game will still be as fun as the first one, which featured really fun gameplay.

jobocan Console, ds, Games, games of the month, Handheld, ps3, PSN, psp, wii, XBLA, xbox 360