February marks the release of a new console! Yay! Otherwise there are: 5 3DS releases, 1 standard DS release, 1 Wii release, 4 PS3 releases and 6 Mutliplatform releases. No 360, PC or PSP exclusives on the list, surprising no one.
So read on and see what’s coming out!
Note: this doesn’t include shovelware or games that we all known will suck, but rather gamse I think are noteworthy for whatever reason, may it be because they’ll be popular, or that I’m personally interested in.
PLAYSTATION VITA
(02/15 for the “first edition” package and 02/22 for the “boring package that only has the system and power cable”)
Sony is starting up on the next generation of gaming with their answer to Nintendo’s “currently kicking all sorts of ass worldwide” 3DS, the Playstation Vita (which is currently selling worse and worse every week in Japan, but I do hope that changes). It’s basically a HUGE upgrade to the PSP. Better graphics and processing, beautiful badass screen of awesome awesomeness, second analog stick, touch screen, back touch pad (I’m currently not convinced about it, but trying it out could change my mind… and yes, it’s a touch PAD, not a touch SCREEN as so many people have been saying), better standard media (carts/cards > discs, especially for handhelds)… The only big downfalls so far is the overpriced memory cards (I see no reason for Sony not using SD other than “we wanna make slightly more money”), the lack of a memory card coming standard with the console (some games REQUIRE a memory card to even play at all, why the heck isn’t there a 256MB card included or something just for saving?), and the high-ish price of the console… but, then again, I paid 250$ for a launch 3DS so… it could have been worse. This seems like a console with a LOT of potential, and I hope that potential is reached, rather than completely squandered like the PSP was.
As for games… there aren’t a lot of launch games worth mentioning really… Seriously, the launch lineup is almost as good as the 3DS’, there’s barely anything there. The only title I want at launch is Gravity Rush, and that’s STILL not clear if it’s actually a launch title (it seems not even Sony knows, despite the game coming out on Feb. 9 in japan and at launch in Europe… what’s the hold up on a release date guys?)… and maybe Army Corps of Hell. Here’s the currently known launch title list (that I can find…), which I hope Gravity Rush will join:
Escape Plan (PSN Only) (hopefully there’s a demo, that has potential, maybe)
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings (PSN Only)
Little Deviants (only game I’m 100% sure of getting in here… since it comes with the first edition package… otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten it)
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (a modern racing game with no online racing… epic fail, especially for a game that should thrive so much on community involvement)
Super StarDust Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss (it’s gonna be a dumbed-down version of a sub-par cover-based TPS… interest=zero)
wipEout 2048
Army Corps of Hell (potentially interesting, kinda like Pikmin meets DMC meets Brutal Legends)
Asphalt Injection
BEN10 GALACTIC RACING
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
F1 2011
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer
Lumines Electronic Symphony
Michael Jackson The Experience
Plants vs. Zombies (PSN Only) (you HAVE to have a version of this on something already, right?)
Rayman Origins (the console version was bad (it looked nice though so that’s…. something), so my expectations are low on this one)
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only)
Touch My Katamari
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (rather pointless due to it being the same price as the console version… kinda like SSFIV3D)
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
The Darkness 2 02/07 (PC, PS3, 360)
The first “The Darkness” sucked. Yeah they tried something new with the Darkness, a weird creature that attached itself to the main character or whatever, but in the end it was just a sub-standard FPS. I’m expecting much of the same here, though I will give the demo a try.
Shank 2 02/07 (PC(?), PS3, 360)
The first Shank was a very solid game. Some things weren’t that great, like the “parkour”-like segments which were just boring, but the combat was fun and fast paced, and the boss battles were pretty entertaining (and especially fun when you managed to kill a boss without getting hit). I think Shank 2 will be just as good, but less “wow factor” unless they add a lot of new gameplay elements.
Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning 02/07 (PC, PS3, 360)
The demo felt a bit boring, but maybe the part the demo showed was the boring part of the game… It seems to have potential, but it feels quite button-mashy (like, as soon as you hit an enemy and make it fall down, just mash the attack button and win). Might be interesting for Western RPG fans, but not one I’m looking forward to myself.
Asura’s Wrath 02/21 (PS3, 360)
This game sucks. Why? QTEs! Seriously, the demo was basically QTE-only, any other gameplay actually has QTEs embedded into it (blocking/returning missiles, for example) and was only meant to build up a meter to get to QTEs. The gameplay, as far as the demo goes, is fricken boring, since QTEs just plain suck no matter what (it’s lazy on the dev’s side and not fun for the player). But I still really want to rent it, because the cinematics are completely crazy and awesome… Seriously, the second part of the demo is so crazy awesome, I want to rent it just to see how much more crazy it gets, that just looked so cool. If only the gameplay lived up to the awesome cinematics and visuals…
Syndicate 02/21 (PC, PS3, 360)
I’ve only seen videos for this a few minutes ago, wondering what all the hype was about (at least on news sites like Kotaku). And… well, it’s an FPS with nothing special (as far as I can tell)… I may be wrong, but what I’ve seen looks very sub-standard. The gameplay videos I just watch make it look really boring, like most modern FPS. “You can increase certain meters with adrenaline, by going in the middle of the action!!” the guy said, and then the meters went up while he was behind cover not going anywhere near the action… fail. (NOTE: I’m not familiar with the original Syndicate so that may not help… but it’s a completely different genre so… whatever, I’m guessing fans of the original are PISSED, just like X-com fans)
SSX 02/28 (PS3, 360)
It’s SSX…. The graphics look great and the gameplay will probably be pretty good. It’s not a series I ever really played, but I’m sure this is gonna be an enjoyable one nonetheless… Heck, I’ve seen videos and it actually looks really cool. A rental for me (at least for now), but this should be good.
Binary Domain 02/28 (PS3, 360)
I have no idea what this is, it’s just on there because Dave asked me to put it here. The only video I’ve seen it looked like a fairly standard TPS… Not really sure about this, but I’ll check it out when Dave buys it.
NINTENDO 3DS RELEASES
Resident Evil Revelations 02/07
RE isn’t a series I’m very interested in. Basically a series of games I have more fun watching someone play through than play myself. I’ve seen a couple videos and information about this game, and it looks like it could actually be very solid. The plot sounds interesting (as far as RE plots go) and the gameplay looks solid. Not a game I’m terribly interested in, but one I think fans will enjoy.
Demo impressions: Okay, I played the demo, and it’s actually really good. I mean, DAMN good. It looks really fun. It feels a lot like the original series, with the shooting/movement mechanics from RE4. Seems great really. Potentially a must have for the RE fan I’ll say.
Tales of the Abyss 02/14
I haven’t played much of the PS2 version of this, but I do remember not enjoying it much. Maybe I was just stupid at the time, I wouldn’t know, but I am interested at giving it another chance… Eventually, when I’m playing fewer RPGs.
Tekken 3D: Prime Edition 02/14
Prime Edition? What does that even mean? Anyways…. it’s Tekken. Not a fighting game series I’m particularly fond of. I just can’t get into it at all… I think it’s the whole “3D fighter” genre that doesn’t work for me, as I’m also not a fan DoA and Virtua Fighter (with the only exception being SoulCalibur). So yeah, this is gonna be Tekken, and it’s gonna come with a 3D Tekken movie. Not much more to say here, if you’re a fan of the series you’ll probably enjoy it.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D 02/21
I don’t even see a point to this… wasn’t there recently an HD version released in a package? Might as well get that for probably the same price since there’s more games… Unless there’s something really different here minus the fairly pointless 3D visuals… I’d say don’t bother. Heck, if you want to play it on a handheld… the Vita is gonna get its own version of the HD remake so… yeah.
Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure 02/28
Some weird rhythm game that… looks sort of fun actually. The basic gameplay seems pretty simple, where you press buttons/tap the touch screen/move the system around when prompted, QTE-style, but the visuals are really interesting (almost Ouendan-like), and there’s multiple gameplay styles… it seems like it could be pretty cool. It’s just a rental for me though, since it’s largely QTE-like.
PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
Jak and Daxter Collection 02/07
I’ve actually never played a Jak and Daxter game.. I did play Daxter on the PSP (and only a little bit of it), but that’s really it, and I barely remember it… so I have no idea what this particular collection will be like… So yeah, nothing for me to say here.
The House of the Dead III 02/07
(not finding a boxart for this)
Didn’t the Wii get a version of this? … Yeah, it did, and it was in a package that had 2 as well… Not sure why this particular release doesn’t… Anyways… it’s House of the Dead, so obviously it’s gonna be entertaining. Just not sure how worthwhile this is since the Wii has a version with an extra game…
Twisted Metal 02/14
This looks pretty cool. It’s been a while since the last console Twisted Metal game, and this seems to add a few things to the formula and it looks quite fun to play overall. I’ll rent it since I’m not too sure about it, but it does seem very interesting.
Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 02/28
Wait what? Already? huh…. Maybe I should finish the first one (which is a very solid and fun RPG, by the way) some time soon before getting to this one… The original was a fun but repetitive and rather easy RPG, but it gave me good laughs and could pretty easily be really good if a few modifications are made to the base gameplay.
Actually, this one seems to completely change the gameplay, seeming to have similar to Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom rather thanHyperdimension Neptunia… Interesting.
NINTENDO DS RELEASES
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 02/28
Not a sub-series I’m familiar with, since I missed the original DS game AND the 3DS remake of the original, so there’s not much I can say here… Yeah, I’ll stop here.
WII RELEASES
Rhythm Heaven Fever 02/13
The DS game, Rhythm Heaven, was fantastic. The gameplay was simple with 3 actions (touch the screen, DON’T touch the screen and swipe the screen) which affected the animations on the top screen, where you basically had to mimic something or follow a certain rhythm or do different things depending on instructions given by the characters. The gameplay was actually very fun and quite exciting, especially as the rhythm went faster and faster and the patterns mixed became more complicated… But I’m not too sure how well this will work on Wii… I’ll rent it.
I haven’t made “Biggest Surprises” and “Biggest Disappointments” posts yet, not sure if I will… So here’s what we have right now! Again, no overall GotY post, but I don’t think it’s really needed, I think all the posts as a whole display a large variety of awesome games we got this year. Sadly we had to skip over a bunch of great games, otherwise we would have had 5-15 winners per category (other than Wii and 360), and I just decided to highlight my personal favorites. I’m sure other people/everyone else have different winners, and that’s obviously fine too.
So here it is:
2011 DS winners
2011 3DS winners
2011 Wii winners
2011 Xbox 360 winners
2011 PS3 winners
2011 Downloadable winners
2011 Multiplatform winners
So here are our choices for this year’s best DS games!
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Ghost Trick… It’s a game I’ll remember forever. Not because the gameplay is great, or because the puzzles are rather ingenious, or because the story is really interesting and unique, or because the graphics and animation are fun and wacky… All those things are true of course, but no, I’ll remember this game because of Missile. By far the deepest and most interesting character in gaming in a long time. Just… play this game to the end, if you don’t see Missile as being awesome by the end… you’re heartless. And hey, you’ll have a good time getting to that point, so it’s a win-win situation!
Radiant Historia
Radiant Historia is a DS RPG that flew under the radars of a lot of people following its release. Yet its ability to marry excellent combat with a compelling story is as unique as the game is itself. Combining elements of grid-based combat with time travel and parallel worlds, Radiant Historia is not just one of the best DS RPGs but also one of the best RPGs ever made. An absolute must-play for any RPG fan. (thank you very much Wintrale for the text!)
Monster Tale
That was a hard choice, partly because Pokemon Black/White was great, but I want to highlight something really cool/interesting and actually quite unique. Monster Tale is a Metroid-style 2D platformer, but with a unique twist. Early in the game you get an egg, which houses a monster. That monster can be given… food, toys, whatever, and he’ll grow in power and experience (sometimes unlocking new forms, each with strengths and weaknesses). That monster can switch between the top screen (where he’ll helps you fight enemies and use skills) and to bottom screen (where he gets fed or solves puzzles as directed). As you navigate through the game, you’ll get power-ups that enable you to go to new areas, like Metroid. It turns out being fun all the way through.
Let’s see… for October 2011 we have: 9 multiplatform releases, 3 PS3 releases, 3 3DS releases, 2 Xbox 360 releases, 2 PC releases and the first truly great Wii release of the year (note: yes Mario Sports Mix was good, but definitely not GREAT)! Don’t forget this only includes interesting or potentially popular games, and it maybe be missing a couple hidden gems (and downloadable games, these rarely get release dates this fast). I try to not include shovelware in these lists.
So read on and see what you’ll be buying!
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Dark Souls 10/04 (PS3, 360)
A spiritual successor to the highly popular Demon’s Souls on PS3. This time it’s a multiplatform title, but it seems to retain the gameplay style and difficulty-type of the original. I’ll only be renting this, but it’s looking mighty fine from what I’ve seen.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time 10/04 (PS3, 360, Wii, 3DS, DS)
Seems very similar to Shattered Dimensions. Not too sure about that one. Shattered Dimensions was… okay… but it was definitely not worth a purchase. I’m expecting the same here.
Rage 10/04 (PC, PS3, 360)
I always look reluctantly at FPS. This may have been made by id, and some things I’ve seen looked interesting (especially since it reminded me of Borderlands a little bit), but… I don’t know, FPS tend to disappoint me most of the time, so I’ll not get any hype for this. I’ll probably check it out eventually though.
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record 10/11 (PS3, 360, PC)
The first Dead Rising was boring, the second one was pretty much the same but with a few added gameplay elements so it wasn’t AS bad… This seems like it’s just gonna be DR2 with Frank West… meh (and no, I don’t care that he’s covered wars, you know).
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure 10/16 (PS3, 360, PC, Wii, 3DS)
I don’t know about this one… You can collect figurines, and get them scanned into the game somehow. It seems to be a fairly standard 3D platformer, but here you have access to 32 characters…. as long as you have the figurines. I’ll be honest, I’m not expecting this to really catch on.
Batman: Arkham City 10/18 (PC, PS3, 360)
Arkham Asylum was a very solid puzzle-y brawler/stealth game, and ended up being one of the very few modern licensed games to not be terrible. I haven’t actually seen anything in regards to its sequel, but I am still excited to check it out (had it pre-ordered for months now). I only hope a few things are modified here, to make it even better than the first. I’m pretty hyped.
Battlefield 3 10/25 (PC, PS3, 360)
This has been played up to be the competition for MW3, with both the advertisers, gamers and overall press talking about how much greater it’s gonna be… but from what I’ve seen it’s just another bland military FPS with no defining elements, it might as well be called “MW3 with more vehicles and better graphics”. The non-vehicle moments are 100% identical to any CoD game… Even the box art has the exact same lack of originality/fun as the CoD series’ box art… Get Serious Sam 3 instead!
The King of Fighters XIII 10/25 (PS3, 360)
King of Fighters XII kinda disappointed me… I can’t say why though, it just didn’t get me like older KoF games. I’m not even sure I’ll try this one. We’ll see.
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi 10/25 (PS3, 360)
DBZ fighting games always kinda failed to really impress me. This seem very much the same as previous Tenkaichi games.
3DS RELEASES
Tetris: Axis 10/07
Looks like Tetris! Not really much to say here…
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns 10/11 (also coming to DS, but I decided to ignore that)
To be completely honest, I haven’t played a Harvest Moon game since the SNES… I have no idea if the series has done any changing since then. Maybe I’ll have to check a newer one soon…
Pokemon Rumble Blast 10/24
I played the demo for the original Pokemon Rumble on Wiiware, and it SUCKED. You’d think a Pokemon action game like this would have the potential to be great but… Yeah, my expectations for this are super-low.
PC RELEASES
Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter 10/04
I have no idea what that’s gonna be like. So I won’t comment on it! *thumbs up*
Might & Magic: Heroes VI 10/11
The Heroes of Might and Magic series is a very cool Strategy-RPG series. By building up your city and conquering other cities, you can build an army and take over the rest of the land. As of now my favorite in the series remains the third, but I’ll probably end up checking this one out eventually. Should be good.
PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
Twisted Metal 10/04
(Haven’t found the official box art, will update when I do)
The videos I’ve seen look very… Twisted Metal-like (duh). You have access to more vehicles, and you even have sniper rifles to take out enemies from far away… I’m not really convinced about this game though, I might rent it.
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One 10/18
Ratchet & Clank with 4 players! It looks like a simplified and super-linear version of Ratchet & Clank. It DOES look fun though, but it’s probably not terribly interesting to play alone.
The House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut 10/25
House of the Dead Overkill was an amazingly fun on-rails shooter on the Wii. I don’t know what kind of extra content this is getting, but it’s probably gonna be awesome. Sadly, I don’t have a Move to check it out.
NINTENDO WII RELEASES
Kirby’s Return to Dreamland 10/24
The first really good Wii release of the year! This was a very long time coming. This is the first real Kirby game on a console since Crystal Shards on the N64. And it looks AMAZING. No offense to Epic Yarn, I quite liked it (despite the slow gameplay and total lack of challenge), but THIS is what a Kirby game should be like. And a 4-player option kicks ass here too, it’s probably gonna be a fun game to play while hanging out with friends (since all the playable characters look to play differently).
XBOX 360 RELEASES
Forza Motorsport 4 10/11
Forza 3 was solid. I’m expecting the same amount of solid-ness from this one. Not sure what Kinect really does in regards to the gameplay here though, seems kinda pointless to me.
Dance Central 2 10/25
It’s Dance Central… If you liked the first one, this seems to be identical beyond having new dance moves and new songs.
It may be the summer drought, but there’s still a few interesting releases, right?
Here we have: 1 3DS game, 1 DS game, 2 PS3 games, 1 360 game that was delayed from last month and 3 multiplatform title. Keep in mind this is just “hardcore” games and potentially good games, there’s tons more if you count the shovelware (though I DO include one or two pieces of shovelware this time, by obligation).
So check it out and see what you’ll be buying in August!
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron 8/16 (PS3, 360)
After playing the demo for this, it looks like this may be the top action game of the year. The fighting is fun, you get a nice variety of attaks from just one attack button and it seems to offer a good challenge. I’m looking forward to this one.
Bodycount 8/23 (PS3, 360, PC)
(did they just open up photoshop and do that in 2 minutes? Worst cover of the year, seriously)
A First-Person Shooter. Yay…. we definitely don’t have enough of those this generation… Low expectations on this one, doesn’t seem like it’s anything special.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 8/23 (PC, PS3, 360)
Whoa, new Deus Ex! I haven’t seen that much of this game, but the few gameplay videos I did see were quite interesting, with the character customizing and actually fun-looking/varied gameplay. I’ll give it a look.
Madden NFL 12 8/30 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP)
Same game as last year with roster update that should seriously be DLC by now… What more is there to say? Millions of idiots will go out to buy it even though they’ve bought it already every year for the last 14 years, and nothing is gonna stop that.
3DS RELEASES
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked 8/23
I haven’t played the original DS version of Devil Survivor, so I’m pretty excited to check out this updated version. It seems quite interesting, and apparently it’s challenging (as is a tradition with SMT games). An early but probably really good RPG for the 3DS, yay!
PLAYSATION 3 RELEASES
Bleach: Soul Resurreccion 8/02
This basically looks like Dynasty Warriors with Bleach characters. It actually seems pretty good as far as Dynasty Warriors clones go.
No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise 8/16
It’s No More Heroes. It was a pretty good game on the Wii, and it’s probably gonna be pretty good here too. And, looking on amazon.com, it’s budget-priced too! (not on amazon.ca, but amazon.ca sucks anyways)
We have 3-4 3DS releases (and, depending on how you see it, we have more than that), 10 multiplatform releases, 1 Xbox 360 release, 1 PS3 release, 1 Wii release and 1 DS release.
Let’s add to that the fact that the PSN Network just got back up, the store will be online soon and will play catch-up with all the missed updates, so there may be a few good releases there (and don’t forget to pick up your free games once the store is back up… as a note, the best choices are inFamous and Dead Nation, so if you don’t have those… get them!).
Read on and see if you’re picking anything up!
3DS RELEASES
Nintendo 3DS eshop 06/06
The eshop is opening. It’s gonna have Link’s Awakening DX, Super Mario Land, a few other games from other consoles, a 3D classic or 2 (Zelda and maybe Excitebike) and possibly a free game (Japan is getting Excitebike, no news for other regions as of this writing). Cool stuff.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 06/19
A remake of what is considered the best game ever by many people. Not much to complain about here. Much better graphics, Master Quest (which is different from the original Master Quest), boss rush mode, new controls and interface… Sure, there may be over nine thousand other versions of this, but how many are graphically upgraded, “3D”, and portable? Yeah, that’s what I thought. This game is a must play. If you consider yourself a gamer and have never played it, now’s your chance to redeem yourself!
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D 06/28
The “arcade-style” mini-game from previous REs is back, in 3DS form. It’s basically Capcom’s attempt at expanding the mini-game into a more complete experience. It includes levels from RE4 and 5, more characters, missions in single-player mode, online play, upgrade systems and more. Oh, and it includes a demo for Resident Evil: Revelations… so it’s definitely interesting.
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Red Faction: Armageddon (PC, PS3, 360) 06/07
Bleh… Didn’t really like the last Red Faction game I tried… Not really interested in this either… Not much I can say about it.
Duke Nukem Forever (PC, PS3, 360) 06/14
THE DUKE IS BACK BABY! It took 14 years, but it’s finally here. The big joke of the gaming industry, after being delayed like crazy (sort of… I think it only ever got 1 actual release date… I’ll need to check) and even cancelled, is coming out. I was but a child when this thing was first announced, and I’ve been hyped for it since. Now… I’m not expecting excellence anymore, since the game will probably be plagued by modern FPS mainstays like regenerating health, but it’s Duke Nukem! It’s gonna be a funny, wacky game, full of immature sex jokes, sarcastic patriotism and cool weapons. IT’S DUKE FUCKING NUKEM!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait.
Alice: Madness Returns (PC, PS3, 360) 06/14
This… actually looks pretty good. I haven’t played much of the first, and, well, let’s just say the Quake 3 engine wasn’t terribly good for Third-Person Shooters. But this one seems to be quite different from the original. Using a lock-on system in battle, this seems to play sort of like the 3D Zelda games, with some guns added in for good measure. And the art direction looks great too (like if Tim Burton made an Alice film and REALLY went crazy with the visuals). I’m interested.
Record of Agarest War Zero (PS3, 360) 06/14
(limited edition box art)
The first Record of Agarest War was pretty good, despite just being Cross Edge with a turn-based Strategy battle system. This one should be good too… It seems to be pretty much the same as the first one.
Dungeon Siege III (PC, PS3, 360) 06/21
Diabl… oh wait, it’s Dungeon Siege… I’ve actually only played a small part of the original Dungeon Siege, so I’m not completely familiar with the series… This one seems pretty good though, from the little I’ve seen of it.
F.3.A.R. (PC, PS3, 360) 06/21
Again with F.3.A.R. … Is it EVER gonna come out? It’s been on, like, 6 of our release lists…
Shadows of the Damned (PS3, 360) 06/21
Suda 51 + Shinji Mikami. I could probably just stop there… So I will.
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 (PS3, 360) 06/28
It’s Dynasty Warriors. With Gundam. Again.
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (PS3, 360) 06/28
Ohlookanewstreetfighterrevisionhowsurprising. At least this one is also coming out as DLC.
PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
inFamous 2 06/07
I really liked the first inFamous. A good, original take on the TPS genre, with enough unique elements to make it more interesting than the average modern TPS. So this one should be good too.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD 06/21
Never played a Splinter Cell game other than Conviction, so this is not a series I’m really familiar with (especially ocnsidering Conviction was apparently very different from its predecessors)… Might be worth checking out.
XBOX 360 RELEASES
Child of Eden 06/14
Oh, that’s that weird game where you shoot vague shapes with your hands that was shown at E3 last year, right? Seems interesting, it’s made by the dude who made Rez, but I’m not sure how good it really is… Oh, and it’s on Kinect… Yeah, a possibly-good Kinect game, crazy stuff.
WII RELEASES
Wii Play: Motion 06/13
A new Wii Play. And this one comes with a Wii Remote Plus…. Not much more to say here.
DS RELEASES
Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass 06/14
I played the European version. It was REALLY BAD. That is all. The fact that it’s Duke Nukem doesn’t help it. Avoid this like the plague.
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Well this is interesting. It’s a game that was barely reviewed at all, only being reviewed by a few less mainstream video game blog/news sites, and Nintendo Power. While it was barely reviewed anywhere, the places that DID review it were very positive about it.
It’s made by a completely new development company called DreamRift. But they’re not exactly newbs in the industry, what with the founders working on various games on various system, most notably the fairly popular Henry Hatsworth, also on the Nintendo DS.
Let’s see how this new company is starting out, and if their first game is any good!
(Note: I’m not doing the Save Factor thing anymore… sorry, it just annoys me)
Developer: DreamRift
Publisher: Majesco Games
Date of Release: March 16th 2011
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer/brawler/RPG
Rated E for everyone
What’s good about the game
Metroid mixed with Pokemon mixed with Double Dragon!
The basic gameplay is pretty strange. You’re placed in a Metroid-style map, which you can explore as much as you want. Like in Metroid, you platform your way through the world, finding upgrades that will enable you to reach new areas and continue through the game. This element is well done, and you do feel like you’re constantly getting stronger as you progress through the game. Also, by fighting enemies, you can gain money, which you can use to buy upgrades for your character, making her stronger if you want.
Speaking of fighting, this is where the “Double Dragon” part comes in. Rather than being stuck with just a beam, you also have melee attacks. You do have a beam (which starts being super short-range, and it upgrades to a longer range later on, AND it eventually charges too, which made me laugh a bit), but it has limited energy, and you regain that energy by attacking enemies in close-range. The close-range attacks are fairly fast and, if you kill an enemy with him, you can try to let the enemy in the air while constantly hitting it while it’s airborne to score a longer combo, which increases the possibility of the monsters dropping money and items.
The Pokemon aspect? Well, that’s the really interesting element of the game. Early on you find a monster egg, and it hatches to be a small flying monster which your character names “Chomp”. If you just leave him alone, he will float up to enemies and attack them directly, though that’s rarely really strong. Enemies drop items (or you can buy them in the store), which fall to the bottom screen. You can send Chomp to the bottom screen, where he’ll use the items, gaining experience points and stat points. As he levels up, he’ll gain traits, which give stat or element boosts, and skills, which you can assign to the L and R buttons to help you out in the game (it can be melee attacks or projectiles, and there’s even some support skills). And he can also “master” those skills and traits.
As he levels, Chomp will gain new forms to evolve to. Each form has its own experience levels, strengths, weaknesses, skills he learns and traits he gains. Each form can be either Earth, Fire or Water, each dealing extra damage to an element and being weak to another (you can tell a monster’s element by its color, for example red enemies are fire). As he gains new forms, you can equip them with traits or skills that you have mastered with other of Chomp’s forms. Also, each form has items it prefers, which give him extra boosts when you give them to him.
Another quirk of the dual-screen nature of the game is that some puzzles require Chomp hitting things in the bottom screen, or in the top screen, or switching between both. Or enemies can send things to the bottom screen that will cause damage to you on the top screen, so you have to send Chomp down to stop them, which is really interesting.
The gameplay here is, overall, top-notch, with a very nice mix of gameplay elements.
Fairly good presentation
The graphics are bright and colorful. It’s always very easy to see what’s going on, you’ll never confuse the background foreground elements. The enemies are sometimes a bit cliché, but they look nice. It’s easy to see which enemies are which element, and their attacks are telegraphed well enough so that, if you get hit, it’s your own fault. The music is a bit of a letdown. There’s only 1 or 2 tracks that I really enjoyed listening to, the rest of the time it was very substandard. Not that they were bad, just not very interesting beyond being fitting for the area.
Overall it’s a nice game to look at, not much to complain about here.
What’s bad about the game
It’s SO easy
Well if you’re looking for a game to kick your ass, look elsewhere. Here, well… to say it plainly, I beat the final boss by standing in one spot and spamming Ellie’s beam and one of Chomps early-learned projectile attacks (Artype). Some parts are a bit more challenging, there’s a few marathons of enemies that come against you in the final moments of the game which can be pretty tough, but overall it’s never really challenging. The difficulty curve is so low it may as well not be there whatsoever.
So much backtracking
That’s a small problem. You’re basically always going deep through one segment of the map, then find something you can’t go through, then backtrack to an older area where you’ll be able to find a new upgrade, then you’ll walk back ALL the way where you were before. You basically repeat that 3-4 times before each boss battle, it can get kinda grating. And, since the map screen always tells you where to go next, there’s very little exploration involved.
Overall
DreamRift are a very surprising new company. They might have little experience before this, but wow, they impress quite a bit with Monster Tale. They mix gameplay styles you wouldn’t expect to mix well together, making for some really fun and UNIQUE gameplay, something that happens rather rarely in modern gaming. The mix of Metroid and Pokemon, with some classic beat ‘em up style applied to that makes for something you’ve never seen before.
There’s a few things that need fleshing out here, like a bit more difficulty and less backtracking, but that doesn’t make the gameplay any less fun and unique.
I have high hopes for DreamRift, frankly I’m quite hyped for… whatever they come up with next. It’s clear that they are very solid developers. While this won’t end up becoming a really popular game, and it won’t ever be considered a classic, it’s a very solid game deserving of any praise it might have gotten (despite it being almost completely ignored by the mainstream gaming media…. which might be a good thing) and I hope it sells enough to enable DreamRift to make more games.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great gameplay
- Unique mix of genres
- Nice presentation
- The story is fine… no need to really mention it, but it does the job well enough
Cons
- Easy (Map always tells you where to go, enemies generally too easy)
- Too much backtracking
- Rather short
So this month we have: 18 3DS games for its launch, 10 multi-platform titles, 4 interesting DS games, 3 PS3 exclusives, 2 PC exclusives and 3 PSP games. There should be interesting games for everyone in March. And keep in mind those are just the interesting/popular titles, no shovelware in there.
Read on!
3DS LAUNCH!
March 27th 2011
Ah yes, the 3DS by Nintendo is finally coming out. Dave, who played it at E3 last year, was quite impressed with it, and, well, let’s face it, it’s a Nintendo handheld so it’s 100% sure to be a great handheld system (call me a fanboy if you want, you still know it’s the thruth… and no, the Virtual Boy is NOT a handheld system), and it’s 100% sure it’s gonna sell well (heck, it’s already sold out in Japan, selling almost half a million in a day). It features an analog stick, multi-touch touch screen, motion-control, multiple cameras that can take 3D pictures and of course a 3D screen that doesn’t require glasses (which is awesome) that can have the 3D effect de-activated if you don’t want it/can’t see it. The launch price is 250$, which is fair. The launch is a bit on the weak side, and there’s no dates for the currently announced “big” games (Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Paper Mario, KID FUCKING ICARUS), but what does it matter, the system’s lineup will end up being great sooner or later.
Launch Titles
Pilotwings Resort
Steel Diver (I haven’t seen much about this, and what I did see didn’t look terribly interesting, but people are excited about it)
Nintendogs + Cats
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (will be worth getting if you don’t have the console versions… looks very impressive graphically)
Samurai Warriors: Chronicles (this actually looks quite interesting)
The Sims 3
Madden NFL Football
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Ridge Racer 3D
Super Monkey Ball 3D
Bust-A-Move Universe (Probably won’t be worth getting if you have another version of bust-a-move)
Asphalt 3D
Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
Rayman 3D (didn’t this come out on the normal DS? yeah, it did, the only apparent difference is the 3D effect)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (It’s a turn-based strategy game)
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Fight Night Champion 03/01 (PS3, Xbox 360)
I played the demo for this. It sucked. I loved FNR3, and then realized that it sucked in comparison to FNR4, which was REALLY well done and ended up being very underrated. This, on the other hand, seems to use a similar graphical style to FNR4, but the camera angles are dynamic and completely changed, making the gameplay harder to get a hang of since you can barely see what you’re doing, and the actual fighting is very downgraded from FNR4, with half the punches you could do being removed, and less control over where you can hit, and NO control over where you block. I might rent it, but the demo left me REALLY unimpressed.
Beyond Good & Evil HD 03/02 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Oh, I didn’t know this was coming out. I actually don’t know much about this game, I never ended up playing it last generation despite having many chances of buying it, and people constantly telling me how good it was. So yeah, this could be a chance for me to finally check it out.
Dragon Age II 03/08 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
I played the first Dragon Age. It was incredibly boring to me, and I lost interest after about an hour. The fighting system was dull and I had no interest in the story and characters. But I know that other people loved it. Though, from what I’ve heard, this is a downgrade from the first game.
Homefront 03/15 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Crappy brown military first-person shooter, nothing to see here…. OH, but, if you pre-order it with OnLive, you can get the Onlive Console, as well as that piece of shit Metro 2033, both for free. That’s pretty interesting at least.
Crysis 2 03/22 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
The first Crysis was basically a standard brown military FPS, but the Nanosuit added some variety and fun features. This seems like more of the same. It has an advanced graphics engine, but from what I’ve seen it’s no different from the first game gameplay-wise.
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 03/22 (Everything)
It’s a LEGO game. Yet again based on the Star Wars series. It’s probably gonna be a fun and popular game, the LEGO games are rarely really bad.
Dynasty Warriors 7 03/22 (Xbox 360, PS3)
Dynasty Warriors! There’s hundreds of enemies, and you have to button-mash to kill them all! Those games are generally fun to play, despite the simple fighting system. Killing tons of enemies is very satisfying. So yeah, this should be good enough.
Rush’N Attack Ex-Patriot (03/29 for the PS3, 03/30 for the 360)
Oh, that’s really interesting. Rush ‘N Attack, also named Green Beret in its original arcade release, was a very simple but very fun side-scrolling… hum… platformer? Brawler? Either way, your main attack was a fast stab with a knife that killed almost anything in one hit, and each enemy type had a different method to fight them, like different timing for jumping before stabbing and such. You also got different weapons which have limited ammo. It got pretty tough. This looks a bit different from the original, and graphically it has similarities to Shadow Complex. This is hopefully going to be awesome.
Shift 2 Unleashed: Need for Speed 03/29 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
The first NFS Shift was surprisingly good. It wasn’t as deep and well-made as the big simulation racers such as Forza and Gran Turismo, but it was still very fun. So this should be good.
Space Channel 5 Part 2 03/31 (PS3, Xbox 360 (maybe))
I put this in the multiplatform section because, while the Xbox 360 version doesn’t have an official release date, it should be coming either at that date, or close. Anyways… the original SC5 was a fun rhythm game with a very fun and simple gameplay and a cool presentation, so this should be just as good. Never played it though, so I’m interested.
NINTENDO DS RELEASES
Pokemon Black and White versions 03/06
Pokemon is always awesome. Great simple RPGs all the way through. This is probably gonna be great. Not much more to say here really. This one features a completely new set of pokemon, so that means the caves won’t just be populated by Geodudes an Zubats. EVOLUTION!
Atari’s Greatest Hits Volume 2 03/08
A big compilation of badass Atari 2600 games. There’s a lot of really awesome games in there like Yars’ Revenge, Millipede, Star Raiders, Demons to Diamonds, Warlords and various others.
Okamiden 03/15
A “cute” version of Okami. It seems to have a lot of similarities to its PS2/Wii grand-daddy, with some top-down puzzle segments. It should be really good, I have high hopes for this.
Monster Tale 03/22
Oh look, a game made by a completely new developer that no one has ever heard about, gotta have at least one of those every month… Well I think this looks really interesting. You have a sidescrolling action-platformer on the top screen, and the bottom screen seems to be where (I think) you train a monster using the touch screen to make it fight its own battles and such, and, from what I’ve seen, you can summon the monster to the top screen so he can provide support. I think it looks good.
PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel 03/15
I was never a big fan of the Ar tonelico series. They somehow never had the same fun feel as the Atelier/Mana Khemia games which these are pretty similar to. Apparently this is going to be the final game in the series, so fans of the series should check it out. I’m not too interested though.
Yazuka 4 03/15
I have yet to play a Yakuza game, but Dave was a big fan. This should be pretty fun.
PlayStation Move Heroes 03/22
Sly, Ratchet, Jax, Daxter, Clank and a few more team up in this multiplayer 3D platforming action game. Obviously it makes use of the Move controller and it’s required to play this. Could be interesting. Maybe Dave will check it out?
PC RELEASES
Shogun 2: Total War 03/15
The original Shogun: Total War was a fun Strategy game. I was terrible at it when I was younger since it’s sort of complicated, but I still enjoyed it. This should be pretty cool as well.
PLAYSTATION PORTABLE RELEASES
Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle 03/08
Phantom Brave was an amazingly fun Strategy RPG on the Playstation 2 by Nippon Ichi. The story and characters were fun, the fighting mechanics were actually pretty unique to the SRPG genre, and it has the usual grinding present in Nippon Ichi games.
Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy 03/22
The first Dissidia was a really fun and unique fighting game with fast-paced fighting and a nice cast of fun characters to use, each with their own play style. From what I’ve seen the gameplay here is nearly identical to the original, but it adds more characters and probably balances some things out, and it adds a few new elements like assists. I’ll get it eventually.
The 3rd Birthday 03/29
Oh, a new Parasite Eve! Not a series I’m terribly familiar with, but this looks not too bad. It seems more action-oriented than the other PE games, but it should be interesting to play.
*EDIT* Dave tells me that fans of the series who played the japanese version have been highly disappointed in the game. So you might want to not keep your hopes up too high.
Kingdom Hearts is a series that seems to keep getting love from SE, with new games coming out all the time for it. This is the second iteration of the series on the DS, but it’s a remake of a mobile phone game in Japan. Before playing this, I was actually confused as to what type of game this was. Some videos showed me turn-based RPG gameplay, others showed standard KH Action RPG gameplay, and others were just confusing. So I had no idea what to expect.
Not sure what I was getting into, I went at it with an open mind. Read on and see if I liked it!
Developer: Square Enix, h.a.n.d. Inc.
Publisher: Square Enix
Date of Release: January 11th 2011
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action RPG
Rated E10+ for everyone over 10 years old
What’s good in the game
Gameplay
One thing that’s great about this game isn’t just the basic gameplay (I’ll talk about it soon). In addition you have side-scrolling gameplay, some gameplay that reminds me of a less polished version of Overlord (where you sort of order Donald and Goofy to attack certain things and use special attacks), turn-based RPG battles that work like Super Mario RPG… There’s really a lot of variety here. The side-scrolling area isn’t great (but it’s not very long), but the Overlord-like segment is decent enough, and the RPG part is well-done (if not a bit too easy since the game tells you when to time your button presses).
As for the basic gameplay, it’s pretty much identical to the original KH. Half platformer, half Action RPG. Pressing A makes you attack, B jumps, and pressing X makes you use whatever special attack is currently selected (on the small menu on the bottom left). Each time you use a special attack it has to recharge, and it automatically switches to the next attack/item in the menu. The Y button eventually lets you block and dodge.
The gameplay progression is fairly simple. You explore levels like in previous KH games, talk to NPCs, do various small quests, eventually get to the level’s final boss, and then go to the next level. Certain moments have you looking for “glitches”, which makes you find portals that send to glitch worlds, where you have to clear certain numbers of enemies and blocks to fix the glitch. You get points depending on your performance, which you can use to buy rewards.
The fighting is fun, there’s a large variety of special moves you can use, and there’s lots of variety. Good stuff.
Leveling
The leveling system here is actually sort of similar to that of FFX. You have a grid of sorts, where you put computer chips in empty spaces. The chips can boost your stats, HP, specific magic attacks, specific magic resistances and you level. If you “link” 2 CPUs on the grid, all the chips in-between are doubled in effectiveness (including Level Up chips, which you obviously gain as you get EXP). Putting chips in certain spots on the grid can get you new skills, or special configuration devices that will let you change the difficulty of the game, or adjusting certain things. For example, you can lower your HP in exchange for more loot, better prizes, more money in exchange for less experience (which is useless since money is very rarely used) and more. Putting chips on 2 ends of certain components can also give you more slots for special attacks, or accessories. There’s some customization here.
As you kill enemies, you get experience on your weapon, which gives you extra Overclock skills, which differ depending on the keyblade you have equipped. You get access to the boosts it gives as you hit enemies and blocks, and you get a super attack when you max out the overclock bar. You also level up special attacks (or “Commands”). How that works is that you equip one attack, equip a second one under it (which can change the combined attack), and when both are fully “leveled”, you can combine them, powering up the attacks.
What I didn’t care about in the game
Story
The story is basically no good. Jiminy sees something weird in his journals of his adventures with Sora, so he puts it in a computer and worlds from his adventures appear in the computer. Jiminy, Mickey, Donald and Goofy communicate with the Sora within the book, give him a keyblade, and make him solve problems in the book’s worlds, since they’ve been glitched or something… It makes no sense, adds nothing to the overall story of the series and is basically a waste of time. I’ve seen worse stories in games (see: Heavy Rain), but here it’s basically pointless.
Graphics
They’re good. Very much so. They’re nearly identical to the PS2 version (or as close as the DS can get). It’s actually a step up from 358/2 days, the previous DS outing of the series. It’s nothing you haven’t already seen in previous KH games, but it’s adequate.
Recycling
There’s lots of recycling. The music is recycled, the enemies are recycled, lots of the models are recycled, some of the areas are recycled. Not a big problem since you ARE essentially just revisiting the story from the first game.
What’s bad in here
Camera
I still don’t get why developers can’t do good cameras in 3D platforming games anymore. I mean, even the N64 had good cameras in some games. Here, it keeps getting in the way, locking on to enemies sucks since you have to press 2 buttons to do it, and pressing the button to center the camera sometimes doesn’t work or gives you the worst viewing angle possible. It’s annoying. In battle that can frequently cause you to attack enemies you don’t want to, or getting hit because you’ll have trouble seeing where attacks are coming from. I don’t remember having this much trouble on the PS2.
Annoying status effects
The status effects here are really annoying. I understand that it’s the point, but sometimes it’s just stupid. There’s one that prevents you from jumping which can sometimes kill you, another mixes up the d-pad directions, making moving near impossible, and getting burned lasts so long and there’s nothing you can do against it so it does massive damage. Status effects should be just a bit annoying, but this goes overboard.
Automatic jumping
THIS is a huge problem for me. Whenever you walk towards a ledge, Sora will jump. This is terribly tedious in the glitch worlds since there’s so many ledges in there. And sometimes this thing actually glitches up and makes you jump automatically when you’re not even near ledges. This is just stupid. I don’t want the game to jump for me, I want to jump whenever I want to. I finally found an option to deactivate that, but it’s hidden deep in the config menu… But that function shouldn’t even have been in the game at all, I really don’t get it.
“Short”
There’s only 3 Disney-themed worlds here. They skipped most of the worlds from the first KH. There’s only a fairly small selection of worlds (Destiny Island, Traverse Town, Wonderland, Colyseum, Agrabah and Hollow Bastion), and each of them isn’t really long. After only a few levels, the game tells you “Oh, there’s only one world left!”. Yeah, not too great. Ends up not being that long, or at least not in comparison to the PS2 KH games.
Overall
KH Re:coded is not a bad game at all. The gameplay is solid, it looks good, the leveling system is fun, there’s some cool things in here gameplay-wise that’s a bit different from the other games in the series, and there’s various gameplay styles. On the bad side, the story is entirely pointless and lame, it’s fairly short (though there is some replay value), the automatic jumping thing is REALLY annoying unless you find the option to turn it off, the camera is shitty and the status effects are some of the most annoying I’ve seen in a game ever.
Overall it’s a nice little game. If you like KH, you’ll like this, as long as you’re not expecting a stellar story.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fun and varied gameplay
- Lots of replay value
- Looks nice
- Leveling system is fun
Cons
- Crappy camera
- Lame story
- Not really long
- Very few worlds
- The automatic jump (if you don’t know to go change the option, it gets super annoying)
The Save Factor
The full price for this is 35$. Unless you’re a big KH fan and MUST play everything in the series, I’d say spend no more than 25$ on it.
]]>There’s a good amount of releases in February: 5 multiplatform games, 4 PS3 exclusives (one of which is a japanese release), 1 Xbox 360 exclusive, 1 Wii exclusive, 2 DS games and 2 PSP games. Keep in mind those are the interesting releases, there’s obviously a bunch of shovelware.
Read on!
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (02/01 for the PS3, 02/02 for the 360)
The first Bionic Commando Rearmed was a GREAT remake of the arcade/NES classic Bionic Commando. Since the disc-released reboot of Bionic Commando was a horrible piece of crap, Capcom made the right choice and are releasing a sequel to the game in the series that was actually succesful/good. This looks awesome, no doubt about it. The addition of jumping (WHOA!!) seems okay, since it’s not huge Mario-like jumps. I have good expectations for this. But what’s with the mustache on Rad Spencer’s face? That’s like the opposite of rad.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds 02/15 (PS3, 360)
WOOOOOOOOO! This looks so awesome. And FINALLY we get Dante in a fighting game, why did it take so long? Nothing more to say, it looks great, buy it! Twice!
Bulletstorm 02/22 (PC, PS3, 360)
Well, I just posted my impressions of the demo, you know I’m interested in this. The graphic style might be meh, but damn is the gameplay fun.
de Blob 2 02/22 (PS3, 360, Wii, DS)
I know nothing about this. I haven’t played the first one, never cared, but it did get a good following on the Wii. Now PS3 and 360 owners also get a piece of the action… whatever it may be.
Dreamcast Collection 02/22 (PC, 360)
Well, that’s kinda cool…. But kinda useless since all of those are available in other ways, specifically downloadable on the PS3 and 360 already (or soon in the case of Space Channel 5 Part 2). Unless it’s really low-priced, it’s not really worth it, especially if you downloaded one of those already.
XBOX 360 RELEASES
Hard Corps: Uprising 02/16
It’s Contra! With anime characters! This actually looks really awesome… I wonder if it’s gonna come out on the PS3, because I don’t want to have to hook up my 360 again… and I really want to check this out.
PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll 02/08
I know nothing about this, other than the fact that it’s made by the guys behind the Dynasty Warriors series. Could be good.
Hyperdimension Neptunia 02/15
A NISA published game made by Compile Heart. Usually those aren’t very well-liked other than by a few weirdos like me (Cross Edge, Record of Agarest War). But this one actually looks interesting. Here you play as CPUs, who are Godesses that represent video game consoles (vaguely inspired by real-life consoles, except that they’re “moe/cute” anime girls), to save the world of Gamindustry. And the CPUs can be fully customized and they have summons, like Alex Kidd… waitwhat? Yeah, I’m interested. (speaking of Alex Kidd, when the hell are Sega gonna revive the dude?)
Killzone 3 02/22
Basically, this one is the same game as KZ2, except it has JETPACKS… and SNOW… Yeah, lame…. Okay, the controls seem to fix some very minor things people didn’t like about them in KZ2, at least that’s what it seemed like to me in the beta… which makes it even MORE the same damn thing as every other current-gen FPS.
Makai Senki Disgaea 4 02/24 (japanese release)
It’s Disgaea 4! Yeah, just highlighting the fact that it’s coming out in Japan, and hoping that it’s coming here soon. Should be awesome. I mean, there’s a girl with a prinny hat!
NINTENDO WII RELEASES
Mario Sports Mix 02/07
This actually looks really cool. You get hockey, volleyball, dodgeball and basketball, all Mario-ified. Mario sport games are generally pretty good, so I think this should be a fun release for the Wii.
NINTENDO DS RELEASES
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie 02/14
Oh, I forgot about this one… I loved this game when I played the translated english rom for it, so finally being able to play it officially translated to english is awesome. It’s a great game in the Dragon Quest series, and one RPG players everywhere should definitely check out.
Radiant Historia 02/22
It’s an RPG by Atlus… That’s literally all I know about it. It should be interesting though, since Atlus generally know what they’re doing when it comes to RPGs.
PLAYSTATION PORTABLE RELEASES
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together 02/15
I barely remember the original Tactics Ogre on the PS1 (yes, I know it came out earlier in Japan)… But from what I remember it’s a solid SRPG, so this should be worth checking out.
Ys I & II Chronicles 02/15
I never played an Ys game…. maybe I should someday… Not sure what this one is about, but it seems to be a remake of Ys Boox 1 & 2… I think it’s based on a PC release or something.