But I wasn’t expecting such a low number of note-worthy releases. PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and PC get no interesting exclusive releases, so we’re left with just a few interesting multi-platform releases, 3 DS releases(including 1 japanese release), and 2 Wii releases. A very slow month indeed.

It might be a small month, but still, come and check what are the interesting games coming in April 2010!

As usual, Multiplatform releases first, ordered by date, and if the game is a japanese release it is marked accordingly.

Read on!
*EDIT: Monster Rancher DS was removed from the list due to it being delayed to July 2010, After Burner Climax was added*
*ANOTHER EDIT: Trauma Team delayed to May*
*YET ANOTHER EDIT: Dementium 2 delayed to May*

MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction 4/13 Xbox 360, PC

To be totally honest, I never played a Splinter Cell game before, so I have no idea what to expect from this. But the gameplay videos I’ve seen of this one look really cool. I’m definitely keeping an eye out for it.

Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse — Episode 1: The Penal Zone 4/18 PC, PS3, MAC

And it’s time for more Sam & Max! I sadly missed on season 2, but this one still seems quite interesting, having the trademark weird humor the series is known for. Definitely an interesting release, and this time PS3 owners are part of the fun too, with the game being available on PSN in addition to the PC and MAC releases.

After Burner Climax 4/21 on Xbox 360, 4/22 on Playstation 3

It’s After Burner!! Yeah, the classic shooter from Sega got a revival in 2006 at the arcades, and now the arcade version is FINALLY coming over to consoles. The game looks great, and really fast-paced. Definitely can’t wait to play it!

Super Street Fighter IV 4/27 PS3, Xbox 360

It’s Street Fighter, so of course it gets a new version. This will surely be good… since it was good last year! There’s some pretty good upgrades though. Some characters get new moves, there’s some rebalancing, there’s a bunch of new additions to the roster, Makoto is there… Should be worth checking out for big fans of SFIV, or people who skipped on SFIV the first time, since it’s gonna be cheaper than a new game (a bit less than 40$ on Amazon).

Record of Agarest War 4/27 PS3, Xbox 360

Okay… from what I understand it’s an RPG, with an SRPG battle system, utilizing 2D sprites in a 3D environment… But when I search around for info, ALL I find is pictures like the one above… like this, or this. It looks kinda interesting from the little gameplay I’ve seen, and it seems to have cool battle animations and such, but I really don’t know much about it… I’ll give it a rental.

NIER 4/27 PS3, Xbox 360

I have no idea what this is. I’ve heard about it a bit, but not much. Then I heard something about the 360 and PS3 getting different versions(Replicant on PS3 and Gestalt on the 360), then I hear that the US gets the same version(Gestalt) on both systems… I’m not really sure what’s going on… It’s an action game, I don’t know if it has RPG elements… It’s published by Square Enix. And it’s developed by those guys who made the Resident Evil on-rail shooters for wii, that piece of shit Drakengard on PS2 and the pretty good Fate/Stay fighting game on PSP… Really not sure about this.

Final Fight: Double Impact 4/30 PS3, Xbox 360

Ah, Final Fight. One of the veterans of the Beat ‘em Up genre, and also one of the better representations of the genre. It’s coming to XBLA and PSN, with various visual options, some new filters and such. The title is Double Impact, so it’s not alone. It’s accompanied by Magic Sword, a lesser known but still very good arcade classic by Capcom. A nice little compilation, though hopefully the price isn’t too high.

No More Heroes: Eiyuutachi no Rakuen 4/15 Xbox 360, PS3 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

Currently not announced for an American release. No More Heroes was a fairly good game on the Wii. Not incredible, and it had some huge flaws, but the really good parts (AKA the boss battles) were definitely something to behold. Now people can experience it on the more powerful consoles… in Japan at least.

WII RELEASES

Monster Hunter Tri 4/20

I don’t really like Monster Hunter. I think it was the slow combat style that didn’t feel too good to me. This one seems very similar to the ones I’ve played. But its a hugely popular series, so if you’re curious it’s definitely worth checking out. And it comes with a Classic Controller Pro which is pretty cool.

DS RELEASES

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 4/28 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

The first Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker was pretty good. I’d say not exactly as good as the original Dragon Quest Monsters, but still really fun. I actually haven’t heard about this one until… just now. This should be good, and it’s sure to sell a shitload just because its Dragon Quest. Not exactly an import-friendly game, but an interesting release nonetheless.

Since the fans loved it so much, myself included, this game goes back to the NES style of Mega Man games again. Cover art and all. Yeah, I really love that cover art… The game features nostalgic graphics, nostalgic music and nostalgic gameplay.

Does it hold of as well as Mega Man 9, or should have Capcom stopped milking the cow already?

Read on and see!
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Date of Release: March 1st 2010 (Wii), March 11st 2010 (PS3), March 31st 2010 (360), Wii version reviewed
Platforms: Wii, PS3, Xbox 360

Genre: Side-scrolling Platformer
Players: 1
Rated E for Everyone

Presentation
Well, the graphics are just like the NES games, and MM9. It looks great. The sprites and areas are nicely detailed, while always retaining the 8-bit NES style. Each area is unique, containing different visual styles and level elements for each. There’s really not much to say here. If you like the NES look, you’ll love this.

The sound is good. Again, most of the sound effects are taken from the NES games, though the weapons mostly have new sounds. All of those retain the NES-like sounds. The most important though, in any Mega Man game (in regards to presentation at least), is the music. The menu music and such is okay, but not stellar.
As for the level music, let’s go at them quickly one by one. Blade Man is okay, but lacks anything really good and the composition is rather flat. Solar Man’s music is really cool. It starts out rather bland, but it picks up the pace and becomes fast and exciting, with something of a double pedal sound in the backing, making it one of the more interesting tunes in here. Pump Man’s music is kinda slow and doesn’t really “climax”, and overall it’s okay but short and not too exciting. Commando Man’s music sounds pretty cool. I find it a bit slow paced, but I think it fits to mood nicely. The music in Chill Man’s level sounds appropriately winter-ish, but it kinda lacks character, and doesn’t feature many instruments, making it more bland than it could be. Sheep Man’s music has that “electronic” sound to it, being an electric-themed stage, and it sounds pretty good, with a nice tone and melody. Strike Man has some music that’s high on energy and quite fun to listen to, quite fitting with the level’s sports-theme. Nitro Man has another nice fast-paced tune with a good melody, and I quite like this one. The final levels, after beating the Robot Masters, also have a few nice tunes. Overall, the music quality isn’t bad, but there’s nothing really memorable.

Finally, a quick passing note on the story. The story here involves multiple robots, including Roll, catching Roboenza, a virus that only affects robots and almost renders them useless, and, after a couple weeks, turns them violent. Doctor Wily turns up at Dr Light’s lab, after his flying machine has been destroyed by berzerk robots, saying he had almost found a cure, but had his medicine-making machine stolen from him, so Mega Man goes to find it, with Proto Man tagging along since he thinks Mega Man might need his help. The story is superficial, as with all Mega Man games, but it’s still has that old-school fun factor to it.

Gameplay
Well, the game retains the same gameplay as the NES classics, has the same jumping and shooting mechanics. The shop is back from 9 so you can farm screws to fill up on lives and E-tanks when you want. And this game adds real-time weapon change, with the A and B buttons on the WiiMote, and I think L and R on the Classic Controller/Ps3 and 360 controllers.

Bosses/levels
Each level features some unique elements. Of course Sheep Man’s level has the trademark disappearing blocks, and Chill Man has slippery grounds, but each has some really interesting ideas that make them all rather unique. Most of them will have elements that will completely change the platforming, like speeding trucks in Nitro Man’s level, or that tether thing in Blade Man’s level, for example. Some of the levels also have mini-bosses, and I’ll say that the ones here are actually quite interesting, and overall I find them really fun to fight. The giant goal in Strike Man’s level is really quite interesting, though a bit easy if you have the right weapon. Each boss is also completely different, and I’ll say there’s some really cool fights here. Trying to find each boss’ weakness without reading about it before is quite fun, if not a little bit easy. Trying to figure out Blade Man is REALLY tough but totally satisfying since his pattern is so fast and random and adaptive of your behavior. Finding the best ways to avoid Solar Man’s attacks is hard but quite fun. Easily killing Sheep Man is fun too, and avoiding several of Nitro Man’s attacks requires precision jumps. A few of the fights aren’t as great, but overall I think they did a good job with the bosses.

Weapons
After killing a boss, you get his weapon, of course. The weapons here are not too bad. There’s a few good ones.
The Water Shield is one of the more interesting shields in the series.
The Thunder Wool basically creates a little wall of electricity in front of you(after around 2 seconds), shielding you from certain attacks and dealing good damage (though it’s hard to aim properly).
The Triple Blade you get from Blade Man can hit up to 3 times at once if you’re close enough to your target, and doesn’t use that much weapon energy compared to the other weapons.
The Commando Bomb can be remote controlled to go where you want (though your character moves as you move the missile, so be careful).
The Cutting Wheel moves across the floor and on the walls which is cool, and it stays attached to Mega Man’s (or Proto Man’s) arm until you release the button, so it can act as a shield, and it can be used to climb walls too.
The Rebound Striker can be shot either in front of you or diagonally, and it bounces off walls a few times too, making it quite useful in the right situations.
The Solar Blaze isn’t really great though, basically shooting a fireball then splitting in 2 fire waves on each side, which does no more damage than the buster.
The Chill Spikes are… not too great, unless you use it on an enemy that might walk on the spikes those produce (you can’t shoot again until something touches the spikes).

My big problem is that most of the weapons use a LOT of weapon energy. The Thunder Wool can only be shot a few times before being empty, as does the Rebound Ball, and the other weapons get empty relatively fast as well. The only weapon that can be used a bit more is the Triple Blades, which is a good thing since they’re really good.

Difficulty
The game is hard. It’s not cheap hard like most modern “hard” games, it’s “Nintendo hard”. Your first time through most levels will probably kick your ass, but you’ll eventually learn how to pass the tougher sections with trial and error. There’s a few areas that are more annoying than hard, but they’re relatively rare. The mini-bosses are also pretty tough, especially in Strike Man’s level, but learning the patterns will eventually get you through them without getting hit. The boss battles range from really easy (sheep man) to really hard (Blade Man), and most bosses will require more than one try to finally get their pattern and beat them easily…. or learning their weakness (which you should do on your own rather than looking it up online). Overall it’s quite a hard game, but I’d say not exactly as hard as Mega Man 9, since I got to the end a lot faster than 9.

The game features an easy mode. This changes quite a few things: some enemies are removed or replaced, some enemies don’t have the same attacks, some pitfalls/spikes are covered by flying platforms, some “puzzles” are changed completely like the disappearing block part in Sheep Man’s level, and the game is a LOT more generous on lives, E-tanks and screws. The levels also all have, 2-3 times each, an item appearing that fully heals all your life bar, sometimes right before boss battles. The bosses are also a bit easier, mostly featuring easier to avoid attacks. While this mode is almost useless for veteran Mega Man players (though it’s required to play to unlock all the challenges), newer gamers who are used to having their hand held through a game will definitely have a much easier  and probably more pleasant time with the game if they start out on easy mode.

Extra stuff
Here, you can play as Proto Man without having to pay extra, unlike in MM9. Here, he plays just like in MM9. He can slide, charge his weapon, he holds up his shield when jumping (unless he’s shooting) which stops almost any projectile that touches it. On the downside, he can only have 2 shots on the screen at once instead of Mega Man’s 3 shots, and he takes more damage. And here he has access to the shop unlike MM9, though it doesn’t have the same inventory as in Mega Man’s, and stuff costs more. Overall he’s pretty fun to play as.

Here, the game features 2 types of challenges. Just like in MM9, the “Challenge 2″ section is basically achievements. There’s a lot fewer than in MM9, but all the “important” ones are there. The “Challenge 1″ section is actually a relatively big amount of challenge rooms. Most of them require getting to the end of the room without dying, using pixel-perfect precision jumps, and various other things. This actually makes you get used to the game’s various jumping mechanics and puzzles in the game. There’s also boss fights and such here. It’s a really nice addition.

Like MM9, this features a Time Attack mode, where you try to finish levels as fast as possible, with all access to all weapons, with only 1 life. When you’re done, you can post your time on the leaderboards, and you can save a replay of your run. This is REALLY cool, because, if you save your replay, your recording becomes available online and people can watch it straight from the leaderboards. That way you can look at other people’s runs, to find out little tricks and such. This is a cool feature, for sure.

Overall
Mega Man 9 was the perfect revival for the 8-bit classic Mega Man. This is just Capcom milking the idea of making old style Mega Man games since it sells so well. It doesn’t feel like they put as much effort in this one than they did in Mega Man 9. But don’t get me wrong, this is still a really good entry. Damn good.

But overall it’s quite fun. The platforming is good, the boss battles are interesting and require really learning how to fight them, there’s some really challenging parts and it’s overall really fun to play. Being able to choose 2 distinct characters from the start is good, though being able to unlock Bass would be a LOT better than having to buy him.

The Easy mode makes levels almost too easy to veteran gamers, but newcomers will definitely like it more.

Overall, any Mega Man fan should check it out, and people new to the series should check it out too because of Easy Mode.

Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fun retro gameplay
- Looks great
- Sounds good
- There’s a few quite good music tracks in here
- It’s hard
- The “Easy mode” makes this a perfect for beginner Mega Man players
- Being able to watch other peoples’ Time Attacks online is really a nice feature, you can learn quite a few cool tricks
- Challenge mode is fun

Cons
- The music is nowhere near as good as in MM9
- Some parts are just annoying rather than challenging
- The weapons aren’t the the best in the series, though there’s some really cool ones
- Bass is downloadable rather than unlockable, which is really stupid

The Save Factor
Despite not being as good an entry as Mega Man 9, it’s still a solid game and is well worth the 1000 Wii Points it costs. So $10 is the Save Factor here!

There’s lots of good releases, a few that aren’t too great, but overall it seems like it should be a really good month. Let’s go and see what March has in store for us gamers, shall we?

As usual, the multi-platform releases are toghether, the exclusive releases are in their own sections, and japanese releases are marked accordingly.

Read on!

MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES

Mega Man 10 3/01 on Wii, 3/11 on PS3, 3/31 on Xbox 360

Probably the month’s biggest release for me. I’m always in for some old-school Mega Man 8-bit action. Not sure why there’s super delayed releases for the PS3 and Xbox 360 (seriously… 30 days later on the 360? Why?), but I’m very excited for this, so I’ll probably get it on Wii. And the easy mode might make the game a lot more accessible to casual gamers, or modern gamers who are used to games holding their hands too much.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 3/02 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Another sequel to the popular franchise. To me it’s just a generic war FPS, but I’m sure lots of people are hyped for it, and from what I’ve seen it looks decent.

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition 3/09 (PS3, Xbox 360)

A new edition of RE5. The DLC comes in it, and there’s some new content as well. Not really what is new in it though. But if you loved the first version and want to see the new stuff, or haven’t played it and want to try it out, this should be well worth getting.

Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space 3/09 (Wii, PC)

Sam & Max, season 2. Made by TellTale games, this continues the famous duo’s quest of… hum… being incredibly weird and random. Should be well worth checking out for fans of the first season. Which reminds me, I should finish that first season someday…

Final Fantasy XIII 3/09 (PS3, Xbox 360)

One of the most awaited games in a long time. And one I’m quite hyped for, despite the kinda negative opinions we hear from japanese players. It still looks quite good, the combat looks fun, and I doubt it will really disappoint. To me it looks like a step up from 12. And it’s been in development for a really long time, SE can’t really have screwed it up too much, right? RIGHT?

Resonance of Fate 3/16 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Tri-Ace’s latest RPG. I actually have no idea what this game is like. It’s probably gonna have underwhelming sales because it comes out a week after FFXIII, but it might still be an interesting game… since it’s from Tri-Ace. I’ll definitely give it a try sometime.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3/16 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

An expansion to the critically acclaimed  Dragon Age Origins. From what I’ve heard it adds quite a bit of content, so fans of the game should really enjoy it.

METRO 2033 3/16 (PC, Xbox 360)

I only saw one gameplay video for this… And I really am not impressed with what I’ve seen. Looks like it will be a boring generic FPS, with no online and little content. But I might be wrong, and might rent it if I have nothing else to do one day(and if the reviews are higher than I expect them to be). I know there’s a bit of hype on the internet for this, so I’ve added it to this list…

R.U.S.E. 3/23 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

This looks like a really fun RTS with some cool quirks and it seems to use different tactics than other RTS out there. I definitely want to give this one a try.

Just Cause 2 3/23 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

I know nothing about that one. Nor have I heard of the previous game in the series. This looks like the average open-world game where you can cause any kind of chaos you might want. I’ll probably rent it, but I don’t have very high expectations from what I’ve seen.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City 3/30 (PC, PS3)

Finally the PC and PS3 get the 2 expansion packs for the popular GTAIV. I didn’t really like GTAIV, but lots of people have, and this is a long awaited release for people who don’t have a 360.

Hokuto Musou 3/25 (JAPANESE RELEASE) (PS3, Xbox 360)
(wow, the boxart looks just like Just Cause 2′s… yay for originality?)
A Fist of the North Star(Hokuto no Ken) game, which plays similarly to Dynasty Warriors… With more exploding heads probably. Definitely sounds like an interesting idea. Hopefully there’s gonna be an American release one day.

Wii RELEASES

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon 3/16

From what I understand, this is a sort of Survival Horror game, with anime visuals. I know nothing about it, but I know it’s quite hyped in the Wii’s “core” community.

Cave Story (on WiiWare) 3/22

It’s been delayed so much no one though it would finally come, but there it is. Unless something goes wrong again, you’ll be able to get your Cave Story action on Wii on March 22nd.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love 3/23

There’s also a PS2 release coming, though I didn’t list it here… Anyways, this is a strategy RPG where you control mechs, as well as a visual novel-like game it seems (which affects stats in battle). I’m not exactly sure what it’s gonna be like, but the fact that it’s the first Sakura Wars game to make it to the US makes it an interesting release. Should be worth at least checking out.

Red Steel 2 3/23 (found a second release date saying 3/26 with a WiiMotion Plus)

The first Red Steel was a pretty lame FPS. This one apparently makes use of the WiiMotion Plus to correct the original’s shortcomings. Though I have no idea if it really adds much, I have yet to play it so I have not much to comment in that sense. But I definitely want to check that one out someday.

PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES

Yakuza 3 3/09
(I can’t be the only one not to like this boxart…)
A quite interesting release on the PS3 release. It’s a very loved series, and I know quite a few people who are hyped for it. It was still unsure for a while if it was even gonna come out in America, but there it is.

God of War III 3/16

God of War. The lower tier in the action game genre that was spawned by Devil May Cry. Featuring pathetic QTEs, one of the lamest characters in all of gaming, and boring(though good-looking) combat, it’s an example of everything that sucks in modern gaming. Yet people can’t do anything but be excited for it. I.. don’t get it. But this is a very hyped game that will generate a lot of sales, I won’t deny that. Whatever it is people like about this series, this one will have it all, and fans won’t be disappointed, that’s for sure… Since it’s exactly the same gameplay-wise as the first game, just technically better-looking.

Ryu ga Gotoku 4 3/18 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

Well, just as we get the third game in the Yakuza series over here, the fourth one comes out in Japan. Nice…

XBOX 360 RELEASE

Perfect Dark 3/02 (this comes out on the XBLA)

Well, I just found out that this was coming. I don’t know how I missed that either, since Perfect Dark is by far my favorite console FPS. This is a remake of the original on the N64. This has updated graphics, but the same old gameplay, which I think is awesome(I don’t think any modern console FPS has better gameplay than this… but that’s just me). It also has some cool online implementation which enables more than the usual 4 people in one match, in combination with split-screen play (so you can have 4 people in split-screen playing with more people online at the same time). OH, and it has multiplayer maps from Goldeneye 007 as well, awesome.

PC RELEASE

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight 3/16

I almost forgot about that one. A new Command and Conquer game! Should be good, I might check it out someday.

DS RELEASES

Sonic Classic Collection 3/02

This includes all 4 Genesis Sonic games. 1, 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles (pretty sure it includes Sonic 3 and Knuckles too). It’s a nice little collection, and in total should cost just a bit less than getting all 4 games seperately on the Wii Virtual Console(hopefully, otherwise there’s no sense in buying it). Though there are so many compilations of this, some with MORE games, it might not be really worth it.

Spectral Force Genesis 3/11

Not sure what this is exactly, but from screenshots it seems like it might be a Strategy RPG… For some reason the name sounded familiar, so it’s on the list.

Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver 3/14

More Pokemon! Yay! This one comes with the PokeWalker accessory, which enables you to carry a pokemon around to make it gain experience. And it’s a remake of the best pokemon games in the main series. Cool stuff.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey 3/23

From various info I’ve found this sounds a bit like Nocturne, which is pretty cool. Though it takes on a more futuristic theme this time. One game I definitely want to check out.

WarioWare D.I.Y. 3/28

I don’t like WarioWare. Not my thing really. But fans of the series can now make their own WarioWare mini-games, which I’m sure they’re very excited for. Heck, even I want to check it out, see what the various options are in here. (This is also getting a release on WiiWare)

Monster Rancher DS 3/30 (I see multiple release dates for this one including April 1st, so if I need to I’ll mention it again in my April 2010 post)

WHOA!!!! FINALLY!!!! I’ve been hoping for this for a long time. This is the second Monster Rancher game on the DS in japan, but the first never came out here, and it’s some kind of miracle that this one is coming here at all (with Tecmo thinking the fanbase is too small for the game). I can’t wait to play this one, I played the hell out of the GBA games in the series.

PSP RELEASES

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony 3/02

Another remake of Lunar. There’s been multiple versions of this very same game, though the one I played was on GBA. This features new upgraded graphics and… I don’t know what else really. RPG gamers who haven’t played any of this game’s millions of versions might want to check it out, and older fans of the game might like to revisit it in an upgraded format.

Blazblue Portable 3/09

This features new modes and new unlimited versions of characters, but otherwise it’s the same BlazBlue we know and love… with downgraded graphics.

Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku 3/11 (JAPANESE RELEASE) (currently known as “Absolute Hero Modding Project” in english)

Nippon Ichi’s newest game is coming out in Japan! It features incredible customization, dungeon-crawling gameplay, lots of content and it looks to have Disgaea’s trademark humor style. I won’t be playing the japanese release, since it seems to have way too much japanese text for me to handle, but people with good japanese skills who are NIS fans should definitely check it out.

Prinny 2: Toukou Yuugi! Akatsuki no Pantsu Daisakusensu!! 3/25 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

MORE NIS GOODNESS! This one features similar gameplay to the first, with some modifications, and a new “Asagi mode” with Contra-like gameplay(or at least that’s what the screenshots lead me to believe). I definitely can’t wait for the American release for that, but people who are too impatient should have little trouble playing this language-wise, since it’s a platformer. It’s sure to feature hard as nails gameplay like the first though.

This was a huge surprised. Just a few days ago, this was announced. 2 days after getting announced, it came out. Yeah, I find it a bit weird, since there was literally no marketing for this game, other than the Wii Shop Channel update posts on various news sites. So if it ends up under-selling… well, the complete lack of publicity is to blame.

For me, when it was announced and the trailer video came out, I knew I had to get it right away. It was a huge surprise that it was announced… Heck, I was surprised to learn that Sunsoft still existed… (MAKE A NEW “JOURNEY TO SILIUS” SUNSOFT!!!!)
The original Blaster Master on the NES was a great game, but it was incredibly difficult. Partly because it was genuinely hard and required lots of skill, and partly because it had limited continues and no save points.

I was just a bit weary though, since Blaster Master hasn’t always been very lucky when it comes to sequels. The Genesis game wasn’t too great and the Playstation game was quite bad. I haven’t played/seen the GBC version, so I can’t comment on that one.

Read on and see if it holds up to the original’s standards, or if it’s lame like its previous sequels!
(Note: This is not a remake, it’s a completely new game in the series.)

Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Date of Release: February 8th 2010
Platforms: Wii

Genre: Non-linear Action Platformer
Players: 1
Rated E10+ for Everyone over 10

Looks and sounds
The graphics are really cool. They conserve the original’s overall style, but it looks a LOT better. Each area is nicely detailed, with each of them having a different tone. While each area in the game has a similar look, they all have something unique about them that makes them recognizable. The underground areas are really repetitive-looking though. S.O.P.H.I.A looks a bit like an SUV, but it still has a similar design to S.O.P.H.I.A THE 3RD in the first game. The enemy design is really basic. Scorpions, weird flying bugs, spiders, blobs… nothing overly interesting. The bosses are pretty good though. They’re big and they have lots of detail.

Sound-wise, the game is okay. The music is fun, mostly because it’s all remixes from the first game. The remixes range from average to really good. Definitely not as bad as in the trailer. My only big problem with the sound is in the underground stages, Alex’s 2 “main” guns, when fully upgrade, cover up every other sound and music. They’re really loud for some reason and it can be annoying.

Story
Just a passing mention on this since the story is about as deep as the story in the average NES game. I find the premise here not to be as interesting as in the original. The original had you playing as Jason, a kid, who lost his pet frog in a hole and had to get him back with the help of the big badass tank S.O.P.H.I.A THE 3RD(which he randomly found after going down the hole). It was simple, it had a few cool plot twists, and it had that video game story quirkiness to it making it fun.
This one features a biologist named Alex (the same Alex as in the Worlds of Power book? Maybe). The Earth has been attacked by a virus and it’s mutating animals, making them violently killing humans, and humans are getting infected and dying. Alex, equipped with badass tank S.O.P.H.I.A and his gun(how a BIOLOGIST has a tank at all is a mystery, but whatever), goes to find a cure for his family who has been infected, as well as the world. The story is more serious, but it makes it all feel a lot less interesting than the epic tale of a kid looking for his atomic frog, doesn’t it? It’s not bad, and I’m happy that there’s no much focus on the story. It doesn’t really go much deeper than what the intro says(and the ending, of course), and that’s a good thing.

Gameplay
Controls
The game controls fully with the Wiimote only. There’s no option for Classic or Gamecube controllers.
While driving S.O.P.H.I.A, the 1 button uses the weapon you currently have equipped, the 2 button jumps, the d-pad moves and aims the turret, the A button switches weapons, holding the B button keeps your direction and gun angle, the + button makes Alex exit/enter the tank and the – button shows the map. It’s also the only way to pause the game.
In overhead stages, the controls are similar. The differences are that the D-pad moves you in any of 8 directions. B also keeps your aim in the direction you want, so it enables you to strafe like in the first game. The 2 button makes you use a bomb if you have one. And finally the + and – buttons do NOTHING.

I have just a few complaints. Holding the B button while holding the Wiimote sideways is a bit unwieldy. In the side-scrolling areas it’s not much of a problem since it’s not something that needs to be used often, but in the overhead segments it can be quite annoying since it’s a useful technique. My other BIG complaint is that there’s no way to pause in the overhead sections, other than using the Home button… What the fuck? Oh, and they reversed the confirm and cancel buttons on the Wiimote, with 1 confirming and 2 cancelling in menus. It’s a bit of an annoyance.

Other than those few problems, the controls are nice and simple. There’s a few problems that I think could have been ironed out if they would have released the game later (not that it would have changed anything on our side since they announced it 2 days before release).

Game Flow
The game flow is pretty much the same concept as the first game. You start with the basic tank with only a normal gun and average jumping abilities. As you find caves, you can exit the tank and enter them for levels using Alex in an overhead point of view. Caves can contain 4 things: Max HP upgrades(for Alex, not S.O.P.H.I.A), Gun upgrades, Save Points and bosses. Because of the HP upgrades, going in every cave you find is really important. Fighting bosses will give you an upgrade for S.O.P.H.I.A, enabling you to go to the next area, and find more items. Instead of actual levels, this game is basically “Metroidvania” style, like the original. Some areas are impossible to visit until you find the required upgrades. This is quite fun and let’s you progress at the speed you want and gives a little bit more time to explore the levels.

Side-scrolling areas
The overhead levels are where you’ll spend a bit more than half of the game. Each room has a bunch of enemies, obstacles and jumps to do. Looking for caves is the priority, but there’s more to find as there are upgrades, both for S.O.P.H.I.A’s HP and EN. EN is energy… Everything you do other than move uses up EN. Shooting, using the grappling hook, hovering, using the drill, using the swimming upgrade and walking on walls all use EN. Each of those actions take a different amount of EN. You recover EN by not doing anything. If you move, your EN stops regenerating.Getting upgrades enables you to do better platforming (since the basic jump is a bit low) by grappling to ceilings, climb up walls, drill through certain blocks(the drill also does a dash, which can be used to reach certain platforms), swim through water, and a few other things. Each upgrade kinda changes how you use S.O.P.H.I.A which is cool.

Combat is quite simple: point your gun at the enemy and shoot until he dies. You can aim the tank’s turret forward, diagonally (yay, huge improvement there) and upwards. Certain enemies take more hits, and react differently when you get close to them. Once you get your drill, combat is even more simplified. The drill makes you dash forward, and it kills almost anything in one hit. At first it’s hard attacking enemies when they’re on lower levels and when there’s many of them, but the drill makes everything easier.

Overall, those areas are pretty fun. Lots to explore, though the map reveals where any entrances might be and where all the caves are (and the ones that appear green on the map are Save Points. Despite that, there’s still some exploration required to find upgrades. And the platforming is pretty fun and quite well done, especially when you start getting upgrades.

Overhead areas
The overhead levels are pretty important. All the boss battles are there after all. All of the overhead levels are in various caves you find in all the areas. Just a note: Before entering caves, Alex is very frail so any kind of mildly high drop kills him instantly(you’ll be surprised at how low the drops can be for him to die), so be careful, and be very careful where you exit the tank, since you might take a drop by error.

In the caves, you get HP upgrades and gun upgrades. Alex has 3 guns. When you pick up a gun upgrade, whichever gun you have selected at the moment will level up, up to level 5.
The basic gun shoots straight. Upgrading it changes the firing speed/number of simmultaneous bullets, and at level 5 it shoots like crazy in front of you. The second gun shoots homing energy balls. This gun is pathetic until level 5 (since it’s slow and does less damage than the normal gun) where it starts shooting countless homing energy balls everywhere. It’s still not as strong the normal gun, but at max level it has some use. The final gun is a rocket launcher. There’s a cross-hair that appears some distance in front of you when you have this gun selected. When it becomes orange (takes around 2 seconds),  you can shoot and everything that is in the circle area you shoot in gets damaged (when the rocket lands). The rocket launcher has huge delay between shots, but does major damage. As it levels up, its area of effect increases and the damage gets a boost as well. It’s not useful at all in the actual levels, but against the bosses it was my main weapon.
One thing to note is that when enemies hit you, your currently equipped gun goes down a level, which is an extra incentive to not getting hit(you get damaged too, of course). Obviously the gun won’t go lower than level 1. A nice thing here is that you can farm gun upgrades. Exiting the cave and coming back in recovers the gun upgrades. There’s a particular cave in Area 2 that has 2 upgrades and that barely has any enemies which is great for that, but you need the dive kit to get to it.

Combat is quite straightforward here as well, but it’s a lot tougher than in the overhead levels. More enemies shooting more bullets as you, and Alex isn’t as sturdy as S.O.P.H.I.A. Strafing to avoid bullets while still shooting at the enemies is a pretty useful tactic here, though Alex moves slower when strafing. Also, Alex moves quite slowly from the start. It’s not unbearable, but it takes some getting used to (eventually you start knowing how to move properly).

The bosses are pretty cool here too. Each boss has a weak point, and each boss is different from there last… kinda. You fight the Crab boss twice, though the second time it has different attacks and is a lot harder. And there’s a caterpillar boss that you fight twice as well, which is completely different(and again much harder) the second time around, despite having the same weakpoint. The boss battles are definitely interesting.

Overall I find the overhead parts just a bit annoying, mostly because some of them are just overly difficult, but they’re pretty fun nonetheless.

Difficulty
This game is quite hard. The bosses in particular can be rather brutal, some being nearly equivalent to some of the “easier” bullet hell games I’ve played. Needless to say most bosses require multiple tries to get through. They’ll kill you quite a bit.

The overhead areas, while pretty fun, get insanely hard as you progress through the game. In later levels, even bombs can’t save you, since some enemies just split into more enemies when they die, making it even harder to move around. Getting extra HP upgrades does help, but some areas are still very tough even if you have all the upgrades currently available. And the fact that your gun gets weaker when you get hit make things even harder. Needless to say, you will die… a lot. The overhead areas will be tough for any gamer, and the bosses are no slouches either. (Hint: try not killing the jellyfish enemies)

You probably won’t die much in the side-scrolling areas using the tank, especially once you get the drill upgrade, which makes combat insanely easier. And you can farm healing items by exiting rooms that have lots of enemies and re-entering them. Enemy attacks don’t do much damage either, especially when you get your health high. Early in the game you don’t have lots of HP, so you’ll probably die a bit more, but, as you progress, the tank areas become easier and easier.

One thing that made the first game tough was the low number of continues, and the fact that you couldn’t save. And it was a rather long game that had to be finished in one sitting, and finishing it in one sitting (while not using up all the continues) was no easy task. While this game keeps the same “overall” difficutly as the first game, the fact that it has save points makes it a LOT easier to actually complete. Partly because you don’t have to finish it in one sitting anymore, but you can die as much as you want and keep on playing from your last save point whitout worrying about continues. So while the game IS tough, it’s not a game that will take you YEARS to finish like the original . Just make sure to save when you’re done with a boss, otherwise you’ll have to fight it again. I had to replay large sections of the game multiple times because I hadn’t saved in a long time.

Overall
This is a really fun game. Unless the GBC game was REALLY good, this is definitely the best game in the series since the original NES game. And it’s just as fun as the classic NES title.

The gameplay is nice and simple, and it’s just like the classic which is great. The presentation is quite good and true to the original, the game flow is great, and it’s lenghty enough. It takes about 5 hours to finish it, though that doesn’t count the countless times you die and have to reload your game to refight bosses and such, so I’d say about 10-12 hours total on the first playthrough.

Final word? This is Blaster Master as it’s meant to be. No crappy 3rd-person shooter stuff like the PS1 sequel. It’s tough, it’s fun and it’s overall a good experience. And the addition of save points make it a lot more manageable for any player.

Pros and Cons
Pros
- It’s challenging
- Save points are awesome for this game
- Great gameplay just like the original
- The drill is surprisingly fun to use
- Map makes the game easier to navigate

Cons
- The controls really needed just a bit more polishing, as they’re not perfect
- No support for other controls than Wiimote only
- Why is there no pausing in the overhead levels? That’s a serious oversight
- I’d say the map is slightly smaller than in the original… but I might be mistaken

The Save Factor
The game cost $10. It’s definitely worth it for a new Blaster Master game. So $10 is the Save Factor for this one.

(I seemingly had a lot to say about this game >_< sorry about the super long review…)

Just the lowdown on it:

HD 3D graphics, side-scrolling gameplay like the originals (though they added the Homing Attack), episodic games (each episode as long as one of the Genesis titles), downloadable, music similar to the Genesis titles, Sonic is the only playable character.  It’s gonna be on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Wii will have lower definition graphics, outputting only at 480p instead of 1080p on PS3 and 360. PS3 and Wii will have a few segments with motion control.

Well… I’m officially excited for this, can’t wait to try it out.

This really came out of nowhere. I remember it being announced, but I didn’t expect it to come out today. Right when I saw this on Joystiq I downloaded it and played it through a few times. I love Castlevania games, and the linear games in the series are always loads of fun.

This game is based on the Game Boy game Castlevania Adventure, though it doesn’t seem to have many similarities other than the character, Christopher Belmont, and some returning enemies. Otherwise it’s a completely new Castlevania game for 10$.

Also not going to explain the story. Dracula is back, and a Belmont is there to stop him, that’s about as deep as the game goes in that aspect.

So read on and see if it’s worth your 10$!

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Date of Release: December 28 2009

Platforms: Wii WiiWare

Genre: Linear action platformer
Players: 1
Rated T for Teen

Looks and sound
The game looks like what you’d expect from a 16-bit Castlevania games. The animations are nice and smooth, the monster and character designs are really nice, the levels all look great with various locales to visit(sometimes multiples different-looking areas in the same level), the level design itself has some really interesting parts. Overall the game looks awesome. No complaint here whatsoever.

The music is really good. Some of the sounds used in them are a bit weird, but whatever. Each level music (and other music snippets) is remixed from previous Castlevania games. The weird thing is that only 1 track comes from Castlevania Adventure(on the Title Screen), despite the game being based on it. And Castlevania Adventure had a few good tracks too…  The rest of the sound effects are all classic Castlevania sound effects, nothing really strange or out of place here.

Gameplay
The game takes mostly from the more classic games in the series. No fancy things like whip dangling or multi-direction attacking. You can whip forward, jump and use sub-weapons(which uses up hearts). It’s as simplistic as they come. Whipping candles drops power-ups, hearts, sub-weapons or items that give points. Points are actually useful here as getting certain numbers of points gives you extra lives.

The whip power-ups are a bit different from other games. Here you start with the leather whip. Get a power-up and you get the chain whip, which is longer and stronger. Then, any other power-up you get enables you to shoot projectiles for a short time. Getting more while you already have that power-up resets the “timer” (a green bar under the HP). You can use this to strategically take out enemies from far away or score extra hits on bigger enemies.

There’s a few cool gameplay quirks though, mainly the jumping itself which is really awesome. Instead of only being allowed to jump a certain distance like in the other linear Castlevania games, here you have air control, so you’re really not as limited as in the NES Castlevania games. So if you realize halfway through a jump that you undershot it, you can move back and try again, instead of falling to your doom. This becomes incredibly helpful in segments that require precision jumps. Just a note here, when you complete the game once you have the option to have the game control like the NES Castlevania games, with the same kind of “limited” jumps, which can add to the challenge.

The levels are all quite nicely done. Each of them features alternate pathways you can take. Sometimes shortcuts, sometimes it gets you inside bonus rooms with a bunch of items that give points. Most of those alternate paths require finding a key inside a candle (which takes the place of your sub-weapon) and using it to open a door, leading either to said alternate path or a switch that opens up said path. Some levels have more than one of those alternate paths, making it possible to make each playthrough completely different. And each level takes around 10 minutes to complete, unless you die a lot.

Each level has 2 boss fights as well. There’s always a boss halfway through the level, and a level boss. Each boss battle is relatively unique, and really fun. Figuring out patterns and finding the best ways to take them out fast is really fun. The final battle against Dracula (it’s completely different than in Castlevania Adventure) is really fun too, reminiscent of previous fights with the man, but with a new final form after his first 2 forms which is quite cool to fight.

As for the difficulty… The game is a bit tough, but the difficulty is adjustable. For example, on Normal when you reach level 5, normal enemies take off a quarter of your health, which kills you really fast. But it can be pretty easy for various reasons. You can decide the number of lives you get, there’s a few difficulty levels to choose from, and you have infinite continues. The only drawback of continues is that you a have to replay a level from the start, whereas the game has a few checkpoints scattered around for when you just lose lives. They’re quite spread out though. Overall the game is actually a bit hard, but the infinite continues and high number of lives make it easy to manage for veteran gamers, and playable enough for less experienced gamers.

Overall
This game is really fun. Castlevania games that don’t use the Metroid formula are always really fun, and they’re getting quite rare. This one has some really fun gameplay, cool level design, the alternate paths keeps the game fresh, the challenge is pretty good despite the various things that can make it quite easy to finish.  I love having air control here too. It’s a bit on the short side though. But any Castlevania fan should check it out.

Pros and Cons
Pros
- It’s classic Castlevania
- Nice music
- Air control!
- Cool level designs with alternate paths
- Fun boss battles
- Adjustable difficulty makes the game very accessible

Cons
- A bit short
- Despite having lots of hard parts, the game can be made really easy just because of infinite continues
(Just a note here: The lack of a save function is NOT a con. Not when it’s a short game like this. The game takes around 40 minutes to finish, it’s really nothing to finish it in one sitting. And if you somehow can’t, getting back to where you were barely takes any time. Ah, reminds me of the days when barely any game had a save feature… awesome times those were)

The Save Factor
The game has a starting price of 1000 Wii Points ($10). To me it was well worth it, and any Castlevania fan should pick it up at that price. Otherwise, I’d say the Save Factor for this is 800 Wii Points($8), the same price as a SNES game on VC. But I have no idea if Nintendo reduces the price on WiiWare games sometimes, so you might as well get it full price anyways.

Just a few notes here:
1. This is using knowledge we have as of the writing of this post (December 27th 2009). We obviously can’t see in the future, so we can’t predict delays, or unnanounced releases.
2. We will not update this list as the year goes by, unless there’s lots of demand for it.
3.  This only includes “interesting” games, so no shovelware and such.
4. We also include games that might not come out in 2010, but that there might be a remote chance of them coming…
5. If we’re missing something don’t hesitate to tell us.

So let’s do this! Read on and see what interesting games are coming out in 2010!

3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)

This could be one of the best games of 2010. 8-bit style using 3D models with blocks instead of pixels, gameplay that’s a combination of the first and third Zelda games, leveling, powerful swords, a bunch of items… What kind of gamer can say it DOESN’T look awesome? A stupid one, that’s who.

The 3rd Birthday (PSP)

There’s… really nothing I can say about this here, because I’ve never played a Parasite Eve game. But it looks like it could be really good.

Alan Wake (360, PC)

This has been hyped and hyped for a long time. I have no idea how it’s gonna end. But it definitely looks interesting.

Aliens vs. Predator (360, PC, PS3)

An FPS with Aliens, Predators, and Marines. Yay.

Army of Two: The 40th Day (360, PSP, PS3)

The first one was pretty popular. This one features… exactly the same gameplay as the first. So if you like the first, you’ll like this one for sure.

Bayonetta (360, PS3)

We might as well say this right away: This was a candidate for GotY 2009. But we decided to wait since it wasn’t out here yet (despite both Dave and I having played the japanese version). And it would be unreasonable having the same game winning in 2 GotY awards in 2 different years, right? This is the best Action game since DMC3, and nothing will even come close to touching it in a while. The PS3 version is just a bit inferior, but it’s great nonetheless, no doubt just as good as the 360 version. It’s worth buying no matter which console you have.

Brink (360, PC, PS3)

This looks like a generic FPS. I really have nothing to say about this. It’s getting tons of hype, but I can’t help but feel it’s not gonna be anything special. There’s some interesting ideas, like different objectives depending on the class you choose, but it’s probably not gonna be anything really special.

Bioshock 2 (360, PC, PS3)

The first Bioshock was an amazing game… apparently. I’ve only played a bit of it and it seemed solid. This time you play the role of a Big Daddy, which could end up being really cool.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (360, PS3)

A third-person action Castlevania… They failed with the idea around 4 times already, maybe this will be the time where they’ll get it right. And with Kojima on board, they could be hitting gold here.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)

C&C games are usually really good RTS, so this one should be no exception.

Crackdown 2 (360)

I don’t know what to say about this one… I played a bit of the first and found it to be a bit boring… Like inFamous but nowhere near as good.

Crysis 2 (360, PC, PS3)

Crysis finally gets a sequel. Maybe the developers will learn to optimize their game instead of making it such a ressource hog this time.

Diablo 3 (PC)

It probably won’t come in 2010, but we can still wish, right? Diablo 2 is still a great game after TEN YEARS(seriously, has it already been 10 years?). I’ve been playing Diablo 2 a lot in the last few years and I definitely can’t wait for the sequel.

Dante’s Inferno (360, PS3)

Dante’s Inferno is God of War done right. It does have some of the problems GoW has, but it feels a lot better than GoW both in combat and in the story. It’s based on the famous poem, but it probably doesn’t have much to do with it outside of the title and the basic premise.

Darksiders (360, PS3)

This looks like a mix of Devil May Cry (basic combat), Gears of War (shooting) and GoW (crappy QTEs). It looks interesting enough, but I’ll give this a rent before actually trying it out.

Dark Void (360, PC, PS3)

The first “Vertical Third-Person Shooter”. Videos I’ve seen makes it look pretty boring, but there’s some interesting ideas here, so I’ll definitely try it out.

Dark Void Zero (DSiWare)

If there’s something ACTUALLY interesting about Dark Void, it’s this “demake”. An 8-bit side-scrolling action prequel of the game which looks really fun. I don’t really care about Dark Void, but I’m pretty hyped for this version at least. Only problem? It’s going to FUCKING DSiware. Good job limiting the number of people who will be able to play this Capcom… I’m not getting a DSi for this. Put it on WiiWare dammit!

Dead Rising 2 (360, PC, PS3)

More zombie-killing madness, while removing the boring picture-taking element from the first. Should be really fun.

Dead Space 2 (360, PC, PS3)

The first Dead Space had a nice mix of third-person action and horror elements and made for a really fun experience. The second one should be as good.

Deus Ex 3(360, PC, PS3)

I haven’t played the first 2 games, so I really have nothing to say here… Sorry.

Duke Nukem Trilogy (PSP, DS)

Not sure about this. It’s supposed to come out both on PSP and DS, but nothing is really known about it. Other than this.

Estpolis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods (Lufia 2 Remake) (DS)

Hopefully there’s gonna be an English release for this. A remake of the best games in a great RPG series, with completely new gameplay (3D action game instead of 2D turn-based RPG), revamped character designs, re-written story… Should be badass if the gameplay works well.

EA Sports MMA(360, PS3)

Well… I’m not a huge fan of the UFC, and UFC Undisputed 2009 was pretty boring. But this is made by EA Sports, who made the awesome Fight Night Round 4 (well, not the exact same team…), so maybe it won’t end up being as boring. The ground game will probably make or break this game, so hopefully it’ll be well done here compared to the clusterfuck that was the ground game in UFC Undisputed 2009.

Epic Mickey (Wii)

Not much was shown about the game. So I really don’t know what it will play like. But from the info we’ve seen, it looks like it might be interesting.

Fable III (360)

I didn’t really like Fable 2 at all. All I really expect for this is Molyneux promising a ton of crap that won’t be in the final game, just like before.

Fallout: New Vegas(360, PC, PS3)

A new Fallout game. Yay. Probably not gonna be a lot deeper than a Fallout 3 expansion, but whatever, should be fun anyways.

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360)

It’s Final Fantasy 13! Of course it’s gonna be a quality game. It’s been in development for a while too, so like most people I have high expectations for this.

Final Fantasy XIV (PS3, PC)

The latest in MMORPGs, basically a sequel to 11. Should be interesting for fans of the genre. If I get chosen for the beta I’ll be sure to give it a good try.

Game 3 (360)

The Behemoth’s third game. No name yet, and the gameplay hasn’t been given a proper explanation yet either. But it could be pretty interesting.

Golden Sun DS (DS, duh)

After being teased and rumored for years, finally we’ll get to play a sequel to the GBA’s popular RPG series. Should be badass.

Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

The fifth in the popular simulation racer series, taking years to actually come out. Will it surpass its competition? Can’t wait to try it out, if not only to see the FT-86.

Green Day: Rock Band (360, Wii, PS3)

Yeah, Green Day getting their own band-centric Rock Band… A completely random choice, but with proper care it could at least get an interesting setlist. And it can get imported to Rock Band 2, so it could at least have SOME use.

God of War 3 (PS3)

The demo is terrible, showing us that the developers don’t want to do anything more than “God of War with better graphics”, instead of actually using all the potential the series has. God of War could really be a great series, but the crappy combat, massive amounts of badly done QTEs and uninteresting characters just makes this a really lame action game. But it’s on here nonetheless since it’s gonna be stupidly popular for no good reason.

Guild Wars 2 (PC)

Hum… No idea what to say about this one, since I didn’t even touch the first one….

Halo: Reach (360)

It’s Halo…

Heavy Rain (PS3)

This is a game I’ll just rent and play through once (if it’s interesting enough). There’s some interesting story-telling ideas, but the gameplay itself looks really boring.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security!

Almost forgot this one in the list. The first game was one of the winners in our GotY awards, and this one looks even better. Awesome.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (PSP)

A prequel to all the Kingdom Hearts series, taking place 10 years before the first, featuring Keyblade Masters other than Sora of course, and Xehanort. Should be interesting.

Just Cause 2 (360, PC, PS3)

All I’ve seen is a weapons trailer for this. Not really sure what it’s about, but it’s been getting some hype at least.

The Last Guardian (PS3)

The latest title by Team ICO. No idea if it’s actually coming in 2010, but whatever, it’s on this list since it might. Should be pretty good.

Lost Planet 2 (360, PS3)

The demo was pretty terrible, so I have no hype for this. But the first one was popular, so maybe it’s just the demo that was bad.

Mega Man 10(360, Wii, PS3)

FUCK YEAH! CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY THIS! I’m always in for more 8-bit Megaman awesomeness.

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC)

The first game was really good, and the second one looks awesome as well, maybe even better. Can’t wait to check it out.

MAG (PS3)

This looks pretty boring. Just look at the crappy  boxart, it couldn’t scream GENERIC any louder than it does now. The gameplay looks like a total mess since no one will really bother to work as a team despite that being the main idea of the game. The 128 vs 128 idea is good by concept, but the execution… Lame. But maybe that’s just how it goes in the beta, and that in the final game people will actually play it properly? We’ll see.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (360, PS3)

Maybe side-scrolling action shooter action in the style of Contra is a much better fit for the character than a sub-par third-person shooter. We’ll see.

Max Payne 3 (360, PC, PS3)

More Max Payne is always a good thing, right?

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)

It’s Metal Gear, on the PSP. It looks pretty good, though from what I’ve played of the TGS demo it felt more like a shooter than a stealth game. But that might just be the TGS demo.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising (360, PS3)

Nothing is really known about this game. But it should be interesting. Though we’re not completely sure that it’s coming in 2010.

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

A Metroid game made by Team Ninja? That’s enough to pike my interest. It looks to have multiple play styles, with some third-person, some side-scrolling and some third-person. U definitely can’t wait to play this.

ModNation Racers (PS3)

This could be the LittleBigPlanet of racing games. If the track building tools are good and if the racing itself is well done it could be really fun.

Monster Rancher DS (DS)

OH SHIT! Finally! This is the second Monster Rancher game on the DS in japan, but the first one to reach the DS in America. Definitely can’t wait to try it out.

Microsoft’s Natal and Sony’s Wands

Hopefully we’ll get to see how those 2 are shaping up this year.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (360, PS3)

A sequel to what was a pretty fun and AWESOME-looking Naruto game, if this corrects the issues in the first(especially balancing, Itachi was way too strong), it could be pretty fun.

Nier (360, PS3)

I have no idea what those games are about. Both Nier Replicant and Nier Gestalt will come on 1 system each, and each seems to share multiple similarities… But that’s really all i know about it.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

Nice, more No More Heroes. The first one was pretty good, though it lacked polish. Maybe this one will correct this?

Okamiden: Chiisaki Taiyo (DS)

Finally Okami on the system it always felt it was meant for. Should be good. No US release announced yet, but it should come someday.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (360, PC, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, Cake)

A sequel to the Sands of Time trilogy. Hopefully they don’t make it boring like their pathetic attempt at a “reboot”.

Project Needlemouse (Unknown)

There’s no actual name for this game yet, but it’s a new side-scrolling Sonic game on console… PLEASE SEGA DON’T SCREW THIS UP!!!!!

Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver (DS)

Remakes of the most beloved games in the series. Nothing more to say.

Puzzle Quest 2 (DS, PC, probably everything else)
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I guess Galactrix didn’t count as a sequel. Should be pretty fun.

Quantum Theory (360, PS3)

So this is japan’s Gears of War clone, but with a more Fantasy tone to it? Looks okay, we’ll see.

RUSE (360, PC, PS3)

Ah, now this might be really cool. Not sure if I’ll play it, but it has a lot of new and interesting concepts for an RTS.

Red Dead Redemption (360, PC, PS3)

Looks quite interesting. Haven’t played the first game so I have nothing to compare it to though.

Red Steel 2 (Wii)

This was supposed to come out in November 2009, but didn’t. It’s supposed to take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus, but gameplay demonstrations didn’t show anything that couldn’t be done without it. So I really have no idea how this will end up. It definitely looks better than the first one though.

Rocket Knight (360, PC, PS3)

ZOMG, a new Rocket Knight Adventures! Awesome! Should be really fun.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii, PS2, though the Wii version will apparently be a bit better)

The first Sakura Wars game to come to the US. I have no idea what the series is about, but it might be worth looking at.

Sin and Punishment 2 (Wii)

The first never came out in the US until recently with the Virtual Console (I really should check that out…). The sequel looks like massive fun.

Starcraft 2 (PC)

So this is finally coming out? Cool. Too bad they went for that stupid “1 campaign a year” idea. But it’s obviously gonna be a great game.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International (PS3)

It’s finally coming to the PS3, with more stuff than in the 360 version. The 360 version is pretty good, so this one should be fun as well.

Singularity (360, PC, PS3)

A first-person shooter… You can control time for combat and puzzles, which could be really interesting.  It’s probably the only FPS I’m interested in in 2010.

Splatterhouse (360, PC, PS3)

It’s been a while since a new Splatterhouse game came out. And… considering it’s a modern take on an old game I have low expectations for this. But I might be wrong.

Star Wars:The Old Republic (PC)

A new Star Wars MMO and it looks pretty fun. Star Wars fans will have something really cool to play together.

Star Trek Online (360, PC)

To counter the new Star Wars MMO, there’s a new Star Trek MMO as well. So Trekies will also have something to play as well. OH and Leonard Nimoy is in it.

Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii)

We didn’t think this would come to America, but it is coming. With new characters, including Zero! Awesome.

Tales of Vesperia (PS3)

No idea if it’s actually gonna come to the US, but hopefully it will. Not that I really care since I already have it on my 360, but it’s a pretty fun game so more people should experience it.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (360, PC)

I’m not very familiar with Splinter Cell, but what I’ve seen from this one is really interesting. I’m really interested in playing this.

Split Second (360, PC, PS3)

A racing game with things constantly crashing and exploding and changing the track every lap. I think you have control over those things but I’m not 100% sure. It definitely looks interesting.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

The first one was great, this one looks just as good. And Yoshi is here! Can’t wait to try this game out.

Super Street Fighter IV (360, PS3)

So from what I understand there’s 10 extra characters compared to SFIV, or so teases tell us. So it could be well worth checking out for fans of the series.

Trauma Team (Wii)

A new Trauma Center game. Looks fun.

Ushiro (PSP)

An RPG where you posses people to advance through the game, and when fights come by you control the ghost itself and fight other ghosts. The graphical style is really nice japanese horror-ish anime-ish look.

White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Oh, it’s finally coming? Nice. Not too sure about the gameplay and such since it’s been a long time since I’ve checked anything about this game. But it looks quite fun from what I remember.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP)

It’s strange that the sequel is coming to PSP. But if it keeps the same gameplay as the first, it should be pretty good.

Yakuza 3 (PS3)

It’s finally getting released in the US, just before the fourth comes out in Japan. Took them a while.

Last year we had a really crappy system for our GotY posts, but this year we almost seem *gasp* professional! Which I think is really cool.

So let’s go and look at all of the posts! Read on and check all the links!

So instead of choosing one winner in each category and a runner-up or two, we went for 5 winners in each category. This makes the lists a lot more varied and makes sure there’s something for everyone on there. The only exception is the Games of the Year, where we only chose 3.

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Soundtracks

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Single Player

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Multiplayer

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best PSP Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best DS Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Downloadable Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Multi-Platform Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Wii Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Xbox 360 Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Playstation 3 Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Biggest Surprises

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Biggest Disappointments

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Games of the Year

So that’s it! Thank you everyone for tuning in and seeing what we thought were the best games of the year! And thank you everyone on the team for your input which made this list a lot better than if I had done it all myself

Cheers to another great year on the way!

But the good games it did get were pretty nice.

Read on and see our 5 winners!

New Super Mario Brothers Wii

A new Mario 2D platformer, which is pretty much a tribute to Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World… Is there anything bad to say about this? Not really. And the addition of a chaotic and incredibly fun 4-player mode just seals the deal. This is THE game to have this year on Wii.

Punch-Out!

I love Punch-Out!!. The simple gameplay might make it seem a bit meh, but make no mistake, learning every characters’ tactics and patterns and finding the way to beat them as fast as possible is really fun. Here the character selection is a bit weak, but the addition of upgraded versions of each character with new patterns and attacks definitely makes up for it.  The same fun gameplay as before, and it still doesn’t get old.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

This Metroidvania-style side-scrolling action RPG is one of the more unique games this year. Geaturing fast-paced gameplay, fun combat, lots of things to find and explore, multiple endings and 2 fun stories, this is a game Wii owners shouldn’t pass up on.

The House of the Dead: Overkill

This is the on-rail shooter in its best form.  It’s simple, replayable, and fun as hell. The humor is just way over-the-top and hilarious (especially the scene before the final boss), the visual and story-telling style being remeniscent of 70s grindhouse films, the gameplay is fast and furious, there’s some replay value with the various difficulties, gun upgrades and things to find in each level, this is one of the really fun games this year.

Contra ReBirth

I did mention before that Contra is awesome, right? Well, it still is. A great sequel to a great series, and at a low low price to boot.

Excitebike. Probably the finest racing game of the third generation. It was pretty much ignored since, other than the really crappy Excitebike 64 (which pretty much had nothing to do with the original), but let’s just forget that one. We finally get a full blown remake of the classic on the Wii’s WiiWare, and when I got my Wii back I had to get it right away.

So here’s what I thought of it. Does it stack up with the original, or should we ignore it like with Excitebike 64?

Read on! This will be quite a short read.

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Date of Release: November 9, 2009
Platforms: Wii (WiiWare)

Genre: Racing
Players: 1 player offline, 4 players offline

Looks and sounds
Well the game has a very similar style to the NES title. But it’s all in 3D. Pretty crappy 3D, though. The racers themselves look like Miis with helmets which is lame, the crowds during races look like someone took about 3 minutes to put them togheter and they’re not animated. The motorcycles look okay, though very basic. What is nice here is that, despite looking kinda lame, it keeps it simple and manages to keep the same basic look as the classic. Another nice thing is the areas you race in. Instead of just stadiums, there’s various exterior tracks and background and such. Keeps the game varied.

The sounds are pretty nice. Obviously a few notches up from the NES’. But what I like is that they just re-recorded the original music with different instruments and made it sound really good. The bike sound and such is great, not much to say on it, and it actually has a good use of the Wiimote’s speaker unlike…. most games that use it. With it you get a sound when you do a wheelie, a wheelie jump, and various sounds on landing to tell you how well you landed. Oh, and when you’re about to overheat. Simple but it’s pretty nice.

Gameplay
Have you played the original? Well, it plays pretty much the same. One thing to note is the controls. You have 2 choices: Using the Wiimote to change your angles which sucks, or using the classic NES controls. Obviously the NES controls work a lot better. The basic gameplay is simple. 2 presses the gas, 1 uses your turbo, up/ down make you change from one lane to another (there’s 4 lanes) and left/right change your angle in the ar, or make you do a wheelie on the ground.

Boosting obviously makes you faster. As you hold the boost button, your temperature meter will rise. If it gets too high, it’s basically the same as crashing, though shaking the Wiimote has less effect. You can lower your temperature meter by just not boosting and waiting for it to go down. You can also find arrows on the road, which will reduce the meter to zero. The final way is to make other racers crash, either by hitting their front-end, or jumping on top of them.

The wheelie is a pretty important move. Doing a wheelie at the right time before a jump triggers a wheelie jump, which makes you go further. Doing wheelies while boosting can make you go through mud a bit faster that rolling normally. Wheelies also let you pass over obstacles, both walls and other racers. If you hit walls or other racers from behind or from the side, you’ll crash. While you’re crashing, you can shake the Wiimote to make your motorcycle roll ahead a bit, so when you crash you at least don’t always waste too much time.

After taking jumps, you have to land properly, otherwise you’ll crash. There’s a few angles you can hit the ground at, depending on the slope. Get exactly the right angle, which is the angle in which the ground is, you get a nice landing (for landing straight on flat ground) or a smooth landing (for landing on the right angle in a slope).

What’s new?
The game is pretty much just like the NES classic, but it has a few modifications. First is the number of courses. You have 16 here instead of 5 in the original. It works with 4 cups, each with 4 courses, and you only unlock the next race when you get at least a B rank on the current one. When you’re done, it’s all about tryin to beat your times and S-rank the whole game. Each cup is increasingly difficulty.

Next is the addition of Morph tiles in races. Those add a yellow pick-up on the course. When you touch those, a jump appears just ahead of you. If the pick-up is on the top lane, it’s gonna be a big hill for you to jump on, if the pick-up is on the bottom lane it’s gonna be a ramp that makes you jump much further than normal jumps.

There’s the addition of online as well. It’s really barebones. You can either play with friends, or with random people. The matches will be for up to 4 people, and it’s a race for the best time. Simple stuff, but quite interesting. You can try to see other peoples’ strategies in races and such, it’s pretty cool.

Finally, there’s the track editor. It’s basically the same track editor as the NES version, but this time you can actually save the tracks you made. That alone is a huge improvement. You can also have a few extra parts that you didn’t have in the first game, and morph tiles as well. It works well and it’s fun to have even more tracks. You’re limited in the amount of tracks you can make, but you can always removes ones you don’t like as much.
Oh, and there’s unlockable bike colors if you S-rank everything or do well online.

Overall
This is a must for fans of the original. And for other people… Well it’s just $10, you don’t have much to lose, and it’s great fun. It plays like the original which is great, and it adds a bit of cool things.

It’s also fun to play as a group… despite the game being single-player. Trying to beat other peoples’ times is always fun.

Pros/Cons
Pros
- Plays just like the classic
- Adds some cool stuff and graphical effects
- You can save multiple custom tracks
- More tracks
- Infinite replay value

Cons
- Hmm… nothing? …. Okay, I guess they could have taken a bit more time with the graphics… or at least the crowds…

The Save Factor
The game has a starting price of 1000 Wii points, so $10, and I feel that it’s the perfect price for the game. More might be too much, but less would feel too much like a steal.