Week o Games, 3/22: Poke Platnm, FFCC Echoes, SamSho Anth, Wheelman, Wanted, etc

slash000

Another week, another 7 days of new game releases!

Welcome to the 56 edition of G&T's newly traditional "Weekly Games Release Thread!" - Week 3/22 - 3/28!

Where we discuss what we're looking forward to, what we're going to buy, and what we're just now realizing is being released this week that we had forgotten about!

NDS

Pokemon Platinum




Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut)




Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time



Gardening Mama
Touch Mechanic

American Popstar - Road to Celebrity
Monsters vs. Aliens
Pop Star
Fashion Studio: Paris Collection
Imagine Family Doctor
Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery
Discovery Kids: Kitten Corner
Discovery Kids: Pony Paradise
Discovery Kids: Puppy Playtime
Animated
Lux-Pain
Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters

PC

Dark Sector



Stormrise



The Last Remnant



Wanted: Weapons of Fate


Wheelman



BattleForge


Officers
Death Track: Resurrection
Hinterland: Orc Lords
Monsters vs. Aliens

Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures

PS2

Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden


Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters
Monsters vs. Aliens

PS3

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3



Wanted: Weapons of Fate


Wheelman

Legends of Wrestlemania
Monsters vs. Aliens
Stormrise

PSP

Major League Baseball 2K9


Samurai Shodown Anthology


Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Rivals 2 / Genesis Collection


Tenchu: Shadow Assassins


Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters

Wii

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time



Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut)


MotoGP 08



Cate West: The Vanishing Files
Monsters vs. Aliens
Totally Spies! Totally Party
Gold's Gym: Cardio Workout
Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters

Xbox360

Wanted: Weapons of Fate


Wheelman


Stormrise

Legends of Wrestlemania
Monsters vs. Aliens
Ski Doo: Snowmobile Challenge

PopCap Arcade Hits Volume 2 (XBLA?)

WiiWare/VC

dunno yet

XBLA/XNA Community

PopCap Arcade Hits Volume 2 (XBLA?)

dunno yet

PSN

SingStar: Queen (PSN?)


dunno yet

Another solid week for the portables.

Nintendo DS: Pokemon Platinum, FFCC Echoes of Time, should be good. Maybe Broken Sword too
PSP: Samurai Showdown Anthology, a Sega dual pack with the Genesis Collection, Tenchu Shadow Assassins


The consoles get:
Wheelman and Wanted

the PS3 finally gets Red Alert 3



Not too shabby

Garris

Am I mistaken in believing that the new Chronicles of Riddick comes out on the 24th...or is that next month?

RainbowDespair

XNA Community Games had a strong week last week. A Fading Melody came out from our very own forum member, OremLK. It's a solid platformer for 200 MS points; I bought it and greatly enjoyed my time with it (although it is a little short). Solar is a fun sandbox game where you play as a sun and you fly around through the universe. It's also 200 points. Finally, Battle Havok is a really professionally done Death Tank style game (think Worms in real time) and at only 400 points is a bargain compared to the XBLA Death Tank for 1200.

Bartholamue

Dark Sector is getting a PC release? Isn't that a little late? It's an awesome game, no question (and possibly my favorite game of 2008), but when you see it for $15 or less on both platforms, doesn't seem like it'll do well on the PC.

darleysam

People should actually try the Wheelman and Wanted demos. I was surprised to find them both rather fun (although while Wanted was fun, the whole "I'm an assassin, who the fuck are you?" bit really pissed me off).

Wheelman though, it's a tonne of fun if you can just suspend all logic and reason while playing.

Cynic Jester

Probably going to end up getting Last Remnant for the PC. Every review/opinion on it seems to have been "Good RPG, but my framerates!!!!1" and from what I've seen the PC version fixes that.

Dodge Aspen

darleysam wrote: »

People should actually try the Wheelman and Wanted demos. I was surprised to find them both rather fun (although while Wanted was fun, the whole "I'm an assassin, who the fuck are you?" bit really pissed me off).

Wheelman though, it's a tonne of fun if you can just suspend all logic and reason while playing.

Truth. Both Wanted and Wheelman are going to be well served by two very good demos that left me wanting more.

cj iwakura

Isn't Samurai Shodown Anthology also getting a Wii release?

Still not sure which version I want more.

elliotw2

Wheelman looks like something that I'm actually going to buy, if only because it's like Burnout mixed with GTA

urahonky

Phew. Another week where I can save some money.

darleysam

elliotw2 wrote: »

Wheelman looks like something that I'm actually going to buy, if only because it's like Burnout mixed with GTA

My only problem with the demo is that it seemed to employ the one thing from Burnout that I hate too, excessive rubberbanding. The demo was all kinds of ridiculous fun, but watching cars just magically double in speed whenever they're meant to be closer or further away just kicks all the enthusiasm out of me.

slash000

cj iwakura wrote: »

Isn't Samurai Shodown Anthology also getting a Wii release?

Still not sure which version I want more.

Yes, but not for another week or couple of weeks. April something.

Bartholamue

I think PopCap Arcade Hits is on disc, since the first volume was on disc as well.

slash000

Bartholamue wrote: »

I think PopCap Arcade Hits is on disc, since the first volume was on disc as well.

K, I wasn't sure. Thanks for the info.

Chance

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

People should actually try the Wheelman and Wanted demos. I was surprised to find them both rather fun (although while Wanted was fun, the whole "I'm an assassin, who the fuck are you?" bit really pissed me off).

Wheelman though, it's a tonne of fun if you can just suspend all logic and reason while playing.

Truth. Both Wanted and Wheelman are going to be well served by two very good demos that left me wanting more.

I gave Wanted a rent today for a review. Its very short (I'm on the last level, been playing for 3 hours), it's pretty easy up until this final level, and it tends to give you the feeling of I'm-the-baddest-motherfucker-here. Flinging curved bullets is easy, but enemies are pretty stupid. I beat a boss just by waiting for him to pop out of cover - he always came out in the same place, in the same stance - and his hit animation when I nailed him would leave him open for another half-dozen shots. A single button press will fuck up an enemy with your knife and it's pleasantly brutal, but a bit overpowered when you can clear an area just by storming from one enemy to the next and hitting circle.

Edit: yep, beat'd. Less than four hours.

All-in-all, it's a worthy rental - just like the movie was a worthy rental. I don't think I'd want it in my library, though. It's better than Stranglehold, and not as good as Uncharted or Gears.

Lunker

I always say "Wheelman" like it were someone's last name, like "Dave Wheelman." It makes it sound a lot more intriguing.

brynstar

Legends of Wrestlemania seems like it might be fun from the demo, and I am highly tempted to pick up Broken Sword for the Wii, if I can find a copy.

I have the PC version, but years ago while playing I fell victim to the infamous goat bug and never finished it.

darleysam

Lunker wrote: »

I always say "Wheelman" like it were someone's last name, like "Dave Wheelman." It makes it sound a lot more intriguing.

Works great with Spider-Man too.

Ah_Pook

someone tell me about stormrise and battleforge

also i want that wallace and gromit game kind of a lot

Brainiac 8

I'm fighting the urge to buy Pokemon Platinum, since I'm still filling my dex in diamond. Maybe next month I'll buy it.

Plus my hands are full with Henry Hatsworth currently.

Marikir

Chance wrote: »

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

People should actually try the Wheelman and Wanted demos. I was surprised to find them both rather fun (although while Wanted was fun, the whole "I'm an assassin, who the fuck are you?" bit really pissed me off).

Wheelman though, it's a tonne of fun if you can just suspend all logic and reason while playing.

Truth. Both Wanted and Wheelman are going to be well served by two very good demos that left me wanting more.

I gave wanted a rent today for a review. Its very short (I'm on the last level, been playing for 3 hours), it's pretty easy up until this final level, and it tends to give you the feeling of I'm-the-baddest-motherfucker-here. Flinging curved bullets is easy, but enemies are pretty stupid. I beat a boss just by waiting for him to pop out of cover - he always came out in the same place, in the same stance - and his hit animation when I nailed him would leave him open for another half-dozen shots. A single button press will fuck up an enemy with your knife and it's pleasantly brutal, but a bit overpowered when you can clear an area just by storming from one enemy to the next and hitting circle.

All-in-all, it's a worthy rental - just like the movie was a worthy rental. I don't think I'd want it in my library, though. It's better than Stranglehold, and not as good as Uncharted or Gears.

Which system are you reviewing it on? (I don't want to assume PS3 due to your VC sig)

Spoit

I picked up platinum, forgot how agonizingly slow the DS games were

psyck0

Anyone getting Echoes? I am really interested.

Chance

Marikir wrote: »

Chance wrote: »

I gave wanted a rent today for a review.

Which system are you reviewing it on? (I don't want to assume PS3 due to your VC sig)

Yeah, PS3 but I intend to poke around and see if there's any noticeable difference before I do my write-up. I only noticed one instance of it chugging - for a moment I thought the game had frozen - but I don't think a discussion of Wanted will come down to graphics. It'll come down to it simply being a serviceable shooter, the (glaring) mistakes it makes and the fact that by being Another Cover-Based Third Person Shooter it's directly attempting to stand among Gears and Uncharted.

It's not bad.

Marikir

Chance wrote: »

Marikir wrote: »

Chance wrote: »

I gave wanted a rent today for a review.

Which system are you reviewing it on? (I don't want to assume PS3 due to your VC sig)

Yeah, PS3 but I intend to poke around and see if there's any noticeable difference before I do my write-up. I only noticed one instance of it chugging - for a moment I thought the game had frozen - but I don't think a discussion of Wanted will come down to graphics. It'll come down to it simply being a serviceable shooter, the (glaring) mistakes it makes and the fact that by being Another Cover-Based Third Person Shooter it's directly attempting to stand among Gears and Uncharted.

It's not bad.

I did note that in the demo, the perspective is VERY inclose to your character, seemingly at all times. Other 3PS games seem to be a little more removed from your character, while here, you are almost standing right next to them at all times. An interesting design choice that seemed to stand out to me, one I hadn't seen in a lot of other games.

Chance

Marikir wrote: »

(about Wanted: Weapons of Fate)

I did note that in the demo, the perspective is VERY inclose to your character, seemingly at all times. Other 3PS games seem to be a little more removed from your character, while here, you are almost standing right next to them at all times. An interesting design choice that seemed to stand out to me, one I hadn't seen in a lot of other games.

Yeah it doesn't hurt or benefit the experience either way, though I do wish you could switch shoulders a'la Uncharted, since you do take up a lot of the screen.

Really, only two things bug me about it: Early in the game, there are some hooded dudes who'll run at you screaming with knives, and you've gotta' jam on the O button to counter the attack. A little QTE. Later in the game, these hooded dudes have red shirts, and I cannot for the life of me counter them. I dunno how many button taps it takes, but I even did my patented vibrating arm technique with no luck. Wesley's one true weakness isn't bullets - it's assholes in red shirts.

Also, it's got depth-of-field - which is fine. But when you're aiming through the sniper rifle, the depth blur remains. Not cool.

brynstar

You...you have a patented vibrating arm technique?


Eurogamer in one of their ever-so-controversial head-to-heads said that the specular effects looked better in the PS3 version of Wanted. I kind of want to pick up the game, just to support Grin, but it sounds like it's much shorter than I thought it would be. Still, looks fun.

Chance

Yeah you make a fist and only extend your index or middle finger, then tense up all the muscles in your arm to the point that it starts to shake. You can get off some supremely rapid button presses this way (Track & Field, Caveman Games), but the technique was of no avail against the Red Shirts!

Also, its only purpose is gaming. It has no other use - and this is not a sarcastic double-entendre.

*

I too wanted to really love Grin's newest effort - Bionic Commando Rearmed was clearly a labor of love, and Wanted also has hallmarks of a game that its creators put a lot into - but in the end it gives me pause when I look ahead to the new Bionic Commando game. It's just not worth $60, and in the end it's not really all that fun.


Edit: I figured out the red shirts. You have to push the analog stick in a certain direction while tapping O. I never saw the analog indicator, 'cause it's black and the game is dark. A-durr.

slash000

WOO THANK YOU GOD





also

As of update 4.0, SD cards of up to 32GB are now supported.