I did this piece a few years back for fun – the original is probably hanging in an PR office somewhere or socked away somewhere safe… one of these days I’ll get to drawing on a more regular basis.
Tinkering away on the reviews mentioned earlier, site redesign stuff AND getting ready for next week’s big chunk of repair work on some water damage here, so updates will be slightly laid back this week.
Ignition’s Nintendo DS/DSi RPG Nostalgia showed up yesterday and pretty much stole the rest of the day and a good chunk of the night away from my updating and such. The full review is embargoed ’til the 27th, so you’ll have to check back then to see the final verdict. I can tell you now, I’m VERY pleased with the game so far.
Additionally, Playlogic’s surprisingly fun Sudoku Ball Detective and a ton of other stuff arrived for the beginnings of my Holiday Gift Guide feature, so expect to be hit on the head with a bunch of gifty suggestions starting in November.
Where’s my game-playing helper monkey/secretary/coffee maker supreme?
Of course, a few of the games I’ve previously heavily previewed have finally showed up a bit later than usual (and all at the same time). Such is the nature of things from time to time in this job. Anyway, they’ve arrived and are currently being played to death for upcoming reviews:
Valhalla Knights Eldar Saga
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Dead Space Extraction
Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising
Animal Paradise: Wild
Groovin’ Blocks
Small but MIGHTY selection of games in stores this week. ROCK is the word of the week, folks. Brütal Legend totally rocks (and harder than many of you think – go play it and see for yourselves), Ju-on will rock you under the couch and Half-Minute Hero will rock your PSP ’til the battery blows up. Uncharted 2’s killer visuals and massive scale will rock your world and there are a hell of a lot of rocks all over Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition’s Wasteland landscape.
Akysys Games never, ever replied to my email request for a copy of Hero’s Saga: Laevatein Tactics, but I’m not going to throw a rock through their window (yet). I’ll have to make do with MagnaCarta 2 on the 360 with its rock-hard battles and Unreal 3-powered visuals or maybe enjoy Where the Wild Things Are, where I hear you jump over a lot of rocks. In Afrika, you’d best find a nice big rock to hide next to, lest you disturb that lion you’re trying to photograph.. that wouldn’t be a good thing at all!
10/12/2009
Cars Race-O-Rama (DS/DSi/PS2/PS3/PSP/Wii/Xbox 360)
Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition (PS3/Xbox 360)
NBA 2K10 (PC)
10/13/2009
A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
Afrika (PS3)
Brütal Legend (PS3/Xbox 360)
Cake Mania 3 (DS/DSi)
Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
Fate: The Traitor Soul (PC)
Half-Minute Hero (PSP)
Hero’s Saga: Laevatein Tactics (DS/DSi)
Ju-on: The Grudge (Wii)
MagnaCarta 2 (Xbox 360)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS/DSi/Wii)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
Where the Wild Things Are (DS/DSi/PS3/Wii/Xbox 360)
10/16/2009
Shimano Xtreme Fishing (Wii)
Big week for a few titles and it’s only going to get better from here – let’s take a trip, shall we:
Demon’s Souls is of course, my pick of the week, if not the year for PS3 owners (go read my review), but if you’re not into the insane level of challenge this one provides and perhaps require something a lot less intense (and family friendly), Natsume’s Afrika might very well be up your alley. Think of this grand photo safari adventure as a passport-less trip and a really cool way to see a bit of nature (and interact with it without getting eaten alive or trampled). Fifty bucks for an African Safari and you don’t need to get shots? Sign me up!
For you shooter fans, try and play Codemasters’ superb tactical FPS Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising as if it’s a mere run ‘n gun and you’ll be in for a very quick trip to the morgue for you and your squad mates. And, hey – isn’t it a total trip to see a new Star Wars game show up on every console and portable platform? Wii owners even get a few special peripherals to help them enjoy their version of Clone Wars: Republic Heroes.
A Boy and His Blob is a trip of a different sort, as this remake of the NES classic goes a long way in reinvigorating that nostalgia vibe. Trippy might describe elements of Obscure: The Aftermath, a survival horror game that’s inspired by teen slasher flicks and horror games, while tripping over something trappy in SAW could cause poor Detective Tapp to lose his life. Finally, don’t trip on that balance board when playing Wii Fit Plus or Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum or else that busted femur will have you laid up in bed exercising your stylus hand in the DS version of The Biggest Loser instead.
Wait… an exercise game for a handheld system? Er… hmmm… I don’t even know what to say about that… Anyway, here’s this week’s list:
10/04/2009
Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
10/05/2009
Obscure: The Aftermath (PSP/PSPgo)
Squeeballs Party (DS/DSi/Wii)
10/06/2009
A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
Afrika (PS3)
A Witch’s Tale (DS/DSi)
The Biggest Loser (DS/DSi/Wii)
Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures (PC)
Demon’s Souls/Demon’s Souls Limited Collector’s Edition (PS3)
Disney Sing It: Pop Hits (PS2/PS3/Wii)
Fate: The Traitor Soul (PC)
Game Party 3 (Wii)
Imagine: Zookeeper (DS/DSi)
Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2010 (Wii)
Naruto Shippuden Legends: Akatsuki (PSP/PSPgo)
NBA 2K10 (PS2/PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360)
NBA 10: The Inside (PSP/PSPgo)
NBA Live 10 (PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360)
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
SAW (PS3/Xbox 360)
The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection (PC)
Star Wars: Clone Wars Republic Heroes (DS/DSi/PC/PS2/PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360/Wii)
Spore Hero (Wii)
Spore Hero Arena (DS/DSi)
10/09/2009
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (PS2)
Shimano Xtreme Fishing (Wii)
In addition, Valve’s Steam download service now has the following EA PC games available for download NOW:
Need for Speed: SHIFT
Battlefield 2: Complete Collection
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Godfather
Godfather 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Uprising
Oooookay Corall: here’s what’s happening in the play stack this week:
IL2-Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (PS3)*
Katamari Forever (PS3)*
The Beatles: Rock Band (PS3)*
Fairytale Fights (Ps3/Xbox 360 – preview versions)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (PSP – Atlus sent along review code, but I went and ordered the Collector’s Edition online a day or so previously)
Cid The Dummy (PS2/PSP)*
… plus a few other things I should have gotten this week which are coming next week Monday’s going to be a bit hectic, is all I’ll say…
I’ll get around to posting another set of answers to your random Lijit searches, some of which are getting kind of… interesting.
Back later!
*reviews started and in progress
Here we go – pretty much from this week onward, it’s going to be crazy in terms of new releases. Lots of top quality stuff this week along with a few sleepers.
Dead Space Extraction should creep you out with not only how good it looks “for a Wii game” but also with some really scary moments that give the game a nicely cinematic feel. Obscure: The Aftermath brings the teen horror flick to the PSP in fine form with co-op play and lots of monsters trying to kill the hell out of you and your AI (or second player controlled) partner.
Give Tornado Outbreak a whirl (it’s a lot of fun and not a Katamari Forever clone at all), Valhalla Knights Eldar Saga should please RPG fans who love to grind away for levels, The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road DS is one of the best-looking games on the handheld and a unique entry level JRPG variation on the classic book and film. Risen looks and plays wonderfully, so give it a try if you’re a PC role-player (360 owners have a few months more to wait for their version).
Midnight Club Los Angeles: Complete Edition is a great deal for racing fans of any stripe. Speaking of racers, if history is any indication, Gran Turismo PSP might boost up sales on the handheld a bit (as well as sell a few more PSP GO! units), Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will wow the Square-heads while Battle of Giants: Dragons and Undead Knights look intriguing to me… I’ll have to look into getting review copies on those two.
Anyway, here you go…
Short list (sort of) this week. ODST seems to be the go-to game for most folks. Me, I’m more of a Shin Megami Tensei: Persona or Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection guy. Katamari Forever and Wacky World of Sports both bring the funny to their respective consoles, if you’re interested.
9/21/2009
Aion (PC)
Fabulous Finds (DS/DSi)
Just in Time Translation (DS/DSi)
Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection (PS3/Xbox 360)
9/22/2009
Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition (Wii)
Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 (PS3/Wii/Xbox 360)
Fallen Earth: Welcome to Apocalypse (PC)
Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun (Wii)
Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)
Hidden Mysteries Titanic (DS/DSi/Wii)
Katamari Forever (PS3)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (PSP)
Order of War (PC)
Rapala We Fish (Wii)
Scooby Doo: First Frights for (DS/DSi/PS2/Wii)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (Standard & Limited Editions, PSP)
Spyborgs (Wii)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (DS/DSi/PS2/Wii)
The Price is Right 2010 Edition (DS/DSi/PC/Wii)
Wacky World of Sports for Wii.
Where’s Waldo? (DS/DSi/PC/Wii)
Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion (DS/DSi)
9/23/2009
Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft (Wii)
Squeeballs Party (DS/DSi)
Next week is a big one for a number of reasons. RPG and Horror game fans should be pleased, is all I’ll say…
Had a bit of Internet downtime around here a few days ago, so I started playing around with drawing for a few hours using markers for one piece and Microsoft Paint (which I generally hate) for the rest. Anyway, as I haven’t drawn in a while with standard pens or pencils, I wasn’t expecting much, but the piece came out OK. Using a mouse was a bit more time consuming, but I think I did pretty good for my first ever MS Paint efforts.
Here’s what I came up with, in case you’re interested:*
Now, guess which one was hand drawn (it’s pretty obvious, actually) and which were done in Paint!
* These and other works are on my Facebook page, so some of you folks may have seen ’em already.
1) Muramasa: the Demon Blade is NOT coming to any other console – It’s currently a Wii exclusive. The same goes for games such as Cursed Mountain, Darkest of Days, Risen and a few other titles exclusive to certain platforms. If you’ve got a decent gaming PC, two of the above games are recommended while the other two aren’t coming to PC (as far as I know)…
1a) Is Demon’s Souls coming to the Xbox 360? Most likely nope. The game was initially contracted by/for Sony’s Japan Studios, so it’s sort of like asking if Halo or a new Mario game will appear on another platform. Go buy a PS3 if you can afford to – the game is indeed worth it. Besides, there are a bunch of cool first and third party exclusives for the PS3 released this year and coming in the future will keep you more than pleased you finally made the plunge.
2) I’m still waiting for my review copies of Muramasa and a few other games to arrive. Ignition was swamped with requests from other editor-types, so I may not end up with one unless I truck it on over to GameStop and buy a copy. Yes, I absolutely support my favorite developers and publishers when need be! Heck, I paid full price for The Conduit and enjoyed it immensely.
2a) Speaking of reviewables yes, I’m working on getting a reviewable of Pinball Hall of Fame – The Williams Collection for either the 360 or PS3. Crave’s website hasn’t been updated for a while with new games, so I thought this one didn’t even exist until about two weeks ago (Thanks, Kate!). Fossil Fighters didn’t show up (yet), so it looks as if I’ll need to buy that one at some point. Between the stuff I have coming in and the previews and reviews I need to get done, FF is sort of a slightly lower priority until I free up some quality time for it.
3) I don’t do game tips/cheats/codes here, sorry! If, on the other hand, a developer or publisher supplies me with a tip/trick/code I can release to you guys, I’ll gladly share it! If you’re really hopelessly stuck in a game, definitely hit up a site such as Gamefaqs for those tricky boss or other game-related problems.
4) Shin Megami Tensei Persona PSP voice cast? I’m not sure, as I’m more interested in the game as a whole package… but this may help.
Um.. I think that’s it – got any more questions? Ask away!
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 