This week’s new releases! April 11th -17th
Well it seems like we’re still in a bit of a rut as far as new releases go. Yes, it’s another week of re-releases, ports and casual gaming all round. Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Oh, and for the absolutely minuscule number of people who would care, this week also sees the release of Super Robot Wars Z2 part 1 over in Japan. I bet you’re all very exited! What just me? Bah, philistines!
Noteworthy titles
Michael Jackson: The Experience (Xbox360/PS3)
Experience the resurrection on the king of pop in his new (slightly creepy) digitized form! In a way this rhythm action game has been out for quite a while, specifically on the PSP/Wii/DS since November last year. The response from critics wasn’t exactly enthusiastic back then, perhaps indicating that Nintendo’s post Kinect/Move motion tracking tech just doesn’t “wow” like it used to and that portable versions of console games still kinda suck. Not that it matters though, those versions still went on to sell well over 3 million copies in total. Considering the feedback from this new HD console edition has actually been rather positive so far, one can only assume that number is going to rise quite fast in the coming weeks.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (PSP)
If you’re lucky enough to live across the pond in the USA then you’ve probably had easy access to this game since early July last year. Man, isn’t living in Europe awesome? Anyway, this re-release/make of the PS2 classic RPG features numerous improvements over the original: an optional female protagonist, the ability to control your teammates in battle (No, you couldn’t do that before. Yes, it was stupid.) new music tracks, two new difficulties and a cameo appearance by Vincent, the protagonist of the hotly anticipated Xbox 360/PS3 title Catharine. However it’s far from the “definitive” version of Persona 3, a lot of stuff has been scaled back in order to get it onto the now rather antiquated PSP: all the anime cutscenes have been removed, various graphical elements have been massively simplified (and they weren’t that great to begin with) and worst of all it lacks the extra story campaigns added in the PS2 “FES” expansion pack. Hopefully once the NGP hits we can say goodbye these sorts of compromises.
Patapon 3
The world’s best (likely only) rhythm action strategy game returns after a short hiatus, finally giving PSP owners who don’t live in/import from Japan something new to actually play on their device that isn’t a port or remake. Again though, it’s not exactly a “new” title as such; much like Patapon 2 it’s exceptionally similar to the original but now with a much bigger emphasis on multiplayer and RPG mechanics. That’s not exactly something to complain about as the original Patapon was really badass, but I have to wonder how much longer they can keep this up without any major changes….
Full Schedule
Multiplatfrom
Michael Jackson: The Experience (requires PlayStation Move/Kinect peripheral) (PS3/Xbox 360)
WSC Real 11: World Snooker Championship 2011 (X360/PS3)
PSP
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
Patapon 3
DS
Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy
LEGO Ninjago: The Videogame
Bookworm
PC
Elements of War Online
Men of War: Assault Squad
Wii
Spongebob Squigglepants (requires uDraw peripheral)
Xbox 360
Dead Rising 2 (Classics re-relese)
Kinect: Fantastic Pets (requires Kinect peripheral)