This week’s new releases! January 31st – February 6th

Wow 19 new titles this week, that’s the same amount as the last 3 weeks combined! Although to be fair, half of them are just shovelware titles for the Wii. But Jesus who doesn’t love those right?

First of our notable titles this week is the multiplatform release of Two Worlds 2, an Elder Scrolls styled sandbox fantasy romp by Polish developers Reality Pump, who are better known for their Earth 21XX franchise of RTS titles. The fact that a second Two Worlds game exist at all is a  bit of a mystery; back in 2007 the original received a harsh beatdown from a vast majority of the gaming press thanks to a series of bizarre glitches and some truly laughable voice acting, not exactly sequel material. That said, it looks like the Reality Pump took all that feedback on bored pretty well, the game has already amassed a healthy metacritic score in the high 70s across all three platforms, a big improvement over the original for sure.

Secondly we have Lord of Arcana: Slayer Edition (there’s no “normal edition” in the UK) for the PSP, Square Enix’s attempt at taking a bite out of that delicious and highly profitable Monster Hunter pie. Although it’s loosely based on fairly badass Japanese arcade game Lord of Vermilion, it’s a pretty pedestrian action RPG from what I’ve played of it; essentially a mere shadow of the far superior games its tries to emulate. Its only real qualities are some rather cool looking quick time events and a rather rockin’ soundtrack, something they’ve been keen to capitalise on with a lot of their English  trailers. In retrospect, hiring a company whose most famous title is legendary for its lack of production values was probably a bad idea on Square Enix‘s part.

Other than those two we have the thus far coldly received off road racer Nail’d along with the standard mix of casual titles with a bit of Mario thrown in here and there for good measure. Not exactly a week to remember, but we’ve had far worse recently.

Multiplatform
Two Worlds II (Xbox360/PS3/PC)
Nail’d (Xbox360/PS3/PC)

PSP
Lord Of Arcana: Slayer Edition

Xbox360
PopCap Hits!

Wii
Dance Juniors
Mario Sports Mix
Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream *
Chicken Blaster *
Wild West Shootout *
Dodge Racing: Charger vs. Challenger *
Jeep Thrills *
North American Hunting *
Speed *

*All these are bundled with the usual pointless wiimote attachments, bet you’re just foaming at the mouth with excitement huh?

PC
The Sims 3: Outdoor Living Stuff (Expansion Pack for PC & Mac)
Hacker Evolution Collection
Dungeons
Jolly Rover
The Hidden Mystery Collectives: Veronica Rivers 1 & 2

DS
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem!