This Week in Games: Jan. 18 – 24
We have finally hit a week where every platform has at least something new. The two biggest releases this week are the multi-platform Skate 2 and the PSP ‘enhanced’ port of Star Ocean: Second Evolution. The first game was fun but flawed, and I’ll certainly be coming back with first-hand experiences from this one next week. Another new thing – after the list of new games I’ll add a quick list of stuff I’m playing now – add your own list in the comments! Check out the list!
- Skate 2
- PDC Championship Darts 2008
- Skate 2
- SimAnimals
- Ultimate Shooting Collection
- PDC Championship Darts 2008
- AR Tonelico 2: Melody Of Metafalica
- PDC Championship Darts 2008
- Star Ocean: Second Evolution
- PDC Championship Darts 2008
- SimAnimals
- Big Bang Mania
- Jumble Madness
- Wonder World Amusement Park
- Commander in Chief
As for last week … the multi-platform Lord of the Rings: Conquest has shown tpo be just another terrible licensed game, while the mixed reviews that Mirror’s Edge got on the consoles have followed it to the PC. I just got my digital copy downloaded, so I’ll chime in next week. The most interesting new release was the DS game Moon, a flawed but atmospheric first-person adventure shooter with techno music that is reminiscent of System Shock 2.
What I’m Currently Playing:
- PC: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – after big hassles with patching, the game itself is a huge load of mindless fun!
- PC: Arcanum – replaying the Troika classic on my netbook and savoring every second!
- Mac: Geneforge 5 – I swear I will finish this soon!
- PSP: Suikoden – from the PSOne download store. Fun classic jRPG.
- PSP: Resistance Retribution – the pre-order demo tells me I made a good choice!
- DS: Moon – love the atmosphere and the way the game is structured.
Enjoy gaming!
January 19th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Must…………..Finish………………Gears 2…………
January 19th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Currently playing:
360 Gears of war 2
360 CoD4
360 Assassins creed
360 Burnout Paradise
360 Prince of persia
360 Halo 3
January 19th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Sacred2 is loads of fun. Arcanum, wow, I haven’t heard that one in a while. Wonder if I can find my disks for it. I never did finish it.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Henry: Mario Kart Wii, Kirby Superstar Ultra, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart GBA – he doesn’t know about Double Dash yet.
Maggie: Mario Kart Wii, Nancy Drew DS, Tinkerbell Pixie thing DS, Wario Ware DS
GamerMom: Mario Kart Wii, Boom Blox Wii
GamerDad: Mario Kart Wii, Guitar Hero WT, Madden 09, Left 4 Dead – eyeballing LOTR Conquest.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Regarding LOTR Conquest, I’ve heard that you should simply avert your eyes … I’ve been threatened with a review copy and hope to avoid it unlike Rise of the Argonauts … 😉
January 20th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Aw man! I used to have faith in Pandemic… once. Getting bad notices is it?
January 20th, 2009 at 9:21 am
… and I used to have faith in LucasArts … and we see where THAT has gone!
From TVG: “Very much throwaway gaming, Conquest is wholly lacklustre, devoid of any real purpose, and is a real low point for Pandemic, which after Mercenaries 2 is really saying something. ‘Must do better’ is a gross understatement.”
Worse than Merc’s 2 … that isn’t good.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I tried MarioKart wii, and didn’t like it too much, and was mercs 2 really that bad?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Re: Mercs 2 … was it ‘that bad’, well, perhaps not – though I tend to think that the ~70% average score over-rates it. If I were doing a scored GamerDad review I’d have given it (the PC version) a 2/5 rating, 2.5 after the bugs were patched up.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Completed Resistance 2 recently. It was a surprisingly good game. I wasn’t expecting much after the mediocre original but it far exceeded my expectations. It’s a very cinematic game with many intense battles. It isn’t COD4 intense but it’s certainly exciting. The set pieces and boss battles are brilliant. The bosses may be formulaic but they’re still great fun to fight and very exciting.
There are a few cheap moments in the game though and the enemies to tend to hate you more than the rest of your team which can break the immersion and became irritating. There’s bit where your squad is attacked by 3 giant aliens wielding rocket launcher style weapons. All 3 of team fire mainly at you even if the other squad members pose a greater threat to them. The story is also sh*t and the ending is unsatisfying.
Overall, despite its flaws, it’s still a great game and I highly recommend it.
The 18 rating doesn’t make much sense though. There are more gruesome 15 rated games, COD4 for example.