Say hello to the first Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita retail release of the year – Dragon Ball Z – Battle of Z. Yeah, it has been a slow month.
Whereas the majority of Dragon Ball Z games have taken the form of one-on-one brawlers in the past, this one offers online battle royales for up to eight players.
Curiously, it’s by a studio that has never worked on a DBZ game before – Artdink, of A-Train and No One Can Stop Mr. Domino fame. You all remember that last one, right?
Reviews are thin on the ground as it isn’t due out in the US until next week, but Namco has been thoughtful enough to provide a demo. Considering that it’s a full price release, we suggest trying before buying.
For those jumping in regardless, GAME has bagged the ‘Goku Edition’ which includes a 25cm Goku figure, an art book and a downloadable costume. At £79.99 it’s safe to say it’s aimed at the total Dragon Ball diehards out there. There’s certainly a fair few of those about – the last DBZ game entered the UK chart at a surprisingly high position.
The Xbox 360’s Dead Rising Collection joins Dragon Ball Z on store shelves. Revealed just a few weeks ago, it contains Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising: Off the Record and downloads of Case West and Case Zero.
Although Dead Rising is knocking on seven years old and both Dead Rising 2 and Case Zero were available for free as ‘Games for Gold’ titles, the fact that Off the Record still sells for £10+ makes the £20-£25 asking price pretty reasonable.
Currently the cheapest place to get stuck into some mindless zombie harming is Base.com, at £19.99.
Speaking of Dead Rising, following a colossal/ridiculous 13GB update the first piece of DLC for Dead Rising 3 is out now. This side-story stars Spec Ops Commander Adam Kane and includes new missions, additional weapons and one new vehicle.
Going by the trailer, that vehicle is a a real force to be reckoned with – a heavily armoured tank:
Over in the world of downloads PS Vita-exclusive 2D skateboarding sim OlliOlli leads the way, impressing all those who play it with it’s easy to pick up controls and clean-cut presentation.
Scores include 9/10s from Eurogamer and God is a Geek, 8/10 from GameInformer, 7/10 from Pocket Gamer and a thumbs up from Gert Lush Gaming…even though it hurt theirs.
It’s available now for £7.99, with an extra 20% off for PS Plus subscribers for the first week.
The second of Monkey Paw’s previously import-only PSone games is hitting PSN too – 1998’s 3D beat’em up Lucifer Ring. Likened by some as a 3D successor of Golden Axe, it’s said to be short but offer decent replay value.
Unless either Rekoil: Liberator and/or Halo: Spartan Assault makes a surprise appearance this Friday, there’s nothing out on XBLA to speak of. Both of these have rough ‘January 2014’ release dates, so if they don’t appear this week then we won’t have long to wait.
Wondering where this week’s Nintendo eShop downloads are? We’ve decided to show Nintendo a bit more support and give them their own weekly round-up. With loads of decent looking indie titles hitting Wii U over the next few months, we felt that they deserved more than a slight skimming over. 3DS and Wii U retail releases will however remain part of our weekly multi-format round-up. Hopefully it won’t get too confusing.
Next week: Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (PS3, Xbox One), The Firemen 2: Pete and Danny (PSN), budget re-releases of Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 and Ni No Kuni and maybe Rekoil: Liberator (XBLA) and Halo: Spartan Assault (XBLA).