Alarm bells were ringing when the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine gave Need for Speed Pro Street an incredibly negative write-up, and it turns out they were right – US reviews have been less than great. It’s still tipped to be Christmas number one though, but I reckon Guitar Hero III could be in with a chance. Another big one out today is Mass Effect, which appears to be a lot more than KOTOR without the Star Wars license.
Nintendo’s Sight Training (aka Vision Training) for DS hasn’t had as much coverage as I expected, but I doubt it’ll be as popular as Brain Training anyway. Boulderdash Rocks sees a return for the classic dirt digging franchise on DS, while Mario Party DS could do surprisingly well over the Yule period. The apparently okay Jackass game also is out on both PlayStation 2 and PSP this week, while Lair makes a very muted appearance on PlayStation 3. Not surprising given the appalling reviews. Games featuring dragons don’t sell consoles.
Over on Wii there’s the super-cute Dewy’s Adventure, from the team behind Eledees. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is bound to be a party pleaser, but it seems that it isn’t the crossover many were hoping for with a distinct lack of magic. Then on Xbox 360 there’s Kane & Lynch – from the creators of Hitman – and Ace Combat 6. Our favourite review quote for that one comes from Edge: “To see more screenshots, just look out of your window.â€
If the release lists are anything to go by, December is going to see a whole load of crap pushed onto shelves with Unchartered, Zak & Wiki and some belated PlayStation 3 conversions being the only highlights.