“Everybody’s Super Sonic Racing…”

This Week’s Games

I don’t know if Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing features any music – remixes or original – from Sonic R, but it bloody well should. Even if it doesn’t it’s still worth considering as reviews have been solid including an 8/10 from GamesRadar and 78% from NGamer Magazine. Both said that the track design is decent but the commentary soon gets annoying. It’s out on Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and, funnily enough, PC, this week. Why no PSP version, Sega?

PSP owners shouldn’t feel too bad though – both Dante’s Inferno and perplexing puzzler Echoshift are out to buy from tomorrow. The curious Heavy Rain, which is rather aptly named given the weather at the moment, is this week’s big PlayStation 3 release. I have no idea if it’ll sell well though. The Wii meanwhile gets the very good Ace Combat-alike Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces and the presumably rubbish Safar’Wii.

Over in the world of Xbox 360 there are two new racers – budget priced Crash Time 3 (£17.99 at Gameplay) and Superstars V8 Racing: The Next Challenge. The first Superstars V8 didn’t review too well. Maybe this will be an improvement?

Another less than full-price title hitting shelves is Way of the Samurai 3 on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It sounds like there’s some nice ideas behind it – there’s 15 different endings and you can talk your way out of fights. The first Way of the Samuari game has something of a cult following too.

Another else left? Only a little gem of a game called Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on DS. This got rave reviews (which is a phrase I haven’t used in a long time, incidentally) around Christmas time but was put back until now to avoid getting lost in the Xmas rush. Imagine a mixture of Advance Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics and you should get the gist.

Next week: Final Fantasy XIII, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Sonic Classic Collection, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Infinite Space, Dementium II and the Nintendo DSi XL.