According to online retailers the next release due out at retail is Sega’s Anarchy Reigns on 11th January. Those hankering for a new game shouldn’t despair though – there are plenty of new releases to download this week.
A double whammy of Oddworld titles leads the way – Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD on PS Vita for £9.99 and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD on PS3 for £7.99.
Stranger’s Wrath has taken ten months of hard work to make it onto Vita. That’s nearly twice as long as Black Ops: Declassified’s development cycle. There’s new touch-screen controls and the visuals have been spruced up. We really enjoyed Stranger’s Wrath when it was first released on Xbox many years ago. It was something of a shame that back then EA chose not to promote it at all.
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD on the other hand features new audio, art assets and unlockable concept art. This started out as a multi-format game until Microsoft snagged it to become the Xbox’s premier platformer.
Karateka, Zombie Driver HD, Knytt Underground and Labyrinth Legends should also be on PSN by the time you read this. Prince of Persia predecessor Karateka and top-down shooter Zombie Driver HD were released on Xbox 360 a few months back to mixed reviews. Knytt Underground meanwhile is a 2D plaforming series that started out as homebrew before becoming a fully-fledged release. They have managed to gain something of a cult following over the years.
There’s not a great deal going on over on Xbox Live Arcade apart from Double Fine’s Kinect Party being released for free on Tuesday. If you’re planning to download it then make sure you grab the Star Glazer add-on too as that’s also free currently. Microsoft has however started their big Christmas sale on Xbox Live, so if Kinect Party isn’t your cup of sugar-filled soft drink then there might be something in the sale to tempt. Jet Set Radio HD for 400 MSP is something of a bargain.
A couple of Wii U eShop games have been cut this month, even though they aren’t even a month old yet. Little Inferno is down to £8.39 while Chasing Aurora will now set you back £5.39. We think we’d rather have Dr. Mario on 3DS Virtual Console, which is £1.19 until 27th December.
Then’s there are two new 3DS releases to consider – escapeVektor from Australian developer Nnooo, available for £8.99, and ‘old skool’ platformer Gunman Clive for £1.79. The WiiWare version of escapeVektor was very well received, gaining a 9 from IGN.
Next week: Charades, Monopoly, find granny’s glasses and hunt the receipt.