It’s not exactly a brilliant week for new games. That’s as far as retail releases are concerned at least – there are just two titles out, both of which were released in the US a few months ago. These are Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth on Wii U, which mysteriously slipped from the launch line-up, and Power Rangers Super Samurai for Kinect.
IGN gave Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth a 5.0 – although they liked the fact that it can be played either with the GamePad or a combination of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, they found it to be lacking in content and variety. ShopTo are currently selling it for £17.86, which is roughly a fiver cheaper than the original Kinect version.
There’s just one review of Power Rangers Super Samurai at the time of typing – a miserable 2.0 from the Official Xbox Magazine. It can apparently be finished in 2 hours and the motion controls are so sloppy that they couldn’t even perform some of the moves a single time, let alone repeatedly. It’s available for £20-odd online, but that’s no excuse for it to be so shoddy.
We were under the impression that SiNG Party on Wii U is out this week, but according to Amazon it did in fact come out last Friday. Freestyle Games, of DJ Hero fame, are behind it and reviews have been pretty good including 75% from the Official Nintendo Magazine. £35.99 from Zavvi seems like a fair price to us, seeing as it comes with a microphone.
Downloads now, and leading the way is adventure game The Cave from Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert. Like Maniac Mansion, there’s a choice of characters to play as, each of which have their own distinct traits. It’s out on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC.
Reviews have been good, but not brilliant. Eurogamer gave it a 7: “The Cave in a dank and gloomy nutshell: never bad, often good, but only occasionally great,†they said. EDGE echoed this in their 6/10 review.
The Wii U version is getting a demo, which should be available round about now.
Also hitting the Nintendo formats are Babel Rising on WiiWare (500 Wii Points), PICROSS e2 on 3DS eShop (£4.49), 35 Junior Games – also on 3DS eShop for £4.49 – and Snowboard Xtreme on DSiWare (£1.79). If Babel Rising rings a bell that’ll be because it was first released on XBLA and PSN last year, via Ubisoft. Reviews were mediocre. We’d imagine that PICROSS e2 is well worth a look though – the handheld Picross games have been incredibly addictive affairs in the past.
Over on PSN, FMV shooter Mad Dog McCree is being re-released with PS Move support and a 720p makeover. It’ll set you back £6.49 but be warned – Red Dead Redemption it is not.
That’s being joined on PSN by Zombie Driver HD (£7.99), Mix Superstar (£7.99), Split/Second Velocity Ultimate Edition (£19.99) and Doodle God (£4.79).
Fianlly, the humble PSP is getting a new game this week – the download only Corpse Party: Book Of Shadows for £11.99. We really didn’t expect to see any new PSP games at all in 2013, so this one has surprised us a bit.
Next week: Hitman HD Collection (PS3, 360), Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3), Omerta – City of Gangsters (360, PC), Wreck-It Ralph (Wii, DS, 3DS) and Let’s Fish! Hooked On (PSN).