Luigi’s in the house

Bioshock Infinite received something that last week’s Gears of War: Judgment didn’t – a mid-week release. We’d be very surprised if a million copies haven’t been shifted already, as it’s on track to become one of the highest rated games of all time.

The Metacritic average currently stands at an almighty 96%, putting it higher than the original Bioshock.

We’re about four hours in and yet it doesn’t even feel like the surface has been scratched. The opening is one of the best in recent times and the setting is a joy to behold. A lot of additional effort has gone into the PlayStation 3 version too, which includes Move support and some free add-ons for PlayStation Plus members. In short: it’s very hard to imagine anybody being disappointed. That’s unless they expect it to be a run-and-gun Call of Duty-style shooter, of course.

Nintendo fans shouldn’t feel left out – there’s a double whammy of Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon on 3DS and LEGO City Undercover for Wii U.

Reviews of Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon have been full of praise so far. We played at bit of it at Eurogamer Expo last year, but sadly not enough to base a preview on. Still, what we played of it was pleasingly polished. Reviews include 8/10 from EDGE and 9/10 from both Eurogamer and gamesTM magazine.

EDGE didn’t think much of LEGO City Undercover when they reviewed it – their 5/10 set wheels in motion that it wasn’t very good. Thankfully it would seem that isn’t the case. Since their review, which was one the first to surface, it has been awarded 9/10 from Eurogamer, 4/5 by the Guardian and 8.0 from IGN. The 3DS version sub-titled ‘The Chase Begins’ is due out next month.

Incredibly belated movie tie-in Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue makes a splash on 3DS and DS this week too. It’s a budget-priced mini-game collection, and that should be all you need to know.

On PlayStation 3 and Vita there’s Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. This one isn’t by series creators Sucker Punch but rather Sanzaru Games. Sanzaru did, however, have a helping hand in bringing The Sly Collection to PlayStation 3. Scores have been good but not great, including 6/10 from Eurogamer and 7/10 from EDGE. “[Sanzru’s game] may rarely do anything you haven’t seen done better elsewhere, but the developer knots a slew of disparate elements together with no little skill, leaving the whole feeling irresistibly fresh,” they said.

We’ve got a couple of new titles from EA. We get the impression that they don’t have much faith in Army of Two: Devil’s Cartel selling well. There doesn’t seem to be any promotion for it, and at the time of typing there are very few reviews around. Gaming Bolt’s 7/10 review is worth a read – they note that it’s a little glitchy and the production values aren’t as high as you may expect, but it is quite fun. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is the other one. “In many ways, Tiger 14 feels like the ultimate fan service for longtime players of the franchise,” said GamesRadar in their 4/5 review. We swear the Tiger Woods games are released earlier every year.

On the 3DS eShop this week there’s Harvest Moon on Virtual Console for £4.49, the Guardian Heroes-alike beat ’em up Code of Princess for £24.99 – which was a retail release in the US – and HarmoKnight at £12.99. A Fire Emblem: Awakening demo arrives ahead of its 19th April release as well. Apparently it’s a bit of a belter.

Then on PSN and XBLA there’s Terraria, which can be described as a 2D version of Minecraft with a stronger focus on combat. The PC version has become something of a cult classic, which is why 505 Games picked it up for a console release. Well, that and the fact that Minecraft has made a bloody fortune.

Next week: Defiance (PS3, 360, PC), Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge (PS3, 360), Battle Block Theater (XBLA) and Double Dragon II (XBLA).