It’s a toss-up between Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy and Rune Factory 4 as to what’s the highlight of this week’s eShop schedule. Sorry, Wii U owners – you have to make do with a couple of new Zen Pinball 2 tables.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy launches Thursday for £24.99, offering re-drawn graphics and newfangled 3D visuals. The iOS trilogy reviewed well when it arrived last year, and with most Phoenix Wright games hard to find for anything less than a tenner (even second hand) the asking price seems reasonable enough.
The US version, incidentally, has the option to switch to the Japanese version (Gyakuten Saiban 123 Naruhodo Selection) but we aren’t sure if this feature is present here.
Rune Factory 4 (£24.99) is another one of those games that wouldn’t have seen a European release at all if it wasn’t for the eShop. Indeed, fans of the cult RPG series were pleased to hear of its impending arrival. For those not aware, it’s a spin-off from the Harvest Moon series, mixing farming with fighting.
IGN gave the US version a well-deserved 8.0 late last year. The press release mentions it’s designed for beginners and series veterans alike, so it’s (probably) safe for newcomers to get their hands dirty with this one.
Also on 3DS this week: Hello Kitty Happy Happy Family (£29.99), My Life on a Farm 3D (£24.99), My First Songs 2 (£4.49) and I Love My Little Boy/Little Girl (£19.99 each). We can’t bring ourselves to go into detail about this little lot. Besides, demos of the majority are available at launch.
Battleminer (£5.99) sounds slightly more promising, seemingly a combination of Minecraft and the Spectrum classic Ant Attack. Sticking with the retro vibe, Fairune (£2.39) is an 8-bit style RPG starring a female lead. That’s being joined by puzzler sequel Pyramids 2 (£3.96) which includes a level editor with the ability to share creations.
Over on the Wii U there’s the aforementioned Zen Pinball 2 tables. Specifically, South Park Pinball (£3.99), the Marvel Venom Table (£2.39) and the four-strong Core Collection (£7.99), incorporating Secrets of the Deep, Biolab, Rome and Pasha.
Then there’s Tested with robots!, a 2D platform/puzzler arriving at an eyebrow-raising £9. Have a look at this trailer and tell us if your eyebrows go through the roof too.
Unusually, there’s just one Virtual Console release this week. It’s a good’en though – the GBA’s Pokémon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire (£6.79). That’s heading to Wii U VC.
This leaves us with this Thursday’s price drops. Presuming the likes of Monster High: 13 Wishes and Barbie Dreamhouse aren’t on your ‘to buy list’, highlights include Resident Evil Revelations (Wii U – £11.99/3DS – £8.49), JRPG Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars (£17.99), Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (£3.59) and apparently not too shabby ‘Metroidvania’ adventure AeternoBlade (£5.40). The Resident Evil discounts run until 18th December, so there’s no need to rush.