Out this week: EA Sports UFC 2, Pokken Tournament, Sheltered and more

This week sees the release of three very different fighting games – EA Sports UFC 2, the Wii U’s Tekken-alike Pokken Tournament and the raunchy Senran Kagura Estival Versus. They’re the only retail releases due out until next week’s Easter rush, so we hope you’re up for a bout of fisticuffs.

Reviews of all three appeared online Tuesday, and it’s fair to say that they’re more positive than most expected. The previous UFC was shocking slim on content, while Pokken Tournament is an arcade conversion. They aren’t exactly renowned for being content heavy. As for Senran Kagura, the series has always faced harsh criticism due to its graphic nature.

Scores for EA Sports UFC 2 include 9.0 from God is a Geek, 8.5 from GameInformer – who praised the deeper career mode – and an 8 from Polygon. “…my victories in UFC 2 still felt honest and earned, and I came away feeling a mental connection to the fighter I would most want to be” said Polygon.

Pokken Tournament meanwhile received a lofty 9/10 from GameSpot, 8/10 from The Metro and 8.0 from IGN, whose main complaint was “overwhelming mechanics”. We certainly wasn’t expecting that.

US Gamer wasn’t entirely sold on the Pokemon powered beat’em however, giving it 3/5 – the lowest score it has recieved. “As attractive and faithful to the license as it is, it has plenty of room for improvement” their reviewer reported.

As mentioned in our weekly Nintendo eShop round-up, the digital price of Pokken Tournament has been set at £49.99. We recommend buying from bricks and mortar as the first print run includes a Shadow MewTwo amiibo card.

Scores are likewise generally positive for Senran Kagura Estival Versus on PS4 and PS Vita, although we have seen a few more 6s and 7s bouncing around than the above two brawlers.

Destructoid gave the PS4 version 7.5, while warning that the Vita version is “a downgrade from the PS4 version in nearly every way”. They then elaborated: “The frame rate is slower, character models have a stiffness to them, there are less enemies on the screen, longer load times and the graphics take a hit”.

Most reviewers are in agreement that it packs in plenty of fan service but the formula is starting to get a little thin.

It’s a reasonably quiet week on the download services too, with no new releases for PS3, PS Vita or Xbox 360. That said, new Xbox 360 games are often months apart nowadays.

Team17’s 2D post-apocalyptic survival sim Sheltered has left ‘preview status’ and is now available on PS4 and Xbox One. We spent some time with the trial and found it to be pretty good, although it has quite possibly been superseded by This War of Mine: The Little Ones since.

Both formats also receive Tetrobot & Co. – a puzzler that involves repairing a robot..from the inside – and Joe Devers Lone Wolf Console Edition, a digital retelling of a 1980’s gamebook. It sounds similar to the cult hit Hands of Fate, complete with real-time combat.

The Xbox One also gets a belated release of WayFoward’s Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, Xbox 360 revamp Shadow Complex Remastered – which launched out of the blue yesterday – and the top-down role player Dungeon of the Endless.

Then over on PS4 there’s a preview version of Epic’s MOBA Paragon, 2D platformer Bounce Rescue! – which also features a few multi-player modes – and the Dark Souls inspired Salt and Sanctuary. “If you want a 2D Dark Souls it’s hard to imagine From Software doing much better than this, even if it has too few original ideas of its own” said The Metro, before giving it a grand 8/10.

Next week: Republique (PS4), Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS), Trackmania Turbo (PS4/Xbox One), Tropico 5 Penultimate Edition (Xbox One), Alekhine’s Gun (PS4/Xbox One), Fallout 4: Automatron (PS4/Xbox One), The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode Two (Multi), 101 Ways To Die (Xbox One) and Organic Panic (PS4/Xbox One).