Out this week: Dead Rising Trilogy, BioShock: The Collection, ReCore and more

We were mildly surprised to see Dead Rising riding high in Amazon’s movers and shakers list, as the physical release is passing Europe by.

It’s Canadian store VideoGames Plus who’s selling import copies on Amazon UK, and they’re obviously doing a roaring trade. If anything, this shows that there’s demand for physical releases of Capcom HD conversions in Europe. The downside to buy physical? You’ll probably have to wait a while for delivery, and at £24.99 for a single game (the whole last-gen trilogy has been re-release this week) it’s an expensive option too.

The Dead Rising Triple Bundle Pack – as it’s rather cumbersomely known – launched Tuesday on PS4 and Xbox One for £39.99. Alternatively, each game (Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising: Off the Record) can be had for £15.99. We’re big fans of the series due to its warped sense of humour. Off the Record highlights this the most, with very few achievements/trophies story based – most are for doing daft things with zombies, such as luring them into theme park rides so they meet a messy end.

All three games are rather lengthy due to their open-world and sandbox nature, so rest assured that there’s plenty of bang for your buck here. This is also the first time loyal PlayStation fans get to play the original game, which was a former Xbox 360 exclusive. The original is quite tough if memory serves. Pro tip: there’s a katana and an Uzi (IIRC) hidden on a ledge near the mall exit that makes progress significantly easier.

Another HD collection offering a sizeable chunk of quality of entertainment is BioShock: The Collection. BioShock and its sequel have been remastered in ravishing HD while the slightly more gung-ho BioShock Infinite is in fact the 2013 PC version, which is apparently still up to current-gen standards. All DLC is included too, including the superb Minerva’s Den. BioShock 2 is missing multiplayer, but that’s no biggie. It’s safe to say that most gamers have forgotten that there even was a MP mode.

Unlike Dead Rising Trilogy, BioShock: The Collection is gracing store shelves. Expect to pay around the £30 mark. That’s the same price ReCore is retailing at, also due out Friday. As our review round-up revealed, it has arrived to a lukewarm reception. Most reviewers agree that the core (chuckle) concept is sound and some nice ideas are on display, but it’s marred by a wealth of technical issues.

Eurogamer’s review is now live. “A throwback to a different age, Recore’s enjoyable adventure is ultimately undone by a litany of problems” was their ultimate verdict.

Friday also sees a trio of annual sports updates – PES 17, NHL 17 and NBA 2K17 – plus Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past on 3DS, NIS America’s PS4/PS Vita curio Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness and the budget-priced Mount & Blade: Warband.

PES 17 is off to a great start, gaining 10/10 from God is a Geek and the accolade of being possibly being “one of the greatest football games ever made”. US site GameInformer meanwhile went for a 9.25 while calling it “An absolute joy to play”.

If the recent NBA 2K17: The Prelude is to go by, 2K’s sports sim will be arriving to similar high scoring reviews. The same can’t be said to NHL 17, which looks set to provide yet another solid but unspectacular experience. Scores for this one are mostly around the 7/10 mark.

As we hoped when penning our weekly eShop line-up, reviews of Dragon Quest VII: Subtitle are now live. IGN went for all the sevens – a 7.7. “Dragon Quest VII is a sensitive update of a 16-year-old JRPG that captures the spirit of the respected original, though it doesn’t quite fill in all of the wrinkles of its outdated design” they said. For those not aware, this rebuilt role-player packs in around 100 hours of play. It certainly requires commitment from the player.

Mount & Blade: Warband launches at around £15; a low price clearly intended to offset the game’s age (it hit PC yonks ago) and dated visuals. By all accounts, though, we should be in for a good time – this series has a huge following on PC. That price is low enough for us to want to take a punt, so look out for a review over the next week.

All this and we haven’t even touched on downloads properly yet. On Xbox One the Myst-style puzzle-adventure The Witness is the big one. Then on PS4 there’s Don’t Starve Together: Console Edition, robot shooter Rive, Spike Chunsoft’s surface-side role-player Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics and a PS2 re-release of Everbody’s Tennis. The PS Vita also gets MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death while the humble PS3 gets a look-in with retro remake The Bluecoats – North vs South.

Sticking with the retro theme, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is out now on both PS4 and Xbox One. A demo of the PS4 version is available, along with a free Pac-Man avatar. Nice. Review scores haven’t been as high as we hoped – including 7.5s from both IGN and Destructoid – so definitely check out the demo first.

Next week: Destiny: The Collection (PS4, Xbox One), Destiny: Rise of Iron (PS4, Xbox One), Forza Horizon 3 (Xbox One), Firewatch (Xbox One), Hopiko (PS4), Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PS4), The Bunker (PS4),Worlds of Magic Planar Conquest (PS4, Xbox One), Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors (PS Vita) and Steins;Gate Zero (PS4, PS Vita).