There’s a Japanese tinge to this week’s new release round-up – all four retail release due out originate from the orient.
Gravity Rush 2 is the one getting the most attention, with a fair bit of promotion from Sony themselves. Reviews scores are mostly around the 8/10 mark, with the exception of Slant Magazine who handed out a miserable 1.5/5. “Gravity Rush 2 doesn’t defy gravity so much as it just lifelessly hangs there†they said. Ouch. Obviously, they’re in the minority – the Metacritic currently stands at 81% from 69 critics.
Both PS4 and PS Vita get the anime hack n’ slasher Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. Our man Michael wasn’t too impressed, handing out a mediocre 5/10. Scores have been a tad higher elsewhere – God is a Geek dished out a 7.5 – but it’s still safe to say that the Musou series can sleep easy.
Then we have a couple of handheld JRPGs – Atelier Shallie Plus on PS Vita and a PS2 conversion of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King on 3DS. Atelier Shallie has gained some decent reviews, including a 4/5 from Hardcore Gamer, while DQ VIII is often regarded as one of the finest JRPGs of all time. This is the one that made a huge impact in the west, taking magazine covers and selling rather well. It the years that have past it has lost very little, and it fits the 3DS perfectly.
It’s a busy week on the download services too. Both Xbox One and PS4 receive the review shy Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle, four player co-op brawler RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, and the tactical RTS Siegecraft Commander. Sci-fi FPS Dead Effect 2 makes the jump from Xbox One to PS4 meanwhile.
You can also find The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition, 2064: Read Only Memories, ACA Neo-Geo Alpha Mission II, Xenoraid, Ruckus Rumble and Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on PSN roundabout now. Possibly Firefighters – The Simulation, too – the PS Blog claims that it’s out, but a search on PSN begs to differ.
We reviewed the import versions of Atari Flashback Classics Vol 1 and 2 back in November. While the fact that they contain 50 games each is initially promising, the vast majority are Atari 2600 games that haven’t aged well. A lot of worthless sports games are also present, by which we mean a good 20-30 titles out of the 100. Still, the stone cold classics – Tempest, Super Breakout and Centipede – hold up really well. Are they worth the £15.99 asking price alone? Debatable.
We’ve also spent some time with Xenoraid. It’s a space shooter in which Earth was so greatly unprepared for an alien invasion they resorted to strapping missile launches and such onto NASA spacecraft. Four craft are at your disposal, each with different weaponry. The idea is to switch craft before they take too much damage, and also use heavy fire sparingly. Not the most creative twist the genre has seen, but the game itself is sturdy enough.
Before the week is out we can also expect Toby: The Secret Mine and Metrico+ on Xbox One. Toby: The Secret Mine – also out on Wii U this week – appears to have much in common with the indie classic Limbo, while Metrico+ offers an abstract adventure that requires out of the box thinking. It did quite well on Steam, suggesting it’s worth looking into.
Next week: Resident Evil 7 Biohazard (PS4/XO/PC), Yakuza 0 (PS4), Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (PS4), Persona 5 (PS3), Hitman: The Complete First Season (PS4/XO/PC), Tales of Berseria (PS4), Digimon World: Next Order (PS4), Earthlock – Festival of Magic (PS4), Industry Giant 2 HD Remake (PS4/XO), The Sun and Moon (XO), Subterrain (XO) and Doodle God: Ultimate Edition (XO).