Out this week: Tempest 4000, Sonic Mania Plus, Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, Mothergunship, more

Last week the price tag for Square-Enix’s pixel art JRPG Octopath Traveler come under scrutiny. It’s the turn of Atari’s Tempest 4000 this week, and for reasons far more justified.

The psychedelic arcade shooter has launched at an eye-watering £24.99, double the price of Polybius, and almost five times the price of TxK – a game it’s reportedly very similar to. All signs point to Atari trying to rinse as much money from the pockets of Minter/Tempest fans as possible.

While reviews are mostly positive, critics did claim that it feels rather familiar to TxK, borrowing a few too many level layouts and power-ups. Still, the general consensus is that it’s great to have a shiny new Tempest on the current crop of consoles.

Incidentally, it appears budget publisher Funbox Media will be releasing a physical version a month from now. It’s currently £30 on Amazon; a price that’s likely to drop before launch.

From expensive to purse pleasing. The PS4 has reached the age in its life where it’s able to offer a budget range of older titles. The PlayStation Hits line-up will set you back £15.99 a piece, with some retailers already offering ‘2 for £25’ deals.

Both first-party and third-party titles feature, with highlights including The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Yakuza 0, Bloodborne and Rayman Legends. Cult bug blasting shooter Earth Defense 4:1 is part of the range too, but the fact that it can be easily found for £10 new makes its inclusion slightly negligible.

Sonic Mania Plus also gets a budget price (£25) retail release, including an artbook and reversible cover. Those who own the original digitally can purchase the new DLC for a mere £3.99, which throws Ray and Mighty back into the fray. We gave the base game a well-deserved 9/10 upon release.

As for brand new games, Mothergunship is one you may want to take note of – it’s a bullet hell first-person shooter with warped humour and rogue-like elements. The recent firing range demo left us rather impressed, showing off the nifty gun crafting abilities. We’ve rounded-up scores below.

Then hot on the heels of last week’s LEGO The Incredibles and Hotel Transylvania comes another family title – Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion. Zelda: The Wind Waker appears to be its biggest influence, boasting sea-faring and an open-world structure. Indeed, it’s far more ambitious than past Adventure Time games.

Ubisoft’s Hungry Shark World makes the jump from mobile, meanwhile, and Team 17 is back once again with Mugsters – a heavily stylised top-down action puzzler with sandbox design and plenty of screen-filling explosions. It reminds us of Blast Corps on N64. A tiny bit, at least.

New release showcase:

Mothergunship

Reviews:
9/10 – PSU: “A furious and value stuffed effort, Mothergunship is one of the most exhilarating and satisfying shooters you can get on PS4 right now”

8/10 – GameSpot: “When Mothergunship is firing on all cylinders, it’s a satisfying and thrilling shooter where it really counts. With an incredibly fun and never uninteresting gun-crafting mechanic, it certainly goes a long way with its clever hook and an endless flow of enemies to gun down”

7/10 – Push Square: “In conclusion, Mothergunship is more than the sum of its disparate parts, and definitely deserves your time. It’s a big silly mix of destruction, synths, and sci-fi and a lot of fun to play through”

Tempest 4000

Reviews:
84/100 – GamesBeat: “If you can look past the roughest levels, you’ll find this to be a fun and highly memorable game. Here’s hoping Llamasoft gives it a little post-release polish so it can become a modern classic, just like Tempest 2000”

7/10 – TheSixthAxis: “This is worth a look if you are bored of cut scenes, collectables, and other frippery that clog up video games and want some serious old school arcade action”

6/10 – Push Square: “Minter’s schtick, for as much as we love it, feels like it’s outstayed its welcome for the first real time. Maybe Atari’s lawyers would have been better off keeping this particular project locked down?”

Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion

Reviews:
3/5 – Trusted Reviews: “The exploration is ideal for kids who just want to stomp about as their favourite characters, but they could find the fighting too hard. RPG fans will find a lack of depth throughout, and unless they love Adventure Time, will quickly abandon it for something else”

6/10 – Push Square: “The battle system and story are an enjoyable experience, but absurdly long load times, frame rate stuttering, a clunky menu system, and a poorly developed upgrade system hamper the experience”

6/10 – GameInformer: “This is a genuine attempt to create the type of experience the Adventure Time license deserves. It comes up short in many ways, but I still did get to have an adventure in Ooo, even if it was flooded with both water and technical issues”

Sonic Mania Plus

Reviews:
9.5 – PlayStation Lifestyle: “Somehow, Christian Whitehead and team have made the definitive version of Sonic even more definitive. The genuinely challenging stages are chock-full of secrets, and will require multiple playthroughs to find everything they have to offer”

8/10 – The Metro: “The ‘Plus’ additions are minor but this is still a touching, and highly playable, labour of love by fans that understand Sonic The Hedgehog better than Sega themselves”

8/10 – Destructoid: “For five bucks as a digital upgrade all of these Sonic Mania Plus additions are a no-brainer. Sure, encore and maybe the multiplayer updates would have been added as free DLC in some circles, but the new characters and the package as a whole props up one of the best platformers of 2017 for a more than reasonable price”

New digital multi-format releases:

HITMAN – Summer Pack
Hungry Shark World
Sonic Mania: Encore Pack
Mugsters
Guts & Glory
The Path of Motus
The Long Reach
The Mooseman
Frost

New on PSN:

Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo
Chicken Assassin: Reloaded
Gotcha Racing 2nd
Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded
Marble Duel
Sea of Memories
Ice Cream Surfer

New on Xbox One store:

Nidhogg 2
I, Hope
Doughlings

New Nintendo retail releases:

Slain: Back from Hell
Sonic Mania Plus

Next week: Go Vacation, The Council – Episode 3: Ripples, No Man’s Sky Next, Warioware Gold, Banner Saga 3, Train Sim World, THE PERSISTENCE, Hello Neighbor, The Coma: Recut, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2, Aces of the Luftwaffe – Squadron, Super Blackjack Battle II Turbo Edition, and Candle: The Power of the Flame.

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