It’s a big week for the PS3. From the little bundle of fabric that could to the massive, intergalactic epic that we thought would never see on the PS3, PS3 owners have a lot to look forward to this week. Curious? Read on.
Remember. Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher. The following are subject to change without any warning.
Releases To Watch For This Week
LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3)
Tuesday January 18, 2011
Games with numbers on their ends beware! LittleBigPlanet 2 is about to redefine what it truly means to be a sequel. Whereas most franchises are content with extending the storyline and adding minor additions like new enemies, weapons, environments, and the occasional gameplay mechanics, LittleBigPlanet 2 is practically a different animal from LittleBigPlanet. The spirit of user generated content lives on in LittleBigPlanet 2 and the fabric and homemade DIY aesthetics appears to have remain intact, but that’s where the similarities end. First of all, anything that could be done is LBP1 can be done in LBP2, glitches and bugs aside, but LBP2 allows users to create levels of entirely different genres. Before you’re only able to create 2D platformers. Now you’re able to create racing games, shmups, fighting games, and quite possibly unknown gaming genres that haven’t been thought up yet. LBP2 is billed as a platform for games, so whereas the point of the original was to get you to create your own 2D platforming level, LBP2 wants you to create your own game. Interested? Check out my original preview for it here.
Honorable Mention
Mindjack (Xbox 360, PS3)
Tuesday January 18, 2011
Let’s face facts. None of us are going to see video game AI that can take the place of a human player in our lifetime. So, why bother. In Mindjack, the single player campaign is actually also the multiplayer mode of Mindjack. This third person, cover based shooter allows other players to join your single player campaign and take control of an ally or an enemy. It all ties into the big mechanic of the game, the ability to take control of enemies and even mechanized units. By defeating an enemy, human or mechanized, you’re able to enslave them, forcing them to fight on your side. If that’s not good enough, you can also take direct control of anyone/thing you’ve enslaved or even bystanders nearby. If you’re not in the mood to have your fun be ruined by jerks online, you can turn this function off completely, but from the sound of the generally lukewarm previews I’ve read about the rest of Mindjack, that’s like taking out the cream filling of Twinkies before eating it.
Coming This Week
Tuesday January 18, 2011
Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
I’ve already previewed this game last year, but because Mass Effect 1 will never, ever come to the PS3, this version of Mass Effect 2 has to get a little creative in filling that void. Because your decisions from ME 1 actually matters, ME 2 will fill that giant plot hole with a little comic where you get to make your own decisions which in turns shapes the story of ME 2 and probably Mass Effect 3. It won’t cover all the minor story points out of ME 1 that would’ve added minor plot points in ME 2, but it’s a hell of whole lot better than being forced to take the default story line of ME 2.
Mystery Tales: Time Travel (DS)
It seems they’ll never run out of ways to reskin the hidden object formula. In the case of Mystery Tales: Time Travel, an old diary transports a woman through various points in time wherein she must solve riddles and find crap buried in a pile of crap. I am still waiting for the day this genre implodes unto itself.
Plants Vs. Zombies (DS)
I love this game to death! But is it me, or has it been ported to just about every possible device with a screen on it? I wouldn’t be surprised if this tower defense game ends up on a graphing calculator somewhere down the line.
Ys I & II Chronicles (PSP)
Falcom have definitely been trying to revive this action RPG series through a series of ports. What better way to do that than to port 2 iterations in the series in one convenient bundle.
I was never a big fan of the physics in LittleBigPlanet 1, but given the giant evolution that is LittleBigPlanet 2, I’m intrigued. Just as intriguing is the sinle/multiplayer mode of Mindjack. How about you folks? Anyone dying to travel back in time via diary?
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