I know you’re not here looking for something new to play. I know that because unless you don’t have a job or something, you’re still playing Mass Effect 3. Why would you possibly want something else to play while you’ve got that going on? Unless of course you’re one of those extremely rare individuals unaffected by the hype, review scores, and outpouring of love for ME3. Who am I to turn you away?

Remember. Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher.  The following are subject to change without any warning.

Honorable Mention

Silent Hill: Downpour (Xbox 360, PS3)

Tuesday March 13, 2012

Ask anyone whose ears perk up at the mention of Silent Hill what makes them such a big fan of the series, and almost all of them will say the same thing: Silent Hill 2. Since then no Silent Hill sequel has been able to fully sate their appetite, and Silent Hill: Downpour doesn’t look like it will be any different.

Starring an escaped convict, Murphy Pendleton who has the misfortune of stumbling into the accursed town of Silent Hill, Downpour looks to be following the footsteps of the Resident Evil series with a heavier focus on action and puzzle solving. As always ammo for guns will be scant forcing Murphy to rely on melee weapons, which has the unfortunate tendency to degrade and eventually become unusable. Thankfully just about anything in the environment can be used as a weapon. Murphy will be able to wield wrenches, knives, rocks, sticks, glass bottles, and hell even a chair will do in a pinch.

In the past games, Silent Hill basically has two modes if you will. In one mode, it looks like a regular town that just happens to be really, really foggy. The other mode shows Silent Hill’s true face of a hellish landscape. That tradition continues in Downpour. From time to time, Murphy will be dragged into the Otherworld where sense and sensibility takes a vacation. If the scenery doesn’t drive him nuts, an orb of light will keep Murphy moving unless he doesn’t mind being killed by it.

If you’re looking for a connection between the Silent Hill lore and Murphy Pendleton, you won’t find any. Vatra, the developer behind Downpour purposefully distances itself from just about all the other games in the series (I’m guessing this means we won’t see the likes of Pyramid Head in here). To Silent Hill fans, most of what’s been mention here will undoubtedly turn them off from this Silent Hill iteration, but given the selection of survival horror games on the market (Resident Evil, Dead Space) Silent Hill still honors the “horror” part in the genre’s name. Even Downpour looks to be far freakier and more terrifying than anything Resident Evil and Dead Space has to offer of late based off of the Otherworld segments alone. Fans may bemoan the lack of anything living up to the seminal Silent Hill 2, but they can take comfort that the series is probably the only one left to still try to freak us out and succeed to some extent.

Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)

Tuesday March 13, 2012

Can you imagine what would happen if they took My Little Pony and made a God of War style game with them? Although it didn’t exactly reached the level of insanity of my example, Sega did something very similar to their beloved-by-Japan Yakuza series.

A quick refresher. The Yakuza series basically represents Japan’s fascination with their crime syndicate the same way The Godfather movies represents our fascination with the Mafia. As you can guess, a Yakuza game usually has a very serious tone about them, even if the actual gameplay tends to be a bit sillier. In Yakuza: Dead Souls, the fictional red light district, Kamurocho, which has been featured in past Yakuza titles, has been overrun by zombies.

You still there? Good, let’s move on. Series regular, Kazuma Kiryu returns alongside Goro Majima, Shun Akiyama, and Ryuji Goda. Each will have their own set of weapons (The most insane of the bunch has to be the mini-gun for an arm sported by Goda.) for dealing with the zombies. In case you’re wondering about the Heat gauge, a recurring mechanic in the Yakuza games, Dead Souls has a similar mechanic that can unleash a powerful attack that can take out multiple zombies with your guns. Just because they wield guns doesn’t rule out the possibility of using environmental objects for some smashing fun. The four will be able to pick up a variety of objects like bicycles, police barriers, and whatever else around them to bash in a couple zombies before the object eventually breaks down.

I guess this game is one way to get new fans for the series. Now when can we expect aGodfather RomCom sequel?

Coming This Week

Tuesday March 13, 2012

Birds of Steel (Xbox 360, PS3)

Just as cars are meant to be driven, warplanes are meant to be put in dogfights, and Birds of Steel comes packed with over 100 famous planes including a couple infamous ones such as the Boomerang. You’ll be able to fly these planes in various WWII settings on both the Pacific theater and Europe as well. You can even fly Japanese planes and German planes, so long as you don’t suddenly into a Nazi that is.

FIFA Street (Xbox 360, PS3)

After a four year hiatus, FIFA Street has been resurrected with a new look, a new development team, and an emphasis on street football. FIFA Street will use the FIFA 12 engine to give the game a more realistic look. Furthermore part of the development team for FIFA Street are FIFA 12 veterans. Gone are the arcade antics that marked the first three games and freshly installed is a more realistic, gritty form of street football. Gameplay will focus on tricks, moves, and skills that make street ball so fun to watch and play. FIFA Street will even adjust to the type of play location, so expect hard nosed physical games in England, with more free flowing flashy affairs in a place like Brazil. They don't call it the beautiful game for nothing, and by all accounts FIFA Street is looking to enhance that reputation.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (Xbox 360, PS3)

Just as surely the sun rises in the East, so to do we get yet another Naruto game. Admittedly, this one does bring something new to Naruto fans. Namely, on top of retelling just about the entirety of the Naruto storyline, pre Shippuden era included, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations will also tell the side stories that were never shown on the anime series. The developers even go so far as to commission the same studio to make 60 minutes of anime content for the game. It sounds like a must buy for the Naruto completionist.

Top Gun Hardlock (Xbox 360, PS3)

Didn’t Top Gun already have its obligatory video game tie in on the NES way back yonder? Or did Paramount decide to do a sequel to Top Gun in video game form instead? That would explain the current era setting and the new set of characters populating this game. So long as it has a volleyball mini-game, this game would be set.

Tales of Graces F (PS3)

Originally released for the Wii back in 2009, but never localized, Tales of Graces F includes a slew of enhancements over the original Tales of Graces including a 10 hour long epilogue that supposedly ties up various loose ends left behind by the original story. Non-fans of Tales games need not apply.

Planet Crashers (3DS)

Take some My Sims characters that’s been hit with an ugly stick 10 times too many, have them take turns hitting each other on some bland planetoid environments with moves that could bore a pothead on a high, and you’ll come close to understanding the travesty they call a trailer that is suppose to grab your interest for this action Role Playing Game.

Silverlicious (DS)

Ever heard of Pinkalicious? If you don’t have a 4 year-old little girl somewhere in your life, I can’t blame you. This game based off the kids book, Pinkalicious stars none other than Pinkalicious who must go on a journey to recover her ability to taste sweets. She’ll make new friends and learn the value of kindness and manners along the way. As always, I restrain my remarks in cases of well intentioned games aimed at an entirely different audience than me.

Xia Xia (DS)

Hermit crabs? Really? Based off the toyline of hermit crab figurines, you play as freakin’ hermit crabs presumably in a 2D platformer through 25 levels of fun, fun, fun. Hermit crabs? I’m sorry, but why (insert interrobang here)

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