Coming Soon! 6/29/2009

You can always tell that the next Harry Potter movie is just around the corner when you see it in the upcoming release section.  The same goes for the new Ice Age movie.  Movie games aside, that seems to be the only big things coming out this week.  Unless you want to count the new Call of Juarez game.  Hell, I’d count that over a new Mega Man game any day of the week.

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

Tuesday June 30, 2009

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (Xbox 360, PS3)

Most games these days try to make it so anyone can play the game and maybe even get good at it.  Japanese 2D fighting games…not so much.  From just reading the description for it, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger doesn’t make any pretense of trying to reach out to a new audience.  It’s made for a very specific audience: the absolute hardcore fighting game fan.  Anyone else probably need not apply.  It’s a shame really though.  From what I’ve seen, the graphics look amazing, and being able to play other players online definitely makes the package hard to pass up.  On top of that, this version, unlike the arcade version, has a full fledge story mode for those who care about story in their fighting games.  Who knows, maybe there’s a master fighting game champion inside you waiting for the right game, and this might be it.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Xbox 360, PS3)

I’m always a little bit surprised to see games like this not because they’re rare but because they’re rare for absolutely no good reason.  Call of Juarez is a shooter set in the wild west era.  You take on the role of one of the McCall,  brothers, each with their own unique abilities and strengths, on their quest for gold and good old fashion vengeance.  You’ll get to use various weaponry of the era as you take on the many outlaws of the untamed west.  If you’re not up for the main story, you can also play multiplayer modes like one where you have to rob a bank and escape from the pursuing sherif or others.  Wild west nuts will definitely get a kick out of this one.

The room service here sucks!

Cid the Dummy (Wii, PSP)

Need another generic platformer?  Look no further than Cid the Dummy.  As Cid, a crash test dummy, you somehow got tasked with saving the planet and rescuing a pretty girl from some evil robot.  Being the crash test dummy that you are, you get to crash yourself into everything as your only form of attack.  If all this sounds generic, don’t blame me.  Blame all the game descriptors I found on this game.

I’m not afraid of this pool of purple, radioactive goop. I’ve got my goggles on!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (ECKM*)

And the Harry Potter money train continues its journey till the last Harry Potter movie, which is still 3 movies away.  Fortunately for us gamers, the guys who make Harry Potter games keep getting better at it along with the fact that the stories becomes a little bit more translatable into video game form.  Half-Blood Prince seems to be retaining a great deal of the gameplay from the last movie game, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Lots of spellcasting, dueling, an open world-esque gameplay on the school grounds of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.  All in all, the last one wasn’t half bad.  The real question is, will there be a dating simulator game in this one?

“This is what I think of your haircut!”

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS)

This is only the third Ice Age movie, but I could’ve sworn that there’s been over a dozen of these Ice Age movies already.  Anyways, you get to pick from 6 playable characters, each with unique abilities, and relive the great moments found in the upcoming Ice Age movie by playing through 15 levels from said movie.  Dawn of the Dinosaurs will also include a multiplayer competitive mode with up to 8 players.  Speaking of swearing, I swear I’ve written this exact same preview for some other movie games of a kids movie.  I’m not going to bother to look though.

Infernal: Hell’s Vengeance (Xbox 360)

Continuing last week’s theme of “It’s good to be evil,” Infernal puts you into Ryan Reynold’s Lennox’s shoes, a ghost recently recruited by hell.  His mission is to take down an agency of heaven, Etherlight, .  Lennox will utilize both man made weapons and supernatural powers on this unholy quest as well as some hand to hand combat when the need arises.  This being a third person shooter, cover will play a huge role in staying alive against the agents of heaven.  Like every other Gears clone these days.

Roogoo: Twisted Towers (Wii)

Never underestimate people’s ability to come up with new puzzle games.  In Roogoo, a bunch of shapes fall towards the earth with a bunch of round plates with holes in it that matches said falling shapes blocking it’s path towards the ground.  You have to rotate those round discs in order to let the pieces fall through.  Basically, think Perfection crossed with Yoshi’s Cookies.  When it came out for the Live Arcade, that’s all Roogoo is, but in this one, you’ll also get to use the Wiimote to aim your net and catch any piece you couldn’t get through the holes in time.  This version also introduce Boss levels where a boss would affect the entire game play in some fashion or another like the screen filling Yeti that takes control of one of the disc and spins it out of control.  With 90 levels to play through, a 2 player co-op mode, 4 player versus modes, a 30 dollar price tag, and the ability to unlock 25 more levels by connecting it to Roogoo Attack! for the DS, coming out this week as well, this package feels outright under priced.

Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace, Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker (DS)

If the original Mega Man were to travel into the future to our time, there’s no way in hell he can recognize his progenitors.  These “Mega Man” games aren’t even in the same genre anymore let alone the same universe.  Like the previous Star Force games, players will switch between the physical world and the virtual world.  You’ll need that ability to stop a meteor from crashing into their world.  In the virtual world, Geo Stellar, the protagonist and no I didn’t make it up, can transform into Mega Man and take on the Noise.  Not everything about the Mega Man series is abandoned though.  Through out the game, you will acquire attacks that enemies used against you.  At least that much is still around.  Also, the two versions of the game enables the owner of one version to trade for unique items and powers from owners of the other version Pokemon style.  The gameplay trailers does look kinda interesting, so who knows.  This game might be kinda fun.

My Dress-Up (DS)

Apparently, raiding your mom’s closet to play dress up is the thing of the past now.  This dress-up game (what were you expecting?  A Bejeweled clone?) lets players dress up their avatar anyway they want.  Afterwards, take a picture of it and share it with friends who has their own copy of the game.  You can also connect to My Make-Up (Coming out this week) to put make up on your avatar to compliment the dress you have on her.  Judging by the box cover, I’m willing to bet that worn out jeans, crappy $20 shoes, and vests are not included anywhere in the game.  And here I was getting ready to get this game just so I’ll know what I’ll look like when I wear said items seeing how I wear them everyday.

My Make-Up (DS)

You can add raiding your mom’s make-up drawer to practice make-up into the list of antiquated acts thanks to video games.  My Make-Up provides a number of make-up products to experiment with to see what looks good on your own personal in-game avatar.  Take picture of the finished result, save it to a collection, and share it with your friends.  As mentioned before, you can upload your make-up work into My Dress-Up to see how it would look with your favorite dress…in the game that is.  My idea of make-up is popping all the zits on my face, so I’m pretty certain this isn’t my kinda game.

Roogoo Attack! (DS)

Like Roogoo that came out for Live Arcade sometime ago, Roogoo has you rotating discs to let shaped blocks fall through the similarly shaped hole in the disc.  With a good 90 levels, 115 if you connect it to Roogoo Twisted Tower on the Wii, some multiplayer modes like a 4 player versus mode, this package also seems like a really good deal at $20.

Treasure World (DS)

Do you remember that feature in Nintendogs where you turn it to bark mode, walk around hoping to come across another Nintendogs owner doing the same thing so that the two dogs will start playing with each other.  That is the heart of the gameplay in Treasure World.  Instead of looking for other DS owners though, all you have to do is walk around looking for WiFi hotspots.  When you come across one, the game automatically gives you a treasure.  These treasures are used for a variety of purposes in the game like decorating your lawn or can be traded with other Treasure World owners.  It’s a fascinating concept unless of course you don’t live near a metropolitan area.  You’re just screwed.

Ultimate Game Room (DS)

Because all forms of entertainment must be condensed into a DS game, Ultimate Game Room is a compilation of 3 games: darts, bowling, and billiards.  You can pick from a roster of 8 players, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, as your avatar.  Each sport also has multiple modes like 9-ball for billiards or 501 for darts.  As awesome as it would be to own a game room that has a bowling alley, a dart board, and a billiard table, it just doesn’t seem like what you’d want out of your pocket.

Mytran Wars (PSP)

Sometimes, you tend to forget that the Japanese aren’t the only ones who like big giant mechs.  Mytran Wars takes you to the 23rd century in a resource starved Earth.  Their last hope is a planet full of resources but also inhabited by an alien race.  A war inevitably breaks out between the two.  Fortunately for us, this war will be fought in giant mechs in a strategy game style like Advance Wars — meaning you take turns moving your units around, building your units, and attacking the enemy.  Mytran Wars will have two distinct factions as well as two distinct story lines.  Also, the story unfolds through a comic book style cutscenes instead of the usual scrolling text, CG, or in game graphics.  If the game isn’t fundamentally broken, this could be a pretty good fix for someone looking for their strategy game fix on the PSP.

“Alright!  Alright!  I’ll change my hair color!”

Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament (PSP)

What is this, giant mech week on the PSP?  Another mech heavy game except you’ll using them, called Trotmobiles in this game to do missions like delivering packages or defending the city from bandits.  Your ultimate goal is to win the Trotmobile Gladiator tournament held in the city, but you need money and fame before you can even be allowed to compete, hence the missions found in the city.  Also, your Trotmobiles are fully customizable to accommodate different playstyles and taste.  Offline multiplayer modes consist of deathmatch and team deathmatch all in the luxury of one’s own Trotmobile.  There’s even a single UMD mode so that the other players don’t need their own copy of the game to play the versus mode.

Despite the large numbers, this weeks releases feels a little lackluster if you ask me.  Then again, the big releases this week are mainly movie games.  You just can’t expect too much during those weeks can you.  What about you?  Anything on this list interest you?

* = Every Console Known to Man