Another Summer week, another uninteresting week of releases.  You got your movie game.  Another workout game for the Wii.  A licensed game for the PSP.  And not much else.  Winter cannot come soon enough.

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 August 4, 2009

I am NOT cleaning up after you!

Brave: A Warrior’s tale (Xbox 360, Wii)

Good 3D platformers are hard to come by these days.  Let’s see how Brave fares in these waters then.  In Brave, you play as a Native American kid on a quest to stop evil from threatening their village.  He can transform into various animals as well as track them down by analyzing the tracks they leave behind.  He can even learn new skills from the animals he encounters.  He’ll also be able to fight off monsters with his trusty tomahawk, bow and arrow, and supernatural powers.  Given what I just described, I’m surprised I’m still awake right now.  Like everything else on this list, until you get your hands on it, you really don’t know if it’s any good or not.

Everyone was jealous when Bob showed off his new flying car.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra (ECKM*)

For a series about a bunch of guys with outlandish guns and vehicles, there hasn’t been that many games based off G.I. Joe.  Obviously, this game is all about a bunch of guys with outlandish guns and vehicles.  You get to pick one of the 16 characters (4 of which are unlockable Cobra characters) with their own unique weapons in a plotline that picks up right after the movie ends.  You can even take a friend with you into the fray in (unfortunately) local co-op mode.  With 20 levels spread out over 4 different environments, it sounds like you’ll get a lot of shooting as your favorite Joe from the movie.  Now you know, and knowing is … uhm… oh you know the rest.

Side notes about the DS version.  You only get to pick from six G.I. Joe characters and five Cobra characters, and from the looks of the screenshots the game plays more like Smash TV than the 3rd person, fixed camera shooter of the other systems.  At least there’s a 4 player versus mode though.

Singstar: Queen (PS3)

Scaramouche!  Scaramouche!  Will you do the fandango!  Sorry.  Couldn’t help myself.  Sony’s hyper popular, at least in Europe anyway, karaoke game returns with 25 Queen tracks.  You’ll be able to sing these songs either solo or duet even on songs that aren’t actually duets.  Given the insane amount of tracks that normally come with music games these days, 25 sounds a little anemic though.  But it’s queen!  Time to get your Freddie Mercury on!

ATV Quad Kings (Wii)

Is it me or do these generic racers keep sounding more and more generic everyday?  Obviously you’ll be racing ATVs and dune buggies in this one on 9 different courses spread out across the globe.  Winning races nets you cash which you can use to improve your ride.  Progress through 4 skill levels and a freestyle contest to show the world who’s the number one racer out there.  Seriously, could you sound more generic than this!  Then again, Motorstorm probably sounded a little too generic too, but that one turned out pretty well.  Again, who knows?  Give this one a shot.

Build N’ Race (Wii)

Here’s how you make your racer stand out!  Build N’ Race comes with over 80 different courses in 4 different environments, but why stop there.  The game comes with a track editor mode that lets you make the most insane courses that you can only dream of.  With over 1,000 different building blocks, you’ll never run out of ideas for the kind of course you want to make.  After that, you can bring along up to 3 friends and race in splitscreen mode on any of the premade tracks or your own.  The only downside to all of this is that it lacks any kind of online community where you could upload your tracks or download other player tracks.  Ultimately, it sounds like what you get out of the game depends very much on how much you put into it.

Daisy Fuentes Pilates (Wii)

The last time I heard anything from Daisy Fuentes was when she hosted America’s Funniest Home Videos.  Good lord!  That was a decade ago!  Anyways, as the name suggest this is basically a Pilates DVD hosted by Daisy Fuentes in video game form.  This being Pilates, all the workouts are core-strengthening excercises which is probably why it’s so popular with women.  The game tracks your movements through the Wiimote which you hold through most of the exercises and the balance board for others.  It also tracks your progress so you can see how far you’ve progressed.  Oddly enough like Build N’ Race, you’re probably only going to get as much as you put into it, so put down that Big Mac while you play this game.

The fire sale over in the sports department did not end well.

Real Heroes: Firefighter (Wii)

Speaking of making things unique, how about a first person shooter firefighting game?  Yes, you put out fires in first person mode!  Kinda makes you wonder why they haven’t thought of that until now doesn’t it?  The Wii has proven itself that it can be a FPS platform given how well The Conduit controls, so Real Heroes: Firefighter stands a good chance of being at least decent if you can get past the bland graphics.  Besides, how many games can you think of where you get a fire axe and not use it to hack at people/aliens/zombies?

World Championship Athletics (Wii)

Currently, Nintendo has the mini-games collection to beat with Wii Sports Resort, and if you can’t beat’em with quality, how about with quantity.  World Championship Athletics comes packed with 28 different summer sporting events like swimming, cycling, diving, running, archery, pole vaulting, shooting, hurdles, and 20 other activities.  The game does support a versus mode with up to 3 other players either splitscreen or hot seat style depending on the event.  Like almost every Wii game these days, the game also supports the Wii Balance Board for some of the activities.  From the screenshots, the game at least look nice graphically.  Whether the games are any fun or not, who knows.

Brave: Shaman’s Challenge (DS)

Yes, this is the DS version of the Brave games that’s coming out this week.  The odd thing is instead of a tweaked version of the game coming out for the consoles, this one’s not even in the same genre.  This one is a falling block, match-3-gems (4 in this case) type puzzle game.  By matching the gems in a specific pattern, you cast spells on whatever it is you’re fighting.  From the videos I’ve seen, nothing really stands out about this other than the fact that making specific patterns activates attacks which now I think about it isn’t too far removed from the super popular puzzle fighter.  Could this be the next puzzle fighter?  I doubt it.

Reversal Challenge (DS)

The classic black vs. white game returns.  Reversal Challenge takes the game of Othello and adds power-ups and items to the mix.  If you don’t like the idea of items and power-ups in Othello, it has classic mode which literally just Othello, but then what’s the point of getting Reversal Challenge if you’re not using the power-ups then.  A versus mode along with puzzle modes rounds out the package.

Rise my minions!  Rise up and do my bidding!

Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show (PSP)

Is this show still on?  Rock Out the Show has you planning every part of a Hannah Montana concert.  From the dancer’s hairstyles, the special effects used, the clothes everyone wears, and even the decorations put on stage, you have complete control over what shows up on stage.  The game itself has you pressing buttons in time with the song with a few exceptions like the dancing portion where you’re given a set of directions for you to press in time with the music.  If you’re interested at all with this game, I suggest reading my preview of this game from the E3 build here.  Enjoy!

Is just me or does that firefighter game sound interesting?  I’m sure it’s just the novelty of putting out fires as opposed to headshotting terrorist or Nazis.  Before you know it, putting out fires will become passe.  As for you guys, anything on this list interest you?

* = Every Console Known to Man.