Coming Soon! 3/8/2010

After a good 4 years (I kid you not) the waiting is finally over. As usual, the rest of the publishers have by and large stayed clear of this long awaited date. It seems, however, that Sega either didn’t get the memo or didn’t care.

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

Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3)

Tuesday March 9, 2010

To everyone who watched in awe with mouth agape the Final Fantasy 13 Trailer all those years ago, March 9th, 2010 seemed like a date that simply wouldn’t come. Until now. You have to be relatively new to gaming to have never heard of Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 13 is Square Enix newest RPG, and despite the number at the end, it is an entirely brand new game. The series have never been constrained to any one universe, storyline, or even gameplay mechanics. Each one is like an RPG in the first of many. In the case of Final Fantasy 13, the world is that of Cocoon and Pulse. The former is the world of man while the latter is basically the great outdoors. The inhabitants of Cocoon abhor the world of Pulse including those who are branded by it. As Lightning and crew, all of whom bears the mark of Pulse, they must save the world even if they are not wanted by it. The mechanics of the game is where the term “RPG” becomes a little bit murky. The creators of Final Fantasy 13 have explicitly said in an interview that they didn’t set out to create an RPG. They didn’t start with the template of an RPG and created a game that fit the mold. They just made a game, and whatever it ends up being is what you get. This thinking might explain the generally not so positive reviews we’ve been hearing from Japan (This game came out 3 months ago over there) along with others who have played the import version. Yet despite all this I’m still very curious about this game. The world, the stunning graphics, the combat, all of it looks far too enticing for me to just pass up.

Yakuza 3 (PS3)

Tuesday March 9, 2010

You know how the Godfather movies are ultra popular around here? If you were to Japan-fy the Godfather movie, you’d probably get something very similar to the Yakuza series. In case you don’t know, Yakuza is the Japanese equivalent of the mafia, and the series revolves around Kazuma Kiryu, an ex-member of the Yakuza. Unfortunately the world of the Yakuza is not ready to let Kazuma go quite just yet. As for the game itself, the creators have taken great pains in making the streets of Tokyo as authentic as humanly possible. The shop signs, the billboards, the lights, and many more minute details make it completely undeniable that you are in Tokyo. It wouldn’t be a crime drama without some brutal fights. Kazuma doesn’t use any fancy fighting moves. He sticks with basics like punches and kicks, but he also gets to wield weapons from anything he can get his hands on like a chair or a pool cue. The Yakuza series is extremely popular over in Japan. It gets top dollar production values and very well known actors to voice the characters, but over here, it’s a bit of a different story. The first one came and went with barely a blip on our radar despite some fairly warm critical reception. It was even localized with English voice actors like Michael Rosenbaum, Mark Hamill, and Rachel Leigh Cook. The second one came and went with barely anybody noticing, and for a little while, American release of Yakuza 3 looked unlikely until only recently. I get the feeling that this is its last chance to make an impact here in the US. If it doesn’t do any kind of sales here, we’ll probably never see Yakuza 4 come out here. The game may be Japanese centric in a lot of ways, but that’s not the reason the game did as well as it did over in Japan. The quality of the story and writing is nearly unmatched. We’d be fools if we don’t at least give this game a chance.

Honorable Mention

Calling (Wii)

Tuesday March 9, 2010

The western horror genre and I does not have a cordial relationship. I detest it. The Japanese horror genre and I have a slightly different relationship. One where I run away like a little girl. If I’m forced to endure one or the other, I’d pick the western horror genre only because those don’t scare the living crap out of me. Calling, a horror game in classic Japanese style, is undoubtedly Nintendo’s version of counterprogramming against the behemoth that is Final Fantasy 13. In the world of Calling, a website simply called the Black Page have drawn many visitors. Unfortunately just by visiting the site, you’re drawn into some alternate reality made up of memories of the dead. You’ll have to figure out how to get out of there unless you want to join the poor souls already trapped there. The funny thing about the horror genre is just how curious I am about the story behind the scares. Why does this alternate reality exist? What caused all this? How the hell do you fix this or at least get out? I’d love to get my hands on this game to answer all my questions, but how the hell am I supposed to do that without wetting the sofa?

Coming This Week

Tuesday March 9, 2010

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition (Xbox 360, PS3)

This is just Resident Evil 5 that happens to come with all the Downloadable Content. That means you get the versus mode, the two costume packs as well as the two additional chapters “Lost in Nightmares” and “Desperate Escape”. Buying the game along with all the individual DLC is the same as the price of this Gold Edition, so unfortunately you won’t be getting any kind of a discount.

The Daring Game for Girls (Wii, DS)

Is it me or has it been a while since the Wii got a mini-game collection? This here is based off of the Daring Book for Girls which lays out a bunch of games that girls could play. This game includes games like freeze tag, double dutch, and basketball all in the name of earning Daring Girl Badges. Earn enough badges, and you get to go to virtual Africa! WOOHOO!

Racquet Sports (Wii)

The name says it all, and if you look at the font for the title on the box art, it might just remind you of another popular mini-game compilation. Yes, it’s a compilation of sports that uses racquets like tennis and Badminton. It does support the Wii Motion Plus, which is rarer than it should be, and the Ubisoft Motion Tracking Camera (Ubisoft’s answer to the Natal), which is included in a specially marked version of Racquet Sports. Hope you like your Wii Tennis clone games!

Sam & Max: Season Two – Beyond Time and Space (Wii)

The lovable, psycho duo are back! These freelance police will stop at nothing to crack the case. No robots or aliens can stand in their quest for justice! This Point and Click adventure game contains all 5 episodes of Season 2. Hope you like your rabbits psychotic.

Shepherd’s Crossing 2 (DS)

I just read the game description for this game, and for the life of me I cannot figure out what’s the difference between this and a Harvest Moon game. Are farming sims that popular?

LTTP

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Portable (PSP)

This week’s really turning into a very Japanese centric week. This probably doesn’t need saying, but Final Fantasy 13 here I come! Damn the naysayers, and damn gloom and doomers! Nothing’s standing between me and my Final Fantasy 13! Will you be joining me?