June 19 – June 25

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker

There are too many good games to choose from this week, but the only one I feel comfortable tapping for my game of the week right now is Nex Machina. From the makers of the well-received Resogun (which I haven’t played) and from industry darling Eugene Jarvis (who made Defender and Robotron 2084, which I have played) it looks like the kind of rip-roaring dual-stick shooting time that I want. What are you shooting? Robots. Why are you shooting them? Who cares? It’s fast, it’s frenetic, it’s exactly the kind of brainless fun I need right now.

Nex Machina gets my game of the week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Super fast talking” Threepaper

My love of XCOM makes me think that tactical, turn-based, grid-combat RPGs are extremely my thing. Then I bounce off 93% of the Japanese games in this department. God Wars: Future Past is the latest contender. It seems well-executed and reminiscent of Jeanne D’Arc (my favourite Vita game), so I will once again fail to understand why I don’t get into it.

If Windows desktop theme packs were a chess game, they’d be Chess Ultra. Lots of “skins” for your chess set, up-to-date AI and a collection of puzzle modes and classic matches make it quite the package. It’s even VR-enabled. The animators have attempted to render a piece knocking over another piece with maximum dramatic heft, while stopping short of animating the pieces a la Battle Chess.

I’m actively avoiding grimdark in my games at present, so Get Even and Dead by Daylight skate right by.

Micro Machines World Series looks the most fun this week. I’m a sucker for a toybox setting and enabling team battles just formalises what everyone was doing anyway to stop stupid Dan from winning all the time, geez.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-111373-1483294321.jpg)   Chris "C" Cesarano

Whelp, E3 2017 was certainly a thing that happened. Normally by now I'd be chomping at the bit to play games that were anywhere between three-to-twelve months away from release, but instead I'm feeling pretty content with what I already have. The only real cravings I have are for Super Mario Odyssey and Metroid: Samus Returns because my biases are as obnoxious as a hairy fat man wearing a speedo on the beach.

Speaking of places filled with sand, Ever Oasis hits on the Nintendo 3DS this week. There's already a demo available on the eShop if you'd like to give it a whirl for yourself. Directed by Koichi Ishii, creator of the Mana/Seiken Densetsu series by Square Enix, it promises a fulfilling single-player and co-operative action RPG experience very reminiscent of a series as mistreated as Mega Man.

What has my interest this week, however, is Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, expansion to Square Enix's profitable MMO title. I still haven't dropped into the game itself, but after learning you can play up to level 35 for free and seeing the various cinematic trailers, I've decided it is finally time to jump in and see what "the secretly best Final Fantasy" is about.

This week:

PC

  • 3..2..1..Grenades!
  • Avatar Of The Wolf
  • Bebop and Tempo
  • Blockara
  • Chess Ultra
  • Chroma Blast
  • Cryptark
  • Dead Rising 4: Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf
  • DragoDino
  • Final Fantasy XIV Online: The Complete Edition
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
  • Get Even
  • Nex Machina: Death Machine
  • Outbreak: The New Nightmare
  • Secret in Story
  • Super Sports Surgery
  • The Maid-san's Caving Adventure
  • The Sims 4: Fitness Stuff
  • Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni
  • Zombie Quarantine

PS4

  • Chess Ultra
  • Cryptark
  • Dead by Daylight
  • Dungeon Defenders II
  • Final Fantasy XIV Online: The Complete Edition
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
  • Get Even
  • God Wars: Future Past
  • Micro Machines World Series
  • MXGP3: The Official Motocross Videogame
  • Nex Machina: Death Machine

Xbox One

  • Chess Ultra
  • Dead by Daylight
  • Dead Rising 4: Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf
  • Get Even
  • Micro Machines World Series
  • MXGP3: The Official Motocross Videogame
  • Super Bomb Rush!

Switch

  • Cave Story +
  • Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas

3DS

  • Ever Oasis
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Cipher Companions Pack
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Cipher Legends I
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - Cipher Legends II
  • River City: Knights of Justice
  • RPG Maker Fes Player
  • Runbow Pocket

Vita

  • God Wars: Future Past

RIFT

  • Chess Ultra
  • Unearthing Mars

Vive

  • Chess Ultra
  • RoboTraps
  • Unearthing Mars
  • VINDICTA

Comments

Picking up River City: Knights of Justice this week since that's become my go-to 7/10 franchise lately and after spending the last 3 months in Breath of the Wild something simpler and retro is what I'm craving right now. If my assumptions are correct it's a smaller game than Tokyo Rumble was (as it's an eShop original) so hopefully I'll be rolling onto Ever Oasis or Nex Machina pretty quickly

Look at the 3DS hanging on!

I've downloaded the Ever Oasis demo, but haven't fired it up just yet. I imagine I'll be picking the game up eventually.

I'm interested in Cryptark, as I haven't picked it up on PC yet.

But both will wait behind Nex Machina, which brings Housemarque back to PC! It also brings a bit of the Smash TV vibe back, which I'm wholly in line with as that was one of my absolute favorite arcade games of all time.

I love that someone brought back Micro Machines. Looks fun. We can use more fun driving games like this.

Stormblood looks great, but reminding myself of the reasons I quit FFXIV is an effective deterrent.

Oh, and the hero image is an abomination. Excellent work!

Man, Nex Machina: Death Machine looks sweet.

Robotron for the modern age, indeed.

Nex Machina looks really good. I might grab that this week.

The Mage's Tale is out on the Rift on the 20th from the guys who made/ are making The Bard's Tale

Chris "C" Cesarano wrote:

"the secretly best Final Fantasy"

Truth.

I've played the game off and on for a few years. The game has some really weird edges that, in my own experience, you have to accept or you will bounce right off of it. It's nice to have a full fledged MMORPG on the PS4. It wasn't nice that I had to spend 10+ hours to finish Main Story Quests past the old level cap just so I could get to an expansion I purchased. They really want you to see the story, and boy howdy is it a Final Fantasy story. However, as a primarily solo player, I had a lot of fun with the game.

garion333 wrote:

Oh, and the hero image is an abomination. Excellent work!

Thanks!

I can't take all the credit, though. I just mash the pictures together. The team is consistently picking games that lend themselves to mashing.