United Center Ice

September 12 – September 18

Section: 

This was going to be the year I waited on EA’s NHL game to hit the EA Access Vault around playoff time. It’s not that I don’t like the games. Since NHL 09, this has been one of my favorite sports series, but the fall and holiday season gets a bit crowded.

Then they put Vladimir Tarasenko on the cover. Yes, when my friend and I would talk about going to Blues games last season, we may have called it going to The Tarasenkshow. I’ve bought this game the last eight years, usually on day one, and I’ll be damned if I’m skipping the year with a Blues star on the cover.

Better yet, they added the fantastic Draft Champions mode, when you are given a team of so-so players, and then 12 rounds to add better players, selecting one player from three each round. You feel a sense of ownership of the team, and can play online against others with teams that may be crafted differently, but are essentially equal in talent. EA also added the World Cup of Hockey, letting you play the international tournament with accurate rosters, uniforms and schedules. All in all, it would have been a terrible year to sit out, and makes NHL 17 an easy choice for my Game of the Week.

Greg "Doubtingthomas396" Decker

It’s a good week to be a copyright lawyer at Nintendo. Super Jagua and BoxMaker both seem determined to push the limits of the term “inspired by” as a litigational escape-hatch.

This week I’m going to play against type and pick Event[0], which bills itself as a “narrative exploration game,” better known as “walking simulator.” You are trapped on a spaceship with a codependent AI, of which you need to gain the trust and friendship of in order to return home to Earth.

I’m not sure what it is about computers with emotional baggage that make them such a staple of science fiction, but the story and the retro-futurist design aesthetic put this one on my short list to check out just as soon as I have the budget for it. The HTML parser’s nightmare Event[0] gets my Game Of The Week nod.

Felix “Blessed Hardwood Spear” Threepaper

It’s a good week for remakes, ports and sports.

The BioShock Collection may seem expensive for games you’ve likely already played, but it’s cheap when you compare it to the cost of going to GDC. By which I mean, the most interesting feature is the developer commentary. This bundle is for gamedev nerds enthusiasts who like to learn how the sausage is made.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 is like the Pepsi of soccer games, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. If you're wondering why the camera focuses so much on player’s butts during play, it’s because it uses Kojima’s Fox Engine.

This week, I’m most psyched for the final instalment of Inkle’s Sorcery! adaptation: Part 4: The Crown of Kings. Between Inkle and Tin Man Games (who did Warlock of Firetop Mountain a few weeks ago) it’s a good time for Fighting Fantasy enthusiasts nerds, the single-player roleplayers of yore.

Sorcery! is Fighting Fantasy’s crowning glory, an adventure sprawled over 4 books that remembers your actions across instalments, long before Mass Effect made it cool. Inkle has done well to spice up the gameplay beyond “deduct 20 from the paragraph number” shenanigans while retaining the fiendish puzzles of the books.

Chris "C" Cesarano

If I were a rich man, all day long I'd biddy biddy bum I'd be drowning in games. Sure, almost all of them are rereleases of some sort, but that's just another (more expensive) phrase for "opportunity to revisit". The Bioshock Collection is series of games that I've always found to be wonderfully ambitious, in terms of narrative, at least (and in the case of Infinite, to its detriment), so the developer interviews and commentaries are promising. I was also a fan of the original Dead Rising, though not so much a fan that I'd drop cash so easily to play it again in a higher resolution.

Farscry would no doubt kill me – or at least be very, very disappointed – if I didn't mention Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. One of the most highly acclaimed entries in the series, overshadowed in America by the cinematic appeal of the Final Fantasy franchise, Dragon Quest VII helps ensure a wonderful closing chapter for the Nintendo 3DS.

Personally, I'm going to pick ReCore, even if no one else will. I may not have an Xbox One, but Keiji Inafune colluding with the Metroid Prime veterans at Armature Studios means you have my axe, sword, and bow. I understand that not a lot has been shown of the game, and Microsoft certainly hasn't done much to promote it, yet every bit of gameplay I see screams "my kind of thing". Too bad I don't have the right platform to play it on.

This week:

PC

  • Albino Lullaby: Episode 3
  • Avadon 3: The Warborn
  • Boulder Dash - 30th Anniversary
  • BoxMaker
  • Brawlderdash
  • Catch Canvas
  • Dots eXtreme
  • Dyno Adventure
  • Escape The Past
  • Event[0]
  • Factory Engineer
  • Fall of Civilization
  • Fatal Theory
  • Floppy Heroes
  • Flow Match
  • Galactic Fighters
  • KickHim
  • Lew Pulsipher's Doomstar
  • Life is Pain
  • Loot or Die
  • Lost Crew
  • Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 8: A Journey's End?
  • Momonga Pinball Adventures
  • Monster Slayers
  • Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
  • NASCAR Heat Evolution
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition 2
  • Path of War
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017
  • ReCore
  • RIVE
  • Running Gods
  • Sorcery! Part 4
  • Spaera
  • Squareface
  • Stars in Shadow
  • Super Jagua
  • TankYou!
  • Zombitatos the End of the PC Master Race

PS4

  • Batman: The Telltale Series
  • BioShock: The Collection
  • Dead Rising
  • Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
  • Don't Starve Together
  • Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 8: A Journey's End?
  • Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
  • NASCAR Heat Evolution
  • NHL 17
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition 2
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017
  • Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness
  • Slain: Back From Hell
  • Unholy Heights
  • Rive
  • Mount & Blade: Warband

Xbox One

  • Batman: The Telltale Series
  • BioShock: The Collection
  • Dead Rising
  • Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
  • Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 8: A Journey's End?
  • NASCAR Heat Evolution
  • NHL 17
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition 2
  • Perfect Woman
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017
  • ReCore
  • The Witness

Wii U

  • Noitu Love: Devolution

PS3

  • Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 8: A Journey's End?
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017

Xbox 360

  • Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 8: A Journey's End?
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017

3DS

  • Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
  • Noitu Love: Devolution

Vita

  • MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death
  • Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
  • Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness

RIFT

  • Reverence: The Ultimate Combat Experience
  • VRNinja

Vive

  • Reverence: The Ultimate Combat Experience
  • VRNinja

Comments

Only getting two things this week myself. PsychoPass: Mandatory Happiness, and Dragon Quest 7.

The bioshock upgrade is free if you own the originals already on steam, so I'm looking forward to giving it a fresh look with the commentary active.

I'm one game short of getting the upgrade, but I'm not sure director's commentary is worth it to me if I have to buy Bioshock Infinite.

Mount & Blade: Warband coming to console still is blowing my mind.

I've got DQ7 preloaded and await anxiously to start on my 100 hour quest. As someone who for years avoided most things DQ this is a huge change. While the mechanics are stolid at best, the stories are where it's at and DQ7 is filled to the brim with, well, short stories. Perfect for a 3DS.

I am interested in ReCore, but there's no way my 2011 Mac mini (running Windows 7) can actually play that at a decent frame rate, so I will pass for now.

But I won't pass on Dragon Quest 7. Not a chance.

From the early reviews, it looks like ReCore may make a nice game to play when it hit GWG next year, or so. It's too bad, because the reviews do point out that it has a lot of what we all thought might make it a really fun experience. It just has a lot of other issues that detract, with scores in the 6 or 7 out of 10 range.

I'm bummed, because I was pretty excited about it when ti was first teased. On the plus side, it is just a $40 game. I thin MS saw this coming.

If we adjust that average to a five-star system, that puts ReCore at around a 3-star range. That's about what I'd expect and all I could ask for, especially from a $40 title. It's still the one lone temptation into me getting an Xbox One.

And also: thanks Jayhawker for sharing your thoughts on NHL '17 with us for The Week Ahead.

Only getting DQ7. Was thinking about Psycho Passs but money is a little too tight so maybe later.

Just Pac Man for me this week. I'm going to hold off on DQ for now--too much backlog.

The only thing that looked potentially interesting to me is the game Doubtingthomas mentioned, Event[0]. Maybe I'll put it on my wishlist if it gets good reviews.

Albino Lullaby: Episode 3

There is some weirdness with this series, at least when looking at Steam release dates. Episode 2 has a listed release date of Jan 17, 2017. Episode 3 has two listed release dates; to the right of the screenshots, Jul 17, 2017 is displayed, while "September 15 This game will unlock in approximately 3 days" is displayed below the screenshots. Which is it? Is it releasing in 3 days or 10 months? And if it's releasing in 3 days, how does it make sense that #2 will release after #3? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dyno Adventure

Accordong to the Steam page, this releases in 2 weeks, on the 27th.

Monster Slayers

No idea how this appeared on your release date source(s), because the Steam page shows a release date of next year: January 19, 2017.

ccesarano wrote:

If we adjust that average to a five-star system, that puts ReCore at around a 3-star range.

3 star movie: Looks like it could be good, I'll watch it.

6/10 game: Guess it's garbage, PASS

DQ7 for me as well. Will almost certainly be playing this through Christmas.

I cut my puzzle-game teeth on Boulder Dash (and Repton when I was my friend's house, who had a BBC B). I'll probably pick it up, then be disappointed when i remember that that Sokoban-style gameplay has gotten very stale over the last few decades.

P.S. Marginally entertained at the juxtaposition of Brawlderdash (nothing to do with Boulder Dash) with Boulder Dash in the same week.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I'm one game short of getting the upgrade, but I'm not sure director's commentary is worth it to me if I have to buy Bioshock Infinite.

Same here. Enjoyed the first two, but stayed away from Infinite and not sure why I should try it now.

EDIT: Re-reading the article, we might be ok...

PC players have a special opportunity to upgrade some of the BioShock titles to the remastered versions. If you already own BioShock, BioShock 2, and/or Minerva’s Den on Steam, you will be able to upgrade to the remastered version of the respective title(s) for FREE after release.

Nothing for me this week as I'm still deep in BioShock 2 OG since the remaster will probably fry my PC. Will probably pick up DQVII once reviews get in and I know more about it. I promised Farscry I'd have his back when it launched.

Also, it's kinda odd that there's been barely any press for Avadon 3. Usually sites like RPS are pretty good about giving Jeff Vogel some press.

Gravey wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

If we adjust that average to a five-star system, that puts ReCore at around a 3-star range.

3 star movie: Looks like it could be good, I'll watch it.

6/10 game: Guess it's garbage, PASS

The USGamer review seems to put it on the "good" side of the 6/10 score. Or at least, "maybe wait for a sale" side. Either way, my interest is piqued, and their review does make me wonder if Infune just hasn't gotten with the times considering how throwback-ish (and not in the good way) Mighty No. 9 turned out.

Not listed in the OP: A remastered Dead Rising released on Steam this week.