October 29 – November 2

Section: 

First of all, it remains a deep disappointment to me that the Bratz franchise is still a thing that exists.

That irrational non sequitur out of the way, this week has no shortage of games hitting the shelves and, in an ever-increasing number of cases, simply available for your downloading pleasure. I'm honestly trying to think of the last game I purchased in a box from a store for my PC, and I think it may have been Crysis 2 at release. Now, no small part of that is because finding a boxed PC game is the sort of rare thing that can legitimately be included in a scavenger hunt, but even if that weren't the case, I've become so committed to Steam — and to a lesser extent Origin and the-service-formerly-known-as-Impulse — that I really hope the naysayers are wrong about the inevitability of these corporations ultimately screwing me. It's not even right to say I've put all my eggs in one basket. I don't even have the physical eggs.

The big game this week, of course, is Assassin's Creed III, and though I'm far from an unflappable cheerleader for this franchise, I have to admit that this one looks pretty damn cool. I feel like the AC franchise was flirting dangerously with becoming stale going back to that Renaissance well again and again, so I'm hopeful that a shift in setting and plot points will keep the magic alive. I'm giving my nod for Game of the Week to Ubisoft's perennial powerhouse.

That said, it really should never be overlooked when Criterion games releases a AAA racing title. Though Need for Speed: Most Wanted comes with the NFS pedigree, buzz is that this game is more a successor to Burnout Paradise than anything else, and that should only be viewed as a good thing. Most Wanted is definitely a game I'm keeping an eye on.

Also this week Natural Selection 2 gets an official launch and Zone of the Enders HD Collection lands on Xbox and PS3.

PC
- 007 Legends (download)
- Cargo Commander (download)
- Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
- Guise of the Wolf (download)
- Guns of Icarus Online (download)
- Natural Selection 2 (download)
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Painkiller Hell & Damnation (download)
- Pid (download)
- Primal Carnage (download)
- The Good Life (download)

Xbox 360
- Assassin's Creed III
- Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
- Nike+ Kinect Training
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Pid (XBLA)
- Toy Story Mania!
- WWE '13
- Zone of the Enders HD Collection

PS3
- Assassin's Creed III
- Killzone Trilogy
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Nobunaga's Amition: Rise to Power (PSN)
- Okami HD (PSN)
- Sports Champions 2
- Toy Story Mania!
- WWE '13
- Zone of the Enders HD Collection

Wii
- Karaoke Joysound
- Wreck It Ralph
- WWE '13

Vita
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Ragnarok Odyssey
- Smart As

3DS
- 2 Fast 4 Gnomz (eShop)
- Bratz: Fashion Boutique
- Lalaloopsy: Carnival of Friends
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings
- The Trash Pack
- Wreck It Ralph

DS
- Bratz: Fashion Boutique
- Lalaloopsy: Carnival of Friends
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings
- Spot It! Mean Machines (DSiWare)
- The Trash Pack
- ThunderCats
- Winx Club: Magical Fairy Party
- Wreck It Ralph

Comments

In for AC3 - just not for Criterion's NFS. Both that and Horizon seem to be misses for me, so hey, more moneys for other games!

Waiting on the PC version of AC3 myself. Zone of the Enders HD collection is a must have though.

In for AC3, and am VERY excited!!!!

I am trying to put some MP action(360) together for later in the week - check the AC3 thread if interested!

Although I'm interested to see what they do with that particular period in history, I think I'm holding off on AC3 for now. Releasing one every year is just overload on that style of game, IMO.

non-sequiter

There's a superfluous hyphen and a spelling error there.

That said, it really should never be overlooked when Criterion games releases a AAA racing title.

Because the name of the studio had previously escaped my notice, this sentence conjured up an entirely different image for me. When are we getting the Criterion Collection's release of Bioshock?

AC3 on Vita, I think. Is ZOE HD disc or download? I hope that it is the latter; I don't have the money for it this month.

Waiting for AC3 to be on sale, because I still haven't finished the 3 Ezio entries.

ZoE, Okami HD, and Ragnarok Odyssey are the three I'll definitely pick up.

The last PC game I purchased physically was... Elemental: War of Magic.

I'm playing Forza, but I might consider trading it in for Need for Speed. I'll probably play AC3 the first week of December when my wife is out of town for the week.

AC3 is happening. I probably won't get to play it due to Daily Planet being on bio-break-only mode, but I will be able to live vicariously through the boys as they crash through it.

Going to get AC3 and AC:Liberation at some point, but not today, for financial reasons

I had nearly endless amounts of fun with the first iteration of NFS: Most Wanted, but I somehow missed out on Burnout Paradise entirely. Surely I'm not alone in picking up the new one on PC this week? I really want to see what I was missing from the end of Burnout's glory days.

Okami HD? Is that Move only?

Hadn't heard anything about it. Borrowed the Wii version from a friend and always meant to pick it up myself one day.

Ragnarok Odyssey for me, eventually. In no rush though.

Same is true of NFS.

Stele wrote:

Okami HD? Is that Move only?

The announcement back in June suggested that the original PS2 control style will still be available if that's what you prefer. Every time that game comes up there's a twinge of guilt that I only barely scratched the surface before moving on to other things.

Yeah, Capcom would be shooting itself in the foot if Okami HD was released as a Move exclusive. It certainly supports the standard PS3 pad, and is better for it.

It's also stunning to look at, and I say this after having just upgraded my PC. The art holds up really well, and proper effort has been put in to make sure it works in 1080p. Certainly far better than the Resident Evil HD stuff.

... but what I would give for the release to be on Vita...

Ubi is still pulling the "PC market comes last" crap.

All over NFS as I loved the first one. I can wait for Assassin's Creed as I have played the first 4 very very little. I love the idea of them, but for some reason just can't make myself actually "play" them.

Can't wait for ZOE HD collection. Now I don't have to track down #2 and now that I play more PC games I don't think PS2 graphics really hold up that well.
So sad that yet again they bundle a metal gear demo with it.
It makes me think that we won't get ZOE 3 until they want to put out a demo for the next next Metal Gear.

AC3 is at the top of my Christmas wish list.

While I've been terrible with my game buying embargo, I'm sticking with it for digital releases. Otherwise I'd be grabbing Okami HD, a game I missed out on for both PS2 and Wii.

Minarchist wrote:

Although I'm interested to see what they do with that particular period in history, I think I'm holding off on AC3 for now. Releasing one every year is just overload on that style of game, IMO.

This is one of the reasons I'm able to wait until Christmas for AC3, and particularly because, of all the holiday releases that aren't Dishonored, it is the one I can actually get excited for. I just beat Brotherhood, though, and am looking at Revelations wondering if I really want to do all that again.

Previews say a lot about AC3 feels different, though, from navigating the wilderness to combat. So we'll see.

Only a week into Forza Horizon! I'll probably have time for Most Wanted round about... spring.

I skipped AssRev, because as good (really great) as ACII and AssBro are, I didn't want the series to overstay its welcome. Now is ACIII all that and a bag of bannock? Won't know—want to play Dishonored for some stealthy-stabby first. I'll get to ACIII when ACIII Reckoning comes out.

I'm just excited that we're finally starting to see some Vita game releases! I'm going to take advantage of the B2G1 at Target and get NFS, AC3, and Ragnarok. All on Vita.

Dove head first into AC3 and am loving every bit of it, a big surprise in just how crazy good it is.