April 7 - April 11

Section: 

To be fair, I've been too abrupt in not following PS2 releases on The Week Ahead. While Microsoft may have excised last generation's console like a festering boil with what seems in hindsight to be zealous speed, Sony continues to let people who are slow to upgrade give them money.

I suppose the big game this week is Assassin's Creed for the PC, but I am counted among those who were impressed by Ubisoft's blockbuster for all of an hour. I don't really feel like launching into some kind of tirade of disappointment at Assassin's Creed, because the let-down I suffered was a direct result of the hype I'd managed to get myself get caught up in. So, instead, I'm going to give Game of the Week to Baroque, an Atlus USA RPG that looks as creepily bizarre as every other Atlus USA RPG. I feel secure in describing this as a game whose appeal is a tightly focused beam targeting a pinpoint of a cross-section of a subgenre, but I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. No one seems to sate the perverse desires of the hardcore JRPG crowd like Atlus USA. While I'm sure the game would make me convulse in anaphylactic reaction to its relentless adornment of JRPG tropes and certain misuse of the word Baroque, I'm betting there's a familiar group of players who will find much to love. More power to ya!

On DVD this week you can watch Daniel Day Lewis act hard in There Will Be Blood or watch John C Riley walk hard in, well, Walk Hard. More DVDs here.

PC:
- Assassin's Creed (4/7)
- Civil War Mysteries (4/7)
- Nancy Drew Double Dare (4/7)
- Dirty Dancing (4/8)

PSP:
- World Championship Cards (4/7)

PS2:
- Arcana Heart (4/7)
- Baroque (4/8)

Wii:
- Minicopter: Adventure Flight (4/7)
- Baroque (4/8)

Comments

I have no idea what Elysium just said. But it sounded good!

In all fairness, considering how much Microsoft lost on X-Box hardware, and I bet they never hit a break even point, they almost had no choice but discontinue it when the 360 was released. Yet another system they were losing money on.

If I were still single and in high school I might be interested in Baroque, but ever since Final Fantasy X I lost interest in JRPGs. Not because of anything to do with FFX or JRPGs, but it was about then that I found my taste in games change and my time to play them grow shorter...

I am looking forward to Assassin's Creed on PC, that will do me this week in-between typing away pointless wordage and drinking Ribena. Oh please, let me have the time!

As for There will be Blood, I didn't really like it, except for "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!" That should be on a T-Shirt. Does anyone else think that Daniel Day Lewis needs to calm down with a cup of tea and a hug?

If it's not Baroque, don't fix it.

Sorry. I have a weakness for movie quotes and puns. It's a wonder my wife puts up with me.

Dammit Elysium, if you're going to give handouts to the JRPG fans could you please pick GOOD JRPGs?

Baroque may have a neat, fresh concept and awesome visuals but early impressions I've heard all say it's pretty bad. Which is a real shame, because studios will blame its badness on it being creative and original rather than on poor game mechanics, and so next time they'll make another game about angsty teenagers with giant swords fighting orcs and dragons.

Nintendo Power gave the Wii version a 30%.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Nintendo Power gave the Wii version a 30%.

Not a good sign. So much for the JRPG version of Planescape: Torment.

Elysium, save a little bit of Atlus love for Persona 3: FES, out on April 22. The Persona 3 director's cut, with a new episode, extra scenes, and Hard Mode. Also, now you can dress up your party members in sexy outfits, if someone were into that sort of thing, for some reason.

Nyles wrote:

Also, now you can dress up your party members in sexy outfits, if someone were into that sort of thing, for some reason.

I'm in!

Botswana wrote:

In all fairness, considering how much Microsoft lost on X-Box hardware, and I bet they never hit a break even point, they almost had no choice but discontinue it when the 360 was released. Yet another system they were losing money on.

In other words, if it ain't Baroque, don't dump it.

As for There will be Blood, I didn't really like it, except for "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!" That should be on a T-Shirt.

You can't beat the internet to the punch on thoughts like that. link

As for There will be Blood, I didn't really like it, except for "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!"

Wierd I didn't even think that was all that memorable a line from the movie. In fact going back and watching the scene on youtube the way the line is delivered isn't nearly like I would think from the way it's presented on the internets.

I was sooooo sure that Assassin's Creed was being over-hyped way back when that I deliberately ignored it. Guess what? I was very pleasantly surprised by the game. Sometimes ignorance *is* bliss.

scrub wrote:

I was sooooo sure that Assassin's Creed was being over-hyped way back when that I deliberately ignored it. Guess what? I was very pleasantly surprised by the game. Sometimes ignorance *is* bliss.

I'm playing it right now. I'd call it repetitive, but the repetitive parts are fairly interesting. If you don't mind doing the same, interesting things over and over again, it's reasonably good!

Games with roguelike mechanics always get terrible review scores for some reason.