June 2 - June 6

Section: 

Do you like movie tie-in games? Who doesn't, right? Well this is your lucky week because there's not one, not two, not three but an amazing four games coming out this week direct from the silver screen. From The Incredible Hulk to Kung Fu Panda, Indiana Jones and The Bourne Conspiracy, it's all movie action all week! I suppose an argument could be, and has been, made that The Bourne Conspiracy is actually derived from the book, but the demo was so bad I can't imagine anyone would raise to that defense anyway.

I'm frankly torn between LEGO Indiana Jones and Ninja Gaiden II for Game of the Week. But, in my heart of hearts, I have to admit that I never really bought into the whole LEGO to video game translation, perhaps being the only person on the planet not charmed by the various Star Wars incarnations. It was clever enough in its own way I suppose, but it felt a little tedious to me, so I'm actually going to give the nod to Ninja Gaiden II, which is getting some decent pre-release buzz. Besides, if I can prop it up now, it will fall that much farther when I tear it back down later. Burn it to the ground!

Meanwhile on DVD this week A&E launches its mediocre Andromeda Strain remake onto stores shelves just a week after its broadcast premier. I suppose it's nice to see little Ricky Schroeder still getting work. Also available: Semi-Pro and Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show among others.

PC:
- GRID
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

PSP:
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2

DS:
- The Incredible Hulk
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- Paws & Claws Pet Vet: Healing Hands
- Summon Night: Twin Age

PS2:
- The Incredible Hulk
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Xbox 360
- GRID
- The Incredible Hulk
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- Ninja Gaiden II
- The Bourne Conspiracy

PS3:
- GRID
- The Incredible Hulk
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- The Bourne Conspiracy

Wii:
- Cabela's Trophy Bucks
- The Incredible Hulk
- Kung Fu Panda
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Comments

I'll be excited the following week. I traded in a metric crap-tonne of stuff and now have about $500 in store credit. If I can get there in time, I'll be picking up the MGS4 PS3 bundle on the 12th.

I'm wondering if you'll try to do to MGS what you did to GTA and try find some random game to put in the top spot... Find out next time on The Week Ahead!

Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the game of the week. I'll tie him up in my basement if need be.

Elysium wrote:

Meanwhile on DVD this week A&E launches its mediocre Andromeda Strain remake onto stores shelves just a week after its broadcast premier..

Mediocre is giving it way too much credit. Do not waste your money on this one.

Purple_Haze wrote:

I'm wondering if you'll try to do to MGS what you did to GTA and try find some random game to put in the top spot... Find out next time on The Week Ahead!

Don King Presents: Prizefighter, baby.

magnus wrote:
Elysium wrote:

Meanwhile on DVD this week A&E launches its mediocre Andromeda Strain remake onto stores shelves just a week after its broadcast premier..

Mediocre is giving it way too much credit. Do not waste your money on this one.

I liked it quite a bit. It was competently done, with solid budget, especially for a TV movie. This was my first Andromeda Strain, I did not bother with the original.

The movie struck me as a 21st century cousin of Outbreak and Burning Zone. I am a sucker for this type of film. Show me a 5-second shot of people in HAZMAT suits walking through town littered with bodies and I will sit through the entire thing.

I'm holding out for the LEGO: Weekend at Bernies - The Original Trilogy.

What can I say-- the only game in this list that I'll be playing eventually is LEGO: Indiana Jones. The Star Wars original trilogy was fairly repetitive, but I played it twice and could see taking another go at some point. Sometimes repetitive just means that it's an easy, and enjoyable, pick up and play game.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the game of the week. I'll tie him up in my basement if need be.

Eh, kind of depends on what all is coming out.

Elysium, did you play Lego Star Wars with anyone? The big draw of the game is the drop-in/drop-out co-op. You get four people together Lego-ing it up and the game keeps going even when one person leaves the room to get drinks.

i wouldnt give every game a pass just because playing with friends makes it slightly entertaining. That's cheap. But Lego Star Wars is pretty well put together.

My girlfriend's dad has been asking me if The Bourne Conspiracy was any good. I hadn't really heard anything about it and told him as much. After you mentioned the poor demo, I went on XBL and picked it up. It really is pretty bad. It was entertaining to do the finisher stuff, and had a similar feel to Assassin's Creed with the combat flowing kinda like you're watching a movie, but I played it on the easiest difficulty and failed at least 5 times on the opening mission.

Too bad, it looked like a lot of fun.

"I'm frankly torn between LEGO Indiana Jones and Ninja Gaiden II for Game of the Week."

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http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/9...

**Le' Sigh**

I'm picking up Ninja Gaiden II... but I'm also debating on GRID. At first the demo was 'meh' but after spending some time in drifting event, I kind 'a want to pick GRID up as well. Sigh, MGS4 is coming out next week... may be I should wait on GRID and look into MGS4...?

Question to GWJC, I have not played MGS3... will I miss anything by jumping from MGS 2 to 4?

Color me embarrassed. To be honest, I forgot that GRID was even coming out. I'll be interested to see what people think of that one. It certainly looks pretty.

zeroKFE wrote:
Question to GWJC, I have not played MGS3... will I miss anything by jumping from MGS 2 to 4?

Hard to say. MGS3 fills in a lot of the backstory of the MGS universe, and gets the player intimately familiar with who the Big Boss was and what his motivations where. Also, it gives you an interesting new perspective on who Revolver Ocelot is. Something tells me you'll probably be okay in MGS4 without that information, but that you'll probably miss some of the subtleties in the character interactions relating to those two topics. Of course, until I've actually played MGS4, at best I'm making an educated guess here.

I've only read the EDGE review for MGS4, but they seem to indicate that it's best to know the whole backstory going in to the 4th installment.

Here's the synopsis:

"- Opening act is the best part
- Not a game for MGS outsiders
- two cut-scenes near the 90 minute mark
- The Beauty and the Beast Unit are in the shadow of the MGS3 Cobra Unit.
- Camera flow effortless between 1st and 3rd person view
- Control system has "at last" the ideal balance of intuitiveness and range.
- Game can be played for months rather than days.
- MGS4 is not the game it could of been, nor the game it should have been if you believed the early trailers (??)
- But is very faithful to its fans and delivers without equal in so many ways."

Question to GWJC, I have not played MGS3... will I miss anything by jumping from MGS 2 to 4?

Hard to say. MGS3 fills in a lot of the backstory of the MGS universe, and gets the player intimately familiar with who the Big Boss was and what his motivations were. Also, it gives you an interesting new perspective on who Revolver Ocelot is. Something tells me you'll probably be okay in MGS4 without that information, but that you'll probably miss some of the subtleties in the character interactions relating to those two topics. Of course, until I've actually played MGS4, at best I'm making an educated guess here.

Also Mass Effect comes out in the UK this week for PC. WOOO!

Well, I don't think it will leave you lost in the MGS4 or anything. It's just that you're likely to get more out of it if you're fresh on the first three titles going in. You'll pick up on subtle things that others would completely miss.

Why not just read a plot synopsis for the first three at Wikipedia or something? It shouldn't be to difficult to dig up a summary (esp. with the imminent release of Part 4).

Nei wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

I've only read the EDGE review for MGS4, but they seem to indicate that it's best to know the whole backstory going in to the 4th installment.

Dang!

After reading Zero's reply, I started thinking back on the series and I've come to an odd realization that... I don't recall any of it. Well, to a certain extend. I remember; settings, characters, ...sigh, boss fights, dang... I even remember that the ending of MGS2 finished at 11:42pm and I had a desire to get a drink and shoot myself after a long speech from Snake. I felt like a kid that is being punished!

Hmm, wiki?

Metal Gear Solid Retrospective series on Game Trailers is just what the doctor ordered!

Nei wrote:

I even remember that the ending of MGS2 finished at 11:42pm and I had a desire to get a drink and shoot myself after a long speech from Snake. I felt like a kid that is being punished! :cry:

Possibly because it's not so much a game as a torture device?

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Nei wrote:

I even remember that the ending of MGS2 finished at 11:42pm and I had a desire to get a drink and shoot myself after a long speech from Snake. I felt like a kid that is being punished! :cry:

Possibly because it's not so much a game as a torture device?

MGS2 is the only Metal Gear game I've played. It was fun and all but the last hour or so it's just silly. I haven't heard that it makes sense to anyone (that includes the damn people who wrote the game :P)

Aaron D. wrote:

I've only read the EDGE review for MGS4, but they seem to indicate that it's best to know the whole backstory going in to the 4th installment.

Dang!

After reading Zero's reply, I start thinking back on the series and I've come to an odd realization that... I don't recall any of it. Well, to a certain extend. I remember; settings, characters, ...sigh, boss fights, dang... I even remember that the ending of MGS2 finished at 11:42pm and I had a desire to get a drink and shoot myself after a long speech from Snake. I felt like a kid that is being punished!

Hmm, wiki?

Clearly, the game of the week this week should have been Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. IMAGE(http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif)

kaostheory wrote:

MGS2 is the only Metal Gear game I've played. It was fun and all but the last hour or so it's just silly. I haven't heard that it makes sense to anyone (that includes the damn people who wrote the game :P)

Years after the fact, we've all accepted Kojima's explanation that the game was a meditation on the role of information in modern society.

But yeah, it was a goofy, goofy little game.

I think the funny thing about the MGS series is that, barring the original (and possibly 4, but we'll see about that one), Snake himself hasn't really been present all that much.

Aaron D. wrote:

- two cut-scenes near the 90 minute mark

All I can say is that if that's so, there had f-ing well better be DVD controls for the cutscenes, including the ability to replay them at will.

Hans

Certis wrote:

Metal Gear Solid Retrospective series on Game Trailers is just what the doctor ordered!

Oh... Thx, I completely forgot about it.

Mordiceius wrote:

Clearly, the game of the week this week should have been Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. IMAGE(http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif)

Agreed!