November 18 – November 24

Section: 

One down, one to go.

I've been very back-and-forth on the next-gen consoles, and while I comfortably sat out the PS4 launch having cancelled my preorder a couple of weeks ago, I've revisited my Amazon order-tracking page seven or eight times now, pulling up just shy of clicking the "cancel" button on my Xbox One order. It still lingers there, a bruised but inexorable contender for my money. With less than five days to the system launch, I think it's time for me to finally admit that I'm probably — nay certainly — going to let that sucker ship and show up on my front door Friday morning.

There's really one reason for this, and that reason is Forza 5. Watching Shawn play Need For Speed: Rivals on his PS4 over the weekend, a game in which apparently a Chevy Camaro is an upgrade from a Aston Martin Vanquish, I was forced to come to the conclusion that I am both a car snob and an unbending devotee of Turn 10's series. Now, I could dedicate the rest of this piece, nay the rest of the week, to debunking the absurdity of calling a Camaro superior to a Vanquish in absolutely any way, but I'll try to restrain myself.

I love Forza. I love its racing model. I love its car porn. I love its physics engine. I love its presentation style. I love that it can be more fun to drive a hot-hatch than a Pagani. Mostly I love the way Turn 10 is almost lustfully devoted to its craft and its cars. I love the way Dan Greenawalt talks about how the cars, not the races, are the stars of the game.

Forza is my totally biased fanboy game. How could I not play it this week?!

Still, I admit that some of the technical hitches in the PS4 launch make me nervous. I have been the victim of the Red Ring of Death twice, but I do have to admit that Microsoft made good on replacing my system with very little complaint in both cases. So I roll the dice again.

That said, there's more to the week than just the XB1. There's also Band Fuse, a Rocksmith competitor that allows you to plug any guitar into the game, but that seems more focused on delivering a hard-rock, group-play experience than its lesson-focused competitor. At first glance, Band Fuse feels like the playful Guitar Hero to Rocksmith's Rock Band "It's all about the music" seriousness, and that's fine. There's room in my heart for both of those things.

Finally, there's Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS, as well as Super Mario 3D World for the WiiU, which should both be a delightful adventure as well as a good reminder that you have a WiiU, which you may have forgotten.

PC
- Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (download)
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel
- Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths (download)
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Tank Operations: European Campaign (download - $15)
- The Shivah: Kosher Edition (download - $5)
- Young Justice: Legacy (download)

Xbox One
- Angry Birds Star Wars
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Battlefield 4
- Crimson Dragon and Dead Rising 3
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Crimson Dragon (XBLA - $20)
- Dead Rising 3
- FIFA 14
- Fighter Within
- Forza Motorsport 5
- Just Dance 2014
- Killer Instinct (XBLA - free-to-play)
- LocoCycle (XBLA - $20)
- Madden NFL 25
- NBA Live 14
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Powerstar Golf
- Ryse: Son of Rome
- Zoo Tycoon
- Zumba Fitness World Party

PS4
- NBA Live 14

Xbox 360
- Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
- BandFuse: Rock Legends
- Farming Simulator
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Soulcalibur II HD Online (XBLA - $20)
- Young Justice: Legacy
- Zoo Tycoon
- Zumba Kids

PS3
- Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
- AquaPazza
- BandFuse: Rock Legends
- Blood Knights (PSN)
- Contrast (PSN)
- Farming Simulator
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
- Soulcalibur II HD Online (PSN - $20)
- Young Justice: Legacy

Wii U
- Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
- Super Mario 3D World

Wii
- Zumba Kids

Vita
- Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
- Tearaway
- The Amazing Spider-Man

3DS
- Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
- Christmas Wonderland 3 (eShop)
- Girls' Fashion Shoot
- Mario Party: Island Tour
- Ohno Odyssey (eShop)
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- Young Justice: Legacy

Comments

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Like Dark Souls and Hotline Miami before it, I'm sure The Wonderful 101 is a fantastic game, but does it need to be injected into every conversation? :P

Can't you decide this in a month when you finally get a Wii U?

The Adventure time game.. I think I'd buy that if it were coming out for either the PS4 or the Vita...

With the release of the PS4, my PS3 has been reduced down to a legacy system. I'm only going to be buying must-play exclusives on the system now, unless they're cross-buy to either Vita or PS4. It's probably going to be mostly a FFXIV player until that moves to PS4 in February.

A couple of Vita games to buy though.

Getting this back on topic:

Elysium wrote:
What the...

The millionth sequel to unarguably a top 3 game of the 16-bit era, and arguably a top 5 game all time isn't the game of the week?

...

Fixed :)

Says the guy who picked the 6th game in a franchise that started 8 years ago. Since in the last 2 months you proudly featured Call of Duty Ghosts, Battlefield 4, and FIFA 14 I would've thought the "millionth" Mario or Zelda game would've been right up your alley :p

You win this round, shoptroll.

Elysium wrote:

You win this round, shoptroll.

TheCounselor wrote:
kcander wrote:
Certis wrote:
Forza? More like Forzzzzzzzzzz.....

Boreza was sitting RIGHT THERE and you missed it.

Ha, thought the same thing, only Snoreza.

Snoreza wins.

Snore
Snora
Snoraga
Snoraja

Is Snoraga the new Final Fantasy sleep spell?

It's now obvious how many of you mispronounce Forza.

garion333 wrote:

Is Snoraga the new Final Fantasy game?

FTFY, and yes.

LiquidMantis wrote:

It's now obvious how many of you mispronounce Forza. :D

If Forza 5 weren't really obviously built for the One and not the 360, you could call it "Portza".

It's now obvious how many of you mispronounce Forza.

Can you imagine how they must pronounce pizza?

ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Is Snoraga Crisis Reborn the new Final Fantasy game?

FTFY, and yes.

I just further FTFY.

Attention Elysium!

Everything you thought you knew is wrong. Up is down. Right is wrong. Consoles are better than PCs. Camaros are faster than Aston Martins.

Same driver (Car & Driver's pro Randy Pobst), same track (Laguna Seca), surprising result! A second and a half is a pretty hefty chunk of time, too, especially on a track as technical as Laguna Seca! Yikes!

2014 Astin Martin Vanquish: 1:40.71
http://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/...

2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1: 1:39.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1El...

I have to assume that Adventure Time was robbed, and it was robbed because Sean's soul is a dark place where dreams go to be buried in clay pots and fermented to later become a delicacy for demons in suits to consume at a sizable markup and without leaving a tip.

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!, Super Mario 3D World (had I a 3DS) and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds seem right up my alley.

brokenclavicle wrote:

Super Mario 3D World (had I a WiiU)

FTFY.

ccesarano wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:

Super Mario 3D World (had I a WiiU) and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (had I a 3DS)

FTFY. :)

FTFTFY

kcander wrote:

Attention Elysium!

Everything you thought you knew is wrong. Up is down. Right is wrong. Consoles are better than PCs. Camaros are faster than Aston Martins.

Same driver (Car & Driver's pro Randy Pobst), same track (Laguna Seca), surprising result! A second and a half is a pretty hefty chunk of time, too, especially on a track as technical as Laguna Seca! Yikes!

2014 Astin Martin Vanquish: 1:40.71
http://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/...

2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1: 1:39.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1El...

IT'S ON NOW.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Is Snoraga Crisis Reborn the new Final Fantasy game?

FTFY, and yes.

I just further FTFY.

I would buy this, but I'm waiting for Snoraga Crisis Reborn Beyond Remix 8.2 HD Duodecim Crystalis.

Super Mario World looks so fun that I almost don't regret that it's not more Mario Galaxy.

I think my favorite part of Snoraga Crisis Reborn (not Beyond, or the original, or the Japanese original, but the one between the US original and Beyond) was the part where the Crystalis consumes Stilo'us before he can reunite the Pax Varothises with the Continuumal. I wept.

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

I think my favorite part of Snoraga Crisis Reborn (not Beyond, or the original, or the Japanese original, but the one between the US original and Beyond) was the part where the Crystalis consumes Stilo'us before he can reunite the Pax Varothises with the Continuumal. I wept.

THANKS ALOT I HAVEN"T PLAYED IT YET.

Gravey wrote:
TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

I think my favorite part of Snoraga Crisis Reborn (not Beyond, or the original, or the Japanese original, but the one between the US original and Beyond) was the part where the Crystalis consumes Stilo'us before he can reunite the Pax Varothises with the Continuumal. I wept.

THANKS ALOT I HAVEN"T PLAYED IT YET. :mad:

Dude, they're on Beyond Remix 8.2 HD. There's a statute of limitations on spoilers, and we reached that three versions ago. Just accept that if you haven't played it yet you never will!

If you haven't you should really try to find that scene with the Japanese voice acting from the International edition because the voice acting is so much better. (Don't bother with the original Japanese release. They switched seiyu for Fog and her new voice is way better than her old one.)

I've been waiting for the fansub to be released since I heard it's way better than Squenixseed's translation. I can read Japanese but only when I'm wearing my neko ears, and they're at the dry cleaners !!~~

Gravey wrote:
TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

I think my favorite part of Snoraga Crisis Reborn (not Beyond, or the original, or the Japanese original, but the one between the US original and Beyond) was the part where the Crystalis consumes Stilo'us before he can reunite the Pax Varothises with the Continuumal. I wept.

THANKS ALOT I HAVEN"T PLAYED IT YET. :mad:

I'm sorry what I meant to say was... BRUCE WILLIS IS A GHOST. THE WHOLE TIME!

EDIT - (spoilers for Die Hard in above comment)

Attention Elysium!

Everything you thought you knew is wrong. Up is down. Right is wrong. Consoles are better than PCs. Camaros are faster than Aston Martins.

Same driver (Car & Driver's pro Randy Pobst), same track (Laguna Seca), surprising result! A second and a half is a pretty hefty chunk of time, too, especially on a track as technical as Laguna Seca! Yikes!

2014 Astin Martin Vanquish: 1:40.71
http://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/......

2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1: 1:39.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1El...

Ugh, that's so disappointing. I have to admit in real life that engine does sound delightfully raunchy. Outside of top speed, though, I have to admit, it looks like Chevrolet put together a monster muscle car, all the more impressive it's under 60K. (http://www.zeperfs.com/en/duel4174-4...)

Actually, this comment has taken up my day. I've just been reading up on the V8s coming out of Detroit, and it's pretty impressive stuff for production lines under 100K. Between this and the latest GT500 with its crazy 650hp, it's amazing how much torque and pure muscle you can get for the money. I mean, it's no Aero or McLaren, but I'm honestly surprised. I didn't think American muscle cars had come that far.

... I'd still rather have a Vanquish, though.

Elysium wrote:

Outside of top speed, though, I have to admit, it looks like Chevrolet put together a monster muscle car, all the more impressive it's under 60K. (http://www.zeperfs.com/en/duel4174-4...)

Actually, this comment has taken up my day. I've just been reading up on the V8s coming out of Detroit, and it's pretty impressive stuff for production lines under 100K. Between this and the latest GT500 with its crazy 650hp, it's amazing how much torque and pure muscle you can get for the money. I mean, it's no Aero or McLaren, but I'm honestly surprised. I didn't think American muscle cars had come that far.

... I'd still rather have a Vanquish, though.

You're going to roll up to the next con in a GTO, aren't you.

God, can you imagine!?

Such a mid-life crisis car, but who cares. That thing sounds like someone dropped a testosterone bomb on a Ford factory.

Elysium wrote:

God, can you imagine!?

Such a mid-life crisis car, but who cares. That thing sounds like someone dropped a testosterone bomb on a Ford factory.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/NTGqceT.jpg)

I wish the Forza games would come to the PC. I'd love to try 'em, but not enough to buy a several hundred dollar piece of hardware.

Elysium wrote:

God, can you imagine!?

Such a mid-life crisis car, but who cares. That thing sounds like someone dropped a testosterone bomb on a Ford factory.

IMAGE(http://www.japan-partner.com/images/60450512bf/mitsubishi-gto-64c63704c7_t.jpg)