I am still frantically trying to get through Metal Gear Solid 5 by playing it an hour a day, and I feel kind of like Snoopy in that series of Peanuts comics when he resolved to read War And Peace at a pace of one word per day. (It led to a falling out with Woodstock.)
Therefore it's bizarre that for my pick this week I'm choosing to cheat and pick the Mommy's Best Bundle that's dropping on Steam. The MBB contains four brand-new shooters that all excite me in various ways.
Explosionade features 2-D, side-scrolling mech-stomping action with destructible environments. Sold!
Game Type is dubbing itself a "looping shooter" where there is only one level but it gets faster and more crowded with every loop. Plus, parkour. It promises the kind of flowing, score-chasing action that I love.
Shoot 1up is a Raiden-style vertically scrolling shooter where every 1up you collect joins you on screen immediately. The result is a shooter where you can control up to 30 ships at once. I am fascinated by the tactical possibilities this affords.
Finally, Weapon Of Choice is sort of like a class-based version of Contra crossed with Metroid. I'll go ahead and call it a Controid game, since that seems to be the naming convention for this sort of thing. You pick your weapons and set about killing aliens. I've played the heck out of Broforce, and more of that kind of action is never unwelcome in my library.
And you get all of that for less than eight bucks!
What else we got, team?
Chris "C" Cesarano
Looking at the list this week, I'm filled with a sense of "Wait, huh, that comes out this Tuesday?" In addition, it is also met with "Wait a minute, didn't I discuss Skylanders SuperChargers the week prior?" Indeed, such is the risk of these cultivated release lists. They are often dripping with lies, lies that are force-fed upon you unsuspecting readers. [Editor's note: The SuperChargers games came out yesterday, and we run a Monday–Sunday TWA. We not only deal in lies here, we also deal in confusion.]
So this week I'm going to go ahead and pick Skylanders Superchargers, because it is a series I've been quite interested in for some time now. Despite the questionable ethics of games tied to action figures, seemingly the "gateway drug" for children that would later discover collectible card games, Skylanders seems a well-designed series that's actually fun to play. So I give my nod to the new entry, though I still lament the inability to easily grab a Bowser Amiibo figure packaged with the WiiU edition of the game.
Felix “Patient Mongoose” Threepaper
There may come a time when we tell our incredulous grandchildren that LEGO used to make interlocking building blocks. LEGO Dimensions is the LEGO juggernaut’s entry into the Skylanders “toys-to-life” genre. Although it has a neat gimmick of rebuilding the vehicles to give them new abilities – they’re made of LEGO, after all – my wallet hurts just looking at its “customers-for-life” release schedule, so I figure the best place to stop is before the starting line.
Maybe it’s because I’m feeling the stress of an invasion I set in motion on Friday night in Neptune’s Pride 2 – an invasion which has slowly backfired on me over the weekend (they have ALLIES?) – but XenoBloom is really speaking to me this week. It’s an ecosystem sandbox with no fail states. Plant your seeds, modify your plants’ behaviour and evolve your garden. Relax to its music or marvel at the emergence of your biome. Sounds like the perfect game for the exiled emperor of a vanquished star system.
Erik "wordsmythe" Hanson
There are a lot of interesting titles this week, but I've been looking forward to Else Heart.Break() for quite a while – yes, partly because of the clever name – and I'm a The Flame In The Flood backer, too. Those two are more than enough to occupy my gaming time for the week. I guess it's a quirky adventure sort of week for me.
This week:
PC
- Quick Slick Deadly
- TankZone Battle
- SOMA
- Blood Bowl 2
- Penarium
- FIFA 16
- Rivals of Aether (Early Access)
- Templar Battleforce
- Weapon of Choice
- Navpoint (Steam release)
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut
- Concrete Jungle
- Explosionade
- Game Type (Worst SEO ever.)
- XenoBloom
- Shapes of Gray
- Extreme Exorcism
- The Flame in the Flood
- Doodle God (Steam release)
- Final Fantasy V
- Else Heart.Break()
- Missing Translation (Steam release)
- Grand Ages: Medieval
- Cataegis : The White Wind
- Shoppy Mart: Steam Edition
- VERLIES II
- Project Tarvotan
- Mars Colony: Frontier
- Euclidean
- Blowy Fish
- Shoot 1up
PS4
- Blood Bowl 2
- FIFA 16
- Penarium
- SOMA
- Extreme Exorcism
- NBA 2K16
- Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma: Vol. 1
- Arcade Archives: Mr. Goemon
- Battle Trivia Knockout
- Laserlife
- Rally Copters
Xbox One
- Blood Bowl 2
- FIFA 16
- Penarium
- Extreme Exorcism
- NBA 2K16
Wii U
- Extreme Exorcism
- LEGO Dimensions
PS3
- FIFA 16
- Extreme Exorcism
- NBA 2K16
- LEGO Dimensions
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5
Xbox 360
- FIFA 16
- NBA 2K16
- LEGO Dimensions
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5
PS Vita
- Heroes of Loot
- Mahjong Carnival (was robbed)
- Rally Copters
Nintendo 3DS
- Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Comments
No love for SOMA? Sci-Fi/Horror game from Frictional Games (of Amnesia fame) that (shock) isn't set in space!
Destiny: spawn.die.repeat | Elite: Paleogamer/Anne Trovert | Secret World: tanstaafl
Concrete Jungle for me this week. Not sure if I'll have time to play it, but hey another Kickstarter shipped!
Speaking of Kickstarters, Flame in the Flood is going into Beta/Early Access this week. Not sure if that's a distinction the team cares about. I'm guessing not since wordy mentioned being a backer as well
I'm kinda surprised that Greg doesn't have Mommy's Best contribution to the Serious Sam indie projects: Serious Sam Double D which looks very similar to some of the games in that bundle they're releasing. I'm also surprised they're not putting Grapple Buggy on Steam since that was one of their earlier XBLA titles which I remember they exhibited at the first year of PAX East.
XenoBloom sounds similar to Earthtongue in terms of gameplay. I'm sure there's differences but they both seem to be going after similar ideas.
Yup, SOMA for me. I've loved all of Frictional's games.
Steam SW: 7131 7174 9337
(Kudos to Jayhawker)
Help me! I am trapped
In a haiku factory
Save me, before they
Tony Hawk is only on the previous generation? What is this world coming to?
GWJ Enhancement Suite
In what world is FIFA 16 not the GotW? Not even mentioned? Yeesh.
You bastard, Tanglebones. :)
ClockworkHouse wrote:Yay! My Sony bone is getting tangled!
thrawn82 wrote:Tanglebones is a better man than I, in tears at my desk.
No, they got it backwards. It's coming out this week on PS4 and Xbox One, but PS3 and 360 in November.
Actually, it isn't out until next week anyway. Wrong week!
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
LEGO Dimensions
Blood Bowl 2
Grand Ages: Medieval
All on my radar, but AC:HHD is on top!
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
SOMA's got a good pedigree, for sure. It's just that ... what makes them think that a game set in an underwater facility is going to be sufficiently spooky?
Defunk'd Bloggue
Bluesky: @lancecalhoon.bsky.social
SOMA is the only game this week Ill likely get some day (aka steam sale)
I made my PES bed last week, and now I have to lie awake in it.
I did, in fact, check the dates overnight on Sunday/Monday. I do remember having trouble confirming things from the Tony Hawk website, though.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
Or 2k16? They've been knocking it out of the park for 5-6 years now. And this year it's a Spike Lee Joint.™
Is PC release delayed again?
What Stele said ^ -mortalgroove
Switch: 6273-9936-5107
I just picked up Soma based on glowing reviews from Alloy Seven, and I grabbed Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and finished it last night. Will probably play Soma this weekend if I have time.