June 26 – July 2

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)   Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker

I’m still poring over my options in the steam sale. My budget is limited this year, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had in the discount racks.

There’s a lot to look at this week, but nothing that jumps out at me, so I’m going to let my son pick this week’s GOTW. He’s been eyeing Crash Bandicoot NSane Trilogy since before he saw it at PAX East. I was strictly solid-state back in the days when Crash Bandicoot was new and interesting (Ah, the Atari Jaguar – so many memories), so I have to admit I have no basis for nostalgia there, but if it gives my son the chance to experience where the games he loves came from, I feel like I could do worse.

I could give him one of my Jaguars, for example.

Crash Bandicoot’s spellchecker nightmare gets my nod for Game of the Week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-111373-1483294321.jpg)   Chris "C" Cesarano

Looks to me like summer vacation season kicks off with a whole bunch of DLC. Everyone's favorite hack-and-slash, Diablo III, gets itself the Rise of the Necromancer expansion content, which I'd turn into some sort of leavened bread joke, had I the creativity. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets its first half of the season pass, unlocking a harder difficulty, an assortment of hats (works for Valve, right?), and the Master Trials. The latter seem to be the real attraction here, taking the player from challenge to challenge without any of their equipment available. If you enjoyed the Shrine challenge on Eventide Island, then you'll no doubt want to check this DLC out.

Valkyria Revolution should seem a bit like a miracle, as it's a sequel to the Valkyria Chronicles games that have been seeing a bit of a resurgence these past two years. The second was only made available on the PlayStation Portable, and ... well, Valkyria Revolution certainly looks as if it were a PSP game itself. A lot of the gameplay seems to be different from the tactical combat of the original as well. If it pleases fans of the story, then I suppose it is a suitable enough sequel, just go in expecting it to be something different.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Cormac Camus” Threepaper

AereA is a local co-op Diablo clone with a music/orchestra theme, such that all the character classes wield different instruments as weapons. Despite this interesting aesthetic, from all accounts the actual gameplay is simplistic and mashy from the get-go (akin to the Lego games) rather than presenting much of a difficulty curve. Hard to recommend when the genre’s namesake is releasing new content.

Speaking of genres, PSVR adoptees will get a zombie FPS (Arizona Sunshine) and tower-defence (Ancient Amuletor) game, so that’s another 2 genres to cross off the “is it worth getting VR?” bingo card. We’ll know PSVR has hit the mainstream when it gets approximately 27 retro platformers and roguelikes per week.

Speaking of roguelikes, Plague Road is a turn-based strategy one. Despite its sidescrolling appearances, it does combat on a grid. It also has aspects of base building and resource management.

Speaking of turn-based combat, that was my favourite part of Valkyria Chronicles, and yet Valkyria Revolution appears to have diluted that by mixing in RTS elements, while keeping a similar art style and POV. Hmm.

If you don’t want DLC for games you already love, Plague Road looks most interesting to me this week.

This week:

PC

  • 5 Star Rio Resort
  • Beans: The Coffee Shop Simulator
  • D.S. -Dal Segno-
  • Diablo III: Rise of of the Necromancer
  • Dreamblaster pushed out to next week
  • Flagsplosion
  • King of the World
  • Lost Cities
  • Micro Machines World Series
  • No70: Eye of Basir
  • Panzer Killer
  • Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders
  • Race for the Galaxy
  • SAELIG
  • The Elder Scrolls Legends: Heroes of Skyrim
  • The Golf Club 2
  • Ticket to Earth
  • Titanfall 2 - The War Games
  • Triple X Tycoon
  • UNINVITED

PS4

  • AereA
  • America's Army: Proving Grounds
  • Ancient Amuletor
  • Arizona Sunshine
  • Brawlhalla
  • Cavernous Wastes
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
  • Cryptark
  • Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
  • Dark Arcana: The Carnival
  • Diablo III: Rise of of the Necromancer
  • Elite: Dangerous
  • Elite: Dangerous - Legendary Edition
  • Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto
  • JumpJet Rex
  • Medieval Defenders
  • Micro Machines World Series
  • Plague Road
  • Poi
  • The Golf Club 2
  • The Tenth Line
  • The World of Nubla
  • Titanfall 2 - The War Games
  • Valkyria Revolution

Xbox One

  • AereA
  • Diablo III: Rise of of the Necromancer
  • Elite: Dangerous - Legendary Edition
  • Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto
  • Ghost of a Tale
  • The Golf Club 2
  • Titanfall 2 - The War Games
  • Valkyria Revolution

Switch

  • GoNNER
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Master Trials

Wii U

  • Eba & Egg: A Hatch Trip
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Master Trials

3DS

  • RPG Maker Fes

Vita

  • Tokyo Xanadu
  • Valkyria Revolution

RIFT

  • Age of Heroes
  • AKR Park
  • Arktika.1
  • Block Rocking Beats
  • Child of the Wind
  • Range Day VR
  • Spiderman: Homecoming

Vive

  • Block Rocking Beats
  • Gunball
  • Range Day VR

Comments

The crow in the image made me think a new Spy vs Spy game was coming out. This time with demon spies.

I've got Tokyo Xanadu on preorder for Vita. That 20% discount from Amazon was rather enticing. It's a Falcom game that is basically Trails of Cold Steel but with action combat instead of a turn based battle system. Sounds great! Except it was written by the younger folks at Falcom, so supposedly the story is blasé. I have a feeling I'll be skipping the story and focus on the combat. The PS4 version, which by all accounts is the better version, comes out this fall. Most people can wait till then, I'm sure.

Hopefully The Golf Club 2 builds on the solid foundation of the original, which was clinical but decent.

I swear Micro Machines was slated for last week. Must've gotten delayed. Still happy someone resurrected this. It looks like some fun for the 7 year old and me.

Plague Road actually looks interesting. Somewhere between Odin Sphere and Darkest Dungeon... with turn based combat. Not on sale, though.
As for Valkyria Revolution... all I can say is... really?

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Valkyria-1.jpg)

Also, doesn't really sound like a Valkyria game.

The publisher states that this is a spin-off of the Valkyria Chronicles series and takes place in a different timeline, continent, and universe. However, some of the systems found in the Valkyria series will make their way over to the Valkyria Revoltion.

The publisher details further:

Instead of a World War II influence, the game is inspired by the European industrial revolution and focuses on a war of liberation between two vastly different nations. But arguably the biggest difference is the battle system. The turn-based action has been replaced with faster-paced (but no less strategic) combat. This hybrid battle system combines the tactics of customizing squad behavior and loadouts with real-time action for some pretty intense moments on the field.

I could give him one of my Jaguars, for example.

So you're just gonna gloss over the plural here, eh?

Not even gonna address the obvious questions that arise.

Taharka wrote:

Plague Road actually looks interesting. Somewhere between Odin Sphere and Darkest Dungeon... with turn based combat. Not on sale, though.
As for Valkyria Revolution... all I can say is... really?

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Valkyria-1.jpg)

Also, doesn't really sound like a Valkyria game.

The publisher states that this is a spin-off of the Valkyria Chronicles series and takes place in a different timeline, continent, and universe. However, some of the systems found in the Valkyria series will make their way over to the Valkyria Revoltion.

The publisher details further:

Instead of a World War II influence, the game is inspired by the European industrial revolution and focuses on a war of liberation between two vastly different nations. But arguably the biggest difference is the battle system. The turn-based action has been replaced with faster-paced (but no less strategic) combat. This hybrid battle system combines the tactics of customizing squad behavior and loadouts with real-time action for some pretty intense moments on the field.

Well that explains a lot. I remember Valkyria Chronicles III was some browser game or something, so was wondering if this was supposed to be a remake for us "real gamers" or something. This seems like an attempt to launch the series in a way that appeals to a broader market in Japan (which might not strictly be Otaku anymore, like it used to be, but don't have enough info to say for certain yet).

Marvel Heroes Omega also launches on Friday, 6/30, on PS4 and Xbox One. I'm looking forward to some mindless action RPG button-mashing.

garion333 wrote:

I swear Micro Machines was slated for last week. Must've gotten delayed.

Nope. The digital version released last week for consoles; the physical version, and the Steam version, releases this week.

Fingers crossed that it's good.

ccesarano wrote:
I could give him one of my Jaguars, for example.

So you're just gonna gloss over the plural here, eh?

Not even gonna address the obvious questions that arise.

For the record, my father bought the second one so we could play Doom on the LAN. He gave it to me when he was cleaning out the attic.

This also explains why I have two copies of Wolfenstein 3D and Troy Aikman Football.

It does not, however, explain the custom fitted-foam travel case, nor why I still have my Kasumi Ninja headband.

ccesarano wrote:
Taharka wrote:

Plague Road actually looks interesting. Somewhere between Odin Sphere and Darkest Dungeon... with turn based combat. Not on sale, though.
As for Valkyria Revolution... all I can say is... really?

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Valkyria-1.jpg)

Also, doesn't really sound like a Valkyria game.

The publisher states that this is a spin-off of the Valkyria Chronicles series and takes place in a different timeline, continent, and universe. However, some of the systems found in the Valkyria series will make their way over to the Valkyria Revoltion.

The publisher details further:

Instead of a World War II influence, the game is inspired by the European industrial revolution and focuses on a war of liberation between two vastly different nations. But arguably the biggest difference is the battle system. The turn-based action has been replaced with faster-paced (but no less strategic) combat. This hybrid battle system combines the tactics of customizing squad behavior and loadouts with real-time action for some pretty intense moments on the field.

Well that explains a lot. I remember Valkyria Chronicles III was some browser game or something, so was wondering if this was supposed to be a remake for us "real gamers" or something. This seems like an attempt to launch the series in a way that appeals to a broader market in Japan (which might not strictly be Otaku anymore, like it used to be, but don't have enough info to say for certain yet).

This actually makes me more interested in the sequel. I bounced off of Valkyrie chronicles hard because of that combat. Something more actiony might be up my alley.

ccesarano wrote:
Taharka wrote:

As for Valkyria Revolution... all I can say is... really?

Spoiler:

IMAGE(http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Valkyria-1.jpg)

Also, doesn't really sound like a Valkyria game.

The publisher states that this is a spin-off of the Valkyria Chronicles series and takes place in a different timeline, continent, and universe. However, some of the systems found in the Valkyria series will make their way over to the Valkyria Revoltion.

The publisher details further:

Instead of a World War II influence, the game is inspired by the European industrial revolution and focuses on a war of liberation between two vastly different nations. But arguably the biggest difference is the battle system. The turn-based action has been replaced with faster-paced (but no less strategic) combat. This hybrid battle system combines the tactics of customizing squad behavior and loadouts with real-time action for some pretty intense moments on the field.

Well that explains a lot. I remember Valkyria Chronicles III was some browser game or something, so was wondering if this was supposed to be a remake for us "real gamers" or something. This seems like an attempt to launch the series in a way that appeals to a broader market in Japan (which might not strictly be Otaku anymore, like it used to be, but don't have enough info to say for certain yet).

I'm not sure what you mean about VC3. It was simply never localized here. The games did get moved from console to handheld when they released VC2, so maybe you're thinking about that? The story was way worse in VC2.

Anyway, I've basically written this game off because it started out life as an action RPG, but fan feedback of the original demo was so bad that they added in a bunch of systems on top of it to make it more like a "proper" Valkyria game.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Master Trials also comes out for Wii U, you could add that to the list.

mcwizardry wrote:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The Master Trials also comes out for Wii U, you could add that to the list.

Whoops! Thanks I'll add it.

Has Crash always been in that picture since this was posted, or am I just imagining things?

Clusks wrote:

Has Crash always been in that picture since this was posted, or am I just imagining things?

Oh, man, that would have been an awesome idea!

But, no. The bandicoot was always there.

Oh man. Valkyria Rev looks pretty bad. I just checked out a review on youtube and was not impressed.