July 17 – July 23

Section: 

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

It’s a full week with lots and lots of games that are probably worth your time. My pick, though, goes to Fortnite.

I know, I know. We’ve all probably had it up to here (note: your “here” may vary, depending upon the length of your arms and how far up to “here” you’ve had it) with the survival-builder genre. This one is a class-based shooter/builder/survival game that mixes Orcs Must Die with Team Fortress 2. Now I will demonstrate my phenomenal mind-reading powers: “Greg,” you’re thinking, “class-based shooters are multiplayer. You hate multiplayer. It’s as much a part of your schtick as mundane vehicle simulators and Duke Nukem. So why are you picking that?” I’m picking it because although Fortnite is multiplayer focused, I have it on good authority from some random person in a Reddit thread that you can play the game solo; like Tom Clancy’s The Division, if you like. (Author’s note: The random Redditor may or may not be the developer)

Plus, the art style has its hooks into me.

So, barring any unforeseen revelations about the game being multiplayer-only, Fortnite gets my game of the week. Failing that, I’ll go with The Initial, which is a character-action game in the Platinum Games mold of mixing fun action with character designs that you might instinctively hide from your parents.

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

The game of the week is Splatoon 2.

Hey! You in the back! I hear you whispering that I didn't even look at the list of upcoming releases before making my decision. Well joke's on you, because I freely admit to not looking the list over!

Not only is it a brand new Nintendo title, it's a sequel to one of my favorite WiiU releases, and perhaps one of my favorite releases of the past several years period. I'll save some front-page space and merely link a video I made describing how the game's mechanics and modes naturally teach players how to play, but what really has me psyched are the new single-player campaign and Salmon Run horde mode. I'm a much greater fan of PvE than PvP, and the experimental solo campaign of the first game seems to be expanded with a great deal more surprises and clever twists.

Can Splatoon 2 top what was one of the most inventive shooter campaigns in years? I look forward to finding out this Friday.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “57 Channels (And Nothin On)” Threepaper

Archangel looks shiny as a PSVR mech game. It’s more arcadey than Mechwarrior, but what’s not to love about being in a 4-story robot? Ease another block out of the Jenga tower of “Reasons Not to Buy VR”.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles looks like Breath of the Wild without combat.

Otherwise, there must be something you like among the nearly 100 PC releases this week, all of which I totally had time to Google. A good number of them are ports of mobile games, priced accordingly but with all the gameplay depth you’d expect from a $1 game.

There’s the Myst-alike Aporia: Beyond The Valley or the low-res but high-pressure air-traffic-control sim, Endless ATC. If you liked the tense, spaceship exploration parts of The Expanse, then check out Far Space.

Glasswinged Ascension is a cyberpunk, 2D, stealth platformer. That’s promising, but it also brags about being “hardcore” and not leaving much room for mistakes. Given that 85% of the fun of stealth is what happens after you make a mistake, beware. Kingdoms and Castles blends SimCity with tower defense. The Awkward Steve Duology is an indie FMV game with a quirky sense of humour.

Despite the long list of titles, I didn’t see much that ticked my boxes. I’ll give a hypothetical nod to Archangel, because while I don’t have VR, games like that break through my layer of mocking skepticism about VR and make me genuinely curious.

This week:

PC

  • Achievement Hunter: Begins
  • AFTERGRINDER
  • AHTS Ship Simulator fun version
  • AironBall: The Floating Lands
  • Akin Vol 2 pushed to next week
  • Alter Ego
  • Ambers BOOM
  • Aporia: Beyond The Valley
  • Ballway
  • Blind Men
  • BOUNCED
  • Break The Food Chain
  • Burst The Game Pushed to August
  • Business Tour
  • Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
  • Celestial Creator
  • Children of Zodiarcs
  • Circle Ball
  • Clash of Robots
  • Conquest of the New World
  • Crazy Ball Adventures
  • DSquad War
  • ElectricScribe
  • Elf-World Three Kingdoms
  • Endless ATC
  • EREFIA
  • Eskimo Bob: Starring Alfonzo
  • Exatron Quest 2
  • Fantasy Mosaics 17: New Palette
  • Far Space
  • Fateholders of Tetsoidea
  • Forgotten Faces
  • Formless Adventure
  • Fortnite
  • Genie
  • German Fortress 3D
  • Gigantic
  • Glasswinged Ascension
  • GooCubelets: Color Blocking
  • HOCKEY SPACE
  • Intrusion Protocol
  • Kingdoms and Castles
  • Kingsway
  • LA soul Pushed to next week
  • Laseronium: Over The Line
  • Lawnmower Game
  • Lunaform
  • M.A.C.E. Tower Defense
  • Mad Muzzles
  • Malfunction
  • Marble Masters: The Pit
  • Megacity Builder
  • Mint
  • Mysterious Adventure of Michael
  • Mystic Melee pushed to August
  • Ninja Gainyk 2
  • Nurbits
  • Obscure: Challenge Your Mind
  • Park Bound
  • Pixel Shopkeeper
  • Prisoner
  • Professor Watts Word Search: Into The Ocean
  • Project MALLOW
  • Rescue Team 7
  • ROAD OF DANGER
  • Run, Goo, Run
  • RXE
  • Shadow Bug
  • Slime-san: Blackbird's Kraken
  • Solar Settlers
  • Space Hero Line pushed to august
  • Space Shock 3
  • Space Tyrant
  • SQUARE BOX
  • StopTime Drive
  • Super Flipside
  • Symbiotic Overload
  • Tank Battle Mania
  • THE AWKWARD STEVE DUOLOGY
  • The Dungeon Power
  • The Elmian Warrior
  • The Initial
  • The Overdreamer
  • The Return of Bantara
  • The Theodore Adventures
  • The Tritan Initiative
  • This Strange Realm Of Mine
  • Tiny Tales: Heart of the Forest
  • Unlimited
  • VAULT OF HONOR
  • Wild Goo Chase
  • Wrestling Revolution 3D
  • Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
  • YouTubers Galaxy

PS4

  • 99 Vidas
  • Archangel
  • Children of Zodiarcs
  • Conga Master
  • Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire
  • Fortnite
  • Orcs Must Die! Unchained
  • RobotRiot: Hyper Edition
  • SUPERHOT
  • SUPERHOT VR
  • Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Xbox One

  • Conga Master
  • Fortnite
  • Gigantic
  • Moon Hunters
  • What Remains of Edith Finch

Switch

  • Minecraft: Story Mode - A Telltale Games Series - The Complete Adventure
  • Splatoon 2

Wii U

  • Eba & Egg: A Hatch Trip
  • Galaxy Blaster

PS3

  • 99 Vidas

Vita

  • Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire
  • 99 Vidas

RIFT

  • Echo Arena
  • KryptCrawler
  • Lone Echo
  • MicroSpy
  • OldMaidGirl
  • Seduction

Vive

  • Amazing Thailand VR Experience
  • Cutlass
  • Hoop Shot VR
  • MicroSpy
  • OldMaidGirl
  • Seduction
  • SoundLites

Comments

Splatoon 2 for me this week

Going to be interesting to see how successful it after the first game sold over 4 million. How much of that sales figure was held back by being on the Wii U?

A long list of releases but Fallen Legion is the only one that I am interested in this week.

Looks like Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 might be the game that finally gets me to set Fallout 4 aside for a brief moment. There was a surprising jump in quality between CM14 & CM15, so with a couple-year break between releases, I'm expecting good things from CM18. Pretty darned excited!

Splatoon 2 for me, too. I've been in the Fortnite alpha for a long time and haven't played in a quite a while, but the base of what makes up Splatoon 2 is just more appealing to me. It's less grindy F2P grindfest and more non-twitch unique shooter. If you consider yourself to slow / old for online PVP shooters, this is for you. If you want more purpose in your shooters than just kill the other team, this is for you. If you want to see the sequel to the game on a 'dead' platform that stayed in the top 10 for weekly software sales in Japan for nearly an entire year, this is that sequel.

walterqchocobo wrote:

A long list of releases but Fallen Legion is the only one that I am interested in this week.

Yeah, I'm interested in that also. The dev is one of the founders of Siliconera, oddly enough.

AHTS Ship Simulator (fun version)

Apparently that's the actual title of the game. IMAGE(http://onemoreinthetolly.com/forums/images/smilies/lolers.gif)

MeatMan wrote:
AHTS Ship Simulator (fun version)

Apparently that's the actual title of the game. IMAGE(http://onemoreinthetolly.com/forums/images/smilies/lolers.gif)

Yup.

It's like a regular ship simulator, but they added aliens and flying saucers.

Is Superhot really worth $32 for the combined regular and VR bundle? The game has been out a while, and from what I can tell doesn't take very long to get through...

dewalist wrote:

Is Superhot really worth $32 for the combined regular and VR bundle? The game has been out a while, and from what I can tell doesn't take very long to get through...

It depends on your tolerance for score chasing.

Personally, I was underwhelmed by SUPERHOT. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but my enjoyment never reached the fever pitch of euphoria that everyone else seemed to get from it.

And I paid $10 when it was on sale, so take that for what you will.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
dewalist wrote:

Is Superhot really worth $32 for the combined regular and VR bundle? The game has been out a while, and from what I can tell doesn't take very long to get through...

It depends on your tolerance for score chasing.

Personally, I was underwhelmed by SUPERHOT. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but my enjoyment never reached the fever pitch of euphoria that everyone else seemed to get from it.

And I paid $10 when it was on sale, so take that for what you will.

I'm with Greg.

I went in expecting something revolutionary, and to be fair, the first 30 minutes were.

After which, what I got was a frustrating episode of Play The Same Goddamn Level 15 Times Until You're Not Sure Why You Completed It This Time When You Failed The Previous 14 Times.

You've got a great point there! Maybe this'll make it to the CC this week!

muraii wrote:

You've got a great point there! Maybe this'll make it to the CC this week!

I just wish it were available through Steam and not through Epic's proprietary launcher.

muraii wrote:

You've got a great point there! Maybe this'll make it to the CC this week!

Considering when they record I'd imagine next week.