The Release List 06.23.09: Fight Night, BlazBlue, PangYa, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Devil Survivor Posted by Tommy Coloma on 06.23.2009
EA lets us decide for ourselves whether or not any of the greats were in fact paper champions, Capcom lets us re-live the first Resident Evil, Arc System Works releases its follow-up to Guilty Gear XX, and Atlus brings us some portable MegaTen.
The publishers decided once again to just bombard us with titles instead of spreading things out a little. I hope they realize their mistake soon, as this foolishness makes my job much harder than it should be.
Europe somehow managed to get Another Code: R (Trace Memory: R) before us. If Nintendo treats the game like Fatal Frame 4 and Day of Crisis, we may never get it here. The US release that has most people talking this week is The Conduit. While the graphics are above average as far as Wii software is concerned, I am actually more excited about what the game offers to online players. The twelve-player capture-the-flag option looks like it could be fun, and since a lot of people will be picking it up on hype alone, we may finally have an online shooter that has more than a handful of people to play with at any given moment. The Wii version of Dawn of Discovery won't get nearly as many looks as The Conduit, which is a shame since it is the first RTS on the Wii. Hopefully, if the developers did a good enough job, enough people will notice and we'll get an RTS from a more established franchise on the system. If I knew Japanese I'd pick up Rorona no Atelier in a heartbeat as I've been a pretty big fan of Gust games lately. Maybe NISA will try to redeem itself after the Ar Tonelico 2 fiasco by localizing the game over here. And finally, the multi-console Overlord games are also worth looking at, if only because you get to play as a real bad guy for once. Since, you know, being bad feels good...
This week's highlightsNote: Release dates are subject to change
Fight Night Round 4 (360, PS3)
Since I have little experience with boxing games in general (save for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and the recent Wii update), I decided to use an excerpt from 411mania's preview since it was written by boxing section editor Ramon, someone who knows the sport inside and out -
So to try and see how the game handles different styles, I made sure to fight with Chavez just as he would in real life. I went right after Malignaggi who surprisingly backed away and tried to jab me and shoot straight left hands – something I would've expected out of the real 'Magic Man.' I pounded away at the body and although Paulie tried to do the same, it was clear that Chavez' were having a much bigger impact. I'm told that the strengths of a particular fighter, such as Chavez' body shots and Tyson's uppercuts, will have more of an effect than other fighters, regardless of power.
As in the XBL demo, the game felt smooth and pretty quick – quicker than FNR3 for sure while the game looked as exquisite as ever. Sweat flew off of the fighters' face and body when a blow connected and I was equally impressed with how the physics engine worked out. Sometimes I'd only partially land a body shot when Paulie moved his elbow down to his waist, but he still showed some effects of what did land. Though I started to swell up near my right eye due to Paulie's consistent jabs, I pounded away at his face, which resulted in a bloody nose and swollen cheek. As with FNR3, I could play the game without any HUD and still be able to tell when my opponent got hurt or was at least bothered by a punch. As promised, you can get pretty close on the inside though it's no guarantee that your punches will land as they can be deflected on the way in.
BlazBlue (360/PS3 Import)
Even though I've had many opportunities over the past year, I still have yet to play this. So, I have no idea what to expect other than it'll be a little like Guilty Gear XX. Actually, I've been pretty indifferent because of all of the Guilty Gear XX updates, but I just realized that BlazBlue is a relatively new property with online support, which should make any fighting game fan at least a little excited.
We won't be getting this in the US until the end of July, which is far enough away from The King of Fighters XII's release to not cause much of a conflict. If Capcom doesn't bring out Marvel vs. Capcom 2 near BlazBlue's release, there might actually be a decent online community around the game, which would be nice. That way I can practice with my new favorite fighting game character, Taokaka (well, behind Vice and Chun-Li anyway) -
domestic release notes: If you are going to pick this up, you might want to consider ordering it online at GameStop as it comes with a sweet-looking artbook if you pre-order through them.
Taokaka in action
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta (360 Import) Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta is yet another shooter that has inexplicably made it onto the Xbox 360 instead of the PS3 in Japan. The game was co-developed by G.rev and a company called Gulti, which happens to be made up of people who had a hand in previous Raiden games, so we know that it was handled by experienced developers. There is an Ikari Warriors vibe going on, at least in the way players move - instead of having the screen scroll upwards or to the right as in most games in the genre, you have the ability to move forward at your own pace. In addition, you can shoot in multiple directions and choose different paths. As expected, Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta is not region free, so if you want to try this colorful shooter without taking a trip to a Japanese arcade, you'll need an Xbox 360 that plays games from that region (or hope that Ubisoft or another company is nice enough to bring it over).
footage from the first stage
Wii Sports Resort (Import)
I got to play the sword game at E3 last year and while seeing my movements being translated on the screen instantly was nice, I was disappointed that the game didn't really require much finesse in order to win. Throughout the demo I watched my opponent's movements so that I could time a good head shot or body shot, but I eventually figured out that at the end of the day, a person who flails his or her arm around is more likely to win than another who tries to earn a win legitimately. It's possible Nintendo improved the experience after a year of tweaking, but I doubt it as I pretty much saw the same thing with the table tennis game at this year's E3 - I varied my swings from fast to slow to try to change the pace a little, but in the end, it was only after I started swinging thoughtlessly that I started to win consistently. Thankfully, there are plenty of other games in the package for which crap like this won't be a problem and I'm sure that Resort will sell tons regardless of how casual-friendly it is, especially since it comes with Wii MotionPlus.
PangYa: Fantasy Golf (PSP)
Supposedly, this is somewhat better than Hot Shots Golf gameplay-wise. If that's true, and if you like accessorizing Anime characters in your golf games, this might be for you. If it's anything like the free-to-play version of PangYa, you can expect to earn a lot of character customization options as you progress. I wonder if that's where the "Suggestive Themes" warning comes from...
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (Wii)
Not to be confused with Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil is a compilation that contains Wii ports of Resident Evil 0 and the original Resident Evil. Yes, I said Resident Evil five times in that sentence... Note - it doesn't look like these ports were given the RE4 behind the back viewpoint. If you aren't a fan of tank-like controls, you'd best be avoiding this like the plague.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)
I was going to do a big write-up on this based on the preview copy that GameStop was supposed to give out for free, but my local store told me that I had to pre-order to get it. Fuck that and fuck B&M GameStops! I was actually looking forward to trying this out too...
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)
Yep, another MegaTen game, and as far as I can tell, this is the first portable one to come around since DemiKids on the GBA. You can bet that this'll contain one of the more fleshed out stories you'll find in a DS RPG. If that's something that you've been looking for, make sure you check this out.
The other US releases Classic Word Games (DS)
Conduit, The (Wii)
Dawn Of Discovery (DS, PC, Wii)
Discovery Kids: Parrot Pals (DS)
Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires (360, PS3)
Fallout 3: Point Lookout (360)
Fashion Week Junior Designer (DS)
Games Around The Globe (Wii)
Little League World Series Baseball 2009 (DS, Wii)
My Healthy Cooking Coach (DS)
Overlord II (360, PC, PS3)
Overlord: Dark Legends (Wii)
Overlord: Minions (DS)
Spore Galactic Adventures (PC)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (360, DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, PC)
The Import SceneJapanese localizations of domestic games, "Asia" versions of games that do not have English options, and "Best" (greatest hits) versions of already released games are ignored.
Agarest Senki ZERO (PS3)
Fushigi Yuugi DS
Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono 2 (PSP)
Pia Carrot e Youkoso!! G.P. Gakuen Princess (PSP)
Really? Really? DS
Rorona no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi (PS3)
Time Leap (360)
Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance (PSP)
