Coming Attractions 08.03.08: Summer Athletics (Wii), GRID (DS)

Posted by Drew Robbins on 08.03.2008

In this week's edition of Coming Attractions, a weekly preview of games coming out next week, 411's Drew Robbins previews a racer for the DS, and another Olympics based game on the Wii.

Welcome to Coming Attractions, your weekly preview of the games that are arriving on store shelves next week. Before I jump into tangents, I'd just like to say that this is by far the weakest week of releases. With that said, lets jump into tangents!

- I played lots of games this week, starting with Hotel Dusk. Let me tell you, as someone who normally doesn't care for adventure games, this game is incredible. I was hooked from Chapter 2 all the way till the end. It probably has the most impressive story in any game I've played in years. And yes, that is counting Metal Gear Solid.

- Derek mentioned it in his column last week, but I'll talk a little more about it, Rock Band on the Wii. I enjoy the game, but I can't help but miss some of the features on the 360 and PS3 versions. For the most part, I'm upset at the lack of character creator. The pre-rendered videos get old after the millionth time you've had to play Green Grass and High Tides (by the way, screw that song). Other than the character creator, I can't say that I miss much else. World Tour is fun, but I prefer quick play so I don't have to play songs I hate more than once. Though, playing the game with Derek, quick play just ends up with him picking Sabotage and screaming at the top of his lungs. *sigh*

- Last, but certainly not least, is World of Warcraft. I started my account up (again…) just so I could squeeze as much enjoyment as possible out of the end game before the expansion pack is released. In short, I'm honor grinding so I can get a healing mace for my level 70 paladin. Its really going to suck when they add achievements and I have to grind those as well.

- As an extra note, I'm going to be getting a review copy of We Love Golf! This week. It hasn't come in at the time of writing (Friday) but my prediction is that I'll have a review for it up within the next week or so. It will be fun to see if my predictions in my debut column were right (I heard they were pretty accurate).



Reader Feedback

I'm going to go over the past two weeks of reader comments, since I wasn't able to last week.

Mega Man Forever likes the idea of Resistance on PSP..

Resistence: Retribution should be one of the best portable action games released next year. Like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Killzone Liberation, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, the PSP has excellent third person action games. Actually, the PSP has the best third person portable action games on the market. Here is to hoping that R: R can fill the shoes left by those other great games.

I haven't really played much of the third person action genre on the PSP (because I really haven't played the PSP much at all) but from what the reviews tell me, the PSP has been pretty good to that genre. Out of those I've only played Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops…which I think is just "ok." Its become common knowledge that Metal Gear Solid is a franchise that relies on its story, because when the games story falls flat (see: Metal Gear Solid 2) the game really falters. As far as the gameplay goes, the sneaking around is fun, but the second you get caught it deteriorates into a very clumsy action game. On the PSP I felt the action was at its clumsiest. As a side note, I haven't played MGS4 yet, someone mind telling me how the action is in that one?

Mark Salmela is holding on to his conspiracies…

Yeah how are you a coming attraction? Aren't you already here? Then again you think you can fool us by changing a few letters in your first name Derek, so I should expect nothing less.

Just going to go out on a limb and say you haven't seen the Critic. I suggest you do so! Also, definitely not Derek.

RavenTazEcw calls out my sources (darn you EBGAMES!!!)…

I haven't really checked out this column before, but your brother/other personality Derek mentioned you only gave MVP 2005 a 3.5/5 so I hopped on over to check what was going on. I just wanted to ask if Baseball Mogul 2008 was a part of "coming attractions" of games that would be released soon, or if you finally played it and are giving a review of it. I mention this because Baseball Mogul 2009 came out in April and you'd be 1 1/3 years behind in covering a new game release, heh.

Well, it was a preview, because according to my sources, the game was coming out in the next week. But apparently, according to you, my sources were way off. This isn't the first time my sources have messed with my article. During my debut column I had written up a preview for Deadliest Catch, only to refresh my EB page and find that it had been pushed to two weeks later. I'm open to recommendations of a better site for finding release dates.

Guest reminds me of another game in the Soul Calibur series…

sc iv is the fifth installment actually, soul edge was the first.

I did play Soul Edge, but it was a long time ago. Though I was fairly sure that it was similar to Soul Calibur, I didn't want to base a whole review around loose memories. The only thing I do remember is that your weapons broke if you blocked too much.

Boze found out that a certain 411 writer didn't do his research…

I'd just like to say that Power Pros is anything but "cutesy" baseball. Sure, it has cartoony graphics, but it has more sim aspects than most baseball games and tracks so many stats that only baseball purists care about. To even mention this game in the same breath as "The Bigs" is a severe slap in the face to Power Pros and I'd venture a guess and say that the gameplay between Power Pros and Mario Baseball is worlds apart. Power Pros is definitely NOT arcade baseball.
Alright, this is hopefully the only time that this happens, as this was simply me slacking off on my research. I saw the game and made loose assumptions because it was 11 at night before I went on vacation and I was getting extremely tired. Looking back on the preview, that score (thumbs down) was how the game appealed to me. That isn't usually how I do my previews, but then again, I don't usually write this column late into the night.

As an aside, I love Mario Baseball. I'm not a big fan of stats (or for that matter, a fan of baseball), so the lack of in-depth stats in Mario Baseball never really bugged me.

Josh Rumsey also calls me out…after it had all been said and done…

Drew, Drew, Drew... You need to learn to learn about the games you are writing about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikky%C5%8D_Powerful_Pro_Yaky%C5%AB_serie
s
Read and learn my good man.
P.S. Woo can't wait for SC4, and Madden 09!! haha, no but really madden should be better this year...should be...

I'm not going to talk about Power Pros, I think I've talked enough about baseball in that one paragraph to last me the whole year. Soul Calibur 4 looks great, I'm not sure how it will stack up SC2 yet, but everyone seems to put it above SC3, which is good enough for me. Madden 09, I'm looking forward to lashing that game in this article. Expect two thumbs down….I CAN'T WAIT! Actually, I hope its good, Madden tournaments were fun. While on the note of tournaments, we should have another Mario Party tournament, that was awesome…even if Derek won.

Coming Attractions – Week 4

Like I said before the tangents, this week looks bad. REALLY bad. In fact, I don't think there is one game coming out this week that isn't either shovel ware, or just plain garbage. Worry not, by the time I'm done writing the previews, I'll have an idea on how I can make this column just a bit longer (Last weeks was too short…I wasn't satisfied with it.)

Summer Athletics (Wii) - Its that time again, the time where it seems like every company has to put out a game based on the Olympic games. Of course, Olympics games have never turned into anything more than button mashing mini-games. In other words, its like Mario Party…but not the good ones (as in not 1,2, or 3), without your favorite characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, and without any of the fun. At least some of the mini-games you find in more recent Mario Party games are somewhat fun. In Olympics games though, nothing is fun, and everything is a struggle between you and the button they want you to jam on the controller. However, Summer Athletics is a Wii game, so instead of rapid button mashing…its rapid remote waggling. Honestly, I don't think this is much of a trade-up. Actually, now that I think of it, this could be a good thing. Lets set up a scenario, say you buy Summer Athletics (by mistake I presume) and take it home. You play a few games and your arms get tired, and then you quit playing, turn on your 360/PS3 and play Soul Calibur IV. See what a great mechanic this is? Waggling makes you quit playing a bad game, and instead, start playing a good one!
My Rating: Thumbs Down - I would give it two thumbs down, but will give it a little more credit for not being the "official" game of the Olympics. Those games are the worst offenders.
- These don't look like Wii screenshots…uh oh, I hope this doesn't mean its coming out AGAIN?! I'm not previewing this crap twice.

GRID (DS) - You know, this game doesn't look terrible. Even though the only trailer I saw was pre-rendered, the screenshots of the gameplay don't look awful. Not good, but not really that bad. Unfortunately, DS racing games (that don't take place in a Kart) have never really been to great. The system launched with Ridge Racer (its Riiiidge Racer!) and that game was generally hated among the gaming press. As I already said, outside of Nintendo's Mario Kart DS, the DS has struggled with the genre. The only other racing game that I can recall on the DS is Need for Speed Underground 2, which judging by the name, I will assume was bad. The Need for Speed Series definitely peaked at Hot Pursuit 2, and everything else was a descent into madness. Apparently GRID also features WiFi, so if the game actually ends up being good, you can play it with the few other people who bought the game.
My Rating: Ehhh - While GRID doesn't look bad, it just looks…average. Nothing special, but I'd hope that it is a step in the right direction for racing games on the DS.



Quick Previews (AKA: Shovelware)

King of Clubs - A Wii golfing game, with motion controls. What'd you expect?
My Rating: Two Thumbs Down - I told you to buy We Love Golf! Come on, this game doesn't even have Chun-Li.

Little League World Series - A baseball game starring your favorite…little league players?
My Rating: Thumbs Down - Buy Power Pros, or wait till Mario Baseball, your pick.
The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom - What?
My Rating: Millions of thumbs pointing in a downward direction - WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!

Professor Brainium - More brain training…again with the brain training?
My Rating: Thumbs Down - Buy Brain Age, or if you already have bought Brain Age, then you don't need another one of these brain games! Haven't people gotten tired of these yet?

Monster Madness: Grave Danger - A game that is like….what is this…Zombies Ate My Neighbors?!
My Rating: Ehhh - ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS! Heck yes, you were the greatest co-op Genesis game I owned for a year. But, a lot of people are saying it controls poorly…but still…ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS!!!

This Week's #1 Pick

There is none. Go play Soul Calibur IV and be glad that you didn't take a trip to the store to buy one of these horrible games. But let's stop right here and take time to talk about how great Soul Calibur is. I've been playing Soul Calibur 3 with Derek lately (despite my 3 star rating) and I really enjoyed it. Resurrecting the ancient rivalry of Kilik vs. his character of choice was awesome, though I preferred Kilik vs. Link. After not playing the game for a few years, it appears that all of my skills with Kilik have disappeared, but I found that I did pretty well with Xianguah (holy crap, spelled it right on my first try). During this play time I learned how to counter well and actually found myself winning more than I used to. Still, at the end of the day, I lost 11 to 10 in our match count. Dangit…

- I hear, by way of IGN, that Hilde is pretty cool. Doesn't matter, still playing Vader first.

Yesterday's Attractions

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games - Two mascots enter…but only one will leave. Of course, the one who leaves will probably the one who has more fun. I say this because most of the games that can be found in Mario and Sonic are incredibly boring. As for the ones that weren't boring, they were just incredibly confusing/hard to control. Have you played the swimming in this game? The control scheme for that mini-game is just so awkward; the controls rendered it nearly unplayable. In my opinion, there were only two worthwhile games in this Olympic collection. The trampoline, which seemed like one of the few skill based games on the roster, and the Ping Pong. However, the only reason I think I liked Ping Pong was the fact that I always won, and the trampoline was about five minutes of gameplay total. I hope that you 411 readers were smart enough to keep your fifty dollars instead of spending it on this atrocious mess of waggling games.
Related To - Summer Athletics
My Rating: Two Thumbs Down - Sonic…what has happened?

- This is a joke; Sonic would destroy Mario in a race…

Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Heck. Yes. I've been patiently waiting for the day when I could hearken back to the days of the Sega Genesis in my column, and alas, that day has come. This console used to dominate the time me and my friends spent on games. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist? Awesome. Street Fighter 2? Good times. Zombies Ate My Neighbors was just one of those co-operative games that devoured the time me and my friends spent together. It was just such a blast. Racing your partner around trying to save the neighbors, trying to be the first person to grab the elixir that transformed you into a monster. The only thing I recalled disliking about this game was its difficulty. It seemed like every time I played we would get to the mall (where you fight the Giant baby) and we'd get stuck and give up. Those were the days….
Related To - Monster Madness: Grave Danger
My Rating: Thumbs Up - Fond memories of this game would never allow me to even think of giving it a thumbs down.

- Proof that Zombie games were good before Dead Rising and Resident Evil.

The 411

Lets check out what else is happening in the 411 Games zone.

Mike Minotti and AJGuy bring you another edition of the Exploding Barrel podcast. This week, they talk about E3 and the last edition of the Great Canadian Mikexors Gaming Quiz airs. Also, more talk of Civilization Revolution, I might have to try it.

The man, who writes sweet and spicy columns, John Curry, informs us of comics that should be games. I've never heard of any of these….except for Bone, I think I've seen that somewhere.

Chris Evans talks about the decision to make Windows Live Gold memberships free. I've always thought that online gaming (outside of MMOs) on the PC should be free, so its good to see Microsoft realize that

Wish Chris Vicari good luck as he says good bye to 411, he needs time off to write a Masters Thesis. This is your last chance to see his column for a while, so you had better check this one out!

Resident Evil changed, and "The Ogre" thinks that change has been for the better. I agree, I found the original RE games to be boring and frustrating.

Owain J. Brimfield resurrects those 16-Bit memories with the Wonder Years. This week, Acro the Acrobat. I vaguely recall playing that game, and vaguely recall enjoying it. Only vaguely, mind you.

The 10th Hour reminds you why you shouldn't throw your Wii out the window with this list of Top 10 Wii games. Mario Strikers and No More Heroes get some much needed respect here…but #3 for No More Heroes. Oh Derek, that is SO Pfeiffer!

Collection Achievements can be good or bad, so Rod Oracheski tells you a few of both. Crackdown was great, no doubt about it. Easily one of my favorite games of this generation.

The Negative Edge talks about…a lot of things, one of which is Bionic Commando. Now I didn't see much of the footage at E3, but from what I did see, the swinging looked fun.

This week in the Nintendophiles, talk of Street Fighter IV on the Wii. What? Now I already love Capcom, they're bringing over Dead Rising…but if they brought over Street Fighter IV, I would REALLY love Capcom. Is it too much to ask?

Mark Salmela takes us B3yond the Report with MK vs. DC. I hate to admit it…but that game actually looks kind of fun. Also, no need to apologize Mark, I understand you were in a rush so you not linking me was forgivable.

That's all for this week, check in next week when I get to give Madden a well deserved punch in the face. If you have any feedback for me, send it to [e-mail] or comment below.