The Week In Games

Not a tough choice for this week’s game of the week. Although I suspect my pick might be in the minority.

Sure, Modern Warfare 2 is out on Tuesday, and sure, everyone’s going to buy it (well, except a bunch of irate PC gamers). But for me the undoubted highlight of this week is New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Anyone who’s been disappointed with the lack of quality first-party Wii games this year (or, indeed, perhaps this console generation) needs to play this game. It’s a remarkable return to form and demonstrates just how sorely we’ve missed a good 2D Mario game in recent times.

The only other title worth your money this week is A Boy and His Blob. Grab that when you get NSMB.

What’s on your shopping list this week?

New releases for the w/c November 9:

A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
What Is It? Gorgeous platformer where you use your blob’s abilities to solve puzzles and find your way home to Earth.
Should You Care? It has a hug button.

Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks (PS2, PSP, DS)
What Is It? Kids action game based on kids cartoon show.
Should You Care? Only if you know who Vilgax is. And why he’d attack.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3, PC)
What Is It? First-person shooter with a contemporary military flavour and also potentially the biggest game launch of 2009.
Should You Care? I guess. (I don’t know, I haven’t played it.)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized (DS)
What Is It? A companion piece to Modern Warfare 2, Mobilized brings single and multiplayer shooting to Nintendo’s handheld.
Should You Care? If you really need an FPS on your DS, n-Space make some of the best.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex (Wii)
What Is It? Wii version of the original Modern Warfare, ported over by World at War developer Treyarch. Reflex, geddit?
Should You Care? Haven’t played this either, but if it’s any guide the Wii version of WaW was pretty decent

Cooking Mama 3 (DS)
What Is It? Addictive mini-game collection that is essentially identical to the previous two Cooking Mamas aside from the addition of a tedious Shopping Mode.
Should You Care? EVeryone should own on Cooking Mama game, but no one needs three of them.

COP: The Recruit (DS)
What Is It? Sandbox action set in New York with driving bits and shooty bits.
Should You Care? More Driver than GTA. And certainly no Chinatown Wars.

iCarly (Wii, DS)
What Is It? “Join the cast of iCarly! Their latest web show has been deleted at the last minute and you need to help them go LIVE by creating the new show from scratch!”
Should You Care? Who’s iCarly?

Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show (PSP)
What Is It? Some sort of tour management thing where you design dance routines and stage shows.
Should You Care? For desperate fans only.

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PS2, PSP)
What Is It? Action adventure that mixes 3D platformer with some air combat.
Should You Care? Where’s our PS3 Jak & Daxter game?

Ju-on: The Grudge (Wii)
What Is It? Horror “experience” inspired by the film of the same name but that plays more like the kind of haunted house you’d find at your local carnival.
Should You Care? Cheap shocks get old quickly.

NBA 2K10 (Wii)
What Is It? Game about tall men and their fondness for hoops.
Should You Care? Probably not the definitive version.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
What Is It? Mario returns to two dimensions, but adds four player co-op.
Should You Care? Yes, this is awesome.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (DS)
What Is It? A lightweight dungeon-crawling Roguelike… but with Pokemon!
Should You Care? Might work as “My First Roguelike”.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time Collectors Edition (PS3)
What Is It? This collectors edition was meant to come out last week. But didn’t.
Should You Care? Sony thanks you for your patience.

Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (Wii)
What Is It? A bunch of new slopes feature in this Balance Board-tastic sequel.
Should You Care? If you missed it last year.

Spongebob’s Truth or Square (Wii, DS)
What Is It? Not so much a revealing party game, but rather – yes – a standard licensed platformer.
Should You Care? No, but somewhere some kid will want this for Christmas.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (PSP)
What Is It? Clunky, multiplayer focused shooter that you might think is coming to the wrong platform.
Should You Care? The Force is weak in this one.

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