Considering every other week in April is absolutely stacked, this week feels completely dead. Utterly dead. As dead a week as we’ve this year, which is insane. This week’s biggest release? I’d say it’s probably Titanfall for the Xbox 360. Yep. It’s that bad.
But I’m curious — is anyone planning to get the game for Xbox 360? I’m actually very interested to see what it plays like, how it runs and how well it’s supported. I’ve always felt like it was a strange decision to put the game on Xbox 360, but I might be proven wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s for sure.
Finn and Jake’s Epic Quest (PC)
What is it? Another bloody Adventure Time game? This time it’s in THREE DEEEEEE!
Should you care? I’m going to write this generic sentence. Please don’t judge me. ‘Fans of the series might enjoy it’.
Football Manager Classic 2014 (PS Vita)
What is it? It’s a football management sim, on the PS Vita!
Should you care? It’s niche, but these games are incredible. Great sense of depth, great research. I think the Vita is a good platform as well for it.
Kinect Sports Rivals (Xbox One)
What is it? It’s a Kinect game for the Xbox One, with rock climbing. Oh man.
Should you care? Are you desperate for something to play Kinect with? In general I’ve only enjoyed one game with Kinect and that was Fruit Ninja. I don’t see this being great, but it could be fun in bursts.
Titanfall (360)
What is it? The delayed release of the current Xbox One darling for the Xbox 360.
Should you care? I really don’t know. I’m curious about this. I want to see what it looks like, how it runs.
Warlock 2: The Exiled (PC)
What is it? A turn-based strategy game in a fantasy universe.
Should you care? By all accounts it’s pretty good. Feels like there are a ton of these games on PC though.
Comments
29 responses to “This Week In Games: [Crickets]”
Isn’t the new episode of The Wolf Among Us out this week?
Or was that last week?
Thinking its this week? Also rumor is TWD Ep 3 is out very soon too…
Wolf Among Us I think will hit Australia either Wednesday night/ early Thursday morning.
Also Killer Instinct is getting Story/Arcade mode and Fulgore!
I’m amazed MS are releasing Kinect Sports as a full retail game. I guess MS are going through the motions of a token release before packing it into future console bundles for free to add value.
What blows my mind is that new, high quality games I want to play are released so regularly that a week passing without one really stands out.
The last month has been stupid.
orly? 😛
Hehe, that’s subjective, but for me, definitely.
So this year, in 14 weeks so far, we’ve already had:
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Dark Souls 2
Bravely Default
Broken Age Part 1
Rayman Legends
Monument Valley
Threes!
Luftrausers
Towerfall Ascension*
Titanfall
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Walking Dead Season 2, Ep 2*
The Wolf Among Us, Ep 2*
The Floor is Jelly
Infamous Second Son*
Final Fantast X / X-2 Remaster*
The Last of Us: Left Behind
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze*
FTL: Advanced Edition
I’m not just listing top rated games either, these are all games I’ve bought and loved, or am planning to buy and expect to love(*)! Crazy times.
Definitel subjective. 😉 But I agree with 2/3+ of your list. I shall leave you with this passing thought ..
Just because you enjoy/love the game, does it mean it really is high-quality?
No it doesn’t, you’re right, but that list isn’t just a list that I enjoy/love.
It’s also a list of games that are highly rated on Metacritic, both from game critics and users, so the general consensus is that they’re good games. And they’re also all games that have high production values, with a lot of effort and artistry put into their game design, art and sounds design and overall presentation.
So yeah it’s definitely still subjective, but in any way that I can think to define the term “high-quality” those games would be included.
What does make a game high-quality? Which of those games would you say is lacking in quality, or which ones aren’t particularly noteworthy? I think probably the mobile games are the easiest to dismiss, perhaps fairly comparing them to the others, although I personally think they’re brilliant and excel in their particular niche.
I’ve got experience with Infamous and DS2. Both are average at best in reality.
Donkey Kong is pretty cool, I’ve got it and played 1.5 worlds with a friend, if you have any q’s. 🙂
Yeah I heard Infamous is like a quarter the game of the other two – less map, less powers, less enemies, less everything? Shame. Still, the graphics are enough for me to dive in 😀
I’ve heard mixed about Dark Souls 2 – I’m sure I will enjoy it even if it’s not quite as perfect as DS1 – got it preordered on PC. Hoping that it uses the upgraded lighting of the pre-release footage.
I still haven’t finished Donkey Kong on the Wii, want to knock that out before I jump into Tropical Freeze. That’s a game I know I will love.
EDIT: with Infamous and DS2 – would you still call them average if they were the first in the series, or do they only suffer in comparison to what came before?
Infamous is okay and looks pretty.
Still uses shitty old game mechanics and generally plays the same as the previous games. But the nice skin is definitely nice.Dark Souls
I haven’t played much of either, but looking at the games from a distance it’s clear that they barely achieve ‘mediocre’ rating. The one redeeming point is that the minimum difficulty is amped up for a change, and this along with the resulting hype train is the sole reason why it is successful.DS2 lighting spoiler:
the console doesn’t have the lighting system you are thinking of. PC release is also speculated not to have it ….DK: I haven’t played any of them apart from DKC on Super Nintendo. It’s fun on WiiU, looks gorgeous, and both of us exclaim “wow” at least every 10 minutes.
Regarding your edit: yes, they are average no matter what. PS4’s Infamous looks like a technical demo for the graphics and Dark Souls has been average since the beginning.
April is pretty dead for releases compared the the amazingness that will be the last two weeks of May.
On Titanfall possibly… Provided its a good port – otherwise it’ll wait till I upgrade. I think the games media completely underestimates how many people are still playing on last gen – I expect that EA insisted on a 360 port of this game cuz they knew that’s where they’d make the bulk of their money (indeed Microsoft is using the Xbone version as a loss leader to sell consoles!)
I’m guessing that it’s going to be such a significant step down from the Xbone version that a lot of people who only own 360’s will skip it entirely.
My 360 is still getting a lot of use, but it’s mostly been games I’ve missed or games which aren’t graphically intensive…. X-Com: Enemy Within, South Park, Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us are still great, but Titanfall strikes me as the kind of game that would lose a lot of its appeal if you took some of that next-gen spectacle away from it.
Yeah I’ll reserve judgement until it’s out I guess – certainly enjoying PvZ on the 360 in the meantime!
I disagree. The game may be inferior, but that won’t stop people who can’t afford an XB1 rushing out and buying it in droves.
It was the same for PS2 and XBOX versions of games which had “next-gen” versions early in their lifespans, and I doubt that consumer’s attitudes have shifted to the degree that it gets ignored altogether.
Really looking forward to Warlock 2 loved the first one
have you checked out age of wonders iii? its pretty sweet, I played a stupid amount of hours over the weekend
I’ve seen some gameplay looks really good, If ESO wasnt out I would get both
I don’t understand the whole fiasco behind playing Titanfall on xbox.
It performs and play much more better on PC.
I imagine playing TF on console like playing Starcraft 2 on a console
If you have the hardware for it.
Assuming that my PC would even run at all, I have no doubt it wouldn’t even look as good as the 360 version.
I’m not too fussed on looks more so I was referring to Gameplay – currently running TF on a r7 250 amd card (RRP below $100) on normal settings.
Though I’m just one of those trditional people that prefer FPS on PC = Keyboard and mouse.
I’ve found that it plays very well on a console and I’m normally one of those people that hates playing a FPS with a controller.
The slightly unorthodox movement lends itself surprisingly well to a control stick combo and the Titans are bulky enough that you don’t really “twitch” with them.
I think it would seem really weird to play as a titan with a mouse that I could set really high sensitivity on. I’d feel either like I wasn’t controlling a mech or like it was really laggy if it was slow to turn.
I haven’t played it on PC though so I might not know what I’m talking about. So many FPS over the past few years have been dull, team based “military” shooters that punish fast movement, so I think the ability to fly around a map nailing huge jumps and flick shots has become a bit of a lost art. If Titanfall brings a bit of that back to PC gaming then I’m all for it.
From what I have played its certainly no Quake 3 but it is faster than BF4. The main issue as that your trick shots don’t matter cause after the first 2 minutes everyone is in clunky titans.
Nothing is Quake 3 (still the best FPS ever), but to be fair Titanfall is aimed at a different market.
Once you start making shooters with the console market in mind you need to slow it WAY down to try to keep the controls manageable.
Titanfall is the most dynamic shooter I’ve played since the Quake/ Unreal Tournament/ Tribes golden days.
Console games designed around controllers (as I believe Titanfall was) need weight of movement for differentiation.
Killzone 2 had this perfect sense of weight to the weapons – which was completely lost when KZ3 (which went for the CoD-style of twitch-movement) came out. It really suffered, as well. It was just another industrial shooter rather than a Killzone title.
This is the week to to watch movies at the cinema it seems