GearGames: June 28 – July 4th

Posted on 28 June 2009, at 4:00 pm, by Michael Anderson

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

This entry is part 3 of 33 in the series GearGames Weekly

GearGames Weekly

Trine

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! We have a relatively solid release schedule that is full-up with movie tie-ins, including Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. I know our family has been anticipating the new Harry Potter movie since it was delayed last fall, and the video game tie-ins have generally been fairly solid if unspectacular. As for the new Ice Age … my expectation after watching a pair of dreadful ‘exclusive clips’ this week is that regardless of how bad the game is, it will take little effort to be better than the movie!

The rest of the release list is also pretty solid this week. One of the better cowboy games of this generation, Call of Juarez, arrives this week. My personal pick is the PC & PS3 release Trine from small Finnish developer FrozenByte, who were responsible for the fun top-down shooters Shadowgrounds & Shadowgrounds: Survivor. There are also new MegaMan games, another entry into the Harvest Moon franchise, and even a X360 / PS3 Zombie game (golden rule of video games – when in doubt – add zombies!). Check out the list!

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Worms 2: Armageddon
Infernal: Hell’s Vengeance
Zombie Apocalypse

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
The Punisher: No Mercy
Zombie Apocalypse
Trine

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace
Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Fallen Earth
Trine
Legio
Grand Theft Auto PC Trilogy

Some notes from last week:

Fight Night Round 4 (X360, PS3)

- the consensus is that this sequel lacks the ‘wow’ factor of Fight Night 3, but is actually better than that game as it builds upon it’s strengths and corrects most of the weaknesses.

Overlord II (PC, X360, PS3)

- a solid sequel in the ‘build your evil army’ action-strategy game that is criticized for offering too little to existing owners to justify the full price.

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires (X360, PS3)

- described as ‘the same thing we’ve seen a million times before, only much worse’.

The Conduit (Wii)

- a solid but non-revolutionary shooter that is being called the best pure shooter the Wii has seen to date.

Dawn of Discovery(PC, Wii)

- a.k.a. Anno 1404, the latest entry in the Anno franchise that is a major hit in Europe but only a minor player elsewhere. I loved Anno 1701 and its’ expansion, so this was like pure strategy candy for me!

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)

- this game was already a well-known quantity as it is a major hit in Japan (one of the top sellers of last year), and the English port doesn’t disappoint. Still not deep, but loads of fun as an action-RPG.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Multi)

- well … the best that could be said is that it is better than the (terrible) movie …

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

- a solid entry in the series that includes the Persona console games, this is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s ‘The World Ends With You’, but is a very good game in its’ own right.

To highlight a recent release in more detail: Drakensang: The Dark Eye is a fantasy-RPG based on a German Paper & Pencil (PnP) game called DSA (Das Schwarze Auge … or The Dark Eye, typically abbreviated DSA or TDE depending on language), which immediately differentiates it from the host of D20-based D&D ruleset games that are popular (i.e. Baldur’s Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, etc). This should immediately tell you that there are numbers and rules and statistics going on behind the scenes all the time, with tons of skill checks and bonuses and penalties based on whatever is going on. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference – I’m a math geek (statistician by current profession) but also a gamer, so I love to be able to see the math, but also to ignore it without consequence.

Drakensang has a number of things that make it an excellent game: choices with consequences, a fun turn-based combat system, plenty of great role-playing opportunities, a wonderful character development system, and a massive 80-hour epic story.

It is not the sort of game that ten years from now people will be touting as ‘one of the best’ the way they will with ‘The Witcher’, but it is a very good game that is one of the best RPG’s of the last several years. It has everything that fans of the genre seek – role-playing, choices with consequences, party-based adventuring, turn-based combat, an epic story that allows you to influence the outcome in many ways, and so on. But for those who are not enamored with fantasy games, or don’t like turn-based games, and gravitate to fast-paced action games, there isn’t anything here to draw you in. This is not a ‘genre broadening’ game like Fallout 3 that bridges shooter and RPG elements – Drakensang is pure RPG through and through.

Drakensang: The Dark Eye is available for the PC through retail outlets such as Amazon, or on digital download sites like GamersGate and Direct2Drive.

What I’m Currently Playing:

Mac: The Sims 3 – I have had some fun creating my character, having him roam around and enjoy all the stuff there is to offer … I just don’t see this as something I will connect with long-term.
Mac: Neverwinter Nights – I started new games in all *9* modules (main game, two expansions and six ‘premium modules’), and am about halfway through Chapter 1 of the main game.
PSP: Crimson Gem Saga – I thought Astonishia Story was crap … and since this is called ‘Astonishia Story 2′ in other parts of the world, my expectations were very low. Fortunately this game is pretty solid fun so far, with a reasonable (if cliched) story and charming (if even more cliched) characters.
DS: Naruto Shippuden Ninja Council 4 – bland game in just about every way. They have really milked this franchise … Believe It!
iPod Touch: TradeWinds 2 – really cool strategy / adventure / naval combat game. It is fun just going from port to port making loads of money trading goods!
iPod Touch: Mass Effect Galaxy – reasonably fun so far – cartoon styles interactive cutscenes with plenty of top-down shooter combat action in between.