GearGames Weekly: September 13 – 19

Posted on 12 September 2009, at 5:45 pm, by Michael Anderson

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This entry is part 14 of 23 in the series GearGames Weekly

Scribblenauts

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! After the mega-game event last week with Beatles Rock Band, this week might seem slow … until you look at the list! There are hot games coming out on all platforms across multiple genres, such as Need for Speed: Shift, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the competing hockey games NHL 10 and NHL 2K10. For me the DS and PC are the big winners this week – read on to find out why.

The DS gets the hotly anticipated Scribblenauts and a new addition to the Mario & Luigi RPG series, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story as well as the newest entry to the very popular anime tie-in series Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2.

The PC sees the arrival of already-on-console games Batman: Arkham Asylum, Resident Evil 5, and Red Faction: Guerrilla. Resident Evil 5 is supposed to make up for the abysmal PC port of the sublime Resident Evil 4 by featuring an enhanced control scheme, better resolution, and a new Mercenaries mode. Batman: Arkham Asylum, aside from being a great game, gets a graphical and physics engine makeover for the PC release. And Red Faction: Guerrilla is also enhanced, and also gets the recently released ‘Demon of the Badlands’ DLC for free! (And of course, if you took advantage of the GamersGate deal you also got the first two games in the franchise for free!)

Also, I know that Dawn of Magic: Time of Shadows is coming for real, as it has just been listed on Steam and has a date of the 14th on other international digital download sites – so you might not find it boxed but it should be out there. Anyway, check out the list!

Need for Speed: Shift
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
NHL 10
Wet
Heroes Over Europe
NHL 2K10

Need for Speed: Shift
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
NHL 10
Wet
Heroes Over Europe
NHL 2K10

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
NHL 2K10

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
NHL 2K10

Need for Speed: Shift
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

Scribblenauts
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2

Need for Speed: Shift
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Resident Evil 5
Dawn of Magic: Time of Shadows
Red Faction: Guerrilla
RACE On
Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim

Some notes from last week:

The Beatles: Rock Band

- Despite clear signs that the shine is off the music-game genre, this game clearly delivers the good and is worth getting in some form.

DiRT 2

- Tons of content and almost all of it is good – if you are into off-road racing games you can’t go wrong here!

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days

-Surpasses the original to become perhaps the best strategy-RPG on the PSP!

Mini Ninjas

- Solid fun, but doesn’t deliver on the potential presented in some areas.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey

- Does a great job translating the experience of the PC franchise to consoles!

What games am I playing now?:

PC: Hearts of Iron III – nice World War II based turn-based / real-time hybrid strategy game. Still early on, but it is getting intense!
PC: Majesty 2 – sequel to a popular (almost a decade ago) real-time city-building sim. Just getting engaged.
PC: Evil Islands – I love netbook-friendly games, and this little-known 2001 Russian RPG came to my attention in two different places last week … so I thought it was more than coincidence and gave it a shot. Very high difficulty, and graphics that time has not treated well, but some decent fun has kept me engaged.
PSP: Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days – just getting started, but so far this is even better than the original!
PSP: Dissidia: Final Fantasy – this solid fighting game offers loads of gameplay and way too many control overloads … but in the end it is pretty fun.
PSP: Fates / Unlimited Codes – basically fun anime-based fighting game. Loads of content and combos, but not much else.