I like games for PS4, Xbone and Switch…
I’d get them all if I had one wish…
But the money’s all gone…
Expensive summer…
Expensive summer…
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (PC/PS4) – Releases Jul. 2nd
Originally released in 2010, Final Fantasy XIV was both a critical and commercial failure. The game, while beautiful to look at, was completely miserable to play. With scattershot quests, long load times (including how fast your inventory screen opened up), confusing map layouts, and a tedious grind for levels, players and critics agreed that the game was a total mess. Yoichi Wada, who was the Square Enix CEO at the time, issued a public apology and stated, basically, that the game had tarnished the Final Fantasy brand. They were determined to save the game (and possibly the entire series), and swiftly removed the game’s original producer and director, replacing them both with one man, Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P). Yoshida had been working on the successful MMO Dragon Quest X before he was moved onto Final Fantasy XIV, and did not have the trust of the current development team. He knew he had to prove to them that he was the right person for the job, so he came in and laid out a clear direction for how to make the game better, and vowed to listen to the player base, opening up the official forums for players to register their complaints, suggestions, and praise. After the 2011 earthquake in Tōhoku, the game went offline for maintenance. It was at this time that the team realized two things, due to the damage caused by the earthquake, they could not bring the game fully back to its previous state, meaning that they were now free to completely scrap it and start the whole thing over again, a move that would, in hindsight, be exactly what they needed to do in order to fully save the struggling title. This new version of the game, subtitled A Realm Reborn would overhaul everything in the game; maps, dungeons, gameplay, characters, the whole shebang. This new version of the game soon caught on with players, and driven by word of mouth, and two well received expansions, the game now has over 16 million players, and continues to grow.
In the latest release, Shadowbringers, the player protagonist (dubbed The Warrior of Light) finds himself/herself magically transported to another world, far form the shores of Eorzea. In this new land, you discover that 100 years ago, primals descended upon this place, and plunged the surrounding areas into everlasting daylight. With many longing for the night skies again, it is believed that you and your companions are the only ones who can defeat the primals and restore the proper day/night cycle to the people. Can you save this new land? Can you be The Warrior of…Darkness! Included in the new expansion are two new jobs, the DPS job Dancer and the Tank job Gunbreaker, several new zones, new beast tribes (including some very tricky faeries), an increase in the level cap from 70 to 80, new recipes to craft, new dungeons to explore, new mounts and minions to collect; there’s a lot! Plus you can now travel freely between worlds (servers) as long as you are in the same sub data center (Primal, Aether, Crystal, etc.). I’ve already gotten my Dragoon to level 73, will I be seeing you anytime soon?
Seriously, if you want to hang out you can look me up on the Lamia server in the Primal sub data center, the name is L’eclisse Algiers (named after two Criterion Collection DVDs that were sitting on my shelf). I hope to see your happy faces!
Stranger Things 3: The Game (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 4th
Based on the hit show, Stranger Things 3: The Game has you playing through several moments in the series’ history. With twelve playable characters, you will make your way through this action/adventure game either alone or with a friend. I’m getting some serious Zombies Ate My Neighbors vibes from the trailer, which is a good thing.
Sea of Solitude (PC/PS4/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 5th
From Berlin based developer Jo-Mei Games comes Sea of Solitude, a third person action/adventure indie game, publish the purveyors of creativity and artistic integrity over at EA. Kidding aside, this does look to be a rather personal project for the development team, with the game’s director, Cornelia Geppert, saying that she used the game to “…probe her own fears and emotions following a 2013 breakup“. The style of the game looks interesting, although the premise is doing less for me, as I could care less about the director’s real life emotional journey. Maybe it’ll hit with you, but for me, I’ll probably pass.
Ports and Re-releases:
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (Switch) – Releases Jul. 2nd
Have you ever wanted to date a sexy daddy? Now’s your chance Switch owners, as the delightful Dream Daddy makes its way to Nintendo’s hybird console. Who’s your favorite daddy? I like the goth one…or maybe the preppie, he’s kind of a a-hole, but I like that about him.
Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered (Switch) – Releases Jul. 2nd
After being released one year ago for PC, PS4 and Xbone, the remastered version of the now 9 year old FPS game Red Faction: Guerrilla, originally made by Volition for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, is finally coming to the Switch. I’ve only played ‘Aramageddon’, and not for very long, so I really have nothing to go on here. Was this game so beloved that it demanded multiple remasters? It looks like every other FPS game set in a desolate wasteland, complete with explosions, tactical vehicles with guns mounted on them, and a burly dude with no hair. Oh, and fun fact, the original Red Faction was released on the N-Gage; remember the N-Gage? Fun fact 2, this is almost verbatim what I wrote about this game last year; can you tell? Is anybody listening to this? Am I on the air? Yes. Fuck! Thanks.
Expansions:
Just Cause 4: Los Demonios (PC/PS4/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 3rd
Known for being a bit outlandish and over the top, the latest Just Case game is releasing a new expansion that is centered around demons, because, I mean, why not? After going on an expedition to a newly discovered temple, Rico must face a horde of demons released by the Black Hand, turning the island nation of Solis into hell on Earth. Sure, this is fine.
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 5th
This expansion for Attack on Titan 2 will have you playing through the stories of seasons 1-3 from the anime, and includes new playable characters, new equipment, and a new game mode called ‘Territory Recover Mode’. Owners of the original game can buy this new content as an “upgrade”, while new owners can buy the entire thing together in one package for a discounted price.
One Year Ago:
Top Game – Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered (PC/PS4/Xbox One) – Released Jul. 3rd, 2018
Hey, would you look at that, Red Faction: Guerrilla came out this week last year for all systems except the Nintendo Switch. Now, it’s on the Switch! What a world we live in.
Interesting tidbits – Last year was a straight up dumping ground for garbage. Nothing was particularly interesting or exciting, and Another World was delayed…AGAIN!
What were we saying in the comments? There were twelve comments last year, the lowest amount this column has ever received. To make it even more pathetic, five of them were from me. I noted in the comments that the MMO Defiance was getting a re-boot, and Robort Poo’s Chili said a couple nice words about it, leading me to make this comment, “Interesting. I’m not really in the market for another MMO (I’m pretty hardcore into FFXIV) but every now and then I get an itch to try something else, so maybe this one is it? IDK”. Fast forward to one year later…I’m still playing Final Fantasy XIV and have never touch Defiance.
Notable Releases from 10, 20 and 30 years ago:
As it seems to happen around the holidays, not a whole lot was released this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago. In fact, the pickings are so slim that the 1999 entry is a game that came out the week prior, as I could find no information on titles released during this week 20 years ago. That said, let’s take a look at what we were all playing once we were done stuffing our faces with hot dogs and looking at fireworks.
Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 – Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (PC) – Released Jul. 7th, 2009 (Wii version released a few weeks later on Jul. 27th): Wiki Link
In 2004, former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander founded the now defunct Telltale Games. Feeling like they were no longer being given the opportunity to make the types of games they loved, point and click adventures, they decided to branch out on their own, making a forgettable Texas Hold’em game, before releasing two licensed titles based on the comic book Bone and the television series CSI. In 2005, when the Sam & Max license expired at LucasArts, their creator, Steve Purcell, brought the license to TellTale who went on to create Sam & Max: Season One (later renamed Sam & Max Save The World), which would became a critical and commercial hit for the studio. They would then go on to release titles based on the Homestar Runner and Wallace & Gromit properties, before releasing what would be their most commercially successful product to date; a new entry the long dormant Monkey Island. As out very own Singing Brakeman noted in his Franchise Festival entry on Monkey Island, “…following a 2008 change in leadership…New LucasArts CEO Darrell Rodriguez…“, saw the value (and potential dollars) in the point and click adventure genre, and, “…would offer Telltale the Monkey Island license in 2008 as LucasArts began work on remasters of the series’ first two games“. With Monkey Island writer/developer Dave Grossman already working at Telltale, the team jumped on this opportunity to revive the series that had been dead for almost ten years. Pulling in series creator Ron GIlbert for guidance, they set out to create a five episode title that they could release over several months, similar to what they had done with their previous games. When the first episode of the game released on July 7th through Steam, sales were through the roof, far exceeding Telltales expectations, sitting at the very top of Steam’s best seller list for several days. Not only was the game performing financially well, it also received high praise from critics, and won Adventure Game of the Year from the US branch of PC Gamer Magazine. I’d sum up the future of the series, but I’ll just post Singing Brakeman’s synopsis, as he puts it best; “The future seems dim for more franchise entries, as Telltale was unable to secure the license from LucasArts for a sequel to Tales of Monkey Island before LucasArts was acquired by Disney in 2013. Telltale itself would go out of business in 2018, definitively ending speculation that it may yet revive the series. Ron Gilbert has made bids to acquire the Monkey Island license from Disney but these entreaties have so far been met with silence. Until further information emerges, it is safe to assume that the amusing adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, Elaine Marley, and LeChuck have come to an end.”
Driver (PlayStation) – Released Jun. 30th, 1999: Wiki Link
While Grand Theft Auto seemingly pioneered the open world crime simulator, its top down view and clunky controls weren’t exactly cutting edge at the time. Taking elements from GTA and the plethora of driving/racing games, developer Reflections Interactive released what is probably the first 3D open world crime simulator, a full two years earlier than Grand Theft Auto III. Bearing a striking resemblance to the 1978 film The Driver, players would take on the role of undercover cop John Tanner, as he infiltrates a crime syndicate, performing odd jobs for them by mostly, you guessed it, driving. Told over a series of missions in four major U.S. cities (Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York), John’s story goes from getaway driver, all the way to Presidential assassin (a job he ultimately refuses). Upon release, Driver was a smash success with both critics and players, selling over 1 million copies in just over a month after release. Eventually the series would be acquired by Ubisoft and would spawn several sequels on various platforms, the last one being 2014’s Driver: Speedboat Paradise for mobile phones. It was rumored that Ubisoft was looking to bring Driver into the modern console generation, but it looks like that game eventually became Watch Dogs, and there are currently no signs that Ubisoft has plans to revive the series. On another fun note, there was a film adaptation in the works, first with Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson, and then with Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avery, who was set to shoot the movie in 2007 before it ended up in development hell.
Cobra Triangle (NES) – Released Jul. 1989: Wiki Link
The 1989 game Cobra Triangle is an isometric racing game/shooter developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. I received this game as a present from my dad when I was a kid after his naval ship took a cruise to Japan. I asked him to bring me back a cool Japanese game, and when he returned he was carrying this. Being a dumb eight year old, I assumed he got it in Japan, because I had never heard of it, and neither had any of my friends. What I assume really happened was that he picked it up at K-Mart in the bargain bin on the way home and just told me it was Japanese, because as we all know, Japanese Famicom games don’t work in the NES. Anyway, that didn’t matter to me, because I loved the shit out this thing. Featuring no famous characters or settings, and playing as a speed boat that could turn into a helicopter, I was convinced this was the weirdest, most Japanese thing I had ever played (don’t tell eight year old Andy that this was made by British people). In Cobra Triangle, you are, as I mentioned, a speed boat that can turn into a helicopter, performing a series of tasks over the course of several levels. Level types varied; there were races, trick point courses, obstacle courses, levels where you had to protect a group of swimmers from aliens, levels where you had to dispose of sea mines, and as the cover art promoted, boss fights against giant sea creatures, with the most notable one being the green sea dragon. I really don’t know why this game didn’t get much attention when it was released, perhaps it was released in July as a kind of dumping ground for games that aren’t supposed to do well (but try telling that to Monkey Island and Driver), or maybe its lack of know characters/setting wasn’t enough to get people interested in a speed boat racing game. The game has, however, received somewhat of a cult following, being looked at by modern gaming critics and players as somewhat of a hidden gem and an overlooked classic. Modern gaming audiences were given a chance to experience the game all over again when it was released as part of the Rare Replay compilation on Xbox One back in 2015. If you haven’t ever played this game then please do yourself a favor and give it a try, then you’ll be able to marvel as this “strange game from Japan” that I would always tell every kid about when they came over to play NES games.
New Kids on the Block had a lot hits…but LFO did not.
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