New Game Releases 07/09/19 – 07/15/19

Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4/Switch) – Releases Jul. 12^th

Part JRPG, part Minecraft, part Harvest Moon, part Animal Crossing; inventive gamers will have a lot to keep themselves busy with the sequel to 2016’s original Dragon Quest Builders. I’ve pre-ordered this, but I can already tell that this game is not made for me, mostly because I don’t have the time to do everything that it has to offer. However, this game does look perfect for that nerdy middle school kid who is already bound to spend much of their Summer indoors anyway, toiling away at their digital forts and farms.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball (Switch) – Releases Jul. 9^th

Language, partial nudity, and sexual themes are not usually three things you associate with Nintendo consoles, yet here we are with a game that proudly flaunts all three on the Nintendo Switch. As seems to be the norm for this series, Peach Ball is an entirely new genre for the Senran Kagura series; this time they’ve set their eyes on pinball. I’ve never really thought pinball was very erotic, but then again, you do kind of grind and bump your body into the machine to make the ball go where you want it to. The tone of this game isn’t going to be for everyone, as the cheesecake factor is through the roof, but there is certainly going to be a niche group of gamers out there who will eat this up, and to them I say, ewww.

Dr. Mario World (Android/iOS) – Releases Jul. 10^th

After entering the mobile games market in 2016 with the social app Miitomo, Nintendo has released five apps based on their various properties, as well as several Pokemon based apps. There have been bona fide hits like Pokemon Go, as well as a couple clunkers, like the aforementioned Miitomo, and to some extend, Super Mario Run. Now, with Dr. Mario World, Nintendo is finally entering the puzzle app arena with their version of a “match three” game. Taking a cue from Candy Crush and its ilk, you are tasked with eliminating the various viruses on screen by swiping and tapping on your screen. As with previous Dr. Mario games, you must match the color of the pill to the virus, but with the ability to drag the pill around the screen, a lot of the frantic pacing seems to have been eliminated for conveniences sake. Similar to other match three apps, you can also use various special objects to solve puzzles that will allow you to clear the screen faster, such as turtles shells. You’ll only have so many capsules at your disposal as you play through each stage, and with it costing one heart to play a stage, you will either have to be really good, spend a lot of money, or sit around and wait for your heart meter to refill so that you can continue to play. I’m not a big fan of the predatory practices of mobile gaming, and just because I like Nintedo, doesn’t mean they aren’t above going for those mobile gaming whales. Tread carefully, friends.

SolSeraph (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 10^th

Taking inspiration from Enix’s SNES game ActRaiser, developers ACE Team, best known for the Zeno Clash and Rock of Ages games, have partnered with Sega to release SolSeraph. In this title you play as the guardian of humanity, moving through side scrolling platforming stages, clearing the area of monsters so that the people can live peacefully. Once the area is cleared of monsters you must build up the cities and towns for the humans to live in, making sure that along the way you keep the monsters at bay, in a top down map view. Maybe inspiration is the wrong word, because this game seems to be a re-make/rip-off of ActRaiser. I mean, obviously there are going to be differences, but come on. Ah well, if Square Enix isn’t interested in making a modern version of the game, I guess ACE Team and Sega can.

Blazing Chrome (PC/PS4/Switch/XBone) – Releases Jul. 11^th

Hey look, another retro-inspired title! Blazing Chrome looks like it would fit in right at home on the SNES and or Neo Geo, sitting on the shelf next to Contra III or Metal Slug. There’s sort of a plot here, about a rogue AI taking over the Earth, but who cares, it’s a run & gun shooter that looks rad AF. While the gameplay videos look great, it’s hard to tell how the thing plays. If the controls are wonky you’re going to be in trouble, making your game into the next Oniken instead of the next Shovel Knight.

 

Ports and Re-releases:

Penn & Teller VR: Frankly Unfair, Unkind, Unnecessary, & Underhanded (PSVR) – Releases Jul. 9^th, PC version came out on Jun. 27^th

Comedy/Magic duo Penn & Teller have been delighting, confusing, and fucking with audiences since the late 1970’s. No stranger to video games, the duo tried to release the title Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors for Sega CD back in 1995, a game that featured several mini-games, including the now infamous Desert Bus, in which you must drive a bus 45 mph from Tucson, AZ to Las Vegas, NV. Despite review copies going out, the company that was set to release the title went out of business, denying the world a Penn & Teller video game…until now! Taking cues from their original title, Frankly Unfair, Unkind, Unnecessary,  Underhanded, or F U, U, U & U for short, is a collection of mini-games played in VR that you can use to mess with your friends or just enjoy on your own. The game also features several magic tricks made famous not only by Penn & Teller, but also Houdini and Cardini, allowing you to be these magicians through the power of VR, performing some of their tricks. I wonder if there’s a Desert Bus easter egg in there somewhere?

Earth Defense Force 5 (PC) – Releases Jul. 11^th

Bugs squish good on PC! Last December’s PS4 exclusive is now available on PC, giving would-be exterminators a chance to live out their fantasies…or maybe nightmares?

God Eater 3 (Switch) – Releases Jul. 12^th

Released back in February for PC and PS4, the Monster Hunter-esque God Eater 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch, as all games, both classic and modern, appear to be. Taking on the role of a God Eater, a human who has the ability to command God Arcs that they then use to hunt down and kill massive beasts called Arigami, you will embark on several short (and I mean short) missions alone. Later on you will get the ability to team up with other players online and take down massive Arigami, but you’re probably already playing Monster Hunter World, and I can’t in good conscious recommend this game to anyone…on PS4. With the Switch being portable, well, maybe it’ll be a good diversion while you sit on the bus or take a short flight, as the simple/short missions are perfectly timed for on the go play.

 

Expansions:

The Messenger: Picnic Panic (PC/PS4/Switch) – Releases Jul. 11^th

2018’s The Messenger was one of my favorite titles when it came out last August for PC and Switch. With its retro style and tight controls, I found myself playing the same levels over and over and over, and never getting tired or bored of them. It was just like being a kid and playing those same few early Ninja Gaiden levels multiple times, it didn’t matter if I was going up against the same enemies and areas, I was having too much fun to care. After a port to the PS4 in March, 2019, we now have new content for the game, and guess what? It’s totally free! There is a catch, however, as the new content will not unlock until you beat the final boss, which, if I’m being honest, I may never actually do, and neither will you. That’s okay though, I’m sure it’ll be a hoot for those of you who are hardcore enough to make it through the game. What can you expect from this DLC? How about new levels, new power-ups, and massive new bosses.

 

Everything else:

Umihara Kawase Fresh! (Switch) – Releases Jul. 9^th

Receiving a late era release on the SNES, the original Umihara Kawase never made it to North America, same with its PSX sequel, and subsequent DS and PSP releases. Finally, though, in 2014, we started to see the series in the west, first with Sayonara Umihara Kawase, then with re-releases of the SNES and PSX games on PC. The latest title in the franchise is now slated to hit Nintendo Switch for all you platforming nuts out there.

Doughlings: Invasion (Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 10^th (PC version coming Aug. 1^st)

First we had a game inspired by ActRaiser, then a game inspired by Contra, then Penn & Teller released a game that was kind of like their unreleased Sega CD title, now we have a new game inspired by Space Invaders. Who says originality in video games is dead?

Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets (PC/Switch) – Releases Jul. 11^th

I was very upset to find out this was not related to the Professor Layton series; pass. You think I want something original?

Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble (PC/Switch) – Releases Jul. 11^th

Okay, good, finally, a game that is just like Advance Wars. Now there’s a title I’m familiar with.

 

One Year Ago:

Top Game – Octopath Traveler (Switch) – Released Jul. 10^th, 2018

Up until just a few weeks ago, Octopath Traveler was a Switch exclusive, and probably one of the more high profile, at least from a third party developer. While the game appeared to be a throwback to the types of SNES JRPGs that many of us in our 30’s and 40’s grew up playing, this game was not quite the experience that some of us were looking for. From a fairly brutal grind, even for the genre, to the sense that your characters have little to no interaction with one another, this ended up being less like Final Fantasy III than I, and others, wanted it to be. Despite this, the game is still fun to play, and if you don’t mind the low amount of interaction, there is a fairly rich and engrossing story to be told for each of the eight characters.

What were we saying in the comments? There was a lot of discussion about Octopath Traveler, with Team Zissou linking to Jason Schreier’s warnings that the game would not be the JRPG that many had hoped for. We also got a theme song for Ball Grabbers from Beneven Stanciano:

“They smile in your face…

All the time they want to take your place…

The ball grabbers (ball grabbers)”

 

Notable Releases from 10, 20 and 30 years ago:

Okay, okay, so I know I said that I couldn’t find a game from 1999 released the week of July 2nd to July 8th, well, I wasn’t paying attention and there was a title released that week, as you’ll see. However, there was no release in 1999 for this week, so it all worked out. Tune in next week when I tell you that I found a game released in 1999 during the week of July 9th to July 15th.

NCAA Football 10 (PS2/PS3/PSP/Xbox 360) – Released Jul. 14^th, 2009: Wiki Link

Back in the halcyon days of 2009, video game companies could still exploit athletic young men for their talents, using their likenesses to put millions of dollars into their coffers. Exploitation aside, this led to a really fun video game franchise that we sadly do not have anymore, but in our pre-woke naivety, we marveled at the ability to play a football game as the Florida Seminoles, THE Ohio State University, and of course, everyone’s favorite, the Stanford Trees. With the vast majority of sports titles, there usually isn’t a whole lot different from entry to entry, but NCAA Football 10 had a rather large amount of new content, mostly in the way the game worked under the hood, but also introduced a more robust character, school and team creator, 1,000 new player animations, authentic marching bands for the individual schools, and a re-worked playbook. Did any of this make up for the fact that EA and the NCAA made millions while some college athletes, whose names and faces appeared in the game for free, were struggling to afford rent and eat? Well yeah, they were able to get Erin Andrews to do the sideline reports!!

Dungeon Keeper 2 (PC) – Released Jul. 7^th, 1999: Wiki Link

In 1997, just before leaving the studio, video game designer Peter Molyneux released his last credited game for Bullfrog, Dungeon Keeper. In this title, players took on another god-like role, building an maintaining a dungeon in the hopes that would-be heroes would enter, allowing you to slaughter them for their loot and eventually take over the world once they had all been killed. Two years later, the sequel to this game would come out and not bear Molyneux’s name, however it seems he did some work on the game in an uncredited capacity. In any case, Dungeon Keeper 2 picks right up where the first game left off, in terms of game play at least. Players were still tasked with overseeing the construction and maintenance of a typical D&D style dungeon, slaying heroes and attempting to find crystals that will allow them to reach the surface world and take it over. The game was very well received upon launch, with many praising the graphics as some of the best the PC had to offer at the time, but despite the pretty visuals, many would knock the game for not employing enough differences from the first title, noting that it was basically just a souped up version of the original game. You can currently find the game for sale on GOG, and I would highly recommend giving it a try if you are a fan of simulation games.

Strider (NES) – Released Jul. 1989: Wiki Link

With Strider for the NES, we find ourselves with one of those rare instances in which a Japanese developed game only came out in North America and not in Japan. Developed at the same time as the arcade version, Strider for the NES is obviously less powerful in the graphics department, but was still a decent side scrolling platformer in its own right. Players take on the role of Hiryu, a super solider/ninja who is part of an elite task force known as “Striders”. Using his sword, he must travel through several stages, defeating various enemies and avoiding traps, on his way to assassinate his best friend Kain who has been kidnapped by terrorists and is now a liability. As any good soldier would do, Hiryu complies, but over the course of the game learns that his commanding officer is actually a bad guy! This game also seems to have fallen victim to the poor western box art that many titles, particularly Capcom titles, that didn’t seem to depict the game as it actually was. The box made it seem like you were a white guy fighting against Russians who wear portable cassette tape players on their belts. I mean, what kind of Russian wears a sleeveless shirt, it’s freezing there! While it shared a name and aesthetic with the arcade title, the NES version was much different, with the player looking for various keys and clues to unlock later parts of the game. It also had a more fleshed out story, and followed the plot of a tie-in manga that was produced in Japan. Despite the release of the manga, the game never made it to the Famicom and, as far as I can tell, has never been available in Japan in any form aside from imported North American copies. While this oddity isn’t as popular as the arcade title, it’s still a decent treasure for the NES and should be part of your collection.

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