Tell me what you want…
What you like…
What you play…
I’m a hardcore gamer too.
Made my Mario Maker level…
And now your level’s on my Switch…
Friend code’s for one another…
Dying is for suckers…
We’re cool for the summer!
Making levels is my paradise…
Don’t be scared ’cause platforming’s not your type…
I’ve got something that Dunkey wants to try…
‘Cause you and I…
We’re cool for the summer!
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (Switch) – Releases Jul. 19th
It’s been almost ten years since the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which makes this both a welcome return, and also a puzzling choice. Gone are original developers Raven Software and Vicarious Visions, as well as original publisher Activision, with those duties now falling to Team Ninja and Nintendo. This is a rather interesting choice, since having Nintendo publish the game means that we will not see this title on the XBone, PS4 and PC, although licensed Marvel titles as console exclusives are not anything new, as we saw with last year’s Spider-Man on PS4. Okay, so why come back after all these years? Well, for one, Marvel is hot right now, consistently putting out film after film with astronomically high grosses, and with the latest Avengers movie, Endgame, coming out only three months ago, the time is right to remind people of the Infinity War, and let them play through the story they just saw unfold on screen. What makes this game so special, as well, is the apparent return of the X-Man and Fantastic Four who were pretty much MIA in the last Marvel vs. Capcom title due to unsubstantiated claims that Marvel was putting those characters on ice until the they got the rights back from Fox. Regardless of the reason why this exists, the fact is that it exists, and that’s great! Boasting an impressive roster of not only popular characters like Iron Man and Captain America, you’ve also got B-tier heroes like Daredevil and the Guardians of the Galaxy, C-tier heroes like Ghost Rider, and deep cuts like Elsa Bloodstone. I am excited to jump back into the familiar gameplay of this series, and am really looking forward to enjoying this with my wife and kid.
Summer Catchers (PC) – Releases Jul. 16th
Pixel graphics; check. Chip-tune soundtrack that sounds like Disasterpiece/Ben Prunty; check. Character in hipster clothes; check. Anthropomorphic animal characters of a dubious nature; check. Stoic moments of solitude with a god-like forest creature; check. Yep, this looks like an indie game.
Night Call (PC) – Releases Jul. 17th
I remember this being teased last year, or just a few months ago, and being really intrigued by the premise. You play as a taxi cab driver who gets sucked into a world of intrigue and mystery as you try and find the serial killer who left you for dead. It’s brooding atmosphere and pulsing soundtrack give it that neo-noir feel that we’ve seen in recent films like Drive and Nightcrawler, two movies that seem to have left an impression on the developers of this title. I was under the impression that this was also coming out for Switch, but I am unable to find any info regarding its release, oh well. I am dying to check this out, so I hope it’s good.
FIA European Truck Racing Championship (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 18th
Speaking of being unable to find any info, I am not entirely sure this game is coming out in North America, I mean, the PC version is, but are these console releases? IDK. Anyway, as if there weren’t enough racing games on the market, this one seems to think that you and I would love nothing more than to race semi-trucks with no trailers. I mean, they’ve got racing games for motorcycles, dune buggies, formula 1 cars, VW Beetles, rally cars, LEGO cars, Chocobos, go-karts…um, oh, oh, futuristic hover cars, um, did I say rally cars yet?
Ports and Re-releases:
Beyond: Two Souls (PC) – Releases Jul. 22nd, exclusive to the Epic Games Store
David Cage made a game starring Kadeem Hardison, so you should probably play it; okay? Speaking of Comic-Con, I went to a panel for this game and on stage were Ellen Page, Hardison, and Cage. The room probably held 100 people and was packed to capacity. I’ve never understood why they did this.
Everything else:
I’m tired, so lightning round…
Horace (PC) – Releases Jul. 18th
Nostalgic masturbatory fantasy because the developer wanted to draw a bunch of cool pixel art characters.
Robo Instructus (PC) – Releases Jul. 16th
A puzzle game about giving a robot instructions using a basic programming language. I program for work, I don’t want to do that shit for fun; NEXT!
Etherborn (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 18th
“You are a voiceless being that has just been born into a world where a bodiless voice awaits your arrival. Go forth and seek your purpose“. Nah.
Tidal Tribe (PC) – Releases Jul. 18th
In this god-game, you control the elevation of the land in order to keep your people from dying in a flood, and to also create lakes and rivers. Aight.
Nowhere Prophet (PC) – Releases Jul. 19th
This is a deck building game that requires you to spend money on it; “I’d rather play Hearthstone, because it’s free“, says some jagoff who has spent $500 on booster packs and singles.
One Year Ago:
Top Game – Adventure Time: Pirates of The Enchiridion (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Released Jul. 17th, 2018
Just like this year, last year wasn’t a huge week for games. I’m not sure if Comic-Con has much to do with it, as it isn’t fully focused on games in the same way that E3 is, but a large portion of the gaming audience is probably going to be preoccupied with the news coming out, so it makes sense to have this week be on the slow side. What I find interesting is that both big games for the week are licensed titles, with 2018’s game being an Adventure Time title, and this year’s being Marvel related. Not everyone is going to make to the big con in San Diego each year, so being able to be a part of a big licensed thing each year kind of gives that feeling of being part of the zeitgeist, maybe. What do you think?
Notable Releases from 10, 20 and 30 years ago:
Ten, twenty, and thirty years ago, nobody gave a shit about Comic-Con, so it didn’t really matter what they put out; this was just another boring Summer week to the publishers.
‘Splosion Man (Xbox 360) – Released Jul. 22nd, 2009: Wiki Link
After the success of the previous year’s “Summer of Arcade” on Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft once again employed this tactic to entice players to purchase a select grouping of indie/smaller titles. One of the most popular games from this promotion was the 2009 title ‘Splosion Man, a 2.5D action platforming game in which you would use your explosion powers to solve puzzles and escape the laboratory where you were created. After the success of their earlier 2009 title The Maw, Twisted Pixel Games didn’t want to sit on their hands and wait around to make their next game. Knowing that Microsoft had its promotion coming for the Summer, they quickly came up with the concept and game play in he hopes that it would be picked as one of the five featured titles. Their hard work paid off, and it was the first title to be released during the 2009 “Summer of Arcade”, gaining rave reviews and selling close to half a million copies over the next two years. The title would go on to spawn a sequel, Ms. ‘Splosion Man, which, like Ms. Pac-Man, retained the charm and feel of the original, while improving on it in multiple ways. Twisted Pixel Games has been mostly focused on VR games recently, however they did port Ms. ‘Splosion Man to the Nintendo Switch in 2018.
Jagged Alliance 2 (PC) – Released Jul. 23rd, 1999: Wiki Link
Technically this is a cheat, since the game came out the day after my cut off for the week, but there was literally nothing else I could find that came out this week 20 years ago, and besides, it had come in Europe in April, 1999, so this was pretty much already out, so get off my back! Anyway, after releasing Jagged Alliance and the spin-off Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games, developer Mad Labs Software, now a part of Sir-Tech Software, wanted to release a proper sequel to their original game, but improve on what they had already done. This push to make the game better delayed it more than once, even prompting them to concede that they would not be able to make their originally announced release date of October 1998. The wait seemed to be worth it though, as the game was, according to reviews, an improvement on the original and featured some stunning graphics for the time. This, however, did not seem to translate to sales, as it was a modest hit, only selling a few hundred thousand copies. The series would continue to have releases on a fairly regular basis up until 2004, before going pretty much dormant until 2009, when it released several games until 2014 before going dormant yet again until just last year when Jagged Alliance: Rage came out in December 2018.
King’s Quest: Quest For The Crown (Sega Master System) – Released Jul. 1989: Wiki Link
Roberta Williams’ adventure game King’s Quest is such a massive and important title in the history of video games. Helping to bring the adventure game genre to the masses, Sierra’s classic tale of a young knight named Sir Graham was wildly successful and influential after being released in 1984. It helped put the young developer/publisher on the map and led to the creation of several other series, including Police Quest, Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. By the time King’s Quest made it to the Sega Master System in 1989, Roberta Williams and Sierra had already released three follow-up titles, including the most recent, 1988’s King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. When originally released on PCs in 1984, the game was controlled with a keyboard, and had players type in what they wanted to do, such as “Look at tree”, “Open door”, “Pick up rock”, etc. This wasn’t going to fly on a console, so to compensate, the team that developed game, Microsmiths, used a similar system as Maniac Mansion, in which players would select various verbs and tie them together with an object on the screen. Reviewers were not too keen on the game, however, faulting it for its poor controls, high difficulty, and stark contrast from the types of games that the hardcore Sega fanbase was used to. Another interesting tidbit, this is one of very few games released for the Master System that never came out in Japan, adding to this game’s allure to collectors. The King’s Quest series would continue to delight PC gamers for the next 6 years or so, before fizzling out when it made its transition from a 2D point & click adventure, to a 3D point & click/action adventure hybrid. A reboot would appear in 2016, but again, it did not feature the point & click style that defined the series, but was instead another point & click/action adventure game hybrid, but much more simplified than the ill-fated Mask of Eternity. With Roberta Williams retired from the gaming industry, and point & click adventure games pretty much a relic of the past, I don’t expect to see any further King’s Quest games, but you should never count out King Graham and his family.
