After a fairly chaotic and stacked slate of new releases last week, we find ourselves in another quiet spot, at least until next week’s Persona 5 onslaught. To keep us company while we all shelter in place is a trio of robust expansions to three of 2019’s biggest games; a zany first person shooter, an X-Files inspired third person shooter, and a flawed but fun super-hero beat ’em up. Let’s start the column…

Borderlands 3: Guns, Love, and Tentacles (PC/PS4/Stadia/Xbox One) – Releases Mar. 26^th

Borderlands 3 continues its story with their second major piece of DLC that has a title cooked up in the silly names department, Guns, Love and Tentacles. When two fan favorite characters, Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright decide to tie the knot, you find yourself invited to be a witness to the nuptials, on a crazy, ice-bitten planet with a creepy cult who worship a giant beast that is frozen in ice, and for some reason are incredibly anti-marriage. There’s plenty of new content here for seasoned vault hunters, including new characters, gear, monsters, missions, and locations. It’s more than enough stuff to fill up your days and nights as you spend the next couple months in self isolation.

Control: The Foundation (PC/PS4) – Releases Mar. 26^th, Xbone release in June

According to me, and several video gaming outlets (but most importantly, me) Control was the best game of 2019. This third person shooter is so full of content and mystery that you could spend hours and hours on just the base game, but now the team at Remedy Entertainment have given us even MORE content to sink our teeth into and digest, whoop whoop! After finding her brother and putting a temporary end to the invasion of our world by the denizens of The Astral Plane, Jesse must now dive deeper into the caverns of The Foundation to keep The Old House from being completely overrun by a re-surging Astral Plane. Along the way she will uncover more secrets about the mysterious Board that wields power over the Bureau of Control, and discover several new Objects of Power.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order DLC Pack 3 – Fantastic Four: Shadow of Doom (Switch) – Releases Mar. 26^th

While I wasn’t the biggest fan of this game, I do appreciate that it is essentially the entire Marvel Universe in a box. With all of us cooped up for the time being, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is one of the best games to play for mindless, repetitive grinding. The fact that the Fantastic Four are now part of the game is a big thumbs up from me as I am a huge fan of Marvel’s first family. There isn’t a lot of info out there about this expansion, but suffice to say that the Fantastic Four are playable and you’ll be fighting Dr. Doom. New costumes are also coming for existing characters, and I’m sure there will be new challenges and shit like that. On a side note, not only are the FF showing up here, but they are appearing in just about every current Marvel video game on the market (mostly phone stuff), and there is a great set of figures from the Marvel Legends line that look gorgeous, especially the highly detailed renditions of Thing and Dr. Doom.

I tried to find a trailer for this; I gave up…

Bleeding Edge (PC/Xbox One) – Releases Mar. 24^th

The team at Ninja Theory are likely best known for the recent Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and their PS3 exclusive Heavenly Sword, which makes this new title seem a bit out of place, but let’s not forget that their first game was a 4 player fighting party game called Kung-Fu Chaos. With Bleeding Edge, Ninja Theory have dipped their toe into the class shooter genre, looking to take on the big dog Overwatch. I’m a little surprised that this isn’t a F2P game, however I’m sure it’ll be part of the Xbox Game Pass. In any case, coming in at the end of this console generation doesn’t give me much hope for its long term future, but in the interim this could be a fun diversion for people who want a change from Overwatch while mandatory shelter in place orders continue to grow around the U.S. and the world.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York (Switch) – Releases Mar. 24^th, already on PC, with the PS4 & Xbone versions TBD

Although this game was released on PC in 2019, it was in mid December, so I figure this is the better place to showcase it instead of “Ports and Re-releases”. The role playing game Vampire: The Masquerade has been delighting LARPing fans since 1991, and has had two high profile video games released over the years (with another on the way this year, maybe). In Coteries of New York, players embark on a highly story-driven adventure, controlling characters from three different vampire clans. Through a series of visual novel style interactions, and a Telltale Games approach to decision making, players will determine the fate of the vampire clans of New York; and probably drink the blood of a few innocents.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Mar. 27^th

Fans of One Piece and the Warriors series have another game to add to their collection this week. While the previous title, Pirate Warriors 3, focused on the early days of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, this new title is going to tell a brand new story, one that fans of the manga and anime haven’t seen yet. I wouldn’t expect anything new or revolutionary here, it’s just more of the same when it comes to musou games, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. If you like this property and series then you’ll likely enjoy this game. I’ll pick it up for $19.99 in 5 months.

Ports and Re-releases:

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (PC/PS4/Xbox One) – Releases Mar. 24^th

This is another 2019 title I didn’t really love, however if you’re a fan of the physical card game then this might be a good alternative to lugging around giant boxes of decks. The font size and overall presentation is still god awful, but how many digital CCGs are out on modern consoles, eh? You get what you get, right? I mean it’s better than nothing. I want Keyforge, I want the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game, I want Arkham Horror: The Card Game, I want…

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PS4) – Releases Mar. 24^th, Switch TBD

After the success of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, developer Raven Software followed up with the final entry in the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, Jedi Academy. With a re-release of Outcast last year on PS4 and Switch, it was natural to see the sequel appear, however this time there seems to be some confusion on the Switch release. It was initially announced, then it just kind of fizzled out, with no word on a release date. There are some conspiracy theorists that say the game is coming to Switch, but will be announced as a “RELEASES TODAY” title during a supposed Nintendo Direct that may or may not be coming on March 26th. In any case, Star Wars fans will be happy to see their boy Kyle Katarn’s last game, even if they don’t get to play as him.

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (Switch) – Releases Mar. 27^th

How would the protagonist from Sants Row IV handle the Coronavirus pandemic? I don’t know, probably shoot it with a rocket launcher, like a bawse.

Expansions:

Anno 1800: Season 2 Pass – Seat of Power (PC – Epic/Ubisoft Store) – Releases Mar. 24^th

Yet another major expansion arrives this week, as the Ubisoft city building simulator Anno 1800 gets ready for season 2. The first piece of DLC to arrive is Seat of Power, in which players can indulge their inner Machiavelli and live in a luxurious palace, fit for any god-king. This new palace also adds departments, such as Labor, Culture, Trade, etc., with other unlocked depending on the size and attractiveness of our city. If you’re tired of just watching your people live and have decided that you know what’s best for them, then Seat of Power is your chance to prove it. One final note, I am having a hard time finding any news on if this will be available to players who purchased the game through Steam (like me), so if you want this new content you may need to re-buy the full game from either the Epic Games Store or the Ubisoft Store.

Everything else:

• Assemble with Care (PC) – Releases Mar. 26^th
• Lost Words: Beyond the Page (Stadia) – Releases Mar. 27^th, Steam, PS4 & Switch TBD

Notable Releases from 10, 20 and 30 years ago:

It’s a slow week in 2020, games wise, and that seems to be the case in the past as well. Each of these may look weak, but all pack a mighty punch that you’d be silly to ignore.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (PS2/Wii) – Released Mar. 30^th, 2010: Wiki Link

In every Wikipedia article for the Sakura Wars series they describe it as as “cross-genre” video game, like it invented the term or something. I guess that’s the main selling point though, that the game is essentially two genres in one; 50% visual novel, 50% JRPG, with battles akin to something like Valkyria Chronicles. The series began life on the Sega Saturn in the mid 90’s, and was eventually ported and continued on the PS2 in the early 2000’s, all were (and still are) Japanese exclusives. In 2005 the fifth, and up to that point, final entry was released in Japan, called So Long, My Love (okay, there was a 2008 DS game, but gimmie a break here). Initial sales of the game in Japan were very low, so Sega put the series on ice, feeling that it had run its course. This didn’t stop outside companies from trying to bring the games West, however. Localization efforts were made several times to bring a Sakura Wars title to North America and Europe, but the thought was that Western players would not enjoy the visual novel aspects of the game, but after seeing games like Persona 4, another cross-genre game, do well in the U.S., Sega allowed publisher NIS America was able to bring over not just the PS2 version of So Long, My Love, but also a Wii port. The was actually delayed several times due to a longer than normal localization process. The team wanted to put the game out in both the Japanese and English languages, but fitting both audio tracks on a PS2 on Wii disc was impossible, meaning two games had to be made, and the resulting double versions led to twice as much debugging. In the end, only the PS2 release had the Japanese language on its own separate disc, and the Wii version was sold at a discounted price to help compensate fans who felt slighted. The game received high praise from the gaming press, but didn’t really blow up the sales charts. As such the game continued to be kept on ice, but in 2019 a new entry in the series was released in Japan, a kind of soft reboot, and is slated to arrive in North America later this year. In case you’re curious, a copy of the game will run you anywhere from $70 to $200 on sites like eBay.

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster (PlayStation) – Released Mar. 29^th, 2000: Wiki Link

When I first saw this game I was all set to write it off as some shovelware trash, but then I popped in the disc and was pleasantly surprised; this game rules. Jackie Chan, a “young” man (he was 56 when the game released) from China, finds himself caught up in a kidnapping plot when his grandfather is abducted by goons. Now the very young Jackie Chan (who, remember, is 56 years old) must embark on a quest across…New York, I think, on the trail of his missing grandfather. Along the way he will beat up countless henchmen and then dispatch wacky goon boss after wacky goon boss. It’s classic Jackie Chan through and through, and it should be, since the man himself was heavily involved in the making of the game. Jackie met often with the developers making sure the game was worthy of his name. All of the character models movements were motion captured by Jackie, and he also lent his voice and face to the game. By 1999 Jackie Chan, who had been making films in Hong Kong since the 1960’s, was just breaking into the U.S. with a string of recent hits, including Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike (known as Police Story 4 in Hong Kong), and of course his big breakthrough, Rush Hour. To say that Jackie Chan was a household name in 1999 is an understatement, the man was blowing up in mainstream U.S.A., and his game could have been as big as something like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater if it had been released by anyone other than the troubled Midway. While the game’s controls can be finicky, there is a lot to like about this title, with some really fun beat ’em up challenges, along with a few really cool features, like riding on top of moving vehicles, and kicking out wooden posts to make awnings and elevated platforms collapse. If you see a copy of this out in the wild (or know how to emulate) give it a shot, it’s a fun game that deserves more attention.

Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES) – Released Mar. 20^th, 1990: Wiki Link

As I mentioned back in April of 2019, The Adventures of Lolo had been going strong for several years under the title Eggerland in Japan. When it came time for a new entry on the Famicom, HAL decided named it Adventures of Lolo in order to match the new North American title. However, when it came time to localize and port the game to the NES in North America, the game was called part 2 to avoid any confusion with the first NES release. To recap, there were four games in Japan with the Eggerland title, those were consolidated into one game and released in the U.S. as Adventures of Lolo, then Japan switched over to the Lolo title, but that game, while sharing the name of the first NES title, is actually Adventures of Lolo 2 in the U.S., which now puts us one number ahead of Japan in the titles, because, eventually, our Adventures of Lolo 3 will be their Adventures of Lolo 2; got it? Oh, and the Japanese version has different/harder levels, just to confuse things even more. Anyway, what’s Lolo 2 about? Well, pretty much the same thing as Lolo 1 (or Eggerland 1 through 4), in which Princess Lala is kidnapped and it is up to Lolo to travel up a tower in an attempt to rescue her. It’s a thin story cobbled together to allow for the creation of 54 puzzles in which our hero Lolo must collect hearts while avoiding monsters and traps. It’s a fantastic puzzle game that is easily available to this day through places like the Wii U’s virtual console and the NES app for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. You might not be able to solve the COVID-19 crisis, but you can at least work your brain muscles on solving Floor 2 Room 2 for me, with those stupid fucking statues that shoot needles at you.