Games

New Game Releases 10/31/23 – 11/06/23

Happy Halloween all you digital ghouls out there! We’ve got a massive amount of new games this week, with 22 titles across every platform. I dare you to NOT find something new to play this week. Before we move to the new games, why not check out this week’s video, it’s full of fun time holiday cheer that I just know you’re gonna love!

Okay, well, that was something. Moving on, our top game of the week comes from Nintendo themselves, a new entry in the WarioWare series, Move It! This title seems to have more in common with the Wii’s Smooth Moves, as opposed to the more GBA-like Get It Together! that came out in 2021. You’ve probably got a lot of parties coming up over the next couple months, what better way to get your friends to stop arguing about world affairs than by making them shake their body & arms around like one of those crazy wavy tube people.

WarioWare: Move It! (Switch) – Releases Nov. 3rd

Developed by: Intelligent Systems
Published by: Nintendo

If you prefer gaming alone, or just need something to do when your drunk neighbor finally stumbles out of your holiday gathering at 2:00 am, Square Enix has you covered with the sequel remake Star Ocean Second Story R. Originally released for the PSX in 1998 (’99 in NA), Star Ocean Second Story was championed by critics and was, surprisingly, a huge commercial success as well (being compared favorably to FF 7 probably helped). The remake of the first Star Ocean came out in 2019 and received mixed reviews, with critics saying that it still felt like a 90’s RPG and hadn’t really been updated for modern gaming. That sounds like a positive to me.

Star Ocean Second Story R (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Nov. 2nd

Developed by: Square Enix/Gemdrops Inc.
Published by: Square Enix

Did you know that DON’T NOD had a new game coming out? I didn’t! It’s called Jusant and it has players climbing a giant rock tower. The game is supposed to be very meditative, though the idea of thinking I’m going to fall to my death every few seconds sounds like the literal opposite of meditative. If I need to meditate on a game I’ll check out Alien Hominid Invasion, just mindlessly shooting things an collecting shit, that’s my idea of meditating (spits out a wad of tobacco). The early 2000’s game Alien Hominid is also releasing on modern consoles, in case you want to double your fun.

Jusant (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 31st

Developed by: DON’T NOD
Published by: DON’T NOD

Alien Hominid Invasion & Alien Hominid HD (PC/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Nov. 1st

Developed by: The Behemoth
Published by: The Behemoth

Speaking of shooting things, our next game is the FPS title RoboCop: Rogue City. Set between the events of the RoboCop 2 & 3, players take on the role of the titular bastard and try to stop some kind of corporation doing something evil while at the same time trying to grapple with their lost humanity; I assume. Peter Weller is back to do the voice of RoboCop. I had a minor brush with fame when I happened to visit a retro video game store in LA back in 2021 and Peter Weller was there buying games for his grandson. I didn’t talk to him, but I looked at him from afar, holding a copy of Spy Hunter on the NES. I should have been smoking a cigarette too, fuck.

RoboCop: Rogue City (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Nov. 2nd

Developed by: Teyon
Published by: Nacon

Rounding out the new games we have Song of Nunu: A Leage of Legends Story, because nobody would buy it if it didn’t have League of Legend in the title. It’s made by Spanish developer Tequila Works who have made a name for themselves with the titles Deadlight, Rime, and Gylt. Next we have The Talos Principle II from developer Croteam, creators of Serious Sam, and disruptive publisher Devolver Digital. I never played the first Talos Principle game, but I have a buddy who did play it and, boy, did he tell me that it was “just okay”. Amazing.

Song Of Nunu: A League Of Legends Story (PC/Switch) – Releases Nov. 1st

Developed by: Tequila Works
Published by: Riot Forge

The Talos Principle II (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Nov. 2nd

Developed by: Croteam
Published by: Devolver Digital

Hey, just kidding, we have one more game to talk about! Well, an expansion, it’s for Dead Island 2 and is called Haus. The premise is that players have stumbled upon, or been invited to, I don’t know, the home of a wealthy eccentric. When they go inside they discover hidden doors and bizarre rooms that are, of course, filled with zombies. Finally, something spooky to play on Halloween.

Dead Island 2: Haus (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Nov. 2nd

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Welcome to Notable Releases, the article within the article. I’m your writer, Andy Tuttle, and we’re here to talk bout three notable games released, this week, from the last thirty years. Up first we have Batman: Arkham Origins, the third entry in the Arkham franchise, but more of a pin-off, or side game, than part of the core series. Why consider it a side story, well the original developer, Rocksteady Games, didn’t really have anything to do with the game’s release. They were too busy getting their next gen Batman game ready (eventually coming out in 2015 as Batman: Arkham Knight), so developers WB Games Montreal and Splash Damage stepped up to make sure people were given the opportunity to hand over their money to Warner Bros. for another year.

Set before the events of Arkham Asylum, when Batman was still more of a myth than a legend, players guide the Dark Knight as we infiltrates Blackgate Prison on Christmas Eve, where the villain Black Mask has taken things over. Batman beats his way through a litany of escaped prisoners before finally having a showdown with Killer Croc, who informs him that Black Mask has put out a hit on The Caped Crusader, so he should watch his back, before someone put a knife in it (a plotline that is, funny enough, largely ignored for most of the game). From there, players move around an open world Gotham City, taking on various bad guys from Batman’s history with a final showdown against, of course, the Joker (and Bane). The game ends with the announcement that Arkham Asylum will reopen in order to deal with this new wave of super powered villains, setting up the events that will lead back to the first game in the series.

Critics weren’t very impressed with Arkham Origins, and neither was I. Like them, I found the game to be uninspired, routine, boring, and ugly. Critics did enjoy the game’s story, which poses the question, do these super villains only exist because Batman exists, and it also explores the symbiotic relationship between Batman and Joker, with the two being seen as kindred spirits who went down opposite paths.

Arkham Origins is fairly easy play today if you have a PC, and while the physical disc will work in your Xbox Series X, the game is not available digitally, making it difficult to play on modern consoles. You aren’t really missing a whole lot here, so don’t go nuts trying to get a copy. Stick to the Rocksteady developed titles in the franchise, which are all easily available on modern consoles, and you’ll be just fine.

Moving on to 2003, we have Fire Emblem for the Game Boy Advance. Originally released in Japan in April of 2003 with the subtitle The Blazing Blade, this was the first Fire Emblem game released in North America, thanks in large part to the success of Advance Wars and audience reception to Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Set 20 years before the events of the previous Fire Emblem game (the Japan only release The Binding Blade), players take on the role of tactician…Mark…as he is discovered by one of the game’s three protagonists, Lyn.

Players soon discover that some people want Lyn dead for…reasons…so she enlists Mark to help guide her on the battlefield, along the way meeting other fighters that join their party. Eventually, players are introduced to the other protagonists, Hector the axe wielding Prince of Ostia, and Eliwood, a noble in the house of Pherae, who is the future father to Roy.

fire emblem magazine

I don’t really want to, or probably even need to, describe how a Fire Emblem game works, we’ve all played one, or seen one, and know exactly what it is. This is a testament to just how smart Nintendo was for finally bringing the series to North America, making it one of their best selling franchises of all time. If you’d like to play this game today, you can! It’s available on Switch as part of their online service, so give it a try, you’ll be sucked in pretty quick.

Our last notable title is a big one, 1993’s Mortal Kombat II. Released a little over a year after the first game, MK II took things to the next level with improved graphics, more characters, more stages, and more types of fatalities, including multiple stage related ones, babalities, where you turn your opponent into a baby (duh), and the non-lethal “friendship”, which is babies. Babalities are not for babies, friendships are, get it? Whatever. Anyway, while the first Mortal Kombat focused on a tournament held on Earth, MK II took players into Outworld for the second tournament, and this time you would have to face Shang Tsung’s master, Shao Kahn.

The team at Midway made a conscious effort to change the look of MK II, giving the game a darker tone in terms of color, but also incorporating more vibrant, colorful hues that were not present in the first game. The game’s controls were tightened up, requiring a bit more skill to play than its predecessor’s button mashing, and the “test your might” bonus stage was removed.

As you might expect, Mortal Kombat II’s release was a massive event, with the game pulling in over $15 million in sales in just the last two months of 1993. With the home console port of the first Mortal Kombat releasing about a month earlier, the gaming industry was gripped by MK fever, gamers couldn’t get enough.

By today’s standards, Mortal Kombat II suffers, it’s still clunky to play, despite the polishing of the controls, but, like other classic games, part of the charm is the simplistic gameplay. While MK II wasn’t as groundbreaking as its predecessor, it helped push the in-game lore further by expanding the roster, introducing new Outworld races, and helping to kind of establish its hierarchy of power. Now, playing MK II today is a bit of a challenge. Like Arkham Origins, PC is probably your best bet, with the first three games available on GOG. Other than that, the odd port and Midway arcade collection on retro consoles is your only choice (or emulation). I love Mortal Kombat II,and played a ton of it with my friends when I was in middle school. The new games are technologically superior, but I’m not 13 now, I was 13 back then, and that’s when Mortal Kombat is fucking awesome.

Switching over to notable films, 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club is a heart wrenching, gut punch of a movie that will destroy you; I highly recommend it. 2003 game us The Matrix Revolutions which was so confusing and self indulgent that it ruined the franchise faster than George Lucas did with Star Wars. I didn’t see this in likin theatres, but during Valentine’s Day in 2004 or 2005, I got a room at a really fancy hotel so my girlfriend and I could…well…bang, which we did, but it was awkward because she didn’t want to spend the night there because she thought it would be weird (leaving was weird…). I ended up taking her home and then went back to enjoy the hotel bed and watch The Matrix Revolutions, making my night doubly disappointing.

1993’s notable film is the feel good movie Rudy which, along with another 1993 film, Cool Runnings, became one of two VHS tapes that every teach in my middle school had access t. This meant that whenever they didn’t want to do their jobs, we would watch Rudy or Cool Runnings. I could probably recite both movies by heart if I had to (do not ask me to).

Moving on to notable albums, I don’t have a lot to say here. I really like all thee artists, M.I.A., Against Me!, and A Tribe Called Quest, but I just didn’t get around to listening to any of these in the past week, so I’ve got nothing to say. Work sucks, I know. Wait, wrong band.

Batman: Arkham Origins (PC/PS3/Wii U/Xbox 360) – Released Oct. 25th, 2013: Wiki Link

batman arkham origins

Notable Film Release: Dallas Buyers Club – Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: M.I.A. – Matangi
*Click here to listen to the album*

Fire Emblem (GBA) – Released Nov. 3rd, 2003: Wiki Link

fire emblem gba

Notable Film Release: The Matrix Revolutions – Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Jada Pinkett Smith
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: Against Me! – as the Eternal Cowboy
*Click here to listen to the album*

Mortal Kombat II (Arcade) – Released Nov. 1993: Wiki Link

mortal kombat ii

Notable Film Release: Rudy – Starring Sean Astin, Ned Beatty, Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Charles S. Dutton
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
*Click here to listen to album*
Andy Tuttle
Andy Tuttle

If you like what I’m doing here consider supporting me on Patreon. You can also find me on Twitter and GG. I eat a lot of corndogs.