Games

New Game Releases 10/29/24 – 11/04/24

Top Releases:

It’s the spookiest time of year, folks. No, not Halloween, the HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON *Cue the loud organ*. What does that mean for games? Well, this is when the heaviest hitters of the Fall start to appear, like this week’s top release, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Maybe one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, the road to Veilguard has been a ten year journey that saw the game get teased, named, re-named, and finally revealed. Oh boy, did it get revealed.

While most of us are probably wondering what kind of combat the game will have (God of War-esque, apparently) and who our companions will be (a varied and diverse bunch), there has been too much time spent decrying how “woke” the game is. Yes, folks, it’s now our 44th week of 2024 and these right wing clowns continue to think the entire gaming world is united in a conspiracy to force them to turn into a gay, trans, immigrant, Muslim, black woman. It’s exhausting and unnecessary.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 31st

Developed by: BioWare
Published by: EA

Why is The Veilguard so despised in right wing gaming circles? Well, the biggest issue appears to be the inclusion of top surgery scars which is when a trans person removes their breasts. After that, well, I guess the developers had the audacity to put in some black characters, and made some women “ugly”. Now, as far REAL criticism, The Veilguard looks, to me, like another generic hack and slash that wants to copy the Guardians of the Galaxy “rag tag team” trope (see also Firefly) that we’ve seen in other media like Suicide Squad, the 2023 Dungeons & Dragons film, and recent flop Concord. The graphics are abhorrent, looking more like Fortnite than any of the previous DA games which, while that may be a preferred look for “the youths”, I find completely off putting.

In the end, Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like a game made for today’s gaming audience, not the one that dominated the hobby since, well, its inception. That is going to rub some people the wrong way, justified or not. Will Veilguard be the smash hit of the holiday season? Will it win Game of the Year? Will you have an Uncle say something about it at Thanksgiving dinner? These are all questions for the future, my friends. I’m excited to see how it all plays out.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 29th

Developed by: Deck Nine
Published by: Square Enix

Okay, moving on from that, we’ve got another game I’m sure will create zero controversy, Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Actually, the game already HAS created controversy, but not from right wingers, instead the controversy is from fans who feel that the relationship between Chloe and Max did not go in a direction they wanted it to. Now, folks, I have no dog in this fight. I’ve never played a Life is Strange game, honestly, I probably never will. This story and the characters clearly mean something to a lot of people though, and if you’re a fan I’d be curious to know what you think about the whole situation. Look, original developer Don’t Nod aren’t in charge anymore, Deck Nine is. I get it if you’re mad, I’ve had stories I love get butchered by new creatives, so does Double Exposure deserve a chance?

Clock Tower: Rewind (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 31st

Developed by: Human Entertainment/WayForward
Published by: Limited Run Games

With the two big games out of the way we can focus on the rest of this week’s offerings. From WayForward and Limited Run Games, we have the long awaited North American port of the SNES game Clock Tower with the remaster Rewind. In this release, players have the option of playing the original version of the game, warts and all, or they can choose to play the “Rewind” version, which adds and animated intro, motion comics to tell the story, new opening and closing theme songs (with vocals) and, most importantly, save states.

For all you shoot ’em up fans out there, the latest entry in the long running Raiden is back with NOVA. This seems to be a kind of “greatest hits” compilation for the Raiden series, with players able to choose any ship form any of the previous Raiden games. Combat has been updated as well, with players able to aim their shots using the right analogue stick while moving with the left. It’s chaotic mayhem and I couldn’t be more excited.

Raiden NOVA (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Oct. 31st

Developed by: Moss Co., Ltd.
Published by: UFO Interactive Games

Finally, we’ve got the 247th farming game to come out in the last ten years, the Pikmin-esque Farmagia. While you may spend a lot of your time taking care of a farm, players must also venture out into the world where they must fight giant creatures. To take down these foes, players must summon hundreds of small monsters to do the attacking for them. Train your monsters, grow your crops, and become friends with elemental spirits. It’s Farmagia!

Farmagia (PC/PS5/Switch) – Releases Nov. 1st

Developed by: Marvelous
Published by: XSEED Games

Ports and Re-releases:

After 14 years of begging and pleading, Rockstar’s masterpiece Western, Red Dead Redemption, is coming to PC. I can’t wait for the nude John Marston mod. Sony decided that the PS4 version of Horizon Zero Dawn looked like shit and that we all need to buy the upgraded PS5 version; kudos to them for their bravery. One of my favorite games from the 360 era, Shadows of the Damned, is now coming to modern consoles. This is a RE4 style action horror game from Shinji Mikami and Suda 51. It’s flown under the radar for years and, while it does have some rough edges tonally, it’s well worth your time. I highly recommend it.

Rounding out the ports, we have Poppy Playtime Triple Pack, which contains all three terrifying games in that series. My daughter recently got into this and I don’t know how to feel about it. Finally, we’ve got a port of the Game Boy Advance title Areo The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge coming out. I don’t know why Aero The Acro-Bat is suddenly having a moment but, like everything I don’t understand, I blame Gen Z.

  • Red Dead Redemption (PC) – Releases Oct. 29th
  • Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster (PC/PS5) – Releases Oct. 31st
  • Poppy Playtime Triple Pack (PS5) – Releases Oct. 31st
  • Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 31st
  • Aero The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge (PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Nov. 1st

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 (and sometimes 40) years ago:

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see what we were playing, watching, and listening to 10, 20, 30, and 40 years ago, shall we?

First up, from 2014, we’ve got one of the biggest titles of that year, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Set (at the time) 40 years in the future, between the years 2054 and 2061, Advanced Warfare, surprisingly, has a single player campaign. Players take on the role of PFC Jack Mitchell, a no nonsense, tough as nails, “mother fuckin’ Marine who is here to kick some mother fucking ass“. In a mission gone wrong, Jack’s friend Will is killed in action while Jack himself loses an arm. After being discharged from the Marines, he is approached by Will’s father, Jonathan, who runs a private military corporation, granting Jack a state of the art prosthetic arm. After that, you just shoot dudes. Lots, and lots of dudes. It’s a Call of Duty game, what were you expecting?

While I can’t say I remember any Call of Duty single player stories or moments being particularly memorable, especially in these late era CoD games, Advanced Warfare has a moment that many people probably do remember and, if you’re like me, completely forgot which CoD game it came from. I am, of course, talking about “Press F to pay respects”. Yes, folks, this is the Advanced Warfare is the infamous entry in which players attend the funeral of their comrade and, while at their funeral, must press the letter F on their keyboard to pay respects (or X or square on their respective game controllers).

This crass, utterly tasteless gesture will probably go down in history as one of the most bone headed moves in all of video games. Eventually the “press F” situation turned into its own meme, and was used in a more somber way during the Jacksonville Landing Shooting, which happened during Madden 19 competition which was being livestreamed, with people filling the chat with uppercase F’s.

Despite being utterly forgettable, Advanced Warfare received glowing review from critics who called it an improvement over 2013’s Ghosts, and was nominated for multiple awards from several outlets. These included Best Graphics, Best Sound, & Best Multiplayer from IGN, Best Online Experience, Best Performance (Kevin Spacey), & Best Shooter at The Game Awards, and Action Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Character (Jonathan Irons), Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay, Outstanding Technical Achievement, & Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design from the DICE Awards.

While critics praised Advanced Warfare, players didn’t take to it as well as hoped. The game sold 27% less than 2013’s Ghosts. I can’t give you a reason why, perhaps it was the bland cover or maybe the futuristic setting. Still, Advanced Warfare was the best selling game of 2014 in the United States, so it wasn’t like people didn’t buy it. They just didn’t buy it as much as earlier games in the series. Anyway, that didn’t stop Activision from continuing to pump out entries, even going further into the future with 2016’s Infinite Warfare. The Call of Duty franchise is not stopping, folks. Your children’s children will be playing it, and hopefully not calling someone the N-word over team speak.

From 2004, we’ve got another first person, military shooter, the Sony exclusive Killzone. Developed by Guerrilla Game, Killzone was released just a few weeks after another title from Guerrilla called Shellshock: Nam ’67. That game was panned by critics who felt the game was buggy & unfinished, as well as tasteless & disrespectful to those who fought in the Vietnam war. Killzone didn’t fare much better, but it sold like gangbusters. Sony had been looking for a title that could match Microsoft’s Halo franchise and, despite Guerrilla’s best efforts, that just didn’t happen.

Set in the year 2357, Killzone tells the story of two planets where Earthlings have taken refuge after nuclear war made the Earth uninhabitable. Part of the population ended up on a resource heavy planet, similar to Earth, named Vekta. The other part of the population was sent to live on a barren wasteland of a planet named Helghan. The people on Helghan were ruled over by a corporation that ruled with a tyrannical iron fist. They attempted to purchase Vekta from a different corporation but got denied. They retaliated by using military might to try and take the planet but were met with resistance.

After years of exile, the people of Helghan would succumb to the harsh, toxic environment of their planet, mutating into pale, hairless, humanoids that require special breathing machines to stay alive. Feeling that humans are beneath them, the Helghan people (now know as the Helghast), are attempting to overtake Vekta once again, with plans for total domination of the Alpha Centauri system. Players must then take on the role of Captain Jan Templar, part of the ISA, a military group dedicated to protecting Vekta. Their mission is to stop the Helghast and drive them back to their cesspool of a planet.

Despite the mixed critical reception, Killzone was still nominated in two categories by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (now DICE), Console FPS Game of the Year & Original Music. Two sequels would arrive in 2009 and 2011, with an HD remaster of Killzone hitting the PS3 in 2012. Despite being a Sony property, Killzone, along with its two sequels, are not available in any fashion on the PS4/PS5, only the most recent entry, Shadow Fall (which is awful). Guerrilla Games, meanwhile, is far more concerned with the Horizon series, which has completely taken over their time. I don’t blame them.

1994’s notable release was Nintendo’s attempt to compete in the fighting game market. No, it’s not Super Smash Bros. (that’s still five years away), I’m talking about the game Killer Instinct. The concept for the game was the brain child of a man named Ken Lobb and was first pitched to Namco in 1993. They did not care for the game or its ideas, instead putting out the game Weaponlord (which I’m sure you all remember). Lobb next went to Nintendo who were keen on the idea and sent Lobb to work at Rare. For the arcade’s publishing rights, Nintendo entered a joint partnership with Midway, who they supplied with early versions of the Nintendo 64 hardware (then known as the Ultra 64), on which Killer Instinct would be built.

While Nintendo were (and still are) known for making family friendly games, there was some concern from the fighting game community that Killer Instinct would be a “kids game”. Nintendo, Rare, and Midway put out a statement that basically said Killer Instinct would not tone down its violence to make it more family friendly. It wouldn’t be as gory as Mortal Kombat, instead fitting along side titles like Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury.

If you can believe it, Killer Instinct does have an actual plot. It’s fairly simple, though, and can basically be summed up as evil corporation creates fighting tournament to test their biological weapons, while also dealing with monsters from an another dimension that the corporation has opened. The game contains ten playable characters, Black Orchid, Chief Thunder, Cinder, Glacius, Jago, Riptor, Spinal T.J. Combo, Fulgore (the face of the game), and Saberwulf (a character inspired by the antagonist from an earlier Rare game called Saber Wulf).

Killer Instinct was a big hit with both critics and players when it was released to arcades. While critics were quick to point out that the game didn’t do anything different in the fighting game space, they found it well designed and fun to play, with a colorful, eclectic cast of characters. After a year on the market, Killer Instinct had seen over 500 million plays, and by the end of 1995 it was one of the top five highest grossing arcade cabinets.

While the N64 was still two years away, Killer Instinct gave players their first glimpse of the console’s power, which likely drove some of its earnings. A severely downgraded SNES port would arrive in August of 1995, while an even further downgraded Game Boy version would appear in November of 1995. After Microsoft’s purchase of Rare in the early 2000’s, the fate of the franchise was in the air. Finally, in 2013, Rare was able to release a modern version of Killer Instinct for the Xbox One, which had three seasons of content, ending in 2016. Playing the arcade game today isn’t very easy, though you can play the N64 title, Killer Instinct Gold, through the Rare Replay collection, and the SNES version is available on the Nintendo Switch Online program.

Moving down to 1984, we’ve got the PC title The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a text adventure based on the book of the same name. Players take control of the book’s protagonist, Arthur Dent, and must guide him through the various scenarios from the book. For those unfamiliar, Hitchhiker’s Guide is a science fiction comedy about a man, Arthur, who finds out that Earth is being demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, which mirrors another event where Arthur’s home is about to be demolished to build a vehicular bypass; cute.

Fleeing the destruction, Arthur and his friend Ford Prefect (who is an alien) hitch a ride on a passing spaceship. From there, things get considerably stranger and stranger as Arthur and his pals head towards the planet of Magrathea, which is supposed to hold a great treasure.

Like other text adventure games of the day, the game play in Hitchhiker’s Guide consists of players manually entering commands into a text prompt. For example, players can “look” around a room, “take” objects in the room, and move by typing in the direction they want to go (north, south, east, west). There is a set number of actions a player can take before the game ends, requiring the player to start over from either the beginning or a save state.

Hitchhiker’s Guide is notorious for its difficulty, with many intentionally obtuse puzzles. One puzzle in particular, in which players must obtain a Babel Fish (a device that translates any language into your own), was so difficult to solve that developer Infocom began selling t-shirts that read “I got the Babel Fish!”. The game’s writer, Douglas Adams (who also wrote the novel), warned players that their minds would be tested heavily in Hitchhiker’s Guide, there were no concessions made to make the game easy on players. It was the Dark Souls of the 1980’s.

Despite the difficulty, Hitchhiker’s Guide was a big commercial success for Infocom, being, at the time, their second best selling game behind Zork I. Critics loved the game and called it one of the best games of the year. Adams’ humor shone through the computer screen, making it one of the funniest video games to date. While the game’s difficulty was apparent, the humor and cleverness of the puzzles made it a joy to play over and over again.

The game’s legacy has only grown over the years, with multiple re-releases from both Infocom and the game’s next owner, Activision. The rights would eventually revert back to author Douglas Adams who worked with the BBC to put out a browser version in 2004, and an updated version in 2014 for the 30th anniversary (which you can still play by clicking HERE).

Stepping away from games and into notable films, 2014 gave us the thriller Nightcrawler, in which Jake Gyllenhaal is a “stringer”, or freelance photographer/videographer. While stringers don’t exclusively deal in violent crimes and morbid topics, those are the types of things that news stations will buy, so Gyllenhaal’s character exclusively seeks those out and, as the film progresses, begins to blur the line between fact & fiction. I’ve never seen this movie, though I’ve owned a digital copy for probably ten years, I should check it out this week, I hear it is very good.

2004’s notable release is the horror film Saw, which is crazy to think that this is now 20 years old. There have been eleven Saw films over the years, telling the story of serial killer Jigsaw and his death traps and, while they seem to get worse and worse, the first film is a triumph of scares and tension. I remember being at a film festival in Phoenix during the Summer of 2004, with a higher up from Lionsgate being in attendance. Someone asked him what to look forward to and he said that they had this new horror film, Saw, coming out and that it was poised to be one of their biggest hits of all-time. He wasn’t joking.

The success of Saw led to an increase of films described as “torture porn”, with entries like High Tension, Wolf Creek, and The Hills Have Eyes remake, as well as the most well known of the bunch, Hostel. The genre has died down some, but the over the top gore is still alive and well in films today like Terrifier and X.

From 1994 we’ve got another horror film, though one that’s a bit more traditional, Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who had a recent classic monster hit with Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992, Frankenstein tried to match that film’s success, but failed miserably. The script was originally penned by Steph Lady (their only script) and received re-writes by Frank Darabont who had a recent success with his film The Shawshank Redemption. Unfortunately, what both writers felt was a quiet study on the Frankenstein monster was turned into a loud, heavy metal inspired fever dream by Branagh.

The film was mostly disliked by critics, but there was some praise given to Branagh’s bold directing style and visuals, and Robert De Niro’s portrayal of the monster (or The Creature, as the film described him) was well received by some critics. A tie-in video game would release in the same week and, unlike the film, was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, with critics calling it one of the worst games of the year.

Heading into 1984, we’ve got a horror classic, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. The first film in the long running (probably too long) series in which serial killer Freddy Kreuger stalks teenagers in their dreams, killing them while they sleep. While the idea of Freddy and his surreal dream powers is wholly familiar to many of us, his appearance in 1984 must have been wild to audiences 40 years ago.

Up to this point, slasher film antagonists like Jason and Michael Myers stalked their victims in the relative comfort of awakeness (is that a word?). Freddy, on the other hand struck when you were at your most vulnerable, during sleep, something that everyone needs to do in order to function. The success of Nightmare was instantaneous, with the film grossing over 1 million dollars in a soft opening, before expanding nationwide the following weekend, where it eventually grossed $25 million. The final worldwide grosses for the film were $57 million which, adjusted for inflation, is about $172 million today.

You know what happened from there, the movie would kickstart a massive franchise that spanned seven films, one TV show, a crossover film with Friday the 13th, and a 2010 remake. On a personal level, when I was in third grade, my teenage aunt’s got a bootleg copy of the third Nightmare film and I secretly hid behind the couch in my grandparent’s living room and watched it in absolute terror & fascination. I was Freddy Kreuger that Halloween and have been a fan of the franchise ever since.

Okay, onto notable albums. 2014 gave is the second album from Run the Jewels, appropriately titled Run the Jewels 2 or RTJ2. While I personally did not like this as much as their first album, the song “Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1” is a certified banger. 2004 gave us the album eMOTIVe by the rock band A Perfect Circle. This was a cover album, with Maynard and crew giving their renditions or popular anti-war songs. The album was part of a larger effort by musicians, filmmakers, and other artists to protest the Iraq war and help get George W. Bush out of office. Well, at least they tried.

From 1994 we’ve got an album that is probably only notable to me, the debut album from Christian alternative band Driver Eight, Watermelon. Released by the Christian record label Tooth & Nail, Driver Eight was one of their earliest signings, with Watermelon being T&N’s 15th overall release (right after MxPx’s Pokinatcha). I would characterize Driver Eight’s sound as pop-rock, with a bit of R.E.M., Weezer, Pavement, and other bands of that ilk.

I won’t blame you if you’ve never heard of Driver Eight, but I can tell you that Watermelon was a formative album in my teenage years. I didn’t pick it up at release, not learning about the band until 1996 when I went to a Christian music festival at Knott’s Berry Farm on New Year’s Eve. After catching Five Iron Frenzy on the mainstage, a buddy told me he wanted to see Driver Eight. We got in line outside the building where they set up the band and found it populated with a bunch of the musicians from other bands playing that night, including members of Five Iron Frenzy and local San Diego band Dogwood.

Driver Eight feels like one of those bands that other bands love, a “band’s band”, if you know what I mean. I can still listen to every song on Watermelon today and recite to you every lyric. It lived in my discman for many years and was a nice palate cleanser after whatever punk or hardcore album I had just listened to. If I could embed YouTube videos for every song from that album here I would, but have a listen to a couple of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them.

Now, from 1984, a notable album that I’m sure A LOT of people will be familiar with, Madonna’s Like a Virgin. After the success of her 1983 debut, Madonna, the pop star wanted to immediately capitalize on her fame with a quick follow-up. Teaming with Nile Rodgers, producer of David Bowie’s smash hit Let’s Dance, Madonna wanted to put out an album that felt less artificial and more authentically her.

Madonna and her song writing team had come to Rodgers with six original songs which he didn’t love at first, feeling like the songs relied too heavily on synthesizers. Rodgers enlisted some of the musicians from his band Chic to play on the album, giving Like a Virgin a rougher sound than Madonna’s debut.

The album, of course, contains the track “Like a Virgin”, one of four hit singles, which also include “Material Girl”, “Angel”, “Into the Groove”, and “Dress You Up”. Madonna found the name “Like a Virgin” to be hilariously ironic, quipping, “How can you be like a virgin”? She also found it provocative as it played into the already present religious nature of her name, Madonna, and the virgin birth of Jesus. For the album’s cover, Madonna posed in a scandalous wedding dress that she would wear again for her opening number at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards.

Like a Virgin was a hit but took some time to get there. The album would debut at number 70 on the Billboard Top 200 and would quickly reach the top 10 the following week. In February of 1985, the album would finally hit number one, sitting at the top of the charts for three weeks. After three weeks in stores, Like a Virgin would sell 3 million copies, and by July of 1985 it would sell over 5 million copies, making Madonna the first woman to reach that number, EVER. As of this writing, Like a Virgin has sold over 16 million copies, making it one of the best selling albums of all time, and Madonna’s third best selling of all time.

I was only three when this album came out, but I was certainly aware of Madonna growing up. Most of my memories of her in this era where from the 1986 album True Blue (which featured “Papa Don’t Preach”), but she was a constant presence on MTV a channel that my teenage aunt’s watched ad nauseum when I was a little boy. I’ll never say I’m a Madonna fan, but this era, up until the Bedtime Stories album are always what I think of when I think of Madonna. Yeah, I know she did stuff after, but her peak years were 1983 to 1994 in my opinion. Getting old sucks.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One) – Released Nov. 4th, 2014: Wiki Link

Notable Film Release: Nightcrawler – Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Run the Jewels – RTJ2
Click here to listen to the album

Killzone (PS2) – Released Nov. 2nd, 2004: Wiki Link

Notable Film Release: Saw – Starring Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Ken Leung, Michael Emerson, and Tobin Bell
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: A Perfect Circle – eMOTIVe
Click here to listen to the album

Killer Instinct (Arcade) – Released Oct. 28th, 1994: Wiki Link

Notable Film Release: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – Starring Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hulce, and Helena Bonham Carter
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Driver Eight – Watermelon
Click here to listen to album

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (PC) – Released Noc. 1984: Wiki Link

Notable Film Release: A Nightmare on Elm Street – Starring Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri, and Robert Englund
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Madonna – Like a Virgin
Click here to listen to album

I have to lose things out with one more Driver Eight song, the album closer “Superglue”. I really hope you like it:

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