I hope you’ve cleared your schedule: Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade kicks off this week, and, as if in response, there’s plenty of new games out on the PlayStation Network as well. And this is just week one! Get ready for the palest, most shut-in summer ever!
Leading the Summer of Arcade charge is Supergiant Games’ Bastion, a 2D action game that’s fully narrated by what sounds like Morgan Freeman’s stand-in. The narration is definitely the most discussed aspect of the game, and I’m curious to see what it adds to the final experience.
Randy and I have talked about how much we enjoyed Limbo last year, and now PlayStation owners can finally try out this monochromatic and very macabre puzzle-platformer. If you enjoyed Braid and don’t mind the occasional enormous spider or surprise spike trap, then Limbo is highly worth a look.
SNK reminds everyone that it hasn’t forgotten about its Neo Geo Station initiative by adding a couple more games to the lineup. This week, it’s Baseball Stars 2 and The King of Fighters ’95, in both PS3 and PSP flavors. I have to confess I don’t know much about Baseball Stars, but KOF95 was a landmark entry for the long-running series as it allowed players to create their own, custom teams for the first time. It also marked the debut of Iori Yagami, a now-iconic character who’s almost synonymous with the KOF name. While it’s a little frustrating that SNK seems to be taking their time rereleasing their huge back catalog of games (even more painful when they sport a yearly label), if you’re in need of a 2D fighting fix or missed the whole KOF phenomenon, ’95 isn’t a bad place to start.
Dead Block kind of snuck up out of nowhere, but after watching the trailer they’ve put together I can say it’s definitely unique. Yes, it’s yet another zombie game, but this time you’re holed up in a building and have to setup doorway traps for the slow-moving zombies as they shamble from room to room. It’s sort of like tower defense, but not quite. Developer Candygun–which is an incredible name, by the way–has packed their strange sense of humor into every corner of the game, as when you’re not planting cardboard box masks on zombies’ heads, you’re killing them with the power of classic rock and roll. This is a strange one, for sure.
Finally, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions comes to PSN today. A cleaned-up version of one of my absolute favorite games, FFT has been out on UMD for some time, but now PSP Go owners (or just PSP owners who like to go the digital route) can grab a copy without leaving their couch. It’s got the same classic, tactical RPG gameplay that made the 1997 original so addictive, plus a brilliant reworking of Yasumi Matsuno’s twisting storyline about clashing armies and the lengths to which people go for power. If you have a PSP and haven’t played this update (or the original), please, please, please check it out.
Is that enough games to keep you inside this week? Let us know what you’ll be playing in the comments!
For a full list of this week’s new releases, check out Tech-Gaming or Amazon.com.