Believe it or not, this is the slowest week in September for new releases. What are we looking forward to amongst this agonizingly bleak crop of games?
Despite the painfully generic name, my most anticipated game of the week is Renegade Ops (PSN, XBLA). This is a top-down, vehicular combat game by Avalanche, the studio who brought us last year’s amazing Just Cause 2. (#2 in my top games of last year!) If you’ve played Just Cause 2, you know what to expect: crazy stunts, perilous chases, and explosions everywhere. Rico and his magic grappling hook are sitting this one out, but in exchange, there’s online co-op for up to four people. Since co-op was something each of us at VGH would have loved to see in Just Cause 2, I’m eager to see how well Avalanche pulls it off.
Next is Hard Reset, which has created some early buzz, not for being a first-person shooter, but for being PC-exclusive and single-player only. Developer Flying Wild Hog promises Hard Reset will be more of a throwback to classic PC shooters like Doom, which tried less to capture the action of Hollywood blockbusters a la Call of Duty and instead featured larger, more intricate levels that encouraged more exploration. Also giving me a huge nostalgia rush back to my days of playing Doom, Heretic and Dark Forces: the crazy weapons on display. Did someone say “arc welder“?
Also out this week:
Bit.Trip Saga – Finally, a collection of all six of Gaijin Games’ quirky Bit.Trip games, now for the 3DS! This is actually one of the first 3DS games I’ve really been interested in, although I’m still holding out for Super Mario 3D Land. If you haven’t got a 3DS, you can pick up the Wii version of the collection, Bit.Trip Complete. Watch the game in action here.
White Knight Chronicles II – I really, really wanted to like the first WKC, but its battle system and generally slow pacing just didn’t agree with me. Developer Level-5 says they’ve tweaked the battles in the sequel with new mechanics and a larger party. Should I take another look or just continue playing Monster Hunter?
The Gunstringer – An undead, old West shooter (Come on, another one?) where your you control your zombified outlaw by tugging on his marionette strings. You have to give credit to developer Twisted Pixel for taking one of the complaints about Kinect (the somewhat laggy and floaty motion control) and spinning it into a feature. (And it comes with free Fruit Ninja Kinect!)
God of War: Origins – If you missed out on Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta because you don’t have a PSP, now you can play them on the big screen thanks to this PS3 HD collection.
From Dust – Eric Chahi’s world-building/destroying game has completed its tour on XBLA and is now headed straight to PSN! It’s also been out on the PC for a few weeks, if you prefer.
Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness – Capcom rereleases one of its classic 2D figters as a PSOne Classic this week. Watch robots fight it out in the game that introduced characters like Jin Saotome and Devilot, who went on to future fame in games like Marvel VS Capcom and Puzzle Fighter. BLODIA!
NHL 12 – I think this one’s about hockey.
Are you grabbing anything this week, or are you still holding out for when all the big guns open fire next month? Speaking of big guns, will I see you online in Renegade Ops?? (On PS3, of course.) Let us know in the comments!
For a full list of this week’s new releases, check out Tech-Gaming or Amazon.com.