Games On Net :: New Releases: Coming Attractions

Coming Attractions - 03/06/2009

By Matt Keller - Wed Jun 3, 2009 8:04pm

E3 is under way – hopefully you’ve found a bunch of upcoming games that take your fancy. There are still plenty of exciting new games hitting the shelves right now though, so dwell on the future at the expense of the present. This week’s big releases include the electric open-world action game InFamous, the demolition squad training sim Red Faction Guerrilla, Nintendo’s latest take on rhythmic video games in Rhythm Heaven, and The Sims 3, possibly the biggest PC release of the year.

Don’t forget to check out the full release schedule for the latest changes and information on upcoming games.

04/06/2009

*Damnation* Platform: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Developer: *Blue Omega Entertainment* Publisher: *Codemasters* RRP: $AU109.95 Blue Omega and Codemasters’ steampunk third person shooter has been through roughly six months worth of delays, but it’s finally on shelves this week. *Damnation* is one of those alternate history deals – this time, the American Civil War ran for many decades, and steam replaced electricity as the power of choice. The game follows a group of freedom fighters lead by Hamilton Rourke who wish to stop a rich industrialist that wants to rid the world of steam power. Seems like pretty standard third person shooter stuff, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve.
*Demigod* Platform: PC Developer: *Gas Powered Games* Publisher: *Stardock* RRP: $AU89.95 It’s about two months late, but *Demigodwill finally be available for purchase in stores tomorrow. The game is a hybrid of real time strategy and role playing games. Most of the criticial response has fallen into two categories; those who’ve enjoyed it, and those who think it’s a pretty shameless copy of the Warcraft III* custom map Defense of the Ancients. Hopefully the connection issues that plagued the game’s US release have gone away.
*Dragonball: Evolution* Platform: PSP Developer: *Dimps* Publisher: *505 Games* RRP: $AU79.95 There are two types of people in the world – those who get it, and those who don’t. The latter usually manage to find employment as executives in movie studios, which explains how utter trollop like *Dragonball: Evolution* gets the green light despite totally missing the point of the original source material. Then some clever sod at Bandai goes and licenses the rights for a video game - only for the PSP, too. It’s like Street Fighter: The Movie redux. Leave this one alone.
*InFamous* Platform: PlayStation 3 Developer: *Sucker Punch* Publisher: *Sony Computer Entertainment* RRP: $AU109.95 Sucker Punch leaves behind their family friendly platformer ways for a more mature, morality-focused open world superhero game. *InFamous* puts you in the role of Cole, a delivery boy who’s last job caused a major explosion in Empire City, leaving him with super powers. It’s at the higher end of the quality scale as far as superhero games go, but some silly design decisions (like a few stupid stealth bits) hold it back from achieving its full potential. Expect a full review soon.
*Red Faction: Guerrilla* Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Developer: *Volition* Publisher: *THQ* RRP: $AU109.95 Like many gamers, I found *Red Faction: Guerrilla* to be very underwhelming when it was first revealed, and was virtually uninterested when Volition spoke about moving on from Geomod, the deformation technology which made the original game unique. However, when I started playing the game last week, I found it nearly impossible to put down. It’s an open world third person shooter with an unparalleled level of destruction, and excellent single player and multiplayer components. *Red Faction: Guerrilla* is a nice surprise from Volition and THQ, and well worth a look.
*Rhythm Heaven* Platform: Nintendo DS Developer: *Nintendo* Publisher: *Nintendo* RRP: $AU49.95 Nintendo takes music games in a different direction this week with *Rhythm Heaven, which has players trying to accomplish everyday tasks in time with a beat. It sounds easy, but it’s brutally difficult, particularly if you’re rhythmically retarded like I am. It’s got a kind of cutesy charm to it, and that all-important Nintendo polish. So long as you are capable of handling a game telling you that you’re awful and making you repeat tasks until you get them right, you’ll enjoy Rhythm Heaven*.
*Secret Agent Clank* Platform: PlayStation 2 (Also available on PSP) Developer: *High Impact Games* Publisher: *Sony Computer Entertainment* RRP: $AU59.95 Like many of Sony’s PSP exclusives, *Secret Agent Clank* has received a quick and dirty port to the PlayStation 2. Help Clank in his battle against the evil Kingpin, and his quest to prove Ratchet’s innocence, after he is framed in a jewellery heist. It’s not the strongest of the Ratchet & Clank series, but it is a perfectly competent platformer. If they’ve fixed the camera control, it’ll be better than the PSP version, but I don’t expect that much to have happened.
*The Sims 3* Platform: PC Developer: *Electronic Arts* Publisher: *Electronic Arts* RRP: $AU99.95 After five years and countless add-on packs, EA has decided to bring out its latest full revision of The Sims franchise. *The Sims 3* might not look like a huge leap in the visual department, but the underlying gameplay and technology have expanded beyond belief. The game has so many new elements that it’s hard to fit them into this little blurb – personality traits and the ability to wander freely around your Sim’s world are the big ones, but even after a couple of days with the game, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. I have one or two minor concerns about microtransaction proliferation, and content from old expansion packs being held back, but otherwise *The Sims 3* is more than I could have hoped for. Definitely worth picking up.
*Star Ocean: The Last Hope* Platform: Xbox 360 Developer: *tri-Ace* Publisher: *Square Enix* RRP: $AU99.95 (Standard), $AU109.95 (Collector’s Edition) Tri-Ace’s latest entry in its epic space-faring J-RPG took a long time to hit PAL Xboxes, but hopefully it’ll be worth the wait. *Star Ocean: The Last Hope* is absolutely gorgeous, but I’d tread carefully, as this developer is known for making great looking games with little substance. Still, it’s been about 6 months since the last major J-RPG release for the 360 here, so I imagine fans are going to be frothing over this one.
*We Rock: Drum King* Platform: Wii Developer: *505 Games* Publisher: *505 Games* RRP: $AU69.95 505 Games makes an attempt to hope on the music game bandwagon this week with *We Rock: Drum King*. Unfortunately, this is a half-cocked effort – only 30 tracks, all of which are covers of songs from bands of varying quality. You’d be better off sticking with the band games from either Activision or MTV/EA.
*XG Blast* Platform: Nintendo DS Developer: *Gameinvest* Publisher: *Rising Star Games* RRP: $AU39.95 Inspired by the shooters of the early arcade era, *XG Blast* delivers a retro shooter experience to the Nintendo DS. Think Geometry Wars with a static map – though it doesn’t quite have the lovely visual design of Bizarre’s beloved shooter. Might be worth a look if you’re a shooter fan on the search for something new.

It’s a much quieter week for retail releases next week, with just two notable titles Radical Entertainment’s latest open-world superhero game Prototype and EA’s first foray into tennis for 15 years with the Wii release of EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, which represents your first opportunity to get your mits on the highly anticipated Wii Motion Plus add-on.