Wow, is it really November? It will be when you read this! Personally gang, this is my favorite month for gaming. All year I’ve been looking out for you guys, making sure that you know about all the great games that you can buy. But now, it’s my month, when my game comes out, and you’d better hope it sucks, because I might lose my job behind Mass Effect. I wasn’t even planning on buying a 360 until this game came out (lucky I didn’t wait that long huh?) and now it’s here! Well, almost. I’m sure the nine other games I came across might interest you, but my words on their behalf are half hearted this month, if I manage to leave my house after this game comes out then I’ll see you guy’s then. Here are the games we'll be covering, SOCOM: Confrontation, Assassins Creed, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Super Mario Galaxy, Beowulf, Army of Two, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tankaichi 3, Mass Effect, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, and Rock Band.
SOCOM: Confrontation
Release Date: November
System: PS3
Developer: SCEA
Sony looks to finally make its move to support its own monster system the PS3 (you know, that really nice looking blu-ray disc player that costs as much as a car down payment, but no one really makes games for, and you don’t know anyone who owns one, but you hear it’s the greatest thing a guy you don’t know might have heard of, that PS3), but their doing it in a way that’s actually really cool. SOCOM: Confrontation might be the first console game that doesn’t require players to go out and buy a disc, instead they’ll be able to download the game via the Playstation Network (you know, that completely non functional apparatus that doesn’t even work in theory and causes most people to cry in frustration before breaking down and buying an X-Box 360 because we all know that ‘Home’ won’t be nearly as cool as Sony is making it seem, yeah that Playstation Network). The game will also not offer a single player mode and will only play online, which is great if you have internet access. As far as Sony goes, if you don’t have the internet, then they’d rather not deal you.
Assassins Creed
Release Date: November
System: X-Box 360, PS3
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Every time a new game comes out that goes on and on about how great the multiplayer is I think, the days of the single player game must be numbered, because heaven forbid I play a video game without having some 13 year old from Maine shouting racial slurs into my headset because he feels ‘safe’ to do so. Luckily the folks over at Ubisoft Montreal must play with that little jerk too, and decided that the world could still use a great single player experience. The problem was that the genre had become stagnant as the same games were being made over and over again. Assassins Creed takes on a new approach to the single player game by giving players an objective, but leaving a lot of the how up to the player to decide. Assassins Creed uses the fully realized 3-D setting to give the game unmatched depth and original gameplay. Instead of getting a mission, and magically teleporting to the front door of the evil tower, players will have to do the leg work, and gather evidence in order to track down their targets. While this title may not get consideration for game of the year, even with sequels odds are good lots of people will still be playing this game in three years.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Release Date: November 5th
System: Wii
Developer: Intelligent Systems
I saw this game for the first time at E for All, and the only thing I didn’t like was that the demo was too short; if the full game was there I might still be at the convention center right now. The graphics are great, and the gameplay is intuitive and easy to pick up and play. This is the first game to really reach me as a player, until now I thought that the Wii was a brilliant idea for a different type of gamer, but if they’re going to make games like Fire Emblem, then I’m going to have to empty my pockets and get one. Fans of the previous games will most likely enjoy this one as well. Also, all you Final Fantasy Tactics fans out there might want to check this game out, because by the time they make a new tactics for the console, it will be for the 7 million dollar PS13.
Super Mario Galaxy
Release Date: November 12th
System: Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Oh sniekies (fifty points if you can pronounce that) is that Mario? Is he back? What’s silly about that question is Mario appears in more video games a year than Sam Jackson does movies, but still every time there is a new Mario game fans go crazy, and their right to do so. It’s amazing that games like Bio Shock and Gears of War come out and everybody get’s ‘hardcore’ about their gaming. That is until the cutest little Italian guy you’ve ever seen shows up with his neat little red jumpsuit, then all those ‘hardcore’ gamers turn into little boys all over again easily exchanging their plasma grenades and rocket launchers for fire flowers and cute little stars with smiley faces on them. I swear, the launch of Mario Galaxy will be like watching the whole world come out of the closet.
Beowulf
Release Date: November 13th
System: PS3, X-Box 360
Developer: Ubisoft
There once a time when the very mention of a movie tie-in game sent gamers heading for the hills. After more than a decade of abysmal movie tie in games, development studios are finally realizing that name recognition won’t sell video games, and that the games would actually have to be good in order to move off of the shelves (who would have thought that!). Beowulf looks to continue the gaming industries improving track record when comes to movie based games. One thing Ubisoft is doing is adding a lot of variety to the hack and slash genre, an element that is usually missing from those games, by enticing players to change up the kinds of attacks that can be employed. The game also goes far beyond the scope of the movie in terms of story which should be interesting. Lastly, most if not all of the pertinent actors from the film itself will be directly involved with the game. See the movie, buy the game, it’s simple.
Army of Two
Release Date: March 4th (your read that right)
System: X-Box 360, PS3
Developer: EA Montreal
Let’s get to the bad news, by press time the release date of Army of Two was moved back just a few short months. Since the reasoning has to do with making certain parts of the game work a little better I don’t mind (you all saw what rushing can do to a game, let’s all say a silent prayer for Knights of the Old Republic 2) and neither should you. With Kane and Lynch coming out this November as well, it might have been smart to wait and see how the competition does. What will set this game apart when it does hit shelves centers mainly on the co-op aspect of the game, brand new gameplay elements will force players to strategize in a different manner as the player behavior will effect the CPU AI in new ways. For example, if one player is better at shooting the bad guys than the other, that will work to your disadvantage as the enemies will begin to focus their fire on the stronger of the two characters as it will be easier to kill the weakest link once he’s by himself. This will require players to communicate in a new way, and take an approach that is truly team oriented. Sorry you have to wait until March gang, but the wait might be worth it.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tankaichi 3
Release Date: November 13th
Systems: PS2, Wii
Developer: Spike
Lets’ get this straight right now, I suck at this game! Oh man, it’s horrible, but even with that, it’s the best fighting game on the market right now pound for pound. Yes Street Fighter is still the king of competition, but the things you can do on this game can only be described as ridiculous. It would help if you’ve ever seen the cartoon series Dragon Ball (followed by Z, GT, and so on) and the spectacular battles that are lightly sprinkled throughout an otherwise boring show. Becasue what makes the game so amazing, is that everything you see on the show, a player can do in the game. I want you to take that statement literally, as literally as you can, because the translation from toon to game is just that good. It is the only game ever that can offer the chance to do exactly what the hero does on TV (that includes sports games too). Now with this third installment, the developers simply brought back all the various features of the previous games (a little like Halo 3 bringing back all the weapons from the first game), tweeked the graphics, and then added to the amount of selectable characters. I tell you this, if this game would have come to arcades during the big fighting game boom of the nineties, we’d all be saying, “Street Fighter who?”
Mass Effect
Release Date: November 20th
System: X-Box 360
Developer: Bioware
Oh yeah, this is it baby Mass Effect is almost upon us. First off if you’ve never played Knights of the Old Republic because you’re not a Star Wars fan, then I might suggest you make an exception in this games case, it’s just that good. After you play that game (for about ten bucks used) then maybe you’ll have an idea about the enormity of another RPG from Bioware. With the power of the X-Box 360 behind it, Mass Effect promises to be a huge game with tons of gameplay and planets to explore. I’ll be brief, the game will have one of the most sophisticated (but user friendly) character creation systems ever, with your created original character featured in the cut scenes (yes, the cut scenes) as well as the game. While that is cool, the coolest aspect of the game is the combat system. If you had played Knights of the Old like I told you to, then you would already know that Bioware has already improved on the turn based combat of RPG’s past, but this time they’ve outdone themselves. When in combat the player will have two options; to pause the game and completely work out their three man squad’s plan of attack, then un pause and let your team go at it. The other option is to (get this) shoot it out with your enemies first person shooter style! That is absolutely right my fellow Halo players, they made a roll playing game that your Gears of War skills are actually good for. I CAN’T WAIT!!!!! (seriously, this is torture). As you know, I try and keep CraveOnline as spoiler free as I can, so we’ll end it here, but know that when this game actually hit’s shelves it will be getting the full CraveOnline treatment.
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Release Date: November 14th
System: X-Box 360, PS3
Developer: Io Interactive
With the battle for best FPS heating up, a lot of developers are just said fudge it and went in a new direction. It was a good thing they did, because we ended up with games like Gears of War. Since that great game the third person aspect shooter has gotten a little more love as time has gone by and the games have genuinely improved over time. Where Kane and Lynch seeks to set itself apart has a lot to do with the size of the game and the enemy AI. It seems like these days good graphics are just expected, and the gaming community has had a bit of a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ attitude (and with games at 60 bucks a pop new, they have every right to have that attitude… up yours Sony!) and the developers have responded. Kane and Lynch offers squad based control with special attention to the AI of the various squad mates, and also be on the lookout for a well put together two player co-op mode as well.
Rock Band
Release Date: November 20th
System: X-Box 360, PS3
Developer: Harmonix Music
Talk about natural progression, even though Guitar Hero is already out with its third installment, its still seems too soon to make that game completely irrelevant. This might be the most brutal industry pwning since Sony tanked Sega’s console division (Again, I hate you so much Sony, you have no idea how deep my hatred for you is. What? Journalism smirnalism F%#K you guys!). Why is Guitar Hero irrelevant now? Simply put, Rock Band gives you everything that Guitar Hero gives and then a whole band more (sans the name), complete with pretty much the exact same gameplay functions as Guitar Hero. Anyone who liked playing GH will be able to pick up Rock Band and play right away, and that just spells plain doom for Guitar Hero, at least until they make the upcoming sequel Guitar Hero 4: Beethoven’ s Fifth edition (five button violin interface anyone?)
