Coming This Week

Tuesday October 4, 2011

Spider-Man: Edge of Time (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, DS)

No, you’re not looking at screenshots of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. That’s just how Spider-Man: Edge of Time looks like. Beenox did make both games afterall. Once again, Beenox mashes multiple takes on Spider-Man into one action brawler. This time, Spider-Man 2099 must save Amazing Spider-Man from a time traveling scientist. The two ends up in each other’s timeline but can communicate with each other telepathically. That matters because what one Spider-Man does in one timeline can affect the other timeline. Not suitable for the aracnophobes among us.

Motion Explosion (Xbox 360 Kinect)

And the generic mini-game collection cometh for the Kinect! With 12 different motion games included such as juggling soccer balls, dodging blocks, and even playing hacky sack, Motion Explosion will not be lacking any kind of moving for you and up to three of your soon to be ex-friends. I will be sorely disappointed if no explosions occur while playing this game.

Face Racers: Photo Finish (3DS)

You know you’re in a world of mediocrity when the ability to put your face onto the racer in your racing game constitutes as the best thing a game has going for it. That would Face Racers: Photo Finish’s lot in life. Pity it for it has nothing more going for it.

Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove (3DS)

Remember Elite Beat Agents? You know, the DS game where you tap a bunch of circles that pop up on the touch screen in time with the music. Now imagine that except instead of tapping a specific spot on the screen, you tap anywhere on the touch screen given how the circles pop up on the upper screen. That would be Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove - an insanely cute rhythm game made by the guys who makes insanely cute farming sims, Harvest Moon. To be fair though, occasionally a simple pattern would accompany these circles forcing you to draw, without looking, these patterns on the touch screen. Add the fact that the eponymous Gabrielle, who by the way can be accessorized to your heart’s content, accidentally turned into a ghost by sneezing really hard, and you’ve got yourself one weird ass rhythm game for the 3DS. Color me... intrigued.

Tetris Axis (3DS)

How does one improve on the Tetris formula? I don’t know, but that won’t stop Hudson Soft from trying. With over 20 different modes, including the classic Marathon mode, Tetris Axis could very well be the most feature rich Tetris ever released. Some of their ideas include navigating a piece of tetris down a tortuous path to the goal, using tetris pieces to create a path for a little guy to climb up a tower, creating a specific pattern out of tetris pieces, and about 17 others. It even has single cartridge multiplayer modes, meaning one person can share the game with the other players on their 3DSes. Not a bad way to convince people to buy Tetris... again.

The Hidden (3DS)

Speaking of faces, Face Raiders gave 3DS owners some modicum of fun for a little while right? How about a full blown augmented reality game just like that? Majesco has heard your cries for more Face Raiders style game and gives you “The Hidden.” In this ghost hunting game, you play as a member of an elite squad of ghost investigators who must search for and capture or destroy these ethereal entities. You’ll have access a variety of weapons and tools to seek out ghosts. The best part has to be the Metroid Prime-esque look of the main screen while you’re hunting for ghosts. Stick in some Metroids in there, and I might just get a copy.

Kids Learn Math: A+ Edition, Kids Learn Music: A+ Edition (DS)

You know, these two educational games do raise a pretty specific question that no other educational games have ever raises. Do they have edition for other grades? As in “I would be perfectly happy if my child gets a B- in music. Is there a Kids Learn Music: B- Edition,” kind of questions. The world may never know.

Just for fun, here’s two screens from Professor Layton games

May’s Mystery: Forbidden Memories (DS)

Sometimes a game would come along so redolent of another that one has to wonder if the lawyers of the world have indeed been relocated to the bottom of the sea. In today’s case we have May’s Mystery: Forbidden Memories as the offender and Professor Layton as the victim. From the slightly Triplets of Belleville-esque art style right down to the little map screen on top with view of the current location on the bottom populated by the occasional slightly animated person, one random screenshot from May’s Mystery could have been accidentally placed in a batch of screenshot for one of Professor Layton games, and nobody will be able to find it. May’s Mystery does have some rhythm mini-games and the deplorable hidden object puzzles to slightly differentiate itself from the Layton series, but overall, I feel the need to check the bottom of the ocean to see for myself.

Friday October 7, 2011

Just Dance 3 (Xbox 360 Kinect, Wii)

Most games under the “Coming This Week” segment don’t normally make it on the NPD charts month after month, but the Just Dance series does exactly that. This stealthy, ultra popular franchise returns with 45 more pop hits and a different system even. Now the game will track your full body motion instead of just your right hand, which has always been the case with the previous versions on the Wii. Guess you’ll actually have to learn the choreography this time around. Bummer.

Must... stay... calm! Can’t... get... angry. SERENITY NOW! That’s better.

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