The Top 8 Game Announcements Of the Past Week
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For comments, list which games or news impressed you over the past week and why. Next Issue Top 7 to 1 Xbox 360 Games [post_title] => The Top 8 Game Announcements Of the Past Week [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison takes a look at his top 8 new video game announcements over the past week including 007 First Light and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-8-game-announcements-of-the-past-week [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-06-11 02:08:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-06-11 06:08:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=872869 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 870214 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-05-19 00:02:56 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-05-19 04:02:56 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball. Yes, this list continues with part two, where I count down some of the middle list stuff. Not much more needs to be said except that I'm only picking one game out of a franchise so no Mass Effect 1 and 2, or anything. Let’s begin: #15: Alan Wake I really appreciate what Alan Wake tried to do. It set up a pretty interesting story, had memorable characters, had a great look and was just fun to play. While it didn’t reach the heights of its original open-world plan, it was still a fairly ambitious game that had a really great atmosphere. The weird thing is, for as lauded as Alan Wake 2 is, much more so than the first game, I really enjoyed the first one more. I just think it tells a better story and honestly has better gameplay. #14: Grand Theft Auto 5 I’m sure the GTA Online-obsessed folks are raising their pitchforks as they read this. Sue me, I like GTA 5 but I don’t think it’s the be all and end all when it comes to gaming. Since I don’t care at all about the online stuff, I judged GTA 5 as mainly a single player/story game and it generally holds up. I think the problem of GTA 5 is that it really only knows what to do with one of its three protagonists, that being Trevor. It does keep a fairly solid plotline with Michael but by the start of the whole movie studio plotline, it really falls apart. Franklin gets the worst of it though, since when Trevor is introduced fully, his story basically ends up until the very end. I enjoyed GTA 5 a fair amount but still think Rockstar has made better games, even better GTA games. #13: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit What does it say when a game from 15 years ago is the last truly great Need for Speed game? Seriously, since 2010, EA has pumped out eight more mainline Need for Speed games and they’ve varied from passable to dire. Hot Pursuit was even remastered in 2020 and it still blows everything else they’ve done out of the water. Hot Pursuit has two different career paths, one for the cops and one for the racers, as you try to go up the rankings and unlock new cars and gear. This was the first of their games to have the Autolog which let you compare your times against your friends to try and beat them. The NFS franchise is in a bit of a shambles at this point but they need to get back to this era of racing. #12: Crackdown There are other, better superhero/power fantasy games out there, but Crackdown was the first big one on the Xbox 360 and it was great. The format was a bit weird because it literally was just like “Here is the list of 27 (or whatever number it actually was) major criminals for each of the gangs, go find them.” That’s it. Most of them you even find just kind of by exploring around, there’s not a ton of scripted missions in the game, it’s just a big world for you to find the criminals and kill them. Oh, and also a lot of orb collecting, of course. #11: Lost Odyssey Lost Odyssey is a somewhat flawed but deeply enjoyable game. I say “somewhat flawed” because there are some aspects with the combat and length that make it a bit less enjoyable than it should be. But the game itself is just something special. This, along with Blue Dragon, was Microsoft’s big stab at publishing a Japanese RPG, partially headed up by Sakaguchi and the story is something memorable. Combat works well, having a slight timing mini-game that does take some getting used to but gets easier as you do it more. I look at Expedition 33 as a good spiritual successor to this game, not only for the combat but in how you get new passive abilities. #10: Halo: Reach I’ll be honest, I’ve never been the biggest Halo fan. I’ve played 1, 2, and 4 and I’ve either mildly enjoyed them to being bored by them. I did try ODST but I truly disliked the open-world setup for the mission list. Reach is the one Halo game that grabbed me, for some reason. I think what I liked about this one was the whole was the whole team dynamic. In most Halo games, you are just a solitary dude, with a woman in your head, and that is it. In Reach, you got five other Spartans around you and that actually made the story more impactful. Also, I kind of dug the armor abilities system. I pretty much stuck with the jetpack as much as I could and I had a lot of fun shooting down at Covenant from on high. #9: Splinter Cell: Blacklist The Xbox 360 era of Splinter Cell is generally the better of the two eras. Conviction was a generally solid game but Blacklist is where I grew to actually like the series. I think the big reason why is because you could approach the missions from a variety of ways. It was no longer the “you got spotted 3 times, mission over” like the past games had. If you wanted to be completely stealthy, you could, but if you wanted to go in like John Rambo with an assault rifle. The game was rife with customization options, so you had a lot of freedom in encounters. Add to that, the co-op missions which are still stuck in my head, having played them with a good friend. It’s amazing that Ubisoft hasn’t given us a new Splinter Cell in 12 years but in that time has deemed fit to inflict three “The Crew” games upon us. #8: Forza Horizon To me, Forza Horizon is still the best racing game on the Xbox 360. I say that as someone who distinctly doesn’t like Burnout Paradise for three reasons: 1. Hate the layout of the city, 2. Hate you have to restart all the races once you get a new license rank and 3. Hate the goddamn Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” song that plays every time you start the game. Thankfully, Horizon has none of this nonsense. It gives you a very well designed version of a fictional Colorado-like state and tells you to go do what you want. If you want to progress through the campaign you can, if you want to just explore and bust up signs you can, or getting higher numbers on speed tests, etc. It’s still a realistic driving game, but it’s more of a fusion of simulation and arcade than anything and that’s what makes it special. The later Horizon games have been generally great but the first one still holds a place in my heart.
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For comments, list your own favorite 15 to 8 favorite Xbox 360 games. Next Issue Top 7 to 1 Xbox 360 Games [post_title] => The Top 24 Xbox 360 Games (#15 - 8) [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison continues his look at the top 24 Xbox 360 games with numbers 15 through 8 including Grand Theft Auto V and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-24-xbox-360-games-15-8 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-05-18 23:14:25 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-19 03:14:25 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=870214 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 867235 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-04-28 00:02:57 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-04-28 04:02:57 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week, I’m going to start a series of columns breaking down some of the Xbox 360’s best games. I’ve seen other publications and people do these types of lists, so I wanted to throw my hat into the ring as well. This is the first part, counting down from 24 to 16. I do have an honorary 25th game I picked out, but I just briefly mention it and don’t write about it. This is just my list, of games I played on Xbox 360, and while some of these are crossplatform, if not released at the same time on other consoles, I still played the 360 version. Let’s begin: Honorary 25th: Remember Me#24: Costume Quest Double Fine was really pumping out games during the Xbox 360 lifespan. Brutal Legend, Stacking, Trenched/Iron Brigade, not to mention all their Kinect stuff, they were on a roll. I think their best game from this era, though, was Costume Quest. It’s a RPG that is relatively low stakes, but is just a relaxing game for you to go through. It has a charm to it that does help adults relive the fun of trick or treating when they were kids. It’s also not an especially long game, only about 6 to 8 hours, which is welcome. Costume Quest 2 tried to recapture some of the magic and while it was a decent game, it didn’t quite hit the mark. #23: Dead Rising 2 Dead Rising fans have some real rose-tinted glasses about the game. I’m one of the few, correct, people who thinks the franchise got better with every installment. Most of the Dead Rising community thinks the best one is still the original one though, with it’s save system being archaic, the hard limit of the timer, clumsy controls, and HD text, that game is a mess. Dead Rising 2 went a bit in the “actually making this game fun” direction by giving you combo weapons, a better story, and more open-ended gameplay, so you didn’t have to level your main character by 30 levels before you could even attempt the main story. #22: Deadly Premonition Deadly Premonition hits a particular chord with its fan. It is a very flawed game, don’t get me wrong. Combat/movement is bad, some of the environments fell out of a PS2 game, and so on. But by God, does the game have heart. It’s also a very memorable game, and has a lot of interconnected systems that give it the appearance that you are in a living, breathing town, with enough townspeople to rival its own origin material, Twin Peaks. It’s up to you if you want to stick with it, but everyone should at least play Deadly Premonition in their lifetime, to see a really unique game at work. #21: Fable 3 I’ll admit this is a bit of an outlier here. I bounced off hard on both Fable 1 and Fable 2 but Fable 3 was the one to really grab me. I dislike those first two games because they are too goofy and the combat being poor. It also had those really abrupt time jumps, especially in Fable 2, that were incongruous with the story. Fable 3 largely does away with all the weird Molyneux nonsense and is a much more functional video game. It does have some garbage at the end, when you are the king, but that can almost be ignored. It’s just a good, traditional, action RPG where you can heavily game the system by turning your clock ahead to give yourself millions in gold. So, it’s just like real life then. #20: Amped 3 I’ll always maintain that Amped 3 was the best Xbox 360 launch game, if not one of the best launch games for any system, ever. The gameplay is solid, plenty of courses for you to explore, a few different vehicles for you to ride, and plenty of little secrets to uncover. But it’s the story and the way that it is presented, is why this game is still so memorable. It goes through like 6 or 7 different styles of presentation, from hand puppet to 8-bit video games, to tell you what is going on. Add to that, a really great soundtrack, and this game is still awesome to play. #19: Eternal Sonata One area the Xbox 360 lacked in a bit was when it came to JRPGs. It did have some, but nothing that really broke out. One of the more minor but still great ones though, was Eternal Sonata. Set against the backdrop of Frederic Chopin’s life and illness, this is a bit of an action-RPG with some interesting mechanics. There was a light/shade cycle during battles, where your abilities would change if your character was covered or not. You could make tons of money doing a side job of photography, and at least two of the characters you could recruit were entirely game-breaking in some really fun ways. #18: Borderlands Now, I can recognize that Borderlands 2 and 3 are more expansive games. But, in this specific case, bigger doesn’t always mean better. I still like the first Borderlands game the best because it is the most concise. It’s still kind of long but it doesn’t have endless sidequests for you to do, for almost no reward. It also, thankfully, doesn’t have the Borderlands “humor” that has infected the later games, full of poop humor, memes, and other such garbage. Borderlands 3 was so bad about this, I had to mute the dialog because the twins were some of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen in a game. Borderlands is a great framework of a game, one that should have been built on and improved. Instead, each installment gets lazier and more awful. #17: South Park: The Stick of Truth For a franchise that was almost 20 years old, at that point, it’s amazing South Park never once got a good video game going. The FPS game isn’t “awful”, but garbage like South Park Rally and Chef’s Luv Shack, belong in the sewer with Mr. Hankey. Thankfully, Obsidian really knocked this out of the park. It captures the essence of the TV show brilliantly, has a ton of Easter eggs for fans of the show, and keeps combat fresh enough for the 20 or so hours it takes most people to play through the game. It says it all when the sequel, Fractured but Whole kind of looked like Stick of Truth, but certainly didn’t play like it and was a worse experience, overall. #16: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Now, I’ll have another Bethesda game coming up with these columns, so don’t you worry. I think Skyrim is a perfectly “fine” video game. It looks nice, the quest system is interesting, but man, I don’t like the story at all. It’s also just missing a lot of character that something like Morrowind has, so instead of it being a truly unique game, it just is “Nordic Fantasy RPG” instead. It should still be celebrated and is a damn better game than Oblivion, but it never quite reached the same highs as Morrowind did.
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For comments, list your own favorite 24-16 Xbox games and why. Next Issue Top 15-8 Xbox 360 Games [post_title] => The Top 24 Xbox 360 Games (#24 - #16) [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison begins his look at the top 24 Xbox 360 games with numbers 24 through 16 including Dead Rising 2 and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-24-xbox-360-games-24-16 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-04-27 23:50:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-04-28 03:50:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=867235 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 864567 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-03-24 00:04:21 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-03-24 04:04:21 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about casting, specifically fantasy casting for video game roles. This is my “in an ideal world”, these are the people I would get for these roles, and I specifically did four men and four women. Also, I didn’t want to just cast the actual, in certain cases, actors who portrayed the characters in the games. We can all agree that Ilkka Villi is great as Alan Wake but he’s not liable to get cast in some Hollywood adaptation of the material, sadly. Let’s begin: #8: Evan Peters (Alan Wake) Typically, Evan Peters has skewed a bit younger in his roles. The man is currently 38 but could pass for a college student, if the role required it. Alan Wake, at least in the first game, is actually only about 33 years old, which Peters could easily pass as. Also, in the first game, he’s a bit of a hot-head/sarcastic character, and Peters could do that well also. He doesn’t look like how Alan Wake does in Alan Wake 2, but he is a decent enough approximation for the first game, and he could do well in the role. #7: Thomasin McKenzie (Cate Archer) I actually kind of flipped and flopped on this, between McKenzie and Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney is actually the correct age as Archer, but she is a bit smaller in height than Archer and I’m not entirely sure how well she could pull off a British accent. McKenzie, on the other hand, has done British accents in at least two or three other jobs. Plus, one of the big points about Archer is that she doesn’t look like a spy/is constantly undervalued for her work, and I could see McKenzie eating that up a lot. Another pick here would be Ella Purnell, but with her as the main character in Fallout, that wouldn’t work well. #6: Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Ezio Auditore da Firense) I tend to use age as a metric for this stuff, but I think Aaron could fake it a bit. When you first meet Ezio in AC2 he is 17, but over the course of the game, he ends up at being 30. Taylor-Johnson is 34, so that’s not too far off. Really, I think its his characterization of Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron that does it for me. He played Quicksilver as this overly cocky guy, who did eventually do the right thing and got killed because of it. While that wouldn’t happen in an AC movie, I could see him playing Ezio with the same level of bravado but then having to have it go away once his family is killed and he has to “grow up”, as it were. #5: Hayley Atwell (Lara Croft) The bummer here is that, sadly, Atwell is getting a bit too old for the role. But you could always just age Lara up a bit, I’m kind of tired of the “daddy issues” take on Lara Croft the past movie/games have taken. Even if Lara was like 30, which Atwell could play handily, that’s a more mature take on the character. I think Daisy Ridley would also be a good physical fit for Lara, but I don’t entirely buy her in a sarcastic/badass role, and, aside from Star Wars, Ridley is box office poison at this point, so that’s another strike against her. #4: Alan Ritchson (Sam Fisher) The only strike against Ritchson now is that he’s a victim of his own success. He’s so widely recognized as Jack Reacher, that casting him as Sam Fisher which is, essentially, the same type of character, only with more spy gadgets. But hey, if it works, who cares? They dye his hair brown, have him slim down just a tad, and have him kill various terrorists and stop their plots from going on. I think Ritchson is actually a fairly underrated actor, so even him Fisher & Reacher are similar characters, he could differentiate them with different body movements, fighting styles, humor, etc. #3: Gwendolyn Christie (Samus Aran) This is a similar problem where Christie might just be a tad too old to play the traditional Samus, like with Atwell/Lara. Still, if she played a more seasoned/embittered version of the character, it could be great. She actually is the same height as Samus, without the Power Suit, and could portray the character when not having to wear it. Then when she does, they get the usual stunt performers to do it, like with The Mandalorian. Plus, I think Christie is just a good actress in general, and if they did faithful exploration of the character, it could give her something meaty to run with. I’m actually curious about the Samus/Metroid world, so having her dealing with other people, aside from scientists/military types, could be a neat twist with the character. #2: Dan Stevens (Solid Snake) “Yes”, there actually has been a Metal Gear Solid movie in development, for over a decade now. It was to be directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and Oscar Issac, and well, it never happened. And, well, it never will actually happen, and because this is fan-casting, I can suggest who I want. Anyone who has seen “The Guest” knows that Stevens can do action stuff well. Plus, dude is good actor as well. The real reason he’d be a good Solid Snake though is for the obvious reason: Liquid Snake. The reveal that Master Miller is Liquid Snake, who is Snake’s genetic twin, could be great in Stevens hands. He obviously could do Liquid’s British accent, at least. The man would be a truly great Solid Snake. #1: Anya Taylor-Joy (Aya Brea) This is kind of the reason for this column. When I wrote the last one, talking about Aya, I immediately thought that Taylor-Joy would make for a killer Aya. She’s around the same age as the character, could wear some blue contacts and that be it. The only real issue is that she is actually a bit taller than Aya’s general height, ATJ is 5’8 and Aya is supposed to be around 5’2, but that can be easily worked around. I love Taylor-Joy in almost everything, save for New Mutants, and her take on Aya could be really brilliant. This would be the one project that would actually get me to sign up for a streaming service, so that says a lot right there.*******
For comments, list your own fantasy casting for video game adaptations and why. Next Issue Top 24-16 Xbox 360 Video Games [post_title] => Top 8 Fancastings for Video Game Adaptations [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down his top 8 video game adaptation fancastings including Dan Stevens as Solid Snake and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => top-8-fancastings-for-video-game-adaptations [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-03-23 21:58:51 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-03-24 01:58:51 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=864567 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 862064 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-03-12 00:03:27 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-03-12 04:03:27 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! Today I’m here to talk about women in games, specifically women heroes. This list is made with the general rule that the woman in question has to be in at least two games as the playable character. There is an exception below, but you’ll see why. The women here have to be the playable character in either their own game, or at least, a co-main lead. So while Chun-Li is great, I don’t think she’s ever been in her own, solo game before. Let’s begin: #8: Alice The titular Alice from the American McGee series isn’t some heroine bent on saving the world from mass destruction. She’s a girl that has mental issues and her mind is the Wonderland realm, which she is trying to repair by overthrowing the Queen of Hearts. The sequel has Alice facing off the Dollmaker in Wonderland, while reality gets more and more depressing. I appreciate this game due to the fantastical nature of it all, but it really is just a big metaphor for Alice trying to repair her own fractured psyche. #7: Jesse Faden This is my own partial cheat, since she’s really only playable in Control. She does make an appearance in Alan Wake 2 though and I’m going to bet she’ll be the main character in Control 2 as well. I really just dug Jesse’s overall character. She gets dropped into a fairly bizarre world but takes it in stride and just goes on her quest to try and find her brother and to stop the Hiss from wrecking even more of the Oldest House. I also kind of just love the setup that she enters the Oldest House and it’s like “Yep, you’re the new boss of the Federal Bureau of Control. Congrats.” She takes up the leadership role well, especially once you begin rescuing more and more FBC personal. #6: Lara Croft Lara Croft is generally considered one of the most popular female characters of all time. My issue with her is two-fold, to an extent. I didn’t much like any of the “old”, CORE-developed Tomb Raider games. I only started liking the games once Crystal Dynamics took over in 2006. The actual problem with her, though, is the last game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider. She was, straight-up, the villain in that game and her obsession with stopping the bad organization causes her to “inadvertently” (she ignores warnings) kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people by taking a magical dagger and causing a tsunami. It’s one of the most bizarre character assassinations I’ve seen in a video game, and honestly, she doesn’t get any more likeable in that game either. So Lara is on here, sure, but she could have/should have been higher. #5: Aya Brea The Parasite Eve games, as they went on, did a somewhat unfortunate job of over-sexualizing Aya, which is a bit unfortunate. I like Aya because she’s just good at her job and is generally the only one who can do it, especially in the first game. She has kind of a quirky sense of humor but is generally serious about trying to stop Eve and the other monsters that are floating around. Her character remained generally the same in Parasite Eve 2, but the less said about The Third Birthday, the better. What I wouldn’t give for some Amazon or Netflix show about Parasite Eve, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. #4: Jill Valentine The general queen of the Resident Evil franchise, Jill has been the main protagonist in two mainline RE games, RE 1 (along with Chris) and RE 3: Nemesis. She also showed up as a mind-controlled villain in RE 5 but went back to normal once her controlling device was destroyed. You can joke about some of the corny lines in RE 1, or her default outfit in RE 3, but you can’t deny that she’s probably the most popular character, overall, in the RE franchise, and might have the most appearances of any character in the RE franchise. #3: Bayonetta Unlike with Aya, whose sexuality is a bit gross in spots, Bayonetta’s sexuality is one of the big points about her character. She generally takes charge of it, and while she does do provocative moves and gestures, she isn’t wholly defined by it. I actually prefer Bayonetta’s character in the first game, the later games kind of softened her up a bit and she wasn’t quite as arch as she was in the original game. Plus, the more they delved into her past, the less interested I got. Still, her look is great, playing as her is always fun, and if you can tolerate the low framerate for Bayo 3 on Switch, all the games are a joy to play. #2: Cate Archer Much like how Lara Croft is a gender-swapped stand-in for Indiana Jones, Cate Archer is basically the female version of Austin Powers. I don’t mean that as an insult at all, just kind of a statement of fact. Cate works for the spy agency Unity as they try to stop the evil schemes of H.A.R.M. Her arsenal includes a Barrette lock-pick set, lipstick explosives, a robot poodle that can distract guards, and a Mascara stun gun. I just enjoyed Cate’s personality, she was sassy and fun and could crack a joke about things that went on. I still wish this game was in a format that was easier to get in today’s world. #1: Samus Aran To me, Samus is the best female hero and the joke of it is, for most Metroid games, you wouldn’t even know she’s a woman. Outside of dying, or the more recent Metroid games (Dread and Other M), Samus is usually covered completely and is silent. So most kids, especially in the early 90’s, didn’t know Samus was a woman, outside of her armor busting off at the point of death. Samus is just great though, she does her job, kills various aliens and other baddies and then moves onto the next objective, and then eventual planet. I generally just love Metroid games in general, so having a cool heroine in the lead role of the franchise certainly is impactful.*******
For comments, list who is your favorite female hero and why. Next Issue Top 8 Fancast Video Game Adaptations [post_title] => The Top 8 Female Game Heroes [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down the top 8 female game heroes featuring Lara Croft and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-8-female-game-heroes [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-03-10 19:05:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-03-10 23:05:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=862064 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 859762 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-02-10 00:03:11 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-02-10 05:03:11 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about video games, specifically, games that are only available on a single console or platform. So, no re-released games, or ported games, these games are just on one console and that is it. With all of this stuff, I wish these games were on current platforms but it hasn’t happened. Let’s begin: #8: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Metal Gear Solid 4 is comparatively low on this list, but for a simple reason: I think it will actually be re-released at some point. Likely in some form of “Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2” alongside other games like Metal Gear Acid 1 and 2, MGS: Portable Ops, and maybe some of the more ancillary MGS titles out there. It’ll be a day 1 purchase if it includes the “Big Shell” skateboarding level from Evolution Skateboarding. Never the less, I do, eventually, think MGS 4 will be re-released, and then it’ll be another reason not to drag my PS3 out again. #7: Afrika If MGS 4, this game, and a game further down my list actually were re-released, I’d likely keep my PS3 in a storage bin forever. Afrika, in basic terms, in a more open version of Pokemon Snap. You take missions to photograph various animals in the African setting, with you getting bonus cash if they were doing something unique like bathing, or drinking water. You use the money to upgrade your camera, lens, lures, etc. It’s not the most unique game in the world, but it is a very interesting game overall due to its graphics, soundtrack and just kind of chill vibe. #6: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer I guess it is good timing that I’m writing this as it’s been announced that they are trying to bring back the Buffy TV show. There have been two main Buffy games, this one, and Chaos Bleeds. Chaos Bleeds was a multiplatform game that was “decent”, but was a bit all over the place. The original Buffy game though, was only a Xbox exclusive game and just was a tighter package. You only played as Buffy, as you punch, kick and stake vampires while also saving the world. It’s not the deepest game or anything, but was a very good brawler for its era, and one of the better licensed games back then also. #5: Vagrant Story Vagrant Story remains one of the most complicated games I’ve ever played. The actual gameplay is challenging, but the weapon crafting system makes the game really bonkers. The funny thing is, the last boss of the game is fairly cheeseable, especially if you have certain skills. For those that don’t know, Vagrant Story is a PS1 RPG where you are plumbing the depths of a few dungeons to generally save the world. Combat was pretty interesting because it was real time, and had elements of comboing attacks, but it increased your risk factor, which would make you take more damage. So it was a bit of a risk vs. reward concept. While the graphics might have aged somewhat, it’s still a great game to play. #4: Jet Set Radio Future The original Jet Grind/Set Radio Future was a Dreamcast game, but eventually got ported over to the Xbox 360, PS3, Steam, even mobile devices. Future, on the other hand? Original Xbox only. It’s actually a bit of a bummer since Future is actually a better game than original Jet Set Radio. It has a boost mechanic that gets you really up to speed, there aren’t any more goofy motions you need to do to tag stuff, and the general parkour/movement is a lot better. If Sega is going to try and make a new Jet Set Radio game, they should finally re-release this game. #3: Tokyo Jungle Yes, I actually own a physical copy of this game. It came out on a PSN “Best of” disc, along with a few other PSN games. Tokyo Jungle should obviously be re-released as soon as possible. However, it could also actually work as a live service game, which Sony keeps trying, and failing, at. Imagine a big city map, where you either have to survive by eating plants, or by hunting down the herbivore animals. Or players are randomly assigned to either an herbivore or carnivore team, and have to live as long as possible. Really, that’s just my fantasy game design part coming out, but Sony could easily put this game back out, they just choose not to. And this is the last of the PS3 stuff, at least that I care about. #2: Amped 3 I’ve talked a lot about Amped 3 in the past and that’s generally because it is damn good. It was the best Xbox 360 launch game, and generally, one of the best launch games for any console, period. The biggest reason it isn’t re-released on current consoles is likely due to the music stuff. This game had a lot of licensed music from, then, unknown bands, who are bigger now. So I imagine trying to re-get all that stuff now would be a big headache. Same goes for why the Project Gotham Racing series has largely remained in the dust as well. #1: Parasite Eve More than any other game, I really want a remake of Parasite Eve to happen. Hopefully, if Square can finish out the third Final Fantasy 7 game before this decade closes, they can get to work on something that matters: a Parasite Eve remake. Even without a remake though, just re-releasing the game on current consoles and systems would be welcome. Parasite Eve still has such a unique setting because it basically takes place in the real world, with you using real guns/equipment. Sure, Aya does have magical powers, more or less, but she’s also the only one, and she’s not part of some mystic or secret organization, she’s just a cop that gets drawn into a fairly insane plot. Come on Square, remake/re-release Parasite Eve 1 and 2, but leave The 3rd Birthday in the history books. ******* For comments, list your favorite games that only appeared on one system and why. Next Issue Top 8 Female Game Heroes [post_title] => The Top 8 Games Locked to a Single Console [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down the top 8 games locked to a single console including Metal Gear Solid 4 and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => top-8-games-locked-single-console [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-02-09 23:13:46 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-02-10 04:13:46 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=859762 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [6] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 857478 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-01-27 00:04:54 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-01-27 05:04:54 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! We’re starting this year right with a look forward to all the games, hopefully, coming out this year. I have two omissions on here, notably, Grand Theft Auto 6 and Metroid Prime 4. I just don’t think either game will come out this year, but hey, it’d be nice to be proven wrong. To answer a few games I didn’t have my GOTY last column: Space Marine 2 is fun, but the side-missions are awful with the different character classes. And I actively dislike, if not hate, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I love Metroidvania’s, don’t get me wrong, but a Metroidvania where you have the same weapons all the time, and the map is generally bereft of collectibles, is not one that interests me. With that said, let’s begin: #8: Sniper Elite: Resistance I’ll admit, I pretty much know what this game is going to be already. A bunch of skulking around various WW2 towns and settings, killing Nazis from far away with your sniper rifle and seeing their heads and bodies blow apart in spectacular fashion. So, a good time to be had by all, really. The only reason it’s low on this list is because it is such a known quantity but that doesn’t make it bad, by any means. I look forward to this playing this with my co-op friend, if I can ever get him to play a video game again. #7: Assassin’s Creed Shadows To say this game has fans worried is a huge understatement. There is a LOT riding on this game and some of it looks good, some of it looks bad, honestly. It’s low on my list for those reasons, sure, but I’m not even sure if this game is going to come out this year or not. That’s how dicey of a proposition this game is, and how precarious Ubisoft is, as a company right now. I actually don’t care about almost any of the social issues going on with the game, at present. My big worry with Shadows is two-fold. One is, it’s a bit late to the party. Fans have been begging Ubisoft for a ninja/samurai Assassin’s Creed game for over a decade, and other, likely better, games like Tshusima, Sekiro, Rise of the Ronin, Wukong, etc. Most of these games have already eaten Shadows lunch. The other problem is, I have negative faith that they are going to do anything worthwhile with the present day stuff. In fact, I can speak with 140% certainty that they are going to mess it up, drastically. So, at least I have that to look forward to, in a few months…hopefully. #6: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Its pirates and Yakuza, what more could you want. (Note: I’m never going to willingly call this series “Like a Dragon”) This is the “brawler” game, unlike the Ichiban offshoot. That means you’ll directly control Goro as he beats up thugs and such. I actually really applaud Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for how quickly they pump these games out, but how they introduce clever twists on various mechanics within game. However, there is still enough of the traditional stuff to keep the old fans interested as well. It’s economical that way, and that means you don’t have to wait for a decade between game releases. This should be a fun romp of a game and it’ll likely be the best pirate game of the year. #5: Ghost of Yotei What needs to be said about this one? Tsushima was great and this will likely be on the same level of greatness, or even reach higher. I just want a big area to explore, plenty of cool ninja tools to use, and even more amounts of hapless guys to kill with said tools. I don’t remember a lot from the first game, other that you kill the Mongol guy, then eventually you have to battle your uncle, so I’m hoping the story in this one sticks with me a bit more. This is another, largely “known” quantity of a game, but it still interests me. #4: Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 All I can say is, one of the civilizations/factions you can control better be “Midgar” with Rufus Shinra as the leader. Kidding aside, this game looks pretty alright. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Civ 6, so I’m hoping this one might jive with me a bit more. I still think the highlight is Civilization 5, simply because it seems like the most flexible of the recent Civ games. I really just want another good 4X game and most of the recent ones tend to focus on only one or two of the X’s and not all four. #3: Lunar: Remastered Collection This collection, and another game on my list, have some of my all-time favorite games, period. The problem with both collections is that I’ll buy them digitally but also shell out likely $150 for each collectors edition that Limited Run puts out, or whatever boutique label ends up putting this stuff out there. Rats. Still, Lunar 1 and 2 are some real formative games for me. I never played the original Sega CD versions but loved the PS1 editions, and still have them, along with my Ghaleon puppet, to this day. I probably enjoy Lunar 1 over Lunar 2, but that’s just my take on it. #2: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Expedition 33 interests me a fair amount. It looks like a turn-based RPG, but it has interactive battle elements, like Mario RPG, or Vagrant Story. I’m not sure what’ll happen in the story, but the overall look of the characters is solid and reminds me a bit of Shadow Hearts: Covenant. This is the first game from Sandfall Interactive and I just hope that they can knock it out of the park. #1: Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster This is the other collection, from what I said above, in which I know I’m going to buy some dumb, overly-expensive collectors edition on. But if they include a rune replica, or steelbook, I know I’ll be all there. I’ve actually never played Suikoden 1, despite owning a copy. So that’ll be a new experience for me. Suikoden 2, on the other hand, remains one of my all-time favorite games. It has a rich story, the battle system is enjoyable, it has a lot of side stuff for you to do, characters for you to collect and so on. I really hope this release can reignite the Suikoden interest within the gaming world.*******
For comments, list what you thought was the best game of the year. Next Issue Top 8 Most Anticipated Games of 2025 [post_title] => The Top 8 Games of 2024 [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down the top 8 games of 2024 including Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => top-8-games-of-2024 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-01-02 00:05:42 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-01-02 05:05:42 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=855987 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [8] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 854637 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2024-12-20 00:03:24 [post_date_gmt] => 2024-12-20 05:03:24 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about games, specifically the ones I didn’t get to review this year. The way it generally works here is two-fold: about 20 percent of the time I am asked/assigned a game to review and I do it. The other 80% is me asking Adam to e-mail the (usually) publisher or (occasionally) developer for a code/key and they either send it, or don’t. This is a list of the games that didn’t send a code, despite my interest in reviewing them. This isn’t an automatic 1 to 1 process, like “They give a code, I give a 10/10” sort of thing, but more games that interested me, for one way or another, and the publisher didn’t care about trying to get their game more press. Let’s begin: #8: Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival This is a pipe dream for a few different reasons. The first is that the PS5 version is a port of the earlier 2022 versions. The second, more important, reason is because to correctly review this game, you need the HORI Taiko No Tatsujin drum controller. While you technically can play Tatsujin with a controller, it’s akin to playing Guitar Hero with just a gamepad. Believe me, there’s no way Bandai Namco, Sony, or HORI are mailing these things out for reviewers to use. That might explain why the game actually has only one official North American review, from a Canadian gaming website. That’s a great way to drum up (pun intended) interest in your game Bandai Namco, by barely letting anyone actually know about it! #7: Pacific Drive This is the only game on this list that I actually played before it came out. I booted up the Steam demo, when they released it, and thought this was a cool setup for a game. Maybe not the actual plot going-ons, but the idea of you taking this station wagon into a hostile environment, having to keep it fueled and functional, while also trying to scavenge the resources to do so. It just was fun to play, even if the UI was a bit messy in spots. Once it gets really cheap, I’ll probably pick this up, but it just needs to hit a cheaper price first. #6: Dragon Age: The Veilguard I was/am still curious about this game from an academic standpoint. My own history with Dragon Age is pretty abnormal, I really disliked the first DA game. I thought combat was slow and boring, and so was a lot of the other game parts, so it never really grabbed me. I skipped DA2, thankfully, but I did play Inquisiton and really enjoyed it. I think I’m the only one, actually, that did enjoy it. But the combat was fun, since you could break parts of it, some of the characters were interesting, and I liked the basic setup of you starting this separate thing, disconnected from all the other political entities in the universe. I was curious about Veilguard to see how well they could pull off the story, what they did with Solas, if any of the characters I liked from Inquisition returned, and how action-oriented the combat was going to be. #5: Homeworld 3 Homeworld is always a bit funny to me. I’ve not had a lot of experience with it overall, except for Deserts of Kharak a long time ago. I really dug that game, and while not many sites reviewed it, I did and I think I gave it an 8 out of 10? If not that, at least a 7, because I did enjoy it. Since then, nothing. The remaster of original Homeworld 1 and 2 came out in 2015, which we didn’t get, and Homeworld 3 came out this year, which, as you might surmise, we also didn’t get. The world of Homeworld is interesting to me but it’s something that has passed me by, especially since I don’t get to play the games too much. #4: Red Dead Redemption Redemption is another good example of many sites just not getting a copy. The usual very PC-centric sites like PC Gamer got a copy, provided by Rockstar, but not little old us. To be, somewhat, fair, Rockstar has always been an arduous company to deal with, so this isn’t entirely unsurprising. Still, having to pay fifty bucks to review a 14 year old game is a bit on the “No” side from me. When it eventually drops to $20, I’ll grab it, even if it’ll likely take a few years. My one sentence review though? Redemption 1 is a better game than Redemption 2. You’re welcome. #3: Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game The annoying part about Expeditions is that I now actually have it, and really enjoy it! I would have given the game a positive review, not a 10/10 score, but probably a 7 or 8 out of 10. The missions are clearer, there’s more ways to get out of a jam and it is more based on exploration than hauling cargo. That’s why it’s a real bummer I didn’t actually get the game for review. I still find the overall gameplay formula relaxing, even if it’s a fight to get even 10 meters in some areas, but it’s all a part of the trip. #2: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Considering how big the server issues were with this game, it’s probably understandable why Microsoft didn’t provide a lot of copies to the press. Still, it’s a game I would have enjoyed trying out. I honestly haven’t played too many flight simulators in the past, I think I reviewed the last Ace Combat game 4 or 5 years ago, but that’s more arcade/combat focused. I would have liked to have taken to the skies, in a more leisurely game and just explore the various locations they have built up. This one was also supposed to have more actual missions and such, which seemed interesting. #1: Concord Derp. Moving on. #1: World of Warcraft: The War Within This is the one game that legitimately makes me angry on the list. I’ve been reviewing World of Warcraft expansions since 2016 with Legion but I may have even reviewed Warlords of Draenor in 2014, but I’m not entirely sure. Still, from Legion (2016) to BFA (2018) to Shadowlands (2020) to Dragonflight (2022), that’s four games, in a general 2 year cycle. It worked well for me and it worked well for Blizzard, since I generally enjoyed the content from each expansion and explained the good and bad parts. Well, The War Within is where the agreement was broken and it was Blizzard/Microsoft who didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. I’m not sure if the request fell through the cracks, or if due to the (now) Microsoft ownership of Blizzard/Activision, they don’t care (which is likely), but it leaves me with no expansion to review. I’ll likely not be reviewing the upcoming expansions, Midnight and The Last Titan, which makes me even more annoyed by the whole situation.*******
For comments, list which games you wanted to play this year but didn’t get to. Next Issue Top 8 Games of 2024 [post_title] => Top 8 Games I Would Have Liked to Review in 2024 [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down the top 8 games he wishes he would have reviewed in 2024 including Dragon Age: The Veilguard and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => top-8-games-i-would-have-liked-to-review-in-2024 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-12-19 22:35:38 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-12-20 03:35:38 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=854637 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [9] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 853015 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2024-12-11 00:04:44 [post_date_gmt] => 2024-12-11 05:04:44 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about good games that turned out bad. This is usually the result of a bad port job, due to inexperience with the new system, lack of budget, lack of technical skill and so on. So I’m here to talk about some of the worse versions of good, to great, games. I only have one PC game on this list, otherwise it could get bogged down with a bunch of lazy PC ports. Let’s begin: #8: Saints Row 2 (PC) The Metacritic rating on Saints Row 2 for consoles is about 83% positive. For PC it’s at 71%, which is a bit of a decline and, of course, that’s the version I played. While the game is semi-functional enough, it has some really wonky gamepad support that doesn’t have the usual Xbox 360 gamepad buttons. So instead of “Press A to run and press X to reload” it goes “Press the 3 button to run and press button 5 to reload”, since older-style gamepads had numbers on them. Keyboard and mouse support isn’t any better. I know a former Volition developer was trying to get a new patch of the game out there but I think he passed away a few years ago, and with Volition also deceased, a “correct” version of this game on PC isn’t going to happen. #7: Bayonetta/Skyrim (PS3) In the 360/PS3 era, multiplatform games generally managed to be more or less the same. Some games like FF13 clearly were better on PS3, while the 360 version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is better than the PS3 version. Those examples are fairly minor though. What wasn’t minor was both Bayonetta and Skyrim basically launching all-but-broken on PS3. Both games were unoptimized as hell. Skyrim, at launch, had a neat memory leak so if your save game got too big, the game would chug like a train. Bayonetta just had a worse framerate overall, along with slowdown. The various companies did manage to stabilize these games but they still weren’t as good as the 360 versions. #6: Gex: Enter The Gecko (N64) I’ll state that sometime N64 ports are magical. Resident Evil 2 being the obvious one, but Starcraft and Mega Men Legends are solid enough as well. What wasn’t entirely solid was Enter the Gecko. While it did play more or less the same as the PS1 version, it massively reduced the draw distance of the game and filled it with fog. So instead of a decent Mario 64 style platformer, it looks like you’re playing as Gex while he is in Silent Hill. It’s harder to actually see the goals or collectibles that you are trying to grab, which makes it a more frustrating experience, overall. #5: Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition The original PS2 era GTA games, GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas are all still great. Even when on other consoles like the original Xbox, or even on mobile devices (originally) they held up. This “Definitive” Edition, however, does not hold up. It had bad graphical effects, the personality of each game was gone and had a lot of AI upscaling stuff that proved that AI is bad without someone guiding it. It’s only within the past month or so that they released a patch to get each game in a functional state, which is nice, however it took them three years to get to this point. If you want to play these games, best to hunt down the older versions and play those instead. #4: X-Men vs. Street Fighter (PlayStation 1) On the surface, this game looks great. It’s as colorful and fast as the arcade version. Then you press the “tag character” button and it falls apart. What it nominally a 2 vs. 2 fighting game becomes 1 vs. 1, due to limits with the PlayStation 1 RAM, which needed more. So it’s not a tag game, but just a normal fighter. They do have a faux-tag mode, but it’s just you picking two fighters and going up against the mirror versions. So if you pick Ryu and Cyclops, you go up against Cyclops and Ryu, since it’s all the PS1 could handle. The Sega Saturn version needed an extra RAM cartridge to even play the game but it was a very good port, at least. #3: Dead Rising (Wii) In a word: yeesh. Capcom, in their infinite wisdom, decided to port Dead Rising to the Wii, three years after the Xbox 360 version. However, it omitted small things like the story timer, or photo mode, or really, exploring while on missions. You know, the things that die-hard Dead Rising fans don’t care about at all. Even the basic melee combat is pretty dumbed-down since they want you to use guns more, which was never really a focal point in Dead Rising. This version could barely even get a few dozen zombies on the screen which is a far cry from the hundred plus the 360 version could manage. #2: Cruis’n Blast (Nintendo Switch) I legitimately feel bad for anyone who owns a copy of this game. I’ve really enjoyed the arcade version and years ago saw this game on sale and almost bought it. Then I looked at video of it. That desire to purchase it went away. While the game has basically the same tracks/cars as the arcade version, the impressive sense of speed has been toned way down and the visual fidelity and sense of beauty was pretty much gone. It also just looks a lot more drab and uninspired. Sadly, “Cruis’n” is a Nintendo-owned franchise so the chance of seeing this on something that could actually run it, is nil. #1: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Sega Saturn) This is actually the reason for this column topic. I recently picked up “Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku” for the Sega Saturn, which is the Japanese port of Castlevania: SOTN to the system. To say it’s shocking, is an understatement. A playable, and unique, Maria to the game is cool and there are a few more areas to explore that are unique to this version but that is where the good ends. To get into the status screen takes about 5.5 seconds, there is some massive slowdown early on with the Richter vs. Dracula fight*******
For comments, list which bad versions of good games you like, and what is wrong with them. Next Issue Top 8 Games I Wish I Reviewed in 2024 [post_title] => The Top 8 Bad Versions of Good Games [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison counts down the top 8 bad versions of good games including Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-8-bad-versions-of-good-games [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-12-10 23:25:02 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-12-11 04:25:02 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=853015 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 10 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 872869 [post_author] => 3744 [post_date] => 2025-06-11 00:03:38 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-06-11 04:03:38 [post_content] => Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! I was originally going to conclude with my list of the best Xbox 360 games but since all the showcases and press stuff this week, I figure I should talk about that instead. I’ll get back to the Xbox 360 stuff in the next column. I didn’t watch every thing over the past week, I mainly just stuck with the big three shows, so I’m only drawing from that. I also am excited for Persona 4 Revival but it was such a short trailer, and the voice over cast being jettisoned does kind of put a sour taste in my mouth. Anyway, let’s begin: #8: Atomic Heart 2 I’ll admit I didn’t play any of the first one. And the way that Geoff called this game a “spiritual sequel” really rubbed me raw, but this seemed interesting. I kind of got a Prey 2 vibe from this game, due to it looking like you might be some sort of bounty hunter. I severely hope the trailer song isn’t in the game, since it is overused, but it looked kind of like a more interesting world than the first one with more alien beings and such. So, let’s hope this one manages to pan out. #7: Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls I really want to like this game since it’s very much up my alley. I think my only bit of worry is that it might be too systems heavy for casual players. Arc System Works games are usually convoluted with some mechanics, in one shape or another, that makes it hard for new players to actually get good at them. Still, the art style looks nice, I really hope they just keep the Japanese voiceover work, and it’d be nice if there was a Marvel fighting game that had a good story and a long DLC plan, since Infinite had neither. #6: Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement It’s more Bloodstained, that’s really enough. It looks very similar to the first game but it looks like co-op, or at least some partner, is with you, so that might be cool. I devoured the first game so having more of this style of game at all is good. A lot of the other Metroidvanias they showed off this year were hit or miss but this one was a definite hit. The only problem is the name, where’s the musical terminology? It should be called “The Scarlet Ensemble”, or “A Scarlet Sonata”, or something cool like that. Come on IGA, don’t let your fans down. #5: Romeo is a Dead Man I’m a bit of two minds on this game. The actual intro looked great, and the sense of humor and bits of the story were good. Then I saw the gameplay, particularly the mall bits. It legitimately looks like they just used the mall areas from Dead Rising 1, and not the recent remaster of Dead Rising 1, the old 2006 version of the game. I’m not saying the game needs to be on the bleeding edge of graphical fidelity but a lot of Grasshoper games still look like they are from the Xbox 360 era and that, legitimately, is almost 20 years ago. Still, I’ll give it a shot when it comes out and I hope for it to be a surprise. #4: Clockwork Revolution When I watched this trailer, I legitimately thought it was the new BioShock project. Doesn’t it just kind of scream BioShock, particularly a sequel to Infinite? Still, like with Atomic Heart 2, it’s a bright and interesting looking FPS game. I kind of question how scripted it’s going to be, or if it might be a bit more open-world, because having cool time powers like that is always fun. Just look at Singularity if you want to see how. This is a pretty big departure for inXile Entertainment and I really hope it pans out for them. #3: Super Meat Boy 3D It never even occurred to me that Super Meat Boy could make the transition to a 3D space. I kind of expected it to always remain a 2D game and for that to be it. But, this looked great. It seemed fast and frantic, with a ton of humor thrown in. It’s good that the perspective also changes occasionally, it’s not just from going left to right but occasionally going up, or various other directions. I’m sure it’ll be filled with secrets for players to uncover also, they are usually good about that sort of thing. I just wish Danny B could come back for the soundtrack. #2: 007 First Light Hitman, as a franchise, is one I can respect but was never able to get into. They just felt really deliberate and I couldn’t get the rhythm down for them. So it was a surprise to me to think that First Light looked really good. While it was still a mostly CGI trailer, there were some gameplay bits in it that seemed a bit more action-oriented than the usual Hitman game. It also helps that the protagonist isn’t a largely mute guy, and that he has a personality and sense of humor about the situations he is in. Also, I think having this be about a younger Bond is a good choice; it won’t be tied to any of the movies and can be a bit of a fresh start for the character. #1: Resident Evil Requiem Yeah, how could Requiem not be number one? Honestly, I think it’s a bit funny that you are playing the daughter of a character from a game that almost no one has played. What, was Jake Muller too well known, or something? The important part to me, and like everyone else, is the return back to Raccoon City, which is something I never really considered before. From the trailer, it looks like a good chunk of the city has been obliterated but a lot of it is still standing, even if it is a wreck at this point. I’ll be really curious to see if/how this ties back into other Resident Evil stuff, the police station was shown but will any other locations revisited? Will players be able to go back to the Spencer Mansion? Or Gun Shop Kendo? It’s all pretty exciting to see just how much the city has changed in the almost 30 years since players first saw it, and, of course, the thermobaric missile that largely destroyed the place.*******
For comments, list which games or news impressed you over the past week and why. Next Issue Top 7 to 1 Xbox 360 Games [post_title] => The Top 8 Game Announcements Of the Past Week [post_excerpt] => Marc Morrison takes a look at his top 8 new video game announcements over the past week including 007 First Light and more. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => the-top-8-game-announcements-of-the-past-week [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-06-11 02:08:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-06-11 06:08:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://411mania.com/?post_type=face3_games&p=872869 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => face3_games [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [found_posts] => 0 [max_num_pages] => 0 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => 1 [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => [is_tag] => [is_tax] => 1 [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => [is_privacy_policy] => [is_404] => [is_embed] => [is_paged] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => [is_robots] => [is_favicon] => [is_posts_page] => [is_post_type_archive] => [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => e6acf4074caeeff7280272218a3d7f80 [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => 1 [thumbnails_cached] => [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => query_vars_hash [1] => query_vars_changed ) [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => init_query_flags [1] => parse_tax_query ) ) -->
The Top 8 Game Announcements Of the Past Week
The Top 24 Xbox 360 Games (#15 – 8)
The Top 24 Xbox 360 Games (#24 – #16)
Top 8 Fancastings for Video Game Adaptations
The Top 8 Female Game Heroes
The Top 8 Games Locked to a Single Console
The Top 8 Most Anticipated Games of 2025
The Top 8 Games of 2024
Top 8 Games I Would Have Liked to Review in 2024
The Top 8 Bad Versions of Good Games
