This MGO isn’t really all that hot compared to the heat outside. But, a game that never was thought to come to America is indeed making its way stateside this month, Catherine will make a late July appearance on retail shelves.
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (5th on 360 & PS3)
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Jrow’s Take: Vicious Cycle (Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond) takes over development of the Earth Defense Force series from Sandlot. The previous game, 2017, seemed to have had a campy feel to it as a fun arcade shooter (despite having poor voice acting and mediocre graphics) about an alien invasion. The game actually doubles the weapon count to 300 for Insect Armageddon, improved the graphics vastly and have included online co-op among other multiplayer modes. It looks like they’ve done a lot to improve the visual appeal of the game, so just as long as they maintain the campy feel of the previous games (also Global Defense Force), it could be a pretty fun game.
Amuro’s Take: The idea of fighting giant insects…FROM SPACE sounds pretty fun, but not enough to get me to buy this game.
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NCAA Football 2012 (12th on 360 & PS3)
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Jrow’s Take: My interest in college football has dried up some in the past 3 years, and the controversy surrounding the Ohio State Buckeyes may have knocked me out for good. I could make a whole blog entry dedicated to what I don’t like about college football, but I’ll just let you know that I won’t be buying this.
Amuro’s Take: Is this the sport with the orange ball? No? Ok.
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Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (12th on most systems)
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Jrow’s Take: The game actually sports pretty good visuals and an over-the-shoulder combat system that’s been respected in the Resident Evil and Gear of War franchises, but reception of the first game was rather poor and it’s tough to expect a bevy of improvements with only about a year of development time.
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Captain America: Super Soldier (19th on most systems)
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Jrow’s Take: Alright, so I’m not gonna fake interest in this game. It looks just like any typical movie-tie in game. Instead tell you about how Captain is invading Dunkin Donuts. The Cherry Coolata is delicious and the sundaes (Stars and Stripes & Hydra Force) are really good. Forget this game. Stop by your local Dunkin for more excitement.
I’m a horrible person.
Amuro’s Take: If this game turns out to be anything like the Thor video game from not too long ago, you’d be doing yourself a favor by staying far, far away and just watching the movie in theaters to get you Cap fix.
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Call of Juarez The Cartel (19th on 360, PS3 and PC)
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Jrow’s Take: I played the demo for Blood Bound on 360 a while back and thought, “not bad, but not for me.” I won’t bash a game I don’t really know, but I will mention that the switch from the old west era to something more modern might turn fans of the franchise off, or maybe it’s a welcome change.
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Bastion (20th on Xbox Live Arcade)
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Jrow’s Take: Game 1 of the XBLA Summer of Arcade 2011 lineup is an anime-style action-RPG game that has a really attractive fantasy, anime-centric setting. The game will feature The Kid, whose goal is to return Cores to the city in order to create his own haven, The Bastion. While the Kid is a quiet one, the game will be told thru a “dynamic narrator” who will give seemingly a play-by-play of the Kid’s actions as you perform attacks and most other actions in the game. The action in the game has a little bit of depth to it, as there will be a difference between attacking while on the move and standing still. This is developer SuperGiant’s first release, and if last year’s XBLA hit Limbo is any indicator, we might have a hidden gem here.
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Catherine (26th on 360 & PS3)
Show Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Amuro’s Take: This is, without a doubt, the game I am most looking forward to. So much so that I have pre-ordered the $80 limited edition. However, why exactly is it that I’m so excited? A lot of it can be summed up in that I loved Persona 3 and 4 and this is the first current gen game from the teams behind those games. The rest is the overall package of the game. With beautiful animation by Studio 4°C and cel-shaded graphics that emulate the animation perfectly being used to tell an adult story about a man fearful of commitment that falls prey to the beast of sexual desire and the horrific nightmares that plague him, I’d be remiss if I didn’t pick up this game. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s a brutally difficult puzzle game? Let that settle in for a second.
Jrow’s Take: Studio 4°C is a pretty good animation production company, and Catherine features the voices of Miyuki Sawashiro and Hiroaki Hirata. Sounds like I’m doing a preview for an anime, and while that’s pretty close, this is a puzzle game that we’ve actually talked about on the podcast as being too difficult, even on Easy difficulty. Amuro covers the bases pretty well on what to expect from the game, and with the graphics looking great in both the animated cutscenes and in gameplay, I might end up seeing this in my Amazon cart.
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From Dust (27th on Xbox Live Arcade, PC & PSN)
Show Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Jrow’s Take: Game 2 of the XBLA Summer of Arcade 2011 lineup has you in a God-like 3rd-person perspective doing whatever is needed to keep your tribe safe. You are able to modify land by use of things like vegetation, lava and soil to help the tribe stay safe and healthy and protect them from a potential natural disaster like tsunamis. With so many ways to modify land on the fly, the game looks like it can really open up the player’s imagination of how to setup the land for the inhabitants. The game does sport a campaign mode in which you can go back later and play around sandbox-style in how you want to design the world. Outworld was a great Ubisoft release earlier this year; From Dust is looking like another good one.