Games of the Week: Week RE5 er 10

I believe just about everyone will be getting Resident Evil 5 this week. It took me about a year to pick up RE4. Actually I never got around to any of the RE releases until well after the hype had died down (for example I never played the original RE until the GameCube remake believe it or not...I actually played it after I had played the second and third gmes.) I don't know. I like zombies as much as the next guy but outside of what Romero did and only a small few of select others, I don't see what the fuss in zombies is usually. And RE has sort of evolved out 'zombies.' Dead Rising is damn fun, I'll give you that. And if you can find some people who aren't pricks or take their games too seriously, Left 4 Dead can be a great experience.

I do think RE4 and RE2 are probably locks for anyone's greatest games list, top 100 easily. But I never got into the original or any of the other games. And even RE4, as amazing as it is, took me forever to slug through. At least I can see its merits and enjoyed it. I probably would have blown through it if not for it being my last semester of college.

But the main line of thought coming out of RE5 early seems to be this being an evolution for the series into a new direction, so that piques my interest slightly. It felt like RE4 was the beginning of the break away from survival horror. Prehaps a full break is what I need to really get into the series.

I'll eventually get it but probably not until I'm done with a couple other things. Mainly Star Ocean.



RELEASES FOR THE WEEK

PS3: Resident Evil 5, Trivial Pursuit

360: Resident Evil 5, Trivial Pursuit, NCAA 09 March Madness Edition

Wii: Madworld, Marble Saga: Kororinpa, NPC Pikman, NPC Mario Power Tennis, Trivial Pursuit, MySims Party, Totally Spies! Totaly Party!

PSP: Mana Khemia: Student Alliance

PS2: Trival Pursuit, Moomin

NDS: MySims Party, Avalon Code, a bunch of crap

Also out on multiple platforms is Trivial Pursuit. I know a lot of people that just love the board/DVD games but then there's people like me that have one friend that just cleans up on Trivial Pursuit and hasn't lost a game of it dating back over 100 matches. Games are only fun when you stand a chance.


I believe we've already talked about my love fest for XSeed. It's something I can't explain but I've picked up everything they've put out so we already know I'm picking up Avalon Code. Sounds like an interesting concept where you're not charged with saving the world because the world is already doomed. Instead your job is to catalog everything in the world that you deem worthy for when the world is destroyed and reincarnated.

I also believe we've talked about my love for the PSP and the PSP gets another one, this week a very overlooked late PS2 RPG by the name of Mana Khemia. There's apparently no major changes between this one and the original so don't feel the need to buy it again if you already did on the PS2 but its a fantastic little game with one of the best battle systems we've seen in a while (turn base is not dead) and a lot of likable characters. The ending is kind of ...meh...and abrupt but a school for alchemists? I want to see more of this place. I want it to rival Harry Potter across several mediums. Too bad we'll never see it.

I admit it, I like the MySims franchise. The second one was a lot more focused than the first and I was hoping for the series moving forward. The third game really doesn't do that. It's yet another Wii mini-game collection just featuring characters using the MySims art style. I'd advise to stay away, or find MySims Kingdom if you haven't already.

Marble Saga is a ton of fun and its a definite purchase but it'll go down in price and can wait. The big must-have for the Wii this week is MadWorld, which would be the automatic game of the week if it wasn't going up against the wrecking ball that is Resident Evil 5. Like a lot of brawlers it looks like the gameplay could potentially become repetitive but most of the reviews so far seem to dispel that worry. This one looks like a keeper.

And finally going back to the Wanted demo that came out last week. Finally spent some time playing around with it and learning what I can do. It's pretty good, much better than my intial impressions. But not anything I'm looking to buy out right. It's moved itself up to rental status though.