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Videogame Releases: Week of February 23rd, 2014

Thieves, plants, zombies, castlevanias (whatever those are) and evil residents… It seem like this February videogame release week has something juicy for everybody.

Thief (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)

From the mix that brought back ‘Deus Ex’ comes a new ‘Thief‘. The stealth title went through at least one major shakeup when Square Enix decided to target the new consoles. The game’s biggest draw for me is its atmosphere and setting. Undoubtedly, this new ‘Thief’ has been influenced by ‘Dishonored’, but the gameplay is still something of a question mark.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Xbox One, 360, PC)

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare‘ looks like a blast. Take the PopCap’s fun tower defense world, built on pee shooters and lawn zombies, and make an online shooter filled with fun ways to vary each round. It seems like EA has an instant hit for both hardcore and casual players. (The date for the PC version is still in doubt, which is a shame because the PC version price is between $25 to $30.)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (360, PS3)

The first ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’ had all the right parts – like high production values and great voice casting – but was punishingly difficult way past the point of being fun. Even so, ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2‘ has been built with the trappings of ‘Castlevania’ at its core, and could be really awesome. Dare I risk it?

Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition (PC)

‘Resident Evil 4’ was a huge game for a number of reasons. It heavily influenced an entire subsequent generation of third-person games like ‘Gears of War’. It started on the GameCube, but was ported to several platforms including the PC. The first PC edition was something of a joke, so now ‘Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition‘ has come to replace that crummy port with one built for higher resolutions. Though the Wii version is much beloved for its control style, this new PC version seems like a perfect way to enjoy the game for the first or fifth time.

14 comments

  1. William Henley

    Brian,

    At this time, would you recommend still picking up a PS3 and / or XBox 360? You can get them used for cheap enough. As I menitoned previously, I have lost everything in a fire. Castlevania does not seem to be available on newer systems, many games are being released on both the next gen and the older systems, and the newer gens are not backwards compatable. That makes me a bit reluctant to get a newer system.

    I pretty much want to play RPGs. I was thinking about another PS3, but I may go with a used 360 because many games are available on both systems (and Fable is a 360 exclusive), although that would mean that I couldn’t play most of Square’s games (although I think I can play PS and PS2 games through emulators, so I should be fine).

    I’m basically trying to decide where I am going to put money right now. Should I pick up a next gen console, or one of the previous gens? What does the release schedule for RPGs look like for, oh, the next year?

    • Well of course the answer really depends. We’re just starting a year that clearly has plenty of 360/PS3 releases left. Dark Souls II is huge to me and that is a 360/PS3/PC game that still doesn’t have a PC release date.

      The PS3 is still the best media hub, with media capabilities not touched by the PS4/Xbox One. Personally, my 360 has already been moved to the bedroom, and I don’t see any exclusive games on the horizon for it. You would have to weigh buying one mainly for Fable.

      If you’re looking at your PC and wishing that you had console games, I would recommend considering buying a PS3 and a PS Plus membership. The games that you get with PS Plus now and over the next year will be a large library on its own, plus you’ll be getting free PS4 games in case you ever get a PS4.

      • William Henley

        The media capabilities was huge for me 8 years ago. Now, my television, reciever and BD player all support DLNA, and will play files off of USB drives. The new Vizio apps actually run better than the apps do on the PS3 or Roku, and services like Netflix and Hulu tend to resolve to the higher quality stream faster than they did on the PS3. So the media factor is not much of a factor any more.

        Used Xbox 360s (component with 20 gig HDDs) are going for $109 in my area. Fat PS3s are going for $199.

        Tough choice. If they were the same price, I would go PS3. I guess I should just go down to Gamestop, see what used games are available on both systems, and see what they run, and make the decision. I may eventually end up picking up both again, but I doubt it at this time.

        If I was going solely on Hardware and features, I would go PS3. But I am looking for what has the best price on games in my genera.

        I guess the question I should be asking is – Do I want to play Final Fantasy or do I want to play Fable / Tales of Vesparia. Many of the other games I want to play are available on both systems.

          • William Henley

            Hmmm, okay. I guess I really should pick up both then, but if there are going to be some PS3 exclusives, I may go with that. Thanks for the feedback.

  2. Grrrr – neither PC game offer DISCS. F U and the download mumbo jumbo. Spend hours to download something, pc migrates or crashed hard drive, several hours again or, hmm, stick in a disc and be playing it in less than 10 minutes.

    • William Henley

      At least with the downloads, I don’t have to hunt down the disc or a NoCD crack every time I want to play, and if you loose the discs, you still have access to your data. While I lost most of my discs in the fire, many of the games were backed up with Steam and Ubisoft’s online services.

      • I found Thief for PC on amazon UK in a boxed version. W00t.
        Other recent PC games I have have interest in but refused to buy due to no disc available, but have found on amazon UK:

        RE4 HD version, Rayman Legends, Might & Magic X.
        Why do they offer this to the UK but not the US?

        Not quite sure how you can’t find the disc if you keep it with the box if you’re not playing the game. Yes I noticed that Games for Windows keeps a copy of GTA IV for me should I opt to use the online version.

        • That’s great. It completely slipped my mind about the UK boxed copies. They even will have newly boxed copies of out-of-print titles in North America. I bought a copy of Alpha Centauri with its expansion that way long before it was on GOG.

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