Videogame Releases: Week of June 23rd, 2013

Videogame Releases: Week of June 23rd, 2013

This week’s new videogames bring us a major release built around Marvel Comics characters, a seldom seen Wii U offering, and not one but two compelling Playstation Vita titles.

Deadpool (360, PS3, PC)

Outside of Wii U-only fans, ‘Deadpool‘ is the premiere release of this week. High Moon Studios has brought its Unreal 3 expertise to bear with this third-person action title. Hopefully, the game bears more resemblance to the studio’s ‘Transformers: War for Cybertron’ and its follow-up than the earlier ‘Bourne Conspiracy’ game. Unfortunately for me, I’m not a fan of the Deadpool character in his various silly roles. I suppose that when placed amid all the overly serious and dramatic mutants of Marvel’s ‘X-Men’, he seems like something of a breath of fresh air. Otherwise, he’s mainly just annoying to me. If hearing that characters like Cable and Domino will be featured in moments when Deadpool isn’t talking to himself makes the game seem exciting, then go for it. This seems like a game that hardcore Deadpool/comic book fans will love more than I will.

Game & Wario (Wii U)

Once again, Nintendo takes a stroll down memory lane. Flash back ten years to when ‘WarioWare, Inc.’ debuted as one the best handheld games ever created. The challenging minigames, each often lasting only a few seconds, combined with a unique style and way of unlocking further content, made for an inspired and addictive creation. In comparison, ‘Game & Wario‘ is another of Nintendo’s technical demo titles. The collection seems half-baked and too far removed from its Game Boy Advance origins. If ‘Game & Wario’ was a cheap download or preinstalled on the Wii U, the game’s scope would be more understandable. As it is, even the value price of $40 seems high.

Company of Heroes 2 (PC)

If you’re any kind of history buff, you’re probably aware of the millions of Soviet citizens and soldiers that died on the Eastern front of the second World War. If you’re any kind of real-time strategy game buff, you should be aware of Relic’s 2006 ‘Company of Heroes’. In the post-THQ era, Relic has elected to target some combination of these two personality types for ‘Company of Heroes 2‘. In essence, this means that you can drop a few hours per session in one of the more dynamic RTS games, one with a mixture of modes and objective sizes, plus vast battle maps, all while feeling repulsed by the real historic brutality. On a lighter note, it’s likely that the developer will support the game with continual updates to refine the multiplayer mode to a much higher standard than most games.

Muramusa Rebirth (PS Vita)

As unlikely as this sounds, you may feel a little envious of PS Vita owners this week. ‘Muramusa: The Demon Blade’ returns. No longer is it the standard-def, somewhat unfinished but nevertheless stunning Wii follow-up to the PS2 title ‘Odin Sphere’. Now, ‘Muramasa Rebirth‘ comes with retouched visuals, revamped controls, extra blades to find and utilize, and (most importantly) DLC. Four DLC bits, each featuring a new playable character, will be available to purchase. Simply put, I can’t imagine anyone who owns and uses a Vita skipping this game.

Hotline Miami (PS3, PC, PS Vita)

If, for some reason, your PC doesn’t already have the slick-as-nails ‘Hotline Miami‘ on it, Devolver has blessed PS3 and PS Vita owners with their own versions. One $10 purchase yields a copy for both platforms that will support cross-saving. The top-down shooter takes players on a directed set of contracts. The mixture of action and stealth gameplay is served perfectly by an ability to reload instantly for that moment when attempting to sneak up on a thug while masked and carrying a baseball bat is spoiled by another thug.

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