SECTION
by: Justin Clark and Matt Rose
ASSASSIN’S CREED: BROTHERHOOD
Ubi Soft
360, PS3
11/16
MSRP: $59.99
CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM AMAZON!
There’s a tiny part of my brain that wants to moan about the fact that we’re basically getting a big-ass expansion for Assassin’s Creed 2 instead of Ubi Soft crafting a new country for us to stab random strangers in, but every new detail about Brotherhood seems hellbound to tell that whiny bitch to cram it. Rome is the logical progression from the last game’s ending–actually, to be fair, the logical progression would’ve been 2 hours-long DLC of Nolan North over a blank screen going “Seriously, what the fuck WAS that ending?”–but with Ezio traipsing around one of the world’s biggest cities, with all the options from AC2 plus the ability to recruit, train, assign targets, rebuild Rome, organize raids, PLUS multiplayer that, oh thank the creator, is an extension of the campaign instead of the main event, its hard to not feel like maybe Assassin’s Creed 2 was the demo for this.
Which still doesn’t excuse that ending.
NEED FOR SPEED: HOT PURSUIT
EA
360, PS3, PC, Wii
11/16
MSRP: $59.99/$49.99 PC, Wii
CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM AMAZON!
I owe EA an apology. My interest in this, up till a few days ago, was zero. I’ve never been a fan of the Need For Speed games, or any racing game that bills itself as a simulator really. Then I found out Criterion Games, creators of my beloved Burnout franchise, were in charge. Now it’s near the top of my Christmas list. Unfortunately, the demo by itself doesn’t inspire much faith, since the cars they chose handle like a city bus, but that tends to be the case with the initial cars in every Burnout game. And you just know when shit gets real in that game, it’ll be in some sexy number going 200, 300,000 miles an hour until you slam headfirst into the back of a Fanta truck.
SONIC COLORS
Sega
Wii, DS
11/16
MSRP: $49.99/$29.99 DS
Supposedly, Sonic Colors is supposed to be the game that distills Sonic back down to his basic elements–namely speeding around dazzling, colorful courses at insane speeds with assholes like Amy Rose and Big The Cat mucking about–but if the fact that this is a 3D Sonic game didn’t make every goddamn warning bell in your head explode in terror, I also have this game called Jingling Keys Above Your Head you might be interested in.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1
EA/Warner Interactive
360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS
11/16
MSRP: $59.99/$49.99 PC, Wii/$29.99 DS
There hasn’t ever been a truly Great Harry Potter game (though that Quidditch game from years back was a rather huge blip on the radar). As pure entertainment one might blow through in a weekend, they’ve only been inching towards greatness every time. For Deathly Hallows, the games officially stop resembling Zelda and start resembling a less pretty Dead Space. Which is a nice step. There’s also Kinect support on 360, though they seriously dropped the ball in that they didn’t add voice command support. Either let us yell Avada Kedavra at everybody regardless of age or whether they deserve it, or don’t bother.
OOOHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP
ALIEN BREED 3: DESCENT
Team 17
XBox Live Arcade
11/17
800 MS pts
The original was on Amiga, which I didn’t play. The first two of the remakes, I never downloaded. But, gameplay-wise, it’s been described as the closest thing we’ll get to having Smash TV back. Therefore, I approve.
ROCK BAND TUESDAY
The Bee Gees Pack 01 ($9.99/800 MS pts)
- Jive Talkin’
- Night Fever
- Stayin’ Alive X
- Nights on Broadway
- Tragedy
- You Should Be Dancing
B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone X
Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade of Pale
$1.99/160 MS pts per track
X-Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansion available for 99 cents/80 MS pts
The Bee Gees pack should be amazing, as long as someone unplugs the mic at parties. I don’t know why Stayin’ Alive hadn’t crossed my mind as a prime candidate for that Pro Guitar expansion, but damn if it isn’t perfect. I can’t believe it’s taken this long for B.B. King to make it in this series for the first time, but this damn sure better not be the last. That Procol Harum song is one of those tracks where I never knew the artist of title, but the second I YouTubed it was an “Oh, yeah, THAT song” moment. No beef with that one.