SUPER MARIO ALL-STARS: LIMITED EDITION
Nintendo
Wii
12/12
MSRP: $29.99
CLICK HERE TO BUY FROM AMAZON!
Except for the art book and the collectible soundtrack, this is the same package from the SNES days, given a new 25th Anniversary slathering of paint. Am I complaining about that? Not really, though I seem to remember The Lost Levels (a.k.a. the REAL Super Mario Brothers 2) having a degree of ball-busting difficulty the likes of which I don’t think I’ve seen in a Nintendo game ever since. So, good luck with that. Other than that, its an old game, the 16-bit makeover did add a bit of color and life the old games didn’t have, and most importantly, the price is right. And lest we forget, Mario 3 is ALWAYS worth a purchase. Always.
OOOHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP
BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 – VIETNAM
EA
XBox Live, Playstation Network, PC
12/18 PC, 12/21 360, PS3
$14.99/1200 MS pts
Unlike some, I have zero issue with game developers using Vietnam as a backdrop. Anything to get them away from using World War II as a backdrop. That war’s the Hoth level of First Person War Shooters. Either way, a new backdrop, fine. At the same time, it’s falling victim to the same pitfalls of WWII shooters, in that while those games couldn’t resist using Saving Private Ryan as a basis of design, Vietnam shooters can’t seem to escape Apocalypse Now. And the mere fact that Ride of the Valkyries is on an inescapable loop on a station in the Jeeps in this game just makes me sigh. Regardless, hey, it’s hefty DLC for a perfectly serviceable FPS. I just they had something else to go with it. Oh, what are they called….oh, yeah, IDEAS.
QUAKE ARENA ARCADE
Pi Studios/iD Software
XBox Live Arcade
12/15
Price Not Yet Released
I missed the boat on Quake altogether, sadly. The series never jumped ship to my console neck of the woods till the non-entity that was Quake 4, and by the time I finally got that curious to check out the originals (mostly because I heard members of Nine Inch Nails were involved to some degree), it was already hideously dated. So, I guess this is the week where I just throw up my hands and go “More power to ya”, probably like PC gamers did when console players made a mess of their pants over Perfect Dark and Goldeneye coming back.
X-MEN: THE ARCADE GAME
Konami
Wii
12/14
$9.99/800 MS pts
I could say that the game is dated, with all manner of cheap hits, an artificial difficulty, and how the arcade style of gameplay almost requires co-op in order to work, but WHO GIVES A SHIT. It’s the goddamn X-Men Arcade game from our youth. NOTHING CAN STOP THE BLOB, BITCHES. Now, get that old school Simpsons game out there, and the early 90s will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century once and for all.
ROCK BAND TUESDAY
Billy Joel Pack 01 ($19.99/1600 MS pts)
- Big Shot X
- Captain Jack
- It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me
- Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) X
- Only the Good Die Young X
- Piano Man
- Pressure
- Say Goodbye to Hollywood
- The Entertainer
- The Stranger
- We Didn’t Start the Fire
- You May Be Right
$1.99/160 MS pts per track
X-Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansion available for 99 cents/80 MS pts
While there’s some great songs in here, a lot of which are gonna be a dream for the budding keyboardists out there, I gotta admit: In no way, shape, form, or function have I ever classified Billy Joel as rock music. And I must say, I’m going to have cognitive dissonance with that fact long as this game remains active. It’s like finding bacon in your matzoh ball soup during Hannukkah. It’s probably delicious, but something is just fundamentally *wrong* here.