March 14, 2011: wallet threat level yellow

Posted by on March 14, 2011 in Games

I’m having a grand time with Shogun 2, the latest in Creative Assembly’s Total War series. But those first few days are always a grand time. Will this be the Total War game that breaks the Chick parabola, that curve where you enjoy a game until you discover the AI is terrible? Check for the review on 1up in a few days.

Homefront, on the other hand, is disappointing early and often. I say that as a huge fan of Kaos Studios previous game, Frontlines. Unfortunately, Homefront is no Frontlines, largely because it’s trying so hard to be a Call of Duty. The full review will be on Gameshark later this week.

Also out this week are Yakuza 4 and Top Spin 4, both series I admire rather than enjoy. The Yakuza games suffer mightily in comparison with other open-world games, but they have their own storytelling appeal. As far as tennis games go, Top Spin is like the smart but homely sister to the bubbly Virtua Tennis party girl.

Keep an eye out for Gods Eater Burst for the PSP. Not that I’m necessarily recommending it. But I see the title and I get excited because I think of God Hand. Unfortunately, this isn’t that. But we’ll always have Bayonetta, which is a pretty serviceable God Hand 2.

Finally, are you ready for the latest map pack for Halo: Reach? I hope you are, because I’d love to be able to play Halo: Reach with people who are as bad as me. This latest map pack includes a new firefight map I quite like, partly because there are plenty of indoor hiding spots, where I found a garage with a warthog that has a rocket launcher on the back. At which point I don’t feel like hiding so much anymore.

  • Wolfox

    Also, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood comes out for the PC this week. For PC-only gamers like myself, that would raise the wallet thread level to red or more. ;-)

  • http://www.ashleyspix.com Chris Bustamante

    I’m looking forward more to next week and the week after. Not only is it my birthday (March 21, baby), but Crysis 2 comes out. I’ve enjoyed the multiplayer immensely (with its twist on the CoD formula… and on PC, of course. What kind of monster plays an FPS on a console?) and am hoping that it’s good enough to warrant a purchase.

    After that, we have the 3DS coming. I’m on the fence about it, but since I’ve never owned ANY iteration of the DS I’ve been thinking that it might be time to get one.

  • http://www.quartertothree.com Tom Chick

    Ah, good catch, Mr. Ox! You’re in for a grand time with Brotherhood. I wonder if it will develop much of a multiplayer community. It definitely deserves it.

  • WarpRattler

    God Eater Burst (the US title is awful, so glad I won’t have to walk into a store to buy it and sound like I’m saying “God Seater”) is all I’m getting this week. It’s a Monster Hunter-like with more JRPG tendencies (character growth and, uh, a plot) than those games. And you have a sword that transforms into a gun and that also has a giant mouth.

    Wonder if we’re getting the enormous demo Japan got for it. 29 of the hundred-plus missions, a slew of character customization options, full ad hoc multiplayer, and the ability to continue from where you left off in the demo upon starting the game proper – it’s like they forgot demos were supposed to be demonstrations rather than full games.