Hello! Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie Gaming Roundup!
This week, PlayStation Direct, gaming teasers, decades-old vindication, and all the most notable releases!
THE STATE OF PLAY IN STATE OF PLAY
Sony released a new State of Play (aka, PlayStation Direct) this past week, which was 20 minutes of reveals. There was only one huge announcement and a bunch of smaller ones, but it had some interesting stuff. Here’s a full rundown:
• They revealed Humanity from Tetris Effect devs Enhance, which is a surreal game about crowd control that looks like your average British high street at Christmas
• Something about an exclusive co-op mode for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Apparently, people aren’t happy.
• Keita Takahashi’s latest fever dream of a game, Wattam, is out in December
• The reveal of Arise: A Simple Story, a game that’s looking a lot like Journey with Vikings. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for. They said “soon” in the presentation, but the developer’s own website says 3rd December.
• L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files is out now for PS VR
• A demo for the MediEvil remake has also gone live now for a limited time
• Civilization VI is making an appearance on PS4, with expansions coming to all consoles
• A special edition PS4 Pro to celebrate the release of Death Stranding will be available along with the game itself. The console has a big handprint and the controller resembles the weird baby cocoon Norman Reedus carries around with him. There is no baby in the controller, in case you were wondering.
• A new trailer for Afterparty, the new game from Oxenfree developers Night School Studio, showing a 29th October release date. Another one to keep an eye on.
• Next month’s PlayStation Plus games are The Last of Us Remastered and…sigh…MLB The Show ’19. Because sports games always go down SO well on this service, Sony.
• Finally, the big news – The Last of Us Part II will be out on 21st February next year, and no, Joel isn’t dead. You’d think all the photos of Troy Baker on set circulating around would have told people this, but apparently not.
SUCH A TEASE
Two games have been teased and/or leaked this past week. First, let’s start with the port. Speculation is rising for a PC release of Red Dead Redemption 2. Not only have Rockstar made their own PC games launcher (with blackjack etc.), but two other major clues pointed to it this past week.
First up, a programmer’s LinkedIn profile lists the game amongst his credits and states the systems as “PS4/Xbox 1/PC”, which is interesting considering there is no PC release. But further speculation has arisen thanks to a new rating for the game from the Australian ratings board. No platform is mentioned, but the sudden appearance of a rating for a game released a year ago is suspicious.
In new game teases, WB Montreal have been dropping hints all over the place about the possibility of a new Batman game, most likely a new Arkham. This includes a bunch of mysterious logos and a hashtag telling people to “beware the owls”. They then released a short video showing the logos in clearer detail, morphing between one another. I’d love to speculate on these logos, but my knowledge of Batman is the most basic knowledge in the world. People are saying it’s something to do with the Council of Owls, which is apparently a thing in the Batman universe. Look, this is Keith’s area, not mine, but trust me, it’s something to do with owls or something.
CHEAT FIGHTER II
It’s a quiet week in news, so here’s something fun. Did you ever feel like the CPU was cheating in Street Fighter II back in the day? Well, good news! It was! And now there’s some handy dandy proof in the form of a video from YouTube user “desk”.
In his video, he details every single way that the CPU cheats you through breaking every rule the player is bound to. We’re talking instant charge moves, breaking out of being dizzy faster than a player possibly can, turning invincible instead of blocking, that sort of thing. The video breaks down everything frame by frame and manages to do so that even this fighting game illiterate fool could watch and be upset by.
So there you have it. You were right. The game was cheating, and you’re vindicated. Now go and be happy.
NEW RELEASES
In new releases, let’s get it out the way. FIFA 2020 is out for everything this week, if you’re into that sort of thing. Okay, moving on.
The Switch is getting two major ports this week. The first is Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age, the latest in the long-running Dragon Quest series, coming to Switch after last year’s PC and PS4 releases. The second is the rather excellent Ori and the Blind Forest, coming to Switch several years after its original Xbox and PC releases. I highly recommend the latter if you’ve never played it before.
In small indie releases, Cat Quest II comes to everything including Apple Arcade, and is an open-world co-op RPG where the kings of Felingrad and the Lupus Empire join forces to stop their kingdoms warring against each other. And then there’s Freedom Finger, coming to PC and consoles, which is a space shmup where your ship is a giant middle finger, and features voice talent from Nolan North, Sam Riegel and John DiMaggio. I know this last bit because apparently it’s the main selling point based on the trailers.
Next up is Contra: Rogue Corps, coming to PC and consoles. It’s the latest in the long-running Contra series, but if you’re expecting the franchise’s traditional run and gun side scrolling, you might wanna go back and pick up Blazing Chrome instead. This Contra is a 3D twin-stick shooter with cooldown meters, which is very unlike Contra. It does have a giant panda character, but if the reviews are anything to go by, even that can’t save it.
Then there’s The Surge 2 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, the sequel to Focus Home Interactive’s sci-fi response to Dark Souls. The Surge 2 looks like it’s taken the original game and polished it all up a bit, to make a much more enjoyable experience. I played a bit of the original and found it a bit dull, but hopefully this extra polish prevents that this time around.
GAME OF THE WEEK
This week’s Game of the Week is Code Vein, released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One from Bandai Namco. Just like The Surge 2, this is another game taking some cues from Dark Souls only this one’s a lot more anime. The world has been destroyed, leaving behind only monsters known as The Lost and vampires. You play as one of these vampires, usually with a co-op partner (either CPU-controlled or in an online matchup), as you battle through these creatures.
It looks like a fun, interesting spin on the Souls formula, and has been getting quite a bit of positive buzz since its release earlier this week, so quite possibly something to check out for Souls fans or those who like anime.
And that’s it for now! I’ll see you again next week!
Find Leigh on Twitter at @TheCheapFerret and on YouTube at Bobthepetferret
Leave a Reply