It?s been a pretty huge week for good games. On Tuesday alone the much-hyped XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Dishonored were released ? both are absolutely superb and well worth your money.
But they weren?t the only worthwhile releases this week, so if brutally (but satisfyingly) difficult sci-fi strategy or supernatural stealth action aren?t your thing, maybe one of these other games will give you your gaming fix.
Worms Revolution (PC, 360, PS3): I?ve been playing the Worms games since I was a kid, starting with the original. I?ve loved every 2D entry in the series since (the 3D ones? ehhh, they?re OK), but even I?ll admit that almost nothing has changed in the most recent incarnations. There?s some wisdom in ?If it ?aint broke, don?t fix it,? but you also don?t want to buy the same game over and over.
I think it?s safe to say that Worms Revolution features some of the most drastic and significant changes the series has seen, and it does so without ruining what makes Worms so great in the first place.
New in Worms Revolution are a 3D look (but 2D gameplay), physics for things like water (though chunks of land can still hover mysteriously in midair), and one of the bigger changes: classes. Worms come in different varieties now ? some are faster but weaker, some are slower but stronger, some are smarter (which, oddly, means they recover some health every turn), and some are classic and ?normal.? It may not seem like much, but this can, in fact, have a pretty big change on the dynamic of the game.
But if you?re a purist, you can always play with classic settings. Such an approach may not serve you quite as well as Worms Reloaded, which I might say is ?pure? Worms at its finest, but it?s a lot of fun.
Fable: The Journey (360 Kinect): I feel a need to qualify this somewhat: Fable: The Journey, is very much a Kinect game. If you?ve already determined that you hate the Kinect?s controller-free experience, whether because it doesn?t work well with your setup at home, you hate being active or whether you just can?t take its?inconsistency, this journey won?t change your mind.
If you do like an occasional Kinect adventure, though, this is actually a pretty fun one, when it works. And you can do it all while sitting down, which is nice for a Kinect game.
Fable: The Journey takes all the charm of the main three Fable games ? the humor, the vibrant characters and the magical plot ? and creates around it a mostly linear first-person experience. Everything is done with your hands, whether you?re handling the reins of your trusty horse or launching magic fireballs at monsters.
This means a lot of pulling your hand back toward your shoulders before thrusting it at the screen, hopefully hitting your target. I say ?hopefully? because it?s not the most reliable system in the world ? certainly not as reliable as a standard controller or mouse would be. When it does work, it feels pretty great. When it doesn?t, it can be frustrating.
But it can be fun, too, and there?s enough charm to the story that it?s worth experiencing for huge fans of the series. Really, it?s one of the more worthwhile Kinect experiences a ?hardcore? gamer can have, even though it misses the mark more often than I would like.
Retro City Rampage (PC, PS3, Vita): What if Grand Theft Auto was an 8-bit NES game? What if it also had tons upon tons of video game and pop culture references, from Contra to Back to the Future to Mega Man to the A-Team? Retro City Rampage is that game.
If you were around for the 8-bit era of gaming, RCR hits all the right buttons for nostalgia. It?s not just the references, great as they are (and there are so many of them!), it?s also the look, the feel and the sound. Heck, if you?re not happy with an NES aesthetic, you can change the visual filter to make it look different ? for instance, you can make it look like you?re playing it on an old Apple computer monitor, an old TV, an old arcade cabinet or even a rough approximation of a Game Boy.
It also feels modern in the right ways, too. There are gameplay features like a cover system that you wouldn?t have found in the 80?s, which help the game be fun to play, as opposed to a jumbled (if charming) heap of culture references.
If you buy the PS3 or Vita version, you get the other version free. I?ve mostly been playing on my Vita, but it?s nice to know I have the option to play it on a much bigger screen if I so choose.
Honorable Mentions:
Borderlands 2?(360, PS3, PC): I?ve already talked about how great Borderlands 2 is, by Plano developer Gearbox Software, but you may want to revisit ?the game, particularly if you pre-ordered. The Mechromancer characters class has been released, and it?s a free download for Premiere Club members.
Harry Potter for Kinect (360 Kinect): Going through all seven years of Harry?s adventures at Hogwarts (meaning all seven books and all eight movies), Harry Potter for Kinect feels, in many ways, like an interactive storybook version of those plots. For example, the game opens up in Ollivander?s wand shop, and has you going through the motion of waving a couple different wants before stumbling on the right one ? just like in The Sorcerer?s Stone. That doesn?t feel like a game, though. It feels like going through motions. Same goes for another very early level, in which Professor Flitwick is teaching you the infamous Wingardium Leviosa spell.
Harry Potter for Kinect is probably best suited for the younger wannabe wizards out there, who will delight at the idea of ?being in? the movies, as it were. Older and more experienced gamers probably won?t find as much to like, here. If you absolutely must get some sort of Harry Potter video game fix, I recommend both LEGO Harry Potter games, which go through the seven books in a much more charming and entertaining fashion, in my opinion.
Spy Hunter (3DS): I?ve only been able to play through a few missions of Spy Hunter on the 3DS, and they were OK. The game, a revival of the Midway classic from the early arcade days, feels?reminiscent?of the last?revival of the series, which I played on the PS2. You go from mission to mission racing your awesome, fully-loaded car (which has no problem with rough terrain or even water), trying to outrun and outgun the people chasing you. There are some cool moments during these high-speed chases, and there?s a progression system for unlocking weapons that will help you feel more and more powerful as the game goes on, but I could also see the action getting pretty repetitive.
The Walking Dead Episode 4 (PC, 360, PS3): The most recent episode of Telltale?s The Walking Dead series isn?t an honorable mention because you should ?maybe? play it. I think every adult gamer should experience this one. It?s?consistently?been one of the best, most mind-blowing and most interesting gameplay (and story) experiences I?ve had this year. But I haven?t had a chance to play Episode 4 yet, and I want to write a longer piece later dedicated to telling you why you should be playing this game. For now, I?ll just say, ?Hey, you should be playing this game.
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