New PAL Releases Roundup - 03/07/09

Do we play hot and muggy games when it's hot and muggy? I have warm (stiflingly warm) recollections of playing Far Cry through a projector at the height of summer in 2005, sweat dripping accurately down my back as I crept through the jungle, before giving away my position with a telltale sneeze that knocked the keyboard over and ran me straight into a munitions dump.

Well, if that sort of thing tickles you, and the prospect of rain that actually makes things worse this weekend has you scurrying for the couch under cover of desk fans, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood might be the answer. On the one hand it's a straightforward shooter. On the other, it's a very handy western, "set in a tangibly real Wild West, with proper, honest-to-goodness cowboys, Indians and bandits in it", as Oli put it before awarding it a handsome 7/10. Sweat. Sorry, sweet.

Elsewhere this week, it's a little dry (sorry). There's the latest Tiger Woods to consider, or next week's potential number one, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (assuming the kids haven't moved on to glue-sniffing and rape by now), but despite the length of the list below the majority are quirky downloadables. And the rest of July doesn't look much more inspiring.

Time perhaps to look to the past for inspiration.

This week:

• Bit Boy (WiiWare)
• Bomberman 94 (Wii Virtual Console - Turbografx)
• Brain Challenge (DSiWare)
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
• Detana Twin Bee (Wii Virtual Console - Turbografx)
• Donkey Xote (PSN - PSP)
• Gradius Rebirth (WiiWare)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)
• James Pond 2: Codename Robocod (PSN PSone re-release - PS3, PSP)
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Wii Virtual Console - SNES)
• King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match (Xbox Live Arcade)
• Mario Calculator (DSiWare)
• Mario Clock (DSiWare)
• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSN - PSP)
• Musha (Wii Virtual Console - Megadrive)
• Numblast (PSN - PS3, PSP)
• Punisher: No Mercy (PSN - PS3)
• Red Baron Arcade (PSN - PS3)
• Smash Table Tennis (Wii Virtual Console - NES)
• Super Hind (PSN - PSP)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 - also on PSN for PSP)
• topatoi: The Great Tree Story (PSN - PS3)
• Virtua Tennis 2009 (PC)
• Worms 2: Armageddon (Xbox Live Arcade)
• Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (Wii Virtual Console - NES)

P.S. Street Fighter IV is supposedly due out today for PC, but most of the shops we've tried claim to have no stock. Any joy out there for any of you?