New PAL Releases Roundup - 16/01/09
EA's back from its hols, but nobody else is.
And we're back! Although apparently the games industry isn't, because the only games of note this week are an admittedly wicked PC port of one of 2008's brightest sparks, and Pandemic's attempt to graft Tolkien onto Battlefront.
Our review of Lord of the Rings: Conquest will be up tomorrow morning, but you won't be too surprised to learn that results are mixed. Pandemic has been given apparently free reign to imagine a dark alternative campaign where the nasty bits of Mordor run amok throughout the friendlier bits of Middle-Earth, alongside the usual goodies campaign, but the class-based multiplayer game around which these scenarios thread is frustrating and erratic.
Mirror's Edge is also divisive, and the PC version isn't going to change that completely, but the keyboard and mouse do a decent job compensating for the relatively low speed and imprecision of turning on console, and the graphical upgrades are a nice bonus for PC owners who have been forced to wait two months longer than anyone else.
Meanwhile, next week isn't looking massively exciting, but Skate 2 might be worth investigating and the long-awaited Football Manager Live finally gets going too. We'll have reviews of both of those in the coming days, along with our take on Neopets Puzzle Adventure from Capcom and Puzzle Quest developer Infinite Interactive. It's not as accessible and well rounded as Puzzle Quest itself, but it has a slow-burning charm to it nonetheless.
This week in shops:
- Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
- Mirror's Edge (PC)
- My Chinese Coach (DS)
This week online:
- Magic Ball (PlayStation Network)