New PAL Releases Roundup

First things first: we must apologise for the absence of Quantum of Solace and Red Alert 3 reviews. They are in progress, and will be up as soon as humanly possible (probably Monday morning), but they won't be done before the games' release tomorrow.

Saddest of all, we only have ourselves to blame. The Eurogamer Expo meant we weren't in the office much this week, and so we couldn't hunt down review code when the PRs dragged their feet. There were some extenuating circumstances. EA sent Red Alert 3 to my Mum's house, brilliantly, and for the second week running Activision only distributed review copies of a shifty-looking licensed game at the last second - whatever could it mean? (Presumably the total absence of Crash Bandicoot code is another good sign too). But we can't blame all that. We're just rubbish. Leave in droves. That's what we'd do.

Fortunately though, we have been able to review Fallout 3 (Kristan sort of vaguely liked it), and we will be picking our way through Legendary before the end of the week, so you might want to hold onto your money until then (read: BAWOOGA BAWOOGA flashing lights shambles sirens horror shambles run away).

Otherwise it's a dense but thin sheaf of new releases, and probably the most interesting obscurity on there is SEGA's Valkyria Chronicles for PS3. We're big fans of turn-based strategy at Eurogamer, and the prospect of one full of saucer-size eyes and sentiment and movement bonuses and line of sight and tanks buffs our hearts with additional thumping capacity and possibly some sort of enhanced shielding dependent on terrain.

Anyway, good luck at the shops, and thanks if you came along to the Expo. It was great to meet so many of you and we hope you got to play the games you wanted to play.

This week in shops:

• Avatar: The Legend of Aang - Into the Inferno (Wii, DS, PS2)
• Bella Sara (PC, DS)
• Boing! Docomodake (DS)
• Bratz Girlz Really Rock (Wii, PS2, DS)
• Bratz Ponyz 2 (DS)
• Bully: Scholarship Edition (PC)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
• Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant (Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, PS2, DS)
• Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
• Fatal Fury Battle Archives (PS2)
• FIFA Manager 09 (PC)
• Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii)
• Hell's Kitchen (Wii)
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year (DS)
• Legendary (Xbox 360)
• Manhunt 2 (Wii, PS2, PSP)
• Mechanic Master (DS)
• MySims (PC)
• MySims Kingdom (Wii, DS)
• Monster Lab (DS, PS2)
• More Game Party (Wii)
• More Touchmaster (DS)
• NHL 09 (PC)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (PS2)
• Quantum of Solace: The Game (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PC, PS2)
• Siren Blood Curse (PS3 on Blu-ray - already out on PSN)
• SNK Arcade Classics V1 (PS2)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Globs of Doom (Wii, DS, PS2)
• Tak and the Guardians of Gross (Wii, PS2)
• Unsolved Crimes (DS)
• Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
• World Heroes Anthology (PS2)

This week online:

• Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader: Make the Grade (Xbox Live Arcade)
• Bejeweled Twist (PC)
• Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode Two (Xbox Live Arcade, PC)