Out This Week - 09/09/11
Island! Fox! Resistance! Marine! Shaddai!
Your wallet is no longer safe. The games releases arrive thick and fast this week, with two platform exclusives, two hotly anticipated multiplatform releases and a unique Japanese thing - all fighting for your money.
Zombie-fighting RPG Dead Island is let loose this Friday. Made famous by that trailer, for weeks it has attempted to shuffle down the gaming world's red carpet draped in the flayed skin of a blockbuster. Now outed as a B-movie budget survival slog, will punters still pick it up?
Relic Entertainment, experienced Warhammer 40K developers of Dawn of War fame, bring their previously PC-only expertise to consoles as well. But will the cockney cast of Warhammer 40K: Space Marine win over the masses?
PS3 gamers get the conclusion to alternate-history alien invasion trilogy Resistance 3, while 3DS owners can shoot up Andross' monkey face in a 3D remake of Star Fox 64. Both titles include multiplayer - Resistance 3 is online, Star Fox is not, although the latter allows you to see your opponents' grimaces through the blurry magic of the 3DS' internal camera.
Apart from the big four? Remember gorgeous El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, recipient of a Eurogamer 9/10? It's a mystifyingly beautiful and very Japanese action game which frankly risks being overlooked amongst such a bustling list of other releases.
Download El Shaddai's free demo at the very least - you may fall through the floor a lot, but it's the most elegant floor you'll fall through in quiet a while.
Also this week? The current plague of zombie games finally infests family friendly Kinect with undead-chopping arm-waver Rise of Nightmares. Meanwhile, bringing balance to the Kinect force is all-ages puzzler Leedmees - basically Lemmings Kinect.
This Week in Shops!
Dead Island
- Developer: Techland
- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? Dead Rising meets Fallout 3 in an undead-battling RPG. What does Eurogamer think? Like its enemies, Dead Island is a little mouldy around the edges. Dan Whitehead nibbled off a 6/10 in Eurogamer's Dead Island review: "Much like gnawing on human flesh, Dead Island's clumsy horror-action role-player is the definition of an acquired taste," he wrote.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine
- Developer: Relic
- Publisher: THQ
- Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? Chunky Gears of War-style combat set in the painted warrior universe. What does Eurogamer think? Stand by for Eurogamer's review tomorrow.
Star Fox 64 3D
- Developer: Q-Games/Nintendo
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Formats: 3DS
What is it? A relaunch of the N64 aerial shooter classic with smoother visuals and local multiplayer options. What does Eurogamer think? "In the absence of genuinely new games, this one was always going to work pretty well," Chris Donlan wrote in Eurogamer's Star Fox 64 3D review.
Resistance 3
- Developer: Insomniac
- Publisher: Sony
- Formats: PS3
What is it? The conclusion of Insomniac's alien-battling PS3 FPS trilogy. What does Eurogamer think? Set your alarm clocks, Eurogamer's review publishes 8am Tuesday.
What Else?
- El Shaddai (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Rise of Nightmares (Xbox 360)
- Monkey Island: Special Edition Collection (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
- NHL 12 (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident (Wii)
- Thor (3DS)
- Men of War: Vietnam (PC)
- BloodRayne: Betrayal (PSN)
- Crimson Alliance (XBLA)
- Leedmees (XBLA)
- 3D Pixel Racing (WiiWare)
Chart Predictions!
Each week one of the team will step up to predict the UK all-formats chart. The following predicts the outcome for the week beginning Friday 9th September (to be reported on Monday 12th September).
Oli Welsh, Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net
"It's slash and burn in the charts this week, as a deluge of new releases will get rid of all the old wood in the top five, including - after some 53 years - Zumba Fitness. Only the still-hot Deus Ex will survive, and only Resistance, powered by the PS3 faithful, will sell more. It's a bit of a lottery between Space Marine and Dead Island, but I think Warhammer's brand power will win out, while game-hungry 3DS owners will troop to the shops to buy another ancient remake as a stop-gap, albeit reluctantly. El Shaddai won't make the top five, but will sell OK; Rise of Nightmares will bomb."
- Resistance 3
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- W40K: Space Marine
- Dead Island
- Starfox 64 3D
Last week, Eurogamer's US News Editor Fred Dutton attempted to glimpse the future. How well didn't he do? Our fancy table below holds the results:
| Position | The Truth | The Prediction | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | Driver: San Francisco | NO! |
| 2 | Driver: San Francisco | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | NO! |
| 3 | Zumba Fitness | Zumba Fitness | YES! |
| 4 | Rugby World Cup 2011 | Lego Pirates of the Caribbean | NO! |
| 5 | Lego Pirates of the Caribbean | Bodycount | ARGH NO! |
Your Chart Predictions
Last week we asked you where coma dream crime fighter Driver: San Francsico would turn up in this week's charts. A slim majority of 32 per cent guessed second place - pat on the back to you. 21 per cent guessed it would beat Deus Ex into first place, while 29 per cent of you thought it wouldn't even make the top three. Madness!
With so many releases this week we're asking you which lone wolf (or fox) will edge out the rest of the pack to claim the top spot in next week's chart. Thinking caps on!