Games of the Week: 14/04/2008

[Alex Davies]

First of many things to come. Each monday I plan to release a games of the week blog posts, detailing the games I've been playing that you should, the games I've been playing that I really shouldn't be, and those ever wonderful games that everyone says I should be playing but don't want to. Each game entered will have a bit of information about it (that's if I can think of anything) and why you should/shouldn't play them. These are not my mini reviews, these are like mini... mini reviews, if that.

Lets get started, this last week I have played games for all of one platform, that platform being my shiny black PS3. Mostly I've been playing PSN games and rentals, with only one game that I own slipping into the mix.

PixelJunk Monsters
Platform: Playstation Network
Availability: Worldwide
Pricing: £3.49
Genre: Strategy

I know you all must have played one of the millions of version of Tower Defense out there, this is the one where you have to actually run a guy around and make him dance. As addictive as every other tower defense game I've played, has a co-op mode and gets very challenging (Or I just fail).

Rating: Buy if you love Tower Defense games

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
Platform: Playstation 3 / PSN
Availabiliy: Japan / Europe (US in May)
Pricing: £24.99 RRP
Genre: Driving Simulator

It's the next half step towards Gran Turismo 5, which we all hope to be the best GT in every department ever released. GT5 Prologue introduces in-car view, drastically improved visuals (even over GT HD Concept) and an F1 Car. Unfortunately, it is much shorter than I expected, lthough online and car tuning add a lot to the experience, and could probably get nearly the same amount of hours out of this as I did with GT4.

Verdict: Buy if you are a big fan of the series, otherwise rent


Echochrome
Platform: PSN / PSP
Availability: Japan (EU/USA TBA)
Pricing: 1,800 Yen
Genre: Puzzle

If you haven't heard of this game, go watch some trailers, it's hard to describe this game in words. It is a simple looking, black lines of white background point A to point B puzzle game. The big twist is you solve the puzzles by moving the camera around, changing the perspective on the world so paths join together, holes get covered, or you fall seemingly to the other side of the level. It is the most addictive puzzle game I have ever played.

Verdict: Fun for all, a must buy for anyone who like a little puzzle game. Markup of JPN PSN store cards is a little high from ebay, so waiting for EU/US release might make sense

MLB 08: The Show
Platform: PS3
Availability: US Only
Pricing: $50 (Spent £30 for import)
Genre: Sports

Firstly, thanks to my brother, I became a big baseball fan last year and have been wanting to play a baseball game since. Couldn't import MLB 2K7 last year (Xbox 360 is region locked) so this year I had to import one for my PS3. I picked The Show based on the demos of both games and haven't looked back. Great fun to play, in depth Franchise mode, 2P Season, RTTS (Play as one person through their career) and online play with weekly roster updates, makes this my most played PS3 game to date.

Verdict: If you're a fan of baseball, this is the better choice


Thats it for this week, I have played more games, but discussing them is hurting my fingers.

Note: All games talked about this week were suprisingly published by Sony, and so PS3/PSP exclusives

[liQuidmoTion]

I've only played one game about 2 hours this month, and it was counter-strike1.6

review:
it's the best dang multiplayer team FPS ever

verdict:
buy it so I can dink you some time in a pub ^_^

[starkey]

Ive been playing aoe3 again this month, really getting into it but it keeps killing my PC for some unknown reason

[liQuidmoTion]

what kinda PC you have nowadays then? I would say do some proper spyware scanning but Im sure you know all that ;]