The Gaming Month Ahead – Febraury

It’s been quiet for a while. December brought only Star Wars the Old Repulic and january is just as barren until the last week. Febuary however promises to hold a plethora of gaming gems. I doubt many people have even finished Skyrim yet, but time waits for no man, not even the Dragonborn, and like a man whose adventuring days have been cut short by a knee related injury, february comes with its multitude of games and a new handheld launch.
The last week of January brings the long awaited Resident Evil Revelations to 3DS along with the Platinum Games online brawler, Anarchy Reigns to PS3 and 360. The first week of February brings heavy hitters Final Fantasy and Sould Calibur 5 to the party along with Konami’s MGS and ZOE HD collections. The following week sees EA’s RPG Kingdom’s of Amalur hit the shelves along with the rather sudden Darkness 2 and Atlus’ rather strange Catherine.
After that we see the months main attraction – the PlayStation Vita launches along with a bunch of games. The Vita hasn’t had the best of starts in Japan, but then neither did the 3DS. There’s a lot of great games at launch, like Uncharted, Wipeout and Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom – and there’s a lot of great titles coming soon. The month closes out with the SSX reboot, the Syndicate reimagining and the bizzare spectacle of a game, Asura’s Wrath. Read on to see the month’s full listings.

The Gaming Month Ahead – November

It’s that time again – when there’s more games than we have money or hours in the day to play. It happens every year – but still all the publishers would rather risk the avalanche of year end, christmas rush games, than try to launch in a clear window. This Novemeber sees an immense wealth of titles across all genres and platforms wedging themselves into the timetable. So much so that I haven’t listed all the games on this months schedule. Don’t worry – I haven’t left off Skyrim or anything like that, just a slew of Kinect, Move and Wii titles that I figured wouldn’t be missed too much.

The main players this month include the likes of Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Assassins Creed Revelations. And they’re surrounded by the like of Halo Anniversary, Saints Row 3, King of Fighters 13 and Ultimate MvC3. Remember to spread your purchases – because apart from Old Republic, December’s got nothing!

The Gaming Month – October

Wow – how did I miss the start of October? I blame the Eurogamer Expo! Well better late than never (hopefully) October’s already kicked off with some decent titles like Dark Souls taking up everyone’s time. But there’s still three fridays left in this month and a shed load of awesome gaming. Taking the spotlight this month is undoubtedly Batman: Arkham City. I don’t think anything need be said about it. Arkham Asylum was a fantastic game and City adds tons of new content and features – including a playable catwoman!

Also this month Battlefield 3 – nipping in before its rival comes out in early November. Battlefield has certianly whipped up a media frenzy – some good press, some bad press – but all of it making sure it remains firmly in everyone’s thoughts in the coming weeks. It certainly looked the more popular at Eurogamer and while I somehow doubt it will outsell its rival – I’m sure it will make a sizable dent in their profits. Read on to see the full list of games for the remainder of this month.

The Gaming Month Ahead – September

September…kids go back to school and the gaming schedule starts ramping up for a end of year extravaganza finale. While this September isn’t exactly the most packed in written history, there’s still a healthy variety of games coming out. The month starts strong with Dead Island and Space Marine early on. Not sure about Dead Island (more zombies? really?) but Space Marine looks and plays like top notch entertainment. We also get a double dose of alien killing with the last of two trilogies – Gears of War 3 on X360 and Resistance 3 on PS3. And the month rounds off with the powerhouse of Fifa12 – offering even more football than you can stand on every platform (Even the PS2 apparently). Other noteworthy’s include El Shaddai, a very strange biblical game (demo’s on PSN if you’re curious) and a revamp of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus – both of which you should play if you missed them on PS2. Even if you did play them – play them again, cause they now run at a smoother framerate in HD and have trophy support.

The Gaming Month Ahead – August a.k.a Human Revolution!

That’s right – it’s officially a game drought. Also known as catch up time. Last month was pretty slim pickings anyway, this month is famine worthy. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is pretty much the major release this August. Most annoyingly it also comes out right at the end of the month, leaving a barren gap until then. On the one hand this is good news – as it means we all have time now to finish Witcher 2 (your all playing that of course – and if not, you should be ashamed and go buy it…and a decent PC if you don’t already have one) – but it also means it comes out a short gap from September’s releases which include the likes of Resistence 3, Warhammer: Space Marine and Fifa 12.

Deus Ex is looking to be a great way to round off the summer. Offering RPG elements in a solid shooter shell – much like Mass Effect did a while back, but with the emphasis more on the shooting here. It’s already gotten a 95% review from PC Gamer and we’ll see closer to release if it holds up critically to what it looked like in the trailers.

Other releases this month include Arcana Heart and a Rugby Title…that is all.

The Gaming Month Ahead – July

A Dynasty Warriors spin off, a couple of movie tie ins, a few budget bundles and a cult insect smashing game. Bit of a filler month really.While it doesn’t offer us much in terms of quality titles, it does give us time. Time to go over and finish games we may not have, or pick up games we didn’t have time for. I’ve still Shadows of the Damned and Dynasty Warriors 7 to finish and Alice and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood to pick up. Of course I’ll have to pick up Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 at some point too.

The Gaming Month Ahead – June

June comes and brings with it many, many games.  Chief among these are Duke Nukem Forever and Infamous 2. The latter has already been getting many good reviews and as those who have tasted the level editor can attest to – it thouroughly appears  to deserve the praise. EA continue their support of the new and the original with Alice: Madness Returns and Shadows of the Damned both out this month. Also PlayStation gets a double helping of RPG with White Knight Chronicles – a sequel (with the first part included!) on PS3 and a prequel on PSP.

The Gaming Month Ahead – May

Brink and LA Noire take top billing in an otherwise dry month for gaming. Fear 3 out at the end of the month and niche interest titles No More Heroes Paradise on PS3 and Gladiator Begins on PSP (which I highly recommend) – but other than that, there’s not much. I guess most people are gonna go Rockstar crazy as always and buy LA Noire – and that’s probably why other games have avoided this month.

Dynasty Warriors 7 – Impressions

Well I’ve had it since Friday morning, what do I think of it? I think it’s bloody amazing. I know it sounds stupid, but it’s like they made a sequel to Dynasty Warriors 3 (see my retrospective to see how much I loved that). The combat system has been streamlined – all the unnecessary 9-hit combo’s from 5, the renbu and Musou overcharge are all gone. Instead we get character specific proficiencies and the good old Square to Triangle combos. 

Countdown to Dynasty Warriors 7 – Part Five

Where it all went wrong – Dynasty Warriors 6. The supposed first next-gen entry. This was supposed to be something only possible on PS3 and X360 and was subsequently released on PS2 later. Low detail graphics, a simpler combo system (you could mash square to infinity and had a single combo on triangle to interrupt with), a much smaller roster (only 15 characters and some clones among those too) and a story as far removed from the original text as possible.