PS3 Releases: week of May 19, 2008

on the shelves

UEFA Euro 2008 [metacritic] – this is the mid year EA soccer game, complimenting FIFA 08, but it’s reviewed as an improved version of FIFA and not just a roster update. Issues within this year’s FIFA gameplay have been addressed and the EA trademark single player story mode has been vastly fleshed out. The $50 price, $10 off of FIFA, is a nice touch. I don’t know that it’s a must buy if you’ve already bought a soccer game this year, but then if you’re hardcore enough to buy two games in a year, you’ll probably be happy with it. You should definitely be getting this one over FIFA if you haven’t got any.

SingStar (and double mic bundle) [metacritic] – Karaoke game, obviously, requiring you to match words and pitch. This was released last winter in Europe and seems to have caught on well there, helped a lot by a feature that, if you have a PSEye, allows you to save a :25 clip of you singing easily uploading to a video/social network site. The game is intended to be a multiplayer party game – there’s no internet versus play. This is very similar to the Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore game – both sell additional songs for $1.50, though SongStar gives you the video as well – and the SongStar game seems to be better reviewed and your better choice for drunk karaoke without having to leave home.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian [metacritic] – I can find all of one review for this game – IGN – which says it’s a fine enough game for young fans of the movie, but you have no idea what’s going on if you haven’t seen the movie and it’s pretty basic game play.

Haze [metacritic] – heavily hyped PS3 exclusive FPShooter apparently is actually not that good. There’s a bit of backlash against it’s own hype – it’s an ordinary shooter, but it was promised to be extraordinary – but genuine problems to backup the complaints. It is a rare FPS with an actual coherent storyline (though critics vary on how good it actually is), but the long scene setting rendered bits end up distracting from the game and the gameplay itself does not have the same depth. Graphics aren’t up to PS3 level and elements of the later stages seem incomplete. Multiplayer is okay, but not enough to save this from being a disappointment. There are good ideas surrounded by lots of problems.

The silver lining here about this (6th? Atari era, NES era, SNES, N64/PS1, PS2/XBox, Xbox360/PS3/wii) console era is if you’re disappointed with one shooter, you only need to wait a moment for another. (Like next week’s only game.)a

~~05/19~~: Top Spin 3 – pushed back to June 23rd sometime during th week.

Elsewhere, I was discussing how I’m not sure if I want to get a Wii, because it only seems like there’s a really great game every couple months and then nothing else. Not sure the alternative of lots of ‘eh’ is so much better, now that I write about it.

in the store –

~~Downloadable Games~~ (none for two weeks)
~~PS1 Classics~~ (none for three weeks)

Add on Content
– Rock Band {$2 singles}
* “Beetlebum” – Blur
* “Countdown to Insanity” – H-BlockX
* “Hier Kommt Alex” – Die Toten Hosen
* “Hysteria” – Muse
* “Manu Chao” – Les Wampas
* “Monsoon” – Tokio Hotel
* “New Wave” – Pleymo
* “Perfekte Welle” – Juli
* “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” – Oasis

Game Music
– PixelJunk Monsters Album {$3}

~~Game Demos~~

Game Videos
– Siren: Blood Curse (Trailer)
– GRID (Trailer)
– Battlefield Bad Company (2, promos)
– Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway (story)
– The Chronicles of Narina: Prince Caspian The Video Game (trailer0
– Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Trailer, BTS)

Movie/Blu-Ray Trailer
– National Treasure 2:
– Untraceable
– First Sunday

PS3 Theme
– Graffiti
– High Velocity Bowling

~~PS3 Wallpaper~~

over the horizon

05/27: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

06/02: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
06/03: LEGO Indiana Jones
06/03: Grid
06/03: The Bourne Conspiracy
06/03: Kung Fu Panda
06/05: The Incredible Hulk

06/10: Dragonball Z: Burst Limit
06/10: NASCAR 09
06/12: Metal Gear Sold 4: Guns of the Patriots

06/23: Top Spin 323rd sometime during th week.
06/23: Battlefield: Bad Company (and Gold Edition)
06/24: Heist
06/24: Wall-E
06/24: Overlord: Raising Hell
06/24: Hellboy: The Science of Evil
06/24: Hail to the Chimp

06/29: Guitar Hero Aerosmith and bundle

07/08: Beijing Olympics 2008

07/15: NCAA Football ’09
07/15: Monster Madness: Grave Danger

07/29: Soulcalibur IV