CAG's rocksolidaudio & shipwreck preview the new releases for the week of March 13th, 2007. This week we help you decide whether you should spend your money on God of War II or Herbie Rescue Rally.
Call of Duty: Roads to Victory Dev. Amaze Pub. Activision Systems: PSP MSRP: $39.99
If you can't leave your house without an intense desire to kill Nazis on the go, your forty bucks might be better spent on your first appointment with a shrink. I mean, I'm all for killing Nazis, but there's a time and a place (may I suggest Germany, 1943?). Really, what am I supposed to say about this? It's a Call of Duty game, and a FPS on the PSP. Those two things either do it for you or they don't, and I can't imagine this will rock anyone's expectations one way or the other. I'm sure six-player ad hoc multiplayer is fun, but you and your five misguided friends are better off pooling your money to buy a PS2 and a copy of our next game...
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Call of Duty: Roads to Victory.
Purchase at Amazon $39.99 (free shipping)
God of War II Dev. SCE Studios Santa Monica Pub. SCE Systems: PS2 MSRP: $49.99
Here we go! You think about days like this (especially when they're announced waaaay in advance), and when they finally come you don't know what to say. The first God of War was as perfect an action/adventure game as has ever existed, a brutally satisfying combination of pitch-perfect gameplay, pacing and presentation. Even the story was great, which can unfortunately be said about VERY few games. By all accounts this is a worthy sequel; not a lot needed to be changed, the lone downside being that PS3 owners will have a rough wait for the next one. Levels are gorgeous and epic even within themselves, combat is simple and satisfying, and ridiculously huge timing-based bosses are as impressive as they were two years ago. This is likely the PS2's swan song, but what a way to go out - God of War stands atop an ocean of mediocrity in todays gaming landscape, and there are few better ways to cast your vote of confidence in quality than picking up GoW2.
Cheapest Price:
Family Video is offering God of War II for $43.99 on their website and shipping is only 99 cents. Circuit City is offering a free God of War II t-shirt with your in-store purchase.
Purchase at Amazon $49.99 (free shipping)
Purchase at Family Video $43.99 (99 cent shipping)
Details on the free God of War II t-shirt can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 Dev. EA Pub. EA Systems: Wii MSRP: $49.99
If Wii Sports golf and Super Swing Golf didn't do it for you, well, you should probably stop
ing buying golfing games on the Wii. It seems TWPGAT07 is less precise than Wii Sports in it's swinging mechanics, but who wouldn't rather play as an arrogant millionaire than a cute lil' avatar of themselves? If you're actually in the market for the game, yes it's as robust as its seventeen other iterations. There's really not a lot else to say, so I'll let one of Gamestop.com's more eloquent customer previews sum it up: "finally a game with reall people instead of dumb cartoons to use the hard but wonderful wii remote cant wait //this is gunna be great i can just sense it lolz." Indeed good sir, indeed.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.
Purchase at Amazon $49.95 (free shipping)
Shipwreck takes a look at the rest of this week's releases:
Call of Duty 3: Gold Edition Dev. Treyarch Invention Pub. Activision Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
It's only a few months after the initial release, but Activision is releasing another edition of Call of Duty 3. If you didn't rush out and buy the original at launch, this version features a bonus DVD and a free download of the Valor Map Pack which is currently $10 on the Live Marketplace. If Activision keeps up this trend that started with Call of Duty 2, it may always be worth waiting for the better value version to arrive. That's assuming you can wait a few months to satiate your Nazi killing crave.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Call of Duty 3: Gold Edition this week, but if you waited this long, why not wait until next week when Circuit City is going to be selling it for $39.99?
Purchase at EB Games $59.99
Details on next week's Circuit City sale can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
College Hoops 2K7 Dev. Visual Concepts Pub. 2K Sports Systems: PS3 MSRP: $59.99
Well, this one's pretty self-explanatory. The solid College Hoops series makes its way to the PS3 just in time for March Madness and a month before irrelevancy sets in.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for College Hoops 2K7.
Purchase at Amazon $59.82 (free shipping)
Herbie Rescue Rally Dev. Disney Interactive Pub. Disney Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
I use to really love watching Herbie movies when I was a young. I remember several afternoons of enjoying the antics of Herbie followed by another of my favorites: Condorman. Apparently, this game has nothing to do with Condorman, but instead focuses on the typical story of an animal sanctuary that is getting overtaken by a
toxic waste factory. You helpAl Gore & Herbie some girl & Herbie race in hopes of winning the grand prize of $1 million dollars and saving the day. Man, I wish this was a Condorman game.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Herbie Rescue Rally.
Purchase at Amazon $29.99 (free shipping)
Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach Dev. Sega Pub. Ubi Soft Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
It's nice to know that the elderly have plenty of brain stimulators to choose from on the DS. And, in case your senility has progressed to the point where you can't remember if you played this one or not, this is the one where you try to improve your "Brain Age" through several "Brain Training" activities. Now grab a can of Boost and fire up the Rascal, it's time to go spend another $20.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach.
Purchase at Amazon $19.99 (free shipping if your total order is $25)
Spectrobes Dev. Jupiter Corporation Pub. Disney Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
Just about every review/preview I've read on Spectrobes has pegged this game as a dull Pokemon style game with slightly different mechanics. You're tasked with finding fossils and awakening these "Spectrobes" so that you can train, evolve, and battle them in your quest to save the galaxy. You probably know whether or not this sort of thing is your bag.
Cheapest Price:
Both Best Buy and Target are offering codes for exclusive characters for Spectrobes this week.
Purchase at Amazon $29.82 (free shipping)
Details on the exclusive codes from Best Buy and Target can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
General Deals that could be applied to save you some money:
As always Best Buy's Gamer Gift Card $5 Coupon can be applied to save you $5 on any of these games. Check out all the details here.
(Please note that you must have already signed up for both of the following deals, but the purchase periods are still active.)
Paypal is currently offering a $15 rebate on qualifying $30 purchases. Check out all the details here.
Google Checkout is still running their $10 off any $10 or more purchase for new users. Check out the details here.
Feedback:
Did we miss a good sale on a game? Did we miss previewing a game completely? Well, the only way that everyone can know a better deal is out there is to let us know about it. Post deals you've found or games that we missed in the thread so that CAGs can make sure they are getting the absolute best prices on new releases.
Call of Duty: Roads to Victory Dev. Amaze Pub. Activision Systems: PSP MSRP: $39.99
If you can't leave your house without an intense desire to kill Nazis on the go, your forty bucks might be better spent on your first appointment with a shrink. I mean, I'm all for killing Nazis, but there's a time and a place (may I suggest Germany, 1943?). Really, what am I supposed to say about this? It's a Call of Duty game, and a FPS on the PSP. Those two things either do it for you or they don't, and I can't imagine this will rock anyone's expectations one way or the other. I'm sure six-player ad hoc multiplayer is fun, but you and your five misguided friends are better off pooling your money to buy a PS2 and a copy of our next game...
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Call of Duty: Roads to Victory.
Purchase at Amazon $39.99 (free shipping)God of War II Dev. SCE Studios Santa Monica Pub. SCE Systems: PS2 MSRP: $49.99
Here we go! You think about days like this (especially when they're announced waaaay in advance), and when they finally come you don't know what to say. The first God of War was as perfect an action/adventure game as has ever existed, a brutally satisfying combination of pitch-perfect gameplay, pacing and presentation. Even the story was great, which can unfortunately be said about VERY few games. By all accounts this is a worthy sequel; not a lot needed to be changed, the lone downside being that PS3 owners will have a rough wait for the next one. Levels are gorgeous and epic even within themselves, combat is simple and satisfying, and ridiculously huge timing-based bosses are as impressive as they were two years ago. This is likely the PS2's swan song, but what a way to go out - God of War stands atop an ocean of mediocrity in todays gaming landscape, and there are few better ways to cast your vote of confidence in quality than picking up GoW2.
Cheapest Price:
Family Video is offering God of War II for $43.99 on their website and shipping is only 99 cents. Circuit City is offering a free God of War II t-shirt with your in-store purchase.
Purchase at Amazon $49.99 (free shipping) Purchase at Family Video $43.99 (99 cent shipping)Details on the free God of War II t-shirt can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 Dev. EA Pub. EA Systems: Wii MSRP: $49.99
If Wii Sports golf and Super Swing Golf didn't do it for you, well, you should probably stop
ing buying golfing games on the Wii. It seems TWPGAT07 is less precise than Wii Sports in it's swinging mechanics, but who wouldn't rather play as an arrogant millionaire than a cute lil' avatar of themselves? If you're actually in the market for the game, yes it's as robust as its seventeen other iterations. There's really not a lot else to say, so I'll let one of Gamestop.com's more eloquent customer previews sum it up: "finally a game with reall people instead of dumb cartoons to use the hard but wonderful wii remote cant wait //this is gunna be great i can just sense it lolz." Indeed good sir, indeed.Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.
Purchase at Amazon $49.95 (free shipping)Shipwreck takes a look at the rest of this week's releases:
Call of Duty 3: Gold Edition Dev. Treyarch Invention Pub. Activision Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
It's only a few months after the initial release, but Activision is releasing another edition of Call of Duty 3. If you didn't rush out and buy the original at launch, this version features a bonus DVD and a free download of the Valor Map Pack which is currently $10 on the Live Marketplace. If Activision keeps up this trend that started with Call of Duty 2, it may always be worth waiting for the better value version to arrive. That's assuming you can wait a few months to satiate your Nazi killing crave.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Call of Duty 3: Gold Edition this week, but if you waited this long, why not wait until next week when Circuit City is going to be selling it for $39.99?
Purchase at EB Games $59.99Details on next week's Circuit City sale can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
College Hoops 2K7 Dev. Visual Concepts Pub. 2K Sports Systems: PS3 MSRP: $59.99
Well, this one's pretty self-explanatory. The solid College Hoops series makes its way to the PS3 just in time for March Madness and a month before irrelevancy sets in.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for College Hoops 2K7.
Purchase at Amazon $59.82 (free shipping)Herbie Rescue Rally Dev. Disney Interactive Pub. Disney Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
I use to really love watching Herbie movies when I was a young. I remember several afternoons of enjoying the antics of Herbie followed by another of my favorites: Condorman. Apparently, this game has nothing to do with Condorman, but instead focuses on the typical story of an animal sanctuary that is getting overtaken by a
toxic waste factory. You help
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Herbie Rescue Rally.
Purchase at Amazon $29.99 (free shipping)Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach Dev. Sega Pub. Ubi Soft Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
It's nice to know that the elderly have plenty of brain stimulators to choose from on the DS. And, in case your senility has progressed to the point where you can't remember if you played this one or not, this is the one where you try to improve your "Brain Age" through several "Brain Training" activities. Now grab a can of Boost and fire up the Rascal, it's time to go spend another $20.
Cheapest Price:
There don’t appear to be any specific deals for Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach.
Purchase at Amazon $19.99 (free shipping if your total order is $25)Spectrobes Dev. Jupiter Corporation Pub. Disney Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
Just about every review/preview I've read on Spectrobes has pegged this game as a dull Pokemon style game with slightly different mechanics. You're tasked with finding fossils and awakening these "Spectrobes" so that you can train, evolve, and battle them in your quest to save the galaxy. You probably know whether or not this sort of thing is your bag.
Cheapest Price:
Both Best Buy and Target are offering codes for exclusive characters for Spectrobes this week.
Purchase at Amazon $29.82 (free shipping)Details on the exclusive codes from Best Buy and Target can be found in speedy1961's thread here.
General Deals that could be applied to save you some money:
As always Best Buy's Gamer Gift Card $5 Coupon can be applied to save you $5 on any of these games. Check out all the details here.
(Please note that you must have already signed up for both of the following deals, but the purchase periods are still active.)
Paypal is currently offering a $15 rebate on qualifying $30 purchases. Check out all the details here.
Google Checkout is still running their $10 off any $10 or more purchase for new users. Check out the details here.
Feedback:
Did we miss a good sale on a game? Did we miss previewing a game completely? Well, the only way that everyone can know a better deal is out there is to let us know about it. Post deals you've found or games that we missed in the thread so that CAGs can make sure they are getting the absolute best prices on new releases.
