CAG Foreplay: New Releases (2/6/07)

CAG's rocksolidaudio previews the new releases for the week of February 6th, 2007 and I try and save you a few bucks in case you are looking to grab one of the many RPGs that hit this week (or perhaps you prefer monkeys in go-karts).

Deal searching is a little behind this week as I had a busy weekend due to Super Bowl parties and other obligations. I'll update with any deals that I come across, but Amazon seems to be your best bet for a lot of these online. If you are buying at a store use your standard Gamer Gift Card at Best Buy or any other in-store coupons you may have. Expect the deals to be more fully flushed out next week.

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia Dev. Gust Pub. NIS Systems: PS2 MSRP: $49.99
Japanese RPGs aren't easy to write about - you either play them or you don't, or it's Final Fantasy. While Western RPGs are exploring notions of choice, consequence and character development that isn't tied solely to the narrative, many JRPGs are still banking of the appeal of sprites, random battles and item synthesis, with worlds and stories too complex to make sound interesting in a few sentences (you're a young gent in a floating city facing a mysterious threat, if you care). There's nothing wrong with that, but it's generally pretty cut and dry if this is your scene or not. If you've played other games published by NIS you'll likely enjoy this too, and you're better off picking it up now than trying to track down an inevitably tricky-to-find copy in a few months.

While some retailers are touting an artbook as a bonus for pre-ordering or purchasing from their stores, in reality, all versions of this game come with the artbook. It's a nice touch if you are considering this game in the first place and it might soften the blow of paying for this game.
Purchase at Amazon



Capcom Puzzle World Dev. Capcom Pub. Capcom Systems: PSP MSRP: $29.99
It's been a torturous wait for puzzle fiends, but Super Puzzle Fighter II is finally available again (the seminal PS1 original is a bear to find) with two new modes from the Japanese release to serve as icing on an already addictive cake. It's quite arguably the best puzzle game ever (though Tetris Attack gets MY vote), a simple falling-block fiasco but with the obscene layers of depth you expect from the greats. There are four other games on the disc too, (hence the worldly title) - Block Block , Buster Bros., Super Buster Bros., and Buster Buddies, the latter three being pretty fantastic if you're into harpoons and red balloons. There's also a couple of nice bells and whistles, including screenshot capturing and the ability to use pictures on your memory stick as backgrounds in the Buster games. Take THAT, Russian palaces!
Purchase at Amazon


Diddy Kong Racing DS Dev. Rare Pub. Nintendo Systems: DS MSRP: $34.99
As if being proficient at baseball, basketball, and tennis wasn't enough, Diddy Kong tackled driving, aviation and hovercraft piloting in the N64 era. It was overshadowed by Mario Kart despite being a damn fun racing game, and it's nice to see Rare step up and revive the IP so handily just when Mario Kart DS is starting to get old. As mentioned, the game employs three fairly different racing modes, complimented by a relatively unique power-up system - if you hold onto an item and pick it up again the next time around the track, it levels up. There are also several minigames and full six-player wi-fi play once you complete the single player portion of the game; let's just hope there's no equivalent of "snaking" online and we're good to go.
Purchase at Amazon


Lunar Knights Dev. Kojima Productions Pub. Konami Systems: DS MSRP: $34.99
If you didn't play Boktai or Boktai 2 on the GBA, you missed the rare privilege of having to fight the glare of natural sunlight on an LCD screen while hacking your way through dungeons, thanks to the photosensitive cartridge. For better or worse that unique mechanic has been dropped, and what's left is a damn solid hack-n'-slash action-RPG by most accounts. There's still a weather element to the game, but it resides on the top screen of the game rather than the actual sky above you. The visuals are beautifully drawn anime fare (with full cutscenes to boot), action-heavy gameplay appears to be a nice mix of sword and gun combat, and there is even (somewhat bizarrely) several 3D spaceship shooting segments to break up the action. It's nothing that couldn't be done on another system ultimately, but these types of games work well portable and you could do a lot worse while waiting for a Hotel Dusk restocking.
Purchase at Amazon


Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 Dev. Konami Pub. Konami Systems: Xbox 360, PS2, PSP, DS MSRP: $49.99/$39.99/$39.99/$29.99
It was a curiosity what they would do when they reached the eleventh game in the series, so it's good that they took care of that awkwardness before they arrived there (World Soccer Winning Eleven Eleven just doesn't roll off the tongue). Anyhow, Winning Eleven has been the better soccer game for the entirely of it's run, even if it's not as well known or licensed as FIFA. Gameplay has been refined, animations, A.I. and online play have been improved - it's a brilliant package all around if you're a true football fan. Simple.
Purchase at Amazon


Final Fantasy VI Advance Dev. Square Enix Pub. Square Enix Systems: GBA MSRP: $34.99
Everyone enjoys a good heapin' helping of portable Final Fantasy goodness. Having to fight the same three bats over and over again just so you can take on a slightly larger bat isn't quite as aneurysm-inducing when you're sitting on a train or in traffic. This is one of more universally-liked Fantasies too, even if it's a bit on the easier side; there's also a new translation, new job classes, new dungeons, and everything else you'd rightfully expect from a re-release like this. It would be nice to see a new idea or two from Square these days (or at LEAST a sequel to Einhander), but you know what they say - a million Japanese schoolchildren can't be wrong.

Aeris called, your copy of Final Fantasy VI is in. Like a lot of CAGs, you've been saving a place for this one next to the other white boxes with I's and V's that you bought on clearance and have never opened.
Purchase at Amazon


Shipwreck wades through the rest:

SnoCross 2 featuring Blair Morgan Dev. Crave Entertainment Pub. Crave Entertainment Systems: PS2 MSRP: $19.99
Maybe this game came out last week, maybe this game came out this week: I have about the same level of certainty on what Blair Morgan's gender might be. Regardless, if you're in the market for a budget port of a nearly year old Xbox snowmobile racing game featuring an adrogynously named celebrity, well this is your only choice this week (or possibly last week).
[URL="http://www.amazon.com/Snocross-2-Featuring-Blair-Morgan/dp/B000A87T42/"]Purchase at Amazon
[/URL]

MVP '07 NCAA Baseball Dev. EA Sports Pub. Electronic Arts Systems: PS2 MSRP: $29.99
It's the college licensed baseball game that EA didn't think was compelling enough to develop for the next gen systems! Sure, I have a better chance of picking out Blair Morgan in a crowd than identifying who any of these fake players are supposed to be, but last year's version was an enjoyable baseball game. This year they've added more teams, more stadiums, and actual College World Series footage. As for the feature people might actually care about, a new analog pitching scheme is in place to go along with modified analog hitting controls.
Purchase at Amazon


Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI Dev. Koei Pub. Koei Systems: PS2 MSRP: $39.99
It's the month of romance and this seems like the perfect gift for that special person in your life, that is, if that person somehow has a fetish with the less mashy sibling of Koei's Dynasty Warriors series. Hey, Roman numerals keep getting added to the end of these games, so somewhere out there is a group of people that will actually be more willing to sleep with you if you give them this game. If you fall into that group, it looks like there are plenty of minor improvements to help you once again unite feudal China with your turn-based diplomacy and warfare skills.
Purchase at Amazon

This is such a nice thread.

Wow , what a trendmendous undertaking , I salute you .

Glancing at the reviews for Ar Tornelico, Lunar Knights, FFVI:Advance, and Capcom Puzzle World, I've come to the conclusion that if I didn't know anything about those games to begin with, I would have any better or an idea after reading those paragraphs.

I appreciate the effort, but yinz need to cut down on determining whether or not we're this kind of gamer, that kind of gamer, cutting down franchises, assuming we know what an "NIS Game" is, fluffing-up a 75-word paragraph with unnecessary quasi-witty banter. All of the previous is well and good, I suppose, if the following is included:

something about the ing game.

The only thing I know about Ar Tornelico is that it's just like every NIS game released ever. If I've played them before (and I have), that's fine, I suppose, but it's a fool's errand to tell an SRPG gamer that this SRPG is just like every other SRPG. In doing so, you've completely ruined any credibility as a reviewer, because the one crowd you're appealing to in the review understands the massive amount of nuance in an individual game. Imagine the following review:

[quote name='me']Madden 08: Same shit, different cover athlete.[/quote]

And you'll get what I mean. It's pretty evident that whichever of you two wrote that is no fan of SRPGs, and as a result, shouldn't be reviewing them.

The same goes for FFVI - now, in this case, it's fair to assume many of us have had experience with a 13-year old highly regarded game. OTOH, we want to know about the new features - not that a new translation exists, but if it changes the flow/appeal of the game. Is it good? How is the gameplay? FFV Advance played well, but FFIV Advance chugged along and ruined the experience for many gamers. Is VI more like IV or V in that regard? What about the new dungeon/other stuff? Tell me about them. Envision this, my parallel to this kind of review:

[quote name='me']Madden 08: Oh, it's got, like, different controls and stuff.[/quote]

As for Capcom Puzzle World, the only thing I know about the game is the name of the titles included in the set, and nothing about how they play, what they're like, how fun they are, how archaic they might be, what the surprises are, bonuses and things like that. Tell me about some of the unknown games - it might be fair to assume gamers know Puzzle Fighter, but not necessarily Buster Bros or whatever it is. Detail, man, detail!

As for Lunar Knights, that's actually a concise review. I take that back. I have a good idea of what the game is about, you don't labor on about the nonexistent "play in the sun" element, and you steer clear of the "if you're this kind of gamer" or "I wish Konami would make this game instead" nonsense.

Like I said, I appreciate the reviews, but they need a great deal of reworking to be of any use, IMO.

These aren't "reviews", we haven't played these games. This is just to give people an idea of what is out this week and a short blurb about each game (along with the cheapest price we can find). I think you are looking for this to be something that it isn't intended to be. Thank you for the constructive criticism, but I don't think we need to go as in depth as what you are suggesting.

Capcom Puzzle World - $19.99 in two months, bet on it, just like EVERY OTHER CAPCOM PSP RELEASE EVER.

[quote name='shipwreck']These aren't "reviews", we haven't played these games. This is just to give people an idea of what is out this week and a short blurb about each game (along with the cheapest price we can find). I think you are looking for this to be something that it isn't intended to be. Thank you for the constructive criticism, but I don't think we need to go as in depth as what you are suggesting.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough, I was misreading that you cats were actually doing the reviews. I still stand by some of my comments, though.

[quote name='mykevermin']Fair enough, I was misreading that you cats were actually doing the reviews. I still stand by some of my comments, though.[/QUOTE]

Oh, well we are writing the blurbs if that's what you mean. Like I said, your comments are appreciated and this is only our second week doing this, so I'm sure we'll improve as we go along.

[quote name='shipwreck']Oh, well we are writing the blurbs if that's what you mean. Like I said, your comments are appreciated and this is only our second week doing this, so I'm sure we'll improve as we go along.[/QUOTE]

Well, I knew you two wrote the blurbs, but what I meant was that you two were in the luxurious position of being able to play and review the games ahead of time.

Sorry for the confusion, and if I came of as a lil' snarky. The latter, however, is evidently my M.O.

Already got Ar Tonelico, and picking up Romance tomorrow. I might have to get Capcom Puzzle World as well. I have Puzzle Fighter on the GBA, but I'll take another version of it for sure! Plus I never played those Buster Bros. games, so those are a nice bonus.

I agree with part of myke's criticism: even if these are "previews" as opposed to reviews, it'd still be more helpful to have better encapsulations of what the game is all about.

I think we need bullet points about what the OP thinks is noteworthy about the game and what they see as possible negatives that would discourage purchase. I think less trying to be witty and more substance about what's going to make or break someone actually buying the game is what's needed overall.

Still I appreciate the effort. At the very least, I know what's on tap this week without going all over for it.

Also, are we keeping this to just consoles or is this going to include PC, VC, or XBL-type stuff too?

And finally--and I'm surprised this wasn't executed yet--how about a Cheap Ass Rating? Instead of the usual star, point, or smiley score system, give it the "Buy it Now", or "Wait for the Price Drop" tag.

Why are the MSRPs for the DS games (DKR, FFVI, Lunar Knights) listed as $34.99 when no one else charges the extra $5 except for Gamestop? Wouldn't the MSRP be $29.99? Hell, even the link to Amazon has them as $29.99 or less.

We should have a couple of different people talk about new releases each week, maybe even debate each other.

Yah, another Winning Eleven, my favorite sports title of all time (Sorry NHL 2K, I still like you but you keep disappointing me in recent years).

[quote name='Scorch']We should have a couple of different people talk about new releases each week, maybe even debate each other.[/QUOTE]

Maybe even give them a podcast!

[quote name='Roufuss']Maybe even give them a podcast![/QUOTE]

Nah, that'd never work.

Looks like an Amazon ad. :lol: