The games of September 2011

September 6

Dead Island

Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 9

Sure, we were in cahoots with Deep Silver to make these bitchin' videos, but our involvement came from our genuine interest in a cool co-op shooter. It's a combination of everything we've loved about the "zombie genre" over the past few years. Co-op, weapon crafting, brutal violence and melee combat. Exploration and interesting side-quests should theoretically hold our interest over the course of its 30 hour campaign, but the early industry gossip has us concerned about its overall quality.

Resistance 3

Platform: PS3
EU: September 9

Apparently, this is the one, guys. Resistance 3 could be the one Resistance game that's actually, truly excellent beyond its nifty weaponry. The New York City setting is a cool one, too, since we can't seem to get enough of seeing America eviscerated by foreign entities. If nothing else, the story should be a great one -- Insomniac's already killed one main character, so nobody's safe in the climax of the Chimeran attack.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 9

Captain Titus of the Ultramarines is a short-haired, gruff space marine with a can-do attitude. He's also the star of an over-the-shoulder shooter that looks suspiciously like Gears of War. Don't let this discourage you -- yes, it all sounds generic, but Space Marine has plenty of good stuff going for it. Its melee combat is the focus here, not the shooting, and one of the game's mantras is "cover is for the weak." Expect to charge headlong into a horde of orks with nothing but a chainsword (you can do the math to figure that one out, yeah?) and a pistol. It's as satisfying as it is violent, and it's as unlike Gears as any shooter you've played since that became the go-to comparison for action games. Space Marine also comes with a free downloadable co-op expansion a month after its release, too.

Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten

Platform: PS3
EU: October 28

We are literally incapable of doing a better job of explaining Disgaea 4 than its trailer does, so we're just going to steal choice quotes from the masterpiece you see above: "Make your manliest fantasy come true! Manly fancy! Outrageous gameplay! Rampage of giant monsters? Ultra Super Transforming Unification! Over-the-top effects! Radical damage! Extreme stats! The insurrectionist of the games industry! This is Disgaea 4!" Really, though, all of this sounds genuinely awesome. These games are traditionally gorgeous, almost infinitely replayable (seriously, do they ever end?), and wildly fun. Disgaea 4 is the sort of oh-so-Japanese game Internet nerds give a bad rap. Definitely consider giving it a shot. "One in every home!"

Rise of Nightmares

Platform: Xbox 360
EU: September 9

This horror game uses the Kinect to get its creep on. The motion detection wasn't great when we played it at E3, but the ideas are definitely there. Exploring spooky locales with not much more than lead pipes and your fists to fend off the undead sounds swell. The idea that you're actually "in the world" is a good one, even if the awkward gameplay is all over the place.

Driver: San Francisco

Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 9

After numerous delays, Driver: San Francisco finally hits shelves this month. Hopefully. Its demo was fun enough, and the multiplayer impressed us a couple months back. The much-talked-about Shift mechanic -- which allows our comatose and dreaming hero to warp from one driver's seat to another at almost any time -- should give the game the leg up it needs to stand out. The Driver name is sort of tainted at this point, and rightfully so, but we're hoping this one brings its A-game to redeem itself.

Crimson Alliance

Platform: Xbox 360
EU: September 7

Hey, it's like Diablo on the Xbox! Wait, that was Torchlight. Oh, wait this has co-op? Ha! Take that, Torchlight, we'll see you later. Crimson Alliance's online hack-and-slash RPGing is right up most of our alleys, and that it was free if you bought the lot of (mostly wonderful) Summer of Arcade titles makes it all the sweeter. The Borderlands-y look to it is delightful, too. Thick lines, bright colors, piles of equippable armor? Yeah. Yes. Please.

September 13

Bit.Trip Saga

Platform: 3DS
EU: N/A

The Bit.Trip series saw huge success on PC and Wii. The creative, challenging platformers and sweet-ass chiptunes rhythm games won over players with their old school nature—not just in the 8-bit art, but in the core sense that they were just fun. Slapping six of ‘em onto a 3DS cartridge sounds swell to us, and we’re all about replaying the Bit.Trip games we loved and finally checking out the ones we missed

NHL 12

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 9

EA's hockey series isn't bringing much new to the table aside from some improved physics -- touch-ups on last year's total, impressive reworking; nothing major -- and the Legends mode. Imagine the Be a Pro campaign, where you skate around as a single dude struggling to level up and impress your coach, except you're a vetted dude like Jeremy Roenick. It seems to defeat the purpose of the satisfying grind to do great, but the novelty of playing as pros is alluring for puck-heads. So is smashing fools through glass and knocking goalies on their asses.

God of War: Origins Collection

Platform: PS3
EU: September 16

As if we needed another excuse to own another God of War disc, this $40 HD-ification of the PSP games (Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, both awesome) should round out any excuse to ever need to own another copy ever again. Right? Sure, Sony could make boatloads by releasing these games on a pair of blood-red sneakers or making it playable on our toaster, but come on. They wouldn't release these games again, would they? Who are we kidding. We'd buy every single one again if it meant hanging from a ceiling fan to control Kratos.

White Knight Chronicles II

Platform: PS3
EU: June 10

European reviews were all over the board for White Knight Chronicles II, the sequel to a game whose worldwide scores were all over the board, but mostly averaged out in alright territory. Action RPGs aren't exactly hard to come by, so it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a game stand out, particularly if it doesn't do much in the way of improving on its predecessor. We'll see how that shakes out when we see it through, but count yourself out if you're not already invested in the story. That is, unless you want to dive into a years-old RPG during this busy, booming, RPG-heavy holiday. But hey, it has a huge robot thing clobbering monsters. That's cool.

Supremacy MMA

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 23

Rather than compete directly with the, ahem, heavy hitters of the MMA gaming market, Supremacy strives for a more arcade-y approach to the sport -- namely, it doesn't seem to care about it as a sport at all. It's more like Street Fighter than UFC Undisputed, not necessarily in depth and quality (it's been rough each time we've seen it) but in that 2D + punch + kick concept kinda way. Hopefully it makes up for its overall clumsiness with the vicious violence it's touting.

The Gunstringer

Platform: Xbox 360
EU: September 30

Twisted Pixel's newest requires commitment -- holding our arms out to navigate our guy like a marionette is draining. Painting over enemies with arm swipes, then finishing 'em off with a flick of the wrist, recoil style, is the easier bit of this Kinect action game. The world is wacky and cute in the way this dev's games are, but we aren't sold on it as a game just yet. We're interested in its western pew-pew, absolutely, but we're not rabid like we were with Ms 'Splosion Man.

September 20

Gears of War 3

Platform: Xbox 360
EU: September 20

Really, what do we need to say about this? It's Gears of War 3, man. Co-op, new Horde mode, new characters, rad multiplayer...we are all already in. If you're coming in fresh, it's worth your time to play the first two Gears games. If you're stubborn and refuse, well, this is a third-person shooter with tough dudes using chainsaw bayonets to bisect aliens. That's pretty rad, right? Go for it.

Resident Evil 4 HD

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
EU: September 20

We aren't willing to shell out $20 for a lot of HD remakes -- we'd have gone that far for Bionic Commando Rearmed, though, seriously that game was awesome. Time doesn't do a lot of our old favorites any favors. RE4 is one of the few standouts. This is its fourth port and it's held up beautifully each time. Leon Kennedy's spooky shooter pioneered a lot of what we now associate with modern games, and it should be great playing it in HD. Plus, it has all the bonus content the game's ever had. It's a lot of game, and at $20 it's a must-have. Go out of your way to play this if you haven't yet. It's a piece of history at this point.

Otomedius Excellent

Platform: Xbox 360
EU: N/A

We’re considering writing this whole entry with boob jokes in every sentence, even though it would be positively juvenile, but come on. This Gradius-inspired, oddly named shooter is basically about boobs. Spending $50 on the Collector’s Edition even gets you a pillow case for bonus boobage. Ignoring the boobalicious box art and the serious amount of blatant in-game boobery, let’s acknowledge that Konami is doing hardcore shmup nerds a huge favour by bringing the titular excellence outside the island. Granted, it’s a favor you pay $30 for, but this is such an obscure game in a nearly forgotten genre that the fact we can play abreast with multiplayer pals is nearly miraculous. Heh. Abreast.

Kirby Mass Attack

Platform: DS
EU: October 28

What is it about Kirby that enables such goofy, cool, creative thinking from Nintendo? Epic Yarn was child's play, but it was the greatest, cleverest possible kind. Kirby Mass Attack gives us a group of Kirby clones to smash, squish, grab, break, and generally cause a ruckus in the vicinity of, well, whatever happens to be around. We'll miss the suck-and-spit Kirby, but we're down withflinging pink balls at enemies and mashing our team them into bigger Kirbys.

Frogger 3D

Platform: 3DS
EU: Fall 2011

It is Frogger on a piece of plastic that conveniently fits inside a Nintendo 3DS game console.

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter

Platform: PC
EU: October 6

It's concerning that we haven't seen or heard a lot about this one considering how close we are to release -- it's out, uh, pretty much now as of this article's publishing. Sword of the Stars is a well-liked 4X strategy game. If you don't know what 4X means, it may be too late -- this is an incredibly complex strategy sub-genre that's as engaging as it is inaccessible. Publisher Paradox isn't known for half-assing its strategy games, since they've got a lock on the hardcore side of that market. The short version of what Lords of Winter is, though, is a sci-fi strategy game with space ships killing the crap out of each other. Good luck, or welcome back, depending on which side of the 4X spectrum you fall on.

F1 2011

Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS
EU: September 23

Unless you're a hardcore F1 nut, the technical specifications of this series will evade you year over year. The short version of what makes F1 2011 special is, like past games, it's got at least a lot more realism, and the rain looks really, really, really good. Really, though, this is a Codemasters racing game that proves this publisher gets it -- few can pull of incredible racing like the Codies, and year over year F1 impresses the pants off its niche (and European) audience. The multiplayer focus for 2011 should round out the past games' shortcomings, leaving little room to wonder what's left for F1 to add next time.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

Platform: PSP
EU: TBD

They're really just going to neglect the Inno-Sin pun, huh? OK, fine. We got it. Persona 2: Innocent Sin has been a long-time coming. Finally, its high-school drama and demon-murdering is here, it's in English, and it looks hot. The remake's combat system got a few visual and technical tweaks to make it easier to keep up with, and the addition of some new sidequests will keep JRPG nerds busier than they already would be obsessing over P2. Because it's an Atlus release, and because Atlus rules, you'll score a soundtrack if you buy the physical UMD.

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns

Platform: 3DS (Oct.), DS
EU: N/A

In traditional Harvest Moon fashion, light conflict -- this time, two towns feuding over whose culinary expertise is superior -- fuels your farming. We plan on growing hella tomatoes to buy a house that'll impress a lady. Then we're gonna marry that lady, milk some fat cows and cook until everyone in both towns realizes we're better than everyone else. This will unite the towns. Hopefully in harmony, and not in a way that means they'll try to cook us. That'd be a hell of a Harvest Moon plot twist, though. We expect a lot of what's worked for this series in its 28 billion predecessors, which is fine. We're suckers, and we accept it.

September 27

X-Men Destiny

Platform: 360, PS3, Wii, DS
EU: September 30

We've heard sweet F-A about Silicon Knights' X-Men RPG since its announcement, at least in terms of marketing. It didn't impress a lot of people at Comic-Con, but we're still hopeful. We're big ol' X-Men nerds, and even if the combat doesn't look the greatest, we're super into the idea of exploring the Marvel universe and interacting with the X-Men as an up-and-coming badass mutant. Still, don't be surprised to see this slip out of the Holiday season -- unless this is another case of Activision feeding another licensed game to the wolves.

(If this game actually makes it out for its intended release date I'll personally eat my shoes. Actually, they're brand new, so I'd better not, but I stand by the gesture's meaning.)

FIFA Soccer 2012

Platform: PC, 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PSP, PS2
EU: September 30

FIFA 12 gets an animation and physics overhaul that is positively astounding. The physics stuff that's made Fight Night and NHL so beautiful in recent years gloms its way onto FIFA's traditionally stellar animation system, and the effect is the uncanny valley in motion. Deeper, more specific ball control and a bolstered defense system also make their way into the quintessential footy franchise this time around. If that doesn't tickle you, well, in the least it should be the greatest soccer game yet made. So there's that.

PES 2012

Platform: 360, PS3
EU: October 14

PES releases a suicidal couple weeks late, lagging behind its often superior competition in both time and quality, we reckon. This is mostly a tech upgrade, from the looks and sounds of it. Konami's touting its look and feel as being "improved," which is to say, "not totally garbage like they've been the last few years," as well as a similar A.I. boost. The PES series used to shine, but it's recently been content to float by on being just acceptable, while FIFA makes huge strides toward soccer superstardom. Here's hoping the PES faithful find what they're looking for.

Serious Sam: BFE

Platform: PC, 360, PS3
EU: September 27

Don't expect any depth here -- just violence and yelling. BFE is a lot like the other Serious Sams, with guts and explosions and endless racket that sets off your entire set of old-school PC gaming nerves in all the right ways. It also has 16 player co-op, which is just incomprehensible and awesome.

The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection

Platform: PS3
EU: September 30

While we wait for Team Ico to get off their lazy--sorry, we mean super-busy--asses and finish The Last Guardian, we'll sink a weekend or two into replaying its past masterpieces. The games in this collection share an eerie atmosphere throughout, and it's a strong link between these worlds. Ico is about a boy rescuing a girl -- simple enough, but the puzzles and constant fending-off of shadowy figures keeps the lad on his toes. Our main man in Shadow of the Colossus is doing a bit of fighting for a lady, too, but he's climbing (and killing) massive creatures instead of structures. These PS2 games have aged well in terms of everything but their dated yet still engrossing gameplay. If you missed out, no questions about it: Buy this thing.

Air Conflicts: Secret Wars

Platform: Xbox 360, PSe
EU: July 8

Airplanes. Bullets. Skies. PlayStation Move. 3D. Bargain price. Some description assembly required.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD

Platform: Xbox 360 PS3
EU: September 27

Remember when we said we wouldn't pay $20 for a lot of HD remakes, because a lot of older games just don't hold up, or are, in fact, worse in HD regardless of how great our memories are? Yeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

Platform: DS
EU: July 1

Forget that Solatorobo has furry fantasy written all over it. Red the Hunter faired well critically when it hit the UK a couple months back, and with good reason. This is a game about a bounty-hunting dog who flies around on a robot dragon. Conceptually, we're rock solid. One of the pooch's pals is named Chocolat Gelato. OK, some ridiculous. We're down. Oh, and it looks like a rad little exploration-heavy adventure game with puzzly bits and air combat. Cool, yeah, count us in. It's been too long since we've played a rock solid action/adventure game on our DSs.

MDK2 HD

Platform: PC
EU: September 27

Sep 1, 2011