New Releases: Week of August 2, 2016
August is finally here! There’s nothing like summer vacations, trips to the lake, backyard cookouts, and snow cones. There’s also nothing like sunburns, drowning in a river, and being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Maybe we’re better off waiting this out in the game room with a frosty brew and a new game or two. This week we have a lot of board games, a drowning simulator, Batman in Walking Dead form, oversexualized Japanese girls, Police Chief Duke Nukem, and a Final Fantasy game that you play on a phone.
Abzu
Platform: PS4
Release Date: August 2
The artist behind Journey has created another “video game as art” piece, this time under the sea. The game looks to be short on narrative but big on exploration and atmosphere. Swim with the whales, ride a shark, drown in a river. Okay, maybe not that last one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2G54w8H4oM
Batman: The Telltale Series Ep. 1- Realm of Shadows
Platforms: XB1, 360, PS3, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS, Android
Release Date: August 2
Telltale is cashing in on DC’s premiere franchise starring a guy who thinks he’s a bat and only works at night because it’s too hot to run around and fight in the sun while wearing leather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za8G70bbKRY
Battleship
Platforms: XB1, PS4
Release Date: August 2
I had originally assumed that this was an updated version of the PS3/360 game from 2012: I was wrong. It’s the video game version of the actual board game. Bwahahaha. Sorry, I meant good idea, Ubisoft. I’m sure it will be a huge hit.
I couldn’t find a game trailer, presumably because it was too exciting for YouTube, but insomniacs may want to check out the website for more information.
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-GB/game/battleship/
Cannon Brawl
Platform: PS4
Release Date: August 2
This is a lot like Castlestorm, but developed on a phone and then ported to the PS4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aCDO0OwPDo
Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked
Platform: PS4
Release Date: August 2
The DLC for the cartoony survival game has arrived, in tropical pirate form. The expansion boasts new weather effects, new beasties, and the ability to bounce back between DLC and main game, with your booty intact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScnLxvFEWg
Gal Gun: Double Peace
Platforms: PS4, Vita
Release Date: August 2
This Japanese import has the player shooting wide-eyed females with a pheromone gun. I’m sure it’s exactly as lame as it sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7_a14cO9Gc
Risk: Urban Assault
Platforms: XB1, 360, PS3, PS4
Release Date: August 2
Oh, another board game on the console! It’s our lucky week. This time, Risk is taken into a post apocalyptic setting without the global scale. I’m calling it Gamma World Block Party. Once again, Ubi doesn’t have a trailer up so here’s a clip of an army dude dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4oLdCuSKHg
This is the Police
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Release Date: August 2
In this game, the player assumes the role of Police Chief, voiced by Duke Nukem’s Jon St. John, in order to make half a million bucks before retirement. This one is more strategy than action, and you can play good cop or bad cop. I know you’ll do the right thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vi7AEY-Y-I
Tricky Towers
Platform: PS4
Release Date: August 2
Part Jenga, part Tetris, but with competitive multiplayer. Whatever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn6ltQrKy5I
Mobius Final Fantasy
Platforms: iOS, Android
Release Date: August 3
This is a mobile Final Fantasy card game for mobile phones. I’m kind of burned out on FF, but if you have a mobile phone and enough cash saved for a “free-to-play” game, then give it a shot. It promises to be different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipfJv4Qp6g
Overcooked
Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
Release Date: August 3
Overcooked is a competitive cooking sim in increasingly unlikely culinary environments, like between moving trucks, in outer space, or during an earthquake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J39h5o-m1EI