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Pick & Play: September 4 – 10

Pick & Play: September 4 – 10

Pick & Play: September 4 – 10

After a power-less week in the wake of Irene, I have returned to bring you the joyous tidings of the Fall gaming season. Games, games everywhere! More than you can play in a week, inundating you with choices! Which will you pick to play?

Resistance 3 Resistance 3
(PS3)

The third and, according to Insomniac, final chapter in their alternate-history sci-fi first-person shooter series, Resistance 3 puts players in the head of Joseph Capelli, a civilian in only the strictest sense of the word. He latches onto a glimmer of hope in a Chimera-occupied America, working his way across the bitter, broken landscape of the mid-western United States to New York City, in hopes of finding what may be a cure for the Chimera virus itself.

Though the basic gameplay remains unaltered, Resistance 3 introduces Move support and sees the return of the weapon wheel and health bar from the original title, as well as both new and returning weapons to fill out Capelli’s arsenal. Weapons feature a more haggard aesthetic, human ones thrown together from what the remaining population could scrounge together. As for the multiplayer, competitive matches have been cut down to 16 players, and, while there is a co-operative play mode, the eight-player co-op of Resistance 2 will not be making a return. Resistance 3 will be available this Tuesday, September 6.

Driver: San Francisco Driver: San Francisco
(PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

In Driver: San Francisco, you are detective and top-class wheelman John Tanner. You are also in a coma in the wake of a devastating accident following the escape and attempted re-apprehension of convicted felon Charles Jericho. Taking advantage of its surreal, dream-based plotline, Driver: San Francisco introduces the “SHIFT” mechanic, which allows players to instantly jump from vehicle to vehicle on the road, as well as survey the city from far above. Eschewing the shooting and on-foot sections of previous entries in the Driver series, San Francisco is purely about the cars, with over 120 licensed vehicles that suffer body damage as you crash them through the streets of San Francisco. The game also offers a suite of online modes, ranging from traditional races to king of the hill matches and even capture the flag.

Driver: Renegade is San Francisco’s 3DS companion entry. Set between the first two Driver games rather than after the events of the third, Renegade has a smaller retinue of vehicles, but features similar gameplay, with over 100 missions and garage tuning (a feature absent from San Francisco). Both games will be out on their respective systems Tuesday, September 6.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
(PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

If you have even a passing interest in stepping into the power-armored boots of an Imperial Space Marine and mowing down some Orks with your bolter and chainsword, you owe it to yourself to try out Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Luckily, there’s a demo out now, so you can make an informed decision as to whether its visceral, bloody combat, satisfying gunplay and over-the-top jump-pack antics are going to excise that cash from your wallet. The only thing delicate about this game is the balance it strikes between fast-paced third-person shooter and button-mashingly good beat’em up. Even better, it draws on the intensely dark mythos of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The game is out this Tuesday, September 6.

Dead Island Dead Island
(PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Don’t confuse this with Left 4 Dead. Though both games feature four-player co-op and copious swarms of zombies to kill, Dead Island is, as the name implies, set on a (fictional) island paradise, where a zombie outbreak has claimed vacationers who now crave only your brains. Perhaps more pertinent than setting, however, is Dead Island’s gameplay, which focuses on melee combat rather than gunplay and works it all into an action-RPG framework, a la an Elder Scrolls title (or the more recent Fallout games).

Cutting off heads, bashing in skulls, incinerating flesh or simply mowing the walking dead down with the bumper of your jeep—Dead Island offers you options for your slaying pleasure. Care to add a touch of Borderlands into the equation? Besides featuring level-locked, procedurally generated weaponry, Dead Island allows for up to four friends to slay together online. If you’re sick of Pandora, or just played the first Borderlands to death and are busy salivating over the second, this game would be well worth your time. Dead Island will be shambling into stores on Tuesday, September 6.

Star Fox 64 3D Star Fox 64 3D
(3DS)

Does this game require an introduction? It’s only one of the best rail shooters ever released, arguably the greatest entry in the Star Fox series and, now, features improved graphics, a smoother framerate and wireless multiplayer. If you tire of taking Fox McCloud on his tour of the Lylat system and desire, instead, to shoot down other Arwings in online combat, you’ll be happy to know that Star Fox 64’s original, severely limited multiplayer options have been expanded with new maps, various power-ups, and a camera system that displays your grimacing visage for others to see when they inevitably send laser-fire up your tail pipe. Star Fox 64 3D will be barrel-rolling into retail on Friday, September 9.

Disgaea 4 Disgaea 4
(PS3)

The Disgaea games made Nippon Ichi Software’s mark in the United States. Featuring over-the-top RPG action, with ridiculously high level caps and insanely deep skill systems, Disgaea titles temper their purposely broken gameplay with copious humor surrounding lovable (and generally selfish) characters. Demons duke it out amongst each other in pursuit of control over the Netherworld as its overlord. Disgaea 4 will be out, dood, on Tuesday, September 6.

Rise of Nightmares Rise of Nightmares
(Xbox 360)

Ah, a Kinect game! At first glance, a zombie-centric rail shooter, Rise of Nightmares actually eschews rails entirely, offering players control over how they traverse the decrepit and unsettling environments of the game. Furthermore, it features approximately 40 weapons, each of which degrades with use until it wouldn’t splatter a rotten grape, much less a zombie’s festering brain-case.

The first Mature-rated title for the Kinect, Rise of Nightmares promises a deeper, more traditional gaming experience than the device has yet delivered, and it will be exciting to see how its mechanics pan out when it hits stores this Tuesday, September 6.

DLC Slated for release this week:

  • Rock of Ages (PC) September 7
  • BloodRayne: Betrayal (PSN) September 6
  • Crimson Alliance (XBLA) September 7

    Hidden Gem of the Week: The Impossible Game

    Out on PSN this Tuesday, September 6, The Impossible Game was originally released as an Xbox Live Indie title. The very definition of simplicity, players are represented by an orange block that slides along the screen. They must avoid obstacles in their path by jumping over them with perfect timing, all to an addictive techno beat. The game is short, only minutes at a stretch, but the difficulty is intense, requiring not only perfect memory of the level’s layout, but also exacting timing to avoid long stretches of spikes in a single leap. Starting you off immediately if you die, The Impossible Game is one of those “just one more try” titles that you start out playing for a five-minute diversion and walk away from an hour later, wondering where all the time has gone.

    By Shelby Reiches
    CCC Contributing Writer

    *The views expressed within this article are solely the opinion of the author and do not express the views held by Cheat Code Central.*

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