New Game Releases: December 11th-17th, 2014

From a pair of premium priced child and horse-raising sims, sing-along software, a translator app, and a slew of older cartridge-based titles that have made their way onto the eShop, it’s that time of your for digital shovelware. But despite the considerable amount of chaff, there are a few notable titles arriving this week, with both Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- and the PC port of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes tempting players.

PlayStation 3
3 in 1 pack Targem Holidays Bundle (PSN, $11.99)
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (PSN, $49.99)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Now on PSN, $19.99)
Super Mega Baseball (PSN, $19.99, Cross Buy with PS4)

PlayStation 4
Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition Upgrade (PSN, DLC, $9.99)
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (PSN, $59.99)
Loadout (PSN, free-to-play)
Super Mega Baseball (PSN, $19.99, Cross Buy with PS3)
Tetris Ultimate (PSN, $9.99)

Wii U
Angry Birds Star Wars (new to eShop, $29.99)
Angry Birds Trilogy (new to eShop, $49.99)
Crash ‘n the Boys Street Challenge (eShop, $4.99)
Lucadian Chronicles (eShop, Free)

Xbox One
Kalimba (XGS, $9.99)

3DS
Angry Birds Star Wars (new to eShop, $29.99)
Angry Birds Trilogy (new to eShop, $29.99)
Harvest Moon 3 GBC (eShop, $4.99)
Hazumi (eShop, $3.99)
I Love My Little Boy (eShop, $24.99)
I Love My Little Girl (eShop, $24.99)
I Love My Horse (eShop, $24.99)
Moshi Monsters Katsuma Unleashed (new to eShop, $29.99)
Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park (new to eShop, $29.99)
My First Songs 2 (eShop, $4.99)
Talking Phrasebook – 7 Languages (eShop, $4.99)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition (new to eShop, $29.99)
Wipeout 2 (new to eShop, $29.99)
Xeodrifter (eShop, $9.99)

PS Vita
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee (PSN, $9.99)

PC
About Love, Hate and the other ones (Steam, $6.99)
bitDungeon II (Steam, $2.99)
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (Steam, $23.99)
Final Dusk (Steam, $4.24)
Frontiers (Steam, $14.99)
It’s a Wipe! (Steam, $4.99)
Marvin’s Mittens (Steam, $5.09)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Steam, $13.39)
Raven’s Cry (Steam, $49.99)
SunAge: Battle for Elysium (Steam, $15.29)
theHunter: Primal (Steam, $19.99)
The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition (Steam, $11.99)
The Original Strife: Veteran Edition (Steam, $7.49)

Robert’s Pick: Born during the concluding testing stages of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Press Play studio’s follow-up may not have the visual sumptuousness of most next-gen titles, but might just stand as the ultimate test of compatibility for local partners. The hook is simple: a pair of players (or even a solitary gamer) control two color-coded totems through stages of increasingly challenging platforms segment, sporadically switching mid-jump to bypass impasses. More than just a simple assessment of reflexes, Kalimba requires constant communication, patience, and forgiveness. As such, if you’re thinking about getting serious with someone, you might want to give it go; the $9.99 price is a fraction of the fee any divorce lawyer charges.

Gonçalo’s Pick: Strife is a forgotten PC gem that truly was ahead of its time back in 1996. Adding RPG mechanics and an open world to the fast paced action of a first person shooter may be common these days, but it certainly wasn’t back in the day. Navigating through the vast hub areas of a post-apocalyptic dark age was a truly immersive experience, especially considering NPCs could hinder your progress or come to your aid depending on how you treated them. Strife’s greatest limitation was most likely the aging Doom engine, which could just barely handle the art-style and technical artistry required to make this sort of game. Luckily The Original Strife: Veteran Edition seeks to fix most of these issues while remaining faithful to the original look and feel.