New Game Releases: June 7th-13th, 2018

With the Electronic Entertainment Expo drawing audience attention, this week’s schedule of releases is understandably succinct. But that won’t stop a few notable new titles from appearing on retail shelves and digital stores. From Jurassic World Evolution, Tempest 4000, to Muv Luv’s journey to Vita screens, the next seven days offer a few ways to pass time during the talky bits of press conferences.

Header image: Muv Luv, Vita

PlayStation 4
Awkward (digital, $11.99)
Jurassic World Evolution (physical and digital, $59.99)
MotoGP 18 (digital, $TBA)
Super Bomberman R (physical and digital, $39.99)
Tempest 4000 (physical and digital, $29.99)

Switch
A Magical High School Girl (digital, $14.99)
ACA NeoGeo: Riding Hero (digital, $7.99)
Banner Saga 2 (digital, $19.99)
D/Generation: The Original (digital, $14.99)
GRIDD: Retroenhanced (digital, $11.99)
Hexologic (digital, $2.99)
Iro Hero (digital, $12.99)
Kadobat Wars (digital, $3.89)
Legendary Eleven (digital, $9.99)
Milanoir (digital, $12.99)
One Strike (digital, $4.99)
Operation Hardcore (digital, $12.99)
Pure / Electric Love “What do you want?” – Eri Kitami – (digital, $5.00)
Samurai Defender: Ninja Warfare (digital, $7.99)
Songbringer (digital, $19.99)
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido (physical or digital, $49.99)
Tennis World Tour (physical or digital, $49.99)
The Number Puzzle (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One
Jurassic World Evolution (physical and digital, $59.99)
MotoGP 18 (digital, $TBA)
Super Bomberman R (physical and digital, $39.99)
Tempest 4000 (physical and digital, $39.99)

3DS
Games for Toddlers 2 (digital, $14.99)
Rainbow Snake (digital, $0.99)
Storm Chaser: Tornado Alley (digital, $14.99)
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido (physical or digital, $39.99)

Vita
Muv-Luv (digital, $49.99)
Muv-Luv Alternative (digital, $49.99)

PC
Chewbrick ($TBA)
Goblin Walker ($TBA)
Jurassic World Evolution ($TBA)
MotoGP 18 ($TBA)
Roof Rage ($TBA)
Super Bomberman R ($39.99)
The Karters ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: There’s a tendency in modern storytelling for bombastic beginnings. It’s a way for a game or film to seize our attention away from a multitude of competing media. But persistent use has gradually diluted its potential. This week’s Vita release of Muv Luv adopts the opposite approach. Start reading the visual novel, and you’ll assume it’s another one of those amusing, but ultimately undistinguished romantic comedies, with two girls vying for Takeru Shirogane’s affections.

But then Muv Luv Unlimited takes the characters is a completely unexpected direction. Using the same characters, the second part of the story shifts to a dystopic science-fiction setting, complete with mecha. Yes, in synopsis, it sounds rather contrived. But developer âge pulls it off with such style and grace. It’s difficult to not be enthralled by seeing these familiar characters operate in a wholly divergent context.  Muv-Luv Alternative revisits Unlimited’s events the scenario once more, fueled by a desire to alter fate. Revealing much more would be a disservice, but I will say this: Muv Luv is one hell of a journey and one of my favorite visual novels of all time. Being able to read it on a device as portable as the Vita is a true treat that genre fans won’t want to miss.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Sushi Striker is my pick of the week. This game looks nuts, in the best possible way. Building stacks of sushi plates to toss at your opponent in what effectively amounts to an arcade puzzle/battle game promises to be simple, unadulterated fun. The story is manic too, as you take on an evil empire controlling people’s access to sushi in order to liberate the world and give everyone access to the delectable taste of raw fish on rice.

Of course. sushi is very core to Japan’s culture – it’s more than just food. It’s part of the actual philosophy with which the Japanese look on the world. It’s as much art as taste sensation, and it takes many, many years of training to become a master of making these. When you do, you earn the respect of a nation. Sushi Strikers is obviously comedic and light-hearted in tone, but underneath that exterior, it’s quite clear that this is a game by Japanese people about something important to their heritage.

Zack’s Pick (Senior Editor, RPG Site): So apparently Tennis World Tour launched as a complete mess. The game was apparently only a fraction of the way completed just a few weeks before its launch, which is incredibly misleading to those like me that were looking for a more realistic portrayal of tennis (the other being Mario Tennis, of course). Despite knowing this, the developers decided to launch it anyway, and bragged about how any games they shipped couldn’t be returned so they remain profitable. No one should give these guys money.

Anyway, because I made a bad recommendation with that one a couple weeks ago, let’s go with Jurassic Park Evolution. This looks to be a very fun simulation title that lets you mix the DNA of different creatures together to create the denizens that will roam around your parks on the Muertes Archipelago. You can make them as aggressive or as docile as you care to, like giving a velociraptor some shark DNA to have them be that much more dangerous. This will in turn also affect their lifespan, resilience, and combat instincts. Being able to step into the shoes of John Hammond sounds like a lot of fun. Plus, much like the Sim City games, you always run the risk of becoming annihilated by nature’s elements, which adds a nice extra dose of intensity. With the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest hanging over everything, it just seems like you may never know what’s going to happen next.

Ryan’s Pick: I’ve been in the mood lately for a fast couch multiplayer game, so Roof Rage gets my vote this week. Granted at first glance the game does resemble Samurai Gunn quite a bit with the setting and characters, but I like some of the small but effective elements that they have taken from other brawlers to make the experience unique. The battles all play out on rooftops like every good samurai encounter should, with falling off being one of the ways of meeting your demise ala Smash Bros. Instead of one-shotting each other, players are given a healthbar, which does help mitigate some of the cheaper kills that one-hit-kill brawlers are known to have. I really like how they’ve incorporated the use of roof tiles as projectiles as part of the battles as well, which should help add a bit more depth and strategy for keeping your opponents off the roof. Up to 8 people can play the game locally which is great for a couch brawler, and online multiplayer is available as well – however it is limited to only 1v1 online. Again, looks very fast and fun, making it perfect for game night. Now I just need to go and find some friends. Ding!

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

8 comments

  1. Zack, I like how you admitted the miscall on TWT. I can see how it happens.

  2. Pure / Electric Love is a strange thing to see on the Switch. I’m not opposed to it, but just…odd.

  3. I’m really curious about Tempest 4000. I hope you review it!

  4. Sushi Striker looks fun, but not $50 on Switch fun.

  5. Don’t mistake Legendary Eleven for Winning Eleven and get all excited like I just did.

  6. Thinking about getting A Magical High School Girl this week. Looks cute!

  7. Muv Luv for me this week.