New Releases for the Week of January 23-31st, 2013

Hitman HD Trilogy (1)From the revival of Agent 47’s first three console forays in Hitman HD Trilogy to the blue blur’s sprint onto Windows for the PC port of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, this week’s literary of new releases hosts several familiar faces. For those hoping to interact with new personalities, the turn-based warfare Skulls of the Shogun is worth a look, as undead samurai vie for revenge.

360
Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear
Hitman HD Trilogy
Skulls of the Shogun (XBL, $15)

PS3
Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear
Hitman HD Trilogy
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PSN, PlayStation 2 Classics, 9.99)

Wii U
Balloon Fight (Virtual Console, 30 cents for a limited time)

3DS
Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker (eShop, $4.99)
Super C (eShop, $4.99)

DS
No releases

Vita
Lets Fish! Hooked On
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault (PSN, $19.99, Cross-Buy) Delayed

PC
Age of Wushu (FTP)
Dungeonland
Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Robert’s Pick: If you search for the the clearance electronics endcap at your local Target, chances are you’ll uncover a pile of Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault copies selling for less than fourteen dollars. What you’ll find isn’t Insomniac’s traditional personality driven shoot and scoot. Instead the title feels closer to tower-defense/action hybrids such at Toy Soldiers and Iron Brigade. Considering a purchase grants players access to both the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita versions, Sony fans might want to weed through the stacks of iPhone cases, alarm clocks, and shovelware PC games to unearth this enjoyable romp.

Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal Assault

Eric’s Pick: Growing up in the Dreamcast days, Sega Bass Fishing was a family favorite. Using the motion-sensing fishing rod control, my grandpa and I would sink(er) hours into the classic arcade port. Now, the developer behind Sega Bass Fishing, Sims, have returned to the angling genre. Let’s Fish! Hooked On for the PS Vita sports arcade fishing action like that of the Sega All-Stars title, along with a visual novel story mode. According to the official website, the $20 PSN title packs over forty hours of gameplay. This bait sure is tempting…

Lets Fish Hooked On Vita

Jeremy’s Pick: There’s a reason why many “lite” wargames are held to the standard set by Advance Wars: because it’s a great formula with a lot of room for variation. That’s certainly the idea behind 17-Bit Studios’ Skulls of the Shogun. This cute strategy game, conceived by storied industry veteran Jake Kazdal, will combine many of the ideas that have become staples in the genre, but will put a samurai-afterlife spin on everything. Newer features like grid-free movement, “skull” upgrades from defeated foes, and the kind of cross-platform system we’ve always wanted from video games (XBLA/Windows Phone/MS Surface/Windows 8) are set to improve the formula even more. The Skulls of the Shogun website has more details, but if you go there and feel your hand bone connecting to your wallet bone, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Skulls of the Shogun

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.

27 comments

  1. If a Hitman game is in the new release list, is it required to have Agent 47 in the art?

  2. Isn’t Ikachan a freeware game? Why are they charging $5 for it?

  3. I don’t knwo if you can go back and play the old Hitman games now. I’m sure the AI is pretty wonky compared to the last game.

  4. Ive been waiting for Skulls of the Shogun for a while now.

    • It’s coming to MS Surface tablets and phones but I don’t know a single person who has one of those. Everyone has a iPad, iPhone or Android. Best of luck, 17-bit, I hope Microsoft is paying you well.

  5. I’ll be cracking skulls this week. I’ve heard so many hood things about Shogun from my friends that played it bat PAX.

  6. Since Full Frontal Assault is really designed for two people (one to hunt down scum the other to defend the base), how the hell is it going to work on the PS Vita? AI bots? Smaller playfields? This will not end well.

  7. Thanks for the tip. I went to my Target not expecting to find anything. Against the wall was about 20 copies of FFA all marked down.

  8. Bring on the Hitman HD Trilogy. I never played the first two games.

  9. I have yet to play a fishing game. Doubt that will change. Sounds boring.

  10. I just got work from SeanNOLA. he’s occupied with work but he wanted to share this message:

    “Porting Hitman to HD doesn’t change the fact that the games aren’t fun. Lets Fish! Hooked On had blonde girls in tube tops. Robert and Blue are arm wrestling to see who reviews it, but honestly you should save your money. Be thankful you are not those guys. Which leaves Balloon Fight. Sure, it’s just like Joust and it doesn’t really show off any feature of your new $300 console. But it’s 30 cents and there’s balloon that go pop. Back to work!”

    • Not bad, but you left out the part where I said “After 3 years of seeing Skulls of the Shogun at every GDC, IndieCade and E3, it had better be the Second Coming.”

  11. Jeremy, what is this “surface’ thing you mention? Ive heard of them, but never actually seen one. Not sure if this is all a folktale.

  12. I just found FFA at Target.

  13. Skulls of the Shogun for my phone at $5 seem too good to resist.

  14. Is the Wii U shop down for anyone else? I tried to get my 30 cent game.

  15. Vice City is $9.99. You might want to update.