New Releases for the Week of July 1st, 2012

Test Drive Ferrari Racing LegendsFrom getting behind the wheel of a $255,000 458 Italia in Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends to battling an Ultros using rhythmic stylus taps in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, this week’s new releases offer a wide range of experiences despite the existence of a relatively few number of titles. Despite two week until the start of the Summer of Arcade 2012, The Xbox Live Arcade has enough new content to pilfer a pile of Microsoft Points from your account.

360
Bellator: MMA Onslaught (XBLA, $15)
Max Payne 3: Local Justice Map Pack (DLC, $6)
Spelunky (XBLA, $15)
Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends

PS3
Max Payne 3: Local Justice Map Pack (DLC, $5.99)
Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends

3DS
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

DS
New eShop releases announced 7/5

Vita
New PSN releases announced 7/3

PC
Endless Space
The Secret World

DesertEagle’s Pick: With the Test Drive torch being passed to Slightly Mad Studios (Need for Speed: Shift, Shift 2: Unleashed), hardcore racing aficianos should be happy to hear that the series is veering back toward simulation. With racing which spans F1, GT, and rally disciplines, Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends single manufacter license should be offset by a nice variety of competitions, tracks, and vehicles which span the company’s 65 year legacy.

Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends

SeanNOLA’s Pick: I’m really looking forward to Theatrythm: Final Fantasy, which pulls music from key moments of all the mainline Final Fantasy games, but after playing it at E3, I still have some concerns in regards to song selection and length. I only got to play through the Final Fantasy 8 campaign, but it cuts off unceremoniously halfway through the “Eyes on Me” waltz, which is a pretty big no-no. Still the core game concept was fun, and I haven’t really gotten my hands on a good handheld rhythm game in a long time. To be perfectly honest, what I’m MOST looking forward is the inevitable announcement that Theatrythm will see a release on the iPad, which is really where it belongs.

BlueSwim’s Pick: Starting on July 5th, Nintendo will be releasing two 3DS Virtual Console games a week throughout the month. One of the two games hitting this week will be the NES classic, The Legend of Zelda. Those of you who, like me, purchased the 3DS early and took it in the wallet already got Zelda as a part of the Ambassador Program. With this release, those who bought the 3DS after the price drop will be able to get their hands on the game, too. It warms my heart to see that Nintendo is celebrating the month of my birth by releasing classic games every week in July.

The Legend of Zelda NES

Samurage’s Pick: Although I love racing in real life, I’ve always found racing games to be a bit lacking when it comes to a proper balance of fun and realism, and I’ve tended to steer clear of them.  That said, I’ve  heard good things about Slightly Mad’s latest title.  Still though, I think this week I’ll tackle my backlog and wait for Deagle to “Test Drive” Ferrari Racing Legends for me.

Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends

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.

26 comments

  1. The Local Justice Map Pack is only $6? I thought it was going to be $10?

  2. With your love of racing and bassy voice, you’re the poor man’s Garnett Lee, Deagle.

    • Actually I’m kind of interested in Ferrari Racing Legends. I won’t buy until we some some reviews though.

  3. I played Spelunky on PC but couldn’t quite get the hang of playing on a keyboard. $15 to play with a controller seems like a bit too much.

  4. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is supposed to fun for FF fans. Haters gonna hate, but I’m gonna play.

  5. The Max Payne 3 stuff is only for MP? When will they make additions to the single player game? DLC is always just maps and weapons that divide the audience.

  6. With the Secret World advertisement on the side should you make that one your pick?

  7. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy looks like a perfect iPad game.

  8. 1.5 votes for Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends. Enough for a GameFly rental!

  9. @SeanNOLA

    Are the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy songs MIDI or symphonic? You didn’t fail out did you? 😉

    • Yeah, it’s symphonic. Sounds just like the FF games.

    • Haha, no I didn’t fail out. Sage and I were actually discussing that a while back, because I waited in line for what seemed like hours behind a woman that kept failing out of FF8 (which is why I chose to play that set) and when it was finally my turn, I was surprised at just how simple it was. I had a really hard time imagining how she did so poorly. They couldn’t have made an easier rhythm game.

  10. Nothing of note this week. Guess I’ll wait for Summer of Arcade.

  11. Blue reminded me I need to actually play LoZ. Got it as an Ambassador, but like most of the games, never touched them.