New Releases for the Week of May 27th, 2012

From an add-on which unleashes all kinds of new beasts to challenge Abraham’s sacrificial son in The Binding of Isaac: The Wrath of the Lamb to Harley Quinn’s two-hour epilogue to Batman: Arkham City‘s storyline, this might be the first week in gaming history where DLC overshadows original content. For better or worse, SEGA’s Vintage Collections offer no opportunities to purchase additional arsenals, meaning players will have to exact their revenge on Golden Axe’s nocturnal potion thieves the old-fashioned way- by cracking open their diminutive craniums with brute force.

360
Batman: Arkham City-Harley Quinn’s Revenge (DLC, $10)
DiRT Showdown
Mad Riders (XBLA, $10)
Mass Effect 3: Rebellion (DLC, Free)
Prototype 2: Excessive Force Pack (DLC, $5.00)
Saints Row: The Third-Maximum Pleasure Pack (DLC, $7.00)
Saints Row: The Third-Saints Purple Ops Pack (DLC, $7.00)
SEGA Vintage Collection: Golden Axe (XBLA, $10)
SEGA Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage (XBLA, $10)

PS3
Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland
DiRT Showdown
Batman: Arkham City-Harley Quinn’s Revenge (DLC, $9.99)
Mad Riders (PSN, $10)
Mass Effect 3: Rebellion (DLC, Free)
Prototype 2: Excessive Force Pack (DLC, $4.99)
Pure Chess
Rayman Arena (PS2 Classic)
Saints Row: The Third-Maximum Pleasure Pack (DLC, $6.99)
Saints Row: The Third-Saints Purple Ops Pack (DLC, $7.99)

3DS
New Eshop Releases announced 5/31

DS
99 Seconds (DSiWare)

Vita
Pure Chess
Resistance: Burning Skies
Retro City Rampage (delayed)

Mac
The Binding of Isaac: The Wrath of the Lamb (DLC, $2.99)

PC
Batman: Arkham City-Harley Quinn’s Revenge (DLC, $9.99)
End of Nations
Max Payne 3
Saints Row: The Third-Maximum Pleasure Pack (DLC, $6.99)
Saints Row: The Third-Saints Purple Ops Pack (DLC, $6.99)
The Binding of Isaac: The Wrath of the Lamb (DLC, $2.99)
Warlock: Master of the Arcane-Power of the Serpent ($2.99)

DesertEagle’s Pick: For JRPG aficionados, Atelier Meruru promises to stir not only the old alchemical cauldrons, but also player’s emotions, since this is the last game in the perpetually charming Arland series. For PS Vita owners looking for some immersive fun, Resistance: Burning Skies offers the thrills of the PS3 franchise without too much off a loss in fidelity. Just make sure you play with a set of headphones to bask in the game’s invigorating symphonic score.

SeanNOLA’s Pick: After weeks without releases, only to be led astray by the abysmal Table Top Tanks, the Vita needed a solid week. A two-release week isn’t exactly strong, but when those two games are actually worth playing, then it’s worth getting excited about. Everything about Retro City Rampage looks great: The music, the pacing, the humor – I just hope the almost-too-literal homage to the TMNT underwater stage doesn’t sour me on the rest of the game.

Jeremy “The Lawman” LaMont’s Pick: In before EVERYONE picks Retro City Rampage! No, but seriously: this free-roaming mashup of NES Jackal, Double Dragon and GTA2 is peppered with references to your favorite old games and appropriately anachronistic action. Check the official site for videos, free music, and a pretty good look at what to expect from the game. You may be very glad you did. http://www.retrocityrampage.com

BlueSwim’s Pick: Grab your loincloth and firewood splitter, it’s time to put Death Adder in his place. With Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe, you’re getting Golden Axe games one through three. While Golden Axe 2 and 3 are Genesis/Mega Drive ports, the first game is the more graphically pleasing arcade version. Local and online co-op is included, so good times will be had by all who decide to brawl their way through the classic high fantasy threesome.

Samurage Pick: I’m interested in Harley Quinn’s Revenge.  From the voice work, which has stayed original from the cartoon, to the stunning cityscapes, to the plethora of tools at your disposal, the Batman: AA and AC games have given me massive amounts of gaming enjoyment. Even though I don’t always love DLC, I’m excited to check this one out.

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.

48 comments

  1. I was always interesting in The Binding of Isaac. For those that don’t know, it’s a combination of shmup and Rogue-like. Hopefully, they’ll indie bundle it.

    • It’s a really fun game that you can pour hours into. Well worth a full price purchase. It’s not like anything else.

      • Yeah, I really like it too. Might have to send a few bucks in the way of the developer.

  2. I’m curious about End of Nations and will definately try it out this week. Who’s with me?

  3. Mad Riders sounds super generic, but video make it look pretty good. I’d embed one if I knew how.

  4. To be honest, I’m not a big DLC purchaser. I like new games, not add-ons. Most just feel too much like the main game I just spent 10+hours playing, I want a new experience, not a sort of recycled one.

    I’m sure I’m play R:BS one day.

  5. So Retro City Rampage is like an 8-bit GTA game? Is that even fun, or just kind of funny?

    • Did you play GTA 1 or 2? They were topdown games, and they were a TON of fun (moreso then GTA 3 and 4, IMO).
      Also, there seems to be a lot more to RCR, what with the sidescrolling missions and homages to games like TMNT and Bionic Commando. They’ve been working on it for years, so hopefully it will pay off.

      • I’m old enough to have played the older GTA games (even played the London ones), but I think 3 and 4 gave players more things to do and were better games beacuse of it.

  6. Chef Peter Pepper

    Price on Retro City Rampage? Also, why no Vita Chess?

    • Oooh, that’s a good catch! I’m interested in that. There’s PS3 and Vita versions, but I don’t know who’s going to sit on their couch and play PS3 chess.

      • If it teaches you how to play chess, I would. But I doubt that’s going to happen.

        Oh, and moving the pieces with the Move controller would be great while I’m dreaming.

      • You can probably buy a chess set for cheaper than the download.

  7. I have my doubts that RCR is coming out this week. Although profiled on the PS Blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/05/21/see-retro-city-rampage-in-action-on-ps-vita/) it still sounded a few weeks away at least.

  8. Ugh, Mr. D-toid is in this game? I expect Sterling to jizz about it all over his review.

  9. Why no iPhone or Android releases?

  10. DiRT Showdown demo was pretty damn fun. I may have to at least rent it this week.

  11. so basically we’re taking the week off – although I wouldn’t mind playing some Dirt Showdown 🙂

    • Wait, who is taking a week off? No new podcast?!?

      • Oh no, we’re recording a podcast tonight.

        • Yeah!

          Hey, I have a question for you. Ive been hearing about other site being aggressive with people who try to steal their name or content? Has this happened to any of you? Now that Sage is a big bad lawyer will you guys sue, get rich and buy big ass arcades?

          • I don’t think we’re big enough for anyone to knowingly steal our name trying to steal our audience. I think where we run into trouble is how many sites are named with some variations of the words “tech” and “gaming” like “TechGamers” or “TheTechGame”. Its not outright theft or anything (I don’t even know for certain that we came first), but it makes it hard for people to remember our URL. You tell someone at a meeting to visit Tech-Gaming.com, and by the time they’re at home in front of a computer, they’ll stick “tech” and “gaming” into the search bar and visit whatever they see first.

          • You guys are first. Thats how us lazy people get to your site.

          • I received a increasingly aggressive number of emails from the owner of “techgaming.com” want to know if I wanted to buy the URL for $30,000. After about 5 rounds of price drops and refusals, the person told me that were going to build a “massive gaming site that would ruin all of our search engine results.” Now it looks like a collection of Flash games that barely registers a blip on the ‘net.

            There’s much more of a problem of content being stolen. Site like Ripten.com and HipHopGamer have cut and pasted my work on their sites and even had the balls to admit it. Basically, I go after anyone who reposts more than 75% of an article in English (translated reviews are OK). It seem to happen way too often and usually when people link an article to N4G, which is a hotbed for plagiarism.

          • Now you can say you’ve been ripped off by an EGM writer.

          • Did you just call HipHopGamer a writer? That’s a first.

  12. Still playing Diablo 3. I think I’ll be doing that until next Xmas.

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  13. I have a question as well.

    If the Xbox 730 and PS4 launched at the same price, same time, had the same power and comparable games which one would you buy?

    • Sight unseen, the Xbox 720. The PS4 won’t have Forza Motorsport 5 (or whatever the first next-gen Forza game is) and that’s enough to sway me.

      • Really? One game? That’s pretty crazy. Of course, I bet Deagle and Sean would be persuaded by Disgaea and Monster Hunter, right?

        • That’s about par for the course for me. All it took was Gran Turismo 3 to get me to adopt the PS2. In recent years, however, first party franchises from both Sony and Microsoft haven’t interested me that much. I still haven’t purchased a PS3 for that very reason.

          • HelterSkeletor

            I own a 360 but suffer from PS3 envy. They get all the cool and wierd Japanese games that the 360 doesn’t get.

  14. Played the demo for DIRT and I liked it a lot. That’s the only game that sounds enticing right now. I might play GR all week long though.

    • Yeah, DiRT demo was really cool. I might have to wait for a price drop, through.

      • Same here. Im never that good in racing games, so I wait. Let’s have race when we both buy it!

  15. Mad Riders kind of looks like Trials with cars.

  16. Resistance: Burning Skies will be mine this week.

  17. Looking up IGN and Gamespot new releases. Everyone says RCR is coming out this week. We’ll see.

  18. Meruru for me, dood!

  19. Nothing for me this week. Still playing Diablo 3.

  20. Have Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland pre-ordered. Hooked on the last two games.

  21. Are you going to review DiRT Showdown? Thinking about getting that one this week.

  22. Retro City Rampage is delayed? Man, you guys suck. I had my hopes up.