New Releases: April 4th-10th, 2019

From an anthology of Phoenix Wright titles, pensive post-apocalyptic adventure in Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, a ghoulish spin-off from the Corpse Party series, as well as the spiritual successor to the Burnout series, this week brings a number of tempting new titles. For those who appreciate indie titles, Vaporum brings steampunk infused dungeon crawling to the Switch, Xbox One, and PC, while The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa offers open-world brawling reminiscent of the Kunio-kun games.

Featured image: Girlfriend and My Love Everyday, PC

PlayStation 4
Beat Blaster (digital, $TBA, PS VR)
Dangerous Driving (physical $39.99, digital, $29.99)
Falcon Age (digital, $29.99)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (digital, $29.99)
Skorecery (digital, $9.99)
We Happy Few: Roger & James in They Came from Below (DLC, $7.99)
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (physical and digital, $59.99)

Switch
Arcade Archives Armed F (digital, $7.99)
Circuits (digital, $4.99)
Cook Serve Delicious! 2!! (digital, $12.99)
Gabbuchi (digital, $7.99)
Godly Corp (digital, $7.99)
Hob: The Definitive Edition (digital, $17.99)
Mechstermination Force (digital, $11.99)
Modern Tales: Age of Invention (digital, $14.99)
Monster Slayers (digital, $14.99)
Out There: Ω The Alliance (digital, $14.99)
Overwhelm (digital, $9.99)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (digital, $29.99)
Pitfall Planet (digital, $14.99)
Pressure Overdrive (digital, $12.99)
Royal Adviser (digital, $7.99)
Safety First! (digital, $2.00)
Sephirothic Stories (digital, $14.99)
Smashing the Battle (digital, $8.99)
Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission (physical and digital, $59.99)
Switch ‘N’ Shoot (digital, $3.90)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa (digital, $14.99)
The Mystery of Woolley Mountain (digital, $9.74)
Vaporum (digital, $19.99)
War Theatre (digital, $9.99)
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD (digital, $4.49)
Zombie Scrapper (digital, $2.99)

Xbox One
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! (digital, $12.99)
Dangerous Driving (physical $39.99, digital, $29.99)
Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey (digital, $14.99)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (digital, $29.99)
Royal Roads (digital, $9.99)
Smoots World Cup Tennis (digital, $12.99)
Vaporum (digital, $19.99)
We Happy Few: Roger & James in They Came from Below (DLC, $7.99)

PC
Alice in Stardom (free)
Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday Bash ($TBA)
Dangerous Driving ($29.99)
Demon Hunter 5: Ascendance ($11.99)
Girlfriend and My Love Everyday ($TBA)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD ($29.99)
Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission ($TBA)
Twinkle Star (TBA, VR)
Vengeful Bat Dungeon Crawler ($0.84)
We Happy Few: Roger & James in They Came from Below ($7.99)
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: While the Forza and Gran Turismo series are certainly enjoyable, neither was ever as bewitching as Criterion’s Burnout series. A tribute to reckless, ‘blinking can be perilous’ racing and wanton destruction, I spent the earlies 2000’s shunting every foolish rival, mastering every challenge, and gold medaling every crash junction. I even appreciated 2008’s Burnout Paradise, although I never understood why the developers removed the junctions, which had become a mesmerizing fixture for the franchise. Seemingly, audiences lost an interest in arcade-styled racing, and a number of re-releases never quite demonstrated the desire that publisher Electronic Arts was looking for.

More than a decade after Burnout Paradise, we finally get to see where the what caused the untimely demise of the irresponsible racing genre. A handful of developers from Criterion’s team have reunited as Three Fields Entertainment, crafting Dangerous Driving in an attempt to reinvigorate the formula. Woefully, the crash junctions are still missing, but things like police pursuits, road rages, and face-offs ensure that those who crave vehicular violence get another dose of happy destruction.

Jay’s Pick: While I am looking forward to Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, and I have been playing Zanki Zero: Last Beginning for review, I think I’m going to have to go with old faithful this week.

I have been eagerly awaiting the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD for some time, I’ve played a bunch of different entries from the series and enjoyed every one of them. The problem has always been tracking them down across different platforms. What you get here is arguably the 3 best Ace Attorney games in 1 neat little package on the platform of your choice; I’ll be picking it up on the Switch of course.

Part Visual Novel, part adventure game, you’re put into the shoes of an attorney who’s out to prosecute the bad guys. The only thing objectionable about that is when a defendant lies on the stand.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Don’t fall for the notion that Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is some kind of dungeon crawler. That’s what it is technically, but once you start playing, you’ll realise it’s really just Danganronpa.

I say “just”, but that’s actually a really good thing, because Danganronpa is a masterpiece of philosophical thought and depth, and Zanki Zero takes that particular baton and sprints with it. Hard. A game in which a bunch of hot young things are trapped on a desolate island, and told by a cute-but-sinister sheep mascot thing that they are the last survivors of humanity, and then given escalating tasks by it to complete, the dive into questions about human morality and behaviour is framed as a survival game this time, but you’ll be playing it for the universally brilliant character interactions and suspenseful, intriguing plot.

If Zanki Zero really is a dungeon crawler, it’s the most creative one you’ve ever played. And that’s why you should absolutely be playing it this week.

Ryan’s Pick: I cannot find a better value than Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD this week. There really is a lot of content in just one Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game, so the fact that you get all three, in HD, really makes it a worthwhile addition to your Switch library.

This series may not be for everyone, but I really do enjoy the writing, the suspense, as well as the internal turmoil of wanting to look up how to solve the current part of the case instead of toiling through it. Equally, I really enjoy the fact that the characters are all a bit strange on purpose. Their development, and facial expressions, really help make for a memorable experience.

While on the topic of visual novels, I do have to acknowledge Zanki Zero as well. At face value it appears Spike Chunsoft is using their proprietary VN engine to try something new, and visually I really like their UI choices and decision to include 3D models instead of 2D sprites while dungeon crawling. It definitely feels like they’ve pulled a lot of ideas from Danganronpa, but it is cool to see them branching out with a new IP. Hopefully this isn’t a one-off game just to prototype new mechanics strictly for their flagship series.