New Releases for the Week of November 11th, 2012

Whether players are stepping back to the 1970s to perfect their fly moves in The Hip Hop Dance Experience or fighting proxy wars during the ’80s with Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s Alex Mason, many of this week’s new releases are rooted in the past. With Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Trilogy, PS3 owners will be able to relive  the trio of Auditore-driven titles, with the of bundling Assassin’s Creed 2, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed Revelations as well as the Bonfire of the Vanities and Battle of Forli DLC. Meanwhile, Paper Mario: Sticker Star reinvigorates Intelligent Systems turn-based battles for the fourth franchise iteration, this time to collect the six royal adhesives left behind by Bowser.

360
Ben 10: Omniverse
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
F1 Race Stars
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Power Rangers Super Samurai (Requires Kinect)
The Hip Hop Dance Experience (Requires Kinect)

PS3
Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Trilogy
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
F1 Race Stars
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Wonderbook: Book of Spells

Wii
Deer Hunt Legends
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze
The Hip Hop Dance Experience

Wii U
ESPN Sports Connection

3DS
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?
Ben 10: Omniverse
Monster Shooter
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Rabbids Rumble

DS
Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze
Victorious: Taking the Lead

Vita
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified

PC
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Magical Drop V
Rift: Storm Legion
Scribblenauts Unlimited
The Sims 3 Seasons
Tropico 4 (Gold Edition)

Robert’s Pick: If most franchises put out eight entries across the same number of years, the audience would be crying, “enough already!” The Call of Duty series is the outlier, thanks to contributions from no less than ten different development teams. Much of COD‘s continued success stems from a dogged instance on innovation, a trait absent from many of the franchise’s military-themed peers. With Black Ops II that trend continues. Featuring open-ended Strike Force missions that allow the title to have a branching storyline (which introduces perma-death to the game) the ability to livestream matches through “CODcasting”, Call of Duty looks to maintain its uncontested reign for at least another year.

Sean’s Pick: While you’d think that the last of this year’s major releases would have taken a break to make way for this week’s obvious Game of the Year contender, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, we’ve been handed a fairly healthy list of releases that aren’t even book related! Although I’ve gone on the record as saying that Mario as a brand doesn’t do anything for me, I have to admit that I have been generally charmed by the Paper Mario series. The idea of sticker-collecting isn’t exactly lighting my world on fire, but if the core is solid and the translation is as well-natured as The Thousand Year Door, then I’m in.

Eric’s Pick: The 3DS’ must-have holiday title is here and it’s a big one. Paper Mario: Sticker Star has the lovable plumber wandering through pop-up book worlds in search of the shattered pieces of the wish-granting Sticker Star. Better be ready to explore and collect because stickers are required to do attacks during battle and each one is single use only. With it being a Paper Mario title, the game should provide plenty of witty dialog to keep the adventure amusing from start to finish.

Jeremy’s Pick: The “lite” RPGs of the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series have never steered me wrong. The play style is typically simple… wander around and interact with nutso characters, get into battles, augment your fighting abilities with collectibles (badges, stickers) and use expert timing to nail mini QTEs for combat bonuses. The thing that makes these games memorable, though, is the innocent humor of the story and surprising wit of the writing. Furthermore, the debut of the Paper series in stereoscopic 3D will finally realize the diorama aesthetic that had previously only been simulated in two dimensions. I’m glad Nintendo is sticking with the series, and I will too.