Already tired of last month’s games? Of course you are. Well, we’ve got more shooters and sequels coming your way.
God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, and Command & Conquer 4 – among others!
Here’s a look at some of the video games coming out in March. Be on the lookout for more detailed reviews as we get our hands on them!
March 2nd -Â Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA)
Speaking of games that have had a crapload of sequels, how about those Battlefield games, huh? Battlefield games have had wide variety of settings – World War 2, Vietnam, the future, modern day, Sarah Palin’s house, etc. A number of versions even took place in the Star Wars universe. This one takes place in Russia, apparently. According to the developers, Bad Company 2 will have both dedicated servers and also group voice chat throughout the entire game, unlike Modern Warfare 2, apparently. If that’s enough to get you to put MW2 down and play this, then more power to you.
March 9th -Â Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix) and Yakuza 3 (Sega)
Ever since Final Fantasy VII gave America its awesome combination of role-playing, cool science-fiction and weird Japanese crap, the Final Fantasy games have been the defacto RPGs for mainstream gaming. The first Final Fantasy game for this current generation, XIII, is about to come out and it’s the first non-online only FF game to be released on an Xbox system. Early reviews (as it’s out in Japan right now) have said it’s more story than game and that it’s missing a lot of the little things that made the FF games so popular, such as side quests, interactions with NPCs or “anything that doesn’t involve running or fighting”. On March 9th we’ll get a chance to see for ourselves if the wait was worth it.
America is a pretty cool place, but as much as we hate to admit it, some countries do things better than us. Things we always consider us to be the best at. Japan is one of those countries and as much as we hate the thought, they simply have better mobsters than we do. Do a quick Google or Wikipedia search for Yakuza and then come on back and you’ll not only have a better idea of why they’re so much better, but you’ll also be jazzed up for Yakuza 3.
The first two titles in the series were fairly well received, but this latest version (already released in Japan) has been getting rave reviews. The action-adventure elements and supurb control weave into a complex and interesting story. On top of that, it takes places in a setting other than Tokyo, giving Americans a taste of a different element of Japan they may not have experienced before.
March 16th - Command & Conquer 4 (EA) and God of War III (SCEA)
Of course, we have to throw a little bit of love to our PC gaming friends. Hello, PC gaming friends! There’s a new Command & Conquer game coming out, just for you! Also, it’s apparently the last game in this whole “Tiberium Saga” thing. This time, you’re once again down to controlling one of two factions, so have fun with that.
In February’s video game preview, we mentioned Dante’s Inferno. While that game had a great demo and was fun to play, it is essentially God of War’s little brother. While it had a great graphical presentation, it still couldn’t even compare to God of War II. That’s not a knock on Dante’s Inferno – that’s just how awesome God of War II is.
So, it’s no surprise that God of War III has us so psyched that we can’t even see straight. This final chapter wraps up the saga, but not before Kratos has to go through hell and back (probably not literally this time) to kill Zeus and the Greek gods once and for all. We’ve seen the videos, trailers and game play footage and we can tell you, if you don’t have a PS3 before this game comes out, you will once it does (that’s more of a hyperbolic statement rather than a promise. I mean, we’re not going to send you one).
March 23rd - Just Cause 2 (Square Enix) and Red Steel 2 (Ubisoft)
So, when Die Hard first came out in the theaters, people starting making movies just like it. Which meant that the theaters were flooded with films described as “Die Hard on a…” The same thing happened when Grand Theft Auto III came out, as well. Just Cause, which was actually a pretty decent game, was pretty much “Grand Theft Auto as a secret agent in a South American country”. This time around, it’s “Grand Theft Auto as a secret agent on an island in Souhteast Asia.” See? Totally different.
Actually, this new game is supposed to have a number of cool new features, such as manual targeting (aka “headshots or shoot your enemies in the kneecaps”) and a cool grapple/parachute system. Essentially, you can grapple onto passing, low-flying aircraft and then parachute off of them. We could probably spend hours doing just that alone.
Did you play the first Red Steel game? If you did, chances are you didn’t like it. The controls were terrible and the story was stupid. Man, we can forgive one of those, but two? Sorry, Red Steel, you are not being played. Luckily, Red Steel 2 looks infintely more promising. Why? Well, for one, the story still looks kind of stupid, but it’s the crazy-fun-over-the-top-weird-ass type of story we like. Secondly, it incorporates Wii MotionPlus, making the controls and experience significantly better. Taking place in some bizzare steampunk-style Japanese influenced version of the Old West, we’re expecting much better results this time around.
March 30th -Â Front Mission Evolved (Square Enix)
If Michael Bay knows anything, it’s that people love giant robots. We’re sure that when the first robot was evented, the inventor’s first thought wasn’t “now, how can I use this invention to benefit humanity?” but rather, “now, how do I make this FIFTY TIMES BIGGER? AND CAN WE GIVE IT LASERS?! LET’S GIVE IT LASERS!!!” The people who made Front Mission 4 know this and since those people are Square Enix, you know it will also involve a really cool, albeit convoluted story. That won’t keep you from jumping into a giant mech and blowing the crap out of all the other giant robots out there. When you’re done playing, you can go run out and rent Robot Jox and make a day of it.
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