Out This Week

MGSR: Revengeance

Killing Well Is The Best Revengeance

This week’s releases explore new aesthetic and grammatical directions.

By Drew Toal • February 19, 2013

Out This Week is a roundup of new games that are out this week. These listings don’t constitute an endorsement or a review of any sort. We also don’t pretend that this is an exhaustive list. If there’s a game on the horizon that interests you, share it in the comments.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360—February 19

Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words, including “moonbeam,” “besmirch,” and “madcap.” Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes its title from one of the Bard’s lesser-known comedies, The Cyborg Ninja Of Venice. This ninth installment in the Metal Gear series does away with trademark stealth in favor of a rousing adventure full of bawdy japes, royal intrigue, and star-crossed cyborg ninja lovers.

Crysis 3
PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360—February 19

Things used to be that all one needed to survive the future apocalypse was some ratty hair and a poor attitude. Thanks to the internet, futuristic badasses on the fringe of life and death now require all sorts of technical, survival, and weapons training to even be considered for an entry-level hero job. In the mid-21st-century New York of Crysis 3, this week’s second most ridiculous ninja-sniper killer guy makes a strong case for his deserving that internship (unpaid).

Capcom Arcade Cabinet
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360—February 19

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, Capcom—makers of such legendary game titles as Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Mega Man—is rereleasing 15 games made between 1984 and 1988 between now and April. The first wave of releases includes Black Tiger, 1943: Battle Of Midway, and Avengers. Personally, I’m more a fan of Clinton-era Capcom, so it looks like I’ll have to wait 10 more years for Mega Man Soccer to get the Arcade Cabinet treatment.

March Of The Eagles
PC—February 18

“War is not a polite recreation but the vilest thing in life,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, “and we ought to understand that and not play at war.” He was writing about the same Napoleonic War that occupies March Of The Eagles, so I’m sure glad someone took the time to read Tolstoy and put that quote on the internet. I would have done it myself, but I’m too busy smoking dudes in Black Ops II.

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  • Spacemonkey Mafia

    “What a piece of work is a
    cyborg! How convoluted in reason, how infinite in decapitations!

     In form and moving how excessive in backflips
    and sword swings!

     In action how like an angel, in apprehension
    how like a god with no fewer than two transformation modes!

     The beauty of the world. The paragon of
    animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not
    me. No, nor woman neither, though by your repeated tapping of the ‘x’ button
    you seem to say so.”

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

      He is but a cyborg ninja north-north-west, when the wind is southerly he can transform into a hawk and a handsaw.

    • ChicaneryTheYounger

       What manner of thing is this Raiden?

      Well, it is shaped like itself. Is incapable of crouching, and is as blonde as it is whiney!

    • Electric Dragon

      Hath not a cyborg optical sensors? Hath not a cyborg hand shaped manipulators, organs, dimensions, senses, algorithms, computing circuits? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases (ok, bad example), healed by the same medkits, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a human is? If you shoot us, do we not bleed oil? if you tickle us, do we not cut your head off? if you drown us, do we not rust?

    • Staggering Stew Bum

      Pfft, it’s been done.

      • Spacemonkey Mafia

        Smart-assery that has been will be again,
            what joke has been done will be done again;    
        there is nothing new under the sun.

                 -Spacemonkey Mafia’s First Epistle to      
                                       Staggering Stew Bum

        • PaganPoet

          You beat me to the punch, and you did it so much better. Spacemonkey, shantay, you stay. PaganPoet, sashay away.

        • Staggering Stew Bum

          Ah, the Denis Leary defence.

    • His_Space_Holiness

      All the world’s a Stage 1, and all the men and women merely multiplayers. They have their warp pipes and their saving points, and one man in his time plays many ports, his acts being a dozen levels or so.

  • http://twitter.com/HttpLovecraft Http Lovecraft

    “I’m too busy smoking dudes in Black Ops II.”

    Phrasing!

    • Chum Joely

      I think he meant: “I’m too busy smoking, dudes– in Black Ops II.”  (Because apparently Drew just quit smoking and needs to at least continue his habit in a virtual world.)

    • ChicaneryTheYounger

       I’m too busy, smoking dudes in Black, Ops too!

    • http://www.gildedgreen.com/ Girard

      When I’m playing shooty games, I far prefer blowing dudes
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      .
      up.

      • PaganPoet

        You must be a Poe fan.

      • Effigy_Power

        In all honesty, “OF COCK” would have done just fine, Girard.

        • http://www.gildedgreen.com/ Girard

          “Dudes of Cock” is my new band name.

    • http://www.avclub.com/users/merve,96925/ Merve

      What a stud fiend!

  • http://gameological.com/author/derricksanskrit/ Derrick Sanskrit

    I am the proud owner of an SNES cart of Mega Man Soccer, and I will happily play with any of you if you promise not to put Dust Man in as goalie.

  • Spacemonkey Mafia

    As a non-smart-ass post, both Vanquish and Mega Man X-Maverick Hunter are available for PS + today.
       I’m excited to play both and am just curious if anyone has played either.

    • http://twitter.com/HttpLovecraft Http Lovecraft

      I enjoyed the Vanquish demo but could never find a cheap copy, so I’m eager to hear too!

      • Citric

        I have a cheap copy sitting on my coffee table! Haven’t played it yet though. It was going for $15 at a local grocery store.

        I’m beginning to think my town might have the best bargain bins.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

          Your grocery store has bargain bins that good? I believe the answer is an unequivocal yes to your statement.

        • Citric

          @facebook-579674289:disqus  Last week someone was shocked I could find the Sly Collection for $15 too.

        • http://twitter.com/HttpLovecraft Http Lovecraft

          @Citric:disqus What town is this??  My grocery store’s main treasures are 6 dollar copies of Spaceballs on DVD.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

          My grocery store has that awful The Rock as a Tooth Fairy film, the Mighty Joe Young remake, and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. I envy both of you.

        • Citric

          It’s a small city in eastern Saskatchewan. There’s the general mix of crap in there naturally – I swear there are about 1,000 copies of that game tie-in for the Zack Snyder owl movie in each to make finding the good stuff more difficult – but over the years I’ve found a lot of quality stuff in the local bins. Also, lots of Sega stuff, though I missed the chance to get Yakuza 3 and 4.

          I’ve been thinking of getting inFamous 2 for $15 but for some reason haven’t. 

        • http://sarapen.ca/ Sarapen

          Sometimes you can find treasure in the bargain bin at 7-Eleven. This friend of mine knows I want to play Valkyria Chronicles but also knows I refuse to pay the $40 they’re charging for it at Gamestop and he told me he saw a copy at this one 7-Eleven once. It was gone by the time I dropped by a couple of days later but sometimes you luck out.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

      Aww, but you have some of the best smart-ass posts Spacemonkey.

      Though since we’re being serious I suppose I should be as well. I really enjoyed Vanquish, though I’m not much of a shooter fan so maybe that isn’t the best measure for recommendations.

      • Spacemonkey Mafia

        Thanks!  I don’t really like shooters either unless they have an incredibly broad philosophical rumination expressed by an elaborate alternate history which is then undermined by solely interacting by shooting peoples faces.
           So if you like it, that makes me hopeful.  It sounds like it has the nice, lean variety of Japanese story nonsense that I enjoy. 

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

          Definitely has that bizarre Japanese internal logic. Your suit can scan, replicate and impove weapons (as well as rocket your forward at ludicrous speed… on your knees…) for reasons that are scientifical. You’ll be happy though, once those pesky Russian robots start blowing up all your cover. It never takes itself too seriously, which is good in this kind of world.

          It was also made by Shinji Mikami so you’ve got the Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4, and Devil May Cry pedigree if those mean anything to you.

          Interestingly both it and Mega Man were inspired by “Casshern,” an early 70′s Anime. You even defeat a couple of bosses in ways right out of the show.

          Hope you enjoy it Spacemonkey.

        • http://twitter.com/djbeema beema

           It’s funny, I never really encountered that criticism of Bioshock until I came to this site.

        • Spacemonkey Mafia

          @twitter-259492037:disqus   I was phrasing it ironically -go figure- but I do enjoy Bioshock to pieces.  I even enjoy playing the second one, even if the narrative and character choices are the least interesting thing they could have possibly done with a direct sequel.
             Infinite will likely be the first game I’ve bought new and full price in over a year.

    • http://www.gildedgreen.com/ Girard

      Maverick Hunter X is a remake of one of the most solid entries in one of the most solid franchises ever – I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. PLUUUUS it apparently has a bonus mode where you play as the Boba-Fett-lookin’ badass Vile, which is pretty cool.

      • Spacemonkey Mafia

        I loved Mega Man X back in the day, and I’m a shameful fan of remakes, so I’m looking forward.
           You’re well versed in Mega Man lore.  Isn’t there some sort of fan blow back against the X series?  Or am I making that up.  Because I thought all the Snes entries were solid fun.

        • PaganPoet

          I think the SNES and even PS1 era games are still generally well-loved. The PS2 era X games, however, is where things started to go awry.

        • http://www.gildedgreen.com/ Girard

          I’ve never heard any blowback against the series as a whole – they’re super solid games, and X1 in particular is unimpeachable and one of the best in the franchise overall.

          I think there tends to be a bit of a blowback when individual MegaMan series tend to overstay their welcome, thanks to Capcom’s penchant for milking properties, especially MegaMan (an irony, considering how sorely missed those games are). 

          Like, there are plenty of folks who write off any original-series game past MM3 as a lazy retread (and I’m positive X is held in generally higher esteem than, say, 6). Likewise, the X games starting around 5, when the budgets were cut, the translations got dodgy, and Keiji Inafune was less involved, are seen as lazy cash-ins. X7 was pretty objectively flawed as a game, and has a (justified, IMO) poor rep. X8 consequently garners little attention, but is actually somewhat of a return to form, at least to the PS1 days, if not the SNES days.

          I suspect the Battle Network games get some blowback – the series as a whole is dismissed by some for ‘Pokemoning’ the franchise, and the later entries are, following the trend above, increasingly seen as lazy retreads.

          While MegaMan fans probably have a reputation for being antagonistic to innovation – owing to the series’s superficial trademark being its rote repetiition – generally inventive new takes on the property are welcomed. The Legends series is crazily well-loved (deservingly so), and it’s a MASSIVE departure in design and aesthetic from the typical MegaMan game.

          Personally, I would love more MegaMan games, even if they were “lazy retreads.” Even as a kid I was well aware that the MegaMan games were structurally extremely similar, but that didn’t stop me enjoying them. There’s so much of that structure that works so well and that I personally find so engaging (nonlinearity, pantheons of powerful figures, the ability to learn from/become your enemies, etc.),  I’d personally be happy for Capcom to excrete a somewhat rote low-budget MegaMan game on a yearly basis the way they were cranking them out in the 90s. (An amazing expansive Legends 3-style game would also be welcome, of course.)

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

           I still have my fingers crossed for Legends 3.

    • Tyler Mills

      I’ve played Maverick Hunter on the PSP and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I even played through the game as Vile and enjoyed that quite a bit.

      That being said I’m a bit biased being a big fanboy of the Megaman franchise and Megaman X in particular, so take my glowing recommendation with a grain of salt (or more.)

    • duwease

      Vanquish is fun.. the zooming around the battlefield gameplay element brightens up the typical shooter a bit.  I played on Hard, so I still spent a lot of time firing from cover anyway, but if you like score attacks I think you really have to master the zoom-zoom-shoot skillset.

  • PaganPoet

    Ah yes, The Cyborg Ninja of Venice, one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works. I’m personally fond of the Haydn composed opera adaptation of the tale, with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, La Ninja Automa di Venezia: Revendetta, particularly the moving third act da capo aria “Che comprende la vita de un assassino” in which the lead, Raidegno, reflects on his mistakes shortly after battling a horde of generic bad guys in ski masks.

    • Fluka

      I would here like to amend my like to two likes: one for “Revendetta”, and one for “Raidegno”.

      • PaganPoet

        I’m glad someone liked my dorky Italian jokes. I think the other two likes were just thrown at me in pity. ;]

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

          I resent the implication that I’m some kind of “like-hussy,” PaganPoet. I like the posts I like and I’m not ashamed of it.

        • PaganPoet

          @facebook-579674289:disqus Point taken and foot officially in mouth. Sorry!

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

          That’s quite alright, just so we’re clear where the likes are coming from.

  • Army_Of_Fun

    Just a note on “Capcom Arcade Cabinet”, Capcom will release an “all-in-one” version that contains all the games for $15 less than buying them piecemeal.
    http://www.capcom-unity.com/xantista/blog/2013/02/07/capcom-arcade-cabinet-full-games-list-release-dates-and-pricing

  • exant

    The Crysis games are pretty forgettable, but the gameplay is fun and the story is relatively clever, at least in the scope of sci-fi video game alien invasion stories. 

    For me they fill the role of the game to pick up for a $5 Steam sale and blast through in 8 hours, mostly drunk.

    • ComradePig

      Despite quite liking the franchise I had completely forgotten that Crysis 3 was coming out this week. It seems to have had a strangely low profile despite its pedigree. Having found that out though, I was initially most confused why it was nowhere to be found on Steam.

      Then I remembered it must be exclusive to EA’s Origin service. Ugh.

      • exant

        Ugh Origin. I was all hyped to buy Dead Space 3, but when I figured out it was Origin-exclusive, I instead bought Antichamber on Steam. 

        That smug feeling for blowing off a AAA title for a better indie game 1/6th the price is free.

        • http://twitter.com/djbeema beema

          Yeah, even before EA started turning full on back in to their abominable monster self, Origin is what put me off their games for good.

          If you’re lucky you can nab them for cheap on Amazon, but you still have to install and run them via Origin. BUghhhhhhhh

          Actually, you COULD buy them legally and then use a crack just to skip origin.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-Kovalsky/1504237433 Peter Kovalsky

          @twitter-259492037:disqus: Technically, that’s still a copyright violation, because our legislators were asshats that didn’t understand technology when they passed the DMCA. 
          Don’t worry, though — things are better now.

          (No, they’re not.)

      • valondar

         Eh. Say what you want about Origin, but you don’t need to be fucking online to activate offline mode to play your games through Origin.

        Not that Origin is good – and Steam’s one saving grace, those low-low prices, has been enough for me to build up a sizeable library there… but I guess the moral of the story is hooray for Gog? Now there’s a business model I can get behind.

    • Professor_Cuntburglar

       I’ve never played it, but it looks like, if you took away all the pretty shading effects and fancy skyboxes, you’d end up with a fairly basic Call of Duty level.

      • ComradePig

         The main thing that differentiates Crysis is that it allows you a lot of gameplay flexibility in regard to your approach.

        In this case your grizzled marine is equipped with a power suit that allows for invisibility, super speed etc, and it opens up a lot of fun potential in combination with the more open environments for creating well orchestrated chaos using all of your powers.

  • ComradePig

    All of the Paradox grand-strategy games seem as though they should be right in my wheelhouse, but I always end up too lazy or confused to push through the initial learning stage and play them properly.

    I swear I’ll make it happen one of these days, but until then I shall remain a filthy casual. For shame.

    • Effigy_Power

      It looks like a huge game, but on the other hand it looks almost exactly like CK2 and I don’t much care for the Napoleonic setting, so I’ll probably skip it.
      One game that makes me stare at a map screen for 12 hours is probably enough of that.

      • valondar

        @ComradePig:disqus @Effigy_Power:disqus  It’s nothing like CK2, from what I’ve read in reviews (the relevant game here would be the Europa Universalis series, the foundational text of the Paradox behemoth).

        From what I’ve read it’s essentially a pared down game that focuses pretty exclusively on the wargaming end of things. I’m a little on the fence for that reason – I love Paradox’s grand strategy games, but I’m less keen when I feel like I’m being fenced in and told to do a specific thing (like the Hearts of Iron series) than being able to do whatever the hell I like (for which Europa Universalis is arguably the most flexible of their titles).

        • Effigy_Power

          Fair enough. I didn’t do much research, but screenshots do appear as though it’s a modded version of CK2, at least at first look.

  • http://twitter.com/djbeema beema

    Oh Crysis. My infatuation with that series lasted as long as it took me to get over the flora porn. Really, that’s all it has to offer — that it looks fucking amazing. Now that it has cut out the large open environments, it’s pretty much your standard shooter with nothing enticing in the way of story or interesting game mechanics to make it stand out from the pack. I can see multiplayer being kind of interesting with the nanosuit stuff, but the AI in the single player is so shitty that stealth mode is all but pointless. The first game had kind of an interesting plot, but the 2nd completely threw that out the window and devolved in to the blandest of tropes. Not only that but it couldn’t keep its canon straight.  How hard is it to not fuck up the canon from a completely straightforward FPS game? Anywho, I digress. I’d like to give Crysis 3 a try, but Crysis 2 killed a lot of my enthusiasm for the franchise, and EA murdered the rest of it with Origin and other bullshit. Plus to even enjoy the only point of Crysis 3, the visuals, I’d have to build a new PC, which I don’t much feel like doing now.

    • Spacemonkey Mafia

      I’ve vowed not to install Origin, but that’s mostly because I have no desire to clutter up my computer with multiple licence-delivery platforms, and EA doesn’t have enough exclusive to tempt me.
         But what’s so lousy about the service?  I’m curious.

      • http://twitter.com/djbeema beema

        I’m sure you can google up some stuff. Having never used it, I can’t tell you. I do know that after its initial release, people found out that it does some spyware/data mining shit on your pc. Other than that, I think I’ve just heard that the UI is clunky and that all their games are overpriced and never go on sale. (the thought is that since its a directly publisher-controlled content delivery platform, thus saving the publisher distribution and production and licensing money, games should be cheaper instead of $59.99)

        Like you said, I don’t need multiple DRM-delivery platforms on my PC. One is enough. It’s getting to that point where every major publisher wants their own proprietary storefront/drm platform though. Ubisoft is already pushing their piece of shit Uplay thing, which now launches in addition to Steam for their games… so annoying.

        • Spacemonkey Mafia

          I only Ask Jeeves and he says he’s never heard of it.

        • valondar

          Origin games do actually go on sale. They had dozens of games for 5 euro just last month, and they were doing what they billed as a Mystery Sale this week. It’s just not as often or as cheap as let’s say another service.

          The UI is bad, but it’s not significantly worse than Valve’s, which is in serious need of a tabbing system.

    • valondar

       I’ve never had any problems worse with Origin than I’ve regularly had with Steam, to be honest. And Origin’s had a couple of benefits Steam doesn’t – it let me register my copies of BioWare games with their service (which I’d bought from the now defunct Direct2Drive, which used to be my go-to place) and download from there.

      There are better services – gog.com, obviously, and I do mean to use GamersGate more regularly – but Origin is hardly the only ‘villain’ out there.

      Although I’m sure hardcore fans of the Ultima series, incensed that EA uses the license it holds on the name ‘Origin’ – originally the name of the company that produced the Ultima games – for its delivery service must be a little incensed. It’d be like if BioWare became the name for… I don’t know, a new EA-run Paypal service.

  • Chum Joely

    In case the MGS: Revengeance trailer wasn’t over-the-top enough for you Hideo Kojima fans, here’s the 7-minute director’s cut.Of the TRAILER.

  • http://twitter.com/djbeema beema

    Apropos of nothing,  I just stumbled upon this fucking awesome stuff:
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906004578288101986963878.html

    Online communities for older gamers to network and play online! Without all the damned kids! FUCK YEAH!