Sunday Roundup: 7/5/15 – 7/19/15

My brother who works at Machinima grabbed this game for me for my birthday! It came in right after I did my previous post on Monday, so I couldn’t include it with the other birthday titles. Anyway, I’ve only heard excellent things about Shadow of Mordor, and I really want to try this game out! I was between starting this game or starting Far Cry 4 on PS4, and I went with the latter simply because I haven’t played a shooter/open world game in some time and didn’t want that to hinder my feelings toward Shadow of Mordor. The revenge system, or whatever it’s called, that let’s random enemies who kill you become more special enemies is such a cool sounding idea I want to play the game for that reason alone!

I wouldn’t be caught buying this game if it wasn’t for the low price and excellent condition. Every now and then a game for the PS3 or Xbox 360 comes out on the Wii and is a radically different version than the others, either out of necessity of controls or visuals, or because the developers feel the Wii’s audience will be different. Whatever the reason, The Blackhand Edition on the Wii actually scored pretty highly upon review. These games just aren’t my favorite though, so don’t plan on seeing anything else from this one.

Dollar games are the best games! I think I saw this game a few visits back at this particular store but passed on it for one reason or another. Well, this time I had the extra dollar to spend I guess because it somehow ended up in my hands when I checked out. The Outfit is an early Xbox 360 tactical game that offered little in terms of gameplay upon release. But for a buck I’ll happily add it’s mediocrity to my collection!

Venetica is an action game that borrows from the overdone plates of Devil May Cry and God of War. I’ve seen it around for awhile but it was always too expensive. The plot seems cool actually: you play as the daughter of Death, apparently, as she tries to save the world or something? I don’t know. It’s cheesy fun, and that’s what I like in my cheap games!

If this game is half as fun as Boom Blox I’ll be more than happy with it! The Wii seems like an ideal system to emulate the fun albeit hassle-to-set-up board game. Without playing the game though I think I can safely say it’s going to rely heavily on controls whether or not it’ll be any good.

For just a few bucks I’ll give this odd puzzle title a try. Naturally it’s a physics puzzler with gravity being your driving force behind solving each stage. I’ll give it a try one of these days, but there are a lot more games I’d rather play, so maybe not until a rainy (nonexistent) day in the future.

Apparently this is based off a newish TV series featuring the friendliest ghost I know. A collection of simple minigames, Casper’s Scare School is simply a game I picked up for the small price and well known character attached to it. Who knows, maybe one day Casper will be super relevant again and I can sell this puppy for a pretty penny!

I decided to give my PS4 some much needed love this summer by picking up some newer games and giving them a go. I’ve never played a Saints Row game before, but I’m really hoping this game is fun! I’ve heard really great things about the series, particularly about Saints Row the Third but here’s hoping this game is great as well! I think the wackiness is what makes it worthwhile and not just another GTA clone.

I’ve spent a good bit of time with Far Cry 4 already and I’ve been pretty happy with it. I spent the first 4 points of my level progression customization to take on the elephant riding ability, and then set out to make sure I use elephants whenever I see them. So far so good! Also, I’ve devoted myself to primarily using the Bow for any encounter, only switching to a more powerful gun when the weakness of the Bow literally won’t take down my enemy. I’ve had fun with it so far, and seeing the gorgeousness of the PS4 on full display has been a treat as well!

Part of a Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal on used games, I picked up this game so Laura and I could play something together on our PS4. The collection includes HD updates and all the DLC for Borderlands 2 as well as Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. We haven’t played The Pre-Sequel yet, but we have played and beat everything up until then, so hopefully we can get cracking on that game here soon!

A bit pricey but still sealed, I had my eye on this game from this particular Best Buy for over 8 months now. I saw it back in December when shopping for Christmas gifts for family and thought I should pick it up but never did until this week. The game is, crazily enough, a sort of successor to the weird PS1 title No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! I don’t quite know what to expect from this one. The game is kind of cheap still, so I might rip open that packaging and give it a try sometime here.

The sole game I grabbed during Amazon’s Prime Day was this small 3DS game. At just $5 I couldn’t pass up a brand new game that I have a vague interest in. Sadly though I’ve never actually seen The Legend of Korra or the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series. This game is supposed to be a tactical strategy game but I think it kind of fell short and didn’t stack up to other games in the genre.

Sadly this one doesn’t come with a case or instructions, but I’ve been looking for it for so long I wasn’t going to pass it up for just a few dollars loose. Baroque is a Wii port of a previously Japanese exclusive Sega Saturn game of all things! It’s an Atlus RPG, so the standard occult themes and gameplay apply. I’ll keep my eyes out for another complete copy but until then I’m happy to have it in the collection!

What was once one of my favorite puzzle franchises, Bust-A-Move has been stagnant for some time. The core gameplay remains the same, which is great, but nothing else has changed. Where games like Tetris have added new modes and somewhat worthwhile enhancements, Bust-A-Move hasn’t really done anything revolutionary. That being said, this game includes an eight player multiplayer mode, which could be cool (but I’m not holding my breath).

I’ve seen this game a few times before at other GameStop stores, but this time I noticed the game came with a 3D cover insert slip, so it caught my eye a bit more. Sadly, it doesn’t include the four pairs of 3D glasses, but that’s not a huge loss to me. Attack of the Movies 3D is a mediocre on rails shooter that looks like fun but only lasts a few hours apparently. Still, for a few bucks I’ll give it a chance.

Dollar games are the best games! Boogie has been available at pretty much every GameStop store I’ve seen, but only until this week was it reduced down to just one dollar. For that price I’ll pretty much pick up any game, especially if it’s complete and in good condition! The game actually had a sequel which was also available, but I decided to pass for now. Hopefully I won’t regret that in the future (which I kind of doubt).

The biggest surprise find of the day was definitely Maximum Racing: Sprint Cars. Very rarely will I come across a game I know nothing about, so after I saw this one I performed some quick research and discovered it’s selling for well over $25 just about anywhere else! I picked it up without hesitation. Upon further research, the game is part of an entire series (the Maximum Racing series) and while all of the games are subpar or poorly received, only Sprint Cars is hard to find! That makes this pickup an even better haul!