New Releases for The Week of Forgotten Toons and Balance Beams

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn takes place many years after the original story. The Golden Sun was intended to bring greatness to the land, but something has gone wrong, and a new generation of adventurers must discover what’s up, and defeat the super baddie who wants to destroy the world. PS: That last bit is just a guess. The mechanics for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn seem very similar to the original, which itself followed jRPG conventions fairly strictly. If you’ve been looking for a new role playing game for your DS, and especially if you liked Golden Sun you should probably check this one out.

Shawn Johnson Gymnastics

In Shawn Johnson Gymnastics players can practice gymnastics routines with the help of famous gymnast and “Dancing With the Stars” winner Shawn Johnson. The game has four gymnastics apparatus available as well as multiple difficulty levels. In addition, players may choose from many different Wii input devices including the Wii Balance Board, WiiMote, and Nunchuck. Players may even plan their own routines using the choreographic editor. Needless to say, this doesn’t transfer well to the stylus controls of the Nintendo DS—but as usual Nintendo has made a DS version of the game, just for kicks (as it were.)

Hello Kitty Seasons

Hello Kitty Seasons looks a lot like Animal Crossing. Players move around Sanrio town interacting with its denizens, completing quests for them and playing some mini-games. The town’s look and feel and music all change with the seasons. Whether this change is real time or not isn’t clear, but I doubt it. Unlike Animal Crossing, players will have the ability to upgrade not only their own house but all aspects of Sanrio town. As the seasons change, quests will unlock and new things will become available to allow the player to change the look and feel of the town themselves. The graphics for Hello Kitty Seasons are pretty snappy, but the game play is more childish than Animal Crossing or even Hello Kitty Online. If you’ve been playing Hello Kitty Online and are looking for something prettier but less challenging, this is the game for you.

Epic Mickey

This week’s spotlight illuminates the drab palette of Epic Mickey. Players take on the role of Mickey Mouse as he’s transported back into the visual history of Disney cartoons. Something evil is going on in this forgotten land in the Disney archives. It is Mickey’s job to take up the brush and head into this dangerous land to search out the evil influences. The game play is that of a 3D platformer.  Mickey’s brush weapon and bottle of paint thinner allow him to change the world around him. Some light role-playing mechanics allow Mickey to make decisions which affect the outcome of the plot. One of the taglines of the game is “play-style matters”, which according to the producers, means that all of the decisions that the player makes, including the way they utilize the base mechanics, will have dramatic effects on the way the game plays out. That’s not the biggest feature, however. The big deal here is that this video game stars Mickey Mouse as the protagonist. It has been a long time since we have seen Mickey Mouse star in his own video game, and to have it be one which is so stylistically interesting is a great gift to the Disney fan community. Disney could have just released a new Mickey Mouse game which was childish and dumb, and Disney fans everywhere would still have purchased it, but they decided to really put some effort into it instead and a lot of Disney fans, myself included, appreciate that. Don’t be surprised if you see a full review of Epic Mickey on Icrontic in the next few weeks.

Folowing is a full list of this week’s announce North American releases:

Windows

• CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars
• DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue
• nail’d
• RUSH
• SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny
• Super Meat Boy

Wii

• Airport Mania: First Flight
• Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos
• Epic Mickey
• HB Arcade Disc Golf
• Hello Kitty Seasons
• Sniper Elite
• Magical Drop II (VC)
• Spinmaster (VC)

DS

• 7 Wonders II
• Cave Story
• Frenzic
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
• Shawn Johnson Gymnastics
• Spot It! Challenge

Xbox 360

• A Snowman’s Survival
• AXBY
• Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos
• John Daly’s ProStroke Golf
• nail’d

PS3

• Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos
• Dead Nation
• Funky Lab Rat
• nail’d

PSP

• The Flying Hamster
• TRON: Evolution