New Releases for The Week of Lightbadgers

CB Droege 19 Dec, 2011 at 9:42pm ET Article published in Gaming

Postal III is interesting like a train-wreck. The Postal franchise, for the uninitiated, is centered on plotless shock hogging. Each game has included as many offensive tidbits as possible, hitting on themes of racism, religion, animal cruelty and so forth. Mechanically, it’s an over-the-shoulder shooter. It tried to hit on the sort of ‘clever offense’ style that we get from better writers, like South Park’s Parker and Stone, but in the past it has always failed miserably at this mission, being so full of vile moments that the audience can’t even see the vile anymore for sake of itself, and all attempt at social commentary or even juvenile humor is lost on even the most forgiving in the audience. Expect more of the same in Postal III. The gimmick most people come to the series for are the inane weapon options, which this time include a hand-held badger, a jizz-rag launcher, and a pet monkey which defeats foes by raping their faces until they die. Stay classy, Postal franchise…

Of actual interest for playing purposes, we’re getting Star Wars: The Old Republic this week. Under development for years now, The Old Republic will deliver on the promise of a major Star Wars MMO. One of the most expensive games ever produced, it promises to be quite the experience, and it better be: In a world where MMOs are dropping like flies—or just going ‘free’. It’s going to take something great to peel a share of the monthly-paying gamer away from World of Warcraft, the current MMO monarch. If there is one property which has a chance of usurping the MMO throne, it’s Star Wars.

The game features a fully voiced cast of characters, many branching quest-lines, development of ‘companion’ characters, dynamic story-lines, relationships, and conversation options that go beyond “Yes, I’ll take the quest”. Is all this what MMO players really want though, and what would the end-game be like in a system like that? Only one way to find out, I suppose. Start thinking about the color of your new lightsaber. SWTOR is available on Origin for $59.99 pre-order. The monthly fee will be $15. It launches tomorrow.

Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases:

Windows

Postal III
Star Wars: The Old Republic

Wii

Soccer Up!

3DS

Mighty Switch Force!

Xbox 360

Kinect Sports: Season Two – Maple Lakes
UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System

Comments

19 Dec 2011 ~ 4:43pm primesuspect Nope nope nope nope nope nope. If I try SWTOR, it will be crack. I will not try it. I refuse.
19 Dec 2011 ~ 5:26pm Cyclonite @Charity and I preordered after playing in the last two beta weekends. If you like WoW, Star Wars, and Bioware's story-driven gameplay, then you'll be sucked in really easily. It's a lot of fun, and who doesn't like to beat the crap out of things while dual-wielding lightsabers?
19 Dec 2011 ~ 5:32pm boasist The bummer is that the sweet Razer keyboard doesn't come out for another month. Really curious how well that performs. The only had it on display at E3, nothing playable that I saw.
19 Dec 2011 ~ 5:52pm Game Blade SWTOR looks epic, not gonna buy it right off tho, possibly in like june when it cheaps up a bit, it will take me that long to figure out which one of those bad ass classes to go with first.
19 Dec 2011 ~ 7:19pm Gate28 The Old Republic is fantastic, btw. Combat is smooth and looks awesome and they game is really pretty.
19 Dec 2011 ~ 9:56pm allenpan man love postal 2 and apocalypse weekend... suck great time of racial joke and killing....lol can;t wait
19 Dec 2011 ~ 10:09pm Gattsu I got into early access in SWTOR on Thursday, so far I have logged over 40 hours in it. Thank God for winter break. It really has been enjoyable so far, suffice I am only level 26 at the moment. Making my first light saber, going through hyperspace in my own ship for the first time, stepping foot into worlds like Coruscant and Tatooine, which are very detailed by the way. There have been plenty of memorable moments. A friend of mine was concerned that the gameplay would be too much like Knights of the Old Republic (Stale Combat). Which in reality, the combat is much more fluid than KOTOR. I can't wait to see more of what is in line for end game content. So far however, Bioware seems to have done their homework on MMOs. Server stability has been great so far, hopefully it stays that way once the game officially releases tomorrow.
19 Dec 2011 ~ 10:50pm fatcat if this game wasn't origin only I would have let Valve have my money already
20 Dec 2011 ~ 12:58am NiGHTS I watched the extended opening cinematic...big mistake.

KOTOR was the only RPG that was able to keep my attention (I'd otherwise hated the genre). I didn't enjoy WoW, the only reason I played was to fart around with friends online. I honestly think an MMORPG based around the Star Wars universe would keep me busy and happy for quite a while.

...this doesn't bode well.
20 Dec 2011 ~ 12:59am fatcat haha my post got the time zone bug during the whole icrontic down headache
20 Dec 2011 ~ 10:10am Cyclonite You should be able to download, install, and run the client without the need for Origin. I have Origin installed for BF3, but it never launches when I fire up SWTOR.
20 Dec 2011 ~ 10:23am Tushon
I watched the extended opening cinematic...big mistake.

KOTOR was the only RPG that was able to keep my attention (I'd otherwise hated the genre). I didn't enjoy WoW, the only reason I played was to fart around with friends online. I honestly think an MMORPG based around the Star Wars universe would keep me busy and happy for quite a while.

...this doesn't bode well.
When you buy it, I'm on Neddist Rebels as a Sith Inquistitor or Bounty Hunter (still deciding)
23 Dec 2011 ~ 5:27pm Game Blade All the waiting will be worth it when I finally get to Impale some poor fool with a light saber. For now I must figure out how to overclock my main computer to the point where it takes a starship reactor core to power it.