The Whispered World
For the PC this week, we get The Whispered World. This point-and-click adventure game has a fun artistic style and a clever storyline. Sadwick, the sad clown has been sent on a dangerous journey by a mysterious blue creature who comes to him in the night. The World itself is collapsing, and Sadwick, with the help of his new friend Spot, must venture forth to save it. The key gimmick here is the animation style, with hand-painted environments, and cut-scenes reminiscent of modern animation classics. Read Icrontic’s preview for more details.
Record of Agarest War
Being released for PS3 and Xbox 360 this week, Record of Agarest War is a Strategy Role-playing game with an interesting story. The story begins with a human boy’s sacrifice to save an elven girl, and spans generations. Each chapter represents the adventures of the hero of the previous chapter’s son, whose appearance and abilities will vary depending on which heroine had the most affection for the hero at the end of the previous chapter, culminating in over a thousand possible combinations by the last chapter. In addition, the game features turn-based strategic combat. Characters move and attack in turn, like a tactics game, but the player also has control over more strategic decisions, like the shape and size of the battlefields, and the composition of the party. Other features include a combo system that activates when two characters are within a certain range of one another, and a detailed advancement system for each character.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
In the PC release Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, players will again take up the mantle of Sam Fisher. No longer a special operative, Fisher is operating under the radar while searching for his daughter’s murderer. If you’ve played past iterations in the Splinter Cell franchise, you know mostly what you’re getting into with this stealth-based third-person shooter, but there are some notable changes from the past games. First is, of course, the plot, which starts Fisher in an urban environment as a civilian with very little gear, so at least in the beginning of the game, there will be little reliance on the gadgets. In addition the past system of corpse management has been completely removed in favor of two completely new mechanics: “Mark and Execute”, which allows the player to choose Fisher’s targets before performing complicated moves, and “Last Known Position”, which leaves a ghost of Fisher behind in the last place that the enemies detected him.
NIER
The Icrontic Spotlight this week is the Xbox 360 and PS3 release NIER. In this third-person adventure game, players take on the role of NIER, a warrior from the Kingdom of Facade whose daughter has been struck ill by a terrible black magic. To save her, NIER will have to descend into the world of the Black Scrawl, where the powers he has received from a sentient magic book are his main weapon against the dark forces of the evil disease. As the game is from Square Enix, we can expect lots of unique locations to visit, many interesting creatures to fight, and a well-developed mythology. In addition there are a wide variety of weapons to master, lots of magic abilities and spells, and cinematic combat sequences.
Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases
PC
- Field of Glory – Storm of Arrows
- Fishdom 2
- Samantha Swift Trilogy
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
- The Whispered World
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Vampireville
Wii
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
- 5 Arcade Gems
- Brain Drain
- Free Running
- Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans
- Let’s Play Garden
- Speed
- The King of Fighters ’95 (VC – NEOGEO)
DS
- DodoGo!
- Don’t Feed The Animals
- Ferrari GT: Evolution
- Jane’s Hotel
- Let’s Play Garden
- Puffins: Let’s Roll
- Scrabble Slam!
- System Flaw Recruit
Xbox 360
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
- Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St. Lucia
- Dead to Rights: Retribution
- NIER
- Record of Agarest War
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
- Super Street Fighter IV
- Tecmo Bowl Throwback
PS3
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
- Dante’s Inferno: Trials of St. Lucia
- Dead to Rights: Retribution
- Kick-Ass
- Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
- NIER
- Record of Agarest War
- Super Street Fighter IV
- Tecmo Bowl Throwback
PSP
- 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
- Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley
- PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe
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