Alice: Madness Returns
Eleven years after the events of American McGee’s Alice, the popular protagonist returns the Alice: Madness Returns. In this new installment, Alice begins to have flashbacks to portions of the existing backstory, showing that some of her memories are false, covering for a deep anger and pain that she never knew. As her madness returns, so too does the evil that once, long ago, consumed Wonderland. She delves into combat once again to restore order to her mind and to discover the truth behind the deaths of her parents. The gameplay side is third-person fighter action with some puzzle elements, very similar to the first game. Of course, all the graphics and other aspects of the game’s engine have been improved to meet modern standards. Also: note that the original game is being released for the major consoles this week.
Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem Forever has been the go-to vaporware joke for a very, very long time. This week, we finally get to see what has been done with the property, now that a team—unconnected to the original dev team—did their best with the venerable franchise. From all corners, the reviews indicate that the game is terrible. It’s immature, ugly, and non-compelling. Maybe it should have remained vaporware. Maybe we’d be better off remembering that this is not the Duke Nukem Forever we’ve been waiting for for so long; this is some other game, which happens to have the same title. Our Duke Nukem Forever is still unmade, and will be so eternally.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be much like the previous Transformers tie-in games. Players will battle it out across wasted cityscapes, choosing from various robots which represent different classes. The DS edition will have two flavors, but the 3DS version includes them both.
Dawn of Fantasy
The Icrontic Spotlight this week sweeps over the vast kingdoms of Dawn of Fantasy. Think Fantasy Empires as an MMO, and you’re close. Each player in the massively multi-player game gets their own kingdom to rule, starting with a small village and building up slowly from there—much like any kingdom-sim/RTS. Once they’ve built up a bit, however, they may begin assaulting other players’ kingdoms. There is also PvE content, like NPC warlords strongholds and so forth, but it seems like the bulk of the experience is the PvP. Players don’t have to explore randomly or just attack those around them either, as the game uses a match-making system to pair players of similar skill against one another. Also, one never needs worry about losing control of their kingdom since defeat only results in the loss of a few resources and units, while victory results in a large increase in resources. There is currently no single-player campaign, but players get an advisor in their homeland that gets them familiar with the interface and options of the game through a series of quests which mostly involve PvE.
Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases:
Windows
- Alice: Madness Returns
- Dawn of Fantasy
- Duke Nukem Forever
- Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
- Panzer Corps
- Runes of Magic Chapter IV: Lands of Despair
Wii
- Hyper Fighter
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Wii Play: Motion
DS
- Hidden Photo
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
3DS
- Balloon Pop 2
- Brunswick Pro Bowling
- Cubic Ninja
- Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Xbox 360
- Alice: Madness Returns
- American McGee’s Alice
- Child of Eden
- Duke Nukem Forever
- Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
- Operation Flashpoint: Red River – Valley Of Death
- Record of Agarest War Zero
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Wipeout in the Zone
PS3
- Alice: Madness Returns
- American McGee’s Alice
- Duke Nukem Forever
- Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
- Record of Agarest War Zero
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
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