In defense of games released this week not named 'Mass Effect 2'
Game publishers rarely use "important games" and "January" in the same sentence. They finally wised up this year, but man, did they pick a bad week to hide from last year's holiday juggernauts. "Mass Effect 2" is, justifiably, commanding most of the game enthusiast world's attention at the moment, but at least four other important games demand some degree of attention this week.
The Wii has the market for "Japanese craziness" covered with a double header. "No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle" finds a nice balance between stylish visuals, cool sword-slinging action and self-deprecating humor much like its predecessor did back in 2008, only in a much longer and more tightly focused package. As an added bonus, it also doubles as a collection of surprisingly fun original 8-bit mini-games.
The 2-D fighter "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars" also landed on the Wii this past Tuesday, and it provides the same brand of fast-paced, sensory-overloading fighting for which "Marvel vs. Capcom 2" is legendary. With the dearth of quality online-enabled 2-D fighting games on Wii, this comes as a welcome addition, and it deserves support on the sole grounds of Capcom doing the impossible and finding a way around the licensing nightmare that is Tatsunoko anime characters in the U.S.
"MAG" arrived to flex some more of that PlayStation 3 technical muscle, although technically, the muscles being flexed here are Internet connections and servers. Up to 256 players can populate a single match of this military first-person shooter, yet Zipper Interactive (of "SOCOM" fame) has intelligently designed the game in ways that prevent players from feeling minuscule or overwhelmed.
Finally, I have to represent my fellow nerd brethren out there and give a shout out to "Blood Bowl" for PC and Xbox 360. Take football, replace the athletes with every fantasy creature imaginable (dwarfs, orcs, etc.), make every action depend on rolls of dice and you've got this game in a nutshell. More of a strategy game than a sports simulator, but a well-designed and entertaining game nonetheless.
If you only have $60 to drop on a game this week, "Mass Effect 2" is too big to pass up. Next week looks comparatively dry, however, so do make the effort to give each of these fine games a chance.
