Posted in: Games, Movies, Recent Updates, Video Games | Tagged: Battlefield Hardline, dmc, entertainment, Final Fantasy Type 0 HD, Mario Party 10, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Tales From The Borderlands, video games

Sweet Release! Tales From The Borderlands, DmC, Battlefield Hardline, Final Fantasy Type 0 HD, Mario Party 10, Resident Evil Revelations 2

By Jared Cornelius

Welcome back to Sweet Release!  Bleeding Cool's weekly review of the new games hitting store shelves and digital platforms.  I often talk about the games coming out in a certain week having a theme, and this week we certainly have a pattern.  This is a re-release week on a lot of consoles, with two of our bigger budget games having made appearances elsewhere.  As for the smaller games, most of them have shown up on one console or another, but a few of them are getting a nice spotlight on their respective platforms.

Telltale Game's foray into the weird world of 2K's Borderlands series returns this week with the new episode of Tales From The Borderlands.  Entitled, Atlas Mugged, low level Hyperion employee Rhys and Pandoran con-woman Fiona pick up where they left off from Episode One: Zero Sum.  The 3rd person adventure game follows Telltales carefully crafted modernization of adventure games that is more about development of story and characters than rubbing items against other items in the environment.  No spoilers, but Handsome Jack makes an appearance along with The Pre-Sequel's Athena.  I was pretty surprised that I enjoyed the first episode of Tales From The Borderlands over  Telltale's parallel release, Game of Thrones.  It definitely has a ton of personality and fits the hyper stylized cartoon look of the series.  Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 2, Atlas Mugged released Tuesday on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC with an Xbox 360, Xbox One, and I0S release Wednesday.

Last generation Capcom's Devil May Cry series got a makeover with developer Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry.  Although longtime fans weren't in love with the new look, the 3rd person action combat game was widely considered one of the best entries in the series.  I guess Capcom wasn't pleased that it came out so late in the console generation, because they're giving you another opportunity to buy it with DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition.  The upgraded edition's been bumped up to 1080p and 60 frames a second if that's important to you.  More importantly it comes with all the downloadable content, includes a second playable character, and a bunch of new modes like Gods Must Die and Must Style Mode.  It's worth noting that DmC comes at a reduced $40 price tag and is currently on store shelves for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, having slipped its March 17th release date last Friday.

If you've had your fill of Call of Duty for a while, EA's me too franchise Battlefield is back, but encouragingly is doing something considerably different from Activision's money making machine.  Battlefield Hardline is a cops and robbers styled team based first person shooter from a collaborative effort between Dead Space developer Visceral and Battlefield veterans DICE.  Hardline is touting an "episodic" single player story mode to go along with the series multiplayer fracas.  The new entry in the series is adding some interesting mechanics including non-lethal force, and arrests to take players out of a game, while criminals participate in Payday style heists for fat stacks of cash.  I applaud EA for not chasing Call of Duty this year, and I think it's great they're trying something new, but perhaps this wasn't the year for Hardline.  Also this game better work at release or EA's going to have some large fires to put out in the press.  Again, buyer beware these games have notoriously not worked at launch, if you're interested maybe wait a day or so.  Battlefield Hardline released Tuesday on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Origin.

The legacy of the PlayStation Portable console lives on this week with Square Enix's Final Fantasy Type 0 HD.  The previously Japanese exclusive is finally hitting other territories in glorious high definition.  The 3rd person role playing game has a real time combat system with fourteen different characters to choose from and a "more mature story".  Take that for what it's worth, Square Enix hasn't lit the world on fire with the last few Final Fantasy releases, but Type 0 does look to have some contrast to the previous generation titles, like a dramatic decrease in belt buckles.  Type 0 also comes with a code for a downloadable demo of Final Fantasy XV if that's important to you.  Final Fantasy Type 0 HD, released Tuesday on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Nintendo gets an update of another stalwart favorite this week with Mario Party 10.  The long running party game series focuses on a board game styled experience with up to 5 players competing in a series of mini-games for precious gold coins and stars. This iteration of the series includes Amiibo  support, and a Bowser Party Mode that has you play as the titular lizard king trying to defeat all other players.  Amiibo fans beware, to use the previously released figures you have to delete the data saved on them.  Mario Party 10 releases Friday exclusively on Nintendo Wii U.

We're at the end of the road of Capcom's great episodic Resident Evil Revelations 2 experiment this week.  We'll not only see the final chapter with episode 4, but we'll also be getting a retail boxed copy containing all the content as well.  You know the drill by now, slower paced, back to survival horror roots, better received than previous title, yadda yadda yadda.  Resident Evil Revelations 2 released Tuesday across PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC with digitally on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4.  Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4 released Tuesday on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC, and releases Wednesday on Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

The PlayStation 4 continues its commitment to indie games this week with the release of  Jamestown+.  The indie 2D shooter or "shmup" as they're commonly referred to is about Space Britain doing battle with Space Spain for colonies on Mars.  It's super weird but plays a lot like the classic Turbo Graphx 16 "shmups" like Solider Blade with a bit of modern bullet hell styled games like Ikaruga.  It's been out on PC for some time, but is coming to PlayStation 4 by way of their Spring Fever promotion.  Jamestown+ released Tuesday on PlayStation 4.

Looks like we're getting a couple love letters to the Legend of Zelda franchise this week by way of loving homages on the PC and Wii U.  First is the popular I0S game, Oceanhorn: Monster of The Uncharted Seas from developer Cornfox & Bros.  The isometric action adventure game looks like a modern mash-up of Link To The Past and Windwaker, with the overhead exploration and combat reminiscent of the Super Nintendo classic, but the sailing of the GameCube title.  Longtime Legend of Zelda fans should feel right at home with the epic score, puzzle solving and dangerous monsters.  Oceanhorn: Monster of The Uncharted Sea released Tuesday on Steam.

The second homage is Elliot Quest from Ansimuz Games.  The 2D action platformer leans more toward the black sheep of the Zelda Clan, Link's Adventure with just a hint of Metroid and Kid Icarus.  Play as Elliot, a man who's cursed to be transformed into a demon unless he can get powerful guardians to intervene on his behalf.  Tackle 5 different dungeons with 16 boss characters, a role playing game style leveling system, and a Mass Effect styled karma meter that affects the ending.  Like Oceanhorn, Elliot Quest has been available on a different platform for some time, but it makes its way to the Wii U eShop on Thursday.

Dear lord! The Xbox One is getting a game that uses Kinect!  Yes dear reader in the year of our lord 2015 Microsoft has seen fit to release what will likely be the only Kinect game we'll be getting this year in developer Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja Kinect 2.  There's not a ton of information out on the title, but it does appear to have some new characters and modes along with 4 person multiplayer.  The original Fruit Ninja Kinect was a pretty good game, it's just a shame Microsoft is sending this title to die a year and a half after anyone cares about the Kinect.  Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 releases Wednesday exclusively on Xbox One.

That's all for this week folks.  You can check out my other regular column, Typing on The Dead: Bleeding Cool's Walking Dead recap.  It just got a hot new installment last week!  You can also check out other cool stuff like Geek Shopping from fellow Jersey native Christine Marie.

Jared Cornelius is some guy from the Jersey coast who's all about pork roll.  If you'd like to find out more about our regional food, look it up on Google, or contact me on Twitter @John_Laryngitis.

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