Game Releases for the Week of 11/19-11/26

Another big week of gaming excitement! Dan here with this weeks round-up, which includes yet another new section to encompass the mighty Wii, the sillily-named yet oddly-compelling game machine from Nintendo. Personally I'm still not 100% convinced about the whole thing -- I just don't see myself swinging shit around in front of my tv after work when I'd much rather be sitting in a couch not moving at all. Then again, I felt the same way about the DS originally, not wanting to draw on a stupid screen, but here I am now, scribbling away with the best of 'em. Also interesting this week is the PS3, which launched a few days ago yet has absolutely no commercial releases this week. Whoops!

Wii

11/19 Excite Truck - First-person racer that has been billed as the spiritual sequel to the timeless Excitebike, this is but one of 5 launch-day racers for the Wii, all of which are controlled by holding the Wii-mote sideways. The hook with this one, other than the "EXCITE" name-recognition, is a distinct sense of speed, as you fly through most levels thanks to strategically placed jumps.

11/19 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - See game of the week, below.

11/19 Monster 4X4: World Circuit - Appearing earlier this year for the Xbox, the then poorly-reviewed title gets a retooling for the Wii, with the emphasis obviously placed on the Wii-mote's unique ability to be held sideways and used as a steering wheel. Ubisoft is even sweeting the deal by including a rubbery snap-on wheel in the box (the cover-art really hides this fact).

11/19 Cars - Another racing title with a similar Wii control scheme, this is just the console title released previously, generally regarded as a solid, kiddie-friendly racing game.

11/19 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Another PS2 port, this fighting game features several control options, including the ability to use a traditional GC controller. Of course most Wii owners will opt to use the Wii's motion control, which involves holding down combo buttons then performing a specific "gesture" to do one of several attacks.

11/19 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy - Relesaed back in September for the PS2, this Super Smash Bros. wannabe will also feature a choice between Wii gestures and plugging in a GameCube controller.

11/19 Madden NFL 07 - Much has been made of the fact this title certainly looks nowhere like the next-gen versions on the PS3 and 360. However if Nintendo and EA is to believed, gamers will be so enthralled with waving the Wii-mote around they'll hardly notice the blocky characters. The Wii specific gameplay involves mimicking the actions of football, like hiking and throwing gestures.

11/19 GT Pro Series - Another Ubi racer with a free snap-on wheel, this is a retooling of a Japan-only GameCube street racing game.

11/19 Red Steel - Besides Zelda, this the launch title to watch on the Wii, an action-packed FPS that puts the Wii motion-controller through its paces. Involving gunplay using the controller to aim, and sword-fighting using the controller to slice, at E3 the game sharply divided critics but looks hella fun to me!

11/19 Rampage: Total Destruction - It can't be a game launch without a Midway franchise, can it? Released on the other consoles back in April, this is pretty much the Rampage you played yet with flashy new graphics and power-ups. No word as to the Wii-specific abilities.

11/19 Rayman Raving Rabbids - Rayman has been absent on the consoles for some time now, but personally one of my favorite franchises returns in this large collection of mini-games. Designed obviously with the Wii controller in mind (it is scheduled for release on the other consoles as well), gameplay is a varied mix of on-rails shooting-gallery action and strange mini-games, like using the Wii-mote to swing and hurl cows into the air.

11/19 Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - A unique Tony Hawk game specific to the Wii, gone is the open-world feel of the recent Tony Hawk games in favor of a downhill racer in the vein of SSX, EA's popular snowboarding game. The Wii controller is used to steer, obviously, and perform tricks.

11/19 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Wii gestures abound in this port of the popular action brawler, and you'll be flailing about as you attempt to perform special moves, and shaking the Wii controller and nunchuck furiously as you perform normal attacks.

11/19 Call of Duty 3 - The first FPS on the console, COD3 will be a test of just how the whole Wiimote/nunchuck combo functions in this type of game. Using the Wii controller to aim and the thumbstick on the nunchuck to move, the Wii capabilities do sound enticing to this FPS veteran. The Wii even adds unique features like the ability to lean around corners by tilting the controller.

11/19 Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz - The SMB series has arguably been getting stale recently, though if early reviews of this title are to be believed, it has been revitalized by the unique Wii motion control.

11/19 Happy Feet - Move the ridiciously cute pengiun characters around using the Wii-mote in this port of last weeks movie tie-in.

11/19 Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Just when your hand-strain from the first DS title was healing, here comes the Wii version, intent to destroy your entire arm. Atlus is attempting to translate the point-and-click pseudo-medical gameplay to your TV.

11/19 SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab - Released last month on every other console, the Wii port adds (obviously) Wii control, with a flight mode that players pilot by holding the Wii like a flightstick in an airplane.

11/19 Avatar: The Last Airbender - Another Wii port with tacked-on motion controls, players will be holding down buttons and making "casting" gestures, scaring the cat all night long.

11/21 Need for Speed: Carbon - Similar looking port that features the now-familar Wii racing control of holding the Wiimote and tilting the controll up and down to steer.

PS3

None

Xbox 360

11/21 Superman Returns - Just in time for the movie DVD, this Tiburon-developed title (Madden) goes the well-traveled route of the successful Spiderman games and puts the man o' steel into 80 square miles of a full-modeled Metropolis. Gameplay involves your standard action staples of punching and kicking, with some Superman standards like freeze breath and heat vision thrown in.

11/21 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas - The Rainbow Six series gets a makeover in this new title, which repordedly manages to walk the fine line between out-and-out action and micro-managing your teammates to death. A new cover-system adds some GoW twists into the mix and 16 player action over XBL offers unlimited replayability. There's even a crazy feature that lets Xbox Vision camera owners map their own faces onto the characters.

11/21 College Hoops 2K7 - 2K Sports next incarnation of their college baseketball heads to the 360 for another round after last years decent reviews. With "updated mascots" and crouds leading the list of updates this time, don't expect major changes, but the same solid baseketball action 2K is known for.

11/22 Cabela's African Safari - A port from the PS2/PSP version, this discount title features 30 exotic species to slaughter mercilessly.

PSP

11/22 Tony Hawk's Project 8 - A little late to the party, the new game features a "bullet-time" like mode where the player can slow time to concentrate on performing tricks with the analog stick.

DS

11/21 Superman Returns - The open-world action of its big-brother 360 version is shrunk down to work the DS, and the results, at least according to reports from E3, are about what you'd expect.. horrible.

11/21 Dogz - Feed, bathe, and do all kinds of weird shit to your dogz in this title, one of the first in the upcoming Z series: Catz and Hampsterz are coming soon.

11/22 Totally Spies 2: Undercover - Promising "racing, puzzling, and fighting", this is based on the popular Cartoon network show.

Xbox

11/21 College Hoops 2K7 - See the 360 description.

11/21 Superman Returns - See the 360 description.

PS2

11/21 Superman Returns - See the 360 description.

11/22 Delta Force: Team Sabre - Delayed from two weeks ago. The followup to last year's poorly rated Black Hawk Down 3rd person shooter, the developers have promised the new version has tweaked the gameplay in 12 new levels and 24 multiplayer maps that can handle 32 players at once.

PC

11/20 Timothy and Titus - Some sort of Jesus game.. "Core Christian virtues and actions seamlessly integrated to provide a powerful Christian message!"

11/21 Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express - Traditional point-and-click adventure from the same people who made last year's "And Then There Were None" game.

11/21 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine Expansion Pack - Downloadable seperately from Bethesda's website, this package rounds up all the recent expansions for the game. Includes The Wizard’s Tower, The Vile Lair, The Thieves Den, Mehrunes’ Razor, Horse Armor, The Orrery, and Spell Tomes.

GBA

11/21 Back to Stone - Action adventure title from French developer Neko (Charlie's Angels).

11/22 Yggdra Union - Card-based RPG port from Japan.

Game of the Week:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Wii, 11/21

Zelda fanboys, prepare yourself: If early reviews are to believed, this may be the best Zelda game ever. And since one of the earlier Zelda games, Ocarina of Time, is usually believed to be one of the best games ever, well, you can see where the hype is going here. So I'll try and make this short and sweet: What we have here is Zelda, with a new look that returns Link to his gritty-ish realitic look following the cartooney offshoot of Wind Waker, as well as a new control scheme, which promises to put the player into the game as never before. As you swing and slice the Wii-mote, so too does Link. With a mind-bending 70 hours of gameplay, and numerous side-quests and mini-games like fishing (which, as you'd guess, uses the Wii-mote to "cast" the line into the water), Zelda is epic, beautifuly designed, and packed with things to do.

Game I'm Playing:

Gunpey, DS, 11/14

Like Meteos and Lumines before it, Gunpey is another puzzle hit from the recent star developer of puzzle games, Q Entertainment. Actually originally created by the late, great, Gumpei Yokoi, better known to many as the father of the Gameboy, Q has put a cartooney sheen on the DS version of the game (the PSP version sports a slicker more Lumines-ish look though I much prefer the DS style.). Gameplay is interesting, and while not as instantly addictive as Meteos was for me, it's still grows on you. It's basically a touch of Tetris with some Columns thrown in. Blocks start at the bottom of the screen and progress upwards, and its the players job to move individual blocks up and down the columns to link up diagonal lines that then clear the line on the board. You can also string together lines to create combos. Only thing missing is play over Wifi, but multi-cart action with a friend is available.