Game Releases for the Week of July 2nd

Dan here with your weekly gaming preview.

I guess the publishers are thinking everyone will be out this weekend blowing themselves up with fireworks instead of gaming, as this weeks slate is once again pretty light.

Though Xbox 360 owners can look forward to the first real time strategy game on the console, LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth II, while the PC has a few interesting-sounding titles as well. Next week is looking a little better with the highly anticipated (since 1995!) Prey and the less-anticipated-but-still-anticipated Chromehounds on deck. Anyway, have a good 4th, and watch those thumbs when handling that firecracker -- you need 'em!

This Week's Releases:

DS

None

GC

None

PSP

None

Xbox 360

7/5 Lord Of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth II - See game of the week, below.

Xbox

None

PC

7/3 Big Oil: Build an Oil Empire - Run your very own oil company into the ground just like Dubyah did in this budget title from developer Tri Synergy. They last stepped into the "tycoon" genre with "Game Tycoon" earlier this year.

7/3 Terra Wars: NY Invasion - Looks to be a generic shooter for the PC with what can only be described as horrible, horrible graphics.

7/3 First Battalion - For a hype-less PC game, this one is an impressive looking WWII game that combines strategy elements with vehicular action. It also features 32-person multiplayer modes.

7/7 Wings of Power II: WWII Fighters - Not actually a game, this is a 5 plane add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

PS2

7/5 Ultimate Board Game Classics - Hot and sweaty board game action comes to the PS2 in this budget title, with 20 different games including "Naval Battle" and Parcheesi. The official description of this game actually says "fun for the whole family".

GBA

None

Game of the Week:

Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth II, Xbox 360, 7/5

PC gamers who make the move to consoles seems to always be saying the one genre they miss most is the real-time strategy. The console's unique yet simplified controls has always been the limiting factor, and while there have been some attempts (Xbox's Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde comes to mind) none have really succeeded.

EA hopes to rectify this with LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth 2, which not only benefits from the cachet of the LOTR franchise, but experienced team members from Westwood Studios, creators of the little game that jump-started RTS's on the computer, Command & Conquer. Besides the familiar resource gathering and army building (with a promised easy-to-use control scheme), it also features online modes over XBL. Addicting real-time strategy titles have destroyed the South Korean youth population -- will it do the same here?

Game I'm Playing:

Magnetica, DS, 6/5

Whenever I'm "in-between games" (in this case I just finished Hitman) I've recently found myself going back to this amazingly addicting puzzler for the DS. Released in Japan earlier this year as "Shokan Puzz loop", Magnetica pits you against a ever-increasing string of marbles. You have a marble launcher, and using the stylus, you "fling" them towards the string.

When 3 of the same color marbles touch, they disappear, slowing the marble progression. Creating chains of marble combinations is the main idea and will allow to clear lots of marbles at once. Sound familiar? Most gamers will recognize it as a Zuma rip-off, until you learn that Magnetica is actually based on this game (there was an arcade version in the late 90's), and the developers are suing the Zuma people for copyright infringement.

Legal issues aside, Magnetica is repetitive-strain-injury fun for all ages. It surpasses Zuma in terms of gameplay variation as the more advanced Magnetica stages introduce gameplay features like wind, water, and gravity holes that effect the path of your launched marbles. There's even smoke in some levels, which must be "rubbed" away using the DS stylus. Did I mention the boss battles? They involve flinging marbles towards an enemy in the upper screen while it inches closer to bottom in classic Space Invaders style.