New Releases 15th-21st May

Yes, we're back but let's ignore that for now and check out some this week's new releases that we think are worth a look.

May 16th

The Surge (£39.99)- Xbox One & PS4

Coming from the makers of Lords of the Fallen (possibly the best non 'From Software' souls game) comes The Surge, basically a Sci-fi souls game. So instead of swords its chainsaws, instead of armour its exo-suits and instead of demons, its mechs and people. It's certainly shaping up well and is certainly on our watch list.

May 17th

Farpoint (£42.99) - Playstation VR

Farpoint is being billed as the PSVR's "first top quality" and "true" FPS playable with either the standard pad or with sony's new "aim controller" which surprisingly isn't just a plastic controller mount like the high days of the Wii. Whilst reports are very positive it's possible that PSVR's fate may lay with the success of this title.

May 19th

Akiba's Beat (£34.99) - PS4

A little something for the JRPG fans now. And Akiba's Beat certainly sounds like a treat (unintentional rhyming) for 'Persona' and 'Tale of' fans and just a little trippy.

• Realtime battle system similar to the 'Tales of' series
• Build a team of friends - all with unique skill-sets and enter the minds of the delusional
• Imaginative dungeon worlds based on the delusions of other - from music fans to Idol obsessives
• Customise your crew with clothes and accessories bough from stores in Akihabara
• Explore Akihabara in a perfectly mapped 1:1 version of this legendary discrict
• Incredible art and animation with characters brought to life using 2D Live

Portal Knights (£19.99) - Xbox One & PS4

Here's an interesting indie title. Portal Knights infuse the Minecraft formula with some action RPG blood. Players will be able to select their class, level up, craft items, shape the world, explore more worlds, and stab/shoot/burn enemies with a seemingly fast-paced combat engine. This game features 2 player split screen and 4 player online co-op

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (£32.99) - 3DS

In what is surely the start of a new series of remakes, Fire Emblem Echos takes us back to the 2nd ever Fire Emblem game but lovingly remade in the same engine that powers the excellent Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates.

Why should we care about this remake? Well first this game is going to harder (magic users take damage when casting) and at the time the series wasn't sure on its own identity and features "traditional" RPG features like dungeon crawling.

Injustice 2 (£41.99)  - Xbox One & PS4

Here's our "big release" of the week. Injustice (oddly no subtitle) 2 builds on its predecessor in the usual ways, larger roster: 28 up from 13 (not including either's DLC), better graphics, more moves and so on. However, it also includes a new gears system (not that different from For Honor).

For those who don't know the Injustice games take place in an alternative world where Lois Lane is killed and Superman fueled by her loss refuses to let anyone else die and ends up A) killing plenty of his friends and B) becomes a dictator. The first game (X1 Backwards Compatible) chronicled how the Batman lead resistance toppled Superman's regime. Now in the sequel will see Superman's biggest enemy Brainiac invade the Earth, will Batman let the dictator out of his cage? (guessing from the cover, yes). Honestly this game should be an easy recomend for DC fans, fighting fans, or general comic fans should appricate the no holds bared narrative.

See also the Injustice comic series that sets up the first game.

Confirmed: Injustice 2 Annouced

At some point I should really get an article going about all the things that are better than they have any right to be. On top of that list or near the top would be Injustice: Gods Among Us. On paper it shouldn't of been good it was based on the Mortal Kombat engine, the previous attempt Mortal Kombat vs DC universe was uneven, set in a Superman gone rouge universe, and balancing should of been a nightmare. 

Luckily it was pretty great, even like me you was not... overly fond of the basic Mortal Kombat gameplay, or the overly armoured designs. It did win me over with it's clever use of character abilities, interesting story (which's backstory was excellently written in a 5 "year" comic) and... well Batman!

Today Warner Brothers and Netherealms have announced as sequel, which like the upcoming Justice League movie apparently doesn't sport an subtitle - Injustice 2.   

Well wasn't that... armoured,

Sorry and I'm back. According to the release materials this game doesn't feature transformations as the trailer implies. What it dose feature however is an RPG style loot system, this system will not only change how your character looks but will apparently also alter their abilities and your strategies (i'm assuming by altering move start up times/directions) as well as forcing your opponent to switch up their game.

The all important loot will be rewarded after each fight, with some loot being generic and others being character specific. Guess we'll see how all that works out in 2017.

Abe's Take
First up i'm excited to see where the story is going and as a fan of DC's TV shows it was fun seeing veteran Flash and newcomer Supergirl (I'm assuming that's her, could also be Powergirl) but the I do worry about balancing the loot for online, I'm getting DBZ Xenoverse flashbacks. That games loot pretty much destroyed the online.

Joker's New Look

With J Max's bee fueled comic reviews doing so well I thought I'd dabble in some comic news that has popped up.

For those who don't know DC comics is preparing an massive shake up (not reboot) of their universe and as such all sorts of things have been changing. Batman was one of the few titles of DC's New 52 that was great from beginning and the team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo delivered pure gold on the flagship series, even some how managing to pull off temporarily replacing Bruce Wayne with Commissioner Gordon in the bat-suit.

Now we might have our first look at what might be how the Joker look when he returns in DC's Rebirth, which it is claimed we'll learn the Joker's real name. Cant help but feel that will either be crazy level of meta (like he IS the DC Universe) or just wont stick.

At first glance it appears that the artist Rafael Albuquerque has mimic Joker's look in the upcoming Suicide Squad but closer inspection suggests Rafeal has pulled from all over for the iconic villain in this variant cover. The Face is very Jared Leto's film version, the hair style is a lot like Capullo's work on Endgame and the suit is straight up Frank Miller's take on the character in Dark Knight Returns. Here's a selection of what I'm referring too. Again it's worth pointing out this is a variant cover by an guest artist, so its entirely possible the design is a tribute and not certain.

Abe's Take
I do feel sorry for new guys (writer) Tim King and (artist) Mikel Janin as they are just going to suffer in comparison to the now legendary team of S.Snyder & G.Capullo but I do like Albuquerque's approach to pulling across Jokers past, present and future content. Now I'm going to go stare at more of Capullo's art (sorry Janin and Albuquerque)