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Most weeks in this column I only have one or two things to express my opinion on. But damn, a lot has happened this week, so you’re all getting a little over your quota because it’s Friday and Mike and Dean have turned their backs.
We’ll start with Gamescom, as that took most of the week. It was a rush of some interesting titles, with the favorite being the charmingly gothic Lies of P. The “biggest” announcement may well be the reveal that Dead Island 2 is real and actually coming out. I’m ambivalent about this – honestly the game was more amusing as a ghost than in real life. But it’s also nice to finally check off on such a legendary piece of vaporware. It’s also not so much Gamescom as Gamescom-adjacent, but I did enjoy the preview of Harvestella, which just might be my new cozy game.
Meanwhile, Sony is raising the price of the PlayStation 5 in several markets – as if getting their hands on them wasn’t already hard enough, while all the scalpers and resellers are doing the same. I’m of the opinion that Sony wouldn’t do this unless it was in heavy weather, because the backlash just wouldn’t be worth it otherwise. Not me to approve, but I do see it as Sony throwing itself on the upright sword, as it were. If anything, this news makes me curious about Microsoft and Nintendo — both of whom have publicly stated they won’t be raising their console prices — saying, “. . . yet.”
And now a short interlude…
Just to clear my conscience, I’ll tell you all that, similar to Fire Emblem Warriors, there’s another game on my rating list that I’ve played for too long and forgot I really needed to sit down and rate: Two-Point Campus. I promise this won’t be thing. But at this point, it makes more sense to talk about it here than to give it a full review – especially since it’s hard for me to think of anything that doesn’t apply to Two-Point Hospital as well. That’s not a diss, by the way. If I were to give the game a score it would be a solid 3.5 out of 5. It’s a solid sim game with a signature silly style.
A solid upgrade to the sequel is summer vacation. A big part of Two-Point’s modus operandi is its Tetris-esque room layout, but Campus gives users a chance to run things to their heart’s content in the summers when the students are cleaning up. Campus’s humor is much the same as Hospital’s – largely harmless, but with a touch of satire behind it. Whether higher education is as ridiculous as for-profit health care, I’ll leave it to the individual player to decide – I don’t find it that entertaining, but these things are subjective. This opinion could also be colored by the fact that the little B-grade mosquitoes in my school kept getting hung up on points in empty hallways because their path failed.
Back to your show
I originally wanted to end the article with that mini-review, but after this morning I feel the need to comment on the now-debunked story about Amazon making an offer to Electronic Arts. The alleged takeover was supposed to be announced today, but it’s practically weekend now and *crickets*. I’m not sure what it says about the current climate that this story sounds plausible – well, almost. I still put Embracer as more likely than Amazon.
In personal news, I bought Saints Row and am currently playing it. Not sure I’ll review it, but I need to see if the negative (and sometimes positive) chatter I’ve heard is justified. I also have too much history with the series to not play the new title. If nothing else, I’ll just rant about it here when I feel the need to vent my spleen a bit. Once again, I’d like to remind everyone that the Wii U and 3DS eShops will soon be shutting down access to eShop cards – meaning there will be no way to add funds to your accounts after August 29. In any case, treat yourself to Bravely Default. That was a beautiful game.
What to play this week:
What’s new:
- Saints Row
- Midnight Fight Express
- F1 manager 2022
- Fallen Legion Revenants
- islets
- SD Gundam Battle Alliance
- Soul Hackers 2
- Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
- I was a teenage exocolonist
- Train Life: A Railway Simulator
- The Bridge Curse: Road to Redemption
New on subscription services:
- Exapunks (Xbox Game Pass)
- Opus: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition (Xbox Game Pass)
- Destiny 2 (GeForce Now)
- Guild Wars 2 (GeForce Now)
- Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2 (GeForce Now)
- Century: Age of Ashes (GeForce Now)
- Coromon (GeForce Now)
- Dark Deity (GeForce Now)
- Hypercharge: Unboxed (GeForce Now)
- Last Call BBS (GeForce Now)
- Plague Inc: Evolved (GeForce Now)
- Rebel Inc: Escalation (GeForce Now)
- Love You to Bits+ (Apple Arcade)
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