This year has truly been the year of the Role Playing Games so far hasn’t it? We started off with Final Fantasy 13-2, went into space with Mass Effect 3, and two weeks ago we climbed up a titan in Xenoblade Chronicles. This week’s RPG will take us to a darker high-fantasy world with far more mature themes coursing through it. Interested? Read on.

Remember. Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher.  The following are subject to change without any warning.

 

Releases To Watch For This Week

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Enhanced Edition) (Xbox 360)

Tuesday April 17, 2011

Around the console space, the Mass Effect series dominates the RPG conversation, but over in the PC world, last year’s The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings has more traction. Now it wants to show us lowly Xbox 360 owners who’s boss in the RPG space.

Monster hunter for hire, known as a Witcher, Geralt of Rivia finds himself entangled in the various politicking of the land. That tends to happen when you’ve been wrongly accused of killing a king that you were hired to protect. From there on, he must travel the lands meeting the various races we’ve come to expect out of high-fantasy stories like Elves and Dwarves. Just don’t expect them to be as “cute and cuddly” as most stories often treat them.

When gamers point to Mass Effect as a kind of paragon of decision-making and its outcomes in video games, PC gamers normally point to Witcher 2 as a counterpoint stating how decisions in it don’t come down to between the “good” choice and the “evil” choice. Moreover, they also point to how the choices Geralt makes, even the ones that seem inconsequential at first, can really affect the course of the narrative. Various reviews have pointed out the same thing and holds it in high regards for it.

No fantasy game would be complete without magic of some kind. In addition to being an accomplished swordsman, Geralt has access to magic and traps in combat. From the sound of the various reviews, Witcher 2 doesn’t back down when it comes to giving you a challenge. Button meshing your way will only get you killed. Only a thorough comprehension of the combat system will keep you alive.

Given the amount of praise Witcher 2 has received, I’d say this port, which does compromise a little bit on the graphics side, might be okay. Just to sweeten the pot even more, this port also comes with three hours of new content, a soundtrack CD, a Quest Book, a World Map, and detailed manual. I remember the days when that last bit came standard. I’d say this game is a must play for RPG fans. Don’t you?

 

Coming This Week

Tuesday April 17, 2012

Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat (Xbox 360, PS3)

Do you feel like your 3D fighting game need more… Shaka Zulu? Or how about Genghis Khan? Well, Spike TV has the game just for you my friend. Once a downloadable game, now you can have both DLGs, Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Warrior Legends that is, on one disc complete with new weapons, modes, and even full episodes of the TV show that this game is based off of. Now we’ll finally be able to settle the age-old dispute between ninjas and pirates. My money is on ninjas.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Vita)

Continuing the trend of ports for new consoles first couple of months, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention has the honor of showing Vita owners about the wonders of Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, which came out for the PS3 back in 2008. This port acts a little bit like the Game of the Year version in that it comes packed with all of the DLC available for the PS3 version. Also, Detention has four new scenarios and two new characters to lure in fans of the original back into playing this complex Strategy RPG. I wonder how this one will abuse those Prinnies?

 

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