Given all the great, and really long, Role Playing Games that came out in the past months, I could really use another week’s worth of gaming break just to play catch up. Couldn’t you? I know I could given how much stuff there is to do in Xenoblade Chronicles. And I haven’t even touched Skyrim yet. If you must play something new this week, I’ve got two options for you. One came out last year. The other one may or may not be for you.

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

 

20/20

Okamiden (DS)

Original Release Date: March 15, 2011
The DS may be on its way to retirement, but if history is to be believed, the retirement phase of any given system usually gives us some of its best, but overlooked titles. Released right on the heels of the 3DS’s release, Okamiden was poised to be the DS’s swan song. News of both Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 and Pokemon Black/White 2 titles for the DS came afterwards stripping away the title of the swan song from Okamiden. Nevertheless, this DS title shines anyways.

This sequel to the PS2 cult hit, Okami continues the story of the land of Nippon. Nine months have passed since Amaterasu, the wolf god protagonist of the original, banished all evil from the world and went back to the heavens. Now a new evil has arisen, and only Chibiterasu, Amaterasu’s son, can stop it. Like its predecessor, Okamiden centers around Chibiterasu’s ability to use the Celestial Brush to do various things like create bombs or slash enemies. Being able to do this with an actual analogue to a paintbrush (thank you stylus) instead of faking it with the analog stick on the DualShock makes all the difference though.

Like Okami, Okamiden impressed the critics with its Zelda-esque qualities, the Japanese Sumi-e inspired art style, and engaging mechanics garnering a Metacritic score of 82 out of 48 reviews, but too much like its predecessor, gamers seem to have overlooked it again. VGChartz pegs its sales numbers at about 40,980 unit for its opening week. Like most video game sales, it went downhill fast afterwards. Admittedly, getting interested in a DS game these days can be a little bit tough given the 3DS recent rise in popularity, but gamers looking for a Zelda-esque adventure without the staleness inherent to the property these days really should check out this little gem, because we may never get anything like it ever again if these sales trend persist.

 

 

Coming This Week

Tuesday May 1, 2012

Sniper Elite V2 (Xbox 360, PS3)

Not everyone wants to be the front line infantryman charging into enemy territory guns blazing. As the name implies, Sniper Elite V2 puts you in the shoes of a sniper, but unlike most First Person Shooters that boils down sniping to nothing but putting the crosshairs on the enemy’s face before pulling the trigger, sniping actually requires you to factor in wind, the gravity’s pull on your bullet, the muzzle attached to your rifle, and even your own heartbeat. You better make your shots count because I’d like to see you do the math on all that while the guy starts shooting back at you.

 

Late to the Party

• Mortal Kombat (Vita) 5/1/2012

 

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