Shippin' Out March 24-28: Crisis Core, Kane's Wrath
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Final Fantasy VII and Command & Conquer 3 revisited while Dark Sector and Viking lay foundations for potential franchises.
March is often said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. In terms of new games, the month's early releases, such as God of War: Chains of Olympus and Army of Two, had the lion part covered. But looking at the expected arrivals for this final full week of March, it appears that the month will be going out pretty much the same way it came in.
The week kicks off with the latest installments in a pair of venerated franchises. First up is Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, the PlayStation Portable prequel to SquareSoft's landmark original PlayStation role-playing game. Players follow SOLDIER agent Zack Fair in a story that takes place seven years before Final Fantasy VII and sees the protagonist's path cross with those of many of the original game's familiar faces.
Meanwhile, PC gamers will get a chance to pick up the first expansion to Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Kane's Wrath. The add-on includes 13 new missions and six new subfactions for the real-time strategy game, as well as a beta key for a trial of the upcoming Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.
A handful of original intellectual properties are also debuting this week. Digital Extremes' Dark Sector, the very first game announced for the current generation of consoles, is finally coming out. The third-person action game puts players in control of a secret agent trying to unearth Cold War secrets in Eastern Europe with the help of a distinctive, bladed disc weapon.
Meanwhile, The Creative Assembly is branching out from its Total War franchise to try something new with Viking: Battle for Asgard. Published by Sega, the gory hack-and-slash game lets players rend opponents limb-from-limb while going toe-to-toe with all manner of nastiness culled from Norse mythology.
As for downloadable offerings, this week's Xbox Live Arcade new release is the puzzle game TiQal. Borrowing from the likes of Tetris and Lumines, Slapdash Games' TiQal challenges players to create colored squares by dropping a variety of differently shaped pieces onto an increasingly cramped playfield. TiQal will be available on Wednesday for 800 Microsoft points ($10). Original Xbox adventure game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey also finds its way to Xbox Live this week.
As for the Wii Virtual Console, it adds a pair of old-school offerings to its catalog with the Square shooter King's Knight for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and Namco's futuristic sports game Powerball for the Genesis. In keeping with the standard prices for games from those systems, King's Knight costs 500 Wii points ($5), whereas Powerball is 800 Wii points ($8).
This week's new releases are listed below (list taken from retailer information--actual dates may vary).
MARCH 24, 2008
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (PC)
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
King's Knight (Wii VC)
Powerball (Wii VC)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Xbox Originals)
MARCH 25, 2008
Dark Sector (Xbox 360, PS3)
Viking: Battle for Asgard (PS3, Xbox 360)
Universe at War: Earth Assault (Xbox 360)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 (PS2)
Octomania (Wii)
Opoona (Wii)
Obscure: The Aftermath (Wii, PS2, PC)
Australia Zoo Quest (PC)
Backyard Baseball 2009 (DS)
Harvest Moon DS Cute (DS)
Warriors Orochi (PSP)
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk (Wii)
MARCH 26, 2008
TiQal (Xbox Live Arcade)
MARCH 27, 2008
PlayStation Network release schedule not yet announced.
MARCH 28, 2008
No announced releases.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
72 comments
When's the European release?? A well... probably cheaper AND faster to just import anyways.... :p
I wish i owned a psp slim, i want FFVII:CC noaw! However i do own a ds lite and will purchase NG: DS.It is the sequel to NG: S after all and that game was awesome.
im really only looking forward to ff VII, command and conquer and universae at war, anything else im kinda ify about, even dark sector, that looks like one of those games that has some much potenial but then when you play it, your so dissapointed. but hopefully im wrong ;D
Um, where is Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the DS? Wasn't that supposed to be released March 25th?
dude yes!!!!!! I get my FFVII today I love it I cant wait am sure that when I come back from work it will be here wating to be played!!!
Alrighty then , Kane's Wrath is looking great and a promising expansion pack with all the new sub-factions, am definitely getting it , as for Crisis Core , what can i say ? its Final Fantasy & its on the PSP, The Glaive in Dark Sector seems very intersting as a weapon ,not to metion the blood and gore expected from the game,thats it for now & thank you for reading.
This is the last week we'll see something for the 360 for a while, literally. Look at the new releases for like the next three weeks nothing.
FF:CC, DARK SECTOR, VIKING, GOW:COO, R6:V2, CONDEMNED 2 !!!! WOOT!!! MUHAHAHA!!! ALL MINE !!!! MIIIIINE AAAALLLLL MIINNNE!!!
While I not going to get it anytime soon, I sure Crisis Core is a good game that is worth getting.
I'm definitely gonna get Crisis Core and Ninja Gaiden. Where's Ninja Gaiden on this list?
I should have Crisis Core tomorrow :D.....finally. It feels like I've been waiting an eternity.
@ monoxide582: WHAT??? HOW??? I WANT IT SOOO BAD N I HAVE TO WAIT TILL 2MORROW! AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!
Dark Sector, Viking, and Opoona for me! :D Ahhh, can't wait for Dark Sector. I already have the JP import for FF: CC, so I won't be getting the US release.
By far, the game of the week is Crisis Core. If you honestly would pick Dark Sector, that's kinda sad, since that game looks full of mediocrity. Other then that, you have Kane's Wrath, which, if it's anywhere as good as the original game, will be great. Surprised it's not coming to the 360 until June. Temporary PC loyalty and exclusivity, or control scheme tweaking? You decide. Regardless, it looks great. Kinda sucks that Sony doesn't mention it's PSN titles earlier in the week. But hey, if anybody is interested, go to blog.us.playstation.com for all the latest Playstation news, and for the weekly PSN releases for the PS3 and PSP stores.
I haven't heard a thing about Viking, but I just got my recent issue of Play, they had a great review for this game. I really want to try this game now. However, they also gave Lair a great review and said SSBB was for the PS2, so I'll wait to see what other critics have to say. Dark Sector also got some so-so reviews; three 70% reviews on MetaCritic and that's it. That' actually surprised me 'cause I expected this game to do worse from the gameplay video I've seen. Maybe I'll give this a try as well.
I only have a PS3 and a Wii. There's nothing here that interests me. There are still games from past weeks like Williams Pinball Collection and the PS3 version of Condemned 2 that I might buy. I need a demo before I think about either Dark Sector or Viking: Battle For Asgard.
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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
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