Wednesday, March 5, 2014

This Month's Hottest Video Game Releases

 The 2013 holiday season was a glorious time to be a gamer. There were two home-video game console launches (PlayStation 4£399.00 at Very and Xbox One£392.50 at Amazon), and tons of impressive titles that kept us entertained from November through January. Guess what? It's about to happen again! Okay, maybe not on the same scale as we saw around the holidays, but March 2014 will see many highly anticipated titles hitting retail outlets.
While there are many games slated for release this month, we're focusing here on the titles that we feel will keep gamers giddy for the next 30 days. The six games listed below represent six radically different types of play. There's an action RPG for masochists, open-world superheroics, cinematic stealth-action, an RPG based on a TV show, mech warfare, and the return of an egg-shooting dinosaur that protects babies.
Even better, only one title we selected is a next-gen exclusive, so you don't have to plunk down cash for new hardware to play the majority of these games. Your Nintendo 3DS, PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 still have plenty of life in them.
Spoiled gamers will certainly decry this second glut of good games when they haven't made their way through the holiday season backlog (our tears are flowing for you, really), but old schoolers who remember the '90s spring and summer video game droughts really appreciate publishers' more balanced release approaches in recent years.
But enough with the blabbering. You're ready to check out March's most anticipated games, yes? Then do so, by all means. Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment below either praising the selections, or putting them on blast. Really, there's no other way to comment on the Internet, right?
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Dark Souls II 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Souls II

$59.99
March 11, 2014
PC $49.99 at Amazon, PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 $59.99 at Amazon

Dark Souls II isn't directly related to its predecessor, but the action-RPG has one thing in common with Dark Souls that should be apparent as soon as you boot it up: hard-as-nails difficulty. In fact, developer From Software stated that Dark Souls II will be even harder than the very challenging Dark Souls due to smarter A.I. enemies, Hollow invasions, and scarcer Life Gems (though I'm sure the monstrous bosses, character hallucinations, and other obstacles factor into increased the difficulty, too). Fortunately, Dark Souls II has greater character customization than the original to help you combat the deadly forces. Gamers, prepare to die again on March 11, 2014. 

Infamous: Second Son
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Infamous: Second Son

$59.99
March 21, 2014
PlayStation 4 $59.99 at Amazon

Sucker Punch Production's next-gen Sony exclusive continues the open-world superhero action that has become the series' trademark. After Seattle resident Delsin Rowe accidentally gains super powers, the Department of Unified Protection—a government organization designed to eliminate super-humans—designates him a "bio-terrorist" and begins the hunt. But who cares about that, really? It's all just an excuse to parkour through stages, set enemies aflame with Rowe's fire powers, and cause general havoc. Infamous: Second Son rages against the machine on March 21, 2014. 
 
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
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Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

$29.99
March 18th, 2014
PlayStation 3 $29.96 at Amazon, PlayStation 4 $29.99 at Amazon, Xbox 360 $29.96 at Amazon, Xbox One $29.99 at Amazon

Kojima Production's open-world stealth-action title focuses on Big Boss as he infiltrates a remote Cuban prison camp in this Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker follow-up that also serves as a prologue to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The new, much-hyped Fox Engine enables day and night cycles, and weather conditions that dynamically affect gameplay. Ground Zeroes will be available on multiple platforms on March 18, 2014. 
 
South Park: The Stick of Truth
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South Park: The Stick of Truth

$59.99
March 4, 2014
PC $59.96 at Amazon, PlayStation 3 $59.96 at Amazon, Xbox 360 $59.96 at Amazon

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park's mad scientists, lend their demented storytelling and familiar voice work to developer Obsidian Entertainment's take on the popular Comedy Central show. The Stick of Truth is a role-playing game (complete with class systems and other genre staples) set in a 2D world that duplicates the cartoon's unique cutout look. If you're concerned that the game will be a watered-downed version of the show, fear not. The Stick of Truth will be censored in several countries, though it will be sold uncut in the U.S. Cartman demands you respect his authoritah on March 4, 2014. 

Titanfall
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Titanfall

$59.99
March 11, 2014
PC $59.96 at Amazon, Xbox 360 $59.99 at Amazon, Xbox One $59.96 at Amazon

Armed-to-the-teeth soldiers? Check. Free running? Check. Mechs? BIG CHECK. Giant monsters? EVEN BIGGER CHECK. Developer Respawn Entertainment takes several popular video-game elements and combines them into a first-person shooter that looks to breathe new life into the stale, stagnant first-person shooter genre. Titanfall places an emphasis on movement and speed—even the game's towering mechanical war machines are surprisingly agile. Titanfall is slated to drop on March 11, 2014. 

Yoshi's New Island
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Yoshi's New Island

$39.99
March 14, 2014
Nintendo 3DS $39.99 at Amazon

Nintendo recently struck gold by tapping its past to create new, innovative titles (see Super Mario 3D World$52.97 at Amazon and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds$40.00 at Amazon), and it may have done so again with Yoshi's New Island. The action-platformer is the sequel to the SNES' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and features a similar crayon-like visual design that simply oozes charm. The gameplay focuses on Yoshi escorting babies—including the incredibly cute Baby Mario—and swallowing enemies to make eggs that act as projectiles. You can take a trip to Yoshi's New Island on March 14, 2014.

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