Playstation April Releases

[BumblyBee]

Sorry about the tardiness this month everyone,

Sony Releases for April - as per http://playstation.com.au/games_media/release_schedule.jhtml - Which they UPDATED!!
(and I was almost going to ring them and ask if they'd let me do it for them)

Console	Title	Distributor	Genre	Release
PS3	SingStar POP Edition	SCE	Singstar	??
PS3	Wireless SingStar Microphones	SCE	Peripheral	??
PS3	X Blades	THQ	Arcade/Action	??
PSP	Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce	THQ	Action/Adventure	??
PSP	Tenchu 4	Ubisoft	Adventure	??
PS3	Monsters vs Aliens	Activision	Action/Adventure	1st
PS2	Monsters vs Aliens	Activision	Action/Adventure	1st
PS3	Afro Samurai	ATARI	Action	2nd
PSP	MGS Portable Ops + Coded Arms	ATARI	Action	2nd
PSP	MGS Portable Ops + Silent Hill Origins	ATARI	Action	2nd
PSN	Rag Doll Kung Fu	SCE	Fighting	9th
PS3	The Godfather 2	EA	Action	9th
PSP	Phantasy Star Portable	SEGA	Action/Adventure	16th
PSP	Tomb Raider Double Pack (Anniversary + Legend)	ATARI	Adventure	23rd
PS3	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Activision	Action/Adventure	29th
PSP	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Activision	Action/Adventure	29th
PS2	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Activision	Action/Adventure	29th
PS3	Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena	ATARI	Action	30th
PS3	Rock Revolution	ATARI	Party	30th

PSN
Rag Doll Kung Fu
Kung Fu with Marionettes. Lots of fun to be had here, many challenges as well as up to 4 player fights (local and online). The aesthetic humour reminds me of PAIN.
Pre Order Deals:
Are you kidding?


PSP
The Double Packs are Coming!!! - Nice release list for the PSP this month, lets look at them.

Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce
To be released sometime this month. Based on Dynasty Warriors 6 (means nothing to me). I've just seen that the demo might be available in the PSN Store, so I'll download it and give you my impressions.
[Edit]
Played the Demo over the week-end. It is a visually stunning game. The demo seemed to have a few characters you can choose from and it is a hack and slash spectacular. The other point I should mention is, this game is 4 player online/local, but it doesn't look like it has voice chat. If you like these types of games you will probably love this one.
[Edit]

Pre Order Deals:
None

Tenchu 4
Again - sometime this month. The review I finally found over at GamePro gives it 4 out of 5 and piqued my interest. Stealth and Assasination - a classic game play combination.
Pre Order Deals:
None

MGS Portable Ops + Coded Arms
Great idea - package a great game with a not so good game. Just to clarify, MGSPO is the great game. The other MGS bundle looks to be the better deal.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $42.95

MGS Portable Ops + Silent Hill Origins
Two of Konami's best franchises in the one bundle. You could probably pick them up separately cheaper, but bundles like this one tend to retain value in the long run.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $42.95

Phantasy Star Portable
I'm not a Phantasy Star lover, but this looks pretty good. The game is in the God of War style - 3D, camera generally follows you, enemies spawn in front of you and you massacre them (real time) with a variety of weapons and attacks.
Pre Order Deals:
None - RRP $69.95

Tomb Raider Double Pack (Anniversary + Legend)
Two reasonable games in a single pack - no variety of game play between the games here though. Again you could probably pick up separately for cheaper, but $50 is pretty good.
Pre Order Deals:
None - RRP $49.95

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
See PS3 entry
Pre Order Deals:
EB Games $59.95 + Free Movie Poster + chance to win claws http://ebgames.com.au/psp/product.cfm?id=14152&refer=product


PS2
Monsters vs Aliens
See the PS3 entry - except reviewers on the interwebs are giving this one a slightly better score - influenced by the price maybe?
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $31.95

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
See PS3 entry
Pre Order Deals:
EB Games $59.95 + Free Movie Poster + chance to win claws
CD WOW! $31.95

PS3
SingStar POP Edition
Not quite the same old singstar, as this one allows you to navigate with voice commands.
The track list contains Pop songs like "Sex is on Fire", "Livin' On A Prayer", "So What!" and goes way downhill from there.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $37.95
GAME $49.95

Wireless SingStar Microphones
About time.
Pre Order Deals:
None - RRP $79.95

X-Blades
A scantily clad computer sprite hacks and slashes her way through hoardes of demons. Made in 3rd person, because the developers want you to check out her bum as much as possible, to distract you from the tedious button mashing you are going to be doing.
General consensus from the reviews on the web is that it is not a good game.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $72.95

Monsters vs Aliens
This Movie Licence is getting good reviews - not great - but good. It's an Action, Platformer, Puzzle solving type game where you control a different character for each of the different sections of game play.
I think it looks pretty solid and I don't think you could go too wrong if you got this title for the littler gamers.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $62.95

Afro Samurai
Samuel L Jackson provides the Voice acting - but it's not a movie tie-in, it's an Anime/Manga tie-in. This Cell-shaded, 3rd person hack and slash game looks very nice, but reviews are pointing out control issues. These same reviews still give the game respectable 7's and 8's out of 10.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $83.95
JB Hi-Fi Trade 3 get for Free (excluded games at http://www.jbHi-Fi.com.au/games/trade-in/excluded-games.pdf)

The Godfather 2
I have a confession to make... I really loved The Godfather - Blackhand Edition for the Wii. It was one of those games that I just had to play it to 100% completion.
This game continues from the last, where you are Don of NY, but now you must expand to control other cities.
The game play looks to be an extension of the racketeering elements of the first game - which was really a lot of fun.
The graphics look pretty damn average though. Looks fun, but my suggestion is go try out the Blackhand Edition for the Wii first.
Pre Order Deals:
EB Games $99.95 + in-game crew member http://ebgames.com.au/ps3/product.cfm?id=12976&refer=home
GAME $79.95
JB Hi-Fi $79.98, or
JB Hi-Fi Trade 3 get for Free (excluded games at http://www.jbHi-Fi.com.au/games/trade-in/excluded-games.pdf)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
You know what? this looks pretty good. There are a couple of trailers out there and it looks fun. Sure the developers are saying all the things you'd expect them to say, like, "oh dude this is awesome!" and "the movie game that finally does not suck", but I think they might be right.
Looking forward to seeing more about this closer to the release date.
Pre Order Deals:
EB Games $99.95 + Free Movie Poster + chance to win claws
CD WOW! $83.95

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
FPS - first person slicer. From the trailers it appears to be a stealth type shooter.
Pre Order Deals:
EB Games $10 off ($109.95) + multiplayer map + commentary mode http://ebgames.com.au/PS3/product.cfm?ID=13785
CD WOW! $83.95

Rock Revolution
This is Konami's Rock Guitar Band Hero game, and it is COMPATIBLE with the RB and GH instruments - but it won't score your singing (no mic support)!!
It only has 30 tracks - all covers, and the game itself looks really dodgy. It's a 1 to 4 player game, but in my house it would probably only attract 0 to play it.
Pre Order Deals:
CD WOW! $37.95