COUNTDOWN JULY 23-29 2006

By: Captain Gordon Edward
Date: Friday, July 28, 2006

As with most every summer, this happens to be the days of the handhelds. Perhaps there is a thought that most publishers have, where they believe that people are outside having fun, rather than inside in front of a television. This means that the home console racket cools down, while the Nintendo DS and PSP systems are having free reign in the world.

Oh yes, I must congratulate Nintendo for selling 21 million Nintendo DS's. This means that roughly every 2 seconds a Nintendo DS has been sold, since the system has been released. I know that I love mine, and most every game that I play on it.

We start with B-Daman for the GBA released by Atlus. In lieu of the cartoon, it seems that this series has never been hotter. So what would be better than playing with B-Daman toys than playing them on a handheld? The best part about this game would have to be actually playing against other players, if you can find others with the game. You will have a bunch of characters, and battlefields, and hopefully this game stays true to the cartoon series.

Atlus is not done yet though, as they also released Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. This is a RPG with a real-time combat system. If you have played games like the Tales series, you will know exactly what I am talking about. If not, well you will control your main character and team, as the enemies will attack you non-stop. A neat option allows for seamless switching between the side scrolling worlds, and the top down overview. This game can be linked up to battle against other people, or trade items. These types of games always warm the cockles of my heart, and I am considering this to be the game of the week to buy.

For the PSP, a little bit of a different story. They have classic series being moved to this medium with Tekken Dark Resurrection. Now I have liked the Tekken series since playing the third one, where I found out that Eddie Gordo was a character, and by matching names alone I fell in love. This game will also knock one out of the park, and it is something that the PSP desperately needs right now. Everything looks great, and controls easily. This will also be another great game for people to sink their teeth into if they have a PSP.

For the PC... CivCity: Rome is released by 2K Games, and will ensure players a Sim City like experience. Prepare for working your tail off in Rome, creating your ultimate empire. Like the old saying goes, all roads lead to Rome, and I am sure that 2k Games will do the city justice.

If that is not enough, there is an expansion to Civilization IV, and this happens to be from the same people. The games is called Civilization IV: Warlords, and if the title does not tell you what the game is about... I do no think I will be able to do so either. This will be another fantastic game, because the Civilization IV game was amazing, and I am sure this one will expand upon its greatness.

The X-Box welcomes Painkiller: Hell Wars to their system. I love the idea of the game, and even the first one from quite a while ago. It seemed to strike a cord with me when it came to the storyline, so I hope that this game follows suit. I am sure you will be kicking a lot of demon butt and taking a lot of names. There is also Ant Bully released for a lot of the systems, and while it was fun for the five minutes I played it at E3, I am still unsure at this point how great it is in full version. Hopefully soon I can review this game for everyone.

This pretty much wraps up this week. While even in a bit of a slump, there are still a lot of gaming options out there if you look hard enough. This is Captain Gordon... signing off.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com