Something for the Weekend – 16/02/19

It’s been a busy week, with several high-profile releases including the long awaited Crackdown 3, a new Far Cry, and the latest Metro game. Elsewhere, I’ve been following a lot of the F1 car launches this week, and although we know that the cars will change a lot between now and the Australian GP, its interesting to see the different design philosophies.

Anyway, let’s get started!

In the News This Week

• Activision Blizzard lays off 775 staff despite record results in 2018
• All the headlines from the 13th February Nintendo Direct – including Super Mario Maker 2, a ton of Fire Emblem: Three Houses details, Tetris 99, Astral Chain and a Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake!
• Burnout’s ‘spiritual successor’ Dangerous Driving launches this April
• Harmonix announce Audica, a rhythm shooter for VR
• New report confirms violent video games don’t make you violent, but you already knew that
• Dirt Rally 2.0’s first season of DLC will revisit Monte Carlo, Sweden & Germany
• Apex Legends snagged 25 million players in just one week
• The Division 2 will have an open beta at the start of March
• THQ Nordic continue their plan to buy everything that’s not nailed down
• The Catherine: Full Body ‘Heart’s Desire Premium Edition’ includes a sheep in boxer shorts
• The EU PlayStation Store has a flash sale with up to 75% off games, check out the deals here!

Games in Review

With a monster week of game releases, there’s some real surprises in store:

• Metro Exodus – PS4, XBO, PC – 9/10
• Civilization VI: Gathering Storm – PC, Mac – 9/10
• Far Cry New Dawn – PS4, XBO, PC – 7/10
• Crackdown 3 – XBO, PC – 7/10
• Dragons: Dawn of New Riders – PS4, XBO, PC – 6/10
• Conarium – PS4, XBO, PC – 6/10
• Thea: The Awakening – Switch, PS4, XBO, PC – 5/10
• Jump Force – PS4, XBO, PC – 3/10
• Razer Nari Ultimate Headset – Hardware

Reviewed platform in bold.

This Week’s Features

On to the features now, and with a decent number of reviews this week, we were a tad light on previews. Starting off, Switch owners should check out Tef’s look at Tetris 99, for which he sums up saying: “It’s Tetris, it’s Battle Royale, it’s completely mad, and yet it works.” He also returned to OlliOlli with the Switch Stance release for Nintendo Switch reminding him what he loved about the games.

Meanwhile, he also spent more time with the private beta of The Division 2. If you were a fan of the first game, chances are you’ll enjoy this one too, as at its core, Developers Massive haven’t changed it, err, massively. That said, the new setting and improvements make it “exactly what it needs to be.”

Resident Yakuza expert Miguel then returned to Kamurocho in Yakuza Kiwami, thanks to the game’s release on PC. Just remember that real Yakuza play with a gamepad.

Finishing off the week, What We Played featured Anthem, Crackdown 3 & Metro Exodus.

Trailer Park

Watch the live action Anthem prequel short film here

Anthem’s launch trailer is 60 seconds of hot mech suit action

Days Gone gets a new “tragic backstory” trailer

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning – a game from the makers of Danganronpa – is coming to European PS4 on 9th April.

Your Achievements

Time to see what the community have been playing this past week:

• MrYd hit level 50 in Firewall as he closes in on the Platinum, plus a bit of Plus XING and Yakuza 0.
• TSBonyman played Kona, and has also been enjoying Hitman.
• Last up, Andrewww wasn’t that impressed with The Division 2’s beta, and was similarly disappointed with Tetris Effect. And other than the spiders, he no complaints about Resident Evil HD though!

If you want to be included in this section, make sure to comment on What We Played of a Friday evening.

The Week Ahead

Although a fair number of people have already got their hands on Anthem, it’s ‘official’ release is Friday.

• Yakuza Kiwami – PC – 19/02
• Dick Wilde 2 – PSVR, Rift, Vive – 19/02
• Anthem – PS4, XBO, PC – 22/05

That’s it for this week, I’ll see you again soon!