Something For The Weekend – 18/02/17

There’s no Six Nations rugby this weekend, which is both good and bad in my opinion. I’d love for the competition to keep rolling, but it’s also important for the players to be able to take a break from the pressure cooker environment of test rugby.

It’s also a pretty good thing because I have a lot to do this weekend, and I’m already very easily dist… distract…. oh, is that a pretty butterfly?!

Oh, I seem to have lost my train of thought. Let’s just get on with this week’s news, shall we?

In the News This Week

• Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy launches on 30th June
• Someone got hands on a Nintendo Switch early
  Unlike us, they’re not bound by embargoes. Videos happened.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will get an Expansion Pass
  It doesn’t seem to be the most feature and content rich set of DLC, but Nintendo did do us proud with Mario Kart 8, so I’m hopeful there could be more on the way.
• You can pull a real life Hadoken in Ultra Street Fighter II for Switch
• 80 new Johto region Pokémon can be now be caught in Pokémon Go!
  I caught half a dozen of the little gits just walking to the train station yesterday.
• Surprise, surprise, Microsoft will unveil Xbox Project Scorpio at E3 this year
• Cities: Skylines comes to Xbox One this spring
  MrYd requested that “While you’re firing off emails to Paradox, why not ask about a PS4 version? Do they not want money?”
• There might still be hope for a Bioshock film
• The Apocalypse Now Kickstarter was pulled
  And it all sounds rather odd and slightly shady with what they plan to do next…
• The latest Humble Bundle is overflowing with indie games for £24
  A seriously good value bundle, if you ever get around to playing everything included. All proceeds will go to
• There was a Valentine’s Day update for Genital Jousting…
  Enough said.
• Nothing to do with games, but bees let out little whoops of surprise when they bump into each other
  I <3 bees.

Games in Review

The year’s release schedule has really kicked into high gear this week, with a couple of big games and equally big reviews. Though none are perfect, they all seemed to have turned out rather well!

• Sniper Elite 4 – PS4, XBO, PC – 8/10 (with video review)
• Halo Wars 2 – XBO, Win – 8/10
• For Honor – PS4, XBO, PC – 8/10
• SCUF Infinity 4PS Controller – PS4 – Hardware Review, no score

This Week’s Features

It wasn’t all smooth sailing getting those reviews done. For Honor, for example, only went live when its servers did on Monday morning, so we preceded our review with a quick look at the rather tutorial-esque single player. We also missed the embargo for Halo Wars 2, but put together a quick first impressions video of the game.

Then there were the previews. We went hands on with Victor Vran as it comes to console with two new pieces of DLC, including a Motörhead inspired campaign – there’s a gameplay video of this embedded in that feature preview. I also railed against the restrictions imposed on our NieR: Automata preview, which held me back from talking about some of the game’s best features, which I feel would help it to stand out from the flat and empty world. It’s not really a listicle, but I enjoyed the title.

We took flight in PSVR with Ace Combat 7, and looked to confront the terrors the lie in wait in Little Nightmares’ dark platforming. And then there was the quite excellent opening hour of Prey, which had me smashing every cup I could find in the game for fear it would turn into a Mimic.

Last but by no means least, Dom’s kicked off his weekend at the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest in Frankfurt with a diary of his trip so far and what the first day will hold for him, and What We Played featured For Honor, Halo Wars 2 and Tuffcub being and eagle.

Trailer Park

Check out the new intro trailer for Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

Get a look at Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom

Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy’s release date trailer

For Honor got itself a lovely launch trailer full of melee combat and killing

Watch Dogs 2 explored the Human Conditions DLC next week

Your Achievements

Del breezed his way Sniper Elite 4 on normal difficulty, but is looking forward to playing it through again with authentic difficulty and in co-op with Youles some time soon. Aerobes, meanwhile, has finally managed to get all the stars in the Situations single player mode from Rainbow Six Siege.

The man that can only be known as Steven finished charging his way through Far Cry 4 this past week, and has since decided that Alien: Isolation and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be next on his play list.

It was Final Fantasy XV for Pixel_nme last weekend, as he picked up the platinum before indulging in his usual array of online and cooperative games, while Mast Bridge Builder DividSmythe nabbed the platinum for Bridge Constructor on Thursday.

Lastly, tactical20 found himself thoroughly underwhelmed after completing Lego Batman 3, and has found the first few hours of No Man’s Sky to be terrible boring.

The Week Ahead

What do we have to look forward to next week? Well, let me give you some of the highlights:

• Halo Wars 2 – Xbox One – 21/02
• Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin – PSVR – 21/02
• Night in the Woods – PS4, Win, Mac, Linux – 21/02
• Berserk and the Band of the Hawk – PS4, PS Vita, PC – 24/02
• Ys Origin – PS4 – 21/02 (North America)

So with that, enjoy your weekends, and we’ll see you next time!