New Game Releases 06/25/24 – 07/01/24 (2024)

The hot weather continues into this week, so what better time to lock yourself in a dark room and play some video games! Your choices this week are pretty good, I think. Not great, but good. Starting things off, we have Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, an upscaled remaster of the 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. Unlike the first and third games, which took place in a single location, Mansion 2 takes place in a neighborhood full of mansions, with Luigi having to collect Dark Moon fragments in an effort to stop a ghost infestation. Each mansion has a unique theme, with puzzles specifically tailored to each; spooky.

Next up, we’ve got another Switch exclusive, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble. I was surprised to find out that this was the first BRAND NEW Monkey Ball game in over ten years, realizing that other recent entries were either remasters or remakes. While you can easily play the game by yourself, you can also have your friends join in for local co-op, or you can go online and compete against other players in a 16 person free-for-all.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (Switch) – Releases Jun. 27^th

Developed by: Next Level Games
Published by: Nintendo

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble (Switch) – Releases Jun. 25^th

Developed by: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Published by: Sega

If you need more cutesy looking games, check out the N64 inspired Frogun Encore. This is a standalone expansion/sequel to the 2022 game Frogun, which was a bit of a sleeper hit when it came out.

Atari continues to release modern remakes of their classic titles, putting out the game Neo Sprint this week. If you’re unfamiliar with the Sprint series, this is a racing sim that plays very much like the arcade title Off Road, which has top down view of the entire track and its vehicles as you speed through, looking for first place.

Frogun Encore (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 25^th

Developed by: Molegato
Published by: Top Hat Studios, Inc.

NeoSprint (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 27^th

Developed by: Headless Chicken Games
Published by: Atari

Finally, for anime fans, we’ve got the game SPY x ANYA: Operation Memories, based on the hit manga & anime SPY x FAMILY. In this game, players are focused on the family’s young daughter, Anya, as she takes pictures of her everyday life; cute.

Last, but not least, we’ve got Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition, an enhanced port of the Ubisoft classic. The game contains all of the modern features you’d expect, such as 4K support, 60 FPS (f*ck YES!!!I f*ckING LOVE FRAMES PER SECOND!!!!!!!), autosaves, skippable cutscenes, a re-recorded soundtrack, cross save functionality, mouse & keyboard support, historical documents, upscaled graphics, updated controls, a speedrun mode, and achievements! Modern games are sick.

SPY x ANYA: Operation Memories (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Jun. 28^th

Developed by: GrooveBoxJapan
Published by: Bandai Namco

Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 25^th

Everything else:

• Until Then (PC/PS5) – Releases Jun. 25^th
• Riven (PC) – Releases Jun. 25^th
• A Street Cat’s Tale 2: Outside is Dangerous (PC/Switch) – Releases Jun. 27^th
• Radiant Tale: Fanfare! (Switch) – Releases Jun. 27^th
• Gigantosaurus: Dino Sports (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 28^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Welcome to Notable Releases, everyone’s favorite article within the article. This week’s titles are all action packed and feature plenty of blood, guts, curse words, and violence. My favorite Summer themes!

First up, we have the 2014 shooter Sniper Elite III. The third entry in the popular series, SE III was also the first to appear on (at the time) next gen consoles, giving players an even more detailed look at the exploding nut sack of a Nazi. Although this is the third game in the series, it is, chronologically, set before the events of Sniper Elite I & II, with each subsequent entry in the series following suit. Why does this matter? It doesn’t, it’s just a fun fact.

Unlike the previous two entries, which took place in cities and country sides in Europe, Sniper Elite III takes place in the deserts and towns of North Africa, primarily Egypt and Tunisia. Tunisia, fun fact, is where they filmed the Tatooine scenes in Star Wars; neat!

I don’t really have much else to say here, the Sniper Elite games are often seen as mid-tier, perfectly cromulent games. They aren’t masterful works of art, nor are they shovelware dogsh*t. The just exist as a fun shooter that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel or shove in a battlepass, or force you to always be online so that its textures can provide realistic fabric. It’s there, you play it, you kill some Nazis, and you turn it off until the next one. Sniper Elite rules.

From 2004, we’ve got the game Driver 3, one of the many, MANY, open world, crime simulater games to come out in the wake of Grand Theft Auto 3. The Driver, however, does predate GTA, but you can’t help but feel like developer Reflections Interactive (now part of Ubisoft) were clearly trying to capitalize on the new craze in gaming.

However, despite wanting to be an open world GTA clone, Driver 3 isn’t quite that. There is an open world, but it’s a totally separate mode. You see, Driver 3 lets you either play a linear story mode, in which players take on the role of an undercover cop (played by Michael Madsen), as he tries to infiltrate a drug cartel in Miami, run by a woman named Catalina (played by Michelle Rodriguez).

In order to play the game in an open world setting, players must enter the “Take A Ride” mode, which allows them to freely explore any of the game’s three major locations, Miami, Nice, and Istanbul. It’s nearly as robust as GTA, but if you wanted an open world, well, there it is.

Driver 3 received middling reviews, with most leaning towards the negative side of things. Rival gem developers still hadn’t quite found a successful way to emulate the Grand Theft Auto formula, nor did they seem to want to spend the same amount of money and/or time on the game. Not every critic had negative things to say about the game, however, some gamers found it suspicious that two favorable reviews came from outlets that got early access to the game, previews, if you will.

These were denied, but that didn’t stop overzealous readers of PSM2 and Xbox World from posting conspiracy theories on each outlet’s respective message boards. These threads were often locked or deleted, causing even more speculation that the scores were inflated. It also didn’t help that many of the positive posts, defending the game, were found to be coming from a company called Babel Media, whose purpose was to post positive reactions online on behalf of clients who paid for their services.

Despite the negative press, Driver 3 was a big hit, selling over 3 million copies by the end of 2004. The series would continue with Driver: Parallel Lines in 2006, and a direct sequel, Driver: San Francisco, in 2011, and a 3DS title, Driver: Renegade 3D, also in 2011. The series has been on ice ever since, though, with only a F2P mobile title, Driver: Speedboat Paradise, releasing in 2014. Due to the poor sales of Driver: San Francisco, the series was put on ice but, funny enough, ideas for a sequel were incorporated into another Ubisoft game we talked about a few weeks ago, Watch Dogs.

1994’s notable release is also another third entry in a franchise, Streets of Rage 3. Picking up after the events of the second game, players must attempt by Mr. X to replace several prominent politicians with robot look-alikes. Players are able to choose from three returning fighters, Axel, Blaze, and Skate, or new fighter, a robot named Dr. Zan. However, a fourth character, a boxing kangaroo named, well, Roo, can also be unlocked for use in the game.

Video game “censorship” has been a hot topic recently after the release of Stellar Blade (which wasn’t, you know, actually censored…I think; moving on), but the changing of Japanese games for the West has long been a standard. Streets of Rage 3 was no exception, with multiple changes for the US and Europe, including, changing the outfit colors of the 3 returning fighters, giving female enemies less revealing clothing, excluding a fifth playable character named Ash due to his stereotypical hom*osexual appearance & mannerisms, and changing the plot from being about the aftermath of a huge explosion at an illegal drug factory, which killed thousands, and then using said illegal drug to start a global war.

Critics were mostly positive towards Streets of Rage 3, calling the graphics spectacular and the game play tweaks a nice touch, but they also acknowledged that not a whole lot has changed since the first entry in the series. Critics were also disappointed with the game’s soundtrack, which they felt lacked any tunes as classic as the ones in previous SoR entries. The sound track was, oddly, procedurally generated, with various beeps and boops strung together to make a somewhat unique, though often highly repetitive, song. Official tracks released by Sega give these odd songs and actual structure, however, with some fans claiming that the soundtrack should be based on that instead of what you hear in the game.

Streets of Rage 3 has re-released multiple times over the years, appearing in multiple Sega Genesis compilations, including the most recent one, 2018’s Sega Genesis Classics.

Moving into the world of film, 2014 gave us the Bong Joon-Ho film Snowpiercer. This was the director’s first English language movie after a run of successful films in South Korea (and moderate success in the U.S.) with films like The Host, Memories of Murder, and Mother. Snowpiercer is a science fiction film about a massive train that circles the globe, carrying the last surviving members of the human race. Like our real world, the train is segmented by class, with those at the back of the train receiving the worst treatment, while those in the front of the train enjoy a life of luxury.

If you’re not a film buff or pop culture expert, Joon-Ho would eventually return to making Korean language films, with his 2019 film Parasite winning four Academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film.

From 2004, we’ve got the super hero action flick Spider-Man 2, the second entry in Sam Rami’s trilogy. This time, Peter Parker must face off against the mad scientist Otto Octavius, who transforms himself into the evil Dr. Octopus. This was, for a time, the best reviewed super hero film (or maybe it was 1978’s Superman, who knows). I loved this movie when it came out, saw it multiple times in theatres and I couldn’t wait for the third entry; silly me.

1994’s notable film is another super hero flick, the Alec Baldwin vehicle The Shadow. A little bit Batman, a little bit Dick Tracy, The Shadow tried its best to appeal to the new comic book/strip film audience that sprang up in the wake of those two giants, but failed to make any kind of splash. Despite boasting a script from red hot writer David Koepp who had just penned Jurassic Park and Carlito’s Way, audiences just didn’t care about The Shadow. Funny enough, The Shadow has two connections to Spider-Man, with Koepp also writing that film, while director Sam Rami, who tried to get his own version of The Shadow made, was denied that movie but allowed to make his own kinda/sorta copy cat film, Darkman.

In notable albums, 2014 saw the release of Once More ‘Round the Sun from heavy metal band Mastodon (or sludge metal, hard rock, hardcore, metalcore, whatever). This was the bands highest charting album EVER, with a peak position of #6. Critics praised the album, calling it Mastodon’s best to date, with a maturity and growth that took them from imitators of bands like Slayer, to full on peers, earning their spot among the greatest metal bands of all time. Their efforts earned them their third Grammy nomination, but still kept them winless (they’d finally notch that win for their 2017 album, Emperor of Sand).

2004 gives us one of my all time favorite albums, Beastie Boys To the 5 Boroughs, a very politically charged album decrying the state of the U.S. under President Bush, a very popular topic in an election year. The album featured four singles, including the Grammy nominated hit “Ch-Check It Out”, and my personal favorite “Triple Trouble”. Critics compared it positively to Paul’s Boutique and were happy to see a more gritty, stripped down version of the Boys after the more bleepy/bloorpy Hello Nasty.

Our last notable album is another hip-hop one, Funkdafied by Da Brat. The album was a smash success, bolstered by the hit single “Funkdafied”, and went on to sell over one million copies, making Da Brat the first female hip-hop artist to receive a Platinum Record. Critics, however, were less than impressed, particularly due to the oversampling employed by producer Jermaine Dupri.

It was felt that the samples Dupri used were already found in other, better, hip-hop songs, and that he didn’t do enough to set Da Brat apart from her peers. You know what? I agree. The first half of the album is just all the same samples you’ve heard before but with Da Brat’s mumbly delivery that sounds raw, in a good way, but also amateurish.

What I think set Da Brat apart was that she was a female rapper talking and acting like male rappers. Her lyrics focused on gang culture, drug use, violence, and sexual themes. She wasn’t raunchy like Lil Kim, but I can see how her gruff demeanor and style could open the door for female rappers to come in and act a little less like Queen Latifah (no offense to the Queen, mind you). This album is, sadly, mid, at best. “Funkdafied” is a nice song to chill to, but the rest of the album is just filler.

Sniper Elite III (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One) – Released Jul. 1^st, 2014: Wiki Link

Driver 3 (PS2/Xbox) – Released Jun. 21^st, 2004: Wiki Link

Streets of Rage 3 (Genesis) – Released Jul. 1994: Wiki Link

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