Hot Games of the Week Reviewed: May 12th

There’s no shortage of big guns available in gamedom this week. Whether you’re in the mood for a deep and crazy portable RPG (Shin Megami Tensei – Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker), a racing game with obscene amounts of detail, courses, racing types and vehicles (Project CARS) or actual huge guns (Wolfenstein: The Old Blood), there is something to tempt you in an impressive week of new releases.

Reviews by Phil Villarreal. Phil is an author, blogger and Twitterer. Publishers provided review copies.

Project CARS

(PS4, Xbox One, $60, Mature)

A grittily realistic racing sim on par with Gran Turismo and Forza, Namco’s entry into the genre revs its considerably powerful engine and never lets off the gas. Combining several disciplines, ranging from carts to stock cars and open wheel, Project CARS includes something to satisfy just about any racing taste. Stunning weather effects, visuals and a convincing sense of speed make the action thoroughly convincing, but not so brutal that you need to be a pro to handle yourself behind the wheel. The adjustable difficulty levels help out with assists that make you feel like you know what you’re doing without blatantly holding your hand.
The single-player campaigns dish out more than enough to occupy you for the long haul, with fine-tuned unlocks and progression keeping you hungering for race after race. There’s also a colossal online mode, with more than 60 tracks to throw down in live competition or climb the leaderboards in time trials. Fitting for gearheads, there are endless options for modding and tweaking, rewarding those who put in the time under the hood to get an edge. A wholesale triumph, Project CARS is an easy buy for any racing fan. This is the Cadillac of racing games, and the bar is set high for the competitors’ next moves.

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Shin Megami Tensei – Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker

(3DS, $50, Teen)

Since the advent of the 3DS, publisher Atlus has gradually shifted most of its focus for its calling card Shin Megami Tensei series to the platform, doing some of its best work by tailoring its games to the dual-screen portable. Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker continues the unfettered success, expanding on the formula of following a gang of social misfits who battle evil by recruiting and summoning demons. You navigate a complex system of parallel worlds, juggling social interactions with party building and strategic combat. The system is perfect for quick, on-the-go gaming.
A remake of a 2012 DS game, with enhanced graphics and added characters and storylines, Record Breaker feels like an entirely new experience. The obtuse but involving story benefits from excellent writing and witty dialogue, with two interrelated campaigns that complement each other and demand multiple play-throughs. The cost may seem staggering for a portable game, but with all the gameplay available it’s reasonable. One nice thing about Nintendo’s stodginess in hopping aboard the paid DLC craze is that developers are still expected to deliver a full experience into the initial product. There is definitely more than enough here to keep RPB obsessives busy until the next SMT release.

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Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

(PS4, Xbox One, $20, Mature)

The Wolfenstein franchise, which was pretty much the first game to popularize first-person shooters, struggled for decades to find its footing while other series blew past it, rendering it an obscure antiquity. That changed last year with Wolfenstein: The New Order, an invigorating and lightly humorous romp that re-established Wolfenstein as a shooter series that mattered. Now comes this budget prequel, which seems like a project that may have started as a DLC expansion that morphed into its own thing. Far from a cut-rate download, The Old Blood runs with the concepts of The New Order, maintaining the production values and pulpy storytelling standards established in the last game.

The setting is 1946, with the Nazis on the verge of using occult technology to turn the tide of World War II. You head off on an adventure with twinges of Indiana Jones, racing with an enemy archaeologist to exhume artifacts that could tip the balance of the war to whatever side gets a hold of the goods. Tight shooting mechanics, gripping level design and convincing period detail make for yet another Wolfenstein winner that, despite its short length, makes for excellent value. Hopefully the team is well on the way to making another full-blown Wolfenstein game to continue the momentum.