Wow! March is already over. We’re all in a video game coma now, blinking our eyes and trying to remember what we did last night, and how we woke up next to this handheld. Awkward! Anyway, the Warpback is here to let you know if our predictions of what we wanted to play really came true or not. In most cases, our wallets gave out before our attention spans did! Read on to see how we fared.
John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
Even though March featured a ton of new games, I didn’t actually get a chance to buy many of them. I’ve given the demo versions of Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, WWE All-Stars and Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime a spin, but I haven’t pulled the trigger on Amazon for any of them just yet. And the 3DS, while very enticing, is just too rich for my blood. But speaking of poker terms, I did put a ton of time into the final game of the Xbox Live House Party, Full House Poker. Don’t bet big on it, but it’s definitely worth a look.
As for games not released in March, I played plenty of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and I’m still working towards the unlock everything Achievement in Hard Corps: Uprising. Even though I’ve played the same levels over and over again, it’s still fun!
Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
March was an amazing month. I spent the beginning finishing up late February’s Radiant Historia (a true renaissance), which bumped back PixelJunk Shooter 2 – though I still found the time to review it. That game was definitely worth the wait! I still haven’t had time to play Dead Space: Severed or the new CoDBlOps map pack, and I’ve barely touched poor Pokemon Black! I didn’t get Okamiden, either. I did get Gods Eater Burst, which I’ve had a hard time putting down, and The Third Birthday just arrived in the mail, so that’s next on my list. Oh yeah, and I got some little package in the mail today – something tiny, shiny, and aqua blue. That’s right – my 3DS arrived! I’ve barely charged it, fixed the settings, and played with the AR cards yet, but that’s because there are only so many hours in a day. All in all, though I didn’t get to play every game I wanted to, the games I have played have been top notch. Thank you, March. I approve.
Mike Gutierrez
News Editor
I spent my playing time in March going back to titles released in previous months, but I did get my hands on the big game I was looking forward to: Crysis 2. I said in our March preview article, “I really fell in love with Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry 2 and I’m very interested in seeing how the studio who created that franchise pulls off their open world shooters.” It turned out to be not so good. I mentioned it in my review, but the big story I got from the game was that an in-house developer at one of the big publishers (Ubisoft Montreal) out-Cryteked Crytek. I’ll probably spend a good amount more time on Crysis 2’s multiplayer, but when I want to enjoy a single player experience in that style, I’ll be doing it with other games. Unfortunately, despite claiming it will launch in March, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play still does not have a release date. This is really going to push my communications needs to the limits as I’m in dire need of a new phone, but hopefully we’ll get a hands on preview of the unofficial PlayStation Phone to you in April.
Ryan Littlefield
Podcast Producer
For me, March went in like a dragon, and out like a… well, a dragon. Dragon QUEST, that is. That is to say, Dragon Quest VI. Aside from my sporadic bouts with Pokémon Heart Gold, I’ve been ‘Quest’ing like a boss! I’ll finish it this weekend at the latest, and I’ll have a review coming up fairly soon. Review spoiler: I enjoyed playing it. A lot of things about it have been very enjoyable, and I didn’t know if I was going to like it more than Dragon Quest IV, but I really did. Other than RPG’ing my way around though, I did buy something in March: a Nintendo 3DS. And I’ve been playing a lot of fun AR Games on my shiny new handheld. In some ways, I don’t want March to end. In other ways, I’m excited for the rest of the year’s games.
Adam Woolcott
West Coast Editor
March was busy, but I managed to play almost everything I wanted. Dragon Age II, I managed to complete two times. My review is already up on the site, so you know I found it quite enjoyable. Yakuza 4 came next, and though I haven’t played a lot of it compared to the second Dragon Age, its just as epic and intriguing as previous games. Rounding out the month was Shift 2: Unleashed. Since it just released a few days ago, I’ve only played a little bit. The odd man out is Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, which will just have to wait until things settle down. All in all, March was quite a productive and fun month of gaming.
So there you have it. Check back later today for our look at the Games of April 2011 in the latest installment of The Next Level.
