Above: The official theme of the article
Despite the ridiculous release schedule, there are still a number of bitchin’ games trickling out through the summer months to keep you busy long enough to forget the nice days outside.
JUNE
THE BIG PICK
Fight Night Round 4 – PS3, 360
Release date: June 23
Sports games aren’t generally GR’s specialty, cup of tea, or favorite piece of ass, but when Fight Night Round 3 debuted as a launch title on the Xbox 360 almost four years ago, the title immediately became a hit. Think about it: how many times have you heard people go on about Round 3’s lifelike (at the time) next-gen graphics, the ease of the thumbstick-based controls or the smooth as butter sim/arcade-y gameplay? All the time, huh?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Round 4 is one of our most eagerly anticipated games of the year. EA promises faster gameplay, an incredibly robust create-a-fighter mode, elimination of those stupid face-rubbing minigames, and star of The Hangover, Mike Tyson. Considering UFC 2009 Undisputed sold over a million copies in its first month, we bet casual AND sports fans are eagerly awaiting this future hit.
WHAT ELSE?
The Conduit – Wii
Release date: June 23
Haven’t been a hell of a lot of FPSes on Nintendo’s sleek machine since its launch, even though that’s one genre we thought we’d see a lot of. Developer High Voltage seeks to reinvigorate interest with this shooter set in Washington DC with an alien conspiracy to wrap your All Seeing Eye around. We dug themultiplayerand Battlestar Galactica’s Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin) voices the main dude.
Overlord II – PC, PS3, 360
Release date: June 23
The first was something of a cult hit and in the next week you’ll have more minions at your disposal. You play again as a badass with little monsters to do your bidding. Apparently, the increase in minion AI enables them to ride mounts and sail ships. Lazy bastards.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – PC, PS3, 360
Release date: June 29
Yeah, we’ve seen what Modern Warfare 2 and ODST have in store for us later this year, but in the meantime why not journey back to the old west with the follow-up to the original criminally overlooked title? As GR head honcho Eric Bratcher wrote during the fallout of E3, “In one half-hour session, we shot up a bar, stormed out of town on a stolen stagecoach, traded hot lead with the sheriff’s posse as they galloped alongside us, and used a cannon to blow up a riverboat. Plus, it’s the only shooter this year that let us fan the hammers of two pistols at once.”
DON'T FORGET
Marvel vs Capcom 2 – Xbox Live, PSN
Release date: June 29
For about 20 bucks, you can get your hands on this classic, downloadable through the interwebs (no need to pay exorbitant fees for a physical disc!). You will be taken for a ride.
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil – Wii
Release date: June 23
The Wii remake of the GameCube remake of the PS1 game that was ported to the DS and Sega Saturn makes its graceful re-re-re-debut. If you didn’t check it out 13 years ago, give it a shot now.
