It seems the trend has been “release a lot of decent games one week, release a small handful of AAA games another week, repeat”. This week is the former, with Madden NFL 25 leading the charge. That isn’t to take anything away from the rest of the games coming out, because quite a few look good in my book, mostly Game Dev Tycoon and Spelunky on the Vita. Either way, there’s still the same old problem, “Too many games, not enough time”…~Don P.

Releases27_Madden25

For the first time in the history of the series, the new Madden NFL game is ditching the year in the title. Madden NFL 25 (PS3 & Xbox 360) is also not coming to handhelds this year, which completely devastated me. The new physics engine this year supposedly made drastic improvements to the running game, and I was really looking forward to playing on my Vita. It’s really fun to watch football with friends, and be playing a game on commercial breaks. But alas, my only hope now is that they port it over soon.

[one_half]Releases27_BlOps2_ApocalypseI still have yet to even play the last Call of Duty: Black Ops II map pack, but I heard it was fantastic from all of my friends. As I mentioned before, the first map pack was a huge disappointment, but the second one was just great. Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Apocalypse (Xbox 360) does the same thing as the last few map packs and throws in a remastered classic map from World at War. Oh, and there’s more zombie mode stuff. Yay?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Releases27_GameDevTycoonHands down, my favorite mobile game ever is Game Dev Story. I played through it multiple times, and each time had such fun that I am pining for a sequel. Well, my answer was sort of met, just not by Kairosoft. Game Dev Tycoon (PC) takes what Kairosoft started and runs with it, in what looks to be a much deeper experience. I am certainly purchasing this on Steam in the very near future, despite not having time for anything new.[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Releases27_SpelunkyRandomized games of any sort always intrigue me. Generally, they add a layer of replayability that I just don’t seem to get out of linear games. And when a game mechanic intrigues me AND comes to the Vita, I am all the more interested. Spelunky (Vita) came out on Steam a few weeks ago, sporting the remastered visuals and more content over the free PC version and now that upgraded version is coming to the Vita. In short, Spelunky is a platformer where the world is randomly generated every time you play. It sounds like a lot of fun, and that’s coming from someone who just doesn’t like platformers much.[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Releases27_NewSuperLuigiUIt’s been the Year of Luigi over at Nintendo, that’s for sure. This summer, New Super Luigi U (Wii U) came out as a downloadable expansion but now for those people that have a desire to own a boxed copy of the reworked levels, it hits retail this week. Plus, the packaging is littered with Luigi, so there’s that.[/one_half_last]

Also available –

[one_third]Releases27_CastlevaniaCastlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate Edition~ (PC)[/one_third]

[one_third]Releases27_GuardiansofMiddleEarthGuardians of Middle-Earth (PC)[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Releases27_KillerisDeadKiller of Dead (PS3 and Xbox 360)[/one_third_last]

[one_third]Releases27_HatsuneHatsune Miku: Project Diva F (PS3)[/one_third]

[one_third]Releases27_RealBoxingReal Boxing (Vita)[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Releases27_LostPlanet3Lost Planet 3 (PS3, PC, and Xbox 360)[/one_third_last]

[one_third]releases27_FF14Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn (PS3 and PC)[/one_third]

[one_third]Releases27_MemoriaMemoria (PC)[/one_third]

[one_third_last]Releases27_ChaosEngineThe Chaos Engine (PC)[/one_third_last]

[one_half]Releases27_PokemonRumbleUPokemon Rumble U (Wii U)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Releases27_TMNTTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (Xbox 360) [/one_half_last]

[one_half]Releases27_ShelterShelter (PC)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Releases27_PixeljunkMonstersPixeljunk Monsters Ultimate (PC) [/one_half_last]

Are you picking up anything this week? Still playing catch up from weeks past? Let us know in the comments below.

About Author

By Don Parsons

got into podcasting in 2007, and transitioned into writing in late 2008. In late 2011, he went from blogging to writing for a small site called Vagary.tv. Don attended E3 for Vagary.tv in 2012. Now, Don is one-fourth of the foundation of Critically Sane.