Now that the Memorial Day weekend is behind us, it’s time to get back to work – and by back to work I mean playing more games than you could possibly enjoy in this abbreviated work week. Somehow I was able to play these games just for you. I know, you’re touched…that’s just the kind of guy I am.
GameTap
Anyhoo, the big news this week is on the PC based GameTap service. Seriously I can’t say enough about this service: over 900 games are available and you pay a flat monthly or annual fee, however starting on May 31, they now have a “Lite” version which allows you to play 30 different games. They are ad supported and you have to play in a window, but hey, Tomb Raider Legend is free this week, so what more do you want? For gold level subscribers, six new games have been put on the service: four NeoGeo games, one PC game, and one pretty rare Sega Saturn game.
If you’ve ever bought Saturn games on eBay, you’ll know that Panzer Dragoon Zwei is one of the most expensive video games you can purchase for the console. Now, Zwei isn’t here yet (it’s coming), but the original Panzer Dragoon has been released this week and it is absolutely worth your download time. A pretty good sequel was released for the original Xbox, but nothing compares to the first time firing it up on your Saturn, or pseudo-Saturn!
Other GameTap games worth your time are all the NeoGeo ones (especially since if you bought them new at retail, they were $200 each, so this is a much better deal), which include King of Fighters ’95 (the ’94 game is just plain outdated, heh), Art of Fighting (could there be any more fighting games on the NeoGeo platform? Yes!), two Metal Slug games, and a partridge in a pear tree.
We’re still not done with GameTap though because in anticipation of the new Tomb Raider game, they have put up Tomb Raider Legend. It wasn’t a bad game but it wasn’t particularly stunning, either. Again, you’ve already paid the rent so might as well check it out.
Xbox Live
Moving right along, there was only one game released for Xbox Live Arcade this week – but it may be worth your time if you’re a fan of the old Acclaim game Re-Volt. In Mad Tracks ($10), you control an RC racer through various locales—some indoors, some outdoors—grab power-ups and basically have a blast. The game does add a ‘battery’ feature so you can’t just sit on the accelerator all race long. It took me a while to figure out you can add non player characters (CPU controlled) in the single player race, but other than that, the game is a blast and takes me back to 1999…in HD of course.
Wii Shop Channel