Incoming! Week commencing 19/03/12

This week sees the return of Ninja Gaiden, the arrival of a new shooter from bonkers-mad Grasshopper Manufacture and a deviation from an established template in Capcom’s new Resi title – but which ones will you be picking up.

Here are the titles due between now and Friday.

SINE MORA

Sine Mora UK Release Date: Wednesday 20th March
Formats: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture / Digital Reality
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
In Ten Words: Fly fast, shoot stuff, dodge stuff, lose marbles, raise eyebrows

As featured in our Best New Games of 2012 feature, Sine Mora is an original title developed by Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture, co-developed by Digital Reality. A side-scrolling bullet hell shooter, Sine Mora sees you take command of a state-of-the-art fighter craft and shoot the crap out of lots and lots of enemies. In true Suda 51 fashion, it’s more than just a straight shooter, featuring elements of time manipulation and a detailed storyline.

Multiplayer? No

Collector’s Edition available? No

Predicted hit? We’re willing to gamble on it drawing in a few fans, yeah…

RESIDENT EVIL: OPERATION RACCOON CITY

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City UK Release Date: Friday 23rd March
Formats: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Slant Six
Publisher: Capcom
In Ten Words: Shoot zombies, shoot each other, cover up outbreak, infect friends

A huge departure from established canon, Operation Raccoon City is a 3rd person shooter that sees you take control of one of 12 playable characters (six Umbrella operatives and six US Spec Ops agents) to either prevent the zombie apocalypse or clean it up. The latter involves finding and executing series favourites like Leon Kennedy, so this is definitely not considered canonical. Although Slant Six don’t have a glowing reputation with shooters, the change of direction within Resident Evil’s famous universe could be a breath of fresh air – certainly enough to whet the appetite for Resident Evil 6 due later this year.

Multiplayer? Yes. MP is a big part of the package with a variety of game modes on offer. Brilliantly, some of the modes feature dynamic events such as sudden attacks by Tyrants, Lickers, Hunter and zombies. Work together to take out the Tyrant, or use him as a distraction to wipe out the opposing team?

Collector’s Edition available? The pre-order special edition features the Renegade DLC pack, while the Collector’s Edition comes in an exclusive steelbook case containing embroidered insignia patches and 8 downloadable weapons

Predicted hit? If Slant Six improve on some of the less than stellar gunplay shown in recent gameplay videos, the change of pace and style could be a welcome break from the series norm

NINJA GAIDEN 3

Ninja Gaiden 3 UK Release Date: Friday 23rd March
Formats: PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Tecmo Koei
In Ten Words: Slice, dice, sneak, leap, cut, kill, slink, prowl, pounce, dismember

We gave you the seven things you need to know about Ninja Gaiden 3 a few weeks back, but in case you missed it the new title from Team Ninja features the return of everyone’s favourite mass murderer, Ryu Hayabusa. Now outfitted with some groovy new moves (wall-scaling and stealth kills, to be precise) and cursed with a symbiotic weapon that feeds on blood and death, Ryu will face off against the Regent of the Mask in what is very likely to be an orgiastic display of claret and diced organs. Oh, and some of it is set in London. Which is nice.

Multiplayer? No

Collector’s Edition available? Yes. The UK Collector’s Edition features a 4-character demo of Dead or Alive 5 (yay!), a Ninja Gaiden artbook and soundtrack CD, and a Duel of the Masked figurine.

Predicted hit? The Ninja Gaiden series has always done well, despite (or because of) its often unforgiving difficulty. The inclusion of a new casual mode could potentially bring newcomers to the series, so there’s every chance of success.

Any titles here listed float your proverbial boat? Anything we’ve missed that deserves a mention? Any irritation between your toes? That’s probably athlete’s foot, which we can’t help with. Just come to us about the games, k?

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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