Incoming! Week Commencing 13/02/12

Valentine's Day rears its head again this week, and while a fair few of you will undoubtedly set down the controller for a few nights in celebration of the love you have for thingymajig, and many others will spend all week waging galactic war with the Mass Effect 3 demo, there’s still a lot of you who will be checking out the admittedly rather meagre offering of new releases, just so you’ve got something new to play when the beloved spouse starts getting on your nerves.

While last week saw us beginning a new epic adventure in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, unleashing hell in The Darkness II and indulging in a very strange love affair with Japanese weird-fest Catherine, this week Microsoft’s XBLA House Party kicks off with puzzler Warp, and THQ invite us to get roughed up with UFC Undisputed 3. Read on for the lowdown on this week’s big console releases.

WARP

Warp UK Release Date: Wednesday 15th February
Formats: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Developer: Trapdoor
Publisher: EA
In Ten Words: Solve puzzles, avoid guards, kill brutally, exact revenge, escape death

The first release in this year’s Xbox Live Arcade House Party, Warp is the story of Zero, a cute-looking alien research project who has just escaped from the lab where a bunch of scientists were trying to figure out what makes him tick. Displaying a mix of stealth gameplay and surprisingly brutal violence, Warp takes a leaf out of Limbo’s book in its employment of sudden deaths. Zero has a few abilities up his sleeves as he makes his escape, such as being able to instantly swap places with an object of equal mass or duplicate himself to accomplish two jobs at once or penetrate impassable areas. What initially appears as something of a curio has the potential to be an incredibly absorbing game given its mix of puzzles, humour and violence, and could certainly draw deserved attention to indie developers Trapdoor.

Multiplayer? Leaderboards, but no direct multiplayer
Collector’s Edition Available? Nope. Download only, innit
Predicted Hit? We hope so, as Trapdoor have put a lot of effort and charm into Warp

UFC UNDISPUTED 3

UFC Undisputed 3 UK Release Date: Friday 17th February
Formats: PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Yuke’s
Publisher: THQ
In Ten Words: Bloody noses, break bones, kick ass, ground grapple, tap out

Another chance to crack skulls as THQ’s franchise returns for a third outing. UFC Undisputed 3 features a host of gameplay changes including a Pride Fighting mode that follows the Pride FC rules, motion capture of certain fighters for even more realistic animations and an update to several fight mechanics such as the new ability to avoid strikes while on the ground, the removal of the auto-block and a new stat-tracking system. A definite must-buy for MMA aficionados and brawler fans, Yuke’s continuing trend of tweaking, refining and occasionally overhauling so many elements will keep the gameplay fresh and enticing to established fans and newcomers alike.

Multiplayer? Yes
Collector’s Edition Available? No, although THQ have already confirmed DLC packs for March and April
Predicted Hit? Yes

That's it for this week - we're afraid there's nothing else of note incoming, but we'll be back next week with the lowdown on EA's Syndicate remake, SEGA's squad shooter, Binary Domain, and Capcom's rage-fest, Asura's Wrath.

CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK'S RELEASES HERE

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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