New Game Tuesday - April 2020
March 2020 has felt like one of the longest months in modern history, and I have a feeling that April is going to feel even longer. That is due to so many people being home from work, including myself. This is officially the longest I have been home from work since I was 16 years old... I have selected a few games from my immense backlog to try to finish during this quaratine. They are Borderlands 3, Witcher 3, and Resident Evil 2. I also hope to play Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7, two games that happen to be releasing here in April. Tell us what games you are excited to catch up on or go back and visit during quarantine on your preferred social media! Below are several of the major games releasing during April 2020.
"New Game Tuesday" showcases some major game releases on the first Tuesday of the month! Scroll down to see if any of the major releases appeal to you!
1. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Release Date: 4/10
Platforms: PS4
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
I have never finished a Final Fantasy game, and I have only played a small amount of three of them. I played a little bit of XII and XII Lightning Returns. As an outsider to this large franchise, I found it so odd that for a mostly anthology style series, that they broke away from that strategy to make three of what every final fantasy fan has told me to be the worst of the series. I also was excited to play XV because it was the first to go to real time combat. I personally am not a fan of turn based combat and was one of the reasons I never played much Final Fantasy before. I still found it difficult to get engaged in XV, as the pacing was very very VERY slow. I played it for hours before anything happened. You spend what feels like hours just driving around (in an admittedly beautiful world). I'm sorry, correction, *Riding for what feels like hours because you can't even drive the car. A NPC drives the car while the main character rides. I know eventually things happen, but its painfully slow prologue section left me bored. Maybe I will give it a try again; however being 0/3 on this franchise has made me weary that I will ever become a fan.
That being said, I have been told that Final Fantasy 7 the original is one of the greatest video games of all time. This combined with being one of the most hotly anticipated tiles of 2020 is enough to have me give this series one more chance. I did play the demo and I will admit it was pretty fun. It had action, and beautiful graphics, and an intriguing story.
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare Campaign Remastered *First on Ps4, coming to PC and Xbox later
Release Date: 3/31* First on PS4, same day reveal/launch, with Xbox and PC "Coming Next Month"
Platforms: PS4, *Xbox One, *PC
Developer: Developer Beenox
Publisher: Activision
I will say that last minute changes are a pain for writing these articles. I had to change the promo for this multiple times, and the changes delayed the readiness of this news update. However, I will admit this particular change was totally worth it. We got a surprise reveal and partial release for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remaster. It is launching first on PS4 and coming soon to PC and Xbox; something not to out of character for Activision's close (sometimes annoying) partnership with Sony. While the trailer just said "coming soon" other reports have it as a one month exclusivity deal. While the exclusivity deal was probably hammered out with Activision and Sony long before the COVID-19 pandemic, it still would have been nice for the companies to change with so many people at home. It probably would have yielded better sales for Activision too.
While as much as the new battleroyale modes and multiplayer modes are awesome, my favorite parts of Call of Duty is still the campaigns. I played the Remastered version of Modern Warfare (original) and the remake/reboot, so I am very excited to get this bonus campaign. Keep in mind this is JUST the campaign as Activision added MW2 maps to multiplayer in Modern Warfare (2019) in a wise decision to not split the player base.
3. Resident Evil 3
Release Date: 4/3
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Resident Evil is another long running franchise that I missed much of over the years, however with so much positive reviews of Resident Evil 2 Remake, even gaining many GOTY 2019 noms and wins, I felt obliged to entire this franchise now; especially with the earlier stories being remastered. I am really enjoying my quarantine play through of RE2, and the demo for RE3 was amazing. Infuriating and scary yes...but amazing. I have a full demo review for RE3 written and I will be sure to have it up before launch. Stay tuned.
4. Resident Evil Resistance
Release Date: 4/3
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Announced as a multiplayer spin off game, Project Resistance was hit with mixed impressions from fans. As an outsider, I'm not sure why it looked super fun. Mostly fans were unsure of a multiplayer focused game when story based games are the main focus of the franchise. However, when it was revealed that "Resident Evil Resistance" was going to be the "bundled multiplayer experience" to Resident Evil 3 that changed the entire attitude. Now it feels more like fans are getting two games for the price of one. It was revealed separately, and they are given different names. It seems like two games bundled together rather than a multiplayer mode in RE3. Whether this was always the plan or a shift in gears post player reaction, we can't know for certain. Either way this seems like an excellent value that could build upon RE2 huge success last year. I have a review for the online beta for Resistance written and going live very soon.
5. Predator Hunting Grounds
Release Date: 4/24
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One
Developer: lllFonic
Publisher: Sony
Predator Hunting Grounds is one of those oddly timed gems. I see parallels from last years World War Z. In my review of that game, I wrote how sometimes these movie license games come around and have all the red flags in the world. Sometimes that are the worst dumpster fires to ever hit your pc or console's hard drive, or some times they break all the rules and turn out amazing.
World War Z should have been awful. It had all the red flags. Unknown developer. Movie License Game, bonus negative points for being released no where near the corresponding movie, and released at sub-60 price point.
Predator has all of these same flags. It is only 40$. I've never heard of the developer. We are no where near a Predator movie. It could be just awful. It could become the next Asymmetrical shooter to join Evolve in gaming hell. It also could be amazing and give Predator fans like myself an amazing revisit to this franchise.
I did get to play the online beta but unfortunately I only got to play one round. It was too brief a glimpse at the game to form any opinions. Predator Movement felt good and powerful. The lack of any tracking features made it feel like I was stumbling around an empty forest for 10 minutes just trying to find the enemy team. I just really didn't have the time in the game to experience it so an opinion will have to wait.
6. Gear Tactics
Release Date: 4/28
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Developer: Splash Damage, The Coalition
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Alex Grimbley, executive producer on Gears Tactics, told PCgames that "I realized we'd got it when we just took existing gears and moved the camera up".
Sometimes when you have a great formula to games series that fans love, the solution to how to break into new genres is just that simple. Keep it the same, change one thing. Xbox "almost" had it's own Blizzard moment back during E3 2018 when they revealed Gears POP (a mobile game) and Gears Tactics. Blizzard decided to pull their announcement for Diablo IV last minute, ending their event with a announcement for a Diablo mobile game. Fan reaction was not positive to say the least. They literally got booed by die hard fans who spent hundreds of dollars to be there. I don't think Blizzard realized that it wasn't because they hated the mobile game, it was that they got everyone thinking it was Diablo IV and bait and switched the trailer to a mobile game. I personally thought it looked cool. Diablo style games would work well on mobile I thought. Xbox thankfully narrowly avoided this exact scenario. They revealed Gears POP and Gears Tactics, and it is hard to explain but you could just feel the tension in the audience. It wasn't that they didn't think these reveals were nice, it was just not what people were waiting for. Then after they paused for a moment and with a visual grin on their faces and a "oh yeah, one more thing" vibe, revealed Gears 5 to the applause of the audience.
I understand that the main series of Gears is what fans want. It was my first solid attempt at a Gears game. As a noob to franchise and someone who didn't find it too interesting before, I was blown away at how much I loved it. It even made my top 10 2019 list!
This all being said, while Gears Tactics may have had its reveal overshadowed by its more popular cousin, everything I have seen and read about Tactics seams to preserve the soul of gears while taking it to a new different genre. I think I will be giving it a try, and thanks to Xbox Game Pass it doesn't cost subscribers anything if you are trying to save money during quarantine.
7. trials of mana
Release Date: 4/23
Platforms: PS4, PC, Switch
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
I will admit, I know nothing about this series. As an outsider to the huge world of "cartoony" JRPG's that to me all look the same, here comes a remake to the 1995 classic. I am told by friends that is much anticipated and people are very excited about it. More power to them. Trials of Mana Remake arrives on April 23.
8. Disaster Report 4: Summer memories
Release Date: 4/7
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC, PS3
Developer: Granzella Inc., NIS America, Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Granzella Inc., NIS America, Nippon Ichi Software
This game was originally supposed to release but was delayed because an actual tsunami hit IRL, and it felt in poor taste to release a game about surviving a natural disaster when people were actually dying...
Now during a global pandemic where people are dying...comes Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories on 4/7.
Now ironic dark humor aside, I will admit the game looks interesting, and I don't think I have played anything quite like it before. I downloaded the demo to see if it is worth a full play through. You play as the survivor of a tsunami in Japan and explore the broken down city around. The demo is available for free on Switch or PS4 and may be worth checking out if you are interested.
As always, stay tuned here on Game Infinite News for the latest gaming news! Check back next month for New Game Tuesday!
