New Releases Video Games

This compilation from Maximum Games bundles together three titles from Team17's long-running turn-based strategy series starting homicidal annelids. Players can launch artillery at competing invertebrates in graphically updated versions of Worms, Worms: Armageddon, and Worms: Ultimate Mayhem, and the package also includes six bonus DLC packs. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

In Fast & Furious: Showdown gamers take part in an action-packed story that sees them pulling off heists, hijacking enemy vehicles, engaging in shootouts, and driving at dangerously high speeds through 30 missions set in eight locations around the globe. Players can customize licensed vehicles and earn upgrades and performance bonuses as they switch between the roles of driver, daredevil, tactician, and gunman. Gamers can play alone or team up with the computer AI or a friend for local multiplayer action, while the Challenge mode offers specific tasks and includes online leaderboards. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

An updated version of the 2012 3DS title, Capcom's long-running and complex survival horror series takes to the high seas as players battle twisted mutants through an abandoned cruise ship in Resident Evil: Revelations. Upgraded graphics and sound accompany gamers as they guide Jill Valentine, Parker Luciani, and other BSAA operatives through the halls of the SS Queen Zenobia on a hunt for Chris Redfield. From there things get significantly more complicated, with terrorist plots, short land missions, and flashbacks breaking up the seaborne action.

As always, players must skillfully manage their ammunition, weapons, and inventory to survive their confrontations with mutated monsters. The main campaign offers a variety of difficulty modes, including the new, extremely difficult Infernal mode, while the Raid mode lets gamers battle waves of enemies, level up characters, and earn weapons upgrades in solo or online co-op multiplayer action. The Raid mode also offers more weapons, skills, and playable characters, including the mysterious series mainstay Hunk. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Gamers return to the post-apocalyptic subways and catacombs beneath Moscow to scavenge for resources, battle twisted mutants, and contend with the territorial nature of man in Metro: Last Light. Set one year after Metro 2033, and picking up from that game's "bad" ending, players join survivor Artyom as he searches for a mysterious prisoner who is said to be the key to humanity's survival. His trek takes gamers from the twisted subway ruins, where different factions vie for control of each metro station, to mutant-infested transition zones, and to the violently toxic surface.

Supplies are rare and valuable in Metro: Last Light, with gas masks being absolutely essential, most weapons cobbled together from various parts, and ammo scarce enough to actually become the currency of the subways. Light and shadow are also key to the action, with players using a hand-crank flashlight, a lighter, and torches to illuminate dark corridors and keep mutants at bay, while a special wristwatch lets them know how much oxygen they have and if enemies can see them. Gamers carry three customizable guns at a time, and while the action is linear, players can often choose to engage in direct assaults or use stealth to sneak past trouble zones.

This Limited Edition offers an exclusive in-game weapon, 100 military-grade bullets (currency) and Ranger Mode which is designed to offer more of a challenge by removing the HUD and making ammo far more difficult to obtain. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

An update to the 2010 cult hit Xbox 360 title, Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut puts gamers in the shoes of FBI agent Francis York Morgan (and his split personality Zach) as he travels to the small wooded town of Greenvale to investigate the murder of a beautiful young woman named Anna Graham. Heavily influenced by Twin Peaks and other David Lynch works, Greenvale once bustled with life thanks to the local lumber mill, but is now only a shadowy village that plays host to a few eccentric locals who are plagued by mysterious events and supernatural creatures.

The gruesome murder foments a sense of distrust among the townspeople, and players must help calm fears while they gather clues, speaking with more than 20 unique characters and forming personality profiles in the process. Greenvale operates on a 24-hour cycle, and gamers can explore the area freely, joining its inhabitants for dinner and drinks, going fishing, and heading to the outskirts of town to search for clues to solve the so-called Red Seed Murders. The adventure-style investigation is offset by periods of action in which Agent Morgan must fend off pasty Shadow monsters and avoid the fabled Raincoat Killer, a lightning-quick enemy who leaves gamers with little choice but to flee or die.

This Director's Cut includes additional game scenarios and support for PlayStation Move while also attempting to address some of the main criticisms of the original version by offering updated HD visuals and a completely new control scheme. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Gamers return to the tropical archipelago of Banoi for more intense co-op zombie combat and open-world exploration in Dead Island Riptide. The four survivors from the original game -- washed-up rapper Sam B, hotel receptionist and Chinese spy Xian, former football player Logan, and Australian bodyguard Purna -- thought their nightmare was over when a helicopter took them to a nearby military ship. But a massive storm and another viral outbreak leave the quartet marooned once again, this time joined by Navy cook John Morgan on the fictional island of Palanai.

As in the original game, users can take control of any of the playable characters, guide them through open environments, and gain experience points by completing missions and engaging in bloody combat with hordes of zombies. Melee weapons like axes, machetes, and clubs remain the primary means of defense in Riptide, but a variety of guns are also available and are particularly useful for the new hub missions, in which survivors protect a base from waves of zombie attackers. Multiplayer remains central to the Dead Island experience, with the main campaign letting up to four gamers drop in or out of co-op action at any time.

This Rigor Mortis Edition includes the full game, a zombie hula bobble figurine, a severed hand bottle opener, a bungalow key, a digital strategy map, and the Survivor Pack and Fashion Victim DLC. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Dark Arisen is a re-release of Capcom's 2012 RPG Dragon's Dogma, offering the full original game as well as a completely new island full of quests and mythical creatures. The game puts players in an open-world environment, mixing traditional fantasy RPG mechanics with hack-and-slash combat, and letting gamers enlist the help of AI pawns who provide valuable information and battle assistance. Players can explore the cursed Bitterback Island, make use of new skills, and collect new weapons and armor, while those who own the original title get a number of in-game rewards. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Set in a DC Comics universe where the line between good and evil is extremely blurry, Injustice: Gods Among Us pits iconic comic book characters like Batman, Lex Luthor, and Wonder Woman against one another in classic fighting action. Injustice offers more than 20 playable characters, broken into Power (Superman) and Gadget (The Flash) subtypes, and gamers can unleash a variety of light, medium, and heavy attacks, or pull off special moves that are unique to each character. Matches are only one round, but characters must have both of their health bars depleted to lose.

Battles take place on a two-dimensional plane in familiar locations like the Batcave and the Fortress of Solitude, but the 3D backgrounds showcase multi-tiered arenas that are partially destructible and contain a variety of interactive objects. The game's story mode finds players jumping from character to character over the course of several chapters, with some pre-fight mini-games awarding special boosts during combat. Another mode offers more than 100 character-specific challenges, while multiplayer fans can join friends for a variety of different local or online matches. All of the game modes contribute experience points that can be used unlock rewards and alternate costumes.

This Collector's Edition includes the full game as well as a 13-inch statue depicting Batman and Wonder Woman in combat, a special edition of the "Injustice: Gods Among Us" comic book, a digital download of the animated film Justice League: Doom, and three DLC skins. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Part of an ambitious multimedia campaign that includes a serialized TV drama on the SyFy network, Defiance is a massively multiplayer shooter set primarily in the San Francisco area of a near-future Earth. In the world of Defiance, a group of seven alien races fled the dying star system of Votan in the hopes of peacefully assimilating on Earth. But war broke out, and the alien ark-ships were destroyed, leaving many floating in near orbit, and sending others crashing into the ground where they released terraforming technology that drastically altered the globe in mere decades.

After years of fighting, some humans and aliens formed a tenuous alliance as their cultures gradually melded, while other groups remain at odds with one another and with various creatures that now roam the planet. Gamers step into this world as an Ark Hunter, nanosuit-wearing mercenaries who specialize in combat and salvage, and head into the frontier-like wilderness of the new Bay Area to seek out fallen ships in hopes of turning alien technology and minerals into large sums of money. Players can choose their gender, decide to be human or of the alien Irathient race, customize their appearance, and then select from four different origins.

The main storyline in Defiance centers on wealthy industrialist Karl Von Bach, who is known for encouraging Ark Hunters to help him find valuable alien technology. But a ship carrying Von Bach is shot down, and gamers must travel across the Bay Area helping survivors and seeking out the missing C.E.O. Defiance is littered with side missions for fans of both solo- and multiplayer action, including raids on enemy bases, vehicular time trials, and destruction-filled rampages. Gamers earn XP and level up as they complete missions and kill enemies, accessing new weapons and technology, including powerful EGO nanosuits that can temporarily imbue characters with superhuman abilities.

The multiplayer aspect of Defiance manifests itself in a variety of ways. Gamers can team up with friends to investigate minor Arkfalls (when chunks of Votan ship crash into Earth), while majors Arkfalls are often guarded hoardes of giant beasts and large groups must work in conjunction to loot the wreckage. The team-based Shadow War and free-for-all Deathmatch PvP modes are typical of multiplayer shooter action, while Defiance also includes the crafting, trading, and guilds more often associated with MMOs.

This Collector's Edition comes in a collector's box and includes the full game, a limited-edition hellbug figurine, a digital soundtrack, a bonus DVD, postcards, stickers, and a variety of in-game boosts, weapons, and apparel. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge follows the same storyline as 2012's Ninja Gaiden 3 as protagonist Ryu Hayabusa must lift a curse that is slowly killing him. New to the single-player campaign in Razor's Edge is the playable Ayane, a female ninja who first appeared in Team Ninja's Dead or Alive game series. Ayane has her own missions that take place within Ryu's story. Either character can be used in Chapter Challenge Mode and the online co-op multiplayer mode. An eight-player online battle mode is included as well. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide