Christmas in February: Ready Your Wallets

For those of you who still haven’t put your Christmas tree away yet, put the box back in the attic.

February is shaping up to be a legendary month for game nerds.

Here’s the lowdown on this months glut of gaming goodness...

Loco Roco 2: PlayStation Portable (February 10th)

Got the winter blues? Loco Roco 2 is good for what ails you. Sony’s follow-up to the 2006 original looks to spread more sunshine on the world with its sherbet visuals, peewee soundtrack, and addictive roly-poly gameplay.


House of the Dead: Overkill: Nintendo Wii (February 10th)

OVERKILL is the first game in the House of the Dead series to completely bypass the arcade (remember those?) and is also the first entry developed outside of Sega. Although coin-op fanboys may cringes at these milestones, based on what has been shown so far, OVERKILL looks to deliver.

The arcade was the grindhouse of the videogame world. House of the Dead: OVERKILL’s sleazy B movie-inspired aesthetics fit the series like a glove.


flower: Playstation 3/PSN (February 12th)

Thatgamecompany's flower is a tough sell—it’s a game were you literally play as a breath of fresh air. Poetry in motion indeed.

It’s doubtful that this game will set the sales charts on fire, but it is almost certain that you wont experience anything else like it this year.


Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost and the Damned: XBOX 360 (February 17th)

Motorcycles gangs, brass knuckles and sawed-off shotguns—sounds like the ingredients to a killer video game.

It will be interesting to see how well Rockstar North incorporate episodic content into the sprawling world of GTA4. Liberty City is so dense and intricately detailed that it could be used as a digital back lot for many games to come.

Here’s hoping that somewhere down the road, Liberty City gets a taste of the zombie apocalypse. That, or giant monsters. Why not both?


Street Fighter 4: Playstation 3/XBOX 360 (February 17th)

There really isn’t much to say here. In February 2009, a new Street Fighter will be released. Hell has indeed frozen over.

Capcom has whipped their fan base into frenzy over Street Fighter 4 while simultaneously exciting the casual crowded who hasn’t touched a SF title since 1994.

Fighting games are making a big comeback in 2009. Hopefully gamers will put the shooters down to play a few matches.


Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?: PlayStation Portable (February 17th)

Never mind the fact that this is a spinoff of a 100+hour tactical JRPG nerd-fest. Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero is a 2D action side-scroller that wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve (or should I say flipper?).

What other game this year lets you play as a swashbuckling, pegged-leg penguin whose slash attack has more RPMs than an F1 car? Something tells me that Prinny CAN be the hero.


Noby Noby Boy: Playstation 3/PSN (February 19th)

Noby Noby Boy creator describes his upcoming budget PSN title as “the perfect break after winding down from a game of Killzone 2 and before starting up God of War 3." I think what he really meant to say was “give your eyes a rest from all that blood and brown by playing my game.”

If Soulja Boy thinks that Braid “aint got no point to it”, I cant wait to see his review of Noby Noby Boy.


Killzone 2: Playstation 3 (February 27th)

No month jammed-packed with a ridiculous lineup of promising looking games would be complete without a AAA FPS set in a doom-and-gloom future. Enter Killzone 2; Guerilla Games follow up to the series 2004 PS2 debut.

Sony shot themselves in the foot back in 05 when they unveiled K2 with a pre-rendered “in-game” video. It’s amazing that 4 years later, recent real footage of Killzone 2 not only matches the pre-rendered footage in graphic fidelity, but also maybe even surpasses it in terms of overall atmosphere.

Here’s hoping that Sony’s “Halo-killer” (remember that?) lives up to it’s unprecedented hype.