As summer hits its halfway-point, the releases have gone from hardly anything to a few odds and ends. While next week really kicks things off for the coming Fall season, there are still a few advance scouts putting a foothold on store shelves before things really go nuts. Civilization went from a series to a brand name, with both an expansion pack and a city sim riding on the series' good name. A new Tekken landed on the PSP, and the Xbox got a trio of FPS action.
Next week is about the same overall. A few games here and there, most notably a new Flatout and Monkeyball, are joined by an expansion pack, a movie license, and creepy christian vegetables. Stay tuned for the week after this, though, because things are about to get hectic.
Week of July 24 – July 29
Tuesday, July 25
Painkiller: Hell Wars (Xbox)
FPS fast-action demon killin' in Hell.
Civ City: Rome (PC)
City building sim borrowing a familiar brand name.
Civilization IV: Warlords (PC)
The god of strategy games gets an expansion pack.
Wednesday, July 26
The Ant Bully (PS2, GC, GBA, PC)
Movie action platforming.
Tekken: Dark Resurrection (PSP)
An all-new Tekken with a pair of new characters joining the cast.
Thursday, July 27
Warpath (Xbox, PC)
Action/strategy sci-fi combat.
World War II Combat: Iwo Jima (Xbox, PC)
Yet more shooting in a WWII setting.
Week of July 31 – August 5
Tuesday, August 1
Barnyard (PS2, GC, GBA)
Another in the unending stream of CGI-animated movie games.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland: Special Edition (PS2)
The Greatest Hits version, with more stuff in it than the original.
Wednesday, August 2
Flatout 2 (PS2, Xbox, PC)
Redneck racing with a ton of minigames using ragdoll physics on the driver.
Super Monkeyball Adventure (PS2, GC, PSP)
Monkeyball goes from simple arcade to platform adventure.
Veggie Tales: Larry Boy and the Bad Apple (PS2, GBA)
*does not compute*
Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World (PC)
More monster-smacking RPG action.
Jaws Unleashed (PC)
...candygram.
