Games of May 2020
Another month has arrived and while May is traditionally a quiet period, as we lead into the June gaming season, usually including E3, there are still plenty of games to enjoy this month. We have a trifecta of remasters this month, Saints Row, The Wonderful 101 and Xenoblade Chronicles, but we have some new releases as well, like the very cool John Wick Hex, so let’s begin.
Set before the events of the first movie, John Wick Hex is all about tactical choices, set within the world of assassins and stylish nightclubs. The big bad is Hex, voiced by Troy Baker, but he is not alone in a sea of silent masses, instead Ian McShane returns as the concierge Winston and Lance Reddick is back as the smooth talking check in agent Charon. The game is out for PC already, but this marks the series console debut, check out the trailer though, as this might not be the game you are thinking of.
When 1997 rolled around and word got out about new Star Wars movies, people were hyped and Episode delivered a tense and fun scene with Pod Racing, but little did we know that we would soon be racing around on the Nintendo 64 doing the same thing, but even going to new planets and seeing more than we had ever seen before. Now the game is coming back to PlayStation 4 and Switch, but it seems to be mostly a straight port, with some new controls, guess time will tell on this one. The game was due on the same day for both, but the PlayStation 4 release was delayed a few weeks just the other day.
This is perhaps the one I know least about, Hatsune Miku is a digital singer, even going so far as to appear on The Late Show with then host David Letterman. This game though is a rhythm based game, where you need to press buttons in time with the music and on screen prompts. If this sounds like something you would want to try, before you buy, there is a demo available for it now, that you can get here, but check out the trailer as well, it might surprise you.
Ah Team17, no matter what you can always count on them for helping bring games to us that will be fun and at the same time, make you want to throttle those you are playing with. The game is mini golf, but played with up to 12 players and with 9 themed courses to play on, there will always be something to put at. Plus if that wasn’t enough, there are even powerups, if your golfing experience is just a little to tame.
Platinum Games seem to make a game that never really gels with players, between each of their smash hits, but one game that is more lack of console sales than anything is The Wonderful 101, it is part Saturday morning cartoon, part melee brawler and part something else. The game has you controlling 100 different characters on screen, who can come together to make new weapons and items, sort of like the wonder twins. The game hit KickStarter and then hours later, was funded and then some, but unlike most games that we have to wait years to see, this one is almost here.
Saints Row: The Third is widely regarded as the best game in the series, it drops the silly antics from the first two games, but keeps the crazy characters, this helped take the 3rd St Saints from no-name, to brand name. The Remaster hit Switch last year and did well, so it coming to other platforms is not a surprise, look if you don’t yet know Saint’s Row, then you are likely to young to, but check out the trailer anyway.
This is perhaps the biggest game in the month of May, a new Minecraft game and while this is not Minecraft 2, this is something special. The best way to explain the game is it is a Minecraft themed Diablo style game, where you and up to three additional friends can run around randomly created worlds, solving puzzles and plundering loot from the limitless dungeons. As you can play with friends, the co-op potential is the games biggest selling point, but cross-play is not going to be present at release, though the team have hopes to bring it in soon.
The biggest Switch release of the month, which is saying something, is Xenoblade Chronicles, a game that came out at the end of the Wii’s life, so it achieved cult status, though not the sales did not match. This however is not a standard remaster, where the visuals are tweaked, no almost everything has been redone, making this more a remake.
Ah 2K, there were many leaks about Bioshock coming to the Switch, but they remained very tight lipped on it, but it was in the last Nintendo Direct that they announced it, all three games are coming to Switch in one big collection. There is a retail release for it, but if you go via the eshop, you can purchase them one at a time.
If you were a fan of Mario+Rabbids, the tactical game that combined Mario and Ubisoft’s Rabbid characters, then this is for you, probably because everyone kept saying, it is just like XCOM. Bringing the series to the Switch is happening with a release of the main game, expansion and multiple DLC packs, though here in Australia, we are not getting the retail release, so eShop is your only option here.
If your May 29 was not busy enough, then Borderlands coming to Switch might be for you, the Legendary Collection is bringing the original Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel to Switch and the developers bringing the games over have said that they have not had to downgrade any of the textures.
