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Ah, April - the month of chocolate, resurrection and my birthday, it doesn’t get better than that! Unless you count May, which will see the release of the long-awaited Mass Effect Trilogy and my dog’s 11th birthday. April is still pretty good though. But we are here to talk video game news.
I was woken up at 5:30 AM on Easter Sunday by my son shouting “I’m going to eat chocolate until I’m sick!” He wasn’t wrong. Hopefully, you’re all recovering from gorging on chocolate, the shakes and stomach aches should be settling down. If not, consult a doctor... or eat more chocolate, I’m not your dad, you can do what you like.
In Other News
So, while you’re either on hold to get an appointment with your GP or peeling the foil off another chocolate egg, let’s look back at what March brought us. We had Square Enix Presents on March 18th, which, among other things, gave us a glimpse at the year-long celebration of everyone’s favourite gaming archaeologist - Lara Croft. The BAFTA Gaming Awards also took place and was covered by our own Fred Cronin.
It’s also the 25th anniversary of the original Resident Evil game this year. Capcom was waiting until the April showcase to give any juicy information out about any possible celebrations. You can find out what was said here.
On the gaming front, March saw the release of the highly-anticipated Monster Hunter Rise and Balan Wonderworld. And because I decided to write this round-up after the Bank Holiday I get to mention the start of April! Which saw the release of third-person looter shooter Outriders by People Can Fly and It Takes Two, an action-adventure platformer developed by Hazelight Studios.
But what does the rest of the month hold? What news did you miss while in a chocolate coma? Fear not, I’ve got you covered, right after I force you to read what I’m playing.
I’m currently playing: Dungeon Village on Nintendo Switch. While on PlayStation, I’m still going strong on Destiny 2. I'm slowly building up Spoils of Conquest to get the exotic grenade launcher - Anarchy.
I’m currently hyped for: Mass Effect Legendary Edition - How many times can I mention it in one article?
New Games
Well, there’s a bit of a gap, to be honest. We’re not getting much until the back end of April when Taxi Chaos hits shelves on April 22nd, which has more than a hint of Crazy Taxi about it. Then on April 23rd, we get NieR: Replicant or NieR: Replicant ver.1.22474487139, to give it its full, ridiculous title. Apparently, it doesn’t matter if you’ve played NieR: Automata as the games are only loosely linked, which is handy as I haven’t completed Automata yet.
On April 30th, the Pokemon fandom will get to sink their collective teeth into New Pokemon Snap. Rather than the typical role-playing style of other Pokemon titles, where you play as a child who enslaves and trains wildlife before forcing the poor creatures to fight to the death for badges. Pokemon Snap is a first-person title where you take photos of Pokemon as they enjoy freedom away from bloodthirsty Scutelliphilists.
Announcements
Heroes in a Half-Shell
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are set to make their video game return in Shredder’s Revenge. A side-scrolling beat-em-up inspired by the retro likes of TMNT: Turtles In Time, that’s coming to PC and consoles.
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is a collaboration between Dotemu - the publisher behind the amazing Streets of Rage 4 and developer Tribute Games, which created the Flinthook and Mercenary Kings.
It promises to take Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello on a “breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations”. From the sewers of New York City to Dimension X - that pits them against the likes of Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, and Shredder.
Inevitably, our half-shelled heroes will need to battle their way through enemies along the way using a range of combat abilities based on classic brawling mechanics. The visuals will adopt a retro-inspired pixel art aesthetic said to invoke the turtles’ classic 1987 design.
Sadly there’s no release date yet, just an announcement trailer. But it does include the iconic Turtle’s theme tune reimagined by Faith No More’s Mike Patton.
A Disturbance in the Force
Warner Bros. has delayed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga... again. Developer TT Games said it needed more time to make Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. It was due in spring 2021 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X, “the biggest and best ever Lego game.”
The Skywalker Saga was first revealed at E3 2019 and was initially expected to come out in late 2020, but in August it was delayed to spring 2021. It is an all-new retelling of all nine films, with the goal of being the definitive Lego Star Wars game.
Warner Bros. did not provide an updated release window for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Unfortunately, it’s the latest delay in a long line of pandemic-fuelled delays to games that were due out in late 2020 or 2021. Warner itself has already delayed WB Games Montréal’s Gotham Knights and Avalanche Software’s Harry Potter spin-off Hogwarts Legacy to “sometime in 2022”.
It’s a very, very Oddworld
On a brighter note, The Oddworld: Collection will launch on Nintendo Switch on 27th May.
The bundle - which includes Oddworld: New’n’Tasty, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath - was announced on 1st April, and was one of the few news items to not be a terrible joke.
Thankfully, the official Oddworld Twitter account was on hand to assure players that the announcement was real. Sadly, Microids seemingly has no plans to bring the collection to any other platforms, though.
That’s a Wrap
And that’s that! Annoyingly, most of the news this month was either dominated by boring acquisitions or rumours. They aren’t worth mentioning until they develop a little more substance.
I’m currently keeping an eye on a note on Channel 4’s website. They are revealing plans to revive the legendary TV show - GamesMaster. It was accompanied by a photo of Sir Patrick Stewart. It looks like a PR shot from X-Men Days of Future Past so I’m not holding my breath that he’ll grace the show with his presence.
Anyway, until next time, take care everyone and don’t forget to pre-order Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it’s almost here!