New PAL Releases Roundup

By Tom Bramwell Published 22 January, 2010

Dark Void, Resi Zero, ModNation beta.

While it is often said that there are not enough hours in the day, sometimes there are too many hours in the day, such as in any day that exists between a level-50 infiltrator and his next mission. But that's one for another time (such as next Friday).

In the meantime, this week offers a few curiosities to fill the hours, like the Wii release of Resident Evil Zero - a straight port of a traditional instalment in the series, back before the Resi 4 reboot.

Capcom also has 5/10-scoring Dark Void to offer, which may appeal to those with a persistent itch for cover-based shootery, although if it still sounds compelling under the circumstances then you may have a rash, and should perhaps seek medical assistance.

Online, Max & the Magic Marker on WiiWare allows you to brings things to life by drawing them, while Sony's ModNation Racers beta is available to the first 100,000 people who download it and allows you to make your own kart-racing game levels. Strategy RPG obsessives may also find some respite in Vandal Hearts, although not too much.

New games in shops:

  • Dark Void (PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero (Wii)

New games online:

  • Death by Cube (XBLA)
  • Electroplankton Nanocarp (DSiWare)
  • Electroplankton Trapy (DSiWare)
  • Fast Draw Showdown (WiiWare)
  • Max & the Magic Marker (WiiWare)
  • ModNation Racers beta (PSN - limited to first 100,000 downloaders)
  • Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment (PSN, XBLA)
  • Vector TD (PSP/PS3 minis)
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • muscleblade #1 2 years ago

    Completed Bayonetta on the highest difficulty last night. Now im ready for Mass Effect 2.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #2 2 years ago

    Anywho back on Topic: Mod Nation Racers is so damn awsome yes it's Mario Kart meets LBP BUT it's Mario Kart 64 meets Mirco Machines meets LBP, yea the controls are simple(z) but the features during the racing require a LOT of skill to keep in top place around the track as it does where drifting and jumps give you points to charge up your boost meter to use plus theres some damn cool powerups (that charge up like Diddy Kong racing) that can really turn the tide on a race warp to first anyone?

    MNR has taken all the best bits from a LOT of good racers and mushed them in a track editor, it's awsome.... well until the game froze up my ps3.. heh it's beta.. BUY THE FRIGGING GAME when it's out, this is another must for the system
    Edited by 2 at 22/01/10 @ 09:48

  • muscleblade #3 2 years ago

    Oh forgot that ME2 isnt out until next week. Im getting my copy today though ;-).

    edit:Negative feedback eh. Envious much?
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 12:20

  • reelbigkris #4 2 years ago

    I was concerned that modnation racers was going to be a clunky kart game, but it is actually pretty well rounded. However i'm still debating whether this is worth £39.99... if it was between £15 and £20 I'd definitely buy it.

  • RandomTerrain #5 2 years ago

    Oh really? I have the Beta installed, I'm very keen to try it now you have said that Kremlik. Sounds brilliant.

    But Vandal Hearts does not appear to be on the PSN store yet. I was curious to see the price. After the review it would need to be quite cheap for me to buy it. Such a shame, I loved the original Vandal Hearts, such a brilliant game.

  • KDR_11k #6 2 years ago

    Where the hell is Dark Void Zero, NoE?

  • Lee_Morris #7 2 years ago

    Kremlik, I totally agree that some aspects of it remind me of Diddy Kong Racing. Specifically the power slide and also the 'menu' area. There seems to be lots of lovely little touches to this game. I was taken aback as to how close the camera is to the kart. It is actually quite a speedy little thing as well. I only raced a couple of times cause i couldn't connect online and I'd spent half an hour just designing my character. What's with there only being 30 odd hairstyles when there are hundresd of eyes!

    Reelbigkris - I don't know where your shopping but no new game costs £40 anymore. Most AAA games are £33-£35 when they first come out and I imagine this one will be £30.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 11:05

  • SlackMaster #8 2 years ago

    I was keen to get Vandal Hearts but the art style and the review score have put me off... if it gets discounted at some point I may get it but I'll not spend 1200 on it.

    I actually liked Dark Void but I predict it will be sub £30 in the next couple of weeks so will wait and buy it from the bargain bin.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 10:53

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #9 2 years ago

    @reel: I dought it'll be £40 iirc it's a PSN game £20 tops this will be imo

    @Lee - yea the server was a tad iffy yesterday it's probly because all 100,000 slammed it it'll even out today, it's one of those little gem of a games much like Fat Princess, between XBLA and PSN these past 12 months i've spent more on the smaller titles then disk, both have made the indie market boom..

    Anyone care is reason why i got '-1'ed above - someone pissed that they misssed the beta?
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 11:03

  • Lee_Morris #10 2 years ago

    Kremlik I was under the impression this is going to be a disk based game. I'm 80% sure it isn't a psn game ( I wish it was though)

    teh9182 - It does take a a while to load but only the inbetween stuff. The actual racing was smooth. Fair enough if you don't like how it controls but I believe less than a day is a bit of a short time frame to judge it's mechanics.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 11:31

  • penhalion #11 2 years ago

    @farticusmaximus

    Got to agree with you on the soulless characters and lack of charm in the game. I think the server issue is more than just them going down from 6 -7 though. I had real trouble getting any online matches at any time. The power-ups were totally unbalanced too. Someone said that warp to 1st was a great leveller but, in all the games I played it was nothing more than a very frustrating control thrower! It totally negated any reward for driving skillfully through a race. Especially when it was triggered on the last lap by someone in last place!

    This looks promising but, needs some real work to make it even remotely up towards Mario kart standards.

  • Malek86 #12 2 years ago

    Alright, it's a beta, so I can somewhat live with the dodgy framerate, unbearable loading times, and occasional freeze...

    But it's not even that interesting overall. Like someone said, LBP had ten thousand times the charm of this.

  • muscleblade #13 2 years ago

    The original version of Mario Kart on the SNES was incredible. Skill was important to get all the trophies. The other ones didnt come close. Not even the N64 version.

  • GordonJ #14 2 years ago

    "edit:Negative feedback eh. Envious much? "

    I think it's for being a pirate.

  • muscleblade #15 2 years ago

    @GordonJ

    IM NOT A PIRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Most game stores have the game already. A good friend of mine is the manager of a store.
    All the people that i know that works for a Game store get to play games early. I dont understand how people get to think early players are pirates. I buy all my games and i can easily afford them. I hate pirates btw. Their criminals just like other thieves.

  • DrDamn #16 2 years ago

    I think we have got a bit used to game companies using "Betas" as demos/marketing tools. The Modnation Racers Beta actually appears to be a proper Beta(*). So connection issues? Not really a big surprise is it? I didn't think the servers were all due to be online until today too.

    (*) Lets hope so cos it could do with some more time.

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 2 years ago

    DS Heroes of Might and Magic or similar not out this week? I thought it would be?

    Oh well nothing really catch my interest, not until next Fri!

  • CB.Gamestation #18 2 years ago

    Dark Void was out last week wasn't it?? I can't remember but I played it last Saturday at work! All these games merge into one sometimes!

    UPDATE : Yeah my bad it was out this week :(
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/10 @ 19:23

  • RandomTerrain #19 2 years ago

    Unfortunately, I have to agree with the negative comments about Mod Nation Racers. It needs a lot of fixing.
    And even with super quick load times and no lag, I'm not sure I could maintain interest for very long. :o(

    Oh well, plenty of brilliant games I need to buy at the moment anyway.