New PAL Releases Roundup - 13/02/09

F.E.A.R. 2, HOTD, Flower, more.

News by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief

Updated on 12 Feb 2009

2009 is finally up and running and flailing its arms in terror mainly, with various zombie-themed action games clustering around the 13th February slot. Chief amongst them is the 8/10-scoring House of the Dead: Overkill, one of the most considered light-gun games of recent times.

There's also F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, which we thought desperately mediocre, although it would be extremely unfair to ignore the fact we're in a minority so far.

By far the most terrifying, however, is Eidos and Rebellion's zombie-infested Vietnam shooter, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, although sadly the terrifying part will be the realisation you spent 30 or 40 quid on something so bland, creaking and artless.

I spent last night blasting through PS2-level environments full of identical Vietcong troops and blood-splattered "infected" in an apparent race to experience every cliché and quirk in the genre, from turret sections, sieges, quick-time melee and trap-dodging, exploding barrels and virtually invisible snipers on rooftops to blood-hued visions, staggering load-times and having to hit the Y button every time you walk over any gun, grenade or ammo pack. None of it is done well, and the majority of it probably shouldn't have been done anyway.

Altogether at the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, there's the delicate loveliness of Flower, due out on PSN today, or the similarly serene PS3 port of Eternal Sonata, among a release list that also includes THQ's Deadly Creatures and Star Ocean: Second Evolution on PSP.

This week: