New PAL Releases Roundup

Thanks to the infinite variety of videogames, no two weeks are ever the same. Take this week and last week, for example. Fresh from running, jumping, exploring and hacking things up in both Bayonetta and Darksiders, this week we emerge into the worlds of Army of Two: The 40th Day and Serious Sam HD on Xbox Live Arcade.

Army of Two and Serious Sam are both games about frantically shooting things to death in increasingly unlikely scenarios, and multiplayer is a must in both. Last week's two structurally and thematically similar high-profile videogames could not be more different from this week's two structurally and thematically similar high-profile videogames. Infinite variety!

Army of Two is recognised as a mechanical improvement over its predecessor, as noted in our 7/10 review, although there remain issues in EA Montreal's attempts to make the most of its core co-op concept, and with the mentalist protagonists, who appear to be under strict orders to rein in their fratboy antics to avoid offending the Europeans. We're not offended! Well, I'm not.

Serious Sam HD makes no such concessions to, well, anything, as it's a fairly straight, much shinier port of the original game to the world of Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. Check out our 7/10 PC review to see why it mounts a strong argument, if not an incontrovertible one.

Elsewhere this week, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is back in court on WiiWare, more than four years after we so enjoyed the DS version, and there's an overdue outing for the stupidly addictive UNO on PS3. SEGA's Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics game is also out, and you can read our review of that soon.

This week in shops:

• Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3, Xbox 360)
• Vancouver 2010 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
• Wii Watersports (Wii)

This week online:

• Constructor (PSone game for PS3/PSP)
• Deflector (PS3/PSP mini)
• Diner Dash (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)
• Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (Xbox Live Arcade)
• UNO (PS3)