March 14, 2011: wallet threat level yellow

I’m having a grand time with Shogun 2, the latest in Creative Assembly’s Total War series. But those first few days are always a grand time. Will this be the Total War game that breaks the Chick parabola, that curve where you enjoy a game until you discover the AI is terrible? Check for the review on 1up in a few days.

Homefront, on the other hand, is disappointing early and often. I say that as a huge fan of Kaos Studios previous game, Frontlines. Unfortunately, Homefront is no Frontlines, largely because it’s trying so hard to be a Call of Duty. The full review will be on Gameshark later this week.

Also out this week are Yakuza 4 and Top Spin 4, both series I admire rather than enjoy. The Yakuza games suffer mightily in comparison with other open-world games, but they have their own storytelling appeal. As far as tennis games go, Top Spin is like the smart but homely sister to the bubbly Virtua Tennis party girl.

Keep an eye out for Gods Eater Burst for the PSP. Not that I’m necessarily recommending it. But I see the title and I get excited because I think of God Hand. Unfortunately, this isn’t that. But we’ll always have Bayonetta, which is a pretty serviceable God Hand 2.

Finally, are you ready for the latest map pack for Halo: Reach? I hope you are, because I’d love to be able to play Halo: Reach with people who are as bad as me. This latest map pack includes a new firefight map I quite like, partly because there are plenty of indoor hiding spots, where I found a garage with a warthog that has a rocket launcher on the back. At which point I don’t feel like hiding so much anymore.