Games out this month: 10 biggest releases for August
Published Jul 29 2012, 06:00 BST | By Matthew Reynolds
© THQ
The summer drought gets a good dousing of new releases in August. Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade draws to a close with three anticipated releases, while new entries in New Super Mario Bros, Guild Wars, Darksiders and Transformers are all available.
Deadlight
Release date: August 1 (worldwide)
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade
The next Summer of Arcade release is Deadlight, a side-scrolling adventure game billed by its developers as a puzzle platformer similar to games like Flashback and Another World. Players must use agility, wits and their environment to survive and travel across an alternate 1980s Canada invaded by zombies to reach the American West Coast.
Hybrid
Release date: August 8 (worldwide)
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade
From the creator of Scribblenauts, Hybrid is a third-person shooter where players join one of two warring factions in a combination of cover-based aerial combat using a jet pack. It will also feature a persistent world war through online multiplayer, where individual matches contribute to each faction's success.
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Release date: August 15 (worldwide)
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade
The fifth and final Summer of Arcade release is one that has been years in the making. Winner of the 2009 Dream Build Play contest on sister service Xbox Live Indie Games, the platformer features a lavish, hand-drawn world and fluid combat that can be upgraded and expanded as players acquire new skills.
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Release date: August 17 (Europe), August 19 (North America)
Platforms: 3DS
The sequel to the best-selling DS platformer offers both a taste of the familiar and the novel. Expect a fully-fledged side-scrolling adventure but with a twist; players are tasked with collecting a million gold coins, which spill out of every stage. StreetPass allows you to challenge others with a Coin Rush time trial.
> Read our hands-on preview of 'New Super Mario Bros. 2'
Sleeping Dogs
Release date: August 17 (Europe), August 19 (North America)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Formerly True Crime: Hong Kong, Sleeping Dogs is an open-world action adventure that promises to show the darker side of Hong Kong. Players will control Wei, an undercover cop who attempts to integrate himself into the city's criminal network.
> 'Sleeping Dogs' preview: Take down triads and cops with martial arts
Darksiders 2
Release date: August 21 (Europe), August 19 (North America)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
This eagerly-awaited sequel runs parallel to the events of the first Darksiders game. Players will take on the role of the horseman Death as he travels through the Abyss to redeem his brother War and undo the apocalypse.
> Read our hands-on preview with 'Darksiders 2'
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Release date: August 24 (worldwide)
Platforms: PC (already available on Xbox 360, PS3)
The challenging action role-playing game gets an expanded PC port, adding new explorable areas, bosses, enemies, non-playable characters and equipment. Console players can expect the added content as DLC later in the year.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Release date: August 21 (Europe), August 24 (North America)
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
The follow-up to 2010's successful Transformers: War for Cybertron, the action adventure will take players through the end of the Transformers' civil war, leading to their exodus to Earth. It will include a new playable character in the form of fan-favourite Grimlock and the co-op Escalation mode.
Guild Wars 2
Release date: August 28 (worldwide)
Platforms: PC
The long-awaited sequel was first announced in 2007, and has since been hit with numerous delays since. But the highly-anticipated MMO is here, taking place amongst an industrial revolution 250 years after the defeat of the Great Destroyer in the original game's Eye of the North expansion.
Rock Band Blitz
Release date: August 29 (worldwide)
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, PSN
Rock Band Blitz is a new downloadable entry in the series, where players use a standard controller to switch between different instrument tracks while hitting the corresponding face buttons in time with the music. Nearly the entire existing catalogue of Rock Band music will be compatible with Rock Band Blitz, in addition to 25 new songs that can be imported into Rock Band 3.
Other gaming releases this month:
Risen 2: Dark Waters (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) - August 3
Hero Academy (PC) - August 8
Tales of Graces F (August 31) - August 31
What are you buying this month? Add your comment to the space below!
I don't see how getting 1 million gold coins is adding a twist to the Mario formula. Sure the game will be fun but is it really going to be any different then the last Mario side-scroller? Or the one before it? Or the one before that? They're pretty much all the same games at this point.
August 5th 2012 at 3:54am
1;04 sleeping dog why is it pink?
July 30th 2012 at 11:45am
on the minmap
July 30th 2012 at 11:45am
Another mario game? wow i sooo did not see that coming
July 29th 2012 at 7:49pm
GW2!!!! all other games are irrelevant
July 29th 2012 at 4:32pm
even naked twister?
July 29th 2012 at 7:19pm(+1 like)
I really miss my old skool games like Zelda lttp, Super Mario World, I'll be getting a Wii or 3DS soon which one do you reckon guys? and the New Super Mario Bros 2 looks cool also.
July 29th 2012 at 12:09pm(+2 likes)
I AGREE! games these days are all about graphics, multiplayer and how vast they are. as good as they look i don't think i could get into something like Skyrim or any of the games here as there way too bug and intense. Nintendo are fine, i cant wait to get pokemon black/white2 as I'm a pokemn fan, but i do miss the days when games were linear and had a sense of direction . All hail 16 bit Sonic, Mario, zelda, Ps1 Crash and Spyro and the old FFs they were proper legends!!!
July 29th 2012 at 1:30pm(+1 like)