Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

After a month off from the Ones to Watch, I am back to tell you all about the releases for the month of May on PC.  Only one problem with that statement.  There is not much to announce for the month of May on the PC.  Out of what is being released, we have a grand total of four games that are worthy of the Ones to Watch label.  

 That said, we do have a great case mod for the month, this time with someone taking the theme from the Pink Floyd album, The Wall.  I love the detail that has gone into this case, especially the way the face is busting out of the brick wall, exactly like the cover of the album.  And lets not miss the fact that this PC is rolling around the room on some fire red casters.  All in all, I  have to say that the case easily gets a 5 out of 5 just for the rare theme and the way it pulls it off.

Now that we are comfy, lets get to it and talk about the Ones to Watch in May on the PC.

Battlestations: Pacific – We start out the month with a sequel to the Battlestations franchise.  Again the focus in on mixing the strategy aspect of a war simulation game, while allowing players to jump into the seat of any of the units on the map to directly influence the action that is happening.  This time around, there will also be controlling island points, that when you capture them, will give you some bonuses for your side.  Players will also have the opportunity to play as the Japanese in a fictional campaign from that point of view.  Battlestations: Pacific will also have full support for Games for Windows Live, including achievements and Live multiplayer.  Look for Battlestations: Pacific on May 12.

Civilization IV Complete – We all know how great Civilization IV is, but there are a select few that have missed out on this solid turn based strategy game.  2K Games has heard the rumors of people that are crazy enough to not have this great series in their library and they have packaged up the original Civilization IV, along with all of the expansions into one tidy box set, that will give any player endless hours of entertainment.  Civilization IV was the first version of the series that captured me, since Civilization 2 in 1996.  Also, it is not that graphically heavy and scales well to most computer systems and video cards that are out there.  And if you are a Civilization Revolution fan, this is your chance to step up and see what all the fuss was about with the Civilization franchise on the PC side of the fence.  Look for Civilization IV Complete on May 12th.

FUEL – Codemasters over time has cornered the market when it comes to four lettered racers.  DiRT ang GRID are two genre definining racers that have a lite sim feel, while not punishing the gamer for getting to crazy with their driving.  FUEL takes the racing genre in a new direction putting a Mad Max twist on it, by making gasoline a main component to the game.  In FUEL, you will travel through a huge map, racing other marauders, with the prize of gasoline at the end of the race to continue your trek across the wasteland.  It sounds a bit like Auto Assault without the MMORPG tangents, but it could be a hinderance.  Also, the game strays a bit from the comfort racing zone that Codemasters has been in, but I am curious about FUEL enough to put it on the Ones to Watch list.  Look for FUEL on May 25th.

Damnation – Damnation has been in development for some time, with a moving target of a release date, but the more I see of Damnation, the more I want to get the game in my hands.  Damnation takes place in an alternate reality, mixing the old west with steampunk, to create an expansive world for people to explore and of course, to create mayhem.  Damnation has adaptive enemy AI that will watch how you fight to react and adapt to the situation.  The enemy AI will also use similar tactics that you would use, and will flank you when possible.  Mix in huge, expansive environments and you have, what looks to be a solid game.  The only rough spot so far is that footage still looks a bit rough at this late development stage.  The Damnation team needs to hammer out some framerate issues to make this a sure fire hit.  Look for Damnation on May 25th.

And with that, you have the games that are worth giving a shot in the month of May.  Yes this is a bit late, but the article was a bit delayed by our site outage.  And also, the month of May was a bit light for titles.  Check back in June for another Ones to Watch on the PC where we hope to have more titles for your buck.