2014 has officially arrived and brings with it a whole brand new year of gaming goodness. Here’s what new game releases gamers can look forward to in January including Mario Party: Island Tour, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z and the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Release Date: 9th January 2014
Platforms: PC
Following its console release earlier in 2013, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is finally making its way to PC on January 9th. The PC version of the game will also include the previously released VR Missions and the Bladewolf and Jetstream DLC packs, all wrapped up into a nice £19.99 priced package. The game was recently named as Sarah’s most memorable gaming moment of 2013 in the StickTwiddlers Podcast 2 – A Stickmas Carol who described it as “off its tits”. If that’s not a massive endorsement, I don’t know what is!
Mario Party: Island Tour
Release Date: 17th January 2014
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Arguably one of the best franchises featuring the Nintendo mascot, Mario Party is coming to the handheld later this month with the release of Mario Party: Island Tour. The new Mario Party features 80 all-new minigames, 7 new boards, Streetpass minigame and more. In true Nintendo fashion though, they seem to have taken one of their best multiplayer titles and restricted it to their handheld console – not ideal for getting the gang around for some Mario Party action. It seems even Nintendo have forgotten about the Wii U at this point.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
Release Date: 24th January 2014
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita
Namco Bandai are kicking off their Japanese anime invasion with a brand new fighter based on the Dragon Ball series, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z. The first brand new DBZ game in over 2 years introduces online play for the first time as gamers will team up to defeat their enemies in a variety of huge areas. Like pretty much all the Dragon Ball Z games, it looks absolutely batshit mental and a hell of a lot of fun.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Full Burst
Release Date: 31st January 2014
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Hot on the heels of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, Namco Bandai are bringing another of their Japanese anime giants out with the release of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Full Burst – an updated version of Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. In addition to a new chapter, the revamped game includes 100 new missions, new cinematics, 38 additional costumes and a new playable character – Sage mode Kabuto. I honestly have next to no idea whether that’s an awesome incentive but you can’t really argue with a whole bunch of additional content!
Tomb Raider Definitive Edition
Release Date: 31st January 2014
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4
The announcement of our final big release of January 2014 caused quite a bit of chatter in the debut StickTwiddlers podcast episode. Square Enix have decided to re-release the latest Tomb Raider title for the next-gen consoles with a graphical upscale and a bunch of previously released DLC bundled in. For gamers yet to play the title, it seems like a great deal but it’s a bit worrying to see a new like this title re-released so soon.
What do you think about the release of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition? Do you think the January launch line-up is a bit bare? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Twitter and Facebook.