On the Download: January 15-21

The steady stream of downloadable games continues on with the release of some games from the past and the first demo for the 3DS.  It has been a solid week for downloads.  Apple just released the new iTunes U app which provides hundreds of free courses for people to take.  Apple also updated the iBooks app, named iBooks 2, which adds textbooks to Apple's online bookstore.  Two very useful apps for current and future university and college students such as yours truly.  Now let us rundown the biggest download games and demos of the week.

After weeks of waiting, demos have come to the Nintendo eShop.  The first demo available for 3DS owners is Resident Evil: Revelations, which is set to release in a few weeks.  Interesting thing you will notice once you download this demo is that you have a limited amount of times to play the demo.  You are given 30 times to play the demo.  From my playthrough, you will only have to play this demo once.  It was rather short as I beat it in 18 minutes.  The demo highlighted the feel of playing Resident Evil on the handheld, the return to Resident Evil's more plodding pace and a brand new item.  The controls will take a little while to get use to especially when fighting baddies.  They do make you feel like you playing an old Resident Evil game as Jill moves like a tank.  In my 18 minutes with the game, I did jump a few times as enemies seemed to pop up when I least expect it.  You feel very tense wandering the halls that this demo is set in.  The last thing I want to touch on is the new scanner.  It is such a great tool that I used anytime I could to find hidden items and other scannable objects.  I would have liked to have had a little more time with Resident Evil: Revelations to get a better impression on it, but I am still looking forward to playing it sometime later this year in preparation for Resident Evil 6, which I am very excited for.

Like many other games before it, Soul Calibur has been ported to the ever popular iPod and iPad.  Namco has brought this fighting classic originally for the Dreamcast, but not without a few modes taken out of Soul Calibur.  Soul Calibur for iOS does not have multiplayer or story mode, but Namco hopes to soften the blow by making the game universal.  I am not a fan of fighting games for iOS.  The touch controls are not responsive enough to work for a genre that focuses on precise controls.  The removal of two key modes for any fighting game does sting as a lot of people are not going to want to play Arcade, Time Attack and Survival over and over again.   If you are craving a fighter for your iDevice, I will not stop you.  At 12 dollars, Soul Calibur for the iOS seems more like a quick cash-in for Namco as we quickly approach the release of Soul Calibur V later this month.

By now, you all should have figured out that I am a huge Sonic fan and love to talk about anything involving my favourite Blue Blur.  This Thursday saw the release of Sonic CD and Sonic 4: Episode 1 for the PC via Steam.  If you somehow missed out on these great games when they were released for XBLA, PSN and iOS before, then pick them up.  Both are great platformers that you should have a lot of fun with even with a keyboard.  Trust me, I have played a good number of Sonic platformers on the PC and they have controlled just fine.  At 5 dollars and 10 dollars respectively, this decision should be a no-brainer.  Also every other Sonic game on Steam is 50% off for this weekend only.  So jump on it and download some great games at 50% off the regular price.  You will not be disappointed.