On the Download: February 5-11

While last week was pretty big for noteworthy games for download.  This week there are not as many games that I will highlight, but there was a lot of big downloadable news.  First, this week the Japanese Nintendo eShop saw the release of three new 3DS Virtual Console games (two more than the North American eShop got this week).  Japanese 3DS owners saw Kid Icarus: Myths & Monsters, Kirby Dream Land 2 and Wario Land grace their eShop.  Considering how the Japanese eShop gets games a few weeks ahead of the North American eShop, hopefully these great games are coming in the next month or so.  The other piece of news comes from my favourite franchise from this generation of consoles, Mass Effect.  In the next month, BioWare will be releasing two Mass Effect apps for the iOS.  Infiltrator is a third-person shooter where you infiltrate Cerberus bases to collect evidence of crimes Cerberus committed and freeing prisoners.  Datapad is a companion app to Mass Effect 3, which will allows players to check the galaxy map, receive messages from characters, play mini-games and search a codex filled with information on the Mass Effect universe.  Both of these apps will play into the Galaxy at War meta-game that will affect a player's galactic readiness rating, which will effect the ending of Mass Effect 3.  Enough with the news for this week, let us get down to the meat and potatoes of On the Download.  Let us take a look at the biggest downloadable games for this week.

Originally set to release early last month, Gotham City Impostors has landed on XBLA, PSN and PC.  Gotham City Impostors is a first-person shooter based off a story in the Batman comics where one group of vigilantes dressed as Batman battle another group of criminals dressed like the Joker with guns and other violent weapons across  Gotham City.   You play as either the Batmen or the Jokers in multiplayer-only team death match.  Gotham City Impostors gives players a plethora of customization options from weapons and gadgets to appearance and play style.  There are no set classes to be slotted into, you are given everything you need to play Gotham City Impostors exactly the way you want.  Much like other FPS games, Gotham City Impostors is overflowing with upgrades and unlocks for players to collect as the level up in the game.  Gotham City Impostors might seem like an extremely unorthodox Batman game, but if you are looking for another Batman game to fill the void after finishing Arkham Asylum and Arkham City at 15 dollars or 1200 Microsoft Points Gotham City Impostors is a very affordable Batman fix.

Hyper-stylized art and gory action of Klei Entertainment's 2010 downloadable action game, Shank is back in the sequel.  You play ex-mob hitman Shank on another adventure killing enemies left, right and centre on the way to reach your goal whatever it may be.  As you can probably deduce from the last sentence, Shank 2 is not about the story.  Shank 2 is about improving the main problem with the original game, the game's controls.  Klei made the controls much tighter and to better complement Shank 2's visceral combat system, which allows players to switch between guns, melee weapons and chainsaws on the fly in order to put together some crazy combos.  Apart from the regular single-player, Shank 2 also offers a survival mode, which can be played co-operatively either locally or online.  For those old enough to download it, Shank 2 for XBLA, PSN and PC should provide some mature fun for 10 dollars or 800 Microsoft Points.

On the Download: January 1-7

Well the holiday season is over and we are into a brand new year filled with plenty of new games coming down the downloadable pipeline.  Sadly this week On the Download will be shorter due to the lack of big downloadable releases this week, but I come bearing gifts in the form of news about downloadable games and services.  First up, Gotham City Impostors, the downloadable Batman FPS that was scheduled to release next week, has been delayed until some unknown date in February.  It is kind of sad as I was looking forward to seeing how this very different style of game set in the Batman universe would fare with critics and the online community.  Next up is news on demos for the 3DS.  Capcom has assured fans via their Capcom Unity blog that the Resident Evil: Revelations demo that released on the Japanese eShop will be coming to North American and European eShops in the near future, something myself and many other 3DS owners are looking forward to a lot.  And my last piece of news involves the 3DS as well.  It has been reported that European 3DS owners that have bought and register two select games on Club Nintendo from November 1st of last year on will receive a code for a free copy of 3D Classics: Kid Icarus.  This promotion has only been announced for Europe, but I am dearly hoping that Nintendo brings it to North America Club Nintendo users as well.  Without further interruption, let us take a look at the big downloadable release for this week.

Just like EA did with NBA Jam back in 2010, EA has brought back another classic Midway arcade sports game from the dead.  This time EA brought back NFL Blitz for hardcore Blitz fans and gamers such as myself who never got the chance to play the game in the arcade or on the N64.  EA has done their best to recreate the fast, energetic arcade gameplay with a plethora of game modes for gamers to sink their teeth into.  The modes are a regular 7-on-7 exhibition game mode for quick one-on-one games with friends, season mode like Blitz Gauntlet, EAs now signature card-based mode for all their sports games Elite League and online competition Blitz Battle mode.  Coupled with the arcade craziness that gamers have come to expect from this old arcade sports franchise, NFL Blitz should keep the biggest football fanatic to even the young kids satisfied.  If you are looking for an arcade sports game for either your Xbox 360 or PS3, NFL Blitz is the download for you.