Batman: The Enemy Within, Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and Sonic Generations
That’s…a lot of colons!
Games with Gold is getting silly and melancholy next month, as the four new games run the full gamut of emotions. On the former side you haveShantae: 1/2 Genie HeroandSonic Generations, and on the latter there’sBatman: The Enemy WithinandCastlevania Lords of Shadow 2. What a wonderful mix, despiteLords of Shadow 2‘s faults. So let’s talk about them a bit.
Lords of Shadow 2is free fromMarch 1-15, and is probably the most complicated game of the four as it came at an odd time where Konami had no clue what to do with theCastlevaniafranchise in 2014. It had just hosted the mostly likedLords of Shadowfour years prior and released the polarizingMirror of Fate, which brought the series back to its 2D platforming roots, a year before. In the end,Lords of Shadow 2had some neat ideas but never managed to get the series back on track, and it’s been dormant ever since.
Batman: The Enemy Within, which is free fromMarch 1-31, was a completed swansong for Telltale of sorts, as the company went under several months afterEnemy Withinwas released. Although the last season ofThe Walking Deadwas finished posthumously, some of the work was done by Skybound Entertainment.Enemy Withinis actually the second [and currently, last] season for theBatmansubseries, focusing mostly on The Joker.
Shantae: 1/2 Genie Herois free fromMarch 16-April 15, and stars the titular genieShantae: a character that has a nearly two-decade history. Although where1/2 Geniefits on theShantaepower rankings is up for debate, it’s a nice little platformer from WayForward and a decent gateway into the other games. As a note, this listing is the regular $20 edition: theUltimate Edition,with more DLC, is $30.
And then there’sSonic Generations(after Maude of course), which is free fromMarch 16-March 31.Generationsis coming out at the perfect time given that the feature film just came out a few weeks ago, andGenerationsitself is regarded as one of the more qualitySonicentries this past decade, buttering up fans a few years beforeSonic Mania.
