The Loadout for March 30, 2010: New Games to Attack the Week With

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Welcome to the Loadout. Our philosophy is that the working week is a recurring boss battle that you’ll need the proper weapons to take down. The supplies at hand won’t always be pretty but you might just be able to hold out until the weekend. Green means add it to your arsenal, yellow leaves it up to your discretion and red means back away slowly. With that, let’s see what we’ve got this week:

The Game: Again

Specifications: Created by CiNG, the studio responsible for the hit Hotel Dusk, this DS game calls itself an “interactive crime novel” and puts players in the role of FBI agent Jonathan Weaver who’s investigating a series of creepy murders in 1990s New Jersey.

Ideal usage scenario: Use to stay awake during your commute. We may not want to admit it, but clue-hunting games can be a pretty fun guilty pleasure. CiNG’s got a pretty good track record on the DS, too, so Again’s probably a safe bet.

The Game: Prison Break: The Conspiracy

Specifications: The game ties into the continuity of the defunct series’ first season, but you don’t play as Michael Scofield the show’s main character. Instead, you play as a made-up covert agent character infiltrating the same prison where the Fox thriller took place.

Ideal usage scenario: A too-late game based on a long-gone TV show? This will only make the week feel longer. Leave it on the shelf.

The Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package DLC

Specifications: The pricey DLC for last year’s blockbuster adds five maps for multiplayer mayhem.

Ideal usage scenario: It’s a bit ridiculous to charge $15 for five new maps (two of which are from an older game) but Stimulus Package is absolutely necessary for COD-heads who know all the MW2’s old maps backwards and forwards.

The Game: Samurai Shodown Sen

Specifications: SNK’s weapons-based brawler tries to recapture its arcade-cabinet glory days in a new release. Sen’s got dozens of sword-wielding fighters facing off in feudal Japan, with European knights clashing with various samurai.

Ideal usage scenario: Learning some new finishing moves may seem like a great way to survive ‘til Saturday, but be warned that Shodown’s a bit quirkier than the SoulCalibur games. Get those decapitations out will take some getting used to.