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We're pleased to be back this month with Destructoid's picks for January 2008.

Many of you might have noticed, we skipped on the picks for December 2007, so allow me to explain. Many of you had noticed, but nothing really was released in December of last year. So retroactively, let's just go ahead and say that Unreal Tournament III for the PlayStation 3 was the game of the month. But more importantly, we picked our damned games of the year ... what do you want from us!? 

2008 didn't start off very strong, but there were a number of games we feel you should have been playing last month. Hit the jump to find out which titles we think are worth your time and money, and surprise -- one of them is completely free!

NINTENDO DS
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Advance Wars returns to the DS with a slightly darker tone, and online multiplayer, making for a winning combination. Destructoid's amaaaaazing Chad Concelmo agrees, even going so far as to profess his love for the game in an email using an all red font. 

Not your thing? Try ... didn't some game where you're an animal doctor come out last month, too?

PC
Off-Road Velociraptor Safari

Hamza has covered this a few times on Destructoid, and we're pleased to name it PC game of the month for January 2008. Even if the only other game that had come out on the PC wasn't a train simulator, we'd still choose Off-Road Velociraptor Safari. It's free, and you can play it in your Web browswer right now ... so go!

Not your thing? Try ... seeing a shrink. You smash a jeep into dinosaurs, dude. 

PLAYSTATION 2
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law

Capcom brings Adult Swim's ex-super hero criminal defense attorney to consoles with some hilariously satisfying results. If you're fans of the show, you're sure to get a kick out of the writing, and with cameos from classic Street Fighter characters, it's definitely worth a look. 

Not your thing? Try ... pulling yourself away from your Zac Efron calendar, and playing Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel 

PLAYSTATION 3
Burnout Paradise

"It's refreshing to see a dev wander outside the norm," says Destructoid news contributor Joe Burling. We all agreed, and in our (slightly late) review of Burnout Paradise, we gave the game a solid 8.5.

Not your thing? Try ... NFL Tour, because no other PS3 games came out last month!

PLAYSTATION NETWORK
PixelJunk Monsters

Q-Games' take on tower defense games works perfectly on the PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation Network download. The game also features an excellent cooperative mode, making it a great title to kick back and play with someone you love ... for hours.

Not your thing? Try ... downloading the demo for PixelJunk Monsters. It's your thing. Trust us. 

PLAYSTATION PORTABLE
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice

You're a cop, and you chase criminals. It doesn't matter how you get to them, be it hop from car to car, or from a car to a helicopter. With dedication like that, criminals are toast.

Not your thing? Try ... FlatOut: Head On 

XBOX 360
Burnout Paradise

Qais "Quail Futon" Fulton says of the game, "To me, Burnout: Paradise is the game the Burnout series has slowly been working toward. The open world, while not a new mechanic in racing games, is perfect for the Burnout series, and forces you to explore the world and play around with it in ways you wouldn't do otherwise."

Sounds naughty.

Not your thing? Try ... Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom 

XBOX LIVE ARCADE
Rez HD

"If you missed it on PS2, now's your chance to play the game that often serves as the big gun in the games-as-art debate," says RetroforceGo!'s voice of Xbox LIVE Arcade judgment, Topher Cantler. "Even if you've already taken the original for a spin, it's certainly worth the 800 points to play Mizuguchi's masterpiece in HD. The game looks beautiful in its updated state, and if you liked it at all on PS2, you'd be a fool not to have it on your 360 hard drive."

Not your thing? Try ... Metal Slug 3.

WII
No More Heroes

"If you want to see a brilliant Wii remote compromise between simple button-mashing and utterly satisfying motion control, or if you just want to experience one of the most pleasingly over-the-top and self-aware plots of the last year or so, you'd be doing yourself a disservice in not buying it."
 
This from "Reverend" Anthony, who gave the game an 8.5 out of 10 in his Destructoid review. That's 4.5 points higher than he scored Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess!

Not your thing? Try ... Furu Furu Park 

WII VIRTUAL CONSOLE
Star Tropics

On RetroforceGO!, Chad Concelmo has been a bit disappointed with what he calls Nintendo's "stingy" Virtual Console releases. One a week? Pffft. Luckily, he was able to find solace in one classic this month -- Star Tropics

"The Zelda/RPG hybrid gameplay, combined with the refreshing tropical setting and memorable story make this an instant classic, and one of my favorite games of all time," he says. "If you haven't played it, please stop reading this, shell out the more than fair $5, and download the game immediately."

He adds: "Oh yeah, you can also rescue a dolphin in the game from a giant evil octopus. Enough said."

Not your thing? Try ... Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES)








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37 comments | showing # 1 to 37
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Spartacus's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 17:47
Spartacus
I have been playing Raptor Safari incessantly for the past week. That, Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, and Online Pokemon Pictionary.
kawitchate's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 17:49
kawitchate
hmm, i see you looked up pics of Ms. January Jones last night too after her great (hot) appearance on Law & Order. either that or it's just a fuckin' weird coincidence.

oh, she's great/hot on Mad Men as well.
Dr Milkdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 17:53
Dr Milkdad
I approve of this list, you can't argue with anything, especially, Off-Road Velociraptor Safari.
Always Ten Feet Tall's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:06
Always Ten Feet Tall
advanced wars is so fucking hard
wardrox's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:18
wardrox
You should have a euro section, we just got FF X over here
Darren Nakamura's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:22
Darren Nakamura
Awesome, I already own just about all of these games. The only ones I don't have are the ones on the systems I don't own, and Harvey Birdman.
bigfatton's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:24
bigfatton
Wow, good month
Rockvillian's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:35
Rockvillian
GREAT month. And my friend was so enamored with watching me play No More Heroes last night that he went out to get a copy today.

Every store is OUT. The US says you're welcome, Suda51. :)

Oh and Velociraptor Safari is the testicles.
Cheeburga's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:44
Cheeburga
Fuck yeah awesome month.
BluFire's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:45
BluFire
I thought word was "throw-up on bread," not "stingy."
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:45
Holyetheline
NMH is the rock.
Axion22's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:47
Axion22
Ok, I'm looking to pick up Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for my ex's daughter. Her current crop of DS titles is like Catz, Hamsterz, Nintendogs, other similar crap.

Anyway, anyone think a 9 year old girl can handle some hardcore Advance Wars action?
relik's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 18:48
relik
Rez HD is all I've been playing since it came out. Pure bliss with the full HD/Surround (And a wee drop of liquid acid :D) experience.

Burnout can fuck reet off until it's actually burnout again, but that's just me it seems.
's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 19:02
Clint
@Axion22
Judging by her current game list I'd go with something more like Animal Crossing WW. AW DoR is by far the hardest of the four AW games, and that's saying something.
Axion22's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 19:02
Axion22
Off-Road 'raptor Safari makes my workstation's Intel GPU cry.
Y0j1mb0's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 19:16
Y0j1mb0
Not your thing? Try ... downloading the demo for PixelJunk Monsters. It's your thing. Trust us.


Lol..Funny but SO TRUE.

You guys should write a review on that one..or maybe I will.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 19:42
Samit Sarkar
Off-Road Velociraptor Safari slowed my computer to a crawl, but that’s probably because it’s a three-and-a-half-year-old laptop with integrated video and a 1.6 GHz Pentium M processor. Also, I had a bunch of tabs open in Firefox. But it was still fun!
Oni's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 19:52
Oni
I would kill you all for my copy of No More Heroes.

Ubisoft still seems to think that Canada is not a real country.
TheStripe's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 20:04
TheStripe
Nmh ftw, mf's.
Animated Trigger's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 20:16
Animated Trigger
I have NMH and I've spent the last two hours playing the hell out of Off-Road Velociraptor Safari. I could die happy.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 20:34
Sharpless
Dude, one of Velociraptor Safari's achievement icons is frigging MacGyver.
BlindsideDork's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 20:42
BlindsideDork
Turok for 360 owns...not as much as Orange Box but near...
Aaron Mxy Yost's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 21:04
Aaron Mxy Yost
I've been very tempted to pick up Harvey Birdman. And I have 600 Wii points I've been dying to use on Startropics, but I keep holding off. Once I finish SMB3 I'll have no excuse.
infinity's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 21:40
infinity
off-road velociraptor safari wants to safari your raptors.

also, game of the decade.
F Whipple's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 21:57
F Whipple
still waiting to pick up NMH
Gen Eric Gui's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 22:50
Gen Eric Gui
I got copies of No More Heroes, Harvey Birdman, and Advance Wars. All three are awesome beyond words. I wanted to get Lolo 2 and Startropics, but I have more than enough on my plate at the moment, and those games will always be there to download.


And for a "Hardcore" community, there sure are a lot of people complaining about Advance Wars being hard. As a veteran of all the past games and their Hard Campaigns, I can say that DoR is easy pie, assuming you know how to use your units.
Bob Muir's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 23:21
Bob Muir
I need to get more money to buy more games.
skruloos's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/07/2008 23:42
skruloos
Star Tropics. So good.
bobdapunk's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 00:48
bobdapunk
@Spartacus
Mad Men is awesome in general. Check it out if you are looking for a great drama (from the producers of the Sopranos)
dprime's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 03:24
dprime
What's a Canada?

Just kidding. I'm inside of it. Unfortunately.
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 07:06
Snaileb
Downloaded Star Tropics, it wasn't great.

I laughed at the Rev Ant comment, poor guy will never live that down.
commish's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 07:16
commish
Downloaded the demo for rez, after it was over immediately paid for the full game, it was great! so much action and awesome music! and NMH gotta give some love to that game too!
loki d20's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 09:21
loki d20
I know PS3 didn't come out with any other games in January, but I think that's better than KUF:CoD being put out on the PS3. I almost fell asleep playing that game...
ajay42's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 09:23
ajay42
@bodapunk

was about to write the same thing, i freaking love that show. was surprised/psyched to see it nestled up there at the top of the front page.
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 09:45
Snaileb
Your picks are all winners to me. Im getting Burnout or DMC4.
crackity jones's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/08/2008 17:28
crackity jones
WooT No More Heroes and Advance Wars, gotta say I wasn't impressed by new Burnout though
Fading Star's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/09/2008 19:05
Fading Star
Excellent list. STARTROPICS!
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