The sequel to the $1 one-person developed indie hit, Action Arcade Wrestling 2 combines retro-style wrestling action with deep customization. There is a huge variety of match types, and players can use the customization tools to design their own wrestlers and ring. Players can go to the creator’s website to download a tool to use on their computer to further refine their created characters, and there is already a community centered around the game that has recreated several old school wrestlers. The game is not polished, although the creator is providing patches and support. Sadly there is no online multiplayer, but if you have a few friends over, you’ll have fun with the game’s many match types. Action Arcade Wrestling 2 may not be the second coming of Fire Pro Wrestling returns, it’s still a hit for wrestling fans with $3 to spare. At the least it will help pass the time before WWE 2k14 hits.

You can be forgiven for thinking that Oniken is a lost NES title. Brazilian developer Joymasher’s indie title is a tribute to classic hack ‘n’ slash platformers like Strider and Ninja Gaiden. If this title came out 25 years earlier, it would be one of the best selling titles on the NES. As Zaku, you are on a one-man mission to bring down a corrupt regime in a post-apocalyptic world. You’ll encounter several enemies and bosses, and you’ll obtain several power-ups. The difficulty can be brutal, but classic NES gamers wouldn’t want it any other way. You can purchase it from Desura, and it’s on Steam Greenlight. Check out the group’s next entry, Odallus, a game that has Castlevania and Metroid influences. Joymasher is a group that fans of classic action games will want to keep an eye on.

When Bethesda Software released Fallout 3 in 2008, it became one of the biggest and best RPGS of this past console generation while resurrecting the classic Role Playing Game franchise from years past. Obsidian Entertainment, whose development team consists of people who previously worked on the classic fallout games released this follow up. More than a simple spin-off and not quite a sequel, New Vegas is an RPG that uses the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 3 to tell an all new story.
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As I type this, it’s a few days removed from America’s birthday. Which means leftover fireworks, leftover hot dogs, and public pools. More importantly, it’s the middle of summer. Which means the temperature is getting higher, and with those temperatures, tensions are getting higher. Eventually, with those high tensions, this will happen:

But why get into a real life brawl and risk ending up on worldstarhiphop.com when you can engage in some digital fisticuffs instead? This special edition of $20GOTW/Maximum Letdown takes a look at some of the best and worst fighting games of the recent and distant past, so click below and check it out.
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Before Bungie left Microsoft as a second party developer, the company gave us one last hurrah for the Halo franchise. Taking place shortly before the events of the original Halo, Reach follows the exploits of Noble Team, a group of Spartans fighting the covenant on the doomed planet Reach. If you read the novel ‘The Fall of Reach’, you’ll know that the planet is on borrowed time. Stepping in the shoes of Noble Six, you join the group and do what you can to battle the covenant. While you already know the tragic way it will end, you’ll enjoy getting there in the meantime.
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Normally I don’t do fan-developed games in this column, but this was too cool to ignore. Created by Cutmanmike, Mega Man 8-bit deathmatch is a modification of the Doom Skulltag source port which gives Doom an 8-bit makeover. Taking control of either Mega Man or one of several robot masters, players will battle each other using several familiar Mega Man weapons. Players can either play in Multiplayer, or a single player story mode which spans 60 levels. As the game is based upon a Doom engine, players can mod the game, creating new maps and skins. Check it out here. Between this and Mega Man vs Street Fighter, Mega Man fans are doing more to keep the franchise alive than Capcom has done as of late!

The Gears of War franchise was this console generation’s surprise hit. While everyone was busy waiting for Halo 3, Gear of War’s cover-focused gameplay, fun multiplayer, and beautiful Unreal Engine powered 3 graphics took gamers by surprise and made its way into many an Xbox 360 owner’s console. A fourth entry in the series, Judgement was released a few months ago, but many fans still prefer the classic third installment, and for good reason. It wraps up the trilogy in style.
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Announced on April fool’s day, and too awesome to be fake, Blood Dragon is a standalone expansion to Far Cry 3 that’s a homage to 80s sci-fi. Completely and utterly batshit insane, Blood Dragon does not require the base game of Far Cry 3 nor do you have to have played it in order to enjoy this expansion (of course the FC3 base game isn’t a bad either).
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