Last month saw the release of Mortal Kombat and Portal 2--both highly anticipated titles for two very distinct and different fan bases. The Mortal Kombat series certainly needed a fresh start after the massive let-down that was Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Portal 2 on the other hand, was under a lot of pressure from a cult-like fan-base who eagerly awaited an experience that would hopefully best the gem that was the original.
Both games delivered in abundance--setting new standards for both franchises and for the most part, keeping everyone happy (except some of you Portal fans, stop being so critical!). Owning both games on PS3 (damn you Playstation Network), even though I'm yet to get the online content out of them, I can already see that these two titles are fantastic and made April a great month for gaming.
It got me thinking however, what other AAA titles came out paired together and were these pairs better than Portal Kombat? Purchasing games certainly isn't cheap, so to splash out on two games in one month would require some very impressive titles to hit the shelves. So I decided to look back a few years and check out if there were any paired releases in the same month that can top the extreme gaming plethora that is Portal Kombat.
Casting our eyes back to 2008, April was the release month for Grand Theft Auto IV. Acknowledged now as one of the biggest video game let-downs, it still didn't stop Rockstar selling over 20 million copes as of March 2011. GTAIV however, came out in the same month as another massive hit--as rivals Nintendo released Mario Kart Wii, which is the fourth biggest selling game on the console, amassing an impressive 27 million copies as of 2011.
June was another massive month in 2008--the release of what became almost every critics game of the year, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots hit stores worldwide. It only took the game 1 year to sell over 5 million copies, an impressive feat. If killing people in cold-blooded murder was a little bit more your style, then June also saw the release of the highly anticipated sequel to Ninja Gaiden. Receiving an average score of 80% and acknowledgment of being one of the most bloody-satisfying slashers of this generation, Ninja Gaiden 2 was a great release for Xbox 360 to try and tone down MGS4's sales.2008 certainly ended with a bang as November saw the release of both Gears of War 2 and Valve's Left 4 Dead. Honorable mention goes to a third game here--Resistance 2, but I just can't help but feel that the former two were wanted so much more than Sony's exclusive first-person alien shooter. Gears of War 2 sold over 2 million copies in its first weekend on sale, while Left 4 Dead had one of the biggest pre-order lists of any Steam game ever.
2009 wasn't a bad year for games by any stretch of the imagination. Capcom's refurbished Street Fighter IV series hit the shelves in February and to this day has had numerous revisions, including the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Sony also started 2009 strong with the highly anticipated release of Killzone 2--setting new standards for first-person shooters both graphically and in the gameplay department, Killzone 2 solidified its position as one of Sony's most profitable exclusive franchises by becoming the fourth fastest selling Sony published title, ever.
We all know that November is the month for video games--well 2009 had a mass of games flood onto the market including Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, New Super Mario Bros, Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassins Creed 2. All four games set individual milestones and most importantly, were roaring favourites across all available platforms.
In 2010 no one would have guessed that the Wild-West would be a perfect destination for one of the best open-ended adventure games we'd ever have the pleasure of playing. Red Dead Redemption was one of 2010's biggest surprises, winning numerous awards with games journalists and achieving an average review of 95% from both Metacritic and GameRankings, making it one of the higest rated video games of all time on the 360 and PS3. What game could have possibly had the sheer audacity to come out in the same month? Our Italian plumber for on his Yoshi and came out guns-blazing with Super Mario Galaxy 2. The aforementioned topped Red Dead Redemption and actually received an average score of 97% from Metacritic and GameRankings--Rockstar must have been so angry. Nevertheless, both games went on to sell millions worldwide and are yet to be really shrugged off the top spots on both platforms. So April 2011 brought us Portal Kombat, two games that together have brought hours of gaming to millions of gamers out there. But as a duo can they compete against some of the incredible releases of recent memory?
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