Heads-up: New games out this week (March 9)

Welcome to Heads-up, our weekly feature which gives you an at-a-glance run-down on the games you’ll be able to buy or rent this weekend. Every Monday we’ll pick out the best of the bunch, link to our reviews and previews and keep you in the video game loop so you have enough time to pre-order for Friday’s post. Time to smash open your piggy bank so you can spend its coin-shaped guts.

Recommended

We’ve yet to publish our review of the game – that’ll be on the site tomorrow – so there’s a slim chance Mass Effect 3 won’t turn out to be brilliant, but we’re going to take a gamble and hope it’s spectacular.

Other games are likely to struggle this week, but Street Fighter X Tekken looks to be another high quality fighter from Capcom. Bizarrely the publisher chose to cannibalise its own sales, by releasing the crossover title on the same day as Asura’s Wrath – a game that is so niche we expect it’ll struggle to chart inside the UK top 40.

More likely to do OK is the 3DS version of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater – it’s a fine port, complete with some decent 3DS exclusive features, but you might want to consider the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection if you’re after value for money.

• Mass Effect 3 – Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
• Street Fighter X Tekken – Xbox 360 and PS3
• Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D – 3DS
• Asura’s Wrath – Xbox 360 and PS3

Worth a look

Update: Twisted Metal is now due for release on March 16.

If nothing from that lot above interests you then there are a few more games hitting stores that might. Unit 13 is the first Vita game to arrive since the handheld and its launch titles went on sale – this is a mobile-focused title, so it’s extremely high-score centric. We’ll have to wait and see if that approach pays off.

Twisted Metal for PS3 finally arrives after launching in the US last month. Reviews have been generally quite positive – you can check out some gameplay footage here. And we’ve also got the Vita port of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 – assuming the game holds up well to the home console versions, this should be a nice addition to the Vita game library.

• Unit 13 – PS Vita
• Twisted Metal – PS3
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 – PS Vita

And the rest…

• The Sims 3: Showtime – PC
• ASF: Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters – Xbox 360, PS3, and PC