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It's the calm before the holiday release storm over in Japan right now, but a few new games caught our (and Famitsu's) attention nonetheless:

- 3D Dot Game Heroes (8/8/7/7, 30 points): Famitsu's review of From Software's silly retro-RPG romp is about what you'd expect. "The gameplay and so on is one enormous homage to Zelda and there are references to NES games everywhere, making this a nostalgia-laden trip," one reviewer wrote. "The graphics and blocky animations are very pretty, fusing old with new seamlessly, but the game itself is, for better or for worse, pretty orthodox."

Your opinion of the game will likely depend on your age more than anything else, the way Famitsu sees it. "The sheer amount of ripoffs...er, homages to other games is enough to put a smile on the face of any thirtysomething gamer," as one put it. "It's a well-made title and fun in its own right, but if you try to evaluate this as a new and original game, then you can't help but start to have doubts."

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