Here at Capsule Computers, it’s been another busy week for gaming. Check out what games some of our staff are playing, and don’t forget to help out Japan at this link here.
Editor-in-chief: MasterAbbott
Ok so this week for me has been a little busy. I managed to get an hour or two of Homefront in. I won’t say much about it myself as I haven’t played enough of it, but check out review (here). I did manage to play a few iPhones games as well. Going back to Double Dragon (LOVE THAT GAME!!) Also been playing 64th Street: A Detective Story, developed by Jaleco and published by Dotemu. Our review for it on the site is here. I also got stuck into Neverwinter Nights 2 on Steam for a little bit as well. Ahh, the good old times; playing as a Monk once again. I personally enjoyed the original Neverwinter Nights but NWN2 is still quite fun. Moving forward what I’m hoping to get my hands on this week is the new iPad2, which is released here in Sydney on Friday 25th. I’m going for the 64GB Wi-fi version; I’ll use my iPhone to serve as a Wi-fi Hotspot and tether internet for it. I’m very excited! Yes I know I have problems 😉
Senior Editor: Travis Bruno
For the better part of the week I spent my time playing Dragon Age II for the 360 and finally ended up finishing it off. It certainly isn’t as epic seeming as the first game was and with all of the bugs it certainly was a game to save every few minutes to avoid game breakers. Also I spent a little bit of time playing through Homefront and I found it to be disappointing on many levels and had to struggle to even keep playing through. Other than that I’ve spent some time playing Koihime Musou for the PC working on different character routes. It is certainly going to be odd playing the next Dynasty Warrior game after playing this one. My PS3 wasn’t too lonely because of the JRPG Ar tonelico Qoga that kept me very busy and had me put down Hyperdimension Neptunia to get my JRPG fill.
Senior Editor: Dustin Spencer
My main concentration this week is to get a bit caught up on my backlog of games I have yet to play for the DS. I have recently been trying to build a few levels on WarioWare D.I.Y. which is actually more like a modern day Mario Paint. If anybody has a DS and wants a game that will last them a lifetime with things create, this would be it. Many famous developers have even created short mini-games which are all up for download as well. Since the announcement of a sequel earlier in the week, I have also started playing Rocket Slime again too. Other than that, a few rounds of Halo 3 and a bit more Majin & Dragon Age II have all done a good job of keeping me busy while I await the 3DS launch.
Senior Editor: Dylan Radcliffe
Still playing Bulletstorm, been jumping between the campaign and the echoes. The echoes are like little snacks in between playing chapters of the campaign on the hardest difficulty. Without the need to hide and pretty much all the ammo you could want for a small location, the echoes are perfect for those times you simply just want to kill things. I am also watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I was at first a bit disappointed when I realized a long time ago that Brotherhood was pretty much the same thing except the “real” version. So disappointed in fact that it took me a very long time to even give it a chance, but I’m incredibly happy that I did give it a chance. It is like watching the whole show again, but it isn’t at the same time. The essential story plot is there, but there is more action and more backstory. It is simply amazing! Sadly, One Piece has been pretty much permanently delayed for a very long time, it is unknown if this is because of the incidents in Japan or just because they want to collect a bunch of episodes and don’t feel like making filler like many other animes do. Either way, get better soon Japan!
Senior Editor: Jed Bradshaw
I started this week out with a few rounds of Halo Reach. I have yet to try out the Defiant maps, but they are waiting for me.
After buying a new HDTV – yay me, I finally caught up to the 21st century – I got back into Geometry Wars 1 & 2. In addition, I played Homefront for review (Link here). Homefront could have been a great, atmospheric game, but odd design choices and generic characters ripped the game apart. Multiplayer redeemed the rest of the game though. Hopefully, a sequel can be made that will fix the problems set forth in this game.
In the waning days the week I started Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and I am continuing be really addicted to Fruit Ninja on the WP7.
Editor: Jared Hilliers
I’ve still been grinding along in Rift, my goal was to hit the level cap before I move into my new place, but this hasn’t happened. It’s been a pretty busy month, and the time for gaming is suffering badly! The next two weeks aren’t looking so great either, so i’ll just be focusing my limited time on the portable world of Pokemon. Luckily the small doses of gaming have been vastly improved by some top of the line headphones from Nokia (including public transport), which I’ll be reviewing later in the week.
Editor: Jack Joly
This week I was mainly playing Gray Matter and working my way through that in order to compile the review (which is up on the site now). It’s a wonderful story as far as video games are concerned, and while the pace of it may take a while for the modern gamer to adjust to, it’s enjoyable enough to see the fantastic plot out to the end. Other than that, I’ve been playing a little bit of Lara Croft: Guardian of Light which I picked up when it was on sale last week. It’s a great co-op game which gets both players working together to progress.
Editor: Kyle Moore
Sadly I haven’t had all that much time to play much over the week except for games that I have been reviewing. A fortunate turn of events is that one of the games I was lucky enough to review was 64th Street – A Detective Story. I’ve had a pretty awesome time reliving the classic and killing a lot of my time that I should’ve spent doing other things of a more productive nature! Even after the review was finished I still kept playing, so I had no excuse to be spending so much time with the game. Overall, I didn’t feel guilty and had a fun time playing a SNES classic so much so that I want to go and download some virtual console games for my Wii right now!
Editor: Kelly Teng
This week I’ve alternated between stopping the collectors in Mass Effect 2, catching ‘em all in Pokemon Black & White (still…this game is so addictive!) and kicking everyone’s butts as Rafael Nadal in Top Spin 4. Mass Effect 2 is as good as it’s always been and I still find I can play it for hours on end…the coolest thing is my Commander Shepard has a pink outfit on. I’ll never get sick of that game, and now I can’t wait for Mass Effect 3 to come out later this year. Top Spin 4 is more of a time waster for me; when I’m on the phone to someone I can just switch it on and kick butt while having a deep philosophical conversation. I’m finding that it’s still as entertaining as it was when I first played – you can check out my review for it here. Pokemon is still my train game and I finally went back and caught Victini: that Pokemon takes a year to level once, I swear, but it’s worth it.
Editor: Chris Cerami
First and foremost, I’ve been playing SHMUSICUP (www.shmusicup.com) which I reviewed here. It’s an awesome indie game that’s in beta right now and is a shmup that creates bullet patterns MP3s off your hard drive. I finally ended up going back to Gitaroo Man this week because I had to show it to my girlfriend, it’s a game that’s too crazy to explain well. Despite not being able to beat Mojo King Bee (third level) a few years ago I got through most of the game without failing once, only having to retry the end levels once or twice to finish it. Definitely a proud moment for me. I also have been working on Xenosaga Episode II some more. It certainly isn’t as good as the first one but I’m just trying to get through it so I can play the third one. I’ve played a bit more of Okamiden, which I’m still loving and I also had a big multiplayer night with some 3-player Crystal Chronicles (the Gamecube one) and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, two amazing coop games. Top it all of with a little bit of Katamari Forever and I’d say it was a pretty good week of gaming.
Contributor: Raphael Duffy
I have been playing Minecraft mostly, getting to know the new seed feature, building my not-so-humble abode and waiting for the recently announced pet wolves. Other than that it’s Mass Effect 1; I forgot how clunky the controls were and getting ready with all the DLC for number 3 is going to be expensive.
