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World of Final Fantasy Review

Admir Brkic
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World of Final Fantasy Review

World of Final Fantasy

Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Format: PlayStation 4, PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 21 Nov 2017
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

Another day, another Final Fantasy title. Another Final Fantasy review. Well, this one aims to be something different. World of Final Fantasy was released for PS4 and PS Vita in 2016 and a year later, we can play it on PC. It’s a spin-off from the series aimed at the younger audience while hiding some complex gameplay mechanic and a surprisingly grim story.

Story

We follow the adventures of two amnesia suffering siblings, Lann and Reynn. Lann is sort of a “do now, think later” character while Reynn acts as his wiser, calculated sister. The story begins with them in a town called Nine Wood Hills,  where their daily routine is interrupted by a self-proclaimed goddess Enna Kros. Enna tells them that Nine Wood Hills is not where they’re really supposed to be and invites them to a land of Grymoire. A magical place to meet, battle and tame many creatures, retrieve your memories and save the world while you’re at it. Sounds like a good deal! As it turns out, Lann and Reynn were a rather good monster catching/taming team until one day they summoned a powerful being they couldn’t control which almost cost them their lives and left them with a memory loss. So tame some mirages, stack them on your head, change your size at will, try to set things right and save Grymoire from total annihilation.

Gameplay

Wait, tame what now? Put them on your head, why exactly? Change size? What is this reviewer even talking about? Yeah let’s get one step at a time otherwise this will just sound like a bunch of incoherent gibberish. Mirages are the monsters inhabiting Grymoire and a good portion of the game revolves around catching & taming them so they could help you in your quest. Before amnesia struck them, Lann and Reynn were known as Mirage Keepers, someone with the ability to catch and control monsters thanks to the tattooed devices on their arms. That’s where the large content of the game is. Catching mirages and using them in battle is Final Fantasy version of Pokemon games. The whole system is incredibly fun as well as deep. The trick to catching “pokefantasys” is by using the imprism command on them when their health is low. After that they’re yours, you can rename them and…..now we get to the looney part of stacking them on your head. Well, it’s exactly what it says. By putting the caught monsters on your head you gain some of their HP (health points) as well as abilities, elemental strengths, and weaknesses. Monsters are divided into small, medium and large classes and by changing your size at will you can influence the stack. The main population of Grymoire is chibi-like Lilikins while your normal non-chibi form is called the Jiant form. So let’s say you are currently in a Lilikin form while having a large and a small tamed mirage in your pocket. It is possible to make a stack of you using a large mirage as a mount and having a small mirage on your head as a bonus. In Jiant form (which makes you large now) you can put a medium size mirage on your head and a small one on top of him. All these combos, as silly as they are, make boss fights sometimes challenging. There is an elemental weakness of a boss that you need to pay attention to and also your own (so take him down before he does the same to you). Sometimes good strategy is to stack up two mirages with healing abilities and slowly chip away bits of health from the boss. Patience prevails!

Visuals

Seeing how World of Final Fantasy heavily plays on the cuteness with its chibi characters, the world design in the game follows the sugary aesthetics too. The game’s solution to make everything adorable is to turn everything small, not just characters but buildings and dungeons too. In the end, it kind of works but it didn’t leave space for any sort of enrichment of the environment(s), which resulted in certain moments in the game looking like they came out of a mobile port. In the end, cuteness prevailed so even the bleak locations such as dungeons ended up being remarkably cute.

Audio

The main composer for World of Final Fantasy is a familiar name from the recent FF titles, Masashi Hamauzu. This time, he and his team went all in resulting in World of Final Fantasy having nearly one hundred tracks. But as it often turns out, quantity is not the same as quality. Not to say that the soundtrack for World of Final Fantasy is bland or generic, it’s more of a case of the overall “chibi theme” of the game influencing too much of the music. Everything is cute and uplifting but there’s none of that feeling of grandeur that should be in the soundtrack, something that Hironobu Sakaguchi was so good at.

Overall

In the end, do I recommend World of Final Fantasy? Absolutely. If you’re a veteran FF fan who is bored of the usual formula, the Pokemon approach here is guaranteed to shake thing up. A whole lot of mirages to catch and tame which opens up to a plethora of combinations and tactics in battles. Out of hundreds and hundreds of creatures you encounter, none of them feel like a filler made to meet a certain monster quota. They’re all unique in the own way which might end up with you using a specific mirage because you’re now sentimentally attached to him. For newcomers, prepare to enter the most charming and cutest world you’ve ever seen in the Final Fantasy series (which makes perfect sense if this is, you know…..your first FF game). In any case, you get an RPG with huge playtime, fun & complex battle mechanic and what other games give you an option to go from cute to small and super cute at a push of a button?

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Hyakki Castle Review

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Hyakki Castle Review

Hyakki Castle

Developer: Asakusa Studios
Publisher: Happinet
Platform: Windows
Release Date: 15 November 2017
Price: $24.99 USD – Available Here

Video Review

Overview

Hyakki Castle is a real time 3D take on the classic first person dungeon crawler from Japanese developers Asakusa Studios. The game is set in a world rich with Japanese culture, with classes inspired by Japanese warriors and monsters from Japanese literature. Players will build a party of up to four characters and climb the tower in hopes of defeating the evil sorcerer Doman Kigata.

Story

Hyakki Castle is not a narrative driven game. Instead, the plot serves as window dressing that gives the player’s actions some context. The writing is rather poor due to how the story is told. Instead of moving the plot forward in small, cohesive chunks, players will get a line or two pop up during exploration. The broken nature and low quantity of the writing makes it difficult to get invested in the story.

Gameplay

Hyakki Castle is a modernized take on old school dungeon crawlers, in the same vein as the indie hit Legend of Grimrock series. Players start off by creating four characters from the available pool of four classes and four races in the game. Each character can equip up to four skills or consumable combat items at a time. Character management is an incredibly simple and bare bones affair. The only choices players can make is equipping their characters with new gear and purchasing active skills from the skill tree, as stat points are handled automatically by the game.

The level design is very dull. I can sum up almost every level as a chain of find the key puzzles that involve usually require finding and throwing a series of switches. The touted party splitting option is pretty useless beyond solving the handful of puzzles that requires one party to hold down one switch while the other party finds the other switch to stand on. Some puzzle elements are an instant death in the early game, which is annoying in its own right, but to make matters even more frustrating, dying sends the player back to the last save point that are located at the beginning of each level.

The game uses a hunger system that limits the player’s mobility. Every tile the character moves eats away at the hunger bar, which must be topped off with food that players find. If the player can find enough collectibles in the game, the hunger system gets halved and eventually ditched all together. The system is a poor idea. There is a limited number of food items in each level, which technically means if a player is really stuck on a puzzle, they are toast. It discourages exploration, which is needed to negate the hunger system in the first place. It seems like the system is just a poorly thought out idea that should have been dropped all together.

Hyakki Castle’s combat is lack lustre. For the most part, there is little strategy involved. Some creatures have elemental weaknesses that can be exploited, but for the most part, the best strategy is to hammer away with as much damage as possible in the shortest period of time. Most creatures do a low amount of damage that the monk can easily out heal. If the player has tanking abilities, then most incoming damage is negligible. The real frustrating part of Hyakki Castle is that some enemies have a one shot kill that gets a short, telegraphed animation that has to be completely sidestepped to dodge. Splitting a party to flank an enemy is pointless between the preferred tactic of dumping as much damage on an enemy as possible and the need to dodge certain attacks to avoid being one shot. It’s just not worth the time to maneuver each party into position separately. The bipolar nature of combat that swings from whatever to flip the table rage isn’t fun in a masochistic Dark Souls sort of way; it’s just not fun at all.

The game supports both mouse and keyboard and controllers. Hyakki Castle does not stray far from the standard control scheme for first person dungeon crawlers, but the limited skill set for each character is designed to accommodate the limited number of face buttons on the controllers. While the controls themselves do not cause any problems, the user experience is awful. There is no tutorial in the game, just some hints nailed to the wall and a handful of slides explaining the game’s basic function buried deep in the menus. Each character has its own box on the bottom of the screen that blocks the view of the next square, which makes navigating through puzzles involving spike traps a pain. The equipment menu navigation is a direct port of the controller functions, so normal PC menu behaviour like hitting escape to close any menu or drag and drop is not supported. This may be a cultural issue, but I noticed positive increases in stats are marked with red, while losses are marked in blue. The touted two party system is also handled poorly. Splitting the party into two groups switches into a splitscreen mode, which eliminates any peripheral vision. I would have also liked for parties to automatically merge when they share the same square, instead of having to combine them manually. It’s a small quality of life feature that would improve the system dramatically.

The game is not particularly polished either. I encountered multiple instances where the player is spawned in or teleported right in front of an instant death ability. I also found enemies occasionally getting trapped in walls, making them impossible to hit without a ranged attack. Additionally, the load times are monstrously long, easily competing with complex AAA titles.

Visuals

Hyakki Castle is a visually boring game. Each themed area has only one or two wall tiles, a few floor tiles, and a handful of objects accenting the area. As a result, levels tend to blur together, making the map the only good visually reliable way to navigate the levels. I like the general art style of the game as it stays true to traditional Japanese illustrations, but it can’t compensate for the repetitiveness of the environment. Additionally, there is no separate model for each team. Instead, they are represented by a red and blue board game token in the vague shape of a human. It feels lazy and breaks the immersion of the game. On the technical side, the graphic options are abysmal. There is only options for the game to run in windows and full screen mode. The UI is only optimized for 720p, so the menus will be upscaled with a noticeable blur for most modern monitors.

Audio

Hyakki Castle’s voice acting is only in Japanese. Although I won’t call myself an expert in Japanese acting quality, it sounds like the standard voice acting in any major anime title. The voice lines for attacks are a bit repetitive as there is only one for each, making combat a spamfest of the same handful of lines. The sound effects are rather generic. The engine does not handle directional sound well, as a sound effect emitted by a nearby object will sound the same with or without a wall in between the object and the player. The soundtrack is generally non-existent, but what little music is there is nice traditional-style Japanese music.

Overall

Hyakki Castle is trying to bring the old school dungeon crawler back to a new generation of gamers. The problem lies in the fact the game ranges from sleep inducing boredom due to repetition to table flipping frustration because of  instant deaths that are followed by long walks from the beginning of the level. To make matters worse, the game has a lack lustre presentation that makes Hyakki Castle feel like a bad, outdated port. There is room for old school, first person dungeon crawlers to make a come back on the market, but Hyakki Castle is not destined to fill that space.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Com2us Partners With Creators of The Walking Dead to Bring Summoners War to Comic Books and Animation

Philip Federico
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Com2us Partners With Creators of The Walking Dead to Bring Summoners War to Comic Books and Animation

LOS ANGELES – Nov. 25, 2017 – Com2us announced today it has partnered with multi-platform production company, Skybound Entertainment, to expand its flagship RPG, Summoners War, into an entertainment franchise across various mediums, including comics, animated series and beyond. This announcement was made via video moments before the final series of matches at the Summoners War World Arena Championship at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The Walking Dead creator, Robert Kirkman, along with Skybound co-founder and CEO, David Alpert, and  Star Wars: The Clone Wars/The Angry Birds Movie producer/CEO of Skybound North, Catherine Winder, will oversee the development of the Summoners War universe outside of the gaming space as executive producers.

This collaboration comes on the heels of Com2us’ expanded push into additional entertainment media verticals. Working closely with Com2us, Skybound promises to deliver not only a deep and engaging origin story, but content in various formats that will be the perfect companion piece to the game.

“The Summoners War team has created an incredibly compelling and fantastical world ripe with engaging characters and storytelling opportunities. We are excited and proud to partner with them to expand this rich universe, loved by so many from around the world for audiences across all cultures and ages, into multiple forms of content filled with the adventure and wonder of the game,” said Robert Kirkman, Catherine Winder and David Alpert in a joint statement.

Summoners War is a mobile turn-based strategy game that allows players to assume the role of a summoner, utilizing over 1000 monsters to fight in turn-based battles. Since its launch in 2014, the game has amassed more than 80 million downloads worldwide and generated over one billion dollars in revenue to date, defying industry means by continuing to grow in popularity worldwide. To sustain the game’s growth, Com2us will also launch more events to further engage its community of loyal fans and online influencers as well as the game’s IP.

“To say we are honored to work with such a prolific and acclaimed creator as Robert, Catherine and the entire Skybound team, is an understatement,” said Casey Lee, CEO of Com2us USA, Inc. “Robert has proven that he is a master of blending human drama and fantasy, while Catherine has been a veteran adaptor of major franchises into other mediums. There is no doubt in our minds that we are working with the best creators possible for building the Summoners War universe. We know how passionate and committed our fans are and our partnership with Skybound will not only allow for a deeper and more engaging Summoners War experience but also strengthen the IP’s brand equity.”

Com2us’ decision to partner with a multi-platform company that specializes in storytelling and building large, multi-tiered worlds in all forms of content was another key factor.

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About Summoners War:

Summoners War is the flagship mobile RPG developed by Com2us. Launched globally in 2014, the game has ranked #1 grossing in RPG games in 108 countries (App Store) and in 96 countries (Google Play). Summoners War features over 1,000 unique characters and provides a premium mobile RPG experience gamers are able to enjoy anytime and anywhere.

About Com2us:

Com2us is a leading developer and publisher of mobile games that span across all genres. Our mission is simple. We thrive to create games with a level of depth and engagement rarely experienced on mobile platforms. Our dedication to building a robust gaming community through active engagement with our players has made this possible. Established in 1998 and headquartered in Korea, we became a subsidiary of Gamevil in 2013 and operate international offices in the United States, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. For more information about Com2us and our portfolio of groundbreaking mobile games, visit www.com2us.com.

Follow Com2us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Com2us and “Like” Com2us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/com2us.

About Skybound Entertainment:

Founded in 2010, Skybound Entertainment is a multiplatform entertainment company that houses projects ranging from television, film, digital content, comics, interactive gaming, and live events.

Skybound Entertainment is responsible for such television hits including The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead and Outcast. Moving into the digital content space, Skybound produced the first-ever narrative VR series, Gone, for Samsung’s Milk VR platform and in 2017 will produce VR horror series Lies Within, which is the first project out of Skybound’s partnership with interactive theatrical company Delusion. Skyboud recently announced the film adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s second-longest running comic series Invincible, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached to direct, write, and produce the movie for Universal.

Additional newly announced Skybound projects include the children’s property My Singing Monsters, Five Year, Mastermind and Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics.

MOVE OR DIE DISCORD UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE – RUIN FRIENDSHIPS TO THE MELODIOUS SOUNDS OF RAGEQUITTERS

Philip Federico
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MOVE OR DIE DISCORD UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE – RUIN FRIENDSHIPS TO THE MELODIOUS SOUNDS OF RAGEQUITTERS

Indie developer Those Awesome Guys announced today that the Move or Die Discord Update is now available on Steam. Integrating Discord’s Rich Presence features to the ultimate friendship-destroying game, players will be able to keep track when Discord friends are playing Move or Die, join games straight from the Discord client, participate in daily giveaways from the official Move or Die Discord Channel, and play with two new Discord-inspired characters – the Discord logo and Wumpus, the official Discord mascot.

Also, as part of the Steam Autumn Sale, Move or Die is available for the limited promotional price of $8.99 (40% discount from S.R.P.) until November 28.

Key features of the Move Or Die Discord Update include:

  • Two New Characters: Jump into the action as two new characters; Wumpus, the Discord mascot, and Logo, the Discord logo. That’s right, the Discord Logo is now a playable character in Move or Die. Now that’s product placement.
  • Rich Presence: See when your Discord friends are playing Move or Die. You can even see what in-game activity they are doing. It’s not cyber-stalking, it’s just caring.
  • Official Move or Die Discord Server: Join the official, Discord approved, Move or Die server and make lots of new friends… or enemies… or frenemies.
  • Discord Server Bot: Beep-boop! Say hello to the Move or Die Discord bot. This handy little fellow will retrieve leaderboard info, item info, and hold daily giveaways of in-game goodies.
  • Ask to Join Button: Is your friend on Discord playing Move or Die? Do you wish you were playing with them? Fear not. You can now join a player’s sessions directly from the Discord client invites.

Join the official Move or Die Discord server right here: discord.gg/moveordie

The free Move or Die Discord Update is now available on Steam. To learn more about Move or Die, please visit www.moveordiegame.com, ‘Like’ it on Facebook, and follow its development on Twitter @moveordiegame for all the latest developer updates and news.

STUDIO WILDCARD REVEALS DECEMBER 12 LAUNCH DATE FOR “ABERRATION” EXPANSION PACK

Philip Federico
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STUDIO WILDCARD REVEALS DECEMBER 12 LAUNCH DATE FOR “ABERRATION” EXPANSION PACK

Black Friday Sales See Huge Discounts for ARK Across Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam

Seattle, WA – November 22, 2017 –  Studio Wildcard, developers of ARK: Survival Evolved – announced today that on December 12th it will release the second expansion pack for ARK entitled ARK: Aberration. Survivors will wake up on Aberration – a derelict, malfunctioning ARK featuring with an elaborate underground biome system with new challenges unlike those found on prior ARK maps. Extreme radioactive sunlight and environmental hazards, ziplines, wingsuits, climbing gear, creatures like the Rock Drake and Lantern Pug, and more await in these vast caves.

“Aberration” will be available as a standalone expansion pack ($19.99) and as part of the ARK: Explorer’s Edition (Season Pass). “Aberration” will be the second Expansion Pack for ARK: Survival Evolved, joining the desert-themed Scorched Earth map in continuing to shed light onto the vast mysteries of ARK! It will release worldwide December 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam.

Haven’t yet explored the island of ARK? The massive hit survival game that’s chock-a-block with over 100 prehistoric creatures, from dinos to mega-sharks, now has huge Black Friday discounts happening in both digital format and retail. Score this fantastically huge Jurassic-themed survival-adventure at a fantastic price!

Steam/PC
ARK: Survival Evolved: 50% off!
ARK Season Pass: 25% off

Xbox One (includes Xbox One X enhancements)
ARK: Survival Evolved – 25% off
ARK: Scorched Earth – 35% off
ARK Explorers Edition (base + Season Pass): 30% off
ARK Season Pass: 25% off

PlayStation 4
ARK: Survival Evolved: 35% off
ARK: Scorched Earth: 35% off
ARK Explorers Edition (base + Season Pass): 30% off
ARK Season Pass: 25% off

North American Retail Specials

“Aberration” Expansion Pack Features

Tame New Creatures
The intense radiation of Aberration has led to incredible genetic mutations, resulting in new creatures with amazing abilities! Clamber up walls & glide through the air on the back of a camouflaging chameleon-like ‘Rock Drake’, keep the dark at bay with a friendly ‘Lantern Pug’, or grab and toss multiple creatures simultaneously with a massive ‘Cave Crustacean’, or — if you are talented enough to tame one — command the vile ‘Reaper Queen’ to impregnate your foes with a horrifying reproductive chest-burster!

Craft 50+ Unique Items
Traverse this new ARK using cave-climbing picks, gliding wingsuits, and ziplines. Learn advanced engrams to dominate the harsh environment, protect yourself with hazmat outfits, charge lanterns, explosive rounds, batteries, glowsticks, railguns and much more. Thrive by gathering new resources, using fishing baskets, gas collectors, fortify your home within the caverns using cliff structures, and much more!

Conquer New Challenges
With the maintenance systems of this new ARK malfunctioning, earthquakes, radiation exposure, gas leaks, and Element chambers are among the many hazards that survivors will learn to grapple with Aberration’s varied biomes, both aboveground and below the surface. Among Aberration’s greatest challenges is the hierarchy of ‘Nameless’: unrelenting, Element-infused monstrosities, requiring constant vigilance to defend against! And in the deepest depths of Aberration, their terrifying master awaits… will you be among the survivors powerful enough to face it?

Since its launch into Steam’s early access program in June 2015, over 12 Million survivors have been stranded on the ARK island, wandering into an incredible land to discover how to tame, train, ride, and breed the 100+ dinosaurs and primeval creatures roaming the land.

ARK: Survival Evolved is rated “T” for Teen (Violence, Blood, Crude Humor, Use of Alcohol) by the ESRB.

Feel like riding a dinosaur? Join the ARK growing band of survivors in the community forums HERE: https://survivetheark.com/forums/

For the latest updates follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube, visit the Website at playark.com and watch us tame and train leviathan dinosaurs on Twitch.TV.
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ABOUT STUDIO WILDCARD
Studio Wildcard was co-founded in 2014 by industry veteran Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak, former Technical Art Director at Microsoft Game Studios, with the mission of bringing AAA quality to ambitious indie productions that are designed for core gamers. With combined 25 years of industry experience across multiple independent and studio-backed titles, Jeremy and Jesse have teamed up with other veteran developers for Seattle, WA-based and Gainesville, FL-based development studios that also include distributed team members across multiple continents. Wherever talented, driven developers may reside, Studio Wildcard intends to seek out and work with them!

SpellForce 3 Presents the Beautiful Elvish Faction – Free Preview Weekend at GOG.com

Philip Federico
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SpellForce 3 Presents the Beautiful Elvish Faction – Free Preview Weekend at GOG.com

MUNICH, Germany / VIENNA, Austria – Nov. 22, 2017 – SpellForce 3 blends RTS and RPG perfectly together – one of the pillars of its gameplay is the different factions. In today’s gameplay trailer, the elves are in the spotlight. Beautiful, proud and warm at first glance, but a look behind the majestic buildings and smiling faces gives another perspective. A racist, remorseless aristocracy hunting down those of different minds. But the spark of a rebellion gives hope for a change.

In this new video, the elvish capital of Finon Mir is shown, with a band of renegades fighting orcs, men and elves alike in their search for the truth.

Free Preview Weekend at GOG.com

A chance to check out SpellForce 3 is around the corner: from Friday, Nov. 24, everyone can access the free preview version of SpellForce 3 at GOG.com:

https://www.gog.com/game/spellforce_3_free_preview

Start: Nov. 24, 9 AM ET
End: Nov. 27, 5:59 PM ET

SpellForce 3 returns to the roots of the SpellForce saga. Taking place before the acclaimed SpellForce: The Order of Dawn, players will unravel a deep and epic story in the SpellForce universe with over 30 hours of single-player campaign, also playable in co-op. Additional multiplayer modes offer competitive battles for up to six players. Create your own heroes, develop your skillset and build your army to fight in legendary battles with gameplay that expertly blends the RTS and top-down RPG genres together.

SpellForce 3 is launching on Dec. 7, 2017, on Windows PC and will be available with English and German voice over plus full text localization in French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian and simplified Chinese. For more information, please visit the official website, like the game on Facebook or follow THQ Nordic on Twitter.

About SpellForce 3

  • RTS/RPG mix: Unique gameplay that combines the genres of real-time strategy and top-down roleplaying games.
  • Create and customize: Create your group of heroes and choose a number of different combos with a range of skill structures.
  • Boost and command your army: Prepare your troops and fight the greatest of all battles. You can also exploit numerous strategic aspects (e.g., terrain, troop formations, visibility, exploration, etc.), that would make Sun Tzu proud!
  • Epic storyline: Unravel a deep and complex plot that eventually leads up to the events that trigger the convocation ritual, which will change the whole world.
  • Extensive universe and lots of loot: Explore the world of Eo, discover intrigue and secrets, and collect a whole load of loot for your hero.
  • Complex single-player campaign: Over 30 hours of gameplay time, and even more if you’re able to discover everything Grimlore Games has incorporated into the game world.
  • Strong multiplayer component with various modes: Play in versus battles with up to six players or master the single-player campaign with a friend in co-op mode.

Dozens of Games at Big Discounts Are Part of the Nintendo eShop Cyber Deals

Philip Federico
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Dozens of Games at Big Discounts Are Part of the Nintendo eShop Cyber Deals

Great Deals on Digital Games for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Whether you or someone on your holiday shopping list is a fan of action games, RPGs, platformers, puzzle games or party favorites, the Nintendo eShop Cyber Deals sale has something for every type of player. With discounts up to 75 percent off on select digital games for the Nintendo Switch system, the Nintendo 3DS family of systems and the Wii U system, the Nintendo eShop sale, which runs now through Dec. 11 at 8:59 a.m. PT, offers a huge selection of games for fans of all ages.

With discounts up to 75 percent off on select digital games, the Nintendo eShop sale offers a huge selection of games for fans of all ages. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“The Nintendo eShop is a great place to browse and purchase digital versions of first- and third-party games,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The easy-to-use and intuitive service lets shoppers enjoy holiday discounts from the comfort of their own home, so they can avoid the holiday rush and jump right into the games.”

The sale starts right before Thanksgiving and ends a few days after The Game Awards. Some of the games nominated for awards this year are from franchises featured in this sale. The discounted games that are part of the Nintendo eShop sale include the following:

 
GameSystemDiscount
1-2 SwitchNintendo Switch20%
Super Bomberman RNintendo Switch20%
I Am SetsunaNintendo Switch40%
Puyo Puyo TetrisNintendo Switch15%
LEGO City UndercoverNintendo Switch30%
LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video GameNintendo Switch30%
Disgaea 5 CompleteNintendo Switch16%
Mario Sports SuperstarsNintendo 3DS30%
Bravely DefaultNintendo 3DS30%
Shovel Knight: Treasure TroveNintendo 3DS20%
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of JusticeNintendo 3DS50%
Star Fox 64 3DNintendo 3DS50%
Rhythm Heaven MegamixNintendo 3DS50%
FINAL FANTASY EXPLORERSNintendo 3DS50%
Shin Megami Tensei IV: ApocalypseNintendo 3DS40%
Paper Mario: Sticker StarNintendo 3DS30%
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of AgesNintendo 3DS50%
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of SeasonsNintendo 3DS50%
Dragon Ball FusionsNintendo 3DS50%
Blaster Master ZeroNintendo 3DS30%
Monster Hunter 4 UltimateNintendo 3DS60%
Dr. Mario: Miracle CureNintendo 3DS50%
CastlevaniaNintendo 3DS50%
Castlevania III: Dracula’s CurseNintendo 3DS50%
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual DestiniesNintendo 3DS66%
LEGO Star Wars: The Force AwakensNintendo 3DS50%
Breath of FireNintendo 3DS50%
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the MoveNintendo 3DS50%
THEATHRYTHM FINAL FANTASY CURTAIN CALLNintendo 3DS50%
SteamWorld DigNintendo 3DS50%
Story of SeasonsNintendo 3DS50%
Demon’s CrestNintendo 3DS50%
Dillon’s Rolling WesternNintendo 3DS50%
Gargoyle’s QuestNintendo 3DS50%
Gunman CliveNintendo 3DS50%
LEGO Marvel’s AvengersNintendo 3DS50%
Mutant MuddsNintendo 3DS50%
Axiom VergeWii U50%
Shovel Knight: Treasure TroveWii U20%
FAST Racing NEOWii U33%
Hive JumpWii U33%
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship EditionWii U50%
Bit.Trip Presents…Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm AlienWii U75%
SteamWorld DigWii U50%
LEGO Star Wars: The Force AwakensWii U50%
RunbowWii U50%
CastleStormWii U50%
LEGO Marvel’s AvengersWii U50%
Mutant Mudds Super ChallengeWii U50%
Gunman Clive HD CollectionWii U50%
 

All games included in the sale will be available for purchase in Nintendo eShop, as well as directly at https://happyholidays.nintendo.com/cyber-deals.

On Black Friday, Nintendo is also offering some great deals on physical products. Shoppers can purchase a green Link Edition Nintendo 2DS system with bright yellow buttons that comes pre-installed with the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D game at a suggested retail price of only $79.99. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Explorer’s Edition, a bundle that includes the critically acclaimed Nintendo Switch game, a 100-page explorer’s guide and a two-sided map, will also be available at a suggested retail price of $59.99. Participating retailers and additional Black Friday retailer deals can be found at https://happyholidays.nintendo.com/deals/.

For more information about Nintendo, visit https://www.nintendo.com/. To check out Nintendo’s interactive holiday gift guide, visit https://happyholidays.nintendo.com/.

Remember that Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/switch/ or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Nintendo Switch™ system and the Nintendo 3DS™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.5 billion video games and more than 710 million hardware units globally, including Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS™ family of systems, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™, Wii™ and Wii U™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokémon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Americas. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.

Note to editors: Nintendo press materials are available at http://press.nintendo.com, a password-protected site. To obtain a login, please register on the site.

Steam Autumn Sale Starts Today

Admir Brkic
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Steam Autumn Sale Starts Today

This is a friendly reminder from us at Capsule Computers that Steam Autumn sale is due for today. The dates for upcoming sales have been leaked for quite some time and we’re only a few hours away from the Autumn one.

So check your wallet, sell some Steam cards fast and hope for a good price on your wishlisted games. My personal recommendation would be to grab The Evil Within 2 if it happens to be at a good discount. Either way, you’ll have a large assortment of PC games to choose from. One thing to note, Steam doesn’t have a habit anymore of keeping the flash deals during these sales. In other words, what you see on sale today will be there at the same prices tomorrow and the day after – all the way till November 28th.

 

L.A. Noire Remastered Review

Dustin Spencer
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L.A. Noire Remastered Review

L.A. Noire

Developer: Team Bondi
Publisher: Rockstar
Platform: Switch, Playstation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One
Release Date: November 14, 2017
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here $89.95 AUD – Available Here

Overview

Rockstar Games will forever be linked to Grand Theft Auto. Sure, the developers have definitely had success elsewhere, but no franchise has ever been bigger for the publisher that has catered to adult audiences for years. Now and then, we have gotten to see a few offerings of change – such as Red Dead and Bully, but no side project has ever been more unique or more groundbreaking than 2011’s L.A. Noire. This title introduced a new facial capture system that set a very import bar in the AAA game industry, while producing a riveting plot that is simply unforgettable. Like most gems of yesterday, Rockstar have decided to re-release this beast on updated platforms, possibly testing the waters for consumer interest. With just its original legs to stand on, does L.A. Noire still feel as important six years later? Let’s find out.

Story

When it comes down to it, L.A. Noire is mostly made up of its story. Sure, there are gameplay elements, but this is one of those titles that you spend a long time playing, finish, and forget for years. By the next time you pick it up, you almost remember everything, but get just as much entertainment out of it – if not more, the second time around. That kind of describes myself. I have not touched L.A. Noire for years, so seeing Cole Phelps and friends again was quite a warm reunion. Even though the big moments stuck in my memory and technically “spoiled” the outcome of the plot, there are still so many little cases and nuances about this world that make it an absolute joy to explore all over again.

Personally, before this release I never thought about going back to L.A. Noire. I enjoyed it the first time around, but like other releases that focus so much on telling a tale, I was just done when the credits rolled. This updated port offers nothing new in terms of content, but still has a timeless atmosphere that truly keeps its relevancy and intellect due to the beautiful writing that has stood strong.

Gameplay

The gameplay in L.A. Noire is made up of two different elements. The player takes control of Cole Phelps and must work their way up the police force by completing cases. The first element of gameplay lets you take control of Phelps and explore Los Angeles while solving crimes that become more involving and deep as you progress onward. The world is open, but the main interactivity comes while exploring crime scenes, as Phelps is able to poke, prod, and find clues in order to solve each case.

From time to time, the game will break into an action sequence, where the player is forced to take part in a chase, or some kind of shoot-out that typically comes once you corner the appropriate suspect. Sure, the gameplay isn’t exactly fluid at handling the action sequences in a world meant for attention to detail, but it definitely is serviceable and still can offer a nice, satisfying reward and change of pace for a player who has spent a good minute snooping out an area. I think Rockstar have certainly had more polished games before, but there is something very fulfilling about the delivery in L.A. Noire’s little bursts of action that makes it addicting as a whole, where your next case is never truly your last.

The interrogation process is the other big aspect of gameplay that made this title sing years ago. Utilizing the motionscan tech, players are able to interrogate a suspect and surround the way they treat their suspect based simply on reaction and the clues gathered previously. This re-release has slightly altered the process, now dubbing the three choices “Good Cop”, “Bad Cop” and “Accuse”. This change may seem subtle, but it kind of changed the way I danced around each case. I remember with my first experience, I would hit “Doubt” and watch Phelps go nuts at an innocent woman. Well, now that option is Bad Cop, so it just makes more sense this time around. Either way, it still is a fun feature and one that I think most will enjoy toying with all over again.

Visuals and Audio

Visually, L.A. Noire mostly holds up. Sure, the resolution has gotten an upgrade so things like skin, textures, smoke, and so on look more realistic, but I personally can’t think of another remake that comes off as crisp and change free than this one. That said, the motionscan has aged a bit. Now that we have better HD visuals these days, it is much more obvious to see the intense animations from the mouth and eyes that seem to have been pasted on a standard model. Sure, it isn’t glaring or a reason not to indulge, but it is hard not to notice Cole’s mouth jiggle in and out of place on the front of his character’s head.

The soundtrack has also held up. I mean, not that anyone would expect any different, but these 40’s tunes truly set a divine atmosphere for this entire world and make it come alive. The voice acting was also so damn good that it is hard to think of another title that has ever came close to matching it. I know, a lot of current titles have big budgets and long cutscenes, but those titles also have a lot less dialogue and a lot more action, which is where L.A. Noire tips the scales in the area of performance.

Overall

Every single year I have like five or six movies I watch religiously, just because they make me feel good. Titantic, Twister, Home Alone, Close Encounters, the list goes on. I bring those titles up because replaying through L.A. Noire kind of brought about that same kind of enjoyment all these years later. Despite knowing outcomes and retreading past territory, I found the game to be a lot of fun to go through again, and one title that still holds up well, despite showing a wrinkle or two when it comes to its original presentation. Those who have never visited this part of Los Angeles, this is a great version of a classic to try out. For those who have already played and loved L.A. Noire, welcome home.

World of Final Fantasy Launches on Steam

Jamie Laike Tsui
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World of Final Fantasy Launches on Steam

Square Enix announced that the Steam port of World of Final Fantasy is now live. The game was previously launched in October 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. The Steam version has full support for all of Steam’s functions, including Steam trading cards and achievements, plus full keyboard and controller support. PC gamers are getting rewarded for their patience with a bunch of bonus legendary characters and creatures, such as all time favourite villain Sephiroth.The game is available now on Steam for $39.99 USD. Anyone who buys the game before November 28 will get a free upgrade to the Day One Edition containing the game, a soundtrack sampler, and wallpaper.

World of Final Fantasy follows siblings Reynn and Lann in an epic quest to discover their past and save the world of Grymoire. To do so, they will need to capture iconic Final Fantasy creatures and train them to reach their potential. The game features a modified version of the series’ iconic Active Time Battle system that focuses on building stacks of creatures to create powerful monster towers.

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