Koei Tecmo has revealed some new information regarding the civic development options that have been added to Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence – Ascension. Playesr will be able to take control of their demain and ascend to being a Lord of the Castle through following their lord’s orders. Rising through the ranks offers the opportunity to use the Civic Development system on a larger scale, allowing a small village to turn into a bustling city. Many aspects of a domain can be improved through this system, and it is up to the player whether to construct a military city or an agriculture town.
The biggest element to developing your domain in Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence – Ascension comes from selecting facilities that fall under three differnet types, production, military, and dedicated and since land will play a role in how much you can develop at any given area, choosing wisely will be key to success.
After seeing Horizon Zero Dawn announced at last year’s E3, I have been eagerly consuming every tidbit of media about the game which has since come out. Developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony, the game features an incredibly intriguing new setting in which biomechanical life has become dominant upon the Earth. Imagine my surprise when I found out a working code of the game would be available for play by the public at our very own EB Expo. While attending the Sony press event the night before the expo proper, I got a chance to play the game for a reasonable amount of time.
What does make this game absolutely stand out is it universe and I was given a tease of it in the E3 gameplay presentation video earlier this year. The demo on display was a bit more constrained than that and largely gave you free reign in a fairly small area of the game world to do as I pleased. The game feels and plays a lot like your general modern third-person action game with fast-paced combat, stealth, and a crafting system. That’s largely the basis for the gameplay and I feel that the game shares a significant influence from titles such as Far Cry: Primal.
As any good gamer would, I immediately picked a fight with the closest beings to me… which turned out to be a couple of raptor-like ‘Watchers’. They were guarding a herd of ‘Broadhead’ animals until I arrived and immediately shot an arrow into one of them. They promptly surrounded me and forced me to beat a hasty retreat using deft pack hunting tactics. Luckily, through my liberal application of dodge rolls and bullet-time slowdown, I was able to escape and even bring down one of the suckers.
Having largely learned the controls at this point, I took to hunting more worthy prey and decided to attack one of the ‘Shell Walkers’. These are large, six legged robots who look like hermit crabs with giant containers attached to their backs. Using my scanning ability to highlight its weak spots, I let loose with a flurry of arrows which shaved off a bit of the monster’s health before it could even turn to face me. Unfortunately, ‘walkers’ are deceptively fast and capable of generating a shield with one of their arms. The fight become a very deadly of ‘Ring around the Rosie’ as I attempted to get behind the creature’s shield to deal damage while it attempted to chase me and get me acquainted with its crushing fists.
Luckily, after expending most of my ammunition, I was able to finally best the beast and loot its corpse for much needed supplies. Having regained my confidence, I returned to the Broadhead herd to find it completely unguarded as it appears the Watchers had decided to stay in the area they had last seen me rather than return to watch over their charges. Their tenacity was my gain as I promptly hacked one of the Broadheads and rode them into battle against the Watchers who were pretty much trampled to death. Having proven the superiority of man in this small valley, I walked away from the demo with my head held high.
I was disappointed by the lack of story content available in this demo, but it was nice to explore this new world all the same. The creature designs were off-the-wall awesome with everything having a strange, uncanny mixture of mechanical and natural designs. From the way the ‘Shell walkers’ scuttled along to the way ‘Watchers’ ran me down, all of their movements had a distinct primal feel to it. Their designs are what make me excited to see more of this game in the future.
Horizon Zero Dawn will be released in the first quarter of next year. For more of our EB Expo coverage this year, feel free to click here!
The first thing I noticed upon entering the world of Nintendo’s TheLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is that it is, in fact, a world. What I mean by that is that in previous Zelda titles on consoles, such as Windwaker, Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword, Nintendo created the feeling of an expansive world by essentially creating vast spaces of emptiness for the players to traverse. Basically, the world would have hubs of activity such as cities, towns, and temples which were separated by empty oceans or plains. This isn’t by any means a bad thing as I’m sure many a player has found memories of sailing, riding, or flying from one objective to another and these memories speak to the game’s credit. The world of Zelda we find in Breath of the Wild feels quite different as although you still have these hubs, the world in between them feels a lot more fleshed out and non-linear.
That being said, my play time with the game was severely limited in scope to a fairly short amount of time and thus I was only able to explore a small amount of the game world. I was able to explore a small section of world as I traversed the terrain and I did start exploring a temple before my time with the code ran out. That being said, what I was able to explore felt expansive. In my (approximately) 20 minutes of play time I ran through a forest filled with enemies, explored a ruined temple, and began to solve one of the open world puzzles through the liberal application of magnetic force.
During the demo, I was given access to the power of ‘Magnesis’ which allowed me to move metal objects around. With the press of a button I was able to able to change the filter of the image which highlighted objects I could manipulate. The filter helped me find some otherwise hidden objects (like a chest at the bottom of a pond) but also helped highlight objects I might be able to use in solving puzzles.
It was a beautiful experience with the world being rendered in cel-shaded visuals, which is in keeping with the art style of previous entries in the series. The design appears to be aiming for more of a realistic tone this time, however, while still maintaining overtures of the cartoon style which players are familiar with. It makes for a charming visual aesthetic which I found quite pleasing.
That isn’t to say that the game was all sunshine and smooth sailing (er… walking) however. Unfortunately, my console gaming skills are somewhat deficient and I was somewhat uncomfortable with using the screen controller for the NX. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the way it’s designed, because I’m not used to it, or whether I have small hands (I do) but accessing my inventory and activating powers was somewhat difficult to do on the fly. I would probably seek to play this with a classic controller, assuming they don’t end up using the controller’s touchpad for something crucial. This led to me finding game physics glitch when I used my magnetic powers to pull a metal beam out of the pond which I then accidentally dropped back in to the water, causing it to randomly start jumping in and out of the pond.
From what I’ve played of the game so far, I’ve found it to be quite charming and fun. The visuals are great and the gameplay is enjoyable. The world feels far more fleshed out and populated than ever before. It’s still early code with the game’s release slated way off in the mists of 2017 so there are still little things which need to be ironed out… nonetheless, it seemed to be a robust and polished build. I look forward to playing more of the game when it comes out sometime next year.
For more of our EB Expo coverage this year, feel free to click here!
Last weekend, I was able to grab some time with the Playstation VR headset and to try out one of the mini-games in the soon to be released Playstation VR Worlds. We’ve previously had a look at one of the other entries in this collection, The London Heist, and had a grand old time with it. This time around, I was taking a turn at Luge. I dropped onto a bean bag in front of the screen and put on the headset.
The game started me off at the top of a road on a giant hill, looking down at the steep incline from a first-person perspective. Enjoying the view for a moment, I started rolling down the hill and picking up the pace. I used my head to control the game by tilting to one side or the other to lean my character into the corresponding direction. Unfortunately, unlike our experiences with previous games using this system, it was actually quite difficult to control the game properly.
With our previous encounters, using the controllers generally had a very significant level of accuracy when it came to matching your movements. With Luge, I had significant difficulty getting the system to register my smaller movements which forced me to vastly overcorrect. I played through the game pretty much bouncing off of the sides of the course and into the path of oncoming traffic… it is lucky for me that the PS VR system does not come with somatosensory feedback systems or I would be dead.
Having watched others play through the same sequence as myself, I can with confidence say that it was not (solely) due to my own incompetence as a gamer that I had difficulty. It appears that, for most of my colleagues, controlling with head tilting missed the mark more often than not. It’s unfortunate that is the case as, up until this point, I have pretty much found no faults with this system when it came to registering head and hand movements.
Descending down the road in-game did give me a chance to appreciate the textures and graphics… which is actually a bit underwhelming. A lot of the edges are quite rough along with the colouring which overall reminds me of the graphical level of games from over a decade ago. It’s certainly not the cutting edge of graphical or visual design. Luckily, you probably won’t notice as you hurtle your way down a hill at breakneck speeds.
Overall I had fun with it for the short time that I had with the game but I don’t believe it will be a game which has much lasting appeal. When compared to other entries in the VR Worlds catalogue, I’d probably stick to London Heist to get my friends excited and maybe try Luge once or twice.
Playstation VR Worlds will be released on the 13th of October of this year. For more of our EB Expo coverage this year, feel free to click here!
The penultimate chapter “Snow Place Like Home” of the King’s Quest reboot is set eighteen years after the birth of King Graham and Queen Valanice’s twins. After King Graham’s rival Manny kidnaps Prince Alexander at birth, Alexander returns home as a young man. Desperate to make up for lost time, King Graham takes a family trip to Hagatha’s tower to show his children where Graham and Valanice fell in love.
Story
Warning, spoilers ahead!
As with each chapter in King’s Quest, the old King Graham is entertaining his grand daughter Gwendolyn with a story. There is tension among the family, as her cousin Gart is ignoring her and their parents Prince Alexander and Princess Rosella are at odds about their life choices and the future of Daventry. In hopes of helping Gwendolyn, Graham recounts the tale of reconnecting with her father Alexander.
King Graham spends his years searching for Prince Alexander after being kidnapped by Manny, whom King Graham defeated years ago to become a knight of Daventry. Manny is drunk with vengeance, declaring his need to prove Graham’s weakness by turning Alexander against his father. After spending years as Manny’s slave, Alexander returns home looking for a family and hoping to reconnect with his father. Graham decides to go on vacation with the family and finds himself trapped in a labyrinth with Alexander. His hopes of having a son that is exactly like him is quickly shattered when Graham discovers that his son hates puns and puzzle solving. Even worse, Alexander has developed into a talented magician, capable of harnessing fire with a snap of his finger. Alexander’s use of magic frustrates Graham, who is still traumatized by Manny’s use of magic to kidnap Alexander. Through their adventures in the tower, Graham must face the challenge loving a son that is different from the one he spent years dreaming about.
Creative Director Matt Korba said that “Snow Place Like Home” was inspired by the development team’s experience of parenthood and family. The personal connection to the chapter’s themes and overall plot is very clear as “Snow Place Like Home” is the strongest story so far in the King’s Quest reboot. I am very pleased to see that the writers were able to top an already strong third chapter. While the plot’s twists and turns were a bit predictable, the story is incredibly heart warming. The greater focus on Gwendolyn and the state of the family at present really ties the whole chapter together, setting the game up for a strong finale.
Gameplay
In comparison to the stellar puzzles in chapters one and three, “Snow Place Like Home” is pretty disappointing in terms of gameplay. A lot of the puzzles in the ice palace use the same theme of a purple path that needs to be completed, with some small twists sprinkled throughout. There are a few really smart and unique puzzles scattered throughout. The general challenge level is quite low for most of the chapter. Having two main characters in the chapter provided a lot of great opportunities for creativity. The developers did have a great puzzle that made use of having two characters around, the rest feels like wasted potential.
Visuals
King’s Quest “Snow Place Like Home” looks good. Even though the chapter is constrained by its setting, the art team has still created a very interesting level. The unintelligible ice creatures that live among the tower’s carving and the unique take on the mythical sphinx help give life to the tower. I was thrilled to see a room inspired by the works of M.C. Escher. While it’s been well over a year since the first chapter was released, the graphics have aged quite well for the most part. It is clear that the game is still designed to be running on last generations hardware in “Snow Place Like Home” as there are several scenes featuring reflections in the ice that are extremely pixelated.
Audio
The voice acting in King’s Quest “Snow Place Like Home” is excellent. There are a few lines that just miss the mark, but they are only obvious because the rest of the voice acting is so good. While I wish a few more characters from previous chapters would make cameos in “Snow Place Like Home,” the voice acting for the newcomer the Sphinx was fantastic. The voice actor did a great job creating a sultry voice that was cool like the ice palace and just a bit creepy. While playing a much smaller role in “Snow Place Like Home,” the sound effects and music were solid.
Overall
While the excellent story saves “Snow Place Like Home” from becoming King’s Quest’s weakest chapter, it is clear that The Odd Gentlemen are struggling with consistency. The game is polished as usual. The heart warming story touches on themes that appeals to every and is likely extra special for those who grew up playing King’s Quest as they likely have children of their own. Unfortunately, the uninspired puzzles waste some golden opportunities for some great experiences and turn “Snow Place Like Home” into a dull chapter.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Continuing with their series of character introduction videos NIS America has released a new short trailer for Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors that focuses on introducing the sarcastic Sui. Sui is described as being someone who is pretty blunt but usually right as she is an analytical girl with a dry wit that tends to easily grasp what is happening around her.
In combat Sui is a magic user who is best served as a character that focuses on buffing the party and debuffing the enemy while also dealing some damage when she can. You can check out the introduction video below and as for the game itself, Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors is already available for purchase in Europe and the North American release is coming next week on October 11th.
Sega has announced that they are planning on having Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live available for purchase on the same exact date that the PlayStation VR launches, moving the release date up a day from October 14th to the 13th. The company also revealed just how much the game will cost and how they plan on releasing it. The title will be released for free with stages that will be available for separate purchases. Stage 1 will launch on October 13th and will cost $14.99 and the next two stages will be released at a later date for $14.99 a piece though a season pass for all stages will cost only $39.99.
XSEED Games has announced that they will be offering a special plush toy for those who choose to pre-order Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. This time around the company will be offering a 3.5″ pocket plush of a capybara which is fitting considering the capybara is one of the animals players can obtain in the game as seen through the latest screenshots below.
Currently Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is set to be released sometime in 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS and it is worth noting that alongside this announcement the company also revealed that Rune Factory 4 has sold over 200,000 copies and Story of Seasons reached 150,000 sales and that both titles would be on sale for $29.99 from now on, a $10 discount from their original price.
With Yomawari: Night Alone set to be released later this month NIS America has released a brand new trailer promoting the title. Featuring a small amount of live action footage before transferring into gameplay footage the two minute long video helps show off a number of different mechanics that players will need to use as they control a young girl searching for her dog Poro and sister who went missing after leaving to search for the missing dog.
You can check out the full video below and as for the game itself Yomawari: Night Alone is set to be released on PS VIta and PC in North America on October 25th and in Europe on October 28th.
It has been announced that the next game in the Senran Kagura series is going to be a little bit different from past titles. It is titled Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash and will be released for the PlayStation 4 on March 16th in Japan. The thing that sets this title apart from the others is that the game will revolve around using water guns to partake in team based battles. In the game, the Peach Beach Splash is a strange water gun based tournament from ancient times in the shinobi world and allows any shinobi to participate no matter who they are affiliated with.
Though the girls will have access to various types of water guns their special abilities are disabled though the guns can be outfitted with special skills to help customize their performance. The title will feature online multiplayer as well as a story mode and will feature over thirty characters from the series and will apparently serve as part of the main storyline for the game in an effort to place the series in one big world rather than keep it separate.
