FUNimation Entertainment has announced their acquisition of the rights for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. They do not have a release date for it yet, but they will be releasing it on home video in the future.
The 2004 film is a sequel to Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 Ghost in the Shell film. Production I.G. handled the animation production for each adaptation. The films are based on Masamune Shirow’s manga series. FUNimation released Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie on home video in North America on April 5, 2016.
The film was released on DVD in Japan with English subtitles in September 2005. Manga Entertainment released the film on DVD with an English dub in the United Kingdom in 2006. Bandai Entertainment released the film on both DVD and Blu-ray in the U.S. in 2009 with an alternate English dub.
Gameplay
Imagine taking what we loved about 4 Ultimate and soaking it in fireworks. That is exactly what the new Hunting Arts bring the the party here. Players can charge a gauge while out on a hunt before unleashing a special attack with a bit of theatrics. Despite its already campy design, this does nothing but simply offer a little more pop to the battleground – while delivering just a smidge of assistance compared to the bare-bones combat that we have been accustomed to. Sure, the idea of a special attack is a bit to take in from those hardcore hunters out there, but I don’t feel like it took away from any of the depth that we have received from this stoic series for years.
To sweeten the new offerings, Hunting Styles compliment the arts well – as this other new feature provides a bit of a class system for players that changes the way you attack based on your original selection. Styles come in the form of Guild, Striker, Adept, and Aerial, and are exactly what you would think. Guild is the balanced combat system without a lot of flash. Aerial is over the top and honestly makes combat a breeze as the player can hop into the air to get a bit of an edge over a monster. Adept brings powerful attacks to those who can successfully evade, and Striker allows for more Hunting Arts for those that are all about being a glass cannon.
As far as an overall goal, or “hunt” if you will, we now have four different monsters with four different villages each offering their own unique tasks in order to build up to the big-bad. Is there a difference in these four compared to the flagship beasts of the past? No, not really. But having four mega creatures compared to one definitely is a welcome change of pace that only adds more to the hefty amount of hunts overall. Eventually, I would like a bit of a story in these titles, but as I have stated in past reviews, Monster Hunter‘s story comes through its personality, and no Monster Hunter has more personality than Generations as a whole.
Ready for some nostalgia? Generations gets its name by revisiting old locales, and nothing sets that landscape up more than a stunning soundtrack. With a phenomenal new Pokke village theme, as well as a good amount of other remastered tunes, this is definitely a game that players who have roots with the series will want to play with that volume slider maxed out. Other than the music, we also have the sound in general which is well done – giving these beasts voices and adding more quirk with the meows on the battlefield.
