Learn About The Crushing Power of an Elite Class of Vehicles
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – March 17, 2016 – Developer Obsidian Entertainment and global publisher My.com are pleased to showcase an important class of vehicles: the Armored Fighting Vehicles. The Armored Fighting Vehicles are the scouting stars of Armored Warfare, with an extremely good view range, along with being very fast and hard to detect thanks to their generally limited sizes. At the top of the food chain, in the war for vision, is the Combat Reconnaissance Assault Buggy (CRAB), developed by Panhard, a French manufacturer of light tactical military vehicles. Its main role on the battlefield is to seek enemy vehicles for their teammates to target and destroy.
See the CRAB in action in Armored Warfare’s latest video below:
Armored Warfare is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online tactical military game that puts the player into the world of modern warfare. In Armored Warfare, players get a chance to try the most powerful tools of destruction invented by mankind – from modern main battle tanks, to scouts and wheeled vehicles. Using modern defense systems like anti-missile protection and smoke grenades, along with various types of armor and ammunition, players can jump into fast paced battles both in PvP mode and a vast amount of PvE missions.
To learn more about Armored Warfare and to download for free today, please visit aw.my.com. ‘Like’ the game on Facebook, and follow its development on Twitter@ArmoredWar for all the latest developer updates and news.
SYDNEY, Australia – 17th March, 2016 – Tru Blu Entertainment in association with games development company, Wicked Witch, are very pleased to announce that “Rugby Challenge 3” for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox One and Microsoft Xbox 360 will be released on the 22nd April 2016. Alternative Software will be the official distributor in UK and Ireland.
This next game in the highly successful “Rugby Challenge” series now includes many of the best Rugby players and teams in the World, including the Wallabies, England, the Springboks and many, many more, all under official licenses. As well as a myriad of new features, improvements and fresh content.
“Now with some great new features, we have the Rugby game fans have been sweating to play. We feel that all the thrills and excitement of top-flight Rugby have been truly recreated in Rugby Challenge 3.” said Tru Blu Managing Director, Sebastian Giompaolo.” A multitude of elements have been skilfully reworked, to ensure the fans get the best Rugby gaming experience.”
The Rugby Challenge 3 feature list has been driven by the fans of Rugby Challenge 2 and includes features such as:-
· NEW! Rugby Sevens – this first time addition brings all the realism and fast-paced action of live seven-a-side Rugby to the Rugby Challenge series.
· NEW! Take total control in Be a Pro mode. Join a club team as a rookie and control your own destiny over 13 action packed seasons. Complete match goals to improve your skills as a player and work towards becoming the captain of your club. Work your way up the domestic ladder, and impress selectors to play for your national team on the world stage!
· NEW! FanHub – the interactive Player Creator allows you to create yourself as a player and play then through the ranks. Players and teams can be shared online across all supported platforms.
· BRAND NEW! Crisp next gen graphics – increased resolution and textures.
· Real-time commentary from seasoned rugby commentators Grant Nisbett and former All Blacks turned commentator Justin Marshall. French language commentary from Eric Bayle and Thomas Lombard.
· Play in different game modes including: Single Match; multi-team Competition; extensive multi-year Career Mode; Be a Pro Mode; and Online Multiplayer Mode.
· Play over 11 competitions including Super Rugby, the NRC and Currie Cup!
About Tru Blu Entertainment.
Tru Blu Entertainment is the video game publishing arm, of Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd (HES) who specialise in the distribution of games, video game consoles, and accessories throughout the Australian market and throughout the world. Established in 1984, HES are the exclusive Australian distributors of Mad Catz and Tru Blu Games. Tru Blu games include Rugby Union, Rugby League and AFL franchises on both Microsoft and Sony Gaming Platforms.
About Wicked Witch Software
Wicked Witch is a provider of exceptional interactive games and applications of games technology and art. The team at Wicked Witch are united by a love of games. Wicked Witch is driven by creating engaging experiences that embrace and contribute to the science and art of digital games.
About Alternative Software
First established in 1985, Alternative Software is now celebrating its 31st Anniversary and is considered one of the major companies in the UK computer industry. The company is still a growing global success, having over 400 titles to its name, releasing several “Top Forty” video games on console, handheld and PC. www.alternativesoftware.com
“Rope Racers” reaches 1 million downloads on iOS and swings onto Google Play
The free-to-play rope swinging game “Rope Racers” by Small Giant Games is already a success on iOS and has reached over 1.000.000 downloads worldwide in less than a week.
Helsinki, Finland – March 17, 2016 – “Rope Racers“, the addictive new multiplayer game by Finnish Mobile Developer Small Giant Games is now available for free for Android on Google Play via http://bit.ly/RopeRacersForAndroid. A version of the game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has been available for a week, and already managed to swing to high positions on the download charts. The game, featured by Apple in over 131 countries, reached over 1 million downloads in less than one week. During the featuring week the game was the most downloaded iPhone racing game in 56 countries, including Germany, UK and France and reached the Top 10 iPhone game downloads in 67 countries. The version for iPad reached the Top 10 in exactly 100 countries.
In the game, the players swing, run, and race in various locations and levels against nine other people from around the world, with the goal of becoming the best Rope Racer of all time! Players race by throwing ropes with a simple touch-and-hold mechanic. Swinging is used to jump over dangers and to gain that extra speed needed for victory.
The multiplayer element is an integral part of the gameplay from the start. The game uses intelligent matchmaking to find opponents of similar skill level to make the racing experience smooth but challenging.
To increase the competitive aspect of the game, the players bet virtual currency as a participation fee for the races. Your position at the finish line defines whether you lose or multiply your bet. One key aspect of the game is building your team by collecting funny and cool characters, whose skill and appearance can be upgraded with the coins earned in the races.
In addition to the Career mode, the game sports an exciting Friendly Tournament feature, which allows the players to challenge their real life friends to find out who is the ultimate Rope Racer!
Features:
An addictive rope-swinging game!
Compete against real people from around the world
Tens of exciting levels spread in 20 challenging leagues
Insanely fast gameplay with simple controls
Impressive graphics with gorgeous locations such as Paris and Las Vegas
Large roster of cool and funny characters that can be unlocked and upgraded
Friendly tournaments against Facebook friends
Available in 9 languages: English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Italian, Russian, Turkish
Small Giant Games is a mobile games company based in Helsinki, Finland. The company was founded by a team of game industry experts, who were the core team members and pioneers of free to play game development at Habbo Hotel. Small Giant focuses on creating beautiful and deeply engaging character driven multiplayer mobile games for advanced casual gamers.
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Gamers Invited to See If They Have What It Takes to Survive the Wastelands at SXSW
AUSTIN, TX, USA – Thursday, March 17, 2016 – Independent developer Skyshine Games in partnership with indie publisher Versus Evil, today announced that turn based strategy game Skyshine’s BEDLAM has undergone a major update, with improved gameplay mechanics and several new features, all based on months of community feedback. The updated version of the game is also available for gamers to play this week at SXSW Gaming Expo in Austin which runs 17th-19th March (Skyshine Game’s booth #629).
“This massive REDUX! update features an all new campaign and a new ‘arcade’ gameplay mode,” said Jeff Johnson, CTO at Skyshine. “Over the past couple of months, we have been revisiting almost everything in the game that we initially launched with in an effort to improve the base game experience and update it with new features that the community has asked for. We are really proud of the updated mechanics and strategies we’ve been working on and can’t wait for gamers to try them out. It’s a complete REDUX!”
Skyshine’s BEDLAM: REDUX! offers gamers a challenging and rewarding turn based strategy game set in an over the top post-apocalyptic wasteland with a unique art style, tons of character and hours worth of replayability. The game puts players in the role of the revered and mysterious Mechanic, whose mission is to safely escort passengers and crew in a massive rolling fortress called a Dozer while cleansing Bedlam of chaos and reaching a distant utopia known as Aztec City. In this post-apocalyptic wasteland, with deadly factions threatening you at every turn, it’s not going to be easy.
“The team at Skyshine has proven their dedication to fans and their belief in the game by spending months of hard work and effort improving it, to the extent that Skyshine’s BEDLAM: REDUX! is almost a different game to the one that launched last year,” commented Steve Escalante, General Manager at Versus Evil. “The game plays so much better, is very rewarding and offers so much more in the way of features.”
In celebration of this overhaul, the team also put the game on sale on STEAM from today, Thursday, March 17th through March 20th for $9.99 – 50% off the regular retail price.
Arch Creatives And UK Games Talent Inspire Next Generation Of Game Developers
Leamington Spa, United Kingdom – 17th March, 2016 – The Arch Creatives has been confirmed as the West Midlands Regional Hub for UK Games Talent’s flagship graduate development programme, Tranzfuser™.
Designed to provide a platform for creative leaders of the future, Tranzfuser is aimed at graduates looking to create and release their own games. Successful applicant team leaders will be awarded a £5,000 budget and invited to develop their ideas into working prototypes over the summer. The initiative culminates in a national showcase event in September 2016. Selected teams will be invited to pitch for follow-on funding of up to £25,000 from the UK Games Fund to commercialise their game and launch a company.
The Arch Creatives has been selected to co-ordinate West Midlands applicants, providing office accommodation, mentoring and support to the teams. The project will be heavily supported by other local organisations, including: Lab42, 26HT, Warwick District Council, Warwickshire County Council and Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Steve Stopps from the Arch Creatives, said: “Leamington Spa has a culture of innovation which has been inspiring talented minds for decades. The local development community are keen to nurture the next generation of developers. Our teams will have access to some of the brightest minds in UK game development.”
“The way in which Tranzfuser will become a fresh talent pipeline for the UK Games Fund is a genuine first. Tranzfuser teams that win our funding will become the top tips for future success,” said Paul Durrant, pioneer and veteran of previously successful schemes in talent and funding.
About UK Games Talent and Finance CIC
UK Games Talent and Finance CIC is a not for profit Community Interest Company that has been established to serve a UK’s early stage games development community including companies and individuals. The company plans a wid range of support and intervention projects to support the games development community.
About Arch Creatives
Based in Leamington Spa, an area with a rich culture of innovation attracting investors from across the world, Arch Creatives exists as a games co-working space designed to bring talent together in a vibrant and supportive community.
The Arch Creatives is home to several award winning game developers including Modern Dream, Micro Macro and Team Lumo.
Fans of Dark Souls come in all shapes and sizes. From the die hard gamers to the sadistic masochists and even the musically gifted. Well popular YouTuber Smooth McGroove is a perfect example of the latter and has put his musical talents to good use with his acapella rendition of Premonition from the soundtrack of Namco Bandai’s upcoming Dark Souls III.
through careful and clever audio recordings and layerings, Smooth manages to create a downright epic rendition of the song, and you can check it out below. You can also check out our recent hands-on preview of Dark Souls III by clicking here. Remember that Dark Souls III is set for release April 12th so make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the epic news as it becomes available.
Overview A couple of years ago Nippon Ichi Software tried something a little bit different by developing and releasing The Witch and the Hundred Knight which was quickly localized and released in the West. While the original left many fans wanting, the company wasn’t about to let the title fall by the wayside and have returned with a re-done PlayStation 4 release of the game, The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition. Is this upgraded version of the original game worth your time?
Story The Swamp Witch Metallia has been unable to grow the borders of her swamp for an incredibly long time to the point that she has been held in check by the Forest Witch Malia. Finally pushed to her limit, Metallia chooses to summon the powerful champion, The Hundred Knight in order to push back against any force of good and transform the entire world into a swamp that she can rule over.
Hundred Knight is as malleable of a creature as they come since it cannot speak nor really question any orders it is given and thanks to being incredibly powerful he is a force to be reckoned with and unfortunately for everyone else, his master Metallia is as evil as they come. Throughout the course of the storyline players, as the Hundred Knight, will encounter a number of different characters but unfortunately there really isn’t a whole lot of detail spent explaining much of the world or delving into these characters other than to occasionally display Metallia’s evil demeanor and try to get players to see what motivates her.
One of the first acts she performs helps set herself apart from a standard cartoonish villain and sets herself up as a disturbing villain which is a bit unique considering how most NIS games like to portray themselves. It is worth noting that outside of the new Tower of Illusion, players shouldn’t expect too much revision to the game’s storyline here so don’t expect anything fresh in that regard for The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition even if you go through a few times for the multiple endings.
Gameplay Similar to the story elements, the gameplay elements of The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition have also remained the same with some additions to help pad the game out a bit and make things easier. Players spend the game controlling The Hundred Knight as he set sout into the field and takes on opponents in an action RPG styled game that sees him conquer opponents using a stylized multi-weapon combat system.
The Hundred Knight brings five weapon types with him into combat and can swap between them in mid-combo to try and unleash as many attacks as possible while also targeting an enemy’s potential weakness considering certain foes can be incredibly resilient to certain weapon types but desperately weak to others. This means that swapping from a magic staff to a hammer, spear, sword, or pike often allows for a flurry of devastating attacks that can annihilate groups of opponents if set up properly. This is done by setting up your combo strings and weaponry in the menu prior to a fight of course and then simply attacking away at the foes as the weapons are swapped in order.
It may take a bit of time to understand how certain weapon combo strings work together, since improper combos can be rather slow and leave the Knight open to counter attacks but once you learn how to properly set up your weapon combos then things will be much easier as your attacks will flow faster. In fact, players can even set up three different weapon combo stacks at a time, swapping between them with the L2 and R2 buttons to best fit whatever opponents your facing off against.
There are also various Facets that the Hundred Knight can use which change the attributes of your fighter to boost various stats and even Tochkas that serve as support units to help provide the player with plenty of options in combat. This is something that is essential thanks to the punishment that death brings and an ever-persistent Giga Calorie counter.
These Gigacals start at 100 and continually tick away for every action the player takes out in a field. This means fighting enemies, recovering health, attacking buildings, and everything else uses these Gigacals and while it is possible to consume opponents to restore some points, doing so at the wrong time leaves you open for attack. That being said, there is some risk and reward here as the longer the Hundred Knight is out in the field the more rewards the player will likely stumble across and the stronger the Hundred Knight will become, as any time he returns to Metallia’s home to rest and eat, these bonuses will vanish.
This doesn’t become too much of an issue however thanks to the Tower of Illusion that unlocks a little bit into the game. This is the entirely new area that allows players to sacrifice a weapon to unlock a set of levels to battle through with the difficulty set to the level of the weapon sacrificed. The tower serves as a useful tool to help test out what your Knight’s current equipment is capable of handling against numerous enemies but it also serves as a way to easily overpower yourself as the Tower of Illusion generally rewards the player with high powered equipment as well as experience that can make formerly challenging enemies a cakewalk.
The Tower of Illusion also allows players to take Metallia, though not your Metallia, into battle at times as Metallia can be summoned to the battlefield once filling up a meter. She has quite a few powerful attacks and it is nice to see her actually fighting for once, something that I hope is continued in the planned sequel, but ultimately doesn’t offer too much variety since most of your time will be spent in the Tower either gaining gear and catalysts to enhance that gear or simply leveling up.
Visuals & Audio One thing that is a decent upgrade for The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition over the original PlayStation 3 version is that the graphics this time around are far crisper than they were originally. The original title featured areas that made it incredibly difficult to follow the action especially in areas that featured overgrowth that would often obscure the action and with everything being improved a bit, keeping track of the diminutive Hundred Knight and all of the enemies is much easier this time around.
As for the rest of the graphics, there doesn’t appear to be any noticeable difference in the character portraits and the like other than appearing a bit more colorful. The voicework found in this title is very similar to what was found in the first game and there is a nice mixture of background music to keep things feeling fresh throughout the title.
Overall The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition is a satisfying upgrade to the original PlayStation 3 release that offers a bit of extra content and cleaned up visuals but those who are have played the original won’t find much in the way of new content here. The combat system remains enjoyable and thanks to the Tower of Illusion allowing players to grow stronger without grinding older areas the pace of the game flows much better than before.
These types of adjustments have made the Revival Edition a decent upgrade to the original game, though there are still plenty of nagging issues from the original, and if you haven’t picked up the original version, you’ll find that The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition offers a different style of narrative than what one would usually find paired up with an enjoyable, albeit somewhat repetitive, combat system. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview There was once a time when first person dungeon crawlers had practically vanished in the West. Now in recent years this particular style has made a triumphant return on handheld devices as the 3DS and Vita both have a growing library of these titles. That being said, there is still something of a complete lack of these types of games on home console. As such when Experience, the team behind titles such as Operation Abyss and Demon Gaze, announced that they were bringing Stranger of Sword City to the Xbox One it was something of a surprise. So now that this title has arrived on a console, is it worth delving into?
Story The player is aboard a flight from Japan to Alaska and seemingly out of nowhere the plane explodes and crash lands in a mysterious land. There are no apparent survivors outside of the main character at first but they soon come across a mysterious escort that helps them escape the area they woke up in. Of course after a minor betrayal, a rescue by a knight, and a fight against a boss the story begins as the character arrives in the main city.
It is here that they are informed that they are not the only ones that have ended up falling through a dimensional gap that has left the stranded in this land. Those who have however find that they are incredibly powerful now thanks to the land’s reduced gravity allowing them to wield incredible equipment with ease. Those capable of these feats are called Strangers and in order to help pay for their room and board, they must venture out into the dungeons to defeat creatures ranging from simple opponents to powerful special foes called Lineage in an attempt to gather their Blood Crystals, for if a crystal is left behind, the foe will just regenerate and continue its rampage.
Those familiar with Experience and dungeon crawling RPGs such as this will know that there really isn’t a whole lot driving the storyline here which is unfortunate as it is something of a step back from other title’s they have worked on in the past. Stranger of Sword City may have a number of interesting sounding themes but most of the storyline is told through standard still animations and many of the characters that you meet in your journey aren’t explored in any meaningful way. While the story does serve as a solid enough set-up for what players will be spending their time doing, it would have been great to see more done with the lore of the world.
Gameplay One of the first things players will do when starting the game is create their character in a very D&D style manner. This includes selecting a starting race, ranging from humans to dwarves, elves, and more, and then classes that these characters are then based off of. Players will then be able to even select the age of their character which will affect how many bonus points they can roll for to boost their stats and how long it will take them to recover if they are downed.
The biggest aspect in Stranger of Sword City is exploration and battle. I say this because outside of the time spent in the hub city used to rest up, change party members or recruit new ones, purchase equipment, sell loot, etc. the majority of your time will be in the first person dungeons traveling through maze like labyrinths filled with monsters, traps, and plenty of secrets to discover. Thankfully, as with past games from Experience, the auto-map feature clearly marks out locations that players have visited in the past as well as the shortcuts they have unlocked which is quite useful since many of these dungeons are incredibly long.
As such it’ll be quite common for players to have to eventually retreat back to town in order to fully recover and potentially purchase better equipment for the road ahead or swap out a party member with one that may be better suited for a specific task such as a thief to reveal a secret or a mage to deal damage to opponents that can only be harmed by magic or enchanted items. To go along with this helpful map is the ability to select a previously visited part of the map and set the character to “auto-move.” While your party will travel on their own to the selected destination the random enemy encounters will still occur but thanks to the way battles are entered, players won’t be caught off guard if they aren’t paying attention at the time.
When fighting against opponents the combat is handled in a turn based manner and is still presented through the same first person view found while traveling. Players will select whichever actions they want to take and then go back and forth against the foe. Things have been streamlined a little bit as players now have the option, which I highly recommend you only use on sure-win opponents while grinding or traveling through a previously conquered area, to automatically use the previous turns’ commands once more in an effort to hurry the combat along.
The reason I gave that warning about the quick battle option is because Stranger of Sword City is an unforgiving game, far more so than many other first person dungeon crawlers. This is driven into players early into the game as their first task to hunt down a Lineage creature can easily put them in the ground if they don’t plan properly and make retreats back to town to recover from time to time. Rushing things often leads to an early death which is something that is quite harsh in Stranger of Sword City as all party members, except for your character, can be killed off permanently.
When downed in combat, a party member can be brought back to life by bringing them back home but this is at the cost of a life point, of which most characters only have two. There is the option of allowing that fighter to then rest for an even longer time to recover a life point but this will put them out of commission for quite some time and if that party member happened to be one of your best, then you’ll need to head back to the grindstone in the meantime.
As such it is useful to keep track of the various weaknesses of the enemies you come across and the various techniques that they use. There are often times that Stranger of Sword City can feel a bit unfair as some foes will constantly attempt to call for back-up and bring in more enemies to fight, so players need to be prepared for anything, even if it turns out to be something incredibly cheap. That being said, there is something quite satisfying about pulling off a dangerous victory or easily trouncing opponents that gave you trouble when you head back in with a better kitted party.
You see, party and equipment management plays a big role in staying alive in Stranger of Sword City and this game allows players to try it every way possible. Each party member can be created from scratch, allowing for the selecting of their race, bonuses, weaknesses, class, and more. There are even certain locations in the dungeons that provide certain levels of risk and reward by allowing players to wait in ambush for their foes. This mechanic allows players to “watch” monsters travel by and either peak at who the foe is or what they are carrying with them. If they feel like taking a risk, they can attack them with an advantage but if you choose to pass and wait, you also put yourselves at the risk of being caught and attacked while unprepared.
Visuals & Audio One of the main points that has been advertised for the release of Stranger of Sword City is that there is an updated visual style to be chosen this time around. At any given time players can opt to switch between the two styles, with Type A being the updated anime styled designs and Type B featuring a Western fantasy style approach, but regardless of which style you choose both of these art styles are gorgeously drawn and presented here.
It Is worth noting of course that since this is a first person dungeon crawler, that as far as special effects go there isn’t much to be found here outside of some of the more stunning looking attacks. That being said, the character portraits and monster designs are incredible to see and with almost every dungeon offering some new theme, players will never feel like they are simply trudging through the same scenery over and over again, unless of course they had to retreat and are heading back in.
It is worth noting that there is no English voice work for Stranger of Sword City however the provided Japanese voice track does a great job handling the few characters that make up the main storyline. Thankfully while there isn’t much in the way of voice work, the title offers an incredible soundtrack consisting of tense atmospheric tracks that are perfect for battles and exploration as well as gorgeous pieces of music for simpler scenes.
Overall Stranger of Sword City is the type of dungeon crawler that you must advance through at a slow and methodical pace by playing it safe when needed and taking risks when possible. With a formula that has fit the genre well enough throughout the years tweaked a bit to feel a bit fresher and plenty of content to explore, Stranger of Sword City may have its weaknesses but offers players a challenging, but rarely cheap feeling, RPG. Considering this is something we don’t see very often these days, those looking for a satisfying console experience will find themselves pleased with what Stranger of Sword City has to offer. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Tom Clancy’s The Divisionis finally out. After more than two years of delays, Ubisoft Massive’s shoot ‘n loot sandbox game is out. The game is set in New York City after a weaponized smallpox virus is unleashed on the city during Black Friday. The agents of The Division are activated by presidential order to help stabilize New York City and bring back government order to the streets.
Story
This isn’t the New York City Christmas people dream about seeing. After the weaponized smallpox virus ravages the city during the holiday season, the city is in ruins. The dead are piled up on the street, the city is in quarantine, the government has no control, and rogue factions are roaming the city. The remaining police, National Guard, and medical teams have formed the Joint Task Force in hopes of restoring order, but the JTF and along with the first wave of activated Division agents have been battered. Players take on the role of a Division agent that is activated as part of the second wave, tasked restoring government services and investigating the cause of the outbreak.
The story is pretty entertaining and definitely feels like it would have come out of a Tom Clancy novel. The writing is excellent. The cast of characters are entertaining and it feels like a lot of work went into creating a city that feels full of individuals with their own stories. The collectibles go a long way in reminding players that there were a lot of normal people caught in bad situations.
Gameplay
Tom Clancy’s The Division is a third person cover shooter with heavy RPG elements. As the player rebuilds the JTF Headquarters, they gain access to new abilities to improve themselves. Skills are active abilities players can trigger to give them the edge in combat, these have modifiers that can eventually be unlocked to add extra bonus abilities to the skill. Talents provide an extra passive bonus for skills. Perks are permanent bonus that are a little more utilitarian in nature. Once a perk is unlocked, it is always active, unlike talents which only allow a few to be active at one time. Although the game allows for multiple characters to be made, one character can be respecced easily and quickly, which makes having multiple characters a matter of convenience rather than necessity to experience all of the game’s roles.
The game’s gunplay is probably the least realistic any Tom Clancy game, as everything is tied to individual weapon stats. The recoil is pretty severe, encouraging players to fire short bursts on the assault rifle or selecting a more controllable weapon. Even with level appropriate weapons, things take a good four to five rounds to deal fatal damage. Both the player and the enemy can soak about the same number of rounds, meaning staying out in the open is a quick ticket to a dirt nap. To survive, everyone ducks from cover to cover, popping out to unleash a barrage of bullets before ducking back into safety. What really tips the battle in favour of the players are the agent skills, these range from the commonly used skills that can give players a quick leg up to the devastating signature skills that can even turn the tides in a PVP battle.
The game is split into two major areas. Most of Manhattan is a PVE instance that will only hold the player and their immediate party members. Here, the standard RPG buffet of side quests are scattered across the city. The main missions are in the form of short dungeons that push the story forward. The missions are all pretty standard shooter fare, and I’m quite pleased to see the “Kill X number of enemies” mission is not present in the game. Besides dropped and scavenged loot, gear can be purchased from the vendor or crafted by the player. The crafting system is extremely simple, but it provides a good alternative to the PVP Dark Zone for loot.
The Dark Zone is a free for all area where the PVP happens. The experience and currency here is completely separate from the rest of Manhattan, though players are organized into level brackets for fairness sake. Enemies are tougher in the Dark Zone, but the rewards are definitely better. The only problem is that everything that drops in the Dark Zone needs to be decontaminated, forcing players to gather at extraction zones where helicopters will extract and decontaminate up to four players worth of loot at a time. This of course becomes a major battle zone where players go rogue and attack fellow players in hopes of stealing their loot. Dying in the Dark Zone incurs a credit and XP penalty, with greater penalties for dying as a rogue. Of course, if the player survives the rogue timer, they get bonuses too. All in all, I found the risk and reward of entering the Dark Zone and going rogue to be pretty well balanced. It isn’t the friendliest place for solo players, but the constant fear is part of the area’s charm.
The controls are excellent. The default controls are intuitive and work well. If you don’t like the defaults, the amount of customization available will almost guarantee some configuration that you will like. The only thing that is missing is the ability to toggle Aim Down Sight mode, which is strangely missing from the game.
Visuals
Ubisoft Massive has done an amazing job recreating New York City in Tom Clancy’s The Division. Every detail has been considered, even down to the believable, but fake advertisement that dot the city’s bus shelters. There is a ton of customization options. Players can essentially play Barbie with their characters with the amount of weapon camouflage and character clothing option if they so desire. Mix the attention to detail with the gorgeous graphics of the new Snowdrop engine and you have probably the closest thing to New York City without actually being there.
Audio
Tom Clancy’s The Division delivers an excellent audio experience. The sound effects are stellar and the soundtrack is a joy. The voice acting is excellent, as expected from an AAA title. The only problem is that the number of lines is a little lacking for some of the NPCs, with the same lines being uttered within 10 or 20 second timeframe at times. It seems like the game has a little problem deciding what line is appropriate to trigger in game, as often times agents will sprint past civilians and that will panic as if agun was trained on them or JTF NPCs will call out the wrong faction name. It’s a minor annoyance, but its one that does break the game’s immersion a bit.
Overall
Tom Clancy’s The Division was worth the delays. The gameplay is insanely fun. It hits the right balance of addictive loot grind and good old tactical gunplay to keep me playing for hours on end. The Dark Zone PVP areas are tense and an absolute blast to play, especially with friends. New York City has been meticulously recreated in the digital world and the game is gorgeous. Tom Clancy’s The Division is possibly the best new IP Ubisoft has put out in recent memory.
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Sentai Filmworks has just announced its acquisition of the 2006 Japanese live-action film Arch Angels. The film was produced as Warau Michael (Warau Mikaeru) and is based on Izumi Kawahara’s 1987 manga of the same name. It will be available on home video in the near future. Sentai Filmworks provided a synopsis of the film:
St. Michael’s is an elite Catholic boarding school nestled on a beautiful remote island, and it is the quintessence of sophistication. Within the grounds of this aristocratic haven, high school students Fumio, Kazune and Yuzuko discover that they have something in common: they just don’t fit in. After several girls from wealthy families are kidnapped one after another, everyone becomes wary and apprehensive. When an unexpected force infuses the three girls with special powers, the fate of the school and its attendees might just be in the hands of these misfits.
Issei Oda directed and co-wrote the film, and also supervised the visual effects. Dai Miyazaki and Issei Shibata produced the film, and Hirofumi Okada handled the cinematography. The album “St. Wonder” by Japanese rock duo Metalchicks was used as the soundtrack for the film. They produced one album prior to “St. Wonder”, and also composed the soundtrack for the anime series Heroman.
