WHISPERS OF THE OLD GODS™ TO DESCEND UPON HEARTHSTONE®
Ancient evil rises in third expansion for Blizzard’s internationally acclaimed digital card game
Prepare to take it head-on by pre-purchasing a bundle of Whispers of the Old Gods card packs from $64.99AUD, and receive a unique themed card back†
SYDNEY, Australia—March 14, 2016—Prepare yourself, brave champion, for in the coming weeks an eerie darkness will weave its way into the tavern, filling its patrons with a spine-tingling uneasiness—and everything will change. Whispers of the Old Gods™, the third expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone® digital card game, will unleash an ancient evil from deep within Azeroth, bringing with it 134 twisted, tentacle-packed cards—along with the legendary power of C’Thun, N’Zoth, Yogg-Saron, and Y’Shaarj.
Whispers of the Old Gods takes everything familiar in Hearthstone and turns it . . . inside out. Under the sway of the four Old Gods of Azeroth, familiar friends have been corrupted (and have sprouted a few extra eyeballs in the process), new monstrosities have appeared, and unrest spreads throughout the tavern with every turn. As the Old Gods and their crazed followers join you in battle, there’s no telling how much havoc you can wreak with their unique abilities and game-changing powers. By the same token, you’ll want to pay great attention to each play you make—for it could well be your last in the newest Hearthstone expansion.
Coming to PC; Windows, iOS, and Android™ tablets; and mobile phones, Whispers of The Old Gods card packs will be winnable in Hearthstone’s Arena mode, and purchasable with in-game gold or real money at the same prices as Hearthstone’s other card packs. Starting March 15, and up until the expansion is released, those brave enough to call forth this ancient and incredible power in battle can pre-purchase Whispers of the Old Gods card packs in a special 50-pack bundle, for a one-time price, starting from $64.99 AUD (one purchase per account). Whoever does so and lives to tell about it will receive a unique themed card back.
So at the request of some of the delightful peeps over at Paramount Pictures to celebrate the release of 10 Cloverfield Lane, and with the go-ahead of the glorious senior editors, I am going to be talking about one of the best directors within the thriller genre; Alfred Hitchcock. 10Cloverfield Lane is a spiritual successor to the original 2008 Cloverfield movie but rather than focusing upon the antics of a giant monster destroying a city, the film is much more constrained as a thriller with the human horror of survivors attempting to outlast a disaster in a bunker. The tension and complications in the film arise from the fact that humans can be as monstrous as any oversized mutant spider.
When it comes to thrillers, as opposed to the horror genre, the body count and onscreen deaths are generally kept to a much more restrained level. Instead, thrillers aim to create fear in their audience through suspense and the heavily implied threat of danger towards the protagonist. The master of this cinematic suspense in classic Hollywood was Alfred Hitchcock who, as a renowned sadist who loved tormenting his cast, he also delighted in denying his audience cinematic climaxes by keeping them on the edge of their seat. For him there was no need to resort to the terror of the supernatural or fantastic to terrify his audience, instead he sought to frighten us with unknown depths of our own psyche. Below are a couple of my favourite films directed by him which I definitely recommend to anyone who has an interest in classic Hollywood thrillers.
Out of the films on this list, this one is much more humourous and light-hearted than the others upon this list. Ostensibly a spy thriller set during the Cold War, our hapless protagonist is wrongfully identified as a government agent by foreign spies. In a deadly game of cat-and-mouse for which he is largely ill-prepared he has to survive for as long as he can to get some answers about who is after him and what they want. Alongside the tense moments of life-or-death, we also get our fair share of humour as characters engage in witty banter or ingenious schemes to escape. A thoroughly entertaining film to watch although not one which I recommend to watch on the run.
Of all of the emotions which Hitchcock loved to play with, curiosity was most certainly one of his favourites to play with. Rear Window is set in the confines of an apartment complex with the aforementioned rear windows of the neighborhood open and inviting to the protagonist and the audience. The protagonist witnesses the strange behaviour of one of his neighbours and assumes some manner of foul play has occurred. Although we’re shown alot of these character’s lives, we ultimately don’t see some very important details part way through the film and that is how Hitchcock leaves you guessing. Is the murder that we suspect real or has the protagonist (and us, the audience) become far too paranoid with how we’re reading into the events we’re seeing. Perfect for humid summer nights filled with (possible?) murder.
The most infamous of Hitchcock’s works, this is the go to film anyone thinks of when onscreen psychopathic killers are mentioned (alongside American Psycho). The gore and violence is very restrained, especially compared to the gore fests of more modern cinema, but Hitchcock works around this through suggestive camera angles and an awesome musical score. The music by Bernard Herrmann is definitely what gives the film the tension and suspense it needs to keep you invested even if you know the story. The twist in the film was groundbreaking for its time and even if you aren’t one of the few lucky people who have not had the film spoiled for you; you’ll definitely get a kick out of the plot. It’s definitely a classic which you can enjoy and maybe share it with a spouse, a friend, colleague… or perhaps mother?
So there you have it, a very short list of Alfred Hitchcock film recommendations to tide you over before or after you have a look at 10 Cloverfield Lane. Hopefully you’ll enjoy these movies as much as I did and feel free to tell us what you think below.
During the Dengeki Bunko Game Festival not only did Compile Heart have a little more to say about a certain breast-enhancing title that they revealed earlier in the week they also took the opportunity to announce a brand new title heading to the PlayStation Vita by the name of Kamigokuto: Mary Skelter .
Described as a “3D active dungeon RPG” the game will be created as a collaboration effort between Compile Heart, Dengeki Bunko, and Dengeki PlayStation with Dengeki Bunko working on publishing a novel that will start being released on April 14th and Dengeki PlayStation handling a prequel serialization. Other than that, currently very few details about Kamigokuto: Mary Skelter are known at the moment though we have been given a teaser trailer that you can check out below.
Earlier this week Sega announced that they were going to be adding a new pair of DLC fighters for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition and that they would be coming from the light novel series Netoge no Yome wa Onna no Ko Janai to Omotta?.
The playable fighter will be Ako while the partner character added to the title alongside her will be Lucian. At the time we only had a few images to go off for these characters but now a four minute long gameplay video focusing on these two characters has been released and you can check that out below.
Earlier this week Compile Heart announced Genkai Tokki: Seven Pirates for the PlayStation Vita and now they have released their first teaser trailer for the game that features a look at most of the characters in the game as well as a small section of a certain gameplay feature. The characters shown off in order are a dragon monster girl named Lindo, a slime monster girl named Chell, a octopus monster girl named Claret, a demon monster girl named Sakura, a skeleton monster girl named Poron, a kobold monster girl named Waffle, and finally the human protagonist Parte Kairi.
After the girls are shown off the gameplay that is shown off is what was mentioned earlier this week, “pai-raising,” which is important as apparently a girl’s attack power will grow stronger the larger her breasts grow.
NIS America has announced that they will have to be postponing their planned PC release of htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary. When first announced the company was aiming to release the PS Vita turned PC title on March 14th but in order for the team to put more time into testing and to “smooth out any rough patches before launch” the company is now aiming to release the title on April 25th.
Currently htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary does not have a set price for the PC release but when it originally was released on the PS Vita the digital download of the game was priced at $19.99.
Over the past few weeks Idea Factory International has been releasing details about plenty of Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force characters that fans of the RPG are more than familiar with but this time around they are focusing on a few that may not be so easy to remember, especially since most of them were simply enemies.
The character art this time features Galdo, Marissa, Paiga, Vivian, Marianna, and Khalara and thanks to Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force offering three new story paths, depending on what route is chosen Fang will find himself fighting alongside his former enemies who have now joined his side, such as Marianna. A few snippets of information for these characters can be found below:
Galdo– A passionate and hot-blooded Fencer who fights with a scythe-shaped fairy weapon. He is employed by the Dorfa Corporation. While on a mission with Zenke, Galdo goes head to head with Fang in battle.
Marissa– Galdo’s fairy partner. Her doting, motherly demeanor pairs well with her “Galdy-kins” and his rowdy personality.
Paiga– One of Dorfa’s Four Heavenly Czars. Although he is a Fencer, he does not do well in combat and prefers to supervise his colleagues instead.
Vivian– Paiga’s fairy partner. Paiga is often teased because of her scantily-clad outfit and mouse ears that she wears in her human form.
Marianna– One of Dorfa’s Four Heavenly Czars. She’s a Fencer who works diligently to collect Furies in order to strengthen Dorfa’s influence. She volunteers at orphanages in her spare time and even plays the harp for the children.
Khalara– Marianna’s fairy partner. Don’t let his cute, round, mascot-like looks fool you! This foulmouthed fairy is unsuitable for children.
Overview
When it comes to video games And especially genres like shooters that garner huge fan followings, sequels really need to capture everything that made the original great, fix the things that didn’t and add enough new content to warrant the purchase. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 manages to accomplish two out of three of these and in the process presents an incredibly fun and robust shooter, albeit one that is far from perfect.
Gameplay
Garden Warfare 2, much like its predecessor is a third person shooter set in the Plants Vs Zombies world that has you taking control of one of the heroic plants or the mindless zombies who are hell bent on devouring brains, and pitting them against one another in epic team based skirmishes.
In many ways Garden Warfare 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. With new characters, new maps, game modes, a single player campaign and even an intuitive hub world. The developers really took the series that next step further.
The new hub world is one of the most notable changes to the franchise and offers a unique way of navigating between the game’s different modes. The world itself is split into three different sections – the plant controlled, the zombie controlled and no-man’s land in the centre. From here you can access all of the game’s modes by entering doors/portals. Exploration here is a lot of fun and can result in you finding a few unlockable bonuses or even some mini games that can be so addictive that you could play them more than the core game.
The single player campaign is a nice addition to the series and one that I was most welcome to see. Being able to just kick back on the couch and play through a game on your own can be an excellent cathartic experience and also serve as a great learning tool before heading into the depths of competitive online multiplayer. However while it is great to have a single player mode, this one is a little bare bones and repetitive. Most of the missions are fetch quests and can drag on a little longer than necessary. Those that don’t have you fetching something will instead just put you in a typical firefight which while fun, feels a little uninspired.
Garden Warfare 2’s biggest draw card is definitely the six new character classes. While the entire roster of the original game is back, The developers have added new characters; the Magical Rose, tank-like Citron and aerial acrobat Kernel acorn to the plants side, while the zombies get the muscle -bound Super Brainz, mech-summoning Imp and cannon riding Captain Deadbeard. These new characters all fit into pretty standard shooter character classes and really help fill in some of the gaps that each team had in the previous game.
The franchise really takes a huge step forward with regards to depth with the addition of these six additional characters, at least it does at face value. While newcomers like Kernel Corn and Super Brainz seem like they should be welcome additions to the gang, instead you will find that online games are filled almost exclusively with these new characters. It makes sense that people would want to try out the new offerings, but the fact that the series veterans show up sparsely (if at all) shows that there are some balancing issues that need to be addressed.
I also am not a fan of the way that this game handles its levelling and experience. Instead of the player levelling up and locking more costumes, powers and weapons for their colourful army, instead experience is tied to not only specific characters but the specific build of that character. So that means if you win a few matches with Pop Kernel (a bearded variant of Kernel Corn) then that experience affects ONLY that build. Couple this with there being over 100 different builds for characters across the game, as well as the fact that levelling up is a slow, almost arduous process and you have yourself one heck of a grind awaiting you.
Visuals and Audio
While I find some of Garden Warfare 2’s gameplay elements to be a little hit or miss, the presentation is one that I absolutely adore. From the moment you boot up the game, you are just surrounded with this tone and presence that just feels so unique and true to the world of Plants vs Zombies that it is hard to not smile.
All of the game’s characters have this unique look and feel to them that makes them stand out on the battlefield. For example Super Brainz looks completely different to anybody else on his team and even then his counterparts like Toxic Brainz or Party Brainz can all be told apart from one another with the quickest of glances. This creates a real depth of character but also has the added gameplay bonus of being able to see what you are coming up against and plan accordingly.
The game’s audio is similarly satisfying and sounds identical to the audio from the previous Garden Warfare game, as well as the original tower defence games that were the series’s bread and butter for so long. The cohesiveness in audio direction really helps the franchise feel like it is one big unified story and not just a few different games paying homage to one another. Plus, there is a surprising amount of characterisation that can be accomplished with relatively simple sounds, so the team should be highly commended on that fact alone.
Overall
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is far from a perfect game. It really needs some serious balancing tweaks and a few of its gameplay elements (like the single player campaign and exp system) at times feel like a chore, but so help me I had fun. The shooting and movement controls are tight and responsive and whenever I was killed by an enemy I never felt like I was cheated. While it is a step forward I can’t help shake the feeling that these upgrades really seem like DLC for the base game as opposed to a whole new instalment.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Many years ago there was a fairly light-hearted and long running franchise called PopoloCrois that started as a manga series and was even given a couple of RPGs back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The thing is, until 2005 the series was unheard of in the West until the first and only game was localized for the PSP. Now over ten years after the release of that title, Marvelous and XSEED have revived PopoloCrois and have created something of a combination between that title and Story of Seasons, creating Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale. With the potential for a solid RPG combined with the addicting farming mechanics of Story of Seasons, does this combination bear fruit?
Story Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale begins as Prince Pietro, the kind-hearted savior of the land of the kingdom and only son of the royal family, is celebrating his thirteenth birthday. After causing a bit of trouble by running off and visiting his friend and romantic interest Narcia, a witch in the woods, the celebration is underway. Unfortunately all is not right in the kingdom and while Pietro has saved the kingdom before and is more than capable of handling himself, strange black beasts have begun appearing across the land and are far stronger than anything the guards have faced off against in the past.
To make matters worse, both the White night, an old ally, and Gami Gami, an enemy turned ally, have turned up missing. With a mysterious woman named Marmela offering aid from a far off land, Pietro finds himself stuck on foreign soil after being transported to the realm of Galariland, a realm far away from their own and separated by the world tree.
With no easy way to return to his homeland of PopoloCrois, Peitro settles down and begins working in an effort to not only save the realm of Galariland but also find a way to bring that same power back with him and prevent the destruction of his own homeland. As you may expect from how that sounds, Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale tells a fairly straightforward tale that doesn’t deviate too much from the norm for an RPG about saving the realm but it does have its charms here and there.
This is due to the colorful cast of characters that players will come across as well as plenty of amusing light dialogue that is spread throughout the game. While it is disappointing that players cannot really do too much with characters, such as the female characters that Pietro can befriend by completing little quests and giving them gifts not being available for romance, since the prince is already in a budding relationship with Narcia, the interactions that players will have do provide quite a bit of charm to this pleasant, albeit fairly unoriginal, story.
Gameplay Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale may offer players a chance to experience a little something of both worlds, an RPG and a bit of farming/collecting on the side, but ultimately the main focus is spent on delivering the core storyline and combat rather than on any of the farming and gathering mechanics from Story of Seasons. Players will find that they will not even have access to the farm, which in fitting fashion for the origins of Story of Seasons starts as a complete mess, until they get a couple hours into the story and even then, the farming element play a minimal role in the actual progression of the game as there are only a few instances that progressing the story requires the use of the farm.
By attempting to deliver a story driven game and providing only a small incentive for players to actually farm, the title leans heavily into the RPG elements and leaves the farming as something of an unfortunate afterthought that is actually quite enjoyable and, while not nearly as deep as the core games, still offers a lot to do but leaving it as almost entirely optional is disappointing considering how well certain mechanics work together.
Farming works as one would expect, using a hoe to till the ground, planting a seed, watering it while it grows, and then harvesting when it is ready. There are also plenty of bugs and minerals that can be gathered from certain areas and even cows, chickens, and alpacas (all named something different to fit the fantasy setting) to purchase and take care of. This allows players to have a relatively similar farming experience than before and even allow for a bit of tinkering here and there to try and create certain items or help your plants grow quicker.
The concept of planting crops, taking care of animals, and spending time with the villagers and aforementioned girls while also heading out into battle works well thanks to a certain teleportation item called Fairy Dust and helpful notifications that let players know when their plants need tending to, meaning that you can work on clearing out a dungeon or fighting a set of enemies and then tend the farm afterwards with little worry.
That being said, the combat system in Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale mirrors the somewhat watered down nature of the farming system. While roaming a dungeon or the field players will come across random battles where they will be placed into a turn based combat area where their party will be placed against a group of monsters. Similar to a strategy RPG, a character’s turn consists of moving, attacking an opponent if they are within range either with a basic attack or a skill, using an item, or simply running.
There is some strategy that can be used in combat, such as using team skills where two characters will attack in unison for bonus damage, but for the most part combat is incredibly easy. Rarely do any noticeable obstacles get thrown into the battlefield and although attacking from behind does deal extra damage, it is rarely necessary especially since leveling up recovers a unit’s HP and MP and most enemy attacks deal minimal damage. In something that is rarely done, there are three options given for how players want their encounter rate and combat difficulty to be.
Players can choose to rarely encounter enemies, encounter them normally, or all the time and then choose between easy, normal, or hard opponents. Even placing yourself against hard enemies will provide very little challenge for anyone familiar with similar styled RPGs and ultimately selecting a normal encounter rate will probably prove to be the best in order to not get bogged down with too many fights that mostly can be handled by setting the team to auto-battle.
Players will often make a fairly easy run through the many straightforward dungeons and interesting Field Dungeons that are scattered throughout the game since only the occasional boss may be a threat if you wind up getting too careless. This means that although the balance is leaned into the RPG elements, the combat and dungeons are unfortunately very basic.
Visuals & Audio The designs found in Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale are very well handled with the environments and character models being designed in a way that they appear like they are right out of a storybook, especially if you choose to keep the black outlines toggled on, though those who dislike such an outline can disable it. The muted color tones help give the title a hand drawn feeling and although the enemy designs are recycled a bit much, the way that the world is designed makes it feel blooming with life.
One has to give quite a bit of credit to the translation team with this title, as the way that the characters are presented here adds a lot of charm into the otherwise simple storyline. So much so that one of the bigger highlights is talking to these people and befriending them and thankfully the company has provided a fairly satisfying English dub to accompany these characters, though oddly enough there are even two versions of the Japanese dub to use if you prefer. As for the soundtrack the title features plenty of themes that are a perfect fit for the fairy tale like setting as well as a number of relaxing tunes to go with your farming sessions.
Overall Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale is a rather strange combination of a well-known franchise as well as one that very few may have remembered but it works decently here. The charming cast of characters that Pietro comes across help bring life to the storyline and although the gameplay leans towards the basic RPG elements, there is still a lot of enjoyment to be found in the trimmed down farming and gathering systems and being able to easily transition from a combat area and back to the farm is a nice bonus. In the end, many may find this game to be a bit too simplistic or easy for their tastes, but it offers an easygoing experience that may grow on certain players. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Idea Factory International has announced that MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies will be arriving both physically and digitally in North America on April 26th and in Europe on April 29th for the PlayStation Vita.
This spin-off hack and slash game, which is co-developed by Tamsoft and Compile Heart, follows everyone’s favorite CPU and CPU Candidates as they battle against hordes of zombies that have risen at Gamicademi after Blanc and her friends tried to film a blockbuster zombie movie that went horribly wrong when zombies started to appear on school grounds. The group must now pair up in order to put down the undead with familiar faces as well as Plutia, Peashy, Uzume, and a new playable character – Tamsoft.
