Femme Focused Fighter Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!!!!! to be released on Steam on September 29!!!!!
Arc System Works Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce, Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!!!!!, the third fighting game from Arc System Works’ catalog to make its way to the Steam (PC) platform after Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R and Battle Fantasia Revised Edition.
Developed by Examu and Arc System Works, Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!!!!! is the latest iteration of the 2D fighting game featuring an all-female cast of 23 fighters, that includes rebalanced gameplay and several new game modes to choose from. Select between 23 adorable anime characters with new attacks, defense skills and newly rendered 3D environments. Mix and match each character with powerful Arcanas (celestial beings) to customize your play style while creating new deadly custom combos! View the Trailer Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!!!!! Features
Pair any of the 23 fighters in the game with one of the many unique Arcanas (A total of 529 possible combinations.)!
A plethora of game modes including Story, After Story, Survival Score Attack, Trial, Time Attack, Versus mode, Training, Replay Theater and Gallery.
Unlock “Memories” as you progress in the After Story and other game modes that let you view the heroines’ daily lives and various other scenarios.
Fight against your friends locally or online!
The Steam version comes with a digital download “Link Anime Drafts Collection” (PDF) that includes 144 pages of information on the in-game characters
Available for $29.99 with a one week 10% launch discount
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7900 GT or better / AMD Radeon X1900 / nVidia GeForce GT 620 (Windows 8.1)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 8 GB available space
Sound Card: Direct Sound
Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1
Processor: Intel Core i5 / i7
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT or better / AMD Radeon HD3700 / nVidia GeForce GT 650 (Windows 8.1)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 8 GB available space
Sound Card: Direct Sound
About Arc System Works
Arc System Works is a developer and fighting game specialist from Japan—best known for the Guilty Gear series of games and, more recently, the BlazBlue series—that has garnered international critical acclaim for its innovative fighting system and spectacular 2D artwork. For more information, please visit the official website at www.arcsystemworksu.com
ESA Foundation and Extra Life Partner to Raise Funds for Children’s Hospitals
Grant opportunity, video game marathon to benefit Children’s Hospitals
September 9, 2015 – Washington, D.C. – A campaign benefitting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals was launched today by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Foundation and Extra Life. The ESA Foundation Extra Life Challenge encourages gamers’ fundraising efforts during the annual Extra Life 24-hour gaming marathon, and will provide $30,000 grants to the hospital whose players raise the most money and to the hospital with the highest per capita fundraising total. Since 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $14 million to help provide outstanding pediatric health care to every child in need, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
“Video games have a tremendous ability to entertain, heal and bring us together. It is only natural that we leverage this power – and the gamer community’s generosity – to help raise funds for children’s hospitals,” said Rich Taylor, senior vice president of the ESA, the trade association that represents the U.S. video game industry. “ESA Foundation is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of our nation’s youth, and we are proud to continue our partnership with Extra Life to support local communities across North America.”
“We’re thrilled to be working with the ESA Foundation again this year to bring this amazing challenge to the Extra Life Community. By combining our passion of playing games and helping sick and injured kids get better, we’re on pace to make 2015 our biggest and largest year yet,” said Mike Kinney, senior manager of Extra Life.
While gamers can sign up and start fundraising any time during the calendar year, Extra Life will host their official 2015 Game Day on Saturday, November 7. Those interested in participating can register on Extra Life’s website.
Created by the American entertainment software industry, the ESA Foundation works to make a positive difference in the lives of America’s youth. ESA Foundation creates educational opportunities by providing scholarships to the next generation of industry innovators and supporting organizations that leverage entertainment software and technology. The proceeds from a signature annual fundraiser, Nite to Unite – for Kids and other charitable initiatives support this mission. For more information, visit the ESA Foundation’s website or follow us on Twitter: @ESA Foundation. For more information on the ESA Foundation’s Extra Life Challenge, watch the ESA Foundation Grantee Spotlight video.
Extra Life is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® fundraising program within the gaming community. Participants fundraise year-round and pledge to game for 24 hours with one goal: to save and improve the lives of sick and injured kids. Funds raised stay local to help pediatric patients at 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across North America. Since 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $14 million for member hospitals. The movement, formed by gamers bonded by passion, is committed to saving and improving the lives of local kids. Play games, heal kids and join the community today at www.extra-life.org.
Love Rockets Onto Xbox One and Steam Courtesy of Indie Devs Asteroid Base
Toronto – September 9, 2015 – It’s time to leave the capsule if you dare and take on robotic space enemies in independent video game developer Asteroid Base’s 1-2 player action co-op game Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. Launching today for $14.99 on Xbox One via the ID@Xbox self-publishing program and Steam (Windows PC, Mac and Linux), Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime features frenzied action that forces friends, family members and loved ones to work together while switching back-and-forth between manning the spaceship’s controls, weapons and defenses against monstrous robots. Those looking to take on Lovers’ dangerous campaigns alone can do so with a trusty space-pet by their side to aid in efforts.
Set in a colorful universe, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime has players use an array of weapons to battle enemies while avoiding galactic forces of nature to rescue kidnapped space bunnies from the evil forces of Anti-Love. Don’t be fooled by the cute themes, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime features challenging gameplay and 36 power-up combinations to turn the spacecraft into a warship of destruction.
“Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is all about the relationship between two players,” said Jamie Tucker, Co-Founder of Asteroid Base. “At Asteroid Base, we like to call it a relationship simulator because Lovers tests people’s communication and teamwork skills by having players prioritize with the chaos that’s going on around them. Just like in life, talking is key in bringing love to the universe.”
For more information on Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime please visit the game’s website, or Asteroid Base’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
Formed in Toronto, Asteroid Base is an independent video game studio founded by three friends – an illustrator, an animator and a particle physicist. Asteroid Base has experience developing on various platforms, and the studio’s latest title, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, is now available
TOAST ANNOUNCES MOBILE ACTION HORROR GAME KILL ME AGAIN — COMING SOON TO iOS AND ANDROID
Put Your Reflexes to the Test to Shoot Down the Zombie Horde and Creatures from the Darkest Corners of the Mind
Santa Monica, CA – September 9, 2015 – NHN Entertainment, under the publishing brand TOAST, announced today its all new action horror/puzzle/RPG game, Kill Me Again, is coming soon to iOS and Android. Combining match three elements with real-time zombie-slaying gameplay, Kill Me Again will be available on Thursday, September 24 as a free download.
Download the all new Kill Me Again screenshots HERE
“Kill Me Again expands well beyond highly popular match three games by combining action, horror, and RPG elements to deliver a brutally addictive experience,” said Alex Fleming, Associate Product Manager, NHN Entertainment. “Gamers will blast through hordes of undead mutants in this fast-paced game as every match made deals damage to the creatures. As we head into Fall, Kill Me Again is the perfect game for the Halloween season.”
Kill Me Again offers one-of-a-kind gameplay that will challenge gamers to perform cascading combos and chain skills in this free-form puzzle gameplay while destroying the toxic beasts that crawl out of the darkness. Listen to the inhuman sounds of bones cracking against shotgun shells as any one of the three distinct character classes – the Hit Woman, Advanced Soldier or Researcher. Get your heart-pumping as you blast the zombies away and save the survivors who are too paralyzed with fear to run.
Kill Me Again Features:
Free puzzle block movement enables player to execute several matches in one move – providing for a much more in-depth matching system than players have seen before.
There are no set turns when battling swarms of the undead. Be quick and plan your attacks in real-time or you’ll soon be overwhelmed!
Listen to the barrage of gunfire from the mercs on the barricades and the swelling cacophony of groans and screams in this terrifying thriller.
RPG elements allow players to craft hundreds of hardcore weaponry with runic and scientific enhancements, designed to disable and destroy the mutant monsters.
Kill Me Again will be available for free on the App®Store and Google Play Thursday, September 24. For more information on Kill Me Again, visit the website, like them on Facebook and Twitter.
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER NHN PIXELCUBE CORP.
NHN PixelCube Corp is a subdivision of NHN Entertainment founded in February 2014 that specializes in game development and maintenance. As an in-house development studio, they have created famous smartphone casual games such as Fish Island and Fish Friends. Fish Island and Fish Friends are beautiful RPGs with rhythm mechanics, and it was the implementation of training, upgrades, and customization that has turned these games into one of the most successful fishing games to date. They also contributed to the famous global messenger LINE by creating mobile puzzle games such as Line Pop and Line Pop 2. They were able to achieve great success in the Japanese mobile game market, and these games are now considered as the best puzzle games in Japan.
1337 & Senri and Tilting Point® Launch Leo’s Fortune® – HD Edition on PlayStation®4, PC and Mac®
Award-Winning Adventure Platformer Arrives on Xbox One on Sept. 11
NEW YORK – Sept. 9, 2015 – 1337 & Senri and publishing partner Tilting Point have released the acclaimed adventure platformer Leo’s Fortune – HD Edition for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Windows® PC and Mac® computers. The game is available now as a digital title through the PlayStation®Store and Steam™ for $6.99. It will come to Xbox One via the Xbox Games Store on Sept. 11 for the same price.
Originally launched on iOS and Android devices, Leo’s Fortune is an Apple® Design Award-winning side-scrolling platformer about a mustached furball – Leopold – whose wealth is inexplicably stolen. Players must cross enormous obstacles, solve clever physics-based puzzles, and escape deadly traps to find the culprit and reclaim Leo’s treasure. Along the way, Leopold will navigate treacherous landscapes and encounter the suspicious members of his enigmatic family in a fully voice-acted mystery adventure.
Leo’s Fortune features 24 richly detailed, handcrafted levels. Each stage is one enormous panoramic image, created from scratch with no repeating tiles. Even the game’s engine was built from scratch. Leo’s Fortune – HD Edition has been remastered in full 1080p HD for consoles and PC by BlitWorks. It features full support for gamepads and keyboards on PC and Mac.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1337 & Senri is a joint development venture between three independent game developers: Anders Hejdenberg, Johan Knutzen and Shahrouz Zolfaghari. In 2014 the team released Leo’s Fortune, an award-winning mobile platformer. Prior to this joint venture, the team is best known for creating the critically acclaimed Dark Nebula 1 & 2 and Devil’s Attorney. With each of their games, 1337 & Senri apply their unique, handcrafted art style to a new game genre.
About Tilting Point
Tilting Point is a new-generation games partner for top independent development studios. Tilting Point empowers developers with expert resources, services, and operational support to give carefully selected games mainstream success. The company adheres to a core philosophy of putting development talent first, advancing industry-leading analytics, and overcoming discoverability hurdles with aggressive, best-in-class marketing. www.tiltingpoint.com
Tilting Point is a trademark and/or registered trademark of Tilting Point Media LLC in the U.S. and other territories. Leo’s Fortune is a trademark and/or registered trademark of 1337 & Senri LLC in the U.S. and other territories. All other names and products referenced herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Overview NIS America surprised many anime fans when they began releasing anime series in North America five years ago and just last year the company began experimenting with English dubbing their anime releases with Toradora!. Now a little over a year later, the company has now released a series right off the bat with an English voice track included in the form of A Lull in the Sea (previously known as Nagi no Asukara). While their first release may have been of a popular anime series they had released prior, was A Lull in the Sea worth the risk?
Story Sometime long ago all of humanity lived comfortably under the sea where they are protected by Ena that allows them to breath and live underwater with no problems. However after some time humanity wished to venture onto the land and after doing so they lost their ability to return to the ocean due to the loss of their Ena, creating a distinct separation from land dwelling humans and those who live in the sea. Though this division has caused many issues between the two groups, they generally have learned to coexist.
Due to the slow population growth of the sea village of Shioshishio the school that four middle school students were attending was forced to shut down and as such, these four students must now attend a school on the surface. Thanks to their Ena, the sea people can still travel onto land for a period of time before having to be refreshed with sea water but this is far from the worst problem that arises in these fourteen year old students.
The most outspoken and easy to anger member of the four, Hikari Sakishima, is completely against the idea of having to transfer to the surface while the more outgoing Kaname Isaki and subdued Chisaki Hiradaira don’t raise too much of a fuss about the transfer. Beyond the prejudices between the two groups causing Hikari’s resentment is the fact that the indecisive Manaka Mukaido, who he clearly has feelings for, is always in need of some type of help and on the first day of school ends up getting caught up in a fishing net, resulting in something of a fateful meeting between her and a surface dwelling boy in their class named Tsumugu Kihara.
A Lull in the Sea could have simply tried to be a story where two groups of people try to forego past prejudices as a younger generation began to grow up in a world filled with those who continue to try and stick to tradition as proclaimed by the voice of the Sea God but it does far better than that.
Perhaps thanks in part to its twenty-six episode length, this series manages to not only pull off the aforementioned adaptation of the rules of society by having the children deal with the types of issues that arise between the people of the sea and the people of the land, such as how relationships are handled between the groups, but even goes so far as to make viewers care about what happens to the core cast and even the side characters, such as Hikari’s older sister, as well by providing many of these characters engaging moments and side-stories that you can’t help but become emotionally invested in.
Of course this all would fall apart if the core cast wasn’t as strong as it is and what helps hold that together is the way that these characters develop over the course of the series and a (for once) properly used time-skip that advances the ages and maturity for a certain section of the cast while keeping many of the characters the same age as before, allowing a number of changes to occur naturally that likely would have felt forced due to the age of the group at the start of the series or simply wrong. Instead it creates a fresh feeling for the second half of the series by breathing new life into certain characters and also providing extra layers to an already highly enjoyable storyline with plenty of relationship developments occurring that you may never have guessed.
You see, as mentioned earlier Hikari is the character with the most obvious crush at the beginning but throughout the series we see relationships begin to shift as the characters develop emotional attachments with one another and watching these characters interact in such a way throughout the course of the series is a real treat, though it must be said that the of number of slice of life moments do feel like they slow down the pace of the story a bit too much in an effort to try and draw the series’ length out even if most of these sequences also provide some of the best comedic sequences of the series.
Visuals For the most part P.A. Works has been known for producing some rather amazing looking anime series in the past with the likes of Hanasaku Iroha and Angel Beats! being some of their better series and thankfully they have managed to bring that same level of quality to A Lull in the Sea. There is a distinct different established between the styles of the cities on land and the sea city of Shioshishio. One must really compliment the way the environment looks especially during the underwater sequences as fish swim through scenes like it is entirely normal while being set against some highly detailed background scenery.
The characters themselves do feature some fairly standard character designs but they have a few standout details that help set them apart from the standard fair. It also helps of course that the entire series is saturated with vivid coloration (that looks amazing on this Blu-ray release) to help bring the world to life and breathe some extra life into the characters.
Audio This marks the second time that NIS America is attempting to deliver an anime series with an English dub and I must say that they have managed to nail the casting once again. The English voice cast does a superb job fitting the characters’ personality, even helping make a certain perverted authority figure seem more likable as opposed to his Japanese voice actor. Of course the Japanese voice track is included for those who would prefer to listen to the series in that way though it does feel like those doing so would be missing out.
The soundtrack for the series features a number of great sounding tracks mixed in with the series that help bring out the emotional impact of some scenes, though you can mostly only appreciate some of these songs with the accompanying soundtrack CD. As for the opening and ending theme, the series features two different themes split down the middle with each song fitting the nature of the series quite well though unfortunately not being very memorable.
Extras Over the years we’ve seen NIS America’s premium editions change from overly large chipboard cases containing a large artbook accompanied by two slimpak DVD sized cases to the more recent standard DVD sized chipboard cases and in the case of A Lull in the Sea this is for the series’ benefit as they have done an exquisite job with the packaging here. The chipboard case features colorful artwork of the cast on both sides of the case while the top and side feature sparkling embossed aquatic designs.
Contained within this case are three DVD sized cases containing artwork inside plus the Blu-ray discs for the series as well as a similar sized case containing the aforementioned two disc soundtrack. This soundtrack features almost all of the songs from the series though unfortunately only the TV size versions of the opening and ending themes and many of the insert songs are not included on the soundtrack though a slip containing the English translations of the lyrics is included here.
Finally we have the full color art book that features far more detail than many of NIS America’s past art book release as this release features over twenty pages of character designs and extra details followed by the standard episode discussion that is now accompanied by commentary from the original staff about each of the episodes where they provide insight into various decisions made during production. The art book concludes with sketches and final designs for various props and vehicles well as multiple pages featuring the detailed backgrounds shown throughout the series.
Overall A Lull in the Sea is the type of series that a viewer can get lost in as they watch the characters progress through their lives in a well-written world that you may become so engaged in that it’ll be hard to step away. NIS America has managed to succeed in providing a great sounding English dub to go along with the series and those who may have skipped out on watching A Lull in the Sea in the past would be doing themselves a disservice to pass it up now.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview The Danganronpa series has grown quite popular over the past few years with fans of the series hoping for a third game to be released and continue the storyline that has been developed over the course of the first two games that were only released in the West last year. Instead, Spike Chunsoft chose a slightly different route and created Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, a spin-off title set between Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair. Featuring a different playstyle from what fans are used to, is Ultra Despair Girls able to be as memorable as the core titles?
Story Now before we go into the story here, I will begin with saying that there are some rather significant spoilers for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc contained in this game so if you are keeping the first game in your backlog or are on the fence about picking it up, you should avoid Ultra Despair Girls and the rest of this review as there will be spoilers regarding some events that took place during the first game. In fact, there are even spoilers in this game regarding certain reveals that occur in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair but those will not be discussed.
Moving away from the confines of a locked school and isolated set of islands, Danganronpa Another Episode follows the story of Komaru Naegi, who happens to be the younger sister of the protagonist from the first game. She has been held prisoner for a year inside of an apartment in an unknown location by unknown captors and is completely unaware of the events that have transformed the world over the past year. The despair that she felt from being imprisoned is nothing compared to the feeling of having to stare down a Monokuma with razor sharp claws smashing down your door.
Despite having no way of fighting back, Komaru manages to briefly escape the robot bear only to run into Byakuya Togami who informs her that they are members of Future Foundation and are there to rescue her. After giving her a special hacking gun Byakuya is forced to separate from Komaru and it is only shortly after this that she learns the grim state of the world and where she is currently located.
The advanced Towa City managed to avoid most of the devastation from the despair that flooded the world but that has come to an end as an invasion of murderous Monokumas have begun killing everyone that they come across. Controlled by a group of children calling themselves the Warriors of Hope, their only goal appears to be to create a paradise for children where no adults are left alive. After meeting up with Toko Fukawa, Komaru must find a way to escape Towa city alive.
The idea of children taking over a city would have been difficult to believe coming from any other writers besides those of the Danganronpa series. While the game may have moved away from murder mysteries, there are still plenty of mysteries spread throughout Danganronpa Another Episode and thanks to some amazing writing from the aforementioned staff. The plot features a number of crazy twists that spice up the already intriguing storyline especially since there always is more to the story than initially meets the eye, especially in regards to the children in the Warriors of Hope. That being said, the story this time is a bit slower paced due to the nature of the actual game so expect a bit of downtime between major events.
The core characters of Komaru and Toko work well together with Komaru constantly trying to play the “normal and plain” card only to become quite a likable lead character, showing that greatness does run in the family, while Toko, one of a few characters that has previously been given the least amount of development in the series, manages to grow quite a bit in this game (especially since she has learned to partially control her serial killer personality Genocide Jill), while the world itself is riddled with collectible notes and books that provide extra details about the world and even some first-hand accounts of what happened to some areas of the city.
Gameplay Now, taking the clue finding, mini-game completing, puzzle solving courtroom mechanics out of the hands of a series such as Danganronpa may have left fans worried but they shouldn’t be too concerned. Instead of the standard formula, players now will be playing in a third-person shooter where Komaru and Toko travel throughout the destroyed and corpse riddled streets and buildings of Towa city in order to escape.
Along the way Komaru will need to use her megaphone shaped gun to shoot electronic codes called “truth bullets” at the various Monokuma enemies that come across their path as well as at various items in the environment to solve puzzles. You see, while the standard “break” bullet is generally used to eliminate Monokumas (with shots to their red eye causing an instant kill) Komaru also receives a number of other truth bullets that cause various effects such as causing the enemy to dance, moving a piece of machinery to either eliminate an enemy or clear a pathway, or even uncover hidden objects in the world.
That being said, the shooting mechanics are fairly simple and unremarkable at best. There are occasional areas that challenge the player to complete a specific room using only specific truth bullets and accomplishing a set goal at the same time to spice things up but for the most part you’ll be wandering through the various hallways, eliminating Monokumas, picking up coins that they drop, gaining levels, purchasing “bling” bullets to add bonuses to your standard truth bullets using the aforementioned coins, and equipping skills found scattered throughout the world by utilizing skill points gained from leveling.
Toko does serve as a way to break up the generic third person shooting action, but only for a limited time. Thanks to her growing understanding of her other half, Toko can now transform at will into Genocide Jill using a stun gun. When playing as Jill, players will be able to utilize the serial killers scissors to deadly effect by tearing through Monokuma enemies and even bosses with powerful combo maneuvers and special passion attacks. Of course Jill also remains invincible while fighting making her a force to be reckoned with, though players will need to keep an eye on their battery meter because when it runs out, Jill reverts back to the meek Toko, though Jill’s abilities and transformation time can be enhanced at the aforementioned shops scattered throughout the city.
Visuals & Audio It wouldn’t feel like a Danganronpa game without some classic stylization to make sure that the violence and death that appears in front of the player is as haunting and creepy as possible without actually showing gore and Danganronpa Another Episode pulls it off quite well. As you venture through the admittedly very simplistic looking streets and buildings of Towa City there will be bodies scattered everywhere. Sometimes they’ll be piled up in a corner, stuck to a wall, or in some other morbid position that is only presented in a blue or pink human shape with no other details other than being surrounded by pink blood. This creates some very gruesome looking scenes that the player will end up filling in the missing details without actually showing how terrible it is.
To make things worse, there are little children wearing Monokuma masks regularly celebrating or jumping around on corpses to really drive the creepy feeling home. Outside of the adventuring, the cutout visuals from past games return for a few scenes but more often than not cutscenes are presented using 3D models and rarely are even shown in full anime form for a real treat.
The soundtrack for Danganronpa Another Episode manages to sound just as haunting as past games in the series which is a nice touch given the tone of the game. As for the voice acting, the English voice actors for returning characters have reprised their roles in great fashion while the new characters fit in quite well. As for the Japanese voice track, players have the option to download it for free from the PlayStation Store if they wish to go that route.
Overall Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a move away from what fans of the series are used to and while there may have been some concern that it would cause the game to lose focus of the storyline thankfully those fears can be put to rest. While the gameplay mechanics are all fairly standard, they aren’t terrible by any means and with amazing writing to back it up and fill in gaps between the two main games, this spin-off is one that fans should be eager to pick up.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Back in the early 2000s the .hack series was blossoming into an extremely successful franchise that saw a trilogy of games being released as well as a handful of manga adaptations and even a few anime adaptations. While the more serious .hack//Sign was the first series to be introduced to fans in the West, it’s long runtime and darker themes made the title a bit difficult for younger audiences.
As such when a more childish looking anime of the same franchise, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, was released in the West it saw a decent amount of success. Now that FUNimation has rescued the license for the nearly forgotten series, is .hack//Legend of the Twilight worth it?
Story A number of years have passed since Kite and the rest of the .hack members managed to put a stop to the events that transpired in the video games and since then The World has undergone very few changes and remains an incredibly popular virtual MMO. After being split up by a divorce, the brother sister pair of Shugo and Rena have had a difficult time of spending time with one another but Rena has found that the best way to do so is through The World.
As such she entered a character contest without her brother’s knowledge and after winning, Shugo is awarded an avatar that looks like a chibified Kite while Rena receives a smaller version of BlackRose, both characters who became legends due to their actions in the past. Despite not knowing much about The World or MMOs in general, Shugo takes this as a good way to spend time with part of his family that he was separated from however their time together quickly is soured due to the appearance of a strange unbeatable monster.
After Shugo is defeated by the creature, he is revived by the mysterious AI Aura and given the Twilight Bracelet and the skill Data Drain. By using his new ability the strange enemy is easily defeated while his sister is saved by the legendary Balmung of the Azure Sky. Unbeknownst to the pair of young players, the issue regarding strange monsters has started to become a rampant issue in The World.
Throughout the course of the first half of the series Shugo and Rena find themselves encountering a number of these strange glitched opponents while also making friends with the rare item hunting wavemaster Mireille, a knuckle master who has earned the rank of werewolf known as Ohka, and quiet and reserved Hotaru who cares for a small grunty. The group is also joined by Sanjuro who mistakenly believes that Shugo is Kite but serves as his teacher as things around the new pair grow increasingly dangerous, ultimately placing Rena in grave danger as the dangerous history of The World begins to repeat itself.
In many ways .hack//Legend of the Twilight is a far simpler series than the original and as mentioned earlier seems to be designed for a much younger audience than the core series. Strangely enough despite the childish nature, more characters from the video game series appear in this series than in .hack//Sign meaning that at the time only those who spent time with the games would appreciate the likes of Sanjuro and Balmung being in the group or those who saw the original series remembering the appearance of a certain knight.
The humor is rather standard for a series such as this since the majority of it either comes from Shugo acting like a dork during the first half or failing miserably despite trying to be serious and having the rest of the cast laugh at how bad he’s messing up. There are various other running gags that appear throughout the series, such as Shugo’s attraction to the teasing Ohka never paying off how he wants and how some of the cast wonders if Shugo and Rena are really siblings thanks to how they act.
Due to its shorter length, the first half of .hack//Legend of the Twilight simply serves as a way to introduce fans to a number of the characters that begin to play alongside Shugo and Rena while the latter half begins to pay off on the small developments that occurred throughout the first half by revealing the true nature of the glitches and the strange masterminds behind them.
Despite trying to appear complex, the story here is as simplistic as it comes and along those same lines you cannot expect much character development to take place here as nearly every character continues to stick true to how they initially act outside of Shugo who begins to take the game serious in order to rescue his sister. The reveal near the end of the series does try to add some depth and explain the reason that everything started to occur but ultimately feels generic in the end; especially for those who have spent time with the franchise’s other titles. As such viewers cannot expect to find much of a lasting impression once the storyline in .hack//Legend of the Twilight wraps up, especially since the majority of these characters have never appeared in other material from the franchise.
Visuals The artwork found in .hack//Legend of the Twilight is a bit of a downgrade as far as the character designs go. While Sanjuro and Balmung manage to retain the same level of detail fans have grown familiar with, most of the other characters are presented in odd ways. The majority of the younger cast, including Shugo, Rena, Mireille, and Hotaru are presented in chibi format except for when Rena is used as an awkward feeling fan-service element instead of the more logically designed Ohka.
Enemy designs will be familiar to those who have played the games while the actual combat animations are fairly standard since most fights are quick affairs with monsters that are generally defeated with only one attack or with attacks that are only shown via canned animation sequences. Background art remains vaguely similar to what was presented in The World however don’t expect the same level of detail as what has previously been exhibited in the franchise.
Audio Considering this is a license rescue of a show that previously aired on television here in North America back in the early 2000s FUNimation has not recorded a fresh English dub for .hack//Legend of the Twilight and have instead released the series containing the original English dub alongside the original Japanese voice track. The English voice acting is rough sounding at times, especially since Rena can sound rather shrill and annoying, while the rest of the cast remains fairly consistent.
The soundtrack for the series is decent enough though it is a downgrade compared to the other series in the franchise as it features fairly simplistic tunes with only a few songs featuring any kind of lyrics. As for the opening and ending themes, they remain the same with the opening “New World” by Round Table being a satisfying and fitting theme for an anime taking place in an MMO while “Emerald Green” by See-Saw serves as an emotional sounding closing theme that rarely fits the ending tone of most episodes.
Extras
FUNimation’s release of .hack//Legend of the Twilight is a rather bare bones release as far as bonus features are concerned as the only on-disc extras are clean versions of the opening and ending themes, a couple minute long character art clip, and trailers for other FUNimation properties.
Overall .hack//Legend of the Twilight feels like the type of series that was created to draw children into the franchise by being as accessible as possible. Except the only problem is, with a number of elements only longtime fans would appreciate and a number of jokes relying on fan-service elements it feels like this series doesn’t really know how to present itself. The story is satisfactory and can be rather fun at times but, especially for those who want something a bit lighter to go with their .hack collection, but don’t expect anything too impressive with this series.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
I guess I am happy with this. D’lo Brown is coming to WWE 2k16 folks! Well, quite a few other faces are as well, but to prove how large this roster will be, WWE Games and 2k recently announced a new group of superstars – featuring some older faces from the past such as the entire Nation of Domination, as well as Dude Love and Mr. Ass circa 2004?
Check out the full roster with new additions in bold:
Bad News Barrett
Booker T
Colonel Mustafa
Daniel Bryan
Emma
Eva Marie
Finn Bálor
General Adnan
John Cena
Kalisto
Kane
Lord Steven Regal
Paige
Seth Rollins
Sin Cara
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Summer Rae
Tamina
Triple H
Adam Rose
Bo Dallas
Brie Bella
Brock Lesnar
Goldust
Heath Slater
Hideo Itami
Jack Swagger
Kevin Owens
Neville
Nikki Bella
Ric Flair
Roman Reigns
Sami Zayn
Stardust
Sting
Tyler Breeze
Ultimate Warrior
Zack Ryder
Alicia Fox
Bam Bam Bigelow
Big Show
Cameron
Cesaro
Darren Young
Diamond Dallas Page
Dolph Ziggler
Fit Finlay
Kevin Nash
Layla
Lex Luger
The Miz
Naomi
Randy Orton
Sheamus
Titus O’Neil
Tyson Kidd
Aiden English
Andre the Giant
Batista
Chris Jericho
Curtis Axel
Dean Ambrose
Edge
Erick Rowan
Fandango
JBL
Luke Harper
“Macho Man” Randy Savage
Natalya
“Ravishing” Rick Rude
R-Truth
Ryback
Santino Marella
Sgt. Slaughter
Simon Gotch
Stephanie McMahon
The Rock
The Undertaker
Billy Gunn
Bret “Hit Man” Hart
The British Bulldog
Cactus Jack
Christian
Damien Sandow
D-Lo Brown
Dude Love
Farooq
Haku
The Honky Tonk Man
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart
Kama
Ken Shamrock
Mankind
Mr. McMahon
The Giant
Rikishi
Shane McMahon
Shawn Michaels
Vader
X-Pac
There has to be a good reason for this update – meaning the story mode probably goes through some awesome Attitude era segments. That being said, if this is just to keep us from complaining about the limited CAS mode, well – that will not work as you cannot replace creativity just to create more DLC. Do not prevent players from using the tools to make someone so you as a company can have two bucks extra. That rant aside, color me impressed. We shall see after all. Rikishi being in has me thinking Too Cool and more are right around the corner (if he doesn’t bar them anyway), so we will keep an eye on things.
The second episode of Alice in Dissonance’s fault milestone series has been released for PC, Mac, and Linux onto Steamby Sekai Project and can now be purchased for a limited time at a 25% discount off of the normal price of $14.99. This discount will last for the rest of the week before the title returns to full price.
fault milestone two side:above is a direct continuation of the fault milestone one visual novel so it is highly recommended that those who haven’t played through the first episode do so before continuing on with this one or they will be missing out on some important details. The developer has stated that this episode adds a “3D camera system” to create a more “immersive and larger than life reading experience.”
