It looks like Rodea the Sky Soldier is going to take a bit longer to come out to the West than initially thought. While the title has already been delayed once before from September to sometime in mid-October, NIS America has now announced that Rodea the Sky Soldier will be released on the Wii U and 3DS on November 10th in North America and November 13th in Europe instead.
NIS America stated that the reason for the delay was “to give players the best experience possible” by stating that there are “ongoing technical difficulties” with the title. The company did state that all launch copies of the 3DS version of the game will come with a soundtrack CD as well as a collectible case while all launch copies of the Wii U version will include the Wii title plus a reversible cover.
Overview Except for a few exceptions, first person dungeon crawlers nearly faded from existence in the West. However in recent years with the rise of indie developers and the popularity of the genre growing, more Japanese dungeon crawlers have begun to make their way overseas. With numerous titles proving that there is still life left in such games, NIS America has localized Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy. Developed by the same staff that worked on Demon Gaze, is this title worth picking up?
Story Sometime during the 21st century a large number of unknown creatures began appearing throughout Tokyo. Called ‘Variants’ these creatures are almost entirely immune to modern day weaponry, making the police as well as the army useless. Thankfully a number of youngsters happen to be specially suited for combat against these beings and in order to stop the Variants from running wild the Code Physics Agency has formed The Xth (pronounced as Zith) Squad.
It is up to the Xth Squad to take on these Variants where they are most commonly found, dungeons that have been called Abysses. Now it is worth noting that due to the player being able to create their party from scratch or use a pre-made party (more on that later) that there really isn’t too much of a solid storyline to be told in Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy.
While there is some solid writing at times, times where the game either completely floods the player with information or result situations that are barely explained occur far too often. It also doesn’t help that the actual named characters in the title are poorly handled while the core storyline is far from being noteworthy other than featuring a sci-fi type of setting that is rarely used in dungeon crawlers such as this. It is worth noting that the writers do manage to pull things together near the end of the game though it will be quite a chore to get that far.
Gameplay Now when beginning the game, players can choose between Classic Mode and Basic Mode. Those who choose Basic Mode will allow players to select from character portraits and are automatically provided with a fairly balanced squad of fighters to start out with. Those who happen to select Classic mode will have to deal with completely customizing their characters from the ground up and dealing with possible imbalances.
I say this because while very few dungeon crawlers will hold the player’s hand, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy features an extremely poor tutorial section making it incredibly easy for newcomers to find themselves lost trying to create a balanced group of fighters. Of course those who are more familiar with these types of games may find themselves able to adapt quickly, the problems consist further into the game due to some of the most basic systems featuring alternate names from what most players will be used to, such as buying items by “issuing” them or adjusting the “Blood Codes” for each character which serve mostly as their class base.
Once you do manage to get a team put together, or (as I would recommend) opt for the pre-selected group, players will quickly find themselves spending most of their time exploring the labyrinths. As you explore these dungeons in the standard first person view, players will randomly encounter enemies who will be fought in a similar manner. Now once you do actually enter combat of any form, the six player party is split into a front and back row where they will then attack rows of enemies at a time using various attacks and skills ranging from standard attacks to buffs and de-buffs.
It is worth noting that the longer you actually stay in the labyrinth at any given time actually increases the difficulty of the enemies you encounter. This is handled by an Encounter Gauge that slowly fills up as you make your way through the labyrinth and enemies begin to match the high level of the gauge. Interestingly enough, this creates a great incentive to push your party to its limits since harder enemies reward players with plenty of bonuses but it also increases the likelihood of being trounced by simple random encounters.
Of course at the same time, players must also be mindful of the traps that can be spread throughout the labyrinth as it is entirely possible to fall victim to some dangerous traps. Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy introduces this mechanic quite early through a frustrating dungeon with hidden teleportation tiles so it is good to get used to this mechanic, even if the first dungeon just so happens to be the most annoying of the bunch.
While the player’s main goal of venturing through each Abyss is to complete their main objective, many of the side-quests that players can take on can usually be completed at the same time making it easy to double-down on certain dungeons, though it is worth noting there is still a noticeable level of grinding required for this game. While hardly as challenging as some other dungeon crawlers, the aforementioned Encounter Gauge can lead to some risky ventures, though proper planning usually can allow players to avoid such situations.
Unfortunately, despite having a handful of unique mechanics and changing a few names of well-known systems, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy doesn’t offer much in the way of variety from other dungeon crawlers. What the game does it manages to do well, however it brings almost nothing new to the table to entice players who are looking for something a little different from their dungeon crawling titles.
Visuals & Audio One of the aspects that Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy does have going for it, as mentioned earlier, is the sci-fi style that most of the game sports. By not regulating players to the standard medieval world there are a number of new environments that can be explored. That being said, labyrinths are rather poorly handled with very little variation as repetitiveness quickly begins to set in, especially since a number of monster sprites are consistently re-used throughout the title.
This happens to be a rather unfortunate thing considering how detailed and colorful most of the enemy and character sprites actually look in the game. A wide range of colors are used to create some great looking opponents to fight against while the standard character sprites feature some great anime style designs though it is worth noting that character customized sprites do start out looking rather bland, but become better looking as you progress through the game.
As far as the voice work goes, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy features an adequate English voice track while the background music features a number of catchy tracks which is a bit of a blessing considering how much time spent in dungeons and in combat, though don’t expect a ton of variety as many tracks are used consistently throughout the title.
Overall Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy is an adequate dungeon crawler that sports a solid combat system that may be seen as more approachable for some who have yet to cut their teeth on some of the more difficult dungeon crawling games out there. By bringing a few interesting things to the table as well as a unique setting, this dungeon crawler is certainly worth trying out for fans of the genre but don’t expect anything fresh as far as the game mechanics are concerned.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
In Assassin’s Creed Syndicate players will be taking control of both Jacob Frye as well as Evie Frye, twin siblings who have taken up the fight against the templars. While Ubisoft had plenty of content to show off at Gamescom this weekend, including a new trailer for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the company has now released a ten minute long gameplay trailer specifically focusing on Evie Frye, who has her own unique set of skills and stealth techniques, as she heads out on an assassination mission to eliminate a target named Lucy Thorne.
As with past games, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate offers plenty of different ways to take down your target ranging from infiltration and surprise assassinations to brute force.
Disneyland is home to a little more magic this week folks, with the annual Disney Infinity Toy Box Summit. Some of Disney Infinity’s best and brightest Toy Box builders have come together ahead of this year;s D23 Expo to dive head-first into the awesome Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars in an epic building competition.
Since not everyone has the luxury of attending California, Disney have awesomely decided to stream the whole event via Twitch (which you can check out here). To make you you don’t miss any of the excitement here is the official run-sheet for the event:
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Toy Box Summit Keynote featuring John Blackburn, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Avalanche Software; John Vignocchi, Vice President, Production, Disney Infinity; and Allison Petrek, Lead Community Manager, Disney Infinity
Toy Box Showdownfeaturing a talented mix of Toy Box community and team members as they take audience suggestions on what to build in the game’s signature mode.
Learn from our experienced Toy Box 3.0 panelists:
The Walt Disney Company Creative Minds led by Jeff Bunker, VP, Art Development, Avalanche Software and representatives from Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment.
Spotlight on Toy Box 3.0 featuring Disney Infinity Game Director Bob Lowe and community mentors Troy Johnson and Patrick Efird who will detail all of the new features available in Toy Box 3.0.
Becoming a Toy Box Artist featuring Avalanche Software community mentors detailing their journey to joining the Disney Infinity family and giving advice to other budding Toy Box Artists.
Joining Forces for 3.0Disney Infinity joined forces with development studios to create Disney Infinity 3.0. Learn how Ninja Theory, Studio Gobo and Sumo Digital’s expertise played a unique role in the development of the upcoming Play Sets and Toy Box Expansion Games.
Starting Your Own Channel panel showcasing top personalities from Twitch, YouTube and the Disney Infinity community team who will discuss how they first got started and share tips for creating exceptional gaming content on each platform.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
The community will be invited back for the Toy Box 3.0 Competition Showcase where Toy Box building teams will show off their creations by playing in their Toy Boxes.
A panel of judges will announce a winner based on a set of criteria: theme, design, gameplay and creativity. In addition, the community will be invited to vote either via a social media hashtag campaign or Disney Insider poll. The Community’s pick will be announced one week later.
I for one am super excited to see what these talented builders come up with. Make sure you check out the twitch stream as it progresses along and remember that Disney Infinity 3.0 is set for release on September 3rd, so make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the awesome Disney related news as it becomes available.
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES PLAYSTATION®4 SYSTEM VERSION OF CLASSIC DUNGEON BRAWLER GAUNTLET: SLAYER EDITION
12th August 2015 – The Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie and Elf of the co-op classic Gauntlet, are back in action on the PlayStation® Network in Gauntlet: Slayer Edition! Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Arrowhead Game Studios announced today the online enabled dungeon brawler is live now on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system for AUD $29.95
Based on one of the first multiplayer arcade games, this new Gauntlet experience is a perfect couch co-op game, allowing players to select from four classic fantasy-based characters – Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie or Elf – each with a distinctive play style, unique strengths and weaknesses. In this enhanced edition of the game, players will encounter new hero weapons and abilities, new monster types, and additional features that increase team dynamics and strategy, including spin attacks, shield throws, summoning, and magic abilities for the iconic characters, as well as a new, anticipated Endless gameplay mode.
New opportunities in Gauntlet: Slayer Edition include daily Colosseum challenges, loadout options, relic and potion functionality, weapon abilities and customisation, and much more.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all platforms, including console, handheld, mobile and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles. About Arrowhead Game Studios
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The Need for Speed 2015 reboot is one of the most anticipated titles of the year with EA and Ghost Games promising to take the series back to it’s most fun elements while also promising brand new features. A new trailer and a bunch of screenshots have been released that show the full extent the development team are pushing the Frostbite engine to and it’s damn impressive. It’s that good that the actual car you create will feature in any of the story modes live action cutscenes, blurring the line between reality and polygons.
Speaking of story, Need for Speed will feature 5 overlapping stories that allow you to focus on impressing one of the above real world racing icons. Each icon represents one of the games key gameplay elements including (from left to right) speed (going fast), style (drifting jumps), build (car modifications), crew (driving in tandem with partners) and outlaw (running from the cops). Your character will be a rookie racer looking to improve themselves and achieve bigger feats to help catch the attention of one of these idols.
In a big throwback to fans of perhaps one of the most loved Need for Speed titles ever, those who pre-order the game will be granted access to Need for Speeds: Most Wanted (the 2005 one) cover car, the BMW M3. The car is basically the series mascot at this point, making a similar appearance in the Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 reboot.
In what will be negative news to some, the game will require a constant Internet connection to be played. Executive producer Marcus Nilsson explained this was a controversial but necessary move to include some of the features they wanted to have in the game. These include the Autolog system which will allow your friends stats and progress to impact your narrative somehow and an automatic snap shot system. The snap shot system will take pictures of different moments and will then go on the Need for Speed network where people can ‘like’ them and you will be rewarded with in game currency for those likes. The Xbox One in built video editor is also said to be being used to some extent.
Need for Speed will be out on PS4, Xbox One and PC on the 3rd of November in the U.S. and on the 5th of November else where. You can check out the trailer and new screenshots below.
Rare ltd. is one of those gaming companies that is fondly remembered by gamers all around the world for one reason or another. Whether it is arcade classics like Jetpack or Attic Attack or the litany of classic Nintendo 64 games that they created, everyone has at least one Rare game that ranks among their top 10. Enter Rare Replay; a collection of games that spans the company’s impressive 30 year history. With an astounding 30 included games and a mountain of behind the scenes extras, there is definitely a lot to love In this nostalgic walk through history.
Gameplay
Rare Replay is a historical trip through thirty years worth of excellent game design and passion. Being able to boot up and play classics from as far back as 1983 is just amazing. Games like Jetpack, Sabrewulf and RC Pro Am really show us just how far we have come in the world of video games in such a short amount of time.
The collection opens up with Jetpack, a classic that anybody who has played Donkey Kong 64 will immediately recognise. You control a little astronaut as he tries to reassemble and refuel his ship while simultaneously fending off extraterrestrials who wish him harm. The game is simple to learn but difficult to master (as was the style of many games of the 1980s) but is still an absolute blast to play.
Let’s not forget that Rare Replay also features the infamous Battletoads and Battletoads Arcade. Battletoads was one of the most difficulty action games on the NES and its difficulty along with its badass, radical protagonists have solidified it in the hearts of games all over the world ever since (and a little Internet meme certainly helped that along the way. Well now you can legally play it again in its first actual home console release in decades. Not only that, but a new rewind option allows you to press the Left Trigger on your controller and immediately rewind up to ten seconds of gameplay, making it possible to overcome some of those challenging parts that stopped Gamers in their tracks for years. Battletoads Arcade is also included and this is the first ever time that the game has been released on a home console, so for many of us out there it will be the first time we have been able to try it out.
Once you get to the Nintendo 64 era of games you will find some classics like Blast Corps, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Jet Force Gemini. These games will resonate strongly with many of us out there who played them during their childhood. I for one could not get enough of Banjo-Kazooie as a kid, and while I never got a chance to play Blast Corps back then, I just know that 11 year old Andrew would have loved the mindless destruction that came with it.
When it comes down to it though, you can’t talk about the Nintendo 64 games in this collection without mentioning Conker’s Bad Fur Day. This was a game that at the time subverted everything that people thought they knew about video game characters and presented us with a cute cast of characters who drank, swore and did a whole lot of other unspeakable stuff. Rerelease on the original Xbox as Conker: Live and Reloaded, many players hated the unnecessary censoring of the game and were not fans of the updated multiplayer. Luckily the game they chose for the collection was the original version which while looking exactly like it did in 2001, still plays great and manage to keep the splitscreen multiplayer dream alive in a time where online multiplayer is king.
One thing that I wish this collection had was an easier way to understand what the games are, how they played and the objectives. Aside from simple trial and error there are built in game manuals for each of the thirty titles but these can only be accessed through the Xbox One’s game help “snapped” app. This takes time to load that could otherwise be spent playing the actual game, and if they simply moved these manuals to inside the game itself it would be a lot more convenient for players to get a grasp on what the heck they are supposed to be doing in Lunar Jetman.
In addition to the 30 included games, Rare Replay offers a series of bite-sized challenges for some of the older titles in the list. These challenges are called “Snapshots” and give your certain parameters in which to achieve your goals. For example; a Jetpack Snapshot has you gathering fuel for your rocket all without having access to your blaster. If these Snapshots have one failing, it is their inconsistent difficulty and an incredible difficulty spike in the final shot for each game. These will keep you engrossed for hours on end simply because they are so hard. The final Snapshot for Lunar Jetman took me longer to complete than the previous 9 Snapshots combined.
While it is awesome to see these older games getting some love, some of the newer games don’t fare as well, and this is a real cause for concern. Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo & Kazooie – Nuts and Bolts are two of the more recent games in the collection and they also happen to make use of Microsoft’s (currently still in beta) Xbox 360 backwards compatibility/emulation. Sadly, these two titles also suffer from really notable lag, screen tear and frame rate issues. Now Perfect Dark Zero had a lot of these problems in its original incarnation so it’s hard to point a pitchfork at it, but N&B is quite poorly emulated here, with some areas being so affected that the game becomes almost unplayable. Aside from these two, I didn’t face and performance problems with the other 360 games, but it is still a bit of a warning sign for the whole backwards compatibility program.
Hopefully come November when the program officially rolls out to a number of games, everything will be a lot smoother but at the moment the struggles to emulate a game from seven years ago have me feeling a little bit anxious for how well games like a Fallout 3 or Bioshock will run.
Visuals & Audio
In many cases, we are dealing with some seriously old games in the Rare Replay collection, and you know what that means don’t you? That’s right, none of that fancy widescreen stuff that we take for granted. Back in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s games were made to be presented on almost perfectly square screens. Keeping with the authenticity (and because they would look like garbage if they didn’t) Rare has maintained the original aspect ratio for all of their games. Now this leaves a lot of empty space on the TV screen, which is filled up with images and official art from the game, almost replicating the old arcade cabinets that many of these games originated on. I personally think it’s a pretty cool visual treat but if it isn’t you cup of tea then you can switch it to a plain black background at your own discretion.
Do you remember being a child and your parents telling you to “sit back from the tv!” Or “stop playing those games, you’ll hurt your eyes!” I for one used to get those ALL the time and I never understood why. Well, thankfully Rare Replay has a sweet little feature that lets you, at the push of a button the screen will add an overlay that makes it look like it is being presented through an old 80s-era CRT TV. While I love being able to briefly look back in time to a bygone era before super crisp HDTVs, having that enabled for more than even a minute at a time caused some real strain on my eyes.
Overall
Getting 30 games for $50 (or $30 if you live in the USA) is almost unheard of in this day and age. Heck, many of the Xbox 360 games alone will cost you upwards of $10 or $20, so there is no arguing the amazing value that Rare and Microsoft have laid out on the table. If you’re anything like me, you will have had more than a few games on your “I really need to try that” list for quite some time and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to do so. Well, Rare Replay is that perfect opportunity. Sure, a few of the more recent games have some performance issues but that shouldn’t hold you back from enjoying some of the classics like Attic Attack, Banjo-Tooie and the original slightly less-censored version of Conker’s Bad Fur Day.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Only a few months ago, the rubber domed Razer Tartarus gaming keypad received the Chroma treatment. This month, the mechanical Razer Orbweaver will be getting a similar upgrade. The Razer Orbweaver Chroma has the same Razer Green Mechanical switches found on the Razer Blackwidow Chroma, which provide an audible click and actuates with only 50 grams of force. The keypad has a total of 30 programmable keys along with an 8-way thumb pad. The 20 keys on the top have LEDs that can be controlled by the Razer Synapse software to display 16.8 million colours. The software can sync a multitude of Chroma devices, allowing them to display the same colour in unison.
The hand, thumb, and palm-rests are all adjustable, suiting a variety of hand sizes. The Razer Orbweaver Chroma will have an MSRP of $129.99 USD and is set to hit stores sometime this month.
Disney Infinity Toy Box Artists Gather At Disneyland® Resort For the 2015 Toy Box Summit
Disney Interactive Invites Community and Fans to Participate Via Social Media and at twitch.tv/Disney
Anaheim, CA – August 11, 2015 – Disney Interactive today announced the schedule of events and tune-in details for this year’s Disney InfinityToy Box Summit(https://infinity.disney.com/toy-box-summit), a community event, which will be held at the Disneyland® Resort in Anaheim, CA ahead of this year’s D23 Expo 2015. Beginning today through August 13, 2015, top Toy Box Artists from around the world will gather for an in-depth hands-on look at the newly enhanced Disney Infinity 3.0 Toy Box mode, meet the developers from Avalanche Software— the team behind the successful “toys-to-life” franchise— and compete in a Toy Box building competition.
“We have always embraced our extremely loyal and supportive Disney Infinity community,” said John Blackburn, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Avalanche Software. “We’ve seen our fans form a close-knit bond through playing and sharing Toy Boxes and that has resulted in some incredibly creative feats. Bringing our community together for this event is our way of fostering that digital imagination that has made this such a unique and special game.”
The Toy Box Summit events will be held from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PST on August 12 and 13 (3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. AEST on August 13 and 14) in front of a live audience and viewers at home can tune in to watch the livestream on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/disney). Viewers are encouraged to use #DisneyInfinity on Twitter to submit questions, vote for winning Toy Boxes and more. Full schedule listed below.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Toy Box Summit Keynote featuring John Blackburn, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Avalanche Software; John Vignocchi, Vice President, Production, Disney Infinity; and Allison Petrek, Lead Community Manager, Disney Infinity.
Toy Box Showdown featuring a talented mix of Toy Box community and team members as they take audience suggestions on what to build in the game’s signature mode.
Learn from our experienced Toy Box 3.0 panelists:
The Walt Disney Company Creative Minds led by Jeff Bunker, VP, Art Development, Avalanche Software and representatives from Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment.
Spotlight on Toy Box 3.0 featuring Disney Infinity Game Director Bob Lowe and community mentors Troy Johnson and Patrick Efird who will detail all of the new features available in Toy Box 3.0.
Becoming a Toy Box Artist featuring Avalanche Software community mentors detailing their journey to joining the Disney Infinity family and giving advice to other budding Toy Box Artists.
Joining Forces for 3.0Disney Infinity joined forces with development studios to create Disney Infinity 3.0. Learn how Ninja Theory, Studio Gobo and Sumo Digital’s expertise played a unique role in the development of the upcoming Play Sets and Toy Box Expansion Games.
Starting Your Own Channel panel showcasing top personalities from Twitch, YouTube and the Disney Infinity community team who will discuss how they first got started and share tips for creating exceptional gaming content on each platform.
At the conclusion of the panels, Toy Box Artists will be teamed up with a Toy Box Mentor to compete in the first-ever Disney Infinity 3.0 building competition. They will have all afternoon and evening to build the best Toy Boxes possible. The live event coverage will continue on our social channels, including Periscope and Twitter @DisneyInfinity.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
The community will be invited back for the Toy Box 3.0 Competition Showcase where Toy Box building teams will show off their creations by playing in their Toy Boxes.
A panel of judges will announce a winner based on a set of criteria: theme, design, gameplay and creativity. In addition, the community will be invited to vote either via a social media hashtag campaign or Disney Insider poll. The Community’s pick will be announced one week later.
Disney Infinity: 3.0 will be released in Australia and New Zealand on September 3, 2015, has been rated PG for online interactivity and mild violence.
Disney Infinity is an interactive gaming platform where players have unprecedented freedom and endless opportunity to create stories and play experiences starring the beloved characters from across The Walt Disney Company. Building on the success of Disney Infinity 1.0 and 2.0, Disney Interactive announced its latest installment to the best-selling “hybrid toy/video game” this year — Disney Infinity 3.0. In its third iteration, players will utilise real-world interactive figures to activate original storylines (Play Sets) in the virtual game worlds of popular Star Wars franchises and create new adventures with other Disney Infinity characters from across the Walt Disney Company in the Toy Box mode. Disney Infinity 3.0 is rated PG for online interactivity and mild violence. For more information, visit Disney.com/Infinity.
Razer announced that their budget-friendly keyboard, Razer Deathstalker, will be getting the Chroma treatment. Dubbed the Razer Deathstalker Chroma, the keyboard features the same low profile, chiclet-style keycaps that only need 2mm of travel to actuate. The wrist rest has been designed specifically for the Razer Deathstalker Chroma’s low profile. The keyboard layout is the traditional full sized design with anti-ghosting for up to ten simultaneous key presses. Macros can be assigned to almost any key and can be recorded on the fly.
As part of the Chroma line, the Razer Deathstalker Chroma can display up for 16.8 million different colours in the three lighting zones and syncs with other Chroma devices. The keyboard is available now for $99.99 USD.
