With Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron just a number of days away, some may forget about the other Marvel superhero film we’re getting this summer: Ant-Man. Now, we’ve seen a teaser and the hilariously epic poster, but Marvel has released the first full trailer for the Peyton Reed addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe today and I am now counting the days until I get a chance to see this film.
Now, without further ado, the first trailer for Ant-Man:
Ant-Man tells the story of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a con-man and thief trying to turn a new leaf, who is approached by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to be the new Ant-Man. Armed with a super-suit that allows him to shrink in scale while increasing strength and giving him the ability to speak with insects, Lang must work with Pym and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) to pull off a heist that could save the world.
Marvel’s Ant-Man will be released July 17, 2015. Directed by Peyton Reed (Bring It On) with a screenplay by Adam McKay (Anchorman films) and Paul Rudd (Role Models), based on a screen story by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block).
Hot off their last game — Bardbarian — TreeFortress‘ programmer Shawn Blais and artist Mike Gaboury are back with a new game. JumpJet Rex is an indie platformer currently available on Steam Early Access that calls back to the heyday of Mario and Sonic. After playing JumpJet Rex for a while and playing levels over and over, trying to beat my fastest time, I had the chance to speak with Shawn and Mike about their new platformer.
JumpJet Rex hearkens back to the 8- and 16-bit games that many of us grew up with. What games inspired you to make JumpJet Rex?
Shawn Blais: Surprisingly enough, the core mechanics were inspired by the infamous Flappy Bird! We created the initial prototype in the Game Boy Game Jam #3 and wanted to recreate that intense feeling of old school difficulty that Flappy Bird had. Once we decided to turn it into a full game, we drew on many of our favorite titles from the early ’90s, such as Mario, Mega Man, Double Dragon, and Battletoads. We also threw in a healthy heaping of modern time-trial mechanics inspired by titles such as Trials HD or Action Henk.
The game seems built for speedrunning. Can you tell us why? Also, what other games does the team like to speedrun?
Shawn Blais: Surprisingly enough we’re not big speed runners! The focus on Speed emerged somewhat organically. Early in development we experimented with awarding people three stars for each level; one for basic completion, one for “No Deaths” and one for “Target Time”. Once we implemented that, the entire game loop began to click in a really fun way so we decided to run with it.
We’ve also been very careful to include tons of fun stuff for players who like to take a more deliberate pace, such as a ton of hidden collectibles and fun achievements.
I feel as if the platformer has all but disappeared from AAA game development, but still alive and well in the indie game space. Why do you think that is and do you think we may see a resurgence of AAA platform titles in the near future?
Mike Gaboury: Platforming is a pretty tried and true formula, not much is being done to mix it up, which is why the Marios and Sonics of the world have pretty much dominated by AAA publishers in that genre – they do what they do quite well.
While more of the same is fine, we think people want something new now. Luckily enough with the rise of the indies, devs can take more chances. With the ability and freedom to create new ideas, as well as lower costs of development, we are seeing people come up with great new concepts that can change what we, for so long, thought was set in stone! Ideas are contagious and I’m sure we’ll see a wave of platformers in the next few years.
The game is currently available in Steam Early Access. Can you share some benefits and drawbacks to having an open audience play-test your game during development?
Shawn Blais: Early Access has been a bit of a mixed bag for us. We’ve gotten some great ideas, and have a few members who are really dedicated to the game, but we did not really get the traction we needed to achieve our testing goals.
It could be that 2D platformers are just not a great genre for Early Access, but it also seems that Early Access is suffering from a significant stigma these days, as a number of titles have failed to deliver over the past few years, so many people seem to have soured on it.
You recently added “Rage Quit Rex” mode to JumpJet Rex. Can you tell us a bit about the differences in play style?
Shawn Blais: Rage Quit Rex attempts to give you that old-school feeling of having only three lives with no continues. It’s all about sweaty palms and excessive cursing! It’s designed for gamers who really want to test their platforming abilities and the play style is much more cautious than in the normal game, as you have just three deaths to pass all 40+ levels. We anticipate many thrown controllers and smashed keyboards!
When do you hope to officially release JumpJet Rex?
Shawn Blais: We’re not announcing the date yet, but sometime in April would be a pretty good bet.
Great! I look forward to playing the full game.
You can play JumpJet Rex now on Steam Early Access for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux. Be sure to visit TreeFortress on their website and follow them on Twitter.
Overview Creating a horror manga has to be an incredibly difficult task. While some series can manage to get by with a slow paced story filled with haunting imagery and occasional death, others go the completely opposite route. The problem here is, those that go the extreme route have to also avoid becoming ‘campy’ horrors that tend to leave the audience laughing more than they are actually scared by the concept. Junji Ito has created a number of terrifying manga in the past and now that Viz Media is releasing Gyo in a special deluxe package containing the entire series, does Gyo manage to live up to Ito’s reputation?
Story Takashi and his girlfriend Kaori, who has a neuroses when it comes to smells to the point that she won’t even kiss her boyfriend unless he brushes his teeth every time before the kiss, are vacationing in Okinawa. While scuba diving, an extremely fast object zips past Takashi and later on the pair are attacked by what appears to be a fish with legs. Although Takashi thinks this is a new species, Kaori fears the creature as it is extremely smelly and is described to smell like a rotting corpse.
To both of their horrors, the death-stench radiating fish continues to move despite being sealed in a plastic bag and the pair find that more of these nauseating creatures are making their way onto land. As mutated fish with legs continue to come ashore in all different sizes, Kaori’s obsession with smell continues to drive her nuts while fishing boats come under attack by the creatures and a great white shark storms a beach, eating everyone that thought they were safe.
Once the shark makes its move on the pair and the two barely escape the creature, they fly back to Tokyo but that is only the beginning. Tadashi brings his scientist uncle in on the metal-legged fish and revelations about what is actually making them move and the reason everything smells like a rotting corpse comes to bear. With the fish advancing on land and overrunning Tokyo, Kaori is infected by the gas that is expelled by the creatures, leading Tadashi into an event that sees him placed in a coma for a month. Waking up, Tadashi finds that the world is now a far different place than the one he lived in and that the fish are the least of humanity’s worries in what is easily the grossest and most twisted stories you can read while also chuckling at the absurd stupidity of it all.
From the point that a campy Jaws-like scene plays out, with the swimmers fleeing the ocean to safety on the beach only to be eaten once the shark walks onto land, many of the concepts in Gyo range from being cheesy to highly entertaining. With unkillable creatures starting things out, to conspiracy theories about experiments from World War II gone awry to utilizing humanity’s twisted nature to drive home the horror, Gyo evolves into a satisfying if not still ridiculous story that manages to pull itself together thanks to Junji Ito’s twisted drawings of the creatures and the incredibly well paced escalation of the danger, even though the actual developments feature many plot holes.
Having a great white shark chase two people through a building with tight hallways and corners could be seen as absolutely ridiculous but Ito’s presentation makes it a claustrophobic chase that is truly terrifying to read. Then escalating the danger of the fish and the infectious gas spewing that seems to rot those infected by it to truly horrific and nauseating proportions by making humanity the new source of the death-stench feels like a natural progression of what becomes an apocalyptic event. Piles of bloated humans rotting on large legs that seek out more victims to spread the disease, circus acts twisting the nature of the creatures and exploiting the concept that the expelled gas may be sentient, and even an infected zeppelin that shoot projectiles grace these horrifying pages where barely any character development occurs, as horrific events that come one after another and barely the slightest element of human emotion is present in later scenes.
Artwork As I mentioned earlier, what holds the entire concept of Gyo together is Junji Ito’s style of artwork and his brand of creating twisted and sickening looking creatures. While things may start simple with the rotting fish and the legs that carry them, things only become stranger later on as gas-spewing corpses with tubes running through their bodies become a common and terrifying looking sight. When he isn’t drawing monstrous looking creatures and bloated bodies, Ito’s fine touches with drawing haunted looking eyes and eyes of those who have completely lost their minds helps drive home just how terrified these characters are of the abominations they are witnessing.
Extra Content Viz Media has compiled both volumes of Gyo into a deluxe edition package that features an extremely sturdy hardcover with a minimalistic but fitting cover. By being printed in this form, the release is far larger than even Viz Signature releases, meaning it may be a bit large for some standard shelves but this also means that the aforementioned artwork that makes Gyo work so well is presented in a more detailed form than ever before. The release also features new color endpages as well as two side-stories, one which is a bit of a simple but, once again, dumb joke about a tragedy happening as soon as a family’s house is built. The other is a bit more intriguing as it involves human shaped holes and a force that seems to draw people to them.
Overall Gyo is the type of manga that is meant to horrify readers by being as grotesque and disgusting as possible while portraying a horrifying scenario that, despite the ridiculous concept and the numerous plot holes, is held together by Junji Ito’s twisted illustrations. Fans of Ito’s works will find that Gyo is as nasty as stories like this come and those who like horror manga will likely require some preparation before delving into Gyo’s pages.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Over the course of the last two episodes, Telltale Games has had to work within the confines of the already established Game of Thrones storyline while also trying to establish the members of House Forrester and setup the challenges each one would face in order to try and prevent their house from falling to ruin. With the third episode The Sword in the Darkness bringing us to the halfway point of what is six planned episodes; how will House Forrester handle their challenges this time?
Story As usual, while we will be avoiding major plot points that take place in this episode, those who have not played either of the previous episodes should do so before reading on as previous events will be discussed. With that said, The Sword in the Darkness feels like the first time that the series is beginning to move things forward instead of simply introducing everyone and providing a little bit of tension while drawing things out.
This time the story drops players first into the shoes of Asher as his group deals with the fallout from the Lost Legion members. After the appearance of something that fans of the series have always been hoping would be utilized more, players are forced to make a major decision shortly into the episode and thanks to the type of outcomes we’ve seen decisions like this have in other Telltale titles, trying to choose between a friend or a family member is an immediate agonizing choice to throw at players.
While the more action focused brother continues to try and make his way home with soldiers, Mira’s endeavors in King’s Landing feel like the real ‘game of thrones’ where you live and die but what you say. Mira has to not only try and balance her interactions with Margaery but also Tyrion and Cersei. None of these three like each other very well and if you haven’t already started to take a side, you will now need to start doing so. Players who have always tried to play the neutral field will find themselves no safe ground where hard decisions will have to be made. Will you obey Margaery and stand your ground with Cersei or talk with Tyrion after being ordered not to?
These types of choices appear constantly throughout Mira’s part of the story and while players cannot make everyone happy, they also have to try and do what is best for House Forrester. The same can be said in regard to Rodrik and his worsening situation at Ironrath. With Whitehill soldiers becoming belligerent and a new face entering the scene and throwing his weight around, players will face some real difficult decisions here.
You see, there are a number of ways to handle this new face but depending on what route you try and select, you’ll immediately and constantly have your resolve challenged. Accepting the small punishments for now appear like they will play out for the best in the long run but whether the game actually takes that route is currently unknown and while it is evident that some characters around Rodrik understand why he is allowing certain things to happen, the clear disappointment of others really tries to tempt players into action even though discretion may pay off in the future.
As for the man who was sent to The Wall, Gared Tuttle who played a minimal role in the last episode is back and the idea of the North Grove also returns. Very little is revealed about the North Grove but it does set a clear goal for Gared to search for in upcoming episodes, especially now that he has learned something new about an ally and faced down a foe from his past.
Gameplay As far as the actual gameplay in the episode is concerned; The Sword in the Darkness continues to follow the same trend as past games where players will have some extremely limited moments of exploration where they can talk to a few characters or interact with various objects. This time around there is actually a small puzzle included, though it requires very little thought and can simply be completed by process of elimination if you cannot figure it out.
The action in this episode continues to play out in quick time events and while most of these scenes involve Asher, Gared gets into a scuffle as well as he takes part in a very satisfying one on one fight that gives players a very brutal finishing option that surprisingly few people seemed to have went for despite how well deserved it is.
Visuals & Audio Interestingly enough, it seems that the blurry affect that Telltale used in past episodes has either been refined to the point that they are barely noticeable or harshly reduced as these potential eyesores were non-existent throughout my time with The Sword in the Darkness. The standard art style featuring oil-painted designs and muted coloration continues to be a big highlight when it comes to the designs of the characters.
The voice acting remains fairly impressive, with the main voice actors still returning to reprise their roles, including the ones from the television series. That being said, I did experience a number of audio glitches throughout the episode that either caused dialogue to repeat up to three times in a row or cut out entirely.
Overall It is difficult to feel upbeat coming out of some of the punishing events that take place in The Sword in the Darkness as nearly every character has had to do something that hurts those around them in some way, but it is clear that the gears have been put in motion and that House Forrester may be on the rise in the future. However this all plays out in the future is unknown, but this episode finally gives most characters a goal to aim for, even if it means betraying others and suffering humiliation in order to head towards that goal.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview It is incredibly common that any anime series set in a high school will include students that attend various clubs and most of the time all of the core cast members are part of the same club or are split up into different clubs and re-unite after school or during class. Other times the students are part of what is generally called a “Go Home” club which means that the students simply leave school once it ends and aren’t actually part of a club. Despite its name Chronicles of the Going Home Club is far from the standard Go Home club anime viewers are used to and now that the series has been released in North America, is it worth picking up?
Story After entering high school Natsuki Ando is unsure of what club she wants to join and even though one of her friends is thinking about joining a sports club, Natsuki feels like she is going to just join the Go Home club which as mentioned earlier, generally involves simply going home and not being in an actual club. When her fellow classmate Karin hears that she wishes to join the Going Home Club, she is quite pleased and offers to show Natsuki where it is located.
Much to Natsuki’s surprise, the club is an actual real thing and rather than focus on simply going home once the day ends, the focus of the club is to have as much fun as possible even though it usually just devolves into wacky jokes to kill time. Ultimately that is what Chronicles of the Going Home Club is, a series that does its best to be as self-aware as possible while delivering goofy punch lines as the five girls interact with one another.
You see, there while Natsuki and Karin are deemed the “Super Rookies” Natsuki’s role in the group is to play the straight man who constantly makes retorts to the absurd jokes the rest of the club makes while Karin’s role is simply to be as cute as possible. This is especially true considering the main reason she joined the club is because she couldn’t choose between the Handicraft Club and Cooking Club meaning that while she is capable she is as airheaded as they come, much to the delight of the rest of the club members.
The original members of the Going Home Club consist of Botan Ohagi, an extremely skilled martial artist capable of inhuman feats of strength and taking down bears without breaking a sweat, Claire Kokonoe, a girl from an extremely rich household with no concept of money who readily repairs any damages done to the clubroom without a second thought, and Sakura Domyoji, the president of the club who is ordinary in almost every way except for her energetic personality and the strange ideas she comes up with.
All five of these girls fit into their archetypes well and while there isn’t much to the actual premise of Chronicles of the Going Home Club, the series is a very solid slice of life comedy series that will provide plenty of laughs for those willing to give the series a chance. There is even a little white seal that appears often and either narrates an event or adds an extra line to a scene as it serves as a mascot character that none of the characters can actually see.
Of course humor is rather subjective so not everyone may enjoy the brand of self-deprecating humor that the series employs. That being said, the way that the series’ low budget, cost cutting measures, and the lack of popularity are made into running joke, how many jabs the series takes at other more popular anime series, as well as the way situations planned by Sakura, such as a murder mystery or mixer event, end up backfiring in humorous ways make the series worth watching for me and anyone who likes a comedy slice of life series such as this. Let’s just say if you can find an episode almost completely dedicated to a word chain competition between Natsuiki and Sakura as the two try to come up with plans to beat one another by making one say a chosen “Taboo Word” enjoyable, you’ll find Chronicles of the Going Home Club to your liking.
The chemistry between all of the girls is great and the capabilities that of Botan and Claire add extra spice to the comedy and even if it doesn’t exactly have anything special going for it and tends to follow the same pattern every episode, those who give Chronicles of the Going Home Club will be in for a good time as long as they know what to expect.
Visuals Despite the way that the cost-cutting low budget is turned into a running joke, the character designs in Chronicles of the Going Home Club are polished and clean looking with a bright use of colors throughout the cast even if the designs are a bit standard on their own. One notable thing is that Natsuki’s ahoge (cowlick) has been given special attention which is a noteworthy effort considering the way it is used for extra comedic effect.
As for the rest of the series, most of the scenery is fairly standard looking and unfortunately the cast rarely leaves the club room but when they do it usually comes with a nice change of scenery and costume change for the cast though even then most of the outfits remain fairly standard outside of a few extremely basic fan-service shots that are joked about almost immediately.
Audio NIS America has released Chronicles of the Going Home Club with only the original Japanese voice track which is fitting for a comedic series that so heavily relies upon the chemistry of the cast to pull off successful jokes. What is interesting in this series is that outside of Natsuki’s voice actress Ibuki Kido, the rest of the voice actresses made their debut in this show. This comes as something of a surprise since the cast works well together and brings out the best of the characters in the series.
As for the background music, the actual standard soundtrack is nothing to write home about as it features fairly standard themes throughout the series but I must note that a lot of care has been given to the ending themes. While the opening theme “2 Gakki Debut Daisakusen” by Otome Shinto is a memorable theme, there are three ending themes used throughout the series. The first ending “Wakuwaku Days” being a fairly standard theme featuring the voice actresses for the cast but after this we see character focused songs featuring “Hanabi” sung by Botan’s voice actress and “Kimi ni Tsuite Ieru Koto” by Karin and Claire’s voice actresses with both of these themes being impossible to skip, especially “Hanabi,” since they were that enjoyable.
Extras With the release of Chronicles of the Going Home Club NIS America has given the series their latest premium edition treatment featuring a collection of extras. While the on disc bonuses include “Deluxe” versions of the Going Home Club Theater shorts, fancier versions of shorts that appeared at the end of some episodes, clean versions of the opening and ending themes, and Japanese trailers, the real bonus comes in the form of the chipboard art box and the art book.
The art book features sketches of the core cast as well as little tidbits of information about them while also providing episode summaries but unlike their past releases, all of their episode summaries are comically misleading and feature accompanying sketches, as well as interviews with various members of the anime staff.
Overall Chronicles of the Going Home Club may not bring anything new to the table as far as slice of life comedies focusing on five girls go but it does feature a great cast of characters and plenty of amazing humor that often breaks the fourth wall and is rather self-deprecating. By never taking itself seriously the show is a very light comedy and is an enjoyable and entertaining series for those who want a good laugh but not much else.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview With Annex I crash landing on Mars and the crew members forced to split into six different squads, things have only grown worse for the surviving members as members of each group have been slain by the cockroaches. Scattered across the unforgiving landscape of Mars, Squads 2 and 3 have managed to stay alive with minimal casualties despite encountering unusual cockroaches that share the same powers as those who died on the BUGS 2 twenty years prior. With volume 4 of Terra Formars leaving things off with Adolf and the rest of Squad 5 under attack by a massive force of cockroaches, how do things progress in volume 5?
Story Terra Formars Volume 5 picks up at the start of Adolf and Squad 5’s battle against the horde of cockroaches and extremely bulky cockroach that they were facing off against at the end of the last volume. Unfortunately, as is the case with Terra Formars, one of the highest M.A.R.S. Ranking fighters is instantly defeated in one blow to provide a shocking death right at the start of the volume before turning back to Adolf Reinhard.
In a bit of a departure from the standard way the story has been told so far, Yu Sasuga reveals Adolf’s history as he continues to use his electric powers to take down as many cockroaches as he can and thanks to this we learn just how hard of a life he has had, making him one of the most heartbreaking characters in the series so far due to the loss of his parents at a young age to the M.O. Operation and the experimentation Germany put him through as a child.
This only gets worse as it reveals that the one light in his life was darkened due to the nature of humanity making what happens to him the most tragic feeling part of the series so far. It is hard to say, especially with the amount of dead bodies that have piled up over the course of the series so far, but what happens to Adolf as well as the rest of his team is the hardest hitting series of casualties that the author has put together so far. This is in part due to his backstory being revealed but also due to the lengths that he went to in order to protect his Squad only to fall in combat, triggering a device he knew nothing about and was implemented by those who used him for their own means as a final tool.
Now I’m speaking a lot about Adolf here because the rest of Terra Formars Volume 5 provides a few panels of vague mysteries, including the location of the strongest member of Annex I on his own, and then transitions into the next sequence of battles pitting Komachi, Marcos, and the now center focus Keiji and Kanako against the unique cockroaches and horde attacking the rest of Squad 1.
This of course means that the volume is still heavy on the fast paced action with a few scientific details about newly revealed base organisms used for the M.O. Operations of characters taking the stage this volume. On the other hand, there is very little story development other than the death of more characters which is disappointing for those who were hoping that some more progress would be made but great for those wanting to see what a few of the not yet shown members of Squad 1 are capable of. As mentioned before, the standout moment comes from Adolf’s stand against the roaches as well as the way that Yu Sasuga chose to insert bible verses from the plagues of Egypt to describe the devastating powers Adolf was wielding.
Artwork Once again Terra Formars benefits from the larger than average size of the Viz Signature releases as it allows for the detailed artwork to really pop out. With the high level of combat throughout volume 5 there is plenty of gore to be seen with the highly detailed artwork giving every attack look extremely vicious. There are also a number of transformations that the series is known for as Adolf pushes past the normal limits for a human and a few new character transformations also take the stage.
Extra Content Similar to the last volume, Terra Formars Volume 5 only contains two pages containing brief profiles for four of the members of the Annex project though this time all four are currently on Mars at least. Their profiles give readers a few extra details about their lives which is a nice little inclusion, especially since two are for characters that were barely given any time to shine.
Overall Terra Formars Volume 5 continues the brutal combat between the survivors of Annex I and the cockroaches that are constantly pulling new tricks out to put down any advantage the Squads have. This means that there really isn’t much story advancement but plenty of fast paced action. Those looking for highly detailed artwork and impressive combat sequences punctuated by an early emotional event involving one of the greatest departures of the series so far will be pleased with the way things unfold in volume 5 and will likely continue to occur throughout volume 6.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview The idea of creating an episodic adventure game from a series best known for its humor and wide variety of strange situations punctuated with heavy firepower from a variety of weapons seemed like a daunting but interesting task and Telltale Games proved they were up to the challenge when they released the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands. Then the let the single episode stew for four months leaving fans eager for news about when the story would continue and now that it has in Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged, how are the nefarious duo fairing?
Story Now it should go without saying but those who have yet to play Tales from the Borderlands: Zer0 Sum should do so before reading on since we will avoid spoiling critical events from this episode; events that took place in the previous episode will be mentioned. Anyways, Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged immediately makes a joke about how long of a wait there was between episodes which is a plus and then resumes the story from where we left off.
Rhys, a Hyperion executive looking for a chance to screw over his new boss and make a name for himself, and Fiona, a con artist from Pandora trying to make money to get her little sister and herself off the dangerous planet, had just survived a ridiculously danger encounter with bandits and Zer0 and have stumbled upon a piece of unknown but extremely valuable seeming Atlus technology. Of course at the same time, Handsome Jack, the likable antagonist from Borderlands 2 appears before Rhys like an AI hologram.
Throughout Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged we continue to see a story told by Fiona and Rhys as they narrate their own parts of the story as they talk to an unknown person holding the two prisoner and thanks to this, players are able to see every element of the story even when the two protagonists and their respective partners are separated and then reunited once again before the episode ends. This kind of set up is fairly predictable but works extremely well as it allows players to not only see how these characters interact when they are apart from the flimsy partnership that Rhys and Fiona have and how they end up interacting when everyone is together.
This means that players can make everything seem like things are fine between the pair by selecting various dialogue choices, including an important choice that is described so heavily that it breaks the fourth wall, though whether this type of loyalty will end up meaning anything in the end between these two is yet to be seen. What is seen however are a number of simple choices, including a new elemental upgrade to Fiona’s single-shot derringer featuring corrosive, shock, and incendiary elements that appear to only have one use, meaning which element you choose to shoot may play a factor in later parts of the game, especially with how important certain elements are depending on the situation.
While the actual choices and the results of said choices, except for on who to trust at a certain point, don’t seem to have much of a role at this point, what Tales from the Borderlands continues to exhibit is incredible comedic writing. Anyone who is a fan of the Borderlands brand of humor will continue to find more enjoyable moments throughout Atlus Mugged and many of these laughs come from situations that are completely unpredictable.
The character that does end up stealing the show, at least whenever he appears, is Handsome Jack as his holographic style form, dialogue, and interactions with Rhys are a major highlight and with plenty of secrets still up in the air, a returning character from Pre-Sequel in the form of Athena hot on the Rhys and Fiona’s tails, it will be interesting to see where Telltale will go from here as Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged is an assurance that the company has a solid hold on what makes the series so enjoyable.
Gameplay As far as the gameplay aspect of this episode is concerned; fans of Telltale Games should continue to expect the same type of elements that usual titles have, walking around a few areas while examining objects and talking to characters, selecting dialogue choices, and completing small quick time events during action sequences. An extremely basic puzzle is included with this episode though it is as easy as they come.
Most of what was available in the first episode returns in Atlus Mugged as players will continue to have the use of Rhys’ Echo Eye, which has now been slightly enhanced, to read humorous factoids when it is available and Fiona’s ever growing bundle of cash can be used for various purposes, though this episode only seems to allow players to use money for a very basic reason that appears to have no effect at the moment and while this does help establish some differences between the two characters, money continues to play an extremely basic role.
Visuals & Audio Telltale continues to take the bright colors and interesting designs from Borderlands and make them their own in Atlus Mugged with the comic style looking characters providing a perfect backdrop to most of the darker humor and action packed sequences found throughout the episode. The newly introduced characters have fitting appearances while the returning characters of Athena and a familiar vendor blend well with Telltale’s signature style.
As for the soundtrack, the developers have made excellent use of music throughout the game, especially shortly into the episode and as the credits run. The voice actors also play a major role in making sure that all of the jokes are delivered on point and thanks to their performances and skillful writing it comes together flawlessly.
Overall Despite having a strong start, there was lingering doubt that a series like Borderlands would transfer well into Telltale’s game style but Tales from the Borderlands: Atlas Mugged can put those doubts to rest. While many decisions at this point are made with no clear consequences or knowledge, Atlus Mugged’s continues Tales from the Borderlands’ engaging and humorous storyline in a successful manner that fans should definitely pick up. Let’s just hope that we won’t have to wait so long to see what will happen next.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It has been announced that when Saint Seiya – soul of gold – premieres on April 11th in Japan, the new season will be streamed on Daisukiwhere it will be available in a massive 220 countries and regions. There will be multi-language subtitles available with the following languages currently announced: English, traditional Chinese, Spanish (Europe), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Latin America), Arabic, Italian, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Tagalog and Korean.
After Saint Seiya – soul of gold –, produced by Toei Animation, premieres on the 11th a new episode will be added to Daisuki every other Saturday with a total of 13 episodes currently announced for this season. A description of the anime series can be found below:
During the battle with Hades, in the underworld, the twelve Gold Saints sacrificed their lives, destroying the Wailing Wall to open Seiya’s breach! However, Aiolia and the other Gold Saints, who should have been annihilated, are resurrected in a beautiful world, overflowing with light! Just why have these men, who should have been destroyed, been reborn? Aiolia becomes embroiled in a battle with this large mystery remaining. When he raises his Cosmo to the limit… Leo’s Cloth transforms!
A brand new trailer for Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 has been released showing off gameplay of the reunited Team 7 and Naruto’s summon Gamakichi as he tries to take down a huge amount of Ten Tail clones. Just as intense as you’d expect from the Storm series, the footage shows summons, combination jutsus, assists and more. This final battle against the ten tails looks like it will be the most epic giant boss battle yet, backed up by beautiful graphics thanks to the more powerful consoles.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 will be hitting the PS4, Xbox One and Steam this year in the U.S. fall. The game seems to be the ultimate mix of elements from past games, bringing back many core gameplay mechanics and even long time missing features such as wall running from the first game. For the first time ever in the series you will also be change your lead character from your team on the fly, allowing you to essentially play as three people at once!
After a few delays, the multiplatform racing sim; Project CARS is only a few weeks away from hitting store shelves, and Namco Bandai and Slightly Mad Studios are hard at work bringing some of the sexiest and most well know cars to the game. After the recent announcement of the Lykan Hypersport being added to the roster, now the devs have announced a partnership with Renault Sport that will put players behind the wheel of the sexy Megane R.S. 265.
Project CARS is set for release next month on just about every platform imaginable, so if you’re a racing fanatic make sure you check it out. In the mean time, make sure you check out the Renault Sport trailer below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
