Now that DmC: Devil May Cry: Definitive Editionis out of the way, Capcom is looking to reveal more information about their other HD Devil May Cry project, Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition. New details for the game have revealed that Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition will feature Vergil as a playable character as well as the bigger inclusion that Lady will be playable as well as Trish. Vergil will come with a number of new abilities such as Concentration, Grim Trick, and Sword Illusions while Lady will primarily use firearms in combat and Trish will be a melee fighter.
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition will also feature a new “Legendary Dark Knight” mode as well as new costumes, which will appear in cut scenes. Currently no exact release date has been announced but Capcom is aiming to release the title sometime this summer for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Telltale Games has a habit of suddenly announcing the release date for their episodic games, generally the day before or of the episode’s actual release. Such is the case with the third episode of Game of Thrones, titled The Sword in the Darkness which is now available for purchase on most platforms.
A launch trailer, which can be found below, gives us a glimpse at what to expect as House Forrester and its surviving members continue to try and survive in the land of Westeros despite how terrible things have been going for them. Of course it is worth noting that there are some spoilers of course for those who haven’t completed the second episode in the trailer so be wary if you happen to fall into that category.
Croteam and Devolver Digital announced the first expansion pack for their visually stunning first person puzzle adventureThe Talos Principle. The Talos Principle: The Road to Gehenna will star Uriel in a new part of the simulation, looking to free the souls of the damned trapped there.
The expansion pack is written by the writers of the base game, Tom Jubert and Jonas Kyratzes, and features a new world with its own unique history and culture. “With Road to Gehenna we have created an all-new narrative which both branches off from and expands the original character’s journey,” said Jonas Kyratzes.
The Talos Principle: The Road to Gehenna will launch on Steam this spring. The expansion pack will be bundled up with the base game for a PlayStation 4 and Nvidia Shield platform launch later this year.
HandMade Game announced that the sequel to their award winning puzzle game has passed Steam Greenlight. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle has been Greenlit on Steam based on community votes.
Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle stars Anne, a girl trapped in a mansion full of rooms. Each room contains a puzzle created by the mysterious Toymaker and are filled with items that will help Anna escape. Players will need to rely on their wits to solve the 144 rooms spread across four sections.
“Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle builds on our original game in every way to create a deep puzzle adventure with mystery, a slowly building sense of challenge and a true feeling of accomplishment with every level solved,“said Jake Jonghwa Kim, Creative Director of HandMade Game. “This a game we are extremely passionate about and hope that fans will enjoy when we release it this spring.“
No release date has been announced by HandMade Game, but Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle will support Linux, Mac, and Windows right out of the gate. Those who purchase Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle will also be eligible for a discount on Steam for the original game, Rooms: The Main Building.
How did you guys find the recently released DLC Chapter for The Evil Within? Was the beginning of Julie Kidman’s story compelling, frightening and captivating? Do you want more? I’ll be honest, I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to sit down with the DLC yet, but I know many of you have and are eagerly awaiting the conclusion!
Well you wont have to wait long. The Evil Within: The Consequence has been given a release date of April 21 on PC, Xbox One and Xbox 360 and April 22 for PS4 and PS3, which means less than a month to wait! To get you ready though, Bethesda have provided a little teaser trailer for the game’s conclusion, which you can check out below.
Sad news bat-fans, the highly anticipated conclusion to the Batman: Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Knight is being delayed once again. You will now be able to don the cape and cowl one final time on June 24th, 2015.
This is the second time that the game has been delayed – after first being announced for October last year, then pushed to June 2nd of this year. It looks like Rocksteady and Warner Bros. are really making sure that they ship a game that lives up to the expectations and legacy as its predecessors, and as frustrating as it is, I for one can’t blame them for that.
The fifth installment in the hugely popular Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is set for release on August 6th this year, and finally Paramount Pictures have given us our first real look at the film with the first official trailer. So your mission, should you choose to accept it is to watch the video below:
Ethan Hunt and his team as they try to stop the Syndicate, an International rogue organisation, as highly skilled as they are from destroying the IMF. Tom Cruise reprises his role as Hunt, and is joined by Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson in what will no doubt be an absolute blockbuster.
You can also check out the poster below, so let us know what you think in the comments section but as always, should you or any of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, Capsule Computerswill disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in 5…4…3….2…
Another promo video for the upcoming anime adaptation of the light novel series Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, also known as Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru no Darō ka?, has been released and you can check it out below.
For those who are unaware, the series will begin airing in April and tells the story of a boy named Bell whose original goal is to enter the dangerous dungeon in order to try and pick up girls. Yen Press is currently publishing the light novel series in North America with the first volume released earlier this year and the second volume set to be released next month.
Overview Whenever a sequel to a popular game franchise is announced pretty much no one is surprised at this point. However thanks to the rise of anime styled fighting games in the West, we have been seeing a number of surprising localizations over the past few years and now another title by Melty Blood’s French Bread has been released in the West. The question is, should fans of the faster paced anime fighting games pick up Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late?
Story It is worth noting that Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late does not feature an actual story mode of any sort and, like many fighting games with this style, tell a simpler story through an arcade mode. Each playable character gets their own unique story throughout the Arcade Mode where short dialogue sequences will appear at the beginning, a few times in the middle, and at the end of the battle to help set the tone for the game and give players a feel for the character’s personality.
What this means however is that players are left with a threadbare storyline that, while interesting as numerous characters reveal extra information about the fighters, called In-Births as they have been given special abilities after surviving attacks from creatures known as the Void that appear during certain nights throughout the year.
There are various factions at play though these are never really given much detail outside of which characters work for specific organizations and this means that the whole thing is loosely held together which is disappointing. That being said, there are some more humorous stories such as the console exclusive Nanase’s and some of the other stories are rather intriguing on their own, though it is a shame they are never fleshed out.
Gameplay Once you start up the game you’ll be treated to a whole slew of gameplay modes to take advantage of, though it is worth noting that despite how many are on offer there really is very little variation here. There is the aforementioned Arcade Mode following players through ten battles, a Time Attack Mode, Survival, Score Attack, Versus, Online, and of course Training.
There is also a gallery where players can view previously unlocked CGs and movies as well as purchase locked artwork through points earned by fighting and a minor customization mode that allows players to create a different looking player card that will be shown when you do fight online so nothing truly special here other than plenty of ways to try out the characters in the roster and test your skills.
Once you do enter combat you’ll find a game that is a bit more fast paced than your average fighting game but doesn’t reach the levels of the BlazBlue series. The reason for this is that while Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is a fast game, it doesn’t feature as many over-the-top movesets and elaborate systems that make up the recent BlazBlue games. Instead players will find a game that heavily rewards players for fighting aggressively and a roster made up of standard moving fighters, a few quicker fighters, and one slow but strong fighter.
Now the reason I say Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late rewards aggression is thanks to the Grind Grid (GRD) system. As you fight a meter will begin filling up in the bottom of the screen next to each players’ EXS meters and aggressive moves such as attacking, timing your blocks, and advancing on your enemy will increase the meter while running away and defending too long will cause it to decrease. Every 17 seconds the title will use this meter to gauge who is more aggressive and give that player a Vorpal boost that can be used in a number of ways.
Not only can Vorpal boost allow players to deal out more damage with their standard attacks but can also be absorbed into the player’s fighter to boost their EXS meter. It is worth noting that players can also transfer some of their EXS meter into their GRD gauge by holding down a button while not receiving a boost. This isn’t always possible of course as players will need to contend with an opponent but it may help sway the fight your way as the Vorpal boost does make a difference. That being said, it also isn’t a game breaker as players can play smart to try and avoid their opponent’s boosted attacks or turn the tide themselves with various special moves.
You see, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is a game that is very easy to learn and while there is some depth, it will be one that most players will be able to easily grasp. The controls for the system are easy to manage and most special techniques that require the EXS gauge to be filled to at least 100 can be activated through a few familiar directional inputs and the press of a few buttons. The same can be said about the spectacular looking finishing moves, called ‘Infinite Worths’ that require an EXS gauge of 200% or when triggering a “Veil Off” rage style mode that allows the player to break out of combo attacks and also unleash their powerful finishers in a pinch without the need for a full meter.
This means that while there certainly is a challenge players can grasp it easily if they spend some time either fighting against lower leveled AI opponents or training in the training mode. As for the roster, as briefly mentioned earlier, all of the fighters have a unique fighting style that mesh well together and can be handled in different ways. Some are more complicated than others with different mechanics mixed in but there is plenty of variety here to fit your needs.
As for the online component, it is unfortunately a bit simple. If you can manage to find a match in what has unfortunately become something hard to do already, you’ll find a very smooth running netcode where I only briefly experienced a bit of slowdown despite playing against a number of different opponents, which unfortunately required a bit of waiting actually find these opponents.
Visuals & Audio Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is a bit more down to earth as far as an anime fighting game’s visuals go. What I mean by this is that most of the characters are fairly standard looking without absurd looking designs and thanks to this choice of focus the characters are not only nicely designed and look great on their own, the look even better in battle. The fluid combat system compliments some great looking special attacks that can be unleashed, including the impressive Infinite Worth EXS that can only be triggered when the player is in critical health.
As for the soundtrack, there is some fairly standard sounding combat music included in the release which is to be expected and while it is fitting, it really doesn’t add too much to the experience. The original Japanese voice track is the only one featured in the game but the cast has done a great job fitting their characters though I am disappointed at the lack of subtitles during battle introductions.
Overall Despite not offering a whole lot of variation between its modes, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late holds itself together by providing a solid combat experience and easy to learn mechanics. With the GRD helping adjust the flow of combat and the varied cast of characters battling one another, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late is an impressive looking and enjoyable title despite its few flaws.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview The Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise has been going strong for Compile Heart and Idea Factory ever since they released the first game back in 2010. By combining light-hearted humor, often parodying the game industry, and enjoyable gameplay with a memorable cast, we’ve seen numerous core titles and spin-offs ranging from idol games to action titles be released under the franchise’s banner, not to mention manga spin-offs and even an anime adaptation. Now with a game focused more on fan favorite Noire and offering an SRPG experience, is Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart worth picking up for fans?
Story In the land of Gamarket, the four goddesses continue to battle one another for control of the land. Players will see at the beginning that Noire has managed to obtain near complete rule with her large share percentage. Because of this, she is capable of taking on Neptune, Blanc, and Vert without much help despite having a number of generals willing to assist her.
Despite her overwhelming advantage, Noire doesn’t wish to battle against the other goddesses in order to bring peace to the land and it is here that an unknown woman (that players will recognize if they have played other Hyperdimenison Neptunia games) suggests that she wishes her hardest on the Sharicite to unite the world without the need for violence. Believing this is the answer to her struggle, she does so but something goes terribly wrong as she is left drained of nearly all of her power and her generals scatter to the winds.
Left with no power and no allies, Noire quickly falls into despair even while monsters begin to invade Lastation. It is here that the male protagonist appears in the city and runs to Noire’s aid. Thanks to the him believing in her, Noire is capable of once again becoming Black Heart and defeating the monsters within Lastation. To help ensure things continue smoothly and to reward him, Noire makes the faceless protagonist her secretary and soon vows that with the help of Neptune, Vert, and Blanc that they will bring order back to the world.
Now, I will admit that it is rather odd that a faceless self-insert style protagonist was added to the game in order to help motivate Noire since he really only plays a comedic role and generally finds himself liked by everyone else in the group while Noire acts protective of him. It does change things up a bit which is nice but also feels like an artificial way to place the player in the story when fans already will find plenty going for them here.
I say that because not only are the standard goddesses all back and acting just how fans love them but a whole bunch of new characters have also been added into the game. You see, Noire’s generals are all parody characters from other video game franchises or companies, including Resident Evil, Agarest War, Metal Gear, and more. Because of this they all have unique personalities and mannerisms to match their franchises and they all add some fresh new comedy to a game that is already full of great humor, making Hyperdevotion Noire‘s story one that fans will enjoy immensely, even though the actual plot line and the final boss is on the weaker side.
Gameplay
Unlike the other games in the core series, Hyperdevotion Noire is an SRPG and one that has removed dungeon exploration entirely. Instead players will find themselves based in Lastation and it is here where you can do various things such as Shop, go on missions to advance the story or side-missions to gain levels and items at the Mission HQ, use the Disc Development to create equipment that provides various buffs, make new items using obtained blueprints at the returning Item Development, view past scenes at the CPU Hotel as well as interact with other party members, and work as Noire’s secretary and also interact with her at the Basilicom which can unlock some new and fun scenes over time as you successfully give her advice on various requests and upgrade the Basilicom.
Before selecting a mission at the Mission HQ, players will be able to equip their characters and it is interesting to note that a new element system has been added to the game. This means that players can choose to enter with a neutral element on their characters, they can now equip various elemental gems that will change the element type of that unit and the damage type they deal. This can be used to deal extra damage to enemies who are weak to that type but it is also a dangerous risk because this makes those units weak to other elemental attacks.
Once you do enter battle you’ll notice that Hyperdevotion Noire plays out like many other SRPGs with the battles taking place on a grid-based field where all of the player’s characters have a turn to move and attack before the enemies take their own turn. At the start of the match players will select what units they wish to enter into the battle, as players will quickly find that they will have plenty of spare units to choose from, though it is worth noting that most story missions require specific characters to take part in a fight and due to the way the story plays out, some characters may also be temporarily unavailable. This can sometimes lead to your stronger fighters being unavailable and having to use either weaker party members or unfamiliar ones that will need to be trained up a bit before taking on that mission.
Actual combat plays out rather simply as players can move their characters a certain range and then attack enemies within their attack range. Attacking enemies from the side or the back deals extra damage while attacking from an elevated platform also deals extra damage. What makes the combat a bit more complicated however is the way that almost every stage has unique features such as puzzles, traps that deal damage, cause status effects that are unique but still detrimental, and sometimes players will need to do more than simply kill every enemy to complete the mission.
Another combat mechanic is the Lily system. Unlike the main games where players will partner characters up to raise the Lily rank, in Hyperdevotion Noire it is instead activated by being close to other characters in combat. For example, any time a player uses a skill, such as Noire’s starting skill Lace Ribbons, it will require a set amount of SP but if standing next to Neptune, the Lily system will activate and not only will the skill cost less SP to use but it will deal additional damage while providing Lily Points.
These boosts, portrayed as light pecks on the cheek, are amplified by the amount of allies surrounding the character using the skill, with four being the max (though this depends on the skill’s target range) and providing a large boost. As for the Lily Points, they are required to activate not only the HDD transformations, which only last for three turns in Hyperdevotion Noire, but also are required to use a characters special attack. Since HDD transformations can be only used once per battle it is important to not carelessly waste a transformation as combat can be very difficult at times.
While the AI may not be the most intelligent early in the game, there are numerous moments throughout Hyperdevotion Noire that the difficulty will take an upswing and challenge the player even if they were breezing before previous battles. This is best countered through proper planning and completing various side-missions and replaying story missions for extra bonuses but make no mistake, while this is an easier than average SRPG it is still quite challenging so save often.
It is worth noting that there is a New Game Plus mode that will allow you to carry over all of your levels, weapons, Lily Ranks, etc. into a new game that will allow you to either challenge a harder difficulty or have an easier time trying to obtain the True Ending for the title if you missed out on it the first time through.
Visuals & Audio Like the rest of the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, the story is presented in a visual novel style format where detailed character portraits are used to represent all of the characters. These scenes are as enjoyable as ever as the animated portraits do a satisfying job portraying each character’s emotions and I must say that the designs for many of the new characters are top notch as they parody the franchise they are derived from. There are also a number of gorgeous looking CGs, some of which are fan-service heavy of course, which is always a nice plus.
Outside of the story segments, the visuals change to a more chibi/nendoroid approach with all characters taking a cutesy minimalistic appearance with large heads on small bodies. This style works well and although a lot of re-skinned enemies make their way onto the battlefield, the battlefields are widely varied and there are some fun themed ones mixed in as well.
As for the voice work, Hyperdevotion Noire comes with both the English and original Japanese voice tracks and all of the English voice actors have returned to voice their characters while the new characters fit in perfectly fine. Unfortunately, other than an enjoyable opening song and a few small themes, the rest of the background music sounds like recycled tunes from the original games, which is fine but it would have been nice to change things up a bit more.
Overall Compile Heart took a bit of a risk taking and making a spin-off utilizing such different gameplay elements from the main series but that risk has paid off as Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart’s new mechanics make for an enjoyable gameplay experience to coincide with a fun, albeit lightly structured, storyline that fans will love as well as a bunch of great new characters. It might not be the hardest SRPG and the addition of the male secretary feels a bit tacked on, but Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black is an easy recommendation.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
