Nearly three months after Jessica Nigri was announced as the voice of Sonico in Sentai Filmworks’ upcoming English dub of SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation, two new members of the dub voice cast have been revealed.
At Anime Matsuri 2015, Luci Christian was announced as the voice of Suzu Fujimi. David Wald was just announced as the voice of Mr Kitamura, Sonico’s manager. Previews of the English dub can be found at Sentai Filmwork’s official YouTube channel.
On-disc extras for the home-video release will include: the English “Sonico Reveal” commercial collection, English radio spots, a narrated trailer, “Recording with Jessica Photo Shoot”, English outtakes, an English blooper reel and the textless opening and ending animation sequences. The series will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on May 26, 2015.
Hanabee Entertainment revealed on the weekend that they have acquired the DVD and Blu-ray distribution rights to SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation. Their release will include Japanese audio with English subtitles and the English dub that Sentai Filmworks is producing. This title will be released on June 3, 2015 along with two other releases.
The Familiar of Zero: “Rondo” of Princesses (season three) will be released on DVD and Blu-ray with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Finally, a complete box-set of the Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series will be released with dual audio and an array of on-disc extras. These will include: animated art galleries, interviews with the director and cast, TV spots and trailers. Furthermore, the box-set will come with a book featuring content from the recent limited-edition Japanese DVD box sets, which will include artwork, episode commentaries and liner notes from the LaserDisc release.
Pre-orders for all three of these releases can be made here.
Back when Project X Zone was first announced many people thought that the title would never be released overseas but when it was it managed to perform extremely well. As such it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to hear that Project X Zone 2 is also going to be released in North America, Europe, the Middle-East, and Australasia sometime this fall.
If anything the biggest surprise is that a sequel is actually being released but thankfully this series that brings characters from Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Sega franchises together will be returning. You can check out the announcement trailer as well as some screenshots below.
Last month Sekai Project and Lupiesoft added The Reject Demon: Toko to Steam Greenlight and since then the project has been greenlit and now we have an actual release date for the first chapter. Lupiesoft has announced that The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude will be released on April 21st.
When the title is released it will be playable on Mac, Linux, and PC and will tell the story of Toko, a demon that has been kicked out of hell and is taken in by a human named Nadia.
Despite being removed from hell as she cannot ferry souls to the underworld, she is hunted by her past and struggles with internal challenges. Despite sounding fairly dark, The Reject Demon: Toko is being described as a title that will be about “comedy, action, romance, and Hell’s sacred art of Rock n’ Roll” and will tell a story over the course of four planned chapters. Those looking to learn more about the title can read more about it on the official Steam listing or official website.
Idea Factory International has released a new batch of Omega Quintet screenshots with this latest set focusing on introducing the ‘Harmonics’ battle system. Harmonics is activated when two or more of your idols have consecutive turns. Once activated, you can cycle through the characters to strategize your attacks and perform special Harmonic Chain combinations. With these, your idols combine their individual skills to unleash extra flashy, extra deadly attacks.
The first PlayStation 4 title from Idea Factory International, Omega Quintet, will be released North America on April 28th in both physical and digital formats. It will hit Europe on May 1st and will be available digitally for European markets May 6th.
Back at the start of the year Viz Media announced that they would be releasing the long out of print The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past manga sometime this year and recently the company announced exactly when fans can expect it to be released.
This full color release follows the story of the NES title with added story elements and characters and is drawn by the well known manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori who holds the world record for the “most comics published by one author.”
The series was initially published in Nintendo Power back in the ’90s and has been unavailable since.
A sequel to the last gen title Saint Seiya: Brave Soliders has been announced for PS4, PS3 and PC. Saint Seiya: Soldiers’ Soul will focus on the infamous license created by Masami Kuramada, featuring characters from the all-new animated series focused around the legendary Gold Saints and their new God Cloths. The fabled fight against Hades was not the end of everything for Athena’s heroes: blessed by heavenly powers, Seiya and his friends still have to accomplish something bigger!
“As an entertainment provider, we are very proud with the activity around Saint Seiya, a legendary licence! On one hand, we have a new Anime, on the other hand Saint Seiya will hit PC and PlayStation®4 for the first time ever with this Soldiers’ Soul opus! Our collaborationwith DIMPS Co.,Ltd has always been successful and our latest collaboration, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, proved that our duo is working perfectly well! We all are excited to see this game coming out in 2015!” said Herve Hoerdt, Vice President of IP Strategy, Marketing & PR at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe.
Looks like Dimps might be staying around with Bandai Namco a bit longer as the partnership has really paid off. The game is currently set for a 2015 release and you can check out the announcement trailer and some screenshots below.
The first successful gaming project on Kickstarter was Barnyard Intelligence’s adventure RPG High Strangeness. The game was Kickstarted by 36 backers in September 2009, during the infant days of crowdfunding. It has been a long road for both the backers and Barnyard Intelligence, but High Strangeness will finally launch on May 6 with the help of Majesco’s indie label Midnight City.
The game is inspired by the likes of Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda, and StarTropics. Lead developer Ben Shostak is merging classic 8-bit and 16-bit art style and gameplay elements in what they dub as a 12-bit adventure. High Strangeness features worlds with two distinct visual styles done in 8-bit and 16-bit graphics.
High Strangeness will launch on May 6th for PC and Wii U.
Following on from the announcement yesterday of a Western release for Pokemon The Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, the Pokemon Company have announced a few more details of the star of the movie Hoopa and it’s Unbound form for the Pokemon series latest games. Hoopa Unbound weighs in at a very heavy 490 kg, stands at 6.5 meters tall and will have the Magician ability which allows it to steal most hold items when hitting the opponent with a damaging move. It also sports the unique typing of Psychic/Dark, previously exclusive to the Malamar line.
As with most event legendaries, Hoopa can not be met in any game through normal means. Apart from the event seemingly being limited to the 3DS titles Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, no specific details were released on the event to get Hoopa or how users will be able to use Hoopa’s Unbound form. The Pokemon Company have said to keep an eye on the news. For now, enjoy the video of Hoopa Unbound in action below.
Overview The Warriors games from Omega Force have been a yearly staple for Koei Tecmo over the years and while recent years have saw the company create various Warriors titles that tied into other franchises, many of these games still feel quite similar to one another. However all the way back in 2007 the company released a different type of game called Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War. Featuring a setting far different than fans were used to and a number of gameplay changes, Koei Tecmo has now re-released the title eight years later with a number of improvements under the name Bladestorm: Nightmare. The question is, have these improvements made Bladestorm: Nightmare a title worthy of purchasing?
Story Set during The Hundred Years’ War that was waged between France and England throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, players step into the role of a player-created mercenary looking to make a name for themselves on the battlefield. Rather than fighting for glory or to try and prove that one side is correct in their thinking, you are out to make money as well as become as famous as possible and this means that your loyalty is easily bought as players will regularly be able to choose between which side they want to fight on in major battles.
This means that one fight could see the player taking on the French while the next time around they are facing off against their previous English allies without a second thought. While most of the story is delivered through simple text briefings around the battles and in conversations held between characters in the tavern, there are CG cutscenes scattered throughout the campaign and players will see a lot of historical and original characters not only fighting against one another but interacting in these scenes.
Joan of Arc, John Talbot, and Edward the Black Prince are just a few of the historical figures that are weaved into the story and players will fight alongside them throughout the game even though most of the battles that give you an option on whom to fight for do not matter in the long run, there are pivotal skirmishes that do determine who will win the war so be prepared for that. This standard scenario is the same as the original release and is rather refreshing as it not only gives players a fresh untapped piece of history to explore but a feeling that their character actually has a chance to change things.
Moving away from the standard story, there is also a brand new Nightmare scenario. As the English and French are battling against one another, an army of demons appear from nowhere and begin laying waste to both armies. With creatures such as dragons, griffins, large Cyclopes, and more trying to eliminate humanity while also turning a major historical figure evil, the sides must band together to fight this new foe and players are right in the middle of it.
Unlike the more open feeling main storyline, Nightmare offers a more focused storyline that not only fleshes out the characters better but also features a number of interesting twists in what becomes a lengthy campaign to accompany the already very lengthy main storyline.
Gameplay There is a reason that I mentioned the Warriors games at the start of this review and that is because while many fans may be entering Bladestorm: Nightmare expecting the same type of gameplay, they’ll instead be treated to something that feels like more of a combination of simple Kessen tactics mixed in with basic Warriors combat. The reason for that is that while players do have their own character to control and fight with, they are always accompanied by a small squad of soldiers that follow the basic commands the player can issue.
As you enter a battle players can choose what type of squad they want to initially lead, such as a squad of swordsmen, archers, cavalry, pikemen, and more (including some of the fantasy creatures from the Nightmare scenario eventually). Each of these squads comes with three commands that serve as special attacks with all three featuring cooldown times and they all follow the player’s wishes, meaning that whenever you wade into battle and start swinging they’ll be right there with you.
As you fight in the fields you will come across other squads of different types and you can change to being in command of that unit, leaving our previous one to defend the area. This allows players to change their weapons on the fly which is incredibly useful as all troop varieties have their strengths and weaknesses against other squad types. It is worth noting though that players must be trained in certain squads first in order to take command of them which requires items as well as some rather in-depth customization between fights as you adjust your player’s equipment and weaponry, train your squads and more.
That being said, the actual combat options are quite limited as there really is very little variation to the moves players can use. Each squad features different movesets which is nice, but for the most part players will simply be holding down one button to command their soldiers to perform standard attacks at will until the enemies fall down with the only change up being the occasional use of a special attack whenever the cooldown timer finishes or triggering a ‘Bladestorm’ special attack when your morale meter is full.
This becomes an even bigger problem when you consider the massive size that many of these battlefields feature. While it does make for intense looking sequences on the battlefield as you lead a battalion of over a hundred soldiers, featuring different unit types that can eventually be combined into a large force, into battle against a base filled with enemies, the time it takes to travel between most destinations is often a simple straight jog (or ride if you happen to be a mounted squad at the time) where you’ll encounter very few enemies outside of the occasional lone squad.
It doesn’t help that the AI is mediocre at best. The enemy AI is rather suicidal at times and almost always reacts late to any attacks you initiate, even if you are charging straight into them. Allied AI isn’t much better as it generally falls on the player to make actual changes on the battlefield but they do a somewhat decent job at least protecting areas you’ve already came through.
Visuals & Audio Even though the base game was made over eight years ago at this point, it is easy to tell that Bladestorm: Nightmare has made quite a number of improvements to the graphics of the original game but unfortunately they still fall short in a large number of areas. There are numerous issues with textures, stiff animations, and terrible pop-in rates but I must say that the fact that there is no slowdown despite having upwards of three-hundred soldiers fighting at one time makes for an amazing visual experience, even if it doesn’t look that great up close.
The same can be said in regards to the title’s voice work. While some characters feature fitting voice work that match the time period, there are others that sound extremely stilted, like they were phoning it in. Thankfully the actual soundtrack is fantastic as there are countless orchestral themes fitting the time period of The Hundred Years’ War and these songs are a real treat and offer a different feeling from what fans are generally used to.
Overall Due to the limitations of the combat system and poor enemy AI often creating bland fights Bladestorm: Nightmare there is a fairly repetitive feeling to the title despite the unique ideas it introduces but those who can embrace the squad combat mechanics will be in for quite a treat as Bladestorm: Nightmare offers two very lengthy campaigns, with the newer of the two being far more engrossing and exciting, while treating players to a fresh setting and unique gameplay experience with armies battling one another on a large enough scale that players can invade enemy strongholds with an impressive army riding at their command. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Back at the start of the year 
