Idea Factory International has released a new batch of English screenshots forHyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashedwith the focus being on the Gamindustri Gauntlet, a mode where players can select from one of eighteen fighters, including the CPUs, CPU Candidates, their HDD transformations, Dengekiko, and Famitsu, to battle against one another in a tournament to prove who is the strongest. If you happen to win the gauntlet, you will unlock special accessories.
Check out the screenshots below and keep an eye out for Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed when it is released on the PS Vita sometime this spring in North America and Europe.
Fans looking for something a little different from Koei Tecmo can now pick up Bladestorm: Nightmare in North America for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and digitally on the PlayStation 3. Bladestorm: Nightmare is a troop command action title that takes place during the Hundred Years War era as players choose to fight for either England or France.
While this is a remake of the original release, Bladestorm: Nightmare not only features updated mechanics but also an entirely new Nightmare mode where the Hundred Years War is interrupted by a horde of creatures led by an evil form of Joan of Arc. England and France must join forces to face off against these strange foes made up of demons, dragons, and more.
You may remember that at the start of this year, Bethesda and Zenimax announced that The Elder Scrolls Online would be re-branded as The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited on March 17th for PC owners. Well now that that day has come and gone, The Elder Scrolls Online is now a subscription free game.
This means that after buying the game, players will no longer need to pay anything extra to play online unless they choose to partake in the game’s “Crown Store” or set up a premium membership. It is worth noting that The Elder Scrolls Online will remain subscription free even when the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions are released on June 9th.
The set will come with a DVD and Blu-ray featuring episodes 5-8 with Japanese and English audio and English and Spanish subtitles and with a special soundtrack remix CD. On-disc extras will include the TV commercial collections and the textless off-air version of the opening animation for episode 5.
Physical bonuses will include:
Exclusive Mega Tall size “DODEKA” Disc Case
Double-sided cover illustrated by BUNBUN
Deluxe 24-page booklet
2 Collectible Wall Pin-up Pictures illustrated by Takahiro Sakai
Exclusive “PONYCAN US” Plastic Slipcase
Anyone who pre-orders this release by April 30, 2015 will receive a collection of ten key frame sheets that reproduce drawings showing Fu Inubozaki transforming into a Hero. The set will be released on May 10, 2015. It can be pre-ordered here from Right Stuf now for $71.98 USD.
Lupiesoft, best known for their upcoming game Dizzy Hearts and the adult visual novel The Menagerie, has announced that they are teaming up with Sekai Project to try and get an episodic visual novel called The Reject Demon: Toko onto Steam through Steam Greenlight. The Reject Demon: Toko was initially conceived during a game jam back in 2014 and since then Lupiesoft has been working on expanding the universe and now they want to release the whole story on PC, Mac, and Linux.
The story will be told through a kinetic visual novel style over the course of four chapters, which will feature updated sprites, cg, background music, and story compared to what was originally shown. You can vote for The Reject Demon: Toko on Steam Greenlight, as well as read more about it, here.
As for what the visual novel is about, Lupiesoft has provided a story description which can be found below:
When a human is destined to die, the demons ferry their souls to the afterlife. ‘The Reject Demon: Toko‘ is the story of Toko herself, a demon who has been kicked out of hell. Toko cannot ferry human souls to the underworld, and every day she stays on earth has her becoming increasingly human. Her troubles, however, are only just beginning.
Toko, after being taken in by the jubilant human Nadia, is being hunted by her past alongside her own internal challenges. The Reject Demon: Toko is about comedy, action, romance, and Hell’s sacred art of Rock n’ Roll!
Ponycan USA has just revealed the details of their second Denki-Gai release. The series is known in Japan as Denki-Gai no Honya-san.
Denki-Gai Collector’s Edition 2, featuring episodes 5-8, will be released on May 10, 2015. As with the first set, which is set to be released on April 10, 2015, this set will be a DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack and will contain a special character song CD. “Denki Songs 2” will feature performances by Sensei, Fu Girl, Tsumorin, Kantoku and Sommelier, and will include karaoke versions of the songs.
The exclusive physical bonuses include:
Exclusive Mega Tall size “DODEKA” Disc Case
Double-sided cover illustrated by SIN-EI ANIMATION
Double-sided Poster illustrated by SIN-EI ANIMATION
Exclusive “PONYCAN US” Plastic Slipcase
Anyone who pre-orders this release by March 30 will receive an autographed illustration by original author Asato Mizu. The set is available for pre-order here. It has a retail price of $89.98 USD, but Right Stuf are taking pre-orders for $71.98 USD.
Overview Very few series reach the level of success that A Certain Magical Index has managed to garner in Japan. This long running light novel series has received a number of different spin offs all while still having new novels published. As such it should come as no surprise that a movie featuring the characters from Index would be made and now FUNimation has released A Certain Magical Index – The Movie: The Miracle of Endymion in North America. Should fans of the series pick this film up?
Story Now before I continue I should note that The Miracle of Endymion does require viewers to have previous experience with the series to really know what is going on as very little detail is given about existing characters, this includes those from A Certain Scientific Railgun.
Three years prior to the start of the film, an event called the “Miracle of 88” occurred. This event involved a space plane crash landing in Academy City but despite plummeting from orbit, 88 passengers and crew managed to walk away with very little injuries. Now sometime during the second season of A Certain Magical Index, the world’s first space elevator, dubbed Endymion, is about to celebrate its grand opening.
While Touma and Index are out, they come across a popular street musician named Arisa who is incredibly popular online and is seen as a rising idol. While meeting the pair, Arisa learns that she will be performing at Endymion to celebrate the opening. However after receiving this good news, Arisa, Touma, and Index are attacked by Stiyl and three new witches as the Church of England and the rest of the magic users begin to move on Arisa for unknown reasons. They are saved however by a newly introduced security group named the Black Crow, led by Shutaura.
When things calm down a bit, Touma and Index learn that Arisa was one of the survivors of the Miracle of 88 and also learn from Kanzaki that there is much more to the space elevator than simply science. In fact the entire structure is something from biblical times that can destroy the world if activated and it is up to the cast from both Index and Railgun to try and put a stop to Ladylee Tangleroad, the owner of Endymion, and her nefarious plans.
I started this review saying that anyone who hasn’t seen the Index and Railgun series will be lost and there is good reason for that. The film takes a showy approach to introduce the various magical elements that take place throughout the story all while explaining very little. Because of this, there it is really easy for even fans that know the series to miss out on some story points such as how Ladylee is immortal, Kanzaki’s abilities as a Saint, why Arisa is being targeted by the magicians, and even why she is being used in the first place by Ladylee as the film either poorly explains these points or requires specific knowledge from the two core series.
That being said, there is a lot here for fans of the show. Thanks to Kuroko being placed in a wheelchair it is easy to place the exact starting point for the series and practically every notable side-character makes an appearance in some form, even if it is only to drop one or two lines or show up to help destroy something during the last few minutes. This does become something of a problem for new characters however as viewers are given no information on Stiyl’s three assistants and more focus could have been given to exploring Shutaura’s ability as well as explain more of Ladylee’s motivations.
While the story may focus on Arisa and Ladylee, Touma, Stiyl, and Misaka are involved in most of the action sequences. It must be said that despite the large number of characters being shown in the film, it is disappointing that we see very little interaction between the two groups. None of the Railgun characters encounter Touma and the others while Index and Misaka barely interact. Even in combat the groups are split up to the point where the members of Academy City have no knowledge of who is actually helping them out. This does help give viewers different angles on what is happening, as Misaka and Academy City try to prevent the elevator from collapsing while Touma and the others try to stop Ladylee’s plans which is a nice touch.
Visuals Although this is a movie, the overall quality of the animation and designs of the characters have not been given that significant of an improvement. The original cast looks as familiar as ever while the newly introduced characters have fitting designs but are generally unremarkable and the same can be said for most of the background scenery throughout the city, though the design of the stealth tank that appears in this film is impressive looking.
Where the film does shine is during the action sequences as there seems to be quite a lot of care put into keeping these scenes as fluid as possible despite the large amount of explosions that take place and the use of esper/magic abilities. The same can be said for the musical numbers involving Arisa performing on a stage, especially during the latter half of the film.
Audio
FUNimation has retained the original English voice actors from the two core series to reprise their roles in The Miracle of Endymion and they handle their characters perfectly. Where the English dub does have issues is with Arisa’s character. Arisa sings numerous songs throughout the film, including some background tracks, and unfortunately these songs have been dubbed in English and despite Megan Shipman’s best efforts, they sound far worse than the original Japanese songs.
As for the basic soundtrack, viewers shouldn’t expect anything special here though I must recommend switching to the Japanese track during Arisa’s performances as they are splendid sounding. As for the main ending theme, “Fixed Star” by Mami Kawada, matches the same types of themes used during the Index series.
Extras With their release of A Certain Magical Index – The Movie: The Miracle of Endymion, FUNimation has included a number of on-disc bonuses though some of them are fairly standard. Various Japanese trailers and promotional videos are included as well as the English trailer for the film and trailers for other FUNimation anime alongside an English commentary track.
This commentary track runs throughout the entire movie and features Micah Solusod (Touma), Monica Rial (Index), Megan Shipman (Arisa), and Whitney Rodgers (Shutaura). The commentary mostly involves the group discussing the film as it plays but also gives us details about their work on the series while highlighting how Megan and Whitney are fresh faces around the anime scene.
Overall Despite its flaws, A Certain Magical Index -The Movie: The Miracle of Endymion does turn out to be a rather enjoyable film for fans of the series, but one with such a high level of entry it may require someone to watch more than once to pick up on everything and even then there is still plenty left unexplained. These fans will be able to enjoy seeing the Index and Railgun casts once more, though they shouldn’t expect anything memorable from The Miracle of Endymion.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Fans of the Dynasty Warriors series know that in recent years, Koei Tecmo has been following a rather simple but enjoyable enough pattern of releasing a core numbered game, an Xtreme Legends version with various upgrades, and finally an Empires entry that allows for the player to have freedom to create their own story. Such is the case with Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, where the series is making its debut on the Xbox One. The question is, should fans pick up this latest release?
Gameplay Unlike the other two titles in the series, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a far different game as those who are familiar with the series should know. Rather than take part in someone else’s story through history, players step into a world of turmoil where they can re-write history as they see fit. Players have the option to jump into a number of different historical scenarios such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, craft their own, or start a randomly generated scenario using either a character of their choice or one that they made themselves.
This core mode, Empire Mode, follows the player’s character as they make their way through life in their chosen role. Players can start as a ruler of a land where they can plan out strategies, take care of their people, recruit soldiers, gather materials, and most importantly invade other territories to expand your rule. Or you can start out as an officer for a ruler, obey their commands and potentially offer some advice if you happen to be high enough of a rank, or if you don’t like the way things are going, betray them and try to start a revolution. Even then, you can also start as a free soldier roaming the lands and gathering allies by completing small quest missions to gain friends and form a vagabond unit of soldiers before either choosing up to join with a ruler or rising up to form an Empire of your own, all while earning ‘Merits’ by completing special tasks with these merits being the new way to level up your officer.
There are plenty of ways to experience Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires and every position gives the player certain tasks that they can accomplish and orders they can issue. Unfortunately being a free officer or even an officer working under a ruler limits what you can do by a fair margin. Free soldiers can still move freely and interact with those around them to gather their favorite warriors together into a makeshift unit, they are unable to upgrade facilities or make any significant changes to the landscape of China. The same can be said for officers as they must listen to their ruler and are generally extremely limited in what they can do, making the ruler mode perhaps the best way to take advantage of what Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires has to offer unless you feel like slowly rising your way through the ranks in order to garner enough influence to gain some sort of freedom as an officer.
Rulers are given the most options as they can not only invade other territories as they see fit but also form allegiances, recruit new officers, and even build various buildings on land to either increase the amount of resources they gain per turn or increase the number of items, weapons, or stratagems available for purchase. In fact, the amount of options available to the player at the start can be a bit overwhelming even for those who are familiar with the series as the tutorial only briefly explains certain actions and players are expected to learn as they go and learn quickly as a Ruler will have to plan properly or face losing battles and territories to other empires.
Once you do choose to enter combat there are a number of ways to go about it. Players can choose to go on raids beforehand or, if you chose to prioritize attacking other lands as a leader, your subordinates can possibly raid an area to lower its defenses making the area easier to attack. You see, while it is entirely possible to overthrow a stronger opponent through sheer might, it is generally a waste of time if you attack an opponent while outnumbered twenty to one as your own bases will likely fall before you can gather enough bases to take down your opponent.
The actual combat system remains the same as we have previously seen, with players being able to cut through swathes of generic enemies like tissue paper and having to face off against historical officers and lower officers in combat that plays the same way as you may remember. There are some changes this time as new strategems have been added to the game and, when activated, can do anything from building a temporary arrow tower to changing the weather on the map. In fact there are even large scale stratagems that require an officer or two to leave the field temporarily to prepare. These powerful stratagems pack a relatively large punch and it is possible to disrupt them by capturing bases or defeating the officer that ordered the attack while on the other side of things players will need to play a bit defensive to make sure their plans come to fruition.
I must say that while players have a plethora of options to already choose from, it is disappointing to see that the only added character in Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is Xun Yu. While Xun Yu’s attacks are unique and fun to use, making him a good addition to the roster, it would have been nice to see some more characters appearing. That being said, since players can now create their own character, the revamped marriage system allows players to marry their character to another officer and even have a baby that can eventually grow up into a soldier that will fight for the player after a number of years pass in Empire mode.
Outside of the Empire Mode there is your standard Free Mode to fight various battles, an Online Mode to fight alongside others online, and an expanded Edit Mode. Now as mentioned, players will have the ability to create their own fighter and there are a number of new options available here to try and create a unique looking warrior but this time around players can create their own banners, horses, and soldiers. The banner creation mechanic is nicely varied while unfortunately the horse and troop edits are limited to pre-designed models that you can only slightly modify which is disappointing for a title where one is trying to craft their own story.
Visuals & Audio Unfortunately, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires doesn’t look too much better than the previous Xtreme Legends release. This isn’t too much of a bad thing as the designs of the historical officers are still outstanding and the animations for the flashy musou attacks are as impressive as ever, but the amount of re-used stages and generic enemy appearances remain the same as ever. It must be said that there is always an impressive amount of action going on in fights, with there being easily over a hundred soldiers to mow through but there are plenty of times players will need to stand around a base waiting for more soldiers to pop up so that they can be slain to fully conquer a base.
The soundtrack remains as impressive as fans can expect at this point with there being countless fitting tunes to enter battle with. It is worth noting that this release only features the original Japanese voice track but this isn’t much of an issue as the original voice acting is a better fit for Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires’ setting.
Overall With Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, this is the third time that players will be seeing a familiar system implemented in a different way and unfortunately it doesn’t really do enough to set itself apart from the past Empires title. The new customization is a nice touch but limited options lower their impact while the number of additions and tweaks to the Empire mode and combat system don’t do enough to really change the experience.
Now that doesn’t mean that Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires isn’t fun. Fans of the series will still be able to find plenty to enjoy here as they create their own version of history playing named officers or creating a warrior of their own to rise to power and attempt to conquer all of China in whatever manner they see fit.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
On the 17th of March, 2015, the Australian Classification Board listed a brand new video game in the Pokémon series. The game, titled Pokémon Rumble World, is listed as being a multi-platform game with online interactivity. The official classification is ‘PG’ for “mild violence”. Ambrella is listed as the author of the game while Nintendo Co., Ltd. is listed as the publisher. Ambrella has developed multiple Pokémon games in the past. Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd. is listed as the applicant for the classification.
It is not uncommon for the Australian Classification Board to reveal a game before the developer reveals its existence to the public. No other details about the game have been publicly revealed.
TellTale Games have quite a bit out right now. You have the titles that just wrapped up but still fresh on our mind, such as The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. There is also the two current titles that still have episodes being released as we speak, and while Game of Thrones fans will have to wait a moment, Tales from the Borderlands is back and ready to continue on, as a new trailer has just been released for the episodic spin-off’s second entry, Atlas Mugged.
This clip runs down what players can expect, so get reaady for that enjoy the tease down below and download the game on your preferred platform today. You can also catch up on what you missed by reading our review of the first episode here.
