It’s no secret Microsoft haven’t been kind to the classic IP’s they obtained when they purchased Rareware. Last year at E3 a trailer for Project Spark was shown and at the very end of the trailer Conker appeared just as he looks in Conker’s Bad Fur Day and cut the logo in half. Many thought we were getting a new Conker game but were then dissapointed to hear Conker say “10 years without a new game, guess we’ll have to make our own.”
Now a Conker’s Bad Fur Day DLC pack is coming to Project Spark and it seems like it will try and sell itself as a semi sequel to Bad Fur Day with actual story content and characters brought back from the N64 classic. You can see the old Cock and Plucker pub where Conker got drunk in the first game as well as a member of the Tediz and what seems to be Rodent but it is hard to tell as he is with the Tedi and never speaks.
The DLC will launch April 23rd at 9:00 AM PST and include the first chapter of Conker’s story titled Conker’s Big Reunion. It will also come with the Champion and Creation Pack. Conker may look a little funny here and not be animated all that well but that is partially due to the fact the entire trailer was created with the Project Spark in game tools which is pretty impressive and means any body can now make their own Conker adventures. The first episode will take about an hour to play through and Rare has given the Project Spark team a lot of the original assets to use so make the episode as authentic as possible.
Sure it’s not a true sequel but I actually really liked this trailer and I’m glad their sticking with the mature Bad Fur Day theme as well as using alot of original assets and even Conker’s original voice. It will definitely be interesting to see what the game plays like come April 23rd. Project Spark is available on Windows 8 PC’s and on Xbox One. Let us know your impressions of the new teaser trailer in the comments below.
Techland released a new infographic today with data collected from 3.2 million players during the first 45 days of Dying Light. To help players visualize their achievements, Techland has provided some real world comparisons. Personally, the most impressive number was the total distance climbed, as 7 years of freefall is an incredible time to fall at terminal velocity.
Dying Light is Techland’s zombie FPS that mixes melee combat and freerunning, and tosses in a few guns to boot. The Polish developers have been extremely busy with post-launch content for the game, both free and paid. Hard Mode, extra weapons, new outfits, and mod support has been among the newly released content. Owners can look forward to more maps, modes, and skills in coming months.
This is not an early April Fool’s prank; Call of Dutyis coming to Australia on April 1st for the first time. Confused? Don’t be! For the first time, one of the four new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfaremultiplayer maps will be set in Australia.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare “Ascendance” is adding four new maps, a new energy weapon that works as both a LMG and a shotgun, and the Exo Grapple ability to the multiplayer game. The popular Exo Zombies mode continues with a new map set in Burgertown and more traps.
Gamers will be able to get their first look at “Ascendance” at the 2015 Call of Duty Championship, Presented by Xbox. Activision will be releasing the first trailer at the competition, which will go down in Los Angeles from March 27-29th.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare “Ascendance” will cost $19.95 AUD on its own or as part of the $64.95 season pass.
Sentai Filmworks has just announced their acquisition of Guardian Ninja Mamoru. It will be available on home video sometime in the future. It has not yet been revealed if this title will receive an English dub or if it will receive a subtitled-only release.
Taro Achi’s light novel series was adapted into a 12 episode anime series in 2006 by Group TAC. Both the light novel and the manga, which were adapted from the light novels, are currently unavailable in English.
In addition to this announcement, Sentai Filmworks also detailed its plans for Anime Matsuri, the upcoming anime and Japanese pop-culture convention in Houston, Texas. There will be an industry panel, which will include a ‘big’ reveal, the world premiere of the English dub of Super Sonico and live auditions for a minor role in their English dub of Parasyte -the maxim-. Dates and times for these events will be revealed soon.
Creative Assembly and Sega have announced that Total War: ATTILA will be receiving new factions for it’s post-Roman epic strategy title. In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, the announcement states that ATTILA will be receiving a DLC pack for a number of Celtic factions.
The DLC includes a variety of different playable tribes hailing from the various parts of Britannia. Notably for today are the Ebdanians who hail from modern day Ireland. Also included are the Picts and the Caledonians, both of which hail from different parts of modern day Scotland.
The Celts Culture Pack factions will be playable in Total War:ATTILA‘s Single player and Multiplayer campaigns. In addition they will be playable in Custom and Multiplayer battles. No price or release date has been announced, but previous Culture Packs cost $7.99 (USD). You can check out a teaser trailer below.
A couple of months back Compile Heart held a popularity poll asking fans to vote for their favorite Hyperdimension Neptunia characters and Blanc ended up coming out on top. At the time fans guessed that this might mean a Blanc spin-off would be announced and it turns out that is exactly what is happening. Over the weekend during Dengeki Bunko Spring Festival the company revealed a new PS Vita game that is currently being called Geki Jigen Tag Blanc + Neptunia VS Zombie Gundan, or Extreme Dimension Tag Blanc + Neptune VS Zombie Army.
Barely any details about the game are known at the moment but the game will feature Blanc as the main character and feature multiplayer in some form. You can check out an off-screen taping of the reveal below.
A new five minute trailer for Senran Kagura: Estival Versus came out of Marvelous recently and in it we are treated to a number of features that have been revealed over the past couple of months. While the footage primarily shows the pre-existing characters battling against swathes of enemies, with each girl getting a few seconds to show off new skills and transformation sequences, the new characters, clothing destruction, and Purupuru Finish moves are also highlighted briefly.
You can check out the trailer below while the game itself is currently set to be released in Japan on March 26th for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
Do you feel like doing some big game hunting but can’t really afford to fly all the way to Africa to do so? Well Activision has got you covered with their recently re-released Cabela’s African Adventures for Xbox One and PS4.
The game has been slightly re-imagined for a new generation of consoles and features slightly updated graphics, better performance, a and a new shooting gallery mode that can be played on your own or with three other buddies locally.
Check out the game’s launch trailer below, which shows off some of the impressive quarry that you can slay in all of their next-gen glory, and then let us know in the comments below whether or not you will be loading up your rifle this time around.
Arrowhead Studios, most famous for their hugely popular action-adventure game; Magicka are back with a brand new title, Helldivers. Leaving the mysterious forests and sorcerers behind them, now we are fighting for the freedom of Super Earth (not even joking, that’s the name of the planet) from three warring intergalactic factions. While on the surface it looks like your run of the mill, time-killing twin stick shooter, Helldivers is a very skill-intensive game with a series of deep mechanics and a rich multiplayer concept that had me struggling to put it down.
Story
Set in the middle of an intergalactic war between three competing factions, the insectoid-Bug, the gun-toting Cyborgs and the technologically advanced Illuminates. In this crazy universe, you play as a member of an elite squadron of space marines who are tasked at defending Super Earth (what the Earth has been renamed after all of the countries formed a unified government in order to stave off the alien attacks) from these three invading forces.
Fans of Starship Troopers will feel immediately at home with Helldivers, which wears its inspiration on its sleeve and features the same style of humor, and storytelling (even a trophy or two named after direct quotes from the feel).
Gameplay
Helldivers is a top-down, tactical shooter that at its face looks like a twin-stick shooter, but when you really delve into the game you see it is so much more in-depth and frankly, intense than you would have imagined.
This is a game of preparations and strategy, if you just launch yourself into the middle of a map with no supplies and no set goals in mind then you are likely to be wiped out. Each of the game’s levels are littered with goals and objectives (ok maybe littered is a bit of a stretch, but some stages have quite a few different objectives), but the closer you come to these objectives, the more enemies you are likely to encounter and because of this it is integral to plan your paths ahead.
Not only do you plan where to go and what you will be doing, but how you will be doing it, and the how is almost the most important part. Before battle you will equip yourself with a variety of arms like a long-range sniper, or a close combat shotgun. Not only that, but special perks and call-downs called “Strategems” can be equipped to make your job just that little bit easier.
There is a lot of flexibility and choice in Helldivers. The tools are all there but the burden is very much on the player to figure out how to most effectively use them. Following on from that, it is fair to say that this game is challenging and until you are very, very familiar with the mechanics, you will die… a LOT. Just about everything can kill you in this game; enemies, friendly fire from teammates, walking into the line of fire of your own drones, or even your own strategem drops can land on you and wipe you out. Death is a very real part of the game and it might deter some players away before that can experience the full scope of what this game has to offer.
Helldivers is a very multiplayer-focused game that almost requires you to play co-op (which is done either locally or via wifi). I’m not usually big on games that require an internet connection to function properly, but Helldivers does something a little different with the concept that helps ease my anxiety about connectivity issues. The world of Super Earth and its surrounding galaxy is alive and constantly changing. In addition to typical leaderboards, players can see enemy kills, human deaths and worlds conquered all in real time. It is a neat addition that helps the world and community feel a lot more connected. When all is said and done though, you can take Helldivers solo if you wish, but you lose a lot in the process.
Visuals & Audio
As I mentioned earlier, this is the kind of game that wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and this is as true for the visuals as it is for the story. When I first started playing, I thought that Helldivers had a very “StarCraft” vibe to it all. Similar locations, similar art style and the Bugs could easily be misidentified for the Zerg at a passing glance. However, when you spend some time with the game, you will see that aside from its obvious inspiration, it is a world comprised of simply gorgeous landscapes. Now not everything is lush or vibrant, but even the most desolate wastelands are handled with care and they just look amazing – even on the Vita’s small screen (I can only imagine what the game looks like on the PS4).
Overall
I’m not going to lie, when I first booted up Helldivers I didn’t know what to expect, or have too many high expectations. I had never played Magicka and hadn’t heard all that much about Helldivers to begin with, but I was absolutely blown away with what I got. It’s tactical shooter gameplay, intricate and in-depth mechanics and dynamic world really create an experience that is the most fun I have had on my Vita since I bought it and I cannot wait to finish typing this sentence and getting back to my defense of Super Earth.
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One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 has received a brand new trailer and some new screenshots courtesy of Bandai Namco. The trailer focuses on the games impressive looking story mode that seeks to improve on the first two games in the series and include lots of cutscenes and battles against hordes of enemies. The games story will cover right from the beginning all the way through to the Dressrosa Arc. Players can team up with popular heroes from the anime such as Zoro or Chopper and even popular villains such as sad Perona, the greedy Buggy and the almighty Mihawk.
It was recently teased in V-Jump Magazine the red haired pirate Shanks, who gave Luffy his trademark hat, might be playable for the first time in this new game. One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 will hit Australian shores sometime this winter for the PS4, PS3, Steam for PC and the PS Vita. The game is releasing on the 26th in Japan. You can check out the action packed trailer and new screenshots below.
