Today a new batch of screenshots for Senran Kagura: Estival Versus were released and this time around they focus on showing off how the characters of Hebijo Clandestine Girls’ Academy’s replacement class will look in the upcoming title. This includes the appearances of Miyabi, Ryobi, Ryona, Murasaki, and Imu who first appeared in Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus two years ago.
Currently Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is set to be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on March 26th and you can check out a recently released eight minute gameplay video showing off a number of different mechanics here.
Today Square Enix released the English version of the latest Final Fantasy Type-0 HD trailer that was released in Japanese a week and a half ago. It is worth noting that the trailer, which can be found below, does contain a rather dark opening segment but then goes on to cover the various obstacles that the members of Class Zero will face.
Near the end of the video the trailer focuses on showing off the Final Fantasy XV demo that will be included in all launch copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD and will be playable for everyone who buys a launch copy of the game when it is released on March 17th in North America and March 20th in Europe.
This week’s issue of Famitsu has revealed that the PSP remake of the original Corpse Party will be released on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan this upcoming summer. The title will be called Corpse Party: Blood Covered …Repeated Fear when it is released and at the moment we do not know whether or not this version will add or remove any content from the original release.
It is worth noting that XSEED Games has localized both the original PSP version of Corpse Party as well as the sequel Corpse Party: Book of Shadows and there are rumors circulating that they will also be localizing Corpse Party: Blood Drive sometime in the future.
Are you prepared to die? I hope so because Dark Souls II is finally making its way to next-gen with Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, and since we are so close to the game’s April 7threlease date, Namco and FromSoftware have put together a new gameplay trailer that shows off some of the updated graphics, updated enemy placement and more.
So check out the gameplay video below and let us know if you will be picking up the Xbox One/PS4 version of the game, or are you more than happy with the original release? As always, make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Dark Souls II news as it becomes available.
Overview In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, death comes swiftly and even the most honorable of men and women find themselves falling to blades wielded by those with sinister plans. As we have seen throughout the course of the core series, no one is safe especially if they happen to try and be on the side of good, especially if you are from a small house. With Telltale’s Game of Thrones: The Lost Lords picking up shortly after the events of the last episode, where does House Forrester go from here?
Story
It is worth noting that this review will contain spoilers concerning choices and events that took place during the ‘Iron from Ice.’ If you have yet to complete that episode then it would be best to so do before continuing to read this review.
That being said, The Lost Lords works to catch players up with the fallout from the various choices and events that took place during Iron from Ice. The episode kicks off with the players finally being introduced to Asher Forrester in a far off land where Daenerys is traveling the land and liberating slaves as he banters with his partner Beskha. Despite being introduced for the first time in this episode, we learn very little about Asher nor do players even spend much time with the character as he is approached by an old face and begins his home.
Things change a bit however when a newly playable character makes a surprising appearance at Ironrath and witnesses the fallout of everything that has happened since he was last at his house. Unfortunately here we see the lack of impact that player choice has at least in regards to what seemed like a large decision in the first episode as the end result of who Ethan chose as his Sentinel plays no major role other than some very minor alterations here and there.
Elsewhere, Gared Tuttle has managed to successfully make it to The Wall and spends his limited time there undergoing a few basic tasks, choosing one of two characters to befriend, and speaking with Jon Snow while back at King’s Landing Mira Forrester finds herself right in the middle of the worst of it. Rather than fearing direct confrontation, Mira must struggle with her loyalty to her house and her loyalty to Lady Margaery all while trying to maneuver in a way to not make any prominent enemies in a city where a knife in the back is the way most negotiations end.
Unfortunately, despite the addition of the new character and the political maneuvers players will have to make with Mira as they agonize about whether or not to betray someone’s trust or believe that they can make it on their own, The Lost Lords feels like a holdover episode for bigger things. Spreading the story across four different characters means that not only does the story jump around a lot, as per Game of Thrones fashion, but it also spreads it thin.
We see little of Asher and learn that he is quick with a blade and willing to use his brain, though we barely know of his plans for returning home to assist his House while Gared’s move to the Wall feels as generic as can be since players simply go through the motions and spend some time with a fan favorite character. In fact, it only is with Mira and the returning face that we see any source of meaningful events taking place as players have to try and secure a valuable ally for the future all while Mira finds herself alone and surrounded by potential enemies that are taking steps to remove her from the picture.
Gameplay As standard with Telltale’s way of handling games, The Lost Lords features the basic exploration aspects and dialogue sequences but in this episode players will be spending most of their time listening to everyone talk and choosing what to say. There are a number of action sequences that require the standard quick time events to complete though there is some wriggle room for completing these as your partner does seem to assist you in some instance if you happen to fail.
In fact, there are only two or three sequences of exploration or examination in this episode and one of these mostly involves walking around the training grounds of Castle Black and participating in middling tasks to prove that Gared is capable of fighting and wielding a crossbow. All this means that this episode, which is probably one of the shortest to date from the Telltale games, will be one that players will quickly finish.
Visuals & Audio In The Lost Lords Telltale has decided to retain their oil-painting designs for the characters and this time around they seemed to have improved their technique. The various backdrops and characters look far less blurry this time around and the entire art style looks quite impressive at times, especially whenever a new location such as the desert city of Yunkai or icy Wall is shown.
Voice acting is similar to what players can expect from the first episode as the cast all returns to reprise their roles while Asher and Beskha are voiced well. I must say that there is one moment of the game featuring Talia Forrester that really stands out and shines thanks to the haunting song that she sings which changes depending on the player’s choices with Ethan in the first episode.
Overall Telltale Games finds themselves in a tough position here as players are stepping into a story where they already know the outcome of events surrounding the characters, such as Mance Rayder’s attack on The Wall and Margaery’s upcoming wedding. Because of this, they find themselves in something of a holding pattern with Game of Thrones: The Lost Lords. Rather than move the story along and trigger these noteworthy events, this episode plays as one that is building up to bigger and better things as the members of House Forrester begin to move and do what they can for their struggling house while trying to build themselves back up, even if it results in a rather simplistic episode.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
If you need some cheering up after spending Valentine’s Day alone or if you’re looking for some quality me time after spending the weekend with your Valentine’s, Indie Gala and Capsule Computers has exactly what you need. Indie Gala Every Monday Bundle #47 contains six great indie games.
Squirreltopia– A hardcore 2d platformer with modern pixel art and lots of doe eyed squirrels.
Procyon– Save humanity from the evil extraterrestrials in this shump from some indie devs with a serious sense of humour.
Love– A platformer with a really minimal, retro-inspired look.
Bliss– A wordless platformer exploring life and the five stages of grief.
Infinity Runner – Trapped in a giant spaceship, the player must out maneuver the werewolf that stalks them
Prehistorik– Grag and his new friend the fly are on an epic quest to recapture the food stolen from his prehistoric tribe.
For the first 24 hours of the sale, Indie Gala Every Monday Bundle #47 is available for $1.99. Grab your copy at Indie Gala before the price goes up.
Independent developer Midgar Studio has returned their ambitious JRPG title Edge of Eternity to Kickstarter. The original Kickstarter for the game was cancelled back in 2013 due to a failure to raise the necessary funds for the title. However, an independent investor partnered with Midgar Studio in order to continue production of the title. The return to Kickstarter is only to raise the final funding necessary for completion of the project
Midgar Studios has already released a pre-alpha demo of the title on their Kickstarter page. The Kickstarter’s primary goal is to raise the funds for a PC, Mac, and Linux version, with stretch goals leading to a PS4 and Xbox One version. Further stretch goals will add more content and a possible soundtrack by legendary composer Yasunori Mitsuda to the title.
Edge of Eternity itself is a game about exploration through both a traditional overworld map and large open-area environments. Combat can be either active battles or more traditional turn-based combat. This is effected by the environment and weather cycle as well. The storyline is promised to be non-linear, with branching paths dependent on player choice.
There is a lot of promise to Edge of Eternity, and that Midgar Studio has continued work on this ambitious title even after their initial pitfalls is laudable. As of now, the title is over halfway to it’s goal with over a month still to go, and will likely reach completion on Kickstarter. Edge of Eternity has a planned release date of December 2016.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 will see the return of fighting on the walls from the very first game in the Naruto Storm series that released all the way back in 2008. According to the official Facebook page, a fish lens affect will also apply at some points in the battle to make them look more awesome.
The first Naruto Storm game was highly praised for bringing the series from a 2D plane as it was on the PlayStation 2 to a 3D fighting arena and had a fair few unique elements that were cut in the games sequels when the series stopped being exclusive to the PlayStation 3. These included close ups of characters faces after a heavy blow, wall running, longer combos, awakenings with unique ultimate attacks and probably the feature everyone wants back the most, ninjutsu clashes that occurred when two ‘super attacks’ collided.
Here’s hoping Storm 4 brings back all those awesome features from the first game and adds some new ones to make this the greatest gaming love letter to the popular manga/anime of all time. Are you happy to see wall fights make their return and what other features do you want to see added to the fighting system? Let us know in the comments below and then head here if you still haven’t seen the first trailer for the game.
Ubisofts‘ massive open world racer The Crew has received it’s second of four known DLC packs and it comes with three new cars for those willing to shell out some cash as well as a great deal of free content for everyone. The three new paid cars are the American Power House Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, the hardcore Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series coupe and the pocket rocket Alfa Romeo 4C. All these cars have performance and circuit specs except the 4C which only has the performance spec option. Those with a Season Pass on consoles were able to enjoy these cars a week prior to release, however PC players were left waiting with everyone else due to technical issues much to the dismay of fans.
Now for the stuff everyone gets! First a new PvP mode has been added called Elimination, where the player coming last at the time point is eliminated from the race. These tracks all focus on tight turns and have multiple shortcuts which players can utilise to stop themselves from being eliminated. In addition to that, four new faction race missions have been added all with an emphasis on speed. These are all quick and short races which can be completed in under 10 minutes and include:
Dave Z – A checkpoint race crossing the unforgiving terrain of the Badlands.
The Branchu Loop – a top secret race in the middle of the desert.
The Point Of No Return – a drag race against a mystery opponent.
On Thin Ice – a tight technical race where grip is hard to come by.
Besides new missions, five previously available cars have acquired new specs. These are:
Lastly, matte paint finish is now available for all cars and two new sticker packs have been released. The “Urban” and “Seasonal” sticker packs add another 40+ stickers to the ever growing collection and feature some pretty sweet looks. The seasonal stickers focus on holidays such as Valentines Day which has just passed. Definitely check out this new DLC pack if you are still playing The Crew.
Japanese indie team Nude Maker Studios have released a new gameplay video for their horror game NightCry. The game is currently going through the Kickstarter process – at the time of writing $156,006 has been raised so far, with a goal of $300,000.
The video which you can view below contains some scenes from near the start of the game with narration offered from Douglas Watt – a member of Playism Games who are behind the localisation of the title. Some game mechanics are explained including how to ‘hide’ and solve certain puzzles, as well as the control system and character interaction.
If the kickstarter goal is accomplished, the game will be released on Android, iOS, PC and the Vita. An update on the kickstarter page also displays some new current generation console stretch goals, $450,000 and $550,000 will see the game release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One respectively. The deadline for the project ends on Monday February 23rd, so do not delay in supporting the project if you like what you see.
Looking for some instant survival horror action? Then check out Tango Gameworks’ The Evil Within (reviewed here) if you have not done so already.
