Back in January FUNimation started to reveal the English dub cast for D-Frag! and now that we are growing closer to the anime’s release date on April 28th the company has released their first English trailer for the title where we can catch a sample of the English dub.
In the video below, you’ll catch a brief summary of what D-Frag! is about, as it follows the wannabe delinquent Kazama as he is forced to join the Game Creation Club that is full of extremely strange girls after they throw a bag over his head and kidnap him. The full series is currently set to be released in a limited edition Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on April 28th for $69.98.
Sega of Japan has released two new videos for their upcoming game Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX. The first video is the debut trailer for the title while the second is a shortened version of the opening movie that will be in the game when Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DXis released in North America on May 26, May 28th in Japan, and in Europe on May 29th.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX will feature a nendoroid visual style and include 48 full length songs, a number of different game modes and difficulties, customization options, a studio to create dance routines and your own songs, and a theater mode.
Koei Tecmo has announced that a demo for Toukiden Kiwami will be released in North America and Europe on March 25th, a good week before the full title is available for purchase. This demo will offer two modes, an introductory mode that features the first two chapters of Toukiden Kiwami and a second mode that will allows players of the original Toukiden to take on special missions.
It is worth noting that these special missions will feature a punishing difficulty curve though Koei Tecmo wanted to note that the full game will not feature such a punishing curve. If you do manage to complete all of these special missions, not only will special equipment be unlocked in the full game but you will also be able to begin Toukiden Kiwami from Chapter 8, where the new content begins.
GalaxyTrail announced during PAX East this weekend that they are planning on bringing their game, Freedom Planet, to the Wii U eShop sometime in the future. It is worth noting that Freedom Planet has already been released on the PC through Steam where it costs $14.99 and you can check out a quick rundown of what the game’s story offers as well as some of the features below.
Freedom Planet is a combat-based platform adventure that pits a spunky dragon girl and her friends against an alien attack force. There’s trouble around every turn, from insects to giant robots to sheer explosive destruction, but you’ll have a variety of special fighting abilities to blast your way through each stage.
As Lilac, you can use Dragon powers to whip enemies with your hair, spin like a cyclone, or fly through the air at high speed like a comet.
As Carol, you can bust through foes with a flurry of punches and kicks or summon motorcycles that let you ride up walls and ceilings.
Features
Dash across the celestial world of Avalice with boosts, bikes and other high-speed gimmicks to achieve the fastest time
Explore at your own pace to find hidden paths and treasures and collect as many crystals as possible
Help Lilac and friends save their world from war in an engaging Adventure mode with fully voiced cutscenes
Zoom through the stages without interruption or dialog with Classic mode
Battle tons of quirky boss enemies including giant robots, towering alien creatures and aggressive rivals
Discover five elemental shields that reflect specific attacks and provide cool benefits
Unlock special bonuses, including mini-games, achievements, artwork and music
Those who wish to try Freedom Planet‘s PC version can access the demo on the company’s home page hereas well as an old trailer for the PC version below.
During the weekend at Gearbox’s panel at PAX East the company announced a new piece of DLC for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, making it the fourth piece of downloadable content for the game. Titled “Claptastic Voyage” the DLC will pick up immediately after the end of The Pre-Sequel‘s storyline and will lead into the events of Borderlands 2 where players will meet Claptrap on the frozen wasteland on Pandora.
Jack has found that Claptrap has valuable software hidden within his mind and has digitized the characters from Pre-Sequel to go in and retrieve it. The DLC will launch on March 24th, the same day 2K Games plans on releasing Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.
During PAX East this weekend Gearbox took the chance to announce that fans of Tales from the Borderlands can expect the second episode to be released sometime during the week of March 17th. While no exact release date has been confirmed, that does give fans a nice narrow window to be prepared for after such a long delay.
Telltale Games later released a trailer for the episode, called Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged, and you can check it out below where you will see that not only will Athena be making an appearance but that the unlikely team of Rhys and Fiona is in for even more trouble.
Over the weekend at PAX East Square Enix revealed some new details for Final Fantasy XVas well as some new screenshots. Some newly revealed information about the Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae demo includes the fact that the region players will be able to explore in the demo is only a tenth of the full region and the reason that you’re stuck in that small part of Duscae is because your car is broken down and the only way to get it fixed is to earn enough money to get it repaired by Cindy.
This means players will need to take on various quests, including slaying a Behemoth that players will have to track by its footprints, to pay off their repair bill. Also revealed was the fact that dangerous creatures will appear at night and if you choose to camp, which saves the game, you will be able to avoid them while also having Ignis prepare meals that will give the team some temporary buffs.
The key features of the demo, as described by Square Enix, can be found below:
A New Generation of Final Fantasy: The latest platform technology brings Duscae to life, rendering fast-paced action against breathtaking backdrops under a sky that changes in real time.
Open World Exploration: Guide Noctis and his entourage over the plains, through the woods, into the dungeons and around the outposts of Duscae as players roam freely about the expansive region.
Action-Packed Combat:Final Fantasy XV is the first Final Fantasy flagship title to give players direct control over combat in real-time, resulting in an exhilarating action RPG experience.
Summoning: Uncover the astral power that will enable Noctis to call larger-than-life vengeance down from the heavens.
Engaging Quests: Adventures great and small await in Duscae.
English and Japanese Voice-Over: Enjoy English or Japanese audio with English, French, German, Italian, Japanese or Spanish text.
In a new update, 5 Lives Studios have released a new zone for players to explore in their early access strategy title;Â Satellite Reign. The industrial district has been connected to the previously available Downtown/Red Light District and players are now free to move their agents into new and unexplored territory.
I’ve previously covered Satellite Reign and spoke highly of the game. I was quite impressed by many aspects of the game, but especially the environment design of the city. Walking through the city in Satellite Reign felt akin to walking through set of Blade Runner or the streets of real-life Tokyo. The new industrial district is very distinct by comparison to the neon lights and night life of the downtown area. What’s distinct about the new area is that it tones down the neon sleaze and turns up the urban blight by a factor of ten. It might not be pretty to fight next to open chemical plants and garbage dumps, but it certainly puts the ‘punk’ in cyberpunk.
A raft of other features have been implemented including new enemy types and factions, alongside a nicer UI. There are also a number of smaller fixes and additions which add some new elements to the gameplay. My favourite feature (which might actually be a bug) are corporate security randomly stopping and harassing individuals in the street. This has happened a number of times to my hacker agent and it really reinforces the idea of a repressive corporatocracy… as well as making me laugh. Another, more useful, feature is the addition of black market infobrokers who can sell you data on what each facility has in stock. This allows players to strategically determine which heists they wish to pull off first and what loot they will get upon completion.
For the next couple of days the game will be on sale and can be found here.
Finally, the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V Online Heists update is now live for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners. Update sizes vary, with reports of 4.2GB and 4.75GB for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 respectively. Last gen consoles will have significantly smaller patches at around 1GB.
Available free of charge, you now have the opportunity to cause further mayhem around Los Santos and Blaine County pulling off heists, raids and robberies with your existing or new partners of crime.
For further information be sure to check out the preview of the update here.
It should also be noted that PCowners will be able to participate in all elements of the update on the April 14th release date.
DmC: Devil May Cry was an absolute smash hit when it dropped back in 2012, and we here at Capsule Computers absolutely loved it. Sure there were loyal fans of the franchise who felt the reboot was not only unnecessary, but cheapened the franchise, but for the rest of us DmC was an incredible amount of hack and slash fun. Now the game has been re-released onto the next generation of gaming consoles as the DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition and comes with not only the base game, but the equally exciting Vergil’s Downfall chapter that was previously a DLC exclusive. However the question still remains; is DmC Definitive edition worth a purchase, or are you fine with your 2012 copy of the game? The answer is that if you already own the game and all of its DLC then there isn’t much new here, however the new visual upgrades, 60fps frame rate and new difficulty means that this really is the definitive edition of the game.
Story
DmC: Devil May Cry is a reboot of the hugely successful Devil May Cry franchise, and recasts our protagonist Dante as a more youthful and dare I say more brash version of himself. This is a Dante that hasn’t spent his entire life hunting demons and has instead used his skills to woo the ladies. Thankfully when starting off with a clean slate like DmC does, it allows for a tonne of character development through the narrative, and as we continue through the story, Dante grows and matures as a character. It is definitely a subtle growth, one that you likely wont really notice while you are playing but come the end cinematic you will be looking at a completely different Dante than the trailer trash womaniser from the beginning of the game.
The Definitive Edition also comes with the Vergil’s Downfall DLC which takes place after the climactic final battle of the main campaign. Vergil’s story isn’t as long as Dante’s but we still see the same level of maturity and character development here. The best part is that Vergil is an absolute villain, so we get to play a hugely different roll than the one Dante filled. Vergil’s Downfall is filled with a lot of incracies and back-story that help shape not only the character of Vergil himself, but this whole new DmC world.
Gameplay
We all know the gist by now don’t we? The Devil May Cry franchise are a series of games that are all about one thing: action. Well two things, action and being incredibly stylish. Dante is equipped with his Rebellion greatsword and his two pistols: Ebony and Ivory. With these three weapons (and a few more that he unlocks along the way), Our stalwart demon slayer will be able to string together insane looking combos in order to lay waste to his foes. The core mechanics don’t deviate much from the 2012 original, aside from a harder difficulty option and the new manual targeting system.
Like most action games, DmC is incredibly skill intensive, strong and weak attacks are mapped to different buttons (and your guns and additional weapons mapped to others) and you will chain together your strikes in order to not only deal as much damage as possible, but also to ensure that your kill looks as awesome as it can. The variety of your moveset and how quickly you strike all impact on your overall rank for the fight. DMC players will be well aware that the ranks use a letter system that goes D-C-B-A-S-SS-SSS (with the latter awarding the most points).
Those who are more familiar with the older Devil May Cry games might find themselves getting higher ranking combos almost too easily. I know that when playing DMC3 that I struggle to get higher than a B ranking, but when playing DmC I am getting A’s and above almost without trying. This is a double edged sword as on one hand the game feels easier, while on the other hand, I felt like an absolute bad-ass as I tore through the army of the damned.
Bloody Palace mode also makes a return, and offers players a chance to mow down hordes of enemies at their leisure. Separated into 101 different stages, the bloody palace definitely put me to the test, and I struggled to complete the entire palace. New to the Definitive Edition, Vergil gets his own Bloody palace mode to play through, leading to more than 200 different levels. Not a bad way to keep me entertained long after finishing the campaign I must say.
Visuals & Audio
Since this is a remastered edition, you would expect that the visuals have been kicked up a notch, and you would be correct! Everything has a slick coat of polish over it that makes it look absolutely beautiful. The
While I could talk about how the little changes to the visuals make all the difference, what really makes this game stand out from the original version is the 1080p/60fps presentation. For years I have never really understood the need for 60fps, but after seeing a game like DmC in action, the differences are astronomical. The movement of Dante and his adversaries just look so much more fluid and timely, really adding to the otherworldly feel of the game.
In terms of audio, not much has changes here and the game still sounds almost identical to the 2012 version. Characters all have voices that suit their look and delivery is energetic and well-acted. One thing I noticed is that one or two scenes were cut out of the original, this is especially noticeable in the opening cinematics and while it would be a bit jarring if you have played through DmC a few times already, it doesn’t change the overall tone or feel of the game.
Overall
I’m not exactly a supporter of all of the remakes and rereleases we are getting for the Xbox One/PS4. It seems that every single game that was popular on 360/PS3 is getting remade for the new hardware. However, I was more than impressed with DmC’s Definitive Edition. The inclusion of all of the game’s content in one package certainly helped, but the few gameplay tweaks like the manual aiming and harder difficulty really help sell me on the whole thing. However, the game’s visual presentation needs to be praised above all else here – the 1080p/60FPS really makes DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition feel slick, stylish and absolutely sensational.
Eagle-eyed readers out there will notice that we have scored DmC: Definitive Edition lower than the original, despite claiming it was a superior version of the game. This is due to the fact that the two versions were reviewed by two different people and as such their thoughts and opinions aredifferent from one another. We apologise for any confusion.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
