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Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie Review

February 3, 2015

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Studio: Studio Pierrot
Publisher: Viz Media
Format: DVD (Reviewed), Blu-ray
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Price: $19.98 – Available Here

Overview
Long running series tend to struggle with keeping themselves fresh with new material and often in the manga and anime world, the best way to do that is to spice things up with a movie release. Unfortunately with Naruto, the series had gone on for so long that even the movies were beginning to grow stale. Now with Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie being handled by the series’ creator, is the film different enough to warrant a purchase?

Story
The Konoha 11 along with Kakashi, Guy, and Sai are tasked with a mission to take down members of Akatsuki who have suddenly re-appeared. Despite the fact that many of the Akatsuki members they are fighting should be dead, the group holds their own well-enough to drive back their strange opponents. In doing so, the group returns home to be praised by their families, though Sakura starts arguing with her parents while Naruto is left feeling lonely.

Later in the day, Sakura takes Naruto out in order to vent her frustrations but while they are out they find that Madara has somehow managed to make his way into the village. Before the two can do anything, they find themselves suddenly transported to an almost identical looking Konoha, with the only immediate difference being that Madara has managed to vanish.

That is at least until the two stumble into a number of their friends, who are acting far different from their usual selves. After being bitten by Akamaru, Kiba argues with the dog and declares himself an adamant cat lover while the usually quiet and reserved Hinata is dressed in a different manner and openly threatens Sakura to avoid moving in on Menma, the name Naruto has been given in this alternate world. They aren’t the only ones changed however as Naruto and Sakura find that most of the people they know now have different personalities and it doesn’t stop there.

In this strange alternate world, Sakura’s father and not Naruto’s was the one who saved the village many years ago making her the daughter of the Fourth Hokage and an orphan. Thanks to the shift in history, Naruto finds that his own parents are alive and well, though thanks to the knowledge that this world is not their own, Naruto struggles to find any happiness in this turn of events and with the growing threat of a rumored masked man killing Tailed Beast owners, neither he or Sakura can rest easy as they try to find a way to overcome Madara’s plans.

The last few Naruto movies have all had a similar feeling to them and Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie manages to change things up in a nice way that helps set it apart from the older movies, even if it still has its faults. The basic storyline told throughout Road to Ninja is fairly standard as we still see Naruto and, to a much lesser extent, Sakura dealing with a new opponent. However thanks to the way that the situation is handled, it takes almost no time to actually bring the viewer up to date which leaves the film more time to deliver on the quirks of this alternate world.

Unfortunately the amount of time spent on specific events is kept at a bare minimum. The alternate personalities of characters such as Sasuke, Hinata, Chouji, and Kakashi are barely given any screentime before they are forgotten about. This feels like a missed opportunity, especially since they do not even play a role in the fights that take place in the latter half of Road to Ninja. Instead viewers are actually treated to fights with a different take on the Akatsuki members which is alright but lacks any lasting impact as the action then shifts to Naruto having to face off against the final enemy in standard fashion, with the only change-up being the unique enemy he has to fight.

What viewers will find in Road to Ninja are plenty of poignant moments as we see Naruto interacting with his now living mother and father. This gives us an interesting take on how things may have happened if his parents had not died while he was a baby, but it also gives Sakura a sample of how lonely Naruto must have felt without a family. There are a number of funny moments laced throughout Road to Ninja with most of them coming from either the personalities and actions of the alternate world characters as well as some decent action sequences to close out the film, making it a worthwhile watch that moves away from the standard that fans have grown used to but fails to capitalize on its potential.

Visuals
Thanks to the expanded budget that films are usually given, it should come as no surprise that the animations and art found in Road to Ninja are fairly impressive. While there are some notable issues with early scenes involving a flashback, the rest of the film is presented with quality artwork. The background scenes of Konoha are extremely detailed and viewers will notice the design changes made to characters in the alternate world that help accentuate their personality shifts.

The actual combat scenes are fairly impressive as the quality remains high throughout these sequences, though thanks to a number of familiar fighters returning and only one real new addition. As such there are very few new jutsus executed throughout the film, which is something of a shame as the ones that are used are handled well.

Audio
Viz Media has released Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie with both the original Japanese voice track as well as the English dub. Thanks to how long the series has went on, this is for the best as viewers have an option to select whichever voice track they are most familiar with, especially since both the Japanese and English voice actors portray their characters exceptionally well.

Unfortunately, most of the background music present throughout Road to Ninja are the same tracks that are commonly found in the original series meaning that there is very little new here. That being said, the theme song used in the credits, “Soredewa Mata Ashita” by Kung-Fu Generation is an enjoyable song that is quite fitting thanks to the amount of theme songs the band has previously contributed to shōnen anime.

Extras
With this DVD release of Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie Viz has included a simple slipcase featuring the artwork shown above while the actual case art is the artwork used for the Japanese promo posters. As far as on-disc bonuses are concerned, this release only comes with the bare minimum of promotional trailers for the film as well as trailers for other Viz Media releases.

Overall
Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie introduces a compelling premise that, at least at first glance, is different from the standard fair that fans have come to expect from shōnen films. Unfortunately very little is actually done to explore the various changes in the alternate world outside of quick throw-away gags. Thankfully the decent action pieces and the way that the film handles Naruto meeting his parents in this new world make this movie a flawed but worthwhile watch that is a step above what Naruto fans expect.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

New One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 screenshots released

Travis Bruno

February 3, 2015

Currently One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is set to be one of the first games in the series to be released on the PC when it is released sometime this summer for the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita and today Bandai Namco has released a number of new screenshots for the game.

You can check out the screenshots for One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 below as they show off not only combat scenes that show off Luffy, the rest of the Straw Hat Crew and various other characters fighting off mobs of enemies but also a number of event scenes that will tell the tale of Monkey D. Luffy’s quest so far.

Three trailers and new screenshots revealed for The Awakened Fate Ultimatum

Travis Bruno

February 3, 2015

In about a month and a half The Awakened Fate Ultimatum will be released for the PlayStation 3 and recently NIS America released a new batch of screenshots as well as a set of trailers for the upcoming title. These trailers introduce the story as well as the two girls that the player will have to choose the fate of throughout the story.

You see, in The Awakened Fate Ultimatum players take on the role of Shin Kamikaze who is killed by a group of demons flying in the sky. In his last moments he witnesses an angel descending to fight off the demons and take him to Celestia where he is saved thanks to the “Awakened Fate” crystal which has given him the power of a god.

Story Introduction

Jupiel Introduction

Ariael Introduction

Indie Gala Every Monday Bundle #45 Now Available

Jamie Laike Tsui

February 3, 2015

Indie Gala and Capsule Computers are giving bummed out Seattle Seahawks fans something to make them feel better. The Indie Gala Every Monday Bundle #45 is packing six indie games for less than the cost of a drink at your fancy coffee shop.

Akane the Kunoichi – Akane is a ninja on a quest to rescue her master Goro. She must conquer 15 stages using 3 special ninja techniques to save her one true love.

Black Viper: Sophia’s Fate – Sophia is a police officer by day and a cat thief by night. Her day job has tasked her to investigate a murder, but she will need her talents as a thief to crack the case in this hidden object adventure.

Fabula Mortis – A first person shooter inspired by fairy tales and steampunk.

Fat Chicken – A reverse tower defense game that will have players leading their animals to the slaughter house, while attempting to fatten their value along the way.

Shadows of War – An RTS with a really slick visual design, Shadows of War is taking the genre 2D.

Yury – A challenging platformer inspired by the merciless old school platformer.

For the first 24 hours of the sale, the bundle can be purchased for $1.49. Head on over to Indie Gala to buy your copy.

Project CARS New Screenshots & Feature List

Nathan Farrugia

February 3, 2015

Project CARS promises to be one of the biggest love letters to car and racing culture ever released for the video game world, with Slightly Mad Studios putting an impressive amount of work into all aspects of the game, particularly the car models. Publisher Bandai Namco has released a number of new screenshots showing off cars you are more likely to see in someone’s driveway rather than on a track, showing off the impressive variety of cars in the game.

Alongside these new screens, a feature list for the game has also been revealed which you can view in full below.

A huge variety of motorsports and reflected car culture with relevant rules and formats
The largest track roster of any recent racing game
A freeform career mode that allows you to choose your own path with Historic Goals to earn, Accolades to win, Endorsements to sign, and Invitations to receive
Competitive online with features such as ‘join in progress’ and invite-only sessions
Fully-dynamic weather and time of day
Race weekends including warmup sessions, practices, qualifying, and two-race format
Pit stops and pit strategy creation for different scenarios and events (eg.. endurance)
Deep tuning setup creation
Asynchronous play via the Driver Network – Time Trial mode with downloadable ghosts and regularly-scheduled Community Events
Save and share your proudest moments with photos and replays
Player tailoring and accessibility features – dial the game to your own particular skill and comfort level
Playable either at a cinematic 12K resolution or on a more intimate scale with Oculus Rift. Project Morpheus, or nVidia Shield
Support for over 40 different wheels and peripherals
Second screen support via apps created by the community through the Project CARS API

Project CARS is releasing on March 17th for PC, PS4 and Xbox One while Wii U and Steam OS/Linux versions have only a 2015 release date. A new trailer was also released recently which you can check out below.

Battlefield: Hardline Beta Hands-on Preview

Mateja Simovic

February 2, 2015

The Battlefield series is a staple of the gaming scene with the original Battlefield 1942 coming out well over a decade ago. The series has been a mainstay of multiplayer FPS action with players fighting across various historical such as the battles of World War 2 and Vietnam to the not-so historical settings of a near-future Earth. The latest instalment developed by Visceral Games and published by EA takes a very different turn in the series with the players taking on the roles of heavily armed criminals fighting heavily armed police. At a press event in Sydney, I was able to get some hands-on time with Battlefield: Hardline. Read on to find out what I thought about the game in the short couple of hours I was given to mess around in the Beta build (which will be coming out shortly) on a PS4.

Firstly, you might be happy to know that the old Battlefield formula is most certainly present. Players still play as one of two teams in a match (Insert joke about ‘cops and robbers’) and old familiar games modes like ‘conquest’ are still available for fans of the series. In this mode, players attempt to capture points around the map which causes the enemy ‘tickets’ to count down until they lose. The new setting doesn’t particularly come into play as the teams of law breakers and enforcers largely play mechanically identical. It’s not surprising that the dev team hasn’t messed around with these mechanics too much as it’s a design which works and has proven popular in the past. I had some concerns about this formula becoming stale but from what I’ve been able to experience so far, the game has certainly shaken things up in a noticeable way.

In a presentation given to us before we jumped into the game, Scott Probst (Senior Producer), highlighted three key aspects which Visceral was aiming to overhaul in this title: Story, Strategy, and Speed. As this was a multiplayer only Beta, I was not able to see much of the Story. From the trailer, it appears to be drawing upon the style of police action movies such as Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II. The strategy aspect largely revolves around the specialist equipment you can use to alter your traversal of the map… sometimes through wanton destruction. The last aspect, speed, was certainly on display in the build we were playing and altered the gameplay in a fairly significant way from the standard Battlefield formula.

One of the game modes, ‘Hotwired’, exemplified this new focus as the objective of mode was similar to conquest in that we would be capturing points and forcing the enemy tickets to countdown. The main difference in this mode is that the points are themselves various vehicles which the players have to capture and drive around in. This creates a very interesting dynamic as the action follows the vehicles as they drive around the map due to the fact that the vehicles do not count as ‘hotwired’ unless the player driving it is maintaining a minimum speed. The action ends up moving quickly through the urban and suburban environments as players speed through the streets trying to hold on their mobile victory point or on the flipside; trying to blow up the oppositions captured vehicles.

Both sides get a number of vehicles to play with as they speed towards and around the city. They include: sports cars, muscle cars, squad cars, helicopters, motorbikes, and unmarked vans. For players with a more suicidal/happy-go-lucky streak, there is also the option to drive around in a tank truck (which also happens to be one of the objective vehicles). To quote Jeff Zaring (Lead Multiplayer Map Designer) when asked to explain what the thinking was behind the tanker vehicle was: “Here’s a bomb, get in and drive”. During play, the tanker did prove to be popular amongst the assembled press in spite of its volatile nature sub-par handling.

Another fun aspect of this mode was the opportunity for players to lean out the windows of speeding vehicles and fire wildly at each other. This gameplay felt very much like being in a scene in an over-the-top action movie like Hot Fuzz or the aforementioned Bad Boys II. I very much enjoyed this aspect of the game due to its fast pace and the relative ease with which a player can join this action by directly spawning into a vehicle at the scene.

One quandary I encountered from others on my team was that the vehicles handled in a strange way and I agreed with that sentiment to some extent as the controls reacted in an unusual manner (compared to racing games on the PS4). I personally felt that this gripe would largely be overcome with more time to get used to the controls and handling of vehicles in the game. Overall, however, I found this new aspect of the game to be a refreshing change in this instalment and I enjoyed this mode the most out of the three I was able to play.

The last mode I was able to play was a ‘Bank Heist’ mode. This was an interesting twist upon a standard ‘capture the flag’ mode with each team taking on the role defender and attacker in a fairly dynamic and fluid way. The criminal team starts out attacking a vault filled with loot, which they then have to carry to a drop off point, and then defend the point for 5 seconds before successfully delivering the loot to a dangling rope from a helicopter. The map is significantly smaller and more intimate (compared to the other modes) which helps to keep the players close to the action from spawn to imminent/pointless death.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I was able to play around in Battlefield: Hardline. As a fan of earlier instalments in the series, it was good to step back into familiar territory. There are significant parts of the game which have remained the same (classes, gameplay modes, etc) but the aspects which have been added in with this instalment do provide an interesting twist on the old formats. I would recommend curious parties to check the game out themselves when the Beta is available.

Madman Reveals Their Manga Releases for April 10, 2015

K. Roberts

February 2, 2015

Madman Reveals Their Manga Releases for April 10, 2015

Madman has just revealed their manga release list for April 10, 2015. Here it is in its entirety:

Assassination Classroom volume 2
Black Rose Alice volume 3
Bleach volume 63
Claymore volume 26
D.Gray-Man (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 6
Dawn of the Arcana volumes 2-3
Deadman Wonderland volume 7
Dragon Ball (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 8
Full Metal Alchemist (3-in-1 omnibus) volumes 8-9
Gangsta volume 5
Happy Marriage?! volume 10
High School Debut (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 5
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood volume 1
Jormungand volume 11
Kamisama Kiss volume 17
Kiss of the Rose Princess volume 3
LBX volume 4
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic volume 10
Monster: The Perfect Edition volume 3
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys volumes 9-12
Naruto volume 69
Nisekoi volume 8
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan volume 8
One Piece (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 11
Oresama Teacher volume 18
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka volume 8
Pokémon Adventures volume 27
Pokémon Black & White (slim) volume 20
Pokémon XY volumes 1-2
Ranma 1/2 (2-in-1 omnibus) volumes 6-7
Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire volume 2
Seraph of the End volume 4
Skip Beat! (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 10
Spell of Desire volume 3
Terra Formars volume 4
The World’s Greatest First Love volume 1
Toriko volume 26
Vagabond (Vizbig edition) volumes 7-8
Voice over! Seiyu Academy volume 9
World Trigger volume 4
Yu-Gi-Oh! (3-in-1 omnibus) volume 1
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5ds volume 7
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal volume 6

Pokémon XY is adapted from the video games by Hidenori Kusaka with art by Satoshi Yamamoto. It follows a different plot that was inspired by the original games. Other video games in the Pokémon series, including some spin-offs, have been adapted into single-volume or multiple-volume series, for example the Black & White manga release listed above is just one of many adaptations of the games. Although it is is not stated in the listing for any of the releases, some alterations have been made in the past to the Pokémon manga, so it is not clear whether or not any of the particular releases listed above are unedited, outside of the known changes to names of both human and Pokémon characters.

Ermac revealed for Mortal Kombat X

Travis Bruno

February 2, 2015

NetherRealm Studios has slowly been revealing the roster of Mortal Kombat X and so far many fan favorites have already been revealed including the most recent reveal of Reptile. Well now the company has revealed that Ermac will once again be entering the fray when Mortal Kombat X is released or the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC on April 14th.

Below you will see just how different Ermac will look in Mortal Kombat X as well as a glance at a few of his abilities, revealing that many of his telekinetic moves and fatalities will remain part of his moveset.

eden* and eden* Plus Mosaic now available; No, Thank You!!! pre-orders opened

Travis Bruno

February 2, 2015

MangaGamer has recently released their latest English translated visual novel eden* and eden* Plus Mosaic on Steam and their own website. Now Steam only has the standard eden* while MangaGamer is selling both versions, with eden* Plus Mosaic being the 18+ version of the game.

It is worth noting that eden* Plus Mosaic does cost a bit more, as its standard price is $24.95 compared to eden*’s selling price of $19.95 but it is also worth mentioning that for the next week both titles will be on sale, with eden* Plus Mosaic now priced at $14.97 at MangaGamer’s Adult Store and eden* at $9.97 through MangaGamer and $9.99 through Steam. It is worth noting that every purchase of eden* will also go towards funding minori’s other PC visual novel Supipara and more details about that project can be found on the official website here.

Also for those who are more interested in Yaoi (Boys Love) then you will be happy to hear that MangaGamer has also opened up pre-orders for their very first yaoi title No, Thank You!!! which will go on sale on February 27th. Those who pre-order the game early will be able to own the title at a 10% discount from the standard $39.95 selling price. Those interested in pre-ordering can do so here. (18+)

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