Mad Max is an absolute classic that is about to receive a lot more attention due to not only an upcoming video game release, but also a reboot featuring Tom Hardy by the name of Mad Max: Fury Road. On May 5th, Shout! Factory will be re-releasing the original on Blu-ray, with a good number of new features in tow.
Have a gander at the features for yourself:
Special Features:
NEW Interviews with Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel and Director of Photography David Eggby
Audio Commentary by Art Director Jon Dowding, Director of Photography David Eggby, Special Effects Artist Chris Murray and Tim Ridge
Mel Gibson: The Birth Of A Superstar
Mad Max: The Film Phenomenon
Theatrical Trailers
TV Spots
Photo Galleries
Contains Both the Original Australian English Audio and the U.S. English Dubbed Audio
For those who have never watched the original or the sequels it donned, here is a brief synopsis:
Setting Mel Gibson on a sure path to superstardom, this highly acclaimed “crazy collide-o-scope” (Newsweek) of highway mayhem “cinematically defined the post-apocalyptic landscape” (TV Guide). Featuring eye-popping stunts that are “electrifying and very convincing” (Variety) and “an authentically nihilistic spirit” (The Village Voice), this unforgettable actioner from director George Miller is “pure cinematic poetry” (Time).
In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them. But they underestimate one officer: Max (Gibson). And when the bikers brutalize Max’s best friend and family, they send him into a mad frenzy that leaves him with only one thing left in the world to live for – revenge! MAD MAX also stars Joanne Samuel (Nightmaster), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Steve Bisley (The Great Gatsby, Red Hill).
As a huge bonus, those who order Mad Max Collector’s Edition Blu-ray directly from ShoutFactory.com will get it shipped two weeks early, plus receive an exclusive 18″x24″ poster featuring newly commissioned artwork. That is a pretty awesome deal, to say the least. Mark May 5th on your calenders and get ready for more Mad Max via Shout! Factory.
Who doesn’t or hasn’t at one time loved The Simpsons? Now you can add them to your world all over again as Microsoft and Mojang have released a brand new skin pack featuring Springfield’s finest for Minecraft.
While you will have to utilize your own creativity to recreate that famous setting, players can now don a good chunk of the cast for the low price of $2.99 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Sure, its a bit gimmicky, but I am all for support and with a title like Minecraft, more skins are more than welcome. Check out the trailer below to get a better look at the latest skin pack. Keep in mind as well that the “Story Mode” game is also coming soon.
If you happened to be a big fan of the first Xblaze game, the visual novel spin-off of Blazblue, then you’ll be happy to hear that Aksys Games is planning on bringing the sequel, XBlaze Code: Embryo to North America sometime this summer. When the title is released it will be available for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita just like XBlaze Lost: Memories was.
The title will expand upon the events that occurred throughout the first game while also introducing new characters and adding extra elements to the story all while offering branching storylines and multiple endings with unexpected twists and turns to give players “hours of compelling gameplay.”
If the various developments about Fable Legends were concerning to longtime fans of the series, then the most recently revealed news from Microsoft and Lionhead Games may have been the last straw. The companies recently announced that Fable Legends will be a free-to-play game when it is released later this year on the Xbox One and PC.
The base game will offer four different heroes to play for free and every two weeks these heroes will be swapped out and replaced with new ones. You can unlock characters permanently by either spending in-game currency or using real money. Players will also be able to purchase chests using either form of currency which will provide the player with random items including weapons, augments, armor, and more.
With Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II set to be released in Japan on April 23rd for the PlayStation 4, Compile Heart has chosen to release the opening video for the game. You can check out the video below where not only are we given another look at the older version of Neptune as well as some of the mascot characters in the title but also a look at the recently revealed Next transformations for Purple Heart, Green Heart, White Heart, and Black Heart.
Also shown is Uzume, a new CPU Goddess, that is capable of transformation where, unlike the other Goddesses, will see her act as a younger lighthearted version of herself.
Earlier this week Seven Seas Entertainment was teasing an announcement concerning some new licenses and a few days ago they delivered. The company has announced that they have acquired the license for Kashiwa Miyako’s The Testament of Sister New Devil, also known as Shinmai Maō no Testament, as well as Eiji Masuda’s Jitsu wa Watashi Wa manga.
It is worth noting that the localized name for the latter manga is a bit strange as it is now My Monster Secret. The first volume for The Testament of Sister New Devil is set for release in February 2016 while the first volume of My Monster Secret will be released in January 2016. Of these licenses, the first series currently has an anime adaptation airing while the latter currently has an anime adaptation planned.
For those who don’t know, Jitsu wa Watashi Wa is a romantic comedy manga following a boy named Asahi Kuromine who is terrible with keeping secrets though he has always managed to keep his crush on the mysterious girl Youko Shiragami hidden. Then one day he manages to find out that she is in fact a vampire, and a rather strange one at that. Now that he knows her secret, he plans on keeping it as best he can while using this new found closeness to spend time with her despite the numerous other strange oddities that appear around the school.
The other day Mortal Kombat X had quite a “brutal” reveal, and now we have some meat to go along with it (not that Meat). Today, Netherrealm have dropped a trailer, detailing the story for Mortal Kombat X, and it seems to be quite involved. While the previous installment was more of a reintroduction of sorts to the tale, this version looks to carry much more weight with Raiden leading a pack of new combatants yet again.
I won’t spoil it, but quite a few veteran fighters can be found within the clip, as well the new faces such as Cassie Cage. Check out the clip below while trying to ignore the fact that Goro is a pre-order bonus (c’mon Netherrealm, he is a mainstay), and get ready for MKX to drop next month.
Earlier this year Bandai Namco shocked the Western gaming scene when they announced that they would be localizing J-Stars Victory Vs.+ for release in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. While no release date has been announced as of yet, English gameplay footage of the PlayStation 4 version has recently made its way online and can be found below.
For those who haven’t been following the game, J-Stars Victory Vs.+ is a crossover fighting game featuring characters from numerous popular Jump series including well known characters such as Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and lesser known ones such as Medaka from Medaka Box.
A pair of new trailers for Persona 4: Dancing All Nighthave been released by Atlus and they happen to focus on the Protagonist of the game, generally known as Yu Narukami, and Rise Kujikawa. It is worth noting that these trailers are the Japanese release for the game which means that the Japanese voice actors are voicing the same characters as before, though hearing Rie Kugimiya as Rise takes some getting used to.
Following the incident in Yasoinaba, Rise has returned to her idol work and Yu happens to meet up with her in the city where she asks him for help before calling in the rest of the Investigation Team to help solve the problem.
After finishing up their terrifying adventure in the horror genre, Creative Assembly is returning to their strategic mainstay, the Total War franchise. The franchise is venturing into the often forgotten era between the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages in Total War: Attila. Gamers will take control of one of the many factions battling for power and lead their armies into battle while managing the political intrigue at home.
Story
After several centuries of Roman power, the Roman Empire has split into two and the Huns are invading from the east. The power vacuum created by the split has left many factions fighting over the remaining pieces. The grand campaign will let players choose one of ten factions and lead them to glory. Beyond the initial cinematic setting the historical stage, the real plot will be the one the player creates from success and failure.
Gameplay
Total War: Attila plays much like previous titles at its core. The campaign mode gameplay is a turn based strategy where players will build their armies and their kingdoms. Players will start out with a small empire and a ruling family. From there, they will begin to build their cities, research technology, make friends, and start killing off enemies.
Whether through more peaceful means or through military conquest, players will need to complete a series of objectives to claim victory. There are three levels of victory, minor, cultural/military victory, and major victory. Each have their own set of requirements, such as surviving to a certain date, controlling a certain number of territories, and so on.
Conflict can be sorted out by leading the men into a real time strategic battle or allowing the computer to come to a decision for the player. Unless the battle is completely pitched in the players favour, it is almost always the better choice to let the player command their troops in battle. Unlike more traditional RTS titles like Starcraft and Command & Conquer, the focus in Total War: Attila is troop movement and positioning. Players will face off in a battle against the enemy with their army numbers already established. With a maximum of 20 units to begin and another 20 for reinforcements that will march into battle after a short delay, a successful commander must be able to position their troops for the greatest tactical advantage and strike at enemy weaknesses with the correct unit. Creative Assembly builds on the simple premise with unit morale, exhaustion, ammunition types, and formations, creating a surprisingly complex battle without need for resource management or special abilities.
Creative Assembly has made a valiant effort in making Total War: Attila as newbie friendly as possible. The prologue campaign serves as an extended tutorial and the advisor provides a stream of helpful gameplay advice. With the difficulty cranked down to the easiest level, the game is still pretty daunting to those new to the genre. Part of the challenge comes from the sheer scope of the game. Managing internal politics, external diplomacy, cities, and the armies is a lot to digest at once. Although the prologue campaign tries to ease new players into the game, there is still a lot for a new player to learn in such a short period of time.
There is a ton of content in Total War: Attila, making its $44.99 USD asking price quite reasonable. The grand campaign has a starting scenario for each of the ten factions that range in difficulty. Campaigns can be played solo or with others. For those who would prefer to skip the turn-based kingdom management and get straight to the fighting, a variety of battles are available in single and multiplayer. Notably, players can participate in some of the most famous battles in the era in Historical Battle mode.
The controls in Total War: Attila are solid. As most with most RTS titles, the game has hotkeys up to the nth degree and those migrating from other genres will be at home with the WASD camera controls. The combat UI is well designed, lining the bottom of the screen with unit commands and keeping a full list of units and their statuses prominently displayed at the bottom of the screen. Troop position uses a drag and drop system that is so easy that it only takes an extra drag to have the unit facing in the exact direction and formation you may desire. The campaign map’s UI is a little more complicated and convoluted. A lot of important screens have been banished to unlabeled buttons at the bottom of the screen, making it a bit more challenging to master.
Visuals
Total War: Attila is an excellent looking game. The landscape is detailed and lush. Once fights begin breaking out, the ordered units begin engaging in chaotic skirmishes that is quite a sight to see. It is very easy to forget how good the battles look in the game when players tend to be obsessed with the larger picture, but remember to zoom in once in a while and enjoy Creative Assembly’s attention to detail.
On the hardware side, Total War: Attila can be demanding. I noticed that particularly nasty sieges can cause frame rates to drop substantially. Good news for those with weaker computers though, the game has quite a few options that can be dialed down to support aging systems.
Audio
The soundtrack is a finely composed piece of work. It strikes the right notes of epic and exotic, which fits in perfectly with the game’s Dark Ages theme. It is an absolute shame that the soundtrack is not available on its own, while soundtracks for previous titles like Shogun II: Total War are widely available. The sound effects have also been treated to an equally solid performance. Small touches like hearing the noises of nature when the camera is zoomed in is a nice touch.
In stark comparison to the soundtrack, I found the voice acting to be extremely weak. The voice actor behind the advisor does a good job of his lines, but the remaining tends to range between just acceptable to downright cringe worthy. Part of the problem is that the lines written for these actors are a bit lame to start off with, but poor base material is little excuse for how utterly poor some of the acting is.
Overall
Total War: Attila is a solid title for anyone into RTS games. It is a decent choice for people new to the genre who are willing to muscle through a serious learning curve for a big payoff in the end; however, those looking for an easier entry into the genre should pick another game. Total War: Attila combines solid gameplay, great visuals, and a stellar soundtrack into one polished RTS.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Earlier this week 
