If you happen to be a fan of Naoki Urasawa‘s other manga works, such as 20th Century Boys and Monster, then you will be delighted to hear that Viz Media is planning on bringing over a series never before released in English that Urasawa also created. This series happens to take place in a tense post-Cold War world and it is called Master Keaton.
You may remember that the company announced their initial licensing of the series earlier this year and now they have nailed down the release plans for the first volume of the series. The first volume of Master Keaton will be released published in English on December 16th for $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN and it will feature not only a deluxe treatment but also contain eighteen pages of full-color artwork.
After this volume is published, the twelve volume manga series will be published quarterly under the company’s Viz Signature imprint. As for the story of Master Keaton, Viz Media has provided the below story description:
Master Keaton introduces Taichi Hiraga Keaton, an archeology professor and part-time insurance investigator known for his successful and unorthodox methods of investigation. The son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, educated in archaeology at Oxford and a former member of the SAS, Master Keaton uses his knowledge and combat training to uncover buried secrets, thwart would-be villains, and pursue the truth.
WWE has announced that they will be teaming up with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Mortal Kombat’s developers NetherRealm Studios to make a free-to-play mobile game called WWE Immortals. Currently very few details about the actual game, such as what type of gameplay features will be offered or pretty much anything really, have been revealed at the moment but they are planning to unveil more closer to the game’s launch on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices in 2015.
Given the track record NetherRealm Studios has, there is a pretty good chance that WWE Immortals will be a fighting game of some sort, though how well this will actually work is currently unknown.
Overview The PlayStation family of consoles has always been home to some of the wackiest games from Japan. While hundreds of titles remain within the Land of the Rising Sun, some, inexplicably, manage to make it across the Pacific to our store shelves. Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is one such title. In fact, it was released earlier on the older PS3 and PS Vita consoles and was deemed successful enough in the West to warrant a PS4 port. Is this shiny new release worth picking up for Sony’s latest machine?
Story
Let’s get this out of the way first. The story is absolutely ridiculous. You play as an otaku who has accepted a random job offer promising a payment in rare anime figures. Unfortunately for you, your would-be employer straps you to a table and turns you into a vampiric “Synthister”, making you susceptible to sunlight and needed life energy from other people.
You escape with the help of a mysterious, umbrella-wielding girl named Shizuku who is your quiet-but-super-strong archetype with a sense of a dry humour. Before long you’re back with your friends, a vigilante organisation called the Freedom Fighters of Akiba. This mismatch of otaku has tasked itself to protect the streets of Tokyo’s famous electronic geek district.
Except this time the streets are threatened by other Synthisters who are incapable of controlling their urge to attack innocent people. You must use your powers, along with Shizuku’s unnatural strength, to counter the vampires who blend into society. The plot progresses via plenty of dialogue and sophisticated character portraits while you do side missions and story missions. The mouths actually move, which is rare in these kinds of games.
Like a lot of haphazard Japanese games, humour is the biggest draw here. Humour and pop culture references. If you’re interested in this game then chances are you’re an otaku yourself, so you’ll recognise not only the hub of Akihabara but plenty of witty references to major franchises and Japanese memes. The localisation is almost as good as it could be, with none of the original intonations lost in translation.
Don’t go expecting Final Fantasy levels of story though, as everything is presented at surface level only. Character development is limited in simply raising affection levels with the four heroines of the game rather than any real emotional progression. The plot does pick up, however lacking, and there is replay value to be found thanks to the affection level component.
Gameplay Akiba’s Trip plays a little like Yakuza during combat and exploration, albeit cut down. Players level up and equip stronger clothes and weapons. Once you’re set upon by a group of ordinary-looking Synthisters, the aim of the game is to whittle down the enemy’s clothing until it can be stripped off. Once their headgear, shirt or pants are damaged enough they flash purple indicating that the time is ripe for a strip. Once all their clothes, or your clothes, are stripped to underwear the game is over as the sun is too strong for your vampiric bodies.
Strips can be chained together, allowing you take out multiple opponents at once via quick time events. Blocking is essential as it’s easy to get overwhelmed on the higher difficulties and you can also “straighten up” your clothes to restore its durability mid-fight. It’s all very simple, even a little dodgy, but rambunctious fun at the same time.
Players walk around the fairly limited streets of Akiba. Some stores can be approached to purchase gear but you rarely enter and explore indoor locations other than your home base. Each section of the map is split into alleys or main streets with plenty of loading screens in between. NPCs offer little more than a few unvoiced lines of dialogue and most of them serve as filler where you just bump into them.
There are loads of little side quests though, clever in their execution. For instance buying expensive pieces of clothing for your dear little sister or defeating rabid fans and stalkers. The main storyline is fairly short and doesn’t offer a great deal of narrative, so these side quests are probably the main attraction for otaku gamers who can relate to the tasks.
Surprisingly, the PS4 version does have a couple of extra features including a Visual Editor that lets players customise how the city looks like and an interesting chat command system while you live stream the game, allowing spectators to mess around with your game as you play.
Visuals Akiba’s Trip falls into the increasingly-common realm of sub-par Japanese game graphics. The city of Akiba is awesomely replicated, make no mistake, with authentic shop fronts, buildings and streets and the CG art is crisp, vibrant and fun especially on a HD TV. But the game’s engine has more shortcomings than what should be acceptable on the PlayStation 4.
Unfortunately the game is a direct port of the PS3 and PS Vita versions, with known bugs and issues still present on the PS4 code. Unnecessary loading screens around every corner, aliased character models despite being low quality and, shockingly, low frame rates especially when you pan the camera plague what is an otherwise very cool-looking game.
Audio XSEED included both English and Japanese audio for the game. While the English is more than acceptable (other than the little sister), most players playing a game set in a Japanese city about Japanese pop culture would probably stick to the latter option. The music is catchy while the sound effects are probably the weakest aspect of the audio since there is little variety. You do get realistic crowd and street noise though.
I’ve had a lot of sound issues and glitches in my playthrough. At one point all voices and music cut out and wouldn’t return until I deleted and downloaded the game all over again.
Overall Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is a unique little game. It’s a package of love for the hardcore otaku, the ones familiar with Akihabara and for those who know their dakimakura from their eroge. It can be a boatload of fun at times but like I mentioned, it is a little lacklustre in the quality department. It’s even a little depressing that nothing has been done to make the PS4 version better than the previous iterations, making it seem like a rushed cash grab. It’s still glitchy, a little laggy and the game’s code simply isn’t designed for the PS4 in mind.
If you’re a fan of dialogue-centric Japanese games like visual novels, anime and Eastern pop culture then this is a special homage for you. But if you can find the game a little cheaper on PS3 or PS Vita then go for those versions as the PS4 version has very little extra to offer when you consider the broad scope of options Acquire had with the new hardware.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Stardock Games released the third beta update for it’s genre-defining 4x game, Galactic Civilizations III. The update brings new content to the beta release of the game, bringing much more depth to players. The beat is currently available on Steam Early Access, and is at available for the duration of the beta at 10% off. You can find the game on Steam here.
New content coming to the influential game includes a fan-favorite race known as the Yor. The Yor are a synthetic race, which have a racial trait that allows them to ignore population growth rules in-game. This marks eight available races for players to choose from in the game, which will no doubt be added to with the modder community.
The new beta also adds a new animation feature, pass on ship fire, allowing the player to see their ships trading fire in the main view. Damage to ships is another new feature, which will leave ships looking battle-worn and destroyed after combat Additionally, cutscenes have been added to the game, for various vignettes in order to increase the depth and attachment players have to their civilizations.
The game can only be run on 64-bit systems, so be sure that your system is compatible before purchase. This limitation allows for much large games and maps, but it is something that potential buyers should look out for. Galactic Civilizations III is due to have it’s full release in Spring 2015 for PC.
Serious Sam developer Croteam has just released their philosophical puzzle game The Talos Principle on Steam. The game is written by Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything). Players will find themselves in a bizzare, contradictory world of ancient ruins and advanced technology where you must solve a series of increasingly complex puzzles while trying to decide what to do about your situation. Do you just accept what is going on or do you ask just who are you, and what is your purpose here?
Features of the game include:
Overcome more than 120 immersive puzzles in a stunning world.
Divert drones, manipulate laser beams and even replicate time to prove your worth – or to find a way out.
Explore a story about humanity, technology and civilization. Uncover clues, devise theories, and make up your own mind.
Choose your own path through the game’s non-linear world, solving puzzles your way.
But remember: choices have consequences and somebody’s always watching you.
The game is now available on Windows, Mac and Linux for a suggested retail price of $39.99 USD on Steam. It is available for purchase here. The game is currently on sale for $35.99 USD and will be available next year on PS4 and Android systems.
A prequel to the game, Sigils of Elohim, is available for free on Steam. A trailer of the game is available below, and a free demo of the game, is also available on Steam for anyone interested in seeing what the game is like.
Kalypso Media has released a new trailer for their upcoming RTS title, Grand Ages: Medieval, today. The trailer is a look into an impressively large world, showcasing some of the terrain and natural disasters which can occur in-game. The in-game world looks beautiful, even in it’s early alpha status. The strategy game will be coming to PC, Mac, and Linux.
The game is an ambitious take on the RTS genre, offering players the ability to freely explore and develop their own Empire across a hugely sized Europe. Based on the features listed below, the game looks to be a more in-depth game than titles such as Civilization, focusing more on strategic placement of cities and trade routes across Europe.
Features:
Explore a gigantic game world of over 20 million square kilometers, plot strategically where to found important cities and defend your kingdom against foreign powers
Raise an army and fight your opponents with knights, archers and cavalry
Produce and trade 20 different goods to meet the demands of your citizens and soldiers: such as coal, fruits and pottery
Research and utilize 50 major technological advancement of the Middle Ages: including the three-field crop rotation, the low warp loom or the longbow
Face devastating natural disasters like storms, fires, volcanoes, droughts, earthquakes… or even the Black Death
Challenging Multiplayer Mode for up to 8 players via network and online
Warfare and technology trees also are to play a large role in the game, which takes place from the year 1050 A.D. onward. Players will start as a mayor of a small township, and progress to as large an empire as they are capable of building. The star of the new trailer is of course the large-scale recreation of Europe. We’ll certainly see if it can live up to the title of a “civilization simulator” once this game is launched in 2015, although Kalypso has had much luck with it’s “dictator simulator” series, Tropico.
A new website has been recently created for the next anime movie project done by acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda, this is great news for fans as it will be the first film he’s done since Wolf Children.
The movie titled Bakemono no Ko or The Boy and the Beast, takes place in a world where a human realm and monster realm both exist, but don’t ever cross. When a human boy gets lost within the monster realm he is discovered by a monster called Kumatetsu and quickly becomes his disciple.
The front page of the official website shows the boy and Kumatetsu standing in front of a crowd, both wielding swords and bearing fierce expressions on their faces. The website also has a tab that features a 32 second long preview of the film which you can check out by clicking on the video down below. Hosoda plans on releasing The Boy and the Beast next year on the 11th of July, keep your eyes on this site for more information as it comes.
Wolf Children was released back in 2012, it was received with praise and got a North American release by Funimation.
Japanese scans always bring us the best news and it has now been confirmed that Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 will be releasing sometime in the next year. Details are slim at the moment but the game will include the mature Naruto from Naruto: The Last Movie as a playable character and the story will cover at least up to the end of the Ninja War. Expect a trailer at the upcoming Japanese Anime and Manga event Jump Festa or at least some off screen footage of the game as the scan indicates a demo will be present at the event which takes place on the 21st in Japan. There are a couple of screenshots in the scan and judging by how good the last few storm games looked on the last gen consoles, I think we are in for a visual treat with Storm 4.
Interestingly, the scan lists PlayStation 4 as the only console to be receiving the game but we expect more platforms to be announced in the future. The release date is listed as 2015 so we expect a September release which is common with the Naruto games. We will bring you more info as it comes but for now the first reveal scan is available below.
Platformers are the quintessential gaming genre which have survived from the earliest days of the medium in the classic video arcades. They’re a game type which is a staple amongst the bigger studios, but they are also making a splash in the indie scene. The games from these smaller developers are (generally) targeted towards an older audience who can take pleasure in the punishing difficulty curve they normally possess. Into this comes The Sun and Moon, which was the winner of a 48 hour game jam called Ludum Dare (Latin for “to give a game”) in April of this year. With this accolade behind it, I eagerly dove into the game to see these merits firsthand.
Story
You play as a living blob who traverses each level, collecting orbs spread about before exiting through a wormhole. There are also malevolent clouds which can chase you around a level, but their motivations (amongst other things) remain unknown. As you might be able to tell already, there is no story in this game (as far as I can tell). I generally do appreciate narratives in games, but I understand that a game such as this would be difficult to design a story for and so we move on…
Gameplay
Here we come to the meat of this title. The mechanics are fairly simple, almost deceptively so, as you are able to move left, right, and jump. Holding down a button adds to this plethora of options by allowing you to dive into normally solid objects. This also swaps the direction of gravity as you begin to fall up instead of down. Momentum as you move from one substance to another is maintained so you can fly up from below ground at speed to make really big and high jumps into the air. It kind of reminds me of a ping pong ball being pushed to the bottom of a container with water before flying up to the surface and into the air from buoyancy. The way the game simulates these forces feels very natural to me and I commend the developers for using the physics engine in such a creative manner.
The levels themselves are similarly interesting with plenty of opportunity for the player to practice lateral thinking as they attempt to figure out how to traverse the level. You have to avoid spinning blades and falling off the edge (or through the edge if you’re slow on letting go of the button), but death isn’t punished and you just immediately restart the level. The game rewards you for completing a level within a set time limit, but you can still clear a level by simply making it to the end. By clearing levels you unlock newer and more nefarious levels to play in, with some featuring some very clever designs which make great use of the game’s unique mechanic.
My one gripe is that it feels that the aforementioned mechanic is the game’s ONLY mechanic with which I have to contend. Theoretically, this means players can go about mastering and developing in-depth techniques for this one element but effectively I lost interest fairly early. Certainly, the levels make good use of this mechanic and there were many times when I was stumped for a solution (which shows that this game does provide a reasonable challenge). It was, nonetheless, difficult for me to build up the motivation to play this game. I found the gameplay to be too simplistic for my tastes and I felt increasingly disengaged as time went on. I imagine for some players, the desire to do better and achieve better times would be a significant motivator but it was not strong enough for me in this instance.
Visuals & Audio
The visuals are fairly minimalist with a high contrast between the player-character-blob and various objects within the environment so you can always see what hazards are around you. Across the various stages, there is little variation beyond the colour of the background and foreground (as far as I could tell). I’m not overly focused on aesthetics, but I do prefer my games to have a bit more visual candy.
The game soundtrack is actually quite enjoyable, but I think I may just have a special place in my heart for soft, eight-bit, synth-electro as it’s essentially just the same chords played again and again (with some variation amongst zones). Nonetheless, the sound design is as minimalist as the rest of the game.
Overall
I had a hard time enjoying the very restrained design of this game, which isn’t to suggest that I dislike games with a minimalist bent… but comparing my experience of this game to my experience with Deepest Dungeons of Doom, which was similarly toned down in its gameplay, and I find The Sun and Moon to be very shallow. I feel that not enough has been done to move this game beyond its ‘flash-game’ origins. There’s plenty of content, but the lack of any more polish means it quickly loses its appeal for me. I could see this game having an appeal in bite-sized play sessions, to help keep things fresh for longer, but it really wasn’t my kind of thing. I could not recommend this game for anyone who isn’t already a connoisseur of platformers and even then I could probably think of some other examples I had more fun with.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It has been almost five years since the original Cities XLwas released. Since then, the franchise has been updated with Cities XL 2011 and Cities XL Platinum. Now, Focus Home Interactive is announcing a brand new chapter with Cities XXL.
Announced with a teaser trailer on YouTube, Cities XXL builds on the previous titles’ city building mechanics and adds improved Steam Workshop support, more than 70 new maps, region specific roads, over 1000 buildings, improved graphics, and new environmental options to help your city go green.
Cities XXL does not have a solid release date, but Focus Home Interactive hopes to have it released on PC sometime in Q1 2015.
If you happen to be a fan of Naoki Urasawa‘s other manga works, such as 20th Century Boys and Monster, then you will be delighted to hear that Viz Media is planning on bringing over a series never before released in English that Urasawa also created. This series happens to take place in a tense post-Cold War world and it is called Master Keaton.
