Rhythm games have started to come back into style and Square Enix is jumping on the chance to release another title utilizing music from some of their other iconic franchises. Today it was revealed that Square Enix is going to be releasing Theatrhythm Dragon Quest for the Nintendo 3DS. The title will be released on March 26th in Japan and they will be debuting the first trailer as well as showing Theatrhythm Dragon Quest off for the first time during the Jump Festa event that begins on December 20th.
Currently it is unknown exactly how many songs will be included in the release, though they will likely draw from not only the main Dragon Quest games but various spin-offs similar to how they handled the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy series. For now, you can check out Theatrhythm Dragon Quest’s official website here.
Square Enix has announced that they will be holding a special Final Fantasy Type-0 HD livestream for North America and Europe later today. This is part of their “Square Enix Presents” series of YouTube broadcasts and it will take place 8:00 pm PST on Thursday, December 11th.
The livestream can be seen here, as for what it will contain, Square Enix says they will be sharing “new details and some exclusive reveals” during the broadcast. Considering Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is set to be released in the West in March, this is probably a good time to tune in and see what the company has to reveal about this upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 title.
Kodansha Comics has just announced that they will be releasing the first volume of the Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso / April Is Your Lie) manga in English in Spring 2015. Naoshi Arakawa’s manga is currently being adapated into a 22-episode anime series. The anime has been licensed by Aniplex USA and Madman, and Crunchyroll is streaming the series in North America, Central America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Ireland.
Kodansha describe the series as follows: “Kōsei Arima was a piano prodigy until his cruel taskmaster of a mother died suddenly, changing his life forever. Driven by his pain to abandon piano, Kōsei now lives in a monotonous, colorless world. Having resigned himself to a bland life, he is surprised when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist with an unorthodox style. Can she teach Kōsei not just how to play, but how to start living again?”.
Atlus has announced that Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker has been delayed yet again. The game, originally titled Devil Survivor 2: Break Record, has now been pushed back to 2015. The portable title was supposed to originally see a 2013 release, then a late 2014 release. Atlus has not stated exactly when they plan to release the game, but hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later.
Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker offers nearly double the content of the original Devil Survivor 2. Atlus claims that there will be 100 total hours of gameplay in the expanded title. Not only is there to be further depth within the main game, but Atlus has also stated that the new version will continue past the ending of the original game.
Additionally, Record Breaker is to have English voice acting for it’s story dialogue; this of course, will likely be a negative to some fans of the series. A mysterious new character is also set to make her appearance in the new content, named Miyako Hotsuin. Players will have the option to skip to the new content, or to play through the original game first.
Today’s announcement trailer can be viewed below, with a sampling of the English voice cast.
Joylancer is a retro-styled action-platformer game, taking after the Super Nintendo era of gaming. It is an indie game currently available on Steam Early Access, and it offers several gameplay modes. Only a few levels have currently been created so far, as it is an early alpha; new content will be added as it’s developed. There are multiple control options, though I found the controller option to be better suited for platforming and combat. The menus are typical, allowing you to edit display settings, game settings, etc, although there are a few nice alternate visual options under the display settings. The game supports rumble mode if you have a controller, though I did not keep that function turned on.
Joylancer offers several different visual styles, allowing the player to change at will how the game looks. There is the standard “DX” mode, which is a mode where everything is colored based on object, as well as various presets for non-DX modes. These allow the player to choose how they wish the visuals to appear, from grey scale, to various colored themes. I found the 16-bit style aesthetic pleasing, with the sprites standing out well against the tiled backgrounds. Some customized color schemes led to a bit of difficulty in discerning on-screen objects, but overall, the graphics are crisp and well animated. Additionally, the player can zoom in and out slightly from the center of the screen; I didn’t find much difference in playability from zoom levels, however.
The audio effects in Joylancer are alright and somewhat typical, however, I found the one set of the music tracks to be overly harsh, and hard to listen to. After a short time, I found myself forced to turn the music way down. Even though it’s chip-tune based, the beats and loudness of it were distracting, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the compositions. The second set of tracks is much more subdued, and I kept that set going for the majority of my play.
At this point in development, there isn’t much of a story to go on. The protagonist is a knight of sorts, equipped with a weapon called a drill-lance, and she goes off to fight various other knights and monsters in the world. There are hints of back-story present, however, at this point it is rather limited. Storyboards and NPC’s respond with text boxes when the player interacts with them (which is how the tutorial is handled), and this will likely be the primary storytelling for the game, as opposed to active cut-scenes and conversations. Hopefully with Joylancer’s full release, the story and lore will be much more substantial.
Current modes for the title include a tutorial mode, the beginning portion of story mode, a survival challenge mode, and multiplayer combat. The tutorial is short, but helpful, giving you one new thing to do at a time in order to help facilitate learning the movement and combat system, which is fairly standard. I liked that it didn’t allow you to try out different moves until you progressed to the point where they were introduced, which helps the player to focus on what they need to know per section.
It’s clear that the story mode is intended to be the main focus of Joylancer, with multiple levels and stages available through exploration of an overworld map. There are random enemy spawns you can run into on the map, which take you into a battle screen, much like an RPG. This battle screen is set up as a mini-level, with multiple enemies to fight. There is only one real section to play available now, with a few level’s and a boss battle in that section. You are ranked for your play on each level based on a few factors, time, points, difficulty, and deaths, with S+ being the highest rank. I could see this factoring into competitive leaderboards, with speed being balanced by item collecting and kills.
Each level consists of a few areas, which you must fight through in order to find the entryway to the next, and I found it a bit tough to navigate parts of the worlds. Little direction is given regarding some of the in-game objects, but much like retro-games of years past, they’re easily figured out and interacted with. Currently Joylancer requires exploration from the player in order to find where to go, and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out the levels, and where I could get to in each. There are secret areas riddled throughout the levels to discover as well, which adds to player discovery.
The “Dark Palace” challenge mode is still rough as well, but it’s clear to see where it’s going. There will be 50 levels of enemies to fight through, in order to make it to the bottom of the castle. The player is given a limited number of lifebars, and expected to fight through these multitudes of enemies without dying. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be quite complete, but it’s fun to try to get as far as you can. The final mode is titled Motor Combat, and it is a 1-4 player fighting mode. There are to be multiple knight-type characters to choose from, as well as multiple stages. At the moment, it works, though I experienced some crashes while trying to fight the AI knights.
Where Joylancer shines is it’s combat, which is fast-paced and engaging. There are a number of special moves already available, which require charge from the character’s drill-lance. It gets used up rapidly, but collecting gems or doing the charge move quickly bring it back up to full. Combat becomes a balancing act of managing the multiple enemies on screen while continuing to charge up and attack with the special moves. Personally I enjoyed hitting enemies into the air, and smashing down on them with a pair of moves. Combos also seem to be present, though I had trouble really chaining many moves together, due to the need to constantly charge up the drill-lance during battles. The more I played the easier this started to become, however.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the combat was how Joylancer locks the player in certain areas during levels with multiple enemies, instead of letting players speed past if they chose. There are ways to juggle enemies in the air, as well as counter enemies, and throw back any weapons which are tossed at the player. The system has depth, and requires practice to master, although it is perfectly playable (on the easier difficulties at least) with less practice. There is only one boss fight at the moment, but I found it to be challenging until I learned the boss’ patterns. The AI of average enemies is fairly good, some are dumber and less able to hurt the player, some are much more intelligent. Axe Knights in particular are quite vicious and powerful foes.
What I feel about Joylancer at this point, is that it’s hard, but about player discovery and skill. While certain aspects are difficult, Joylancer is fair in how it throws enemies and challenges at the player, and it’s more than forgiving, with multiple life bars and numerous (at this point, seemingly unlimited) lives, which respawn the player where they died without reloading the level. The combat is fluid and fun, as engaging as the player wishes it be. While the platforming can be tough to get past, I never felt like I was stuck and unable to advance; a simple charge of the drill, and then doing the special drill jump got me to pass most obstacles without difficulty. There isn’t much content in the game yet, which is unfortunate. The game will shine once there further enemies to battle and combos to learn. Joylancer is playable, however, there just isn’t much to play yet. As more levels get designed, and as the overworld map increases, there is no doubt the game will get more and more enjoyable to run, jump, and drill your way through. You can watch the alpha release trailer below, and grab the demo or buy the early access version on Steam. Joylancer is currently scheduled for it’s full release in January.
The special 2015 double issue of Big Comic Spirits went on sale in Japan recently and within its pages was the debut of a new manga series created by the author of Ichi the Killer, Hideo Yamamoto.
The mangakas’ new title, Hikari Man, features a high school boy as the protagonist who loves to play games and possess a strange electrical ability.
Not only is the first chapter published in the double issue, but you can also read the first ten pages online through aspecial preview websitecreated by the magazine. The pages aren’t translated to English however there are enough illustrations to give you the basic idea of what is going on, each panel is wonderfully detailed and there is a great used of red on the forth page which makes the manga even more intriguing.
The last series Yamamoto created was Homunculus, which ended four years ago, although it didn’t get a North American release, his previous works Voyeur and Voyeurs Inc were both published by Viz Media in the US. Check out the first chapter and leave a comment down below telling us what you think about Hikari-Man.
Ubisoft announced the Assassin’s Creed Roguepack for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Phantoms. The pack contains Assassin’s Creed Rogue themed items for all three classes. Players will get helmets, tactical suits, and six weapons. Ubisoft released a giant infographic featuring all of the equipment in the pack.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Phantoms is a free to play third person tactical shooter. The game can be downloaded on Steam for Windows PCs.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue bridges the American-based Assassin’s Creed titles with the brand new Assassin’s Creed Unity set in France. Assassin’s Creed Rogue is available now for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A PC port will be released in 2015.
Rogue Factor released a major content patch for their strategy RPG game Mordheim: City of the Damned. The content update introduces The Sisters of Sigmar, who are joining The Mercenaries of the Empire and The Skaven of Clan Eshin as playable factions. The Cult of the Possessed will be the next faction to be added in the next content patch. Additionally, the patch introduces the Warcamp hub to manage units and equipment customization.
The city of Mordheim is full of warring factions trying to control the Wyrdstone fragments that litter the city after a twin tailed comet crashed. Players will need to carefully manage their units, as injuries and death are permanent. Mordheim: City of the Damned is based on the Warhammer franchise from Games Workshop. It is currently part of Steam Early Access while in beta testing.
I am just about the least coordinated person I know and have close to zero talent for shaking my hips, so I usually steer clear of dance games (or motion games in general). With that in mind, I picked up Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved not knowing what to expect, but I can happily say that I was pleasently surprised. In lieu of traditional dance-based gameplay, Fantasia ops for a slower, more methodical conductor’s roll of the music which is a surprisingly fun take on the formula.
Gameplay
As you have probably guessed, Fantasia: Music Evolved is very much a Kinect game. In fact, after you have set up the screen brightness you don’t use your controller at all. You point your arms in different directions to navigate menus, and the entire game is played with only a few simple hand movements in front of the screen.
The goal of the game is to conduct your way through a series of classic and modern pop tunes. Where as other games will require precise movements and perfect timing, Fantasia is a little more lax. The whole game only comes down to swiping in a direction or punching forwards (and sometimes even a mixture of the two). The simple controls mean that anyone can get in and have a go without the fear of making a fool out of yourself. Not only that, but the game gives you ample warning as to which movement you should be making, and when you should make it.
There is also no hard and fast rule about which hands you should be performing which movement with, or where on the screen you need to be aiming. The game is very accessible and while it gives you visual cues and suggestions, really it is up to you. Just because an icon appears in front of your right hand, doesn’t mean you need to use your right hand to make the movement.
Relying so heavily on the Kinect is a bit of a drawback however, as despite how good the device is, it is by no means perfect. There were times when playing that the game would fail to recognise a movement or a punch and I would be penalised for it by losing my hit-streak or in some cases failing to hit the score multiplier at the right time. In any game control problems can weigh down, but here they were especially notable. Luckily for the most part the game just runs smoothly.
One of the cooler things you can do is remix songs on the fly. After attaining a certain amount of points in a given song, you are given the option to change which instruments play the tune. So you can be conducting along to Lorde’s Royals before switching it up and exchanging the modern instruments for some sweet jazz-inspired brass instruments. Changing up the tune also increases your score multiplier. At the end, you can save your remixed track and share them online for others to enjoy.
What most impressed me with Fantasia was that at every point in the game I felt like I was in control. Interacting with the music, the menus and just about everything else gave this sense of magic and power. A lot of this boils down to how the Kinect integration works, and even though it falters at times it is for the most part fluid and responsive.
Visuals & Audio
Visually, Fantasia is very minimalistic, setting the player against dark-coloured backdrops so that they aren’t distracted by things off in the distance. This works incredibly well, as when playing I never even cared about what was going on behind the music and the colours. When you play through the game’s campaign, each “world” has a different backdrop that fits the tone and theme. Even these are unobtrusive and just fill out the blank spaces in the background.
As for voice work, there are only three characters in the whole game that speak – the narrator, Yen Sid, and his apprentice Scout. Yen Sid is one of the older characters in Disney’s catalogue, so it is good to see him again outside of Kingdom Hearts. Sid is a mentor to the player and is voiced powerfully by Corey Burton who reprises his role from the Kingdom Hearts series (although, I will admit that his Yen Sid sounds pretty much identical to his Clone Wars Count Dooku, so if you are a fan of that series it might be hard to reconcile his voice as anything but a villain).
As for the music itself, it was a little jarring for me for a game called Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved to not actually feature any Disney tunes. Instead the game uses a mix of classic rock (like Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody or Jimi Hendrix’s Fire) and modern pop music (like Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive or Niki Minaj’s Super Bass), which I believe is a missed opportunity. By no means are the songs bad, and if I’m completely honest you could make a pretty killer playlist out of the included songs, but I would have liked to see some of the Disney Classic tunes here. Things like Prince Ali, Can’t Wait to be King or even Do You Want to Build a Snowman would have been amazing to conduct and possibly open the game up to a larger audience.
Overall
When it is all said and done, Fantasia: Music Evolved is a fun and interesting take on the music and motion game genre. Instead of requiring precise dance moves or pitch-perfect singing, Fantasia’s slower-paced, conducting mechanics mean that someone as uncoordinated as I can get in on the fun and have a great time. The lack of Disney-themed music is a little jarring for a game that prides itself on being a Disney property. Regardless, the magic and wonder of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 is very much present here and despite its flaws it is a genuinely fun experience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
While there are always plenty of more serious fighting games out there, it seems that “waifu” style fighting games have been on the rise and it looks like Nitroplus and Examu are ready to bring another one of these anime fighting games to arcades.
Examu, the developer behind the Arcana Heart and Aquapazza titles, is going to bring “Nitroplus Blasters: Heroine Infinite Duel” to Japanese arcades in 2015 and it will feature characters from many of Nitroplus’ titles. The game will feature a system that will allow players to choose two partner characters that will provide assist attacks and change up combo attacks depending on the combination.
So far a couple of scans and some screenshots for Nitroplus Blasters: Heroine Infinite Duel have been released and you can check those out below. As for the current roster, the announced characters include Saber from Fate/Zero, Nitroplus’ mascot character Super Sonico, Sansei Muramasa from Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa, Ein from Phantom of the Inferno, and Mora from Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia as playable characters. The current partner characters are Spica from Star Mine Girl, Natsumi Aihara from Hello World, and Dragon from Dra+Koi.
