To think that a title like Shovel Knight, which has been given an extensive amount of praise, including some of our own as you can read in our review here, required a Kickstarter to be released. Despite the game’s humble beginnings, Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight has turned out to be very successful.
So successful in fact that it is making the jump from the Wii U, 3DS, and PC to all of the current PlayStation platforms. The title will soon be arriving on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. No exact release date was given but a new trailer was released and from what we can tell, it looks like a Kratos boss fight may be in the game now.
Killing Floor is a co-op PC shooter that saw players fight against swarms of enemies as they try to stay alive and face off against increasingly dangerous enemies all while using various firearms and melee weapons that can be purchased between rounds.
Well, it seems that since the PC version of the original game was so well done that when the sequel, Killing Floor 2, is released by Tripwire Interactive the title will not only be available for the PC but the PlayStation 4 as well.
Unfortunately no release date for Killing Floor 2 was revealed with this announcement but we do have a brand new trailer for the game containing plenty of gruesome gameplay footage and you can check that out below.
Today during the PlayStation Experience Shinji Hashimoto of Square Enix took the stage to announce that the company is planning on bringing Final Fantasy VII to the PlayStation 4. Now before you go nuts, it is worth noting that this release is not a remake as it is simply the PC version of the game that featured some mildly upscaled visuals.
Currently no price point has been announced nor has a release date been revealed for Final Fantasy VII. What was released was a trailer for the release which contains everything fans of Final Fantasy VII should expect but nothing that they actually want.
Despite the fact that we already knew this, Atlus USA took to the stage at the PlayStation Experience to confirm that fans of Persona will definitely be able to pick up Persona 5 for either the PlayStation 3 or the PlayStation 4 sometime in 2015.
What made this worth announcing is the fact that although the PlayStation 3 title localization was revealed, nothing has been said since the PlayStation 4 version was also announced so this little tidbit helps assure fans that they will be able to pick up Persona 5 on either console if they so choose. You can also check out Atlus USA’s version of the second teaser trailer below.
Studio: Silver Link
Publisher: Hanabee
Format: DVD (reviewed) / Blu-ray
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Price: $59.99 (AUD) – Available Here
Overview
WataMote: No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! is one of many slice-of-life anime adaptations produced in recent times, but it mainly follows just one character as opposed to the more common group of four characters. Main character Tomoko Kuroki is unpopular and well aware of that fact. Her goal is to make friends, get a boyfriend and just be popular. She does make a little bit of progress, but even if she ultimately achieves very little, is this slice-of-life series worth watching?
Story
Tomoko Kuroki is three months into high school and has not talked to anyone. She has made no new friends and goes relatively unnoticed by her classmates. Just saying goodbye to her teacher after school is a big deal for her, but she makes very little progress at all after that first step. Getting her life advice from otome dating sims, she has frequent delusional fantasies about what high school life should be like and how her classmates should treat her. Her misguided notions about life also lead her to get over-excited about real life ‘fan-service’; seeing a girl’s underwear and having her best friend hug her while said friend’s breasts are pressing up against her excite her as much as if she were a dirty old man. She has become more of a dirty old man than a high school girl due to her excessive gaming, and her reclusive tendencies contribute to her inability to communicate normally with almost everyone in the outside world.
This series turns out to not be about making Tomoko progress, but rather about exploring how this high school girl sees the world and how dating sims have affected her outlook on life. Tomoko thinks of the popular girls as ‘sluts’ and even thinks of her best-friend as a ‘slut’ because she wears short skirts and got a boyfriend before her, but this series unfortunately does not present any meaningful commentary on such issues. It does explore what it is like to have a friend to spend time with; good company can make just about anything more fun and enjoyable, even if that company is a cat or a couple of random middle-school kids. Much of the comedy in this series comes from seeing Tomoko’s ridiculous fantasies and how others actually see her in reality. When a giant bug terrorises her classroom, she thinks she will look really cool and become a hero if she squashes it. Instead, she ends up getting cold reactions from her classmates. She lies to her cousin about various things such as having a boyfriend, and this all comes back to haunt her when her cousin confronts Tomoko’s ‘boyfriend’. If watching WataMote has one positive aspect to it, then it is that it shows us that we should just be ourselves and not lie to others or change our appearance through expensive clothing or makeup.
Visuals
The visuals are passable but nothing special. Lighting effects are often rather crude, but where the animators do put in some effort to make their work stand out is with the opening animation. It is a surprisingly well-animated piece that acts as a metaphor for Tomoko’s desire to break free of the demands of society and her place in it. The ending theme songs all have decent animation too, so the visuals are not a major disappointment in this series overall. Particular effort is put into animating Tomoko during the scenes in which she is trying to change her image, but viewers may find the results to be exaggerated and disturbing.
Unnecessary fan-service in this series includes a couple of panty shots and Tomoko’s friend Yuu Narise, a girl with large breasts that are unfortunately seen bouncing frequently. This is disappointing, but not at all surprising for a series that is so aware of itself as an anime. Viewers will likely appreciate the well-animated parody of Death Note in the first episode and the parodies of other pop-culture items including but not limited to Star Wars, Space Invaders and more.
The English subtitles are also passable, but this is yet another home video release of an anime series that lacks subtitles for some of the songs. The ending songs in episodes 5, 6 and 11 are not subtitled, which is most likely due to a licensing issue but disappointing all the same.
Audio
The audio is of mixed quality. The background music, for the most part, is appropriate. However, there are a couple of pieces of music that do not contribute anything to the feel of the show and sound very bland. The opening theme song is a decent heavy-metal song and the ending is a decent pop-song, with the lyrics of both songs being especially fitting for the series. The special ending songs are also rather better than expected.
What really holds this release back is Sentai Filmwork’s English dub. In it, the students have very out-of-place American accents and the teacher sounds suspiciously like a text-to-speech voice, but the thing that really brings the quality of the dub down is Monica Rial’s gravelly portrayal of Tomoko. She pulls off the shy Tomoko reasonably well, but otherwise makes her sound like a chain-smoker, a rather odd decision given that she is a high school girl. None of the other voice actors in the dub suit their characters either, with the only almost passable performances being that of the Yandere Boys’ singer and the dating-sim characters. David Matranga’s portrayal as Tomoko’s frequently annoyed brother Tomoki is not bad, but it does not fit either. Unsurprisingly, Japanese names are mispronounced. The Japanese audio is fine, on the other hand; Izumi Kitta gives a great performance as Tomoko and the other members of the voice cast give a suitable performance for each of their characters.
Extras
Extras in this release are limited to the textless opening animation and textless ending animations. Trailers for other Hanabee releases are also included.
Overall
Anyone who has or ever had any difficulty talking to a member of the opposite-sex, looked at the popular kids and wondered why the ‘cool’ kids had so many friends while they did not or even anyone who thought/thinks that life should be like dating sims may connect with Tomoko Kuroki. It is the identifiable nature she has that is both WataMote’s greatest strength and weakness. Some viewers will watch the series and want to root for her and hope that she eventually succeeds in making new friends. Others, however, may find the blunt discussions about the frequently delusional mind of a teenager to hit too close to home and be too confronting, even if they did not experience any of the anxiety that she did or if they only know a friend who had/is having a similar experience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Author’s note: The initial score given for this review was inaccurate and has been updated by the author to reflect Capsule Computers’ ongoing commitment to providing reliable reviews for its readers.
FREE GAMES! EA might be on it’s way to changing it’s reputation from worst game company, especially if it keeps up offers like this. To celebrate the 20 years of the Sony PlayStation and the PlayStation Experience event currently happening in Las Vegas, one of Sony’s biggest backer EA Games have made Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PS Vita), Mirror’s Edge (PS3), and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (PS4) free until tomorrow (we are guessing that is until 12:00 am on December 8th Sydney Time) on the PlayStation Store. The games also seem to be free worldwide. That’s right 100% free. These games are only available free on the listed platforms however, so no Need For Speed on the PS3 for example.
If you like what EA has to offer then head to this PlayStation Store link that will take you straight to the store where you can download all three titles for free. Definitely not a bad list of titles on offer considering you won’t have to drop a cent on them. Let us know in the comments below if you picked up one, two or all three of these titles for your Sony consoles.
Warner Bros. Games have revealed the third and final part of it’s ACE Chemicals Infiltration trailer series for it’s upcoming game Batman: Arkham Knight at the PlayStation Experience event currently being held in Las Vegas. After a small introduction from the PlayStation Experience stage, the trailer begins showcasing more epic looking combat, some grapple hook action, an aerial take down and more. We then get some story exposition from a rescued civilian before we are taken to a battle between the Batmobile and one of the Arkham Knight’s attack choppers.
The trailer also gave us a glimpse of the Scarecrow Nightmare DLC pack which was announced to be a PlayStation 4 exclusive. This DLC pack seems like it will include some new ‘nightmare’ scenes, similar to those pictured in Arkham Knight where the world will warp and a giant Scarecrow will be constantly mocking you and searching for you in what were definitely some of the highlights of Batman: Arkham Asylum. You can watch both part 3 on it’s own as it was shown at the PlayStation Experience or watch the video below that one that contains all three parts of the trailer series in one. Batman: Arkham Knight arrives worldwide on PS4, Xbox One and PC on June 2nd, 2015.
At the PlayStation Experience happening currently in Las Vegas Sony has made many announcements but one of the smaller ones was the announcement of custom faceplates that you can attach to the top part of your PS4 to give it your own sense of style. The whole ‘campaign’ is called Project Skylight and initially only two faceplates will be available, one based on Little Big Planet 3 featuring Sackboy and his burlap gang and one based on The Order 1886 featuring a shot of the Knights.
Starting today, you can choose from one of these Limited Edition Project SkyLight faceplates, each available for $24.99. Sony have said more faceplates are coming soon and that a few other fun enhancements are also going to be released under this Project SkyLight banner. These faceplates are being created in very small quantities and are available directly from the Sony Store which is U.S. based, so unfortunately we don’t have any international details as of yet. Let us know in the comments below which faceplate you will be getting if any and what designs you would like to see come out in the future.
Overview
Since the late 1970s the venerable Mobile Suit Gundam series has been ever-present in the anime industry and is widely known as the flagship of the “mecha” or giant robot genre. Although it’s important to note that the early Gundam broke away from the over-the-top “super robot” genre and grounded itself in gritty, military reality. Even today in 2014 we have the latest Gundam Reconguista in G currently airing alongside new generation mecha anime.
Simply titled Mobile Suit Gundam this is the original series and where it all began for the franchise’s popular Universal Century timeline, recently culminating in the Gundam Unicorn OVA episodes. Has this museum piece aged gracefully or should only fans wearing rose-tinted goggles apply? Thanks to Madman’s newly-released collection boxes, we feel it’s high time to revisit this classic.
Story
The narrative of the original Gundam has all the hallmarks of a classic space opera. The year is 0079 of the Universal Century calendar, a new age that was meant to see humanity cast aside the shadow of our tumultuous A.D. era and to expand the population into space colonies orbiting Earth. However not all went to plan. The “spacenoids”, led by the Principality of Zeon, declared war on the Earth Federation in a bid for independence sparking a conflict known as the One Year War.
The plot is centered on space colony citizen Amuro Ray as he stumbles across the Federation’s new secret weapon, the RX-78-2 Gundam before joining the crew of the White Base spaceship. From here it’s a journey across continents and space as Amuro vies with a Zeon rival pilot, Char Aznable, and copes with his own fears and doubts. The relationship between Amuro and Char is key to the story as the two encounter each other on the battlefield time and time again.
Char’s point of view to the story is fascinating on its own. Known as the Red Comet for piloting fast, red mobile suits, the young tactician’s motives are at first unclear while he pursues Amuro and White Base with a fevered obsession. While fighting for Zeon, he shows disregard for its leadership and openly mocks the ruling Zabi family.
If you’ve seen a Gundam anime before, particularly Seed, then the overall structure of the narrative will be familiar. This is after all the foundation of the recurring theme in the franchise. Though simple, the message is powerful. They say that media are a product of the age they are made in and Mobile Suit Gundam isn’t any different.
This series was created in an uncertain time when tensions simmered between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Earth Federation and Zeon are loosely modelled after two major superpowers. The creator Yoshiyuki Tomino saw the futility of conflict and so the blame of the One Year War is hard to pinpoint and no side is truly clean. This truly is a story of politics and ideals as much as it is about waging war with giant bipedal machines.
The result is a tale that’s actually pretty simple on one hand, as if Sunrise were testing the waters with the boy-in-robot concept. Whilst they kept in mind the young target audience, the show overflows with purpose and emotion.
Visuals
The animation in Mobile Suit Gundam is jarring to say the least. Despite knowing and understanding the fact that this was made 35 years ago, it’s still hard to get used to. It’s almost impossible to recommend all but the most committed newcomers to the Gundam franchise to start in chronological order thanks to the rough animation of this series. Colours often cross lines and robot limbs bend at impossible angles
Characters, however, are distinct and memorable with each of the Zabi family suitably menacing, Amuro plain yet heartening and Char’s iconic mask and outfit being the highlight.
Audio Mobile Suit Gundam is a great example of sound in classic anime. Everything from the iconic background music, cheesy sound effects and stellar Japanese voice acting performances from each cast member helps prop up a very old anime. Although the experience is lessened a little in English since dubbing quality wasn’t a huge priority for this release, it’s perfectly watchable in both languages.
The opening theme “Fly! Gundam” by Koh Ikeda as well as the ending “Forever Amuro” are a blast from the past with the booming male vocals which are a lot of fun to hear, if a little lacking in the composition department.
Extras
No extras are included with Mobile Suit Gundam but we’re just glad we have the series available here in one collection, especially when the original run was almost cancelled in Japan due to initial low popularity.
Overall
The original Gundam is a little difficult to judge today in 2014 when the fundamental narrative has been rehashed into countless newer titles with high quality animation. It’s a powerful little story that defines characters as victims of circumstance. Both heroes and villains meet on the battlefield, essentially doing their job yet each character fights with personal conviction. Modern robot anime rely on over-the-top effects or some other draw that sidelines the core element of mecha. Think of the recent Valvrave the Liberator or Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. In this regard, blowing the dust off Mobile Suit Gundam is paradoxically refreshing.
The biggest draw of watching this series is the history it contains for the Universal Century timeline. If you want to watch the new (and really good) Gundam Unicorn it’s essential to know the full story and Sunrise have strangely kept the events of the One Year War locked in the original anime. But for newcomers it’s hard to recommend this as a Gundam starting point when you have effective modern takes like Gundam 00 or, if you insist on Universal Century, OVAs like 08th MS Team. But the fact remains, if you love Gundam or realistic mecha (if that’s a thing) then this is the textbook that’s worth going over at least once.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Capcom has announced that they have formed a strategic partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring Street Fighter V exclusively to the Playstation 4 and PC. There is no mention whether or not the popular fighting game will be brought to arcades at this time.
Capcom has stated that there will be some form of cross-platform play, potentially indicating that PC and PS4 players will be able to interact online. There have been no announcements of how Street Fighter V will be distributed on PC, but it’s a safe bet to assume that it will be on most of the major channels such as Steam.
The first gameplay demo of the new title will be at the Capcom Cup grand finals tournament in San Francisco, on December 13th. This will be available to watch via stream on Twitch during the tournament next week.
