Are you ready to be wow-ed Bat-Fans? Just last week Warner Bros. showed off some brand new gameplay footage for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. We got to get a look at how Batman will operate this time around. Well now we get to continue on where that video left off, with the newly released Ace Chemicals Infiltration Trailer – Pt. 2. The new video gives us a better look at the Batmobile and how the Caped Crusader will utilise it to take down the Arkham Knight’s militant thugs.
Check out the cool new trailer below, and let us know in the comments below whether or not you like the introduction of the Batmobile into the Arkham Games (yes, I know it was in Arkham Asylum, but it wasn’t playable there). Batman: Arkham Knight is set for release on June 3rd, 2015 so make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the awesome bat-news as it becomes available.
The third installment in the Dragon Age franchise is here, and it is a beast of a game. With an impressive 90+ hours of content, Dragon Age: Inquisition has you felling dragons, facing demons and closing up portals that threaten your homeland. With a scope that is hard to match, and Bioware’s signature dialogue-heavy storytelling, Dragon Age: Inquisition is the dream for anyone who loves a good, albeit lengthy RPG.
Story
Set after the events of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, Inquisition puts you in the role of a mysterious stranger who after being in the right place at the right time, is thought to be the next messiah of the realm. In this role, you encounter friends and foes who range from the devout followers through to those who deny your existence and fear you. Putting the player in the role of a supposed messiah brings with it a lot of cool moments as the game doesn’t shy away from the implications of being a near-diety.
Across the game’s 90+ hour campaign, you will encounter many characters both new and returning to the franchise. The returning characters really help tie the game together to the previous installments, while all of your party members that you assemble through the game will banter with one another, the banter sounds natural and helps make the world feel like a living ecosystem.
This is purely a personal thing, but I have always been very much torn on Bioware’s method of storytelling. On one hand, the way they allow you to have an influence over how your character interacts with the world, asks questions and provides answers makes you feel like you really are in control of the story. Having such fine control over your character’s actions, beliefs, thoughts and responses really embodies everything that a role playing game aims to be.
On the flip side however, and this is especially prominent in Inquisition – that there is just an insurmountable amount of dialogue and expository text that you can very quickly feel bogged down by it all. During the earlier portions of the game, I found that at least 15-20 minutes out of every hour I played was taken up with dialogue. It can really slow down the pace of the game and feel like you are reading one of those “choose your own adventure” novels rather than playing a video game.
Gameplay
Like previous Dragon Age titles, Inquisition is a pretty hard-core RPG set in a vast fantasy world. You get to play as series regular races human, elf or dwarf and can pick between a half-dozen different play styles ranging from rogue archer through to a warrior with a giant-ass sword. Then, once you have picked your class you get to specialize in different sub-classes as you level up, meaning that you can create a character that is entirely unique to you and your style of play.
In order to progress through Inquisition’s story missions, the player must complete side-missions in order to gain “Power.” Each story mission has a power-level assigned to it, and the player must have equal or greater power before they can embark. This is a clever way of making the side-quests matter in a game where they might otherwise be ignored. However on the flip side of this, forcing players to tackle side-quests just to unlock main story missions, as opposed to using side-quests to level up your character so that you can realistically tackle them feels very similar to a lot of mobile games, and this is a precedent that honestly makes me anxious.
When you enter a map, you get to pick three party members to fight alongside you. Inquisition makes you plan well in advance for your missions, ensuring you have characters whose skills and attributes balance one another in combat. For example, running a party that consists primarily of warriors would leave you hugely vulnerable to magical blasts, or a volley of arrow-fire. When it comes to the combat itself, it is relatively straight forward and is quite similar to the original Dragon Age: Origins control scheme. You have one button that lets you attack normally, as well as the ability to assign skills to the other controller buttons (as you unlock them of course). You can pick which skills you have equipped as well as when you want to use them, so there is this sense of total control over the action. During my playthrough I opted to take on the role of a rogue archer, and I will admit that using one button to fire my bow was a little counter-intuitive to what I was used to.
Speaking of having control of the action, Inquisition brings back the fan-favourite “Tactical Camera” option that previously only existed on the PC version of Origins. The Tactical Camera allows you to pause the action, and take control of your party members from above, similar to an RTS. Once you have picked where your party members will move to, and how they will attack, then you can resume action and the decisions will be carried out in real time. I didn’t ever feel like I needed to use the T.C. but every time I chose to, I felt an unmatched sense of control over the situation.
In lieu of a true open-world, the world of inquisition is broken up into several massive maps. Each of these maps are almost insurmountably big in size, and are filled to the brim with content. NPCs to talk to, missions to complete animals to hunt, enemies to kill and secrets to uncover are EVERYWHERE. Even after spending several hours in one of the games maps, you will still be discovering new items and new missions to help you gain more power and influence over the world.
Visuals& Audio
When playing on console, Dragon Age: Inquisition is far from the prettiest game. A lot of the textures and models are a little rough. Lots of the game’s landscapes and set-pieces are quite jagged, and there were moments during my playthrough that the environment looked like it was made for Xbox 360/PS3. The dip in visual quality on console is a little disappointing, but it isn’t the be-all and end-all of the game’s presentation.
Where Inquisition’s presentation really shines is in the massive scope of the world. By sacrificing some visual fidelity and opting to use multiple large maps instead of one single open-world, the landscape of inquisition is made to look absolutely massive. Not only is the world huge (requiring more than a little bit of time to traverse the land) but things like draw distance is beyond impressive, as are the variety of environments that you will find yourself traversing through your playthrough. I loved the way that Inquisition’s world looks, and while I would obviously love higher polygon-count models and higher textured backdrops, if their inclusion meant the world itself being smaller (or even just looking smaller) then I believe that Bioware made the right decision.
While I am a big fan of the way Dragon Age: Inquisition looks, the same can’t be the said for how it sounds. I found all of the characters to come across as dull, lifeless and incredibly stiff. Nearly no emotion was conveyed through the game’s dialogue and many conversations just fell flat. If anything really let down the whole inquisition package, it is the audio.
Overall
Dragon Age: Inquisition is an example of how to do fantasy role playing games right. It’s epic, long story will keep you locked to your screen for almost one hundred hours, and you will find yourself becoming invested not only in the events of the world but also the character that inhabit it. On console, Bioware has sacrificed some higher-end visuals in lieu of a world that is absolutely massive and beautiful in its scope and execution. Although I often felt bogged down by all of the game’s dialogue and it suffers from some less than stellar voice acting, I can’t help but loving Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
As we now know, Telltale’s Game of Thrones‘ first episode “Iron from Ice” will be released this week for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PS3, iOS devices, and PC platforms. As such, Telltale Games has released a launch trailer showing off the first episode and giving us a look at not only what to expect but also a glimpse at how the company will handle the style of the well-known series.
You can check out the launch trailer below and it is worth noting that this Game of Thrones story will be six episodes in length instead of the usual five and as such, the season pass will cost $29.99.
Remember Fortnite? Well if you do, then you may be interested in learning that the alpha test for the game will be starting December 2nd and running until December 19th. Epic Games has revealed that this alpha phase for the free-to-play PC title will include all of the basics of the game and the purpose is to make sure that everything is working alright even though the game itself is still “rough around the edges.”
Invites are going out to those who signed up for the alpha now, but if you haven’t registered you can still do so at the Fortnite website and anyone who does receive an invite will be able to invite some of their friends to share the experience.
Studio Ghibli’sThe Tale of Princess Kaguya, or Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, directed by the critically acclaimed Isao Takahata, will be available tomorrow on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan. This is Isao Takahata’s first film in 14 years since My Neighbours The Yamadas.
The DVD release, available for 5076 yen (tax inclusive) in Japan and 4700 yen outside Japan (roughly $40 USD / $47 AUD), will feature the film with both 2ch and 5.1ch Japanese audio and 2ch English audio, as well as English subtitles. The DVD will be in the NTSC format and encoded for region 2. The DVD set will come with two discs, with on-disc extras including the press conference, storyboards and trailer.
The Blu-ray release, available for 7344 yen (tax inclusive) in Japan and 6800 yen outside Japan (roughly $57 USD / $68 AUD), will feature the film with 5.1ch English, Cantonese, Mandarin and French audio tracks, Japanese Linear PCM 2ch audio and Japanese DTS HD 5.1ch audio. It will also feature English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, French and Korean subtitles. The Blu-ray release will be region free, come with one disc and feature on-disc extras including the storyboard, trailer, press conference and script for dubbing.
Anyone considering purchasing one of these high quality releases should be aware that the extras are not listed as being subtitled or containing any language options other than Japanese.
The film, along with five other Studio Ghibli films and two recent documentaries, is still screening in Adelaide at Palace Nova East End courtesy of Madman.
If you happen to be following the Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo) manga, which is simulpublished in English through Crunchyroll, then you will be happy to hear that an anime adaptation for the series has just been announced. The anime will debut in Spring 2015 and will be animated by LIDEN FILMS.
It is currently unknown exactly how many cours the anime will be receiving, though given the nature of the series as well as the length of the storyline that I am hoping that the anime will conclude on, here is hoping that it is a two-cour series.
For those unfamiliar with Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, the manga tells the story of Yamada, a bit of a trouble maker at his high school, who accidentally kisses the honor student Shiraishi after they fall down the stairs together. When they both recover from the fall, they realize that they have swapped bodies and the only way to switch back is to kiss one another again. Little do the two realize that this strange switching power is only the beginning of the strange things that happen at the school.
Family Guy returns for its fourteenth season. Containing a total of 21 episodes, the Griffins are back ruder, cruder and funnier than ever. After a few seasons in decline, does Season 14 return Family Guy to its once lofty standards? Read on to find out.
Story
Family Guy Season 14 continues the adventures of the Griffins in the town of Quahog. After being cancelled and brought back, the show’s over-reliance on cutaway gags, especially real-life situations and one-note side characters contributed to an overall decline. It is a pleasant surprise that this issue is not present in Season 14 and while the season is not immune to cringe-worthy moments, it is a definite improvement on the past few seasons.
The opening episodes get the season off to a solid start. Episodes such as “Quagmire’s Quagmire”, “Boopa-Dee Bappa-Dee” and “Harmony’s Way” are good examples of when Family Guy used to push the boundaries whilst maintaining a solid level of humour. “Quagmire’s Quagmire” gave us a really good look into the character of Quagmire as he interacts with a woman who turns out to be even crazier than he is. This episode could have easily stepped over the line of bad taste but turned out to be a solid episode that played to the darker humour that is one of Family Guy’s strengths.
This trend continues with episodes such as “3 Acts of God”, “Secondhand Spoke” and “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. In “3 Acts of God”, Peter and his friend attempt to find God to ask him to stop interfering with the New England Patriots. Following on from the quality of the episode “Patriot Games”, any episode that features the New England Patriots is typically well received. The challenge from God telling the guys to make Patriots Coach Bill Belichick smile was quite humorous based on prior knowledge of Belichick’s personality, however those who aren’t familiar with the NFL coach will still appreciate the humour in the episode.
Unfortunately, for every quality episode, there was one that just fell completely flat. “A Fistful of Meg”, “Peter Problems”, “Fresh Heir” and “Baby Got Black” overstepped the mark in one way or another and at times were borderline unwatchable. “Peter Problems” commits one of the major sins of Family Guy and that is the overly long drawn out joke. Peter uses a forklift to save a beached whale but only succeeds in vulgarly tearing it to shreds. It isn’t very funny for the first 30 seconds and definitely not funny for the next 30 seconds that follow. It raises the question of whether or not some writers actually care about their episodes or it is simply a matter of filling up time. Fortunately, these issues are fairly rare throughout.
To further iterate about some of the worst episodes on offer here, it does beg the question as to how some of these episodes are put together and at no point in the development process does someone stand up and say how terrible the idea sounds. Two big ones that baffle me as to how they made it past the writers rooms include the father-son incest and Meg getting constantly beaten up. I would much prefer shorter seasons with more quality episodes as opposed to having a regular length season that is padded with horrible ideas just to inflate episode count.
Although the quality episodes outweighed the bad overall, two stood above the rest. These episodes were “Life of Brian” and “Christmas Guy”. “Life of Brian” was the much publicized episode where Brian Griffin is killed off. This was not only the major highlight episode of the season but also showed that Family Guy could convey a serious tone in what is arguably one of the best episodes since “Road to the Multiverse” more than five years ago. “Christmas Guy” sees Stewie figuring out a way to save Brian and restore order to the Griffin Family in another funny but touching episode. Season 14 also sees the return of Cleveland Brown to Quahog after the cancellation of fellow Fox show The Cleveland Show and it’s good to have him back in the gang.
Visual and Audio
Since the introduction of High Definition Family Guy has never looked better. Presented in Wide Screen the viewer gets a full picture and this season is a vast improvement over the show’s original run. The classic Family Guy art style is present here, with simple art, bold lines and bright colours with some CGI thrown in randomly normally for comedic effect.
Each episode gives the option of Dolby Digital 5.1 in either English or Spanish, with the audio quality remaining high throughout. The voice acting continues its high standard, with each character being instantly recognizable and portraying their personality through their own unique sound. Celebrity voices used throughout the season include Bryan Cranston, Adam Levine, the late Lauren Bacall, with special mention going to Tony Sirico for his three-episode cameo as Brian’s replacement Vinny. All do a fantastic job here especially Tony Sirico as the shady, Italian Vinny which helped eased the pain of Brian dying just a little.
Extras
The extras present on the DVD really add to the package here. Special features available include deleted scenes and commentary for each episode, a full episode storyboard animatic on “Christmas Guy”. Brian Griffin: In Memoriam… sort of and a Consuela Mash- up which fans of the Spanish house cleaner will definitely appreciate. These special features are a great addition to an already quality package. Each episode also has subtitles including English, Spanish and Danish among others.
Overall
After seeing Family Guy go through both highs and the lows, it is hard to believe the show has been able to last this long. The series may no longer be reaching the hilarious heights of its earlier seasons, but Season 14 is definitely an improvement over the past few. The most pleasing aspect of this entire season is that the majority of long winded jokes seem to have gone and been replaced with some well thought out material which leads to a fairly successful season overall despite some poorly made episodes spliced in between. Stand out episodes such as “Life of Brian” and “Christmas Guy” deserve praise as does Seth MacFarlane for taking such a risk that paid off big time and episodes like these give hope that the show can return to the level of funny that once made it famous. Great visuals, voice acting and a good amount of extras make Family Guy Season 14 a good buy.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It seems like it has been forever since a third season for Dog Days was announced but the time when it will air is slowly approaching. This third season from Masaki Tsuzuki, called Dog Days”, will debut in January and not only have some new details about the anime been revealed but a commercial for the third season has also been released.
The most recent issue of Nyantype magazine has revealed that a new character named Sharu, shown above, who wields a bow and will be voiced by Sumire Uesaka will be introduced in this third season alongside all of the returning cast members, though exactly what role she will play in the story is currently unknown. As for the commercial, it happens to be a character introduction and it happens to focus on introducing Rebeca and Kubera, both of whom were added to the main cast in the second season.
From what we do know, the story will take place two to three months after the second season and for those who aren’t familiar with the series, likely due to the fact that no one has picked up the series for localization in the West (something of a problem with Masaki Tsuzuki’s works) the story takes place in an alternate world where a princess named Millhiore summons a hero in order to help her kingdom, the Biscotti Republic, compete against other nations in wargames resulting in what is generally an extremely light-hearted series.
Additional artwork and information can be found on the official websitefor Dog Days”.
As we know, Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign is going to be released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in North America on December 16th and today Aksys Games has revealed that they will be releasing Elphelt as a free downloadable character for the game between December 16th and January 5th.
It is worth noting that after this time period passes, Elphelt will cost $7.99 to download so even if you might be on the fence about picking up the game, adding her to your download list may be in your best interests. Currently PlayStation Plus subscribers can play a demo of Guilty Gear Xrd: Sign for the PlayStation 4.
Last week we learned that Atlus was going to be teaming up with Spike Chunsoft to create Etrian Odyssey and the Mystery Dungeon and a preview from Famitsu has recently gone live revealing some details about the game. As was revealed in the trailer, the title will be a combination of the character customization and setting found in the Etrian Odyssey series while using the rougelike gameplay found in the Mystery Dungeon games.
Etrian Odyssey and the Mystery Dungeon will allow players to create their own custom parties and customize them at will before exploring an area which will be randomly generated. In combat only the leader will be controlled by the player while other party members will attack and support as needed in the game’s turn based combat system.
If you happen to be following the Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo) manga, which is simulpublished in English through Crunchyroll, then you will be happy to hear that an anime adaptation for the series has just been 
