The recent release of Foxtel’s BoxSets service has shed light on the most favourable TV series; the highly acclaimed fantasy drama Game of Thrones, with more than 94,000 episodes downloaded and viewed to date.
According to Brian Walsh, Foxtel Executive Director of Television, “The numbers are in and the binge viewers have called it, BoxSets is an unqualified hit. We’ve listened to the feedback from customers who love to watch back to back episodes of their favourite shows and are thrilled that our answer has been so popular. With 22 different series already available this month, and more on the way, it’s the ultimate binge watcher’s dream channel.”
As the BoxSets service offers flexibility for subscribers to watch live or record an entire season to their iQ box, it has amassed more than 407,000 downloads in total, averaging more than 27,000 downloads per day, making it the most downloaded Anytime channel since launch. The top rankingGame of Throneswas followed by comedy-dramaEntouragewith over 60,000 downloads to date, with classic mob-dramaThe Sopranosranking third at more than 43,000.
The titles available on live and in Anytime (On Demand) include:
The titles available in Anytime (On Demand) include:
Absolutely Fabulous – Seasons 1-5
True Blood – Seasons 1-7
Boardwalk Empire – Seasons 1-5
Getting On
Looking – Season 1
Girls – Seasons 1-3
Dexter – Seasons 1-7
The Borgias – Seasons 1-3
Sex and the City – Seasons 1-6
Devil’s Playground – Season 1
Morden – Season 1
Starting in December, Foxtel expects to add an additional four series to the BoxSets service bringing the total number of series available to 26. Be sure to catch the above titles on Foxtel Boxsets from this month onwards!
The Muppets have been entertaining kids everywhere for… well decades now. Be it Kermit’s appearances on Sesame Street, to their own tv shows, movies, cartoons and everything in between, the Muppets are everywhere. Well now they are invading your PS Vita with the new The Muppets Movie Adventures. Placing the lovable characters into various film genres sounds like an amazing concept, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired and the game just ends up feeling like a sluggish mess.
Story
While there isn’t a story per say, each of the game’s five different chapters are each represented as a different film. The first stage has Kermit playing a Pirate in a swashbuckling adventure, while the second has Miss Piggy in a fantasy film. The concept is novel and it would be great to see it fleshed out some more, however there is hardly any context given to the story aside from the brief prologue and epilogue text boxes that pop up, and one or two conversations with NPCs through the game.
Gameplay
Broken into five stages and rounding out at about 4 hours game time, The Muppets Movie Adventures is a lackluster platformer that really leaves a lot to be desired. Firstly the controls are slow, sluggish and unresponsive. Each stage is meant to represent a different film genre, but they all play identically.
Of all the game’s five stages, Miss Piggy’s one definitely stands out the most. Instead of being a horizontal side-scroller, it uses more of a vertical approach where the world’s most famous pig climbs her way up a tower. Along the way there are moving platforms, switches, door puzzles and a few doors that lead to opposite ends of the tower. It is actually the longest stage in the game, and one that I legitimately found myself enjoying.
Your character has three hearts (with each heart representing 2 hits) and once they are depleted, or you stumble into a bottomless pit, the film’s director will stop rolling and tell you to brush it off and reshoot the scene. Death is not really something to fear though, as not only does it happen quite infrequently (the only deaths I suffered were more a result of the poor controls than anything else) but there is no consequence for it happening. The game saves a checkpoint every few steps so whenever you do die, you will be taken back to at most one minute of game time prior.
The generousness of the saving and the lack of difficulty can be explained away by this being a game designed for kids, but in the end that doesn’t cut it when the game can be breezed through in an hour with absolutely no difficulty curve.
Visuals & Audio
Visually, The Muppets Movie Adventures is not a bad looking game. The five film sets are all very distinct and look great. The game features lots of colour and the inclusion of the majority of Muppets cast really helps the game. Although I will admit that I miss the inclusion of Statler and Waldorf, even if just so that they could share my woes about the game.
This game features almost zero voice acting. The only character that speaks is the director whenever you die, and even he only has about half a dozen different lines total, so he gets repetitive really quickly. With no voice work, the charm of the Muppets just isn’t here and if I’m honest, it stops being a Muppets game.
Overall
I’d like to say that nothing about The Muppets Movie Adventures is offensively bad, but in some ways it really is. The most offensive part has to be the fact that the Muppets don’t speak or interact with the world in any way at all. Their voice is communicated via text boxes (although there are few of these too) and it really saps the life out of the world renowned characters. The gameplay doesn’t help either, and while it’s ease of accessibility can be explained away by being targeted at kids, that seems like a bit of a stretch and a serious underestimation of kids if that’s the case.
Licensed games tend to cop a lot of flack for being cheap cash-ins and unfortunately Muppets kind of fits the bill here. The game hardly uses the Muppets and seriously feels like they were just added to sell copies. It is sad to see such beloved characters used in this way, but hopefully the next time a Muppets game rolls around, the developers utilise them properly.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Many anime series focus on the protagonists either fighting against a great evil or trying to prevent a disaster. However, other than being set in some sort of wasteland few anime take the viewer past the apocalypse and actually show us how the world has changed and how the people are now living their lives. Sunday Without God happens to be a series with a world that undergoes its own type of apocalypse and handles it in a rather unique way, but is the show worth picking up?
Story Fifteen years prior to the start of the series, the voice of God boomed throughout the world informing humanity that he was abandoning them and leaving them to their own devices. When this occurred, humans found that they could no longer die as anyone who suffered a mortal wound or died from severe illness would continue on as if nothing had ever happened, living on as one of the dead.
While this may have come as a blessing for some, it was also found that no new life could ever be born into the world and even those who died and continued to exist would slowly deteriorate into mindless beings. As such Gravekeepers were placed in the world. Gravekeepers possess the ability to bury the dead and give them eternal rest, making them both sought after and feared in this new world.
Sunday Without God follows an orphaned twelve year old girl named Ai, who is quite special as not only was she born of a human and a Gravekeeper, she inherited her mother’s abilities when she died. Being the youngest girl in the village, everyone dotes on Ai and because of this; she is naïve to the ways of the world and even to her role as a Gravekeeper as she simply tends to forty seven empty graves even though no one seems to age.
This changes when a strange gunman using a seemingly made-up name of Hampnie Hambart, the same name as Ai’s father, appears in the village, threatens Ai, kills everyone, and reveals the real nature of the world to Ai. With Hampnie possessing his own unique ability and searching for something, Ai believes the man to be her father despite his brash actions and rough personality and follows him out of the now empty village where she meets with yet another Gravekeeper named Scar as well as a man named Yuri who has suffered in the past thanks to Hampnie and the current state of the world.
Sunday Without God is a bit of an odd series thanks to the way that it handles Ai and the world. Throughout the series the story goes through four two to three episode story arcs and although the first primarily focuses on Ai, her experience with Hampnie, and establishing a goal for herself, it then shifts the focus off of Ai and the following arcs instead focus on the world itself with Ai simply being the character viewers are following the entire time. Through her we see a world where a city of over a million dead reside in peace but keep the living out, a school that holds children with special abilities as prisoners for their own means, and another school where students are forced to relive tragic events in a series of time loops, with almost all of these sequences shaking Ai’s view of the world and her own goal.
All of these arcs are a great way to build up the world and show how various people have begun to adapt in a world without god but it also does not really explain much of anything. The way that the show tends to jump around and never properly explain things is problematic. This is especially true during an arc that explains how some willingly allow themselves to die after losing the means to support themselves and how the city philosophy works and the feelings of those living in it, but it never really goes in-depth, causing these moments to lose meaning.
Thanks to this, the series feels like a mess at times as not only are numerous important story events mentioned but never delved into, but there are moments where entire developments come out of nowhere and make little to no sense. This is also an issue when it comes to the way that the characters are handled as Scar and Yuri both serve as simple side-characters that have a few moments here and there but are largely left in the background as Ai experiences a different series of events with a new batch of characters that end up being left behind when the series moves on.
That isn’t to say that Sunday Without God is without its moments. Thanks to the heavier themes the series tackles there are a number of times in the series that certain scenes will really hit home emotionally, especially early on when a completely unexpected development comes together in one incredibly memorable sequence that will probably leave you with tears.
Visuals There are few anime studios with such a great animation record as Madhouse and it really shows in Sunday Without God. From the way that colors are used throughout the series to the way that the environments are extravagantly detailed, this series is gorgeous. Rarely do backgrounds deserve as much praise as they do in a series such as this, but they really do stand out thanks to the impressive level of detail put into some of the larger environments.
The character designs are more on the standard side and although Sunday Without God does set itself apart in the earlier arcs by having some unique looking character designs, it feels like that aspiration disappears as the series progresses.
Audio With this release, Sentai Filmworks has produced their own English dub to accompany the standard Japanese voice track and they have done an excellent job with the characters. Caitlynn French’s portrayal of Ai has a lot of range as Ai’s energetic and naïve attitude transfers well into the more dramatic moments of the story.
One thing that really works well in Sunday Without God’s favor is the way it handles its background music. There are numerous moments throughout the series that the simple melodies that play during melancholy moments really make that scene stand out. Also the studio has made expert use of playing the ending theme “Owaranai Melody wo Utaidashimashita” by Mikako Komatsu during the closing scenes of an episode or throughout an entire ending sequence as the tone and lyrics can be really moving. The opening theme “Birth” by Eri Kitamaru is similar in tone though it is a bit more upbeat.
Extras There are a handful of bonus features included in this release of Sunday Without God, though most of them are your standard fair. This includes clean opening and ending themes, disc credits, and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks releases. The only standout extra is the OVA “Memories” which is split into separate parts and features flashbacks to small scenes that were not shown in the main series.
Overall Sunday Without God feels like a series that may have been rushed to cram as much content as possible within a twelve episode series. While it may contain numerous world building arcs and give viewers an intriguing look into what the world has become, it never goes beyond simply presenting these themes as it never follows up on them.
Watching Ai learn more about the world is certainly interesting but it also means that almost everything takes a backseat to these stories as they unfold with little actual consequence. Thanks to the poor pacing and numerous nonsense additions, Sunday Without God is a gorgeous but flawed show that feels like it has so much more to offer but only delivers half of what is expected.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Don’t you hate it when you go to buy something through the Microsoft Store only to realise you withdrew all your cash and can’t pay for it online? Well with the new partnership deal between Microsoft and Australian Retailer JB HiFi, those days are numbered.
Beginning its Australia-wide rollout now, JB HiFi stores will now be offering digital redemption codes in-store. This means you will be able to purchase DLC then take it home and redeem the code. Nintendo and Sony offer similar programs but this is the first time that Microsoft have dipped their toe in, and they are diving head-first.
You are currently able to buy Minecraft, Forza Horizon 2’s ‘Car Pass’, NBA 2K15’s ‘Virtual Currency’, and Grand Theft Auto Online’s ‘Shark Cards’, with more titles from Microsoft and other publishers coming shortly. So does this appeal to you, or are you the type who prefers all their transactions to be digital? Lets us know in the comments below and remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the latest Microsoft News as it becomes available.
Overview The Assassin’s Creed games have dropped players in the middle of the Crusades, traverse the streets of Florence, made them fight through the American Revolution, and even a captain of our own pirate ship in the Caribbean. Now with Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ubisoft is bringing players to the French Revolution in their first title developed solely for current gen consoles. The question is, has the company succeeded with Unity?
Story As mentioned, Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place before the French Revolution during the 18th century. The Assassins and Templars are still at one another’s throats as usual, and although players may start out as an innocent young Arno Dorian, we find his innocence shattered when his father is murdered a few minutes into the title where he is then taken in by a new family.
A now grown Arno learns after a series of unfortunate events and time spent in jail for a crime he did not commit, that his father was a member of the Assassins and he has inherited his father’s skills. With the knowledge of the warring factions and his place in the world, Arno sets himself on a path to discover the truth behind his father’s death and seek revenge all while the French Revolution begins to burn through the streets of Paris.
Despite the fact that the French Revolution is raging throughout most of Assassin’s Creed Unity’s plot, it ultimately feels like Arno has barely any influence on what is actually happening throughout the city as we only rarely are given missions that actually deal with the happenings of the revolution and instead are given a narrow minded goal that is weakly guided along from point to point for quite some time before the story tries to tie everything together near the end.
Thankfully what is present from the revolution is still a joy to behold as we are given a nice blend of historical information with a fictional twist to work the Templars and Assassins in to the mix. Also for what it is worth, Arno does make for a bit of a decent lead character and his personal ties to the story are a nice bonus considering the tight focus players are presented with.
Now as with every Assassin’s Creed game, there is a more modern element to the story and thankfully this time it is kept to a bare minimum. As an unknown person simply called the “Initiate”, you are contacted by the modern day Assassins and given the task of sifting through Arno’s memories using a backdoor in Abstergo’s security, occasionally forcing you to escape to different “unfinished memories” of different time periods to escape their firewalls. These time periods, while a nice change of pace, are not only short but generally add next to nothing to the actual storyline of the main game, mirroring the almost non-existent part that the modern day storyline actually factors into the game.
Gameplay The core mechanics for Assassin’s Creed Unity have been reworked slightly but still feel very much the same. The free running and climbing aspects have been given a “run up” and “run down” option that allows the player a little bit of extra control on where they will be jumping next. That being said, the free running does feel a bit stilted at times as Arno will either completely ignore ledges that he can clearly make it to at times, or launch himself to an obviously out of reach handhold. It is nice to note however that the run down option also allows players to quickly and safely climb down from a building simply by holding the button down without worrying about dying from a drop.
The actual combat system is also slightly modified and now players will need to not only keep track of the gear they are wearing in relevance to the area they are at but also fiddle with the new simpler item system. Using items such as smoke bombs, money pouches, firearms, and the new Phantom Blade (a wrist-mounted crossbow apparatus that shoots daggers) all are swapped between using left or right on the d-pad. This keeps the flow fast paced and also, thanks to the fact that enemies will not simply stand there and wait for you to take out your current target, difficult to manage as well.
Earlier I mentioned that there are various gear elements in the game and it has created a title that is a bit more RPG like than before. Not only are players given various “skill points” to level up certain abilities that either unlock new attack moves, assassination techniques, or increase the strength of different abilities, but all of the gear in the game contributes not only to your health and defense but also to various other statistics.
There is a lot of gear to purchase and unlock in Assassin’s Creed Unity and the title does show you how difficult certain areas will be and mention if you should hold off until you have better equipment before tackling it. Unfortunately, while there is plenty of gear to be unlocked through missions and purchased in-game, a disturbingly large number of chests force the player to use a companion app to unlock. This forces players to not only put the game down to try and connect the app, which fails miserably, but also detracts from the experience as much as the various reminders about the ability to purchase items using real money does.
Once you do venture on a mission that you are set up for, you’ll find that many of them are the same fair that has been present in past Assassin’s Creed games. The only thing that has really been changed is that the occasional assassination missions let the player finish mini tasks before going in for the kill that not only give the player unique kill options for their targets but also give you various ways to approach a target. This helps set these mission apart by actually giving the player an extra level of control to how things will play out and choice to how they will take down the target.
In lieu of a competitive multiplayer aspect, Assassin’s Creed Unity has offered a large number of missions that are co-op focused. You see, not only can you explore the streets of Paris with up to four people at a time, but there are also a number of missions that need four assassins to work together to complete. It is worth noting that not all of these co-op missions actually require other players to complete, but it is really fun to work together with others and complete a goal, even if it really doesn’t change up the standard formula of the game in any way other than provide some extra narrative.
Other than the story missions, the city of Paris is littered with various side-missions and activities to test your skills on. This includes extra rift missions that revisit the time periods mentioned earlier, little side missions with a bit of extra story here and there, puzzles to solve, as well as various organic crowd events that will see players tackling thieves, facing down criminals, and protecting civilians all while traveling through the city. Oddly enough, despite the amount of things you can do, it actually feels like the city of Paris is a scaled down title compared to what fans of the series are familiar with, though this is likely due to the large number of similar looking areas spread throughout the game.
Then again, it might also be thanks to the fact that there are an abhorrent number of glitches that riddle Assassin’s Creed Unity. The biggest of these issues comes in the form of a terrible frame-rate problem that sees the game stuttering even during the most simple of sequences and becoming ridiculous during cut scenes. I also cannot count the times that I found either Arno’s hair glitching out, the crowd jittering in some way, or Arno becoming stuck in combat finisher animation and looking ridiculous for a period of time. It is also quite nice that Unity saves often, since the city of Paris also suffers from a pothole problem that involves Arno falling through the level.
Visuals & Audio Outside of the numerous animation glitches there have been a significant improvement to not only the graphics of Assassin’s Creed Unity but the amount of content visual at any given time as well. While everything in the city has an extra level of detail, including the numerous pieces of equipment that Arno can wear, the amount of citizens walking or rioting through the streets and the draw distance of the map, which is especially gorgeous atop viewpoints, is astounding. It is also nice to note that a number of new animations have been added to Arno’s free running abilities, making traveling through and over the city look smoother than ever.
The soundtrack to the game is somewhat standard fair and the voice work is similarly so, as the title sports a number of fitting voice actors. Though considering the game is set in France and a number of French words are laced in with the English dialogue, it sounded like there were far too many British accents at play for main characters.
Overall Assassin’s Creed Unity feels like a game where every step forward is also a step back. Despite offering an abundance of side activities, it feels shallower than past titles even though it does help set itself apart thanks to the refined combat and free-running mechanics and equipment system. The addition of co-op is a nice touch that makes for some of the best moments you will find in the game, it is also hampered by constant frame rate issues and glitches that hopefully will be resolved somewhere down the line.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Time to sharpen your swords, string your bows and channel your magic because Dragon Age: Inquisition is here! Following on from the incredible Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, Inquisition puts you in the role of the inquisitor who must make decisions and save the world from an unspeakable evil.
You can grab Dragon Age: Inquisition both online and in-stores from today. We will have our review of Dragon Age going up shortly (the game is SERIOUSLY long) in the mean time, check out EA’s sweet launch trailer and make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Dragon Age news as it becomes available.
Last week it was discovered that there would be a major announcement for Rumiko Takahashi’s latest manga, Rin-ne, this week and it looks like the many signs pointing towards an anime adaptation were completely correct. It has been revealed that Rin-ne will be given a twenty five episode anime adaptation that will be handled by Brain’s Base.
The anime adaptation will begin airing next spring, though considering the current length of the manga series it is adapting, which is also being published in English by Viz Media, there is a good chance that this may only be the first season of Rin-ne depending on how well the series is received.
For those unaware of what Rin-ne is about, the story follows a girl named Sakura Mamiya who vanished as a young girl in the woods behind her grandmother’s home only to return unharmed a few days later with the power to see ghosts. Now grown into a teenager, Sakura attends school like a normal girl but simply wishes that her power could disappear. At least that is what she thought as all of a sudden a strange student named Rinne Rokudo who has always been absent returns to school with quite a mystery in tow.
It seems that Sentai Filmworks was pleased with the sales of the first season of The Familiar of Zero, because they have now revealed that they have acquired the second season, which is called The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Twin Moons. Currently it is unknown if the company will be releasing their own English dubbed version of the season, since no English dub has ever been created for this season unlike the first.
That being said, Sentai Filmworks did state that they will be releasing the series on home video and through digital marketplaces sometime in the future. This means that now the company owns the rights to the first, second, and fourth seasons of The Familiar of Zero so it will be interesting to see what will happen with the third season.
WWE 2K15 is now available for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, presenting a radically different gameplay and presentational experience than its last-gen counterpart. For the first time, Visual Concepts – developers of NBA 2K– have left their mark, collaborating with Yukes to create a fresh take on the series, bringing their patented MyCareer mode to WWE, along with 2K Showcase and a totally revamped Creation Suite. Greg Thomas, President at Visual Concepts, said;
WWE 2K15 for the PlayStation 4 system and Xbox One takes the franchise to a whole new level. The next-generation of consoles let us create and deliver gameplay, authenticity and realism previously unseen in a WWE video game, as well as build the foundation for an exciting future. Major gameplay improvements, the historic rivalry experience in 2K Showcase and our first foray into a comprehensive career mode with MyCareer make us pleased to offer fans an impressive WWE video game experience.
From the opening chain grappling exchanges to the new animations, stamina and momentum systems, WWE 2K15 puts forth an experience so authentic, nothing has even come close to it in the past. New proprietary facial and body scanning technology captured the WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends to a scarily detailed and realistic degree. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and WWE commentator Michael Cole are still calling the action, but have re-entered the booth this year with five times the number of recorded lines versus any prior instalment. Aside from the above-mentioned modes, fan favourite match types, as well as Universe Mode, also make a comeback. MyCareer in particular is a story driven mode that starts players off at the NXT Performance Center as their own created superstar, where they’ll be trained by head trainer, Bill DeMott and encounter NXT Superstars Rusev, Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Corey Graves, before seeing them through to the main roster and, hopefully, Hall of Fame status. Gamers can choose their path as faces or heels, making alliances or breaking trust in order to get to the top.
In 2K Showcase mode, players have the opportunity to relive two epic WWE rivalries – Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (2002-2004) and John Cena vs. CM Punk (2011-2013) – through 33 distinct matches with documentary-style video packages of classic WWE footage, authentic WWE Superstar commentary and cinematic cut scenes. Additional historical objectives unlock new WWE Superstars and Championship titles, as well as alternate entrance and ring gear, that can then be used in other WWE 2K15 game modes. Three additional 2K Showcase storylines will become available through the WWE 2K15 Season Pass Program, including the rivalry between Randy Orton and Christian in 2011 (has it already been that long?!), Mark Henry’s destructive “Hall of Pain” run and the illustrious career of late, great WWE Hall of Famer Ultimate Warrior.
It goes without saying that all your favourite Superstars litter the roster, from Legends like The Rock and Stone Cold, to current stars such as Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan, and divas like Nikki Bella and AJ Lee. The soundtrack within has been curated by none other than cover star John Cena himself, and, along with MyCareer, the game’s downloadable content and Season Pass Program will also introduce Paige (available exclusively through Season Pass purchase), Adam Rose, Emma and NXT Superstars The Ascension (Konnor and Victor). Purchase WWE 2K15 now for the most realistic wrestling game ever made. Our own review will go live soon, so keep an eye out for it!
Today the highly anticipated new Minecraft: Blockopedia landed on our doorsteps. Minecraft Blockopedia is fully illustrated and packed with essential information about each Minecraft block. Encyclopedic in its approach, each block is featured with a general overview of its properties, as well as little-known trivia and expert advice on what to do with it. From basic plants and ores to enchantment tables and End stone, you’ll find every single block in here.
Presented in a hexagonal book – Blockopedia contains everything you need to know to make the most of the blocks that make up the Minecraft world. It’s a comprehensive reference tool for adventuring beginners and more experienced players alike.
Blockopedia is out on the 4th December from all good book retailers, with an RRP of A$59.95 and published by Egmont Publishing.
Last week it was 
From the opening chain grappling exchanges to the new animations, stamina and momentum systems, WWE 2K15 puts forth an experience so authentic, nothing has even come close to it in the past. New proprietary facial and body scanning technology captured the WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends to a scarily detailed and realistic degree. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and WWE commentator Michael Cole are still calling the action, but have re-entered the booth this year with five times the number of recorded lines versus any prior instalment. Aside from the above-mentioned modes, fan favourite match types, as well as Universe Mode, also make a comeback. MyCareer in particular is a story driven mode that starts players off at the NXT Performance Center as their own created superstar, where they’ll be trained by head trainer, Bill DeMott and encounter NXT Superstars Rusev, Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Corey Graves, before seeing them through to the main roster and, hopefully, Hall of Fame status. Gamers can choose their path as faces or heels, making alliances or breaking trust in order to get to the top.
