A couple of months back Compile Heart announced that they would be remaking Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory for the PS Vita under the name Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Century and today the company has released the first trailer for the remake alongside some new screenshots that can be found below.
As shown in the video a new form of hidden box has been added into the game and the battle system has also been modified slightly. There are a number of new events that occur throughout the story to add to each chapter and Stella’s dungeon has been improved and made more rewarding.
Compile Heart has released the first official screenshots for Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II and in it we are given a look at Uzume, a new character who players will meet in Zero Dimension and will fight alongside Neptune and Nepgear. As you can see in the images below, it seems that Uzume may have been created as a reference to the Dreamcast, in the same vein as Vert refers to Xbox, Noire being a reference for PlayStation, and Blanc being Nintendo.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II is the first game in the series to be released for the PlayStation 4 and will be released in Japan in Spring 2015. Currently no localization plans have been revealed, but the chances of Idea Factory International giving this title a shot in the West should be quite high.
The team behind the Evangelion rebuild movies will be working with Japanese singer Hikaru Utada to create a video for her latest album. The cover album entitled Utada Hikaru no Uta will feature multiple artists covering her songs, the announcement of the Eva film crews’ involvement was recently revealed on her official website.
You may be familiar with some of Utadas’ work as she provided two theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts series and also did the ending for Eva 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. The album is being released to celebrate her 15th anniversary and will go on sale on the 9th of December.
This isn’t the first time the Eva franchise has been involved with a studio album, the manga’s author, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, has previously illustrated two album covers for Eric Clapton. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment down below.
Grand Theft Auto V is a week away from taking over the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, worldwide. Its launch may not be as colossal as its last-gen release, but who’s to say? All we know is that Rockstar has put a lot of effort into remastering the record-breaking game for the new consoles.
Below, you will see an example of this in the Grand Theft Auto V PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launch trailer. Though it showcases the improved lighting and increased number of wildlife, check out the returning player exclusive content here, as well as the recent comparison video between PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions to get an idea of just how much better it will look. November 18, live the craziness all over again, perhaps in first-person!
Amiibo Wave 1 isn’t even out yet but that hasn’t stopped Nintendo of Japan from unveiling Amiibo Wave 3 on their Twitter account and this looks like the most awesome wave yet. From left to right we’ve got11 new figures including Lucario, Rosalina & Luma, Bowser, Toon Link, Shiek, Ike (who looks awesome), Metaknight, King Dedede and even a few third party representatives in Shulk, Sonic and Mega Man. These Amiibo will hit Japanese shelves on Janurary 22nd except for the last three who currently hold Feburary 2015 release dates.
For a slightly bigger look at this next wave of Amiibo you can click the image above. In a recent Nintendo Direct further plans for Amiibo were released including Mario Kart 8 compatibility with a few Amiibo figures from wave 1 and 2 which will unlock new costumes for your Mii racer as well as the Link Amiibo unlocking an exclusive weapon for use in Hyrule Warriors (all other Amiibo’s will only give you a random item). Do any of these Wave 3 Amiibo catch your eyes ? Let us know in the comments below.
Indie Gala and Capsule Computers released their 33rd Every Monday Bundle this week. The indie bundle features six games this week, five Steam titles and a Desura title.
Shadow Puppeteer – A co-op puzzle platformer that uses a young boy and his shadow to conquer puzzles using light and shadows.
Depth Hunter 2: Deep Dive– Take your camera and spear gun then swim the deeps to collect rare treasures, nature magazine worthy photos, and big fish.
Gods vs Humans– The puny mortals are attempting to build a tower to raid the heavens. Smite them with a variety of powers and send them crashing to the ground.
Squishy the Suicidal Pig– A challenging puzzle platformer with more than 40 levels, four boss fights, and hats. Tons of hats.
Ancients of Ooga– A puzzle adventure title from the creators of Cloning Clyde.
projectAPT– A point and click adventure game about a man trapped in his apartment.
For the first 24 hours of the sale, the bundle is only $1.99. Grab your copy at Indie Gala before the price rises.
Assassin’s Creed Roguelaunches over the next few days around the world. In preparation for the launch, Ubisoft released a new trailer catching new players up to the plot behind the game. Shay Patrick Cormac has joined the Templar order and is blazing his path of vengeance across the the North America after being betrayed by the Assassin Order during a mission gone wrong. The game will tie in with Assassin’s Creed Unity, which is being released for next-gen consoles at the same time.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue launches for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11th in North America and November 14th in PAL regions. A PC port will be launched later in 2015.
NBA 2K15 Developer:Visual Concepts Publisher:2K Sports Platforms: Xbox One (Reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC, Android, iOS Install Size: 46.1GB Release Date: Out Now Price: AU$99.95 – Available Here
Overview
2K Sports goes another year virtually uncontested on the court with NBA 2K15. In this iteration on Xbox One, there are many changes, positive and negative, the most notable of which are the introductions of Face Scan technology, an exclusive in-game broadcast called 2KTV, adjustments made to MyCAREER based on player feedback and extended depth in MyGM. MyPARK also makes its return, along with the regular, stalwart NBA Today and MyTEAM modes. With Kevin Durant getting his due as the cover-athlete, and Pharrell curating a pretty killer soundtrack, NBA 2K15 sounds like the perfect package for basketball fans. But, that’s about as rare an occurrence as Lebron being attributed a less than 98 point rating (poor Durant at 95…he’s the poster boy damn it!).
Gameplay
As a preface, I must state that, while I explored each mode, I spent the majority of my time reviewing NBA 2K15 playing MyCAREER. And with that said, let’s get the smaller, less involved modes out of the way first. Well, that might not be an accurate description, as every mode included is more fully-fledged than in the past. NBA Today, however, is still NBA Today as you know it; play exhibition games here and get the latest updates on NBA happenings. MyTEAM is also largely untouched, except for the Auction House, which now allows you to auction off unwanted cards to other players. Lastly for this group, MyPARK is the successor to The Park, and now allows you to join either of three communities – Rivet City, Old Town and Sunset Beach – and then play in 2-on-2, 3-on-3, or 5-on-5 games, rank up, earn special boosts and represent your community proudly. Each of the communities plays their own unique brand of b-ball thanks to specific boosts. Playing with friends is so much easier this year, as communicating/organising sessions with them can be achieved through the MyNBA2K15 mobile app (don’t forget to download the app and get your daily bonus VC…it helps a lot!)
MyLEAGUE is a new mode that is basically MyGM taken to a whole ‘nother level of micro-management. As the designated franchise mode, MyLEAGUE will definitely appeal to those who want to get into the nitty-gritty of managing, not just a team, but a whole league! For me, MyGM is daunting enough. For some reason, this year, I found myself less motivated to tackle MyGM mode. The presentation has changed, with Visual Concepts attempting to streamline parts of the experience, adding tabs for the more important elements on the main page within, but things like body-part damage for every player and cry-baby players who argue on the intensity level of training after every change you make is utterly annoying and overpowering. On a nit-picking note, text seems smaller now, which is actually something I noticed across the board. It forces me to get closer to the screen…although I could just need new lenses for my glasses! A good improvement is the SimCast function, which allows you to simulate a match on the Calendar whilst keeping an eye on the stats, live. You can stop the simulation to make changes to your offensive/defensive strategy on the fly, as well as player minutes, rotation and more. The head trainer gives tips on how to proceed, but it’s rarely reactive or adaptive, and is more based on your play-book and play chosen beforehand. Finally, there’s MyCAREER…
“That’s how Ruff Ryders roooolll!”
I wish I could have progressed through as a splitting image of myself, but, alas, the Face Scan technology is finicky as hell. Whether it was in natural, broad daylight (optimal conditions) or not, the results were petrifying. Monstrosities of nature stared back at me upon the scan’s conclusion. I might not be Brad Pitt, but I know my eyes are where they should be…so, going in with a manually created character, I was immediately disappointed at the familiarly stereotypical characterisation and dialogue of my legend-to-be. He’s arrogant and brash, possibly more-so than last year’s central figure. But, a notable difference between the two editions is that 2K15 embraces this attitude and exploits it for some funny moments, particularly during the intermittent press conferences. Your agent nets you endorsements which earn VC to be spent on upgrading your abilities. Badges are also unlocked as you hit milestones during play; some of these can also be upgraded from Bronze to Gold. The draft is nowhere to be found as you inhabit an undrafted player this time. Alongside team chemistry, coach satisfaction is tracked, improved by following mid-match directives. New transitional cutscenes show the assistant coach giving criticisms or praise to the player as he is subbed out and the locker room half-time pep-talks. All-in-all, the on-court rituals and minutia are captured in much more detail. And, your player actually talks and engages in court-side interviews with ESPN sideline reporter Doris Burke, whose model is inexplicably worse this year.
Visuals & Audio
When NBA 2K14 was released in 2014, it was one of the first sports titles on the then ‘next-gen’ consoles, but it was also, visually, leaps and bounds beyond anything we’d ever seen (other than Ryse: Son of Rome). The impact its stunning visuals had was immense; this was the showcase title to display and show people “this is what next-gen is capable of”. It blew us away! This year, not so much. Why is that? The graphics surely couldn’t have gotten worse, so I’ve come to the conclusion that sense of wonder has already fallen to the feel of familiarity. I mean, look at the screenshot below – Kobe looks amazingly realistic! But, that impact is gone…how easily jaded we become. Nonetheless, NBA 2K15 is a great-looking game. No real advancements in the graphics department have been made, although the presentation has certainly been revised. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is really up to personal tastes, while navigation is another subject entirely, as already discussed.
Outside of the soundtrack, a big plus in the audio department is the more frequent and higher-coverage implementation of ‘Real Voice’. Previously, certain characters wouldn’t actually speak, with their dialogue purely through subtitles. Now, I have yet to come across another character with whom I interact with as MyPLAYER who isn’t voiced. Channing Frye, Udonis Haslem and legendary coach Doc Rivers, just to name a few, have all leant their voices to the game, and it makes a big difference in the immersion of the story. Music-wise, I was a fan of Lebron’s choices in NBA2K14. And while Pharrell is guilty of blatantly selecting songs of his own and his friends here, his curation is equally fitting, if not better. The soundtrack is comprised of almost completely pre-2006 tracks, with most released back in the 90’s and even the late 80’s: ‘Dangerous’ by Busta Rhymes, ‘Scenario’ by A Tribe Called Quest, ‘Planet Rock’ by Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force and ‘Doo-Wop’ by Lauryn Hill just t name a few. Listening as these songs I remember from my childhood came up was extremely nostalgic. What a surprisingly welcome flashback!
Yes, Pharrell and his stupid hat make an appearance in MyCAREER
Overall
NBA 2K15 is packed with modes and features, even more-so than last year’s entry (as you’d hope), but it’s almost like Visual Concepts takes two steps forward with these additions, and then a half a step backwards with the presentation changes and smaller tweaks/omissions. MyCAREER is the biggest beneficiary of the alterations made, however the developers excised the draft process completely, which was one of my favourite aspects of the mode prior. Although it makes more sense for this year’s story, I still missed its inclusion as it’s an integral part of the NBA. Summarizing the significant negatives: Face Scan is seemingly a bust, the game suffers from crashing, and MyGM is so in-depth it’s now overwhelming. Overall, NBA 2K15 is still miles ahead of EA’s offering; now it’s just about perfecting what’s there for the next iteration. Adding anything more will just be considered feature-creeping.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview With the resources of Earth becoming a problem, humanity began preparing Mars as a suitable replacement. However after terraforming the planet for five hundred years, humanity returned to Mars to find that their plans had gone horribly awry as the cockroaches sent to the planet to help with the terraforming process had evolved into towering killing machines. After two failed attempts at reclaiming Mars, a new expedition has been sent to Mars with a new goal, but before they even land on the planet, it is clear this new mission is in trouble.
Story Whereas the second volume of Terra Formars was spent explaining to readers that a new virus, the A.E. Virus brought back from Mars, has begun sweeping the planet with a 100% mortality rate, going over the plans for Annex 1 and introducing us to some of the new members of the crew, Terra Formars Volume 3 throws readers right into the middle of the chaos.
In the closing pages of the second volume cockroaches had somehow managed to make it aboard Annex 1 and have begun slaughtering the unprepared crew only for things to grow even more dire when the cockroaches, with knowledge that they shouldn’t possess, destroy the drug that allows the crew to transform. Forced to continue with the mission, Shokichi Komachi orders the crew to split into six different squads, each led by an officer, and escape the doomed vessel with escape pods.
Little do they know that while humanity has spent the last twenty years researching and developing new techniques in order to face off against the cockroaches, their foes are far from mindless. With a crashed base of operations, a crew split into six separate squads, a minimal supply of the drug used to fight the cockroaches, and a new type of foe that they are unprepared for; the crew of Annex 1 begins their desperate fight for survival.
Unlike the second volume, which was slow paced and featured little action, Terra Formars Volume 3 moves the story forward at a fast pace by weaving explanation and action together in a manner similar to what was present in the first volume. It quickly becomes clear that despite the Annex 1 project being organized by the United Nations, a traitor with other goals is either amongst the crew or had a hand in planning the mission. While this is an interesting twist that does help explain certain strange events, it also feels like the series is getting a bit sidetracked, especially since there is already such an uncaring and deadly foe waiting on Mars.
By forcing the crew to split into six different groups and forcing them to conserve the transformative drug, the stakes are raised even higher when it comes to fighting against the cockroaches in this volume and it definitely shows. Over half of the volume features the crew fighting against the cockroaches using their genetically modified bodies, but don’t let that fool you as the body count rapidly rises as background characters are brutally killed one after another.
Even characters that have seen a bit of development fall to the nearly invincible cockroaches who have managed to acquire some new techniques. These deaths hit home harder thanks to the fact that readers have been able to learn about the cast at least a little at this point and even if there is no time to mourn on the battlefield, these moments will certainly pull on the heartstrings of the reader.
As I mentioned, the return of information laced in with the action returns in this volume as the little facts about the insects that characters have been augmented with reappears as the new characters reveal their abilities and even information pertaining to the secret behind the now outdated BUGS transformation is revealed.
Artwork Being printed under Viz’s Signature label means that Terra Formars Volume 3 is slightly larger than your average manga and it continues to benefit from these larger pages, especially now that the focus has shifted back towards the unique battles. The amount of detail put into the various metamorphoses that occur as the characters make use of their creature they have been altered with is very impressive, especially when stages of the transformation are shown on a certain special member of the crew.
It is also worth noting that since the action has returned, it also means that the blood and gore has as well and it is stronger than ever. Characters will be swiftly decapitated or lose limbs with a large amount of detail put into the gore of the body and even the deaths of the cockroaches have grown even more brutal thanks to some of the unrevealed abilities of the officer class.
Extra Content There are three bonus pages spread throughout Terra Formars Volume 3 featuring detailed information about two members of the cast on each page. This information includes their procedure base, if it has already been revealed, age, likes and dislikes, as well as a brief summary of their personality and past, though for the female cast it will also include their cup size.
At the end of the volume a four page “unreleased layout” featuring very rough artwork is included and is described as something that was cut out of the chapter. This miniature story likely would have been an extended flashback and it is understandable why it was cut due to it not really adding anything extra that hadn’t already been focused on.
Overall Terra Formars Volume 3 raises far more questions than it answers as the crew of Annex 1 struggles to survive against cockroaches that are stronger and smarter than they were prepared for. With Yu Sasuga managing to once again find a satisfying balance between information and action, this volume manages to find what made the first volume so great. There are a few concerning elements raised in this volume about where the focus of the story may shift but for now the series continues to progress down a gory path that readers can’t help but continue walking down.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Tinker Bell, Tinkerbell, TinkerBell… However you say it (seriously, I’m not even 100% sure how it is meant to be written… I’ve seen it all three ways), Disney’s first fairy lady has arrived in Disney Infinity 2.0 with a hand full of pixie dust and is ready to stir up trouble. Tink is so far my favourite character out of the entire Disney Infinity 2.0 line-up and may even be my favourite character out of the entire franchise so far.
The Tinker Bell figure seems to be a cross between her Peter Pan iteration the the more recent Tinker Bell film series version (with a stronger emphasis on the latter). She is mischievous, cute and quite the powerhouse once you learn how to control her. As you would suspect, ole’ Tink can fly and the effect that surrounds her when she does is really quite pretty. You guessed it, magic pixie dust surrounds her as she takes to the skies and ducks/weaves around buildings and just about anything else you have planted in your Toy Box. Nova’s blue glow used to be my favourite in-flight animation in Disney Infinity 2.0, but the Pixie Dusts bumps old bucket head back into second place now.
Instead of being a traditional melee-based fighter, Tinkerbell uses her magic wand to throw blasts of energy from afar. Now, I haven’t seen any of the TinkerBell films so I don’t know if the magic wand is something that she has in those movies or if it was invented just for the game but I think it is pretty kick ass. However, Tink’s strength isn’t in her attack skills, but rather in being a healer and team-player. Pretty much all of the fairy’s skills relate to healing and shielding her teammates in some way, making her a likely candidate for a medic should you ever need one.
Not only is Tink’s flight animation unique, but so is the way she walks. Her walk is more of a… skip, she skips merrily from place to place. Even after you upgrade her running speed, she is still just skipping slightly faster. This alone makes the green fairy sparkle amongst the gang.
Physically, I would say that the Tinker Bell figure more closely resembles her original incarnation than anything more recent. However, this could be largely due to the fact that she has undergone the Disney Infinity make-over treatment to help her fit in with the rest of the gang. If it was possible, her features are even more cartoony, and she fits in more nicely with some of original Disney Infinity figures than any from 2.0.
Now as I’m sure you’re all aware, if you go to any halloween or costume party anywhere in the world, someone will inevitably show up as a slutty Tinkerbell. Now, Disney being the family-friendly company that they are do wise to not let their Infinity figure fall into the realm of indecent, however the dress she is wearing is a tad revealing, even going so far as to paint on a pair of green underwear for her. I don’t find the figure to be indecent or in poor taste, but I know that some people out there might not like the shortness of her skirt, so it is just a heads up for you guys out there.
So there we have it, I never would have guessed that Tinker Bell would quickly become my favourite character in a game that includes Buzz Lightyear and Spider-Man. I guess it just goes to show you how transcendent Disney properties are… or something like that, who knows – maybe I have just had pixie dust sprinkling over me and I am thinking positive thoughts so that I can learn to fly.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
