Yesterday it was revealed that Koei Tecmo is planning on releasing Dead or Alive 5: Last Round in Spring 2015 for Japan and today the company had some more details to share with their fans. First of all, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round will be available for both current and past-gen consoles, meaning it is heading to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Second in this new trailer, which can be found below, we see a confirmation that Marie Rose and Nyotengu will be available in the game and those with a keen eye will be able to catch a few new stages, costumes, and tag moves as well.
It is currently unknown how that little tidbit at the end regarding Senran Kagura will play out since it might just be a promotional deal, but we can probably expect more news on that in the future.
I personally have had a long and storied history with The Sims franchise that started with the original game. From the moment I played, I was hooked. The combination of playing god and building these incredible mansions was just downright fun. Then as a teen, I logged some serious hours in The Sims 2, building Resident Evil’s Spencer Mansion with almost 1:1 accuracy, among many other feats, only to have my entire game directory deleted by my girlfriend at the time after one of our disagreements.
That pretty much killed my desire to play The Sims anymore, and I only dabbled lightly in The Sims 3 when it launched before finally giving up. Then EA announced The Sims 4 and I was intrigued, I now had a better computer and no crazy girlfriend that would delete my save file, so I started paying attention and with more and more information that got released (like the new Create-A-Sim and the new way that Build Mode would work) I started to get really interested.
Now we are only a few days away from the release of The Sims 4, and I was lucky enough to go and get some serious hands-on time with the game courtesy of EA. I got to play the complete build that will be available this Thursday, and I got to be excited for a Sims game once again. So with that in mind, I thought I would share with you all what I learned, and what I thought about it all before the game’s release on September 4th. Enjoy!
Create-A-Sim
Since many of you out there have no doubt been playing through the Create-A-Sim Demo, and because I have previously spoken at length about the new system, I wont delve too much into it. What I will say however is that if you felt the demo was lacking in style options, then your mind is about to be officially blown. I would hazard a guess and say that the demo only contains about 1/3 of the clothing options available at launch. With the new precision face and body sculpting combined with a plethora of wardrobe options, you should be able to make your Sims EXACTLY how you want them, down to the smallest detail. Not only that but if you are not great at creating Sims from scratch, then you can just open the gallery and download something that someone else has made. Want to put Captain America and Jessica Rabbit into your town? Now you can with just a few simple clicks!
Build Mode
Some serious changes have happened with the build mode and I could go so far as to say that it might entirely change how people play. You still have access to all those fun tools, from before that allow you to create your dream house, or a single-bedroom style shack, but now you can do it quicker, easier and with much more precision.
The biggest addition is probably the fact that you can insert an entire room into your house. From the new “Styled Rooms” option you can place a completely furnished room right into the house in a matter of seconds. Each category of room (ie: study, lounge, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, etc) has around about 7 different pre-built rooms, and each of these rooms has three different colour-coordinated themes. Not only that, but once you place a room you can drag, move and reshape the room as you see fit. This is a feature that EA have really drove home in their presentations about the game, and while it seems kind of trivial, once you actually use it you get to see how valuable a tool it really is. I imagine it is especially helpful for people who don’t want to worry about building houses, or those who just don’t know how to make a building that their Sims will love.
Once you have pieced together your house, it is all about the furnishings. The Sims 4 comes with just about every little piece of furniture that you might want to put into your house. Well, almost anything. I wanted to place a pool table for my Sim to relax with during his down time, but there was none to be found. No doubt this will be available in a later expansion pack, but a little disappointing that I couldn’t place one from the get-go.
One thing that always annoyed me as a player was the roofs. Making roofs that looked good was a laborious and almost impossible task, and eventually I would just give up and have this automatically created monstrosity sitting on top of my elegant resort-style manor, and it really was one of the game’s biggest faults. Now, the roof tools have changed, and you get complete control over the roofing. A new suite of tools means that the little angles on top of your house will now look excactly how you want them to.
That roof was so simple to create, yet looks awesome! I never could have done that in The Sims 2 or 3
Live Mode – Emotions, Whims & Multitasking
The Sims 4 plays a lot like previous Sims games; you move your Sim into a house, make them some friends, get them a job and basically control every aspect of their lives. Well now with the addition of emotions and whims, there is now more control and more depth to the game than ever before. All of these emotions and whims starts with the character traits that you select for your Sim.
My Sim has apparently never used a weight machine before, unlike his new friend.
Those who are familiar with Sims 3 or with the Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo will know that you can select a number of ambitions and traits for your Sims when you first create them. These dictate the type of Sim you create. For example, the Sim that I used was Self-Assured, Childish and Lazy. From the moment he moved into his home, these traits shined through in his available dialogue and interaction options. For example, even though it was 8:00am in the morning, my Sim wanted to take a nap to fulfill his “Lazy” trait. Not only that, but the type of traits a Sim has can determine which of the game’s many emotions that they can feel at any given time.
My Sim was Self-Assured, so he was regularly feeling confident in himself and his abilities. In addition to being able to talk to just about anyone confidently, he also got special interaction options with furniture in his house. The most notable of this was to “Pee like a champion.” I didn’t notice anything particularly different with him peeing like a champion, but the fact that he could gave me a bit of a laugh.
“Pee like a champion.” Damn straight!
Traits aren’t the only way that Sim’s emotions can be affected however, as the way a Sim feels will change as they go through their daily life. My Sim was trying to flirt with someone that he met at the gym, only to fail spectacularly and become really embarassed and awakward. When he was like this, he was adamant about getting away from all people and locking himself away. These new emotions and the whims that they cause really create a sense of life and realism to the whole game.
Without a doubt the new feature that excited me the most was the fact that Sims can now multitask! This can be as simple as having a conversation between multiple NPC Sims, or even just to eat a grilled cheese sandwich on the couch while watching TV. Giving Sims the ability to multitask really makes the game feel more natural and lifelike, while also allows for unique interactions that simply were not possible in previous games. Sims can now spot each other at the gym, or can sling insults at someone who is trying to flirt.
My Sim was just casually playing chess in the park, when this dirty man came up and just started talking smack…
Final Thoughts
I have spent a pretty reasonable amount of time checking out the forums and finding out what people have to say about the next iteration of EA’s person-sim, and a lot of people seem to be worried that too much content has been taken out. While it is understandable to be upset at the lack of pools in the base-game (a feature that has been present in the games since the original Sims), I think I understand why many of these changes have taken place and it is really a two-fold system. Firstly, the changes have resulted in a game that still retains the look and feel that Sims players have come to love, but at the same time has managed to cut down on processing power to ensure that it gets into the hands of as many people as possible.
Secondly, and probably most importantly; the people aspect of The Sims has been brought front and center. Emotions are a major part of the way The Sims 4 operates, and it dictates how characters will interact with one another and with objects and furniture in their own houses. While this is a little bit of a change from the past games, it will be interesting to see how this slight adjustment in direction changes the series. One thing’s for sure: we don’t have to wait too long until we are all able to grab The Sims 4 off of the shelves.
Set amongst the backdrop of WWII, The Monuments Men is loosely based on the tales of The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program” who were a group of allied soldiers who were task with the rescue and aquisition of priceless historical and cultural artifacts before they were destroyed by the Nazi regime. The film deviates greatly from the real-world events by not only changing the names of the characters and many of the events to provide a more fluid and entertaining narrative. Unfortunately this doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Story
Set in 1943, in the midst of World War II, The Monuments Men follows Frank Stokes (George Clooney) as he convinces the US President that victory over the Axis powers will mean nothing if the end result is the destruction of priceless and irreplaceable pieces of art. To this end he is tasked with creating a team that are colourfully known as The Monument Men who’s task is to enter the enemy controlled regions and safely steal the priceless paintings and return them to allied soil. The team obviously runs into opposition on both sides, as the allied forces don’t want to change their battle tactics just to save a few paintings. It is a fine enough set-up for a film and actually helps to set it apart from the rest of the war movie genre. However, Clooney and his band of men aren’t always able to keep the plot flowing at a good enough pace.
The Monuments Men is filled to the brim with some of Hollywood’s best actors. Not only does Clooney himself pull double duty as the director and the film’s lead, but he is joined by other Hollywood A-Listers like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett. Unfortunately though. all of this talent doesn’t work in the film’s favor, with many scenes feeling watered down and no characters getting their chance to shine.
The film is very episodic in nature, breaking up the cast into small groups and having them each off on their own adventures. To this end, it really does feel like the movie would have done better as a four or five episode miniseries or even a full-fledged television program. As a film it just feels disjointed, and we as an audience have a hard time getting to really know any of these characters before the perspective changes and we are following a different group. It is an interesting note that the medium of delivery for something like this really affects the overall experience. Had The Monuments Men been released as a mini-series, I would feel a lot more positive having watched it.
Don’t get me wrong though, I didn’t dislike the film. In fact I found its combination of humor and wartime drama to be a healthy mix and was pretty entertained through the entire viewing. The stories, although somewhat disjointed are all fun and had me wondering how much of the film’s historical basis was actually kept (turns out, not all that much). However if you are a history buff, you will probably be pointing out inaccuracies every few minutes, so you just need to go int there knowing that it isn’t meant to be an accurate recount of what happened.
The actors themselves also attribute to the problem. In many scenes, the delivery just falls flat. I’m not sure whether the team weren’t giving it their all, or Clooney needs a little more time in the director’s chair but this definitely wasnt the greatest performances of anybody’s career. Again not to say that the acting was terrible, just that a certain level is expected and they didn’t live up to it.
I should also note that this just isn’t the type of movie that Hollywood makes anymore. In a world that is filled with action stars and super heroes, adaptations of real-world historical events tend to fall by the wayside. While it is sad to see less and less of these types of movies, it is kind of easy to understand why. The whole film, while entertaining does often feel like a museum-style educational docu-drama that you would have been shown in highschool. There aren’t all that many big-budget climactic moments in the film, and in the end it does come off kind of indie (which, considering its $70,000,000 budget is I’m sure not what was intended).
Visuals & Audio
One thing that can be said about The Monuments Men is that it is incredibly well filmed. The entire movie was filmed on location in Germany and Britain, and it really adds a feel of authenticity to the whole package. The costumes of not only the main actors, but all of the background extras fit the time and setting perfectly, and it is easy to let yourself imagine this squad really existing (which they sort of, kind of did).
As I mentioned above, a lot of the actor’s performances through the film are sub-par, and many feel incredibly forced. The emotion that is meant to be portrayed in many scenes just comes across as insincere. I am typically not the type of person to be sucked out of a movie experience from a few poorly delivered lines, but there was just something about the whole presentation of The Monuments Men that really made me notice when it was happening.
Overall
George Clooney and Matt Damon together in a film about a group of men trying to steal something priceless from a foe that should for all intents and purposes be impossible. You could almost take the description of this movie and swap it for Ocean’s Eleven. Regardless of its similarities, Clooney does a valiant job of directing The Monuments Men and its ensemble cast. While the movie has its fair share of issues, the story of these brave men who risked their lives to save history itself is worthy to be told, and while this may have made a better television drama it is still an adequate retelling that many people will enjoy, even if they only watch it once.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
While we have known that Persona 5 would be released on the PlayStation 3 since it was first announced, it came as a bit of a shock to longtime fans of the series who are familiar with its release history when during Sony’s press conference today it was announced that not only would Persona 5 be released in early 2015 for the PlayStation 3, but it will also be coming to the PlayStation 4.
To go along with this announcement, Atlus released a new trailer for Persona 5, that you can check out below, featuring anime cutscene footage of who we can only suspect as the protagonist of Persona 5.
As you may already know, NIS America is planning on releasing Fairy Fencer F in North America at the end of the month and those who want to get into a series that will be continued on a next-gen console now have another reason to pick it up.
Today during their press conference Sony revealed that Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force is being developed by Compile Heart for the PlayStation 4. Currently very few details about the game are known other than the game’s release in Japan sometime next year, but you can check out the official website here where the text “To change fate; one needs to walk the darkest path” is shown.
Fans of the Senran Kagura series will be happy to hear that “life and hometown” will be arriving on the PlayStation 4 on March 26, 2015. Today during Sony’s press conference it was revealed that a new Senran Kagura game is in the works and it happens to be called Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. Very few details for the game have been released but since the announcement it has also been revealed that the game would also be heading to the PlayStation Vita.
Considering this is a release on Sony platforms, it will likely continue the storyline from Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus which is set to be released in North America later this year by XSEED Games.
In what can only be seen as a surprise announcement, Square Enix took to the stage at Sony’s press conference to reveal that they are teaming up with Omega Force and Koei Tecmo to produce a Warriors-style video game using characters from Dragon Quest. The title has been called Dragon Quest: Heroes and will be released on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 sometime in spring 2015.
The debut trailer for the game can be found below and interestingly enough, Sony also announced that they will be releasing a “Metal Slime Edition” of the PlayStation 4 which is a silver PlayStation 4 featuring slime engravings and can be seen below.
Today during their press conference, Sony revealed that Falcom is working on bringing out a new Ys game for the PlayStation 4 as well as for the PlayStation Vita. While no exact name was given to the title, it will take place on the “Goethe Sea,” which is an archipelago of South Gria and as always, players will control Adol Christin.
Other than that, very few details concerning the story for the next Ys game have been released, but you can check out the announcement trailer below. Currently this Ys title is set to be released in Japan sometime in 2015.
Many fans of Nippon Ichi Software’s staple franchise, Disgaea, have been eagerly waiting for the next numbered title in the series and today that announcement came during Sony’s press conference. While there had been rumors before, it has now been confirmed that Disgaea 5 is being developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4.
Little to no details have been revealed for the game as of yet outside of the fact that it is set to be released in Japan sometime next year. You can check out the teaser video below as well as the teaser site here and fans can probably expect a localization announcement from NIS America sometime late 2015.
Today during their press conference Sony announced that they are working on a new Hot Shots Golf, also known as Everybody’s Golf, game for the PlayStation 4 that they are currently calling the “New Minigol Project.”
During the announcement they went on to say that they want to not only make this title a game where players will be able to play golf, but also one where they can build their own golf resort and possibly even their own courses as they wish to make the title more of a “social game.” You can check out the announcement video which features some footage of the in-game environment below.
