The biggest selling point of Ubisoft’s new racer The Crew is undoubtedly the size and diversity of it’s map and when it spans 19,000 square miles and features forests, mountains, cities, bayous, beaches and more with all of America’s most famous landmarks waiting to be discovered, it’s not hard to see why. Dubbing the huge map ‘a playground’, a new trailer has been released showing off the world in all its glory along with the phrase ‘If you can see it, you can drive to it’. (We aren’t sure how that is going to work with the Statue of Liberty though). You can watch the new trailer below.
Other highlights of the trailer include the ability to find junk cars that you can scavenge for rare parts, fast traveling to any location without a load screen, completing a variety of missions with both a solo or co-op effort (with up to three others), a race mode with up to 7 participants, the confirmation of circuit tracks and a run down of the various skill challenges. The end of the trailer also confirmed that more explanation videos like this one will be released in the future and promoted the Closed Beta coming to PS4 and Xbox One in September which you can sign up for by going to the Official Site. A version for the Xbox 360 was announced recently and is being handled by Asobo Studio with guidance from the teams working on the other versions.
If you would like to know more about The Crew or check out our impressions on it, please check out our Closed Beta preview. The Crew releases on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Xbox 360 on November 11th.
Shadowgatelives again. The Kickstarter-funded reboot of the classic point and click adventure game is developed by the two men who created the original Shadowgate. They have now reformed under the new indie development studio Zojoi.
The new Shadowgate has been developed from the ground up and features new and updated game content, lots of illustrations, a cinematic score, and achievements. Players will go deep inside Castle Shadowgate, which is now ruled by a Warlock Lord. Only the broken Staff of Ages can stop this even warlord from destroying Tyragon, but the parts have been scattered throughout the castle.
The game can now be purchased on Steam for $19.99 USD. A Special Edition is available for $29.99, which comes with the official soundtrack, a 2015 calendar, a digital art book, and other bonuses. To celebrate the launch of Shadowgate, Zojoi has released a brand new trailer and knocked down the price of the game to $18.00 until August 28th.
While the upcoming PS Vita title Great Edo Blacksmith seemed to initially be a game with some rather dubious elements, such as a touching mechanic and the fact that the player has the opportunity to date and marry one of three girls while also fighting enemies and forging weaponry, it seems that the more we hear about it the sadder it sounds.
Not only does the main character suffer from an unknown disease that will kill him within a year, but the first girl, Kiyohana, revealed that she has had a dark past where her father was slain by a sword and now in this latest video we are introduced to Yugiri. While Yugiri is the more traditional style Japanese beauty, she speaks as someone who has given up on life and is full of cynicism.
Today Nippon Ichi Software released a couple of new videos for The Awakened Fate Ultimatum which focuses on how the main character, Shin, can transform into both Angel and Demon modes that increase his statistics and provide him with unique attacks.
The first video focuses on his angel-type transformation which links him with Jupiel’s powers to provide him with excellent close-ranged attacks, increased damage against dark enemies, and faster attack strength. On the other hand, his Demon transformation which is linked to Arle offers him increased long-range attacks while also providing him with numerous moves and an increase in defense. Currently The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is set to be released in North America and Europe by NIS America sometime in Spring 2015.
Fans of Hellsing have been waiting for almost two years for the final two episodes of Hellsing Ultimate to be released in English and that wait is almost over. FUNimation is currently planning on releasing Hellsing Ultimate Volumes IX and X on October 28th on a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and today they released a trailer highlighting the release.
It is worth noting that this release of Hellsing Ultimate comes with commentary tracks, interview sessions, and a video commentary but FUNimation has confirmed in the past that it will not include the last two “The Dawn” specials.
While FUNimation has been giving fans living near the few lucky theaters to screen the film a chance to catch Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods early, many of us are simply left waiting for the eventual home release. Luckily the company announced today that the wait won’t be for very long and that the home release will feature twenty minutes of bonus footage.
The home release, which will be a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, is planned for October 7th and the aforementioned extra footage was not shown in theaters. While many may already know a bit of what to expect, FUNimation describes the story as follows:
Following the events of the Dragon Ball Z television series, after the defeat of Majin Buu, a new power awakens and threatens humanity. Beerus, an ancient and powerful God of Destruction, searches for Goku after hearing rumors of the Saiyan warrior who defeated Frieza.
Realizing the threat Beerus poses to their home planet, the Z-fighters must find a way to stop him before it’s too late. Only Goku, humanity’s last hope, can ascend to the level of a legendary Super Saiyan God and stop Beerus’s from destroying Earth, and possibly the entire universe!
Since it is one of the many manga that Crunchyroll offers in English, as well as a manga that was given an anime adaptation, many manga readers are probably familiar with Mysterious Girlfriend X, or Nazo no Kanojo X. If you are then you likely are very familiar with the fact that outside of a few very small developments here and there, pretty much nothing has happened in the manga for the last few years. That being said, it looks like it is going to be coming to an abrupt conclusion in the next chapter.
The October issue of Afternoon magazine has revealed that the manga will be ending on the next issue when it is released on September 25th and considering how long fans of the series have been waiting for practically anything to really happen, anything outside of an actual kiss, or perhaps an alien twist, at this point will be disappointing.
Today NIS America took the opportunity to release a new set of screenshots and a trailer for Natural Doctrine which not only shows what some people have been saying about it but also that players will need to adapt to survive. From what it looks like, Natural Doctrine isn’t going to be a game that will allow players to coast by without planning ahead since players will need to not only play to their strengths, but also exploit the environment and enemy weaknesses to survive.
You can check out the trailer and screenshots below and be sure to keep an eye out for Natural Doctrine when it is released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita on September 23 in North America an September 26 in Europe.
Today Koei Tecmo released a large batch of new screenshots, this time showing off the PlayStation 4 version of Samurai Warriors 4 which is set to be released in North America on October 21st and in Europe on October 24th.
This latest batch of screenshots not only shows off a couple of the new characters in the game, but also the Chronicle mode that allows players to complete a journal of officers’ lives as they journey across Japan completing various quests. Also shown off is the create a character option that allows players to create a warrior of their own to make a stamp on Sengoku history as themselves or whoever they wish to create.
Overview Nowadays there are many games that suffer from a lack of content or just barely scrape by with the bare minimum. However there are also video games that over deliver on content and the Disgaea series has long been known as one of these. As such with Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited offering not only all of the DLC released for the original version but also exclusive content, is this a must have for the Vita?
Story The Netherworld is usually seen as a terrifying place and while vampires are also known for being horrific creatures of the night, the one that headlines the story of Disgaea 4 is far different creature. You see, Valvatorez, the vampire in question, is far more content to snack on sardines and never touch a drop of human blood as he holds onto a promise made long ago.
While he was once one of the most powerful tyrants of the Netherworld, he has since become a Prinny instructor that is content with his lot in life, much to the dismay of his servant Fenrich. However on the day that his current batch of Prinnies are set to graduate, all of them are abducted in front of him, driving Valvatorez and Fenrich to embark on a journey that sees them not only face off against the “Corrupterment” which has started to let the Netherworld fall into disarray, but forces that are out of this world.
While there are plenty of grim details spread throughout the storyline that help drive the story forward, such as Valvatorez’s past and numerous other details that I won’t elaborate on because of spoilers, the story is still incredibly silly and chock-full of humor. The main characters of the story are an eclectic bunch and memorable bunch ranging from the aforementioned sardine loving vampire to final bosses in training and a girl who couldn’t become a Prinny because they ran out of material.
The interactions these characters have with one another as well as with their enemies lace the game with plenty of humor, making players crack a smile even if it is one of the darker situations happening at the time. With this version of the game it is even better because of the extra storylines involving Desco and Fuuka as well as the new character Nagi Clockwork being implemented into the game and giving players even more to enjoy from the already extensive story found in Disgaea 4.
Gameplay Those familiar with Disgaea should already know what to expect in this regard and I’ve written extensively about the gameplay offered in the title back when the original was released. For the more in-depth details you can read it here. To keep things somewhat brief however, this title is a strategy RPG meaning that players will battle on a grid-based map where they will take turns with their enemies moving around and attacking on the field.
Players have the ability to perform standard attacks, special attacks, chain attacks, make use of skills and spells (a new level of which has been included in this release), pick up and throw allies as well as enemies, even capture enemies by throwing them into your base, and more and they can even make use of monster type allies to “magi-change” them into weaponry with unique skills in combat or combine two monster types into a fusion which creates a large version of said monster with increased stats and range.
To top that off there are also “Geo-Blocks” and panels that all provide special bonuses or drains on the characters standing on them, both allies and enemies. This means that players can exploit these bonuses to their benefit but also have to avoid being taken out by enemies utilizing the same technique, or by throwing the blocks to cause chain reactions that not only damage characters on panels, but can alter their bonuses and drains.
To say that there are a lot of different mechanics at play in Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited’s combat system would be an understatement. Despite the amount of mechanics that players will need to wrap their heads around, the game does a very good job introducing many of the mechanics while also encouraging the player to play as they wish. This can lead to players spending countless hours training up their characters, gathering equipment, grinding for new evilities, and much more.
Grinding away is a recommendation in Disgaea 4 since not only can players gather various rewards from revisiting old stages as well as exploring the Item World (more on that later) but also due to the way that the game throws a few difficulty spikes your way. This makes it almost a requirement that players save often because your next battle might just one you are ill-prepared for.
Of course the way that Disgaea handles grinding and how fun and outrageous most of the attacks and concepts in battle are, grinding never feels like a truly bad thing. The aforementioned item world has been given a few extra modifications and it still involves the player making their way through the world within any item and powering it up through combat.
Outside of the new characters that have been added to the game, a couple of which will be familiar to those who have a copy of Disgaea 3 on their Vita, a weapon editor has been implemented to allow for minor customization which is a nice touch. There is even a “Cheat Shop” that allows the player to modify a bit of the game’s EXP, Mana, and Money drop rates to fit their play style since raising one requires another to be lowered.
Visuals & Audio When Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten was originally released it was the first game in the Disgaea series to make use of HD sprites and now that the title has been re-released onto the Vita, these HD sprites look crisper than ever thanks to the Vita’s OLED screen and the same can be said for the character portraits during dialogue sequences.
Also the amount of action that can happen when some of the more elaborate looking skills are unleashed is impressively presented on the Vita. A special note goes to the fact that despite being brought down to a smaller screen size, the amount of menus that players will have to navigate and make use of in combat remain clearly legible and do nothing to clutter the screen.
As with the original release, Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited has been released with both the English and Japanese voice track and just like the original, the English voice work is very impressive and actually is the best considering how humorous the writing is in the game. The background music is a real treat for the ears as it has an excellent set of battle themes to go along with the numerous, and usually lengthy, fights players will take part in.
Overall If something is working well, you capitalize on that fact and that is exactly what Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited does. The original title offered countless hours of gameplay and storyline and this release expands upon that. Add to the fact that the way the battles are handled is perfect for the portable nature of the Vita and you have a must have title. If you haven’t experienced what Disgaea 4 had to offer this is your best chance, while those who already have will find that there is enough new content to dive back into another quest to reach level 9999.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
