Today Microsoft and Insomniac Games took the chance to release more details on Sunset Overdrive’s co-operative multiplayer mode “Chaos Squad” that allows up to eight players to fight against enemies of all different shapes and sizes culminating in a night defense where players will need to work together to fight off hordes of enemies to protect their vats of Overcharge.
In the video you will see how players will always be able to experience a different mission as they can choose to vote on which missions they want to do in the open world and that any rewards they manage to unlock online can also be taken into the game’s single player. You can check out the full video below and keep an eye out for Sunset Overdrive when it is released on October 28th.
Gamers will have some tough choices to make this July 24 as indie thriller Gods Will Be Watchingwill launch on Steam, GOG, and Humble. The minimalist thriller will challenge players to make difficult decisions in a moral grey zone. Players will guide Sgt. Burden and his squad as they endure torture, survive the wilderness, and sort of hostage scenarios. Like real life, there is no black and white in Gods Will Be Watching. Instead, players will be forced to confront what they consider to be right and wrong.
Gods Will Be Watchingis the product of a successful IndieGogo campaign that raised over €20,000. The game will support Linux, Mac, and Windows. Pre-orders are available at the official website. The standard edition costs $9.99 and the collector’s edition costs $19.99.
Hatsune Miku is slowly gaining traction overseas and it seems like Sega is growing confident in her popularity in the West. Remember Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2? It was released in Japan last November but it looks like Hatsune Miku is going to be making the jump overseas on the 3DS as well. Today Sega has announced that they are planning on releasing Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai Remix (currently the working title) for the 3DS in North America, Europe, and Asia in 2015.
Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai Remix is going to be an enhanced version of Project Mirai 2 and features the game’s characters in stereoscopic 3D, button and touch rhythm game modes, and three difficulty levels for each song. The game will also make use of AR cards and photo capabilities to bring characters to life.
The Pokemon TCG has been going strong for over 15 years now, and while perhaps not as popular as it once was, new expansions keep coming for the game bringing in new mechanics such as EX and Mega Evolution cards. Furious Fist is the new expansion and focuses on two new Mega Evolution cards in Mega Heracross and Mega Lucario. The new set contains over 110 cards and will be available in stores on August 13th. Key features of the Furios Fist expansion include:
Two new Mega Evolution Pokémon— The expansion features the incredibly powerful Mega Lucario-EX and Mega Heracross-EX.
Five new Pokémon-EX cards and four new full-art Pokémon-EX rare Ultra cards—New Pokémon-EX cards include Hawlucha-EX, Lucario-EX, Seismitoad-EX, Heracross-EX, and Dragonite-EX.
New Fossil Pokémon from the Kalos region—Fossil Pokémon from the Kalos region like Tyrunt, Tyrantrum, Amaura, and Aurorus make their Pokémon TCG debut.
18 new Trainer Cards, including three new full-art rare Ultra Trainer cards— New Trainer cards like Korrina (a Gym Leader in the Pokémon X and PokémonY video games), Focus Sash, and more bring increased depth and player strategy to competitive battles.
Booster packs—Packs of 10 additional cards selected from the expansion will be available.
Two new theme decks—60-card preconstructed decks are designed to introduce players to the Pokémon TCG by enabling them to play right away. The two theme decks are Dark Hammer and Enchanted Echo.
Each pack and theme deck will also contain a code to unlock virtual cards for the online version of the card game. We’re sure most people reading this article have a few old cards stashed away in their cupboards, so tell us in the comments below about your rarest Pokemon card in your collection.
Today Square Enix decided to release an interactive trailer that shows off the visual differences of the original games in the series, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, King dom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix, and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, and their upcoming HD re-release in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix.
The nearly eight minute long trailer can be found below and while the default video switches between the HD and SD versions of the gameplay, you can choose to switch the footage yourself by pressing the buttons in each corner. Currently Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix is set to be released on December 2nd for $39.99.
Today Activision has released a new behind the scenes look at Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and this one focuses on the game’s animation and art style. They take special care to focus on how the new motion capture techniques will take the visuals of the game and the way each character looks to the next level.
The team also discusses how they are trying to blend together realistic elements of the world with possible future technology. You can check out the full video below and keep an eye out for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare when it is released later this year on November 4th.
A couple of months ago we learned that Ubisoft was planning on releasing Child of Light, their turn-based RPG, as a digital download for the PlayStation Vita. Well now that day is here and you can now download Child of Light’s standard edition on the Vita for £11.99 while a complete edition that features all downloadable content for the game is also available at retail and digital download today.
Child of Light is stylized like a playable poem where players will journey through the world of Lemuria as the young princess Aurora who must win back the sun, moon, and the stars that have been stolen by the Queen of the Night.
They are also running a competition asking fans to customise an assassin that will then be submitted and voted on for the chance to be included in a future trailer for the game. The 50 top voted from each day will be selected. For all the details on Assassin’s Creed: Unity‘s single-player, parkour mechanics, combat, co-op and more, click here. And go here to try your hand at customising an awesome-looking assassin. Be warned, however, that you are only allowed one creation all up, so make sure you are completely happy with it before submitting.
Ubisoft have detailed the ‘Access Granted Pack’ DLC that is now available for Watch_Dogsplayers on all platforms. Dedsec Edition owners will be familiar with the extra single-player missions, unlockable weapons, perks and bonuses within:
The Palace Single Player Mission: A police raid is planned on the luxury palace of an Internet mogul. His databanks have intimate details on thousands of people including Dedsec and Aiden Pearce. Break inside, wipe his hard drive and escape before the raid begins. Then silence the Internet mogul.
Signature Shot Single Player Mission: A biometrics weapon has been smuggled into Chicago for a captain of the Black Viceroys gang. The weapon only works with the first person to imprint his palm on the handle. Breach a stronghold, steal the package and be the first to imprint the weapon.
Breakthrough Single Player Mission: A secret gathering is underway. The Chicago South Club is negotiating power with Corporate CEOs. The Club has hired scramblers to block surveillance devices. Find the scrambler vehicles and take out their technicians. Locate the meeting and eliminate everyone taking part.
The Biometric Rifle is acquired after completing the Signature Shot mission and, as you’d expect, works exclusively in his hands, boasting a deadly combination of long range and high rate of fire. A pistol in the form of the Auto-6 is also included in the pack, which is a burst-fire pistol that is extremely effective and deals a large amount of damage. In regards to perks, the Dedsec Battery Boost adds an additional phone battery, the Blume Weapon Boost permits faster reloading for all weapons as well as less recoil, the Driving Master boost offers improved vehicle hit points and, finally, the ATM Hack boost increases the amount of money gained when hacking accounts at ATMs.
Gamers who did not buy the Dedsec Edition, but purchased the Season Pass have already had access to this content. For all others, the DLC is available for purchase starting this week. The early access trend will continue for Season Pass holders with the future release of T-Bone’s dedicated Single Player Story. Click through to purchase your Season Pass.
Overview The Atelier series has moved beyond the Arland trilogy but Gust and Tecmo Koei have kept the trilogy fresh in the minds of fans by releasing slightly enhanced versions of Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru for the Vita last year. However unlike those two games, the title that began the Arland trilogy, Atelier Rorona, was quite primitive feeling as it lacked many of the advancements the later games in the series had.
You see, there is a good reason that in Japan this game was called New Atelier Rorona, as it is more than just an enhanced port, but instead a title that has been reworked in many ways. The question is, now that it has been revamped is Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland worth picking up again?
Story The story takes place in the kingdom of Arland where a very familiar girl named Rorona is training/working under the eyes of a famous alchemist named Astrid who saved her life. Unfortunately for Rorona, Astrid is as lazy as a teacher can be and because of her lackadaisical attitude the kingdom has found that there is no reason to keep an alchemy workshop funded and is planning on closing it down. Even with this news, Astrid continues to do nothing and instead hands the reigns of the workshop over to Rorona who must now prove that alchemy is indeed beneficial to the kingdom.
As such, every three months Rorona is given a certain task that she must accomplish within that time frame, usually centered on creating a number of a specific item or certain quality item, and if she can manage to do so for three years she can prove that the workshop is worthwhile. If she fails to do this however, the workshop will be permanently closed in the game’s worst ending.
Though even the kingdom itself seems to take note of how much of a lighthearted game Atelier Rorona Plus is, since most of the goals that are set are fairly easy to accomplish with time to spare, meaning the player has plenty of time to explore the world and see what it has to offer. As Rorona sets out to complete various goals she will come across numerous friends and allies who all are charming and likable in their own way.
In fact there are over thirty different endings in the game thanks to the characters that players will be able to meet and the events they trigger with them. So while Atelier Rorona Plus may not have a big evil to face off against, this is a story about the journey, not the destination and this journey is a sweet and enjoyable story told with an amazing cast of characters and some surprisingly familiar faces for those who have played the other games in the Arland trilogy.
Gameplay As with every other game in the Atelier series, players must learn to balance their time properly since almost every action you make in Atelier Rorona Plus takes time to complete and since players are limited on the amount of time they have to complete each goal, they must plan accordingly. Things such as traveling between areas for harvesting or traveling to a dungeon take numerous days and the return trip will take just as much time.
Players will be spending just as much time venturing around outside as they do in their workshop because the majority of requests they receive, be it main quests or side-quests provided by the citizens or party members, will involve creating an item or defeating a certain number of opponents. Finishing these side-quests not only helps players raise their status within the kingdom, but also boost Rorona’s friendship with allies and potentially unlock strong equipment.
Once you are out on the field, players can harvest all sorts of ingredients from harvest points as well as battle against enemies on the field. The battle system is something that has been given a needed overhaul from the original title and thanks to this Atelier Rorona Plus’ combat is a more fluid and easy to handle affair since it takes many queues from Atelier Meruru.
All battles are turn based affairs where players will be able to see the attack order and affect it by eliminating or damaging enemies enough. The combat system itself is fairly standard as far as RPGs are concerned, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Alchemists are the only ones that can use items so players will likely want to use her turns to use bombs or healing items to turn the tide of battle. She can also use special attacks through MP, as well as every other character, but MP is required to synthesize items so it is a tactic that is best avoided. Along those lines the assist meter also makes a return with players able to either provide an additional attack or block an incoming blow with one full meter.
Once you gather various ingredients from the field as well as from defeated opponents, players will be entering their workshop to create various items in a synthesizing system that has also been revised to be a bit easier to understand than it originally was. Players will use various ingredients required by a recipe to create a usable item that can be of various levels of quality. Various component traits can also be placed into the items and carried over to provide additional effects and since many recipes take a number of days to complete, you will need to plan properly to make sure you will have enough time to craft the items needed and that they will be of a decent enough quality to meet your goal.
Outside of the aforementioned tweaks, there are a number of other nice additions to Atelier Rorona Plus such as the ability to grow and manage a garden that allows players to grow useful items, a time capsule that can change certain items into others, new costumes and weaponry, and of course some extra dungeons and bosses to defeat.
Visuals & Audio Since the original Atelier Rorona was released in Japan in mid-2009, the series has come a long way as far as graphics and design go and thankfully Atelier Rorona Plus has been given a significant visual upgrade. The character models in the title have been given a much needed revamp and are nicely detailed while the combat scenes have been given just as much of an improvement to create an amazing looking experience on the PS3.
It is also worth noting that the user interface has been overhauled as well to be cleaner looking and more user-friendly, which is something that is necessary considering the new refinements to the battle and synthesis systems.
Just like the original, Atelier Rorona Plus supports both the English voice track as well as the original Japanese voice track for those who prefer that option. The background music itself is very enjoyable and is sounds similar to what fans of the series have come to expect, though there is also an option to switch various areas’ background music to any of the other numerous songs from other Atelier games.
Overall It always seemed a bit odd that while the other games in the Arland trilogy were given a re-release, Rorona was never touched. But now I can see that it was for the best as the re-worked systems in Rorona make it not only just as enjoyable as later games in the series but also a great way for beginners to try become acquainted with the game’s somewhat more simplistic style. By giving the game a great visual overhaul and replacing the previously un-enjoyable systems with the tried and true systems of Meruru, Atelier Rorona Plus can now stand as a great entry introduction to what is an amazing trilogy of titles.
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