Recently Marvelous released the opening video for their upcoming 3DS RPG focused around running an inn with the help of spirit girls, Forbidden Magna and you can check that video out below. While the game has not been announced for Western release at the moment, it is scheduled to be released in Japan on October 2nd.
If you are more interested in checking out how the game will play, some additional gameplay footage for Forbidden Magna was also revealed in the latest Nintendo Direct and that footage can also be found below.
World War II first-person shooters has been lacking in recent years, but CI Games, the developers behind Lords Of The Fallen, has attempted to create a WWII shooter by today’s standards. Enemy Front follows the footsteps of Robert Hawkins, an American soldier that fights alongside Resistance Fighters in France, Germany, and Norway during the Warsaw Uprising. The game boasts advanced tactical AI, breathtaking visuals, and lots of different mechanics that can be utilized to further your mission. However, does the game pull it off? Does it deliver on all of these aspects? While Enemy Front had a lot of features that could have worked well together, the game generally feels clunky and restricted.
Gameplay
I’d love to be able to say that the game plays comfortably enough and in a unique way, but I feel like the FPS genre nowadays is in such a stale place that it’s difficult to truly innovate a completely new mechanic for FPS titles. Having said that, the title plays fairly similarly to titles like the Call Of Duty series. All of the controls follow the format that these past titles have used. The game plays fairly decently, however. Being a first-person shooter, you get your fill of combat and explosions. There’s no doubt that the game fulfills your need to shoot and kill, but there are a few things that I feel really takes away from the full World War II FPS Shooter experience.
One of the main selling points for Enemy Front is their implementation of a “can-do” attitude in terms of your approach. CI Games tried to create an experience where you were able to decide what actions you wanted to take and how you wanted to do them. Whether you wanted to blow up everything you see and shoot up every soldier in your vicinity, or sneakily make your way across the terrain to complete your objective, Enemy Front supposedly allows you to follow through with your choice of actions, but from the gameplay that I’ve tried, that really isn’t the case. As you make your way through the level, it becomes clear that certain pathways are blocked. The developers talk about creating an open path for players to take, one where they can decide where to go, but a path is actually set up that pigeon-holes you into going one direction. I don’t necessarily blame them for doing that, since sometimes players need some guidance in high-action titles, but for a guy who was looking forward to taking any path I wanted, sneaking around and catching people off-guard, this was a little bit of a let-down.
Another thing about the game that I felt was off was the movement of the character. The character constantly felt like he was treading in muddy water, and it didn’t feel organic. The AI also doesn’t hit quite as hard as I expected. Even when the difficulty was turned up, I was able to take a round or two more than I expected. In casual mode, you can literally stand out in the open and take pot shots at the enemy AI without dying, as they fire upon you with all of the automatic goodness that comes with being an NPC in shooters. The battle sequences that took place were also chaotic when they occurred. I kept getting the feeling that I was taking more time finding my targets than doing any killing. While chaos is nice and a good replica of more real situations, the shooting in Enemy Front sort of gave me a headache more than anything.
Another personal gripe that I had with the game was the weaponry. As I fired off my rounds into the crowd of enemy AIs, I didn’t really feel a kick in the gun. It felt like I was firing off rounds from a cotton-candy machine. The storyline was very linear, and there wasn’t much variety to the different campaigns. They also have a stealth function, and it wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t bad either. While I’ve had very limited experiences with the multiplayer aspect of the game, I’ve noticed that there are some issues with the gameplay. Certain bugs occur, like when you reload your gun and press the Sprint button, you’ll stop reloading, but you also won’t sprint. Overall, the game just felt very unfinished and I was actually worried about the future outcome of the title. Others might feel differently about a lot of these points, but I felt all of these contributed to a lesser experience for myself.
Visuals & Audio
Graphically speaking, the title was between good and bad. Sometimes I was impressed with the graphics and the textures, other times, I was appalled at what I was looking at. The game isn’t very optimized, and while the minimum requirements aren’t that high, I felt like the game wasn’t nearly optimized well enough for its release. At certain angles, the textures look really horrid and weird, but at other angles it looks very nice and high definition. The sounds and ambience was done decently but I didn’t feel like it lent itself to the title. I was hoping the audio would be the saving grace of this title after its subpar gameplay, but it really left a lot to be desired.
Overall
It’s really hard for me to give such a score, especially for a title that I tried out during the Namco Bandai’s New Years Event in San Francisco. I was really hyped for the title and was ready to be wowed by CI Games. However, I was left clawing at the sweet nothings that were presented to me in the form of Enemy Front. WWII buffs might find some interest in this unpopular side of the war, but other than that, it’s difficult for me to recommend this title. The AI isn’t as sweet as promised, you aren’t truly given as much options as one would expect, and the shooting mechanics of the game feel very regurgitated. It was a worthy attempt at providing a new twist in the WWII-shooter genre, but the execution felt rushed and incomplete. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Grundislav Games and Wadjet Eye Games (Gemini Rue) are proud to present their upcoming retro-styled adventure, A Golden Wake, to be released on PC this fall.
A Golden Wake jumps back into the era of Gatsby- the 1920’s in Coral Gables, Miami, where players take on the role of Alfie Banks; an entrepreneur set on fame and fortune based on actual events. In order to succeed in the real-estate market, Alfie needs to overcome the mob hunting him down, the looming Great Depression, and Florida’s lucrative waterfront just one hurricane away from total devastation.
Like all of Wadjet Eye’s games, A Golden Wake focuses on story and puzzle driven gameplay, retro graphics, and a point-and-click interface; reminiscent of the “golden age” adventures, such as, King’s Quest and Monkey Island. Check out the launch trailer of A Golden Wake below and stay tuned with Capsule Computers for the game preview within the coming weeks.
As a long-time Magic: The Gathering player, I sometimes forget that Wizards of the Coast releases other products; like a little known game called Dungeons & Dragons. Not only are they the publisher for the world-renowned pen and paper RPG, but they have just released the newest edition of the game!
With every new edition comes new rules, new character classes and new dungeons to explore and loot. Thankfully, this means that the onset of the 5th edition is the perfect jumping on point for new players. To help this fact, Wizards have released a brand new Starter Set to help get you off and running. The Starter Set includes a 64-page adventure book with everything the Dungeon Master needs to get started, a 32-page rulebook for playing characters level 1 – 5, 5 pre-generated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice.
So if you have ever wanted to try out Dungeons and Dragons, but found all of the books and rules too daunting, then this is the perfect opportunity to get on board. The 5th Edition Starter Pack is available now for the RRP of $19.99. If you don’t know where you can pick it up, then check the link here that will show you your nearest stockist. If you wanted to brush up on some of the rules beforehand, then you can grab the free digital rule book from here.
Will you be starting up D&D for the first time with the advent of the fifth edition, or are you a long-time veteran of the game? Whatever category you fall into, let us know how the 5th edition will change the way you play! As always, make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the RPG gaming news as it becomes available.
Paramount Pictures are soon to release a movie that many of us have been waiting our entire lives for. The infamous heroes in a half-shell, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are about to make their return to the silver screen, and to get everyone hyped up for the movie, Paramount have put up a little Facebook App.
The app, aptly titled “Which Turtle Are You?” scans through your likes to determined which of the our eponymous ninjas you most associate with. (I gave it a try and turned out being Michelangelo). Head over to the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Facebook page and see which of the TMNT you align-with. Then, let us know your result in the comments below.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to hit screens on October 17th, so make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the turtles news as it becomes available.
Overview Wars have been fought over land and resources and the concept of dwindling resources is brought up quite often in the world today. As such the idea that humanity might need to try and create another planet worth living on is a novel but believable concept. Mars is often the planet brought up in these terraforming discussions, and in the case of Yu Sasuga’s Terra Formars, that is indeed still the case. So now that the first volume of this manga has been given an English release, does Terra Formars establish itself well enough to hook readers?
Story Five hundred years prior to the events that take place in Terra Formars, humanity realized that the Earth would be running into major problems in the future and in an effort to terraform Mars, humanity sent a type of moss that would survive the environment as well as a creature that could barely survive on the planet in an effort to not only warm the planet, but create a simple but effective ecosystem where the creatures would eat the moss and die to be used as fertilizer for the moss.
The creatures chosen for this mission were cockroaches and now that five hundred years have passed and Mars has become a planet covered in moss, mankind sent a manned spacecraft called BUGS 1 to see how things on the planet are and to eliminate any cockroaches still alive so humanity can begin establishing a base on Mars.
Unfortunately when communication is completely lost, a specially outfitted crew is organized for BUGS 2. I say special because the crew members aboard BUGS 2 have all underwent a special procedure with a success rate of less than 40% to provide them with the abilities of various insects in order to survive on the planet’s still less than savory conditions with the use of an injectable drug. The U-NASA team, consisting of these specialized individuals from around the globe, includes Shokichi Komachi from Japan and numerous others.
When the crew lands on Mars, they quickly find that what has happened on the planet is unlike anything science could ever dream up, as the small cockroaches sent to Mars have now evolved into six and a half feet tall muscular Neanderthal creatures that can kill a man with little effort whatsoever, which quickly becomes the case as this extermination mission quickly turns into one of survival as members of the team are eliminated in an instant and even those who try to put up a fight with their insect abilities find themselves struggling against these giant cockroaches.
Through and through Terra Formars is a mature action manga where its ridiculous sounding ideas actually make it a memorable and enjoyable read. The reason for this is not only does the inclusion of insect abilities for the crew create interesting looking transformations, but also because the cockroaches are ridiculously powerful. The action is fast paced and everything happens extremely quickly so readers will find themselves unable to pull away from the manga as the crew fights for survival.
It is also worth noting that, since the crew of BUGS 2 have been augmented with insect abilities, Yu Sasuga spends a few panels giving readers a brief info drop about what makes that insect unique with factual information and how a human might make use of these powers. Not every insect is given this explanation but it is a very nice highlight given how intense the action sequences play out and even how a certain plot tries to unfold.
In this first volume, surprisingly enough, we have a rather contained story following the crew of BUGS 2 as they struggle to survive on the planet and escape meaning that it is entirely possible to enjoy this volume as its own little story but it is pretty clear that there is a lot of ground to cover with a premise such as Terra Formars’ and Volume 1 does an excellent job showing just how powerful and monstrous the cockroaches on Mars truly are.
Artwork It is worth mentioning that this is a Viz Signature release, meaning that the manga is about an inch taller than your average release, which is good because a lot of the artwork in Terra Formars is incredibly detailed and gruesome looking and this extra space allows for those details to be shown better. Ken-ichi Tachibana has done a great job designing the characters in Terra Formars with clean memorable looking faces that transform into believable looking insectoid faces when the characters use their abilities. The cockroaches themselves are also nicely detailed with a lot of time spent making their simple looking expressions look more scarier than they should simply due to their neanderthal nature and unnatural strength.
I mentioned earlier that characters will die and they do die often and in gruesomely illustrated ways. This includes very detailed looking internal organs being exposed by a character being cut in half or bulging eyes as a head is destroyed. It can also be said that Viz has done a great job with translating the text in this volume without damaging the artwork at all, since there are a number of scenes where text is placed over artwork and it is done so perfectly.
Extra Content There are only a few tidbits of extra content included in Terra Formars Volume 1 and these come in the form of two pages of brief character bios for the crew of BUGS 2, including their country of origin and their likes and dislikes. The story then closes out with a few pages talking about an old Japanese myth and the origin of staple foods, a teasing statement for the future of the series, and finally ending on a page meant to shock the reader but not be relevant to the story.
Overall Terra Formars has a strange sounding premise and gives its characters even stranger sounding abilities, but that is actually what makes the series so great in its initial volume. The time readers spend with the cast as they struggle against these insurmountable odds makes for a thrilling read in what I hope will be a sign of things to come as the series progresses. With impressive looking character and transformation designs and plenty of gore to go along with the fast pace that everything unfolds in this first volume, Terra Formars establishes itself as a bloody action story that spends some time delving into factoids and brings with it some emotional moments for the cast before they face off against a deadly humanoid creature simply thought of as a pest in the world today.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Last week we learned that Fi will be a playable character in Hyrule Warriors and now we have a gameplay trailer from Koei Tecmo showing off how exactly she will fight against enemies in the game. Those who have played The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword are familiar with Fi’s origins and as such it should come as no surprise that she does not use any weapons outside of her own abilities and transforming into a sword to dispatch her foes.
You can check out the gameplay footage below and be sure to keep an eye out for Hyrule Warriors when it is released in North America on September 26th and a week earlier on September 19th in Europe.
While we already know that XSEED Games is bringing Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed over to North America for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, it was up in the air regarding a European release for the title. Well today NIS America revealed that they are going to be handling the European relase of the game and are planning on releasing it on October 10th.
It is worth noting that XSEED has not actually announced a release date for the game in North America at the moment, but going by this announcement we can likely expect it here in the States within the next few months.
NIS America describes the game as follows:
Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is an open-world action RPG in which players undertake numerous missions in a virtual recreation of Akihabara, Tokyo’s popular ”Electric Town” district. The player’s goal is to identify vampires called “Synthisters” with the help of an in-game smartphone app, then engage them in battle to strip their clothes off so their bodies are fully exposed to sunlight. Boasting a unique combat system in which everyday objects become weapons, multiple story routes, a varied cast of characters based on common anime and video game tropes and a narrative dripping with social satire and subtle nods to Japanese pop culture, Akiba’s Trip is a present-day supernatural adventure for the gamer in all of us.
Today Viz Media announced that they will be holding a special theatrical showing of Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III – The Advent during the 2014 Japan Film Festival of San Fransisco. This event is being presented alongside the 2014 J-Pop Summit and the screenings will be held on July 23rd at 7PM and again on July 27th at 7PM.
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III – The Advent will be shown with its original Japanese voice work and have English subtitles. Tickets will be sold at $13 each and can be purchased here. For those who can’t make it to the theatrical showing, you can also pick up Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III – The Advent as it was released on Blu-ray and DVD earlier this year.
For those who are unfamiliar with the movie, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III – The Advent takes place a year after Griffith was imprisoned by the Kingdom of Midland and the Band of the Hawk has since been on the run and is nearly breaking apart. To everyone’s surprise, Guts returns to the Hawks and begins to search for the imprisoned Griffith.
An all new Dragon Ball Z film has been announced to be in the making with Akira Toriyama once again spearheading the project. Leaked before it’s official announcement on Saturday through popular Japanese magazine V Jump, it comes as no surprise another film is in the works after the great success of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods it. Details are thin as of right now but we do know some information. First, the movie will open during the Golden Week string of Holidays next Spring in Japan (April 29th to May 5th). Secondly, the story that the film will revolve around was actually intended by Akira Toriyama to be a part of the original serialization of the Dragon Ball manga , meaning it will most likely take place during the time of the canon story. Third, Toriyama has stated he has been busy making new character designs for the film. Lastly, Toriyama also promised more action and that the film will be “utterly funny”.
It’s great to see another Dragon Ball Z film on the horizon especially as Battle of Gods was generally well received. We are still unsure if this is a sequel to Battle of Gods or will take place before hand meaning there will be no Super Saiyan God Goku. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is currently doing an English theatrical run at selected theatres in the States. Check here for details on that tour.
So if you have ever wanted to try out Dungeons and Dragons, but found all of the books and rules too daunting, then this is the perfect opportunity to get on board. The 5th Edition Starter Pack is available now for the RRP of $19.99. If you don’t know where you can pick it up, then check the
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