Icon Home Entertainment is bringing well-received British romance-drama Belle to Blu-ray, DVD and Digital on September 10. The film was in development limbo for more than six years before it finally enjoyed its theatrical release in the UK and U.S. last year.
Directed by Amma Asante (A Way of Life), who won the ‘Director to Watch’ honour at the 2014 Palm Springs International Film Festival, Belle follows the titular character, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Royal Navy Admiral John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) as she falls in love with a vicar’s son who aids her in influencing her great uncle, Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) to work to abolish slavery in England. The film also stars more fresh faces in Sam Reid and Sarah Gadon, alongside veterans Miranda Richardson and Emily Watson. Sydney Morning Herald referred to it as “a sumptuous costume drama… all the elements of a Jane Austen novel”.
Icon’s most forthcoming home media release is Pompeii on July 23. Also, check out our review of Ender’s Gameon Blu-ray, courtesy of Icon.
Overview
Remember when you had to blow the dust out of your cartridges? That wonderful 8-bit music? Even if you were born after the NES-era, developers have been trying to emulate the charms and quality that the late 80’s/early 90’s brought us for years now. We have received retro platformers, RPGs, and so on, and while many are great, nearly every title aside from a very select few have been so absolutely full of nods and cheesy jokes that make you forget that you are actually trying to enjoy the game and relive it all, thrusting the player right back into today’s world and into what feels like a cheap Youtube video. Yacht Club Games are the new kid on the block (made from a team that was formally with WayForward), and are ready to change the way we think about the past by delivering a lovely little title by the name of Shovel Knight. Is Shovel Knight able to dig up something fresh with that older look attached, or is this another case of a ho-hum experience? Let’s find out.
Story
The story in Shovel Knight, like most retro-inspired titles is rather minimal. You play as the brave Shovel Knight, who is out to save his dear lady Shield Knight. It isn’t exactly the romance of the ages, but it works in the same light of titles such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mega Man, which both convey a minimal story that sticks with the player and delivers that urge to progress onward. While the story is small, the world within Shovel Knight is the truly special element that pulls the game together. During your journey, you can stop at villages and other locales to catch up on the gossip and other goings-on occurring through NPCs. While some of these chaps come off as rather basic, others spew dialogue that are sure to put a smile on your face, with sharp, witty writing that keeps you in this retro universe – without making you feel like you are playing a game. This makes the villages a pure delight to explore, and deepens an otherwise shallow narrative ten fold.
Gameplay
Think DuckTales. Think Super Mario Bros 3. Add in some Mega Man. Now top that off with a bit of Earthbound. Those are ingredients that are clearly in this recipe, and they come together to make a magnificent feast for the player. At its core, Shovel Knight is a platformer. The player must walk through the 2D levels, armed with a shovel and defeat enemies until they reach a boss. Beating a stage unlocks more of the world, so its almost like each stage is its own little compact locale, with each featuring their own theme and mechanics to keep the game fresh.
Shovel Knight controls wonderfully as well, and its obvious quickly that polish was a major factor when Yacht Club designed each pixel within the game. Shovel Knight has one strike attack with his shovel, and can also use the tool to dig up treasure. Much like DuckTales, the player can also hop on the weapon to smash enemies and obstacles from above with a pogo attack. As the player progresses, this tool can be upgraded by spending funds at shops, and the player can also take advantage of health consumables such as turkey (or is it chicken?) to get a nice boost of health. That’s really all there is to it, and the simplicity pays off when navigating the clever design of the game itself.
I mentioned that ever stage plays differently, and that is mainly due to the themes being turned up full blast in order to fully take advantage of the setting. Early on, the player will have to traverse a dark landscape that sometimes blacks out, making you wait for a flash of lightning before taking that next step safely. Others are a bit friendlier in terms of challenge, using elements like spaced out single platforms and spikes to serve as an obstacle, and the famous water stage that so many NES titles featured – where sensitive bubbles must be quickly hopped upon to cross over to safety. You will die, make no mistake about it, but the difficulty here comes with a swerve. Multiple checkpoints can be found in each stage and light up as passed. If the player thinks this makes the game too easy, then they can smash the checkpoint and take an offering of loot that will benefit them later. Its a nice balance of choice for those that want bone-crunching hard difficult or would prefer to just enjoy the rich gameplay.
The bosses are really the stars of the game, and every Knight encountered usually comes with a decent challenge attached and a lengthy health bar. Unlike Mega Man, these bosses never feel impossible, but instead act like a delicious exclamation point to an already fulfilling stage. Sure, the mid-bosses and enemies are fine even if palette swaps are utilized a bit too often, but its these moments that capture the essence of all of the great ideas brought forward by a stage, and put them all together for a fitting finale. Will you love every stage? Well, I kind of doubt that, but you will remember them – and considering how easy it is to forget today’s retro retreats, that is definitely a good thing.
Visuals and Audio
Even though Shovel Knight kind of markets itself as a long forgotten NES classic, the visuals are just a bit better. Shading and color modernize this title, making it look crisp and fluid, with animations and lovely artwork dancing before the player’s eyes. The characters look great and this is one title you can tell a lot of love, time, and devotion was applied to by the art style alone. The menus do resemble a very basic NES platformer from the past, but this is just a minor gripe and doesn’t harm the game at all. I understand that we are experiencing a classic atmosphere, but if the bottom screen were displaying a bit more flavor, Shovel Knight would have definitely managed to let even more of its boasting personality shine through.
There really isn’t any voice acting present within Shovel Knight (to be expected), and the dialogue sequences and quirky sound effects do a great job of making up for that. Its the music however that captures what Yacht Club were truly after. All of the 16-bit era tunage blasts through the speakers and can only be described as one utterly awesome soundtrack. I don’t know if this is music I would listen to away from the game, but it is easy on the ears and is just as playful (and serious) as the main protagonist.
Overall
Shovel Knight is a fantastic gem that needs to be played by all. With its retro stylings, we could have seen a lot of different products turn out here, but what we get is an experience that feels pure and untouched by the act of parody. This is the kind of originality that we have been missing this generation, and after completing that final moment in the game – its hard not to do it all over again due to the polish and layers of quality that make our Knight’s armor shine like gold. Yacht Club Games may be a newer developer, but with Shovel Knight leading the way – its hard not to be excited about what the future holds.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
A new trailer for Spike Chunsoft’s Danganronpa: Another Episode was released and while it does contain some footage we have seen before, it also focuses on showing off some of the special properties of Komaru Naegi’s megaphone weapon. This megaphone has the ability to shock enemies and destroy them, hack objects, and even control a Monokuma for a certain period of time.
It is worth noting that the trailer also gives us the first in-game glance at the Warriors of Hope who are a group of five children that act as leaders of the “Monokuma Kids” and slaughter adults. These children are called Masaru Daimon – The Hero, Utsugi Kotoko – The Warrior, Jatarou Kemuri – The Monk, Nagisa Shingetsu – The Sage, and Monica – The Mage.
Currently Danganronpa: Another Episode is set to be released in Japan on September 25th while the second game in the series, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, is set to be released on September 2nd in North America by NIS America.
The trailer below does contain spoilers for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.
In a move that should surprise no one, EA took the chance at the end of their Battlefield Hardline beta to announce that they would be holding another beta for the game sometime this Fall and this one is going to be open to “all platforms,” meaning it will be available for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC.
This is good news considering the fact that Battlefield 4 is still being patched and having continuous issues. It is worth noting that alongside this beta announcement, the developers said that they are going to try and structure the campaign to be similar to “watching episodes of your favorite TV shows.”
A couple of days ago Tecmo Koei made fans of JRPGs quite happy when they announced that they would be bringing Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star over to Europe. However at that time Tecmo Koei could not confirm that the game would be released in the United States.
Thankfully Tecmo Koei America made it official by confirming that they would be bringing the game to North America though they couldn’t provide any additional details outside of that. We do have a release date for the game in Europe though, September 26th, so it will probably be within a few days, or weeks at most, of that date.
The official website for Compile Heart’s Omega Quintet has been updated and with that update come a large number of new screenshots from the game as well as a sample of the voice work for each of the five main girls in the game, Otoha, Nene, Aria, Kyouka, and Kanadeko.
The new screenshots, some of which show off the game’s battle system as well as the dance editor, can be found below. Currently Omega Quintet is set to be released in Japan on September 18th for the PlayStation 4 and while it is hasn’t been announced for localization yet, the other Galapagos oriented JRPG Fairy Fencer F is going to be released in English this September.
“It’s no big crime, I just can’t keep time, I’m telling you I lost the Newsbeat!” Hey there folks, welcome back to Xbox Newsbeat! It has been a couple weeks since we have given you all the latest and greatest news out of Microsoft HQ since you know… this little thing called E3 happened, and we didn’t have anything else to share with you! However, don’t be alarmed, we haven’t let the dust gather on our shoulders and are in fact ready and rearing to go with… only three articles this week… I got out of bed for three headlines!? I need to talk to my agent! Anyway, our headlines this week all relate to Xbox One, with one even dipping its toe into Xbox 360 territory (sorry again Windows Phone. Not this time). So what are we waiting for!? Lets rock this joint!
Xbox One to Offer Largest and Most Critically Acclaimed Line Up of Games for Holiday 2014
So you know how I mentioned that little-known event, E3 just before? Well Microsoft attacked that conference guns-a-blazing and showcased an incredible lineup of games that will be coming out over the next few months. Exclusive titles like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, Ori and the Blind Forest will all be making their way to the Xbox One very soon, joined in no small part by third-party games like Assassin’s Creed Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny, Evolve, Grand Theft Auto V, and dozens more.
If you were thinking where all the games for Xbox One were, well now you know – just around the corner.
11 Semi-Finalists Head to San Diego for Kinect Sports Rivals World Championship
So Kinect Sports Rivals has had competing against one another in feats of athletic prowess and skill for the better part of three months, and now things are about to get serious. Now challengers from all around the world will meet at San Diego Comic Con and compete for glory… and cash dollars!! No joke, this in-person competition will be awarding prizes to the competitors, and they aren’t minor sums of money either. First place stands to win $10,000 plus the trip of a lifetime for two to one of four amazing destinations: a water sports adventure in Bora Bora, walking the Great Wall of China, trekking to Machu Picchu or skiing the Swiss Alps. with the rest of the competitors earning:
2nd Place: USD $5,000
3rd Place: USD $2,500
4th Place: USD $1,000
5th – 11th Place: USD $500 each
Man… I wish I was fit enough to play video games and win cash prizes and holidays. Oh well, maybe this will be a good New Years Resolution for 2015!!
July Games with Gold: Celebrate More Great Games for Xbox One and Xbox 360
Oh man, I am very excited for this month’s Games with Gold promotion. As I am sure many of you are aware, Xbox Live Gold subscribers get access to a couple of free games per month. These games are usually on Xbox 360 only but occasionally Xbox One gets a share of the action, and I for one am thrilled at this month’s offering:
“Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition” is available as part of the promotion for Xbox One starting on July 2nd! One of the PS3’s greatest little indie platformers has recently jumped ship and gone to every console it can, and now you can have it totally for free! Play as the super powered luchador as he vows to save the love of his life from a sombrero-donning demon skeleton! Oh and you get to piledrive jaguars! Seriously. Get this.
As if that wasn’t enough, the charming little shooter set in the hear of one of DC Entertainment’s most famous cities is also part of the promotion. Gotham City Imposters puts you in the place of two warring gang factions. Combining traditional FPS elements with some comic style wackiness makes for a lot of fun. Grab this one while you can (which incidentally is July 1st-15th) on Xbox 360.
A short but very exciting week here at Xbox Newsbeat. Let us know in the comments below which headline you found most exciting, and why it was Guacamelee being available for free on Xbox One. As always, make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the slick Microsoft news as it becomes available.
Have you ever played a Dynasty Warriors game before? Are you a massive fan of the Gundam series? Well I have never played Dynasty Warriors or seen a single episode of Gundam so picking up Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn was an entirely new experience for me, and one that I am quite happy to say that I enjoyed. The story is a little unfriendly to newcomers of the Gundam franchise, but the gameplay is pretty solid (although a little simple) and the visuals really fir the aesthetic of the world quite nicely.
Story
Gundam Reborn’s Official Mode takes players through some of the key moments in the Gumdan franchise. For those of you who have been watching it for years, you will likely recognize that the chapters take place in both the Universal Century and the Cosmic Era timelines. The Universal Century “episodes” retell the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Char’s Counterattack, and Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. The Cosmic Era storyline covers Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. For those new to the series, it will provide a bit of a crash course through the Gundam universe, however if you are like me and are brand new to the franchise, you will probably know very little more coming out of the game than you did going in.
To fully grasp the story, you need to be well versed in Gundamn lore as although the game does go through the major events of the featured series, the fact that the game’s audio is entirely in Japanese and the highly condensed nature of the storytelling means that you will likely have little to no idea what is going on. Having never seen an episode of Gundam in my life, I can attest to this fact; I only got a fleeting understanding of the series and its characters.
Gameplay
Like other games in the Dynasty Warriors franchise, Gundam Reborn has you squaring off against hundreds of enemies at once. The action is fast paced and keeps you enthralled without ever getting too boring. Although the game isn’t all that deep, it is still a lot of fun.
Each Mobile Suit has access to a variety of different melee and long-ranged attacks that can be combined together to create attack strings and deal devastating amounts of damage to the enemy combatants. The combat is deceptively simple, offering a variety of different moves and attacks but all are really simple to chain together, making for a game that is easy for anybody to pick up and play. As you progress through the game, it becomes clear that just using your suit’s charged blaster shots is the best option as it can clear out entire squadrons of enemies with a single shot. It becomes very easy to just rely on this tactic since it is just that much more efficient than anything else you have available to you.
Despite being almost entirely overwhelmed by enemies, the game is never particularly difficult. On normal difficulty you will find yourself rarely even getting hit, let alone being in a situation that actually has you worried whether or not you will survive. Hard mode offers a little more challenge but all in all it won’t change how you play the game all that much.
You can level up your Mobile Suits and pilots using a variety of different XP and rewards systems that the game implements. The Mobile Suits can all be upgraded by finding new plans. Upgrade Plans will offer a bonus to one or more of your Suit’s components. At the same time, you can upgrade your pilot’s abilities to make them better in combat.
The upgrade system for both suits and pilots looks intricate at first glance but is sadly quite shallow. There is no real customization for the suits or the pilots aside from which of a select number of skills you choose to equip. The whole game can really be summarized as looking a lot more complicated than it really is. The combat, the upgrades and the mission variety all suffer from it.
Visuals
The visuals for Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn are (as far as I can tell) quite reminiscent of the original TV series. I know that previous installments have gone w more cell-shaded route with their character designs, but Gundam reborn has gone with a more realistic approach that fits the whole theme of the show a lot better.
Cut scenes are in many cases taken directly from the original anime and slightly touched up to be a little cleaner. Sadly, many of them are not fully animated and it is oftentimes screenshots taken with audio dubbed over the top. The game’s few fully cinematic cut-scenes are done in-engine, and don’t run very long.
What is probably the most impressive part is the fact that there can be more than 200 moving units on screen at any time, all able to move in 3 dimensions and the game never suffers even the slightest bit of lag or frame skipping. Even when a charged up blast from your Gundam causes an explosive domino-effect through the armies, the game kept its steady frame rate.
Audio
All of the voice work for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn is in the original Japanese with no option available to switch over to an English Dub. This provides a sense of authenticity to the game, and without a doubt those fans out there that believe anime is the best when it is in the original language will love this feature. However, the lack of an English track can make it a little difficult to get a proper grasp over what is going on in the narrative.
A lot of the game’s story is told in the midst of the intense battles, meaning you would have to take your eyes off the action just to read what is going on. Oftentimes you can’t do this, so you end up missing huge chunks of the story. I’ve never seen Gundam so I can’t speak too much about the actual voice work in comparison to the show, but as a part of the game I rather enjoyed it.
Overall
Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn was my first foray into the Gundan and Dynasty Warriors worlds and I can honestly say I was impressed. As a game it was rather simple but still an enjoyable experience. Although on the flip side, the forced Japanese language and the way the story is presented make it a little difficult to fully grasp what is going on. All in all however, the game provides a fair bit of mindless fun and I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for future installments.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
You may remember at the end of last year it was revealed that Gaijinworks would be bringing Class of Heroes 2G over to North America sometime this year. Well now you have the option to potentially own a physical copy of the game. Pre-sales for the PlayStation 3 title have been opened up but it is worth noting that after this pre-sale phase is closed in under a month, the only way to purchase the game after that is through the PlayStation Network.
Some gameplay footage from Class of Heroes 2G can also be found below and those looking to pre-purchase the game can do so herefor $49.99 plus $4 shipping in the United States while shipping elsewhere will cost extra. Outside of the physical copy, all orders will include a serial numbered hologram on the package, a two-sided box insert, and of course a game manual.
Last week we learned that Compile Heart’s Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II is being developed for the PlayStation 4 and this week through a number of scanned pages from Dengeki magazine we have also learned some additional details about the game. As we have already learned, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II will have three separate dimensions and there are different stories for each dimension that will have variable villains and playable characters.
Also revealed in these scans are “Next Forms” that are a step beyond the CPU’s Goddess form. The scans found below give us a glimpse at what these Next Forms might look like since they are only shown as sketches at the moment, though Purple Heart’s Next Form might be the exact same looking as the full page scan shown below. Currently it is unknown if any additional personality or fighting style changes will result in these Next Forms but we can probably expect more news on that in the future.
Last week 
