The game will bring all of the old defense gameplay back, allowing you to set traps to decimate your orcish foes as they rush towards you, but Orcs Must Die! Unchained introduces the ability to attack and lead your own armies into the forefront. Besides attacking and defending against the horde, players can choose from a variety of heroes to use, whether it be the War Mage and Sorceress, or the newer heroes like Blackpaw, Midnight, Stinkeye, or Bloodspike. As you collect the newer heroes, you can unlock weapons and traps to alter your strategy for every round. New content will continuously be added into the game. The game will support up to 10 players in a 5v5 multiplayer mode.
The game will be available for digital download on the PC in late 2014. They have Founder Pack specials right now, with “The Master” pack allowing you direct access to their Alpha phase, which can be found here. We’ve also included their teaser trailer below, so make sure to stay tuned.
As many fans predicted, Toonami has announced that they will be adding Funimation’s dub of Attack on Titan to their programme line-up soon. They confirmed that the series will begin airing in full English dub starting May 3rd, 2014.
To add further fuel to the hype flame that began burning with the announcement, Toonami and Funimation have released a trailer for the announcement giving a brief taste of what Attack on Titan is all about. You can check that trailer out below.
The series has become a massive success, with the manga volumes becoming best-sellers multiple times over in Japan and North America. The anime was also one of the most watched series on Crunchyroll when it was first aired. Be sure to let us know what you think of Attack on Titan coming to Toonami in the comments section below.
Over the weekend Madman Entertainment dropped several title announcements at Supanova Melbourne. They announced a multitude of anime titles had been acquired, however they have yet to reveal release details for them as of yet. The following titles have been announced by Madman:
There are some pretty big title announcements in that list. Several of them have been licensed by Funimation over in North America so there is a pretty good chance they will be dubbed by the time we get them. Let us know you thoughts on these acquisitions in the comments section below. Stay tuned for details on the release of these titles as it comes to light.
Episode 31 of CC: Animeis nowlive. Each month, thanks to our good friends and sponsor Siren Visual, we will be giving away a prize in a monthly competition held through CC: Anime.
To win, listen to the podcast for the question and once you have an answer email it in along with your name and address to[email protected]. At the end of the month, a winner will be randomly selected from the pool of entries. The winner will then be announced on the next podcast.
This month, we will be giving away a copy ofMonster Part 3, on DVD thanks to our good friends at Siren Visual. If you have yet to listen to CC: Anime you can do so here.
Listen to the podcast and then send your answer in along with your name and address to [email protected] Good Luck!
Welcome to another episode of CC: Anime, Capsule Computers Anime Podcast! In our thirty first episode, the CC: Anime crew discuss the latest anime and manga news, there highlights of Spring 2014, the crazy amount of card-games anime this season, the incredible JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and the dreadful and downright offensive Daimidaler. We also have a prize giveaway of Monster Part 3 on DVD thanks to our sponsor Siren Visual, find out how to enter here.
Cast: Frank Inglese, Luke Halliday and Kane Bugeja.
We hope you enjoy CC: Anime Episode 31, be sure to let us know what you think.
Another Football Manager game, another year of gamers’ lives wasted away. Sports Interactive are not helping the industry in battling the argument that video games addiction is real and a detriment to our health! Continuing their M.O. of presenting the most detailed, extensive and realistic football simulation suite ever, the developer released Football Manager 2014 for PC/Mac/Linux, Football Manager Handheld 2014for iOS and Android and Football Manager Classic 2014 for the PS Vita. In reviewing the latter, I made it out with my pre-established sleeping patterns intact, though – much like the game – they were not optimal to begin with…
Gameplay
Football Manager Classic 2014 is the mode of the same name right in the palms of your hands, and is about as intricate as it gets. Gamers can engage in a New Career or a bunch of Challenges, such as managing a team to security in the standings from a relegation battle mid-way through a season. There are seven of these challenges in total, all placing the player in uniquely different situations and dire straits, stemming from financial reports, win/loss records, unhappy management and more. Common throughout, the U.I. is decidedly busy and the controls not taking full advantage of the hardware’s physical features. Opting to utilise touch as the main means of navigation, Sports Interactive neglected to make efficient and effective use of the PS Vita’s tactile face buttons and D-Pad, ultimately creating an unnecessarily cumbersome and improficient ordeal. If you can get past the annoyance of pressing on the unintended option from the get-go, you will have chosen nations and leagues to play with. Of course, the fewer players and factors included in a career, the fewer calculations need to be made and the faster the Estimated Game Speed becomes, which is signified at the bottom of the screen.
Next you’ll have to set-up a Manager’s Profile, in which deciding your persona’s past experiences as an on-field player determines how well known you are and therefore how hard you might have to work to earn the respect of your squad, its fans and media alike. There are pros and cons when looking at choosing a team, from financial support to player morale and beyond. From the management screen, gamers have every minute piece of data at their disposal, able to analyse at an insanely OCD-level. Events pass on the calendar, with important notices filling the Home screen. Tapping “Continue” in the top right corner quickly shuffles through each item, some of which require no input or response. Others need addressing, and the game will not move on until you do. Questions from the media, answering your superiors and figuring out what to do with expiring contracts are among some of the issues presented. When nearing a transfer window deadline, the player will be reminded quite frequently of the fact. The ‘Menu Bar’ pops up at the press of the right shoulder button, wherein you can search for players, looking at all manner of statistics from position, age and nationality to contract fee, value, attributes and more.
Once an actual match-day comes around, players will get to coach in real-time, or pause the action to make imperative decisions. The speed of both the highlights and in-between can be adjusted from a turtle-like crawl to a significantly quick run-through, allowing you to define a comfortable pace. Pressing “X” to pause and resume play in the 3D Match Engine is one of the few instances where the face buttons are employed. During, tactics can be altered and substitutions made to adapt to the ongoing proceedings and flow of the match. Vital updates, such as injury reports, reminders of possession percentages (which, regardless of this, are consistently displayed at the bottom of the screen and even broken zonally) and weakening player conditions help guide and dictate your on-the-fly actions. Among the listed decision-making abilities, players can also change up the team’s attacking and defensive mentality, playing style and fluidity, as well as player roles. It’s hard to imagine what additions and mechanics could be made to the current suite for future editions… at least on handheld/portable platforms, the focus should be on tightening up the interface and speeding up the overall experience first.
Visuals & Audio
As referenced, the interface of Football Manager Classic 2014 can be quite cluttered, and while the text may not be tiny or unreadable, the utter volume of information being presented on a comparatively (to the average monitor) smaller screen such as the PS Vita’s spells a disappointingly discouraging affair. Having the overlay brought up with “R” as seen in some of the screenshots is a quick-fix method of hiding away often non-essential data for newbies in particular, but when in use, acts to further litter the screen and proves an overall inefficient U.I. element. The game’s 3D Match Engine expectedly loses some fidelity and visual quality in the port, but is feature-complete which is the important thing; slight lag may be encountered on replays and in other taxing moments during the simulation. Audio-wise, there is very little to speak of in Football Manager Classic 2014; there’s no music to be found, even in the main menu, and no aural feedback on button taps/selections. The only area in which any sound accompanies the visuals is during matches, with obligatory crowd noises, but still, not much else.
Overall
Sports Interactive’s Football Manager proves to be one of the most addictive, life-sapping series with each improved annual iteration. However, Football Manager Classic 2014 for the PS Vita is a totally frustrating experience. The touch-screen U.I. is extremely unintuitive, finicky and imprecise; the smaller screen means that the already immense amount of text present must be minimized to even fit in the space, resulting in lines becoming hard to read and desired options difficult to accurately select. It is impressive that Sports Interactive were able to carry over all the content found in Football Manager 2014‘s ‘Classic Mode’, although at the sacrifice of tolerable loading screens/times, which just adds to the increasing aggravation.
Cross-save functionality with Football Manager 2014 on the PC/Mac is a redeeming feature, and for those who play mostly on their desktop and intended to get Football Manager Classic 2014 simply for short, on-the-go sessions (like on the train), then it may be possible to overlook its negatives, especially when considering those customers are the most hardcore segment of the market who generally invest hundreds of hours into the each yearly release already. And let’s face it, there won’t be sheer droves of newcomers taking to the series, and if there are, I wish them good luck on the wholly overwhelming simulation. Because, respectfully, as a standalone title and purely portable experience, I’m not sure Football Manager Classic 2014 is entirely worth it.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
With Ruko and Yuzuki having established a friendship last week, the two have resolve to both become Eternal Girls and have their wishes come true. Not that ruko actually has any wishes. It’s kinda sad, but somehow cute…Anyway, if they cannot battle each other, then they’ll just have to find some more selectors. I wonder if they’ll be just as kind and understanding as Ruko and Yuzuki?
Best seats in the house
Nope. Meet Akira, a peppy girl well known for her modelling career. To most she is a beacon of joy and inspiration, kind to her fans and generally a pleasure to be around. Now that’d be all well and good, if it wasn’t a total lie. Shielded by the fourth wall, we are lucky enough to bear witness to her true persona: a sadistic girl who relishes in not only beating her opponents, but crushing them. It’s quite the change from what we’ve seen thus far and is interesting from a narrative stand point. I mean, if everyone was nice, who would you root for? Every anime needs a villain to a certain degree and, at least for now, Akira fits the bill. To truly showcase the extent of her sadism, Akira is pitted against Hitoe, perhaps the shiest girl to ever exist. She could barely even ask to battle Akira, so you can imagine how quickly she broke under the onslaught of mind games. Poor Hitoe…
After destroying Hitoe in battle, Akira forces Yuzuki to divulge her e-mail, so that they may fight in the future. The fervour with which Akira contacts Yuzuki after said exchange is rather frightening. Even more so is the happy tone with which she does it. The disconnect between Akira’s outward personality and her true motives presents what can only be described as an unstable character. Scarier still is that almost nobody knows that she isn’t the sweet “Aki-lucky” girl she pretends to be. One can only fathom what wish she fights for…
What’s in a stare?
This episode also focuses on one of the more realistic elements of any card game: shopping. Fearing that she will suffer the same defeat as Hitoe, Yuzuki is taken to a card shop to upgrade her deck. Unfortunately for her, the experience is not one of joy, or even mediocrity for that matter. No, it is one of hesitation and fear. Why so dramatic about shopping you wonder? Just the fact that there might be something going on between her brother and the helpful girl who works at the card shop. Drama bomb. Now we all know that Yuzuki has the hots for her brother (such a weird sentence to write) but we’ve never seen how this attraction plays out in public situations. Due to her jealousy and inability to express herself, Yuzuki plays somewhat of a shrinking violet, becoming far more reserved than normal. However when her embarrassment peaks, she is prone to outbursts followed promptly by a quick escape. Once again, her personality quirks add a strange sense of innocence to her infatuation with her brother, aided by a flashback that reveals she has felt this way since kindergarten. Though the idea of a child who knows little about the boundaries of society, Yuzuki never evolved this thought, continuing on with her off kilter perception of love.
Whilst lashing out due to embarrassment, Yuzuki calls out Ruko on certain traits she has observed. Namely that she can’t tell what she’s thinking. More than a simple insult, Ruko does nothing but agree after flashing back to the vision she saw previously. This also provides an interesting link between Ruko and Tama, who are apparently more similar than they seem. During last week’s impression, I noted that Tama’s inability to speak made it so that we couldn’t tell what the little LRIG was thinking. Perhaps this bizarre personality is an extension of Ruko herself. Perhaps the promise that WIXOSS can make you the person you wish to be begins by manifesting your ideal form in the LRIGs. If that’s the case, there’s much more to Ruko than initially shown.
Some things cannot be unsaid…
Well with the Eternal Girls all gathering together you’d expect some battles to take place. Which is good because some are about to. Recovering from her crushing defeat, Hitoe challenges an unsuspecting Ruko, whilst Yuzuki decides to finally take on Akira. With two battles set to begin, next week should provide some excellent action. Maybe Akira will even get taken down a peg. That’d be nice…
Check out more selector infected WIXOSS Impressions HERE.
Everybody needs to relax every once in a while. To take time away from the world and just unwind. How you choose to do so is of course a matter of choice, but chances are whatever you pick, somebody else will have chosen similarly. Enter a world much like our own, where a humble card game has taken students by storm. Female students specifically. The girls spend their money buying new cards and upgrading their decks in order to best their friends and enjoy a little healthy competition. Or at least, that’s true in most cases. However, within the seemingly innocuous game lies a secret only a few bear witness to. A secret that changes the rules entirely.
First things first, meet Ruko. Just an average girl making her way through the trials and tribulations of high school. Unfortunately, her personality is such that she leans towards introversion, resulting in a distinct lack of friends. Though this doesn’t seem to bother her to any major degree, the brief glimpse we see of her on the train expresses the kind of melancholy that comes with loneliness. If you couldn’t gather that she was a sweetheart from her relationship with her family, it is only after hearing how her Grandma worries about her isolation that she truly begins to seek out friends. An “awww” moment if there ever was one. It is also in this vein that her brother decides to introduce her to the world of WIXOSS, the titular card game, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that will change Ruko’s life forever.
Awww…
To cut a short story shorter, upon opening her starter deck, Ruko notices that her LRIG card (the centre of her deck) is alive…and cute as a button. Naturally, once her shock dies down, she begins to learn about the game and sets off to find similar minded people at school. Which she does. Kinda. Something I really enjoyed about this episode was how quickly it jumped into the world of WIXOSS. Despite talking to her card at school, we didn’t have to sit through watching her be judged and embarrassed, as is the case in a number of these anime that deal with a secret reality. Instead, another character immediately realised the truth behind Ruko and invited her to fight. I mean, we all know how these kinds of situations usually play out, it was nice to skip it for a change.
Though the animation was excellent throughout the entire episode, the card battle was where it really got a chance to shine. Albeit rather briefly. More of an exposition than an actual battle, we got to see the LRIGs outside of their 2D form (in a manner of speaking) firing energy blasts and punches, that somehow have something to do with actually playing WIXOSS…I guess. Though I said that this introduction was expository, I still don’t actually have a handle on the intricacies of the game…because they didn’t really tell us them. The whole “summon SIGNIs to attack” seems simple enough, though the “Grow” function is still rather mysterious. Oh well, I’m just gonna chalk it up to early days. That being said, it would be rather interesting if the anime chooses to focus more on the impact of the game than the game itself. I guess we’ll just have to see which path it decides to take.
Less awww…
Speaking of impact, the titular game is said to bestow one of unequivocal power unto a truly powerful selector (those who possess living LRIGs). Should they continue to win, they will be granted a single wish. Any wish at all. Regardless of how possible it is, it will come true. Or so they say. It is for this reason that the newly introduced Yuzuki is so desperate to win. Her desire is kinda…weird. Ok, really weird. She loves her brother, but not as her brother. You catch my drift? Naturally this is unrequited and carries a 0% chance of ever amounting to anything…because they’re related. But with a little WIXOSS magic who knows what could happen…who would want to know what could happen? That being said, Yuzuki possesses a bizarre kind of innocence, even in this odd situation. It’s certainly strange, but i kinda seems like she never matured when it came to understanding relationships. She just knows she cares deeply for her brother. Maybe it has something to do with her being the younger sister that makes it appear this way. I’m not really sure. It’s undeniably weird, but it’s not twisted. Poor Yuzuki…I think.
Certainly one of the most interesting events of the episode is the one that didn’t actually happen. Let me explain. After learning of the living LRIG that she now owns, Ruko had a nightmare. One hell of a frightening one at that. Her vision of an odd wax monster ominously looming over her expresses that WIXOSS may take a rather dark turn in the future. Perhaps granting the power of an unrestricted wish to high school girls isn’t the best idea. Who’da thunk it? The fact that the nightamarish creature bears similarities to Ruko’s own LRIG, and the previously showcased bloodlust that she expresses in battle, may be some blatant foreshadowing that Tama’s cutesy appearance conceals something far darker. Or, looking at it a little more objectively, could it be that Tama is simply responding to a wish that Ruko herself has not made yet. Maybe Ruko’s own fear of this new world simply twisted the visuals presented to her. After all, the dream did seem rather prophetic and the creature did appear to be saving a town from being Tetrised out of existence. Whatever the case, I can’t wait to find out.
It’s time to duel!
So there we have it. Our first look into the odd world of a card game brought to life. An interesting one if I do say so myself. Which I do. With plenty of desire driving at least one of the selector’s introduced thus far, Ruko may be hard pressed to keep up. Though does she even want to? Sure losing Tama would be sad, but from what we’ve seen so far, it mightn’t be the worst thing to happen. Lacking the eloquence of other LRIGs, we don’t actually know what is running through her head. Other than she loves fighting. Though in the opening moments of the series, a much more evolved Tama did appear to be exclaiming her undying loyalty to someone. Is this a sign of evil, or simply unrestrained innocence? I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.
Check out more selector infected WIXOSS Impressions HERE.
Overview Cute girls, mecha, aliens, jerseys. That is pretty much Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne in a nutshell. You have cute girls piloting mechas to fight off an alien invasion of sorts, one of which has an abnormal love for jerseys. It is a strange mecha anime to say the very least but it is rather fun because of that.
Lagrange is nothing you haven’t seen before from the mecha genre, but it has an air of freshness to it that makes it standout from the crowd. There is a playful heart to Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne that sets it apart from the pack, this isn’t some dark tragic mecha drama, in fact it is quite uplifting and that may very well be the thing that makes Lagrange good: it makes you smile.
Story Madoka is your average genki teenage girl, she is kind-hearted, playful and quite sporty. She is the founder of the jersey club, a poorly defined high school club for people who wear jerseys. At the series outset Madoka is the club’s only member. Surely enough she quickly becomes embroiled in an alien invasion which is exclusively targeted upon a remote Japanese beach town called Kamogawa, which just so happens to be Madoka’s hometown which she loves.
In a blur Madoka is suddenly piloting a mecha and engaging in battles with the invaders in order to protect the town she loves. The invader’s motivations are somewhat questionable but regardless of that they serve as a decent antagonistic threat to Madoka and company. While these are all somewhat generic plot points that occur frequently in mecha series, Lagrange’s take on the series is quite unique and that blend of mecha tropes makes for something special.
The series features quite a lot of fan-service, with many shower scenes and strange public stripping sequences by our heroic trio of cute girls. If you’re an ecchi fan and like these three characters you’ll surely have a lot of candy for the eye with Lagrange. The fan-service isn’t the slightest bit subtle, right down to the on all fours position that the girls pilot their mechs in. If you aren’t into the whole fan-service thing it may be a little bit of a distraction here as it occurs frequently and bares little importance to the story.
The story itself is somewhat muddled and fairly repetitive at times. Things progress quite slowly and it feels like battle after battle with no goal point for quite a while. Ultimately it kicks into gear and the story becomes more interesting. This is really a series that relies heavily on its likable main cast to push things along and with the development for each of the main trio, they quite easily carry the series on their shoulders. The chemistry between them is electric and it is a whole lot of fun just watching them interact with one another.
Ultimately Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne is a light-hearted mecha with a heaping helping of fan-service on the side. It is a lot of fun and the action sequences are well choreographed and know how to build tension and excitement. The real highlight of this series is its great primary cast, it is impossible not to like these girls and it proves to be Lagrange’s strong point. Season 1 concludes in an interesting way and definitely leaves the viewer hankering for some more jersey club fun when Season 2 hits our shores.
Visuals and Audio So very fresh, that is how I would describe the style of Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne. It just has a refreshing aesthetic that really doesn’t look like anything else. It is animated superbly and the direction is tight and sublime. The character designs are each appealing in their own ways and the unique visuals of the series ensure a memorable look that won’t be forgotten. The battles upon the sea are impressive visually and the fan-service scenes are rather titillating if you’re into that kind of stuff. The general production on this series is excellent and stands as some of XEBEC’s finest to date.
The series soundtrack is fitting and adds to the aura of a fresh ocean breeze kind of feeling that the show has going for it. The opening and ending themes aren’t really all that special but they aren’t bad in any way. The English dub from Viz Media is decent to a large extent but somewhat hit and miss, some performances come of as lazy, but the main trio of girls are all voiced with a great deal of personality and vigor. This release of course also features the original Japanese audio should you prefer it.
Extras Madman Entertainment’s release of Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne is quite an impressive feat, it features a plethora of special features that add a great deal to the experience of the series. Included on the release are an art gallery (which I must say is a special feature that is sadly far too rare in the current anime landscape), the standard clean opening and closing themes and a very special Kamogawa Drama featurette. That is a lot of bonuses for this quality release and it is all the more appreciated considering the asking price.
Overall Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne is a special mecha series. It takes and blends some rather trite tropes of the genre and makes them into something fresh and unique. There is quite a bit of fan-service in the series which will be hit or miss for you depending on your opinion on that type of thing. The series strongest point and ultimately its major hook is the chemistry between its main trio, these girls are all likable in their own ways and their interactions are really a lot of fun to watch. The mecha battles surprisingly are not the most interesting part of this mecha series, rather it is watching these three cute girls grow together like the flower that blossoms. In the end Season 1 overall was a solid first entry for the Lagrange series and things look to go bigger and better in Season 2. If you’re looking for a bit of easy light-hearted and at times uplifting fun, then hop on board for Lagrange: Flower of Rin-ne.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Today 2K Games and Firaxis have announced that they are working on a brand new Civilization game and this one is all about the sci-fi aspect of the game. It is called Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth and it is going to be taking place after the civilizations have abandoned Earth to look for a new planet to call home.
In this game players will take control of a the expedition as they establish themselves as a new civilization on an alien planet. The announcement trailer for the game can be found below and as for the game itself, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth is currently set to be released sometime in Fall 2014 for the PC.
