The time has come and now Microsoft has announced that the final chapter in the “Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” downloadable content for Dead Rising 3 has been released. It is now available through the Xbox One Marketplace at a $9.99 price tag or free for anyone who actually purchased the game’s season pass.
This piece of DLC, called ‘The Last Agent’ follows Brad Park who is a ZDC agent who discovers the truth behind the zombie outbreak in Los Perdidos and you can check out the trailer below to see what type of weapons and content will be available in this DLC.
Today Konami has released Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes in North America but at least while European gamers have a few more days to wait they will be able to check out the game’s launch trailer which can be found below.
As for the game itself, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes serves as a prologue to The Phantom Pain and depending on how you purchase the game you may pay a different price. A physical copy of the game for either the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, or Xbox 360 will run you $30 while a digital copy for next-gen consoles is pried at $30 but the digital version on older consoles is only $20.
It looks like fans of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series won’t have to rely on the Vita remakes of the original games for much longer as Compile Heart has announced two brand new games for the series during a stage event held in Akihabara called Game no Dengeki Kanshasai 2014.
According to Dengeki Online the first title is Chou Jigen Action Neptune U which may be an action game and appears to be quite some time off, while the second is Hyperdimension Neptunia VII, which likely means V II, and it is set to be released sometime this year though the company did not say what platform it would be released on. Considering the whole series has been released on Sony platforms so far, it is a fair bet that one of their consoles will be home to the game where it appears the goddesses might fall to the dark side. More details about these games are meant to be revealed on the April 10th issue of Dengeki PlayStation.
Today Viz Media has announced that they have just updated their digital line-up of manga for the month of March and with this update comes two new digital releases. You may remember that Viz had acquired the license for Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma and were planning on releasing the title in print in August, well it is currently available digitally and also available today is the first volume of Phantom Thief Jeanne which was released physically a earlier in the month. Both Phantom Thief Jeanne and Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma cost $6.99 per digital volume.
Later in this month the shojo drama Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzou will be released on March 25th digitally and Viz has also acquired two license rescues in the form of Chibi Vampire and D.N. Angel, both of which will be released digitally on March 25th under their Viz Select line-up. Currently it is unknown if Viz is planning on releasing a physical version of either Chibi Vampire or D.N. Angel at the moment but for now each digital volume will cost $4.99.
Last week Atlus USA began introducing us to a couple of the heroines that players will be able to interact with in Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars but with seven heroines in total, it seems that they have decided to speed things up a bit as today the company has released a two trailers for two separate girls. The first girl focused on is Chloe, a super-genius who happens to be the older sister of your best friend Chlotz. She is incredibly intelligent and serves as a teacher at times but she does let loose every so often.
As for the other girl, we have Ellie. Ellie is an office favorite over at the Atlus USA office partly due to her sparkling personality and the literal stars she has in her eyes probably help too. Then again, it might be because she has an extremely high magic stat so that could also be the reason.
The above piece of concept art was captured from ABC’s one hour special, Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe. Aside from confirming the inclusion of one of Iron Man’s most popular armors from the comics – the ‘Hulkbuster’ – and some sort of conflict between the two superheroes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, a bunch of other, new concept art was revealed, giving us our first glimpses at Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
There is also a piece showing Hulk and Black Widow back-to-back as their immediate environment crumbles around them. Guardians of the Galaxy gets some love as well. Take a look through the gallery embedded below for all the shots. Personally, I’d prefer this incarnation of the siblings Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver over their re-imagining for X-Men: Days of Future Past any day.
Gamers who have been eager to see what the three studios working on Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z have managed to put together will be happy to know that the game has just been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America with the PC release happening on the 21st. To commemorate the release Tecmo Koei has released a launch trailer which can be found below.
As for the game itself, this is a different style of game where players take control of Yaiba, an elite ninja warrior who has been left for dead by Ryu Hayabusa only to be put back together by a mysterious organization with cyber technology. Now with a wide range of weapons and an insatiable thirst for vengeance, Yaiba is ready to tear apart anything that gets in his way.
After raising a staggering $4.5 million dollars during its Kickstarter campaign back in 2012 for planned RPGPillars of Eternity, Obsidian Entertainment – developers of Fallout: New Vegas and South Park: The Stick of Truth – have partnered with Paradox Interactive to launch the title in the PC, Mac and Linux markets later this year. Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, stated that every dollar raised through the crowdfunding effort will continue to solely be spent on the game’s development;
This game would not have happened if not for the passion and generosity of our backers, and their faith in us to create the game they wanted. How we are developing Pillars of Eternity has not, and will not be, changed; we will deliver the game we promised to our backers, and we will deliver it this year. Having Paradox as a partner, with their expertise in independent games like Pillars of Eternity, lets us put all of our focus on making an incredible game.
Harkening back to classics such as Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment
Paradox are not influencing development in any fashion, nor are they providing additional funding. Their role in the arrangement is to assume key marketing and distribution responsibilities for the title, which allows Obsidian to focus 100% on making the game they always wanted, and promised with their initial appeal. Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said;
When we signed this partnership we called it two independent players in the games industry supporting each other to stay independent by doing what we do best. The fans backing this game—many of us included—are looking forward to a classic RPG as envisioned by the designers at Obsidian, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
An FAQ page for Pillars of Eternity backers has been added to Obsidian’s forum, which answers further questions on the new partnership, backer rewards, and every other concern fans may have. Backers have nothing to fear, however, as it is all business as usual.
Overview
Its crazy to think that it has already been a few years since Donkey Kong last appeared on consoles, as the Wii release of Donkey Kong Country Returns is still a modern favorite for fans everywhere. While good however, many complained about minor issues from Retro’s new imagining, such as the increase in difficulty and the lack of a smaller, playable Kong for single player – among other minor issues compared to the triumph that Rare worked on twenty years ago. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze brings back our Kong in true form, along with Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky. Is this new world and old faces enough to keep us after that coveted banana hoard, or was the rebirth of this franchise a one-shot victory? Let’s find out.
Story
Penguin vikings, angry walruses, and other themed animals make up the set of foes that we’re up against this time within Tropical Freeze. Fitting, right? While Donkey Kong is celebrating a big birthday bonanza with his buds, the dastardly Snowmads freeze the seas surrounding this familiar isle and are now attempting to take it all for themselves. Now with more allies such as Dixie and Cranky Kong (as well as a decent number of other monkeys), DK quickly sets out to save his paradise yet again from certain danger.
Sure, we don’t get the classic enemies that made the series famous, but this isn’t that series. It took me a while actually to get it out of my own head that Retro Studios were not Rare. They run this show now, and while I feel that the characters lack a bit of that old Rare charm, there is a lot to appreciate within Tropical Freeze and a great deal of humor folded underneath the story to keep a smile on your face until the end of the journey. It may look like a similar product for nostalgia’s sake, but Tropical Freeze relies on happy pigs, flabbergasted bosses, and cheeky animations to get its story told, and I can easily say that I enjoyed this thin yet charming narrative more for it as a whole. Rare did this same style, but Retro’s own direction is also satisfying – even if there are no goofy beavers to chuckle at.
Gameplay
To be honest, I wanted to say that there were a ton of new tricks in this Kong’s bag. I wanted to say that we had a lot of change in this sequel, and players would be blown away. Sadly, when it comes to gameplay – there isn’t a big difference from this title and Donkey Kong Country Returns. The platforming is still as smooth as ever, with Donkey Kong being the star of the show as we go through a decent sized set of varied locales. The Gamepad doesn’t really come into play too much aside from its comfort level (which is a well suited replacement for the Wiimote). Its the same solid structure and polish we have come to expect from Retro Studios, who in this case have merely expanded on their vision for Donkey Kong, rather than adding in gimmicks just for the sake of it.
The biggest and most obvious change are the new companions that DK can use as tools to get around during single player. Cranky, Dixie, and the returning Diddy can ride on your back and with the tap of a button, lend their assistance to nearly any situation. Dixie returns with her trademark hair-propeller, which is able to slap enemies and send Donkey Kong up in the air and across short gaps. Now, it is much more limited than the last time we seen it as the spin doesn’t last all too long, but with the added ability of a boost jump, it still fits in nicely with the level design here. Cranky is a bit of a mixed bag as he comes with a cane that can allow safe traverse on spikes and a good pounce that can get DK up to higher platforms more effectively. While this technique does work, it takes a good amount of practice to perfect, as unlike the more forgiving Duck Tales – this cane requires a lot of precise timing to land without error. Diddy…well, he’s Diddy, still equipped with his jet-pack and like the other two Kongs, is able to jump on DK and roll over enemies.
I already mentioned the solid platforming, but I feel I should at least go the extra mile to explain how enjoyable these new environments are. Don’t be fooled by the name, as there are more than tropical and icy environments here, both of which by the way feature some fantastic interactivity, such as the slick icy spots and hanging vines that are tossed in – just to make the already tough challenge feel at least fitting. In-between those however you have some brilliant portions involving good ol’ Rambi, mine carts, and blast barrels. To give things a boost in the visuals department as well as the gameplay, the camera angles now travel with you as you blast through barrels, allowing for a much more thrilling (and easy on the eyes) ride through the air. I still have to say that I am not a fan of the vines within Tropical Freeze, as having to hit a button takes away a lot of that free-flowing feeling we got from the older titles, and due to this franchise still bearing the same name, I’d say that is an important element to get right. Swimming stages have also returned, and are….ok. Don’t get me wrong, adding in underwater attacks is fine and even DK’s graceful spinning attack fits the bill, but the introduction of swimming without dodging only comes across as awkward at first, and doesn’t really manage to capture that relaxing essence of the classics.
Out of everything, the boss battles make for the sweet icing on this layered cake. Each boss battle features some amazing sequences that utilize the controls and buddy gimmickry well, while still feeling like a giant helping of satisfaction – as if all of that work you put in up to that point just paid off completely. I will say it does take far too many hits to take down a boss, but it shouldn’t come as too surprising as most Donkey Kong titles have had fairly resistant boss battles – and Tropical Freeze means no harm by simply upping the ante. Multiplayer is still co-op, with one player taking control of the Kong on your back. It is great fun to play as Dixie, Diddy, and Cranky, and I really hope that they can resume some tag teaming WITH Donkey Kong in the future, as that element of single player teamwork is kind of what made the past entries tick.
Visuals
This is the Wii U and Retro Studios have went wild with color in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, making for one of the most beautiful games on the platform. If color wasn’t enough, we also have a great deal of detail. You can now see individual eyelashes on Dixie, fine hairs on all of the apes, and the textures on all of the plants and fauna. This sounds small, but in this large world that finally features more dynamic camera angles, the atmosphere is easy to absorb and enjoy while facing the many challenges within. Character models themselves are fine, but again – the enemies seem to have come from a Pixar cartoon, rather than out of Donkey Kong’s universe. It sounds trivial, but with all of the enemies, sights, and species we seen in the SNES installments, can we be a little more creative than what looks like it was taken from a Madagascar short?
Audio
The soundtrack within Tropical Freeze is masterful. While it does sometimes rely on remixed versions of classic experiences, the boss music turns each of the main fights into a true spectacle. Beastly rock melodies, soft ambient tunes, and more set the stage here and while the game itself doesn’t do a lot to separate itself from its predecessor, the music does so in many ways that breathe new air into DK yet again. I can easily tell you which stage is which in Tropical Freeze based upon the OST alone, and when a player can pick up on that, you have something truly special. The sound effects are also well done, but nothing too outside of what we have seen before aside from Dixie Kong’s haunting yet hilarious scream as she meets her demise.
Overall
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze comes at us with a bit more of what we loved on the Wii and shinier visuals, but the experience still feels about the same. Sure, Retro spent a lot of time creating a gorgeous world to explore and the gameplay is still top-notch, but its as if the game is fighting a battle between nostalgia and fresh elements, being jerked from one direction to the next – with no compromise ever coming to fruition. With that said, this is still an experience that must be had to all Wii U owners – as the variation, boss encounters, and little pokes and jabs of humor are sure to get an entire new generation on their feet for the Kong that deserves to be back on top. Tropical Freeze won’t shock and awe a lot of us, but it does fit the bill to carry on the legacy of Nintendo’s fur-covered favorite.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The “Megami Tensei” series has been in circulation for almost 30 years at this point in time and, to this day, it is still kept alive by “Atlus” with countless new game releases sporting a fantastic and addictive gameplay style along with some interesting storylines that no company bar “Atlus” could pull off as well. “Shin Megami Tensei” was first released back in 1992 on the “Super Famicom” game system, since then it has been re-released on several other video game systems including the Nintendo Game Boy Advanced, the Sony PlayStation and most recently on all iOS devices through iTunes. Although not the first “Megami Tensei” title to be released by “Atlus” it seems as though it is one of the more popular ones, it’s a title that fans from all over Japan have had the privileged to immerse themselves in but it never actually made it outside of the land of the rising sun…until now. Thanks to “Atlus” the world will now be introduced to the original “Shin Megami Tensei” but its release begs the question: In a generation filled with modern “Megami Tensei” titles, can one of the originals still stand its ground?
Story
Set in the year 199x, players follow the story of a demonic uprising spurred by a Japanese government official hell-bent on eliminating the world as we know it so as to force existence into a version of “bliss” or “heaven” not yet experienced by man. You play as the “hero”; a young boy with a seemingly normal life that gets turned on his head once he is introduced to the “Demon Summoning System”. This “application” of sorts, once installed on ones mobile phone or electronic device, gives the owner the ability to not only communicate with demon-kind but to recruit them and use them in battle. After some oddly lucid dreams where in which your next door neighbour and two strange figures are being spiritually bound by a mysterious, malevolent force you soon realise this whole “demon uprising” thing may not just be one big dream but instead…your reality.
You eventually find these people in real life and you band together, each of the characters with different motives for teaming up and each of them eventually working autonomously to fulfil their destiny which may just be helping you save the known world. “Shin Megami Tensei” is almost like a “choose your own adventure” novel…almost! As far as games from the early 90’s go; this one seems as though it was well ahead of its time especially when it comes to having to make character choices and those particular choices changing the way the game pans out. It’s also quite interesting to have such an old game host a modern story, one that we’ve seen in more recent “Megami Tensei” titles and one that seems more suited to this generation of gamers rather than the last. Mixing the supernatural with sci-fi elements is always a rough road to travel when developing a story but it looks to me like “Shin Megami Tensei” has mastered all-terrain travel because it barrels over rocky environments like this as if it was nothing.
Gameplay
Sitting somewhere in between a dungeon crawler and a traditional RPG, “Shin Megami Tensei” has a somewhat “different” gameplay style that demands a great deal from the player while also delivering a sense of enjoyment and accomplishment that only a well-oiled machine of a game can…though sometimes it proves to be far too much for a gamer like me. Travelling through the overworld is a cake walk, it is probably the easiest thing within this game but the lack of a map or waypoint marker does take its toll on the player after a while of being totally lost. Heading into certain areas will take you into a gameplay style I can only think to label “dungeon crawling”. You’re put in somewhat of a maze, though after a while of taking wrong turns and hitting dead ends you do get a sense of what the layout of it is like, and you’re tasked with simply travelling through it to reach a destination somewhere within.
It is an interesting way to travel through levels but what isn’t interesting is going around in circles time and time again only to go almost insane because it all just seems like an act in futility. There is NO map and no waypoint markers anywhere in this game so, much like in the overworld, you are almost guaranteed to get lost in any new areas you go to and that eats up so much game time. Unfortunately for players who are really trying to enjoy this game (like myself) it proves to be somewhat too hard, not only because getting lost is frustrating but because save points are few and far between so don’t feel like you can easily just save, put the game down, collect yourself and start again another day. Now before I move on, I have to say; I do believe there is an autosave feature within the game THOUGH the player is never told that and there is no indication as to when it is performing an autosave so I deemed it mostly untrustworthy and forced myself into finding a saving terminal before I even though about putting the game down.
I urge you to do the same lest you want to loose any game data. Battling within “Shin Megami Tensei” comes up simply by walking around, you’ll be thrown randomly into a battle against demons and the system for fighting is actually quite interesting. You can use swords and guns or you could summon a demon to fight for you, those are pretty standard gameplay mechanics but what makes it truly interesting to me is the option to communicate with an enemy demon. Within the communication portion of a battle you choose different things to do to the demon like “smile” or “sheath your weapon”, some demons might be good-natured and react to a smile whereas others may just be bastards and attack you once you’ve sheathed your weapon. The aim of communicating with demons is to ultimately recruit them to your team.
Once recruited they can be thrown into battle alongside you or fused with other demons to make…well, even stronger demons. Look, “Shin Megami Tensei” plays fairly well, I’d even compare it to games like “Earthbound” when it comes to battle sequences and whatnot but it is the lack of a mapping system and the repetition of dungeons that are enough to put a fairly big dampen on a game for someone like me. By the end of my hugely long playthrough (it is safe to say I DID get addicted to the title) I literally could not stand it anymore, I was constantly lost with nowhere to save and barely any life left in my characters to even attempt to stay alive. “Shin Megami Tensei” DOES demand quite a lot from its players so if you’re a hardcore gamer that thinks you’re up to the challenge of being lost and “map-less” then be my guest.
Visuals
“Shin Megami Tensei” is like a classic car: Yes, it’s seen better days and, as part of this generation, it seems fairly dated BUT it still looks pretty good, enough so as to instil a sense of awe into a player with him/her possibly stating “wow, this looks good for a title made over 20 years ago”. Maybe not in those exact words though. The game sports a 16-bit visual style that is mostly ageless much like a lot of older titles that use pixel art as their main visual focus. Despite a lack of crisp aesthetics, most character and enemy models as well as stand-alone environmental images look fantastic…but, unfortunately, there is a negative aspect to the visuals that ties in horrifically with the gameplay; the dungeons. What added to me continuously getting lost was not only the lack of a map or waypoint marker (I apologise for repeating myself) but the fact that dungeons mostly looked the same.
While each dungeon has its own unique style that sets it apart from others, individual levels are designed literally as mazes! Everything looks the same and it makes it so easy for a player to chase his/her tail for ages upon ages! I throoughly enjoyed the aesthetic style of “Shine Megami Tensei”, even on the iPad despite it being somewhat stretched due to the device, but I couldn’t for a second enjoy the monotonous layout of a typical “Shin Megami Tensei” dungeon. It eventually became far too much for me. On a positive note, going back to character and enemy models, the demons were all beautifully designed! Each of which was based off of a folklore, myth, legend or even religious story. There were zombies, angels, birdmen, anything you could think of and each of them looked great. I enjoyed seeing new demons every now and again, I revelled in the way they looked and was interested to see exactly what the design was based upon.
Audio
If you’re a fan of chip-tune soundtracks then you’ll be a fan of “Shin Megami Tensei’s”. Being an older game, it has a generally older makeup so the inclusion of an 16-bit soundtrack is only natural. “Shin Megami Tensei” lacks a certain “pizazz” when it comes to its music, it isn’t that it is bad in any way, it is simply that it is “flat”, for lack of a better word. There isn’t a great deal to talk about auditorally when it comes to this game because really there isn’t much in this game to listen to. While the music matches the situations and fluctuates in intensity depending on situations…it’s still a 16-bit soundtrack and, unfortunately, it can’t be any more than that unless you’re looking at it from a strictly nostalgic standpoint which, I suppose, a lot of people interested in purchasing this game will. I can see it s appeal but at the same time I can see why it falls flat.
Overall
I’ve done my very best to review “Shin Megami Tensei” like a brand-new title rather than comparing it to that of the new generation but something like this simply cannot be overlooked forever. It being one of the very first titles in a series of games STILL being released even in this generation, you cannot look past how dated it is. It was a fantastic idea by “Atlus” to finally release this game for the West and it was a great choice to release it on mobile devices because this would have to be the most perfect way to play such an old title as this but, unfortunately, it just fell flat.
There are so many reasons to play this game, there honestly is; be it for the nostalgic value, the great story or maybe you just want to try out the “Megami Tensei” series and need a cheap way to do so BUT there are some aspects about this game that just don’t hold up in this day and age but people who can overlook that will absolutely love this game. I enjoyed it a great deal but there were certain things I simply could not look past and thoughts of tossing in the towel for “Shin Megami Tensei” and picking up a more recent title like “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked” did constantly cross my mind. If this game did one thing for me it was that it opened up my eyes to the “Megami Tensei” series with the hopes that the newer titles have worked out the kinks of 20 years ago to make an almost perfect series of games.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
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