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Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel Review

February 17, 2014

Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel
Developer: Capcom Vancouver
Publisher: Microsoft
Platform: Xbox One
Install Size: 20.9MB
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Price: $9.99

Overview
Now that Dead Rising 3’s first piece of DLC dropped a few weeks ago in the form of Operation Broken Eagle, our review of which can be found here, fans of the game have been able to step into the zombie filled streets of Los Perdidos as a soldier but now that Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel has been released, gamers will instead be playing as an illegal survivor. While the first piece of DLC was found lacking, is Fallen Angel any better?

Story
The introduction for Fallen Angel is similar to that of Operation Broken Eagle, where an unknown man tells players that there are four people who were moving through the city while the player was following the exploits of Nick Ramos. As such, these are “The Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” and Fallen Angel is the second of four total episodes.

This time around we focus on a group of Illegals, people who have avoided government surveillance and chipping despite the fact that they are infected. Things are rough on the group and food, medical supplies, and most importantly Zombrex are in short supply. As such, the leader of the group, Doug, wakes up his go to girl to try and find some more supplies.

The only problem is, this girl, Angel Quijano, is passed out drunk after seeing the loss of many allies at a safe house earlier. After waking her up, Doug tells Angel to head to the yacht that has crashed in order to try and gather medical supplies for the group. From here players follow Angel as she tries to find additional supplies for the survivors by gathering food and supplies , defending areas from zombies and the military, and freeing captured Illegals.

Unlike Kane, Angel actually has a bit of life to her as a character as we see that she is already having a hard time with things when players take control of her. Angel is a fiery girl with an alcohol problem, something that Doug likes to comment on very often, and she clearly feels like she could be doing more for the other survivors, but sadly there is pretty much no development or even reveals made before the story comes to an end. There barely is a cross-over with the main story even, outside of a passing comment over the radio and the final cutscene.

Gameplay
As with the previous piece of DLC, Fallen Angel provides players with the same type of gameplay that was provided in the basic version of Dead Rising 3 as Angel controls the exact same way as Nick. There is a Normal and Nightmare mode to play through the story and anything that the player picks up in Los Perdidos carries over to the main game, including the various main collectibles and any DLC weapons and vehicles contained in Fallen Angel. Levels and PP also carry over from and back to the main game, though most players will probably be max leveled at this point.

Anyways, while Los Perdidos is very much the same as when Nick explored it, there are a large number of barriers placed in Angel’s way as the military has erected new obstructions not found in the main game to force her to take different paths. Weapon lockers are accessible and players can access safe houses to gain new pieces of equipment, even items they haven’t found yet and weapons from the Operation Broken Eagle DLC, and garages can also be used to spawn vehicles.

As far as the new content added into this game, let’s first cover the Feastmaster vehicle. The vehicle is a type of food truck which is extremely basic and while it does have a nice look to it and heals the player while they drive around, is generally useless. Now as for the weaponry, Fallen Angel features a range of different weapon types, with a Spiked Mace, a freezing baton, and defibrillators serving as melee weapons, the spiked mace is an enjoyable weapon but too similar to other weapon types, the baton is unimaginative and weak, and the defibrillators only serve a purpose to create this DLC’s combo weapon, the Shockblaster which is a powerful electronic weapon that really packs a bunch. Also available in the DLC are new gas grenades which do literally nothing, and dual machine pistols which are fun to use and can really clear out an area.

Other than that, Fallen Angel offers little else other than some new collectibles to gather or destroy. There are now medkits to gather, cameras to destroy, posters to burn, and random people you come across to rescue. There are a lot more of each collectible this time around, working to pad the amount of time players may want to spend hunting for things, but it is worth noting that not only do the icons for already collected/destroyed items sometimes reappear, but the posters which can be burned with flaming weaponry, mostly molotov cocktails, often do not burn despite a direct hit with a flaming bottle. It is also worth noting that like the past piece of DLC, Fallen Angel is single player only.

Visuals & Audio
With a few new barricades up here and there, players may need to take a few different routes as they navigate Los Perdidos but the city is routinely the same as before. Thankfully the title continues to present players with smooth gameplay despite the number of zombies they will be facing off against and Angel’s tattoos and outfit are actually quite impressive looking, although it would have been nice if there was an option to take off the hoodie at some point before the game just removes it on its own.

As far as the voice work goes, Angel and Doug do have a bit of back and forth between them, and Angel’s voice actress does a nice job showing how much of a spitfire she can be, but again the dialogue is limited and Doug spends way too much time pestering Angel about drinking when she is on a mission.

Overall
Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel suffers from almost all of the same problems that the first pack of DLC did. Players are given little incentive or change-up from the normal game outside of a batch of new weapons, new collectibles, and a basic story to follow. The only difference is that Angel is actually a fairly interesting character compared to Kane and the weapons add some extra spice to the game, even if many of them feel rather pointless.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Crimson Dragon Review

Travis Bruno

February 17, 2014

Crimson Dragon
Developer: Grounding, Inc., Iron Galaxy Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Platform: Xbox One
Install Size: 6.9GB
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Price: $19.99 (Buy Here)

Overview
Crimson Dragon has had quite a lot of history behind it. First it was called Project Draco when it was revealed as an Xbox 360 Kinect title. After a bit of silence, the game resurfaced with a new name as Crimson Dragon only to go silent for over a year with only the occasional leak or a demo being uploaded and almost immediately taken down. Finally by the time the Xbox One was set to launch, Crimson Dragon was revived once again as a launch title and now that it has finally been released, was it worth the wait?

Story
The story of Crimson Dragon takes place on a planet named Draco, where humans have colonized the planet and are trying to survive despite the fact that not only are there many creatures out there trying to kill everyone, but a virus called Crimsonscale spreads rapidly amongst the populace and almost everyone infected with the disease ends up dying.

The story is told in little snippets between missions and before certain missions begin and every one of them involves either slaying creatures that are infected with the disease, gathering beacons for information, clearing a path by killing enemies or fighting against a giant boss dragon. The story is, to be blunt, boring and unimaginative as it pretty much just gives players a reason for what they are doing and although it is meant to be structured to tell a storyline, players will quickly find themselves ignoring the story in favor of the game itself.

Gameplay
Players have the option of starting the game either on a simple difficulty where things are a bit easier and while players aren’t exactly punished for choosing this option, there are also a number of bonuses available for playing on the harder difficulty mode called “Classic Mode” or, since this is post-patch, the absolutely punishing “Insane” difficulty if they really want a challenge.

Now Crimson Dragon is created by the same people who worked on the Panzer Dragoon series and as such, it follows the same type of play style of being a mostly on-rails shooter where players will control their dragon by moving them around the screen with the left analog stick, aiming with the right stick, barrel rolling with the bumpers, changing attacks with the left trigger and attacking with the right trigger. While this also sounds fairly simple, the game will quickly let you know that it is far more than that.

The game’s difficulty even on Classic is quick to punish careless players as even the smaller enemies that you will encounter along your flight path can be quite dangerous and will take out large swathes of health if you do not dodge their attacks. Each mission is broken into different mini-missions which can be anything from collecting beacons, floating items that the player must fly into to gather while avoiding the landscape and enemy fire, killing enemies as fast as possible, killing as many enemies as possible, or avoiding damage. These mini-missions are then graded and compared with scores your friends have obtained on the same mission, and the scores are collected together at the end of the level with a final grade.

It is highly recommended that the player revisit older missions and attempt to complete theme again as not only is it better to receive higher scores, but their dragon can also grow in strength and acquire items when defeating an entire flock of enemies, which will make some later levels easier. While this can be seen as level grinding, it really isn’t that much of an issue as the actual gameplay of Crimson Dragon can be exhilarating and enjoyable when it works right as players will be taking on numerous foes with all different kinds of attacks and they can even hire a wingman to fly alongside them and assist with the mission.

Of course, there are also the big boss battles that I mentioned earlier, which gives the player free flight control which allows you to fly as you wish while facing off against a giant dragon. These modes are incredibly difficult to control and the flying mechanics do not work well in these battles. In fact without the help of an adequate wingman, these missions might seem impossible as the camera continually provides the player with poor views of weak points and makes the controlling issue that much worse.

Outside of combat players have the option to visit the Dragon Roost where they can take care of their dragon by feeding it items to either provide it more experience points that can allow it to level up and become stronger faster, or teach it new skills that can be used to kill enemies in battle. It is also possible to evolve your dragon three times or change the element type if you have the proper items. Though, once your player level is high enough, you can also choose to purchase a new dragon with in-game currency or some microtransaction currency.

Jewels can be purchased with real life money but thankfully they can also be earned by obtaining medals in missions, which require meeting certain goals and you can buy almost every item and dragon in the store with in-game currency which can be obtained simply by killing enemies and finishing missions and never throughout playing the title did I feel a need to purchase anything that couldn’t be bought with some minimal money grinding.

There is also the multiplayer aspect that has now been added into Crimson Dragon, though it is a bit difficult to actually find people to play with already which is disappointing. There are competitive and co-operative modes to play with random people or with your friends which help extend the game a bit but not too much given the limited online community.

Visuals & Audio
Despite being originally developed for the Xbox 360, it is clear that the game has been given a lot of shine to make it look great on the Xbox One. While some elements may look a bit disappointing if examined on their own, Crimson Dragon paints an incredible picture when taken in all at once. There is incredible detail in every rock formation and piece of fauna that you will fly past and the game also sports a rather large draw distance that allows the player to see far away threats and even lock onto them to try and attack at a distance ahead of time.

As far as the game’s voice work goes, it is bland but not terrible; however it is very forgetful due to the poor story that accompanies the game as no one really stands out. Thankfully the game’s soundtrack sports excellent sounding background music that makes each battle feel like it is taking place on a grand scale and makes even the most repetitive missions worthwhile.

Overall
Since releasing a patch that helps add multiplayer and an even more difficult option for players who want to punish themselves, Crimson Dragon offers a highly enjoyable gameplay experience that is weighed down by a poor story trying to tie it together and abysmal free flight controls. That being said, much of the game plays like the on-rails shooter that fans of the Panzer Dragoon series have long hoped for and Crimson Dragon certainly delivers.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

The Evil Within worldwide release dates revealed

Travis Bruno

February 17, 2014

The Evil Within worldwide release dates revealed

This weekend Bethesda has announced that they are planning on releasing Shinji Mikami’s latest survival horror game, The Evil Within, later this year on August 26th in North America, Australia and New Zealand on August 28th, and finally August 29th in Europe.

The title is being called a “pure survival horror” game where players will only have so many items at their disposal and will provide horrifying environments with an intricate story that will suck the player into the tense situations provided. The story of the title follows Detective Sebastian Castellanos who is knocked unconscious while his fellow officers are slaughtered at the scene of a gruesome mass murder and the detective must fight for survival to try and find out what is behind such an evil force.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode Two – Behind the Scenes

Andrew Day

February 17, 2014

There’s always a man, always a city, always a lighthouse and today you can see what makes them all tick. 2K’s Bioshock Infinite was one of the stand-out games of last year, and in the lead-up to its highly anticipated DLC – Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode Two, The game’s director Ken Levine has put up a short video that takes us behind the scenes.

The DLC looks like it will being back some elements from not only Bioshock Infinite but as far back as the very first Bioshock game too. We will get to see the fall of rapture from Elizabeth’s point of view, and a whole different take on the fan favourite character of Booker DeWitt.

We have attached the trailer below so be sure to check it out and let us know in the comments whether or not you will be hitting download on Burial At Sea Episode Two when it launches on March 25th. Until then, for all the Bioshock news as it becomes available be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.

Madman Posts Retrospective Look On The Girls Of Miyazaki Films

Frank Inglese

February 17, 2014

Madman Posts Retrospective Look On The Girls Of Miyazaki Films

On the 27th of February 2014, exactly ten days away from now, the next Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki film “The Wind Rises” begins its theatrical run down here in Australia and in the lead up to that special day it seems as though the folks over at Madman Entertainment have written up a little something special as a celebration for the upcoming release. “Rach-o-rama”, a writer for the Madman Entertainment-run “MADBlogs”, recently posted an article that looks back on a lot of the strong women throughout a great deal of Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki films. The article highlights the fact that Miyazaki films have absolutely brilliant female characters as well as fantastic female leads, something that a lot of Anime titles should take note of a learn from. It’s a great read and I suggest any fan of Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli and Anime in general should take a nice read. Click Here to head over to the article page.

Beyond Entertainment announce INXS: Never Tear Us Apart

Luke Halliday

February 17, 2014

Beyond Entertainment announce INXS: Never Tear Us Apart

The smash hit TV mini-series INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, which recently finished its broadcast run, has officially been announced to be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital platforms by none other than Beyond Entertainment.

The INXS: Never Tear Us Apart mini-series retells the rise to fame and subsequent fall from grace of the legendary Aussie rock band INXS. It was created with involvement from surviving band members and even details the tragic final moments of the iconic front-man of the band, Michael Hutchence.

Beyond Entertainment will be releasing it in collaboration with Shine Entertainment on the 26th of February, 2014, on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital media. This is must-see Australia television and is definitely an experience that INXS fanatics across the nation need to see. Be sure to let us know what you think of this announcement in the comments section below.

The Americans: The Complete First Season Review

Zac Elawar

February 17, 2014

The Americans: The Complete First Season Review

The Americans: The Complete First Season
Studio: DreamWorks Television
Publisher: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray (Reviewed), DVD
Release Date: February 5, 2014
Price: $59.99 RRP – Available Here

Overview

The Americans is a period drama set at the height of the Cold War in the early 1980’s. It stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two KGB intelligence agents who have spent 15 years undercover, living in Washington, D.C. as a married couple. The shows brings a level of authenticity due to the fact that its creator and show-runner Joe Weisberg is a former CIA officer, having worked for the organisation for 4 years. With its second season premiere around the bend, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has brought The Complete First Season to Blu-ray as a 3-disc set.

Story

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings may seem like the anchors of your average American, nuclear family on the outside, but in reality these are highly trained and conditioned KGB operatives; Directorate S sent agents, living with this façade for 15 years. Even their two children, Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati), are not privy to their true identity. So while the show may be about the behind-the-scenes actions made during the conflict of the Cold War, it is equally if not more-so about relationships and identification. Don’t let that deter you, however, as this is still a tight, suspenseful drama and not some soppy romance tale. In fact, it begins with a tense, attempted set-up that quickly devolves into a frantic chase. Nikolai Timochev, a KGB defector, is the target. Amidst the chaos, Timochev wounds the duo’s partner, Rob (Chase Coleman) before being overcome and outmatched in hand-to-hand combat with Philip. Keeping him in the boot of their car, things get dicey when an FBI counter-intelligence agent, Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), moves right next door to the couple. Naturally, his instincts fire, but he often finds himself one step, even two steps behind. His wife, Sandra (Susan Misner) convinces him that not everyone is a suspect, and he concedes, warming up to his new neighbours.

As the season progresses, we witness double agents, even triple agents working both sides of the war. Appearances must be upheld, and even with their long “tour of duty”, so to speak, discovery of a KGB mole working for the CIA sets off alarms within the Russian organisation, with the Jennings no safer from the proceeding investigation than anyone else. This leads to Claudia (Margot Martindale, the Jennings’ supervisor, taking no risks in weeding out the traitor, which breeds a contemptuous working relationship between herself and the Jennings, and in particular Elizabeth. The chemistry between Keri and Margot, which is understated and raw, is one of the highlights of the show. Margot is an extremely talented actor, who has found herself in such varied roles across multiple television programs over the years, so it’s fantastic to see her again here. The entire cast delivers, and as the Reagan administration amps up its propaganda and responses to the Russian threat, so too do the performances and the pace. Speaking of, I felt the first 3 or 4 episodes of the season were quite melodramatic, as it focused on the sometimes absurdly ups and downs of the Jennings’ “marriage”. It’s only when episode 8 hits that things significantly pick up, and all that needed to be established has been. Initially, I was sceptical of how the creators hoped to cast the Russians as the sympathetic figures in this equation, but they do so quite successfully. In the end, both nations were afraid of each other, lived the same fears and heard the same, scary stories; so it’s just about showing two sides of the same coin.

Visuals & Audio

As opposed to the decidedly black and white perspectives of both America and Russia during the Cold War, The Americans represents the true nature of life; it is never that simple. Instead, the world could be viewed in different shades of grey… both tonally, and visually. The Americans often looks soft and muted, with a low contrast composition that reflects the general atmosphere of the time, but has very little impact on the viewer. The transfer itself is of good quality, but the often dreary aesthetic almost tricks the mind into thinking it’s not. In regards to production, the crew did an excellent job at recreating the era, from the costume and set design to the use of period-accurate items, in both pivotal and ancillary instances. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is clear and crisp throughout, with slight fluctuations during action sequences. Castilian Spanish and Spanish (Latin) language mixes are also available, along with Canadian French, Danish, Finnish, Norweigan, Portuguese (Brazilian), Swedish, English for the Hearing Impaired, Castilian Spanish and Spanish (Latin) subtitles. The score by Nathan Barr is appropriately spy-tastic (I know, not a word), incorporating staccato strings and a beautiful cello for the more emotional cues. Since his deft work on True Blood, his expertise continues to shine through.

Extras

The Americans: The Complete First Season is decently padded, with nearly 90 minutes worth of special features. Spread across all three discs are a collection of Deleted Scenes, running about 12 minutes in total. Of note, a few are merely extended, alternate takes, but there are two successive scenes cut from Episode 11 – “Covert War”, which show Stan visiting the hospital after discovering that his wife had gotten into a car accident and fractured her leg, and then arriving home with her in a wheelchair, refusing his aid. This whole plot point was excised from the show, and it’s interesting to see the different route the writers were planning for the embroiled couple (although the end game would largely be the same). A Gag Reel brings some levity, as we see just how hopeless the cast is at navigating forks full of food to their mouths. The aforementioned special features are all in 480i SD, while the following are in 1080p HD. ‘Executive Order 3579: Exposing The Americans’ is a 13 minute long featurette exploring the subject matter. Weisberg tells of how it only took him 3 weeks to get accustomed to lying to everyone around him back when he was working for the CIA, and how each script they wrote was sent to the CIA for review and approval, which was usually swift.

‘Perfecting the Art of Espionage’ details the real-life practices of the KGB and the U.S. that were implemented into the story, such as the Russian martial art of Systema, the “Secretary’s Offensive” (marrying secretaries of intelligence officers to coerce and gather intel) and the case of the Mitrokhin Archive – when a KGB Major and First Chief Directorate defected to the United Kingdom in 1992 and brought with him copies of notes on secret KGB files. ‘Ingenuity over Technology’ is the final featurette, and looks at the limiting technology of the time, which forced a certain amount of human ingenuity in order to achieve covert goals. Lastly, there is an Audio Commentary track on the Season Finale, “The Colonel”. Weisberg, Emmerich and Executive Producer, Joel Fields, speak extensively on every scene. Among the insight is an explanation on why Xerox machines are better than radios for shooting scenes where the Jennings needed “white noise” to ensure their talks remained private, and a humorous answer on how exactly Philip’s wig stays on during his rendezvous with Martha.

Overall

The Americans: The Complete First Season 3-Disc Blu-ray is a very solid release, with a clean 1080p HD transfer and a great, lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Its offering of extras is substantial, although an added commentary track with our two leads, Keri and Matthew, would have been well appreciated. The show itself benefits from the first-hand experience of Weisberg, showcasing excellently crafted espionage and counter intelligence-centric scenarios. Unfortunately, the writing of the home life, relationship-heavy elements can sometimes feel overwrought. Overall it takes quite a while to pick up steam, but once it does The Americans turns into an intriguing, investing drama that somehow successfully garners your sympathy for these individuals, whose allegiance is to a historically negatively painted entity.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Nobunagun Episode 7 Impressions

Kane Bugeja

February 17, 2014

Nobunagun-Episode-7-01 — **From the depths it rises**

Nobunagun
Gun No. 7: Musashi Wonder

Well with last week’s glimpse into the daily lives of the First Platoon, it’s time to switch focus back to our friends in the Second. It’s back to business as usual when some Invasion Objects decide to go for a little joyride across the high seas, their destination: humanity’s end…Too dramatic? Regardless, it would seem that the old adage “Dead men tell no tales” might not be entirely true…

Nobunagun-Episode-7-02 — **Ever the ladies man**

We begin the episode with a trope that has permeated anime, and more, throughout the ages: everyone outside of the main cast is useless. In this case, that duty falls on the American Navy. When Invasion Objects unite and raise the Musashi, an old Japanese warship, from the depths of the ocean, panic is the general consensus. However rather than call DOGOO, the organisation specifically created for such a task, the US Navy would sooner engage in thermonuclear combat. You know, to save face. Not the smartest move, not by a long shot. I guess the series just wants to remind us just how much of a threat these Objects are and why DOGOO is necessary. Wouldn’t be too compelling a story if just anything could beat them now would it?

Before the Second Platoon launches their attack on the ship (Codename: Musashi Wonder), we get to witness a smidge more of Galiko’s power. For recon purposes she is able to launch four spheres, uncoincidentally named after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. However, though she collects the data, it is Vidocq who devises the plan of attack. Something he seems incredibly proud of. Though little of Vidocq’s nature has been revealed, we now know that he takes joy in his schemes, flashing a devious smile whenever he reveals a key component that somebody has overlooked. He is also able to utilise his power as a DOGOO operative rather efficiently, requisitioning an entire US Navy tanker for his plan.

Nobunagun-Episode-7-03 — **Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?**

Though nowhere near the focus of the episode, it is revealed that Nobunagun has greatly improved her skills. Designated the mission’s gunner/sniper, for obvious reasons, she has no trouble hitting her target, a moving vessel, from a moving vessel. Though I’m sure Galiko’s visual uplink aided in the aiming process, the sheer fact that Sio wasn’t a focus of the mission proves that progress has been made. It is also in this mission that we learn, despite their colossal destructive power against Invasion Objects, AU weapons barely dent conventional armours. Though it is explained no further as of yet, this limitation may have been imposed by DOGOO (the alien) in order to limit damage in the vicinity of an Evolutionary attack. Probably why all of Sio’s missed shots to date didn’t decimate the environment, that would’ve been bad.

More than anything, this episode gave Sio’s military otaku personality time to shine. I mean, it was a case involving a revived Imperial warship, what’d you think would happen? Though played of for laughs, her knowledge is considerable, allowing her to differentiate between hte Yamato and Musashi (both sunken ships) based on nothing more than a video feed. It is also this knowledge that gave her a certain sense of intuition that the other characters appeared to lack. With everyone so focused on how to stop the Musashi, very few wondered why they revived an Imperial ship and even fewer wondered how. Sio’s contemplation on the Invasion Object’s ability to replicate the Musashi’s functions, along with desire to personally put the ship to rest, led her to a strange discovery. It is her hypothesis that the Objects somehow tapped into the memories of the long dead crew and reshaped the Musashi to their will. If this is indeed the case, it opens up a bevy of possibilities for the series. Perhaps the Objects will decide to utilise their parasitic nature and simply control humanity. Remember, not only did they harness the desires of fallen soldiers, they also directly piped information into Sio’s brain. So at the very least we know that their ability works on the living. And if E-Gene Holders are susceptible, what of the civilian populace? More than that, how would E-Gene Holders combat fellow humans? Or is it possible to take another path? Can Invasion Objects be molded into thinking a certain way? Into becoming allies of humanity? But I digress.

Nobunagun-Episode-7-04 — **It’s not healthy to get so wrapped up in your work**

So, with their mission completed, the Second Platoon earned a little R&R and decided to visit the beach. Cue mischievous behaviour. Poor Sio is more than a little embarrassed about her school swimsuit, especially since Jack was there. What, you thought that the sexual undertones had dies down? Please, this is Nobunagun we’re talking about. You could cut the romantic tension with a knife. A big one. Anywho, with the Second’s time in the sun officially begun, it’s time once again for the First Platoon to report for duty. I wonder who’ll have more fun?

Check out more Nobunagun Impressions HERE.

Noragami Episode 6 Impressions

Luke Halliday

February 17, 2014

Noragami
Episode 6 – Scary Person

The tides are turning in Noragami, but are they for the better?

This week Noragami takes on the ideas they have been building since episode 1 head on. The idea that Yato may actually be a dangerous merciless god is put on the forefront here and the bond between him and Yukine is so badly damaged that it is hard to imagine how it could be repaired at this point.

We get confirmation of Yato’s dark past in the introduction of another war god dead set on vengeance against Yato. It turns out Yato killed her regalia in the past, why he did it is still not known. This woman is a walking arsenal and utilizes about a dozen different regalia, overcompensating much? The core issue remains the dark side of Yato and she seems to be someone who has been directly victimized by him. It is hard to see her as a villain at the moment when considering just how badly Yato had hurt her in the past.

There is a problem building in Noragami these past two episodes that has only just begun to sink in with me. That sweet balance I spoke about several weeks back is completely off. The dark side of things has completely tipped the scales here, throwing any of the more light-hearted moments off the radar completely. What’s left is a rather depressing show, dripping in angst and at this point lacking severely in a sense of hope.

Is there any possible way to repair the bond between Yato and Yukine? If there is, it certainly isn’t apparent. So while Noragami loses that sweet balance between dark and light, it does become a very interesting psychological drama here.

Yukine is a boiling pot of angst and Yato continues the be the most intriguing character on the show. Yato is never an easy book to read. He has so many different sides to him but there doesn’t seem to be any real tether between them. That through line may very well be the enigmatic Nora, who appears once again at the end of this episode. Could she be the tie that binds the many faces of Yato?

Intriguingly the real highlight of this episode turns out to be Hiyori. She struggles with the knowledge that has begun to build up against Yato and desperately tries to protect Yukine from his wrath, going so far as to lie for him to cover up his stealing of a skateboard. In that one scene Yato is more fearsome than he has ever been, never has he felt so much like a god.

Hiyori’s struggle proves to be the most interesting. She is the most human character in this story and she teeters between both worlds dangerously. Yato proves to be the poison in the well for her and one has to wonder how long it will be until she becomes corrupted by his dark side. She does however have an intelligence to her that keeps her grounded, she has street smarts and realizes the situation surrounding her and is ready to stand up for herself if push does come to shove.

So where does this leave Noragami? Well it is at a pivotal moment right now, at the halfway point of an anime things are usually gearing up to the final straight and that much looks to be true here for Noragami. The question now is, will it make it to the finish line or crash and burn along the way? It is honestly hard to tell at this point. The warm soul beneath the cold surface was what brought Noragami to the game, but that warm soul has been slowly fading these past few weeks. With that soul flicker out or with it ignite and light up the dark? Regardless, the battles between the near and far shore will still rage on.

Check out more Noragami impressions HERE.

Pokemon XY Movie: The Cocoon Of Destruction And Diancie – Plot Revealed + Release

Frank Inglese

February 17, 2014

Pokemon XY Movie: The Cocoon Of Destruction And Diancie – Plot Revealed + Release

The Pokemon world is hot with “Diancie” fever right now! A brand-new legendary Pokemon has just been announced so you can imagine the electricity that is flowing through the hearts of each and every Pokemon fan around the world. It’s not just the game that is getting some attention news-wise today though, it also happens to be the upcoming Pokemon XY anime movie, a film titled; “The Cocoon Of Destruction and Diancie”. This film was recently renamed from “The Cocoon Of Destruction” to add the “and Diancie” part just as the new Pokemon was revealed which means they’ve always had plans for this movie to revolve around the new legendary but just didn’t want to give anything away. Now that “Diancie” has been revealed and the name of the movie has been changed I suppose the ‘higher-ups” thought that it was now fine to reveal the plot of the new movie to us all.

The movie will take place in “Diamond Ore Country”, a small settling deep underground where a peaceful colony of “Carbink” live along with their princess (you guessed it) “Diancie”.It seems as though the source of energy that powers this country is produced by a powerful crystal to which “Diancie” is said to be one of the only species of Pokemon powerful enough to create and maintain it but this generation’s crystal is slowly dying and the current “Diancie” has not yet developed the power to recreate it. Ash (being the main character) eventually meets up with this “Diancie” and their small group of friends head off on an adventure to find “Xerneas” the legendary Fairy-type Pokemon which possesses a divine power unlike any other.

During their adventure they stumble across something terrible; a cocoon which holds the Pokemon of pure destruction; Yveltal, who once brought a great calamity upon the country of “Kalos”. I’m very much hoping we see a clash between the two legendaries and, seeing as how every Pokemon movie follows the same type of structure, I can imagine that is exactly what we’ll be seeing. This movie is set to hit Japan on the 19th of July, which isn’t that far away, though no actual Western release date has been revealed. If this movie follows the trend that the other movies have set, I doubt we will be waiting too long to get our hands on it. Unfortunately no new assets for the film were released but I’d imagine we’d be seeing some in the near future so stick around.

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