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Hozuki No Reitetsu Episode 4 Impressions

January 31, 2014

Hozuki No Reitetsu
Episode 4 – Pretty Boys Need Love Too/The Crackling Hell

Another week, another episode and I’m so glad because I cannot get enough of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Welcome back to another installment of Hozuki No Reitetsu Anime Impressions, I hope you’ve all been as excited about this new episode as I have! This week marks the release of Hozuki No Reitetsu episode four, an episode that takes us on a journey through the rich Japanese mythology as well as the inner workings of Hell and its workers.

Although not as funny this week, the episode does give us a little more insight into the environment of hell and the rules and regulations it has put in place for both its citizens and its workers. We’re met with a not so scary ghost story, a beautifully handsome pair of young men, a group of lazy torturers and one hell of a demonic rabbit in this weeks episode so, as you can already see, this is just another typical and super crazy episode of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Let’s jump in, shall we?

Pretty Boys Need Love Too:

The first of two stories in this weeks episode is “Pretty Boys Need Love Too”, which follows Hozuki and Shiro as they head over to the Crow-Tengu Police HQ to meet with a friend of Hozuki’s and a high tier worker for the department of protection. Straight up, this story wasn’t really as funny as usual which I suppose I need to put less emphasis on, it’s just something I feel like should be noted.

Here we’re met with more Japanese mythology than usual, it seems odd to even say something like that but it’s very true. A great deal of secondary subtitles outlining references to Japanese lore and/or old stories was used and I think going back to watching the episode after reading the stories would allow audiences to get more out of it. I’ve yet to do that but I suppose I can put it on my “to do” list.

Amongst the Japanese lore are the usual pop culture references; Goku’s Nimbus, the catbus from “My Neighbour Totoro” and even popular motor vehicles like Ferraris and Harley Davidsons got a mention, though are we all really surprised? We’re told a reverse ghost story by a demon taxi that really highlights how silly and odd the demon world is, especially when you find out the “ghost lady” in the story was alive the whole time. Ooooh, ooooooooooh, oooooooh! You get it, it’s ghost noises.

I was a little disappointed that the Crow-Tengu Police didn’t get much time in the spotlight but that’s just because I’m a real big Tengu fanboy. Can you be a fanboy to mythological creatures? For the most part I didn’t entirely enjoy this half of the episode, I couldn’t really put my finger on it but it didn’t have the same “pizzaz” as some of the other stories I’ve seen…or maybe I’m just a bit ticked off that the Anime tricked me when it introduced a girly-looking character and it turned out to be a boy. I guess that was my fault though, the episode is called “Pretty Boys Need Love Too”, and it’s true; we do need love.

The Crackling Hell:

Here we are at the second half of the episode which was better than the first half but not the best all together if you ask me, and since you’re reading this article I’ll take it as, yes, you are asking me. Hozuki notices that these torture demons that he’s employed are getting extremely lazy, they’re barely torturing anymore because they’re too busy taking naps and being all around lazy so in true Hozuki style he does something about it, something crazy.

He organises a meeting for these lazy bums where, at the end of it, they would have learned everything they need to know about torture in hell whilst also learning a little something about themselves…that they’re scared of rabbits. He tells them, what seems like, a children’s story about two animal friends; a rabbit and a badger, seems fairly innocent right? Wrong!

The rabbit, throughout this story, mercilessly kills this badger and some fairly brutal ways…turns out this thing wasn’t a children’s book after all. After scaring the group of demons (something I thought I’d never have to say) he introduces them to the rabbit from the story, to theirs (and our) surprise the rabbit is actually real and, not to mention, the story itself was entirely non fiction. Who’d have though? Though the rabbit is cute, it is also extremely scary and super deadly, Hozuki hopes the demons will learn a little something from here but really he just scares them enough to do the assigned work.

Much like the first episode I wasn’t really into this one as much as I usually am, maybe because of the lack of comedy due to its focus on more of the demon world, I’m not too sure. Fact is; it gave us a nice little look into the “ongoings” of the underworld, it’s proven to us that this isn’t just a “random gag, nothing actually matters” anime series. Regardless, this is still one of my favourite series’ of this season and you can’t expect every episode to be a cracker, we’ll just have to see what the coming weeks bring.

Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.

Echo Prime Out On Steam Today

Joe Morgan

January 31, 2014

Robot Entertainment, the development team behind the tower defense gem Orcs Must Die! franchise, have released their newest game, Echo Prime, on Steam today.

The sci-fi action RPG, which previously released on iOS devices, has been given new content, improvements to visual fidelity, and reworked PC controls. To celebrate the release, the game is currently 20% off ($7.99/£5.59 instead of the regular $9.99/£6.99). Players who get the game during the sale will also get a copy of Orcs Must Die! 2 for free!

Features for the game include:

Optimized for PC
Even More Enemies and Environments
New Hardcore Mode
Upgrade Your Arsenal
Echoes of the Multiverse – Discover and unlock dozens of “Echoes”, alien life forms from alternate universes.
Share Echoes – Use your friends’ Echoes in combat to help them level-up, and level up your Echoes when your friends use them!
Random Campaign Generation
Includes the Full Soundtrack

To grab the game, you can go to their Steam page. For more information, you can check out their official website.

Short Peace and Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day Seeing Western Release

Simon Wolfe

January 31, 2014

Compilations are quite a mainstay with anime makers and Short Peace is no different bringing together 4 different anime pieces into one collection. With works from Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo, the compilation of Short Peace will be making its way to the Americas this Spring exclusively for PlayStation 3 thanks to the help of Namco Bandai.

But while Short Peace contained the 4 anime short films Possessions, Combustible, Gambo, and A Farewell to Weapons the release to the Americas for the PS3 will also add a fifth piece in the form of a game from the famed Suda51. Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day is a 2D side-scrolling platformer where players will be introduced to the live of a teenager who moonlights as an assassin, until an evil organization threatens everyone close to them.

Coming from Grasshopper Manufacture and Crisy’s Inc., it’s safe to assume that Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day will be a very interesting romp through an unusual world. But those wanting to get a nice look at what can be expected when the entirety of Short Peace is released this Spring can check out the trailer embedded below.

PAC-MAN Museum Announced for February

Vicky Martin

January 31, 2014

Namco Bandai are proud to announce that PAC-MAN Museum will be released February 25 on PSN and February 26 for XBLA and Steam. Get ready retro arcade gamers to tackle an endless puzzle of mazes with the adorable yellow pellet-chomping hero.

PAC-MAN Museum offers the whole package, with a bundle of classic PAC-MAN titles that range from the critically acclaimed PAC-MAN Championship Edition, PAC-MAN Battle Royale, and much more. In celebration of the upcoming launch, for a limited time Ms. PAC-MAN will be included as a free promotional DLC item. After March 31, the endearing yellow beauty with a red bow will cost $4.99.

Don’t miss out this February on the ultimate PAC-MAN experience!

EA Mobile Weekly News 1/30/14

Andrew Day

January 31, 2014

EA Mobile has a treat in store for you guys this week! Today marks the launch of Dungeon Keeper, EA Mythic’s devilishly twisted mobile take on the 1990s hit PC game. Best of all; it is FREE!

Dungeon Keeper will challenge you to master the Hand of Evil and to build the ultimate in diabolical underground lairs in order to defend it from the invaders who are adamant about destroying the Dungeon Heart. You will have to summon an army of minions, spanning some of the most notorious fantasy creatures you can think of. Imps, Trolls, Bile Demons and Warlocks are all par for the course here as you try to repel your invaders and maximise your defenses using expertly laid traps and clever dungeon design.

So if you are into strategy games, and own a mobile device then be sure to grab Dungeon Keeper today on the App Store or Google Play. That’s it for the EA Mobile news this week, but as always be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the mobile news as it becomes available.

Atlus to publish Conception II in Europe

Travis Bruno

January 31, 2014

Usually when it comes to a release from Atlus, gamers in Europe and other PAL regions have to wait a year or even longer to play the title on their shores. However it seems that Atlus is stepping up to the plate when it comes to Conception II as the company has announced that they will be releasing the game in Europe.

The title will be released as a digital only title in Q2 for both he PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. For those who don’t know, Conception II has the player taking the role of a human teenager with Star God powers off the charts that allow him and fellow classmates to battle against monsters. This sees the player venturing into monster-filled labyrinths while also trying to keep up his personal relationships with seven different girls.

The Absence Review

Frank Inglese

January 31, 2014

The Absence
Author: Martin Stiff
Illustrator: Martin Stiff
Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: 4th March 2014
Price: $19.99 – Available Here

Overview

Sometimes comics aren’t just about these muscle-bound superhumans saving the world from an apocalyptic evil that threatens to devour all known life…sometimes there more subtle than that, sometimes they’re about intelligent and worldly human beings that are all searching for something greater than what it is they have now. Graphic Novels and Comic Books like “The Absence” take mystery and grab it with both hands, they cloud the audience with though-inducing dialogue which, in the end, leads us every closer to the characters we’re reading about. Written by Martin Stiff and nominated for the “Best Comic” award at last years British Comic Awards, thanks to Titan Comics I’ve been given the chance to review such a revered graphic novel, hopefully it holds up to all the hype that has surrounded it since its release.

Story

“The Absence” is a story that takes place many years ago just after the end of World War II and focuses on a small town with a strange aura. Marwood Clay left the town many years ago to join the military so that he, alongside thousands of other young men, could help protect his country. On one fateful day Marwood returns, the only man of his platoon to survive his military service and it seems as though he’s also the only man from the town to have gone to war and returned, though…not a hero. Robert Temple is an odd and eccentric man who has only just recently moved into the small town, throughout most of the story his strange house is being built and it is made known that this place of residence must be perfectly built but the audience…well, you’re not to know why until the very end. The focus is mostly on Marwood Clay and Robert Temple, both strange, both mysterious and both working to build something incredible. This graphic novel is entirely populated by feelings of confusion and mystery as well as small cases of anxiety here and there as you read on and begin to uncover the truth behind these two men.

The most brilliant aspect of this comic in its entirety would have to be, without a doubt, its story. It hosts a level of intelligence that not many stories do and, despite its slow start, it keeps audiences intrigued all the way until the very end which is where the real magic happens. The good and bad thing about this comic is that the reader has to make it all the way through to the very end before they are ready to truly appreciate what has gone on throughout, that means you’re kept in the dark about so many things most of the way through but they’re all brought to light within the last 30 or 40 pages. As the story goes on, the characters develop both in good and bad ways, what made it work was that it wasn’t thrown at you nor was it forced upon you, it was all quite subtle and it’s only once you noticed it did you truly NOTICE it. Intelligence is a key word when referring to this graphic novel, the dialogue was well-written and it invoked thoughts within my head that not a lot of other comics could, I assume it would do the same for a lot of others.

Artwork

This is quite a dreaded topic for someone like me who happens to love illustrated work but I MUST be honest and unfortunetely being honest means that sometimes I have to sound cruel. The artwork within “The Absence” was…not good. I find it hard expanding on that point without my heart breaking in two but I must. It seems as though Martin Stiff has an incredibly gritty and rough style of drawing which is all good and well if executed properly, this I did not feel was the case for “The Absence”. I cannot say that I actually enjoyed certain scenes for their aesthetics alone, most were quite ugly and largely unimpressive. There was a great need for depth within scenes, simple stress lines or attention grabbing techniques could have been employed to allow for a more eye-catching display of art. Once again, I feel far too terrible for criticising ones art and don’t for a second think I’m calling Martin Stiff a terrible illustrator, that’s not the case, I just feel as though half of these panels looked more like sketches than actual finished pages.

Most characters were ugly and half the time I actually couldn’t tell who was who until a name was mentioned. I can’t honestly say environments looked any better, some actually could have looked so much better but the level of grit within this type of art style really made it hard on the eyes. Lines didn’t seem entirely filled out, they looked almost like scratches rather than inked lines. What highlighted all this was the speech bubbles and sound effect lettering (like “boom” and “crash”); they were all so sharp! When the crisp speech bubbles and what not were placed directly next to or over the top of a hand drawing, it was clear that one was better than the other with the hand drawing seeming rushed. It’s so unfortunate and I’m sure a lot of other people absolutely love the art style for one reason or another but it just did not grab me in any way. The lack of colour also didn’t help though, looking at the drawing themselves, I really don’t think they would have.

Overall

I don’t fit into that group of people that consider “The Absence” to be comic book of the year. I loved the story through and through, and I actually took my time reading over dialogue so as to not miss anything but, at the end of the day, it’s not a perfect comic book or graphic novel unless the calibre of the visuals match that of the story. I stuck around with it because of the dialogue and the mystery, it drew me in and kept me there for what seemed like ages but I could not just get over the look of it. It’s like having a rusty, old car with an incredible motor and it’s something I could not get my head around. Though, at the end of the day, it is my opinion and my opinion alone, some of you out there may absolutely love it because of its visuals, to the rest of you I say; get it for the story, it will be worth it in the end.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Learn the rules of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc with Monokuma

Travis Bruno

January 31, 2014

While we have seen a bit of gameplay footage of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc so far, those unfamiliar with the title probably don’t know exactly how the classroom trials will unfold and as such NIS America has released a trailer for the game where Monokuma himself explains how the rules of these trials will work out and how someone can graduate from the school.

Currently Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is set to be released on February 11th in North America and February 14th in Europe and we had a chance to interview the company about the game and you can read the full interview here.

Mario Party: Island Tour Review

Andrew Day

January 31, 2014

Mario Party: Island Tour
Developer: Nd Cube
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: 3DS (Reviewed)
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $59.95 – Available Here

Overview

Mario Party is a series that has been a party staple (and friendship ender) for 15 years now, and with each passing instalment we are treated to new boards, new mini games and new ways to play. Mario Party: Island Tour for the 3DS is the latest instalment in the series and while it is a fun experience that keeps true to the Mario Party spirit it does suffer from its fair share of problems, namely repetitive mini games and frustrating board design. However if you are playing along with friends you will probably be having too much fun to really notice.

Gameplay

Gameplay in the Mario Party franchise has remained largely the same since the first game launched on the N64 back in 1998. Bringing the board game format to a digital platform was a great idea then, and it is still going strong today.

The general gist of the franchise, is that you will join up with three other players (either AI or human controlled) and play through a series of board games. Each of Island Tour’s boards features its own gimmick and win conditions, which means that no two are alike. While this adds a bit of variety to the festivities, some of the level design can be frustrating and a few design choices completely ruin the experience.

Banzai Bill’s Mad Mountain is an example of level design that quickly grows tiresome. The premise is that you are climbing up a mountain, trying to avoid the incoming Banzai Bills. You are able to hide in a safe-spot at the cost one step, or you can stand out in the open in the hopes of reaching the game’s checkpoints faster. The catch is that if someone rolls a “0” on the 6-sided dice, Bill will fire off and send everyone who is out in the open back to either the beginning of the board, or the only checkpoint in the middle. This risk vs reward aspect creates a really fun feeling of tension (especially because only one person can occupy a safe spot at any one time). However, the tension soon turns to monotony and dread, especially if multiple Bills are fired off in a row. I played this map three times, and on average a Bill was fired off every third dice roll.

Not all of the maps are the same however, and some are genuinely fun. There are seven maps in total (6 to start with, plus the seventh you unlock from completing the Bowser’s Tower Single Player campaign), and three are really fun, while the other four can be taken or left. Perilous Palace Path is your standard Mario Party map; roll the dice and move through the board, playing mini games every turn and using items to help you along the way. It is great for newcomers to the series to get a grasp on how the game plays, but is also the one with the more replay appeal.

It would have been nice to see some classic Mario Party boards make a come back, in the same way that the Mario Kart franchsie has revisited classic tracks of the past. Or failing that, at least a board that is circular and lets you keep playing rather than just stopping when a player reaches the end.

So the boards are one thing, but everyone knows that Mario Party is really a mini-game collection. With over 80 mini games in Island Tour, you will be hard pressed to not find at least something that you enjoy. Sadly though, the minig ames often feel repetitive, with many of them having the same core concept with different skins. The best example of this is there are at least half a dozen “don’t fall off the edge,” style games. These are fun, but the overuse of them turns them into somewhat of a chore.

While many of Mario Party: Island Tour’s games rely on the old thumbstick and button control scheme, there are some that take advantage of the 3DS hardware to offer some unique experiences. One game has you colouring in fruits on the bottom screen with your stylus, while another will have you moving around and aiming (in much the same way that you would in Pokemon Dream Radar) to perfectly line up your arrow shot in order to hit the maximum amount of enemies. These experiences are few, but really do offer something unique and fun to the package.

The game also has a new feature added – Bowser’s Tower. Basically a mini game collection, Bowser’s Tower has you rushing up 30 flights of stairs so that you can challenge King Koopa himself. Each floor has one of two mini games available to play, and completion will have you ascending the next flight of stairs. This is a relatively mundane concept, but is made so much better with the inclusion of the boss battles.

Every 5 floors, you will encounter another Boss character from the Mario franchise’s past (like the ever-awesome King Bomb-Omb). These boss encounters take place in the form of a unique mini game, which quickly turn out to be the highlight of the whole Island Tour experience. King Bomb-Omb’s battle has you sliding panels left and right in order to complete a conveyor belt that will lead a bomb into a cannon, which will then fire at the explosive king. Once you have bested the boss, you will be able to play their game as many times as you want in the game’s free play mode.

It also cannot be understated how awesome Nintendo is for allowing DS Download Play on this title. Up to four people can play over local wifi using the same game cart, and unlike titles that have used this feature in the past, you don’t get a watered down version of the game to play. Every board, every mini game and every character are selectable, and playable. It is a small feature but one that is definitely appreciated.

Visuals & Audio

Mario Party: Island Tour looks like a Mario game, and that is great. Everything is very brightly coloured and has that signature cartoony-Mario look. This is a double edged sword in many ways, as it means that there isn’t a lot to make this game stand out from the rest of the franchise, and oftentimes the boards look like the over world map from a 3D Mario title.

The character models are all fantastically drawn out and look beautiful. Mario and his crew all have a very iconic look and it is good to see that it is kept even in a party game. The 3D effect is also done beautifully here too. At no time during play did I see any hint of ghosting or double images. Sadly though, it looks great but doesn’t really add anything to the overall experience, and you wont be missing too much if you switch it off.

The game’s audio sadly doesn’t feature the same level of quality as its visuals. While the music is very happy, uplifting and matches the theme of the board you are in – it quickly (and I do mean quickly) gets repetitive. You will hear the same few bars over and over again while you play. Added to this is the fact that all of the characters, while retaining their usual game voices, only have a few snippets of dialogue that they repeat no matter the situation. Just to compound things, Toad is the host of the game, so you will frequently hear his trademark scream whenever he needs to explain something new to the players.

Overall

Despite its faults, Mario Party: Island Tour keeps the Mario Party spirit alive on the 3DS. With seven boards and over 80 mini games, there is something for everyone. The gameplay remains largely unchanged from the previous instalments, meaning that it is still as easy to pick up and play as ever. While the game at times suffers from some seriously frustrating board designs, sub-par audio quality and over-used mini game mechanics, if you are playing along with others then you will usually be having too much fun to really notice.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

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