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Hozuki No Reitetsu Episode 1 Impressions

January 13, 2014

Hozuki No Reitetsu
Episode 1 – Making Or Breaking Hell/The Discovery Of Hell’s Mysteries

Hell surely is the place to be! Pop Culture really romanticises the afterlife and the concept of eternity in a way that scriptures can’t. Hozuki No Reitetsu follows a demon, or “Oni“, that works as the “secretary” of hell, basically the guy is second in command under King Enma who you may all know moreso from the legendary series Dragon Ball Z rather than the literal legends that have been passed down the ages and I think that’s perfectly fine. Hozuki basically overlooks Hell and makes sure everything is going smoothly…for the demons working…as for the tortured souls, well, I can’t say things are going smoothly for them at all.

Hozuki No Reitetsu is a dark comedy that has an oddly real view of what hell would be like yet twists it up with semi-human problems that we can all somewhat relate to but, from what I’ve seen from the first episode, it is ready to take episodes in all different directions and it is not at all afraid of swiftly changing pace. It seems as though episodes will be broken up into two segments, both of which will still follow the main cast but will show us different stories to do with them that wont directly continue off from the previous story but small signs in the background suggest that it does. For my Impressions I’ll be separating both episode stories and I will talk about them individually so as to get the most out of the short experience.

Making Or Breaking Hell:

This being the first episode you can assume that the first few minutes were character introductions, they were exactly that but they did it in a nice subtle way, it was almost like they threw to the characters already in-story rather than introducing them and then proceeding with the story and I quite enjoyed how it went. I suppose it being a short half-episode story meant that they had to be quick about certain things while also keeping it in a certain flow that would have the audiences attention and I’d like to say they did exactly that.

King Enma is overrun (this is how he was introduced), his office is filled with people who need problems solved from all around hell and, as usually, he palms them off onto Hozuki who is currently doing the rounds. I found the way they went about this episode to be very intelligent and quite clever, Hozuki was presented with a few little problems that would add up to a fairly big problem in the long run.

There’s a lack of workers in the animal torture section of hell, Shangri-la (a place of positive energy) is having some sort of peach problem that shouldn’t concern a worker of hell anyway, and there’s a rogue samurai spirit that is causing trouble around hell. This is a slice-of-life series so the problems weren’t resolved with an action sequence or a huge fight, instead it was solved with well-timed humour and was put across fantastically with on-the-mark voice acting.

The samurai spirit was accompanied by three animal familiars who, once he was dealt with, were put to work in the “Animal Torture” section of hell which actually solved two of three problems, the third problem was solved when the samurai spirit (who was clad in what seemed like a peach-themed samurai uniform) was sent to deal with Shangri-La’s peach problem. The small segment was wrapped up so nicely and everything came full circle, that along with some great writing hooked me in to continue watching the second half of the episode and that, well, read on.

The Discovery Of Hell’s Mysteries:

This half of the episode made the change of pace that I mentioned in the first paragraph of this article. It wasn’t as though it went from comedy to action or from slice-of-life to horror, it stuck to the roots it had planted in the beginning of the episode but what really got changed was the vibe. This half-episode is so easy to condense into a synopsis because it basically had Hozuki and King Enma sitting down to a meal at a local restaurant, watching some TV and having some Seinfeld-esque conversation, it was so simple yet worked brilliantly.

This episode continued to prove that this series is going to be a hilarious one because the writing alone was fantastically clever yet silly and the voice actors chosen clearly made their bones in the recording studio because it all just came across lightly, I don’t speak a lick of Japanese but speech is speech and you can tell when a voice actor give it their all. They somehow made a 10-minute conversation so entertaining, in any other Anime I bet audience members would sit there and wait for something flashy to happen but with Hozuki No Reitetsu you just relaxed and let the laughs roll in.

Now I mentioned the “Seinfeldian” conversation the two demons were having and I believe it really was that just on a supernatural level; pets, women, even Australia got some huge mentions as they were watching a documentary on “Mother Earth’s Bellybutton“. Nothing was too “off-topic” for Hozuki No Reitetsu, even the things that I’m sure the audience felt were like how Hozuki believes Koalas to be “huggable” and how Kangaroos are quite “dull”, he even mentioned his dream woman would be one that could get strangled by an large snake but not make a big deal out of it, everything was in good fun.

Even background characters got a giggle out of me; just seeing the animals from the first half of the episode make an appearance as they sit down at the restaurant and eat dinner just like any other customer was just so funny to me especially because it strictly happened in the background of the episode. Hozuki No Reitetsu has, in one episode, proven that it is going to be one of my favourite series’ this season and possibly even this year.

Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.

Capsule Computers 2013 Anime of the Year Awards

Luke Halliday

January 13, 2014

Capsule Computers 2013 Anime of the Year Awards

Welcome to the inaugural Capsule Computers Anime of the Year Awards. This is our first time ever doing an Anime of the Year Awards and we want to kick things off big. In what will become an annual awards article, we will be giving out several awards highlight some of the biggest facets of anime each year. This year in particular has been a particularly big one for anime, with countless quality anime bursting onto the scene. With so much great anime this year it is only right to celebrate the best of the best. So without further adieu, here are our winners for the year of 2013.

Welcome to Capsule Computer’s 1st Annual Anime of the Year Awards!

Click on the pages below to and find out who wins, along with our editors’ choice awards and special bonus feature AOTY Podcast!

Best OVA
Best Sequel
Best Anime Movie
Best Animation
Best Studio
Best Theme Song
Best Score
Best of Winter 2013
Best of Spring 2013
Best of Summer 2013
Best of Fall 2013
Best Anime Release of 2013 AU
Best Anime Release of 2013 US
ANIME OF THE YEAR
Editor’s Choice
Bonus Features – AOTY Podcast

CastleStorm Wii U Review

Andrew Day

January 12, 2014

CastleStorm
Developer: Zen Studios
Publisher: Zen Studios
Platforms: Wii U (Reviewed)
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $9.99 – Available Here

Overview

CastleStorm is the Tower Defense/Physics puzzler amalgamation that appeared on Xbox Live and PSN mid last year. Now it has made its way to the Wii U with a few exclusive additions. Sadly these additions don’t make the experience much different from the originals.

Tower Defense games have you spending your accrued resources to deploy troops and other objects to defend your base require quick thinking and immediate responses. Physics puzzlers are on the opposite end of the spectrum and often require patience, concentration and a keen eye.The amalgamation of these two genres creates an experience that is a lot less fun than the sum of its parts and frequently leaves you feeling like you are rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. The Wii U’s GamePad allows for a lot of off-screen controls and more precise movements than its older counterparts but still don’t make the game feel or play any better

Story
After a brutal and bloody war, the Kingdom Knights and the Nordic Vikings have been at peace. This peace was the result of two gems of power being bestowed upon the leaders of the respective factions, protecting their land and granting their owners eternal life. However all goes awry when one day the gems go missing and so war breaks out once again.

The story here is pretty stock-standard and isn’t a standout feature of the game, the characters are all quite two-dimensional, and the narrative never really serves as more than a way of introducing the next battle, or explaining gameplay changes. An example is early on in the game where the Kingdom troops are all in need of the bathroom, so they are unable to be used in the following battle.

The plus side is that as mild and thin as it may be, at least there is a story. Typically tower defense or physics-puzzle games we get a modest introduction at best. This at least provides a narrative reason for why we as players are laying siege to structures.

Gameplay
There are three game-types in CastleStorm: Skirmish, Survival and Hero Survival, but sadly they usually amount to the player largely doing the same repetitive tasks. The Angry Birds inspiration is clearly noticeable, not only in the castle design but also in many of the weapons which function identically as the birds in the popular mobile franchise.

Skirmish is the standard game mode, where you use your ballista to fire projectiles at the enemy, while also casting spells and deploying ground soldiers to head off the opposing forces and to attempt to break down their doors. The aim is to destroy all of the rooms within the opposing castle before they can do the same to you. All actions have a cool-down timer before they can be used again, with more powerful projectiles and units requiring longer times between uses. You also have the option of sending your Hero Character into battle, where you take control and use their power to defeat the waves of enemy troops for a short amount of time. The Hero Character can be great at clearing the field of enemy soldiers, but as long as you are controlling them, you cannot deploy troops, fire your ballista or use magic which can leave your castle open to some serious damage.

Survival is a slightly different take on Skirmish, where instead of destroying the opponent’s castle, the aim is to use your soldiers, spells and weapons to defend your castle for as long as you can against waves and waves of enemies. Hero Survival is a variant on this system, but instead of defending your castle you just play as a Hero Character, fighting off waves of enemies until you run out of HP.

The game’s campaign makes use of all three of these game modes, while offering variations between them, such as levels where you don’t have the ability to deploy your soldiers, or where your ballista is not functional. There is actually a fair bit of replayability for those who can stand it, as each of the game’s campaign levels has a series of five stars to collect as well as an optional bonus objective to complete. This is in addition to the nearly endless Skirmish mode, which involves single battles separate from the campaign.

All of the game modes are selected in Multiplayer, which plays out almost identically to the single player experience. However instead of facing against an AI Controlled enemy, you are against another Human but please note that playing in local multiplayer in split-screen can get a bit cluttered.

As you play the game you earn coins which can be spent to upgrade your arsenal of weapons, soldiers, spells and castle rooms. Upgrading results in your equipment dealing more damage, requiring a shorter cool-down, soldiers having more health or rooms increasing their effects. There is also an in-depth castle builder that allows players to customise one of the pre-set castles to their own look and feel, or to start from scratch. However customising these castles doesn’t amount to anything more than a cosmetic change from the pre-made.

The Wii U GamePad allows for some new additions to the control schemes. As expected, there is off-tv play on the GamePad’s screen, however taking the already cluttered game and putting it onto a smaller screen is just a recipe for disaster. What is more helpful is the addition of the touch-controls. You can use the Wii U’s stylus to select your units and aim your ballistas. This helps to overcome the game’s clumsy and unresponsive controls, as well as giving you a brand new level of accuracy.

Visuals & Audio

Zen Studios have made a game that is hugely reminiscent of the building blocks and figurines that so many of us played with growing up and the visual design goes a long way to show that. The lines and detailing of the characters and world are all very thick and the world is vibrantly coloured, which when combined give a very cartoony feel to everything.

While the art-style is very nice and cheerful, a lot of the animations (or lack thereof) are quite flat and uninspired. Characters all constantly have the same facial expression, no matter what emotion the story calls for, and the small dialogue-sections of the game lack any visual indication that the character is talking aside from a text box at the bottom of the screen. It makes the game look and feel more like you are playing with blocks and toys, but even so just looks bland and boring.

There are also the occasional graphical hiccup, such as the aiming cursor of the ballista just disappearing. It is a minor problem but one that definitely has a profound impact on the game.

The audio, although clean, crisp and delightfully cheerful very quickly becomes repetitive and flat out annoying. Most of the game’s cut-scenes are not fully voice acted, instead with characters talking in a series of grunts and groans while their dialogue is written in the bottom of the screen. During gameplay the same sounds will be heard time and time again, every time you summon one of your soldiers, they will say one of three or four short phrases. The audio really doesn’t add to the overall experience, and after a few minutes playing it in fact starts to detract from it.

Overall

CastleStorm is an ambitious game that wears its inspiration on its sleeve. While the Wii U version adds a few new features to prove the overall experience, unfortunately the combination tower defense/physics puzzler works about as well as mixing oil and water. The game devolves into a cluttered mess of micromanaging tasks. There is a lot of content here for players who may be interested but all in all it is a frustrating, inconsistent and overall underwhelming experience.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Michiko & Hatchin Collection 1 Review

Sergei Lazarev

January 12, 2014

Michiko & Hatchin Collection 1
Studio: Manglobe
Publisher: Madman
Format: DVD (reviewed), Blu-ray
Release Date: December 4, 2013
Price: $59.95 – Available Here

Overview
Michiko & Hatchin was one of the shows that slipped under the radar for many, including myself. The cover is flamboyant with art that is unlike most other Japanese anime, looking almost like a Western cartoon. It’s no surprise that the director has recently made Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and Manglobe studio recently produced Samurai Flamenco.

Director Sayo Yamamoto was also involved with the much-loved Samurai Champloo, and a similar art style and approach can be seen here. From the creators of that funky series plus the famed Cowboy Bebop, Madman brings the series over to Australian shores in two parts starting with Collection 1.

Story
This anime starts off with a bang, as the latino Michiko Malandro breaks free from a prison. Meanwhile, a little girl by the name of Hana Morenos lives as an adopted child in a wealthy, uncaring family. The first episode tries incredibly hard to portray her family as callous and downright nasty. Which they are, of course. The father is a hypocritical priest who exploits his position of authority and uses the pretext of religion as a means to gain wealth.

It’s almost hard to watch Hana’s daily life of misery, until Michiko breaks through the dining room window on a motorcycle and demands Hana over. At this point it’s pretty clear this crazy, foul-mouthed woman is the mother of the sensible, reserved Hana. The two polar-opposites escape and hit the road in search of the other missing member of the family, the father Hiroshi Morenos. All the while they are being hunted by the police inspector and old acquaintance of Michiko, Atsuko Jackson.

Their journey is marred by distrust, brushes with the law and armed gangs as well as stories of infidelity and other adult themes. Each of the characters are powerful in their own way, and the series puts a strong focus on women. The solid cast of female characters is largely thanks to the female director, hence why we see a very real outlook on complicated relationships and even prostitution.

While the action is few and far between, when shots are fired and kicks are landed it’s intense and well-choreographed if only a little far-fetched sometimes. Considering how many times Michiko charges unarmed at a gun, it’s a miracle she hasn’t been shot yet! But that’s probably due to the horrible aim each villain seems to have.

The 11 episodes in Collection 1 are broken up into various short arcs, involving new characters and their problems. The dangerous setting of South American ghettos provides a vehicle for the two main characters to grow and understand each other, leaving Collection 2 to provide a (hopefully) satisfactory ending and resolution. Michiko & Hatchin feels very much like the classic theme of the journey being more important than the destination our heroes are striving for.

Visuals
Michiko & Hatchin isn’t your typical anime and that’s largely thanks to the character designs and art style. The series has that familiar, dirty look from Samurai Champloo but with splashes of flamboyant colour to match the Latin American setting. Many of the characters forgo the traditional cute or attractive look and appear more realistic, while others like Michiko herself look entirely foreign rather than drawn in Japanese style.

Even the dates and locations are written in Portuguese to give the anime a more authentic feel. Although not unheard of, it’s fairly uncommon for an anime set outside Japan to feel this genuine. While it certainly looks different and doesn’t rely on flashy animation, the visuals will do little to impress folk who are used to brighter, more “attractive” anime.

Audio
Both Japanese and English voice tracks are handled very well in Michiko & Hatchin. Those who prefer Japanese dubs will almost be tempted to leave the audio on English due to the foreign feel of the show. My only complaint is that hearing Michiko’s yelling can be somewhat annoying after a while, as all she seems to do is shout and hurl abuse. Admittedly, this is inline with her character, though.

Strangely, the sound mixing for the English dub will often have you struggling to hear some of the voices while in Japanese each voice is clear and at equal volume. This can be a slight issue for those who prefer to watch with the volume down.

As you’d almost expect for a show of this look and feel, the sound track sounds jazzy with a South American influence. This is thanks to the recording being done by Brazilian artist Kassin and produced by Shinichiro Watanabe. The music suits every scene perfectly and there’s little to complain about here. The opening theme is purely instrumental and, while groovy, it can get a bit wearisome and is hardly a tune you’d flick on in your spare time. The ending theme however is a more familiar, quiet Japanese song that suits the plot of the show.

Extras
There are a bunch of on-disc extras that come with Michiko & Hatchin Collection 1 including episode commentaries, “Michiko: The Woman Behind it All”, the show’s Japanese unveiling press conference, a live action promo, anime promo and textless songs, all of which give fans more insight into the anime.

Overall
Michiko & Hatchin deals with some serious themes such as the role of family, the criminal underworld and adultery within a gritty and underused setting. Despite the dreary locations Hana, or Hatchin as Michiko calls her, is a highly likable character and watching her struggle against such a cruel world is downright inspiring.

Collection 1 deals with the pair’s initial distrust despite being mother and daughter and eventual reconciliation after many trials. Their journey to find the father begins and a great deal of genuine characters are introduced, and some are subsequently killed off. The direct nature of events and the blunt character interaction has me looking forward to the second half, which is sure to include some surprises.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Noragami Episode 1 Impressions

Luke Halliday

January 12, 2014

Noragami
Episode 1 – A Housecat, a Stray God, and a Tail

Wham, bam, thank you ma’am! Now that is what I’m talking about. Noragami bursts out of the gate with one hell of a series opener. Half-way between Yu Yu Hakusho and Soul Eater, Noragami tackles the afterlife with bombast and flair. While it borrows elements of past supernatural action series, it manages to find its own unique soul underneath it all.

This first episode packed one hell of a punch, setting the stage for the series in a big way. We follow a ‘God’ by the name of Yato as he goes about his daily routine of helping those in need all for the price of 5 yen. Things go awry once Hiyori crosses paths with our friendly neighbourhood Stray God. Somehow, someway she can see him, things just get crazier and crazier from there.

The way the series handles the afterlife is reminiscent of the early episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho or Bleach. We see Yato going head to head with Phantoms, not unlike the Demons and Hollows of Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach. The only problem for Yato is that he has no weapon to fight with as his human-weapon just quit on him. So being the somewhat crappy God that he is, Yato is kinda hopeless. But with his care-free persona you can’t help but root for the guy to somehow make it out okay.

The connection we see Yato forge with Hiyori is quite interesting to say the very least given the circumstances. Her soul keeps on slipping out of her body and Yato could do with a helping hand, but you get the sense that there is more than meets the eye here. Something beneath the surface between these two that we just can’t see yet. I’m sure in the coming episodes we will see that relationship develop in some interesting ways.

From this first episode it isn’t exactly clear where the series will head, but the concept and hook of the series is tasty enough for now. I do suspect that we will soon encounter other Gods for Yato and Hiyori to have to deal with. One can only imagine the possibilities with a setting like this. There is a lot of directions this could go and I’m very eager to see what happens next.

One of the things that stood out about Noragami was its sense of humour. There was some genuinely funny moments in this first episode and there is a general sense of whimsy about the proceedings that adds so much more fun to the action playing out. Hand in hand with the superb fight scenes and we’ve got what could be the best action anime of the season.

It is worth noting that BONES is animating this alongside Space Dandy and judging by first episodes alone, both series have been given a great amount of attention to quality. It will be interesting to see however if the quality declines in either series. Here is to hoping that things stay par for the course because what we were treated to in this first episode was gorgeously animated action and great artistic direction. Right down to the small movements to the over-the-top facial expressions, BONES have produced something of quality here in Noragami.

Noragami is off to a great start here and with a concept as broad as this there are any number of ways for it to go. It could end up as a straight up action series or maybe just an odd-jobs slice of life series with supernatural elements. Either way, Noragami has got my interest and I look forward to seeing what this Stray God wanders.

Check out more Noragami impressions HERE.

Rail Racing Review

James Mapley

January 12, 2014

Rail Racing
Developer: Polarbit
Publisher: Polarbit
Platforms: iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, Android
Release Date: 9th January 2014
Price: $0.99, £0.69 – Available Here

Overview

One of my fondest childhood memories is playing with a scalextric kit with my dad, shooting miniature model cars around a dusty old track until they eventually lost grip and went shooting across the room. The problem that scalextric had was that once you’d flung the cars off the track at your family and left enough of them with permanent scars and a morbid fear of F1 cars, the novelty wore off pretty quickly. Rail Racing addresses all of these problems and makes racing model cars on rails more fun for you and less physically and mentally scarring for your friends and family around you.

Gameplay

Unexpectedly, I actually had a very fun time with this game. It throws you into a world of awesome race environments and pits you up against 5 computer-controlled racers in a style that feels akin to runner style games, but with enough complexity to set it apart from the cookie cutter formula so common within that genre. You are only given two inputs: an accelerator pedal, and a set of directional buttons that allow you to swap rails. But only by hitting speed boosters, slowing down into corners, and tackling your opponents will you be able to assure success in this genuinely very challenging game. I thought sometimes that the only reason that I won was pure luck and button mashing, but for completionists who want to collect every star and unlock every car, they’re going to have to put in a lot of time to get the necessary in-game currency. Especially if you want to customise your cars, and trust me you will, in which case you often need several times the value of the actual car to do so.

What I loved about this game was its accessibility and how easy it is to pick up and play. Each race only takes around a minute or two so you never feel bogged down if you lose a race and have to try it again. For someone like me who primarily uses mobile games as toilet gaming or something to play on public transport, this game was a great alternative to the tedium of trying to 100% Angry Birds.

Visuals

Rail Racing went far beyond my expectations in terms of its aesthetic. It definitely doesn’t do anything groundbreaking or original, but it uses a cute concept that I haven’t seen since Hot Wheels on the SEGA Megadrive, whereby each course is literally an elaborate scalextric track set up in various places around the house and themed as such. It achieves a decent framerate that keeps up with the speed of the races and all the time that the game isn’t crashing due to its integration of Game Centre for the multiplayer, the game looks really quite good. The cars for each stage differ so you can eventually get access to a massive variety of adorable model cars that aren’t too hideously hard to unlock and serve as a satisfying payoff as you progress through each stage. I’m not entirely sure why the kid’s bedroom stage had a big cardboard cutout of Dolan in the middle of the track, but I’ll let them off for including such an irritating meme since everything else in the course was so charming.

Audio

Music was not this game’s strong point. Each stage has its own unique track and if you can survive through the first stage’s awful, unfitting background music then you are a better man than I. I actually turned the sound off on my iPhone after race 2 until I got to the garage stage at which point the music picked up. From then on the music is still not hugely appropriate for a racing game, but it is at least okay background noise. The rest of the audio assets suffer from the same problem and I feel like a bit more attention to sound design would serve this game well, but nothing is so awful that you wouldn’t play the game because of it.

Overall

Going into this game, I did not expect a lot since I am not a fan of runners or racing games for the most part. However, Rail Racing went above and beyond my expectations, showcasing a casual game that is easy enough to be enjoyed by anyone, but has enough complexity to make the competitive among you want to complete absolutely everything and even want to dive into the multiplayer scene and show off your precision timing and skill which I certainly lacked. To summarise, Rail Racing is an excellent pick-up and play racer that is as fun and challenging as it is charming.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

King Oddball Review

Zac Elawar

January 11, 2014

King Oddball
Developer: 10tons Ltd
Publisher: 10tons Ltd
Platforms: PS Vita (Reviewed), iOS, PC
Release Date: January 8, 2014
Price: $6.65 – Available Here

Overview

King Oddball is another entry in the physics-based puzzle genre that Angry Birds popularised. Developed by 10tons Ltd, King Oddball is a surreal experience, from its strange title character to its unique aesthetic and unassuming score. Already released on mobile platforms and PC last year, King Oddball makes its way onto the PS Vita as a flat out port. So, is it actually good to be the King? Will you actually want to play on in your quest to end the world, as the game’s tagline says? Read on as we make that determination.

Gameplay

King Oddball doesn’t need any weaponry but some giant boulders to wipe out the world’s army and reign supreme over its people. With his tongue he automatically picks up one at a time, up to three in total, and begins to swing them back and forth. All the player has to do is tap the screen, or press ‘X’ to release the boulder. This is where a finely tuned physics system takes control, representing momentum and trajectory accurately and causing the projectile to bounce off of hard objects in a direction relative to its impact point, angle of approach and speed. There is no star rating system or the like here – you either complete the level or you don’t. At first, there are few obstacles as tanks are in your clear line of sight, but the game quickly ramps up.

Brick clusters and other material blocks (all breakable) form constructs making it difficult to reach soldiers, tanks and helicopters. Sometimes, strategically knocking them over or collapsing a structure can work to your advantage. Soon enough, explosive blocks are introduced, as are bouncy balls. And no, the tanks don’t fire back. Boulders go clear through soldiers as they seem to just disappear in a poof when struck. There are 120+ levels spread out across 9 regions on a world map, which can be traversed one square unit at a time. Once an entire region has been cleaned out, the next unlocks. Offering the player choice in which order they tackle the completion of a region is essentially pointless, as at the end of the day, you must do every single one regardless. There’s no getting around them.

If you manage to make a boulder bounce back to hit King Oddball, you gain an extra, gold boulder, which doesn’t possess any special qualities. There’s even a trophy amongst the 16 available which tasks you with gaining 5 additional boulders in one level. There is a notable lack of variety in the enemies and other gameplay elements, which hurts the experience somewhat. However, there are numerous secondary “modes” if you can call them that – more like challenge sets – such as the One Rock levels, the Hall of Diamonds (ability to replay levels in an attempt to ace them with one rock, similar to the dedicated One Rock levels), Grenade levels (boulders replaced with the explosive) and even a Secret World! There’s also a Speak with the King Siri-esque feature, although I personally haven’t found a phrase that garners an exciting response.

Visuals & Audio

One visual aspect that immediately stands out in King Oddball is the grain filter present throughout. Why utilise a scratchy, grainy image quality? Who knows. Is this a game set before the 1960’s? Nope, it’s not based in real-life. It was, rather simply, an artistic choice and one that speaks to the wackiness of the title. No one can argue its distinct look and feel. I mean, look at King Oddball – what is he?! After playing this, I can’t imagine a scarier Earth invasion than that of levitating, Green Goblin-looking disembodied heads throwing boulders with their elongated, purple tongues. Who even dreams up such a concept? And how does that crown stick to his smooth, rocky dome?! So many questions?!

The skies of the backdrops look like Van Gogh paintings, and the use of various shades creates a sense of depth whilst maintaining the visual theme of each level. Each does not stretch past its established colour palette, but gets the most out of it. The overall colour palette is very warm, with even the coolest of colours being darkened to a more muted tone. And speaking of weird character designs earlier, the bouncy balls that appear in some stages reminds of Wilson, the volleyball from Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. Musically, King Oddball is just as confounding. The original music by Jonathan Geer is unthematic in its quaint, innocent sound. The main menu theme in particular sounds like it would fit better in a Professor Layton game.

Overall

The best word to describe King Oddball can be found in the game’s title: odd. The design of the King himself is Exhibit A… some rock-helmet wearing, rotund, spherical thing with an inexplicably long, grotesque tongue. Whoever came up with this at 10tons Ltd was definitely high at the time. That’s not even a joke – I am damn sure of it. Is marijuana legal in Finland? Anyway, back on point, King Oddball can pose quite the frustrating challenge, and its quirky presentation certainly sets it apart. Maybe its the little variety of the gameplay, the lack of integration of PS Vita exclusive features or its weird style that doesn’t completely connect with me, but King Oddball – as rock-solid as it is – failed to make a large impression. It’s also the same experience as its iOS counterpart for a higher price on the Sony handheld, which should factor into your decision to purchase this release.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Disney Infinity Toy Box Challenge Week 20

Andrew Day

January 11, 2014

Disney Infinity Toy Box Challenge Week 20

A week has gone past us already, and it is time for the awesome folks over at Disney to shower us with free Disney Infinity maps in this week’s Toy Box Challenge. As with previous weeks, there are five free maps for Disney Infinity owners to download, as well as a new Toy Box Submission Challenge, and a video that showcases the winners of the previous challenge. Without further adieu, lets get into it!

TOY BOX SUBMISSION CHALLENGE

This week’s Toy Box Submission challenge will be a tricky one. The theme for this week is the Tangled challenge. Build Rapunzel’s tower, or recreate the brilliant lantern festival and prove that mother doesn’t know best for this week’s challenge.

As always, you can create and share your Toy Box creations though, using these instructions:

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U

Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Online/Multiplayer.”
Then select “Toy Box Share” > “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured.

iPad

Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Toy Box Share.”
Then select “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured

TOY BOX COUNTDOWN

This week’s Toy Box Countdown features the top 5 user generated maps that were submitted to Disney for the previous Heroes and Villains Challenge Check out the video below to see the top 5 entrants in the challenge. All of which you can download right now!

Check out last week’s videos here

That’s another week of Disney Infinity updates for you passionate Disney fans out there. Were you happy with the Toy Box Countdown winners? Will you be downloading any of the maps (wither from the winners, or from Disney)? Let us know in the comments below, and remember that for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted Preview

Jamie Laike Tsui

January 11, 2014

Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Developer: Big Robot Ltd
Publisher: Big Robot Ltd
Platform: Linux, Mac, Windows (Reviewed)
Price: $19.99 – Available Here

Sir (or Madame), you are being hunted. With that, I have become a human fox running from relentless robot trackers. Sir, You Are Being Hunted is the procedurally generated stealth/survival sandbox game from Big Robot Ltd that is currently in alpha testing. Big Robot Ltd was able to fund the game thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign held during the end of 2012.

The game is billed as being like no other stealth game. Players are dropped in the middle of an archipelago with their wits and a few sparse items. To escape, they must gather the machine pieces scattered across the landscape, all while being hunted by a variety of merciless and ever so British robots.

Upon loading the game, players will be presented with several classes to choose from that will tweak the initial difficulty of the game. The Aristocrat is the original “gentleman’s” choice, only armed with some rags for bandages, while other classes like The Officer, who has enough weapons to go ambush a few groups of hunter robots, have enough items to give them a better chance to survive. As the game is procedurally generated, the landscape is random. However, players will have some control on the biomes type of each island. Currently, the game supports four biome types inspired by the British landscape: rural, fenland, mountainous, and industrial. Advanced options for biome generation have not been implemented in the game, but it is in the works.

Players will be guided through the initial parts of Sir, You Are Being Hunted by the narrator who serves as both the tutorial and the player’s contact with the outside world. The game does run players through the some basics, but the rest of the game is up to the player’s imagination and wits. Players are tasked with finding the pieces of the machine that will return them to the safety of the human world. The parts are scattered across the five islands.

Currently, there are seven different robot types in the game. Each type behaves differently, from the Hunters and their Hounds who will track the player mercilessly to the mostly friendly Squire. The Scarecrow is probably the standout robot in the pack. Although not directly dangerous to the player, the robot behaves like the Weeping Angels from Dr. Who. Once the robot wakes up and its eyes turn red, the robot will only move when the player is not looking at the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow teleports behind the player while screeching a raspy “Over here!” over and over to attract all hostile robots in an ear shot. I have lost count on how many times the Scarecrow has literally scared me out of my seat by appearing behind me suddenly. As if that raspy screech wasn’t terrifying enough on its own.

Each style of robot has a different tactic to best fight them, but most of the time the real question is not “how should I fight this robot” but “should I even risk getting into this fight? Sir, You Are Being Hunted plays more like an old style horror survival game then a modern stealth game. Modern stealth games like Splinter Cell: Conviction have turned the player into the ruler of the sjadpws. In contrast, Sir, You Are Being Hunted does its best to make the player feel like the hunted at all times, forcing the player to crouch in the underbrush of a forest breathlessly praying that a Hound is not part of that patrol of Hunter robots walking dangerously nearby. Players will need to keep quiet and stay in the cover of the local landscape to survive undetected. There is something genuinely terrifying about the feeling of weakness and vulnerability the developers have sowed in players.

Of course, the feeling of victory after surviving an attack on a village controlled by Hunters is just as intense. Players are encouraged to think creatively to build ambush spots that will allow them to slowly whittle down the number of enemy robots in brutal hit and run attacks. The game includes a variety of items to direct the robots’ attention from empty bottles to alarm clocks. In moments of desperation, the player can even use themselves as the bait, by using a flashlight or simply standing in the sight line of a hunter. Currently, I find the flashlight to be the least reliable form of attracting attention as there were several instances where a Hunter was clearly illuminated by the beam, but the Hunter did not seem to care one bit.

The inventory space is extremely limited, and ammo is even scarcer than the inventory slots. The slots work like early Resident Evil games, with a limited set of square and each item taking a certain amount of space. Although it can be annoying to try to make room for the giant four by four machine piece, I feel the inventory space makes the game feel more realistic as the player is only capable of carrying a limited amount of gear in a bag. Players will need to keep their vitality up by scavenging for food. The health system works like Minecraft, where hungry players do not replenish health. The game eats away at vitality at a very quick rate, forcing players to constantly sneak into small villages or risk lighting fires to cook hunted food.

How the inventory handles weapons is probably the weakest part of the game at this point. To scrounge the ammunition from a weapon, space for the entire weapon needs to be made in the inventory. Once the weapon is dropped into the inventory, it will then shrink down into the ammunition. It is also impossible to retrieve ammunition from broken weapons. I feel it would be a bit more realistic for broken weapons to have a chance of yield a few rounds of ammo.

Sir You Are Being Hunted may not have the flashiest graphics, but it does a great job of creating a drab dead landscape devoid of all human life. The robot design are amusingly cartoonish and distinctly British. There is something darkly funny about the light hearted design of the robots whose only goal in their existence is to kill you.

Sound plays a huge role in staying alive in Sir, You Are Being Hunted. This is a game where headphones or a very good set of surround sound speakers are a must. The developers have done a great job creating tension from the sound. You will always hear each robots distinct sound long before you see them. It does not take long before the feeling of paranoia sets in and the sound of flying birds may be mistaken for something more sinister.

Big Robot has already created a fantastic stealth game. The game creates incredible tension missing from many games in the genre by constantly making the player feel hunted. Although it is still months from full release, the game feels nearly complete and the experience is thoroughly enjoyable. This game will be a must buy for every stealth fan.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Offers Free Weekend from January 11th – 13th

Simon Wolfe

January 11, 2014

Square Enix is looking to show off some of the new additions to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn for some of the players that have let been absent from the game for some time with a free login weekend. Those European and PAL players that have already purchased the 1.0 version of the game, registered it, but are now inactive will be able to login for free this weekend.

Players will be able to check out the new 24-player raid Labyrinth of the Ancients, duke it out in the Wolves’ Den, and/or join forces with the Scions to combat the Ascians. Starting at Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 08:00 (GMT) and ending Monday, January 13, 2014 at 08:00 (GMT) players will have the chance to check out all the new stuff in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Those wanting to check and see if the are eligible can head over to the Mog Station. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is currently available for PS3 and PC, but is set to release on PS4 in April with monthly subscriptions priced at £7.69 (€ 10.99).

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