New Community Q&A Video Released for Stronghold Crusader 2
London, UK– 19th December 2013 – A new community Q&A video has just been released for Stronghold Crusader 2, answering questions put to the developers over the past weeks and months. The sequel to the 2002 cult classic Stronghold Crusader, Crusader 2 is set for release early next year, making this an ideal time to talk release date, classic Crusader 1 features, possible ports and more:
This sixth release in Firefly’s series of question and answer videos was made possible by the developer’s recent move to self-publishing. Over the course of the past six months Firefly has been open and transparent with players, resulting in much better player-developer relations. Why did Firefly opt for 3D over 2D? When will new screenshots be released? Why is the game built around Steam? What features and characters will return from Crusader 1? The freedom of self-publishing has allowed Firefly to be completely honest with fans of the franchise, something that is refreshing for both parties.
Scheduled for release in Spring 2014, Stronghold Crusader 2 will be digitally self-published by Firefly Studios. A public beta is also planned to be held in the months leading up to release, with full details to be announced at the start of 2014.
About Firefly Studios
Firefly Studios is an independent PC game developer specialising in real-time strategy and MMO titles. Formed in 1999 by Simon Bradbury and Eric Ouellette, the company has brought to market a number of high profile and commercially successful strategy games, including the Stronghold series with lifetime sales of over five million. Firefly has offices in the UK and US. For more information please visit their website at www.fireflyworlds.com or follow @fireflyworlds on Twitter.
Have fun and get creative with ‘My Big Christmas Coloring Book’
This Christmas, enjoy drawing and painting your own festive pictures to show off to friends and family.
Northampton, December 19th 2013. Casual games developer and publisher Go Games are proud to announce the Worldwide release of ‘My Big Christmas Coloring Book’ for iOS and Android devices.
‘My Big Christmas Coloring Book’ is a collection of fun and festive Christmas backgrounds in need of a splash of colour and stroke of imagination! Choose from a great selection of brushes, colors and special tools to bring your pictures to life.
With ‘My Big Christmas Coloring Book’ you can even turn your picture into a Christmas card to share with friends and family – and add a personalised message too! Check out the launch trailer on YouTube to see how simple it is to get creative!
‘My Big Christmas Coloring Book’ is available FREE from the App Store on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
Did you ever play Mouse Trap as a kid? A lot of the fun was setting up the intricate machine so that all of the pieces fell together perfectly to capture the mouse at the end of the game. That is probably the most well known implementation of a Rube Goldberg machine in action. Well if you loved that board game, then you need to check out Rube Works.
Rube Works from the guys at Unity Games, Electric Eggplant, and HRG, and much like other similar games such as The Incredible Machine, pits you against mind-bending puzzles that have you creating intricate and precise contraptions in order to solve them.
In celebration of the holiday period, Rube Works has a two-fold present for players. Firstly, it is now on sale for $0.99 on the App Store, and secondly – there are 9 new free mind bending puzzles for players to enjoy. So if you are into puzzles, or loved Mouse Trap as a kid, then head over to the App Store and grab Rube Works today!
Yesterday EA announced the open beta of the upcoming, free-to-play FIFA World title and has just shared a trailer to go with it. Be sure to see it below.
Featuring over 30 different leagues with 600 different clubs it seems like this free version won’t be short on content at launch. Users can create their own custom team as well as buy, sell and trade their players. Seemingly taking cues from the likes of Battlelog, the game is also built on a social platform, allowing players to share and connect with friends.
You can register for the open beta to play for free on the official site.
Gran Turismo 6 has had players racing around tracks, tackling wicked S-Bends and speeding down Mount Panorama for a few weeks now, and the guys over at Sony and Polyphony Digital have proudly launched the latest update for their impressive racer. Just in time for the holidays, players can grab themselves two new Red Bull Cars as well as the Red Bull X Challenge.
The Red Bull X Challenge is an innovative collaboration with the Infiniti Red Bull Racing, and includes 2013 Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel mentoring players on how to perfectly handle a formula racing machine. The two cars; the ‘Red Bull Racing Kart’ and ‘Red Bull X2014 Junior’ will arrive in dealerships in-game via the update, while the Red Bull X2014 ‘Standard’ and ‘Fan’ cars can be expected to join them at a later stage.
This is a free update, so if you have GT6 then there is no opportunity to not download this bad boy today! Remember to put pedal to the metal and to always stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Gran Turismo news as it becomes available.
The latest Humble Bundle has brought Wadjet Eye Games’ Gemini Rue to Android, Mac, and Linux for the first time. The dystopian point and click has been the best selling game for the studio so far, but had previously only been available on Windows PC and iOS.
Android hounds can pick up the stand alone game from the Google Play store for $4.99, whilst Mac and Linux users will have to wait out the exclusivity period on the Humble Bundle. That would be something of an odd plan, given that the PC and Android 8 bundle nets gamers Gemini Rue and up to four other games for a 100% negotiable price.
If this excellent neo noir mystery has eluded you so far now is the time to grab it as a self indulgement yet still charitable Christmas present – the current average to beat in order to scoop up the entire bundle? $4.16.
Madman Entertainment have just announced the next acquisition in their announcement promotion #12AnnouncementsOfXmas. The announcement is that they have acquired the license for the anime series Aesthetica of Rogue Hero.
Aesthetica of Rogue Hero follows Akatsuki after he saved a fairy-tale kingdom. He returns to the real world and brings back his prize, the Demon King’s daughter Miu.
Madman plan to release the series on DVD in 2014. Not only that but they plan to stream the series on their Madman Screening Room in the near future. Stay tuned for more information on that release and the #12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion as Madman continues to reveal titles each day.
Indie studio Camouflaj has announced the release of its dystopian action-adventure game Republique, set to be the first of five episodes. The game is said to bring console-quality gameplay and graphics to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Ryan Payton, designer at Camouflaj, puts it rather simply, ““We’ve spent the past two years crafting stealth action that doesn’t require 17 buttons, or even a controller.” The title received a large portion of its funding through Kickstarter and backers get a free season pass valued at AU$18.99 for all five episodes of Republique.
In République, players assist Hope, a desperate young woman struggling to escape from a secret, Orwellian state. Communicating using a stolen phone, Hope contacts the player and asks them to hack into the nation’s surveillance system, assume control, and guide her out of the clutches of the omnipresent Overseer.
The stealth game is inspired by classic literature such as 1984 and Brave New World, along with recent geopolitical events such as global surveillance and internet censorship.
Surprisingly, the game features industry heavyweights. Voice actors such as Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect) and David Hayter (Metal Gear Solid) breathe life into the characters while the studio itself is founded by the former Halo 4 creative director and Metal Gear Solid 4 producer (Ryan Payton) along with other veterans from titles such as F.E.A.R. and Red Dead Redemption.
You can see the launch trailer below and grab it from the App Store for AU$5.49. Republique is due to make its way to PC and Mac in 2014.
Viz Media will be kicking off the new year by releasing a new print manga starting on January 7th and it just so happens to be called Nisekoi. While volumes one through six are available as digital downloads, this is the first time that a physical version of the manga has been released.
The manga will cost $9.99 in the U.S. and $12.99 in Canada. For those who don’t know, Nisekoi translates into False Love and follows the story of Raku Ichijo who meets Chitoge Kirisaki after she knees him right in the face. After this unfortunate meeting, Raku’s gangster father has arranged a marriage between him and the daughter of a rival gang, which just so happens to be Chitoge.
There are a few problems however, not only do these two not get along but Raku has a crush of his own and is still searching for his childhood sweetheart from ten years ago and his only hint happens to be a locket he wears around his neck.
Colossatron: Massive World Threat Developer:Halfbrick Publisher: Halfbrick Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad Release Date: December 19, 2013 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
Every once and a while a game comes along with such a colossal amount of hype that it comes into question, can it live up to the hype or does it result in a colossal failure? Such was the situation that Colossatron: Massive World Threat finds itself in. Coming from Halfbrick, the studio behind some of the greatest mobile games to ever grace the platform, all eyes have been on Colossatron to be the next big thing. Unfortunately that is not to be, Colossatron: Massive World Threat turns out to be nothing more than a massive disappointment.
Gameplay
What made Halfbrick’s other games so very good was the addictive gameplay that could be played by anyone. Halfbrick was generally light-handed when it came to in-app purchases making them an option rather than a necessity to enjoy the game. The reason why Colossatron is so disappointing is because it is the complete opposite of those things.
As far as gameplay goes, it is incredible difficult to find some sense of enjoyment in this game. It is a truly passive experience that gives you next to no control over what plays out on screen. All you are tasked with doing is moving coloured blocks onto Colossatron to make him bigger. You don’t control Colossatron at all, instead taking a deciding inactive role in what happens on screen. The player effectively moves coloured blocks onto him until he eventually destroys everything on screen. It is far from fun and barely feels like an actual game at times.
The fact that you cannot control Colossatron is a major misstep by Halfbrick. If the game allowed you to control the monster snake it would’ve proved to be a much more enjoyable experience, unfortunately you are nothing more than a bystander helping Colossatron occasionally.
To make matters worse, the game is very heavy-handed with its in-app purchases. It pushes the purchases at every turn and forces you to either pay to revive Colossatron upon death or start over from the very beginning of the game, almost forcing you to actually pay to maintain your progression in the game. It is just bad and completely disappointing from Halfbrick.
Not only that but during my time playing Colossatron I was subject to several crashes and freezes, with the game being barely stable at times. God forbid you did an in-app purchase at the time of a crash as you would’ve lost all progress, something that happened to me multiple times.
This is clearly not a game that Halfbrick thought through very well. It is half baked at best and flat out terrible at worst. This is a disappointing effort by Halfbrick and one that is ultimately best to avoid.
Visuals and Audio
Cluttered is the best way to describe the visuals for Colossatron: Massive World Threat. At times there is simply too much happening on screen that its near impossible to tell what is even going on. The only highlight in the visual experience is the anime styled cutscenes telling the ‘story’ of Colossatron.
The soundtrack however is actually quite a decent foray of tunes that stands out as a highlight in this overall weak gameplay experience. There is also some solid voice work here for the news reporter characters that is impressive for an iOS game to say the least.
Overall
This is about as half baked as mobile games get and the fact that it shoves in-app purchases down player’s throats does it no favours. Halfbrick made a colossal mistake with this game. It just isn’t fun, it is plagued with bugs and it pushes micro-transactions with heavy hands. Basically it is everything you’d expect not to see in a Halfbrick game and that is a damn shame. Colossatron: Massive World Threat is a massive disaster.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
