The Dark Eye: Blackguardsis fast approaching its release date. As part of Steam’s Early Access program, Daedalic Entertainment has been releasing chapters of their upcoming RPG every few weeks. The game is composed of five chapters, with the fourth chapter being released this week. The fifth and final chapter will follow near the end of January.
The Dark Eye: Blackguardsis set in the wildly popular pen and paper RPG series The Dark Eye. The game follows a band of criminals seeking to survive the long arm of justice and save the world. The completed game will be released on January 24th, 2014 with over forty hours of gameplay. The beta is currently available on Steam for $24.99.
Money troubles – We’ve all had them, we all hate them, and as a student I know them far too well. In fact, after fate tried to do math by adding my laptop to a pint of ginger ale, putting me nearly a grand into the red, you could say that I’ve become a bit of an expert on them lately. If it weren’t for my lovely family fattening me up over Christmas I’d probably find myself in the same position as Akihisa Yoshii from Baka to Test, cutting a block of noodles in half in a never ending loop until I end up with infinite meals. Luckily, I don’t have a girlfriend on top of that or else I would be in some real trouble. The same cannot be said for Tada Banri however. This episode highlighted his money woes as he tried to scrape together enough money, against Kouko’s wishes, to take her on the beach date that she sounded so passionate about last episode.
When you’re at university there are a lot of ways to make money. Nowadays, with the wonders of the internet and its ever expanding forms of media, you don’t even have to leave your house to make a decent wage. What I can absolutely guarantee is that there are a million ways of paying for your next meal that beat having to put on a skin-coloured pair of budgie-smugglers and serve drinks to a room of people of differing and questionable sexualities. Call me cynical, but I think Mitsuo might have gotten the short end of the stick on this one… One group that will be making a few easy pennies from this episode though is J.C. Staff judging by how many pictures of Mitsuo’s crotch adorned my Facebook news feed when this episode went live. I guess that’s what I get for bearing the double edged sword of having a lot of female friends that like anime. But, I digress.
No doubt, the sight of Banri dressed as a maid and Mitsuo basically naked was hilarious and a welcome break from the angst that has been bubbling underneath the surface of Golden Time’s main plot for the last few weeks. However, I would argue that now Banri’s injury has subsided and (outside of a maid costume) it looks like he has his head straight again, the insight into how he feels is a lot more significant and heartfelt. What could have been put down to a fever before is now a genuine thought constantly gnawing at him in the back of his mind.
What I will say about this episode is that in all honesty it felt unneeded and as if J.C felt the need to spoon feed the audience. Anybody that had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the last 2 episodes could tell you that Banri still has feelings for Linda and that Kouko has reason to feel insecure. The only part that was actually essential to the story was the final scene of the episode where we found out that Kouko was the one that took the photo of Banri and Linda. Now that she knows Banri has been lying to her and his bad guy side is finally revealed, it will be interesting to see how she reacts. What I am more interested to see though is how Banri reacts. As I have to keep reiterating, he seems like a nice guy, but his incredibly realistic flaws make him a bit of a bad person. Like most men and women, he has everything he could want, but still he wants more and he can’t help that. For the story to end in a satisfying way I think Banri needs to decide whether he wants to live his future as his past or his present. We still have another half of this anime to go and it will be a long time before we find out what he decides, but goddamn is this anime doing a good job of keeping me coming back in hope of finding resolution.
That’s it for this episode’s impressions (I’m nearly caught up!). Thank you for following me and my fellow reviewers in 2013 and i hope I can continue to bring you hopefully enjoyable and informative impressions of some of my favourite series throughout 2014. Keep an eye out for Winter 2013 picks where I’ll be telling you what I think you should be watching next season. I’ll be picking up another series to accompany the latter half of Golden Time and I am very excited about it so make sure to stick around on our Anime Impressions page to find out what it is!
Two fantastic pieces of news regarding the upcoming supernatural/slice-of-life Anime “Hozuki No Reitetsu” have just been announced and they both deal with the licensing and distribution of the series. To start off; Sentai Filmworks announced that they have acquired the license for the series despite it not yet being released which is a daring move for a company like that. They have said they will release the series though select digital outlets soon which may mean that they will stream episodes as they air in Japan, they also noted that they plan for a home video release after the initial run of the Anime series. Let’s just hope the Anime is a smash hit because it seems as though Sentai Filmworks are really taking chances with this one.
The second piece of news is that Crunchyroll have announced that they have picked up the streaming rights to the series. It will begin its run on Crunchyroll on the 9th of January at 2:00pm and will be released every Thursday from then on. Premium Members, as always, will be the very first to lay eyes on the new Anime at the time and date that was just mentioned, Free Members will have to wait an extra week before they can watch the show but I suppose that just gives them more incentive to sign up for a Premium Membership. It will be available in the following countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Turkey, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
“Hozuki No Reitetsu” is a dark comedy that revolves around supernatural beings living in hell, most notably; Hozuki, the assistant to King Enma who just so happens to be the king of hell. We follow his story and the stories of those around him as they go about their daily lives in hell, from taking down a rampaging monster to guiding a lost soul to their eternal damnation it seems as though anything can happen and the sadistic Hoozuki will be there every step of the way. It’s looking like a great series and, as mentioned above, it begins its stream on the 9th of January so keep an eye out for it.
Capcom is ringing in the new year with a trailer for the upcoming PlayStation 4 title Deep Down. The trailer demos what looks like an intense boss battle between a giant monster and several swordsmen. The video caps off with a classic treasure chest mimic monster.
Deep Down is Capcom’s upcoming dungeon crawler for the PlayStation 4. Players will explore New York City in 2094 and various dungeons located in the past. The game will be free to play and will be released sometime in 2014. Deep Down utilizes Capcom’s new Panta Rhei engine. The engine is designed for exclusive use on the PlayStation 4.
Sony is upping the ante for Microsoft’s Games with Gold by unleashing possibly the best free game line up yet. PlayStation Plus subscribers now have access to BioShock Infinite, DMC: Devil May Cry, Don’t Starve, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and more. Gamers can take a sneak peak at the titles with the new January Lineup Trailer.
The games are for all three Sony consoles and are available for free for all subscribers over the age of 18 in the Canada and the United States who maintain their PlayStation Plus subscription. PlayStation Plus subscriptions are available for $49.99 for a year or $17.99 for three months.
Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed Developer:Sumo Digital Publisher:Sega Platforms:iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, Android Release Date: Jan 2nd, 2014 Price: $0.99 – Available on iTunes and Google Play
Overview
Kart Racers are some of the most fun, party-oriented racing games that people can play. For an inconceivable amount of time the title of the best kart racer was undisputedly defended by Mario Kart. That was until Sonic joined the fray with his own racing series – Sonic & Sega All-Stars. Last year’s instalment proved to be a massive hit with console owners and now that fun has been ported over to the mobile platform. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is underlined by bright colours, a loveable yet nostalgic cast and awesome level design which all combine together to make the first major kart racer to hit the mobile platform to be by and large a success.
Gameplay
While Sonic & All-Stars doesn’t bring too much new to the world of kart racers, what it does bring is a lot of fun. It all boils down to the standard formula of racing a bunch of colourful characters around a track, while picking up items to impede your opponent’s progress. The game’s single player experience is split into either Grand Prix or World Tour Mode. Grand Prix is the same as you would come to expect from a racing game – pitting you against a bunch of AI-Controlled racers through a series of tracks. World Tour is where the game really gets interesting.
World Tour has you playing against the AI but with slight twists and deviations. Each stage typically has a set challenge or theme to race through. These challenges can range from standard racers to drift challenges or even races that take place entirely in the air. There are five different World Tour campaigns with 8 events in each for a total of 40 events for players to race through.
While single-player is a big part of the game, this is a racer and that means we need some sweet multiplayer. Luckily Sonic & All-Stars brings it in spades. Players can race alongside their friends through local cross-platform play, or also against strangers across the net using Game Center.
The controls for the game itself can be a little difficult to pick up and play. While most mobile racers have you controlling the direction by tilting the device left or right, All-Stars goes back to the old virtual thumbstick. The thumbstick can be a little unresponsive at times, forcing you to oversteer in order to maneuver your kart properly. Many players will adapt to this rather quickly but it is still a little jarring when you first start playing.
Visuals & Audio Sonic & All-Stars is actually a really nice game to look at. While it isn’t pushing the boundaries of the the iPhone’s hardware it features a bright colour pallet and a set of wild and varied race tracks that just look great.
The game features a slew of different racers that showcase not only the sonic family, but also a bunch of Sega heavy hitters. Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph also joins the ensemble with his signature look. Seeing all of these different characters racing against one another is a dream come true for anyone who grew up with the infamous hedgehog and his crew.
The race tracks all look amazing and are completely different from one another. The game keeps you on your toes with level design that changes rapidly (making use of boat and plane transformation mechanics similar to recent Mario Kart titles) leaving you wondering if it was even the same stage to begin with.
The game sounds just as good as it looks. The soundtrack is composed of a bunch of songs that franchise fans will immediately remember and that all manage to fit perfectly with the theme and tone of the game as well as the individual levels. The sound effects of lobbing a firework bomb at your friends are satisfying and reall capture the spirit of the game perfectly.
Overall
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is an enjoyable kart racer for mobile devices. While I doesn’t bring anything overly new or exciting to the table, what it does present is a lot of fun. Some awkward controls may hinder players initially but you will quickly adapt. The games biggest draw is without a doubt the ability to play online, no matter where you are. Sonic & his friends have definitely made the successful jump from console to mobile.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Check out the brand new iOS game Endless Nights, a rogue-like role-playing game by Nations Software. This game has attempted to tackled the problem of players getting bored of replaying the same old game and quests by creating a different experience each time you play it.
This sets Endless Nights to be a true adventure survival game, partially due to its no retries, only game overs. To balance out the frustration of death, there is a permanence system which allows players to choose a specific profile, such as the profile that allows some gold or gems to be carried over to the next character.
The game has a play-as-you-want skill system to avoid characters being exclusive to a class types; the choices players make direct their class. This again mixes up the game play as each time you can play any way you want.
There are also loads of other aspects to the mobile game such as a crafting system, themed areas, ability combinations, randomized quests and multiple end-game bosses which pushes Endless Nights to provide countless adventures and an endless amount of action.
Find it hereon iTunes at AU$0.99. The game is priced low so even those with tight wallets can have a crack at this one.
King’s Facebook Hit Farm Heroes Saga Now Available on Mobile Platforms
Beat the holiday blues with a trip down to the farm!
LONDON & NEW YORK, 2 JANUARY 2014: King, the world’s leading casual games company and creator of global hit game Candy Crush Saga, today announced that Farm Heroes Saga, its hugely popular and loveable match-three Facebook title, is now available to download for free on iOS and Android platforms.
Perfect to pick-up and play anytime, anywhere, Farm Heroes Saga is a super cute and social game which challenges players to switch and match various selections of lovable ‘Cropsie’ characters in rows of three or more, within specified move limits. With 100 levels available at launch, players can look forward to endless strawberry switching and carrot crunching chaos.
Farm Heroes Saga incorporates similar gameplay mechanics to King’s award-winningCandy Crush Saga, while also featuring a number of new and distinct ways of playing a match-3 puzzle. Additional gameplay elements include rechargeable boosters and regular challenging ‘Boss’ battles where players take on the evil ‘Rancid the Raccoon’ who is attempting to spoil the peaceful nature of the farm.
Having first launched on Facebook in March 2013, Farm Heroes Saga is now a top three Facebook game (AppData Dec 2013) with an extensive and active community. Its popularity stems from its colourful design, wide range of loveable characters and distinct and original gameplay features.
FarmHeroes Saga on mobile will seamlessly synchronise with Facebook so players can progress, unlock new levels and access leaderboards wherever and whenever they like, without losing any of their progress.
“Ever since we first launched the original installment of Farm Heroes Saga on Facebook ,the mobile version has been one of our community’s most requested titles,” says Tommy Palm, Games Guru at King. “We hope that its snackable nature and rewarding progression system will prove to be as much of a hit with mobile players as it has been with our Facebook fans. We look forward to welcoming new players down to the farm!”
Farm Heroes Saga is available to download for free now on iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) and on Google Play for Android.
-ENDS-
About King:
King is the world’s leading casual games company, with more than 1 billion gameplays per day globally. King offers more than 175 exclusive games in 14 languages through mobile, Facebook and the website www.king.com. The company has offices in Barcelona, Bucharest, London, Malta, Malmo, San Francisco and Stockholm. For more information, visit http://about.king.com.
Crave Creative Games have announced the recent release of their classic mobile game, Ice Block Breaker for iPhone and iPad, following the debut on Android. The app designer, Mike Hempfling is well known for his development on Farm Ninja, Math Whiz Flashcards and Stickman Drop.
Ice Block Breaker revolves around a penguin collecting fallen items from ice blocks, instead of performing a dance number from Happy Feet.
2014 is finally upon us and with it comes a new slate of anime to sink our teeth into. Like I’ve done in previous anime seasons I will be highlighting my top picks, this time for Winter 2014. I’ll be listing off the series that look most promising going into Winter 2014. At a glance this looks like it could very well be the best Winter season in quite some time. Usually Winter proves to be a weak season of anime, but for 2014 there looks to be some real heavy hitters. So without further adieu, these are the series that I will be watching this season of anime:
Buddy Complex
A mecha anime from Sunrise studio? Who would have guessed! To be honest, I can’t say that Buddy Complex looks good per say, but rather it looks so totally silly that it will likely be fun in the same way that Sunrise’s last mecha anime Valvrave the Liberator was.
Both stylistically and story-wise, Buddy Complex could quite easily be passed off as Valvrave the Liberator season 3. It looks to be very much a spiritual successor of that anime and I for one would be more than happy to get some more Valvrave-esque anime. Something crazy and fun, Buddy Complex looks to be all that and even a bit more. Heck if it actually turns out to be well and proper good than that’s just gravy isn’t it?
Hamatora: The Animation
This one looks like it could be the dark horse for the season. Not many are giving this one any real attention but I get the feeling it could be something special. With the creator of Blood Lad working on the series, it has an impressive pedigree no doubt. Having loved Blood Lad, this one naturally has my full attention.
The story revolves around some kids in Yokohama with powers fighting other people with powers for some reason. You know powers are pretty neat and with a simple concept like that, there is a lot of possibilities. I’m looking to be wowed by Hamatora and I think it will no doubt do just that.
Nisekoi As far as romantic comedies go Nisekoi is a very good one. The manga is a personal favourite of mine from the current Jump line-up. It features a likable cast a characters and some hilarious scenarios. While it may not exactly be the most original romantic comedy, it tackle all of the romcom tropes you’d expect and then hits them out of the ball park. It really does a great job at the classic romcom and even throws a twist here and there. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing this one animated. I’m not too sure about SHAFT animating it as they don’t have the best track record for quality in my opinion but hopefully the brilliant source material will shine through.
Space Dandy Undoubtedly the most anticipated anime of Winter 2014 is Space Dandy, the latest work from legendary anime director Shinichiro Watanabe. It looks like Watanabe took his classic series Cowboy Bebop and splashed it with a new coat of paint and spun it on a more comedic route.
I love Watanabe and his body of work. He has never once not impressed me with one of his anime series and I expect Space Dandy to be no different. While it does look like something very different from his previous works, I think it will still carry the spirit that all Watanabe anime do. Space Dandy looks simply out of this world. Bring on the dandy guy in the space.
Yokai Watch I’m a sucker for Level-5, both for their games and their anime. I love the Inazuma Eleven series the most however. It is such a bizarre anime series, relentlessly optimistic and filled with bombast. While Yokai Watch features a completely different story to Inazuma Eleven, if Level-5 manage to recapture that unwavering positivity with Yokai Watch, I’ll be more than pleased.
Level-5 bring something fresh to the table with their anime and games. Something different from the standard kids anime and this one looks to be a lot of fun because of it. A young boy has a watch that lets him see Yokai. It is a simply concept but I get the feeling that Level-5 will find a way to make it crazy as they do. Working alongside OLM, the studio behind Pokemon, I can only see great things for Yokai Watch and I am dying to ‘watch’ it.
Honorable Mentions:Silver Spoon 2, Noragami, Witch Craft Works and Strange+.
