2K Announces Availability of Sensei Wars for Smartphones and Tablets Worldwide
Train an army, build a dynasty, and become the fiercest leader to walk the Earth in the latest combat strategy game to hit the App Store, Amazon Appstore, and Google Play
Join the conversation on Twitter by using hashtag #SenseiWars
Sydney, Australia – December 16, 2013 – 2K today announced that Sensei Wars, a new combat strategy game set in a charismatic, 3D Asian art style, is now available for download worldwide on select iPad®*, iPhone®, iPod®, iPod® touch, Android™, and Amazon Kindle devices.
Sensei Wars challenges mobile gamers to rule a 3D world by building and defending a thriving rural village, creating alliances, and training an army of lethal soldiers to conquer other players’ base camps and resources. Each player begins with an immortal Sensei warrior, a controllable and versatile offensive and defensive unit that masters skills from three different fighting styles, and embarks in warfare alongside additional military units, such as Monks, Samurai, Ninjas, and Dragons, as they are unlocked.
“In developing Sensei Wars, Cat Daddy Games worked hard to incorporate features we hadn’t seen before, as well as create an experience that resonates with a wide variety of mobile gamers to keep them coming back,” said Harley Howe, co-studio head of Cat Daddy Games. “From being able to explore the game from a 360-degree perspective, to defining the Sensei’s fighting style, Sensei Wars adds a layer of depth and control combat-strategy fans can’t experience anywhere else.”
For those preferring strength in numbers, Sensei Wars offers dynamic co-operative gameplay elements to assist in the race to the top of the leaderboards, through forming allegiances with other players, sharing reinforcements, and working together in battle.
Sensei Wars is now available for freeto download on the App Store, Amazon Appstore, and Google Play for select mobile devices.
For more information on Sensei Wars and 2K, visitFacebook and @senseiwars on Twitter.
*Supported mobile devices for Sensei Wars includes: iPad 2 and up, iPad mini, iPod touch 4 and up and iPhone 4 and up.
Cat Daddy Games is a 2K studio. 2K is a wholly owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
After more than a year on the loose, the man behind a string of criminal acts perpetrated against the author of Kuroko’s Basketball and others involves with the popular manga series has at long last been caught.
Having sent over 250 threat letters, some of which contained lethal doses of poisonous chemicals, the man behind these crimes has been formally arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitean Police Department with charges of ‘obstruction of business’ for his poisoning of Kuroko’s Basketball snacks in the 7/11 convenience store chain.
The man, 36 year old Hirofumi Watanabe, gave the following comment upon his arrest, “I’m sorry. I’ve lost.” As of this time there is no known motive for these criminal acts. However due to the nature of the threats being aimed at Tadatoshi Fujimaki the author of Kuroko’s Basketball, many have speculated he has a connection of some kind and perhaps a grudge against him. Of course that is merely speculation at this point in time.
Stay tuned for further updates on this criminal’s arrest as this case further develops.
Icon Home Entertainment will be releasing Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital formats, nation-wide, on March 12. “Trained to kill. Left for dead. Back for more.” Machete (Danny Trejo) returns for more grindhouse action and gore.
As the director himself states, “Machete Kills is the movie that shows Machete is truly a super hero.” He is now on the right side of the law, and after losing his partner in a sting operation gone wrong, is contacted by the President of the United States. He has a proposition – a mission that would otherwise be deemed impossible for any other man. FilmInk called the film “pure, unadulterated fun.” The movie also stars Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious 6, Avatar) and Jessica Alba (Sin City) reprising their roles from the first, along with Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Vanessa Hudgens, Antonio Banderas and Lady Gaga as La Chameleon.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Developer:Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Platforms: PS3, PS4 (reviewed), Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Wii U Price: $59.99 – Available Here
Overview
Many thought that the Assassin’s Creed franchise was running out of steam with the release of Assassin’s Creed III, which seemed to divide fans more than the previous entries. Ubisoft pushed ahead, however, with their army of developers and kept the fundamentals largely intact. It’s safe to say the approach worked and players once again are taken on a historical adventure with that ominous back story still very much alive.
You could say Ubisoft got fairly lucky here as well, as Black Flag had the pleasure of launching on the next-gen consoles almost side-by-side with its current-gen counterparts. We delved to see how it stacks up on the PlayStation 4.
Story
Set in the early 18th century, players take on the role of Edward Kenway who is an aspiring British privateer hoping to make a name for himself in the West Indies. The huge reward that comes with piracy turned him to a life of plunder on the high seas facing powerful empires, intrigue and betrayal among his own fellow pirates.
Interestingly, the Assassin Order, which is so prevalent in previous games, doesn’t play as big of a role for most of the game as one would expect. Edward obviously becomes an Assassin but at the same time he isn’t really an Assassin. In fact, he is at odds with the Order for a good chunk of the story despite wearing their uniform and skewering foes with the hidden blades. Also unclear is just how he became so adept from the start of the game, with no real training unlike Ezio who honed his skills over many years.
As players take part against the Spanish and English Empires with volleys of cannon-fire, the Templars are ever present and continue to scheme in order to control human civilisation by unlocking the secrets of the Precursor Race and their high-tech artifacts.
Although Revelations was the last game I played, I noticed a lack of real urgency in Black Flag. The Assassin Order seems almost inept at combating the Templars while Edward himself hardly takes an interest until the end. The focus on the micro-plot, which is about the pirates, is done amazingly well and reminded me of classic literature about betrayal that accompanied wealth during the age of exploration.
But that comes at the expense of the macro-plot to an extent as players exit the animus less frequently. Speaking of which, we now have a first-person view when we’re in the “real” world and activities consist of hacking other employees for more top secret data regarding the Templars. That’s right, this time you are a new character who works for Abstergo Entertainment, inspired by Ubisoft’s game studios. We’re breaking the fourth wall here, people. But by using this logic, does that mean Ubisoft is run by the Templars as well?
Gameplay Those familiar with Assassin’s Creed will jump in without any problems as usual. Ubisoft has maintained the free-running, sword-slashing formula for Black Flag but with one clear distinction: naval battles have been tuned to near-perfection. You will find yourself sailing, fishing, sinking enemy ships and upgrading your own more than running and climbing on foot.
Ubisoft has made on the largest maps yet where you can destroy and take over coastal forts, explore uninhabited islands, hunt for whales, dive for shipwrecks and of course board ships for money and materials. All while navigating storms that threaten to sink you with “rogue waves” and waterspouts. The more powerful your ship becomes the greater chance you have of taking on the floating fortresses known as man o’ wars. There is just so much to do and you’ll spend countless hours trying to collect and upgrade everything.
While the tremendous naval aspect is a welcome improvement, the action on firm soil is starting to become a little weary. It’s still much easier to just kill everyone rather than take your time on assassination missions. There is still a huge reliance on tailing and eavesdropping stealthily and the game mechanics and AI get in the way of making this any more enjoyable and believable from the previous games. Moving forward, these features must evolve beyond existing limitations as they are fundamental to most missions.
Outside the animus you can walk around your office taking part in hacking mini-games for precious information on Assassin’s Creed’s true story and your predecessor, Desmond, as the plot inside the animus doesn’t really kick off until later in the game.
Multiplayer stubbornly returns, and while most players will stick to the singleplayer, it’s there for others to dabble in. It’s largely the same as before but without the deathmatch mode. Instead you’ll be trying to fool other players into thinking you’re a harmless NPC before assassinating them. You can create your own custom character and improve your skills but again, it’s doubtful you’d remain here when the next game comes out.
Audio
The sound design is great as always especially during naval warfare with the cannons, cries from your shipmates and the splintering of wood make for an awesome experience. Voice-acting is among the best in the series and the music matches the atmosphere impeccably with some fast-paced string instruments during battle.
Unfortunately I encountered a lot of weird glitching during sword fights where the sound doesn’t keep up with the action and it lags behind. I’m not sure if this is isolated to the PS4 version or if every platform encounters this.
Visuals Year after year Ubisoft has used more or less the same engine for Assassin’s Creed with some heavy tweaks to keep things looking good. Black Flag is the nicest looking game in the franchise to date and while the textures are still looking flat and facial models a little uncanny, the water and weather effects are outstanding. The locations in the game allowed the team to use a more vibrant colour palette with bright blue skies, lush vegetation and emerald water.
Following the mad obsession over next-gen game resolution, Ubisoft released a patch that upped the PS4 resolution from 900p to 1080p and improved anti-aliasing. While this in no way brings Black Flag in-line with true next-gen, it cleans the picture up and makes for a smoother experience that more or less matches what one would expect on the PC. Until the inevitable 2014 entry, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is still a PS3/X360 game which sees a welcome improvement when played on the PS4 or Xbox One consoles.
Overall
I honestly had my doubts when Black Flag was unveiled, thinking Ubisoft would rely on gimmicks like dual-wielding and the ever-so-loved pirate theme. But playing through it has made me realise Ubisoft continues to craft some pretty amazing stories in a historical context. I can only applaud them for giving us these intriguing games that show off a slice of history while making us think about the possibilities presented in the sci-fi conspiracy aspect.
While the original concept of “assassin” is almost tossed to the wayside by the 6th entry in the series, Black Flag is one heck of a pirate tale that is as addictive as it is intriguing. There simply hasn’t been an Assassin’s Creed game this captivating since Assassin’s Creed II. If you’re wanting an action adventure title to add to your (tiny) PS4 library, this is the one to buy even if you haven’t played the previous games. If you’re a fan and you have a PS4 then there is no excuse not to get Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag with a few extra bells and whistles.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Street Fighter never really dies, each Street Fighter game gets two or 3 iterations before they move onto the next and it seems as though nothing has changed with Capcom’s latest title; Ultra Street Fighter IV. Over the weekend at the Capcom Cup Tournament in San Francisco, it was announced that the new release of the game will have two extra modes for fight fans to get into. Online Practice and Team Battle are the two modes that have been added to the game. Online Practice is pretty much exactly how it sounds; you head online and you go up against another player both with the intentions of just mucking around and sorting out how exactly to use the different characters. Team Battle, on the other hand, allows you access to three-on-three matches, there’s no better brawl than a six man brawl.
Ultra Street Fighter IV will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime in June, it will cost $14.99 to upgrade from the original Street Fighter IV and it will cost $39.99 for the stand-alone copy of the game. A note to all you PC users out there: The game is set for a release for you guys sometime in August, once again the upgrade will cost you $14.99 but this time the stand-alone game will cost you $29.99, it’s a digital-only release so you can see why. Before you rush off to get your pre-orders in for the new game, you should check out the Ultra Street Fighter IV – New Modes and Features Trailer which you can see below. Keep fightin’, people!
Overview
The rogue-like role playing game feels as though it sits in a niche carved deep within the fires of Mount Doom. Many see it as a genre too deep and obscure to ever carve their way through. Other brave adventurers spend days, months, or years harvesting the gold carved that runs deep within. Now Compile Heart and Aksys Games are trying to put their own flavor on the rogue-like dish – curry, to be exact. How does their newest offering, Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God hold up? Should it be served at all of the finest restaurants or taken out with the trash?
Story Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God hits release in the west but maintains all of the usual notes Japanese connoisseurs have accustomed their palate to. The story focuses around a young girl named Pupuru who attends school at the local Magic Academy. After cheating her way to a perfect score, she’s chosen to represent her class in a grueling climb through a monster-infested tower. When she reaches the top, the item she has to retrieve is gone, but she finds an ancient curry recipe book. When her teacher sees that she’s failed to retrieve the item, she is suspended from school. On her way home, she stops in at her favorite curry restaurant only to find out that it’s in danger of closing its doors forever. She promises to retrieve all the ingredients and make a magical curry that will save the tiny restaurant, and thus her adventures begin.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Curse of the Great Curry God will quickly feel familiar to folks who’ve tried their hand at rogue-like RPGs in the past. You’ll control Pupuru as she navigates and fights though each dungeon. Each action you take is considered to constitute a turn, whether as a single step forward, healing yourself, casting a spell, changing a piece of equipment, or otherwise. For each action you take, every other creature on the dungeon’s floor also takes a turn. As with so many other rogue-likes, this produces a fun, rhythmic cadence to your actions while setting up for some intense tactical choices.
With each dungeon you enter, Pupuru will start at level 1 in terms of her personal progression. With each monster you slaughter, you’ll gain experience and levels, quickly building your stats for the increasingly more difficult floors of the dungeons you explore. It offers a great sense of progression as you begin anew and spend a couple of hours going through a dungeon, but the lack of long-term statistical progression can feel somewhat jarring. Whether you complete the dungeon or fail miserably, you’ll still be at level 1 the next time you start a dungeon.
Pupuru isn’t entirely alone as she quests for magical curry ingredients. A small creature named Kuu soon joins her. He’ll do his best to help Pupuru fend off the nasty monsters in every dungeon. Kuu’s help isn’t entirely free, though. The small Pokémon-esque tagalong has a voracious appetite, and he needs to be fed often in order both stay alive and be effective. You can satiate him for a time by throwing items in your inventory at him. Swords, shields, healing items, and more are all fair game to his enormous appetite. There are some added benefits to feeding him extra items, though, since he gains levels through eating. Every so many levels, he also gets an ability. This can be an active ability Pupuru can utilize (melding items together) or passive abilities such as higher health recovery to resistance to poison. It presents a fun, unique dynamic that gives you something to distract yourself apart from the dungeon crawl.
Apart from Kuu, Pupuru will meet a whole host of colorful, humorous characters on her journey. From the perpetually wish-washy curry-seeker Puni to the Demon turned puppy-in-love, to the bumbling, misguided antics of three want-to-be heroes hired beat Pupuru to the ingredients and more, everyone keeps the story fun and light-hearted. The story is full of entertaining, laughable humor and general goof to keep you interested. It’s a welcome break from the hard-nosed save-the-world darkness, even if the core game is hard enough to break your teeth.
As you work through each dungeon, you’ll grab tons of items. Weaponry and gear can be equipped or thrown, magic scrolls can be learned or used, ingredients can be combined to make various temporary stat-boosting curries, and more. Your bags are limited to only 24 items, though, so you’ll spend a lot of time managing your inventory, dishing out items to Kuu, and so on. Beyond that, some items can carry curses that are only lifted once you’re out of a dungeon. Inventory management feels somewhat cumbersome, but no more than any other rogue-like.
The one thing that may, unfortunately, turn folks off of Sorcery Saga is its rogue-like nature. You can quickly find yourself outnumbered and taking a beating. Death carries harsh penalties, not the least of which is the loss of all your time spent working through the dungeon. Still, though things can sometimes feel stacked against you, overall the experience is both manageable and rewarding.
Visuals Sorcery Saga works hard to present you with a great looking experience. Character models looks bright and colorful with cartoonish aesthetic to it. In conversations, beautiful 2D anime sprites do a great job keeping the story going. When a lot of enemies are on-screen and taking their turns, the game can present some visual chugging, but it’s ultimately inconsequential. The endearing look will win the hearts of those who want to spend time with it.
Audio
The audio design overall is a great package. The game could have benefitted from voice overs done in English, but the Japanese voice-overs are great at conveying both the personality and story of each character. The game’s soundtrack is a great fit as well, driving the action forward without distracting from the experience.
Overall
Overall, Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God is an entertaining experience for players willing to put in the time. The exploration and combat are fun, the characters and story are humorous and endearing, and the audio-visual experience is cute and engaging. The game will inherently lose appeal to folks intimidated by its harsh rogue-like nature, but fans of the genre will be quite happy with the time they’ve spent to save a small curry restaurant.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
I seem to be one of the very few people who hear or read the word “Avatar” and instantly think about one of the two the hit TV series’ “The Last Airbender” or “The Legend of Korra” instead of the James Cameron blockbuster of the same name, something I assume most others think of when they hear that word. Both series’, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, follow the journey of the current Avatar as they travel the four nations bringing peace to all they meet and eventually doing their best to save the known world and all of its inhabitants both physically and spiritually from some sort of all-engulfing evil. The Avatar franchise has made countless fans from all corners of the globe because of its beautiful and vibrant colours, fluid animation and some of the deepest storylines to ever come out of a cartoon supposedly targeted towards a young audience.
The series creators gain a lot of inspiration from Japanese animation or “Anime”, as all the kids are calling it these days, and they have proven to be the masters of bring Anime themes and styles over to the West to make it their own, the funny thing is that they succeeded in doing that almost instantly with “The Last Airbender” and have continued to prove it to audiences with ‘The Legend Of Korra“, the funnier thing is that despite how well it fits into the genre a fair few Anime fans out there do NOT consider it to be Anime. I’ve thought about this a fair bit for a while now and I still can’t come down to an exact answer as to why this is so, is it simply because it isn’t Japanese-made? Osamu Tezuka, who you should all know as a legend in the industry, took a lot of inspiration from Walt Disney and all of his works, does that then make Mangas like “Dororo” any less of a Manga? Does it make “Kimba The White Lion” any less of an Anime?
Look, I’m not here to give a one-sided argument, I can also see why it wouldn’t be considered an Anime; it cannot do some particular things better than traditional Anime can, it is NOT Japanese made so I can see where culture plays a part and I can also see how some fans look at the series as nothing but a “wannabe Anime” , even though I don’t like it I sure as heck can understand it. What I really want is to know what all of YOU think, voice your opinion on the matter by heading to the comments section below as well as on our Twitter page (@capsulecomputer) and on our Facebook page (click here). Avatar – The Anime That Isn’t Quite Anime…Right? Help us decide.
Sony Pictures have recently done something that is both odd and exciting, it seems as though they’ve gone and registered a few domain names that have alerted fans to the idea that there may just be an official “Sonic The Hedgehog” movie planned.
Now obviously this isn’t confirmed at all and Sony Pictures have said nothing on the matter at this point in time but us here at Capsule Computers love a little bit of speculation and if it causes fans to jump with joy simply at the though than we’re all for it!
The domains; “sonicthehedgehog-movie.com“, “sonicthehedgehog-movie.net” and “sonicthedgehogmovie.net” were all registered by Sony, hopefully we may actually see something come out of this and even more I hope, if this ends up becoming a reality, it does justice to the “Sonic The Hedgehog” name unlike a few of the franchises newer games.
Until we actually hear any info on the supposed movie I say we all just keep playing Sonic games and stay positive for a real cool and possible release. Gotta’ go fast!
The new Irish indie developers Punchscreen Games released Goldbeard on Desura.com on December 12th. The puzzle platformer follows Goldbeard, a dwarf who has to seek out gold and ale within the Dwarven dungeons to help the Queen save the kingdom. The game has a lot of different features that make it a worthwhile purchase for anyone who enjoys puzzle platformers.
Features
Plenty of unique levels for you to explore as Goldbeard. There are 40 different dungeons for Goldbeard to navigate through. Remember, you wield no weapons as Goldbeard, relying instead on agility, speed, and reflex.
Goldbeard’s torch can only do so much to light up the dungeons. Players have a time limit to complete their tasks. Once the torch burns out, you have to start over.
Enemy creeps roam the dungeons, making your task a difficult one. Ancient skeletons scour the dungeons, waiting for an unsuspecting prey to fall into their bony grasp.
You can find the PC game on Desura.com here for $2.99 EUR. Whether you’re an avid puzzle-platformer enthusiast or an aspiring side-scroller gamer, this game seems like a great choice to invest in.
The next announcement for Madman’s#12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion is here. Madman Entertainment have officially announced that they have acquired the license for the anime Samurai Bride.
Samurai Bride is the sequel to the popular anime series Samurai Girls which was also released by Madman Entertainment. The follow-up series Samurai Bride continues the story in epic fashion and is surely a must-have for fans of the original series.
Stay tuned for further details on Madman’s #12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion as they continue to announce more and more title acquisitions in the coming days in the lead up to Christmas. Be sure to let us know what you think of this announcement in the comments section.
