The winner of Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live 2013 contest Epigenesis started their Early Access on Steam today. The game has also won the Swedish Game Awards’ Game of the Year prize for 2013. Developers Dead Shark Triplepunch describe their game as a “love letter to Quake and Unreal Tournament’s Bombing Run.” The non violent title pits two teams of five against each other in game that is a hybrid of domination and football. Players will need to run a ball into their opponent’s goal to gain the right to plant a seed on one of the towers that litter the playing field. The team that creates a string of towers connecting their goal post to the enemy goal is declared the winner.
To assist them, players will have access to a variety of force based abilities, equipment, and plants. Attacking opponents can be pushed off towers to whittle their numbers or slowed with smoke emitting plants.
Epigenesis is available now for $9.99 USD on Steam. The game currently only supports Windows and the full game is set to launch in early 2014. The developers are hosting weekly play with the team games on Sundays at 20:00 (UTC +2). They promise they won’t bite, but there is no guarantees that players won’t be Dead Shark Triplepunched, whatever that special ability may be…
Overview
We recently reviewed the first volume of the Vampire Hunter Dmanga series right here, last week. The world that was initially established there continues on in Volume 2. How does the story hold up, though? What sort of folk and beast will ‘D’ be dealing with in this volume? Is the art as good or better as the last volume? Let’s find out.
Story
As the story opens, a group of townsfolk are bearing a coffin along the road, headed for a bridge. It’s revealed that the person in the coffin was bitten by a noble the night before. As the vampire hunter who’s present (not ‘D’) prepares to drive a stake through the heart of the coffin, a hand bursts forth, grasping onto the neck of the hunter. The villagers quickly dump it overboard with the vampire hunter and it sinks to the depths of the river. Even more shocking is the fact that all this takes place in the middle of the day, with the sun in full effect.
The story quickly jumps to the village of Tepes. We’re quickly shown that something very unusual is going on here. Ruins resides at the top of a hill just outside the town, but it is protected by intense magical defenses.
Lending to the eery feeling of the hill is a story that has plagued the town of Tepes for a decade. One day, four children went up the hill together. The children were gone without a trace. For a week, the town searched desperately for the children, but it was all for naught. Then, a week later, the children came traipsing down the hill. Only three of the four returned, and all three had no recollection of what had happened.
While the time frame is the same as volume 1, our protagonist, the dhampir vampire hunter who only refers to himself as ‘D’, finds himself in the employ of the mayor of Tepes, 10 years after the incident with the children. It’s his responsibility to track down the missing fourth child who never returned and destroy him.
As he begins his search, he soon runs into Lina. One of the children who’d gone missing a decade prior, she’s as sharp as a whip and labels herself as D’s assistant. Along the way, D also runs into the other two children who’d returned – Lucas Meyer, who’s become the town’s school teacher, and Cuore Jorshtern, who returned deranged and never recovered.
Throughout the volume ‘D’ has run-ins with the mysterious noble, usually also somehow involving one of the three survivors. The vampire, who covers his face with bandages and his face, is constantly giving ‘D’ and the townsfolk something to be concerned about at every turn.
Volume 2’s story is, overall, quite satisfying. There is a pervading sense of mystery that slowly has the veil lifted, shedding light on some quite interesting twists and turns along the way. The complete break of this storyline from Volume 1 feels like it was the best possible choice, granting much more freedom, not only for where this story went, but anything coming in the future as well. Part of the plot also reveals a few very juicy bits of D’s origin story as well, providing not only a good story in its own right, but continued character growth for our protagonist. There are a couple of story beats that feel like they cause some jarring transitions from one story point to another, but overall, this entry into the series is a solid one that earns it keep.
Artwork
The artwork in Volume 2 feels much more consistent overall than Volume 1’s artwork did. Characters feel like they are more deliberately drawn with their own unique characteristics, which lends credence to the visual style and setting.
The combat scenes in Volume 2 still feel plagues by the over-saturation of ink, though. A man clad in dark armor battling creatures of the night in black-and-white can make the situations a bit confusing, making it easy to lose focus on the flow of what’s happening. Apart from that, it feels as though Ms. Takaki is starting to find her groove with this entry, making it an overall more pleasant experience than Volume 1.
Extra Content
Folks who stick around beyond the main story will be treated to a short bit about the author’s struggle with weight gain as she drew Volume 2. She discusses the rise of Billy Blanks in Japanese culture and how she ultimately settled on a dance exercise routine known as “Turbo Jam.” After weeks of working out, she begins to see that she’s developing abs, but also keeps a bit of the flab around. It’s an amusing set of panels, and one that many western readers will likely get a kick out of given our lifestyle.
Overall
Overall, Vampire Hunter D Volume 2 is a solid entry to what feels like it could be a fantastic series. The story is quite well told, with many interesting twists and turns. The visuals feel better overall than Volume 1 did, but the action sequences still feel too busy. That said, anyone who enjoyed the first entry in the series or enjoyed the same content in other formats will have a great time working through Volume 2.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
AMD has launched its new Gaming Evolved App, powered by gaming rewards community Raptr. AMD users will be able to access in-game live stream tools via Twitch, take screenshots, browse the web and chat. The App is bundled with Battlefield 4 for PC as well as AMD’s Catalyst 13.11 Beta 6 or later drivers. It’s also available as a standalone download on Raptr’s AMD page.
AMD gamers will be able to optimise their games based on performance, quality or balance according to their hardware while registered Raptr users who track their game stats with the App are eligible to win free games, DLC and hardware just by playing. Raptr and AMD are also giving away over $300,000 of prizes via the AMD Gaming Evolved Sweepstakes: Play & Win.
AMD recently launched its latest high-end card, the Radeon R290X. The hefty jump in performance allowed AMD to edge ahead of its competitor, Nvidia.
Activision have just released a brand new trailer for the hotly anticipated blockbuster first-person shooter Call of Duty: Ghosts. The new trailer features the games highly touted ‘Extinction Mode’.
The trailer features the first contact with the zombie outbreak which is the major focal point of ‘Extinction Mode’ which seems to be somewhat similar of the Zombies Mode from previous games but with aliens.
If you love aliens you are sure to love ‘Extinction Mode’ which lets you lay the smackdown on the extraterrestrial masses. You can check out the Call of Duty: Ghosts ‘Extinction Mode’ trailer below in all of its mass extinction glory.
WWE will be touring the United Kingdom in November for a series of live wrestling events. To go along with that tour, 2K Games will be bringing the WWE 2K14 video-game to shopping centres around the UK in conjunction with the WWE wrestling tour.
The WWE 2K14 shopping centre tour will feature appearances from real-life WWE superstars as well as exclusive WWE 2K14 merchandise for purchase. The following tour dates and locations have been confirmed by 2K:
8th November – Glasgow Braehead Arena, with gameplay at the Buchannan Galleries and the chance to meet a WWE Superstar*
11th November – Manchester MEN Arena, with gameplay at the Arndale Shopping Centre
12th November – Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, with gameplay at the Metro Centre
13th November – Nottingham Capital FM Arena, with gameplay at Broadmarsh and the chance to meet a WWE Superstar*
14th November – Leeds Arena, with gameplay at the Trinity Shopping Centre and the chance to meet a WWE Superstar*
15th November – O2 Arena, with gameplay at the Lakeside shopping centre;
16th November – Minehead Butlins (Somerset), with gameplay at Inside, in the Skyline Pavillion, and the chance to meet a WWE Superstar*
Be sure to hit up the tour if you’re located in the UK for a chance to get your hands on this amazing wrestling video-game that is WWE 2K14.
William Redmoor just can’t seem to catch a break, but those wanting to re-experience or experience Renegade Kid’s Dementium II for the first time wont have to wait too long now that the HD version is available for preorder. Set for release in December for PC, with plans to reach Mac in January in time for DLC, Dementium II HD is looking to reach a bigger audience than its original DS release thanks to the re-emergence of the Horror genre in indie games.
Players will have plenty of monsters to face off against from Chest Maws, to the Wendigo Witch, and much more while trying to navigate the asylum. Those wanting to see what Dementium II HD has to offer can find out in the action trailer that publisher Digital Tribe Games and the HD port developer Memetic Games have just released embedded below.
Anuman Interactive have today released a new kart racer for the iPad that will soon be coming to PC and Mac as well. The game is called Racers Islands and is being released under the Microids label. The new racer brings together the six greatest pilots in the world to battle in the ‘Champions Tournament’ which will decide who receives the prestigious title of Uncontested Master of the Road.
The game will have many classic trademarks of the kart racing genre, most reminescent of the Mario Kart series. Game modes include race and arena, where your goal is to reach the end first or destroy your opponents vechicles and be the last one standing. A cool twist is that players will have a deafult weapon that is always available but reloads over time. This default weapon can damage vehicles and also slow them down. Another ather unique mechanic is that the player will have to collect the nuts scattered around the track to repair this damage and bring your car back up to speed. Other more standard weapons such as bombs and shields are also present among others like boost. Single player modes such as Championship, Simple Race or Time Trial are also available and there are 10 tracks to race on as well as 5 battle arenas for the battle mode.
Racers Islands will be released in 5 languages including French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. You can get the game right now through the App Store for the iPad or wait for the PC/Mac release that is coming in November.
The last trailer for Thief showed off just a bit of the return of Basso, but only in so much as to at least show that fact that he was still kicking around the city. The newest trailer released however gets a little more personal with the now fence as he gives a cold hard look at the realities of the city that they are living in.
This is however is the first in a new series of videos for Thief from Square Enix and Eidos-Montreal, all laying the way for the game before it releases in February. It’s hard to tell where the video series plans to go from here though, will there be even more information from Basso about the dire straight of the city, or will we get to hear from some other sources.
Those wanting to see “Basso’s Gamble”, the first part of the new “Stories from The City” series, can find it emebedded below. Thief is currently set to release the last week of February 2014 for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
To mark the launch of the new iPad Air, Square Enix are giving owners of an iOS device the chance to try out their vampire hunting RPG, Bloodmasque for free. Until midnight on the 7th November this action packed battle through a vampire infested 19th century Paris is available for free download on the App Store after which point it will return to its original price of US$6.99.
As if the $0 price tag wasn’t enough incentive to download Bloodmasque, there have been new features added to the game just in time for this event. A new ‘Hunter Rankings’ mode has been implemented which allows players to fight it out in special weekly quests where only the best of the best will be able to claim the unique in-game items that are awarded to the highest scoring competitors.
Bloodmasque is available for free download now on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Make sure to pick it up now before the offer runs out on November 7th. You can download it here from the iTunes store.
Welcome back for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed last week’s, or are new to the suggestions, click on the link below and check out what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS device along with the introduction on how the suggestions work. (suggestions 1 has how it all works)
A great week on iTunes! As always, it started slow and but ended with a bang! There are many must-buy games this week in all departments, FREE, 99c and over 99c. This week I’ve suggested a total of 27 great quality titles. Make sure you check them all especially… Thor: The Dark World, Beyond The Dead, Lep’s World 3, Anomaly 2, Bit.Trip Run!, Runaway Part 2, just to name a few.
Break down below :
12 – FREE Games
4 – $0.99c Games
11 – Over $0.99c Games As always for this week’s suggestions are all new titles that you should take a look at and consider spending your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. Well the Free games just below certainly should all be given a shot as they won’t cost you anything!
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
MASTERABBOTT’S FREE GAME PICK OF THE WEEK!
Thor: The Dark World – Official Game – Price : FREE – Publisher – Gameloft (Become Thor, the mighty God of Thunder, in this official action-adventure game! Malekith, the lord of the Dark Elves and ancient enemy of Asgard, leads an invasion to destroy the Nine Worlds! Thor must race to stop the Dark Elves from plunging the universe into darkness! Join forces with Asgard’s greatest warriors and embark on an epic quest to stop Malekith’s dark ambitions and restore order to the Nine Worlds. ) on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Romans From Mars – Price : FREE – Publisher – Majesco (You are a Roman soldier, and you and your crossbow are all that stands in the way of the God of War, Mars, and his invading Martian army. Luckily, Jupiter has endowed you with awesome and terrifying elemental powers of Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning. You must hold the line and defend your castle walls or risk Earth being overrun by these Romans… from Mars!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Stack Rabbit – Price : FREE – Publisher – Disney (Stack Rabbit is here! Hop in and play a wild new puzzle adventure from Disney and the creators of Where’s My Water! Download now and stack your way to puzzle success! Ben the Rabbit’s peaceful, veggie-thieving life is turned upside down when his sister goes on vacation leaving him to babysit her restless bunny children. With a bounty of bouncing bunnies to feed, Ben must sneak into the nearby farm and steal enough veggies to feed the kids! But watch out – Max the guard dog is always keeping a watchful eye on the farm’s veggies!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Beyond The Dead – Price : FREE – Publisher –GREE (You are the last hope. A survivor of an unknown viral outbreak. Join the fight against the zombie hordes. And, when the world is against you and the walking dead roam the streets, you know what works best? Guns. Lots of guns. You don’t have to do it alone. Find other survivors. Together, you will become humanity’s last shot at redemption. Build a safe haven and defend it against zombies and humans alike, find the supplies necessary for survival, and uncover the truth about the outbreak. Fight, survive, prevail.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Axes & Allies – Price : FREE – Publisher –Everplay (Axes & Allies is a line-drawing RPG with simple yet intuitive controls that puts you in command of your own band of Orcs, each with their own unique powers and abilities, to lead the fight against the army of the undead to save their Warchief.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Combat Monsters – Price : FREE – Publisher –Rubicon (Combat Monsters are not your everyday monsters. They will follow your commands to vanquish the enemy… or die a fiery death! Play for FREE against friends right in front of you or on the other side of the globe. Devise strategies that make the most of your deck: will you overrun your adversary with dozens of bloodthirsty creatures? Defend your Hero at all costs with healing spells? Invest heavily in runes and concentrate on a few high-powered cards? ) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! HD – Price : FREE – Publisher –Big Fish Games (Match 3? Heck no! Match Z™! Fight against endless waves of the undead in Zombie! Zombie! Zombie! You’ll need an arsenal of weaponry, hilarious power-ups and the power of Match-Z, the zombie-matching, earth-shaking gameplay that blows the greenheadzzz to kingdom come. ) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Sports Car Challenge 2 – Price : FREE – Publisher –Volkswagen Investment (High-end racing on mobile enters the next round with Sports Car Challenge 2 by Volkswagen Group (China) and Fishlabs. Drive a total of 14 exclusive super cars by international top-brands such as Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen. Enjoy photo-realistic 3D graphics and spectacular attention to detail. Show your skills on the asphalt in three ambitious game modes and make your way to the top of the global leader boards. Fill your trophy room with the rewards from dozens of challenging achievements!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Backyard Monsters: Unleashed – Price : FREE – Publisher –KIXEYE (Is that a monster in your pocket? The top-rated, action strategy game on Facebook is now available on iPhone and iPad! Hatch, train, and lead a deadly monster army into battle. Team up with your friends or attack them for valuable resources. Build and upgrade your yard into an impenetrable fortress to repel invaders. Do you think you have what it takes to create the mightiest backyard empire? Unleash your monster horde today!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Bread Puppies – Price : FREE – Publisher – Bake450(Take a journey into the land of Woofshire where puppies roam and frolic to their heart’s content! But oh no, a mysterious evil has brainwashed all the puppies and it’s up to you to rescue them! Collect as many puppies as you can, travel through each region to find rare and unique pups, and bake delicious bread as armor to help in battle!) on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Pocket Garden – Price : FREE – Publisher –Cobra Mobile (Pocket Garden, the all-new puzzle matching and sorting game. Hand-made for iOS. Touch, tap and swipe your way to the garden you’ve always wanted.
Get Pocket Garden now and see what you can grow today?) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
NinJump Rooftops – Price : FREE – Publisher – Backflip Studios (NinJump Rooftops is a fast-paced game where your goal is to jump between rooftops, avoid obstacles, defeat enemies, and stay alive as long as you can. Jump, slash & run for your life! Grab coins & jade crystals along the way to upgrade your ninja abilities. Hit 3 matching enemies in a row for an epic power-up boost. Fly through the air on a zip wire. Dodge throwing stars, deadly fire pits & evil squirrels. ) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Lep’s World 3 – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – nerByte (It’s a beautiful sunny day in Leprechaun Village. Lep and his friends are enjoying the sun. But suddenly dark clouds approach and lightning illuminates the sky. Evil trolls appear, who steal the elves’ gold and kidnap all the villagers. Lep is the only one who escapes. ) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Even Up – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Simple Machine (Even Up is a simple and rewarding puzzle game where you swipe your way through over 100 handcrafted puzzles by combining all the tiles until just one remains. The best things in life are simple, treat yourself to Even Up.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Teggle – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – J. Van Der Wee (Tap and swipe to clear your screen of tiles in this new, simple yet addictive game.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Nitroman – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Alpapps.com (The general goal throughout the series is to complete the levels by strategically placing bombs in order to kill enemies and destroy obstacles. Exploding bombs can set off other bombs, kill or injure enemies and destroy obstacles. Be careful when you are next to an exploding bomb you die. ) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99
MasterAbbott’s over 99c Pick Of The Week!
Anomaly 2 – Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Chillingo (Lead the Yukon convoy across a post-apocalyptic wasteland to fight for mankind’s survival against the alien machines in an epic single player campaign. Use over one million tactical combinations including troops that morph into game-changing war mechs to overcome the enemy’s gauntlet.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Bit.Trip Run! – Price : $4.49 – Publisher – Gaijin Games (BIT.TRIP RUN! – A rhythm-music platforming game. Run through fantastic environments, using brand new moves, to a rich soundtrack as you run, jump, slide, kick, and soar toward the goal! ) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Khaba– Price : $4.49 – Publisher – Hello There (A mystery puzzle adventure. Michael is an ambitious explorer searching for a secret treasure. Finding himself trapped in the dark pyramid of Khaba, a weak ray of sunlight becomes his only hope. Through chambers filled with puzzles, Michael must reflect this beam against orbs and dusty mirrors to pass each test. When a lit stone opens one passage, another one is blocked and each chamber becomes a further test of patience and reason. ) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Snail Boy– Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Thoopid (Snailboy is a fun physics based, puzzle platform game, with rich graphics, killer sounds and over 45 levels of intoxicating game play.) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Crowman & Wolfboy – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Wither Studios (Crowman & Wolfboy are an unlikely pair of shadow creatures on a bizarre journey to escape their own nature and find the mysterious “human” creatures. Help them flee the planet of shadows and the life-devouring Darkness following their every step. Will the path to “humans” lead Crowman & Wolfboy to happiness? Will they ever escape the persistent Darkness? Could a real life crow lift a real life wolf over pits of mutant garbage cans? …What?!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Runaway: The Dream Of The Turtle Part 2 – Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Bulkypix. (Follow Brian and Gina in the second part of the Runaway saga. Spending some holidays in the tropics of Hawaii, our famous couple of lovers is separated over the Tiki falls during a plane ride gone awry. Gina still missing, Brian will have to move heaven and earth to find his disappeared better half. Discover characters, each more atypical than the next, travel all around the world and solve hundreds of puzzles to help our adventurer in his quest. ) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Mad Axe – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Naked Sky Entertaiment. (Take on the role of Max, a barbarian berserker on a quest for total destruction and massive loot. Draw axe paths outward from Max to slay foul beasts, collect ridiculous treasure drops, and score crazy point totals. Compete with friends to rule the leaderboards!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Monster Loves You!– Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Radial Games (Devour Hansel and Gretel. Save Little Red Riding Hood. Eat the Three Little Pigs. Monster Loves You! is an interactive story where you live the life of a Monster, making decisions about what to eat and how to steer the future of Monsterkind.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Chippy– Price : $2.99 – Publisher – GLITCHE.RS (The Fish & Chip Shop Simulator — Serve your customers the right orders in this unique time-management game. Sounds easy… but turn up the heat and ‘Chippy’ can become mind over matter madness.) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Papa Sangre II– Price : $4.49 – Publisher – Playground Publishing (Papa Sangre II is a survival horror game told entirely through sound. It starts at your inevitable end. You are dead, and must hunt for memories from the deceased to get back to the other side. Trapped in the peculiar afterlife of Papa Sangre, your guide is the voice of Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones). Death for you is just the beginning. ) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Lord Of Zombies– Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Freyr Games (Lord of Zombies: An action game that play as Lord of undead to lead the zombie army, to conquer humans in the realms of the magical world. Lead your zombie pawns. Three characters fight together in the battlefield. Awesome Graphics, stunning combos and skills, gorgeous level, and epic boss battle. Build your zombie army from various of classes. You can turn the human class into your zombie pawn, but also transform your pawns to special zombies. Various of active and passive skills. Upgrade your weapons and army. Create unique army of your own.) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
There you have it folks these games should keep you busy for quite some time well until next week at least. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if you would also like to suggest your own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below or in the iOS forum section on the site here.
