Recently NIS America released a handful of new screenshots for The Witch and the Hundred Knight as well as a new gameplay video which shows off about twenty seconds of gameplay where the Facet Change ability is shown off to adjust weapon types to deal extra damage to enemies.
Both the new English screenshots and the gameplay video can be found below. As for the game itself, The Witch and the Hundred Knight is currently set to be released in North America on March 25th while gamers in Europe will be able to pick it up a few days earlier on March 21st.
The Walking Dead Season Two: All That Remains Developer:Telltale Games Publisher:Telltale Games Platforms:PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, iOS, Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: December 18, 2013 Price:$4.99 – Available Here
Overview Creating a follow up for a popular release and maintaining the same level as success with the next release is a difficult task. Even more so when the game you released was awarded numerous Game of the Year awards and became one of the most recommended titles during 2012. As such, Telltale Games has set the bar high for themselves and now that they have started the second season of their Walking Dead series, does the first episode, All that Remains, continue to impress?
Story Now it is worth mentioning right off the bat that if you happen to have played the first game and have a save file from it, Season Two will immediately search for your save file and will load it, taking all of your actions and dialogue choices into account with All That Remains. For those who may never have jumped on the first season or somehow lost their save file, the game will automatically create past decisions which is limits the personal experience but is far from a deal breaker.
Also since this is Season Two, there will be spoilers here for the first season. Anyways, All That Remains begins with a prologue which shows players a number of important events from Season One and their choices in these situations. This serves as a reminder for those who may have forgotten and also an introduction to newcomers.
Once the game begins, with Lee gone players now take direct control of Clementine. After things almost immediately go south, players step into Clem’s shoes around sixteen months after the events of the first season. This means that not only has Clementine aged a bit, but she has also had to endure the harsh zombie filled world for almost a year and a half which means she has had to suffer through terrible conditions during this time.
After another intense sequence, Clementine finds herself separated from the last person she knows and is found by another group of survivors. However unlike before where Lee helped Clementine make her way into the group and bonded through survival, Clem is immediately suspected by this new group of survivors who clearly have something to hide and have a set of rules that they follow for everything. With players in control of Clem, it is up to them to choose her decisions and dialogue with these survivors and potentially find a safe place for a short while.
Now, All that Remains introduces a slew of new characters and while we are able to speak with most of these survivors, they are still really fresh faces with little story to them. We learn a little bit about a few of these characters but since Clementine is initially treated as a potential threat and only a few people are willing to open up to her, most of this first episode involves trying to join a group wary of outsiders and survive.
As for Clem herself, it is clear that while she has aged and matured a bit since we last saw her, she is still relatively moldable as a character. Players can continue to choose her dialogue to act like a younger child, snarky, resilient, make her feel like a threat and potentially take advantage of secrets and hold them over new characters as leverage, or any combination of these things and seeing the girl that many people have grown concerned about over playing through the first season take the initiative is probably one of the best parts of this first episode.
While the first season had players protecting Clem and worrying about how she may react to their decisions, it is up to Clem to take care of herself now, which results in some cringe inducing moments, and also allows for players to play things a bit different this time around now that they no longer need to set an example. Put this together with numerous moments that truly make the player feel a sense of loss, even at something they’ve only met for a few minutes, and All That Remains continues to present an engrossing tale of survival and loss that has once again begun.
Gameplay The Walking Dead Season Two: All That Remains still plays very similar to past Walking Dead titles from Telltale Games. Players will walk around areas and investigate various things, gather items, or talk to other players with dialogue choices timed and determined by whichever face button is pressed. It is interesting to note that the exploration icons have been modified a bit but are still very similar.
One thing that has been modified in this season is the way quick time events are handled. Many times throughout this first episode Clementine finds herself having to deal with zombies herself and only through quick action can she survive these encounters. For the most part the quick time events are still the same, with players having to hit the corresponding button in time or mashing a button and pressing another one to deal with a situation.
Where it does feel changed is that not only are these quick time events faster paced, with some of these sequences feeling incredibly intense due to how rapid things occur now, but there are also directional quick time events as well, which require the player to press a corresponding direction to make Clementine duck out of the way of danger.
Outside of that, the gameplay is still very much the same thing as before with a number of refinements and a few contextual elements, such as Clementine shivering when the wind blows. As far as glitches go, there was one moment that the game became stuck during an action sequence as an item was not loading properly, requiring a restart but this was only a one time issue.
Visuals & Audio Telltale continues to use the tried and true method of presenting players the story of The Walking Dead through stylized designs reminiscent of the comic book series. This works to the game’s benefit as it keeps gore from zombies basic but visceral looking and also works great for the character designs. Unfortunately there were a few moments that items within the game suffered from some terrible texture issues with items almost completely covered in the comic styled outline that flickers as the camera moves.
As far as the voice work in the episode goes, it appears that Clementine’s voice actress has been retained and she continues to fit the slightly older girl perfectly with these dialogue sequences. The new cast of characters are performed admirably well while fitting atmospheric noises are used throughout the episode.
Overall The Walking Dead Season Two: All That Remains quickly reminds players that this an apocalyptic world where safety and togetherness are fleeting things. It drops players into the shoes of a Clementine separated from everyone she knew and brings players into a new environment where she is the outlier and must take care of herself, regardless of the methods she might have to resort to. With a preview of the next episode hinting at a major development and this episode showing that Telltale won’t be pulling punches with Clementine as the main character, this episode brings with it everything fans of the series were hoping for.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
To conclude their #12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion, Madman Entertainment has saved the best for last. Madman have officially announced that they have acquired the rights to anime film HAL.
HAL is an anime film from Production I.G’s subsidiary WIT Studio, the people who brought you the blockbuster smash hit Attack on Titan. The film follows young lovers Kurumi and Hal, after death separates them, along comes ‘Robot HAL’ a robotic clone of the original Hal. It is a heart-warming drama the likes of which we have not seen before.
Madman plan to release HAL in various formats in 2014. That concludes Madman’s #12AnnouncementsOfXmas. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section.
So I got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that after my previous review, I’m completely out of space puns so I won’t be using any for this one. However the good news is that Starborn Anarchist is an exciting, addictive, rewarding, time-consuming gem that many are sure to enjoy. A customisable twin stick shooter with physics-based elements, Starborn Anarchist might not give you a good first impression, but it’s sure to give you a great lasting one instead.
Gameplay
Upon first glance I originally thought Starborn Anarchist was an Asteroidsclone and boy was I wrong! This twin stick shooter has players roaming the depths of space, battling against hordes of endless enemies space ships while also collecting items and currency along the way. Action is intense as bullets and lasers quickly fill the screen and massive bosses charge at you with no mercy. You kill, you collect, you get a score, you die and that’s pretty much it. But before you hit that replay button to try and beat your previous score, players are given the choice to upgrade their ship in the garage, and that’s when things start to get interesting. You see the whole basis behind Starborn Anarchist boils down to it’s deep upgrade system. Unlike many iOS titles which will simply just let you increase stats or whatever, these spaceships are customisable by dragging parts to where you’d like them be on the vehicle. The same combination of materials can lead to many potential ships all with different stats depending on how you choose to build it. A great example of this is the boosters for the ship, as placement of these can be make-or-break decisions, greatly impacting the momentum of the vehicle. Furthermore whilst picking up goodies during combat one will notice that deciding which ones to take will take a strategy of their own as weapons, shields and boosters can each be upgraded in different ways via three different types of coloured power ups. There’s a lot to get your head around. On top of all that there are challenges and goals set out for more opportunities to unlock parts and currency as well as over 50 achievements so it’s safe to say there’s a lot of ground to cover for the 100% completionist.
However it’s not all bells and whistles as Starborn Anarchist is held back by some major issues. Controls for one rely a lot on physics and can occasionally be awkward and clumsy. This sadly isn’t just limited to combat either as even while dragging parts around in the garage while customising can occasionally be a battle itself. In-app purchasing at times feels a little encouraged and worst of all this deep customisation experience is poorly explained in a big boring clunk of text. These are all major deterrents from the game so it won’t be surprising if many never see it’s full potential as it’s very easy to get extremely frustrated when playing for the first time. However if the player has the patience to learn the game and give it a second….or third chance, there is an enjoyable and rewarding experience waiting for them.
Audio & Visual
Let’s face it – this isn’t the prettiest game out there, but it’s not trying to be. Spaceships look and feel like lego blocks, and the effects are nothing memorable or spectacular. Debris and bullets chaotically fly across the screen in a way you’d expect them to in a title like this which does slightly add to the adrenaline rush. Sound effects again get the job done without taking anybody’s breath away. The soundtrack is a little more interesting, with a retro vibe reminiscent of the Super Nintendo era of gaming. Still, it’s nothing memorable but it’s nothing terrible either.
Overall
Remember when you were a kid and your parents bought you a Happy Meal and they forced you to eat all the food before you were aloud to play with the toy? That’s Starborn Anarchist. At first it’s not going to be very exciting, and you’ll have to read a long, boring block of text to understand what’s going on. Controls are awkward, in-app purchasing can be tempting and at first it all seems kinda generic. But once you get the hang of things, save up some currency and start customising your ship and earning new parts, things pick up very quickly. The trial & error of creating your own spaceship becomes very rewarding and gameplay becomes more and more addictive as you struggle to become the best space pilot you can be. These greatly overshadow the game’s flaws. Starborn Anarchist only sucks if you suck, and the more you’re willing to put in, the more you’re going to get out. This may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but damn it it’s still a good cuppa!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The eleventh announcement in Madman Entertainment’s#12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion has just been revealed. Madman announced that they have acquired the rights to the fifth Naruto Shippuden movie, Naruto Shippuden: Blood Prison.
The film follows Naruto as he is falsely imprisoned in the world’s most dangerous prison, a ‘blood prison’ some might say. Madman plan to release the film on DVD and Blu-Ray in April 2014.
With only one announcement left in Madman’s #12AnnouncementsOfXmas promotion, stay tuned for the last title acquisition tomorrow on the 12th day of Madman’s exciting series of announcements. Let us know what you think of this one in the comments section.
BTOOOM!: Complete Collection Studio: Madhouse Publisher:Sentai Filmworks Format:Blu-ray, DVD (Reviewed) Release Date: December 10, 2013 Price:$59.98 – Available Here
Overview Surviving against the elements can push people to take extreme measures, but surviving against your fellow man can reveal the darkest nature of humanity. Perhaps that is why in recent years, many mediums have portrayed people fighting against one another in order to survive and why zombies have been in the spotlight as it takes away the guilt of killing a living person while still placing humans against former humans. BTOOOM! is the latest take on a survival based series and now that the anime has made its way to North America is it worth your money?
Story A popular online video game called BTOOOM has been sweeping the world with millions of people playing it every day. In the game teams battle against one another using a variety of bombs and the last team standing wins. Among the millions of players, ten people are on top of the leaderboards and are considered the best players of BTOOOM. One of these players happens to be Ryuta Sakamoto, a Japanese gamer who has shut himself away from the world who regularly lashes out violently against his family.
When Sakamoto suddenly wakes up hanging from a tree by a parachute, he finds himself stuck on a jungle island. The last thing Sakamoto can remember is going to a convenience store but now he finds himself trapped on an island with a strange chip embedded in his hand, seemingly alone. When the first sign of life appears in front of him, it also carries a dangerous threat as this person attempts to take his life using explosives mimicking those used in BTOOOM.
Viewers eventually learn that Sakamoto is one of twenty to thirty people who have been taken from their homes and dropped on a remote island. The only way to escape is to use BIMs, miniature bombs that come in a number of varieties, to kill seven other people to obtain their chips, as the only way to get off the island is by having eight chips in total, their own included, and the only way to take a chip off is after the wearer’s heartbeat has stopped.
Thrown into a life or death struggle on a remote island, Sakamoto finds himself with familiar weaponry but an explosion in this game doesn’t end in a respawn, it ends with pain and death. However Sakamoto is far from the only person familiar with these types of weapons and while he may feel wary of taking other people’s lives and is willing to work together with others, the rest of the people on the island could be thinking only of their own survival, killing anyone who might get in their way.
BTOOOM! presents viewers with an interesting set of characters but thanks to their nature it is difficult to find most of them likable. You see, the only way these people were selected to take part in this death match is by being nominated by others. This means that the dregs of society have been gathered together in one place. In the case of Sakamoto, we already know that he is a NEET from a broken home with violent outbursts that have put his family at their wits end, while a few other participants’ dark pasts are brought to the light, revealing many of them to be either sinister at heart, backstabbing, or straight up murderers to begin with.
There lies one inconsistency in this selection process however, as it exposes a flaw with the nomination process. A girl named Himiko, who just so happens to look just like Sakamoto’s in-game wife, has also been dropped into the game and while the reason for her nomination is shown and understandable, it does show that it is entirely possible for people to be thrown into this death match even if they aren’t completely at fault for the events that occurred.
That being said, throughout the course of the series we do see Sakamoto go through a number of challenges which see him come to grips with the realities of the game as well as Himiko struggle against her hatred and distrust of men, which is caused not only by her backstory but also due to rape attempts on the island by people she tried to trust, making for some interesting developments as these two slowly begin to work together and learn there is more connecting them than just their current circumstances.
While these two get a little bit of development, it merely covers them overcoming their issues while working together to survive. As for the rest of the cast, the interesting part doesn’t come from development but figuring out just what they are up to instead. As mentioned earlier, almost everyone on the island is in it for their own survival and will do whatever it takes to escape the island. This leaves viewers trying to figure out each character’s plans as the action takes center stage, though there are still a handful of emotional moments that do spring up amongst the bloodshed.
BTOOOM is at its best when there is a battle occurring. Thanks to a number of tools brought from the outside world, fights come in the forms of manipulating bomb placement and taking advantage of various bomb types, battling with knives, or even a stun gun. There is also some strategy when it comes to using the chips placed in a player’s hand, as they can be used to activate a sonar to find where nearby survivors are at, keeping the suspense high. However after explaining the rules of the sonar ability and how it does not pick up people not moving, there are a number of times throughout the series that the sonar acts inconsistent with previously established rules.
By the end of BTOOOM! viewers are left with plenty of hints as to what is really happening, including Sakamoto’s knowledge about who may be behind the game, and why these people have been placed on this island to kill each other, but nothing truly ends in this release as it leaves off on a cliffhanger with viewers who have enjoyed the series left hoping for either a second season or the official English release of the manga the series was adapted from to pick up the pace.
Visuals It is clear coming into the series that Madhouse had a stylized look planned for the series and it works to their benefit. While the characters aren’t the most detailed looking, they have certainly used a more down to earth representation for their facial features and this helps make some of the facial expressions better looking and really helps deliver the psychotic nature of a few of the characters. There is some decent detail to be had as far as the fan-service character Himiko is concerned, but outside of that most of the clothing is kept pretty simple and while gore is present, it is rather basic for a series about blowing people up.
As far as the action goes, the character animation is fluidly handled and while the explosions help keep the level of intensity up, there are inconsistencies about the strengths of certain bombs. At one point we’re presented with a small explosion from a bomb while the same exact type is capable of annihilating a ten foot radius, often resulting in certain characters escaping by the skin of their teeth thanks to varying explosive radius’.
Audio BTOOOM! sports a fairly satisfying English dub with believable voice work by the cast. This is a pretty great accomplishment considering there are characters from young teenagers to middle-aged salary men to voice in the series. While some may prefer the Japanese voice track included in the release, the English cast does a nice job giving a sense of danger to each confrontation with their character portrayals.
It is interesting to note that while there are some canned pieces of background music used throughout the series, there are also some incredible sounding tracks that lack lyrics but are used to great effect during important moments of the series. As for the opening theme, we have “No Pain, No Game” by nano which is excellent for a series such as this and an ending theme named “Aozora” by May’n provides a solemn close to each episode.
Extras There are some rather basic bonus features on offer with this release. There are trailers for other Sentai Filmworks anime, a clean version of the opening and ending theme, and some Japanese promotional material. There are also a few Btooom Digests that are a few minutes long and show information and clips of killed characters.
Overall BTOOOM! takes a common survival game path and amps things up with plenty of explosives. While the series’ characters can be hard to like or even get behind and the main storyline only really moves in the background as Sakamoto and Himiko try to survive, it tries to make up for it with some impressive action sequences and tense moments as viewers feel concerned about the only characters they really have a choice to care about before the release ends just as the plot begins to advance.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
With the holidays upon us, online retailers are going all out with discounted video games. Of course, the holidays wouldn’t be the same without Steam’s massive Holiday Sale which includes steep discounts from indie titles from Gaijin Games to AAA titles like Sleeping Dogs.
Greenman Gaming is running the Dealsford Holiday Sale with new sales every day. Each purchase will reqard buyers with $0.10 store credit and an extra 20% can be taken off most prices with the coupon GMG20-ZB5D1-93X49.
GamersGate will be wrapping up their holiday sale a little before Christmas. New deals come every day along with a discounted bundle every week.
Amazon is making another serious challenge to Steam’s holiday sales crown with their Holiday Deals. All purchases made will reward buyers will an extra $5.00 promotional credit that will be valid on the Editor’s Choice Best Games of the Year sale that will kick off in January.
Get Games is holding a slightly smaller but still a respectable sale that brings a new major deal every day for 12 days.
GameFly has teamed up with EA to celebrate the holidays with up to 50% off EA titles and a free copy of Red Alert 3 with each purchase. Be sure to use GFDDEC20 at checkout to get an extra 20% off.
Recently, NAMCO BANDAI Games EU announced that some of the fan-favorite characters from the earlier installations of the Soul series will be available to play in the upcoming title, SOULCALIBUR: Lost Swords.
This next chapter in the Soul series will be a free-to-play single player game. It’ll feature a good selection of past characters in the older SOULCALIBUR games, such as Siegfried, Mitsurugi, and Sophitia. Nightmare, Pyrrha, and Astaroth will also be playable characters in SOULCALIBUR: Lost Swords.
Nightmare is the main antagonist of the Soul series. He embodies the power and strength of Soul Edge, the cursed sword that hungers for souls in order to sate its thirst. Pyrrha is a young nomadic girl whose parents were kidnapped by minions of Soul Edge. Although a pacifist by nature, Pyrrha’s natural ability to fight makes her a tough opponent out on the field. Astaroth is a golem warrior created for the sole purpose of finding and acquiring Soul Edge. He was made to destroy and to massacre, utilizing his broad axe and massive strength to overcome enemies.
SOULCALIBUR: Lost Swords will be arriving to Europe in 2014 on the PlayStation 3. This title will be exclusive to the PlayStation Network. Click here for screenshots and a trailer presented for the Tokyo Game Show 2013. Make sure you keep an eye on this upcoming title.
Following the reveal that a robotic Naruto will be making an appearance in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, we’ve yet to see him in action. Thankfully, Namco Bandai has released a trailer showing off Mecha-Naruto in all his rocket-powered glory.
Designed by manga creator Masashi Kishimoto, the robot form is almost a throwback to the classic super robot anime of old, able to throw rocket punches, transform into a mechanical Kyubi Mode and finally unleash the devastating Mecha-Kurama. See it below for yourselves.
Due sometime in 2014, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution will feature new gameplay mechanics such as Combination Ultimate Jutsu attacks as well as a roster of over 100 characters spanning all arcs.
Even with the latest Steam project involving Linux, Valve still is able to provide us with an impressive new update for Team Fortress 2. The update should be automatically installed when you start up Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:
Happy Smissmas 2013!
All Players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Gift-Stuffed Stocking! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
Added community-contributed winter event items.
Added the Giftapult, which can be used to launch gift items to randomly-chosen online players.
Added Naughty and Nice winter keys to the Mann Co. Store.
Premium Players will receive a Secret Saxton to give to another player.
Item grants from previous events (including the Spirit of Giving and the Winter Holiday noise maker) have been re-enabled for all players, including those who deleted their earlier grants.
Weapons
Battalion’s Backup: Added +20 max HP passive for the wearer.
Concheror: Added +2 health per second passive for the wearer.
Crit-a-Cola: Reduced consumption penalty from +25% extra damage to +10%.
Diamondback: Now also gains a critical attack on successful backstab kills.
Flying Guillotine: Alt-Attack now also throws the Guillotine when active.
Short Circuit: Improve visual effects, greater attack speeds and lower ammunition and players are only targeted if in range and in front of attacking player.
Soda Popper: Hype no longer grants mini-crits, added Hypemode which grants up to 5 extra air jumps when active, hypemode is triggered by Alt-Attack when hype is full.
The Beggar’s Bazooka has been updated to use the same taunt as The Direct Hit.
Professional Killstreak Mantreads, Splendid Screen and The Chargin’ Targe now generate proper effects when on a killstreak. These effects do not stack if another killstreak effect weapon is active.
Cosmetics
“Head” and “Misc” slots for player loadouts have been converted to Cosmetic slots. All items that were previously Head- or Misc-slot-specific can now be equipped in any Cosmetic slot.
Unusual effect positioning can now be adjusted for all Cosmetic-slot items.
Unusual Circling Effects have been given a new origin.
Unusual effects for all Cosmetic-slot items are now visible in the loadout panel and character HUD.
Fixed the Wiki Cap clipping with the Demoman’s head.
Mann vs. Machine
Fixed being able to inspect Blue-team bots.
Fixed the mission victory screen not always showing the correct information for each player.
Fixed some clipping issues with the stats in the scoreboard.
General
Fixed an exploit where players could move around while using a taunt to attack enemies.
Fixed an exploit related to the Rocket Jumper and the Soldier’s grenade taunt.
Fixed killstreaks attained via healing not being considered for round-end win panel.
Fixed the killstreak hud indicator position in minmode.
Fixed Taunt Kills strange scores not incrementing properly for the Strange Scorch Shot.
Fixed strange scores on cosmetic items sometimes failing to increment.
Fixed gift-wrapped items not showing their interior item to the wrapping player in some conditions.
Fixed Steam Sale items granted from Snow Globe crafting not being listable on the Steam Community Market.
Improved bot navigation in cp_gorge.
Improved bot navigation in pl_upward.
Updated several materials to fix issues caused by mat_picmip.
Updated the backpack to filter to automatically filter for valid items when using a tool.
With the holidays upon us, online retailers are going all out with discounted video games. Of course, the holidays wouldn’t be the same without 
