Codemasters has announced today that a mini version of F1 will be hitting the app store in F1 Challenge. Players will complete over 90 racing events and recreate thrilling moments from the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship with slick touch controls for on-the-go gaming. The game features all the perks of the official license with cars, drivers and tracks. Modes include Time Trials, Duels, Chase the Ace, Race events and short Grand Prix challenges with 12 cars on the track at once.
F1 Challenge features a simple and slick control system, with options for both left and right handed gamers. Players move by using touch to steer, a simple tap to deploy K.E.R.S. and by slip-streaming to gain the advantage on their opponents in the game’s isometric view which has been tuned to take advantage of Apple’s Retina Displays. As you complete challenges they will unlock an in-game collection of F1 facts and trivia about cars, teams, tracks and drivers.
F1 Challenge is avaialable now on both the iPad and iPhone for a price of £1.99, you can download it here. Watch the trailer of the game below if you’re curious to see how the sport has translated over to the small screen. No Android version has been announced thus far. We recently reviewed F1 2013 which is available on consoles and PC, you can check out the review here to see what we had to say.
Daisuki has been great about giving free access to anime series via streaming and today they’ve announced something new to make it even easier for those trying to catch up on or watch a simulcast. Today it was announced that those looking to watch anime on their iPad need not look further with the release of the new and completely free Daisuki app.
The official streaming app will allow those wanting to check out the latest, like Monogatari, and greatest, like Lupin the Third, of anime right from their iPad. Even the screenshot above shows just some of the selection that is available now. Designed to be easy to use with a single hand, anime fans can scroll through the list of series, pick one out and see all the episodes and descriptions before settling down and watching it.
Those wanting to check out the Daisuki App for themselves can find it on iTunes.
Overview A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda was first released for the PC back in 2010 and being a side-scrolling platformer it isn’t surprising that it is finally making its way onto Xbox Live Arcade. What is surprising however, is that the game has received a pretty good overhaul with brand new additions. Does A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda Ex give an even better experience than the original PC with all of this new content? Let’s take a look at how it stands up.
Story A.R.E.S. is the story of a robot duo sent to investigate a problem on a remote space station. The problem? Lots of killer robots, zombie killer robots to be precise as the drones on the station have become infected with Zytron. The main character Ares has been tasked with locating the head scientist, while Tarus searches for more information on the Zytron menace. While the original game only included the Ares story and levels, the Xbox version adds in the Tarus story and levels to make the game twice as long storywise, although the levels themselves are identical.
While both stories are short, only 7 levels each, they are still fairly well crafted even with the addition of the Tarus campaign as it fits within the original story and fills in the gaps. Though they are both decent it does come across a little cliche at times as there are certainly troupes that pop up in a game set on a space station fighting zombie robots. But, even with those slights, the story works well with the tight combat/platforming gameplay and the collectible data clusters adds an additional depth to the entire thing.
Gameplay
The gameplay in A.R.E.S. is well crafted, as a combination of Mega Man and Metroid. The levels are formulaic, but as there are only 7 it doesn’t suffer from adhering itself to formula. Each level consists of platforming and combat, mini-boss, more platforming and combat, then the level boss, which all works well. Through the story Ares and Tarus gain more abilities and weapons, which allows them to do more things and access more areas, plus replaying past levels to reach what couldn’t be before is always a great component to any game to make replaying levels more interesting than just a speed run.
Levels also keeps track of a score, which allows Ares and Tarus to level up to gain more health. Replaying doesn’t stack the new scores either making their level based more on skill than just grinding. There are still things to grind however, upgrades and repairs are purchased with scrap dropped by the enemies, so in order to get the max everything out those players do have to collect a lot of scrap. Upgrades however must be found in order to use, which is where the Metroid style gameplay of looking everywhere and backtracking to past levels with new abilities plays a major part. Ares and Tarus also have similar, but still different powers and weapons, so that playing through the same levels again still presents a new experience.
While all the previous gameplay elements work fantastic there are still some problems with A.R.E.S. the most major of which is the control scheme. Since running and gunning is such a big part of the game, it makes sense that the controls are mainly step-up like a twin stick shooter, left stick moves right stick aims and shoots, the problem however is that jumping is just as important. Being a platformer, jumping occurs a lot, not as much as shooting, but being tied to the A button makes this incredibly difficult to do while also shooting and trying to hold the controller comfortably.
The controls aren’t the only issue either, as jumping itself feels a lot like a heavy robot having to make somewhat precise jumps that are sometimes unforgiving. One wrong move results in death and having to reattempt the entire thing, which can be irksome in a few of the areas. Though getting certain upgrades can at least make these somewhat easier. Boss battles can also have irksome moments when dying and having to get back into the fight, it is nice that the dialogue is skipped after the first time, but waiting for the boss to prepare can lead to points where dying and trying to get back into the fight can take what feels like a long time on multiple attempts.
Visuals and Audio
This is where A.R.E.S. shines, as both are fantastic and one of the highest points of the game. The visuals are crisp and clean, great for HD and the color is often vibrant in both the environments and enemies. While there is no dialogue, instead everything is done in subtitles, the music is phenomenal. Catching the spirit of the genre, as well as having plenty of music across the course of the game, this is one of the better soundtracks of a XBLA release in some time.
Overall A.R.E.S. has some problems, the controls take getting used to and could have been improved by allowing players the ability to set the controls themselves, plus certain parts can be aggravating to navigate even when knowing what to do. But, past those issues the game still has some pretty great aspects, the visuals looks amazing, the music is great, and the addition of Tarus as a playable character doubles the length of the game from the original release. Those that really enjoyed the original and are interested in the additional story and differing gameplay or those what are fans of Mega Man/Metroid style offerings should find some fun.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It has barely been a season since its conclusion, but fans of Suisei no Gargantia were clearly begging for more because it has already been greenlit for a second season! The news comes a day after a “big announcement” was teased on the series’ official website.
This announcement, as well as the recent greenlighting of their brilliant dystopian thriller, Psycho-Pass come as an attempt by Production I.G to capitalise on the massive success of Shingeki no Kyojin and in all honesty they could definitely do a lot worse. While other companies seem to use a hit show to fund lots of lower quality anime to raise easy cash, Production I.G are beginning to really make a name for themselves as a company with a unique flair, and enough faith in their series to not back away from serious topics. Everything that they have made recently has not only looked stunning, but has been backed up with quality plot and characters that we so rarely see nowadays.
When more is known about the release date and details of this upcoming series you’ll definitely hear it over in our Anime News section!
“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying” -Arthur C Clarke
They came from the stars with a dark mission, to infiltrate, imprison, and ultimately annihilate the human race. In a struggle to combat the imminent threat, the governments of the world came together to form XCOM, an elusive organisation specialising in the research and destruction of invaders from outside our known universe.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown was a terrific game that let us take charge of all of the operations of the mysterious government agency. Thrilling rogue-like missions truly tested the mettle of gamers around the globe as they built up their crack team of soldiers and repeatedly put their lives on the line for the good of Earth. Nobody is invincible, nobody free from the alien horde, and no matter how hard you try eventually a beloved squad member will fall prey to their evil grasp.
This time around the world is again in danger, but everything has been kicked up a notch. As the trailer shows the threat now comes disguised as humans as well, bringing the fight into the base in a way Enemy Unknown never managed. As if that wasn’t enough though, now the aliens have mech suits! Check out the trailer below and see for yourself. This looks like a good one!
XCOM: Enemy Within is an expansion for XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It will be available for purchase on November 12th in North America and on the 15th everywhere else for £19.99/$29.99 on PC and Mac.
A new iOS game titled Runnercraft has been announced and released by Interstellar Games, LLC.
Runnercraft runs off the basis of the incredible popular Minecraft and it’s done successfully. With attention to details and systems, the developers have transformed the open world into a classic endless runner game.
Race your protagonist through a lovingly crafted environment replete with familiar hazards and a wide variety of collectible materials. Animals seen form the Minecraft such as pigs, cows, sheep and chickens can be dodged or harvested as you travel through the blocky world.
We also see the well-known crafting system in Runnercraft. The function can be used to create and manipulate items into useful tools and power-ups that can be than used for buffs and powers.
Yet another similarity to Minecraft that fans would recognise in Runnercraft is the complete seed generation system. Seeds guarantee that you will not only have your own personal best to contend with, but includes a feature to increase replayability and exponentially of the game, challenges are extended to a billion possible configurations that can be revisited over and over again.
Runnercraft is available now via the iTunes store for $2.99, download it here.
You read the title right, the original Power Rangers, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers will be joining forces with the Power Rangers Megaforce… Sort of. More accurately, they will be playable in Namco Bandai’s upcoming Power Rangers Megaforce game for Nintendo 3DS.
The game, which is based on the latest installment in the Power Rangers franchise will be an action-brawler, where you take the role of one of the eponymous Power Rangers, and do battle against the evil Warstar Aliens (Yep, I am that good that I knew their name off the top of my head). Although you will primarily play as the Power Rangers Megaforce, there will be unlockable skins of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that will change the appearance and weapons of your ranger in battle.
Are you excited to see your old favourites back in action? Let us know in the comment below, and if you haven’t done so yet, check out our Power Rangers podcast – Ranger Call here. For all the Power Rangers news as it becomes available, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Rockstar have been hard at work, venturing to fix the issues reported to them by early players of GTA Online. Now, they have announced the release of a title update that knocks out many of them, although they continue to make strides in ensuring GTA Online is a seamless, bug-free (at least the non-destructive ones) experience and will release further patches down the line. Below is the official statement from Rockstar in its entirety.
A new title update to address the reported issues of game progress loss in GTA Online as well as other technical fixes, tweaks and enhancements is now available for PlayStation 3, and we expect it to be available by tomorrow at the latest for Xbox 360. This title update will resolve the cause of players losing their gameplay progress except for some specific instances where players purchase a vehicle and the save does not occur due to a cloud save failure. A fix for that particular issue is being worked on and we will provide an update as soon as we know when this will be resolved.
Fixes in this title update include:
Fixes multiple issues causing character deletion or other loss of progress
Fixes issues causing infinite loading, infinite sky cams, and missing interface options between jobs
Fixes an issue causing the “replay” option to be locked out on certain jobs
Fixes an issue where a player would become stuck in the mod garage when respraying a Sanchez motor bike
Fixes an issue where the Player became stuck inside Los Santos Customs during Online tutorial flow.
Fixes an issue causing the loss of guns and ammo
Fixes issues causing GTA races ending early because of players spawning too far ahead
Fixes issues in Last Team Standing where sessions would not progress past the lobby
Fixes issues with network errors when joining Last Team Standing using Quick Job
Added clarifications around when a player is using a temporary character in GTA Online during Rockstar Cloud server outages
Adjusts the monetary penalty for being killed in a One on One match
We apologize for the problems some players have been experiencing with lost characters or game progress due to this issue – please stay tuned for updates as we continue to investigate this.
In the meantime, please always remember to save your game before leaving GTA Online, otherwise you may lose any progress since your last save – this can be done by exiting back to Single Player through the pause menu. Until downloading the title update above and in order to minimize the chances of any further data loss, if at any point you receive the message “Rockstar Cloud Servers are unavailable”, please do not either select the “Retry” option or create a temporary Character to play GTA Online. Instead, you should exit to GTAV Story Mode and try entering GTA Online again through the menu in Story Mode. Please also stay tuned or subscribe to the GTA Online Status Updates article at the Rockstar Support site for the latest word on common known technical issues and fixes.
Haganai Season One Collection Studio:AIC Build Publisher: Madman Format: Blu-ray (reviewed), DVD Release Date: October 16, 2013 Price: $59.95 – Available Here
Overview
What do you do if you’re an unpopular social misfit in high school? Why form a club for others like yourself, of course. Haganai, the English abbreviated title of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, depicts just that in its first season released by Madman for Australia and New Zealand. Adapted from a light novel and translated simply as “I Don’t Have Many Friends”, Haganai turns the anime cliche of friendly school clubs upside down. Read on to see why it’s worth stepping into this disaster zone, even if you have friends.
Story Haganai is centred around an obligatory male MC, Kodaka Hasegawa, who seems to be dead-on-arrival as the school’s newest transfer student. A combination of being late to his first class, unusual blonde hair and major miscommunication cements his status as the school’s unapproachable bancho. It’s not long before he meets a fellow classmate, Yozora Mikazuki, talking to thin air by herself. You’d think the anime’s objective of finding friends is solved as they’re on a first-name basis from day one, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Nope, no way.
Yozora’s thick-skinned personality almost warrants the term “bitch”, especially when the admired-but-still-friendless Sena Kashiwazaki enters the scene. A complete opposite from Yozora, Sena packs a huge chest and a curvy body but is plagued by a narcissistic personality and an obsession with eroge. Seeing these two at each others throats is a hilarious highlight of the show, spitting venom while poor Kodaka is trapped in the middle. It’s worth noting that Kodaka isn’t your typical harem MC. This guy is actually pretty nice, can cook and isn’t as dense as a black hole like many male leads in this genre of anime.
A nymphomaniac science girl, a 10-year old nun and a boy with some serious gender identity confusion round off the Neighbours Club, where it’s never a dull moment. The only serious aspect of the plot would be Kodaka’s flashbacks about a childhood friend who happens to be in the Neighbours Club. This comes to a head during the second last episode, the last of which being reserved for an extra OVA that was included with the last Japanese volume. It’s worth pointing out Haganai’s fan service. There’s plenty of it where it counts, including a gob smacking bare chested scene.
Otherwise, the story is limited to the group taking on all sorts of activities to learn how to make friends, such as playing co-op handheld video games. Obviously, none of these plans work much to our amusement. It’s all great fun, particularly with the inclusion of Kodaka’s younger sister, Kobato, who even has issues of her own! By the end, you would already have realised that what the Neighbours Club has been searching for was in the clubroom all along. Despite the bickering arguments and scornful vitriol, they’re all unknowingly friends.
Visuals Haganai is a very pretty show compared to most comedic and slice-of-life anime, and this really shows with the character designs. If you’ve seen Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl you will notice the stark similarities straight away. The finishing touches that the studio did on the home video release is to be commended, fixing up and improving Haganai’s initial broadcast episodes. The end result is an anime that’s bright, crisp and simply a treat to watch in high definition especially.
Audio
The sound isn’t something you notice too much of in Haganai, but it does feature some very fittingly silly background tracks along with a whacky opening and ending theme. The Japanese voice-acting is a delight to hear, with Kodaka’s voice actor nailing the naive nice guy character. Sena sounds just like a spoiled, privileged girl with a bright, ringing voice while Kobato’s laugh is a classic (kukuku) while her nervous side is conveyed perfectly.
It’s a shame the English voices aren’t as well-matched, particularly Kodaka who simply sounds bored rather than the nice and even curious tone you find with the original actor. While some voice actors do sound perfectly fine, the amount of clever banter thrown around in Haganai makes this far more humorous to watch in Japanese particularly with the amount of insults you hear.
Extras Unlike Funimation’s beefier release, Madman is releasing this in their standard Blu-ray and DVD cases. Interestingly, this is almost identical to the former’s release right down to the FBI warnings and Region A+B format. You do get a few extras in the form of episode commentaries by the staff, commercials, promotional videos and textless songs though.
Overall
While seemingly not extraordinary and without a meaningful narrative, Haganai comes out of left field proving to be one of the funniest, raunchiest school club anime I’ve seen recently. If you’re looking for friends, this probably isn’t the best place to start. But it sure as hell makes for a what-not-to-do lesson. There was hardly an episode that didn’t make me laugh at the sheer, unadulterated antics of the Neighbours Club. Each character in Haganai is unique with serious social issues in one form or another, all coming together in a dysfunctional melting pot of hilarity.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Hey there comic fans! Are you ready for your latest dose of comic book awesomeness provided by Titan Comics? Well strap yourselves in, cause we have two books to tell you about today!
Firstly is Chronos Commandos #4, written and drawn by Stuart Jennet. We spoke about Chronos Commandos #3 a month ago, but if you still aren’t 100% sure what it is all about, then allow me the pleasure of telling you:
The Sarge and his team battle a vicious Nazi time squad who’ll do anything to turn the Allied heroes into fossilised raptor-chow! Plus – the rules of time travel are pushed to the limit, as Einstein crosses his own timeline in order to prevent the extinction of the universe, when a Chronosphere goes critical at the Commandos’ base!
Pretty awesome right? If you like war stories, sci-fi or dinosaurs then you don’t want to miss this one! Next up we have the third issue of the Dan Boultwood penned It Came! It Came! is a b-movie sci-fi book in the vein of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Here is the synopsis for you to check out:
After the terrifying discoveries made in our last astonishing issue, space scientist Dr. Boy Brett and his lady assistant Doris Night are now trapped inside an honest-to-goodness flying saucer, along with a robot that aims to capture them alive!
What role does this monstrous, monosyllabic automaton play in the extra-terrestrial invasion plan? And what do drooping upper lips have to do with the fate of Britain – AND THE WORLD?!
That’s two great books for comic book fans out there, so if you are hankering for something to read then head down to your local comic book shop and pick up either Chronos Commandos #4 or It Came! #3. If you still aren’t sure if either of these books are for you, then we have attached a preview gallery of each below. As always, for all the Titan Comics news as it becomes available, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
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