While we’ve been hearing about a release window for awhile, we have never had a solid release date for HomeTown Story, a new game from Harvest Moon’s original creator Yasuhiro Wada, in North America. Well today all that changed when Natsume announced that the 3DS exclusive would be going up for sale on October 22nd for $39.99.
For those who don’t know, instead of taking over a farm players will take over their grandmother’s shop in the town that they grow up in and they will manage the shop while also taking part in various life activities. Along the way players will be helped by a magical sprite named Pochica.
War Of Eclipse Developer: Game Stew Publisher: Game Stew Platforms:iPhone(Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: 20th September 2013 Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview
Game Stew are a fantastic game development and publishing company that tend to create a lot of old-school style games that mix both retro and new-age styles as well as gameplay types. Known for games like Tower of Fortune 2 (read the review here), Game Stew are incredible at what they do and their games almost always hit the mark, even though sometimes it is a very near miss. I’ve been given their game “War Of Eclipse” to review, read on to see how it went.
Story
There isn’t much to the story though I don’t think that’s much of a problem at all. What we’re told is that one day, possibly a long time ago, a huge calamity transpired in the form of a giant explosion which, in turn, wiped out most of the worlds population. After this apocalyptic disaster came about, the survivors began seeing monsters, demons and angels in the sky, no matter what they saw up there they were killed by them, it seems as though whatever force they were witnessing was that of a malevolent kind. Now the leftovers of the human race must take the fight to the skies in an attempt to combat the perpetual danger that the appearance of these monsters bring, and that’s where the game kicks in. You are a commander of one of the last battle ships that the humans have, your mission is to basically survive and I know that sounds vague but I’ve played this game for more than a few hours and I don’t seem to progressing much.
Now the story is simple yet also extremely cool because, much like Game Stew’s other titles, I makes you question the story which I think is fantastic because you get to make up your own mind. The enemies you fight are really well designed and you can see how they fit in to the actual story. Enemies like a giant shadowy figure holding what looks to be an old and broken airship, as if it had possessed it, it is enemies like that which really get one thinking. If only the names of the monsters were as good as the monsters themselves, they lacked…something, having an enemy with rockets on it’s back called “Rocket Wings” is kind of unimaginative but considering the monsters themselves were interesting I wont make a big deal out of it.
Gameplay
I wish the gameplay was as good as the story, I really do and I’m not saying that the gameplay in it’s entirety is bad, it just gets a little bit old after a while. Basically you choose a ship and you spend the game upgrading and adding to it as you fight off the monsters, that’s not the bad part, I actually love the RPG elements that are put into this game, I really do. What I didn’t like though was the fact that this game felt like a mini-game from another one of Game Stews titles, that’s just the way it felt. Let me lay it down for you so you can make the decision on your own: Within a battle there is a meter below your ship, now that meter has a mark that moves along it at varying speeds, to get a critical hit you have to get the mark into the dark grey zone which is quite small, to get a regular hit you have to get the mark into the light grey zone which is a little bigger. Your enemies have a percentage that continues to climb and when it hits 100%, they attack. Simple as that.
Now there are some other factors that come into play while in combat, things like mega attacks and what not but it’s not a huge focus right now so I’ll come back to it. While the gameplay isn’t bad it just got very mundane and I continually felt like I couldn’t catch a break, I continued to die and while you might think it was just because I couldn’t play very well…it really wasn’t. I’ve played games like Joust Legend that work on a similar level and I’m pretty good at that game yet I just couldn’t seem to step up to the plate with this one. You were also being constantly attacked which is pretty good because it relates directly to the story and the terror you as a survivor are meant to feel but it also sucked because it often occurred when in preparation for the next battle so I never really got a chance to buff myself up or even repair. I liked where they were going with this and it wasn’t entirely lost on me, I just found it hard to want to stick around when the game wouldn’t give me a chance. I don’t think it wrecks the game though, it’s just that it didn’t resonate well with me, I also don’t think that’s a reason not to get this game because the RPG elements really won it for me.
Audio and Visuals
Once again we’ve been given a game that doesn’t have much or any music at all, it has environmental tracks which are brilliant! The most you’ll hear in the game is the feint sounds of the factory that your ship is in and if you listen closely you’ll understand how well done the development team did. Not only that but the sounds of the ships and the sounds of the enemies as well as combat were great and really tie in well with the visuals of the game. Not a complaint here.This game is like all the other Game Stew titles; fantastic visuals! The 8-bit, virtual-pet style really kept me going with this game because I love the way that characters and machinery look. They do a great job at instilling nostalgia in a player and it must take a lot to do something like that so I’ll give credit when credit is due. The enemies looked eerie and creepy yet fit into the world of the game so perfectly. The ships looked great, the enemies looked great, the HUD looked fantastic and each of them just complemented each other. While the gameplay really didn’t do much for me, the aesthetics of the game kept me hooked.
Overall
War of Eclipse is NOT a bad game at all, it has so much in it’s favour, between the visuals and the back-story you really can’t go wrong. I just did not like the way the game was played, the RPG elements were great and were implemented well, unfortunately the physical way you play the game (i.e. tapping when a mark reaches a certain point in the bar) just didn’t do anything for me and, while I don’t have a suggestion as to what they could have done instead, I still think the game would’ve been better had the gameplay been slightly different. Apart from that the rest of it was incredible and if you love the company enough you WILL sit through and enjoy the game. Once again Game Stew did a great job!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Today it has been found that Capcom has chosen to lay off a number of staff members at Capcom Europe. According to the report coming from Videogamer which found the news in the print version of MCV, more than half of the staff at the division has been fired due to their positions being merged.
Capcom responded to MCV’s question about the layoffs by saying that “Following a restructure at its US operation, Capcom’s European organization is currently evaluating its structure to ensure it is in the best position to take advantage of the changing market conditions the industry is facing.”
Over the last year Capcom has had a rough time of things and rumors continue to circulate about the company’s decline thanks to the underselling of Resident Evil 6 and DmC: Devil May Cry and their latest title, Lost Planet 3, our review of which can be found here, which barely ranked in sales charts leaving them with only $152 million in the bank.
Today Activision released a new trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts which details the game’s new Squad mode. Playing in squads will allow players to take part in game modes such as Squad Assault, Squad vs. Squad, and more with squad mates that can be customized. Players can choose to either play with AIs on their squad or together with their friends taking part in the squad match.
Players can choose to face off against another player’s squad or take the fight to an AI controlled squad. Interestingly enough, all XP earned in these Squad modes will be piped directly into the player’s multiplayer experience points. So with that said, check out the trailer below.
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes has bolstered its bad guy roster with the announcement that a certain Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing will be making an appearance in brick form once again.
M.O.R.D.O.K is one of Captain America’s biggest foes, and will be joined in the game by fellow Marvel baddies like Spiderman’s Venom and the Green Goblin, as well as Thor’s mischevious brother Loki. The story will cross a huge chunk of the Marvel universe, sending players on a quest to save the world from the villiainous crew assembling a weapon with the power to destory the world.
The game is set to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but will also hit current generation consoles on October 22, coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita and PC.
Namco Bandai Games have only just started streaming the newest trailer for their upcoming crossover, brawling title; J-Stars Victory Vs. The video starts off by outlining three “important key words”, the words being “Friendship, Effort and Victory” which just so happen to be the staple lessons of any good Shonen series, so I guess it fits perfectly! The video shows off most of the roster as they duke it out on the huge battlefields within the games, all the main fighters are there like Goku, Naruto, Toriko and Luffy but they’re not the only ones, in fact, the trailer also shows some of the newer characters in action. Characters like Yusuke (Yu Yu Hakusho), Gon (Hunter X Hunter), Sasuke (Naruto), Zebra (Toriko), Vegeta (Dragon Ball), etc.
This game is gearing up to be an incredible title and there are so many Shonen Jump fans out there that are just bursting at the seems waiting for this release. The game is set for a release on both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita yet there is no exact release date, hopefully we’ll be hearing of one in the coming months, as for right now though you can check out the newest J-Stars Victory Vs trailer in our Featured Video section below. Enjoy, Jump fans!
Endless Runner-type games have been coming by the dozens lately and they’re almost all made for smartphones because, you know, that’s what they were made for! Now fans of the Anime and Manga hit, One Piece, can get in on this endless running action with the new game by Namco Bandai called “One Piece: Running Chopper and the Island of Bonds”, yes it’s true but did you expect any different from One Piece? We live in an age where One Piece is in almost every for of media so why not smartphone games too?
The game is pretty basic and sticks to the exact same style of gameplay as every other runner does: You run across the landscape, jumping collecting candy and such. Eventually Chopper’s “Transformation Gauge” will fill up and you’ll be able to gain access to one of many Chopper forms that can help you pummel enemies and knock them out of your way. The game will feature special characters from the actual series as well as landscapes that you may recognize from the One Piece world. One Piece: Running Chopper is available on both Apple and Android devices through their respective stores now. Download the iOS version here.
Here are some cool pictures of the game that you can all check out:
Paradox Interactive, the publishing power behind the upcoming action game War of the Vikings, announced the release of a new trailer for the upcoming Warlock 2: The Exiled today.
Being developed by Ino-Co Plus, Warlock 2 is the sequel to turn-based strategy fantasy game Warlock: Master of the Arcane. Warlock 2 is set to be released to PC in Spring of 2014. It will feature single-player and multiplayer gameplay and each will challenge players to manage a realm full of deadly beasts in an all-out war of cunning, combat, diplomacy, and huge balls of fire.
To see one of funniest trailers released in recent memory, check out the video player below this article. For more information, you can check out their official website here.
Logitech have today announced their latest gaming mouse, the Logitetch G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse, which employs Logitech G’s exclusive Delta Zero sensor technology for ultimate precision and lagless gaming. Thats not all, this new mouse is also promising an outstanding 250 hours of battery life in performance mode, but we don’t recommend you use all that up in one sitting. The mouse can get over 1400 hours in endurance mode with a pair of AA batteries (which are included). It also features eleven programmable controls so you can easily assign the actions you use most to the buttons you want.
Every mouse needs to be partnered with a great mousepad and Logitech also have that covered. The Logitech G440 Hard Gaming Mouse Pad and the Logitech G240 Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad deliver optimized surfaces for both high and low DPI game play respectively.
For full details on the Logitech G602 Gaming Mouse head over to the Official Logitech Website. The mouse is coming out in Australia sometime in November for a RRP of $109.95.
I was pondering the Pokemon X and Y release just the other day and I realised that this is probably one of the biggest Pokemon releases since the birth of the franchise, I may be wrong but we must look at what is going on around us and, well, it’s pretty damn big. It seems as the the folks over in New York City feel the same way as I do about the new game’s release considering a massive event/party has been organised for the launch of the game. Yeah, you’re reading this correctly.
The Nintendo World in Rockefeller Center in New York City will be holding a Pokemon X and Y launch party, everybody there will be celebrating the night away in anticipation of the midnight release. People lucky enough to attend will be some of the first to get their hands on the game whilst also enjoying the Pokemon-themed festivities. Things like costume contests, trivia games, a temporary tattoo booth, game lounges with Pokemon X and Y demo kiosks and so much more will feature on the night and there will even be a bunch of prizes going out to attendees.
All I can say is that I wish I lived in the Big Apple because I would do my best to be front and centre for this event, unfortunetely I live all the way over in Australia but for you lucky scoundrels who are NYC natives the party will be on the 11th of October and will go from 8pm to 1am at the Nintendo World at Rockefeller Centre.
While we’ve been hearing about a release window for awhile, we have never had a solid release date for HomeTown Story, a new game from Harvest Moon’s original creator Yasuhiro Wada, in North America. Well today all that changed when Natsume announced that the 3DS exclusive would be going up for sale on October 22nd for $39.99.
