2K and 2K Marin haveannounced that Hangar 6 R&D, the add-on content pack for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (a review of which can be found here) is available for download worldwide for the Xbox 360.
Set prior to the events of The Bureau, players take control of new protagonist Agent Nico DaSilva and his squad as they volunteer for a series of secret psycho-medical experiments to save a fellow Bureau agent infected with the “Sleepwalker” pathogen.
Hangar 6 R&D creates skin-of-your-teeth moments that challenge players’ mastery of The Bureau’s core tactical gameplay. The story-driven add-on content further explores the 1960s Cold War vibe by transporting players to an all-new clandestine location known only to Bureau agents as Hangar 6. Along with high-level squad mates and XP rewards, players now have access to even more dangerous weapons, such as the well-known AK-47. Also included is a prototype Microwave Gun that cooks enemies from the inside out. Nasty. Agent DaSilva also has a new series of powers and perks based on his “plant and trigger” bomb abilities that allow players to better utilize the game’s most complex squad tactics.
Hangar 6 R&D is avaiable on Xbox Live for AU$4.95/NZ$6.65. For more information on the DLC and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, visit the official site and Facebook page. Check out the screenshots below and prepare to combat the Outsider plague once more. Erase the truth.
This holiday season, the new next-gen consoles aren’t the only hardware making an appeal for your Christmas shopping money. The Mario & Luigi Premium Pack releases on November 7th across Australia and New Zealand, and features a black Nintendo Wii U console with 32GB of storage (25GB of which is actually free space), black Wii U GamePad controller and a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U plus its additional content, New Super Luigi U, all on one disc.
For those who are unfamiliar with the latest adventures of our favourite plumbers, here is a brief gameplay overview;
In New Super Mario Bros. U run, leap and stomp your way through a giant world map full of challenging courses and a variety of gameplay modes to sharpen your platforming skills. In New Super Luigi U, although the games basic play styles are the same as New Super Mario Bros. U, the 82 courses on the World Map have been replaced with brand new ones especially for Luigi. Containing seemingly improbable jumps, formidably hidden Star Coins and a time limit of 100 seconds to complete each course it’s going to be one speedy adventure.
The bundle price has yet to be confirmed, but when it is, we will update this article accordingly.
The latest in-depth blog post on Battlefield 4 is all about the game’s new Spectator Mode, a first for the long-running FPS franchise. Assistant Producer Daniel Matros and Junior Gameplay Designer Dennis Brännvall have detailed the feature in its entirety on the blog page here, but we’ve summarised the key points of interest below.
Battlelog is intrinsic because you can choose to join a server as a Spectator, with up to four Spectator slots per server which are separate from the player list.
Once you’re in you can cycle between First Person, Third Person, Tabletop and Freecam views. Tabletop is essentially the Commander Mode view, with a UI that shows icons for players, vehicles, etc. which you can click on and view their actions via a small camera.
All in-game info is visible in Spectator Mode such as team scores, remaining time, flags, player health and class as well as the kit’s customisation options. Team colours are also different in this mode where they’re a deep red and a deep blue.
It seems like Spectator Mode will be a huge bonus for the competitive scene in Battlefield 4 and will undoubtedly be used to keep tabs on hackers in-case the anti-cheat system doesn’t find them first. Rather than an option in-game, it almost feels like a standalone game mode. Without you playing the game, of course.
Battlefield 4 is due for release on PC and current-gen consoles this October 31, with an Xbox One release date of November 22 while the PlayStation 4 version lands on November 29. You can check out our hands-on with the game’s Paracel Storm map from EB Games Expo 2013.
Skullcandy have announced the launch of the Skullcandy SLYR (“Slayer”) Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Edition gaming headset. Featuring a unique, custom color and artwork inspired by the franchise’s driving story device, the Animus, the studio’s first officially licensed gaming headset is now available through www.skullcandy.com, and participating retailers across Canada and the U.S, for USD $89.99.
On top of the design aspects, Skullcandy and ASTRO Gaming engineers worked directly with Ubisoft to develop three distinct EQ settings that form an audio profile specifically attuned to accentuating the dynamic aural environment found in the game. They are: Bass Mode, which “elevates the thundering explosions and battle cries during action sequences to terrifically loud levels – all without dampening the highs”; Precision Mode, which “emphasizes environmental effects such as water, wind and the all-too-familiar whispers”; and Supreme Mode, which “applies Skullcandy’s now-legendary full-frequency response to the entire Black Flag environment”.
And most importantly, the headset is cross-compatible with the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC as well as most smartphones, tablets and MP3 players. Additional features include a stashable boom mic and GMX in-line mixer with volume and game-to-voice balancing controls. Sam Paschel, CMO of Skullcandy, said;
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag is easily one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year and we’re thrilled to be able to offer our unique perspective on audio fidelity and gaming style to the legions of fans who stand behind the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The Skullcandy SLYR AC IV Black Flag Edition represents our first partnership with a major gaming publisher and we’re aiming to make a lasting impression with gamers everywhere. We’re supremely confident gamers will be blown away by what we’ve been able to accomplish — a truly authentic Assassin’s Creed experience combined with a level of audio performance and value they’ve never seen before.
Check out the Skullcandy SLYR (“Slayer”) Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Edition gallery below for a better look at the headset.
Namco Bandai has shared a set of new media and info regarding the upcoming Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers title. New game modes have been touched upon and a trailer with screenshots has been released. Be sure to check them out below.
The Galaxy War mode takes a page out of the Saint Seiya manga’s Galactic Tournament, allowing players to organise single-elimination tournaments against several opponents and difficulty levels.
The Survival mode has you battling for your life in a series of difficult fights with specific challenges that recover your HP bar.
Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers is coming to PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation Network download title for North America on November 27. Europe and Australasia will be getting a retail release on November 22. Make you’ve seen the previous Hades trailer also.
Beginning today, the 11th of October, and ending on the 15th of October the Android and iOS game Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame will be purchasable for the real low price of $0.99. It is developed by Ubisoft Prune and the game follows the original Prince of Persia game’s storyline which was actually released twenty years ago.
The setting of the game, thought, takes place after Ubisoft Prunes other mobile title “Prince of Persia: Classic” which was very successful on it’s release and throughout it’s run. Ubisoft Prune have stated that Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame will allow players to thoroughly explore various “State-of-the-art” environments while enjoying fantastic 3D graphics alongside intuitive controls designed for touch-screens and, for $0.99, why would you pass up the chance to get your hands on the game?
Remember: The sale goes from today until the 15th of October so you better get in quick! Click here to grab the game from the iTunes App Store for iOS Devices or click here to grab it from Google Play for Android Devices.
We knew that Titan Comics were going to make a big showing at this year’s New York Comic Con, and now they have officially announced a slew of new comics that will be hitting store shelves in 2014. The titles announced at today’s event include:
Girl 1 (by award winning Noel Clark) – A Superhero thriller
Ordinary(from Rob Williams and D’Israeli) – a quirky anti-cape tale
In addition to the new books, Titan also announced new collections to their “deluxe” library, including:
Snowpiercer – A stroy about a postapocalyptic train that can never stop, and who’s thousand carriages are responsible for housing all of humanity. This story has recently been adapted into a ilm starring Chris Evans, so you should be sure to check it out.
Johnny Nemo – The definitive edition of the existentialist hitman satire story from industry legend, Perer Milligam.
The Complete Cholly & Flytrap – Which collects the entire epic story, as well as all the bonus shorts and additional content.
Springheeled (by David Hitchcock) – A Victorian horror adventure for lovers of the genre, and finally;
We don’t have a tonne of info on these books yet, but We have attached a few preview covers below for you to check out and get you excited. These books aren’t set to launch until next year, so for all the Titan Comics news as it becomes available, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
“Space Dandy” is Shinichiro Watanabe’s – creater of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo – next “big thing” and even though we’ve barely seen anything about it, apart from a quick trailer and some official character art, we’ve just gotten wind of the voice actors and actresses who will be taking up the roles of the main cast and, from what I’ve just read briefly, they’re damn good.
Taking the role of Dandy himself in the Anime will be none other than voice actor Junichi Suwabe who you may know as Vergo from One Piece, Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist, Grimmjow from Bleach or any other of the big roles he’s done.Taking the role of the vacuum cleaner robot QT will be Japanese pop idol Uki Satake, the role of Meow will be played by Hiroyuki Yoshino who is the voice behind Allelujah Haptism from Gundam 00 and the role of narrator for the series will go to Masaaki Yajima who was also the narrator from “Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy” as well as taking roles in Trigun, Bartender and even Astro Boy.
I, for one, am really looking forward to the release of BONES’ and Shinichiro Watanabe’s Space Dandy which is said to be coming sometimes early 2014, let us know what you think about these roles and the actual Anime itself in the comments section below.
Okay, so something called a “Dildozer” now exists… only in the digital world of Saints Row IV, thank God! Not only will you be able to ride this (as the driver! Geez…), but you’ll also have a plethora of new weapons, friends, enemies and missions to encounter in the infamous DLC ‘Enter The Dominatrix‘ – which was once planned as an expansion to Saints Row The Third – and has been revived for standalone release and as part of Saints Row IV‘s Season Pass.
The DLC makes its long awaited arrival on October 22nd for $6.99, if you choose to purchase it separately. It delivers an alternate take on the Zin invasion storyline, where the Saints become trapped in a sexualised, virtual prison run by an A.I. program called The Dominatrix. You will encounter her army of gimps and sex-workers as you attempt to shut down her demented simulation. The DLC comes with a behind-the-scenes commentary on the content as well. Fans will also have the opportunity to ask the developers any questions they have in a 3-hour live-stream playthrough on October 23rd starting at 1pm Central Time on Volition’s twitch channel.
The second half of the Season Pass, and final mission pack, ‘How the Saints Saved Christmas’, will be released later this year. For now, check out the gallery below for screenshots and a concept art piece of the title character from ‘Enter The Dominatrix’.
P.S.Now that I think about it, doesn’t Deep Silver sound like a vibrator name?
100% Orange Juice is a combination of board game and deck building that has players battling for stars and collecting cards. The game plays like a traditional board-game like Chutes and Ladders or Yahtzee, in that it takes little skill to play successfully and has little tactics behind each movie.
Gameplay
The deck building and card purchasing is a interesting aspect but doesn’t serve much of a purpose as I felt cards didn’t hold a large amount of weight to winning the game. The cards themselves weren’t quite useful and I found myself randomly putting what I could in my deck; mostly trap cards. The cards, especially trap cards, led to a fun bit of trolling; forcing other players and the CPUs to trigger cards that move them around the map, make them loose stars, turns, and cause a small amount of mayhem along the way.
100% Orange Juice features cast members from the developer Orange Juice’s other games such as Acceleration of Suguri, Sora, and Rockin Android. For those who haven’t played the games from which these cameo characters hail from, you’re not alone, but for others this could be a enjoyable treat. The game itself is based on collecting stars and winning battles against the other players and enemies on the board. Which all depend on random dice rolls. Each player takes a turn, walks counter-clockwise around the board, and either draws a card, gets bonus stars, or battles an enemy.
The combat system seems pretty random and points and totals go by too fast to really get what’s happening. Again your attacks and defences are based off of rolling the random dice again… though it seems to not have much of an effect. It seems like the two outcomes of an attack are -1 health, or ALL OF YOUR HEALTH. Which are the two most common outcomes, no matter your roll. These things can be effected by cards you’ve drawn from your deck. The cards themselves aren’t different from cards you’d see in many other trading card games; healing you or adding attack damage, but like I mentioned before, the game can be played easily, without using any cards at all, and some of the cards affects are barley noticeable.
At times I found myself drifting off-screen, occupying myself with something else until my turn arrived and clicking through my turn without much hesitation or thought and seemed not to care weather I won or lost; as nothing is truly at stake. At the end of a round you are awarded the stars that you collected during the round as well as given multipliers for difficulty and other variables. You can use those stars to purchase new cards, at random, from a pack of one per 180 stars.
You can get multiples of cards you already have and there’s the chance that you’ll NEVER get a certain card, which seems discerning. The gameplay is definitely more casual than casual than strategy and the card system could probably been left out entirely. Most, if not everything, in 100% Orange Juice seems random and nothing seems like it fully fits together; some enemies you face on the birds are seagulls, others are mechanical orbs, and even a mud-monster boss and those encounters don’t feel like they belong in a board-game like this.
Your character also has a health meter; ranging from 4-6 points usually. When your character dies, you must roll (of course) a random dice to see if you can get back up. On the first roll you must roll a five or above, if you miss that, you must try a four, and then three, and so on. This can lead to frustration where you are skipped for three to four turns before being able to roll yourself back up. These things amassed together lead to a frustrating and confusing mix of casual and random mechanics that have no true place together. There is no true set of rules or style of play for %100 Orange Juice as you can’t recreate a strategy two games in a row, due to the level of random events. It’s also quite difficult to plan a move one step ahead, let alone strategically play a whole round.
Visuals
The menu system isn’t much to look at, aside from the background and theme that fits in the juicy style, it’s bland and dated. The board itself also isn’t visually striking, though it gets the point across. The characters themselves are well done, though their animations are sporadic and, again, dated. What could be a nice set of animated moves and expressions are replaced with a static photo of each character that vibrates when its their turn to move, roll dice, or attack; all they do is vibrate. From a non-critical view, the casual nature of the game added with the bright and sunny vibe gives 100% Orange Juice an fun feel and these visuals fit that theme.
Audio
The music, sound effects, and audio cues all stand out from the more casual play of %100 Orange Juices. The fast paced trance music, high pitched effects, and rather insentient become excruciating for anyone who wants to lay back and play with friends. In fact, it feels like someone blasting rave music, while dancing on your keyboard, while spinning their night away with glow-sticks. It’s all pretty out of place with the turn-based strategy element that %100 Orange Juice tries to fill. Everything from the Visuals, Gameplay, and Audio feel rushed.
Overall
Honestly, 100% Orange Juice should be considered a casual board-game at best. This doesn’t mean that 100% Orange Juice is a bad game, it’s actually quite easy to pick up and play; if you’re a fan of board games like Mouse Trap, 100% Orange Juice will be right up your ally, and if you’re a fan of Orange Juice’s other work then look forward to some cameos. Those looking for a good turn-based strategy card game game should look elsewhere, but if 100% Orange Juice piques your interest, give it a shot.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
