Supporters of Australian games take note, Sydney based developer Nnooo has just announced that their latest project, Blast ‘Em Bunnies, will be heading to the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita in 2014.
The title will be playable at this weekend’s EB Games Expo, with the Nnooo team to be found in the Homegrown Gaming area.
Blast ‘Em Bunnies is an endless shooter where players must not only try and defend their warren from a bunch of demented bunnies, but defend baby bunnies from the evil throat slitter! There are unlockable upgrades to boost your warren defences, including heat seeking chilli seeds, sticky exploding raspberries and bouncing pumpkin bombs.
Gamers with issues around cartoon baby animals dying may need to exercise caution…otherwise feel free to check out the gameplay video below.
Overview When Rune Factory was first created; it was literally called ‘A Fantasy Harvest Moon’ in the West thanks to the fact that Harvest Moon has been a relatively well known game series since it started back in 1996. Now seven years after the first Rune Factory was released, there is no longer a need to refer to the game as a fantasy version of the Harvest Moon series as it has managed to establish its own identity. Now with its own signature style heading to the 3DS for the first time, does Rune Factory 4 do its part in making the series worth remembering?
Story While Rune Factory 4 is all about dungeon crawling, slaying monsters, crafting items, and farming there is also a storyline that helps hold the package together. Players take the role of a male or female character as they are traveling aboard an airship to deliver an important item. However the trip doesn’t go very smoothly as two attackers throw the main character overboard, sending him/her plummeting to the earth below only to land headfirst on top of a talking dragon.
The fall from the sky has caused the player to lose their memory, creating a very standard amnesiac protagonist. This is of no issue however as the dragon, named Ventuswill, is very friendly and not only thinks that the player happens to be a prince/princess that is meant to be arriving in the kingdom, but also is the only one that she can reveal her calmer nature to.
Even after the mistaken identity with royalty is wrapped up after the proper prince appears the next day, everyone gladly accepts that the player should still take over the role of leading the town of Selphia as the proper prince simply wants to take some time to study business and form a trading company. As such, players are given the city of Selphia to work with.
However not all is right in the area around Selphia as powerful monsters have begun appearing within dungeons and these are causing issues with the productivity of the land, leading the player to have to hunt them down and eliminate them. Though doing so may end up revealing not only new friends, but also a deeper side to Ventuswill’s connection to the town and the world itself.
While far from original, Rune Factory 4’s storyline has its fair share of nice moments with a great feeling of progression. Players can choose to move at their own pace through the story, though new areas with more products to ship and enemies to defeat are opened up as the story advances. It also helps that the cast of characters that make up the town of Selphia are wonderfully charming. To be fair, there are a number of stereotypical character types but these characters are rather sparse amongst the community of different faces and races.
Gameplay As mentioned earlier, while there is an enjoyable story set alongside the numerous gameplay options, the focus of Rune Factory 4 is the combat and simulation aspects. Players are capable of wielding numerous weapons such as spears, swords, longswords, fighting gloves, magic staffs and more as real weaponry as well as farm tools if they feel like. The combat is pretty standard for the most part, with players having only a number of specific attacks per weapon type when they start out.
However there are numerous skills that level up through playing Rune Factory 4 and by using weapons on enemies, players grow more adept at wielding them and also gain stat increases at the same time. This means that it actually is best to sometimes vary up your style as your character will be stronger thanks to the jack-of-all-trades style set-up the combat system has. As players learn to use weapons, dash and charge attacks are unlocked as well as a final ultimate attack that can be unleashed at the end of a combo.
Outside of melee weapons players are also capable of using a number of different spells and skills at the same time. These weapon skills are most effective when paired with the proper weapon type, but can be used on their own while magical spells such as fireball or cure rely on the players’ magic skill. Mixing and matching your fighting style is very useful in the game as element types can play a role and sometimes stronger opponents need to be dealt with speed instead of brute strength.
All actions, whether it is fighting, casting spells or simply fishing, crafting, or farming lower the players RP (Rune Point) meter which, when empty begins to sap at the player’s health and can even send them to the hospital if their health bar reaches zero. Thankfully, combat doesn’t always have to be a solo affair since the player has the option of bringing two allies along with them wherever they go.
First, there are monsters that can be tamed in the game and raised as pets. Many, not all, of the monsters you will come across can be tamed by giving them items and they can be kept in the player’s Monster Barn where they will provide various items once a day and if the player manages to get their monster pet to like them enough, they can even help out on the farm by clearing out weeds, stumps and rocks or watering and planting seeds. However they also can come along with the player where they can fight alongside the player or serve as a mount for the player to ride on.
Now while it is possible to bring two monsters with you into combat, players can also take another character from the town, or two characters, with them as well. Now residents of Selphia won’t blindly follow you immediately like tamed monsters will, requiring players to make the effort to at least befriend them before venturing out of town. Now in Rune Factory 4 the player builds relationships with the townspeople in a manner similar to any other Harvest Moon/Rune Factory game, giving them presents (with each character having various likes and dislikes), talking to them and partaking in events.
As you interact with people not only do you get to know more about them, and sometimes partake in group conversations when characters are gathered together, but there are also a few unique events that will occur in town. These events serve as minor distractions but are a nice way to provide some extra content and interaction with the townsfolk. Now while obviously players will be looking to the characters they want to marry first, any character can become your friend and join you in combat, not just the romance option ones.
As for the romance and marriage in Rune Factory 4, not much has changed on this front as there are still various events that have to take place but now rather than simply jump right into marriage, players can enter a dating phase with a girl or guy before they decide to tie the knot. This means that there is a bit of depth to the system that does allow for the player to actually date more than one girl or guy at a time since players may find that they like one of the other characters more before the big decision.
Outside of fighting and dating, farming is the third gameplay pillar in Rune Factory 4 and it is rather simplistic and easy to get a hold of. Players can plant various vegetables and take care of the plants as they would in any other game in the series, though it is interesting to note that harvesting and gathering can be accomplished much quicker in this game because players are able to stack nine items of the same type on their heads at one time, speeding up the process immensely.
Finally there is the crafting section and the “PP” that is used to develop the town and the player. “PP” which stands for Prince/Princess Points are gained by completing various tasks around town for the residents and also drawing in tourists to visit your blossoming city. These points can be used to earn licenses to craft various item types, establish new festivals and build facilities for the player to use, giving players a chance to flex their rulership ability a little.
Almost every item in the game has a recipe and players are able to learn these recipes through, ironically, eating bread that suddenly inspires them with the knowledge to mix medicines, forge weapons, and create new food dishes. Creating your own equipment is always cheaper than buying it and food can not only heal the player but also give various stat bonuses for that day, plus giving characters home cooked food is a nice way to earn an extra bonus in a relationship.
One could say that there is almost too much to do in Rune Factory 4 and that is actually a good thing. Players can easily find themselves lost for hours at a time as they take care of their farms, interact with the townsfolk and work on their relationships, and delve into dungeons to fight monsters all while enjoying how great the game controls and how easy it is to switch between farm tools, weapons, items and spells even in the midst of combat.
Visuals Rune Factory 4 features a number of gorgeous looking anime cut-scenes as well as highly detailed character portraits of all of the named characters in the game. Unfortunately while the title is vibrantly colored and gorgeous looking at times, Rune Factory 4 has a number of graphical issues.
Outside of the dialogue sections, character models are jagged looking and although the levels are nicely designed, almost everything in the game outside of its cutscenes and character portraits feel dated.
Audio It is worth noting that Rune Factory 4 does not have a dual audio option but this isn’t too much of an issue since there is little voice work in the game. What is provided by XSEED are a few small phrases and expressions that have been given to each character. There is enough variety here that despite being only small snippets accompanying a lot of text, they manage to get the point across and help nail a few of the characters’ personalities.
As for the game’s soundtrack, it can easily be said that the background music for the game is wonderful. The music often fits the mood of the game at the time, with various calming tunes playing while the player works in the field or travels through the city and some harder fast paced music when facing down enemies or bosses in a dungeon. It is also worth noting that XSEED has elected to keep the opening Japanese theme song for Rune Factory 4, which is a nice touch since many companies choose to abandon it in favor of basic orchestral music.
Overall The hardest part of reviewing Rune Factory 4 was putting the game down to write the review. Thanks to the abundance of things to do, whether it is explore a dungeon, talk to the wonderful characters in Selphia, or handle things on the farm, there is always something to do in the game. While the game’s visuals may be dated, XSEED has done an excellent job bringing this entertaining game to the West and giving gamers an amazing game packed with enough content that will make it difficult to put down.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Capcom’s next Ace Attorney game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, has a demo that is now free to download from the Nintendo eShop. In addition, a trailer has been released showing some of the game’s anime opening which you can check out below. A set of screenshots were released earlier in August.
As a bonus, a costume pack featuring outfits for each of the three main characters – Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes – will be free from October 24 to November 7. It will be available to purchase afterward separately.
Shortly after release, an extra DLC episode called Turnabout Reclaimed is planned which introduces Orla the whale and her pirate trainer Sasha Buckler will be up for purchase.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is coming out on October 24 for the 3DS as a digital download.
It has only been a week since Free! ended and I know most of you are still in awe at the last episode, but worry not because Kyoto Animation has a special pre-order that is sure to please.
The online shop has just released details about a new art book based around the very popular swimming anime; the 88 page book will contain 66 different illustrations and will come with a special CD that includes audio on what went into creating each piece of artwork. The special CD will also contain a special app for windows users, the Desktop Mascot app will show seven Free! characters and allow you to interact with them with the click of your mouse.
The book will go on sale on the 15th of November and will cost around 4000 yen ($40 USD). At the time of writing only sample images of the cover have been released, but more info will be provided on the illustration books dedicated website.
If you cannot stand the wait for this book then there are other Free! themed merch available on the KyoAni online shop, like this set of character clear files for example. Let us know what you think about these products and the anime in general by leaving a comment down below.
Crytek, the minds behind the Crysis franchise, are about to release a sneak peek at their new first person shooter titled Warface and will also be launching a “Pre-Open Beta” on the 7th of October for the PC. Crytek says the sneak peek will give players “a wealth of new content to explore when the game update takes place, including new locations, game modes and rewards.”
The Sneak Peek phase will introduce a spectacular new Chinese setting that takes the fight against Blackwood forces to the Far East. Players will also be able to suit up as female soldiers for the first time, as well as trying their hand at the brand new Destruction mode – a fresh take on classic capture and hold gameplay. Further updates mean Warface will now offer five daily Coop missions instead of three, and allow players to earn greater rewards by setting pre-game challenges. Finally, a new tutorial system will be introduced so that everyone might be able to prepare for battle by undertaking short, class-specific training missions.
If you’ve already played the Closed Beta of Warface be prepared to have your character data wiped, as crytek says “for the final time”. The sneak peek phase is open to everyone who is part of any Warface Closed Beta phase. Following the launch of the Pre-Open Beta phase, which remains restricted to invited players who sign up for the Beta, the Warface in-game shop will be made accessible.
For a chance to join the action players can still register at www.warface.com.
At last night’s Nintendo Direct conference, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata presented a brand new trailer for the upcoming 3DS video-game adaptation of anime and manga phenomenom, Attack on Titan.
The brand new gameplay trailer highlights several of the games major features and focuses particularly on the 3D maneuver gear combat action. Also featured is the relatively detailed character creation aspects of the game.
The game itself is titled Attack on Titan: Last Wings of Humanity. It follows the same story as the anime series and lets players take control of their favourite members of the Survey Corps including Eren, Mikasa and Armin.
You can check out the trailer for Attack on Titan: Last Wings of Humanity below.
Cooperative/Competitive horror game Damned officially graduated from Steam Greenlight by entering Steam’s Early Access program. Those who pre-order a copy of Damned will get access to the game as it is being developed and can provide vital feedback to the developers.
Damned is a five player horror game where one player takes on the role of the monster and is responsible for scaring and eventually killing the remaining four players. The team of four will attempt to escape from a randomly generated setting without getting killed by the monster. The players can only run away from the monster as it is invulnerable to damage and are faced with a variety of objectives that need to be completed before the escape is made available.
Ubisoft have declared that Rocksmith 2014 Edition will feature an awesome range of new music tracks, for players to discover the ultimate key to unlocking the power of learning guitar on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Mac on October 24 2013.
With over 50 tracks covered in the Rocksmith 2014 Edition, the newly announced songs include:
Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me
Deftones – My Own Summer
Gold Motel – Brand New Kind Of Blue
Green Day – X-Kid
Minus The Bear – Cold Company
Queen – We Are The Champions
Ratt – Round And Round
Rush – The Spirit Of Radio
Tak Matsumoto – GO FURTHER
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
In addition, Rocksmith will be offering EMEA players who purchase the guitar bundle with the game; the ‘Real Tone Cable’ and an Epiphone Les Paul Junior guitar, a free DLC pack of 6 tracks:
Chicago – 25 Or 6 To 4
Albert King – The Sky Is Crying
The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Them Crooked Vultures – Mind Eraser, No Chaser
Queens Of The Stone Age – My God Is The Sun
Discover the pick of destiny this October, with the epic guitar bundle that is available exclusively with Amazon UK for pre-order now.
VisionArts is a small indie development studio looking to release their very first game with the help of Kickstarter. Middle of Nowhereis a retro styled horror game that looks to bring back old style gameplay elements of scarcity and survival with a modern visual style. Aaron Wilde from VisionArts sat down with us to answer some questions about indie development and Middle of Nowhere.
How did Middle of Nowhere start? How did you guys get from “Wouldn’t this be a cool idea for a game?” to “This how we’re going to make this idea into a real game!”
I got the idea for Middle of Nowhere last year when playing a survival horror game and remember thinking how much this genre had changed over the last 10-15 years. At that time, it was very much just an idea and so I looked into it a little more and to my surprise, I didn’t see a game like it on the market already. It started out with just myself, then co-developer and level designer Maria Hansson joined me. When me and her took the game to a late concept stage we started looking for team members and by this time, the project became serious. We were very lucky to have in a short time a bunch of people come along applying for various positions for the team and something I like to do is have a personal interview/chat with them on Skype so I can get a feeling of their attitude and dedication towards not only their craft but the project as-well. So now there are six of us working on the project and I’m sure there will be more in the near future but I’m very happy with the talent involved in the project. We are now working all the time on the game and have a tremendous amount of passion for it and it’s direction. We as a team love survival horror and have a great amount of experience with the genre. We want to re-visit some traditional themes that I haven’t seen captured in survival horror for quite a while. We can’t wait to show fans what we have in store for MoN as everything so far has been created in the short space of 3-4 months.
VisionArts talks a lot about going back to old style horror. What parts of modern horror games are you guys specifically trying to avoid?
Well, I wouldn’t say it’s trying to avoid them exactly but our experience with the genre has made us actually want a game like the one we are trying to create. By that I mean, there was a time in survival horror where you shot an enemy with your very limited ammo but even with that, the enemy kept on coming. It had a true satisfaction and suspense to killing enemies that I don’t really see in survival horror games nowadays. That’s not to say the genre is bad or that modern day survival horror’s are at all. It’s just such a change from 10-15 years ago and we personally feel that the genre has got too easy regarding things like ammo, health and too much action.
Where do you guys find inspiration for the twisted creatures you have shown off so far? Has there been a moment where you looked at something and thought “That’s too horrifying, I think we need to cut it from the game.”
Haha, I think it’s really a combination of all things terrifying that we’ve seen ourselves in survival horror games. Something we love to do is listen to feedback from fans and what we do is study what people like to see, what really scares people from back in the day and modern survival horror’s. Our current creatures are a combination of that. “Stitches” much resembles something you would see in Silent Hill 1 whereas “Creeper” much resembles something you would find in Frictional Games Penumbra series for example. We want our creatures to be varied as much as possible to avoid repetition.
You have posted several videos that really give a good look into the hours that goes into video game development. Are there plans to continue providing this candid look in the process of game development?
Absolutely! we have a number of video updates planned showing behind the scenes on what we are working on and additional features in the game. In fact, it’s something we really love to do. I think it’s very important to listen to fans and constructive criticism to shape the game to be a game that fans do want and wait for. In many ways, we are creating this game with fans because we do go out of our way to watch as many lets plays as we can of the demo we provided on Kickstarter and any reviews we may find good or bad. So far we have fixed a number of issues because of this and so we definitely plan to have progressive videos, images and just messages to fans during development to always keep them in the loop.
What sort of challenges have you encountered in developing Middle of Nowhere?
A game is hard work, no doubt about that. I’m sure many people have tried and then got into it and seen how much work it actually takes, especially when you have to live up to fans expectations.
However, every fall we have encountered thus far in creating MoN, we have stayed up that same night to fix it. One time, we deleted every piece of grass, bush and tree in one of the biggest locations in the game we designed yet and it felt terrible but I remember us staying up that same night until we re-created the whole thing and it actually turned out a lot better then the original.
I have to say that I personally like that challenge, if there wasn’t one and it was easy then that would be it and the game would be done really quick. The challenge of it, of impressing fans makes me always want to improve features in the game to a great standard.
Your Kickstarter page really emphasizes the importance of listening to gamer’s feedback while developing the game. We gamers tend to be a pretty noisy and opinionated bunch with really high expectations, how do you plan on managing it?
That’s a very good point and thus far, we’ve had various opinions, questions and concerns from quite a lot of people. The thing we look for is the most requested of these 3 things. If we overall that something has been said quite a few times, we look into it and it is as simple as that. A hard one I think players have to grasp is that because we are going back to the old days of survival horror, guns and combat is much more difficult and ineffective and I think players have become way to used to the idea of it being too easy so that’s a hard one to manage but we’ll end up finding the right balance for sure. I feel that you have to listen to fans, you just have to. We obviously can’t listen to every single one because there are too many but as I said, if something is said in mass then we do listen, we do address it and then we announce it so that they know we’ve addressed the issue.
Indie development is a terrifying matter! Will your budget allow you guys to take the plunge and work on Middle of Nowhere full time?
I agree and I think that’s a big thing that is missed for Indie’s. Me and the co-developer Maria Hansson are lucky enough to be in a position that we will be working full time on the game providing Kickstarter is successful. If it’s not, I don’t think we will be able to continue development, at least not very a long time because of this issue. Our budget for Kickstarter is going directly into the games development, all of it, every last dime. I think £25,000 is not a great deal of money for a video game considering that games usually use about 20m. However, we have looked into our exact budget and we know we can deliver if successful and we truly believe it will be a powerful game if we make it. I understand though that it’s hard to trust a group of people who haven’t made a game before with your hard earned money but that is what Kickstarter is all about, we have to start somewhere and you pledge because you believe in the project and people. I will deliver this game somehow and someway and if it’s successful then everyone has made our dream come true and we will deliver the game they have been waiting for to the best of our ability.
What’s the long term plan after your Kickstarter is funded? Will backers get a chance to join in on the alpha or beta and play a greater role in the development of Middle of Nowhere?
Well as I said, we’ve worked out an in depth budget so are ready to go with development right away. Something we always plan to do is keep updates coming, take feedback in and listen. We will most certainly provide a demo of the finished product more toward the release so they can really get a taste of the games power and I have to say, I’m already very excited about that. Our direction with the game is very ironed out and I think that will show providing the Kickstarter is successful.
Do you have any advice for budding indie game developers?
The best advice I can give is that I know when you start a new project and have a dream of a game you feel raring to go and then see how much work it takes and it seems daunting but it is very possible to create the game you love with enough persistence. If you have that dream, then follow it and keep true to it. There will always be people who love what you do as-well as those who hate what you do, it’s unavoidable but I can bet, with enough passion and dedication your good supporter will far exceed your bad and you’ll end up loving the experience of game development.
Thanks to Aaron Wilde for taking the time to sit down and talk with us! Be sure to check out Middle of Nowhere’s Kickstarter campaign and their Steam Greenlight campaign!
Paradox Interactive, the folks behind Europa Universalis IV, announced today that their upcoming multiplayer close-combat action game, War of the Vikings, is available in its Alpha state via Steam Early Access.
In development from Fatshark, the game can be purchased and played immediately, allowing you to see, firsthand, the growth of the game. Both Alpha participants and owners of War of the Roses: Kingmaker Edition will be granted free Early Access from October 1 to October 4. Players who own WotR: KE or Mount & Blade: Warband will be granted a 10% discount from the Early Access for the first month.
Multiple packages, including a Standard Edition, Blood Eagle Edition (which includes a soundtrack and exclusive gear), and Valhalla Edition (all content, all future content for free, and an extended soundtrack) will be available for purchase during Early Access. Players interested in the game can check out their official website here, or head over to Steam to grab the game.
