As we already know, Atlus USA is going to be handling the publishing of Big Finish Games’ Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure and today the company has released a lengthy eight minute trailer showing the game in action and you can check it out below.
To go along with this trailer reveal the company has also released a list of actors, some of which should be very easy to recognize, who will be playing roles in the game which can be read below:
To commemorate the launch of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, our review of which can be read here, in North America Tecmo Koei is planning a major launch party/tournament and it starts today. The tournament is The Fall Classic and it will last for three days where the launch party will occur at the last day, hosted by Konsole Kingz. The grand finals will be streamed on Twitch TV.
Full details of the time table of the tournament can be found below:
September 13 7pm: Team tournament and highly anticipated “Old Skool vs New Skool” exhibition team match, sponsored by Gamester Gear Headphones
September 14 1pm – 8pm: Saturday Singles Qualifier
5pm: Sunday Grand Finals
9pm – 1am: Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate launch party produced by Konsole Kingz to include demo stations, giveaways and prizes
September 15 5pm: Grand Finals with $9500 total pot bonus
Today Deep Silver has announced that the third piece of DLC for Metro: Last Light has been dated and guess what, it’ll be hitting digital shelves next week. The DLC is called the ‘Developer Pack’ and with it comes a solo mission called “The Spider’s Nest” where players will need to escape from a spider infested catacomb while wielding a flamethrower.
There will also be a shooting range and a “Metro Museum” which will allow players to take a closer look at the various enemies and humans that are in the game. The Developer Pack will be free for anyone who bought the Season Pass and $3.99, £3.19 and €3.99 for those who haven’t picked it up.
Independent developer Polypusher Studios’ “psychological roller-coaster ride”Montague’s Mount, will release for PC, Mac and Linux on October 9th, 2013, and will support use of the Oculus Rift.
At first glance, the game reminds of Dear Esther, and that can only be a good thing. Montague’s Mount is a journey through isolation, desolation and the reality of living in the head-space of a tortured mind, all set against the bleak, and sometimes downright creepy backdrop of a singular Irish island. The two key pillars of gameplay are exploration and puzzle-solving; excelling at both will help in revealing the history of the island and how to escape it. Being a one-man team (oxymoron?) based out of Ireland, Polypusher Studios have incorporated realistic landscapes and accurate Gaelic language.
First displayed to the general public at Rezzed! in June of this year, an extended build of the game will be playable at the Eurogamer Expo in London from September 26-29. What’s most exciting is that attendees will be able to play it using the Oculus Rift for the first time ever. Matt Clifton (basically is Polypusher Studios) said about the hardware;
I first heard about the Oculus Rift during the early development of Montague’s Mount and it was immediately clear that this was perfect for my game, with its focus on exploration and suspense. I backed it at Kickstarter and have been working on integrating support ever since I got the dev kit. It opens up a whole new dimension for games like mine.
Neil McKenna of Mastertronic – who are publishing the game – stated;
We all loved Montague’s Mount from the moment we first saw it. We loved the way that Matt has told a very adult horror story – there are no zombies here, but a chilling story that is all too real. We loved the gritty depiction of Irish rural life, so far removed from the popular image of that country. And most of all, we loved the passion that Matt had invested in the game. This was a game that he really needed to make. We have done certain things to polish it up, but we have never interfered with Matt’s original vision, as we could never have improved upon it. The new trailer showcases all that is great about the game.
You will be able to purchase the game through Good Old Games, Get Games and GamersGate. It is also currently going through the Steam Greenlight process; you can vote for it right here. Finally, check out the gallery of screenshots directly below, and the developer commentary video embedded at the bottom of this article.
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Developer:Team Ninja Publisher:Tecmo Koei Platforms:PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date:September 3, 2013 Price: $39.99 – Available Here
Overview A little under a year ago Team Ninja brought us the next numbered Dead or Alive title in the form of Dead or Alive 5. With numerous graphical improvements, a few new characters and refined gameplay it reminded us just how great the series was. Since then they have released numerous costumes as DLC and also released a Vita version with a few touch screen options and a handful of gameplay improvements. Now Tecmo Koei has released Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, looking to improve upon what was already a great game with a number of refinements and additions. However is all of this worth a second purchase?
Story Despite seeing a few new characters added this time around, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate’s storyline is still very much the same as the one found in the original Dead or Alive 5 released last year. Anyways, for those who may not have played the first release of the game, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate’s storyline plays out through a number of chapters as players take control of each character for specific sections of the storyline.
The storyline offers at least some continuing narrative of the Dead or Alive series, DOATEC and leaves room for more to come, but it is worth noting that a number of the characters simply play minor roles and do not have stories of their own, though they do continue to interact with one another based on past developments. So while there is some structure to the game’s storymode, it ends up being a bit short on its own.
Gameplay Much of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate will appear the same to gamers who have already played the original version of the game. The combat system remains the same as before which follows a unique four button combat system where Y and B dish out punches and kicks while throws are performed with the A button and players can guard, or perform ‘hold’ counters when timed properly, with X. There is a certain strength and weakness to each of these moves, with strikes being countered by holds, holds being countered by throws and strikes overpowering throws, making the title easy to pick up and play but quite intricate at the same time.
In fact, the game has been made easier than ever to pick and learn thanks to the inclusion of the expanded tutorial and combo training system which was introduced in Dead or Alive 5 Plus, which was released earlier this year on the Vita. These two modes help walk the player through the various combo techniques of each character and introduce players to all of the game’s mechanics as well as a few new ones that have been added this time around.
While fighters have always had the ability in Dead or Alive 5 to pull off a Power Blow and send their opponent flying across the arena, sometimes into a dangerous hazard there is a newly added Power Launcher, which again can only be used effectively when charged up. These power launchers are a new move that when used effectively will send your opponent flying high into the air, leading to possible juggle combos or a chance to prepare your next move.
Also added to the game are a number of additions to the game’s Tag system. Not only have tag battles been implemented into the online mode of the game, where players can not only fight against someone else’s tag team, they can even team up with someone else and face off against two other opponents in a two on two tag battle. The Tag combat has also been refined a bit to allow switching between fighters easier and health meters have also been adjusted.
Speaking of the game’s online mode, new rankings have been added allowing players to raise their rank even higher if they manage to bring themselves to the highest caliber. Also there are now individual points that are distributed to the character you used in combat, allowing players to tell whether or not their opponent is using the fighter they are most skilled with and likewise on the opposite end.
Outside of the aforementioned additions and a number of gameplay tweaks in the form of bug fixing and balancing, a few new moves seem to have been added for a handful of characters and five, some old, fighters have been added to the roster. Returning fighters Leon and Ein have been added to the game and alongside them join two long awaited additions to the roster in the form of Ninja Gaiden’s Momiji and Rachel. Closing out the new character additions is another guest character in the form of Jacky Bryant from Virtua Fighter. Each of these fighters adds a little something extra to the game and a few new stages have been added as a result.
Also, it is worth mentioning that nearly every costume, minus the swimsuits of course, that were released as DLC for Dead or Alive 5 are included in the game and can be unlocked through simply playing the game. If players choose to import their save data from Dead or Alive 5 they can automatically unlock every costume they may have already unlocked or bought, as well as transfer over previously unlocked titles.
This makes Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate appealing for those who may never have touched the game’s DLC before this point and also provides the player with a ton of new costumes to unlock if they haven’t already. A number of other bonuses include the option to view every movie in the game, including winning and losing animations of the characters and more padding to give the player more to do when they aren’t fighting, though it is also worth noting that the Survival mode has been tweaked and made a bit easier as health restoring items can be obtained from defeating or throwing opponents.
Visuals Dead or Alive 5 offered an already impressive graphical upgrade from past games by improving the character models of each of the fighters, making them some of the best looking fighting models in the market. Not only were these characters improved visually, but various effects were also added to the game such as dirt and grime that can be picked up from the stage as well as sweat and water that drips down the fighters and cause some articles of clothing to become either see through or sweat stained.
In Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate none of this has been changed as the game is still as amazing looking as ever, with a number of impressive looking new stages and even more costumes to dress your fighters in, giving players tons of different options whenever they are looking into setting up a match.
Audio As mentioned previously, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate continues to feature some impressive sound effects in combat as not only do the fighters yell when performing various moves and make various noises when hit but everything in the stage is also making noise and moving at the same time, making players feel like they may actually be fighting somewhere rather than in some static arena.
The game’s voicework remains rather impressive and the new characters’ voicework all blend in well with the game, though the issue with the Virtua Fighter guest characters’ voices sounding off compared to the rest of the cast is still a problem. Also it is worth noting that there is a choice to switch to Japanese voices if you wish to.
Overall Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate takes what was already built up from the original Dead or Alive and manages to improve upon it in every way. Not only has the game’s combat become more refined, the roster has been expanded and a few new modes have also been included. While there is no cheaper alternative for those who already bought into Dead or Alive 5 to upgrade to this version other than buy it outright, they will find themselves with more content than ever before as they step into a freshly tuned version of a game that puts other 3D fighters to shame.
Earlier this year we were amazed to discover a theatre adaptation of Princess Mononoke was created and well received both in the UK and in Japan. Now UK anime fans have taken it one step further by creating a Kickstarter page to fund a live action movie based off the timeless Ghibli classic.
The project entitled Wolf Girl will take place 600 years after the events that occurred in Princess Mononoke, a fan made sequel if you will. With such a big project you would expect the quality to be well up there and I am happy to report that the team behind the movie is up for the challenge.
A trailer for the project has been released and it looks amazing, the location is perfect and is professionally edited and the Kodama spirits still have that cute yet strange aesthetic to them. Check out the video below and be amazed at the level of quality this trailer has.
The live action part of the film really does shine through the trailer as the Kodama tree spirits are not computer generated; these creatures are brought to life using a very unique puppet system which the team wants to further experiment with so they can make these little guys look their best.
Concept art has been shown on the Kickstarter page of a wolf howling in a forest with a stream of blue butterflies fluttering across the screen – the wolf will be brought to life using 3D Creature-FX with the help of a professional Visual FX team.
The theme of environmental awareness will be shown in both the film and in production; the team wants to record on location using equipment that doesn’t require any generators or anything that can harm the forest (points given already for using LED lighting technology).
With so much professional input going into to this movie it’s almost hard to believe this will be a non-profit film… oh right, did I forget to mention that earlier? The film is not endorsed by Ghibli nor is the company offering any contribution into making the film, which isn’t a bad thing but this alone shows the amount of detail and dedication the team have to making the film look as good as it can for all the Mononoke fans out there.
I advise you all to check out their Kickstarter page and back this project. You can also head to their Facebook and twitter pages for more information. If you still aren’t sure about this project, watch the trailer again and you will soon be convinced, this project is going to be amazing and I cannot wait until they start filming.
Aarklash: Legacy Developer: Cyanide Studio Publisher:Cyanide Studio Platforms: PC (Reviewed) Release Date: September 12, 2013 Price:$20.99 – Available Here
Overview
The strategy–roleplaying game genre pairing is one that sees a few notable entries on occasion. Earlier this year we were graced with the revamped ShadowrunReturns. With the resurgence of the old-style isometric strategy RPG, genre enthusiasts are set up to be swept off their feet.
French developer Cyanide Studio is aiming to channel a bit of that excitement to its newest game. How does a tactical roleplaying game based on a tabletop miniatures game hold up, though? Should Aarklash: Legacy be written out of the history books or have a tome in the annals? Let’s find out.
Story
Aarklash is a land full of chaos where battles continually rage. The war between the Barons of Alahan and the Dark Lords of Acheron must be fought, but the Barons have had to go deeply into debt with the Goldmongers guild to fund the war. When a Quorr of four Wheel Swords are sent to collect the Goldmongers’ due from a baron who had fallen behind on payments, they’re ambushed by the baron and his soldiers. The Quorr quickly learns that much more is going on than they could have imagined. They’ll have to fight for their lives to unravel the mysterious plot set out before them.
Gameplay
In Aarklash: Legacy, you’ll take control of the standard Quorr of four Wheel Swords – Goldmonger mercenaries. Each Wheel Sword is greatly varied, with their own unique contributions to the Quorr, but for that, the Quorr itself is a stronger, more cohesive fighting unit.
Without a doubt, the strongest draw to fans of the strategy RPG genre mashup will be the combat. Unlike Shadowrun and its turn-based brethren, Aarklash‘s combat takes place completely in real-time. Aarklash: Legacy‘s unique feature is what they’re calling the “active pause” mechanic.
Because of the real-time nature of the game, you could probably try to play it like you would Diablo III or any other isometric RPG. You would also likely get completely destroyed very quickly. By utilizing the “active pause” mechanic, you can literally suspend combat at any point with the space bar. While the game is paused, you can issue commands to each of your Wheel Swords. You can also stack actions, giving you a deeper level of control over your forces. This grants an intricate level of control and command that you’ll quickly find to be necessary to conquer your foes. It also generates some unique situations, since many of the skills often require a countdown that occurs in real-time as well.
Combat encounters feel incredibly well designed in Aarklash. Every engagement feels like its very own puzzle to be solved. Failing to properly solve the puzzle can lead to a difficult encounter or, more often than not, swift defeat. This can result in some swift, embarrassing thrashings, but it also has the ability to deliver some fantastic fist-pumping moments when you land the crushing blow. Despite its ability to quickly humble you, it’s engaging and exhilarating.
Your Quorr is given four active slots: one “Tank”, two “Fighters”, and a “Support” role. Characters can be moved around wherever you choose, but for the most part, you’ll be able to tell what role a character fills. Though you can only have four active Wheel Swords , there are eight you can eventually recruit to choose from. Each has their own particular set of skills and personality. Quorr leader Nella is a strong-willed mage, thief Denzil has a quick wit and sharp blade, wolfen healer Wendaroo is as ferocious as she is vengeful, and Knokka, the group’s tank, is a free-willed golem with a fascination of the world. The other four characters you pick up each have their own particular perks and personalities as well. It creates wonderful diversity, giving you plenty of options to mix and match for your favorite combinations.
As you work your way through each battle, your Wheel Swords will gain experience. Each level gained will also eventually grant you an extra point to spend in the skill tree. Each character has four core skills they can invest in, and each skill branches at some point, offering various effects and benefits. On top of that, you can choose to clear your skill tree and respec your build at nearly any point, allowing for incredible depth of customization for each character. You’ll genuinely feel like the Quorr is your own.
Beyond the skill progression, the game offers items to equip. While you can’t change out weapons or armor, you can find earrings, relics, necklaces, and rings that offer various stat boosts. These can drop off certain enemies or from various chests you find in the world. Most of the chests usually come with a rare monster or group of enemies guarding it that grant an added bit of satisfaction to acquiring them. It almost always makes venturing off the beaten path a quick jaunt worth your time.
Visuals Aarklash: Legacy is a great looking game with smart UI design to boot. The environments are fantastical and colorful, conveying everything from a nice autumn day in the woods to desolate, otherworldly wastelands, and more. The spells, skills, and other particle effects all look wonderful, both in motion and when the world is paused at a standstill. On top of that, menus are easy to navigate and all of the information you need is easily placed at your fingertips. A minimap would have been a nice addition, but that’s a minor complaint and you’re given access to a map via the menus.
Audio
The sound design in Aarklash is fair. The soundtrack is both fun and evocative, kicking up during combat for a pulse of adrenaline. Sound effects are spot on, pulling you right down into the battle with your Quorr.
The one hitch is somewhat shaky voice acting. For the most part, lines are delivered well, but occasionally the rhythm of the story feels like it stutters when the voice acting fails to be as smooth as the rest of the finely polished game.
Overall Aarklash: Legacy is a top tier strategy RPG, hands down. The game looks fantastic and sounds great, even with occasionally shaky voice acting. The tightest draw to the game, however, is impeccable strategy gameplay that will pull you in and keep you on your toes. I dare say Aarklash: Legacy is one of my favorite gameplay experiences of the year. For the price Cyanide Studio is asking, you’d be missing out on quite a game to pass this by.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Life is indeed like a Hurricane today for those of you who have been waiting patiently for the late release of DuckTales: Remastered, as the game has now hit the Xbox Live Arcade at a price of $14.99. WayForward‘s portjob turned out to be quite a charmer that packed a punch featuring the popular animated series, and revives the old classic with a fresh coat of paint and a good amount of heart that the company has been known for adding to their popular platformers.
To celebrate this monumental release, we have a brand new launch trailer that features some of the praise the game has gotten since release (check out our own review here while you’re at it), which you can check out below. As of today however, you can queue up a download for Mr. McD and get to downloading DuckTales: Remastered today.
If you own a Wii U or have plans to grab one in the future, one of the most endearing and enjoyable titles on the system comes in the form of Toki Tori 2. Shortly after the Wii U release, the game received an upgraded port on the PC, bring new features and slight fixes to the original.
Today, Two Tribes have dropped a huge update for the game, and have also slashed the price by 40% on the Wii U.
Check out this quote from the egg-makers themselves, as well as a list of new features to expect with Toki Tori 2+.
“On WiiWare, we were never allowed to keep our games up to date. This meant that our early adopters would end up with the least polished version of the game available”. Said Collin van Ginkel, co-founder of Two Tribes. “With the Wii U eShop this is a thing of the past, so we are very excited to be able to share today’s massive update for free!”
New song which shows you exactly where you are on the world map.
In-level warp system to reduce backtracking
Additional and remixed puzzles based on Miiverse feedback. Thanks!
More graphics and scenes that support the story.
World map now automatically tracks where you’ve been
Graphical overhaul of every single level
New landmarks and themes (dragon skeletons, windmill park and more!)
Expanded soundtrack, now comes with dubstep and happy hardcore disco tracks!
Drawings from our Miiverse contest are now inside the game
I personally reviewed Toki Tori 2 and am still quite fond of it, so you should check out our review for the game here. If you have yet to download the game thus far, you now have no excuse so jump to that eShop and get yourself a large order of chick asap! For now, check out the clip below.
Capcom has revealed the first set of official screenshots of upcoming PlayStation 4 title, Deep Down. The five new screenshots below give us a detailed look at some of the game’s environments and creatures along with the player model.
Deep Down, previously described as an online-only RPG, was detailed and shown off during the Sony conference earlier this week. The game is set in the year 2094, New York, where the hero must collect and read memories from the past inside virtually generated dungeons.
Deep Down runs on the next-gen Panta Rhei engine and was developed to address issues with the increasingly outdated MT Framework, Capcom’s previous propriety engine.
