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Golden Time Episode 7 Impressions

James Mapley
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Golden Time Episode 7 Impressions

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Golden Time
Episode 7 – Masquerade

Golden Time has finally gotten into its stride and all the parts have fallen into place. We have passed the quarter-way mark and now the real race begins. One only has to look at Gurren Lagann to see a great series become a million times better after reaching this stage so I am tingling at the prospect of what Golden Time holds in store for us. Bravely marching on with my spoiler shield held aloft and my keyboard by my side I will not give up until the cold winter has passed and we have our (hopefully) heartwarming conclusion.

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J.C. Staff must be aware that the world is more beautiful through rose-coloured glasses because the second that Kouko and Banri started dating, the animation quality went through the roof. What was once a style that I have called lazy and dated in the past, suddenly metamorphosed into beautiful, almost painting-quality backgrounds, crisp character animation, and more scenes of flourish than the average episode of Ouran Highschool Host Club. I have no clue what is going on with the animation budget allocation at J.C. Staff with this series, but it seems to fluctuate wildly from episode to episode and I can’t understand why. I didn’t notice it at the time, but it was brought to my attention that last episode there were actually moments that were done in CG to save on budget, and yet this episode looked amazing in places and brought the style back into 2013. So far, J.C. have managed to keep Golden Time from falling prey to their occasionally sloppy animation that they have a reputation for and I hope they keep it up.

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As for how Kouko reacted to her new situation, she took to it like a duck to water. Or maybe a more appropriate phrase would be a battleship to water… By now we know that Kouko does nothing by half measures and loving Banri is definitely something that she is giving her all to. I like how even her father knows what she is like after watching her pursue Mitsuo for most of her life. His warning that Banri would be better off without her will no doubt come back to haunt  Banri at some point in the series, but for now I would rather revel in how cute they are together! Kouko and her new, “Ro-me-o-Sa-ma,” could hardly have looked happier together, but Mitsuo was definitely right when he said that Banri is the sort of patient guy that could withstand dating Kouko. She was so clingy! Cute as a  button, but any normal man would break in a matter of seconds. I’d definitely be willing to give it a go though!

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As the episode came to a close, Banri was shown in two very different conversations that did a great job of building on the already masterfully written characters in Golden Time. First we were treated to a lovely foray into awkwardness, sex, and Paris as Kouko rummaged her way into Banri’s porno mag collection. What should have descended into a tense silence was saved by Kouko in her true boisterous fashion though as she described exactly where she wanted her first time, making Banri look like he wanted to sprint off and buy tickets to Paris immediately. Moments like this were what made episode 7 the funniest episode of the series so far! The second of the conversations was one that Banri had been putting off for a long time, but eventually Linda and Nana tricked Banri into coming to his room so that Linda could talk to him alone. He may have been trying to avoid it, but his tears gave away that making up with Linda must have meant a lot to him. Even if he has had his memories wiped,  the impression that Linda left on him and vice-versa must have been deeply ingrained in his heart. Now they are friends again,  but whether love will blossom and cause a conflict with Kouko is something we will have to wait and see.

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Honestly, I don’t have a bad word to say about anything from this episode. It was well written, the happy feel was a welcome break from the doom and gloom of last week, the characterisation was brilliant, and even the animation stepped up its game. All of this culminated into another fantastic episode of this amazing series. Keep up the platinum performance, Golden Time!

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For more awesome reviews of this season’s best and worst anime, head over to our Anime Impressions page.

Check out more Golden Time impressions HERE.

Noucome Episode 6 Impressions

James Mapley
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Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru
Episode 6 ① Tiger,Tiger,Tiger ② Pig,Pig,Pig

Recently, I’ve discovered that I have 3 natural states when I’m watching anime: Laughing, crying, and staring blankly at the screen until my retinas burn out. Well…  There is a hidden 4th hidden state, but I try to keep that locked away as much as possible. That is, until this week’s episode of Noucome inspired it to erupt forth from my innermost sanctums like some sort of cute-girl-loving chestburster. Of course, I am referring to when a 20 year old man is uncontrollably mashing his face into his pillow, blurting, “AWWWWWWW! OH MY GOD, HOW ARE YOU SO CUTE?!?” What can I say? Yukihira brings out the worst in me. Especially in the latter half of this episode where she was centre stage, stalking her favourite, cute children’s character and going completely against her feigned harsh personality. But I will hold my fanboying for later in the review.

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The first half of the episode was squarely focused on Kanade trying to cross as many of the girls off of his god-given list as possible by getting them to say “I like you.” First of all, we revisited the always adorable Konagi and despite Kanade thinking she was going to be the easiest target, she ended up being a mountain to climb compared to the others. Whether he was getting beaten up or violated by her bodyguards (especially that last guy!) Kanade had one hell of a time, but eventually he managed to get her to say it and suddenly acquired another prime candidate for the inevitable harem. In the next scene though I was disappointed with Noucome for resorting to being quite as lewd as it was because to be honest it didn’t need to be. Certainly, Noucome’s plot isn’t masterfully crafted, but its humour is actually quite intelligent and well received, so why it needed to include a huge, faked breasted girl’s bra bursting off of her body like an eagle taking flight is beyond me. Blu-Ray sales I would imagine are the culprit, especially considering some of the later scenes where Yukihira’s body is covered only by a thin veil of steam which have a tendency to be blown away when rendered on Blu-Ray, but all in all I felt it was unnecessary and devalued the anime.

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While these scenes were entertaining, I couldn’t help, but feel that the story was rushed through at an alarming rate which unfortunately will happen a lot considering this adaptation is only going to be 10 episodes long. This saddens me because as far as trashy romcoms go, this has been a pretty good one so far. Not to mention, Yukihira’s true feelings are still a mystery to Kanade because at the end of this episode he got his memory wiped! It seems like a main theme of this series is Yukihira growing as a person and learning to be strong enough to confess her feelings while not being afraid of Kanade not accepting her as she is. In all honesty, every other girl’s involvement in Noucome just seems to be for comedic purposes and to keep the plot moving. Yukihira is the only one that actually has real feelings for Kanade that pre-date the start of  the series and it has been really sweet seeing her come to terms with herself.

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And now for the fanboying! Dear lord was Yukihira cute in the latter half of the episode… When she was following White Piggy around while trying to not be seen she looked like a little skittish rabbit, running away whenever it came near her. Call me a sucker for a white haired girl with a secret love for cute things, but I think I have found a new girl to add to my ‘Favourite Anime Girls of All Time’ list. If she had known that Kanade was in the suit she would have exploded with embarrassment on the spot and so Kanade made the ultimate sacrifice and had to delete his ‘The Path to Being a Philosopher’ folder so that she wouldn’t find out. These little, clever, self-torturous choices that Absolute Choice forces Kanade into are easily my favourite part of the show. I originally thought they’d be gimmicky, but they are really well done and remind me of the sort of self-torture that made me love Watamote and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei so much. Maybe it’s just my cynical English side shining through, but I always enjoy a bit of dark humour.

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What confuses me is how we are STILL not at the competition introduced in episode 4! I would imagine we must be getting to it soon. However, next episode does look like it will be entirely dedicated to the conquest of the school council president, Saira, so we won’t be seeing any action until that is resolved at the very least. The series seems set to end at the conclusion of the competition between the reject 5 and the 5 most popular kids in school, but will Kanade’s team be victorious? More importantly, will Yukihira be able to confess her feelings by then? I don’t know, but I am excited to find out.

For more reviews of this season’s best and worst anime head over to our Anime Impressions page and check them out!

Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 7 Impressions

Frank Inglese
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Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 7 Impressions

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Hajime No Ippo – Rising
Episode 7 – Cheese Champion

Episode 7 of Hajime No Ippo – Rising was a mixed bag of fun I’d say. This week we returned from Aoki’s big fight and, despite his inevitable loss, he returns to the gym in good spirits and with two followers who were so inspired by his match that they now want to be exactly like him, it is a very humorous and a typical ending to a Hajime No Ippo fight, we’ve seen this throughout the whole series and I can’t imagine NOT seeing this type of humour within it.

We’re met with two big things in this episode; one which I can see being elaborated on in the future and another that seems like it will be the upcoming main attraction of the series but considering these things revolve around both Ippo and Takamura respectively, they could actually go either way, both characters are staples to the series and both characters make for incredibly epic fights that take the viewer by surprise so I’m very much looking forward to that.

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Amongst a great deal of little things here and there we’re met with an incredibly speedy match where, beforehand, Takamura announces that he is done with the Junior Middle Weight class, to which he is the champion of, and intends to gain weight bit by bit while also becoming the champion of each upper weight class along the way. His thirst for the attention of the masses has become overwhelming and it seems like the only way he’ll be able to get his fill is as if he takes the entire boxing world by storm, not just his own weight class.

I loved this scene because, almost in the same sentence, he states that the next match he’s in he will not take even a single hit and that he will decimate his opponent. Once in the match, while using Aoki’s “look away” technique, he IS hit but comes back hard and strong and wins with a knockout. I may look at this in an odd and overly intricate way but I honestly see this as a metaphor for who Takamura is and how his journey will go; he talks big yet he has the ability to back up what he claims even though he’s an A-Grade “doofus”, like I mentioned just above; I’m extremely excited to see his rise and possible fall from grace.

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Now onto something that may just blow Takamura’s statement out of the water: Makunoichi Ippo’s next Title Defense match. Early on in the episode at a match of one of Ippo’s friends we’re introduced to a tall and dark man who sports an eerie vibe and almost comes across as some sort of killer, his name is Sawamura Ryuuhei and judging by what we see in the opening sequence you could tell straight away that he was going to be a big part of the story.

Some time goes by and, possibly the next day, Ippo is having a meeting with his coach wherein which he states that though Ippo has defended his title four times it seems as though other fighters are still willing to challenge him. It’s quite odd for a fantastic fighter like Ippo to have so many challenges set against him but the coach thinks it’s because Ippo is a “Cheese Champion”, a term he seems to have made up which basically means, like cheese, Ippo has many holes and a great deal of fighters want to exploit that, fighters like Sawamura Ryuuhei.

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Out of the four challenges that Ippo had received he chose to fight Ryuuhei, at this point in time I’m not sure exactly why, even before he knew who he was Ippo was scared of the man. It seems like Ippo has gone against his guts telling him not to fight and has prepared for a hell that no one thinks he is ready for.He heads home to study some of Ryuuhei’s old fights and once he realizes just how brutal this man is he calls the rest of the gym to help him through the situation.

Sawamura Ryuuhei is a destroyer of men who chooses not to KO an opponent, instead he toys with them as they flail about the ring, he humiliates them and it seems as the though only times he’s ever lost any matches was when he had been disqualified for brutality against other fighters. Shimabukuro who once challenged Ippo lost to Ryuuhei, in fact, it was his only loss in his career apart from the one against Ippo. The man has incredible reflexes and an even better sense of intuition.

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The episode ends with Sawamura Ryuuhei being seen starting a fight with three grown men in a back alley, his only reasoning for fighting them is that they just happened to look weird to him. He cuts up his fist by shoving his hand into the mouth of one of the men showing that he’s not only cruel, he’s a man that enjoys blood and carnage and he’ll do whatever he can to be apart of it. He wishes to crush Ippo, his plan is to do what Shimabukuro could not; destroy the Dempsey Roll, humiliate Ippo and take the title from hime, becoming the champion and decimating Makunoichi Ippo are the two most prominent things on his mind right no and it’s going to make for an absolutely fantastic battle between giants.

I enjoy the fact that Ippo, who is a kind-hearted and all around nice guy, up against these fiends who only want death and destruction. The physical, emotional and metaphorical conflict of Ippo’s fights are amazing to see and it just gives the fights more depth than what you would see in another Anime, that’s what keeps me hooked to the show! Check out more Hajime No Ippo – Rising Impressions HERE.

G6 Driving Simulator Accessory Launches IndieGoGo Campaign

Jamie Laike Tsui
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G6 Driving Simulator Accessory Launches IndieGoGo Campaign

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There are some examples of some crazy race car simulation rigs out there, but none of them properly simulate the experience of high G forces on the body during high speed turns. A Slovenian company called Gravitom seeks to fill the niche with their new G6 Driving Simulator. By exerting force on the head, the G6 simulates the G forces from using a high powered racing car.

The G6 currently supports Windows, 8 popular driving sims, and Oculus Rift. Gravitom hopes to raise €100,000 on IndieGoGo to help lower the manufacturing costs of the G6 and bring it into production. The team hopes to deliver the first prototype units to supporters in October, 2014.

Laike’s PC Download Deals 11/17/2013

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Laike’s PC Download Deals 11/17/2013

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The edition’s best deal is Greenman Gaming’s Indie Love Sale. The sale provides three different prices for each indie game with 100% of the profits going to the developer. The sale prices range from 25 – 75% off. If you aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend picking up To The Moon, The Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy, Reus, and Awesomenauts.

 

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This week’s 20% off coupon is GMG20-ODON7-FLUA7. Give it a try, you might just get an extra 20% off the price of your game!

Use the voucher code GMG25-C8FGA-VFPGI to get 25% off the discounted price of the following new releases:

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Aussie Indie ToyBox Labs Releasing Flowmo for the iPad

Zac Elawar
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Aussie Indie ToyBox Labs Releasing Flowmo for the iPad

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Peter Budziszewski – former Harmonix and L.A. Noire developer – has started a two man studio operating out of a small apartment in Newtown, NSW called ToyBox Labs. Their first title, flowmo, will be available for the iPad November 21.

flowmo is described as a “unique, meditative experience” that relishes its artistic aura. Inspired by games such as Proteus and Journey for their strong sense of discovery, atmosphere and emotion, flowmo also incorporates musical elements that bolster the abstract, minimalistic narrative design. flowmo tells the story of the universe through interaction with coloured particles and the resulting atmosphere created by said music. Events on screen are synced to the music, and as the universes becomes more complex, so to does the mechanical possibilities. Experimentation is key as you use the flow of particles to investigate present forces in the ever expanding space.

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Features include:

  • Full multitouch support, up to 11 fingers
  • Quick and responsive interactions
  • Pinch-to-zoom to view the universe at different scales once it has fully expanded
  • Complex world which follows its own laws of physics
  • All interactions emerge from these laws and are not hard-coded
  • Chaotic system with emergent behaviour
  • Try to create behaviours which have never been seen before!
  • Discover the forces governing the universe through interaction and exploration

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The transcendental journey of discovery and exploration that is flowmo will cost $2.99, with a lite version for iPhone currently in development. Check it out come November 21.

Cardfight Vanguard licensed by Hanabee

Luke Halliday
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Cardfight Vanguard licensed by Hanabee

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Hanabee have officially announced the acquisition of Cardfight Vanguard, the popular shonen anime based upon the card-game of the same name from Bushiroad.

Fans of the series will be pleased to know that Hanabee have acquired all 65 episodes of the Cardfight Vanguard anime series and plan to release it with both Japanese and English language dub tracks. The series will be released on DVD format only. The first part will comprise of the first 13 episodes – it will be the first of many parts released that will cover the entire 65 episode series.

At the moment no release date has been locked in by Hanabee for Cardfight Vanguard. Stay tuned for further details on Hanabee’s release of Cardfight Vanguard as it comes to light.

Resogun Review

Joe Morgan
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Resogun Review

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Resogun
Developer: Housemarque
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed)
Release Date: November 15, 2013
Install Size: 460 MB (PlayStation 4)
Price: $14.99 – Available Here

Overview
Every console launch needs a handful of games to keep the early adopters happy with their purchase decision. Housemarque, creators of the PlayStation 3’s Super Stardust HD, have been called in by Sony to create that sort of experience for PlayStation 4 owners. Heralded as one of the strongest must-have titles of the PlayStation 4, Housemarque and Resogun have some big shoes to fill. How does the game stand up? Does it live up to the hype or is it stardust in the wind?

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Gameplay
Through and through, Resogun is your quintessential shoot ’em up. It’s been completely engineered from the ground up to satisfy the masses as the video game industry enters a new era. At its core, it’s a two dimensional, twin stick shoot ’em up. You’ll fly up, down, left, and right, taking out foes and racking up your score.

One of the twists that makes Resogun so unique is in the fact that its two-dimensional gameplay is actually cylindrical. You will, indeed, fly left and right, but if you keep going you’ll eventually wind back around on yourself. You can see virtually the entire playfield at once. This gives you a great sense of presence, letting you see the enemies and obstacles just around the bend. It also lets you fire around the cylinder to take out foes.

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To call the game a twin-stick shooter feels like a bit of a misnomer. While it’s technically accurate, the right stick really only registers whether you’re shooting to your left or right. You’ve got to be quick and accurate on your maneuverability to get the right positioning for the attack. It takes some getting used to, but quickly feels fluid and accurate.

Housemarque made some unique design choices with Resogun that pay tremendous dividends. First, each level has 10 humans trapped in boxes that you can try to rescue for bonuses. As you’re fighting the normal enemies, “guardians” will appear. Taking out all of the guardians will let one of the humans out of their cage. You’ll have to rush to snag them, but picking them up and taking them to safety always gets you some sort of bonus – shields, weapon power-ups, points, extra lives, and so on. Saving all 10 humans on each level can prove quite difficult, but it’s an endeavor well worth your effort and quite gratifying.

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Each level is set up in three basic phases. In each phase, you’ll have a set of enemies to take out while saving humans and powering yourself up. Each phase gets progressively harder, with wider, more difficult enemy variety. Phase three will always finish off with a level boss that will have you dodging bullets and zipping around the entire tube for the best shot. The bosses provide fantastic challenge, but the cost of failure is high. It can take a few minutes to get to them, and a loss means completely playing the stage over again. Beating them, though, causes an “armageddon” where everything in the world sort of explodes into pixels. It’s beautiful to see and presents a great payoff for your hard work.

As you play through the levels, you’ll earn a score multiplier. Each enemy kill will give you a little more added on. You have to stay on the ball, though, as a temporary lapse in the killing will reset your multiplier. You also have to rush around and collect green particles, which actually amount to your score. It keeps the tensions high and keeps you in the action if you’re working for a high score.

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On top of your standard left/right cannon, you can earn a couple of other unique ways out of sticky situations. The one most familiar is a bomb. Using one of these bad boys will send a massive shockwave around the cylinder, destroying everything in its path. You can also earn an “overdrive”, which turns your cannon into, effectively, a giant flame of plasma destroying everything it crosses, including bullets. Finally, you can use a boost to both jet out of a sticky situation and take out anything you hit on the way. They all provide a visually impressive, unique twist to the gameplay.

At five levels, the campaign itself isn’t terribly long. You can usually play through a level in around 10 minutes. Increased difficulty or failure can increase that, obviously, but you’ll want to come back time and time again even after finishing all of the levels. The game is rich replayability, giving players loads of trophies and high scores to chase. The euphoric game loop of destroy and survive will keep you engaged as well.

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Visuals & Audio
Obviously, folks expect a “next-generation” launch title to look impressive. Resogun does not disappoint to that effect. The game is full of bright, vibrant enemies and effects. The look and feel are fantastic, with fun enemy design, unique bosses, and intense eye candy as the everything in the world explodes. In fact, so much can be going on at one time that you can lose yourself in the fray, quite literally, causing a death you could have otherwise easily avoided. The bottom line, though, is that the game looks jaw-dropping in motion.

Resogun‘s sound design delivers just as you’d hope it would. The soundtrack is packed with techno-driven themes that perfectly compliment the shots and explosions on screen. Utilizing the controller for the occasional audio cue was also a brilliant, well implemented touch.

Overall
Resogun is a fantastic game. It’s easy to pick up and play quickly, but provides enough challenge and depth to keep you coming back for quite a while. The game looks fantastic and the sound is catchy and engaging. If you own a PlayStation 4, there’s absolutely no reason to pass this game by. The game even launched free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. If you own a PlayStation 4 and you haven’t already done so, go get Resogun immediately.

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Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Don’t Shoot Yourself Review

Matthew Vella
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Don’t Shoot Yourself Review

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Don’t Shoot Yourself
Developer:  Silverware Games
Publisher: Ayopa Games
Platforms: iPhone (reviewed),  iPad, iPod Touch, Android
Release Date: 13/11/2013
Price: $0.99 (Available Here)

Overview

Don’t Shoot Yourself may seem like common sense, but there’s nothing common about this game. Don’t Shoot Yourself is an interesting concept, taking bullet storm-style gameplay and flipping it on it’s head. Packed with creativity, pick-up-and-play controls, plenty of content and an iTunes description that includes the phrase “no IAPs” (thank god!), Don’t Shoot Yourself has a lot going for it. Ultimately however, it’s held back by what it aims to be – a shallow, simple, casual title with no goal in mind but to help you waste time. But hey, what’s wrong with that?

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Gameplay

Gameplay is simple with pick-up-and-play controls, similar to a game like Asteroids. Players move their little spaceship thingy with the right hand side of the screen (or left if your left handed, the developers were kind enough to think of you) and that’s about it. Every time you move however a bullet is shot out behind you. These bullets bounce off surfaces and it’s your job to do what you should also try to do in real life: to not shoot yourself. There are 100 bullets, and once all of them are gone, a special magic bullet is released that will free you from the level. Letting go will reload the ship/whatever it is for some reason, so this means your finger must be on the screen at all times. This isn’t always a good thing of coarse, as it can occasionally get uncomfortable. The game can occasionally get a little buggy and controls aren’t always responsive. However, the gameplay remains enjoyable, with swift action that requires tactics and strategy. Other features include “boss” levels, an “infinite” mode and a star system for skipping levels are also in place, so while gameplay can quickly feel repetitive, at least the developers attempted at switching it up. Sadly, gameplay never gets much deeper than that, so while there are plenty of levels – 50 to be exact, it all results in being more or less the same. The game also has a strong focus on social media sharing, with replays available to be shared with friends after every match. If for some odd reason you’d want to, that is. I should also make mention the game lacks a decent tutorial, and as a result the controls can be a little confusing until you get the hang of things. Hopefully we can see an improvement on this in a future update.

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Audio & Visual

Visuals? Take a look at one of these screenshots. That’s the visuals. What you see is what you get here with a simple friendly approach. Colourful backgrounds help the white pop and adds to the polished presentation. The soundtrack has the provides the right atmosphere to set the tone of the game, but unfortunately sounds of low quality, like it needs to be clearer and has room for improvement. A nice touch included is when players let go the music will change to signal the fact they are reloading bullets. So while the visuals in Don’t Shoot Yourself are quite superb, the audio while decent is lacking a little in quality and the developers haven’t unleashed it’s full potential.

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Overall

Don’t Shoot Yourself is a mixed bag. On one hand the concept is fun, presentation while basic, works and there is plenty of content available. Furthermore it has plenty of small bells and whistles to add to it such as the option to play left handed, the ability to skip levels and more. On the other hand however, controls aren’t always as responsive as you’d like them to be at times, the soundtrack feels lacking in quality and gameplay can get a bit repetitive. That being said Don’t Shoot Yourself accomplishes what it sets out to do and while this reviewer feels it ultimately remains as a repetitive, shallow experience perhaps others may disagree. If you’re really considering picking up this title, just get a look of the trailer embedded below because honestly – what you see is what you get. On the bright side though – no in-app purchasing, so that’s a plus!

6-5-capsules-out-of-10

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Disney Infinity: Toy Story in Space Review

Andrew Day
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Disney Infinity: Toy Story in Space Review

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Disney Infinity: Toy Story in Space
Developer: Disney
Publisher: Disney
Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3, Wii U, 3DS, iPad
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $39.99 – Available Here

Overview

When Disney Infinity launched, it came included with three Play Sets to enjoy; The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean and Monsters U. In addition, two more Play Sets were available for purchase in the form of Cars and The Lone Ranger. Now, Disney have given us the last, and easily the best set of them all – Toy Story in Space. Toy Story in Space is a well designed, enjoyable experience that Disney Infinity owners should definitely not miss.

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Story

Toy Story in Space features Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the crew from Andy’s bedroom as they work together as official Rangers of Star Command in order to help out the Pizza Planet Aliens get started on their new homeworld. The story is fun and all of the characters are well presented, but there is a sense of confusion in the story telling. In one sentence they will be official members of Star Command and in the next Hamm is explaining how he read all of Andy’s textbooks as he grew up. However at most times they are presented as actual rangers of Star Command and not toys being played with.

The lack of emphasis on the toy aspect of the characters, it can be a little jarring if you are a fan of the films (and really, who isn’t?) and with Disney Infinity’s strong focus on being a digital representation of the imagination and fun of a child at play, having the Toy Story crew NOT be presented as toys feels like a hugely missed opportunity, not to mention going against a lot of what the characters stand for. While there is a very worthwhile payoff at the end, for most of the campaign, I found myself wanting to scream “YOU. ARE. A. TOY!”

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Gameplay

The gameplay for Toy Story in Space is very similar to the other Disney Infinity Play Sets by drawing inspiration from popular games and genres to create a well rounded experience for players of all ages. Toy Story in Space is a mixture of third person shooter and an old school platformer.

You will complete different missions given to you by various members of the Toy Story Universe. The missions are separated into three main categories; exploration, town building and space ranger training. Exploration-style missions will have you traveling over Toy Story of Terror’s impressively sized map. As you gain more packs, you will gain access to more of the game’s map. Occasionally you will be told the locations of various crates, the contents of which allows you to progress to the town building portion of the game.

The plot revolves around designing and populating this town for the planet to the aliens to inhabit, so as such it is a big part of many missions. After calling down some ground panels, you will have to scale the now-floating platforms to reach a self-assembly button at the top. Once you have made the ground, you can purchase pre-built buildings from the Toy Store and place them. These buildings once placed will usually offer you more missions to complete; such as the costume shop for decorating your aliens, and the Space Ranger Training Center.

The Space Ranger Training Center houses the Play Sets’ primary missions. There are a tonne of missions with pre-built gauntlets to charge through. These gauntlets will contain Zerg-Bots and other enemies for you to vanquish and points to collect. Once you have compeltey a mission, you will be able to go back and complete it again whenever you choose. This gives the Play Set a lot more replayability than previous Play Sets.

Much like the other Toy Boxes, Toy Story in Space offers players a wide array of additional toys and packs to use in the Toy Box mode. Finally, players have access to the Grow and Shrink Rays as well as Buzz Lightyear’s wings. These toys offer a heap of versatility and alternate ways to play and create that can completely change everything.

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Visuals

Being effectively an expansion pack, Toy Story in Space follows the same art direction and style as the rest of Disney Infinity. The characters have all been redesigned from their film appearances to better fit the game’s aesthetic. However, the art style of the game has allowed all of the characters to feel like they always looked the way they do. The art style also allows the characters from Toy Story to fit in perfectly with the rest of the Infinity roster.

One part of the visuals that really do stand out are the settings and locations. The space setting leads itself to a lot of interesting visual quirks. Bright colours, especially blues, purples, greens and oranges litter the world and really give it that intergalactic feel.

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Audio

Sadly, many of the voices that you know and love from the Toy Story film franchise don’t make an appearance here, with notable exceptions being Wallace Shawn (Rex), John Ratzenberger (Hamm) and Andrew Stanton (Emperor Zerg). However, while the replacements are not quite pitch perfect replacements for the original actors that gave life to these characters, sometimes it can be really hard to tell them apart. This is especially true for Stephen Stanton’s Buzz Lightyear, who at times I could swear black and blue that it was Tim Allen.

The sound effects and background music are all for the most part really well done and fit in well with the rest of the Disney Infinity Play Sets. However, if there is one downside to the audio it is the Pizza Planet Aliens. Even though they have always been designed to be annoying, they often take it way beyond tolerable here. Having an alien in its high pitched, grating voice constantly asking you to fulfill its lifelong fantasy of catching a ball while you are trying to make your way up a set of moving panels gets really distracting and downright frustrating.

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Extras

Toy Story in Space comes pre-included with everything you need to round up the crew and save the Pizza Planet Aliens from their own incompetence. You will get the Play Set Piece, which when placed on the Infinity Base will allow you access to the Play Set. In addition, you get two of the three playable characters; Buzz and Jessie. Buzz and Jessie are excellently crafted and painted so as to retain all of their individual character traits and appearances, as well as fitting them in with the rest of the Disney Infinity collection. Jessie, Violet Parr and Holly Shiftwell all stand side-by side and look like they belong together.

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Overall

As the last of the currently announced Play Sets, Toy Story in Space definitely does its job well. The gameplay is a lot of fun, and many of the missions feel tighter and better designed than the other sets in the series. While the lack of focus on the characters being Toys is disappointing for the franchise as well as feeling like a missed opportunity, the characters themselves retain the same actions and mannerisms as their film-counterparts. So if you are a fan of the Andy’s Bedroom Gang or are looking for a great next installment to your Disney Infinity collection, then Toy Story in Space is goes to Infinity… and beyond!

 

9-0-capsules-out-of-10

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

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