Following Rayman Origins, our heroes take a 100-year nap, allowing nightmares to infest the Glade of Dreams. Once Rayman awakes from this mysterious sleep, he must set off on a new adventure with his friends to restore order in the universe.
Along with the classic Rayman platforming, Legends also adds rhythm based music stages. During these levels, players will jump and punch their way through obstacles whilst accompanied by their very own soundtrack. Each action taken will sync up with the backtrack, giving each level its own flow. Along with the audio, Legends is set to boost the visual via an improved lighting system and updated rendering, bringing the games beyond Origins. If playing on the Wii U, a fifth player can join in on the fun and assist by playing as Murfy the Fairy via the unique GamePad controller. Players will be able to cut ropes, activate mechanisms, gather Lums and even hold enemies in order to aid their friends.
To celebrate the launch of the game, Ubisoft has also released an app titled Rayman Legends Beatbox. This app takes the fans further into the universe of the game by allowing them, through simple drag and drop gameplay, to play with parts of the game’s soundtrack in two different modes: Legendary Mode and Creation Mode. Legendary Mode contains three music tracks to play with from Rayman Legends. Each song is split into six instrumental parts, which the player can choose to activate or deactivate for varying effects. Creation Mode, however, allows players to create their own songs from a library of instruments and melodies. The app features five categories of instruments and up to six sounds per instrument from Rayman’s universe for players to record their own creation, and then to share with their friends.
The Game Bakers have just made a major announcement regarding their hit iOS and Android brawler game Combo Crew. They have officially confirmed that Capcom’s legendary character Viewtiful Joe will be joining the fight in Combo Crew as a new playable character.
For a small in app purchase of $1.99 you can play as the legend himself, Viewtiful Joe. You can also pick up Combo Crew now at 50% discount of $0.99 on the iTunes store and Google Play store to celebrate the inclusion of Joe.
To check out Joe in action, check out the Viewtiful Joe trailer for Combo Crew below. Be sure to pick up the game now and duke it out as the Viewtiful one.
A Unified Premium Account eliminates the need for players to pay for premium status in each game individually, making it essentially a “pay-once benefit that spans multiple titles”. Gamers also receive increased experience and credit accrual in-game. That can only mean good things, right?
Wargaming’s online team-based games include World of Tanks, launched in 2011 and now boasting around 70 million players, World of Warplanes and World of Warships, the last of which is scheduled for release in 2014.
I know I’m going to sound old, but back in my day Max Steel was a totally different character. He was a little more GI Joeand a little less Ben 10 if you know what I mean. But hey it’s the 2010’s and we all know that means everybody get’s a reboot and an endless runner tie-in game on mobile devices. Meet Max Steel: Rise of Elementor. It’s not setting out to be innovative or anything special, just a simple cash-in to make fans of the series happy. But while it may not be incredibly revolutionary, it does have some nice ideas thrown in which stop the game from being incredibly generic. Max Steel: Rise of Elementor does the bare minimum to keep fans of the franchise happy and is a decent effort to say the most.
Gameplay
Max Steel: Rise of Elementor clearly takes a lot of inspiration from titles such as Temple Run 2. Players control Max Steel, and swipe left, right, up and down to dodge obstacles. He automatically runs forwards, collecting coins along the way to be spent on upgrades. There is an end to each stage and on the way various other modes of gameplay come into the mix to keep things fresh. There’s flying, which basically is the same thing as running, but most importantly there’s also combat, which is the best part of game. Surrounded by enemies, Max will start beating up a baddie and by simply tapping once on the particular opponent. If the target tries to attack Max, the player can choose to run to another part of the battlefield to dodge or attack another opponent. If you move away at the right time, you can even make enemies shoot each other which is pretty bad ass. Quicktime events also come into play that involve titling and other gimmicks to keep things fresh. Fighting also gets a another twist during boss battles which flips the mechanics to a new perspective. Admittedly the boss battles don’t work as well as the regular combat, but it’s still a nice inclusion. It should be noted while the mechanics do work decently, the level design is where Max Steel: Rise of Elementor fails the most. While the first level is entertaining enough, from the second stage onwards everything just drags on and becomes extremely repetitive. This is probably to encourage players to grind more and significantly upgrade before continuing as a lame attempt to expand the game’s lifespan and it truly damages the fun, going from an interesting concept to a boring, repetitive process.
Audio & Visual
Max Steel: Rise of Elementor isn’t terribly impressive in the graphics department. Animation can be a little clunky, the textures are bland and the effects are sub-par. It isn’t all bad as menus and cut scenes seem to be nicely polished and every once and a while there’s some decent eye candy but for the most part it all just looks like a early 2000’s title. As for the audio, it’s nice to see voice acting present, but not when it’s the same three annoying phrases on repeating every 10 seconds. The soundtrack is very modern with a very trendy dubstep/drum n’ bass -influenced soundtrack that should appeal to the franchises’ adolescent audience. All in all everything just feels like it was all just thrown in for necessity without any actual attempt at making anything memorable.
Overall Have you ever taken a test in school that you didn’t study for or even try to do well, you just did it because you were told to? That’s exactly what Max Steel: Rise of Elementor feels like. The developers did the bare minimum of requirements with little to no effort, changed a few things so they wouldn’t get caught on plagiarism, and threw in enough franchise references to keep it relevant and handed it all in with hopes for a passing grade. The game shows potential but lacks the ambition to actually achieve anything and therefore results in a bland result. What sucks the most is that by saying all this I feel like a teacher talking to the parents of a bad student at a parent/teacher conference. But hey I warned you earlier – during this review, I’m going to sound old.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
After much speculation, 2K Games have just announced that they will be releasing a special Game of the Year Edition of the critically acclaimed Borderlands 2.
The Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition will come bundled with a plethora of goodies that are sure to entice gamers. The following is included in the Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition:
Borderlands 2 Main Game
Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty
Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage
Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt
Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep
Creature Slaughter Dome
Premiere Club Content
Gaige, the Mechromancer Character Class
Gearbox Gun Pack
Golden Key
Vault Hunter’s Relic
Krieg, the Psycho Character Class
Collector’s Edition Heads and Skins
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 1
The Game of the Year Edition contains over $115 content for only $79.95 on PC and $89.95 on console. Be sure to pick up this new edition when it released on the 11th of October, 2013.
Continuing this torrent of recent Monogatari Series news, it has been confirmed that Hanamonogatari will air at some point in 2014. The series, produced by SHAFT and written by NisiOisin, has had 4 anime adaptations to date with a movie in the works for fall.
Hanamonogatari (Literally “Flower Story”) follows a series of events that arise from a rumour surrounding a devil that is solving people’s problems in the area. Suruga (Previously met in the Bakemonogatari arc, Suruga Monkey) is worried that the devil might be her and so she begins investigating. Her conclusion is that the devil resides within her old basketball rival, Numachi Rouka. This sparks a battle for the devil’s parts after Numachi’s motivation for collecting people’s misfortunes becomes clear.
Monogatari Second Series is currently airing and can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Daisuki. Find out more about the Monogatari franchise over at our Anime News section.
From the developer Die Gute Fabrik comes the brilliant puzzle/platformer, Where is my Heart? It was released on the PlayStation Network November 8th, 2011, and after two years the game is finally making it to the PC universe.
Copenhagen Game Collective has yet to announce a specific date, but they have said September of 2013. ‘Where is my Heart?’ will be also coming to OS X and Linux. The game play has gotten a nearly perfect score from critics all over. The story and art are inspired by German fairy tales, mythical creatures from Central Europe, and pictogram aesthetics from Japan. Wrap that all up, and you get one amazing indie game.
A new episode has just been released today for DeNA’s popular mobile card battle game Transformers: Legends. The new episode is titled Junkion Reunion and involves an epic reunion on the planet Junkion.
The Junkion Reunion episode gives players new opportunities to get exclusive episode only cards to add to their decks for use in some intense card battles.
Available in the episode are 7x Episode Bonus Sharpshot Cards which can be attained in the Episode Space Bridge or simply for 500 Ruby Medals and 5x and 3x Episode Bonus Sharpshot Cards which can be attained only with Ruby Medals.
Guilty Crown: Part 1 Limited Edition Studio:Production I.G Publisher:FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: August 27, 2013 Price:$89.98 – Available Here
Overview Reinventing a genre or coming up with something fresh and exciting is a difficult task in an age where many forms of entertainment are accessible at the drop of a hat and numerous stories are created every few months. Some stories use clichés as crutches to stay with the norm and simply make due with pleasing a set number of people while others attempt to try something different. Now that FUNimation has brought Guilty Crown to North America, does Guilty Crown: Part 1 manage to get the ball rolling on what may become a strong series?
Story Our story takes place in 2039 Japan where, ten years prior, a massive outbreak of a virus termed the ‘Apocalypse Virus’ ran rampant through the nation. As Japan’s entire infrastructure begins to crumble, they seek help from the rest of the world and an organization called the GHQ is formed to assist Japan in not only containing the virus, but also keeping its government afloat.
However now that ten years have passed, the GHQ still remains in Japan and while various members of the population occasionally fall ill with the virus, many people are beginning to grow restless as their government is controlled by outside forces, ultimately turning the country into a police state. This has given rise to a resistance group named Funeral Parlor who seeks to cause trouble for the GHQ wherever possible and as Guilty Crown starts, it seems they are on the cusp of obtaining their greatest weapon.
Enter the main character of the series, Shu Ouma, a high school boy who has issues reading the feelings of those around him and awkwardly makes his way through school with only a handful of friends that are kept at arm’s length. Upon returning to what appears to be his home away from home, Shu finds a woman named Inori, a popular internet songstress, huddled over in pain alongside a little robot. Before Shu can find out exactly what is going on, GHQ agents called the Anti-Bodies enter and take Inori into custody, on account that she is a member of Funeral Parlor but don’t notice the robot that accompanied her.
With the robot providing a guide, Shu finds himself deep in the ranks of Funeral Parlor with a special vial. Shortly after meeting with the group’s leader, Gai, the GHQ begin massacring the city, forcing the group to act. After being told to flee with the vial and protect it with his life, Shu stumbles upon Inori as she is about to be killed and attempts to save her life at the risk of his own. By doing so, the vial shatters and triggers the ‘Void Genome’ hidden within, giving Shu the ‘Power of Kings.’
Gifted with this power, Shu is able to draw Voids, special tools unique to each individual, from those around him. After drawing Inori’s Void and dispatching the threats to the city with her sword Void, Shu is drawn, if not practically forced, into Funeral Parlor as he now is their only real hope at victory. This leads to numerous situations involving Funeral Parlor and Shu gathering allies, thwarting the GHQ’s plans as the main storyline is built through side events and ultimately begins to culminate in the last few episodes of Part 1.
At surface level, Guilty Crown features numerous clichés that are all too familiar with anime viewers at this point. From a post-apocalyptic police state to a withdrawn high schooler suddenly gifted powers that struggles with whether or not he should use these abilities, Guilty Crown is something that walks a well tread path. However despite the numerous clichés that run rampant through Guilty Crown, there are rather unique circumstances pertaining to Shu’s situation that surpass a few of them.
Thanks to the nature of his abilities, the only time that he can make use of them is by drawing out the Void of someone near him, rendering the person unconscious, leaving them completely vulnerable to danger around them and causing short-term memory loss, leaving them with no memory of the event as Shu guiltily uses their hearts in combat. Even on the emotional level, things are not always as they seem, especially when it comes to the enigmatic Inori. Despite growing closer to Shu, going so far as to transfer to his school and live with him, it begins as simple military procedure as she serves as both his watch dog and body guard, but eventually grows into more as the series moves along and the story continues to develop and drops hints about a potentially dangerous past that the two shared.
Thanks to the episode count of the series, Part 1 of Guilty Crown only contains the first eleven episodes of the series and ends up leaving viewers with a hefty cliffhanger. However at this point there have been numerous plot points revealed, sometimes at a rather blistering pace that feels rushed, hints about both Shu and Inori’s past and more given to viewers to entice them into continuing the series into Part 2.
Visuals One thing that viewers will immediately notice when watching Guilty Crown is how impressive the series looks both at a standstill and in motion. The character designs are incredibly detailed and varied well enough amongst the cast and the background scenery tends to be just as detailed and varied. Both of these qualities are then made even better by an impressive use of color and great attention to detail.
Guilty Crown really shines its brightest whenever a Void is in use, as each Void has a different look to it and effect in battle, though most of them involve intense, fluidly animated combat sequences with a lot of action happening on the screen at once thanks to the silver banding that most of the Voids exude when in use. It also helps that the various CG elements of the series, such as the Endlave mechs, are blended into the series so well that it is hard to notice the difference between these combined animation techniques.
Audio As per standard with a FUNimation release, Guilty Crown: Part 1 comes with both the original Japanese voice track and their own English dub. Unlike other releases however, FUNimation has not changed the songs sung by Inori into English. Rather at these points, the dubs remain the same as Inori sings in Japanese, probably for the best considering the importance of these songs. The English cast itself is rather nicely handled with each of the voice actors fitting their roles nicely, but not much else.
One thing that Guilty Crown has is an amazing soundtrack. While there are a fair share of simple instrumentals that are played in the background of various scenes, the first half of Guilty Crown features numerous background tracks with Japanese vocals. Every time one of these songs play it helps make that moment feel all the more important, though it is disappointing to see that FUNimation did not provide English subtitles to accompany the vocals to these songs. The opening theme, “My Dearest” by Supercell is accompanied by some rather breathtaking visuals and is quite a treat for the ears while the ending “Departures” by Supercell is a basic ending song that fits the series well enough.
Extras
With Guilty Crown: Part 1 FUNimation has released a Limited Edition version of the anime which, while more expensive, comes with a number of physical bonuses as well. The series comes in a sturdy chipboard holder with artwork of Shu and Inori on the front and houses Part 1 (which has a reversible cover), a holder to replace Part 2 with, and two softcover art books. Both of the art books contain some full color illustrations as well as various production art, background pieces, explanations of characters and notes from the staff and looks at some of the character sketches used in production.
As for on-disc extras, Guilty Crown: Part 1 comes with a number of bonus features, such as standard FUNimation bonus features like two commentary tracks, textless versions of the opening and ending song, with the opening theme receiving two versions, promotional videos and TV spots from Japan as well as trailers for other FUNimation releases.
The first commentary track is for episode 2 and features Alexis Tipton, the voice of Inori, Austin Tindle, the voice of Shu, and Micah Solusod, the voice of Gai. The three spend discuss various bits of the episode and the designs used throughout the series which ends up being mildly entertaining. The second track is for episode 4 and features Monica Rial, the voice of Tsugumi, Emily Neves, the voice of Ayase, and John Swasey, the voice of Segai. Swasey discusses his character a bit and the three also talk a fair bit about the episode and their time dubbing the series.
Outside of these inclusions, there are also a few other on-disc bonuses, such as all of the episode previews, a Guilty Crown 4-Panel Theater which is seven minutes of chibi comedy segments featuring Guilty Crown characters voiced in Japanese, and a ten minute interview with the production staff at New York Comic Con back in 2011.
Overall Despite being cliché on the surface, steeped in clichés in fact, Guilty Crown: Part 1 manages to deliver an interesting twist to a few of these clichés that make them rather interesting but leave too many left untouched. By flinging plot point after plot point at viewers and hinting at more to come as the upfront storyline is delivered at a brisk pace while the sub-plot slowly builds, makes viewers become invested in the storyline and interested in what is still to come. Combine that with some breathtaking visuals, and a nicely handled English dub accompanying an amazing soundtrack and Guilty Crown: Part 1 delivers a gorgeous action packed and intriguing opening that will hopefully be continued throughout the second half of the series.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Nexon Europe are pleased to announce that the renowned gentleman, PSY – who brought the world Gangnam Style; will be appearing in two of their most successful free-to-play PC game titles.
“We’re thrilled to welcome PSY to MapleStory and Combat Arms,” said Paul Lee, Associate Manager of Game Operation Department in Nexon Europe. “With his unique and flamboyant style we have no doubt his presence will keep everyone more than entertained over the next few months. With so many chances to win PSY prizes and game items too, he really has shown himself to be quite the Gentleman.”
The MMORPG, MapleStory, offers players the chance to embark on extraordinary missions to assist PSY during his stay in Maple Town, including rescuing him from an alien abduction. In return, players can earn special in-game items from these events such as pets, hair, t-shirts and unique PSY ring. In comparison, the FPS, Combat Arms gives players a ‘Gentleman’ case each day they log-in for the first week, and a chance to win in-game PSY items once their PSY’s posts have received enough “Likes”.
Check out the trailer below for Combat Arms, featuring PSY’s second hit single ‘Gentleman’. Don’t miss out on this amazing PSY promotion, which will only be available over the next four months for MapleStory and Combat Arms.
After much speculation, 
