Much like in Blizzard’slargest title to date, World of Warcraft, whenever there is a new expansion, there is a rather large patch to come just before it. Diablo 3 will be getting a 2.0 patch that will completely overhaul the game in order to prepare for new items, abilities, and areas.
The patch however, will affect all players, even the ones who don’t feel the need to tread into the story of Malthael. Kevin Martens (Lead content designer for Diablo 3) explained all of the features that will be incorporated into every players game play.
These features include but are not limited to:
The new loot
The new item types
The new legendary affixes
The new gem type, which is diamond
All of the changes to the rules
The smart drop system
The targeted drop system
After that, there were two possible features announced to go towards all players.
These features include but are not limited to :
Loot runs
Paragon
Martens also explained that all of the content, the level cap increase, the higher level items, new abilities and runes, and new passives, will be a Reaper of Souls exclusive. Blizzard also mentioned that the new loot system is a rather significant piece of the expansion. They said that it is a way to take players away from the auction house, and getting them back out into the battlefield.
Rockstar‘s ‘official trailer’ for Grand Theft Auto V just debuted on Rockstar Newswire and the GTA V site. So now we know that Trevor returns to ‘torture Michael over mistakes he made a decade ago’ as the rich member of the trio sees it. But of course, he does give in to his old ways. If it were me, I wouldn’t listen to Trevor…hell, I never would have become friends with him in the first place!
Developer Spiders Studio and publisher Focus Home Interactive have made an official announcement, in regards to their new RPG, Bound by Flame; to be released early 2014 on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4. Bound by Flame is a fascinating and enticing action game, that gives possessed players the choice between embracing the powers offered by their flame demon or keeping their humanity.
Players can expect the following list of features in Bound by Flame, including:
Replayability: based on the player’s choices in the game, some chapters will offer different scenarios and experiences.
Impressive and dynamic real-time battles; players can specialise their performance by unlocking powers through 3 different skill trees.
Impressive bestiary: shadow dragons, liches, undead, ice creatures and epic confrontations abound (see screenshots in the gallery below).
Dangers and enemies in battle, will be temptations to acquire more power by giving up part of the hero’s soul to the demon.
Character customisation: gender, facial characteristics and transformation of the hero, also influence the demon’s appearance.
Crafting system for players to create and improve equipment, including their armour and weapons.
Several companions will join quest, although player’s actions determine whether they develop friendship or rivalry.
Interested in finding out which path you are bound to take? Check out the official Bound by Flame site herefor more insights into the game!
Gun Monkeys was released June 28th, 2013, and it’s gotten wonderful reviews so far. To put it simply, it is a physics-based, online death-match platform game, coming from Size Five Games. Upon release, the game found a flaw. Due to the fact that it is a multiplayer indie game, there were not many players at first. Dan Marshall, head developer of Gun Monkeys, had an idea to change this. He decided that once one person buys they game, over time they can receive up to a maximum of three free steam keys to give to their friends, making the online community much more lively.
The game its self generates the steam keys when at low populations. I feel that this is a brilliant move on Dan’s part, and possibly other indie multiplayer developers in the future will follow in this path. You can pick up the game Gun Monkeys on Steam for $5.99 and there is a high chance you’ll get multiple free copies of the game to give to your friends. It is currently available on PC and Mac, with cross-platform multiplayer.
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.
After much speculation, 
