Australia and New Zealand are set to experience another an ice age when Lost Planet 3 drops nationwide on August 29th for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and as a digital download for PC. A retail version for Windows PC will become available on September 26th.
With this latest addition to one of Capcom’s major franchises, new truths about E.D.N. III and its colonial history will be revealed. With a healthy mix of on-foot and in-rig gameplay, the player as Jim Peyton will need to utilise all the tools at their disposal to survive the onslaught of the Akrid whilst completing their objectives (that T-Energy ain’t gonna extract itself!). Outside of single-player (hands-on impressions here), the game also includes a full set of multiplayer modes – which we sampled – where players assume the role of either the NEVEC forces or the Snow Pirates in up to ten player battles.
The Lost Planet 3 official soundtrack, featuring all of the in-game music that Jim listens to in his Utility Rig, is also available for purchase digitally on Amazon beginning today, and iTunes very shortly. Stay tuned to Capsule Computers as we’ll have our review up in the coming weeks. Also check out our recent voice interview with Jim Peyton himself, actor Bill Watterson.
Disney Infinity has been out for a few days now, and players all over the world are ripping open Power Disc packs, putting figures on the Infinity Base, playing through the play sets and spending countless hours in the massive Toy Box. That Toy Box is about to get a whole lot bigger though as users can soon share their own creations online for the community to enjoy.
In preparation for the User-Generated Content (UCG), Disney have prepared five themed toy-boxes for players to download and try out completely free. The Toy Boxes are available on the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U versions of the game, and include;
Wonderland Maze – Fall down the rabbit hole and fight through this Alice in Wonderland maze. Take on obstacles and enemies at every turn.
Medieval Arena – On guard! Transport to the Middle Ages and joust opponents on horseback — or atop an elephant.
Tron Vs. Sugar Rush – Tron and Wreck-It Ralph collide! Challenge friends on a high speed race through The Grid and Sugar Rush.
Happiest Place – The Happiest Toy Box on Earth! Experience the magic of this Disneyland recreation shown at the D23 Expo.
Floating Castle – Soar high above and take in the view! Rail grind up into a Floating Castle and battle friends for the throne in this royal Toy Box.
Pretty wild hey? If you have already gotten your hands on Disney Infinity then get to downloading these bad boys and trying them out! If you haven’t, because you have been waiting for our review, then don’t worry! Our review will be up in the next few days, including an in-depth look at all of the available Play Sets. So for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Cloud Spin Developer:Skytrain Studios Publisher: Skytrain Studios Platforms:iPad Release Date: 20th August 2013 Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview Enter a beautiful world high up above the world. Now throw in a rabbit…and a jetpack. Awesome. Soar through the skies and get the highest score you can. Ever wondered how well a a rabbit can fly? Probably not. But let’s find out anyway.
The land above the clouds
Story
“You play as Lucky, a fearless adrenaline-fueled rabbit trying to etch his name in the pillars of history as the greatest competitor to ever live!”
Pretty much sums it up…
Gameplay The controls of Cloud Spin are very simple. Simply swipe the screen with one finger to alter course. Placing a second finger on the screen grants a fairly significant speed boost, at the cost of precision.
It’s a celebration!
The game possesses two game modes: Tournament and Free Flight. In Tournament, the goal is to complete the course with the highest score you can muster. Points are gained primarily by collecting the coins spread across the course, with a score multiplier increasing for each coin collected. Though the coins are placed helpfully in lines, their placement is the source of difficulty, often positioned very close to hazards. Hitting one of these hazards, such as a wall, will result in a deduction of points and, if hit three times, a game over. However, the daring will be rewarded points for a “near miss” which involves flying as close to an object as possible without touching it. Points are also gained from special stars, which appear at certain places during a level. These stars are more difficult to collect than coins, as they move in various ways, but garner more points. At the end of each Tournament level, the player’s score is calculated, taking into account points earned, highest multiplier gained and best time. In order to unlock the next course, players must gain at least a Bronze medal.
In Free Flight mode, the goal is to collect presents. However, unlike Tournament mode, Free Flight does not have a linear course. Presents are scattered across a large map, positioned at various heights. Also unlike Tournament, players do not have a jetpack, instead they must rely only on glider wings. In order to stay flying, players must hit updrafts to gain height. Divebombing from heights also provides a large speed boost, aiding in the collection of moving presents. There is also no timer in Free Flight, allowing players to explore for as long as they desire.
Enter the Neon Dragon!
Visuals and Audio Cloud Spin is beautiful. Powered by the Unreal Engine, the game features amazing 3D graphics and beautiful environments. Each level features a unique environment from start to finish, without reusing assets in the same course. The featured environments range from pleasant natural landscapes, to vibrant neon courses.
The soundtrack is…majestic. Featuring trumpets, piano, drums and cymbals, the music adds to the whimsical nature of the game. The audio creates an overall feeling of wonder, amplifying the entire experience. The only downside to the soundtrack would be a lack of variety in the music. This only becomes an issue if a player were to fail constantly, being forced to restart a level over and over.
He’s late! He’s late!
Overall Cloud spin is a great game. The visuals are excellent and the soundtrack is triumphant. With simple gameplay, it’s easy to pick up and play (as seen in the video below). The requirements for unlocking new content increase as you play, through a fairly reasonable difficulty curve. In order to unlock the final level, players require a near perfect run through of each course. This can add an element of frustration, but the length of the levels mitigates this somewhat. Hopefully the game will add some more courses in the future and keep this rabbit flying. All in all, Cloud Spin is fun, simple and beautiful.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Here at Capsule Computers, we recently sat down with Carrie Gouskos, Senior Producer at Mythic Studios, to discuss MMO RPG Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar published by EA Mobile currently available on iOS platforms (iPAD and iPhone) via the iTunes Store for free. Available here.
Q1) What made you bring Ultima Forever out onto iOS platform?
Ultima Forever was originally developed on PC, but always with cross-platform in mind so that players could explore together from different devices. After getting it up and running on PC, our next step was to put in on a tablet. We had some previous experience developing on iOS, so that’s why we chose that first. And when we got that initial build running on an iPad – something happened, like a lightbulb. It felt really good at that size, at that perspective, so we decided to release mobile first instead of PC. This had the added benefit of being able to bring this type of multiplayer online game to a whole new batch of gamers, while still being able to offer it to loyal Ultima fans. Our original goal is still intact, to expand to other platforms – beginning with Android. Of course, it will always depend on the needs and desires on each device, but we would like to make it available to as many people as possible.
Q2) Most MMORPGs have a wide range of classes to choose from. At the moment we have the Fighter and Mage classes available, and the Paladin and Druid to come, but what other classes can we expect to see in the future?
We’ve actually switched the order around a number of times. Our initial plans were to launch with the Fighter, Mage, and Druid. Then we started looking at the Paladin and Ranger. We’ve made a lot of progress on those classes, but it’s always a challenge to make them both interesting and balanced, not to mention all the armor sets and weapons. And since we’ve launched with two, we’re actually considering ways to introduce the other classes without making players have to roll eight different characters from scratch, but we haven’t finalized how we’re going to do that yet.
Q3) There’s room for improvement for combat, it’s fairly mundane at the moment. Is there any chance we can expect to see more exciting combat and a change to the control system any time soon?
We’re constantly evaluating how ‘fun’ the game is. However a question like this is a bit hard to answer, because some people like the combat and controls, while other prefer other alternatives. We wanted to make a game that gave players just enough action, with a balance of strategy required in different battles, that also works well on the platform. Some of the benefits of being higher level is getting access to special abilities, like the advanced abilities which can really vary the way the character plays, and the Ultimate ability, which you get for free at level 10 is just badass all around.
Q4) The graphics in Ultima Forever are amazing, hand painted and filled with intricate detail, but many people/players have reported that their games/sessions keep crashing, even on newer devices. Is this caused by the graphics? And Is there a patch coming out soon to fix this?
We have a number of ways to address these concerns and we are using all of them to our advantage. However, a game of this size with this many players playing across all these different devices has a lot of complexities. We’re learning a lot from the players in the live environment and have been able to react very quickly as a result. For example, we have made quite a few server changes and client data changes since launch to address the top issues as they came in. We also fast-tracked a new build into our deployment schedule with nothing but client code changes to address our biggest concern, even though we addressed many of them with an in-game patch last weekend. That version is out now in all areas. We still have some issues we are fixing and we will continue to push them up by whatever means is most expedient without creating additional risks to your play experience. So thank you for your crash logs and your forum posts, they help a lot.
Q5) Ultima Forever is free to play but does have a lot of focus on micro transactions/in app purchases, will players be able to fully enjoy the game without having to spend money?
Yes. The goal of the game was never to charge for content, or restrict a player’s ability to play. That’s why the game doesn’t use more typical purchases like energy mechanics that force you to wait, ask friends, or straight out purchase to keep playing. None of the in-game content is restricted in that way, and all of it can be played absolutely for free. In fact, the entire development team played the game all the way through soft launch for free because we didn’t have Canadian credit cards. I’m halfway to level 15, working on leveling up some reputation, and having finally bought currency, it just feels like a convenience. That was always the intent, make it make things more convenient. You don’t need all the ability slots, but it does make things easier and more fun. It’s your choice!
Q6) Is it possible, in future updates, to have the gear dropped by enemies, as well as being able to find them in chests without having to spend keys?
We actually have something sort of like that coming in our next major update which we are finishing up soon for submission to Apple.
Q7) What can we expect to see in future updates?
More content, more levels, more features and more bug fixes as needed. J Also, leaderboards!
Q8) Will there be more quests and missions available later on down the track?
There will be quests to go with new content or new levels to give players more stuff to enjoy in the world of Britannia. We’re very much looking forward to continuing the story of the Avatar, as well as show some of the coolest dungeons we’ve built to date.
Q9) What’s your main goal for this game for players that new to the Ultima series? What do you want to achieve with this game?
We want them to enjoy themselves first and foremost. We also want them to get a glimpse into Ultima’s rich backstory and world, one that has stood up to multiple iterations over the years. We hope they will fall in love with the lore as much as we have, but at the end of the day, if they just enjoy the game, either solo or with friends, that’s fine too. As a side goal, we really hope that we’ve been able to unlock a new game experience on mobile devices. For those of us that remember the first time we played in a vast open world, interacting with so many other players, grouping and going into dungeons – we want to bring that enjoyment and excitement to new people.
Q10) Can we expect to see more from the Ultima Forever series on iOS further on down the track?
We want to continue to support the game and obviously we want to give people more of what they want. Who knows what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure Ultima is truly forever.
We would like to thank Carrier and great guys over at Mythic for taking the time to speak to us and wish them and Ultima Forever all the best moving forward.
With little over a week to go until Total War’s latest grand daddy lands, it should come as no surprise that Creative Assembly are already planning additional content for Rome II post-launch.
“Rome II will be the biggest game we’ve ever released, in terms of scope, gameplay features and sheer weight of content,” said James Russell, Lead Designer, “but even then we’re just scratching the surface of the Roman period, an era so rich in diversity that it’s easy to foresee releasing relevant content for years after Rome II has shipped.”
If Shogun 2 is anything to go by, it’s clear Rome II will have both paid DLC along with free feature updates and regular optimisation such as AI balancing. Specifically, Russell mentions Culture Packs (units and factions), Feature Packs (gameplay or aesthetic changes) and Campaign Packs (story-based expansions).
On day one players that pre-order the game will receive the otherwise paid-for Greek States Culture Pack and the free Pontus faction update. By October the free Selecuid Empire will be available to download while the Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack featuring the Royal Scythians, Roxolani and Massagetae will be available to buy as DLC.
If you haven’t seen the announcement trailer, you can check it out here. Going by the raucous reaction to the video – which played before our Pain & Gain screening earlier this month (review here) – Bad Grandpa may just be a worthy excursion for the Johnny Knoxville character.
Here is the official synopsis for the film, which releases nationwide November 14th this year:
86 year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion, his 8 year-old Grandson Billy in “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”. This October, the signature Jackass character Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and Billy (Jackson Nicholl) will take movie audiences along for the most insane hidden camera road trip ever captured on camera.
Along the way Irving will introduce the young and impressionable Billy to people, places and situations that give new meaning to the term child-rearing The duo will encounter male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants (and their equally disgruntled mothers), funeral home mourners, biker bar patrons and a whole lot of unsuspecting citizens.
Real people in unreal situations, making for one really messed up comedy.
It has been revealed that Konami is planning on releasing PES 2014 in North America, Central America and South America on September 24th for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Since Konami holds the rights to the UEFA Champions League, the game’s packaging will be designed to highlight the replication of the competition rather than simply on the players.
There will also be some special regional packaging depending on where you purchase the game. Some of the new additions to the game per region are listed below:
Brazil: The Brazil PES 2014 cover reaffirms the licensing of 21 teams throughout the country and features some of the country’s most renowned stars and teams including Santos, Palmeiras and Corinthians. Complete with kits and stadiums and local announcers, Brazilians will feel at home with PES 2014.
Argentina: New to the franchise this year, is the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) Primera Division brings all 20 top level teams (and some of the corresponding home stadiums) into Pro Evolution Soccer 2014. KONAMI has also enlisted the talents of national football announcers and FOX Sports commentators, Mariano Closs and Fernando Neimbro, to call the action in each game. Some of the premier teams that will be included are River Plate, Boca Juniors, Newell’s Old Boys and Racing.
Chile: During the Festigame convention in Santiago, Chile, PES announced an agreement with the Asociacion Nacional de Footbol Profesional (ANFP) to bring all 18 Primera Division teams to Pro Evolution Soccer 2014. The teams include Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Catolica, Cobreloa, Union Espaola, and more. In addition, PES 2014 will also feature local announcers Fernando Solabarrieta and Patricio (“Pato”) Yáñez, to call the action.
Latin America: PES 2014 also features a region wide cover, which pays homage to the Copa Bridgestone Libertadores teams, which are exclusively licensed in PES 2014.
For those who want to add a little more to the game, there are numerous pre-order bonuses that will add the classic Latin American and European kits to the game and there will even be some DLC released later after the game has come out in the form of roster updates, new kit elements and other DLC.
It was revealed through the second Attack On TitanAnimeBlu-Ray that writer Satoshi Shiki has been currently working on the Prequel Manga to the Attack On Titan series, called Before The Fall. The small Mangareleases will be done so through Shounen Sirius Magazine starting with the first issue that, yes, will be going on sale today! Unfortunately it’s only in japan as of right now but I have no doubt that we’ll be soon seeing this on local shelves. There has already been a release of three light novels in the “Before The Fall” series. They’re written by Suzukaze Ryo and illustrated by Thores Shibamoto who also illustrated Trinity Blood.
The first story will revolve around the creation and production of the 3D Maneuver Gear that we see in the series, it will also focus on the struggles of the recon groups as they desperately try to figure out what kind of weaknesses the Titans have. The second story follows the character Kyklop who, as a baby, was discovered one day in a pool of Titan vomit and the third still follows Kyklop when he’s older as he fights Titans using primitive 3D Maneuver Gear. Check out the gallery below where there’s a few nice pictures of the manga and let us know what you think about all this in the comments section just below.
Asphalt 8: Airborne is the latest addition to Gameloft’s long running arcade racing series. This edition completely shakes up the car lineup with 80% of the lineup new to the series. Gameloft also introduces the new physics engine which allows players to execute death defying aerial stunts.
Story
There is no story in Asphalt 8: Airborne, just eight seasons worth of racing events and a whole load of people to beat.
Gameplay
Asphalt 8: Airborne is an arcade racer. Unlike racing sims, “knockdowns” and stunts play a major gameplay role. Players acquire Nitro boosters by picking up Nitro bottles scattered across the track, causing knockdowns by instigating a crash, drifting, driving aggressively, and completing airborne stunts. The Nitro booster will give the player’s vehicle a speed boost and comes in three tiers of speed. Skilled players can save themselves a step by tapping the Nitro booster a second time in the middle of the red zone. Success in the race will require a combination of controlled risk taking and clean driving.
The traditional video game racing events are all present in Asphalt 8: Airborne. Classic mode will pit racers in traditional first past the finish line racing. Elimination is a twist on Classic mode that eliminates the slowest driver at an interval until only one driver is left standing. Versus mode will pit two racers in a head to head race. Drift Gate is the only solo event in Asphalt 8: Airborne. Players will be provided with a set course full of Drift Gates they must drift through under the pressure of time. Knockdown will pit two racers against each other to knockdown as many cars as possible in a period of time. Finally, the game has a unique mode called Infection. The slowest racer will be given an infection that gives them an unlimited amount of Nitro. The infection spreads through knockdowns. However, any racer who is not last will have a limited amount of time to knockdown another vehicle to buy extra time. Once the timer expires, the car will explode and the infection will clear. The first vehicle past the finish line is the winner. Personally, I am a huge fan of Infection mode. It is great fun and a perfect choice for a party game.
Asphalt 8: Airborne contains 47 vehicles grouped up in five different classes. The line-up favours luxury brands like Cadillac, Audi, and Ferrari. The player starts with a single Dodge Dart GT and will slowly purchase new cars with race earnings. The game has car level recommendations and car requirements that need to be satisfied for certain races. The player can save a little money by purchasing upgrades for their existing vehicles. However, this gets exponentially more expensive after the first set of upgrades. I personally preferred buying the first set of upgrades then buying a better a new car to modify.
Career mode contains eight seasons. Each season contains a variety of events. New seasons are unlocked by collecting stars from events. The first three stars are awarded for placing first, second, or third in an event. The last two stars are awarded for completing two optional requirements in a race. Most of these requirements are pretty benign, such as drifting a certain amount of distance. The multiple flat spins in one jump optional requirement and no wrecks are some of the hardest in the game and often end up becoming an annoyance. All five stars do not need to be earned in one race, but each season’s event can only award five stars. There are a 180 events across eight seasons, so there will be plenty to keep players busy in the long term.
In addition to the single player Career mode, players can take it online with either asynchronous multiplayer or traditional multiplayer over Wi-Fi. Asynchronous multiplayer involves uploading a race performance online, then friends can then download and race your ghost on their own time. My only complaint is that uploading the ghost data is a little slow for some reason, but the impatient can skip uploading data. Traditional multiplayer works well, with little to no lag and room system that allows participants to vote on which event and track they wish to see next. Those lacking an internet connection can also do quick races with a customized rule set.
AI drivers are well balanced, staying competitive without being impossible to beat. However, AI drivers are not aggressive at all. They all seem to be programmed to drive the cleanest race possible and will make no attempt to knockdown opponents in their way.
There are nine race tracks that can be played in normal or mirrored configuration. There is a great mix of tight urban and off-road driving with plenty of opportunities to go airborne. The routes are not straight forward. Many parts have two possible routes to take. Those who do not memorize the quickest routes to take will struggle a little in harder races. There are some really great dynamic events in some of the tracks, like the spaceship launch in French Guiana.
Asphalt 8: Airborne provides players with several options to control the game. The default motion controls are probably my favourite as it is responsive and simple to use. For those who hate motion based controls, there are some touch based controls that also work well. Stunts like drifting are extremely easy to execute, save for flat spins that require the player to drift over a ramp. Even older children should have no problem managing the controls in this game.
Visuals
Asphalt 8: Airborne is a fantastic looking game. Gameloft Barcelona has brought console quality graphics to the small screen. The cars are detailed and the race tracks look lively. There is some minor stuttering on the iPhone 5 in particularly busy moments, but these are extremely rare. My biggest complaint is the car damage. When a car is wrecked, the most that will ever happen is the doors blow off and the hood may come loose once in a long while. The menus can be a little cluttered on the smaller phone screens, but once in game, the clutter is swept away from a minimalist HUD.
Audio
Electronic music dominates Asphalt 8: Airborne’s soundtrack. There are three radio stations to choose from, Bass (which is mostly Dubstep), Rock, and Electronic. The soundtrack is full of licensed artists like Queens of the Stone Age, Crystal Method, and Nero. However, those looking for something beyond head banging tunes will need to provide their own music to drive to. The sound effects tend to be drowned out by the music, but are solid on their own right.
Overall
Asphalt 8: Airborne is a great addition to the series. Gameloft Barcelona has taken great lengths to bring the console arcade racing experience for the small screen. For $0.99, Asphalt 8: Airborne is a fantastic purchase for any racing fan looking to take their favourite genre on the go.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
High School DxD Studio:TNK Publisher:FUNimation Format:Blu-ray/DVD Combo Release Date:August 20, 2013 Price:$69.98 – Available Here
Overview Fan service has existed in anime for decades and while the anime community usually has mixed feelings on panty shots and unabashed nudity there are numerous series which revel in the amount of flesh that is revealed. Many of these series devolve into mindless, run of the mill anime that are a dime a dozen. However every so often an anime manages to deliver both an enjoyable and humorous storyline and pretty much defines fan service. Does High School DxD, manage to craft something memorable around the breasts and asses of its cast?
Story Despite enrolling in an academy which only recently became co-ed, Issei Hyoudou has had the worst luck with women in his life. This isn’t exactly his fellow classmates’ fault, as he is part of a trio of boys who have managed to earn the reputation of being the most perverted and horny students at the school. Not only has Issei been caught peeping into the girls locker room multiple times, he also has quite the perverted mind which usually ends up disgusting the girls around him, and many of the most popular girls, including the well-known Rias Gremory simply ignore him.
However despite this damning reputation, a pretty young girl named Amano suddenly asks him to become her boyfriend and go on a date. Being the answer to Issei’s prayers, he readily agrees to the date and rejoices as he has made his first ever girlfriend. The only problem is, despite a rather enjoyable date and Issei keeping his perversion to a minimum, Amano ends the date in a way that he could never have expected… transforming into a fallen angel and killing him with a spear of light right through the stomach.
Since it would be a rather short series with the main character slain in the first episode, Issei is dragged into a much larger and darker world as he is saved by none other than Rias Gremory herself. How does she manage this you ask? Because she is from one of the few remaining powerful houses in the Devil World and is in fact a Devil, as is everyone inside of her Occult Research Club. After being saved, Issei finds himself turned into a devil as well.
Now your standard harem anime usually ends up falling into a predictable meet and greet pattern after this point, where multiple episodes are used to introduce and spend time with each of the main members of the cast. However High School DxD goes the opposite route. While all of the Occult Research Club members are given brief introductions, rather than focus on character building that time is spent on building the world itself.
There are a lot of moving pieces in High School DxD and perhaps that is what makes a series that could easily be considered mindless fan-service full of lewd poses and naked women into something special. Throughout the series the intricacies of the Devil world and the previous war that was held between the Angels, Devils and Fallen Angels are explained even as Issei comes to grips with his newfound power.
Multiple questions are asked as the series goes along, such as why would a fallen angel purposely seek out Issei of all people and what type of power does he possess that would entice one of the strongest remaining Devils to make him her servant at the cost of a large portion of her potential power. These questions are answered as the series progresses and continue to build upon the world that exists in High School DxD.
Outside of a few one-off episodes; this season is broken into two major arcs that not only develop the world further, but give Issei a chance to grow as a character and reveal more about who he is. Despite wishing to be a harem king and remaining perverted throughout the series, he continuously demonstrates a strong desire to protect those close to him and a resilient heart in the face of adversity. All while hoping to receive a breast related reward of course, which is actually refreshing to see since many perverted main characters either act embarrassed or try to hide their nature while Issei relishes it.
High School DxD has quite a lot to offer in terms of story and humor thanks to the fact that rather than simply fall into stereotypical genre pitfalls, it spends its time building a world and central characters in this first season. Of course it is absolutely bursting with fan service and most of the humor revolves around how perverted Issei can be, but that only helps add to a series which has so much going for it in terms of story and character.
Visuals Let’s just say this right off the bat since I’ve mentioned it numerous times already, there is a surplus of nudity in High School DxD. Panty shots, lewd poses, bare breasts, groping and more abound in this series so anyone who may have an issue with overkilled fan service may find themselves disliking the series. However everyone else will be able to enjoy it for exactly what it is, a celebration of the genre. There is a varied range of character designs in High School DxD and numerous breast sizes on display so be prepared for that, as well as plenty of suggestive eye catches.
Outside of the fan service, the series features a vibrant color palette and is very well animated with only minor drops in quality whenever fighting takes place or mid-range shots are used on groups of characters. It is worth noting that even in combat there is fan service, but it does nothing to detract from the action as everything is well put together and looks gorgeous on Blu-ray.
Audio While many English dubs can be either worse or the same in quality as the Japanese voice work, rarely does an English dub surpass the original voice track. High School DxD can be considered one of those rare cases since nearly all of the English cast performs exceptionally well, minus some issues with the way Kiba’s voice actor handles the character. Perhaps due to the unabashed nature of the perversion in Issei’s voice, handled by Scott Freeman, the nature of the jokes or a combination of the talents, the English dub actually manages to surpass the original in many ways, especially when it comes to the voicing of the psychotic exorcist Freed.
As for the soundtrack for the series, High School DxD became well known long before it was released in English thanks to its ending theme “Study x Study” by SylipS. Not only is the song extremely catchy but it is also paired with one of the most well recognized ending sequences from the year High School DxD was released and has to be seen to be believed, as describing it would spoil the fun. As for the opening theme, it is “Trip –innocent of D-“ and is handled by Larval Stage Planning and is also enjoyable, but is overshadowed by the ending theme and the rest of the music within the series is rather run of the mill.
Extras As far as extra content goes, High School DxD comes with numerous on-disc bonuses. Some of these bonuses are expected, such as a clean opening theme and clean ending theme, the US trailer for the series, trailers for other FUNimation releases and two commentary tracks. However also included in this release are two sets of Japanese extra collections.
The first of which happens to be a rather basic set of Japanese promotional videos that serve to showcase the series and introduce the characters to viewers while the other is called ‘Fantasy Jiggles Unleashed.’ This bonus includes six Japanese shorts that equal up to an episode in length when combined and it sees the members of the Occult Research Club going through a number of activities, usually resulting in some of the lewdest fan service found in High School DxD.
The first commentary track is for episode 1 and features Jamie Marchie, who voices Rias Gremory and is also the lead writer on the series, Felicia Angelle who does the voice of Raynere and Teri Rogers who handles the voice work for Akeno. If the latter two’s names seem unfamiliar, it is because they are both new voice actresses and they discuss their start with FUNimation as well as how they handled their first time voicing these characters.
As for the second commentary track, it takes place during episode 7 and it features Jad Saxton who handles the voice of Koneko, Scott Freeman the voice of Issei, and Tyson Rinehart who voices Issei’s friend Matsuda. The commentary is more humorous and random this time around and when it does focus on the episode, it is usually to highlight the boobs and nut shots on display.
Overall High School DxD could easily have been “just another boobie show.” Sure it is packed with nipples and panty shots but it also manages to deliver an elaborate storyline with an expansive world waiting to be explored but also a cast of likable characters that bring the plot to life. By leaving viewers with numerous hints as to what will happen in the future of the series, High School DxD manages to boost its way past other ecchi shows and delivers a stronger story than one would find in even serious dramas, making it an easy series to recommend and should not be passed up.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
