The day is here. After months of talking, and week after week of new videos, screenshots and teasers the ultimate imagination fueled game is here. Disney Infinity is available right NOW on store shelves across the world.
Available right now on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Wii, 3DS you can grab the Disney Infinity Starter Set and join in on the fun. the game comes with three different Play Sets (Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean and Monsters U) and three characters to match (Mr. Incredible, Jack Sparrow and Sully respectively). In addition, you can also get additional characters, power discs and the Cars and Lone Ranger Play Sets.
In addition to the Play Sets, the game also offers its amazing Toy Box Mode. Toy Box Mode has been talked about heavily but just to remind you one more time; Toy box is a completely free building, sandbox experience that allows you to use toys, tools and environments to create your own levels, worlds and games.
Disney Infinity is a truly massive game that is filled with more content than you could poke a magic wand at. We here at Capsule Computers are tackling the seemingly insurmountable task of reviewing it. Be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for our upcoming review, and for all the Disney news as it becomes available.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Complete Collection Studio:TMS Entertainment Publisher:Madman Format: DVD Release Date: 3rd July 2013 Price: $59.95 – Available Here
Overview Everyone wants to be stronger. Whether to fight enemies or protect friends, people strive for power. It’s a fact of life. People are judged and grouped on their abilities, interests and demeanour. So what happens when a coward breaks that system? What will it take for him to become the Mightiest Disciple?
The strongest coward you’ll ever meet
Story Kenichi Shirahama is just about the wimpiest person you could ever meet. He runs from everything and lacks any kind of athletic skill. But he wants to change. He even joined the Karate Club in the hopes of becoming stronger. Unfortunately for him, the club doesn’t want “Weak Knees” Kenichi ruining their image, so they challenge him to a fight…not good. However, luckily for Kenichi, he recently became friends with Miu Furinji and she kicks ass. After witnessing Kenichi’s courage, she agrees to introduce him to the masters of the Ryozanpaku Dojo.
After proving himself worthy of their tutelage, Kenichi becomes the First Disciple of Ryozanpaku. Learning from each of the five masters, he strives to become stronger. He is taught Karate, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, and Chinese Kenpo, using each discipline to increase his strength exponentially. The series focuses a great deal on the intricacies of various martial art styles taught and strives to explain the mechanics behind each move Kenichi learns. For example, rather than simply show the classic anime “flash step” the series explains that it is a quick dodge technique called “Kouho Haiho”. Though the masters possess ungodly powers to express their mastery, it all stems from these simpler skills. Rather than a simple power up or new transformation, Kenichi improves through learning new skills. Though he is nowhere near as powerful as his opponents physically, Kenichi’s knowledge of various styles grants him a certain air of unpredictability.
Don’t mess with Miu…seriously, she’ll kill you
The series constantly touches on the theme of effort. Certain characters that are introduced claim to have a natural affinity for the martial arts. Athletic, strong, relentless. These traits lend to a great fighter, but it isn’t enough. Rather than Kenichi being some legendary fighter he’s just very, very determined and trains really, really hard. The subtle time jumps, usually a week or month, also show that Kenichi is improving fairly realistically, rather than immediately being imbued with martial arts knowledge.
As the series progresses and Kenichi grows stronger, he gains the attention of a street gang called Ragnarok. With names based in Norse mythology and the power to back those titles up, they prove to be a constant source of stress and struggle for our hero. Each of the higher ups of Ragnarok possesses their own unique and powerful fighting style, forcing Kenichi to train harder and learn faster. What began as a goal to become stronger transforms into a quest for survival. The situation escalates further when Nijima, school-yard information broker and personal enemy/friend to Kenichi, suddenly takes an interest our Mightiest Disciple and adds fuel to the fire. A lot of fuel.
Towards the end of the Ragnarok Arc, the story begins to delve into the more spiritual side of martial arts. Characters begin to explain the concept of ki, intimidating enemies into submission with their killing intent alone and seeing their opponents movements with their inner eye. These spiritual abilities cause the fights to escalate in intensity, increasing the speed and power of each combatant immensely. Whilst these elements lend to the reveal of a larger story that continues after the anime ends, the series doesn’t feel like it’s cut short. Finishing at the end of an arc adds a sense of finality to the plot, whilst also leaving the idea of a future open.
Somebody just got elbowned
Visuals Since the show is so focused on the technique of martial arts moves themselves, a lot of slow motion and freeze frames are involved during the fights shown across the series. These moments are generally narrated by one of the combatants, presenting it as a view through their battle trained eyes, rather than just slowing it down to show you a cool kick. Freeze frames are also generally used during the final strike of a combo, emphasising the power behind it. These moments don’t get in the way of the action too much, as they explain the martial arts moves which are the core of the show. During some of the more important strikes, the animation receives a slight bump, becoming more intense and detailed to convey the intensity of the moment.
Whilst in combat, it is fairly common for fighters to be set ablaze by their fighting spirit. Each character generally has their own colour associated with them, expressing their ki and fighting spirit. This is generally a sign that someone is angry, or about to hit someone. Hard. Another constant visual throughout the series is glowing, pure white eyes. This generally appears to show that a character is intimidating or angry and can escalate to the point that their eyes look like headlights. Demonic headlights. Of death.
On the lighter side, Kenichi spends a majority of his time in chibi form whilst training. This style is used whenever he is beaten down or defeated by a master…which is a lot. This style is a good sign that whatever is happening is just for fun, so when a training sequence is animated normally you know it’s important.
Sakaki always did have a big head…
Audio The soundtrack definitely suits the overall feel of the series. The audio is extremely varied and fits well with the different moments. During the sombre and reflective scenes, the soundtrack relies heavily on violin and piano to convey the intensity of the situation. The more humourous aspects are aided by the use of more comical sounding instruments, such as the xylophone and even clapping. Even 8-bit chiptunes are employed at certain times. But when you hear a guitar…something cool is about to happen.
The English dub of Kenichi is great. Avoiding the classic problem with certain dubs, each character sounds unique and retains a great deal of emotion in the dialogue. From constantly angry, to hyperactive or rarely heard, the Ryozanpaku masters are…different. Each one is voiced well in their respective style, adding to the personalities of the characters. Even a character who is supposed to sound bored and monotone is voiced well, in that you can tell it’s intentional and not due to a lack of skill. Kenichi, being the character that he is, constantly sounds worried, jumpy and all around wimpy…until you hurt his friends. The character changes and he gains a far more furious tone. Josh Grelle (Kenichi’s voice actor) apparently also possesses a talent for mimicry, copying the voices of other characters at certain points in the series. Sound is also a defining trait of a particular member of Ragnarok. Believing in the music of combat, words like “allegro” are thrown around constantly. A lot of “lalala” and humming is also fairly common. The character even sings dialogue to the tune of Beethoven, adding more culture to say the least.
Head to head combat
Extras The Kenichi collection features the standard extras of an anime release. Disc 4 includes textless versions of the opening (“Be Strong” and “Yahhoo”) and ending themes (“Catch Your Dream” and “Run Over”). Also included are trailers for other series. Disc 8 contains the same extras, adding a textless version of the new ending (“Kokoro Kara no Message”) to the list. The trailers are also identical to those on Disc 4.
Overall Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is fun and interesting. The explanation of each move gives you an added insight into the fights, not present in other animes. It also makes you feel as if you’ve taken away a little self-defence knowledge for yourself…not that you should start any fights to practice. For an anime so crazy and intense it feels fairly grounded, centring on an average guy and his quest for strength, along with highschool jerks and overly intense masters. Kenichi is a cool anime that continues to escalate and just keeps getting cooler. I mean, there’s a fight on the roof of a speeding bus, and it’s not even a major fight. Awesome.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The collector’s edition of Total War: Rome II is pretty much sold out in most places, but that shouldn’t stop those of you who missed out from salivating over these rich contents.
But your saliva won’t be alone, as the loony folk at Creative Assembly have forced Rally Point’s Craig and Will to run for their lives whilst being chased and chewed on by trained attack dogs. They still have to unbox the game, of course.
Check out the unusual unboxing video below to see what remains of them. Rome II hits shelves on September 3 for the PC and those who pre-order get the Greek Culture States DLC for free.
The manga adaptation of Valvrave the Liberator which is titled VVV is set begin exploring one of the series’ popular side-characters in its upcoming chapter in Jump SQ magazine.
The upcoming story arc which is titled ‘Valvrave the Liberator – Record of the Bancho Thunder’ will explore the past of Raizo ‘Thunder’ Yamada and his motivations to reject his humanity by piloting the ‘Valvrave’ mecha.
While it can be presumed he pilots the mecha simply because he is a badass bancho, it is in fact out of vengeance for the death of his childhood friend Nobu who nobody remembers ever being in the anime.
The Valvrave anime series is set to resume with it’s second season in October this year. Stay tuned for further information on the Valvrave series as it surfaces.
To be fair, The Impossible Line isn’t an impossible game, but it sure does feel that way at times! I’ve always felt that the heart of good puzzler usually lies somewhere between making every goal seem reachable, while also making me stress to the point of hair loss. The Impossible Line hits that sweet spot with intuitive controls and polished presentation. Like many retro favourites, this title relies on simplicity and increasing difficulty to keep players engaged. However attempting this can be risky, as sometimes being a little too simple can make the experience rather unrewarding. Case and point: The Impossible Line.
Gameplay
For better or worse The Impossible Line may very well be one of the most simplest video games I’ve ever played in my entire life. Basically a level starts off showing you a maze. Once you are ready to play, the maze then turns invisible and you must drag your finger to the end, hoping you don’t hit any walls. And…well…that’s pretty much it! Sure it sounds a little lame, but once you pick it up it’s easy to find the beauty within the game’s simplicity. Remember how awesome it was to solve mazes as a kid in your colouring book? Well that’s back on your iPhone except now it’s also testing your memory. The Impossible Line really takes puzzle games back to basics on this one. While these are just the core game mechanics, some bells and whistles have also been thrown in in true modern gaming free-to-play style. Completing levels earns you coins that can be spent on the two power ups available: the ability to see the maze for an extra 3 seconds mid-gameplay and also a touch that will show you the walls when you get really close to them. These are slightly helpful but for the most part players will be relying on the hit-and-miss radar noise (and a little red dot) that warns the player when they are near a wall.
All these elements may make the game sound easy, but it’s not. And with no ability to skip levels or even a level selector most of the game’s countless levels won’t be seen by most players as they will more than likely rage quit and give up. What is kind of cool is once you fail the game will show a replay in action with the maze visible. It’s actually pretty fun to watch yourself mess up like an idiot. But unfortunately that gimmick wares of quickly. Other than that there really isn’t anything left to say about The Impossible Line. There’s no level editor and has very few achievements to unlock. Ultimately The Impossible Line is a really simple title that has nothing left to offer after the first five minutes of gameplay. It’s a decent concept that isn’t explored into very much depth and unless you’re really hooked on invisible mazes you’re not going to find it very engaging.
Audio & Visual
There is a common theme with this title and that theme is simplicity. Visually what you see is what you get. It’s a blackboard with white chalk. That’s all. It’s presented well and has some nice polish but don’t expect much more than what you’re seeing in these screenshots. Audio-wise there is no music for the game, but that works in it’s favour. Music would just be distracting and would drown out the game’s radar. Perhaps it’s best to compare it to the likes of Pong as the sound effects really become the game’s soundtrack. These sound effects are appropriately chalk on a blackboard and an occasional sound effect when you get coins. No nails on the chalkboard, thankfully.
Overall
The Impossible Line is a decent concept where simplicity works in various charming ways. However it’s lack depth into exploring this idea can leave players feeling wanting more. Sure power ups, replays and achievements add to the experience but it’s simply not enough with just the basic game mechanics holding the entire game on it’s shoulders. With all that said, The Impossible Line is a charming experience that reminds us that simplicity can still be fun. Just don’t expect that fun to last very long.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The first trailer for the second Hunter x Hunter film, Hunter x Hunter: The Last Mission, has been released. The trailer is rather scarce on details of the film, but does highlight several characters who are set to appear as well as further detailing the plot of the movie.
Hunter x Hunter: The Last Mission focuses on the inner struggle of the light and dark sides of the Hunter Association. The plot is a non-canonical original work, unlike Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge which had it’s scenario written by series creator Yoshihiro Togashi. At this point it is still unknown of Togashi will have any involvement on the production of The Last Mission.
Are you ready? The Sims 4 is coming, and at EA‘s Gamescom 2013 press conference, its ‘Arrival’ was marked – dropping in 2014, a new generation in the long timeline of The Sims franchise will begin.
Sky-rocketing to become a cultural and gaming phenomenon back in 2000, the original Sims kicked off a series that has gone on to sell an astonishing 125 million+ units, becoming one of the most enduring and popular in history. With every expansion and base game released since, new gameplay concepts have been introduced to bring the virtual world closer to reality. Now, with the impending release of The Sims 4, that disparity between the digital and the real world is being minimised once again, promising a more dynamic and all-encompassing simulation experience.
The Sims 4 will introduced some key innovations in mechanics to realise that promise. Firstly, creating your Sim/s to your likeness, or that of anyone’s for that matter can now be better achieved with 18 touch points, allowing you to shape their physique to more accurately represent the diversity in size and form of the human body. Secondly, Sims can now multi-task, so relationships, for instance, can now be built while partaking in certain activities. And finally – and arguably most importantly – Sims have emotional states that change depending on their surroundings, the actions of others and of course, your influence.
In the new year…”New Emotions. New Smarts. New Sims Come To Life”. Be sure to watch their ‘Arrival’ below.
Madman Entertainment have just announced that next week will be ‘Titan Week’ for their Madman Screening Room streaming service. Starting on the 26th of August and running all the way until the 30th of August, Madman will be streaming two new episodes of the wildly popular anime series Attack on Titan each day.
The plan for ‘Titan Week’ is to not only bring anime fans up to speed on the Attack on Titan series but also to fast-track their streaming in order to catch up with the Japanese airing of the series. Following the conclusion of ‘Titan Week’ which will bring the series up to episode 20 on the Madman Screening Room, Madman plans to release new episodes each Wednesday up until the series end.
Attack on Titan tells the tale of Eren Jaeger and his struggle with giant zombie-like creatures known as Titans. The series has garnered wide-spread critical acclaim across the globe.
You can of course check out Attack on Titan on the Madman Screening Room now for your viewing pleasure.
Love MOTHER energy drink? Mad about Call of Duty? Well the two will be going hand in hand with the latest collaborative promotion of Call of Duty Ghosts and MOTHER energy drink.
The promotion is to give some lucky Aussies the chance to win special Call of Duty Ghosts rescue op mission. In order to make sure that the rescue op mission is 100% authentic, MOTHER has enlisted the assistance of legendary action film star Dolph Lundgren to put out the call to recruit the winner and three of their mates for the rescue op mission.
To enter the secret MOTHER Call of Duty Ghosts rescue op promotion, all you need to do is:
– Purchase specially marked 500mL cans of MOTHER, MOTHER Sugar Free or 4 x 500mL MOTHER multipacks
– Register and answer the question in 50 words or less
So what are you waiting for? Grow grab a can of MOTHER energy drink and get in with a chance to win a once in a lifetime rescue op mission to celebrate the impending launch of Call of Duty Ghosts. The game is set to be released exclusively first on Xbox One. Check out the two promotional videos for MOTHER and Call of Duty Ghosts below.
Bulkypix, leading developer in video games for mobile apps, have announced their Android and iOS line-up of exciting new games for back-to-school and the end of 2013.
The following Bulkypix 2013 Line-Up includes:
Runaway: The Dream of The Turtle Part 1 (iOS, September 2013)
Episode 2 of the Runaway Saga
Animation movie scenario with hundreds of sets to visit
Numerous enthralling riddles
More than 30 charismatic characters to meet
Supports English, French, German, Spanish and Italian
The 
The first trailer for the second 
