It looks like Disney is putting a lot of stock into their (very) soon to be released game, Disney Infinity. Their brilliant minds have been hard at work, not only getting the game ready for our eager little hands, but also preparing two mobile companion apps for the game. Disney Infinity: Action and Disney Infinity: Toy Box, aim to expand on the Disney Infinity console experience, and allow it to transcend its boundaries to become one of the most connected, cross-platform franchises ever created.
Disney Infinity: Action puts players in the role of a Disney film director, allowing them to make scenes featuring the Disney Infinity character roster (starting initially with Jack Sparrow, Mr. Incredible and Sully). Players and their families can even get in on the action and stand side by side with their heroes. Want to flex Muscles with Mr. Incredible, have a scare-off against Sully? Well with Disney Infinity: Action, you CAN!
Disney Infinity: Toy Box is the other companion app being released, and it ties into the console game in a big way. With this app, you will be able to access the Disney Infinity Toy Box from wherever you are. You will be able to make, edit and share brand new toy box worlds and games all without turning your console on. Furthermore, through the use of a special log-in, you will be able to access your console Toy Box on your iPad and vice-versa, allowing you to pick up right where you left off, no matter where you are.
Disney Infinity for consoles is set to release on August 22nd on Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and 3DS. Meanwhile, you can grab Disney Infinity: Action! here on your iPad right now totally for free (It will be available on Google Play in the coming days, so stay tuned) Disney Infinity: Toy Box will be available in the coming weeks, so for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Join Capsule Computers editor Joe Morgan as he recaps all of the video game, anime, movie, and manga reviews for the week of August 4 – August 10, 2013. This feature is intended as a way to give you, our readers, a quick recap of every game we’ve reviewed on the site each week. The goal is to let you get the review information you want in five minutes or less.
Overview
Any sports fan can identify with the excitement and intensity of a sudden death overtime situation. Whether hockey, American football, soccer, or any other sport, there’s just something that will cause you to stop and watch, even if you weren’t interested before. Perfect Kick from Gamegou and Chillingo is looking to capture and capitalize on that very thing – a best-of-five soccer shootout. Is it a yellow card or is it truly a perfect kick? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fairly straightforward. Players are pitted against one another in a head-to-head shootout. Each player will take their turn as kicker and goalie, alternating off after each kick. The match goes until someone has taken the best of five or, in the event of a tie, until the tie is broken. It’s no FIFA game, but it’s solid in its own right.
The controls are responsive and intuitive, making for a seamless, easy-to-pick-up gameplay experience. As the kicker, you’ll draw the kick path on the screen. As the goalie, you’ll draw your defensive maneuver on the screen with your finger as well.
There’s actually quite a lot of nuance built into the kicks you can perform. As you would expect with a real life shootout, the goalie is constantly going to be wondering and guessing your next shot, so you’re equipped with several ways to try to fool them. You can always boot them straight in, but you’re also able to curve or loft them. This could make a nervous goalie overzealous or earn you that tricky final goal you needed to seal the deal. The amount of kick control is both impressive and fun.
As a goalie, your job is fairly straight forward. When the kick is made, you have a split second to decide where to go. Stand still? Dive to one side or another? It sounds simple, but you have to be both quick and accurate with your maneuver to stop the attack. This makes stopping that hard-to-handle diving block all the more satisfying when you pull it off.
There are one time use items in the game that add a bit of variety (and frustration) the experience. Have a crucial kick coming up? Throw a tomato in his face and block out some of his vision while you take the shot. While you’re at it, soup up your kick with a booster or two. It’s a clever idea that can quickly become frustrating to someone on the receiving end. In the end, the vanilla gameplay is both more fun and rewarding.
Buried within the game is a bit of a progression system. As you play, you’ll level up, raising your ability to defend and control the precision of your shots. On top of that is an equipment system that allows you to outfit your footballer with different jerseys, gloves, soccer balls, and cleats. These can all alter your stats as well.
The equipment system is a good idea, in theory, but thanks to the wonder of microtransactions, it quickly devolves into renting your skill buffs against opponents. Want the sweet blue and white gloves? They’ll raise your defense, but it’ll cost you, and you can only rent them for 30 days because very few of the items allow you to permanently acquire them. Gamegou emphasizes the gear as well, since after each match they place you back in the locker room to change and buy gear instead of the matchmaking lobby.
On top of the coins you earn through playing the game, you can earn in-game dollars. These can be bought as well, of course, and quickly become hard to earn. What’s even more egregious is the fact that later in the game, you can take your dollars and literally place bets or buy chips to spin a roulette wheel. It’s a devilishly clever way to get money from willing customers.
Visuals & Audio
The visuals in Perfect Kick are simple and straightforward, but they work really well. The style does a great job catering to players of all ages. The cartoony characters with their round heads and huge eyes are fun to look at. The wide variety of gear adds some interestings options to look at as well. Animations do a great job of actually conveying your character’s engagement in the sport – is he simply falling over onto the ball or really stretching out a dive to make the block?
The sound design is serviceable. The music is pretty forgettable and the sound effects basically consist of a soccer ball hitting things. A fantastic exception is the sound of the crowd roaring after you’ve made a big diving save or landed a critical shot in a tight match. The crowd feels fantastic.
Overall Perfect Kick is a really fun soccer shootout game that players of all ages can enjoy. The gameplay is solid all around and it’s fun to shoot and block shots. The focus on freemium content and one-time-use items is a bit frustrating, but ultimately doesn’t hamper the experience too much. The graphics are also fun and inviting, even if the music will wear on you. Perfect Kick is free, and anyone with an iOS device should check this one out for sure.
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Mastertronic and Abstraction Games announced the upcoming release of The Chaos Engine, a classic Amiga game originally developed by The Bitmap Brothers.
Coming to PC, Mac, and Linux on August 29th, the ’90s top-down shooter has had a restoration from Abstraction Games, the folks that brought Hotline Miami to PS3 and Vita, with consultation from Mike Montgomery, a founding member of The Bitmap Brothers.
The Chaos Engine takes place in a Victorian era of discovery and technology that have been corrupted by failed experimentation with an early computer – the Chaos Engine.
Players will choose one of six mercenaries, each with unique weapons and skills, to take on the creatures created by the Chaos Engine. You’ll battle through four unique worlds in both single player and cooperative modes. You can also play in either ‘Classic Mode’ or the modernized ‘Enhanced Mode.’
For the hands-on trailer of the game, be sure to watch the video in the player below this article. You can also check out their official website here.
Beyblades were a huge thing back in the day with stores literally selling out of product within minutes of stocking it on the shelves. While the Beyblade phenomenon has slowed a little since then, the series continues to expand with new anime, toys and games. Beyblade Evolution will be launching on October 22nd exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS, and with that day fast approaching, an Official Website centering around the game has been launched to provide information, new screenshots and to be the place to hear about new announcements as they happen.
Developer Rising Star Games has made clever use of the 3DS’ AR functionality to bring the battle stadium and beyblades anywhere you place an AR card. To check out that awesome feature and more, take a look at the trailer for Beyblade: Evolution and let us know in the comments about your favourite Beyblade moment.
Bitsquid is pleased to announce that their Bitsquid Engine will power Paradox Interactive’s two upcoming titles, War of the Vikings and Magicka: Wizards War.
War of the Vikings, developed by Fatshark, is a new third person melee game that serves as a follow-up to War of the Roses. Players will customize their Viking and engage in brutal skill based combat in settings inspired by actual Viking battlegrounds across Europe. “The Bitsquid Game Engine is a great technology that enables us to develop better games at a faster pace. With the source code we have full flexibility. Features like real time collaboration and instant drop in play is great for productivity,” said Fatshark CEO, Martin Wahlund.
Magicka: Wizards War is a strategy game that fuses traditional MOBA gameplay with Magicka‘s signature spell system and witty humour. Players will team up and go head to head using four elements that can be combined to create hundreds of different spells.
Bohemia Interactive has released one last update to the ArmA 3 Beta before the final release in September. The star of the update is Steam Workshop integration. Previously, scenario makers would have to share their creation on third party websites and forums. Now, ArmA 3 scenario makers can share their creations on Steam Workshop where they can be downloaded, rated, and commented on by the community. Additionally, the update brings a plethora of bug fixes and improvements.
ArmA 3 is the latest addition to Bohemia Interactive’s military simulator. The game features overs 290 km² of land to explore and is currently in beta testing. It can be purchased at a discount until the final release at the official Bohemia Interactive Store and on Steam.
Since the last trailer from E3, there hasn’t been too much more on the parkour/zombie game Dying Light from developer Techland of Dead Island fame and publisher Warner Bros. To make up for such a long wait, a 12 minute gameplay video has been released showing off not only the parkour that players will be utilizing to move through the environment, but the change that comes after night fall as well.
While some of the mechanics may look very similar to Dead Island such as the graphics and some of the weapons, i.e. the electric knife, the parkour moves make all the difference. Using zombies as launch points, leaping straight over zombies as well, and climbing poles to get to better heights all open up the map an incredible amount. Plus, the drastic change in enemies after dark helps make Dying Light much its own game.
Those wanting to see the footage for themselves can watch the gameplay video embedded below. Dying Light is set to release for both current consoles Xbox 360 and PS3, next generation consoles Xbox One and PS4, and PC in 2014.
While the last dev diary covered the addition of super powers to Saints Row IV the newest, and likely final before the big release of the game itself next week, talks more about the characters. From Daniel Dae Kim coming back as Johnny Gat, to the two different Shaundi’s, plus the players choice of the Boss him/her self, Volition and Deep Silver have it cut out for themselves to try and bridge the favoritism between Saints Row 2 and Saints Row The Third.
Check out the newest dev diary embedded below to hear what the developers and voice actors have to say about the characters in this over the top adventure. Saints Row IV will be releasing next week for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC and if there are any doubts about getting the the craziest Saints Row yet be sure to read our Saints Row IV Review.
Those looking forward to the upcoming Rambo The Video Game have a little more incentive to preorder as today Reef Entertainment announced that a series of limited edition figurines would be offered, though interested buyers will have to choose between the two of them.
While a full list of which retailers will be offering which figurine is still on the way, those in Australia need not worry as theirs are already detailed. Those wanting the First Blood figurine with John Rambo with his M60 can receive it by preordering from JB Hi Fi, while those preferring the Rambo: First Blood part 2 figurine with his RPG can preorder from EBGames.
Those wanting to see a full size version can click on the image above to get a better look, though the base of each figurine is not finalized just yet. Rambo The Video Game will release near the end of this year for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
