Gamers who dream of building vast empires akin to the likes of Caesar, Alexander the Great, or the Pharaohs are about to get a taste of something exciting. Today, Paradox Interactiveand Paradox Development Studios have released a demo of their upcoming title Europa Universalis IVon Steam.
Europa Universalis IV is one of the most open ended strategy titles of its kind and allows the player to have almost unparalleled freedom. Add in mod support through the Steam Workshop, and you get nigh unlimited possibilities for building and shaping your empire. The multiplayer will enable large battles with empire facing empire in combat with the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems being supported at the launch of the game.
In the Windows only demo, players get the option to take control of the four currently available kingdoms, each with their own different play styles. Players can choose from the colonial system of Portugal, the in-depth trading system of Venice, the battle ready Ottoman Empire, or the diplomatic prowess of Austria. There will be several different ways to tackle the demo. The demo is fairly long, lasting 28 in game years, although we’re sad to say that it will not include the multiplayer modes. The developers are also throwing in some extras to entice fans of the demo to pre-order the full version on Steam, due out August 13, with the addition of the game Crusader Kings II as well as the accompanying save converter.
Yes that’s right Pokemon fans, Mega Pokemon are a thing now. For all those that dreamed they’re old Pokemon would get a new form or evolution in Pokemon X & Y you may be in luck. The latest issue of CoroCoro magazine has revealed that some Pokemon can achieve an entirely new form through a process called Mega Evolution, which is likely to involve some sort of unique item as well as a new item called a Mega Stone.
Pokemon confirmed to be getting a Mega form so far include Blaziken (which means it is the first Pokemon to have four stages of evolution), Ampharaos, Mawile, Lucario, Absol and Mewtwo. Mega Pokemon have a new look, new abilities and can even change type. For example, Mega Mawile becomes a steel/fairy type and Ampharaos becomes electric/dragon. We have seen Mewtwo’s Mega form announced much earlier and it is officially know in English as Awakened form, so it is likely the term ‘Mega’ will changed to ‘Awakened’ in the process of translating it to English. Whatever they’re called, these new Pokemon definitely look like they’re ready to throw down. A new female gym leader named Koruni was also revealed and it is said she can tell you all about the secrets of Mega Evolution.
Three entirely new Pokemon were also revealed. They’re Japanese names are Meikuru, Dedenne and Horubii. Meikuru is a grass type and is the pre-evolution of Gogoat, the Pokemon we’ve seen that is ridable in a previous trailer. Dedenne is an electric/fariy type, and looks like a tiny Raichu crossed with Hamtaro, while Horubii is a small normal type Pokemon who looks like a cartoon rabbit. A new Super Training area was also shown as part of the world map, but no further details on this have been stated.
How do you feel about Pokemon getting a Mega Evolution? My hype for this game just rose another 10 points. Stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the latest developments on Pokemon X & Y as the game nears it’s October 12 release date on the Nintendo 3DS.
Check out all 55 images in the gallery below for Pokemon X & Y Mega Evolution!
Fifteen titles are joining the growing library of Greenlit titles on Valve’s digital distribution platform Steam. This time around, all fifteen titles are video games. The following games will be released in the coming weeks and months, through Steam Early Access or as full products:
7 Days To Die
The 7th Guest
Crashtastic
The Dead Linger
Door Kickers
INFRA
Maia
Nekro
The Novelist
Paranomal
Satellite Reign
Stranded Deep
Strike Vector
Viscera Cleanup Detail
Wayfarer: The Outer Reaches
Several of these titles stem from successful Kickstarter campaigns, including 7 Days to Die, The Dead Linger, Maia, and Nekro. Horror and zombies seem to be popular with this batch of games, with four of the titles leaning heavily such themes.
There are many great looking titles, but Viscera Cleanup Detail has my curiosity piqued the most do to its extremely quirky idea of cleaning up after a space marines vs alien battle.
A few weeks ago we wrote about the Global Challenge that developer Hardlight and publisher SEGA had set up in their iOS game Sonic Dash. The goal being for players to reach a total milage equal to 100 laps around the Earth, which if they achieved would reward the entire community with a new, and free, playable character.
Well, players were able to reach the 100 lap mark and in addition to receiving Shadow as a playable character, SEGA and Hardlight have released an infographic showing off all the cool stats that occurred during the challenge, which players can click on above to see a bigger version of. It seems that quite a lot of players helped in the challenge exceeding 4 million and over 9 billion rings were collected. And what more can be said than, great job!
So players wanting to speed through Sonic Dash as Shadow, can get him through the in-game store on iPad and iPhone. Or those that don’t have the game yet can download it from iTunes for free.
Remember Spiral Knights? It hit one million players 2 years ago and well its still been chugging along. Now today developer Three Rings Design and publisher SEGA have put out a brand new update for the game. This new update includes the addition of new mission, battle sprites, and rarity class items. The battle sprites themselves being pets that players will be able to utilize during combat to give themselves the edge in the form of skills the battle sprites have for players to use.
Because of such a major addition to the game, Spiral Knights is holding a promotion to allow players to receive a special “Companion Prize Box” each day that they play between today the 13th. The boxes themselves containing free upgrades that players will be able to use on their battle sprites. Players will also notice that there are now combat difficulties to choose from, to better fit the experience players are looking for, as well as an overhaul of the game’s energy system.
Those wanting to check out the new changes and additions to Spiral Knights can play the game for free from their website on either PC, Mac, or Linux.
While betas are all well and good, there comes a time for them to come to an end and generally that’s when the game is about to come out, which seems to be the case for Final Fantasy XIV. The final beta will be taking place August 17th to August 19th on both PC and PS3, after which all the beta activity will cease until the games release August 27th.
But, that doesn’t mean players will be forced to wait more than a week to get back into the game as Square Enix has just announced that those who have pre-ordered the game will be able to gain early access on August 24th. They have also announced some of the game’s incentives from Veteran Rewards that depend on the length of players subscriptions, to a free companion iOS app titled Final Fantasy XIV: Libra Eorzea launching a week after the game, to the ability the play for free until September 9th for those that registered Final Fantasy XIV 1.0.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will release August 27th, 2013 for PC and PS3, new accounts get 30 free days with a starting monthly subscription of $12.99 (£7.69 / €10.99) after that. Want more information? Check out our own Final Fantasy XIV Preview.
Seaven Studio is hard at work completing their upcoming puzzle platformer, Ethan: Meteor Hunter. The team released a new video, demonstrating one of the levels that is filled with physics based puzzles. Gamers will need to put on their thinking caps while using Ethan’s ability to stop time and move blocks to complete the level.
Ethan: Meteor Hunter is a puzzle platformer due to be released in summer 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. A Mac and Linux version will follow in 2014. Be sure to check out our preview of Ethan: Meteor Hunter for more information about the game. Like what you see? Vote for Ethan: Meteor Hunter on the Steam Greenlight page.
Independent developer, Camel 101 have kickstarted their latest project, Black Talons, a real-time strategy game set in a sci-fi universe. Players take on the role of a mercenary commander trying to prevail in a ravaged star system, where they must lead their troops, fight their enemies and forge alliances with the factions they encounter to ensure survival. Black Talons is planned for release on PC, Mac and Linux.
As shown in the featured trailer below, Black Talons is will include a wide range of tactical features; an Advanced Diplomacy System, where relations determine whether you trade or fight factions and different unit classes with specialized roles; Recon, Tactical, Assault, Support, Engineer and an upgradeable and unique skill tree for all units. There is also a Customizable Battlecruiser, serving as base of operations, featuring weapons or infrastructures that will boost the squad numbers, teleport soldiers or even bombard the battlefield.
The deep campaign mode aligns with player interactions to determine the balance of power on the system, leading to completely different gaming experiences. In addition, there are 5 worlds through the galaxy, with different environments and weather conditions that directly affect the battle.
The Kickstarter Campaign will be running until Sep 7, 2013, with a goal of reaching $100,000 to fund the game. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity and offer your support for Black Talons here!
Cloudberry Kingdom Developer:Pwnee Studios Publisher:Ubisoft Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3, Wii U, PC Release Date:Out Now Price: $9.99/800MSP – Available on: XBLA, WiiU eShop, PSN, Steam
Overview
Cloudberry Kingdom is a platformer that randomly generates levels for the player, allowing for infinite possibilities. Even the concept alone sounds promising, and Cloudberry Kingdom has enough built around that to make good on those promises. From being able to control how difficult your game is, to a complete subversion of old fairy tales, Cloudberry Kingdom is a fun experience that will always leave you wanting to play “just one more level.”
Story
Cloudberry Kingdom features a relatively short 7-chapter campaign, starring your hero “Bob.” Bob is your ordinary hero trying to save a princess, who was kidnapped by an evil King. It sounds like a pretty formulaic plot here, but it is actually anything but.
There is a really nice subversion of the medieval fairy tale genre going on here, in that Bob is by no means your ‘Prince Charming.’ He is short, stocky, bald, covered in stubble and has no neck. He is also as gruff and unenthusiastic as they come. The Princess is also wise-cracking and equally unenthused at her would-be rescuer. Cloudberry Kingdom’s ability to recognise and appreciate the classics, while also adding a twist on a time-tested genre really pays off. It is just unfortunate that there isn’t more of it.
The dialogue in the cut-scenes for the story mode is completely voice-acted, and actually really funny. It is filled with lame puns and cheesy one liners that make you shake your head while trying not to laugh.
Gameplay
At first glance, Cloudberry Kingdom looks like your ordinary “run from one side of the level to the other without dying” platformer, and you’d be forgiven for immediately thinking that it wasn’t anything special. However, you would not be further from the truth.
Cloudberry Kingdom uses its built in level designer to randomly generate levels as the player progresses. That in itself is awesome as a gameplay mechanic, but makes the game somewhat interesting to review. I almost feel like I am reviewing a game engine rather than a game itself.
The game has a TONNE of different options. Everything from how long the levels are, to the speed at which platforms move can be altered, and that’s just the beginning. Once you get into the nitty gritty of the level builder, you can adjust a series of sliders. The more you move a particular slider, the more difficult you make those particular obstacles. It can eventually get to a point where the level is just unbeatable (and will give you nightmares for weeks).
Think you are good at video games? Not anymore you don’t!
The ability to tweak and set any aspect of the game to your liking is just such a cool feature that allows you to tailor the game to suit your liking. Want to feel like a platforming king? Just set the sliders down to nothing and breeze through your levels … Just finish playing Dark Souls and want to put your gamer skills to the test some more? Move everything up to about 2/3 of the way, and try your luck.
That’s only the beginning, Cloudberry also allows you to customise the physics of your character. These can be anything from allowing a double-jump, to a jetpack hover, or even becoming a jet-plane and flying through a Gradius-style level. Cloudberry Kingdom gives you the tools to make the game YOU want to play, and sets you off on your own.
The fact that the game creates infinite levels is just fantastic too. You and I may both set the difficulty sliders to the same place for our games, and come up with completely different levels. Infinite levels means that you will never get bored of the same old stuff, and that there is always just a little bit more that you can play.
The game also has an Arcade Mode, which uses still spits out random levels, but doesn’t give the player any control over their difficulty. As you progress through the levels, you will find them getting steadily more difficult. The difficulty curve is definitely noticeable, but never enough of a jump to make you feel like the game is unfair (even though, in some instances it really does set out to be).
See these settings? They will kick your ass
Cloudberry Kingdom also features four-player co-op. You think this game is hard enough? Try playing it with three other friends, all of you tethered together by an invisible rope.
If you are the type to frustrate easily, then this probably wont be your forte … However, if you love a good challenge, or think that platformers are “easy, casual games” then definitely download it.
Visuals
Cloudberry Kingdom looks like one of those old flash games from the late 90s crossed with Super Meat Boy. The visuals do look somewhat dated, and overly simplified but during the later levels, this becomes a positive rather than a negative. Not the least of which is the fact that there is something incredibly demoralising about having your ass kicked by a game that looks like a children’s cartoon.
There are only four “worlds” or “themes” available in Cloudberry Kingdom, and they do start to feel repetitive. This is especially true as all four themes are old platforming tropes that we have seen done so many times before; Main World, Ice World, Cave World, Castle/Lava World. It is great as a throwback to 1980s platforming, but in this day and age they just feel uninspired.
The backdrops are also sparsely decorated. During the earlier levels you will notice that there isn’t MUCH going on behind the scenes and it can make the levels feel barren and lifeless. However, once you get through a few of the initial stages, especially in Arcade and Story Modes, you will find that this lack of background decoration is a positive rather than a negative. The game’s requirement of precision-perfect jumping means that you need to be focused on what is happening at the foreground, and not risk having your attention drawn off by something in the distance.
Audio
The sound effects of Cloudberry Kingdom are as basic and simplistic as its audio. Only your hero ‘Bob’ makes any noise, and even so it is only when he jumps or collects one of the game’s gems. This is by no means a downside though, as I can only imagine what the game would sound like if every object and obstacle made their own sound effects as they move.
The music in this game is really awesome though; a mix of dubstep and electronica tracks. I am not the biggest fan of dubstep, but I do believe it firmly has a place in video games. The electronic, bass-heavy music really feels at home when playing a video game, and Cloudberry Kingdom proves this. The music feels right at home in this game, and can even help you to get in the ‘zone’ and pump you up enough to get through the next level.
One important thing to mention too is that whenever a new song plays, the title and artist appear at the bottom of the screen, allowing players to take note and buy the songs later.
Overall
Cloudberry Kingdom is great. Even stripping it down to its base concept of; a platformer with infinite levels is great. Adding the ability to make and alter the difficulty and scope of levels is the icing on the cake. It is a new concept that plays homage to platformers and fairy tales of old, while offering a new take and giving players more bang for their buck than I’ve ever seen. Even the issues like simple visuals or lack of sound effects work in the game’s favour. It would be hard to not recommend Cloudberry Kingdom to anyone who plays video games.. Now If you will excuse me, I need to go play one more level.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
