As previously detailed when Update 8.5 was releasing, the free to play hit from Wargaming, World of Tanks, is starting to see the newest one, Update 8.6, come online around the world over the course of the next few days. The update adds some tweaks to the balance of the in-game economy, new SPGs (self-propelled guns) to bring that type to Tier X, a new premium tank the British A33 Excelsior, and a new battle arena the Korean-set “Sacred Valley”.
This new World of Tanks update has already been released for Europe on June 19th and next up to receive it will be the Southeast Asia on June 20th. Elsewhere in the world, those in the Americas will have to wait until June 25th to check out all the changes and new vehicles, while those in South Korea will have to wait the longest as it will not release until July 4th.
World of Tanks is a free to play MMO for the PC, which has also been announced as coming to the Xbox 360. Those wanting to check out World of Tanks can sign up at their website.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a game that started its life as a First Person Shooter reboot of the X-COM franchise, which was to be set in the 1960s. Since then, the game, originally titled XCOM, was apparently cancelled and since then has now be recommissioned.
In this latest XCOM game, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, you’ll notice that the 1960s theme is still really prevalent, although it seems that only the setting has remained constant. Instead it now looks as though it has incorporated the gameplay similar to Third Person Shooters, like Mass Effect. This makes it different from the latest XCOM title, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Transistor is the upcoming game from the creators of the hit isometric action RPG, Bastion, Supergiant Games. Transistor has been in development at Supergiant Games for roughly a year and a half, on the PS4, and required the studio to hire more talent to complete.
Transistor appears to be about a Pop Idol named Red who is being hunted by Assassins. The gameplay looks to retain the cartoon-like and isometric aesthetic of Bastion, whilst having a lovely art style and soundtrack that really pushes the games identity.
An interesting addition to the game is the ability to charge your sword, Transistor, and use it to stop time to plan your attacks against The Process, which seem to be enemies in this game.
Activision have just made a major announcement that they will be releasing the next lot of ‘epic’ downloadable content for the massively popular Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 game.
If you have Xbox Live on your Xbox 360 you will be able to get the latest downloadable content on July 2nd, ahead of the July 4th celebrations. The downloadable content is titled Vengeance and is the biggest and baddest pack for the awesome and epic Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
You can check out the new trailer for the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Vengeance DLC below. It will cost 1200 points on Xbox 360 and will be released exclusively first on that console with other platforms to follow in the future. Stay tuned for more information on that.
Cubemen 2 Developer:3 Sprockets Publisher:3 Sprockets Platforms: iPhone, iPad (Reviewed On Both) Release Date: Out Now Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview
Cubemen 2 is the sequel to the well-receivedCubemen for iOS, Android and Steam platforms. Cubemen 2 takes the tower defense/RTS gameplay of the original and expands on it with a few more units. As the old adage goes “if it aint broke, don’t fix it,” and that is certainly applicable to Cubemen 2. Nothing is really taken out from the original, just added on and improved. The audio and visual style retains its minimalist charm, but now there is an opportunity for players to add skins over their normally bland levels, and to even change the colours of their cube-men.
Gameplay
Cubemen 2 takes the same gameplay system of its predecessor and improves on it. You have to defend your tower from waves of oncoming enemies by placing your blocky-cube-men troops around the board and moving them tactically, or to use those same troops to capture more ground. You still have all the units that were present in the original game, but they are joined by a few new friends. There aren’t many of these new additions, but they really do shake up the game and add a lot of variety to the way you can tackle combat.
Outside of the campaign, Cubemen 2 comes pre-loaded with 20 maps for you to play on. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, within each of these maps you can change the way the game plays. One round can be a capture the flag, then after that you can play a straight up tower defense game, followed by a territory-capture based mode. In addition you can decide where the towers for each participant are, as well as the difficult and how many waves to challenge against. These options make sure that every round is unique and offers players a whole lot of bang for their buck.
Facing off the AI is all well and good, but where the game shines is its incredibly strong multiplayer component. Every game mode makes allowances for more than one player, and it all works quite seamlessly online or over a local area. A lot of mobile games can sometimes struggle with going online and retaining a connection, but I didn’t face these issues with Cubemen 2. The game played seamlessly and just worked.
For those who aren’t satisfied with the twenty pre-loaded maps, or who have a bit of a creative streak, Cubemen 2 has got you covered. The game comes with a complete level editor that allows you to create, play on, and share your own custom maps. As you can share maps out with the world, you can also download and play on other player’s maps. This gives Cubemen 2 a near-infinite amount of replayability, as long as people keep making maps, or you keep coming up with ideas of your own.
Unforuntately it is not all smiles and sunshine, as Cubemen 2 has a real problem, and it detracts hugely from the game. Cubemen 2 suffers from very poor controls. Playing on the iPad was difficult to say the least, needing to use tap, pinch, multitouch and swipe gestures to navigate around the game maps. These gestures and movements all seem like they should be intuitive and react with ease, but in practice this just isn’t the case. Although the maps aren’t large, the constant need to change camera angles and even rotate the board different directions can be hell to work around. Also, sending your troops to the right square on the board can be a pain unless you are zoomed in close, in which case you will have to zoom back out as soon as you have.
Another problem that was frequently encountered was that the game didn’t seem very responsive to gestures, sometimes a square was needed to be pressed three or four times before it would register what I was trying to do. These problems are bad enough on iPad, but when tackling the game on a much smaller device like an iPhone or iPod, they become a complete and utter NIGHTMARE.
Visuals & Audio
Like the original Cubemen, Cubemen 2 takes a very minimalist art style, with everything being solid colours by default. This minimalist style really separates Cubemen from the other tower defense games out there and makes it stand out as something unique and all to itself. It does away with the aestetic bells and whistles to deliver a true strategy gameplay experience. The audio follows this pattern, as there is only a little bit of music present (normally found in the menu screens), and simple “pew pew” style sound effects for the combat. Strangely enough, despite there being very little there in terms of art and sound, what is there works perfectly.
However if you aren’t into flat colours and basic shapes, Cubemen 2 offers a lot of texture packs to change the look of the terrain, and skin packs to change your cube-men. the terrain textures are great and can really add some spice to the otherwise bland and boring battle grounds. The skin packs however, although varied (encompassing everything from zombies to terminators and all the way through to crash test dummies) don’t offer much more to look at when you are actually playing the game. The camera by default is panned too far back to really tell the difference between skins, and when you zoom in you lose sight of the game happening around you.
Overall
Cubemen 2 has a LOT of content. If you are into the tower defense or RTS genres and are looking for something you can pick up and play over and over again then this is definitely for you. With its in-depth gameplay and minimalist art style through to the custom level builder and plethora of visual skins and textures to customise the look of the game, there is a lot to love. However, the touch controls present on the iOS devices are a horrible experience that sadly does detract from all the good this game accomplishes.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Want more awesome mech action in MechWarrior Online? Well you are in luck as the Quickdraw Mech is now available in MechWarrior Online in three dangerous variations.
The Quickdraw Mechs are great for close-combat battles. The new mech has speeds of up to 85 kph with a mass of 60 tons, it can also jump around 150 meters all the while destroying the competition with quickdrawing ease.
You can check out a brand new trailer showcasing the Quickdraw Mechs below. So what are you waiting for? It is time to quickly draw out the enemy in MechWarrior Online and take them down with your awesome new Quickdraw Mech!
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara merges two arcade classics: Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and its sequel Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara; both extensively updated with HD graphics and additional features that cater for an intense 2D side scrolling RPG, available online or locally for up to 4 players to battle against the iconic monsters of Dungeons & Dragons.
Players can customise their gameplay experience with the all new House Rules feature and utilise the Challenge system to earn character level-ups and points to spend in the Vault after completing in-game goals. Furthermore, the Character Visualiser allows players create a more balanced multiplayer dungeon party through tracking which characters they and their friends use.
Check out the trailer below. Don’t miss out on this epic adventure and get your copy today for only $14.99 (1200 MS Points).
Coming out of E3 2013, KEMCOis proud to announce the release of their third legendary JRPG, Alphadia Genesis, to be released on iOS and Android in Japan this summer and internationally this winter.
Alphadia Genesis will make an impressive entrance, for the first time in 3D, taking advantage of smartphones high resolution touch screens and graphics to provide smooth and realistic battle scenes, a wide range of quests, beautiful-melancholy music and an expansive world to explore within the lands of the Lagoon, as seen within the screenshots provided in the gallery below.
Players can expect a deep and immersive storyline that follows the investigation of artificial clones, previously created for fighting during the Energi War and then programmed to live amongst humans, suddenly turning against their masters and threatening the peaceful existence of the human race.
Stay tuned with Capsule Computers for more updates on Alphadia Genesis and let us know your thoughts of the game in the comment section below the following gallery of screenshots.
Today Sentai Filmworks announced who will be voicing who in their English dub of the Japanese anime Another. The English cast is as follows:
Monica Rial – Mei Misaki
Greg Ayres – Kouichi Sakakibara
Jessica Boone – Izumi Akizawa
Chris Patton – Naoya Teshigawara
Molly Searcy – Reiko
David Matranga – Mr. Kubodera
Sonja Meadow – Miss Mikami
Josh Grelle – Tomahiko Kazami
Brittney Karbowski – Sakuragi Yukari
Blake Shepard – Ikou Takabayshi
Margaret McDonald – Aya Ayano
Carli Mosier – Sanae Mizuno
Marcy Bannor – Tamie
Carl Masterson – Ryouhei
Christopher Ayres – Yousuke
Tiffany Grant – Bird
Sentai is currently planning on releasing the anime on July 30 on both DVD and Blu-ray. For those who don’t know, Another is a horror novel adaptation which centers around a high school class that has been cursed. This curse sees random members of the class dying in horrific ways.
Marvel Heroes Developer: Secret Identity Studios Publisher:Gazillion Entertainment Platform:PC (Reviewed), Mac (Coming Soon) Release Date:June 4th, 2013 Price:Free (Available Here)
Overview
Marvel Heroes is an MMO-ARPG in the vein of Diablo II, which is largely due to the involvement of now President and COO of Gazillion Entertainment, David Brevik – a game developer who worked on the concept and development of the Diabloseries. The game is free-to-play and gives players an expertly-written story by Marvel super-scribe Brian Michael Bendis to sink their teeth into, presented in-gameplay and through well-drawn motion comic cutscenes. 26 playable characters are available at launch, but the question is; is it really any fun being a superhero in this instance? Read on to find out.
Story
Uatu the Watcher has been observing the Marvel Universe. Through all major events, nature’s course has been corrected, but the mystical guardian must now intervene in affairs as Victor Von Doom has acquired the Cosmic Cube. This is the opening cutscene – the confrontation between Earth’s protector and the evil doctor, where the side of good loses out and it becomes instantly clear that Earth’s very existence is in serious danger. Cutting away from this event and focusing on the more immediate issues at hand, we are tasked with ‘Retaking the Raft’ – a prison which houses the worst villains in the world, whom have escaped the facility and threaten havoc.
S.H.I.E.L.D. has spared no expense in getting the best of the best on this containment job, but not every baddie could be rounded up. It’s from this point on that hell breaks loose across the world as the player (as their chosen hero) then comes into contact with the likes of organisations A.I.M, the Maggia, the Hand, Hydra and numerous others, over 8 Chapters of story-based missions. The campaign element of the game fits right in with some of the more grand Avengers tales found in its comic inspirations. Brian Michael Bendis’ signature writing shines through, whilst also conforming to the medium and structure of a video game narrative.
Gameplay
When I said Marvel Heroes was reminiscent of Diablo – gameplay-wise – it’s ostensibly true. It subscribes to the point and click, Action-RPG play-style that was established by the latter back in 1996. Attacking an enemy is as simple as clicking on them with the left mouse button. Clicking on a point on the ground will lead your character to that spot, or if you want you can use ‘W’ key on the keyboard with the cursor position determining your direction. You can also click and hold the LMB in the direction you want to travel. The Avengers Tower is your central hub, which you can quick-travel to using the “bodyslider” button on the top right of the screen. Likewise, there are phsyical checkpoints throughout the lands that are organised by the Chapter they are encountered in, so you can easily return to any given location to complete a specified mission.
As you gain XP and level up through combat, you will unlock upgrade points that you can allocate to certain skills, broken up between three trees. The abilities they enable vary depending on your chosen character and their specialities. I, for example, played with Daredevil for most of my play-through, whose skills were divided between his billy clubs, his heightened senses and his agility/movement abilities. You can then assign those to keys on the keyboard, customising their position for optimal efficiency. All of these special abilities (excluding the basic attack) take mana, which regenerates when you go on the offensive, or through mana drops and concoctions that you can craft.
Crafting is achieved by speaking with Hank Pym aka Ant-Man, who is stationed in Avengers Tower. Through interacting with him, you can create health kits, develop serums, health balms and adrenal formulas, upgrade your gear and costumes (with a defensive or offensive affix) and more. You do this by combining elements, most of which you will acquire through drops in-battle: enhanced genomes, nanotech filaments, ionic particles and astral essence. Vendors also have levels attributed to them, which can be raised by the player donating an unwanted item (which you can sell instead if you’d rather the cash). The higher their level, the more they can offer/do.
In reference to the “cash”, that can be spent on weapons, armor, etc. But then there are Gs – a form of currency that is used in the micro-transactions space. This is how the developer makes money, but you’ll be happy to hear that most of the items that can be bought with real money can also be unlocked, although it would take a large amount of playtime to attain something as significant as a new costume or character. Regardless, you are not being suckered into paying for progression. I know that is a common concern with F2P, so I’d like to alleviate that trepidation right here and now.
Communicating with other players is easy. You can send out a general message through the chat channel, or invite specific members to join your party. Sometimes you may find yourself working on a public combat event or within a party organically, with the option to leave it always open to you. You can even create a “Supergroup” – the equivalent of a guild. The level cap at the moment is set to 60; you may reach level 20-25 by the time you complete the story driven chapters (which isn’t a very long journey by any stretch).
“Endgame” will be waiting for you post-campaign, where you can try your hand at Group Challenges, Survival Challenges, Daily Challenges and PVP (still in beta form). These can be accessed through the green, red and purples terminals inside Avengers Tower’s north wing. Endgame bosses features, and the higher difficulty level you tackle, the better the loot you can attain upon completion. There is a lot here to keep you busy and challenged. This is where the brunt of your time will likely be spent, so it’s nice to see so much content and support being put into ensuring longevity for the title.
Visuals & Audio
Marvel Heroes was built on Unreal Engine 3 – it looks good, but let’s be honest; everyone knows what to expect from a F2P title graphics-wise. That’s not to say it lacks style though. There is no ambiguity in the visual cues and all of your favourite heroes and heroines have been recreated with great attention to detail and accuracy; the same goes for the myriad of alternate costumes available. You’ll be exploring virtual playgrounds as diverse as the Bamboo Forests of Madripoor, the Nightclub District of Hell’s Kitchen and the communal hub of Avengers activity, the Avengers Tower. In regards to the U.I., everything is laid out in a clean, straight-forward manner without looking too basic or simple.
Audio-wise, if you’ve played the Marvel: Avengers Alliance Facebook game (now on iOS also), you’ll have a good idea of the audio design direction Marvel Heroes takes – certain sound effects are strikingly similar. The music is appropriately heroic in tone, and each character has a few choice lines that they speak depending on who they come into contact with. E.g. Daredevil says “You want me to patrol Yancy St. Ben? Even I’m not that fearless!” when in the vicinity of The Thing. The voice-over cast is top notch with many reprising their roles from other mediums, such as the various animated series, and so those who are familiar can expect the narration and voice acting to be of a consistent and recognisable quality.
Overall
Marvel Heroes has its moments, especially for the brand’s comic book aficionados. The interface is efficient and uncluttered (looking at you World of Warcraft!) and it has the potential to be a whole lot of fun when playing in a party of friends. If you are more of a loner type who is trying this out solely because of your fandom for the superheroes within, you can explore and play at your own pace whilst still coming into contact with others and maybe even automatically joining a bespoke group for a random event here or there. It’s very free-flowing, but it’s also inherent in the genre that boredom will set in faster when playing a more private game – if you have friends who are MMO-RPG fans, get them onto Marvel Heroes and join up in-game for maximum enjoyment.
The story/campaign portion itself is considerably short in comparison to other like titles, which factored into that boredom setting in faster for me. You will reach “endgame” rather quickly, which does provide a rather robust set of challenges and replay-ability in all fairness. But it also doesn’t help that you level up relatively slowly in the process. It all just feels more than a little unbalanced. It is free-to-play, which is fantastic, and new characters can be unlocked so you’re not necessarily being forced into micro-transactions if you commit your time, but the game just didn’t maintain my interest nonetheless. But again, if you’re a fan of Marvel and the genre, and have like-minded friends, give Marvel Heroes a go. Tip: If you decide to try it out, download it through Steam… the standalone BitRaider Client pre-installs everyday and is God awful.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
