Unfortunately it looks like fans of Wayforward are going to have to wait a little bit longer to play the original Shantae on their Nintendo 3DS. Today it was announced by Wayforward Creative director Matt Bozon that the difficult to find Game Boy Color original of Shantae will be released on the eShop not on June 20th but instead sometime in July.
The news came from a simple Twitter post and it stated that new details will be released on their blog sometime in the future when they become available. While disheartening, it is worth noting that Wayforward’s Mighty Switch Force 2 was released on the 3DS eShop today, so fans of the developers can still get their platforming fix.
World War Z is a film based very loosely upon the Max Brooks novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. While both focus on the worldwide pandemic of the undead, the time frames in which they are set is completely different. Whilst the novel is a recounting of the events through a number of interviews, the film places the audience smack bang in the middle of chaos. What were, in the novel, slow moving husks have become an unstoppable tide of death. This leaves one question; does the film’s new take on the war to end all wars do the title justice?
Just a humble, everyday former UN Investigator
Story
World War Z follows Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), former UN Investigator and now stay at home dad. Life’s good. He has his family, pancakes and a peaceful life. This is shattered almost immediately. Chaos breaks and the undead cascade through the town. Farewell peace. As the living flee from the dead, Gerry must save his family. Eventually, through a friend from his UN days, Gerry finds his ticket to safety; however, there is a price. Gerry must now help find a cure for this global pandemic.
One element of the film made immediately apparent is speed. From the abruptness of its beginning to the constant shifts in locale, World War Z does a great job at portraying a sense of urgency. The constant travelling lends credence to the notion of a planetwide panic, where battles rage across every country, creating one of the most interesting and well implemented elements of World War Z: that it is actually a world war. Unlike other Hollywood zombie movies, the plot moves outside of the USA and shows the pandemic’s effect on the rest of the planet. The film even presents details on how the virus spreads differently depending on the circumstances and how not everyone is properly equipped to fight back. This broad scale raises interesting issues regarding the actions of the world at large, rather than the vague exclusion that occurs in zombie films that focus on a small band of survivors. From the outset, the audience knows that this won’t be a traditional zombie affair. There will be no shambling, there will be no standing against the tide and there certainly won’t be any counting the number of enemies.
Quarterly projections aren’t looking good
The film also conveyed the worldwide reaction to the panic in quite an interesting way. Without going into spoilers, bureaucracy does play a role in the chaos and, fairly uncommon to the traditional tropes of zombie movies, actually continues to function somewhat. The remaining government continues to aid survivors whilst trying to figure out the cause of the zombies. It also provides a unique perspective in regards to survival movies, where the audience gets to see the side of the rescuing organisation, rather than the survivors who call out for help. Though this does provide a unique and worldlier take on the events of the film, it is mostly glazed over, opting instead for the focus on Gerry.
The notion of zombies itself is also interesting as, unlike other zombie and virus films, the term actually exists within the film. Taking place in the “real world” it is assumed that zombie literature exists, as the term is used, though sparingly, throughout the film. The fact that knowledge, or at the very least stories, of zombies existed places a sense of realism on the film whilst also somewhat undermining the complete sense of confusion and denial in some characters.
A helicopter tour of the chaos
The ending of the film itself actually differs a fair deal from the rest of the film. The pacing slows down and the film focuses on one particular area. An emphasis is placed on stealth and avoidance, rather than combat and defence, shifting away from the chaotic scramble of previous scenes for a much more suspenseful and tense endeavour. Though the final moments are not too far out of left field, more time definitely could’ve been spent focusing on the final moments. There is a certain sense of ambiguity left surrounding the conclusion. Though it does create a sense of continuation, it also feels abrupt in its resolution and not as thoroughly explored as it could have been.
Visuals
Two words: Kamikaze Zombies. The undead in World War Z are fast, furious and feral. In an absolute 180 from classic zombies, these creatures scramble en masse and infect in numbers. They aren’t nearly as fragile as old school shamblers, being able to slam into walls at top speed then get back up and start again. The fluid movement of each creature is amazing and each can range from running to a predatory pounce. The sheer number of zombies on screen is mind boggling at points and it is this scale that further adds to the sense of a planetary infection. The all consuming drive of the zombies culminates in the terrifying scene of thousands scrambling over each other in a tidal wave of chaos. When presented one on one, more traditional make-up was used to create the terrors. Clouded eyes and shattered teeth, scars and scratches – all the trademarks of viral terrors.
They’re just undying to get in
The film itself took on a fairly muted colour scheme throughout. The environments tended to lean towards browns and greys to push the sense of desolation and damage. Grey was prevalent in the falling cities and, in certain sequences, a lack of light was used to increase tension more akin to older zombie films. The cities themselves were true to form, varying from urban sprawls to sandstone cities. Each was constructed, then brutally de-constructed, beautifully.
The film is available to see in 3D, though this really isn’t necessary. The effect does create a sense of depth and scale, but it isn’t as fully implemented as it could’ve been. Apart from one instance where a zombie lunges at the screen, the film will not suffer from being viewed in 2D.
Expect delays on the highway
Audio
Right from the start World War Z uses sound to boost the tension and terror of the onslaught of creatures. Just as it was used in the trailer, the resounding and dramatic boom is used in the opening push to incite shock and panic. Throughout the film, the soundtrack is used to get the audience’s pulse racing, if it hasn’t been done so by the visuals. In particularly dramatic scenes, it is the lack of sound that can achieve the same effect, using suspense and anticipation
The zombies themselves add to the terrible cacophony with their own blend of terrible sounds. Rather than moaning, the World War Z creatures shriek and click, creating a far more bestial quality. The constant snarling continues this brutal theme and lends to the in film speculation that the pandemic is a mutated form of rabies. Unlike the traditional undead who sound like humans in pain, these zombies no longer sound remotely human in nature.
Welcome to the inhuman race
Overall
World War Z is a great film. Though the overall feel of the movie has more in common with an infection film, rather than a zombie one, it does a great job of creating a large scale story. In what is one of the rare examples, the worldwide catastrophe is actually shown affecting various parts of the world and to varying degrees. World War Z presents a world different to that of the book, the style of zombie is vastly different and it is set out in a different tense. Though it is an obviously Hollywood take on a unique story, the film is enjoyable to watch and a different experience to the more traditional zombie film.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
There has been a certain drought of information for Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z lately but thankfully Tecmo Koei has taken advantage of one of the biggest gaming events of the year, E3, to release two new gameplay trailers and a large number of screenshots, both of which can be found below.
For those who don’t know, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z features a new protagonist named Yaiba Kamikaze who is out for revenge against Ryu Hayabusa after he was killed by Ryu at the beginning of the game. Considering the amount of people Ryu kills, it’s a surprise that this hasn’t happened sooner.
Somewhat disappointing news for Kingdom Hearts fans have come out of E3 2013, with the series’ director Tetsuya Nomura claiming that Kingdom Hearts 3 is very early in development and was revealed ‘too early’ in his opinion.
During an interview with Famitsu at the event, Nomura had this to say;
Since the release of Kingdom Hearts 2, I believe that many fans were feeling impatient due to our continuous releases of spin-off titles, so we decided to announce it at the same time as Final Fantasy XV. However, looking at the current development status, I think we may have announced it a little too early.
This certainly does not bode well for those hoping for a release in the near-future. If what he is saying is to be believed we may not see Kingdom Hearts 3 released for quite some time. Stay tuned for information on this developing story.
It looks like if you were to live in many of the less popular parts of the world, you will be out of luck when it comes to the launch of the Xbox One. Today it was revealed that the Xbox One will not offer Live in every country at launch and will instead feature converge only in North America, UK, Australia and New Zealand, Russia and a few European countries.
Without an Xbox Live connection, games will not work on the Xbox One and therefore the system will be useless, including the numerous titles announced during E3. The full list of the twenty one countries supported in the launch of the console can be found below.
In the wake of E3 2013, SEGA has unleashed a new trailer along with a fresh batch of screenshots for their upcoming strategy title, Company of Heroes 2.
In case you haven’t been playing the free open beta (and why not?), here’s a taste of the carnage Relic has created in its interpretation of the horrific Eastern Front of World War II. Have a look at our recent take on the multiplayer beta for some hands-on impressions.
Check out the trailer and screens below. Company of Heroes 2 is set for release on June 25 for the PC. Stay tuned for our review in the coming weeks!
As we already know, Electronic Arts has announced that they are making a Mirror’s Edge game again and it will not be a sequel, but a reboot. However now some more information has been revealed for the game via an interview with Frank Gibeau held by GameSpot during E3.
In the interview it is said by Gibeau that Mirror’s Edge will now be an open-world action game. He also went on to say that the game is still in the early stages of development and will feature an all new origin story for the main character. No better release window was given than “when it’s ready” but when it does come out it will do so for the Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4.
North American anime distributor Aniplex of America has announced their acquisition of Nekomonogatari (Black) and Monogatari Series Second Season anime.
Conveniently, Aniplex will stream Monogatari Second Season within hours of its Japanese TV debut this summer. Fans will receive a double hit as Nekomonogatari is scheduled for summer, too.
Nekomonogatari (Black) is a four-episode series chronicling the Tsubasa Family story arc set before the originalBakemonogatari. The Monogatari Second Season series is the long-awaited continuation of this franchise. Both shows are directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, who handled the well-regardedNisemonogatari.
Both Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari received an import Blu-ray disc release by Aniplex for North America and a DVD release by Hanabee for Australia.
Game director, David Goldfarb discusses 505 GamesPayDay 2, during the E3 stage demo yesterday. The action, FPS and heist simulator will be released late August on Xbox 360, PC and PS3.
David confirms that players can choose to have a more stealthy gameplay experience, with options to get rid of the alarm pagers on security guards and bag their corpses. In contrast to the single missions in PayDay: The Heist, there will now be a greater scope of sub-divided missions for multi-day heists, including small jewellery store robberies to complex heists at a branch bank.
David says he wanted to “create a robbery RPG game”, which allows players to become more involved in the choices they make and adopting roles throughout the game.
Check out the stage demo below for more insights into PayDay 2 and don’t forget to pre-order!
Gangstar Vegas is the latest iteration of the longstanding Gangstar franchise on iOS. The series returns stateside, taking place in Sin City, aka Las Vegas. The game stars Jason Malone, a man who tried to escape his past life of crime by moving to Las Vegas and becoming an MMA fighter. Instead, he is thrust right back into the seedy underworld after a rigged fight goes wrong.
Story
Jason Malone is instructed by the game’s villain, Frank Veliano, to take a dive in the fourth round of his fight. Instead, he accidentally knocks out his opponent in the third round. Now a man with a price on his head, Jason turns to Vera, the owner of the local strip club and the widow of Frank’s former boss. Together with Vera’s hardnosed accountant Karen, the three spark a turf war with Frank that will change the balance of power in Vegas.
Gangstar Vegas’ writing is possibly the most impressive thing about the game. The plot line is interesting, well written, dramatic, and funny. Although a few genre tropes are used in the plotline, they are mixed in well with plot twists and turns. The plot moves at a quick pace, though there is a spot or two where I felt it jumped too fast. Games that deal with grittier topics like Gangstar Vegas does often falls victim of overusing profanity to the point it feels forced. Profanity and sexual content is used liberally in the script, but never feels overused or out of place. The characters are quirky and genuinely likeable. There are a few moments where the Jason and Karen say something so corny that I cringed, but overall Gangstar Vegas delivers a solid story, great characters, and excellent writing.
Gameplay
Gangstar Vegas is easily one of the largest open world games on iOS. Players can traverse Las Vegas and the surrounding desert by car, motorcycle, boat, plane, helicopter, or by foot. For those who need a little more bang in their lives, there are 21 weapons to equip along with a full upgrade system. Jason is also able to purchase a wide variety of clothing, including the bare chested MMA fighter look to the masked bank robber.
There are plenty of things to do in Vegas. There is a lengthy five chapter long story along with races, rampage missions, MMA fights, gambling games, and hidden collectables scattered around the city to find. Many of these side missions are have leaderboards, further extending the replayability of the game. There is definitely enough content in Gangstar Vegas to justify the hefty $6.99 USD price tag.
The game’s controls vary depending on the type of transportation Jason is using. For land and water based vehicles, players can choose between gyroscopic or touch screen controls. On foot and in the air, Jason must use the touch screen controls. I found the driving and flying controls to be spot on. The controls were responsive and accurate. However, the foot and boat controls to be painfully clumsy. Positioning Jason behind the appropriate cover in the middle of a gun fight was extremely difficult. Moving Jason out of cover often required standing still and out of cover for a few seconds while I bumbled around trying to get him over the piece of cover and safely behind the next piece of cover. Although there is enough health and armour to soak the abuse, I found myself completely eschewing cover by the end of the game. It ended up being easier to walk around and fire, Terminator style, than to fuss and fiddle with the cover system. The boat controls were even worse. Boats seemed to only understand two levels of turning in gyroscope mode, slight turn and quite literally driving sideways. The touch controls were unfortunately only marginally better, providing at least a visual clue on exactly how far the controls were turned relative to the boat’s turning.
The gun play in Gangstar Vegas is well designed for the touch screen control. All weapons except the sniper rifles fire automatically by holding down the attack button. Players simple need to tap the desired target and open fire. If no target is selected, the game will automatically attempt to lock onto the closest available target. This system allows players to fire while on the move with ease. However, on the iPad there is a 8cm by 8cm dead zone on the bottom left corner reserved for movement controls. Attempting to tap on that area will move Jason instead of targeting the enemy. Thankfully enemies preferred taking pot shots from behind cover than making any real attempt to flank Jason in a gun fight.
I enjoyed Gangstar Vegas’ property, upgrade and skills system. Properties around Vegas can be purchased to provide a steady income that can be collected after a certain period of time to augment income from completing missions, finding collectables, and bringing in cars to the chop shop. Completing missions also awards skill points that can be spent on a variety of skills, ranging from the traditional weapon and health bonuses to scavenger bonuses that provide better loot from fallen enemies. Occasionally, enemies will drop vehicle, weapon, and fashion items that can be traded in for more potent upgrades. Special VIP enemies randomly spawn in the world that are guaranteed to drop a lootable item, encouraging players to wander around. Random loot boxes and keys are even rarer drops. The boxes provide players a chance to earn pre upgraded items based on the theme of the box. Keys can also be either purchased as an in app purchase and one is awarded for playing every day. Gangstar Vegas’ in app purchase system manages to stay unobtrusive, a rarity I am extremely thankful for.
The travelling system in Gangstar Vegas is an example that should be followed by open world games. Players can simply click on the icon of a mission they wish to complete on the map and be instantly teleported to the starting area. This saves some long drives when completing a mission and discovering the next start point is literally across the map. Additionally, any property purchased can be used as a teleport time, further cutting down on travel time. In missions, vehicles can be delivered to a nearby spot for a small fee. This is handy since traffic is only dense in the downtown areas of the map. If Jason is stuck in the suburbs or the desert with no cash, he’s in for a long walk.
Visuals
Gangstar Vegas is an impressive technical accomplishment. Considering the scope of Las Vegas and the level of life that walks the streets, models are detailed and animations are slick. This is definitely a game that taxes the graphic chip on iOS. Unfortunately, there is a bit of obvious texture and model popping. It is not too noticeable on foot as the most obvious sign is that at a distance, cars seem to almost float in the air. When they come close, wheels suddenly appear. The most noticeable is when Jason takes to the sky. There is a very obvious line usually near the bottom of the screen where the textures and models become sharper. I also noticed that not all of the cut scenes have animated mouths. Minor cuts scenes often have the models talking to each other with no movement of the mouths.
Audio
Gangstar Vegas is fully voice acted. The voice acting is excellent. I was particularly impressed with Frank, Vera, Karen, and E-man’s performances as I felt the actors did a fantastic job bringing life to their respective characters. Surprisingly, Jason had the weakest voice acting job, as often times I felt the delivery was rather flat. The sound effects were also excellent. The weapon sounds have plenty of oomph and variety while cars sounded appropriate to their type. Smaller dirt bikes provided a high pitch engine noise while muscle cars made a satisfyingly throaty noise.
The soundtrack is always an important part of an open world game, and Gangstar Vegas delivers a lengthy soundtrack full of licensed artists. I was pleasantly surprised to find Skrillex’s Bangarang serves as the game’s theme song. There is also plenty of funny and quirky radio DJs and commercials to fill the airwaves between songs.
Overall
Gangstar Vegas is one of the better open world game on iTunes. It does struggle at times with clunky controls and obvious textural differences. However, the game also delivers a satisfying upgrade and loot system, a fantastic story, excellent voice acting, an incredibly large world, smartly designed gunplay, and an incredible amount of activities to complete. At $6.99, Gangstar Vegas is well worth the price.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
