We’ve seen a very tiny sampling of what Fairy Fencer F will look like thanks to a teaser trailer of Tiara in action and a handful of screenshots so far, but besides the few main characters revealed so far, little is known about what Fairy Fencer F will have to offer.
Well today Compile Heart released some new screenshots of the game which not only show off some of the game’s combat and dialogue sections, but also a new character named Harler. Harler is being described as a mad scientist who often becomes absorbed in her research and cares little for her outward appearance, which may explain why she’s wearing such a revealing top.
Over the last few weeks Compile Heart has been releasing promotional videos for Hyperdimension Idol Neptunia PP focusing on each of the CPUs from Hyperdimension Neptunia performing a song and dance. We’ve seen Neptune, Noire, and Blanc so far and today the company closed out CPUs with Vert/Green Heart. It is unknown if the CPU Candidates will be included in this game, so we may see some more videos in the future.
Anyways, the video can be seen below and it features Vert performing the song “HP ∞ Love Power” (idol dance ver.) with her voice actress Rina Satou handling the singing. As for the game itself it is set to be released on June 20th in Japan while NIS America has so far been silent regarding a possible Western release of the game.
Sparkle 2 Developer:10tons Ltd. Publisher: 10tons Ltd. Platforms: iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) – Reviewed on iPad Release Date: 5th June 2013 Price: $2.99 – Available Here
Overview As the sequel and spiritual successor to the original Sparkle iOSgame, is Sparkle 2 more of the same or another blast of fun? It’s time to dust off the Slinger and find out.
Story Though the gameplay is simple, there is an apparent plotline looming in the background, pushing you to march onwards. Long ago, five enchanted keys were created and it was said that, when combined, they unlocked something of great value. Due to this, the keys were scattered across the land. Throughout time, many have looked for the keys and none have succeeded. Being the player, it is naturally your destiny to find the five keys of legend and claim your prize, without losing your soul to the obsession of a pointless quest.
Gameplay Though there is a dark plotline present, there is a fair amount of gameplay and story segregation within Sparkle 2. You control the Slinger, simply tap an area to fire the coloured marble currently loaded, match up groups of three and they disappear. You are also given the option of swapping the current marble with the one behind it, this is where the strategy begins. Occasionally the marble you are given is of little help as the cascade of colour flows towards the end of the course, and therefore the end of the level. As the game progresses, the tracks get more complicated, twisting around each other and even moving on different heights. As the marbles move in front of each other, it becomes harder to match up pairs as your options are slowly but surely blocked, giving you less time to make even more decisions.
Where would a game be without powerups? For every third or so combo, the game produces a powerup relic. These range from altering the colour of the remaining marbles, to a supercharged blast that decimates everything in its path. These powerups are a great help during the levels and as the game progresses, they pretty much become necessary to win. As you complete more levels, another type of powerup is unlocked. These “Enchantments” provide a number of functions from acting as upgrades to the Slinger itself, altering the difficulty of courses and even unlocking other features, such as the classic Survival Mode.
Visuals and Audio Sparkle 2 definitely has a contrast in its visuals. The background and overall theme of the world is dark. The game plays out along the trails of a shadowy forest, locked in night and home to abandoned windmills and statues that reach out to the sky (literally, it’s a statue of an arm). Amidst the perils of this dangerous world are your key to survival, brightly coloured marbles that explode into pretty sparkles. The blue, red, green and yellow onslaught of colour that rolls across the brown, blacks and dark greens of the background are a definite contrast.
The overworld theme music has an almost majestic quality to it, adding to the mystical purpose of your marble matching journey. During the levels themselves, the soundtrack has a definite fairy tale feel to it, though more upbeat than the overworld theme. Both pieces of music create a unique feeling, somewhere between innocent fun and looming danger. At certain points during the game, when receiving a key, a single frame “cutscene” appears complete with foreboding narration by an ominous deep voiced man.
Overall Sparkle 2 is a great iOS game. It’s relatively simple and a whole lot of fun to play. Though the storyline is not really important, the game likes to constantly remind you that there is one. Although it is somewhat unnecessary, in the end it doesn’t take away from the gameplay and that’s what matters most. All in all it’s a fun iOS game and a great way to lose time, playing for way longer than you may set out to.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
How about a free-to-play MMO to go with that Playstation 4? Today, it was announced that Planetside 2 would be headed to the Playstation 4, bringing the popular PC franchise to consoles. A new trailer that you can watch below was released today for the game, and things are looking rather nice for the big move to a new platform.
I find it interesting looking at the comments on the trailer that the audience is so split, to be honest. On one side, you have Sony loyals who are more than happy to see this title come to the PS4. On the other side, you have disgruntled fans of the PC title who are more than vocal about why they do not want to see this port even take place. For now however, Sony have just placed a big foot in the door for their upcoming “war” of sorts with Microsoft, and it will be interesting to see how things play out with the fans. Grab some popcorn folks, as E3 just got more interesting.
Sony and Naughty Dog have released a new featurette ahead of the release of their PS3 exclusive The Last of Us, on June 14th. Called ‘Nature Encroaches’, it focuses on the science behind the game.
More specifically, the video – which can be viewed embedded at the bottom of this article – examines the Cordyceps fungi, which infects humans and causes the obliteration of 90% of the world’s population in The Last of Us. David Hughes, a Disease Biologist and Assistant Professor of Entomology and Biology at Penn State University walks us through a lesson on the fungi’s real-life behaviour and M.O., before asking the question: “could it indeed jump to humans?” Check out this interesting vision for the answer.
We are currently playing The Last of Us for review and will have it up in the coming days. In the meantime, you can read our hands-on preview of two levels: Lincoln and Pittsburgh.
It has been revealed that Square Enix will be holding a special media only meeting that will focus on what the company is calling the “Future of Final Fantasy.” The event will take place before E3 2013 and press questions will be answered by senior vice president Shinji Hashimoto.
It is currently unknown what type of details could be revealed during this Q&A session, but it is worth noting that Square did mention that they would be announcing something Final Fantasy related during Sony’s presentation during E3 this year and that will occur before this question session. Of course, with the roads Square Enix is currently traveling, gamers may want to be concerned.
Well that changed today when Tecmo Koei released their first full trailer for the game which can be seen below. Currently Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemist of Dusk Sky is set to be released in Japan on June 27th. As far as a Western release is concerned, Tecmo Koei has not announced anything as of yet, but with E3 coming up soon, perhaps we’ll see some sort of announcement then.
Today Ubisoft released their E3 trailer for South Park: The Stick of Truth and if it looks familiar, there is good reason for that. It just so happens that this video below is a retooled version of the one we were shown back in 2012 except at that time, the game was still being made under THQ’s label.
Regardless of how new this footage is, it only helps drive home the fact this game is highly anticipated by the gaming community and it is good to see Ubisoft putting some promo material out there. Currently South Park: The Stick of Truth is set to be released later this year on current-gen consoles and PC.
Bridgy Jones Review Developer: Grow App Publisher: Chillingo Ltd. Platforms:iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: 29/06/2012 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
All aboard! Bridgy Jones (no, not Bridget Jones) is an interesting puzzle game where players take control of the title character and chase down a run away train. Filled with creativity, charisma and challenge, it’s sure to keep you entertained for hours on end. Also the game has 32 levels with 120 additional objectives so there is plenty of content. And if none of these are good enough reasons to pick it up I got one more reason for you: Bridgy Jones has a dog named ‘Bonner’. Boom! You’ve got my attention.
Gameplay
There are two main styles of play per level. The first of which is a creation phase where players must build a track for Bridgy to travel on, the second of which players must navigate him across this path in a platformer fashion. The main focus of the game is on this first style of gameplay where problem solving is your main tool. At first it seems simple: put the train tracks down from point A to point B. But then you come to realize that the train tracks require wood or rope to hold them up and keep it stable. Also sometimes the ground isn’t available so you’ll need to hold it up from the roof, etc. Most importantly, during this state of play the world is held in suspended animation. Once this is over, you control Bridgy and his train. That’s when rag doll physics kick in. This means that if something isn’t stable it will come crashing down, and if the wood isn’t supportive of the weight enough, it will break. This is extremely entertaining as not only watching senseless destruction is fun, but a trial-and-error approach can be taken towards your gameplay. Sure you can be sloppy and rush through to the end while your architecture crashes behind you sometimes, but building a sturdy path is much more rewarding. Also multiple paths can be taken to find bonuses and more so there is plenty of re-playability on offer.
With all that being said Bridgy Jones can be occasionally frustrating. Sure the tutorial works great but after that players are completely on their own. There are no options for assistance or level skipping, so if you get stuck you’re actually really stuck. However I’m sure while some may see this as a negative, others may see it as a positive as it does renforce a challenge. There’s re-playability as chapter selection is present, and has 120 additional objectives within it’s 32 levels. Sure it can get a little repetitive after a while, but so do most other puzzle games. Plus none of this takes away from the fact it’s a fresh concept that’s executed well.
Visuals & Audio
Bridgy Jones is bursting with personality. From the quirky character designs to the humorous dialogue (“hold on buddy, it’s loading”), Bridgy Jones stands out as very unique looking title. The music goes hand in hand with the theme of visuals, which I can only describe as “family-friendly redneck”, so expect to hear quite a few tunes you can have a hoedown to. Strangely, I dig it. It captures the atmosphere of the game and characters and adds to the game’s wonderful presentation. Clearly, Bridgy Jones has had a lot of polish.
Overall
Bridgy Jones is a unique and fun puzzler that’s filled with personality. It’s challenging, fun and full of life. I think it’s pretty clear a lot of time and effort went into Bridgy Jones and the outcome speaks for itself. If you’re after a game that’ll make you scratch your head and maybe even smile a little, jump aboard!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Remember how, about a month ago Bethesda announced that they would be re-releasing Skyrim and all of it’s DLC in one package as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition? Well today that package was released to stores in Australia and New Zealand.
This means that gamers now have the chance to pick up everything Skyrim has to offer in one simple package that contains the Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn DLC as well as the latest patches to the game such as Legendary difficulty, mounted combat, Legendary skills and more. The title costs $69.95 AUD for the 360 and PS3 versions while the PC version costs $49.95 AUD. As for New Zealand, it costs $89.95 NZD and $69.95 NZD respectively.
