London isn’t getting it easy this year in film! (G.I. Joe: Retaliation anyone?)
The World Premiere of World War Z was unleashed upon London, England with Muse performing a free concert for upwards of 15,000 fans straight after. Bring on the Sydney premiere on June 9th!
Courtesy of Paramount, we’ve embedded the Newswrap video on the festivities at the bottom of this article, which includes footage from the Red Carpet, interview snippets from the stars and director Marc Forster, as well as a look at Muse entertaining the English crowd on an awesome ‘Z’ shaped stage. The gallery directly below features images from the night, which better showcase the amazing pyrotechnics display during the show in some spectacular shots.
Also remember to check out our first-hand impressions of the film leading up to our full review near release on June 20th.
Funimation has recently revealed further details regarding the Englishdub of Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail. The revealed cast will voice characters from four major Guilds:
Cait Shelter Guild Members
Wendy – Brittney Karbowski
Carla – Jad Saxton
Oracion Seis Guild Members
Cobra – Jarrod Greene
Brain – Philip Weber
Midnight – Micah Solusod
Angel – Lindsay Seidel
Racer – Jeff Plunk
Hoteye – Chris Cason
Blue Pegasus Guild Members
Ren – Christopher Wehkamp
Hibiki – Aaron Dismuke
Eve – Daniel Litwin
Ichiya – Chris Guerrero
Lamia Scale Guild Members
Jura – Kent Williams
Sherry – Trina Nishimura
Lyon – Jerry Jewell
Season Two of Fairy Tail, Part Five of the collection, will be available on Blu-Ray on June 23rd. For more details on the adventure so far, check out the reviews for Fairy Tail:
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes Publisher: Stardock Entertainment Developer:Stardock Entertainment Platforms: PC Release Date: May 22, 2013 Price: $39.99 – Here
*Discounted price for those that have purchased the original title.*
Overview
Garnering a mixed reception from their previous title, Stardock Entertainment held on to their determined mindset to produce a standalone sequel to the strategy game – Fallen Enchantress. Yearning for success is everyone’s dream, but these guys had already achieved something that most of us cannot proclaim. By having an already published product, Stardock Entertainment could look at the public’s reception and gear the next chapter of the company’s life in a new direction. Did they succeed in this new venture?
Story
As ancient lore states, Elemental was once a radiant world flowing with magical energy. In these times the magical energy was utilized by men in creation of three powerful civilizations. However, this extraordinary pulsing magic could be felt across the universe, and soon immortal creatures came upon Elemental to take the magic as their own. These immortal creatures became better known as Titans and took the innate powers from the world by creating shrines across its lands. Titans found little resistance now from the race of men as their powers had diminished with the creation of shrines. As the fall of men became imminent, later generations were born with the innate ability to use these magical shrines across Elemental. A great conflict started brewing between warring Titans, and the race of men knew well when to play their cards. The greatest magic in the battle’s finest moments was the leader of men’s sacrifice. Magic tore the ground asunder as The Cataclysm took effect.
What is left of Elemental? The land remains but now torn between factions of different races. Two distinct groups are known: The Kingdom and The Fallen. The Kingdom are populated by races that hope to attain life that existed in the pre-Titan era. Yet The Fallen choose to destroy or assimilate their foes into slaves following the Titan mantra. Elemental has known much destruction, but who will rise above all others?
Other than a brief introductory cinematic, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes does not provide much of a background within the game. Obviously by creating a custom game, you will be departing on your own adventure and thus create your own background story. However, players are able to access “lore” from the title’s website which details the main turning points previously mentioned.
Gameplay
If I had to describe the gameplay for Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes in only a few words, I would say the game is a “hellaciously addictive, fantasy, Civilization mash-up.” Even without fully grasping the world’s lore, players can snatch up this title and pour endless hours into a single campaign. An aspect that invokes hours of endless play is the game’s theme as a fantasy driven Civilization. Instead of building realistic armies like Civilization 5, players can attune their characters to the mysterious weaves of magic and battle great monstrosities of legend.
I feel that without the tutorial the game would be very hard to grasp for beginning players. Yet I did appreciate that Stardock Entertainment did not force its players to complete the tutorial before starting a game. The tutorial goes through the basics of how to make a settlement, enrich your settlement by casting magic, build units/structures, and perform quests. Settlements are the focal points of your kingdom and allow you to expand your area of control as well as provide additional resources. Placement of a settlement can be extremely important when considering surroundings such as mines, free range horses, or magic shrines. Players can also enrich their settlements by casting spells on them to add in the production of research, grain, essence (magic), gildar (currency), and much more. Choosing the correct enhancement for each settlement is important as it may decrease the amount of seasons you wait for new units, research, or money.
Seasons are basically considered the number of turns that an object will take to research, train, build, or move. However, the number of turns can be reduced by decreasing unrest in your settlement, connecting settlements by creating roads/outposts, or performing specific research. If the citizens of a settlement are unhappy, the amount of seasons to create a structure or unit may be doubled or in intense situations almost unattainable. Placing your sovereign or other attained heroes in the settlement may help reduce unrest.
A detrimental aspect that should be mentioned is that the game automatically shifts to the following season once you set a chain of events. At first this seems very convenient as the game continues its flow, but this is a strategy game after all. An example of this would be positioning units in or around an enemy encampment. Let’s say you noticed multiple encroaching enemy forces, and you wanted to move out of the area. You set the destination to a nearby settlement that takes 3 seasons, and as the movement finishes you end your season automatically. A season has been solely used to move one army when other units could have utilized. Granted that this does not always occur, and even in most cases as one army movement ends the game switches to other available units. In the heat of the moment, the automatic change of seasons could be very disastrous. Note that this option is automatically selected in your main menu options and can be turned off.
Bringing in a greater role playing element, quests are available to provide instances for heroes to gain fame. Beginning at with lowly tasks such as exterminating rats, these rewarding experiences can build to grand adventures of discovering ancient ruins or encountering the most deadly of creatures. While performing quests is not the only way to acquire fame, it is perhaps the easiest way to gain new heroes to join your mighty quest.
Let’s take a step back for a moment and retrace our steps back to the completion of the tutorial. From personal experience I would advise you to create a custom match with only a single opposing AI. You can make the game as simple or as hard as you would like regarding the AI’s experience and conditions to win the game. But for the first game I would suggest selecting all of the potential end game conditions, so that you can attain victory your very first match. If the AI believes you to be too powerful, they may concede to becoming allies which would result in an automatic win. However, these are trying times and you cannot just allow the AI to give up so easily… DESTROY THEM!
Alternatively, players can engage in a more rigorous trial by playing a Scenario instead. Scenarios are pre-built maps that engage players in individual races and their personal story in the events of Elemental. Do not expect to complete this match quickly as it may take plethora of hours to gain an advantage over your foes. To use personal experience, I am currently over 10 hours into my Scenario. Remember when I mentioned that this game is hellaciously additive? Yeah, 10 hours just flew by…
Depending on personal preference, battles can be automated or personally engaged. For those control freaks like myself, you may feel that every battle requires your undivided attention even if the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. However, automating battles can greatly reduce the amount of time spent in battles yet take a tole on your group of forces. I must admit that there was one instance that I believed that I would undeniably falter and pressed automate. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my single, unmanned catapult was able to decimate a horde of archers. Seeing the battle results was a complete shock because I automatically assumed I had spewed money into a pile of planks. Yet I scrolled through the enemy forces and saw that all had been reduced to zero. At that moment I saw success.
Visuals/Audio
Attention had clearly been given to the monsters that inhabit Elemental. In the storyline some of the greatest fiends existed even before the invasion of the Titans. One such monster lies in the depths of Elemental and is appropriately named Abeix, Who Dwells Beneath. Given the appearance of gigantic scaled worm, Abeix has many unique powers such as: poison immunity, uncontrolled rage (immense melee damage), spit acid (damage over time), and fear. Even from a visual standpoint adventurers should know not to go hand-to-hand with this crazed beast. Fill up your party queue with leveled archers and then have a go with him.
Those who are looking to create their own hero will be welcomed with open arms in this title. Instead of choosing one of the pre-generated heroes of Elemental, you can mark your own place in Elemental history by making your own character from head to toe. This includes choosing magical traits, leadership abilities, appearance, and even starting equipment. Once a character is created, this avatar may be used in any future game that you begin. However, stats from previous games do not transfer.
Continuing the line of customization, players can alter the look of their troops by designing their own custom armies. Tired of creating the same ole archers? Under the “Train” icon, a “Design” option is available for those that truly want to customize their gameplay experience. Want archers to wear mage robes? Make it happen with a few changes and even name them something silly like: “Misguided Arrows.”
While some titles are plagued with long cinematic scenes, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes could be enhanced by further attention to audio and visual development. The initial cinematic does not instill a great amount of lasting knowledge for players as I have noted a need to use their website for information. Implementation of cut-scenes for major battles in Scenario would help bridge the visual and audio gaps in the storyline instead of purely having these deliverables text driven.
Overall
What could be changed in the game? Being one that falls into a game purely for a story, I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed with the lack of continuing story from previous events through active visuals and audio. Though other gamers may prefer to be tossed into the fray of bloodshed, I like to visualize my efforts in line with the world I am engaging. Other issues that I have experienced and documented through my gameplay can actually be altered in the main menu options.
In conclusion, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes has been a thrill to play due to its addictive nature as well as the plethora of customizations available for its characters. With a solid foundation for gameplay, the game would continue to be enhanced by implementation of cut-scenes that address major events. The $40 price tag may deter some from an initial purchase, but then endless amounts of hours plugged into the game already can attest to the quality of product that Stardock Entertainment has provided. A title well worth your investment.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Military jackets that make both the women look sexy and the men look tough.
Just the other week we saw some awesome looking, official clothing from One Piece which was based on the character Trafalgar Law, not we’ve got something that I’m going to say is probably even better, if not, more received. Attack on Titan has gotten extremely popular with it’s new anime series release, that’s not to say that the manga wasn’t popular it’s approaching 20 million copies sold, it’s just that the anime has expanded it and opened the series up to more people. With this spike in popularity the “character goods maker” Cospa has decided to bring back their replica military jackets from Attack on Titan.
Looking sturdy enough to fight Titans.
What’s available is both the standard length and the more feminine short length which ends just under the chest. Both come with the military emblem on the left pocket and back. The standard size will go for about $157 and the short version will go for $147 so it’s safe to say this isn’t so much for cosplayers as it is for people who love the series and want an awesome jacket.
Check out the gallery just below for all the pictures of these jackets and don’t forget to hit up our comments section just below that to tell us what you think.
Sonic The Hedgehog Developer: SEGA Publisher: SEGA Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad Release Date: May 16th, 2013 Price: $2.99 – Available Here
Overview
There are many games that have seen remakes on the mobile platform to great success. SEGA recently did it with The House of the Dead: Overkill – Lost Reels. Naturally one could only expect SEGA to bring the blue blazer himself to mobile devices and they have already done so with Sonic Dash and Sonic Jump. So how does SEGA fair at reviving Sonic’s first outing on the iOS?
Gameplay Sonic The Hedgehog is a game that took platforming to new heights and new speeds. With an emphasis on speed, gamer’s were enchanted by Sonic The Hedgehog. Unfortunately with this iOS remake, while being a very affectionate tribute to the legendary title, it just doesn’t keep up with the original.
This version of Sonic The Hedgehog is essentially the original game ported with a few additions. The game is of course completely controlled by touch for example and there in lies the game’s biggest issue, it just doesn’t control well. With two on-screen controls, one for moving Sonic and the other to make him jump, it shouldn’t be too difficult to maneuver throughout the levels but it really is due to some poor response to the input. If you can get used to the touchy controls though you will be fine. Due to the control issues however it can feel at times that the sense of speed that comes with Sonic games is lost on this version, which is a shame.
Other than the control issues, this game is very much Sonic The Hedgehog, it is identical in nearly every way but it features some nice little extras which are sure to excite fans such as Tails and Knuckles being playable characters after being unlocked.
At the end of the day however, this is Sonic The Hedgehog as you always knew it. You can do time attack, partake in the leaderboards to compete with others and of course play through with the alternate characters. It is a nice little tribute to the original, but is unfortunately held back by nagging control issues. It is ultimately just a fun little trip down memory lane, it is Sonic as you have always known it, whether that is worth the price of admission is up to you to decide.
Visuals and Audio
As the game starts up you are greeted by a delightful 3D model of a mega drive case and cartridge for the game, this really sets the tone for what to expect from this title. It is retro in all regards and wears that as a badge of honour. There is no alterations to the original visuals of Sonic The Hedgehog, but it hasn’t aged a day. It is vibrant, inviting and very charming. The aesthetic still works wonders even in this day and age.
The soundtrack is likewise retained from the original game which is of course a good thing for fans of the legendary music of Sonic. It goes without saying that Sonic The Hedgehog is well known for featuring incredible music and this release serves as an excellent reminder of that.
Overall
If you are looking for a nostalgia kick then maybe Sonic The Hedgehog for mobile is worth a look-in. But if you have never played the classic original, this is not the place to start. The control scheme just doesn’t compare to the original game’s slicker and smoother controls. There is a fair amount of fun to be had here however if you are a willing to give it a go. What more really needs to be said? It’s Sonic The Hedgehog. This is far from a necessary port but it is also far from a bad port. It isn’t as fast as it once was but it’s still worth a spin.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Welcome to another episode of CC Indie Spotlight with Senior Editor Jamie Laike Tsui where we demo the latest and greatest of indie gaming.
Today we are featuring Hamlet or the Last Game Without MMORPG Features, Shaders, and Product Placements for Windows PC. It is a light hearted adventure game based on the characters of William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. This point and click adventure will test players’ logic skills. The graphics look like they came out of a child’s storybook, matching the classic damsel in distress plot.
Hamlet is available on Steam for $4.99 USD. Want to learn more about the game? Check out our review for more information about Hamlet.
Double Eleven is excited to announce the development of the popular indie game LIMBO for Playdead on PlayStation Vita, to be released June 4 in North America and June 5 in the U.K and Europe! Since the original release ofLIMBO in 2010 on Xbox 360, the artistic platformer has also transgressed to PS3 and Steam and was selected 2012’s ‘Best Indie Game’ in the PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards.
The COO at Double Eleven, Mark South stated “LIMBO for us is the gaming equivalent of a priceless painting. Rarely do all the right ingredients come together in the industry to allow for the creation of a game like LIMBO, as it did for Playdead. We feel truly honoured to be the first external developer to work on LIMBO, and bring it to the PlayStation Vita”.
Shahid Ahmad, Senior Business Development Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe commented, “Having the first mobile version of LIMBO on PlayStation Vita is part of our enduring commitment to ensure it has a strong, competitive catalogue of quality titles. Both Playdead and Double Eleven have shown a tremendous amount of energy and attention to detail in re-creating the PS3 experience on PlayStation Vita.”
Find your copy of the PS Vita version of LIMBO this week for only $14.99!
After 4 years of portraying the eccentric 11th incarnation of The Doctor, Matt Smith will be leaving Doctor Who after regenerating into the 12th Doctor in this year’s upcoming Christmas special.
Matt Smith’s tenure as The 11th Doctor has equaled that of David Tennant who portrayed the 10th Doctor also for 4 years. Don’t fret however Whovians, Matt Smith still has two specials left in him; the 50th Anniversary special which will see the return of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor alongside Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor, the other special of course being the Christmas swan-song for Smith.
Smith commented on his departure from Doctor Who through BBC’s official website:
Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I’m incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realize all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years. Having Steven Moffat as showrunner write such varied, funny, mind-bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It’s been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he’s a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.
The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I’ve never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I’m back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special! It’s been an honor to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with ‘the ginger, the nose and the impossible one.’ But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt.
It is certainly sad to see Matt Smith hang up his bow-tie, but it is also very exciting to know that we will see a new Doctor this year. So for now stay tuned for more information on the upcoming departure of Matt Smith and introduction of a new Doctor as it comes to light. I tip my fez to you Matt Smith, it has been one hell of a ride.
I am going to start this by saying that I am by no means an avid race fan. I don’t stay up until 3am to watch the big race, and I have never dreamed about sitting in an F1 Racer. That being said, I didn’t hate Grid 2 and in fact found it quite enjoyable for what it is; a good racing game for racing fans. There are a few issues with the game that stop it from taking the leap forward to being one of those truly great racing sims.
Story
I was pleasantly surprised with the campaign for Grid 2. I jumped in expecting nothing more than a loose threat to tie together a few races, but what I got was far from that. You start your racing career as an amateur, doing street races for cash before you are scouted by a rich petrol-head who is looking to start up his own racing league, the WSR. His dream is to create a league filled with the best drivers from all over the world and from all racing disciplines to determine who truly is the best in the world. You are selected to help start the WSR and it is your job to traverse the world, taking part in race meets for the various clubs in order to entice their best drivers and their loyal fans over to the WSR. Each of the club you participate in has a different, specialty style of racing for you to try out and dominate.
As you improve as a driver and gain a following as a global racing celebrity, you also help the WSR gain prestige and prominence within the racing community. Over the game’s 30+ hour campaign, you are shown your rise to fame, as people search YouTube for your races, text one another and discuss on message boards the future of the WSR. This gives the player a feel of being a racing superstar from their very own home.
The story narrative is also tied together by segments of ESPN’s SportsCenter. The clips were filmed in the SportsCenter studio with anchor Kevin Connors and international Motor Sports analyst Toby Moody. The segments are nicely made and add a sense of realism to the whole package that is Grid 2. Several times, I had forgotten that the WSR was a fictional league.
Gameplay
Grid 2 is a racing simulator first and foremost. It isn’t an arcade-style racer like Need for Speed or outlandish like Twisted Metal or Carmageddon. Due to this, Grid 2 will only really appeal to a very small section of the market. However, Codemasters know that the game’s niche is those people who stay up until 3am to watch the Grand Prix, and the die hard driving sim fanatics who are always looking for something new. With that in mind, Grid 2 offers up a lot for those people, with enough depth and variety to keep them coming back.
The game has no less than seven distinct race modes, ranging from your typical 12 car race, through to drifting events, time-trials and the timeless video game classic; checkpoint racing. These different race modes are littered throughout the game’s 30+ hour campaign and because of this you usually aren’t doing an event often enough to become bored of it. The only exception to that I found is the standard race race. The standard race was a part of the events for every club regardless of their specialty, and in comparison to the other events they just felt dry and almost like a chore.
The game is filled with a large number of race tracks from all around the globe. Racing enthusists will be happy because any of these are officially licensed tracks that the Codemasters team have painstakingly recreated down to the smallest detail. It is a great touch and one that will have anyone who has ever dreamed about getting behind the wheel of a million dollar racing machine excited. Yet surprisingly, as you progress through the campaign, you find yourself racing through the same tracks over and over again. It helps when it comes to memorising the twists, turns and when you should be spinning into a drift, but at the same time it can quickly grow tiresome seeing the same backdrop and racing the same tracks over and over again.
One of the methods Grid 2 tries to alleviate the feeling of repetition the use of LiveRoutes. LiveRoutes are dynamically changing courses that make for unpredictable racing. The track can change in pivotal points and have you going down roads and paths that you have never seen before. For the most part it is a great feature, especially as it removes the mini-map from the game’s HUD forcing you to think on the fly and rely only on your instincts and what you can see instead of track-memory. The sad part is that no matter of dynamically changing tracks can distract me from the fact that I am still driving around the same streets over and over again.
During Single-Player, for those instances where you take a turn too sharply and end up against a wall, or spin out of control and careen over a cliff, there is a feature that I like to call the “Oops Button” (actually I call it something much worse but I wont print it here). What the Oops Button does is it lets you rewind time so that you can attempt to take a corner again or move out of the way of a car that is going to rear-end you. With limited uses in each race, the feature becomes helpful without breaking the game’s balance. That isn’t to say that the feature isn’t without its issues. Sometimes as you go rewind time it may be difficult to determine where in turn you made the mistake that caused you to go nose first into a guard rail, and as such returning to the game too early can result in a serious case of deja-vu – costing you one of your limited uses and having gotten you no where.
The multiplayer of Grid 2 almost feels like a completely separate game that just shares the same space as the single player. None of your skills or unlockable vehicles transfer between the campaign and multiplayer. This definitely has its ups and downs a key plus being that it creates fairness and equality among players, where you don’t have any distinct advantage over someone just because you beat the campaign and they didn’t. On the flip side is that some of the unlockables come in the form of livery options, and having to reach level 5 just to use green paint is a little more than frustrating, especially if you are like me and spent the majority of the single-player game with the same design.
Aside from a few hiccups like that, Grid 2’s multiplayer is well-defined and unique from other racers, largely due to RaceNet. RaceNet is an online service that is free to join and provides you with a plethora of features that are otherwise unavailable. These features include weekly challenges that you can compete asynchronously against your friends or strangers on the leaderboards. In addition, RaceNet keeps careful tabs on your driving skill, style (if you are a clean driver or a bully on the road) and a whole set of other stats to ensure that when you are in matchmade games, you are racing against players similar to yourself. The only problem I really had with RaceNet’s style of match-ups was that it considered me a racer who likes to “Trade paint” and play rough, when in reality I really did try to race clean… I am just a terrible, terrible driver and should not be allowed behind the wheel of a Dodge Charger.
Visuals
Grid 2 is for the most part quite a pleasant game to look at, with car models that match their real-world counterparts down to the smallest details. It is impressive the amount of work that Codemasters have put into these models, and as you look at them in your garage and out on the track, you can unmistakably recognise makes and models.
I have to take a moment here to discuss the camera angles. There was a lot of buzz leading up to this game’s release about the removal of the racing-game standard interior camera view. Codemasters in their production of this game chose to remove some elements in order to increase the graphical fidelity of the game, and they opted to remove the interior camera because less than 5% of players across their other racing titles used it. I for one don’t think that this detracts from the game at all. The game’s three camera angles; bonnet view, bumper view, and third-person are all great and provide players with enough choice to tailor to their play styles. The bonnet view was my go-to camera angle as it offers a nice wide viewing angle and you can still see far enough down the track that you are never surprised by an upcoming turn, always seeing it well ahead of time and preparing accordingly.
The detail on cars during the race was quite nice, with metallic and glossy paints reflecting the scenery around them. Unfortunately, ss your car takes damage (which mine always took plenty of) you may lose the hood of your car and be treated to a view of its engine. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the engines themselves were blocky, pixelated and had low-resolution textures, that not only did they feel like an afterthought, but they can severely detract from the immersion of the game.
You are able to customise your car’s design and livery to an insane amount. The game offers over 50 patterns, 5 different types of paint, a bunch of colours and over 40 wheels to choose from, so the list of what you can create is nearly endless. Codemasters boasts that the number of possible combinations exceeds 6 billion. After you have meticulously created the perfect design for your racing beauty, you can pick and choose your sponsors (or lack thereof) and where you want their logos on your car. The sponsor logos are much like the engines in that they are often pixelated, of a low-resolution and just blurry when out on the track. This becomes especially noticeable when using bonnet view as the logos will often take up a large portion of the bottom of your screen.
The tracks themselves are meticulously designed and many are recreated from real-life areas. The detail and beauty of some of these backdrops is absolutely stunning. Driving through Paris at night with fireworks in the sky and the Eiffel Tower in the distance is a sight to behold and one that can quickly have you driving into a wall because you weren’t paying attention to the road. While the background stuff is immaculate, there are some issues with the foreground, with some guard-rails, audience members, trees and cliff faces having a lower resolution and could quite easily be distracting, however you are usually zipping past them so quickly you wont often notice.
Audio
If Grid 2 has any areas true areas of weakness it is its audio. As it tried to be as close to the real thing as it can while still remaining accessible, the audio isn’t flashy or engaging as many other racers. Instead of ambient music tracks, the most you will usually hear is the rev of your engine or the sound of tires skidding along the road. While some of these sounds are near-perfect, others really feel bland and uninspired.
As you would imagine, one of the game’s primary sounds is of your car engine humming away as your hurtled down the streets at over 200km/h. I was disappointed in the sound as to me it didn’t sound like the powerful engines I was expecting out of these cars. I even had to pause my game several times while playing because I wasn’t sure if the sounds were coming from the car, or from my neighbour’s electric table-saw. It turned out about 50% of the time to be the table-saw. When I’m in a Mustang, I want to hear the engine roar with power and authority, not to have it sound like a simple power-tool.
Through the races, you will have the disembodied voice of your race-coach in your head reminding you about which position you are in, telling you to ease off the aggression (I heard that one a lot), and making sure to remind you that you hit a wall (just in case you didn’t see part of your car fly off). Having a race-coach in your ear is a great addition and really adds to the feel of the game, but he can quickly grow repetitive and is occasionally slow to react. Often times I was being told that I could overtake someone to get to third place when I had already made it to second.
The last thing I want to touch on regarding the game’s audio is the music. Music really only appears in menus is sparsely ever heard during an actual race. For people who want to be completely immersed in the feel of being a multimillionaire racing superstar it may work well but for me the lack of music just made me hate the sound of my engine all the more.
Overall
Grid 2 is a game that has a lot to offer for fans of sports racing, and of driving simulators. While there is nothing there for people who aren’t fans of the genre, the incredible amount of content from its thirty hour campaign to its wide variety of racing styles and its RaceNet focused multiplayer, it offers plenty for the avid driving fanatic. If you have ever dreamed about getting behind the wheel of a Touring Car and hurtling down Miami at near 300km/h this is definitely a game for you. A few nagging visual and audio problems are what really hold this game back and keep it in the realm of a good racer instead of a great one.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Steam is picking up the pace, Greenlighting four games and one application. The titles will be available in the coming weeks and months when the respective developers are ready to post their title.
Ohm Studio is the lone Greenlit app. It is a digital audio creation suite that allows musicians to collaborate while maintaining professional quality sound. The collaborating musicians don’t even need to live in the same country to work together with Ohm Studio.
FRACT OSC is an exploration game heavily inspired by Myst, Tron, electronica, and synthesizers. Players will explore an abstract world and solve music inspired puzzles. The game also features music creation tools that allow gamers to exercise their creative sides.
Haunt is a first person horror game inspired by the Slenderman genre. It is an artistic take on a popular indie horror genre.
Inquisitor is a action RPG that has been in development for the last 10 years. The game features three classes, 90 different monsters, over 200 weapons, 80 spells, and over a hundred hours of gameplay.
Rogue Legacy is a rogue like platformer. Although a character has only one life, they can pass their abilities down to their children, eventually creating powerful legacies. The game is procedurally generated and will be available soon on Steam.
