Today the first set of English screenshots was discovered for Atlus’ upcoming 3DS release Shin Megami Tensei IV. As you can see below, they don’t reveal too much info about the game but with the title set to be released on July 16th in North America, it is good to see that the translation is going smoothly. As for European fans of Shin Megami Tensei, currently no release information is available.
It is also worth noting that the official website for Shin Megami Tensei IV has been launched which contains some extra information about the characters, pre-order information and other snippets of info.
It seems that PopCap knew that fans were waiting anxiously for a new Plants Vs. Zombies game. Want to know how we know? Because they just announced their next release and it is called Plants Vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time with a great little teaser trailer that reveals that the game is set to be released sometime in July.
The trailer did not specify what platforms Plants Vs. Zombies 2 will be released on in July, though it is worth noting that after being released on the PC first, it then branched off to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, DS, iOS, and Android.
One would think that the announcement of the next step to one of EA and Maxis’ most popular franchises would garner a larger announcement, but it seems that isn’t the case. Anyways, EA announced very briefly that they are now working on The Sims 4 which is set to be released on Windows and Mac sometime next year.
The whole announcement read as: “The Sims franchise is fueled by the passion and creativity of its millions of fans around the world. Their continued devotion to the franchise ignites the fire of creativity of the team at The Sims Studio, driving them to continually improve and innovate on one of the world’s most successful simulation game that has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.”
More information is set to drop within the next day or two, so stay tuned for that.
Today Sentai Filmworks announced on their Facebook page that they will be recalling any copies of their Blu-ray release of Kids on the Slope which was set to be released this Tuesday, though a number of orders have already been shipped to consumers.
The reason for the recall is an issue with the Japanese language track in episode 11 which causes the track to only play in mono audio. Anyone who receives the Blu-ray version of Kids on the Slope with this issue and wants to have it replaced with a proper copy can fill out the form here to begin the process.
9heads Game Studios started their new Indiegogo campaign for Damned. The studio previously released the 3d puzzle game Vitrum.
Damned is a five person co-operative and competitive horror game. Four players take on the role of survivors trapped inside a haunted hotel while the fifth player takes on the role of the monster attempting to murder the survivors. The survivors must find keys and other items to aid their escape while the monster switches between its ghostly form to scare the daylights out of the survivors and its beastly form to do the actual killing. The location of the objects, final objectives, and some non player controlled scares are randomized, creating a new experience for the survivors each time.
9heads hopes to use raise $54,000 to complete the first floor of the hotel. Check them out on Indiegogo and on Steam Greenlight.
EA Mobileis proud to announce that they have taken six out of 18 slots on the US all time paid iPhone Apps listings. Apple posted the top 25 most downloaded paid apps as they count down to 50 billion iTunes downloads. Plants vs. Zombies, Scrabble, Monopoly, The Sims 3, The Game of Life Classic Edition, and Cut the Rope all ranked on the list, making EA the number one publisher on the listing. EA also took top spots in the UK and Mexican lists.
“We strive to makes games that are fun, engaging and beloved by our fans,” said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President of Mobile Publishing at EA. “Having more iPhone games on the All-Time Top-25 list is a testament to EA’s commitment to iPhone gaming.”
Check out EA’s full lineup of games for iOS on the iTunes App Store.
Strike Suit Infinity Developer: Born Ready Games Publisher: Born Ready Games Platform: PC Release Date: May 1st, 2013 Price: $6.99 – Available Here
Overview
Strike Suit Infinity is the score chaser based on Born Ready Games’ space shooter Strike Suit Zero. Players can get into the pilot seat of one of three Strike Suits and battle against endless waves of enemies.
Story
Strike Suit Infinity has no story. You will have to use your own imagination to explain the endless waves of enemies.
Gameplay
Strike Suit Infinity shares the same mechanics as its slightly older brother, Strike Suit Zero. Players take control of a Strike Suit that normally looks like a fighter plane. As the game progresses and enemies are destroyed, the player acquires more Flux. The Strike Suit can transform into a humanoid mech that is able to fire off barrages of missiles and powerful short ranged guns. Firing the weapons as a mech costs Flux but the damage dealt in mech mode is far greater than the normal flight mode.
The game hurls round after round of enemies, each round containing several waves of enemies. There are eighteen rounds in Strike Suit Infinity, with the 18th round being an infinite round. Between rounds, a menu display pops up showing the player’s current upgrades, the enemy composition of the next round, and options to hire allies for the upcoming round. Ally pilot level upgrades only last for the duration of the game. To earn new Strike Suits, weapons, and upgrades players will need to rush enemy transports as they spawn and destroy them before they disappear. The game does not make this very clear that this is how upgrades are unlocked, leaving me perplexed for quite some time on how I was randomly acquiring these permanent upgrades. The announcer will inform the player of the incoming transport and recommend that players destroy it for upgrades. With the chaos of an intense dog fight, I actually missed the announcement for several rounds before I actually noticed it. I would have preferred to see a text prompt with this information when the cut scene introducing the transport played.
As a score chaser, Strike Suit Infinity is solid. The action is well paced and can be fiendishly difficult. Coming from an Ace Combat background, I was quickly forced to break out of the habit of zooming around in flight mode slowly whittling down the opposition. Using Strike Suit mode is a quick way to build combos which are the key to high scores and extra credits. Managing the risk and reward of spending credits on allies and their skill levels also turned into a key aspect of the game. A good score chaser should test the skill of the player. Strike Suit Infinity delivers.
Strike Suit Infinity can be played with a gamepad, joystick/keyboard, or mouse/keyboard combo. I tested the game with both the gamepad and the mouse and keyboard combinations. Although the gamepad controls were usable, I found that the game seemed to be better designed for the mouse and keyboard. I would have liked to see the option to invert the left thumbstick while leaving the right one untouched. Using the guns effectively in flight mode is an important part of clearing waves quickly. The gun’s crosshairs have a little bit of movement that is independent of the ships movement. When using the keyboard and mouse, the keyboard is inverted while the mouse maintains the traditional FPS movement. When using the gamepad, either both sticks are inverted or not. For me, I felt really awkward when transitioning from the mouse and keyboard controls to the gamepad.
Visuals
Strike Suit Infinity is an excellent looking game. Veteran mech designer Junji Okubo is behind the Strike Suits’ design. He has lent his imagination to several video games and anime, including Appleseed: Ex Machina and Steel Battalion. The Strike Suits transform back and forth smoothly and the flight modes look as realistic as possible. One minor annoyance is the fact the end of round animation is reused over and over again. Each round takes place in a slightly different area, but the end of round space station looks like it is located at the first level. Graphically, Strike Suit Infinity is looks solid. The game runs smoothly without any sudden drops in frame rate. The UI is futuristic and utilitarian. The cockpit view is a little disappointing as it lacks detail and takes up almost the whole bottom third of the screen.
Audio
The sound effects in Strike Suit Infinity are excellent. Surround sound performs well, as I could easily pick up the direction of oncoming ships from the direction of their warp noises. Allied ships compliment your kills, providing a nice bit of radio chatter. The music unfortunately gets repetitive quickly. When the game picks up intensity, an anime styled song begins to play. It sounds like the same one-minute track played on loop unfortunate and quickly becomes boring. It would have been nice to have a little more variety in the music.
Overall
For $6.99, you get what you pay for. Strike Suit Infinity provides intense dog fighting action against infinite waves. Unfortunately the game could use some more variety in the music and end of round animation departments. Additionally, I would like to see the gamepad controls tweaked. However, Strike Suit Infinity serves as an excellent chance for gamers to check out the Strike Suit series without plunking down the full price for Strike Suit Zero.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Ubisofthave just released a character trailer for player protagonist Silas Greaves in the upcoming Techland-developed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.
The video, entitled “The Story of Silas Greaves”, features a folk-song – not unlike those speaking of legends from the past such as Billy the Kid – proclaiming Greaves to be “a man legends fear…a four-holstered reaper, crying bullets for tears.” You can view the trailer embedded at the bottom of this article.
Also check out the reveal trailer here. The game comes out on May 22nd for XBLA (1200 MS Points), PSN and PC digital ($17.95), with special pre-order bonuses for an exclusive Uplay edition. There will also be a physical retail copy for PC owners who want something tangible, released the next day on May 23rd.
We’ll pick 3 lucky winners on the 20th of May. Make sure you use a valid email when you register/post your comment so we can email you if you are one of our winners.
Eternal Darkness is one of those games that is etched into my brain forever, a game with the ability to make mess with you, making players jump in terror from demonic incantations and question their own sanity as they wonder if what they just saw on screen was real or a mere hallucination. So it is with great excitement for many that Dennis Dyack (ex Silicon Knights) and the rest of the Precursor Games team have announced that the Kickstarter campaign to fund the ‘spiritual sequel’ will begin in under 7 hours.
Currently planned for release only on PC and the Wii U, the next installment entitled Shadows of the Eternals will be a complete game broken up into 12 episodes, with 1.5 million required to fund the first episode. There is already a lot of eyes on the project that many gamers have been waiting 11 years, since the release of Sanitys Requiem in 2002 to get their hands on. Sanity’s Requiem still sells on average for around $40, testament to the games groundbreaking qualities in the puzzle horror genre. Hopefully funding will come quickly and generously and Precursor can make use of the Wii U’s unique gamepad for another innovative and immersive experience.
For more information head on over to http://www.shadowoftheeternals.com/ and keep an eye out today for the start of their kickstarter campaign.
