In an interesting turn of events, Mages has decided to team up with Nintendocore band, I Fight Dragons to create a music video featuring the band’s song “Move” and footage from their recently released XBLA game Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds.
The video can be seen below and the US PR Manager of Mages, Gail Salamanca said the following about this unique collaboration: “People will probably wonder what the impetus was for such a collaboration.I’m actually a huge fan of the band and felt the need to somehow Voltron the awesomeness of I Fight Dragon’s chiptune inspired rock sound and Phantom Breaker’s 8-bit retro action into something that fans of the band and game could enjoy.”
Those interested in seeing whether or not Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is worth picking up can find our review here.
Rockstar has decided to bring the Payne to Mac, Max Payne that is. For those Apple enthusiasts who have yet to get their hands on the game now might be the perfect chance as Max Payne 3 is available today on Mac.
Max Payne 3 delivers a highly detailed cinematic experience that features Bullet Time and Shootdodge effects to bring more epicness to the action. Similar to the PC version, the Mac version will support several graphics options including “scalable high-resolution textures and character models, DirectX11 features, multi-monitor support and 3D.”
Rockstar recommends a Mac with an Intel Dual Core Xeon / Core i Series 2.4 Ghz processor, OS X 10.7.5 Lion, 4GB of RAM, NVIDIA 8800GT or AMD Radeon HD 4870 with 512 VRAM, and 35GB of free storage space to play the game as it’s meant to be played.
Anime streaming service DAISUKI.NET has announced Monogatari Second Season as its first simulcast title, set to premiere on July 6, which will be streamed a few hours after its Japanese TV debut. In partnership with Aniplex of America, the show will be exclusively streamed in HD with English subtitles for free.
“We want to provide the newest content from Japan, as well as classic ones”, says Kunihiko Shibata, President of DAISUKI Inc. By using a survey system, DAISUKI does indeed offer older classics if users vote for them.
The site currently offers Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Lupin the 3rd, and The Prince of Tennis OAV series. Beginning with the simulcast of Monogatari Second Season, the previous series will also be streamed: Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatariand Nekomonogatari (Black).
Region-locking will unfortunately continue to exist in the anime industry, with Monogatari Second Season and Nekomonogatari (Black) viewable in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari will be available in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa.
Additionally, DAISUKI has announced it will be attending Anime Expo 2013, July 4-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, United States. Those attending the expo can visit them at their booth and their first industry panel on July 4, 18:15 in room LP2 with a Q&A session and a special screening of Nekomonogatari (Black), which will be shown with English subtitles for the first time.
Studio Shaft Director Mitsutoshi Kubota will be the special guest of the panel and attendees will receive a free T-shirt while supplies last.
Finally, DAISUKI is planning on launching its paid, e-commerce platform in late June 2013. Another special giveaway will be held to mark the occasion where winners will be announced after each round, totalling 1,000 participants. Each registered user may enter once every 24 hours.
Square Enix has announced today that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will continue “Beta Phase 3” through June into July. This time around beta testers from both PC and PS3 can join in on the fun with cross-platform functionality. Other goodies for testers to explore are the vast city states of Limsa, Lominsa, Ul’dah, and Gridania. The Beta Phase 3 will include the following testing times for this weekend:
Friday June 21, 7:00 p.m. => Sunday June 23, 7:00 p.m. (AEST Time)
Friday June 21, 9:00 p.m. => Sunday June 23, 9:00 p.m. (NZST Time)
Scheduled to be released on August 27th for both PC and PS3, the title has a bit of testing to go through yet to be finalized. To sign up for beta testing, follow the link (here). Additionally, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will also be released for PS4 in 2014.
While gamers in North America already know when they can expect the next Dynasty Warriors title to be released, gamers in Europe and other PAL regions have only had a vague window of release sometime close to the US release. Well today Tecmo Koei chose to announce exactly when Dynasty Warriors 8 will be available for purchase and it just so happens to be on July 19th.
For those who haven’t already heard, the game features a number of new characters, new game modes, new stages alongside redesigned stages and a number of new scenarios that follow the stories of the Wei, Wu, Shu and Jin kingdoms.
For gamers in the UK, if you choose to pre-order the title from GAME.co.uk you will be given a special limited edition smartphone pouch which features a different character and color representing one of the four kingdoms while all other retailers will be given a costume pack featuring Zhou Yu, Lu Xun, Cao Cao, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu’s outfits from Dynasty Warriors 1.
To top that off, anyone pre-ordering through independent sellers can get a nice pack that includes outfits for Zhao Yun and Sun Shangxiang from Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12.
In the internet age strategy guides and walkthroughs have become something rarely required by gamers today. However every once in awhile a game is released that may require just that and if any game is going to need a strategy guide, it will be Shin Megami Tensei IV.
As such, Atlus has announced that they will be having a 176 page soft cover guide created by Prima Games. To go along with this announcement the company also released a few preview pages from the guide which can be seen here. Concerned about a price? Don’t be, because all pre-orders and a limited number of first run copies of Shin Megami Tensei IV will net this guide completely free with their purchase of the game.
The Anime Expo will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 4-7, and Aksys will have their booth set up in South Hall #711. They will have exclusive giveaways, special store deals, and two panel discussions.
The Aksys schedule will look like this:
July 4th – Exclusive giveaway to Anime Expo VIP attendees
July 5th – Otome Day! Hakuoki Cosplay Event
“The Art of Localization” Panel (3:45 – 4:45 PM at LP3)
July 6th – BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend Tournament
Aksys Games Panel (2 – 3 PM at LP4)
July 7th – Last chance to see our booth and get some awesome deals!
On top of all of that, they will have several games in playable form including Muramasa Rebirth, BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma, and more.
For the full breakdown, you can check out Aksys’ page here.
Overview
One of the most interesting aspects of Magrunner: Dark Pulse is one of the hardest for it to rise above. Being likened to Portal is sure to get almost anyone on board to give it a try, but also means that Magrunner also has very big shoes to fill in that regard. Throw in Cthulhu and the attention of Lovecraft fans is also a given. With both of these, Magrunner has the makings of an outstanding game or a colossal flop as players are left wanting something more. Now that the game has released it is time to see which of the two situations is true.
Story
Set after the invention of a clean renewable energy source known as Magtech, Magrunner opens ups on the at the start of a competition/exercise where the titular Magrunners will be utilizing newly designed Magtech gloves to complete a series of rooms first alone and then as a team. This means shiny new news with clear goals and nice looking equipment to use, while the player is introduced to their character of Dax Ward, possibly even a reference to the main character in “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” by H.P. Lovecraft. A true tech savant, Dax not only has made his own Magtech glove, but was also mainly raised by the six-armed Gamaji after losing his parents because who doesn’t love an underdog.
Being mainly a puzzle game, the story takes more of a backseat to the gameplay, which is all well and good in the long run. Aside for a slight information dump introduction, the story progression is generally kept to between rooms and when first entering a room. This is of course a necessary evil when needing to move from room to room, which Portal filled with dark comedy or absurdist humor, but Magrunner fills with narrative development. Seeing as this is also based on Cthulhu it isn’t too long before everything starts to go to hell, literally.
For the most part the narrative is a great addition to the game, not intruding too much, but there are a few minute problems. Closure for one, which has nothing to do with the ending that’s great especially for those familiar with Lovecraft’s work, but with the other characters. Throughout the game Dax communicates with several people, some within the complex, but unfortunately many of them lack closure and outside of one insistence of indicating a wish to save those in trouble, Dax doesn’t meet or interact with anyone besides enemies. Instead Dax only speaks with them over the comms and ultimately undermines any connection players have with those character. However, as the game is mainly about the gameplay it doesn’t hurt the entire experience much overall.
Gameplay
At first the gameplay of Magrunner is incredibly straight forward, Dax is equipped with a special Magtech glove that can change the magnetism of specific objects. Shoot an object with one color and it will be attracted to other objects of that same color and repelled by objects of the opposite, shooting it with the opposite with reverse this, and shooting it with the color it already is will return it to neutral magnetism. Fairly straight forward when actually in gameplay additional features are added as the game progresses, such as creating one additional free-range charge not tied to an object.
Amazingly intuitive, it is easy for those even somewhat used to the concepts of magnetism to sprint through the first through areas. As time goes on however it becomes important to know where magnetism is affecting through walls, which is why the game also provides the ability to see the magnetic fields around objects, which becomes immensely invaluable. As great as the puzzles are though, there is a feeling that so much more could have been done with more puzzles, as in some places it seems as if some of the puzzles exist to teach a strategy and move straight on with something else even late in the game. While have over 40 rooms, it would be nice to see even more or advanced puzzles for players to tackle.
Other aspects of the gameplay that don’t quite work as well as hoped are the cutscenes and saving. Several instances have control of the camera taken away to show off a creature surprise or cool visual, but while these do look nice they disrupt the immersion. The saving on the other hand is understandable in some regards, though still problematic. Players cannot freely save whenever they choose, forcing them to use the checkpoint system in place in the game that is tied to ”safe” or progress locations in rooms. While more likely easier to program it can be annoying to miss the last jump to reach the next checkpoint and have Dax plummet to his death having lost all of that progress and being returned to the previous checkpoint. Even more problematic is the one instance of getting a checkpoint just as Dax is killed and being forced to restart the entire level as no previous checkpoint could be loaded.
Visuals and Audio
The images in this review can certainly speak for themselves with how well the game is able to combine futuristic, with decrepit, with Lovecraftian. The puzzle elements do a fantastic job standing out amidst the changing environment, ensuring that it is easy to determine what can and can’t be interacted with, which is incredibly important in a first-person game. Magrunner also features monsters such as the Deep Ones, Mi-Go, Shaggoths, and Cthulhu himself, the game does a great job presenting presenting the world and transitioning well enough between them all that they feel that they fit completely within them. The characters are also well designed, even with the little that is actually seen of them.
The voice acting is likewise well done across the board, though Gamaji has the best delivery of them all, while a few moments of Dax’s dialogue, even early, feel a bit off which is unfortunate as players spend the most time with him. The music adds to both the atmosphere and tenseness of the scenes, but not nearly as much as the instances of the chanting in the background paying honor to Cthulhu sleeping in R’lyeh in a way that looking up at him can certainly send a chill through the spine. So by all means play all alone in the dark for this one.
Overall Magrunner: Dark Pulse is a greatfirst-person puzzle game that provides a fun and unique challenge for the brain and moments where Dax is running for his life from horrors that provide great horror fun. There are a few issues that can sometimes put a hamper on the experience, like the saving, but for the most part players should have an overall positive experience with the game. Outside of those, Magrunner is great for puzzle and/or Cthulhu fans that might even leave them wanting more.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
This week’s Deal of the Week title goes to GOG.com’s #nodrm gaming sale. Every day brings more massive sales of DRM free games. The quality of sale is equal to Steam’s legendary Summer Sales, so be sure to check it out.
This is the last weekend to purchase indie games at a great discount at the Amazon Indie Store. Each purchase comes with three free games!
Bossa Studios collaborated with Valve to create a new trailer advertising Surgeon Simulator 2013‘s new update, making the game the latest Team Fortress 2 crossover. Players will now be able to operate on The Heavy as The Medic. The update is free for all owners of the game on Steam.
Surgeon Simulator 2013 sprang from a small game developed in the 48 hour Global Indie Game Jam in January. The first game quickly spread across the internet like wildfire, becoming the Global Indie Jam’s most popular title. In April, Bossa Studios released a full game for $9.99 on Steam. The 2013 version features additional operations, the Ambulance mode difficulty, and new visuals. Surgeon Simulator 2013 is available on Linux, Mac, and Windows.
