Back in 2008 a video went up on YouTube showing off the amazing skills of Doctor Watson in the demo of Sherlock Holmes Nemesis. The impressiveness coming from Watson’s unparalleled ninja skills that allow him to move from point to point without a step, noise, or even ninja smoke. The video eventually drummed up a good number of views reaching up to 2 million as of today, which players can watch HERE.
Unfortunately, in later games the skills of Doctor Watson have gone the way of the Dodo, with full articulated “motion” and “walking cycles”. Needless to say, fan outcry was outrageous. To make up for this, developer Frogwares Games and publisher Focus Home Interactive have included an option to utilize the 2006 Doctor Watson and released a new video showing off that Doctor Watson in the newest Sherlock Holmes title Crimes & Punishments.
Check out the video embedded below to see just how it stacks up with the original Creepy Watson. Look like criminals will have more to fear than just Sherlock.
Mamoru Hosoda, the visionary film director behind Summer Wars and Wolf Children will be heading down under thanks to Madman Entertainment.
Hosoda has been confirmed to appear at a number of screenings of his latest film Wolf Children at which he will conduct a Q&A session afterwards. If you’d like to attend the screening and Q&A session, the Sydney showing will be held at the Dendy Newtown on April 15th at 6.30pm (you can purchase tickets here) and the Melbourne showing will be held at Cinema Nova on April 17th at 6.45pm (you can purchase tickets here).
It has also been confirmed that Hosoda’s long-time collaborator and co-founder of Studio Chizu, Yuchiro Saito, will be joining Hosoda at the Sydney and Melbourne screenings.
Madman Entertainment and the Supanova Pop Culture Expo have also confirmed that Mamoru Hosoda will make an appearance on April 20th at Supanova Expo Gold Coast. It has yet to be confirmed if Hosoda will appear at any other Supanova Expo locations.
Stay tuned this week because, like the title says, we’ve got some big Pokemon X and Y news headed this way. This Saturday which is April 6th the company states that “big” news will be revealed regarding the two games coming out for the 3DS. Information on X and Y have been limited, we know there’s a game, we know there are new Pokemon, we know it’s in 3D and that’s kind of it but the rumor is that they’re bringing “significant changes” to the games. As of right now I can’t even begin to speculate but if the Poke-Devs say it’s big, I’d like to believe it’s going to be big!
Drop us a line in the comment section below and let us know what you think these changes could be or even if you have any ideas or speculation on the upcoming games. Don’t be shy, we don’t bite…much.
Despite the date, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The online retailer Amazon has revealed that one of the Senran Kagura manga series will be heading to North America this year. To be a bit more specific, the listingshows that Seven Seas plans on releasing the first volume of the Senran Kagura manga, called Senran Kagura: Skirting Shadows on November 5th.
It is worth noting that while Amazon rarely provides a fake listing, Seven Seas has not officially announced the licensing of the manga so for now treat this as a rumor. However if it is true, this means that Senran Kagura’s anime and manga spin-offs will be translated into English and released overseas before the video game series they are based off of.
Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops Review Developer: Kukouri Entertainment Publisher: Chillingo Ltd Platforms:iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch, Android Release Date: 16/03/2013 Price:$0.99 – Available Here
Overview:
Chillingo’s Tiny Troopers has been downloaded countless times with great success since it’s debut last year, so it’s not surprising it’s received a sequel. Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops is a solid follow up to the original title, packed with fantastic design as well as fun yet challenging gameplay. The kicker with Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops is that while it does appear to be a casual title, it can be enjoyed by hardcore gamers too as it comes packed with challenge and various customisable options. This team-based shooting, real-time strategy may not be a revolutionary title, but it’s packed with entertainment and turns out to be a pretty solid game.
Gameplay:
Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops is as simple as it is fun. Players take a team of troopers (that are tiny) and send them into war by simply tapping to move or attack, and using their finger to drag & drop the heavily artillery. Players can recruit additional troopers for each level and as long as one survives they can keep playing. Levels typically have one main objective and one additional objective. Usually these are the typical “save the prisoners”, “destroy the buildings” or “kill everyone” type of stuff. Along the way you collect items and other fancy things that you can use to upgrade and level up your characters as well. All of these elements may be pretty generic, but none of that should bother anyone because at the end of the day the gameplay is still solid and fun. While the gameplay is simple it is also challenging, and with so many customisation options and paths to travel throughout the levels, it never feels like a mindless shooter.
Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops also does a fantastic job of mixing up the gameplay to avoid things getting stale. Tank levels are action packed that make the player feel like a force to be reckoned with, and zombie mode will have you running for survival and keep the adrenaline pumping through waves of the undead. Personally I found zombie mode to be the most entertaining aspect of the game, but I’m sure others will disagree. Never the less, these additions are more than welcome and are extremely fun. Like almost every other game on the iPhone these days in-app purchases are possible. These apps aren’t necessary, but on some occasions you may find you may have to replay a few levels in order to have enough medals to advance. This can be avoided by in-app purchases which may annoy some people but thankfully it’s never forced so it shouldn’t be too much of a bother. Possibly the most annoying aspect of Tiny Troopers 2 is when a trooper dies in combat, that troop will lose all of their experience gained. This means the player will have to get a new troop and level them up from the beginning all over again which can be a chore. On the other hand, this does encourage you to play harder and try your best to survive so it’s not the end of the world. With all that being said while everything here is great, nothing stands out like crazy, so it may not be the most memorable title to most gamers. Gameplay may not be the most addictive thing on the planet but it is solid fun and appealing to the casual audience without being too casual.
Audio & Visuals:
As always, Chillingo deliver when it comes to audio & visual. Character design is insanely cute with equally adorable voice acting to go with it. Graphics look great with surprisingly detailed textures for a cartoonishly themed game and has smooth animation to go with it. As for the music, it’s just as you’d expect in a military game. It’s nothing outstanding but it gets the job done. It’s also surprisingly how these chipmunk-like voices blend so well with the game’s military theme. All in all the presentation is swell and packages the gameplay quite nicely.
Overall:
Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops is what it is – a simple and fun video game. Nothing here is revolutionary but presentation is wonderful and gameplay is both fun and engaging. With simple controls, a fresh mix of gameplay elements to keep things from going stale and a well designed upgrade system, Tiny Troopers keeps things interesting and enjoyable throughout. If that’s not enough for you, cute chipmunk-ish voices yelling phrases like “fire in the hole!” should do the trick.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The inevitable has been realised; the match-up most predicted (if not all, and begrudgingly so for many) will take place in the finals of the Injustice: Gods Among UsBattle Arena.
Below are the semi-finals fight videos – the result of the public’s vote. Although the round was arguably the most disputed by fans all around, the expected result still occurred. Despite somewhat of an uprising of support for the fastest man alive and the emerald knight Batman still beat The Flash and Superman defeated Green Lantern.
Batman vs. The Flash
Superman vs. Green Lantern
On April 8th, the finals voting will be open. We will provide the link to the voting page on the day, along with the many promotional videos that will be released (no doubt more predictions from regulars Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes amongst other celebrities).
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Developer: Sanzaru Games Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Platform: Playstation 3 Release Date:March 28, 2013 Price:$59.99 – Available Here
Overview:
Its been a rocky road for the platforming genre this past generation. Some platforming games like Super Mario Galaxy and Rayman Origins have redefined the way we view the genre and what it is capable of. After three installments of Sly Cooper we now reach Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Sly’s fourth adventure. With Sucker Punch Games no longer working on the franchise, Sanzaru Games have taken the reins for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and as one could expect the end result is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s not much of a stealth game and it’s not much of a platformer, so what exactly is this game? Well, it’s Sly Cooper.
Story: Sly Cooper was never a franchise you’d turn to for a deep and complex story. It is no different here with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The game’s plot is as routine as it comes and feels almost torn straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon and not a good one either. It is riddled with bad cliches and Sly’s hokey shtick grows tiresome very quickly.
The story revolves primarily around Sly and friends travelling through time to different ‘famous’ locations. It is simple in every sense of the term but the game acts as if it is genius. Sly and friends make for one of the worst casts of characters assembled in a video-game. It is worth noting though that this cast has never been well written beyond simple archetypes, a problem that existed within all Sly Cooper titles.
It is safe to say that this is not a game you would be playing for its plot as Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time features one of the most uninspired attempts at narrative in recent memory. If I could describe the game’s story in a word it would be; hackneyed.
Gameplay:
Continuing the trend set by its storytelling, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time’s gameplay is similarly pedestrian. It plays like your standard platforming adventure – jumping and hitting things – it is all very predictable.
The game takes you to a variety of locations, with each location having a number of ‘jobs’ for the player to complete as Sly and friends. This kind of mission based gameplay works well enough for Thieves in Time but it can get repetitive pretty fast due to little variation in mission type. Most missions involve pseudo-stealth gameplay for Sly, which is more often than not either about avoiding going into a spotlight or pickpocketing an enemy for some reason. The stealth aspects here are really not well defined and feel sloppy at best due to some control issues.
The control scheme itself is fine, but the problem lies in Sly’s stiff movement and the camera which has a mind of its own. The game regularly fights you over control of the camera, trying to move into a completely different direction to the input you are giving it at any given time. This bundled with the stiff moving characters (Sly is the worst) make it difficult to buy into any sense of urgency behind the stealth portions of the game due to Thieves in Time constantly working against you and not in a good challenging way.
It could be argued that the biggest problem with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is that it feels like a cartoon tie-in game that isn’t even actually a tie-in. It carries about the same amount of polish and is about as fun as you’d expect from a quick cash crab tie-in game.
It should be said however that the game does have its moments and if you can overlook the issues with the game, there is some fun that can be had. The game’s plethora of settings are well defined and a treat to explore for the most part. The gadgets are a nice feature and are pretty fun to use and play around with. There is also a surprising level of detail put into some of the little things, with a particular emphasis on the hub world where there are more than a few things to find yourself side-tracked with.
Thieves in Time does features the always welcome Cross-Save and Cross-Play features that are of course great for those who own both a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita as it allows you to download a free version of the game on the corresponding console as well as play your save between each console. It is a neat feature without a doubt.
While this game is primarily a single player experience there are multiplayer portions (local multiplayer only) which are well done but mostly inconsequential. There is definitely a lot of care put into getting the most of a single player experience, but there are still some issues which unfortunately bog this otherwise decent game down.
Visuals and Audio:
Aesthetically Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time doesn’t break any new ground but it’s dark cell-shaded visuals work a real treat. It goes a long way to building the game’s camp atmosphere, but it still struggles to look anything more than a Saturday morning cartoon tie-in game at times. The wacky yet benign visual experience on show here is certainly not for everyone and despite its decent composition does not leave any real lasting impression.
The game’s soundtrack is likewise forgettable albeit suitable to the style and atmosphere conveyed in Thieves in Time. Like the majority of the other facets of this game its music is weak and the voice acting is incredibly grating due to laughable over-acting and some questionable casting decisions. It really is in line with the rest of the game, decent but with some pretty glaring issues.
Overall:
While it is expected of a new developer taking on a pre-existing IP such as Sly Cooper that they may have trouble finding their feet, Sanzaru Games have done an admirable job at replicating the spirit of previous Sly Cooper titles with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The problem however is that it does little to set itself apart – it’s just another Sly Cooper game.
It is neither a good game or a bad game, it simply exists. Which is a shame because the Sly Cooper franchise does have potential in it – a potential that no game in the series has managed to fully tap into. Playing Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, you get the feeling that Sony desperately wants Sly to become a mascot for them, but it just isn’t happening. The Sly Cooper games just aren’t good enough and the character is just not memorable enough.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is just another Sly Cooper game, it can be fun, but it is ultimately a forgettable experience that does little to try to be special or even good. It is a shallow experience that highlights a franchise in major need of a rethink.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
April 1st is probably the best day to have something leak because no one will believe it. Hey, maybe I’m gullible, but I find it hard to believe that Ubisoft would be able to get the Australian Classification Board to go along with such poorly executed shenanigans.
Just look at those pictures. JUST LOOK. It’s like they got John Carpenter in to give video gaming its ‘Big Trouble in Little China/Escape From New York’ equivalent. Well, you know, if we were to forget about that whole Solid Snake thing Metal Gear had going there.
In case you still think this is a joke, the images leaked a few days ago and its achievement list has already been posted in several places, including here.
Vampires: Guide Them to Safety! Developer: CBE Software S.R.O. Publisher: CBE Software S.R.O. Platform: Mac, Windows (Reviewed) Release Date: November 12, 2012 Price: $12.99 USD Buy it Here
Overview
Vampires: Guide Them to Safety! is a whacky puzzle game where the player is tasked to guiding vampires to the safety of their coffins before dawn. Players have no direct control over these pesky bloodsuckers and must manipulate the environment to guide their charges to safety.
Story
Vampires: Guide them to Safety! is light on the story. Gamers needing a backstory will need to fill in the blanks with their own imaginations.
Gameplay
Vampires: Guide Them to Safety! is a puzzle game where the vampires need to be led around a maze to the safety of their crypts. Since players cannot directly control the vampires, the player must move the crypt itself. The player are able to move certain highlighted hallways clockwise. Each move counts as one turn. To earn certain rankings, players must complete the level with certain requirements like time and maximum amount of turns used. Along the way, there are various dangers that can bring an untimely end to the lost vampires such as mirrors, vampire hunters and silver bullet firing guns. Players provided with spider webs and garlic repellent to help overcome these obstacles. To make things even more interesting, vampires come in many variations. Some will make specific turns when possible, others will turn randomly. If the puzzle is too difficult, the game provides five surrender flags that allows stuck players to skip over the level and come back to it later.
The difficulty of Vampires: Guide them to Safety! ranges from simple to fiendishly difficult. There were several levels where I had to skip over and come back to it later to conquer. I noticed most of the levels involved more than four vampires that turn randomly running around the crypt at once. Solving puzzles that involve vampires that turn predictably can be solved by studying the maze and having good timing. On the other hand, the random vampires require a fair amount of situational awareness, the ability to think quickly, and excellent timing. I found scoring gold coffins on some of these levels often boiled down to sheer luck and tenacity based on the score requirements.
The level design in Vampires: Guide them to Safety! is excellent. The traps and tools are interesting and fit well in the Dracula the vampire lore the game leans on. This is definitely not your sparkly Twilight vampire game. The controls are excellent. The camera can be moved with the WSAD keys and necessary tools are bound to keys nearby. Unfortunately, the graphic and key binding options in the game must be changed in the start-up menu.
Visuals
Vampires: Guide Them to Safety! uses a fun cartoony art style. I can best describe it as a slightly darker adult Sesame Street design. The vampires remind me of Count von Count. The UI is extremely simple and very usable. On screen buttons are kept to the far sides of the screen and stay out of the way during gameplay. The game ran without any visual problems, slowdowns, or frame drops. Vampires! provided an excellent visual experience.
Audio
Vampires: Guide them to Safety! has excellent audio. The music is catchy, light hearted, and quite varied. It always nice to see a puzzle game that plays more than one track. The sound effects sound good and are not repetitive to the point of annoying.
Overall
Vampires: Guide Them to Safety! is a fun cartoony puzzle game. It is quite lengthy and gaining gold coffins on each puzzle helps increase the length of the game significantly. The audio and visual presentation is very polished. The game manages appropriate for all ages as the violence is cartoony and minimal. At $12.99 USD, the game is priced a little high but is still very reasonable for a game of this length.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Hello again and Welcome Back to CC Unplugged, Capsule Computer’s official gaming podcast. This week, we have a full crowd for you as Mari Sashido, Philip Federico, Luke Halliday, Travis Bruno, and Dustin Spencer have all come together to talk about what they have been playing and everything else relevant in the gaming world. Phil Fish is the topic of the week, as the outspoken developer of FEZ ruffled some Nintendo-flavored feathers. What do we think on the subject? Tune in to find out, as this debate is a heated one.
Download or play this week’s episode below, and while you’re at it, tell your friends, and get UNPLUGGED!
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Mamoru Hosoda, the visionary film director behind Summer Wars and Wolf Children will be heading down under thanks to Madman Entertainment.
Despite the date, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The online retailer Amazon has revealed that one of the Senran Kagura manga series will be heading to North America this year. To be a bit more specific, the 
