Pixelry’s Kickstarter campaign started today. Evelend Games is looking to raise £23,000 to complete their game. Pixelry is about a young knight working his way up from small local jousting tournaments to the big tournament hosted by the king. Our hero seeks the princess’ hand in marriage and must impress her father for his approval. the game is presented in a SNES-esque graphic.
Evelend Games are looking to improve the over all polish of the game with the money. This means better audio and visuals, deeper gameplay elements, and enhanced enemy AI. If they are able to raise more than their asking amount, they have a long list of stretch goals they would like to accomplish. Goals includes Linux, Mac, Android, and iOS ports, better character customization, new minigames, and multiplayer functionality.
eFusion MMOG, a European publisher of massively multiplayer online games, earlier announced that special Easter contents and events have been launched in their free-to-play MMO FPS BlackShot Europe.
BlackShot Europe has been updated with a seasonal Easter theme which brings new in-game content for players. Players can enjoy two new maps, one is LRT in Team flag mode which is based on the Malaysian model of the Light Rail System. The other is the modified Factory map in Team Death Match mode. A new sniper rifle, a new SAW and a new rifle have all also been added to the weapon store.
In extra special Easter seasonal style, at the launch of the update the game is holding a special egg-hunting event in game. Those who play BlackShot Europe every day for five days in a row can receive Daily Easter Eggs, which inside players can find some terrific items during the Easter season. As some added fun, players can wear in game Bunny ears and also explode Easter Egg Grenades instead of regular ones.
Toriko: Part 3 Studio: Toei Animation Publisher: FUNimation Format:DVD Release Date: March 19, 2013 Price:$39.98 – Available Here
Overview: There are many reasons to fight, especially in a shōnen series. Perhaps a loved one is in danger or your homeland is threatened, sometimes there are those who simply travel around testing their strength against other fights around the world and sometimes it is simple as fighting for food. However rather than fight due to starvation, the combatants in Toriko hunt their prey down simply to enjoy their deliciousness. While Toriko Part 1 and Part 2, the reviews of which can be found hereand hererespectively, may have been slightly undercooked, is Toriko Part 3 the delicious entrée fans have been waiting for?
Story: It goes without saying that jumping in at this point with no previous knowledge of the series would leave viewers with quite a few questions. This is doubly so for Toriko Part 3 which continues the Century Soup story arc which began in the closing episodes of Part 2. Toriko Part 3 picks up immediately where Part 2 left off and while Part 2 may have consisted of plenty of explanation about Gourmet Corps’ goal, the “Gourmet Cells” which make Toriko and other Gourmet Hunter so strong and a few other things, Part 3 focuses heavily on combat.
While things may start off rather tamely in Toriko Part 3, with Toriko and the rest of the surviving hunters taking down a deadly creature for dinner, things escalate quickly from there on out. With Gourmet Corps’ Vice Head Chef Tommyrod and his two assistants closing in, Toriko must face off against one of the toughest opponents he has ever faced.
To make matters worse, when a mysterious character is revealed to be an ally named Teppei, the group learns that the Gourmet Window, the glacier which creates the Century Soup may be in trouble. With horrific foes staring them in the face, sub-zero weather conditions, the possibility of escape dwindling and their final goal possibly disappearing in front of them, Toriko and the rest find themselves in the worst possible situation yet.
If it sounds like there isn’t much story progress, that is because for the most part, Toriko Part 3 consists almost entirely of combat. The rest of Toriko’s traveling companions, Takimaru and Match are given time in the spotlight as they face off against Tommyrod’s minions and even receive a bit of character development as their backstories are explained and their reasons for tracking down the Century Soup are revealed.
The true highlight in Toriko Part 3 however is actually a villain. While past villains Toriko and the group have faced off against have always had evil intentions, Tommyrod is the first one to truly feel sinister. Because of his sadistic nature and ability to use thousands of bugs and throw their lives away in battle, his evil nature makes his fight against Toriko feel more legitimate as it actually feels like a fight with more on the line than an ingredient.
As the action heavy third part of Toriko winds down, Toriko and the surviving Century Soup hunters venture to the Country of Life. With Toriko severely injured and Komatsu set on solving the final mystery of the Century Soup, Part 3 leaves viewers with a minimal cliffhanger right at the very end of the Century Soup story arc. While it is a decent enough place for a cliffhanger, viewers will probably feel short changed thanks to the fact that the story arc that takes up the entirety of Part 3 is left hanging with only one episode left.
Visuals: Perhaps it was the focus on action more than anything else in Toriko: Part 3 but the animation quality seems to have improved for this collection of episodes. As Toriko and the rest fought against Tommyrod and his men a number of new powerful attacks were revealed and demonstrated in impressive fashion, though it is worth noting that, as the fights continued, many battle animations were re-used. Also, the colorful character design is limited due to the body suits the survivors are wearing are very bland in appearance despite their necessity.
That being said, the character designs, especially Tommyrod’s facial animations, are handled well. There is a noticeable amount of censorship in Part 3 however, with various fighters suffering heavy damage including limb loss and gaping wounds simply being displayed as casual damage. It is also worth noting that while the series retains its rich color palette, Toriko: Part 3 doesn’t cover a whole lot of ground and because of this many backgrounds in Ice Hell are re-used and only a few creatures and food designs are shown off throughout these episodes.
Audio: It should go without saying that the English cast for Toriko: Part 3 remains the same as past releases and also includes the original Japanese voice track for those who prefer it. The returning cast handles their characters well enough though the over-the-top nature of the voice work has been toned down to fit in with the more action oriented Part 3. It is worth noting that Tommyrod’s voice work plays a major part in portraying him as a cold evil creature and his voice actor helps sell the character.
Being nearly entirely combat focused, the background music for Toriko: Part 3 contains plenty of action music that is mostly forgettable amongst the clashes of battle though occasionally a track will accent the action of a specific combat sequence well. The opening song remains unchanged in Part 3 and is still “Gatsu Gatsu” by Akira Kushida and the closing song remains “Deli Deli Delicious” by Sea-A. Both of these tracks are very fitting for an anime so focused on food, though it is worth noting that the ending theme changes to “Sabrina” by Leo Ieri for the final episode of Part 3.
Extras: Toriko: Part 3 comes with a rather basic set of bonus features, including a clean version of the opening song once again and two textless ending songs, including the new “Sabrina” ending theme. Outside of that there is the US trailer for the anime, trailers for other FUNimation anime and two commentary tracks.
The commentary track for Episode 30 features Toriko’s voice actor Ian Sinclair once again, Jason Douglas who handles the voice of Match and Jerry Jewell who is the voice of Boogieyuz. The two spend a bit of time discussing the show and of course continue the running commentary theme of providing their own “Full Course Menu of Life.” Episode 34’s commentary features ADR Director Tyler Walker this time and David Wald who handles the voice of Teppei. The two discuss David’s character Teppei and various aspects of the show.
Overall: Toriko: Part 3 may not advance the story very far but it takes the background laid out before in Part 2 of the series and runs with it. By focusing almost entirely on action, the animation quality is surprisingly consistent and rather impressive at times. Pair that with English voicework that remains impressive with Greg Ayres’ voicing of Tommyrod stealing the show and you have a presentation that far surpasses past Toriko releases. While the ending of Toriko: Part 3 may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those looking to finish the Century Soup arc, this action packed entrée is more than satisfactory.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins has been dated for an April 27th release in Australia and New Zealand on the Nintendo 3DS. The game will serve as a prequel to the upcoming Wii U title Lego City Undercover. Players will follow Chase McCain as he explores Lego City fighting crime with technology and good old detective work. The game covers to road to criminal mastermind Rex Fury’s imprisonment.
Lego City Undercover covers the events after The Chase. Rex Fury has broken out of prison and now players are hot on his heels. A YouTube series has been produced to introduce gamers to the characters in Lego City undercover. There are four videos currently available with two more in the works. Lego City Undercover will be released on March 28th in Australia as a digital download and a physical copy.
505 games announced the latest installment of their Ashes Cricket series today. Ashes Cricket 2013 will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC. The game features a new game engine that adds several new features. Weather and slowly deteriorating pitch conditions will all play a major factor in game strategy. Batsmen will no have complete control over shot timing and bowlers have a new set of tools to handle batsmen. Players will be able to either set the field themselves or have the computer handle field placement.
The official Australian and English teams are available to play in the complete Ashes Series. Additionally there are shorter tournaments and leagues available for play. “We are delighted to be able to announce some of the key features for Ashes Cricket 2013,” commented Ralph Pitt-Stanley, General Manager for UK & Export at 505 Games. “This game has been created with real cricket fans and players in mind. The new engine allows players to mimic a cricketers most important attribute, his technique.”’
Ashes Cricket 2013 will be available on June 21st, 2013. For more information, check out the official Ashes Cricket 2013 site here.
SimCity Developer:EA Maxis Publisher: EA Format: PC (Reviewed), Mac Release Date: Out Now Price: $59.99 (Available Here)
Overview
SimCity is the 2013 reboot of the original King of city-building simulations. Our review is a belated one due to many factors; one of them being few Oceanic servers and, considering all the controversy that has unfolded over the always-online requirements for the game, I think you can imagine the initial roadblocks. Among being swamped with other big time reviews, such as God of War: Ascension and Mass Effect 3: Citadel, as well as G.I. Joe: Retaliation press commitments, I was swamped, but also thought it fair to allow EA the time to do some damage control. Why? Because I wanted to review the game based on its own merits, however do not think I ignored the server-side issues that plague the game all together…they still reared their ugly head. Read on for my ultimate opinion on SimCity.
Gameplay
Let me preface this section by saying that I struggled to find a Region with vacant land. I could not seem to find one that I could claim for myself, so I had to start my own region of just two cities, set it to private and managed them concurrently. This is also the sort of game where, as a critic, you have to decide where to stop playing and where to begin the review process for yourself as it is potentially forever open-ended. There are so many things to try out and so many interactions to be had between players that no review can truly cover everything this game has to offer in those respects in a timely and complete manner. For instance, I did not get to collaborate on building a Great Work because my cities were floundering for a little while and I never built up the level of resources/money/population between them to initiate the build, even after dozens of hours of gameplay.
Nonetheless, I utilised as many mechanics as I could to gain as comprehensive an understanding of the game as I possibly could. And to be honest with you, I can’t wait to go back to it. I played 9 hours straight one day, taking small breaks for food and restroom stops, without even realising it was midnight by the time I looked at the clock and felt it was time to stop. Talk about a ‘state of flow’…game psychology 101 – true immersion. I was engrossed in managing these twin cities. And I think, to some degree, the very nature of the game demands it from you. You constantly have taxes to tweak, residential areas to zone, roads to upgrade, water towers to turn off after the source has been polluted…you can’t help but lose track of time. It’s like a busy, full time job. I do not envy the mayors of real life, although I believe they have it easier (though the consequences of failure are higher…)
You literally begin with nothing…not even a road from the highway; just a blank slate and a limited bank account. It’s at this early stage of city planning that you implement your grand, ideal design of how you think a city should be laid out, but later doubt whether you made the right decisions. The reasons for this boil down to not being familiar with certain systems and their effect on your city. Personally, my problem stemmed from pollution. I was plotting the land, segregating one area for industrial zoning, without even taking wind direction into consideration. Once I had zoned my residential areas, I had discovered that the smoke billowing from these factories was being blown towards the houses and settlements, making them sick. That same kind of carelessness, or mindlessness I should say, was perpetrated by myself when laying down the roadwork for the city without consulting the ‘water table’, ore and oil maps, effectively constructing over my most resource-rich sites.
There are a lot of things to balance to ensure your city thrives and grows at an exponential rate. Sewage, police, medical, garbage, education, the list goes on…and then you have the specialisations, which is where the aforementioned ore and oil mining fall under. Eventually, when you begin to make a profit, and accommodate potential citizens, your population grows and at certain levels, will enable you to upgrade your Town Hall and add a wing to it. These departments range from Education and Finance to Tourism, Transportation and Utilities. Only one can be added per upgrade with the advantage of enhanced and improved services becoming unlocked within each respective department. The nice part is that the departments’ benefits apply to the whole region, not just the city it is situated in. The first addition I made was the Department of Finance, which allows you to manage the tax rates per zone and wealth level.
As your city grows, buildings will develop into bigger complexes, requires more space to do so. If you have a neighbouring city in the region, you can trade resources such as power and water, or even fire trucks. In the case of the former, the gracious supplier will only sell you as much power as you need and not an excess. However, if that city itself gets low on the desired resource, you are given a notification that they will be running out soon and you will not be able to rely on them much longer. It’s a God-send for when you are in a tight spot and have neighbours who can afford to help. When it comes to a financial downturn, you may also take out bonds which have to be paid back. When playing with humans companions, you can send out requests via the Region Wall, which is basically like a chat interface situated on the top left corner of your screen. Overall, all of these aspects combine to form an intrinsic, deep experience for the player. Keeping track of statistics has never been this fun! That’s not even a joke…
But now, to the negatives – one subjective and one objective. First, the subjective: the play-space for each city is restricted to a fairly sizeable patch of land. Some would complain that this fact is limiting to their creativity and ability to build their dream city, but I understand its pros. Limiting the space actually breeds further creativity than usual. This is because you need to learn and adapt to the barrier in making sure your city continues to prosper amongst seemingly impossible and unreasonable expansion demands from your citizens (“zone more residential!”). If this weren’t the case, there would be a lot less challenge involved and it just wouldn’t feel as meaningful. Also, it implores you to starts new cities and play differently… don’t have the space to specialise in a new sector? Starts a new city in the region and enact that specialisation. Create a network, not just a sole mega-city and explore the relationship between them. It’s much more dynamic and in the end, gratifying.
Objectively, we all know what’s coming…server issues. I was really hoping it wasn’t as detrimental as people were reporting, but even with the extra time, I did come across fairly infrequent intrusions. I was kicked a total of 3 times from gameplay because ‘my city was not processing properly‘…? What the heck does it even mean?! Once back in the main menu, you are prompted to either ‘roll back to a working state’ or abandon the city in question all together. Luckily, I did not have to redo much of my work in these occasions. I also received that initial message when attempting to swap play over to my Sister city, but was not allowed. A big nuisance to be sure, but not game-breaking (although I don’t doubt that others haven’t had MUCH worse times). Also, if I left the game for too long, I would come back to find myself back in the main menu and unable to instantly jump back into the city as it would have problems loading. I would then have to exit the game and restart it to continue; unmistakeably sour points on an otherwise brilliant game.
Visuals & Audio
It’s quite impressive the level of detail EA Maxis have been able to include in each and every object/building in SimCity. It’s cool to be able to zoom out and view your city operating with a clarity and visual quality that is usually greatly sacrificed. It must be taken into consideration that I played the game with all Graphics settings on the highest of options: Lighting, Textures, Shadows, Geometry and Animation Detail all set to Ultra where available. A particularly awesome moment to behold is when the day turns to night and you witness all of the city’s lights flicker on. And to actually see individual citizens going about their daily routine as air planes fly overhead and smog clouds accumulate (had a lot of those in my first city) really lent to the feeling that it’s a living, breathing, functioning city.
Most of what is noteworthy in the visuals department is the interface. The layout is clean and crisp, but initially, the numerous icons can be quite overwhelming. Keeping track of the 30 Data Maps (which isn’t entirely necessary all the time of course) can be daunting, especially in the early goings. But, over the hours, you begin to recognise each icon and what it represents without having to refer to it’s usage by hovering over it and waiting for an explanatory pop-up text bubble. I appreciated the inclusion of feedback from the citizens, as thought bubbles appear over their heads, coloured in shades of red to green to let you know what the nature of their thoughts are – concerned or encouraged. Hovering over them gives you the details, which are basically naturally communicated suggestions, e.g. “The bus is way too crowded” hinting for you to increase bus numbers.
Little objectives also pop up from time to time, and once engaged will be represented visually on the top-half of the right side of the screen. Scrolling over the icons will expand them to remind you of the mission requirements and your progress in completing them. Doing these is usually of benefit to the city, but will also grant you a cash reward. They are optional, for the most part, as very little is actually forced upon you or in-your-face, so to speak. On the uncommon occasion, tutorial cues will appear in the same space on the U.I. asking if you would like to learn about a certain element of the game. These show up only when you’ve reached certain milestones. For instance, I was asked if I wanted to learn about implementing Municipal Airports only after I had earned enough profit to afford one.
Interactions between cities is also visually represented in a simple manner. When you click on another city to offer to share specific resources, an arrow will materialise showing the flow of resources. When it comes down to managing your city at a more granular level, clicking on the Water, Power or any other number of tabs makes you appreciate the Glassbox engine that much more, as you not only see where your supply is reaching, but how much each individual building needs to survive. Audio wise, there is one main background/ambience piece of music that plays, but once you zoom in close, you begin to hear the hustle and bustle and sounds of the city. Click on the Transport tab and sounds of cars honking and buses passing by come to the fore; click on the Police tab and the sirens bear over everything else. The audio team did an amazing job in integrating each element in the soundscape without having them drown each other out.
Overall
EA’s servers have never had the reputation of being the most reliable or stable. And we all hate always-online DRM for the same reasons, and have been vocal about it for years now. But, publishers still insist upon it. In this instance, it came back to bite EA in the ass. However, I must give credit where credit is due; SimCity is an amazing, robust, deep and addictive city-building experience. Don’t get that twisted. I, as stated, experienced a few occurrences of server-related issues that forced me to essentially have to replay the last 15 minutes of my progress. And that was a true annoyance. Yet, it did not deter me; that’s how good a game SimCity is. EA is working to increase server numbers and stability, and the good news is that it’s working and alleviating existing problems.
It may not ever be guaranteed to be flawless, as internet connections are volatile – which is the main issue for me when trying to understand why such a requirement would be placed upon a consumer who has already paid their money to enjoy the game. Not everyone has a good internet connection to begin with. I am probably lucky in the number of obstructions to play that I encountered and am sure many others have had it way worse. But I can not lambaste the title to an extreme rate like so many others. I love the game itself. Hopefully you all can have a pleasant experience with it as I did and am (bar the rare interruptions). This review was very hard for me to finalise and my score may have dropped quite a bit, but I just didn’t want to go so far as to misguide people into thinking SimCity is a terrible game with a low rating. I just hope EA have learnt from this.
2K Australia unveiled the new localized ad for Bioshock Infinite that will be airing in Australia. The trailer features hero Booker DeWitt preparing to rescue Elizabeth from a public hanging when his plans go awry.
Bioshock Infinite is a new storyline set in the airborne city of Columbia. Booker DeWitt is a former Pinkerton agent whose life has fallen off the rails. He is sent to rescue Elizabeth from Columbia and finds himself caught in the middle of an epic war between the ruling elites and the common citizen.
Bioshock Infinite will be released worldwide on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on March 26th. Find out more at the official site here.
Today John Riccitiello’s resignation as CEO of Electronic Arts was announced. He has been CEO since 2007 and his actions in this position have been controversial to many gamers and fans of EA’s IPs. At the moment, things are being handled by Larry Probst who was appointed Executive Chairman as of today.
“We thank John for his contributions to EA since he was appointed CEO in 2007, especially the passion, dedication and energy he brought to the Company every single day […] John has worked hard to lead the Company through challenging transitions in our industry, and was instrumental in driving our very significant growth in digital revenues. We appreciate John’s leadership and the many important strategic initiatives he has driven for the Company. We have mutually agreed that this is the right time for a leadership transition.” Said Larry Probst, current Executive Chairman.
Mr. Riccitiello has admitted in his letter of resignationthat he takes the blame for the financial short comings of EA.
My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year. It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable.
Perhaps this is a light at the end of the tunnel for EA. Maybe with a change of leadership, many of the problems consumers hate about EA will be resolved. Or maybe this is just cutting off the head of the hydra. It also seems that maybe him taking the blame for all of EA’s poor business might be a scape goat. He has been the face of many of the problems people have with EA, maybe EA thinks that if they change that face the hate will go away. Hopefully this is not the case, and business practices do change for the better. The best way for EA to get better business, it so do better business.
Today XSEED Games released the first English trailer for their localization of Killer is Dead, the title being developed by Goichi Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture who is best known for last year’s Lollipop Chainsaw. In Killer is Dead, players work as an “executioner” at the Bryan Execution Firm that hunts down and disposes of dangerous criminals and assassins all over the world.
The trailer gives us a glimpse at some of the English voice work for the game’s protagonist Mondo Zappa and a couple of other un-named characters. Currently Killer is Dead is meant to be released sometime this Summer on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
It’s been a very long time coming but Persona 4 Arena is finally making its way over to European shores. Zen United has announced that Persona 4 Arena will finally be released on May 10. Though don’t worry, Zen United is going to make up for the wait a little bit. Anyone who pre-orders the game will be given a soundtrack CD and a collection of “exclusive” digital artwork.
Persona 4 Arena was meant to be released in Europe in August of last year, however after various delays the game was then delayed for quite awhile. If you want to take a peak at our review of the game back when it was released in the US in August, check it out here.
