Namco Bandai Games have released a new trailer for the upcoming fighting game based upon the legendary JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle. The brand new trailer features every single JoJo protagonist to date comprising all 8 parts JoJo.
The awesome new trailer is also important due to the fact that it shows off Part 8: JoJoLion protagonist Josuke Higashikata for the first time in an animated speaking role as he has never before appeared outside of the pages of the manga.
You can check out all the fabulous gameplay of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle in the trailer below. Be sure to let us know what you think of it all in the comments section.
Are you a fan of the wild insanity that is Shootmania? If so you may be interested to know that the open beta for Shootmania Storm has launched and is now available for download.
The open beta for Shootmania Storm gives access to several of the games modes excluding Heroes, Elite Exp and Royal Exp. Also available are the majority of servers and maps. There is some limits to what players on free accounts can access.
You can download the open beta of Shootmania Storm at the official Shootmania website here. Be sure to let us know what you think of the Shootmania Storm open beta in the comments section below.
Remember when Activision released the Angry Birds Trilogy on consoles for $30 to $40 bucks a copy, and we all laughed at the possibility of the game selling? Well, Activision are laughing now, as Angry Birds Trilogy has now sold over 1 Million copies. Yes, even I have to give the devil his due, as that once $2 app has profited in a big way for the publisher.
With that said, this success is looking to be expanded upon – as a Wii U version has now been announced for the Trilogy, which is set to have some nifty features.
What you may ask? Well, here are some fresh details:
Completely recreated in striking HD with refined controls, gamers can play Angry Birds Trilogy with all-new animations and interactive backgrounds through 700+ levels with more than 150 hours of addictive gameplay. Angry Birds Trilogy: Anger Management, the recently released DLC pack, features even more content with 130 fan-favorite puzzles like Wreck the Halls and Birdday Party.
Oddly enough, I like Angry Birds. I don’t like it in a $40 “Oh I must have this kind of way”, but the thought of playing it on the Gamepad sounds intriguing, and for once with this franchise, I’m saying why not. The Wii U version is due out on an unspecified date later this year.
Merge Games announced a special collectors edition of Edmund McMillen’s The Basement Collection. McMillen known best for the indie hit Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac and was one of the stars in the recent documentary Indie Game: The Movie.
The Basement Collection includes comics, sketches, art, nine games, including the Super Meat Boy prototype Meat Boy, Indie Game: The Movie, and tons of unseen footage from the documentary. “I’m honored to have the basement collection as my 4th retail release with Head up and Merge Games. Its a labor of love that will be packed with physical extras that should make this edition something to hold on to, Its awesome to have so many of my games in one place,” said McMillen.
Pre order your copy at Merge Games hereor buy it in stores on March 8th.
Nordic Games’ RTS RPG, SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny, has a whole bunch more content to play thanks to the newly available DLC released on Steam last Friday. Adding 12 more hours to the SpellForce 2 expansion, Faith in Destiny, the franchise is fast becoming a sprawling universe for fans to further sink their teeth into.
At $3.99 or $9.99 with your season pass (with Flink’s Diary and the Golden Fool included as well) this addition to the PC exclusive Faith in Destiny allows you to play as a young man who has the fate of Eo placed solely in his hands.
Gennaro Giani, the Localisation and Production Manager at Nordic Games has assured fans the DLC packages for his company’s games are a direct response to feedback given by the fans.
‘Listening to what the fans want is very important to us. Each DLC that has been released has taken on board the feedback we’ve received to create extra content that we know players will enjoy.’
So if you’ve wanted to get more game that’s suited to your demands, now is the time to pick up The Last Stand from Steam.
Chasing Aurora Developer: Broken Rules Publisher: Broken Rules Platforms: Wii U (reviewed) Release Date: November 18, 2012 Price: $14.99 – Available Here
Overview
Broken Rules, developers of indie darling And Yet It Moves, have brought their sophomore title to the Wii U’s eShop environment. One of the curious things about Chasing Aurora is that it is literally only available for Wii U owners. With a focus on the mechanics of flying like a bird, Chasing Aurora hopes to draw players in for a party game that will keep up to five players soaring for hours. Does it own the skies, or should its wings have been clipped? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The concept of Chasing Aurora is beautiful in its simplicity. You control a bird as it takes to the skies. There are five super hero-looking fowls to choose from: Fink, Fex, Ruth, Storm, or Solitude. Players can fly around, flap their wings to gain speed, or tuck their wings in and dive to escape a sticky situation or give chase.
The controls themselves feel spot on. Our fine feathered friends glide through the air, turn, dive, bank, and otherwise ride the wind with a responsiveness that most games only hope for. The problems with Chasing Aurora, though, have nothing to do with how the game controls.
First and foremost let me caution you. Chasing Aurora was released with the intention of being a game focused on local multiplayer. If you don’t have two to four other people that would want to play this game with you on a regular basis, it becomes very hard to recommend.
The game’s single-player component, Challenge mode, consists of a series of flight races. A series of gates are set up in a loop on each level, and players have to guide their way around the loop as fast as possible, picking up the occasional item to grant you extra time and a score multiplier. When time runs out, you are given your score and a score rating up to three stars, and then you move onto the next course. This entire mode basically boils down to gliding in a small circuit as many times as you can and other than that, nothing ever changes. It is, unfortunately, one of the most uninspired single-player components seen in a game in some years. With some more time in the oven, Chasing Aurora could have had a solid story and some interesting levels added to it and it would have been a fantastic experience.
The multiplayer component, however, definitely has some solid components built into it. The multiplayer mode, Tournament, requires at least two people to play. Once you have your crew lined out, there are three different game modes to play: Hide And Seek, Freeze, and Chase. Much like the recent Nintendo Land, Chasing Aurora aims to be another top asymmetrical game (with a single player that uses the gamepad having a slight advantage, typically).
Hide And Seek sets the Gamepad player apart from all of the other players. The team of players much chase down and capture the Gamepad player, who’s given the role of the “Golden bird” and a burden to tote around and protect. Of the three game modes, this one felt the weakest. It can make for some interesting moments, but several birds trying to catch laden swallow feels like a better idea on paper than in execution, often to the demise of the single player fairly quickly.
Freeze will take players back to the days when they were out in the schoolyard, playing freeze tag with a group of kids. The Gamepad player is given the role of an icy ne’er-do-well, bent on chasing down and freezing all of his adversaries. Birds on the team are frozen mid-air as soon as they’re touched by the icy loner, but other teammates can risk themselves in a bid to touch their teammates and unfreeze them. This mode feels quite fun, and anyone who’s played freeze tag as a child will be familiar with it immediately.
The final game type, Chase, is hands-down the most fun to be had with the game. Every bird is placed equidistantly away from a glowing orb. When time starts, every bird vies for the orb and, once they have it, they try to outrun all of the other players. Each bird is given 3 lives and, once they’ve been outrun and are off-screen for three seconds, they lose a life. The last player standing is the survivor. This mode will create a lot of screams and yells as players get away with the orb or have a near miss at a steal attempt. This is the single best game mode on the entire package.
The problem with Tournament mode is that you have to have at least two players present to enjoy it. An artificial intelligence or online play could have gone a long way toward adding some real value to this package. It’s also disappointing that each Tournament is actually broken into every game type, so playing the games you’re really not interested in isn’t an option unless you want to keep replaying the tutorials.
Visuals & Audio Chasing Aurora‘s art style is fantastic, hands down. The world looks like a light-hearted stage made of brightly colored paper craft. The character designs are also phenomenal. Each of the five characters look like little avian paper mache super heroes. The environments are vibrant and inviting. Character animation, as simple as it is, looks so fluid that it really feels like you’re watching birds swoop and dive through the environment, riding the wind as they maneuver through the air. All around, the game is a joy to look at, really making you question how people could argue that “video games aren’t art.” The devs at Broken Rules knew what they were doing when designing the look of this game.
While the soundtrack does have one or two catchy tunes, there isn’t really much more to brag on as far as the audio goes. The sound effects work to great effect, with the exception of one obnoxious sound that signifies you extending your time on the single-player component – and if you’re playing that mode, you’ll be hearing that sound effect a lot. It’s also worth noting that music will only come from the television – not the Gamepad, which can be a bit disappointing.
Overall
While Chasing Aurora is a beautiful game with what felt like tremendous potential, it ultimately falls short. The complete lack of any solid single player element and no online or AI components for the multiplayer mode really hamstring the game. If you have a group of four or five people together, Chasing Aurora can certainly provide some frantic, exciting times, but in the end it’s hard to recommend what feels like an incomplete product in a marketplace where, limited though it may be, much better experiences exist.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The first ever trailer for Mortal Kombat: Legacy II has arrived over at Machinima, and it’s looking… “OUTSTANDING!” Sorry, is it that obvious I’m a big MK fan?…
Kevin Tancharoen’s resume may not have screamed blood, guts and violence, but he proved his status as a passionate and knowledgeable fan with the great first season, which also debuted exclusively on Machinima in 2011. Now, Season 2 is looking even more promising. The trailer, which you can view below, gives us a first glimpse at most of the previously announced characters who are to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament, and marks the much anticipated reprisal of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the character Shang Tsung after his iconic portrayal of the sorcerer in the 1995 film. He even says “it has begun!” again! Nerdgasm…
The web-series also stars Brian Tee as an extremely unfamiliar and viciously evil take on Liu Kang, Mark Dacascos as the Shaolin monk Kung Lao and Casper Van Dien taking over the role of the enigmatic, charismatic show-boat that is Johnny Cage. Along with some other great talent – a few who are returning and a few fresh faces to the series – Mortal Kombat: Legacy II promises to be bloodier and gorier, with “Fatalities” inspired by the games to be a highlight (the blind swordsman Kenshi performs a particularly gruesome one in the trailer).
This 2nd season will be “koming soon”, but for now I must implore you to watch the trailer below.
Bungie’s next endeavour in the gaming world, their ‘Destiny’, has been officially detailed for the first time in a ViDoc entitled “Pathways Out of Darkness”, which can be viewed at the bottom of this article.
The IP that Bungie is allocating 100% of their team toward for the next 10 years(!!) will be making its way onto the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and “future-generation technology”, interestingly with no PC release in sight. One of the reasons this is particularly interesting is the fact that Destiny seems to be taking many an inspiration from the MMO genre, yet Bungie claim it is not an MMO. In this ViDoc, we can glean that there will be many of the classic MMO match-making and social aspects adapted – an evolution on the robust work Bungie did with Halo. There are even “Raids”, which MMO fans will immediately associate with the mission-type they are undoubtedly familiar with.
Destiny is, first and foremost, a FPS and Bungie admit in the video that they are drawing on their past experience with Halo and playing right into their wheelhouse. There is a “Story Campaign” as we call it, but there are also many other modes for you to drop in and out of, ensuring that there will always be an activity to grab your attention. Other players are encountered on the fly in this dynamic universe too, which must require an extensive networking expertise, but it seems Bungie have applied their decade+ experience with the Halo franchise in order to create something special. The promise of this level of social interactivity/dynamics is reminiscent of Guild Wars 2’s.
Below we have a gallery of new, official screenshots/concept art from Bungie. And again, please check out the ViDoc – “Pathways Out of Darkness” below that for your first really substantial look at the game. Let us know what you think about the game!
.hack//G.U. Trilogy Studio:CyberConnect2 Publisher: Hanabee Format: DVD Release Date: Out Now Price: $29.99 (Buy Here)
Overview
.hack// (Stylised title) is one of my favourite franchises ever. The series is a multimedia phenomenon that spans: Anime series, Manga series, Light Novels, Video Games and etc. The main setting of the .hack// stories are always in a virtual MMORPG called [The World] or one of it’s sequels. This particular movie takes place in the second iteration of the MMORPG, [The World R:2].
What’s interesting about .hack//G.U. Trilogy is that it is a retelling of the storyline from the three sequel video games: .hack//G.U. Rebirth, .hack//G.U. Reminisce and .hack//Redemption. Is it an accurate retelling? Should someone following the franchise opt for this version of events rather than those of the games? Make up your own mind after reading our review below.
Story
.hack//G.U. Trilogy follows the story of Haseo right after the events told in the third Anime series, .hack//ROOTS. In ROOTS, we find that Haseo joins a guild called The Twilight Brigade where he meets a nice female player named Shino. This is relevant to //Trilogy because it sets up the entire movie. So if you’re familiar with the Haseo character, you may find him to be a little more edgier than you’re used to, and you’ll likely know why. For those that don’t, this is covered within the first 5 minutes of the film. This Shino character that he has fallen for gets Player Killed (murdered in game by another player) by a character known as Tri-Edge. This is what sets the film into motion.
I mentioned in the above section that this film is a retelling of the three .hack//G.U. games that take place after the events of .hack//ROOTS. I felt that while the story was somewhat accurate to the events of the games, a lot of the story was cut or altered to fit the hour and a half or so running time that the film ran for. This makes the film seem very disjointed in some places, and even places some assumed knowledge on the viewer in the others.
I really disliked how some of the more important scenes were simply montaged over to make room for some Haseo and Atoli melodrama. Actually, talking about that, in this version of the story, Haseo seems like a much larger jerk than he did in the games. I mean, you can kind of sympathise with him to a degree. His girlfriend got owned in a game and is now in a coma and he is forced to play through this game to seek revenge on the player that did this to her. So he’s going to have this mean streak. However, in the games, he wasn’t so brutally closed off from other players. You saw him grow and bond with others.
In .hack//G.U Trilogy, Haseo is practically this brutal douchebag right up until he reaches this one point where he and his (new) love interest share a dark moment together. It is at this moment where his character literally does a 180 degree turn in personality and he becomes this compassionate do-gooder type that isn’t edgy. This is exemplified later on when his dark and edgy costume is changed up for a white and angel-esque costume. I would have loved to have seen Haseo grow during the movie, rather than have two scenes forcing the viewer to accept that he’s actually a good guy at heart. The games did it, why couldn’t the film version?
Of course, if you’ve played the games then a lot of the film will have already been spoiled for you, even if the events occur sort of differently. However, if you’re still fresh from .hack//ROOTS then you wont see a lot of what’s coming in the form of twists unless you’ve been sitting on top of the franchises Wiki. I have to say that when I first saw this film back in 2008 or 9 (I hadn;t yet played through //G.U. yet), these twists left me going “What?!” so they are pretty legit twists.
The story is definitely something I can recommend this film (even if they have changed Haseo’s personality in the most crucial way) for fans of the Anime series that have yet to pick up the games, or are unable to. The film does its job of ending the //G.U. storyline satisfactorily and is a great substitute for the games. It’s just not the perfect one.
Visuals
The visuals of .hack//G.U. Trilogy are its strongest point. I like how they’ve taken the look of the //G.U. video games and realised them in a much higher resolution. This creates a familiar feeling with the viewers whilst also building a much more visually impressive rendition of the events that are covered within the story.
[The World: R2] is a big game and it has some pretty amazing visuals. The film captures the colours and aesthetic of the game world brilliantly. I quite liked how it turned out. If there was a .hack// V.R. MMORPG ever made, I’d like it to have the same visual flavour as presented in this film.
What is really cool in this film are all the fight scenes. Haseo has a variety of weapon types at his disposal which makes each battle an amazing feast to behold. The only thing I would have loved to have seen fully animated is the PvP arena battles that take place in the games. These would have been the perfect fit for the style of this film. It’s just too bad they were skimmed over in a montage. A wasted opportunity. The only fight scene that I thought was a bit iffy was how Haseo somehow summons all of the weapons in the game in his last battle with Tri-Edge. This was clearly the director fellating his own directorial skills, rather than sticking to the lore of the game.
Audio
I would have loved to have seen an English dub for this game, especially if it had the voice cast from the Anime or the games. However, this isn’t to say that Japanese dub is bad, far from it. I quite enjoyed it, it was well done and if there was anything iffy about the dubbing, my untrained ears couldn’t find it.
However, the .hack// franchise has always been renown for its music. The .hack// Anime series always had a great background score that was always playing an appropriate sounding piece. The games had some amazing background tracks that fit the feel of scenes and levels. But in this film. I felt that the music was under utilised.
What I mean here is that for the majority of the movie, there is actually little to no background audio playing at all. There isn’t even ambient tracking. This was quite an odd directorial choice as this is a franchise that has always had an above par soundtrack. I still listen to the //SIGN and //ROOTS soundtracks. Is there a G.U. one? I wouldn’t know, but if there was, it’d probably only have three songs on it.
Extras
Opening the Extras section of the .hack//G.U. Trilogy DvD is like opening a treasure chest filled with goodies. There are some pretty good things hidden in there. My favourite of the extras though would surely have to be all of the spoof scenes in the Parody Reel. However there are also some other things to be found like: Promotional Videos (3), Special Program for Theatrical Release, Theatrical Trailer and Hanabee Trailers. What was also cool is if you open the DvD case, you’ll find some pretty awesome //G.U. artwork on the underside. Definitely a good release in terms of extras.
Overall
.hack//G.U. Trilogy is a pretty good adaptation of the //G.U. source material. Fans of the series will definitely want to pick this up, as would anyone wanting to know what happens after the events of //ROOTS but can’t pick up the Playstation 2 games. However, if you already have the Playstation 2 games, aren’t a massive fan and are content with how the story played out in the games; you’ll want to give this a miss.
For anyone else, definitely pick this movie up.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justive Studio:OLM Publisher: Beyond Entertainment Format:Cinema Release Date:February 16, 2013
Overview: 15 years ago, the Pokemon anime series first begun airing in English. It wasn’t too long until the first Pokemon film hit cinemas to great success. Here we are now 15 years and 15 films later at Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice (In case you didn’t notice the number 15 is important here). There has been lot changes in all that time and it is clear to see the direction that Pokemon has taken as a series since the days when Pikachu was still thundershocking Ash and Team Rocket was blasting off again. So has the series lost its charm or has it endured with the changing tides?
Story:
Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice is quite a strange entry into the Pokemon film franchise for a number of reasons. First of all instead of focusing on Ash and his friends, it primarily follows legendary pony Keldeo and his struggle against Kyurem the legendary dragon. Ash and company take more of a backseat roll in this film, simply tagging along for the proceedings for the most part not playing to great a role in the story.
On top of that, this film features more talking Pokemon than any to date, which is odd given that Pokemon traditionally don’t speak. This film features Keldeo, the three legendary Swords of Justice and Kyurem all speaking perfect English for reasons that are never explained. Long time Pokemon fans may find problems with that but for the children it is aimed at they are sure to find the idea of more talking Pokemon exciting.
The film tells the tale of the Pokemon Keldeo and his desire to become one of the legendary Swords of Justice, in order to achieve this one must be able to defeat the legendary dragon Kyurem. Keldeo decides against the wishes of the other Swords of Justice and challenges Kyurem to a battle despite being clearly not ready to do so. He suffers immense defeat which results in the freezing of his comrades and he runs away in fear. This sets into motion the vents of the rest of the film, which largely just consist of Kyurem constantly attacking an chasing Keldeo as vengeance for fleeing from battle. The end result is about an hour and 10 minutes of Kyurem raging after Keldeo. It isn’t exactly the most compelling story and there certainly is not a lot of emotional resonance with these characters and their plight.
While the plot is relatively lacking in substance, there is a fair amount of engaging sequences that hold things together, the chase through the city at night was one of the best scenes we have seen in Pokemon to date, it was exciting and well detailed. In fact if there is anything that this film has in abundance it is action, there is a lot of great set-pieces that are actually very memorable such as Kyurem’s abandon mine-shaft home and the battle arena he creates out of ice.
Ultimately despite its oddities, Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice is a very enjoyable film for all ages. It isn’t lacking in action and it makes up for its somewhat weak story with its constantly accelerating pace and air of excitement that you can’t help but be swept up in.
Visuals and Audio:
What really sets Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice is its stunning visual set-pieces. Not only does this film feature creative settings for Ash and friends to explore but it features some of the most unforgettable sights in Pokemon history. The city night chase scene in particular is an absolute stand-out. In fact the city night scenes in general are utterly gorgeous, perhaps the best aesthetics the series has seen to date. The arena that Kyurem and Keldeo battle in is likewise an astonishing visual creation. The animation and art on show in this film are simply gorgeous. The only dark spot on the visuals is the awkward looking CGI, that seems very unnatural alongside the beautiful standard art.
In terms of the soundtrack, this wasn’t exactly the franchises most impressive outing. There were times when the background tracks were noticeably misplaced and mistimed, creating some strange tone that did not at all fit with the mood of the scene. The opening and ending theme song while not necessarily being bad, are easily forgotten due to lack of a catchy hook and nonsense lyrics that have little bearing on the film. It was certainly not the most impressive soundtrack that could have been featured in this film.
Overall:
Sometimes we build things up in our heads so much that the reality can never live up to it. For long-time fans of Pokemon who look back on the early days with a nostalgic smile, seeing this film won’t do anything to recapture the feeling they once felt, but for the new generation of Pokemon fans that are just being introduced to the wonderful world of Pokemon, this is an admirable effort. It may not be brilliant, but it is a lot of fun.
At just over an hour in length, the film could be longer and its lack of the Pikachu short film that has become a staple of the series, is disappointing. If you can overlook any preconceptions you may have and just take this film for what it is, an enjoyable children’s film, you may just find yourself swept up in the fun of Pokemon Movie 15: Kyurem vs The Sword of Justice. Sure it isn’t that same Pokemon that it was 15 years ago, but in all that time a lot of things have changed; Pokemon’s audience, companies working on the series and even the world as a whole. Change is scary but more often than not it is necessary. Pokemon couldn’t stay the same, it needed to evolve, Pokemon Movie 15 is the result of that. While so much has changed one thing hasn’t – Pokemon still has heart.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
