Today Epic Games and Microsoft decided to dish out a double helping of Gears of War: Judgement news. First, Microsoft and Epic Games mentioned that over half of the gamers that played Gears of War 3 never played the first game in the series and because of this they are looking to rectify that issue with Gears of War: Judgement.
All launch copies of Gears of War: Judgement will include a downloadable version of the original Gears of War for free. Second, the companies also released the below video which is called “The Guts of Gears.” The trailer shows off some of the new missions, rewards and even the Smart Spawn system all narrated by Lt. Baird himself. Currently Gears of War: Judgement is set to be released on March 19th.
Big news for all you Resident Evil fans out there that don’t own a 3DS but are dying to play Resident Evil Revelations. The official Resident Evil twitter just let out a tweet that will certainly make your day! Resident Evil Revelations will be making its way to Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC on May 24th this year. The official tweet which can be read below, states that the released date of the 24th will be for European customers. A date for US and the rest of world will certainly be announced shortly by Capcom but we can estimate it won’t be any more than a few days after or no more than a week for everyone else to get their hands on the game.
Resident Evil Revelations is coming to Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC on May 21st in North America and May 24th in Europe. http://t.co/zQHsUzac
Resident Evil Revelations was voted Best 3DS game in this year’s Capsule Computers Game Of The Year Awards and rightfully so, with amazing gameplay, story and heart pounding moments that will keep on the edge of your seat from start to finish, I personally believe this is a great move by Capcom to share this amazing title out on all the major consoles so that everyone can enjoy it. Check our review for Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS here.
You can also check out the official announcement trailer below as well. Let us know what you think of Revelations making its way to a console near you. Is it a great move or a bad one? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Strike Suit Zero Developer: Born Ready Games Publisher: Self Published Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, PC (Reviewed) Release Date:January 23rd, 2013 Price: $19.99 (Buy Here)
Overview
Did anyone ever watch Robotech? I’m going to assume yes as it is not only quintessential Anime viewing for Otaku, but it is also essential viewing for anyone that has ever lived in this lifetime. How many of you wanted to be a variatech pilot? I’m guessing everyone ever. One minute you’re this kick-ass jet and then the next you’re a giant robot shooting up the place. Strike Suit Zero, I believe, is rather analogous to the Robotech franchise in that it’s set in space, features a transforming robot jet-fighter and has a multitude of space battles. But does that make this game fun? Read on to see my thoughts on the game.
Story
You play as the Earth pilot Adams in a war between the Earth and the Space Colonists that desire independence (sounds like Gundam, I swear this game is Anime inspired to the core). One day someone discovers an Artificial Intelligence named Control and a secret research organisation from the Earth forces begin research on it. After a while this Control takes a human host and designs the Strike Suit, the leading mecha-fighter featured in the title of the game.
In Strike Suit Zero, the storyline isn’t particularly anything difficult to follow as it primarily serves as a way to introduce a player to the mission that they’re undertaking, as well as providing some hints or background to the war that you’re fighting in. Usually you experience the story through in game dialogue before and after a mission, and sometimes in between checkpoints. However at points during the game, there are these cool cutscenes that resemble a motion comic in a way and have they have some pretty cool narration.
While the games storyline isn’t particularly challenging to the players mind, it is still pretty interesting when you start to uncover more and more information behind the Strike Suit and the Control A.I. character. I feel that for a game that’s paced as it is, the storyline works and never really leaves the player hanging. I think the developers knew the kind of game that they were making and as a result, weren’t inclined to make this a grand space opera with side switching, larger than life villains and the like. It’s a space-battle game and its storyline reflects that.
Gameplay
This is truly the bast part of the Strike Suit Zero experience. There is so much to talk about when it comes to the gameplay that its going to be pretty hard to talk about everything, so we’ll see how we go with this section.
The first thing I want to talk about is the games controls. What I really loved about Strike Suit Zero is that you can play the game the way you like. For example, if you’re a keyboard and mouse gamer, you can play it fine with the keyboard and mouse (actually it’s easier aiming the plasma weapons with a mouse, even with auto-aim enabled). It also supports controllers (I played with an Xbox 360 controller, most predominantly) and joysticks. The one thing that I found tricky with the controls though, was rebinding everything to my liking. It’s not that the default control schemes are bad (they’re really good), it’s just that I have preferences for some games. For instance, it was really unclear as to how to rebind each stick for the X360 controller and what each of the options do. I found that hitting the B button clears the stick selections and I think I disabled two of them to get things to read properly. You can also double bind some buttons, making accelerate and thrust the same button so you don’t have to keep your throttle up for a quick boost of speed.
So basically this game is a space combat game, this is not primarily, this is not your grandpas space trading sim with spreadsheets and automated drones, it’s a combat game. If i had to liken it to anything, I’d say that it was similar to Star Wars and Wing Commander games, but in the third person (there is first-person views, but no cockpits). A mission will generally see you battling enemy craft, destroying stations and assisting in the destruction of corvettes and capital ships. What makes this interesting is that each mission is something that you’re ranked on. Sure you can finish a mission and advance just by completing the level, but really, you want to be hitting those high scores.
Initially, when you start playing, you may find yourself overwhelmed on how to best approach a fight. Should you commit to a battle with your plasma cannons, is it best to hit that group with your Strike Suit’s Over Powered missiles? Should you do missile runs over corvettes or shoot at them from a distance? None of these are correct or incorrect, but how you play is important. For instance, sitting directly on top of a Cruiser while you’re in your Strike Suits mecha-mode will probably get you killed, however sitting on top of it from just outside its effective range and gunning it down with missiles might work better for you.
When I first started with this game, I would pretty much just charge into every fight and then get killed. While this was usually not the case with the regular fighters, this would almost always happen with anything bigger. It wasn’t until I started playing a little more smart, selecting the right turrets to knock out, combining different tactics for different situations and the like, that I really started – – not only surviving – – but seeing much better scores. And let me tell you, this game really rewards clever playing. This could be with weapon upgrades, suit enhancements and even additional ships (most of which can’t transform but have their own advantages. And hey, do well enough and you can have a nice spot on the online leaderboards too (I currently hold a few ranks on there, probably not for long after release though…).
As a game that rewards smart play and being difficult enough to keep you interested, I find that Strike Suit Zero is an incredibly well designed game from a gameplay perspective. I’m having a lot of fun with this and will continue to do so in the future.
Visuals
Strike Suit Zero features a really nice visual aesthetics that I can’t help but liken to a western design meeting an Anime feel. This is something that is noticeable down to the core of the game. For instance, have you ever seen a space Anime series? If you have, some of the Earth capital ships (like the Aurora, IIRC) look like they were inspired heavily by some of the more modern designs found in Anime.
I particular like how the designs contrast with the art style though. Everything in this game is clearly drawn in a much more realistic western style than its designs would otherwise indicate. All of the characters and the way the cutscenes are done are much more reminiscent of the realism that western works tend to strive for (especially in comics). I feel that Strike Suit Zero is a game that is visually inspired by so many different kinds of works that it has combined them all into this unique look that is reminiscent of many things but comparable to them only slightly.
It’s a very unique look that suits the game incredibly well. The art team deserves some kind of award for their efforts.
Audio
Outside of one particular track in this game, I quite enjoyed the games soundtrack. The theme that plays in the menu is very reminiscent of the kind of thing you’d expect to hear in a game set in space. Actually, it’s incredibly reminiscent of the menu theme from Freelancer, if anyone ever played that.
I like the way that the silence of space is reflected in the games audio whenever you’re not in a combat section of a mission and then when you are, a more fitting combat tune is slipped into the mix. It sounds like a space combat game, and that’s incredibly important for a title like this.
It also features a fully voiced campaign, with all of the characters within the game having their lines spoken. Out of all the voice actors in the game, I think I may have only recognised one of them, but I might be wrong. Having a non all-star cast was a good choice I think as a voices fame doesn’t detract from the character in any way.
Overall
Overall Strike Suit Zero was incredibly fun to play and it’s definitely something that I’m going to continue to play. On the whole, this is a game that will appeal majorly to Mecha fans and Space Combat and Dog-fighting fans, while others may find a reason to love the genre with this title.
Karateka Developer:Liquid Entertainment Publisher: D3 Publisher Platforms: iPad (Reviewed), iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade Release Date: January 11th, 2013 (iOS), November 2012 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) Price: $2.99 Get it Here
Overview
Karateka was Jordan Mechner’s video game debut in 1984, programmed in his dorm room for the old Apple II. Since then, Mechner has been busy with the Prince of Persia series and writing graphic novels and screenplays. He has returned to his first game Karateka with a modern rhythm based remake.
Story
The evil leader Akuma reassumes his role as the ultimate villain, kidnapping Mariko who happens to have the talent of making every straight man in eye sight of her fall madly in love. Three heroes have chosen to step up to rescue the Mariko, Mariko’s One True Love, a monk, and a brute. The story is sparse, focusing more on the action than character development. The story remains true to its predecessor.
Gameplay
Karateka has now become a one touch game. Movement forward is controlled by touching and holding the screen to move forward. The controls are mostly solid, but there where a few times that my player closed in to engage in a battle and the battle UI appeared but the battle did not begin. It turned out my player was actually short a step or two before the fight actually began. There were a few other minor bugs, such as a point in the game where my character would continuously bow instead of moving forward in the fight. This was quickly solved by pausing and continuing the game. Fortunately, all the bugs were not of the game killing type.
Combat is a counter attack system where the player will have to wait for the enemy to attack then successfully block the last attack at bare minimum then return the attack. In theory, this system could work, but the visual and audio cues are completely hit and miss. The enemy attacks have a variety of different tempos, which would be fine if the cues that came with them were consistent. It would have to be assumed due to the extremely sparse tutorial that the correct time to trigger an attack or block would be when the bubble grows or when the sound of the last hit strikes, unfortunately there are several occasions where the correct time to block certain attacks is after the bubble grows and just as many times where no audio cue is provided for the start of the attack. For a game that advertises itself as a rhythm based game, the lack of consistent rhythmic audio cues is disturbing.
Visuals
The Unreal Developers Kit utilizing Unreal Engine 3 was used for Karateka. The game features bright, cartoony visuals inspired by Disney’s Mulan and Japanese anime. The visuals suffer some minor FPS drops on the iPad 3 here or there with some extremely minor jaggedness. The game seems to be more suited for lower resolutions than the humongous Retina display on the new iPad.
The animation is the star of the Karateka show. The fighters brawl with a mix of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Karate. Each of the three heroes fights with a unique style. The animations are smooth and flashy and an absolute pleasure to watch.
Audio
The sound effects in Karateka are good. There are a variety of pow, whacks, and thuds to keep things interesting. Karateka’s music is composed by Civilization IV’s Grammy winning composer Christopher Tin. The musical score is excellent to listen to, but struggles with the rhythm based fighting mechanics of the game. The rhythm seems to come from the beat of the attack which can only be heard during the attack. Playing Karateka is like playing Dance Dance Revolution with the beat at 30% volume and the only arrows you can see are the ones you’re about to step on.
Overall
Considering the game is 45 minutes long per play through and its controls are atrocious, I cannot recommend the game at its full $2.99 price to anyone. Karateka is an excellent example of poor gameplay wrapped up in pretty visuals and nice sounds. You’ll probably want to skip it unless you have fond memories of the original Karateka.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Loosely based on real-life events, Flight is Robert Zemeckis’ return to live-action cinema after a string of successful animated works. It has been receiving critical acclaim, particularly in the ‘lead actor’ and ‘best screenplay’ categories for Denzel Washington and John Gatins respectively, both of whom have been nominated for multiple awards, including the coveted Academy Award. It’s a drama that looks at addiction, conviction and morals. But does Flight sustain a steady altitude throughout it’s 138 minute runtime?…
Story
William “Whip” Whitaker is a middle-aged SouthJet Airlines pilot who is divorced, sleeping with his fellow crew member – a flight attendant named Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez) – and is a functioning alcoholic. Oh, and a drug user. So much so that he snorts a line of coke almost immediately after waking to pick himself up from a hangover. It’s definitely not going to stop him from doing his job though, as he gets dressed and boards for Flight 227 to Atlanta, Georgia.
He and the crew begin another routine day, which seemingly includes Whitaker dumping three mini-vodka bottles into his orange juice. However, a storm is brewing overhead. Whitaker buckles himself in next to a new face – Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty), his young co-pilot. After a very turbulent take-off where Whitaker takes command in “threading the needle” through the storm clouds, a sigh of relief is exclaimed by all…but, things soon go horribly wrong. Suddenly, the elevator blows and gets stuck in a downward position with the controls consequently dying.
Whitaker proceeds to expertly and calmly instruct his newly acquainted co-pilot in helping him invert the plane in order to level out. After doing so, the two co-operate in turning right side up again for the inevitable crash landing. The idea of inverting an airliner may seem ludicrous, but it was attempted, and apparently achievedby a real life pilot, the story of that fateful flight being the inspiration for that particular plot point/scene in Flight. He, unfortunately, was not successful in landing the plane safely. Nonetheless, it’s a spectacle to see it occur on screen.
Whitaker awakens in a Southern Atalanta hospital to news coverage of the event on the in-room TV. He turns his head to see good friend and SouthJet Airlines’ Pilot Union representative Charlie Anderson waiting on him to awake. Anderson calls in a few National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials who ask a few questions of Whitaker before alerting him to the fact that there were 6 deaths out of the 102 passengers – 2 of which were crew. One of them being Katerina.
Whitaker soon meets a heroin addict named Nicole (Kelly Reilly), who is recovering from an overdose, having a smoke in the stairwell. It’s from this point on that their lives becomes intertwined. It’s quite interesting how addicts always seem to find each other. Wanting to avoid all of the media outlets and reporters, Whitaker gets his buddy and dealer, Harling Mays (John Goodman), to drive him to his Father’s empty farm. Goodman was introduced in an earlier hospital scene, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of The Big Lebowski after witnessing his performance here. He is the comic relief of the film, which is needed for the film to refrain from becoming flat-out depressing.
Whitaker pours out all the alcohol in the farmhouse before settling in. Charlie soon contacts him and sets up a lunch meeting with Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), a criminal lawyer, who explains that the NTSB acquired a toxicology screen test result that was administered while he was unconscious. It states that he was intoxicated during the flight. This is the key piece of information that I must stop at so as to not spoil the finer details of the film (yes, that was all just the set up). This revelation has a big effect on his psyche, and naturally triggers some rash emotions.
Of course, questions arise about the true reason for the crash. Was Whitaker being in an inebriated state to blame? Was it truly a fault with the plane? I will say that prior to watching the screening, I was under the impression that the film would be more ambiguous about the truth, with the potential mystery being the focus of the film. But it is actually very clear cut to the viewer. It’s mostly a story-telling device used to be a catalyst for a great character study, which involves looking at morals and faith as much as it does taking responsibility.
Kelly Reilly does an impressive job as the hopelessly drug-addicted Nicole. Denzel Washington also (as you’ve probably ascertained) does an amazing job here. It is one of the very best performances of his long and remarkable career. He’s also a very realistic and believable drunk, although I don’t necessarily know if that’s a compliment…In all seriousness, actors always speak on how hard it is to play a convincing drunk. I can see others being concerned with the possible interpretation that drug use is being trivialised by Whitaker using cocaine as a positive, such as to get himself straightened out. I, however, understood it’s purposes within the context of the film.
Visuals
Flight is a well-shot film, but being a drama, you’re not going to see much in the way of flashy, exciting visuals. Outside of the turbulent cockpit/cabin scenes and the subsequent nosedive, upside down aerials and crash, the film is, for the majority, a steady and consistent visual experience. Speaking of that plane sequence, the naturally claustrophobic space of the cockpit along with the constant camera-shaking and comparatively quick editing really relay how dire the situation is.
That scene was as arresting as it could be, and with the plane’s wing slicing through a church tower, it simultaneously set up the proceeding plot and metaphorically reiterated a major theme of the film, which is religion or faith. It may not have been the most deft of executions, but it spoke volumes nonetheless. One camera technique/shot I particularly loved was one very early on in Whitaker’s hotel, where he rolls over in his bed to face his bedside table, which has a line of cocaine neatly manicured. The camera, handheld, is placed across from him on the far end of the table/line. As he snorts it and moves closer to the camera, we track forward into him, creating a feeling of acceleration.
Audio
The soundtrack to Flight is a mix of licensed tracks along with some harrowing piano pieces from Alan Silvestri. The piano plays during the sadder scenes, but also at the very beginning of the film until the opening shot comes in, which really foreshadows what the tone of the film, overall, will be. “Opening” as it’s titled on the official score, is a simple ascending two-note, played across various octaves, that hits you in your core with it’s harmonious, yet strangely non-uplifting sound – which becomes a consistent musical motif/theme for Whitaker.
The rest of the score is equally as effective and affecting, while the licensed tracks bring a more upbeat atmosphere to the few light and humorous scenes, with “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones and “Feelin’ Alright” by Joe Crocker being particularly well-suited for those moments. “Feelin’ Alright” was actually being sung by Whitaker under his breath in the cockpit and also played during the end credits, so it’s as much a musical motif as the solo piano.
Overall
There’s no doubt that without such a magnetic actor as Denzel Washington to carry the performance of Whip Whitaker, Flight would have never seen its own take-off. It’s a testament to how natural and believable a thespian he is as I found myself engaged from start to finish, enthralled by this character study. But not all the praise should be sent Denzel’s way; Robert Zemeckis has truly made a great return to live-action films here. Also, despite taking some liberties in presenting certain real-to-life details (such as the fact that a drunk, drug-abusing pilot in the modern age wouldn’t be able to keep his license with all the random drug-testing) John Gatins does deserve the 4 nominations he has received for the screenplay.
That being said, the religious overtones at times felt like a heavy-handed representation of the American belief system, but it did have it’s place in the story. Hell, if you saw a plane flying past you, inverted, and only 6 civilians died in the resulting crash, you’d probably believe in God and divine intervention too. If you can suspend your disbelief somewhat, Flight doesn’t take a nosedive, but instead soars high. Let’s not judge cinema too seriously. Flight is a great start to 2013 for dramatic cinema. I suggest you check-in at your local cinema come January 31st!
It seems that the French website for Amazon have already listed their pricing for the upcoming Sandbox Crime Simulator, Grand Theft Auto V. What’s surprising is that the game is listed for EUR 49,99, or 4999 Euros. That’s a lot of money. If we run that via conversion, we find that the game will retail for roughly “6316.24 Australian Dollar” according to Google.
Interestingly enough, the webpage also has listing for Watch Dogs and other unreleased games. Do you think that this is legit? Check out the link here and let us know what you think in the comment section below.
During an interview with BREAK Max, Inio Asano the mangaka behind Solanin, What a Wonderful World! and other manga, revealed that he wants a sex change. Asano is known for his honest portrayal of life through his unique world-view in his manga and it would come as no surprise to fans of his work that he would want such a change.
He mentioned his fascination and admiration for transsexual model Ai Haruna, further stating that just wearing women’s clothing wasn’t enough for him. He also confirmed desires to date a man and even detailed his type of guy, that being one like actor Ryo Kase.
He went on to reveal that he plans on tackling transgender issues in his next work, however no other details on the work were given.
What do you think of Inio Asano’s sudden announcement of wanting to be a woman? Let us know in the comments section below.
Upcoming indie platformer, Luna, from Gillis Games is ending it’s Kickstarter campaign on the 1st of February. The team still needs around $6000 dollars before the end of its Kickstarter run, which ends in a little over a weeks time.
Luna: Shattered Hearts is a sidescrolling adventure that has an interesting art style and will be released in parts, with part 1 coming out soon. What’s interesting is that all Kickstarter backers will recieve early access into the games Beta test, meaning that they can also assist with development.
Be sure to check out the Screenshots embedded below to take a look at the game.
Electronic Arts Games Australia has made the monumental announcement that they will be releasing their first R18+ game since the rating was implemented earlier this month. That game is none other than Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel.
As you can imagine from the rating the game features copious amounts of violence of the heavy impact kind which makes it unsuitable gaming for those below the age of 18, however now that the R18+ rating is in effect adult gamers can enjoy all of the mature content that the rating has to offer.
Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel will be released in Australia on March 28, 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Leading game giant, Atari USA has officially filed for bankruptcy as of very recently. This new bankruptcy claim follows not only the USA branch of Atari but two of it’s subsidiaries as well.
The company best known for gaming hits like Asteroids has been doing financially awful for the past decade, but these past few years have only seen tiny profits, with them only seeing something like 4million dollars in profit in the last year. However, this fall isn’t entirely their own fault as their financing brokers, BlueBay Asset Management has since collapsed, leaving the company on its own financially.
You should all check out the full breakdown over on the L.A. Times website for all of the details. What do you think of such an Icon losing one if its main branches? How do you think this will effect the games industry and economy? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
During an interview with BREAK Max, Inio Asano the mangaka behind Solanin, What a Wonderful World! and other manga, revealed that he wants a sex change. Asano is known for his honest portrayal of life through his unique world-view in his manga and it would come as no surprise to fans of his work that he would want such a change.
Leading game giant, Atari USA has officially filed for bankruptcy as of very recently. This new bankruptcy claim follows not only the USA branch of Atari but two of it’s subsidiaries as well.