Hungry for pizza? Well, you should be as Chuck E. Cheese’s Alien Defense Force has hit the eShop as of today for the 3DS and DSiWare service. This title features Chuck E. Cheese and Mr. Mulch working together to save Earth’s pizza supply from an evil King.
Oddly enough, this title is a shooter of sorts, resembling a game you would see in the restaurant. To see the game in action, check out the trailer below as everything is pretty…well, cheesey. Chuck E. Cheese’s Alien Defense Force is available for the Nintendo DSi Shop for 800 DSi Points and the Nintendo eShop for 3DS for $4.99. Check out the trailer below.
The first major update for the iPhone version of Hungry Giraffe has just been released. The festive season is well under way and with only 11 days til Christmas, Laughing Jackal has treated players to a Christmas themed update! With Version 1.2, players will definitely feel the holiday season with features such as a Christmas icon, Christmas lights, festive food, Santa hats and a Christmassy Reindeer skin for the hungry giraffe!
Hungry Giraffe was originally released as a PlayStation mini. It was downloaded more than 100,000 times worldwide and received positive reviews. PlayStation Official Magazine UK gave it a rating of 10/10 saying, “Hungry Giraffe is so addictive that it’s likely to make you miss your stop on the bus and not really care. ” In the game, you navigate the giraffe through the sky, which is littered with food for it to eat, but also taking extra care due to hazards floating about. The giraffe is very hungry so make sure you feed it well!
Hungry Giraffe is available on the App Store for free.
Sequel to the award winning Company of Heroes from Relic Games and THQ, Company of Heroes 2, has just had an awesome new trailer released that showcases the awesome online multiplayer functionality of the game.
The trailer seems to follow a team of players, or one player commanding a bunch of units, that each have their own role on the battlefield. Working these elements together, the Russian team was able to take the advantage and defeat their opponents.
In an odd move, the trailer features a low-key electronic music track, rather than a more authentic sounding tune. It’ll be interesting to see where this game goes.
On the 11th of December, here in Sydney, Australia, we game journalists were treated to a special event organised to preview and celebrate the coming year of releases from EA.
Several studios in Luxe Studios were rented out, for interview spaces and the main floor. Fellow Capsule Computers editor Jessica Barabas-Bui and I, although arriving at different times, initially made the mistake of walking up the stairs as we followed the sounds of chatter and conversation. But it was painfully clear that we were walking to the wrong room as everyone was dressed in formal wear, with champaign glasses being handed out at the entrance. “Yeah, this isn’t for us”, I said to myself.
After making our way back downstairs to find the correct studio, the team was still preparing the space. After a very short wait, everybody started to file in. First impressions were that EA did a great job transforming the space. Aside from the game set-ups, there was a hot-dog stand, free drinks, a photo booth (with a SimCity backdrop) and a massage station! Oh, and beanbag chairs…swag! Games available for hands-on time were SimCity, Fuse, Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3. Army Of Two: Devil’s Cartel was also going to be displayed in a hands-off play-through however we missed it (probably occurred during our interviews).
We had to give SimCity a go first; Jess was super excited to play it, and her hands-on preview should be up shortly, so keep an eye out for that. After that, EA Australia’s Community Manager Jiggsy gave a nice welcome speech, inviting us to partake in the festivities and also tweet using the hash-tag #EAShowcase during the event. We then meandered over to some Fuse multiplayer action (on which there is an NDA until the 18th, so we’re keeping hush). After sucking at Fuse, I picked up the demo of the game nearest to me, Dead Space 3.
Unfortunately, the demo had been left at the half-way point, and our interviews got bumped up, so in the end I didn’t get time to go back and play through the demo from the beginning. However, my impressions of the second half will be up shortly. Which leads us to the aforementioned interviews. Jess got the pleasure of interviewing the Creative Director of Fuse, Brian Allgeier (who I also met briefly and seems like a really nice guy), while I had the honor of interviewing Mike Read and Jason Haber, Producers of Crysis 3 and SimCity respectively. The Fuse interview will be up in the coming days, while you can read the Crysis 3 and SimCity ones right now.
After our successful talks, we went back to gaming. All that was left was Crysis 3. Crysis 3 had 4 PC stations set up for a single-player demo, and 10 Xbox 360 stations set up for system linked multiplayer. Now, I am a noob when it comes to using a keyboard and mouse…I admit it. So I absolutely bombed at Crysis 3’s single-player demo. So much so that I can’t even give a hands-on about it; that’s how quickly I died. The multiplayer, however, was more up my alley. Both Jess and I jumped into Crysis 3’s Hunter mode, my impressions of which can be found here. But just for the record…I didn’t suck this time. Before the event was coming to a close, I was coming overall 2nd. Probably a fluke…
Anyway, the event was ending and I thought I’d get some pictures in, which I used in the article. I’m sorry for the quality (I used my iPhone). I of course had to cut out the screens. However, we did also get some (more) professionally taken pics sent to us, which you can view in the gallery below. All in all, a very cool night. Oh, and we got free t-shirts! I felt guilty standing at the table, sorting through all the sizes…and I STILL mistakenly took an XL-sized SimCity shirt! EA, hook me up with a M! 2013 looks to be a good year for EA.
Namco Bandai Games have revealed the first trailer for their upcoming sequel to One Piece: Pirate Warriors, simply titled One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2. The new trailer focuses on the Skypiea arc and in particular the battle with Eneru.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 has been confirmed for release next year in Japan and Europe. There has yet to be a confirmation for a North American release at this time however. It is being developed for Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.
We reviewed the first game earlier this year which you can see here. Be sure to check out the first trailer for One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 below and let us know your thoughts on it in the comments section.
The epic second episode of Marvel’s Avengers Initiative is said to take the focus off the green monster known as The Hulk and put the emphasis on the man with the plan Captain America.
Episode 2 will allow players to control Captain America as he combats a large quantity of escaped super-powered villains all the while trying to figure out who the mole within S.H.I.E.L.D. is and foil the nefarious plans of the Masters of Evil.
We previously reviewed the first episode of Avengers Initiative which you can see here. If you are interested in picking up this game you can do so right here on the app store. For updates on the game and Marvel XP in general be sure to like the official facebook page.
A trailer for episode 2 can be seen below. Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Sage Fusion is a point-and-click style RPG adventure for the iOS, featuring a story that’s told with the visual flair of a visual novel. It’s developer, Kidalang, is based in Indonesia and hope to release games with equal emphasis on gameplay and story-telling. Sage Fusion is their first title. Have Kidalang fused together all the right elements in realising their creed? Read on to find out.
Story
The game starts off with two spies, named Vientiane and Florence, attempting to infiltrate the very heart of the Neo Vatican; the headquarters of the Zeian Church. The infiltration mission does not go unmet however; guards descend upon the two, who survive the confrontation. Before things can move any further, the story switches over to our main protagonists, bodyguard Alvonse Brin and his boss, a wealthy trader named Marlon Ziglar.
Marlon was set to meet a very important client in Capistad, the capital of the Galactic Union, and so Alvonse wondered why his services would be needed; was this not just a civil business meeting? As you play it all out, you learn much about Alvonse’s past, get to explore Capistad, help out it’s citizens and ponder some philosophical and deep questions about human civilisation. Their story together may begin in search of a part for Marlon’s broken down coffee machine, but the two come to a much better understanding of each other.
And after the meeting finally takes place, the events that occur from that point on will entice you to continue on with “Chapter 2” once it is released. It must be said, though, that there is quite a lot of text to read through, and it slows down the game’s pace quite drastically at times. In the Inventory/Pause menu (one in the same) at the top right, the text speed can be changed, which helps. Also, there are numerous and repeated spelling and grammatical errors such as the line “there are so many stuffs here…”.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very simple and revolves around simply tapping points of interest, objects or people to move there or interact with them. Items that are picked up can be viewed in the Inventory menu, although they are simply listed in text-form with no imagery implemented, which is disappointing but not a major aspect of the gameplay, so it’s rarely used to begin with.
Combat also involves tapping the attack you want to use, which displays a quick description and its AP Cost, tapping it again to confirm and then tapping on the enemy you want to hit. Once the attack animation starts, a shield icon will fade in over that enemy’s head. Tapping it will break the enemy’s defence, allowing for a stronger attack. The longer you wait before successfully tapping it, the more powerful the blow.
The same technique is used while defending. Turns can be skipped in favor of saving up your attack power, which raises as you successfully defend against your enemies’ attacks. Items can also be used in the same way; by simply clicking the Use Item menu on screen, choosing which item to use and then confirming the pick and it’s target. These can range from Revitalizers, which heal your HP bar, to Grenades, which can be used against multiple opponents. Using an item does also require expending AP.
Visuals
With over 70 hand-drawn backgrounds, Sage Fusion has a great visual appeal reminiscent of a motion comic. The Galactic Union is well developed visually, as are the characters. The visual design is unique, although inspiration from certain Japanese RPGs could be argued.
The world is colourful with each distinct area having a representative colour scheme, such as the poorer Inner Globe being bathed in browns. I do wish that the objects you collect had their own visual representation within your inventory, which is very basic and completely text-based. That being said, the visuals are probably the best aspect of Sage Fusion.
Audio
The music of Sage Fusion thematically fits very well. Most notably, whenever the Zeian Church is encountered, or the Neo Vatican is visited, this great organ-heavy track plays that evokes the air of reverence, but also a slight sense of power and intimidation with it’s low keys and tone before it picks up. The speed of the music picks up appropriately during battle sequences, of course.
In terms of sound effects, I was a little underwhelmed. Barring a few key ones, the soundscape starts to sound a bit bare because of the lack of effects. Dialogue is all text, which is expected, but it would have been nice to hear a little signature greeting whenever you engage in conversation with each character. Just one or two words, nothing extensive. The game really would have benefitted from some further audio support in that aspect.
Overall
Sage Fusion has a meaningful story with some political and moral overtones that relate to the real world and our lives. Even religion is tackled. But its futuristic, fantastical sci-fi setting is a decidedly different world than our own. There may be some slow moments, too much superfluous text to troll through, consistent English/grammatical errors and a lack of augmentation through audio, but Sage Fusion has a great visual style, a nice battle system and is quite long considering it’s just “Chapter 1”. All in all, I recommend exploring the Galactic Union.
Ubisoft have released news that their upcoming Wii U platformer Rayman Legends will be published in Japan by Nintendo rather than themselves. This comes as no surprise as Ubisoft has usually had other companies publish their games in the Japanese market. Rayman Legends will release in Japan in Spring 2013, not long after the game is released in Australia and New Zealand on the 28th of February, 2013.
In anticipation of Rayman Legends’ 2013 launch, Ubisoft have released a demo for the game on the Wii U eShop for European users. To promote the demo release they have uploaded a trailer for it which can be seen below.
What do you think of Nintendo publishing Rayman Legends in Japan? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sony released a new trailer today featuring everyone’s favorite raccoon heister, Sly Cooper. A few of Sly’s closest cohorts chimed in to answer a very important question: “Who is Sly?”
In the trailer we are treated to interviews with Sly’s pals Bentley and Murray, and Sly’s love-hate interest Carmelita Fox as they each try to explain who Sly Cooper is to them.
Even more important than the question “Who is Sly,” comes another inquiry later in the video: “When is Sly?” The footage shows him dressed in decor spanning the centuries such as Robin Hood and a Samurai, which he presumably picked up from his ancestors.
With the help of his crew, Sly can be anyone, anywhere, anytime. Can you?
Check out the trailer below see Sly’s gang give you their input.
In news that surprises no one, the third installment of the Rebuild of Evangelion film franchise has made a lot of money, 4.1 Billion yen in fact.
The third film titled Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo has done incredibly well consider its only be in cinemas for about a month. So well in fact that it has eclipsed the entire total unadjusted box office return for it’s predecessor Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance which tallied in at a smooth 4 Billion yen.
What do you think of Evangelion 3.0 being a box office smash hit? Are you surprised? No of course you’re not, silly of me to ask. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Namco Bandai Games have revealed the first trailer for their upcoming sequel to One Piece: Pirate Warriors, simply titled One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2. The new trailer focuses on the Skypiea arc and in particular the battle with Eneru.
