BulkyPix is starting 2013 right with a big sale on some of their best 2012 titles.
Hollywood Monsters is now $3.99. The game is a humorous point and click adventure game that is known as The Next Big Thing on PC. Check out our review of Hollywood Monsters here.
Hidden Runaway is $0.99. The game is a casual hidden item sequel on the classic Pendulo Studios point and click adventure.
Autumn Dynasty is priced at $4.99. Players will lead an army to defend the Autumn Empire and bring peace by drawing brush strokes on the map. The game is presented in classic Asian art that creates a unique style. Check out our review here.
Another World is $1.99 and will provide players new and old a chance to play the classic 1991 adventure. It features completely remastered sound and the option to play with the classic or updated HD graphics designed for the iPhone and iPad.
Jazz: Trump’s Journeyis $0.99. Players will get a chance to explore jazz legend Louis Armstrong’s life by living Trump’s memories. The platformer features a specially composed jazz soundtrack exclusive to Jazz: Trump’s Journey. Check out our review here.
Yesterdayis priced at $3.99 and is Pendulo Studio’s first attempt at the thriller genre. Pendulo is famous for their point and click adventure games. Yesterday brings player on a quest to hunt down the serial killer murdering beggars in New York. Check out our review here.
And finally, Kung Fu Rabbit is $0.99. Rabbit will use all of his most graceful Kung Fu skills to rescue his rabbit friends from the Universal Evil in this action packed platformer. Check out our review here.
It’s been a nerve wracking two months for David Braben and Frontier Developments. Braben saw an opportunity to participate in the revival of the space sim genre and bring back his classic Elite franchise. He coincided the launch with Kickstarter’s invasion of the British shores with a lofty £1,250,000 goal. The Kickstarter project had a rocky start, having a distinct lack of art, videos, or demos of any sort mixed with an extremely high backing price to receive a copy of the game. Worst of all, it began just as Chris Roberts’s Star Citizen project began to pick up steam.
Thanks to massive updates to address complaints and Chris Roberts himself throwing his support behind the project, Elite: Dangerous is now Kickstarted. The project still has a day and a bit left and is slated for a March 2014 release. Check out the project here.
European 3DS owners have quite a treat for them this week, as the classic Ghosts and Goblins is now available on the eShop. I don’t think I have to go into detail about the much loved (but still pretty damn hard) Capcom favorite, but for €4.99 (£4.49 UK) you can’t really go wrong.
New Art Academy also has some new DLC, with the Life Drawing and Paint Like Turner Add-Ons now out and priced at €1.99 (£1.79 UK). The strategic Tank Battler Touch Battle Tank 3D is out for €4.99 (£4.49 UK), while on the DSiWare front, Crystal Adventure can be swooped up for €1.99 (£1.79 UK).
Finally, a new WiiWare title has come by the name of Vampire Crystals, which puts the player as a bloodsucker in the fight against zombies for 1000 points.
Two new Chillingo published titles have just hit the iOS App Store: Swing King, developed by Zoink!, and Catch The Ark, developed by the Australian indie team at Playside Studios.
Swing King has the player touch and drag the screen, flinging the King into action and through obstacles as he ventures to save his furry Kingdom. Make use of rubbery, elastic-like physics capabilities as the King bounces around, gathering stars and power-ups on his way to his trusty unicorn.
The game features a kingly 92 puzzles and boss battles (one of which can be seen in the header image and in the gallery below). You may also complete a set of challenges during the campaign that will unlock new hats to decorate your liege’s crown. Swing King is available, right now, for $0.99 here on the App Store.
Catch The Arkis an addictive ‘endless runner’ title that chronicles the mad dash for survival of 3 oddball creatures, who were left behind as the Great Flood hit. The vibrant and animated journey has the group chasing down the Ark as a huge tidal wave approaches from behind.
You will have to avoid Krakens, sharks, dinosaurs and other monsters as you race down the rapids on your raft. Coins collected along the way can be put towards buying a hovercraft or other advantageous mode of transportation. Once missions are completed, you may check the Facebook-integrated leaderboards to compare with your friends. Catch The Ark is also available for the price of $0.99, right here on the App Store.
For a first look at the titles, check out our gallery below!
Get your shurikens and kunai ready! Namco Bandai have released a new trailer for their upcoming Naruto Spin-Off: Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals 3DS game simply titled Naruto Powerful Shippuden.
Naruto Powerful Shippuden adopts the comedy spin-off anime series’ chibi art style and unique sense of humour. There is a story-mode and endless battle mode for players to enthuse themselves with. You can play as both Naruto and Rock Lee and enjoy all of their comedic hijinks in the ninja world.
Check out the Naruto Powerful Shippuden trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments section.
Nintendo have released a brand new trailer for the hotly anticipated debut of the Fire Emblem franchise on the Nintendo 3DS, Fire Emblem Awakening.
The new trailer is 20 seconds of pure badassery that is sure to ignite a flame within the hearts of RPG fans. You can check it out below for maximum badass ignition.
Fire Emblem Awakening is scheduled to hit North America on February 4th and PAL regions in April. Be sure to check out the exciting trailer for this suitably exciting game below. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of it in the comments section.
thatgamecompany, as well as seemingly abhorring spaces and capital letters, aren’t ones for sticking to tradition. The marmite of the game developer world, their mission is thus – “Create timeless interactive entertainment that makes positive change to the human psyche worldwide.”
Whether that strikes you as refreshing or as pretentious, there’s no ignoring the fact that their projects strike a somewhat underused emotional chord in the gaming community. Flow and Flower both enjoyed critical success, but it has been Journey that has created the biggest waves for both thagamecompany and the PlayStation 3 and now the Playstation 4 now with stunning visuals in 1080p.
Story
The story of Journey is a simple one, told without dialogue or even facial expressions. Players are cast as a lonely, cloaked figure who finds themself in the middle of a desert peppered with ruins and other hints at a civilisation that once was. Far in the distance is a mountain top, split down the middle and shining a beacon over the wastelands. It’s unspoken but obvious – get to the mountain.
A handful of cutscenes triggered at ths shrines you discover along the way flesh out the story, but as with other games of this kind what you draw from the story comes largely from your own input. Luckily the surrounds of Journey – the music in particular – is incredibly effective at sweeping you off your feet and focusing your mind.
It isn’t the story of Journey that is particularly stand out, in the sense that the summarised plot is nothing remarkable. What it is that hits home is the world as a whole, and to bring things fully into corny territory – the experience and emotion that it all provokes as a package.
Gameplay
Walking is pretty much the name of the game in Journey. Getting to the mountain is the main objective, and you can also jump and – courtesy of a magical scarf – float. This highly useful garment can be extended by collecting glyphs hidden around the environments, and it plays into the magical aspect of the game perfectly. There are also cloth creatures throughout the world that will help you along the way, and these range from cute little kites to enormous whales.
Each of the diverse areas is ended with a cut scene triggering shrine, and the level design keeps throwing out new ideas to keep the simple mechanics fresh. The whole thing only takes a couple of hours to complete, and whilst that is very short in the usual sense, the moments that Journey can offer in it’s brief run time will burrow into their own special space in your head and nestle there for a long time. It simply doesn’t need half a dozen hours to make an impact, although you can always go back for more. Surprisingly there is some replayability to the game, with Trophies to collect and the potential for a very different experience depending on who you run into along the way. Players with differing skill levels and/or moods can experience the game at their own pace.
The multiplayer aspect of the game is a lovely experience, totally anonymous and unannounced – indeed some may have no idea that it exists until the very end of a playthrough when the game lists the players you spent time with.There is every freedom to do what you like regarding other players – you can forge ahead on your own or stick together. Playing along with another person changes things drastically, as you develop your own means of communicating to each other using the characters tuneful little chime (anyone know Morse Code?) . Chiming at each other also restores the magic to your scarf, so exploring becomes all the easier together.
The gameplay is simple but well executed, but Journey’s true strength lies is in it’s presentation, which ties every element of the game together in a beautiful and affecting way.
Audio & Visual
Journey is gorgeous, that is quite obvious to see. From the opening desert through a monstrous cavern to the blizzard struck slopes of that mountain, every landscape is striking and beautifully lit. Sand swirls around the player and snow sticks to your cloak – Journey may look simple in style at first glance, but playing it reveals a surprisingly detailed world.
The sound in this game is also astonishing, the music is beautiful and matched to your action, turning the game from one with the potential to appeal to some into something that will affect the many. The best way to experience this game is with a big set and good quality speakers/headphones, have a few hours to yourself and let it grab you.
Overall
It’s not exactly news by now that Journey is a fantastic title. thatgamecompany have created a nigh on flawless experience that wraps up the player in a beautiful world for a handful of hours and leaves them with some great and lasting moments. The soundtrack is a massive stand out that truly makes this game more than a flash in the alternative pan, and despite cries of “It’s not a game!”, Journey is most definitely worth playing, keeping, and remembering.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Pikmin 3 has to be my most anticipated Wii U title this year. Commanding those little creatures in Pikmin 2 was quite a relaxing exercise compared to the much more hectic first title, and it looks like that element of stress is looking to make a return. Now, before any of you think this might sound troublesome, a new interview with Miyamoto has arisen, detailing why this challenge was brought back.
“Our main aim in Pikmin 2 was to get rid of any stress as much as possible, so that it would be very user-friendly. Well, I myself couldn’t agree with that direction perfectly. That kind of nature of Pikmin 1 was exactly what I wanted to reproduce and I was actually intentionally doing so, so that Pikmin 1 could be a strategic game.”
“When we started creating Pikmin 3 I gathered the main members who worked on Pikmin 2 and talked about how I thought it was important to get back to the basics of Pikmin 1. Or I should say that half of my job at that time wasn’t just to talk, but rather to persuade them to understand what I intended to do and to agree to my idea.”
A more strategic Pikmin sounds fantastic here. In fact, my excitement is only growing as we await that mysterious release date. Check out the full interview for yourself in the most recent GamesMaster magazine, which you can order for yourself by clicking here.
Jack Reacher (read our review here) is out here in Australia from today, but we’ve got another Paramount Pictures AU release to look forward to this month in The Guilt Trip.
The Guilt Trip will be released, nation-wide, on January 24th.
We’ve been covering the build-up to The Guilt Trip and today we have the latest Australian poster for the film – which you can see on the right – and two new clips.
The first is entitled “Want To Go”, and is the scene where Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) ends up inviting his Mother (Barbara Streisand) on the road trip with him.
The other is entitled “Airport”, and shows Andy arriving back to Newark Liberty International Airport, where his Mother immediately embarrasses him.
Without further ado, here they are:
To keep up with all things ‘The Guilt Trip’ and Paramount Pictures in Australia, visit and ‘Like’ the official Paramount Pictures AU Facebook page.
Leading gaming hardware and peripheral designers and producers, Razer, have announced the latest in gaming hardware for Xbox 360 console owners. This new piece of hardware is a gaming controller build with the hardcore gamer in mind.
The Razer Sabertooth controller features many game enhancing things which will add to the experience of many games on the Xbox 360 console. The features are as follows:
Six additional remappable buttons – two at each shoulder of the controller and two removable rocking switches at the bottom – allow gamers to re-bind any choice of buttons on the controller for easy access. A built-in OLED screen is also included, which allows customization of the controller’s many features. Gamers may remap the multi-function buttons, adjust the analog stick’s sensitivity and save profiles: the display visualizes their modified preferences.
Outside of the technical additions, the Razer team have adjusted the look of the controller slightly to better fit the ergonomic needs of gamers. They state that it will fell much more comfortable and natural feel because it “encourages natural hand posturing for a more precise and comfortable gaming experience”.
The controller launches worldwide this month and will retail for $79.99. Check out the official site for more info.
The following is a quotation of technical specifications –
2 shoulder multi-function buttons (MFB)
4 removable multi-function triggers (MFT)
4 backlit Hyperesponse action buttons
OLED screen for feature customization
Non-slip rubber surface
Quick-release USB connector
Detachable 10 ft./3 m lightweight braided fiber cable
Carrying case
2.5 mm microphone jack
Approximate size : 110 mm / 4.33 in. (Length) x 154 mm / 6.06 in. (Width) x 57 mm / 2.24 in. (Height)
