Today Namco Bandai Games Europe revealed that they will be bringing One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 over to Europe at the very least sometime in the summer of next year. It is interesting to note that the company did not mention that the PlayStation Vita version of the game making the trip overseas which means that that version of the game is still Japan-exclusive.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 follows the Straw Hat Pirates on a number of new adventures which follow the New World story arc in the manga and there will be multiple stages which were not included in the original version of the game, including the Skypiea arc if the screenshots below are anything to go by. It is worth noting that Namco Bandai also revealed that the first game in the series, One Piece: Pirate Warriors, managed to sell over 1.2 million copies worldwide since it’s release.
Namco Bandai and FromSoftware have released their announcement trailer first shown on the SpikeTV Video Game Awards hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. The trailer showcases the games announcement as coming soon and being in development. Players and fans of the original Dark Souls will absolutely want to check this out.
The trailer is quite dark in nature, showcasing the dark and turbulent world of Dark Souls. Players can expect this game to have a similar visual aesthetic to its precursor, Dark Souls. I’m just hoping they fix those horrible controls. Urk, what a turn-off.
Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion Developer:DreamRift Publisher: Disney Interactive Platform: 3DS Release Date: November 23rd Price:£29.99 – Available Here
Overview:
As the Disney song goes, “When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires, Will come to you.. If your heart is in your dream, No request is too extreme…”. One wish long-standing gamers though was too extreme, though, was for a sequel to Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, yet all these years later those who dared to dream got what they wanted. DreamRift has come out with a sequel of sorts to Castle of Illusion which adds gameplay elements from the Epic Mickey games, Mickey Mouse’s modern day gaming exploits. But is it any good?
Story:
According to the developers the story follows on directly from Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. Mizrabel is up to her old antics and the Castle of Illusion is back as she attempts to trap the population of Toon World for her own evil devices. Disney characters good and bad have been sucked into the spell and as time passes their presence in the real world grows smaller as Mizrabel grows stronger using their heart power.
As one of the only toons that hasn’t been locked in the tower, you have to retrieve your peers before it’s too late and they’re trapped in the illusion forever. Some of them are toons familiar to Mickey, some are friendly Disney characters not part of his universe, some are villains which Mizrabel is manipulating to attack Mickey who will need to be knocked to their senses before they can be saved; all must be brought to the safety of ‘The Fortress’ just outside the Castle of Illusion before Mizrabel’s handiwork can be undone.
Gameplay:
It’s a 2D side-scrolling plat former like Castle of Illusion but with renewed focus on action, because as well as Mickey’s bottom bash attack, he can now do a spin attack and use his paint and thinner. Paint, thinner and the spin attack were all introduced by the Epic Mickey series, but as it’s on a handheld, Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion has its own variation of these. Spin attack works much the same, but the paint and thinner are flung as blobs as a projectile attack, rather than the constant stream of the console version. Like the console versions, you don’t have limitless supply of paint and thinner – their levels are represented by individual gauges that recharge over time.
The other use of paint and thinner is to create and destroy in-world objects, but under a totally new system to the console versions. The way it works in Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion is, using the two screens of the 3DS, when you see something that can be interacted with using the magic paintbrush on the bottom screen, you can touch it with the stylus, which pauses the action on the top screen and prompts a mini-game where you have to trace the given lines of the object as well as you can.
The quality of your drawing determines the quality of the object you create, meaning if you are slapdash with your brush (stylus) strokes, the platform you painted so you could climb higher could have spikes on it, or the cannon you formed could be as likely to hinder you as help you. It’s a clever idea and one that I haven’t seen before. On the other hand, the constant stopping and starting of gameplay to trace an outline of something doesn’t do wonders for the pace of the game. Gameplay never flows freely due to the constant interruption of having to draw something, often whether you want to or not because the outline in question is the patch of floor you need to progress through a level.
In other areas the game doesn’t flow smoothly either. It’s a linear, up and down, straight lines, make-your-way-to-the-exit affair, with decent boss battles at certain points along the road. Unfortunately, the developers have tried to make the aforementioned safe house “The Fortress” a hub world, encouraging you to go back after each complete level to make sure your latest rescuee is settling in okay. They then set side quests for you to do which require you to back track through levels to find something of theirs.
It wouldn’t be such a problem if these quests didn’t often hold the key to moving forward with the story, but they do which means a lot of dull backtracking isn’t just for perfectionists but for anyone who wants to make it to the end of the game. This means that as well as progress being slow-going in the levels thanks to painting and thinning objects, in the grand scheme of things the game ticks along at a pedestrian pace.
Initially, as the game goes over the control scheme in the simplest terms, you worry the level of challenge stays in the hand-holding realm. Thankfully, though, as you go on it reaches a good level of difficulty so as to be enjoyed independently, leaving you to work out some stuff for yourself. Then it’s over as quickly as it began. For the game to be so short after such a long wait for fans, to snatch it away in this fashion just as you’re getting used to the finer points of the control scheme, is almost cruel. You think the pangs of Disney-branded nostalgia, the roaming through the worlds of the Disney back catalogue and the rescuing of familiar faces is all going to carry on, then before you know it you’re at the end.
Visuals & Audio:
The hand-drawn sprites and sweet music make the game look and sound deceivingly good. While the gameplay doesn’t quite match the visual and audio value punch for punch, it still deserves merit for constructing such a charming world for you to enjoy. The 2D levels have a nice sense of depth to them, even without the 3D enabled, and the effect of walking through a half-complete illusion so that one side of the level is castle, the other is Disney fantasy, looks cool. The dialogue is cute, with loads of little jingles for completing a level or a side-quest and, for some reason, the sound of Mickey dying is funny.
Overall:
All in all, it’s fantastic to see what is essentially a revival of a much-loved older series; in true Disney spirit, it brings hope to those who may have lost it and shows you should never say never. No one would have predicted a spiritual successor to Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and here we are. Sadly, the additions taken from modern Mickey pack some neat ideas but are ultimately the games downfall. Having to constantly stop the action and paint something separately on the touch screen means you don’t get to stretch your legs properly as Mickey. The backtracking spoils the rhythm of the game too; it’s uninspired and most probably something added to lengthen what would otherwise be a brief interlude of a game.
South Park is a major franchise and from the looks of things, THQ realizes that. You see, over the weekend during the VGAs the company revealed a very exciting looking trailer for the company’s upcoming South Park: The Stick of Truth title and today the company has chosen to release the finalized box art for the game.
The trailer can be seen below which includes some episode-quality visuals which could possibly be from actual gameplay segments, some elements of the game’s storyline, as well as a cross-dressing Kenny and the box art can be seen to the right (click the image for a very high-res version of the box art). Currently South Park: The Stick of Truth is slated for release sometime in 2013.
Today Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released the full trailer for Tomb Raider which was originally shown off during the VGAs this weekend. The video can be seen in its entirety below in full HD so those who may have missed it can check it out or those who may have already seen it can examine it closer now that they have a front row seat.
As for the video itself, it features Lara taking down a number of enemies with her bow, plenty of explosions and even strangling a guy with her bow. Of course there is also some drama as well to counterbalance all of the killing. But don’t take my word for it, check it out below and see for yourself.
Some of you may know that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is currently available for purchase at many retailers and on multiple consoles at this point in time. What you may not know however is that GameStop is now holding a special promotion where anyone who buys the game will receive a special limited edition Hot Wheels car.
The Hot Wheels car will be the same one that NASCAR racer Danica Patrick drives within the game and obviously will look similar to a standard NASCAR vehicle. Anyone who picks up a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii U version of the game will be given one of these diecast cars though it is worth noting that supplies are limited.
Today it was revealed by Play XBLA that Title Update 8 for the XBLA version of Minecraft will add “The End” of Minecraft which involves fighting against the giant Ender Dragon. Now it is worth noting that Title Update 7 still hasn’t been released at this point so there is still a decent wait for the Ender Dragon.
As for Title Update 7, players can expect to see a large number of features from the PC version added into the game such as animal breeding, experience points, enchantment tables, mushroom biomes, a nether fortress and even some potion brewing. It is worth noting that 4J Studios has stated that players will only need to earn 30 experience points to level up and to gain XP you can mine, smelt or breed things.
Blue a little too depressing for you? Or maybe you want a keyboard that can display a rainbow of colours to match your Roccat Kone Pure or XTD mouse. Roccat has released a new version of their Roccat Isku keyboard, the Isku FX.
The keyboard features off-white UV coated keys, 16.8 million possible colours in backlighting, 6 adjustable brightness levels, and the new updated Roccat Talk FX. The Roccat Talk FX continues the harmonious marriage of the Roccat Isku keyboard and the Roccat Kone mouse but now syncs the LED lighting to actions such as incoming damage or the start of a new round. All the features from the original Roccat Isku is maintained including medium height keys, tons of macro keys, and the Easy Aim button when used with a Roccat Kone [+], Pure, or XTD mouse.
Check out the new Roccat Isku FX Multicolor Gaming Keyboard here. Check out our review of the original Roccat Isku here.
Astro’s highly portable Astro A30 Audio System has been released in Australia and New Zealand. The on-ear headset is smaller than the A40s allowing for comfortable portable wear on the go with your mobile device. The system comes with the 2013 version of the world famous Astro MixAmp Pro to provide 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound and support for voice chat through PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. A full set of cables are included to hook up the Astro A30 system to the PC, consoles, and mobile phones.
The A30 Audio System is now available at EB Games in Australia for $229.95 AUD and EB Games in New Zealand for $349.95 NZD. Check out pictures and videos of the A30 Audio System below and find out more at the Astro Gaming website here.
Far Cry 3 Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3, PC Release Date: November 29, 2012 Price:$59.99 (Available Here)
Overview
Far Cry 3 takes us back to the jungle setting, only this time it’s to Rook Islands where an insane pirate named Vaas rules. Far Cry 3 adds a co-op mode – which is new to the franchise – to an already huge single-player and multiplayer experience. Taking advantage of a 2 month delay, the team at Ubisoft Montreal worked hard to provide as polished a game as they could. But, has Far Cry 3 improved upon it’s predecessors and delivered on it’s promise, or is it a far cry from perfect? Read on to find out.
Story
“In another moment, down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” Some of you may recognise this quote from Alice in Wonderland. It’s this quote, the first of many from Alice that feature, that starts off the campaign. It’s quite apt and communicates exactly what Jason Brody goes through on Rook Islands. You play Brody, who, along with some best friends and his two brothers, takes a trip to what he perceived as a party destination. Oh, how wrong he was…
A montage of the group having a blast (not a deadly one…not yet) plays, and as soon as it ends we find Jason and his brother Grant tied up in a bamboo cage, being antagonised by the villainous psychopath, Vaas. Naturally, they mount an escape attempt headed by the more brave and courageous older brother Grant. However, he soon pays for it with a bullet to the neck. Jason however, is allowed 30 seconds to run…ah, the hubris of evildoers.
Jason survives, barely, thanks to his rescuer – Dennis Rogers. Dennis introduces Jason to the clan/tribe known as the Rakyats and provides him with the resources to survive the island, at least for a little while. Jason’s first priority is locating his friends, but we soon see that the island has other plans for “Snow White” as he is later called. Along the way, Jason runs into some colourful characters, which is putting it lightly to say the least. Take Buck Hughes for instance. He was kicked out of the Australian army for some uncouth behaviour. After all, “his name is Buck, and he likes to…”
Without spoiling it, it’s easy to deduce that Jason becomes more attuned to the nature of the adopting Rakyat, and meeting their leader, Vaas’ sister Citra, makes everything much more complicated. We experience the development of Jason from a spoilt pretty boy, to a warrior and at the end of the game there is a fork in the road that has a potentially deadly end. It’s a great adventure, although sometimes it feels a bit too unbelievable. Brody is almost invincible (you’ll see what I mean). Also, I wanted more scenes with Vaas and Buck. Vaas is the poster boy, but he’s not as present as you would expect.
Gameplay
Far Cry 3 is packed with content. The single-player game is extensive, with potentially 30 hours + of gameplay to be had. The main missions are action-packed whilst providing great stealth sequences to vary it up. There are many mechanics at play here, and thankfully you’ve got a Handbook in your pause menu that features tutorial text/videos for many of them. Let’s go through some of the newer aspects to the franchise. What’s really cool this go around is that the island feels alive, thanks to its warring inhabitants (they come across each other on patrol, they will fight!), active and aggressive wildlife and useful local flora.
There’s a reason to hunt and skin animals, and a reason to harvest certain plants. Animal hides can be used to craft upgraded loot rucksacks, wallets, fuel slings, ammo pouches and the like. Requirements can range from one common goat ‘s hide, to one of a rare breed of an animal, like the white belly tapir. One of the first things in terms of crafting was improve my weapon holsters to be able to carry up to four weapons at any one time. Speaking of weapon slots, I don’t know why special equipment such as flare guns or repair tools take up one slot. They should have their own specials slot. I want to carry my grenade launcher too damn it!
The plants are harvestable for the purpose of creating different syringes that may enhance your perceptions/abilities or heal your wounds. Although there may be many types of plants, the ingredients taken from them are broken up by colour. Yellow leaves are taken from yellow flower plants, and so on and so forth. Syringes have their own hotkey slot that is attributed to the left button on the d-pad. The up button brings up the camera, whilst the right button can be pressed to throw rocks, which Jason seems to have an endless supply of in his pockets.
Something else that’s new to the series are zip-lines and radio towers. Zip-lines seem to be the new trend in traversal for games as it has been featured in Rage, here and the soon-to-be released Tomb Raider reboot. The island is pretty large, so it helps to get across short distances quite quickly, but there’s also fast travel, hang-gliders and a myriad of sea and land vehicles at your disposal too. Zip-lines also allow you to detach and execute “death from above” on an enemy, as well as shoot single-handed weapons while riding it down.
Ubisoft took a note from their other hit series Assassin’s Creed in implementing the radio towers. They work pretty much exactly the same as viewpoints; once you climb them, you disable a scrambler and the surrounding area and its points of interest will be revealed to you on your map. These are especially helpful in learning the roads around outposts so that you don’t blindly drive into one unprepared. Clearing these outposts allows the Rakyat to secure it as a safe-house, which holds an automated gun store. You can also fast travel between them. This capture will also result in a larger Rakyat influence and presence in the immediate area.
There are many collectibles and secrets on the island, such as relics and lost letters – which unveil the Japanese WWII history of Rook Island. There are many mini-games and side missions to undertake. The side missions, which include man and animal hunts, unlock on a bulletin board as you clear outposts. Completion of these unlock new skills in the skill trees early (although they can also be unlocked just by doing main missions).
The mini-games range from races, to knife-throwing, poker games and sharp-shooting, although they are superfluous and just in the game to allow a quick way to make money, which isn’t even necessary if you loot your enemies’ carcasses enough. The skill trees I briefly mentioned are broken up into three categories: The Heron – long range takedowns and mobility, The Shark – assault takedowns and healing and The Spider – stealth takedowns and survival. Every skill unlocked is represented through further ink work on your tatau – a tribal tattoo associated with the Rakyat people.
The co-op and multiplayer modes are a nice addition to the package, although I honestly did not spend too much time with either. The single-player story is where it’s at for me, however the co-op is intriguing because it’s local split-screen enabled (thank God!) and follows it’s own storyline and a new set of characters. Their names are Callum “the Scottish Thug”, Leonard “the Crooked Cop”, Mikhail “the Russian Hitman”, and Tisha “the Ex Soldier”. It is a 6-7 hour campaign on its own that focuses on the four “sinners” all venturing to redeem themselves after being cheated out of all their money by pirates, who leads them to Rook Islands, of course.
The multiplayer consists of 4 match types: Domination, Team Deathmatch, Firestorm and Transmission. The first two , as well as Transmission, are well-established shooter modes. Firestorm, however, is fresher as it has you set fire to two of your opponents nodes. Once accomplished, you must attempt to make it to a radar dish whilst fighting off the opposing team, but also the building flames if you take too long. Nothing special to be found here as it’s just an added bonus for me, and probably will be to you too. Not to say that it’s not well-executed enough…it’s just not the selling point of the franchise and this iteration. Although there is an included map editor which lets you create your own unique maps for multiplayer games, which may entice many to explore the mode after all.
In terms of negatives, something that became quite an annoyance was the fact that the hunting side-missions provide a required weapon as part of the contract, so you need to swap one of your current weapons to hold it. Then when it has been completed, if you come back to the point where you made the swap, your old (and probably more desirable weapon) will have disappeared. I want my magnum back! Also, successful radio tower climbs results in guns becoming free. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t just unlock new ones instead…what’s the point in acquiring money in the first place then? Other than maps, that’s pretty much all you have to spend money on!
Visual
Far Cry 3 is stunning, plain and simple. Playing it on the Xbox 360, I was pleased to discover that there is little difference between it and the PC version, outside of lighting enhancements. Granted, lighting adds a huge deal to the overall visual quality, and depth of field effects may also not be as far reaching as on PCs. But in terms of textures, colour and general graphics display, the Xbox 360 version stands up in almost every way. The island is richly painted, with the sparkling blue waters of the ocean surrounds, and the lush greenery of the jungles within. Thanks to better graphics capabilities, looking back at Far Cry and now at Far Cry 3, I appreciate the more fully realized island setting this go around.
Fire propagation was one of the most impressive visual features introduced in Far Cry 2 and it returns here, looking just as good. Player guidance is represented in vertical traversal with the use of vines/ropes on ledges, indicating which ones you can climb. Grass sways in the wind and plant leaves move with contact. The mood/atmosphere changes greatly and effectively in different weather conditions/time of day. Now, there are a few visual glitches that occur. The most common is the flickering of character models and objects, which can be a little immersion breaking when it happens. Jason’s hands also grab onto thin air when climbing and in some places foliage magically floats in mid air. But with a game that looks this good, I can let these tiny criticisms slide.
Audio
The music/score behind Far Cry 3 is kind of confusing. There are moments of exploration where this upbeat, tension-filled track plays. It makes you feel like an enemy is about to pop up, but when you’re in the middle of this deserted cave looking for a certain plant, it just doesn’t fit. Far Cry 3 is guilty of doing this quite a bit. Thematically, the score works some of the time, but in others it just feels out of place.
There was a mission, however, called “Kick The Hornet’s Nest” that involved burning marijuana plants, during which Skrillex & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley – Make It Bun Dem plays, which was a hilarious moment. The sound effects are solid throughout, aiding in making each gun feel weighty and impactful (I know I talk about this in all shooter reviews, but it’s important to me!). The voice acting is a mixed bag, with the standout easily being Michael Mando’s work as Vaas Montenegro. But we all assumed that would be he case after all the promotional material.
There were a couple issues for me, one being the fact that there is very little in the way of audio settings. There’s a master volume slider, but no separate slider for dialogue which is a big no-no for me in the sound department. I found that sometimes when the music picks up, the dialogue can take a back seat and becomes hard to hear. Of course the music can be turned off all together…they left that switch in! Also, main mission debriefs (that involve phone calls) replay after most deaths, re-spawns or returns from side mission.
Overall
Far Cry 3 does many things better than Far Cry 2, and it’s obvious that the dedicated team at Ubisoft Montreal, along with all the other Ubi studios that contributed, really took the fans’ feedback to heart when developing Far Cry 3. It’s not perfect, but it didn’t cause me to rage-quit after being stopped at every bridge/main road by re-spawning guard posts. The gameplay in general has been refined, the game looks amazing on the Xbox 360 (really no difference between it and PC other than the lighting) and the story actually holds your attention with great, crazy and/or sadistic characters such as Buck, Dr. Earnhardt and Vaas Montenegro…although I wanted to see more of them.
Its flaws are mostly negligible and have very little impact on the gameplay experience. With multiplayer and co-op included, regardless of what it may lack, and considering most would pay their hard-earned cash just for the long single-player adventure, Far Cry 3 is definitely one of the better all-around packages of the year and is a great FPS. If you don’t buy the game, Vaas might have to tell you the definition of insanity…
