Ubisoft have announced that today marks the release of their latest Assassins Creed game, Assassins Creed 3. The games has launched on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Personal Computer platforms today here in Australia. Alongside the colonial lifestyle simulator comes the handheld game Assasins Creed: Liberation. This is a handheld game developed for the Vita and is incredibly promising. The third instalment will also be launching on the Wii U when it releases at the end of November.
On the game Ubisoft had this to say –
“Assassin’s Creed III is Ubisoft’s biggest launch ever and the most ambitious game in our history. Today, we delivered on the vision the team had three years ago thanks to the tremendous talent and hard work of the many Ubisoft studios involved,” said Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer, Ubisoft. “They have refined the core tenets of the franchise while also implementing brand new experiences, such as naval combat, that will captivate returning fans and newcomers to the Assassin’s Creed universe.”
Not only is the game out, but there is also planned DLC for the future of the game. Players will be able to purchase aSeason Pass for the title to get DLC as it comes out for free, rather than paying premium prices for each. The DLC will also be available for the Wii U version of the game.
Be sure to check out the official site for more info.
Great news for Vita owners out there, a brand new action RPG is now available for your little handheld. To be a bit more specific, XSEED Games’ Ragnarok Odyssey has hit stores today and can be picked up for either a standard price of $39.99 or a special Mercenary version can be purchased for $49.99.
Ragnarok Odyssey is set within the Ragnarok Online universe which means many people who have played that game will see many familiar enemy types and even a few locations. The game itself offers over 20,000 different character combinations thanks to character customization, six different job classes to be played and four player multiplayer. To commemorate the game’s release the company has released a launch trailer and some new screenshots for the game, both of which can be seen below.
In case you didn’t already know, Konami’s Zone of the Enders HD Collection has hit stores today for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, where you can either pick up the normal version of the game or the Collector’s Edition, and to commemorate the game’s arrival on store shelves the company has released a launch trailer which can be seen below.
For those of you who may not have been paying attention to past news on the Zone of the Enders HD Collection, it contains Zone of the Enders (2001) and Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. It is worth noting that all versions of Zone of the Enders HD Collection also come with a demo for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
Today Aksys Games announced that they would be bringing the PSP game Hakuouki: Bakumatsu Musou Roku over to North America. This game, which plays similar to Dynasty Warriors but with a much more in-depth and interesting storyline, will now be called Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi and the company has released a slew of screenshots for the game which can be seen below.
Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi will allow players to play as Saito, Hijikata and four other main characters as they either play through the events of Demon of the Fleeint Blossom or rewrite history with an alternate storyline, changing the fate of the Shinsengumi.
Interestingly enough, the game will feature a “rage mode” which triggers whenever the player is at low health. This rage mode increases the strength of the player for a limited time. However Aksys warns that if the player falls into rage mode too often they may trigger a “particularly bad ending.”
Worms Revolution: Funfair DLC Pack Developer:Team 17 Publisher:Team 17 Platform: PC (reviewed), PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: 24th October, 2012 Price: $4.99 (PC, PS3), 400 MS points (XBLA) Available Here
Overview
DLC is a divisive subject. Sometimes it can provide interesting additions to a game, extend your engagement with it, or bring you back into a game you haven’t played in a while. Other times, it feels like little more than a grab for your cash – and the closer it’s released to the actual game, the harder it is to ignore the question, “why wasn’t this just included in the first place?”
As much fun as Worms Revolution is (see our review here), this first DLC pack was released barely two weeks after the game, so that question will inevitably sour the experience. But for the sake of objectivity, let’s put that aside for now and focus on what the new Funfair pack brings to the Worm War.
Visuals& Audio
Perhaps the most striking thing you’ll notice is the new landscape theme.The delicious-looking pink terrain conjures memories and phantom tastes of bubblegum and fairy floss, while the 3D backgrounds are busily entertaining, positioning the battlefield as an island in one of those Fishing for Ducks sideshow games.
Jutting out of this sugary landscape are thematically-fitting physics objects: chocolate bars and lollipops are your basic obstacles, water pistols can flood an area with dynamic water, boxes of prank stink bombs can poison worms and firecrackers may add some bang to your attacks.
A couple of extra customization options have been thrown in, as expected: your worms can now don a red clown nose or a masquerade mask, and can idly play with (pretty pointless) trinkets like a burger or an icy pole.
The carnival is as much about junk food and rides as it is about people flaunting prizes and yelling at you to “step right up”, so now your worms can be that guy, with a new carny speechbank.
There’s nothing exactly wrong with these additions, but again – why not just chuck them in the original game?
Sorry, I’ll stop bringing that up. For now.
Gameplay
Five new single-player puzzle levels extend the length of the game somewhat, and actually provide quite the challenge. I struggled with a couple of them: whether that’s because they employ a kind of thinking not usually required in Worms games, or I’m just bad at it, remains to be seen.
They’re designed with some interesting uses of the mechanics; one mission has you moving an ally worm to a safe space, where his only mode of transport is via the end of a teammate’s baseball bat.
Enjoyable as they are, they only really add an extra hour or so to the proceedings. After that, the only longer-term drawcards are the bonus weapons.
Of the four exclusive weapons the Funfair pack provides, three are series staples whose exclusion from the main game is puzzling. The napalm strike has made regular appearances since Worms 2 – calling down a blanket of fiery hell from above is quite an effective attack on a group of worms.
Less immediately devastating but potentially powerful in the long term is the skunk. Running along like a sheep, the skunk trails a gaseous green cloud that poisons any worms downwind. It’s a tactic that’s often ignored, but poison can be an extremely effective way to wear down a group of worms over a period of time.
Some people just want to watch the world burn. A powerful weapon favoured by anarchistic worms players, Armageddon summons a shower of meteorites that indiscriminately attacks friend and foe alike. It can end a game, or at least severely disrupt it.
Maybe your last worm is going to die anyway and you might as well take everybody with you. Maybe you just want to surrender the balance of power to the gods of fate. Either way, Armageddon will level the playing field – both literally and figuratively. After the rain of fireballs ends, the landscape will be a far-less-populated, pock-marked shadow of its former self.
Much less dramatic is the brand-new utility, the Knockout. Donning a boxing glove, your worm can sock a nearby opponent in the jaw, with enough force to make them pass out for a turn. It sounds like it could be incorporated into somebody’s sneaky strategy, but generally, it’s hard to imagine why someone who has direct contact with an enemy would use that instead of just dealing damage.
These new weapons are the most substantial element of this add-on pack, but you might not always be able to use them when playing online. Obviously, having only one player with the ability to summon an apocalyptic fireball storm is a bit of an unfair advantage, so as long as the host has the Funfair pack, all players will be able to use the additional weapons during that particular match. This means you’ll have to seek out servers where the host has the DLC, or of course, host one yourself. Potentially, finding a match where you can use the DLC could be difficult, but depending on the level of uptake, the problem might solve itself.
Overall
As I’ve said repeatedly, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the extra content included in the Funfair pack. Enjoyment of it however may be tarnished by its release within two weeks of the main game, and the unwavering feeling that these elements were deliberately withheld from the main game for the sake of money-grabbing DLC.
Today Tecmo Koei released their third wave of Dead or Alive 5 costumes with three separate packs that can be purchased. The packs that were released are the gym clothes, school uniform and a second special pack and each pack will cost $4.99 or 400 Microsoft points each. It is also worth noting that there is also a bundle pack that contains all three costume packs and this one costs $12.99 or 1040 MSP.
The Special Pack #2 contains a risque overalls outfit for Ayane, a sexy fuzzy bikini for Mila, a leather outfit for Leifang and a shirtless costume for Hayate. The Gym Clothes pack contains outfits for Ayane, Kasumi Kokoro and Hitomi in bloomers while the School Uniform pack has Ayane, Kasumi, Kokoro and Hitomi wearing school outfits. Large high-resolution images of each outfit can be seen below, with the special pack first, gym uniforms second and finally the school uniforms.
The incredibly famous game Okami has now been released with HD textures and updated gameplay on the Playstation Network. Okami was originally released in 2006 on the Playstation 2 to a staggeringly positive reception from critics and gamers alike. The game features a cell-shaded graphic style and centres on the adventures of Ameterasu, the goddess of the Sun. Players take control of her wolf form and set out to take down the evil eight-headed demon Orochi who has laid waste to the native land.
In this all new version of the game, veterans and newcomers will be able to experience updated visuals with several different graphical filtering options, Move Support for controlling the Celestial Brush and added Trophy support (including a shiny Platinum).
Okami HD has just been released and can be bought off all regions of the Playstation Network for $19.99.
Football Manager 2013 Developer: Sports Interactive Publisher: SEGA Platforms:PC (reviewed), Mac Release Date: November 2, 2012 Price:$79.99 (HERE)
Overview
It’s finally here. Where fans of football turn up regularly for the arcade-style simulations of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, the hardcore wannabe managers all know that the Football Manager franchise is where they can get a fairly realistic feel of what it’s like to be the man on the sidelines, watching as the team he has trained and prepared for weeks and months go out there and play using the tactics he has devised. The game’s player/back-room staff database is so in-depth that some Premier League clubs, like Everton, use it to do their preliminary scouting.
The question is: does the 2013 iteration of the franchise bring anything other than an updated roster to the table?
Gameplay
The answer is, unequivocally, yes.
For the die-hard fans who dig the total immersion provided by previous Football Manager titles, there’s not too much to report on. The interface is more streamlined and easy to use, but that’s not to say there’s less to do. In fact, in the normal game mode there’s added depth to the assistant manager systems and you’ll also be given cues on player body language to help you decide what direction to take in your pre-game and half-time team talks. It’s easier to use and everything you love (and a little bit more) is back.
That’s not what is game-changing, though. Where Football Manager 2013 truly lifts itself above previous titles is in the new modes it provides.
The first of these is lifted directly from the mobile version of Football Manager, but despite its uninspired origin, it does provide an inspiring refresher to anyone feeling a little burnt out from partaking in season-long campaigns on the football sim. Challenge Mode drops players into challenging (I think that’s how they came up with the name) scenarios where, as managers, they must scramble to achieve a short-term objected with the team they are provided. Objectives like avoiding relegation with just a half a season to go and navigating the squad through an injury-ravaged period are the go here, and these bite-sized (comparatively) modes go a long way to testing your Football Manager mettle, while at the same time avoiding you the usual, never-ending, months-long campaign of the basic mode.
The other mode is also notable for its ease on your precious time resources. Football Manager Classic is like playing the standard game mode, except you’ve got a lot less to manage. Your youth and reserve squads are left to your assistant manager, team-talks play a very diminished role, training focusses will be team-specific rather than centred on catering to your individual players, and press talks will come a lot less often and be a lot shorter.
Essentially, if you don’t mind not micro-managing every detail of the squad, this mode is for you. The focus is almost solely on the first team, and despite the streamlining, this mode has is, like the standard mode, never-ending. This means you can still establish a long and distinguished managerial legacy and become the next, albeit virtual, Sir Alex Ferguson – you just won’t have to deal in the every day mundanity he does. After all, you’re not getting paid millions to manage these teams, you deserve a bit less tedium.
I would be remiss not to mention the oft-praised Football Manager database. It’s back, it’s bigger, and Everton are probably still using it. It seems silly that something so detailed and immense is practically taken for granted at this stage, so I’m writing this just to assure you: it’s all still here and it’s all still ridiculous in scope and detail.
The Football Manager franchise was not really in need of a Renaissance, but Sports Interactive delivered one anyway, and boy did they deliver. Football Manager 2013 has everything a wannabe manager could want. If you’re into the game as it was, you have that option (with even more to manage), but if you were looking for a more bite-sized experience or a less involved style of management, then the game delivers exactly that.
Here’s a tag-line for you SEGA: Football Manger 2013 – More Choice Than Mancini’s Bench.
Audio & Visual
Football Manager is, at its core, a menu-surfing game. There’s no talk of light diffusion, depth of field, field of view, or low frame-rates here. But hey, the interface sure looks good.
In fact if I had to describe the interface of the managerial simulation in one word, it’s be “slick”. Everything is neatly labelled, ordered in a sensible manner, and easy to use. You can hardly tell this is a game with layer upon layer of databases, tactics, and other options that you could be sorting through at any given moment. The only issues I had with the game’s interface is the frequent stops in time-lapse that occur when it shows you results from matches that just don’t matter to you or your managerial campaign and I had trouble sorting through the immense amount of player dossiers at first.
The in-match audio for Football Manager 2013 is solid, though it won’t knock your socks off. For this outing the game is absolutely devoid of music or audio while you take part in hours upon hours of menu-surfing. It’d be good if the game could distinguish itself on that front as well as with its unique gameplay, but for now your own iTunes tracks will have to do.
Just a quick personal recommendation: while in menus, play some mellower music, and while your team is playing switch to your epic/workout playlists. It definitely adds to the overall experience to have the appropriate mood music.
Overall
Football Manager 2013 is a game of vast scope. What’s great is that it’s not just about options on how to manage your team anymore, it’s options on how you’d like to play the game. There are a few issues with how the game actually simulates matches in that it all does look and feel very “gamey”. Perhaps next year’s iteration should focus on that all important part of the simulation. After all, it’s not just Manager, it’s Football Manager. The beautiful game needs to feel like it actually would in real life.
That aside, this is the most polished, vast, and easy to use entry in the series to date. If you go on and on about how you’d manage Arsenal better than Arsene Wenger, now’s your chance to prove it.
Finally after being announced several months ago, players and fans of ThunderCats can get their hands on the ThunderCats DS game as it has just come out today for Nintendo DS. Featuring Lion-O as he uses the Sword of Omens to defeat the forces of Mumm-Ra on an adventure that follows the events of the ThunderCats animated series.
Lion-O doesn’t fight alone however, as he can call upon his companions Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, WilyKit, and WilyKat to aid him in his adventure. Each with their own unique attacks, Lion-O can call upon them to help him in different ways along the side-scrolling adventure.
Now available in North America, interested players can purchase the game for $29.99. Those wanting to see a bit more of the game can be sure to check out the game’s website HERE.
The latest issue of Japan’s Jump magazine contains some great news for fans of the Dynasty Warriors series. As you can see from the scan to the right, a new Dynasty Warriors game has been announced and while it may say that it is Dynasty Warriors 7, it is in fact Dynasty Warriors 8 for us in North America.
Little is known about the title at the moment, though the Jump advertisement is saying that it has only been announced for the PlayStation 3 and it will contain the highest number of military commanders out of all of the game’s previously released in the series. Dynasty Warriors 8 is meant to be released sometime next year.
The latest issue of Japan’s Jump magazine contains some great news for fans of the Dynasty Warriors series. As you can see from the scan to the right, a new Dynasty Warriors game has been announced and while it may say that it is Dynasty Warriors 7, it is in fact Dynasty Warriors 8 for us in North America.