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XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

Benjamin Webb
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Publisher: 2k Games
Developer: Firaxis
Platform: PC (Reviewed), Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: October 12, 2012
Price: $49.99 (BUY HERE)

Overview

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the long awaited reboot of the X-Com franchise that has been around since the early 90s. The franchise began its life as a tactical squad based strategy game and after some shifts in developers and publishers started to lose sight of what made itself so great.

However, this reboot of the franchise takes the game back to its roots as a tactical strategy game which both suit the game and pleases fans. However, is this game as good as its predecessor? Read on to see what I think.

Story

In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you take on the role of the Commander of the XCOM organisation. XCOM is an international threat response team designed to take on extraterrestrial threats as they appear across the globe. This means that across the course of the game, players will be fighting against alien threats around the globe.

Interestingly the game appears to be really light on actual story. For instance, I’m not entirely sure if the game is randomly generating missions or if there is some kind of script determining when and where missions appear. Generally speaking, players choose the option to scan for threats and this speeds up time until some kind of event triggers or a threat is located.

However, there do seem to be some kinds of compulsory missions that appear from time to time. For instance, it is your job to actually be rid of the alien threat and your science team will often request for you to collect specific aliens or obtains specific items to work towards ending the threat. There are also missions from the UN council that appear from time to time which might have you protecting a UN delegate or sending over supplies.

So obviously, whilst the game is light on story content, it is actually more of your own story about how you went about taking on the alien threat. I actually prefer this kind of storytelling method in my games, so this is a huge plus for this title.

Gameplay

As I’ve already stated, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a tactical strategy game involving a squad of units. What’s cool about this is that it is also turn-based, which gives you time to think and plan out your moves, as opposed to having to adapt in real time.

Generally speaking, any game that has you taking turns is often immersion defying in my experience. With XCOM, this was not the case. Not once did I not feel like what I was doing was un-immersive. It just felt incredibly right for this title, heck it even felt more right than the originals did (although, that might just be because I’m a product of a different era).

XCOM: Enemy Unknown really makes you feel like the leader of an organisation by giving you the responsibilities that a Commander would likely have (it’s probably less considering it’s a game, but the point is that it feels that way) if they were in this situation. As the Commander you have many obligations to take care of, not only to your own organisation, but also to your UN Benefactors. These take many forms but in regards to the UN, this comes in the form of Threat.

The way threat works in XCOM: Enemy Unknown is that for every action you fail to take, a corresponding countries threat will increase. However, you wont have the resources to take on every challenge, nor does the game let you. So this not only becomes a game of squad management, but it also becomes one of political management.

Another way the game has you feeling like a Commander is where you have to determine the layout of your base. Over the course of the game, you’ll get access to resources to expand your base and gain valuable perks for doing so. For instance, building more science labs will allow you to research new technology at a quicker pace whilst building more Satellite Room thingies will allow you to deploy more satellites to keep UN Partners happy and safe.

The final obvious method of making the player feel like they’re in control of an organisation is through the direct management of agents that can and will die forever. This is as simple as equipping them for battle and then ranging to something as complex as taking control of their movements in combat. What hits you with this is that your actions can lead directly to the death of your units. This is painful in that not only are you made to deal with the consequences of your own lack of intelligence but you will also lose that unit forever. Sure they can be replaced with time and effort spent in other units, but they’ll never be the same.

Overall I’d have to say that from a gameplay perspective, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the perfect example of a tactical-strategy game. Anyone picking this title up will become hooked.

Visuals

Aesthetically speaking, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is incredibly good. There’s just something about the game that carries this feel of excellence. It really feels like an alien invasion from a visual premise and this is shown not only through the alien opposition, but in your own units as well. Heck, the aesthetic is even carried across the environments and objects.

The visual style isn’t one that I’d call realistic, some things like weapons are much larger than they need to be and the male units look way too bulky. But for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it works. I think it’s important for the rebooted franchise to carry its own aesthetics rather than relying too much on its predecessors to carry it because it really needs to feel like its own thing. And it does, so the design choice has worked.

Audio

XCOM: Enemy Unknown really knows how to use its audio as a strength. Everything about this games audio properly reflects the games overall design. You can tell this quickly just from listening to the themes that play whilst going through your turn, or whilst in combat. Even the weapons carry a kind of brunt that would be missing from most other games.

What I mean with that is that when you start to use Laser and later Plasma weaponry you can really hear the alien influence in their design. The beams sound heavy, the beams sound dangerous and most importantly, they sound different to the norm.

I just can not sing more praise for the audio portions of XCOM. Even the dialogue carries along this aesthetically alien feel. For instance, the shadowy figure that you deal with throughout most of the game has this really voice that really sounds dark and mysterious. There’s just much going on with this games audio that you’d simply have to agree with me that it fits really quite well.

Overall

Overall XCOM: Enemy Unknown is THE PERFECT tactical-strategy turn-based squad game for the moment. It is clearly evident that the team behind this game knew not only what made an XCOM game great, but also what needed to be changed to make it better. They have somehow turned a predominantly FPS gamer into a massive fan and if they can do that to me, chances are the team behind this game might be the saviours that gaming has been in need of for the past 7 years.

10-0-capsules-out-of-10

Star Driver Collection 1 Review

Luke Halliday
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Star Driver Collection 1
Studio: BONES
Publisher: Madman Entertainment
Format: DVD (Subtitles Only)
Release Date: September 5, 2012
Price: $59.95 – Available Here

Overview:
Have you ever considered what the mecha classic Gurren Lagann would be like if it were aimed towards girls? Well you don’t need to wonder anymore as we now have the answer. It would be Star Driver, a very Gurren Lagann inspired mecha series with one crucial difference. It is the complete opposite of Gurren Lagann.

In Gurren Lagann strength comes from believing in ones self and all the manly bravura that comes along with it. Star Driver however is the opposite, strength comes from being a pretty boy. Why? Because girls like pretty boys, I think?

Now this wouldn’t really be a bad thing if it all came together and made for an enjoyable viewing experience, unfortunately Star Driver shoots for the stars but unlike Gurren Lagann it never pierces the heavens.

Story:
The plot of Star Driver is as utterly ridiculous as it is preposterous. The series revolves around Takuto the fabled Galactic Pretty Boy (Ginga Bishonen) as he pilots a mech called a cybody in an alternate dimension all the while attending school on some island off the coast of Japan. Now this could work but the problem with Star Driver is that it does not understand balance. It has so many different things that it is trying to do and be, but never can do or be any of them at the same time.

The foremost issue with Star Driver is that it really is intensely nonsensical. This would be okay if it didn’t take itself seriously or if it was at the very least self-aware but it isn’t. Instead it takes its ridiculous premise and 1 dimensional characters dead seriously, resulting in an overwhelming amount of cheesy nonsense that amounts to little more than an impressive visual showing. In fact if it wasn’t for the excellent animation and visuals, Star Driver would be unwatchable. Everything is just so over-the-top and not in a good way, it’s way too cheesy and doesn’t make a lick of coherent sense.

Characters are not developed whatsoever, have no definable personality traits and their motivations are non-existent. Why is this character doing this? Well because the plot requires them to. The biggest offender of this is the main protagonist Takuto, who essentially exists merely as a plot device to move one scene to the next. His actions are often completely illogical and make about as much sense the over convoluted plot.

Now not all is bad here, as I did mention the animation is great and the action scenes are well choreographed. But ultimately you watch a show such as this not to see pretty pictures with no substance, unfortunately that is what Star Driver amounts to. There is very little substance here and there is too heavy a reliance on the pretty boy aspect. I was left confused as to why being a pretty boy makes him somehow super powerful. There was no real apparent reason why this is the case, and explanations of why he is so powerful make very little sense regardless.

The plot from start to finish on this collection is just a haphazard mess with too much convolution, overwhelming amount of characters that add nothing to the plot, characters that exist only as plot devices, completely unbalanced and illogical story-telling and overuse of pretty boy transformation scenes that are only there to waste some time.

If you are looking for a deep plot that will engage you, Star Driver has nothing of the sort and it’s a damn shame because the concept is somewhat promising, but it is so fatally executed that it never gets the wheels moving anywhere interesting.

Visuals and Audio:
In terms of Star Driver’s visuals and soundtrack, it succeeds with ease. While the story and characters in this series are incredibly weak, the animation is superb and the art style is incredibly appealing. The cybody battles in the other dimension always make for visual delights and the characters are well designed. Unfortunately this series is all style over substance.

The soundtrack is great here with a lot of memorable tracks. The opening theme song is catchy and relatively addictive, while the ending theme is fine and all but seems a little off in terms of atmosphere.

All in all if you are looking for a visually and aurally impressive series, Star Driver is hard to beat, but there is just no real substance which ultimately causes it all to fall apart.

Extras:
Special features on the collection of Star Driver are in relatively low quantity with only a clean opening and ending alongside some trailers. This is a little disappointing considering that this release does not even have an English audio track, so you are already only getting a half-baked product as it is. I have said many times in the past that subtitle only releases are a double edged sword as they are great to get releases faster but they are bad because it excludes the casual viewer that wants to watch in their native language. Hopefully collection 2 of Star Driver will include more special features as this is really the bare minimum here.

Overall:
Star Driver is an interesting experiment, but in the end, a failed one. It tries to take mecha action and make it appeal to the female demographic but in doing so it dumbs itself down to an immense degree and treats its viewers like idiots. I’m not sure whether BONES thought that women were only interested in pretty boys doing magical transformation sequences and fan service scene after fan service scene, but this series is really insulting to not just women’s intelligence but anyone’s intelligence. It really lacks any form of coherency and exists as little more than a visual feast for the brain dead. Star Driver shoots for the stars and crashes and burns under the weight of it’s own nonsense. This one is only for those looking for something visually appealing, if you want even a half decent plot and cast of characters, I suggest you look elsewhere because Star Driver will drive you away before it’s opening theme even plays.

4-0-capsules-out-of-10

Of Orcs and Men Review

Joshua Moris
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Of Orcs and Men
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Spiders, Cyanide Studios
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release Date: October 11, 2012
Price: $39.99 – Here

Overview
When I first saw the title I asked myself, “did the developers name a game with a prepositional phrase?” Yet somehow the word “of” makes the title pop out and provides an unique identity for the game. Not only does it grabs the consumer’s attention right away, but it also presents a story of unison and/or conflict.

After seeing the first released screenshots, I knew that this title should be an amazing adventure. And given the constant bickering between characters in the preview trailers, I knew I was in for a ride. Will Of Orcs and Men generate the hype I was longing for? Let’s take a look.

Story
In a land dominated by humans with enslaved orcs, only a few tribes remain untouched by human raids. One such clan is that of the fearless Bloodjaws. This honor bound clan prides itself on completing any task and defeating forces with no quarter. Making himself at home with his brethren is one of our protagonists, Arkail. Known as “The Butcher” for his actions during a raid in his previous clan encampment, many stay away from this fearsome orc. That is until our goblin protagonist – Styx – was paid to assist Arkail in his journey. Could you believe when Styx found out that Arkail was a Bloodjaw he started mumbling curses?

Companionship in Of Orcs and Men can be best described as a love/hate relationship with more emphasis on hate. At times Arkail can appreciate some of Styx’s assassin expertise; however, the orc tends to view Styx’s sneaking around as a cowardly action. Styx makes the point that his ways have kept him alive for many years which could make him Arkail’s grandfather. Never tell a prideful orc you could be his grandfather because it will end badly. Kind of like how this guy said something wrong…

As each character’s story builds, we come to find many betrayals even between friends. But in the end they pull through to see towards their ultimate goal no matter the price of gold. *points finger at the goblin* The story pulls on your orcish heartstrings and reminds you that not all greenskins are foul creatures.

Gameplay
My first impression might have had a drastic change on the overall rating considering the gameplay. As soon as I gained control of Arkail in the first act, I became furious with the lack of “active” controls during combat. Now I need to explain myself. During combat you have actions, from a list of skills, that can be set in a sequence of events near your health bar. At the instant of assigning an action/task for Arkail or Styx, you no longer have freedom of movement with that character until all actions have been completed or cancelled.

In defense of Spiders and Cyanide Studios, they provided a slow motion function for players to access their skill trees to assign battle tactics. Let’s say Styx is making an automated normal attack. By pressing the down on the spacebar, you will be able to assign the next task while he is swinging his daggers. The slow motion can help by changing tactics from offensive to defensive or to even cancel an automated attack which can be done with the right-click mouse button.

As the game progressed I noticed a change in my demeanor when jumping into battles. No longer did I want to have active movement with hack-n-slash because I was in control of two players that required strategy to finish off foes – or dumb luck. Most seemingly intense battles can be dialed down a couple notches by delivering assassinations by our good fellow Styx. And when too many foes entered the fray, I decided to build up my stun moves with Styx and let Arkail do the dirty work of making enemies bleed to death. Needless to say Arkail fainted more than a few times in this process, but Styx was right in his proclamation of running and surviving.

Side quests make the title far more interesting by creating sub-plots and retrieving valuable loot. One such side quest offers you the chance to find your fellow Bloodjaw in the depths of “The Bowels” guarded by a crazed orc shaman. While the orc shaman may have been correct about the spirits calling out for “Mother Earth”, his methods were fanatical and included the torture of fellow orcs. Needless to say, you get to kill more than just humans. Extra loot can be picked up in side quests as well, and there is no shortage of uniquely designed weapons. Some weapons apply a high increase to damage and others give buffs to attributes with lower damage output. And some weapons just plainly look kick-ass.

Speaking of weapons, you are able to buy, sell, and upgrade them with the currency of Trade points. You may collect these points throughout your travels by looting glowing chests or bags and by selling off your equipment to a smith. As you pick up more weapons, upgrading them will determine which ones have higher damage outputs. However, items can only be upgraded once to meet maximum potential. The only negative side of using Trade points to upgrade weaponry and armor is that you cannot see the results before upgrading. When accessorizing you can see the difference between old and new, but upgrades will keep you guessing until you have performed the deed.

Leveling up plays a huge factor in the game. At first, players are limited to what skills they can use. By gaining experience through killing foes, Styx and Arkail can level up attain new skills and eventually upgrade the ones they have. For instance, Arkail’s Carapace ability can be upgraded to (1) increase the chances of counter-attacking deflected blows by 35% or (2) increase health regeneration by 50% when active. Thus, you could really have diverse character considering I did not even put points into this ability. Attributes are another contributing factor as they can be raised or lowered by the equipment you use as well as increased each time you level. One point is freely allocated for each raised level, so use the point wisely towards the type of build you want your character to play.

Visual
Environments are astounding and provide inescapable moments for players to truly experience a different world. The Island of Laments captured my eyes the most by presenting a summery autumn. Leaves are changing colors giving off a wide assortment of shades to the trees. Some leaves are even falling away from the trees to emanate an extra amount of realism.

One complaint that I have with the visuals has to do with the arrangement of the chosen weapon on Arkail’s back. While not yielding the weapon, you can notice a sizable gap between weapon and wielder. The does not adversely affect gameplay at all, but when noticeable it can be distracting.

Cut-scenes plague Of Orcs and Men like a virus. However, this virus is a friendly one that can be appreciated by a proper crowd. Throughout the entirety of the game, cut-scenes are detailing the story further and allowing you to piece together information about Arkail’s bloodthirsty history and Styx’s questionable goblin heritage. Therefore, if the cut-scenes are overbearing just skip them. Otherwise go grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

As your character changes with clothing and weapons, the same happens within cut-scenes. I don’t know how big of deal this comes across some gamers, but I truly appreciate the time put in to character customization throughout the course of the game. Of Orcs and Men impressed me on this front as I enjoyed seeing a bloody serrated edge and a bulging skull harness carried through each enacted scene.

Audio
Character content is surprisingly strong with the inclusion of profanities and volatile language. More often than not this use of language can give a game a poor flavor and downgrade the overall potential. This is not the case with Of Orcs and Men because you can expect more focused aggression from a being that has lost his tribe or is being used against his will.

Volatile language can be humorous, but the timing of vocal animations and voice inflections is a serious matter. Thankfully, the developers took their time to do a decent job matching up the animations with NPC’s and our protagonists to give an enjoyable experience. Seeing a poorly animated cut-scene is distracting and lowers game quality.

Overall
Role playing adventurers should have a feast with Of Orcs and Men. There is a strong sense of story portrayed throughout the title which uses many cut-scenes to build player knowledge and suspense. With plenty of side-quests, players can enjoy a deepening storyline that encompasses more than a struggling orc nation trying to survive. While at first the gameplay can see restrictive, the objective turns to a strategy based title that will have you planning the sequence of each battle.

I also believe there are some aspects that players may not enjoy. The cut-scenes may turn you off from the game because it may seem like you are watching a movie at times. The storyline may be strong, but it is completely linear with character choices rarely affecting the path of the story. And those looking for a hack-n-slash title will have to look elsewhere.

Diving into the role of Arkail and Styx was quite the adventure. For those that want to experience an honorable side of an orc and goblin while turning the tide on an oppressive human empire, this game was meant for you.

8-5-capsules-out-of-10

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club Laughs it Up on Steam

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Made by Japanese indie developer 773 and translated by Nyu Media and Tezuka Productions, famed for their translations of the Ace Attorney series, Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a slice of life adventure game boasting over 4,500 lines of dialogue, 12 conversation topics, six recruitable characters alongside many NPCs, and a full town to explore.

The Steam version of the game will be available on November 8th, joining Capcom Digital Download, GamersGate, Desura, Gamestop and direct from the Cherry Tree High Comedy Club website as official vendors. The game will be priced at $7.99 on Steam. Check out the demo here, our review of the game here, and the trailer below.

Incipio Announces New Cases for iPad Mini

Jamie Laike Tsui
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Incipio Announces New Cases for iPad Mini

iPad Mini has been announced by Apple and Incipio is right behind with an announcement of their own. Incipio is releasing four cases for the initial iPad Mini launch.

The LEXINGTON is a vegan friendly leather case that combines a rigid Plextonium frame for drop and scratch protection with a faux leather cover with micro suede lining. The case folds up for several angles for viewing and typing. Best of all, no guilty feelings about cows being slaughtered to protect your case.

The LGND  is an origami inspired case made out of vegan leathers with a magnetic front cover. The best part of the origami style case is the fact it easily folds into different configurations including vertical viewing modes not found in traditional Apple Smart Cover style cases.

The NGP is short for Next Generation Polymer. This case is a semi rigid NGP material that has a smooth matte finish that will wrap around the iPad Mini providing it protection from impacts and scratches without tearing.

The feather for iPad Mini is a Plextonium frame that provides a rigid impact protection while maintaining a 1mm thick profile. The feather comes in four eye catching colours, Obsidian Black, Cherry Blossom Pink, Cyan Blue, and Royal Purple.

These cases are available for preorder here and will be in retail stores in the coming days.

Hunter x Hunter Episode 52 Impressions

Luke Halliday
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Welcome to my weekly Hunter x Hunter episode impressions.  This week, I go through episode 52 of the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter. What did I think of the episode? Watch below to find out.

Got any questions for Anime Say? You can send me a tweet on my official twitter or alternatively drop me an email at [email protected]. I will do my best to respond to your tweets and emails as well as try read some out on the show.

What do you think of this episode impression? Let us know in the comments section below.

Follow Luke on Twitter: @LAHalliday

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Tales of Hearts R announced for PlayStation Vita

Travis Bruno
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It looks like another RPG is being given the remake treatment for the PlayStation Vita and this time around, it is from Namco Bandai’s Tales franchise. The latest issue of Jump Magazine, the scan of which can be seen to the right, contains an announcement saying that Tales of Hearts, originally released on the Nintendo DS, is going to be released on the PlayStation Vita as Tales of Hearts R.

The magazine states that Namco Bandai is planning to add a number of new story events, a new character called Calcedoni Arkam and the whole game will be voiced. Also listed in the magazine is a release window for the game, stating that it is set to be released at some point in Spring 2013.

Resident Evil 6’s free update drops in December

Travis Bruno
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Capcom has announced today that the free Resident Evil 6 update that they revealed recently will be released at some point in the middle of December. This free Resident Evil 6 update will provide an adjustable camera system which will allow the player to adjust the view to suit their tastes.

Also included in this update is an immediate unlock for Ada Wong’s campaign, now with co-op play, as well as a new No Hope Left difficulty setting which will make the game “insanely hard” and finally a few bug fixes and tweaks are also being applied with this update. Check out some screenshots of Ada’s co-op campaign and the new camera angles below.

SimCity March 2013 release date announced

Travis Bruno
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If you were wondering when Electronic Arts’ SimCity would hit stores then you will be glad to hear that the company made their announcement concerning a release date today. Unfortunately it will not be during the month of February like the company has been stating since E3 this year.

Instead the game will be released on March 5th in North America and March 8th in Europe, so the company didn’t miss their previous launch window by too much at the very least. Anyone eager to pick this game up once it hits store shelves? Or should I say Origin shelves?

Assassin’s Creed 3’s interactive trailer takes us to Bunker Hill

Travis Bruno
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It seems that interactive trailers are starting to become a bit more of a common thing, because now that Assassin’s Creed 3 is set to be released a week from now, Ubisoft has released a brand new trailer for the game which allows you to choose a couple of paths to complete your mission of assassinating Major John Pitcairn during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The trailer can be found below, though you will need to access the full experience taken from the trailer itself. It is worth noting that Major Pitcairn did die during the Battle of Bunker Hill, though it wasn’t to an assassin’s blade but a simple rifle bullet that did him in.

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