Today Gust released a rather large sampling of screenshots for Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland which currently is set for a Japanese release date of November 29th. As many of you already know, Atelier Totori Plus is similar to the PlayStation 3 version of the game in every way, except it features a bunch of new content, some of which is shown in the below images.
As you can see below, new costumes and accessories have been revealed for the game, including a maid outfit, glasses and an Angel and Devil swimsuit. Also shown off below are some of the PS3 version’s DLC characters that will be included in the vanilla version of Atelier Totori Plus. Currently no announcements have been made concerning a Western release for this PlayStation Vita exclusive.
A new trailer for the upcoming hack-and-slash game, DmC Devil May Cry has just been released. In it we see some new combat and moves as well as the newly revealed Gauntlets finally getting a piece of the action, with only concept art of the weapons being seen until now.
The Devil May Cry series is widely popular thanks to its particular emphasis on style and looking cool while you’re fighting the many denizens of hell from the game (of which there are indeed many). It’s crazy mix up on traditional hack-and-slash being a well known trademark of the series. While fan reaction to Dante’s new look has been less than positive, I for one am very excited to get my hands on the game upon release.
Hopefully with the weapons and actual fighting living up to the huge standards of DMC3 rather than the miniscule ones of DMC2…
DmC Devil May Cry is set for release on January 15th 2013 in North America, Europe and Japan. If you’re hungry for more DMC info check out our interview and gameplay for DMC from Tokyo Game Show here.
EA and Criterion Games’ newest addition to their racing game collection, Need For Speed Most Wanted, has just laid out some new information as to what all will be included in terms of features for the game with a new trailer. Lone wolves and solo racers hold your horses though, this trailer is specifically slated for all those new features for multiplayer.
So what new additions are they bringing to one of the best known racing series in video games? Challenges for one, but cooperative races are another. From Drifting, to Near Miss, to Park Up where players have to ramp up and stop in various locations. Another gameplay mode gives players 90 seconds to try and score the highest top speed, longest drift, or longest jump. Even more in-depth, players can now switch out cars and parts on the fly to adapt to changing racing situations, without even having to pull into a garage.
Those are just some of the features for multiplayer, so players that want to get an edge right away can check out the trailer embedded below to see the near features in action.
The expansion to the highly popular free-to-play MMO, Lord of the Rings Online released today. Fans will be able to explore the largest single land mass yet available for the game. If you’re going to be doing all that adventuring however, you’ll need one of the many new Rohirin War Steeds available just for this expansion. As well as this, mounted combat has also been added in, which will drastically change the way you fight across Rohan, the country well known for its fierce horse lords!
“We are really excited to launch Riders of Rohan, our fourth major expansion to the game,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “This is our biggest expansion yet and we’re very excited about the introduction of the industry’s best mounted combat system, which brings a whole new form of gameplay to MMO players.”
Players can now level up to 85 within the game, bringing a whole new assortment of high end gear and epic skills to add their repertoire.
The Riders of Rohan expansion pack is available through the Lord of the Rings Online website and is available as of today in North America and Europe.
Cargo Commander Developer: Serious Brew Publisher: Digital Tribe Games Platform : PC (reviewed), Mac Release Date: 1st November 2012 Price: $9.99
Overview
Coming to a reputable digital distributor near you is Cargo Commander, a PC and Mac only title from Serious Brew, a tiny two man team from the Netherlands. It’s an arcade title of a platforming nature, with a little bit of strategy thrown into the mix with randomly generated content.
The aim? To survive your first day at work, to keep hold of a monstrously large coffee mug (it makes you move faster) and to collect cargo, to scramble through containers filled with mutants and mazes, drag it all home and level up to CARGO COMMANDER.
Gameplay
Of course the main aim is to traverse your way through the crates as quickly as possible, gathering all the cargo that you can before the containers are all sucked away by a marauding wormhole. Aiding you in your task are (put on an awesome man voice to say this) the Platform Drill and the FistCannon, which can drill through pretty much anything and be used to lethal effect respectively. Using this trusty man tools, you can drill through platforms and walls, fling yourself into space, whip around a container and drop in on the other side – assuming you don’t run out of breath first. The physics of the game is very neat and tidy, and some of the containers even feature gravity switches to add another dimension to play.
Burrowing into the containers, you never quite know what you’re going to find, especially when you make your own door! Monsters might lurk within, a labyrinth, an annoyingly placed flamethrower – you just never know. Given the speed with which you aim to fling yourself through these things, these extra elements and surprises add a bit more of a challenge – some of the mazes can stump you completely if you’re not thinking on your feet. Should you push ahead to the furthest container and risk a long trip through open space or methodically pick up every bit of cargo? Take on the enemies or burrow past them? There’s some light strategy involved for sure.
The cargo you’re collecting is a bunch of amusingly named junk of varying rarities, and gathering all of the different types gradually grants you promotions -which come with various ship upgrades. An upgrade bench is quickly unlocked so you can improve your weaponry, speed and health, and later unlocks fulfil other nifty functions such as spawning health and repairing your ship if you’ve been a bit too drill happy.
Stage progression is handled by splitting things into sectors – you can even name and generate one yourself – and to unlock and travel between them you need to find a sector key somewhere within the containers. Although there is no multiplayer, the high scores of other players are tightly integrated into the game, cleverly framed within the employment setting by using them as a kind of ‘Employee of the Month’ system – if you have the highest score in the sector you get to sport a rather nifty gold crown.
There are no hitches with the gameplay as such; rather your relationship with Cargo Commander will rest on how willing you are to become addicted to something for the sake of high scores and unlockable swag. The gameplay is fun in itself, but aside from a few weapons and upgrades, nothing really changes, and the randomly generated nature of the levels means that any difficulty curve is more of a squiggle. There is something of a story driving you to the highest rank so you can go home to the wife and kid, but it’s kept firmly in the background via emails that pop up on the space ship’s console. Thankfully the game goes in for character instead of story, and has a funny bone of the quirky variety that seeps into some of the design choices and the overall feel of the game.
Audio & Visual
Presentation wise Cargo Commander does a solid job. Things mesh together well and although there are no fancy destruction animations going on, what’s going on is always clear. Being able to zoom in and out to such a large degree is also of huge benefit, and reveals pleasant little details in some of the environments. Spend some time checking out the space ship in particular and you’ll detect a game made with care.
The cartoony style is well suited to the gameplay, with some nice lighting and strong colours making for a vivid world. Those aforementioned little details go a long way, with little oddities like the cap wearing enemies (caps are the game’s currency so in some lunatic way killing monsters for cash finally makes sense)more entertaining than any extra textures or polygons ever could be.
The promised bluegrass soundtrack is a great idea not perfectly executed. The tone of the stuff is perfect for the whole working man set up and energetic and different to boot, but there aren’t enough tracks to keep things fresh and so it becomes far too easy to mute and replace with your own.
Overall
Of quality build and potentially addictive, Cargo Commander has a neat idea at its core, along with a small but essential dollop of soul. The gameplay isn’t instantly bewitching nor anything particularly new, but there’s nothing offensive here either. It feels like a portable title, or failing that, something to sit snugly on the desktop somewhere between Minesweeper and Skyrim.
It seems that death can be beaten by fan power, as it was announced that Clark Gregg would star in the up coming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series. Gregg made a personal appearance at New York Comic Con with video messages from Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige confirming that fan favourite Agent Phil Coulson will be heavily involved in the anticipated series.
But in what capacity? Well, that’s anyone’s guess. It’s still not clear if Coulson will be brought back from the dead or if the series will be set before the Avengers. Anyone who has ever read a comic knows that death of a main character is never permanent, just a short break until new stories can be created. So it’s anyone’s guess how it will play out. There is no release date yet, but a fair guess would be to expect S.H.I.E.L.D. before The Avengers 2, which is due out May 1, 2015.
Way of the Samurai 4 Developer: Acquire Publisher: NIS America Platforms: PlayStation 3 Release Date: October 5, 2012 Price: $75.95 AUD (Buy Here)
Overview
The fourth entrant into a well established series (in the East at least), Way of the Samurai 4 is a shot of Japanese culture that many may not quite get. Being a new player of the series, but an appreciator of Japanese humour, I came into this not knowing what precedents were set for the game, but keen for the silliness that was sure to abound. Will newcomers both to the culture and the franchise appreciate Way of the Samurai 4 the same way? And does it satisfy long-time fans of the series or leave them yearning for something new? Read on to find out.
Story
Way of the Samurai 4 starts off with your character arriving by boat to the port town called Amihama. It is the year 1855 and upon arriving at the docks, you are immediately thrust in the middle of an on-going war between the pro-government Shogunates, led by Chief Magistrate Kotobuki Hikaru, the anti-government Prajnas gang and the British Navy the Prajnas fight to dispel. The British have arrived on their massive “Black Ship” to orchestrate the signing of a peace treaty with Japanese, while the Prajnas do not approve of this alliance as they fear that they will lose their culture and identity, themselves becoming xenophobes in the eyes of others in the process of expressing their dissent. Oh, and in cut-scenes, the main players from the British Navy all speak Japanese. The concept of the British instigating cultural globalization would have been better communicated if the British were speaking the very language they wish for everyone else to learn! Obviously budget comes into play here, but it’s just a little off-putting.
How can I take this thug seriously in his purple pants?!
What is great about the Way of the Samurai series are the branching storylines that you get to explore. In the main menu there is an “Events” page within the “Journal” section, which also shows you your current missions amongst other things. This events page displays all the possible story events that you may encounter, with already completed beats showing their title, whilst others that you have not experienced will remain untitled so as to retain potential spoilers in the story, waiting for you to see them for yourself. There are paths for each event, with each faction in the game – including “independant” and “other” – being highlighted with a different colour for easy tracking. The time of day and zone in which an event will occur is also noted. These U.I. elements allow you to plot a specific story-line that you would like to follow, that may be necessary to complete a particular ending.
There are ten endings in total, and most will require a set amount of missions to be completed for a certain faction for you to experience them. Although the quickest storyline can be finished within two hours of starting the game (without distractions/secondary jobs), the fact that there are multiple paths to follow means that there is much replay value to be had. And you will want to experience each story arc, as they differ greatly from each other and offer new perspectives on the happenings within Amihama. It suffices to say that the story can get quite twisted once Chief Minister Kinugawa and his three daughters arrive on the scene. And without playing through specific story arcs, you may never get to see his torture room…that’s right, a torture room. Oh it gets weirder…
Gameplay
Way of the Samurai 4’s main mechanic is its combat. As a samurai, you start the game with a basic katana with many opportunities for upgrades to your weaponry becoming available to you as you play. New weapons may be acquired from defeated enemies or bought from, and built by provided you have the parts, the local town Smithy. This weapon base will consist of a variety of katanas and staffs – as well as pistols if you progress far enough, each with their own unique combination of properties. You may also employ hand-to-hand combat if your weapons break down, although they can always be fixed and hardened. In using these weapons, you will utilise different fighting styles that can be unlocked or picked up much in the same way as you would weapons – from defeated enemies – with each of them harbouring differing move sets. Only through continued use of a fighting style will you unlock more moves to flesh out that fighting style’s move set. The sheer quantity of weapons at your disposal, with varying stats, means that you will work to refine your fighting strategies based around weapon and style choice as you find what works for you and against specific enemies.
That colourful Kimono is your default and only choice for a Kimono at the start…
During combat, you are able to execute light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks, guard breaks and sidesteps to dodge attacks. You also have quick access to your items, your stance, your capability to dual wield and the ability to switch between up to three different weapons on the fly – those of which must be specified in the weapons menu. Using the D-Pad’s left and right arrows will toggle between items, with the up and down arrows initiating their use. All of this is shown in the bottom left corner of the HUD, which also displays your vitality and health meters. The health bar works as you would expect, but vitality, the purple bar, drops as you attack, get hit, fast travel and “night crawl”, and will also automatically sacrifice itself to regenerate your health if it is low. When engaged with enemies, and alongside comrades, their health/vitality status is displayed going from the top left corner of the screen across.
New to the series is a special meter that will fill up and allow you to execute the “Spring Harvest”, which is basically a boost to your attack speed and strength, whilst also momentarily providing decreased rates of vitality degeneration and declines in sword durability. It is a very useful mechanic when faced with large numbers of opponents or a just particularly difficult one. Speaking of groups of opponents, when engaged in combat you will find yourself fighting with a sole opponent at a time, while the rest just stand at a somewhat safe distance watching the battle, eagerly anticipating their turn. It seems like a wasted opportunity to have wide, sweeping attacks that are only focused on a singular opponent, although if any other gets close enough to the battle, they will get hit…it’s just that you can’t do it intentionally. It is also rare to be able to change your lock on a target once it has been established, with a few players suggesting pressing R2 to free run and then come back to the fight closer to the guy you wish to fight within the group. For me, this didn’t work as I was still locked to the guy I tried to leave. Oh and try not to hit a Demonscale – equivalent of a police force – by accident as you will be arrested…and tortured. Remember the torture room I mentioned? Enough said.
…however, you can eventually make your Samurai look like this…naked devil pirate?
Aside from the combat, there are many auxiliary missions and jobs, food stalls and establishments, stores, a gambling parlour, a casino, a dojo (which you can establish and run) and rest areas for the player to take advantage of. You may fish at virtually any body of water, talk to strangers on the streets to obtain missions and work as a thief amongst many other things. Doing these activities will earn you money, which you will need to customise your character via the clothing and curio shops, buy food items and pay the Smithy for his work on your swords.
There is one peculiar mini-game that I have previously referenced called “night crawling”. It involves seducing almost any woman in the game, and subsequently meeting them in a “hut”. But, once arriving and entering said hut, you must sneak up to their futon and rip off their covers without alerting their fellow residents. Upon successfully doing this, the festivities are taken to the local inn where you must work to take off your love interest’s clothes and then…well, you can imagine. Although, the screen fades to black at that moment, so don’t get too excited you perverts! You emerge the next morning outside the inn entrance with a “token of their love” at your feet. Mine was white radish…twice! An odd, odd game that is tracked much like your endings in the journal sub-menu.
What’s especially nice about the game is the “Proof of Life” system, which basically allows you to carry through your acquisitions and statistics from your previous game as you start a new one. Acquire built the game so that you must play it at least ten times to get all the possible endings, so this system is a smart, apt addition. Even certain events will be reflected in your next play-through, such as the opening of a language school allowing you to speak to previously confused (and seemingly racist) Brits who, just like you, are lost in translation. Overall, all the mechanics supplement each other quite adequately with the proof of life being a perfect example of this thoughtfulness by Acquire.
Visuals
The graphics of the Way of the Samurai titles have not advanced much at all from iteration to iteration. Even though this is a PS3 title, you wouldn’t be blamed for mistaking it for a PS2 title…the console the franchise debuted on in 2002. Japanese titles, aimed at Eastern audiences, are not exactly known for their amazing graphics. But even so, and in being below industry standard, Way of the Samurai doesn’t suffer too badly because of it. Visuals are a main tenet of video game development, however the Japanese usually practice emphasising gameplay over all else, which is what they should be doing. Again, this evidently may not always be the case.
Character and object models also suffer slightly as they lack the definition and detail that a current-gen title usually portrays. This will not be an issue for those who can ignore a lesser quality of graphics, although it is quite confronting when engaged in close-up cut-scenes. Don’t even mentioned the lip-syncing! The biggest graphical issue, is the visual artefacts or screen tearing as we’ve come to call it. This is my biggest pet peeve in video games…I hate screen tearing. It has the ability to rip me out of a game so fast, causing me to lose all inspiration to continue playing. In Way of the Samurai 4, it even happens during cut-scenes! Somehow, I did endure it and haven’t lost the inspiration to play it ever again, but others may not be as forgiving.
Woo hoo! I caught crabs!
Having said all of that, the visual style of the game is distinctly Japanese; the environments, the architecture, the colour palette, the iconography and symbolism all represent Japanese culture as we have been presented with throughout time. The menus, for example, are riddled with cherry blossom imagery, which also ties in with the Samurai spirit/beliefs as they would romanticize the concept of a warrior’s death, comparing it to the falling of a cherry blossom at it’s most beautiful and fulfilled state. It’s an art style that I love and it’s in these respects that the game’s visuals are effective and fitting.
Audio
Way of the Samurai 4’s audio is probably both one of it’s strongest assets and one of it’s biggest failings. The first actual note I made about the game came about when the splash screen displayed on screen and I noticed the accompanying audio loop end and replay very abruptly, as though it had been crudely chopped up in a editing program and not looped properly. Not a good sign to start off the negatives before the game even begins. In that vein, let’s go through the rest of the negatives first. Aside from the aforementioned looping issue, there is more harsh looping, particularly in scenes with walla – yes, that’s a real term for the sound effect of murmuring in a crowd. Also, when fast forwarding through a cut-scene, if you stop in the middle of dialogue, the audio for said dialogue and maybe even the next few lines will be cut off and will not play.
*Don’t alert her parents! Night crawling is obviously frowned upon!*
Otherwise, the sound effects used include your common samurai sword slashes, smacks and exacerbated vocals. It may be over-the-top, but it does fit the absurd nature of the game. One hilarious instance where the audio is especially effective is in the night crawling foreplays. When the screen fades to black and the characters…are getting busy, the common attack sound effects play, which evokes comical slapstick imagery (I get it, slapstick…immature readers!). The music is probably the most well rounded and well produced area of the audio, with different tracks playing according to your immediate situation. The transition may not always be smooth, but the music itself fits nicely with the visual language and themes.
Overall
Way of the Samurai 4 is outrageous, ridiculous and any other like-synonym you wish to describe it with. Franchise faithfuls will love the familiar sense of humour, the distinctly Japanese depiction of Westerners and the divergent storytelling that distinguish it amongst all other titles. And although that familiarity is a good thing in those fields, other aspects of the game do need a change. The graphics are well below this generation’s standard, the sound design is at times lazy and sloppy, the combat is inexplicably restricted to one-on-one interactions amongst a group and there are a few notable technical mishaps and issues – screen tearing being the worst and most unbearable offender. Having noted those failings, I really wanted to be generous with my score…however I just can’t overlook them. If you can withstand these cons in favour of a hilariously ludicrous experience, then Way of the Samurai 4 is still worth it – it was for me.
The guys behind the game Hitman Absolution have released their studio unboxing of the games special Collectors Edition with Agent 47 figurine. The developers talk us through the unboxing as well as other stuff that fans may find interesting.
The limited Collectors Edition includes an Agent 47 statue, an artbook, making of DVD and access to the Agency Gun Pack DLC. Hitman Absolution comes out on the 20th of November, 2012 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC platforms. Be sure to check out your local retailer for this collectors edition.
Check out the video embedded below for the unboxing.
General consensus says that a game’s controls should be relatively simple.
Octodad says no.
General consensus says that players should be empowered.
Octodad says no.
General consensus says that a game where you complete mundane chores would be uninteresting.
Octodad says no.
Octodad shouldn’t work. Its controls are awkward and overly-complicated, and it makes completing the game’s boring tasks an ordeal.
It would be a terrible game, were it not so deliberate in flying against this “general consensus” jerk. I hate that guy, and apparently so do Young Horses, the indie studio behind this closet cephalopod.
The reason you struggle with even the most basic human movements is because you’re an octopus in a suit. Suddenly, washing the dishes, putting your daughter to bed, or even just walking upright become hilariously challenging.
Octodad began life as a student project, but a full release, titled Octodad: Dadliest Catch, is hopefully headed to Steam next year, through the new Greenlight program.
The story is simple and nonsensical: you’re a self-proclaimed “secret octopus”, trying to maintain a cover as a mere civilian, avoid suspicion from your human family, and continue to work in your underground lab of unexplained purpose – all while being hunted by a determined sushi chef who sees through your disguise.
Don’t freak out when the screen explaining the controls first pops up. It doesn’t make a lot of sense at a glance, but you’ll pick it up as you play. Eventually.
Gone are the standard WASD keys for movement: the left and right mouse buttons correspond with the left and right legs, and dragging the mouse moves the selected limb in that direction. To walk, you alternate between the left and right buttons while continually dragging the mouse forward. Ideally, you should try to walk around obstacles, but you won’t. You’ll bump into everything in the room – at first because you don’t have the dexterity to avoid things, but soon it’ll be because it’s fun to break things.
A tap of the Spacebar swaps control between the legs and the arms. In Arm Mode, moving the mouse flails the arm-substitute tentacle around, holding the right button raises or lowers it, and clicking the left button will make it dart out to grab an item. Left-click again will drop or throw the thing.
The result of this complex input method is slapstick hilarity. Octodad spins, stumbles, falls and knocks over valuables as he tries to keep his cool and nonchalantly walk in a straight line. Picture QWOP, in 3D, with eight limbs and a house full of physics-sensitive objects.
You know what? Written descriptions really don’t do the game justice. Just watch this gameplay video.
…And that demonstrates a very well-controlled Octodad. You’re not that smooth. You’ll flop around in the corner for a while first.
Octodad vanilla is a little rough, but you won’t even notice: it’s too much fun slithering around your cephalo-protagonist’s living room, knocking over furniture and knick-knacks that his poor human family must be constantly straightening up.
Then be sure to vote up Dadliest Catch on Steam Greenlight, because this experience needs to be shared.
Octodad is effortlessly entertaining at a mechanical level, and with Dadliest Catch’s charming coat of paint, its future status as an indie darling is all but guaranteed. We’ll definitely be keeping an awkward tentacle on the pulse of this patriarch from the Pacific.
The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy is set for release onto DVD and Blu-ray, letting you relive the whole trilogy again in marathon form. And you know that’s so going to happen.
The Dark Knight Rises will be released onto Double Play (Blu-ray and DVD), as well as DVD separately, as well as On Demand and To Download. In addition to this release there will also be a ‘Dark Knight Trilogy Limited Edition Giftset’ which includes all three movies, special features, and a premium book exclusive to the set. Not special enough for you? Well Warner Bros is also releasing an Ultimate Collector’s Edition of the Dark Knight trilogy in 2013.
Are you ready to return to Gotham to see Bruce Wayne pick up the cowl again once Bane threatens Gotham? With a very fetching Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as rookie cop John Blake, and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, the movie is definitely worth a rewatch or ten.
The Dark Knight Rises will be available on Double Play for $49.95, and the 2 disc special edition DVD for $44.95. These, along with the Dark Knight Trilogy Giftset, will be released on November 28, 2012.
For more information on the release as it comes out keep tuned to Capsule Computers.
The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy is set for release onto DVD and Blu-ray, letting you relive the whole trilogy again in marathon form. And you know that’s so going to happen.