Splinter Cell: Blacklist brings back the franchise with Sam Fisher appointed the acting commander of an elite team of operatives called ‘Fourth Echelon’, who need to put a stop to the terrorist group ‘Blacklist’ before it’s too late. While it has the storyline of an action game, how does it play?
At the EB Games Expo 2012 they had a scene of the game on show. While it wasn’t playable, one of the Ubisoft employees played through it for us. Obviously incredibly skilled and knowing exactly how to play the scene, he showed off a range of different stealth tactics that Fisher had up his sleeve.
While it’s doubtful that the average Splinter Cell player will be able to pull off the scene with as much grace and surety as our demonstrator, the ability to do so is certainly there.
Fisher has a range of attack types, from targeting enemies while under cover for a quick execute (called killing in motion – extremely useful because Fisher stays on the run), to electrocuting the pool of water that enemies are standing in, to placing a fake bomb to draw enemy attention while attacking from behind, to spraying rounds out of a semi-automatic, to the usual stealth assassination moves. Not to mention all the gadgets Fisher has at his disposal.
Clearly they’re making sure to have as much variety as possible, so that there will be several ways to attack a scene. It’s all about putting those skills to use and keeping as hidden as possible (which is measured by a gauge). I can imagine that as more information comes out about the game that we’ll be seeing even more interesting things revealed about it.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist will be coming out on April 1, 2013 for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. For more information about Splinter Cell: Blacklist as it comes out make sure to keep tuned to Capsule Computers!
The EB Expo gave us a chance to try out a great range of games, one of them being the Darksiders 2 Wii U version. The original game came out in late August, and with this version slated for release on November 31, you’d want to see and feel some differences between the two games.
I’m not sure if it was getting used to the controllers’ joysticks, but the game did feel different from the original. It was somewhat more sensitive, so getting used to shifting the camera angle slightly was something that required getting used to. Other than that difference, though, there isn’t too much to talk about.
The Wii U’s tablet controller screen is your version of the menu, with an ability to control your map, missions, and inventory from it. The build that I was playing only had that feature available, but they are working on having it so that you can play it on the tablet while someone else uses the TV – one of the Wii U’s boastable features.
Apart from that there weren’t really a lot more differences that I could see or feel from the original, at least from the small section that was playable. Obviously holding a tablet is a bit of a different experience than holding a normal controller, and there are a couple extra features that would be cool to try out. However, if you’re looking for a whole new experience then this might not be the best choice.
Still, as one of the first few high-end Wii U games, it’s worth a go. Especially if you really enjoyed Darksiders 2 going through it the first time
Darskiders 2 comes out on November 31, 2012 for the Wii U. For more information as it comes out keep tuned to Capsule Computers!
The first official picture from the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox film, The Wolverine has been revealed, check it out on the right! Directed by James Mangold, Hugh Jackman stars as the X-Men favorite, Wolverine once again in The Wolverine, when it hacks and slashes it’s way into theaters on July 26, 2013.
Based on the popular comic book franchise, The Wolverine will find Logan in Japan, where his adamantium claws will clash with samurai swords. Logan will confront a mysterious figure from his past and will be forever changed.
The Wolverine will slice it’s way into theaters on July 26, 2013.
Around the bend and behind the back wall of the Playstation space at the EB Expo started the queue for God of War: Ascension. The lines were never really huge, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s because many couldn’t find it. But I thankfully did see the queue and got in with about thirteen others to simultaneously try it out. The portion playable was the level that started on the docks, shown for the first time at E3 this past June.
Pressing start and seeing the camera turn and lock into the game perspective with that signature God of War menu transition reaffirmed to me that I was about to have that classic God of War experience. Speaking of, the one mechanic that has been debated over the years is the camera control, or lack there-of. It is still locked with the roll-dodge still assigned to the right analog stick. There are some significant control tweaks that I will detail throughout this hands-on account, the first of which occurs immediately. A dying man with a massive sword in his back lies ahead. Pressing the ‘circle’ button picks this weapon up, but it is also used to attack with said weapon. Holding R1 and pressing ‘circle’ does a special attack unique to that weapon. These weapons that you will find over the course of a stage are temporary, and disappear after a certain number of uses. This does not necessarily mean that your long term attainable weapons have been scrapped in favour for more momentary ones, but it’s a nice way to add more variety in the long run without overwhelming the player in giving Kratos too many “tools” to swap between at any given time. What does the ‘circle’ button do when you are not carrying a special weapon you ask? It is used as a melee attack that can be used in a combo with your other takes, but on its own works as a push-away thrust kick.
Button prompts show up to tell me the basics of the gameplay, and it quickly becomes apparent that, because of the new ‘circle’ button assignments mentioned above, the grab and finisher capabilities have been re-mapped to R1. Upon thrashing a gathering of the goat-like Satyrs (which show up during every battle in the demo…pests!), a red, curved light displayed above their heads indicating the opportunity for a finisher. I promptly finished one off by lifting them overhead and ripping them apart using R1 which, as those astute gamers out there will realise, is a different kill animation from the one shown at E3 where Kratos grabs them by the horns and rips their head off. In the course of finishing off the rest of the Satyrs, I accidentally pressed L1, which initiated the new “Life Cycle” mechanic. This magic emanates a green hue and manipulates time; in this case it freezes my enemies in time for a few seconds. In the midst of all this, a Satyr General jumps down to join the battle, whom I also dispatched handily. The more elaborate finishers for bigger enemies still utilises the quick-time event to complete it, however the colouring of the button prompts, while still showing the face buttons’ shapes of course, are no longer complete replications of the actual buttons on the Playstation controller. Their base colour is a series signature sandy brown, and they were less noticeable, mostly because the environment was of a brownish tint and it blended in.
After attempting to grab a spear jutting out of a dead soldier’s body, an in-game cut-scene plays showing the Kraken-like Charybdis throwing a broken boat at Kratos and destroying part of the dock with an elevator. This leads into the first opportunity to “Heal” space by using Life Cycle. To do this, I stood in a green highlighted spot and held L1. This reverses time to a point where I can traverse the broken pieces of the dock to get across to another Life Cycle anchor point and finish the re-construction. After using the elevator and reaching the next level, Kratos picks up a Satyr-thrown spear, which I then use until it runs out. The Charybdis interrupts once again, and after a quick button-mash to avoid being crushed, Kratos is thrown to another platform where two Hades Talos successively break out of their pose much like their ascendants, the Stone and Bronze Talos (or descendants seeing as this is a prequel?), swinging their fiery hammers. It is here that I discovered the ‘Elemental Magic’ ability mapped to R2. Its use unleashes a satisfying circle of bursting fires that does massive damage. Your ability to pull off this manoeuvre is governed by the returning “Rage” meter. At one point I had ignited and every enemy I hit caught fire, which must have been the result of the now automatic activation of the Rage meter once it’s full. But, I did still notice a prompt next to the meter on the bottom right of the screen to click both L3 and R3 together. Although I never used it, I assumed that it corresponded to using the Rage ability manually, so that the player would still have the option to use it when they want, although it would last shorter.
After a small climbing section, I came across the demo’s boss – the Elephantaur. The strategy to use against him is essentially the same as the Talos, except that he will grab you if you are unlucky, at which point you must mash ‘square’ and/or ‘triangle’ to get out of his grip. Beating him leads to a final cut-scene with Kratos attacking the reappearing, and unrelenting, Charybdis head-on. And so it was time for me to reflect as I finished playing first in my group and began to watch the others finish their play-throughs. Ascension is definitely the most transformed between all of the God of War titles; it’s controls have been somewhat significantly altered, although it still plays like God of War. It’s as easy as ever to pick up and play, and the new control scheme will not distract from that fact for those familiar with the old one. Graphically, it’s better than ever with noticeably better lighting and earthier, grittier tones. The demo was also really well-paced too, like every previous game in the series. In my opinion, it seems like Sony’s Santa Monica studio has done it again, and although it will be hard to top the mammoth scale and set-pieces of God of War 3, they may just have some “oh my God!” moments waiting in the wings that will once again raise the bar for the franchise. Looks like March of next year could very well be a busy, and expensive, month for me.
What if you could create anything you could possibly imagine? What would you create? What would you imagine up? It’s all wish-fulfilment right? Well Scribblenauts Unlimited allows you to fulfil these wishes in apparently unlimited ways.
By now you surely have heard of the Scribblenauts franchise. It’s a creative and imaginative series that is only as fun as you can make it. The game largely relies upon the person playing it’s creativity and imagination, unfortunately if you don’t have much of these, Scribblenauts is going to be pretty dull game for you. But for those of you with a wild imagination just waiting to give birth to crazy and wonderful things, Scribblenauts Unlimited will blow your mind.
I personally got a chance to get my hands on it at the EB Expo event and found myself playing with the game’s limits and was shocked to find that it is much like it’s title, seemingly unlimited. There was only a few things that did not work for me, which were problems in syntax that the game doesn’t recognise but other than that you can essentially create anything.
One of the most eccentric things I created was a Flying Smug Hipster Banana. The introduction of adjectives provides a whole other layer to creation in the game and allows a lot more depth in terms of what you can create.
Of course though it’s not all about creating bizarre things, there are missions to attend to, people to help and puzzles to solve. Scribblenauts Unlimited has both a single-player story mode which details Maxwell’s journey to scribble things to life and a multiplayer mode that allows two players to create things together.
Obviously though the centre-piece of the game is it’s creation which really has this indescribably and undeniably addictive nature to it. Some say that killing civilians and causing mayhem in Grand Theft Auto is more fun than actually doing the missions, likewise it is more fun to simply play around with the creation tool in Scribblenauts Unlimited than it is to do anything else. This is not a bad thing at all though, but instead a testament to the brilliant concept behind it.
The game itself is a Wii U exclusive and as such features Gamepad functionality. The primary control system is indeed with the Gamepad. You use it to create things with your notepad which is controlled and used with the touch screen. You can also play around with on screen characters and objects by touching and dragging them as well as activating different actions for Maxwell to take.
From top to bottom Scribblenauts Unlimited is easily the best in the franchise to date and is without a doubt the most immense and deep game in the series. If you like using your head in a game in different ways to what most are accustomed to, then Scribblenauts Unlimited is a Wii U game to keep an eye on.
At the EB Games Expo today I had the pleasure of checking out the latest Sesame Street video game on the Xbox Live Kinect, called Kinect Sesame Street TV. At first I was going to dismiss the game as something beneath me; as so many attendees at the event had done beforehand. But you know what, I’m not that kind of guy; life is full of new experiences, so why not try something new?
The Kinect title starts off with players selecting a level of the game. Each level plays like an episode of Sesame street; which I found to be really, really cool. The game just carried that authentic Sesame Street aesthetic, which gave me a few vibes of nostalgia from my childhood.
The game itself was pretty simple, requiring users to complete tasks that would be menial for anyone that wasn’t a learning child. In my play through I had to do things that the child participants of the show would have done if they were on the TV. So, for instance, I played catch with Elmo, counted numbers vocally and a whole bunch of other tasks that would assist children in accruing knowledge.
One thing that was really coll was that early on in the game, this Muppet avatar appears on the screen and pulls out this magic mirror. What’s awesome about this is that it detects what colour of clothing you’re wearing and it copies it over to the Muppet character. This means that this character is wearing the same coloured clothing as the player, making him easier to identify with. I think this is particularly handy for children (the target demographic) who may become a little confused, potentially.
I have to admit that having a more interactive medium for children to learn through probably only benefits them more in the end. Before it was just the children watching the TV, hoping to sponge some of the information. Now it’s interactive and this means that children are more likely to retain the information that has been spewed at them from the game just because they were the ones actually doing it.
Overall Kinect Sesame Street TV is looking it is a great game for children to play. It will not only increase their educational capabilities, but it will also provide a great amount of amusement for a while to come. The simplicity of this game is it’s key strength.
Spiderweb Software is excited to share with its fans that Nethergate has been “resurrected” and is now available on Steam! Not only is it now available on Steam, but Nethergate: Resurrection is utterly affordable at a mere $3.99 until October 12th. That means you have less than a week in order to snatch up this ridiculous offer and play an old fashioned indie role playing game.
So what’s all the fuss about. Nethergate: Resurrection takes you back in time to old Britannia when there is a not so pleasant rivalry between the native Celts and invading Romans. Land burdened by war, Britannia is subjugated to a bloody war to which neither side is willing to admit defeat. As warriors clash blades and ancient magics are unearthed, only one faction will rule – and you get to make that choice. Are you one of the savage Celts or a land hungry Roman?
Check out the affordable game on Steam and look at the screenshots below.
The Wii U made its Australian debut during the EB Expo this weekend. Before the public got their hands on the console, Nintendo invited a selection of media and VIP personnel to give the Wii U a try. Nintendo’s impressive booth allowed visitors to try out a selection of launch window games, including New Super Mario Bros U, Rayman Legends and ZombiU. The games I got my hands on were quite impressive and do take advantage of the Wii U Gamepad. Below are my opinions on titles that are worth looking out for.
One of the most anticipated Wii U launch titles would be New Super Mario Bros U. The classic platformer brings in the Gamepad for an extra player in another form. Four player multiplayer returns and require the players to use Wiimotes. The Gamepad user is there to aid the players in completing the course. This ranges from adding extra platforms to stunning enemies. Those with the Gamepad will still have a great time despite not controlling any character on screen during multiplayer. While playing on the Gamepad, I still found it enjoyable as I aided my fellow players in raking up the score. Other than that, it’s classic Mario with new powers, such as the Flying Squirrel suit which allows players to glide.
Nintendo’s other first party offering was NintendoLand, a collection of mini-games based on Nintendo’s franchises. I had the chance to try two mini-games, Donkey KongCrash Course and Takahara’s Ninja Castle. The Donkey Kong mini-game uses the Gampad’s tilt controls, as well as a few physical controls as players control a mine kart through a level inspired by the original Donkey Kong arcade game. In Takahara’s Ninja Castle, the Gamepad acts as the player’s stash of shuriken. Players throw the shuriken from the Gamepad towards various ninjas. Players have full control of the trajectory.
But most of the Wii U games on show were in fact third party games, especially Ubisoft. ZombiU, another hotly anticipated title, was on show and it does impress. Zombie U is a survival horror set in a mansion in London. Your objective is to survive the zombie outbreak. The Gamepad is essential as it acts what would have been the HUD. The map, inventory, health indicators are all taken care of on that six inch screen. A neat feature is that, once your character dies, it is infected and must be taken care off in the next round of gameplay. Only the single player experience was offered, but it is a game that is worth looking at when it is released at launch.
Rayman Legends, exclusive to the Wii U, was also present. Fans of Rayman Origins who are picking up the Wii U will be excited to hear that Legends are taking those elements and making it better, especially with the introduction of the Gamepad. The Gamepad player controls Murfy. Murfy’s main role is support, aiding Rayman and his friends through the levels. It is like New Super Mario Bros U, but Ubisoft pushes it further, as some levels require Murfy’s aid to progress through. The screens will be quite different between the TV and Gamepad. Murfy is fun to play with, despite being a support character. Rayman Legends was also the first time I got my hands on the Wii U Pro Controller. The controller is slick, comfortable and responsive. It is an excellent controller for those who don’t want to use the Gamepad often.
The last game I got my hands on was Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition. For those who have played Arkham City already, then you can expect the same gameplay wise. However, the game has been tweaked to take advantage of the Gamepad. Like Zombie U, the inventory is displayed on the Gamepad rather than the TV screen. Items are selected using the touchscreen. Physical controls are still the main controls. When a cut scene is playing, it plays on both screens. A nice little feature, I must say. Overall, it is the same game from two years ago, but it has been tweaked enough to possibly give it another round.
This Saturday marks the second day of the EB Expo, held in Sydney for the first time after an opening year in Queensland. Spread over three days, the event is packed out with big name exhibitors such as Sony, Ubisoft and Activision. Local developers also get a minor look in thanks to the ‘home grown’ talent pavilion. Despite the token nod to the small guys, this event is all about the biggest games railroading their way into the public consciousness.
Set apart from the demonstration booths and vendors is the EB Arena. Here several presentations were held throughout the day to highlight some of the major titles making their way to gamers in the near future. This was the most obvious battleground for the day, pitching developers against each other to see who could draw the crowds, who could provoke the reactions.
Today saw two very different presentations take to the stage at either end of the day. Kicking off the presentations was Sony, bringing Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale and The Last of Us to the big stage. Battle Royale has been a huge deal for Sony so far, but the title was given strangely short shrift in the presentation. Game Director Omar Kendall took to the stage, but offered little information about the game besides introducing a couple of gameplay trailers. A quick one round demo was ushered in and out in the blink of an eye, and with little ceremony things moved quickly on to what was clearly the main consideration of the session.
Naughty Dog’s latest was certainly allowed to have more impact. After taking their time to make sure that the audience was highly aware that the man playing the demo was the only legally authorised man in Australia able to do so, things kicked off. The demo was certainly impressive when seen on the big screens of the EB Arena, but it was the soundscape of the game that really packed a punch.
The gameplay followed Ellie and Joel through a small section of a post apocalyptic city, and took in an encounter with a band of survivors that fare less than well for their encounter with Joel. Although the content has been seen elsewhere before, the impact of the sequence was certainly undeniable, with every gunshot punching through the tense soundscape. The city boasted a beautiful mixture of fallen civilisation and wilderness, with clear echoes of Uncharted in some of the animations.
Despite the impressive showing the crowd had little reaction. It was a telling sound indeed coming into the Arena for the late afternoon session, which showcased Assassin’s Creed 3 and Halo 4. Where Sony’s presentation had provoked a mild smattering of applause, Ubisoft got the crowd going. The live gameplay demonstration (“Kill the bear!”) had people involved, enjoying every successful kill. The spectacle of the new naval battles also went down well, leaving the Arena well placed to reach further fanboy heights when Halo 4 made it’s appearance.
After a strange and pointless appearance by Master Chief on stage, another live demo unfolded, jumping into one of the early missions of the game. New foes the Prometheans made an entry, along with several vehicles and some good old fashioned Halo corridors. A brief Q&A session with the audience followed, touching on the presence of other Spartans in the game (there will be at least one, and a fairly important one in the Halo universe at that) and how the story would run on from that of Halo 3 (directly).
So what to take from a session in the EB Arena. Well today, for this crowd at this show, Ubisoft edged a win over Halo 4 with Assassin’s Creed 3. Despite The Last of Us being dramatic and pitch perfect, the excitement just wasn’t there for either of Sony’s offerings, and All Stars came off as a time filler. The presentation just didn’t engage with the crowd, whereas Ubisoft’s live demo actively prompted audience members to direct the action – to “kill the bear” as it were.
Did the crowd today reflect a general malaise amongst the gaming population for Sony? There are plenty of different factors to account for the less than enthusiastic response, just the wrong audience perhaps, but the difference between the crowd reaction for these sessions was immense. Better PR, better bandwagons, who knows? But it will be interesting to see come the release of these four titles which one will win glory, top sales and head off into the sunset with Game of the Year awards.
By now you have most likely heard of the latest gaming craze that has swept the globe, no not the new Call of Duty game, but another Activision game. That’s right, Skylanders, a franchise born almost completely out of the company’s experimentation with the Spyro the Dragon IP. Last year Activision released the first Skylanders game to a fair amount of critical acclaim and stacks of cash being thrown at them from parents buying the little figurines that are integral to the game.
Skylanders Giants doesn’t do much to play with the formula and precedent set by the first Skylanders title, in fact it feels like very little was in fact done other than introducing new characters play as and worlds to explore. But you know, that ain’t half bad. The game itself plays well enough and is sure to captivate children with ease.
Whether it is the figurine mechanics or the colourful and plucky gameplay, Skylanders Giants is definitely tailor made for children and that isn’t a bad thing what so ever. It may not be too enticing for the hardcore gamers out there but it does a great job providing children with an enjoyable and addictive experience not unlike Pokemon was back in the day for past generations.
There is a craving to collect more Skylanders and try them out with all of their different abilities and powers. Unfortunately though abilities of Skylanders do not really matter too significantly to the gameplay itself as most abilities are simply used for combat purposes only and there isn’t any characters with an advantage over another. So no, there isn’t any rare Skylander that you just need to have in order to complete the game. But they sure are fun to play around with.
As you probably know by now if you have heard anything about Skylanders, the game utilises a platform peripheral in which you place a maximum of two Skylander figures on which then summons them into the game with control of the creatures at your fingertips.
The game itself is an action adventure type of game with puzzle elements that are not too complicated that children would have any major difficult solving. It is all in all a very fun mix of gameplay mechanics and with the addition of figure collecting, there is a surprising amount of things to do in relation to Skylanders Giants, the only question is whether you have the cash to shell out on figures. If the answer is no, then you may not have full enjoyment of this title. But that doesn’t mean it won’t still be fun.
Ultimately this is a kids game and as such, is far more appealing to children. If you aren’t a child yourself or a parent of a child, this may be hard to recommend to you. However if you go in with an open mind you will find some enjoyment to be found in the world of the Skylanders.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist brings back the franchise with Sam Fisher appointed the acting commander of an elite team of operatives called ‘Fourth Echelon’, who need to put a stop to the terrorist group ‘Blacklist’ before it’s too late. While it has the storyline of an action game, how does it play?
The EB Expo gave us a chance to try out a great range of games, one of them being the Darksiders 2 Wii U version. The original game came out in late August, and with this version slated for release on November 31, you’d want to see and feel some differences between the two games.
