As you may know if you happened to check your PlayStation Vita today and download the umpteenth system update, Konami’s New Little King’s Story is now available for download from the PlayStation Store. After making the move to the handheld Vita, New Little King’s Story actually features improved visuals from what was previously offered in the series.
Now in New Little King’s Story players will take control of King Corobo as he attempts to restore his kingdom and take down the Devil King “Nightmare.” Players will need to visit seven different kingdoms and take out the lords of each kingdom to rescue the princesses that have been kidnapped from his kingdom. With intuitive touch controls on both the front and rear touch pad, players have quite a journey in store for them once New Little King’s Story finishes downloading.
Some of you may remember that some of that weight on your body came from eating a bunch of Doritos and drinking plenty of Mountain Dew last year when Modern Warfare 3 was released in an effort to gain codes that allowed you to earn double XP for a few hours at a time.
Well it looks like Pepsi is joining up with Microsoft this time around as they have revealed a promotion that will allow Halo 4 fans to earn double XP time by purchasing Mountain Dew and Doritos and redeeming the codes in Halo 4. The promotion will begin on October 15th and other goodies are set to be given away as weekly drawings for those who enter in codes.
Incipio is continuing the steady flow of new cases for the recently released iPhone 5. First up is the Incipio classic, the Feather. It is still one of the thinnest and lightest polycarbonate cases on the market.
Next is the interchangeable CODE case that features a three material construction, TPU and Silicone for impact absorption and Plextonium for rigidity. The parts can be interchanged to make the case that fits your fashion style.
The NGP is a smooth matte case for every day use. The new SHINE cases come in either the Dual Pro aluminium finish with a silicone shock absorbing core or the feather finish with just an aluminium finish. No matter which SHINE case you choose, the aluminium finish will not interfere with cell reception on your phone.
Finally the FAXION case is a glossy case with a impact resistant NGP core and rigid Plextonium core to protect your vulnerable iPhone 5 from scratches. All the cases are available from the Incipio website. Check out Incipio’s full line of iPhone 5 cases here.
Marvel has been busy with the mobile platforms. Today they announced the release of Marvel: War of Heroes in October. Players will be allowed to suit up for S.H.I.E.L.D. and do battle with some of Marvel’s most famous villains, shoulder to shoulder with iconic heroes.
The game will be a collectible card game available for iOS and Android devices. Players are able to pre-register for the game here and earn special bonuses including an exclusive wallpaper and a special rare card featuring the heroine Black Widow. In addition, those attending New York Comic Con will get a chance to play the game at the Marvel booth located at #1838.
What? Free DLC for a game that has been out for only a week? Tecmo Koei is committing blasphemy as far as Capcom is concerned. But don’t worry, all this blasphemy is a good thing for Dead or Alive 5 fans as gamers can now download a free “First Time” costume pack.
The DLC contains plenty of nostalgic costumes that most of the character’s used to wear in the past and Mila, a new character, is wearing one of Tina’s older costumes as well. It is worth noting that the costume-lacking guest characters; Pai Chan, Sarah and Akira have received outfits as well. Each of the outfits can be seen below and downloaded easily through the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 marketplaces.
Bulkypix partnered up with indie developer Mi-Clos Studio for a new physics based platformer called Space Disorder. The game features physics based puzzles, colourful cartoon graphics, Retina support, and randomly generated levels.
Players will need to help Noah free his lover Zanita along with 30+ unique armless alien prisoners who have been captured. Noah will need grenades, lasers, control over gravity, rare power ups, and his trusty jetpack to free Zanita and the alien prisoners.
Space Disorder is a freemium game and will be released onto the iTunes App Store on October 11th, 2012. The game will be free to download and regular updates with new planets and playable characters are scheduled.
If you’re a big a fan of WWE, you know that being a manager is about far more than signing contracts and accompanying your Superstars to ringside. Fittingly, THQ and WWE Games have announced today that their new game, WWE ’13, will feature Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, as well as the legendary manager, Paul Bearer.
WWE Games caught up with the urn-holder himself for an extended talk about his time as an actual mortician, the evolving role of a manager in WWE, his favourite managers in history, favourite “Attitude Era” moments and even his take on some of today’s most popular WWE Superstars.
Check out the full story at WWE.THQ.com to find out which Superstar Paul Bearer ranks above John Cena and see some exclusive new screenshots of Bearer and Rodriguez in action.
Make sure to follow WWE Games on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest on WWE ’13, on sale October 30th, or check out all the latest WWE ’13 videos on the official WWE Games YouTube channel.
Blade Guardian Developer: MISTWALKER CORPORATION Publisher: MISTWALKER CORPORATION Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iTouch, iPad Release Date: October 1, 2012 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
This being the second iOS game from Mistwalker Corporation, they decided to go a little RTS with it, smart choice. Blade Guardian is a game where you must set up a variety of units, that all have different capabilities, so you can be a hero and stop an alien invasion. In the game you will take advantage of a special unit called, BLADEs. You release these as they fly onto the screen and then they will do some serious damage. You then have special ones that can transform into the shape of a spear and you can role them around your screen, crushing the alien threat.
Story
There is no actual story to the game but there are some objectives you need to complete, defend and destroy. This being an RTS game, there could have been at least a small little scroll through of text every now and then. Now though this maybe the case, they make up for it in the diverseness of levels.
Gameplay
The game brings something many iOS RTS games have tried bringing but, all have failed with. ‘What is it?’ You may be asking yourself. The answer, the actual feeling of an RTS! You have to lay down walls, build mounted weapons on the walls, create wall connectors, and so on. They make this feel right due to the different placements of where you set them on your map. They even give you a limited are to place them in which results in you having to get more crafty and strategic as you make your way through the game.
The BLADEs are also what make up a big part of the game. The BLADEs are special units you release these as they fly onto the screen and then release them from their holding so they can do some serious damage. You have a variety of BLADEs at your disposal so you can choose from the sphere blade (which will allow you to tilt and turn your screen to crush the alien threat) to automated ground based blades.
Variety, that is one word that describes the levels of the game. You will never play the same level twice which and they all take a different look and shape. I remember how at one point I went from a standard rectangle level, to a level that looked like it was shaped like a heart. This wide difference of levels make me want to keep on coming back to the game.
Visuals
The games graphics are simple and to the point. This is a nice change since most games that are releasing lately are all 3-D and graphically unstable. As I would play through the game, I would notice no lag or glitches whatsoever so I give them props on creating a game that can withstand the limit’s the device has.
Audio
This is actually my favorite part of the game. When you boot up the game and get to the title screen, you hear one of the greatest themes you will hear in your life time! The theme has a nice mix of science fiction with a little touch of classical. The only thing that saddens me about this is that they do not include it anywhere else but at the games launch title.
The sound effects for the game is equally good. I love hearing the sound when I launch a wall or hear my lazer kill another alien.
The game also includes a feature of sound that I have never really seen before in any other title, rumble functionality. If you are not able to stop the aliens from getting to the base objective then you will feel a small vibration which will actually come to be felt more and more as the amount of aliens will become more and more after every wave so it will be harder to defend.
Overall
Mistwalker have created a great RTS game for iOS. Whether you’re a fan of the simple visuals, the thrilling gameplay, or the sound, there is something here for everyone to enjoy. The only thing I wish they would have added into the game though is a story but, it can easily go unnoticed. Now that it has all been said and done, you can go pick up the game right now from the app store for only 99 cents!
FIFA 13 Developer:EA Games Publisher: EA Games Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date:September 26, 2012 Price: $6.99 (HERE)
Overview
Another year and another football season rolls around. With it comes the obligatory, hugely successful release of a new FIFA game… but we can’t always be home on our consoles, enjoying the fine new entry in the series. In comes FIFA 13 for iOS, for all your portable football needs! Is this soccer sim on par with its console cousin, or does it belong in the heap of app store trash?
Gameplay
If you played FIFA 12 on iOS, then what you’re getting is essentially the same thing, but with a slick coat of polish in this year’s entry. That’s not to say there’s been no changes, but they are fairly few and far between. Oh, and if you’re expecting a direct port from the console versions to your mobile, turn away now. There’s no Matchday, Player Impact Engine, or any of that forward-thinking nonsense here. In fact, if anything, FIFA 13 on iOS really reminds me of FIFA 07 on Xbox.
In case you were confused, when I said “nonsense” above, I meant really cool stuff. At least some of which should be imported to the mobile version of the game. I mean, how hard could it really be to replicate Matchday and add in player form to the game’s online component?
Oh well, at least EA’s FIFA social network is thrown in.
What you get on your iDevice is a bare bones version of FIFA, and if you’re playing on a device that’s not the iPad, expect the control buttons to take up a lot of the real estate on screen. For all their clunkiness, the way the individual buttons are used to perform various actions is quite creative: holding the pass button down will turn a simple pass into a lobbed ball, swiping up on the shoot button will initiate a chipped shot, and you’ll perform more and more of these specialized moves as you familiarize with the controls. However, the most effective way to score does seem to be to just pound a shot in from just outside the box, as goalkeepers in the game are fairly… erm.. bad.
So that’s much the same as in FIFA 12’s iOS iteration. A new skill moves control button has been added to allow your players to perform special tricks, like nifty turns, fake-outs, etc. To be honest, it’s a rather useless addition as the player movements are fairly clunky (with a virtual analogue stick how could they not be?) and as such, all but the simplest of tricks have very little practical application. You won’t be scoring with rabonas or volleying rainbow flicks with any regularity.
Career mode is very reminiscent of the older FIFAs. At the start of the season you choose a season-long sponsor who funds you based on your performances, and your aim is finish the season with a positive bank account balance, while at the same time trying to improve your trainers, stadium, and brining in talent from other clubs. You then proceed through the fixtures of the season in whatever League you’ve chosen. Oddly, in my review build, the EPL 2012/13 season did not actually reflect real-life fixtures, which kind of broke the illusion. That being said, Career mode, though not utterly different from last year’s iteration, is much easier to navigate as the UI in between matches has been much improved. Everything is neatly organized, and you’ll have no trouble working on your starting 11, improving your club’s facilities, working out the financials, or navigating between your scouts, transfer prospects, and youth players.
Essentially, FIFA 13 on iOS is FIFA 12 on iOS with a brand new coat of varnish. It’s a slicker, easier-to-use experience, but at its core it remains very much the same, which isn’t horrible. However, if you go in expecting “precision controls” (as touted on the game’s entry on the App Store), you’ll be fairly disappointed. The basic gameplay shares it all with FIFA 12: it’s a solid soccer experience on a portable device, but it does not come even close to a sim. Consider it more like the console FIFA’s aracade-y cousin that has some fairly regular control issues.
Audio & Visual
Visually, FIFA 13 doesn’t look much better than FIFA 12 did, and to be honest, that was pretty bad to begin with. What’s extremely odd is how some players will looks remarkably like their real counterparts, while others may well be another person altogether. Take Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Mikel Arteta sporting a moustaches in-game, whereas they have never actually had them in real life.
On top of that, games like Infinity Blade have shown us all how good games can look on iOS platforms, and FIFA 13’s stadiums are far less expansive environments than anything in that game. I’d much rather play a FIFA with a slightly stylized art style if it means I don’t have to look at another blocky, sameish-looking character again. I’m not saying I expect FIFA to look like Infinity Blade, that’s asking a bit much, but surely the developers could have squeezed out a bit more out of the processing power of the various iDevices.
The game’s sound design features much better. The soundtrack is thankfully relatively dubstep free, and is actually quite spectacular. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that many of the songs now feature on my workout mix. The sounds of the ball being hit don’t sound all that great, in fact they’re fairly unrealistic, but everything else in-match is fairly solid. Crowd chants in particular ring out clearly and the commentary is crisp and clear, if a bit repetitive.
Overall
Altogether, FIFA 13 is not a bad experience. I hate to trash the game’s control because the developers are really doing their best on a platform which really doesn’t lend itself well to precision, but be warned: if you expect a realistic soccer simulation on your phone, then this will be as close as you get, but it sure ain’t great. Maybe it’s time the iOS FIFA team simply dropped the moniker of football sim on the portable and went for a more arcade-like experience in all aspects of the game (including visual presentation). That direction would lend itself very well to the platform, and the little things that just don’t fly at the moment would be fairly easy to gloss over.
Regardless, if you really want a FIFA on the go, and you don’t own FIFA 12 on your portable device, then this is the best experience as you’ll find on the app store. If you do own FIFA 12 on your iMabob, then consider this one pass of the franchise that you don’t have to intercept.
Welcome to my weekly Hunter x Hunter episode impressions. This week, I go through episode 49 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.
