A restaurant owner has recently lost her closest friend and now has revenge on her mind. This friend, mind you, was also murdered on her own wedding, which makes this an even more brazen hit. Mrs. Chu enlists the aid of Wei and together an explosive mission takes place on the streets of Hong Kong.
This trailer primarily focuses on the intense combat portrayed within the game, as well as a little bit of the world building that has gone into it. The trailer is also a developers commentary and we have one of the devs walk us through the level. It goes for around eight minutes and can be viewed below.
Be sure to check out the trailer, embedded below for more info.
Tony Hawk HD Developer: RoboModo Platform: Xbox Live Arcade Release Date: July 18, 2012 Price: 1200 Points ($14.99)
Overview
When Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater first launched years ago, it was the game that could turn you into a popular kid by simply owning a copy. The year was 1999, Tony Hawk was at the peak of his career, the Nintendo 64 and Playstation were battling for supremacy, and console gaming was replacing arcades rapidly due to the mass amount of hits that were brought out at the end of the 90’s. Pro Skater itself was like nothing else before, leading to a ton of sequels and fanfare, which are all ancient history now. After many gamers got burnt out by the mass explosion of skateboarding, the series died down considerably and has had a hard time finding itself in this era of evolution and motion controlled madness. Tony Hawk HD is more of a celebration of the series than a new entry, with levels from past games, a killer soundtrack, and those famous faces all making a return into relevancy. The question is, can an HD recreation live up to fans’ expectations? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
When first starting at the old Warehouse, players shouldn’t have too much difficulty getting the hang of that classic control scheme. Players can move their skater around a park with the left analog, build up speed with A, and of course pull off jumping and grinding by utilizing the other face buttons on the controller. Yes, not much has changed from past games, and when it comes to proper mapping, Tony Hawk HD gets a pass due to how accessible the game still is. The tricks and airtime are where this franchise gets it’s name though, and that is where it sadly starts to falter.
Robomodo made most of the tricks easy enough to combo into and a good number of memorable maneuvers have made a return, but this game’s physics can put a damper on the entire experience, greatly robbing the player of that freedom we have grown to know and love with the franchise during its earlier years. If a player is able to get enough air and start throwing down a chain of combos, the game can have a hard time accepting all of the inputs at once, which usually leads your skater falling to the ground instantly. Landing a trick is already hard enough, but these physics are rough around the edges and can lead to sheer frustration within seconds. Manuals assist a great deal when it comes to chaining a combo, but the lack of reverts that were introduced in Pro Skater 3 leave a missing space in this game, making it show it’s gray hairs in the process. Yeah, Tony Hawk HD makes it pretty clear that it’s all about the originals, but the little inclusions of such important maneuvers could have greatly improved these already shaky mechanics.
Execution of those jaw-dropping trick combos and techniques still revolve around a mix of timing and precision; meaning that after a bit of practice, one could master each skater and land their special moves in style with some old fashioned trial and error. Luckily, Tony still has his moxy in that area, as the game is still addictive when it comes to getting back on that board and trying again. Sadly, there are bugs on top of the messy gameplay elements that yet again take the player out of the skate park and into another realm of anger. As many of you know, if you fail a trick, your player resets back to their previous position. I had many moments where the game would mistake a slight movement for a fail, and then reset my character back in the blink of an eye. At first I blew it off, and kind of suspected it was just a one time ordeal, but after resetting while in mid-air and..while resetting (yes, and double start-up of sorts), this small bug became a bigger problem. I understand the developers recreated a lot of this content from scratch, but flaws like these make it seem as if this game was rushed out a bit too soon.
Underneath all of the flaws, there still is a decent single player mode to keep you busy. Each stage is made up of a good number of objectives to complete before moving on to the next area. Tasks like racking up a high score, landing specific tricks, and collecting S-K-A-T-E letters are all back, and each stage has enough to keep the player focused for hours at a time while they mark off their checklists. 7 classic fan favorite levels such as School II, Mall, and Venice Beach make up the locations within. That number may seem a bit small, but for a digital release, I found it to be sufficient enough. The skaters are also a motley bunch, made up of the Hawkman himself and some more recent faces, with a few returning characters that past players may remember. No, there isn’t Spider-man, but each member of the roster feels different from the next, which of course adds to the overall replay value of the game.
Instead of split-screen, an online mode has been included for Hawk-heads to get their multiplayer fix, with series’ staples such as Grafitti and Trick Attack. The humorous but slightly forgettable Big Head Survival mode has also been added, but the lack of HORSE certainly leaves a lot to be desired. If multiplayer isn’t your thing and you have finished up with your objectives, there still is a Free Skate option and online leaderboards to dominate. Some fans like myself however are sure to be disappointed with the lack of customization when it comes to the parks and boarders, as aside from avatar support, there isn’t much of your own personality to add to the game.
Visuals and Audio
When you hear the term HD, you usually think about character models and environments getting a full facelift. That is half right for Tony Hawk HD, as there are a few locations that look great and still manage to capture the essence of the original stage. Dimly lit stages like the Warehouse however are extremely stale, and feel as if the life has been sucked out of them, leaving a brown and grey shell in their place. The same effect goes for the skaters themselves, as the lighting used just seems to rob the game of color around every turn. My own avatar doesn’t even have much color in his outfit, but this game managed to take his little soul as well during all of the indoor areas. I understand that shading is important for updating an aged game like this, but I would rather go back to the old blocky visuals than see a good amount of Pro Skater’s charming aesthetic taken away. Animations are also a bit hit or miss, with some occasional clipping issues and jerky movements while crashing.
The soundtrack is definitely a high point of the experience, as all of the great music from the first two games is back and sounds better than ever. Songs like Superman and Bring The noise are sure to be a nostalgia rush to most of us out there, while new tracks have also been introduced that still fit in flawlessly. The sound effects however are a bit unbalanced with this awesome soundtrack, as glass shattering and helicopters taking off sound too overbearing and can easily throw a player off while in the middle of a trick.
Overall
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is a game I wanted to love, so much in fact that I played the original blue Nintendo 64 cartridge while preparing for this very review. I still had a blast with the older game – even with it’s own shortcomings as the experience was full-on “arcadey” and just simple fun, which is why the series was so successful to start with. Tony Hawk HD should have been an easy remake considering the classic can still hold up, but it’s bugs, lifeless visuals, and exclusion of customization keep it far away from reaching it’s true potential. The Pro Skater series was a legendary staple in this industry, and much like the more recent and heavily flawed predecessors, Tony Hawk’s HD offering feels like more of a quick cash-in on this series’ name than the true tribute that it could have been.
anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Studio: A-1 Pictures Publisher:NIS America Format:Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date:July 3, 2012 Price: $55.99 – Available Here
Overview: Every so often an anime comes along that will pull at its viewers heartstrings and make them truly care about the characters. While anime is full of shonen adventures full of action and ecchi shows packed with fan service, there are also series focused on drama and the experiences of a small group of characters going through everyday life.
Originally released in Japan back in 2011 under the name Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, NIS America has brought the series to North America under its new name, anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Does this series offer a truly emotional experience that viewers will remember long after the final episode finishes?
Story: anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day follows a group of friends who were inseparable during their childhood, but ever since an accident occurred when they were young, the group has separated almost entirely. Now that many years have passed and this same group of friends has entered their mid-teens, these one time friends barely speak to another or end up treating each other simply like garbage.
The de facto leader of the childhood friends’ group, Jinta has now become a shut-in who refuses to even attend school, but when the group’s childhood friend Menma suddenly appears to Jinta, more mature since the incident, claiming she has a special wish that she wants granted, he must try to bring the estranged “Super Peace Busters”, as their group was called, back together in an attempt to help Menma find happiness.
anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day is a heartwarming story but also one that is bittersweet. As the friends begin to come together once again they must overcome their guilt and regrets which have been piling up on them after the incident that happened so many years ago. To make matters worse, many members of the group have been suppressing their emotions and dealing with internal conflicts for so long that reuniting the group may be nigh impossible.
Considering the story’s premise, there are a number of flashback sequences that are handled well and never seem heavy-handed. Instead these flashbacks provide a clear parallel to how these friends used to be before they grew up. It is worth noting though that anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day is unfortunately only eleven episodes long, which is a tad shorter than your standard anime, but throughout these eleven episodes viewers will be taken on an emotional ride.
Over the course of the series there is never a lull in the character development and emotions these characters display. Though Jinta happens to be the main focus, the rest of the friends’ emotional baggage is aired out with some of them revealing dark secrets never known to the rest of the group as they come to terms with who they now are.
Thanks to the well-developed characters and the emotional plot viewers will find it impossible to not care about this group of friends as they try so hard to grant Menma’s wish (ultimately accepting her fate) and bury the hatchet on past conflicts, allowing them to move on with their lives and grow close to each other once again.
Visuals: To help with making characters that the viewer can connect to, the animation team has created characters with highly expressive faces to display their emotions. Interestingly enough, most characters outside of Menma will often go through multiple clothing changes per episode, keeping the characters fresh and more realistic and detailed.
It is also delightful to see how well A-1 Pictures took advantage of the ten year gap between flashbacks and the present time, showing how each child has grown up into an adolescent. With the use of flashbacks viewers are also treated to the It is also worth noting that a lot of the background scenes in the series are well drawn and have a decent amount of detail to them.
Audio: Considering this is an anime release from NIS America, there is no English dub included with the release of anohana, instead viewers will need to watch the anime with the Japanese voice track only and have to read the English subtitles provided by the company. Thankfully the Japanese voices are ably performed which is a necessity for an anime which focuses so much on the emotions of the characters.
Outside of the dub work, anohana fields very simplistic background music usually featuring calming music played by a piano or other light instrument. As for the series’ opening and ending themes we have the opening theme is “Aoi Shiori” while the ending song is “Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~.” Both of these music pieces are slow paced and fitting for the overall mood of the series, especially since whenever the ending theme starts playing during the last few seconds of an episode it really helps add emotion to the last scene.
Extras: With NIS America releasing anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, anyone who happens to pick up the show will be given a premium edition version. This premium edition includes an oversized glossy chip-board slip cover featuring a happy Menma on one side and the whole group of friends laying in a circle on the other side. This slip cover contains a detailed art book titled “The Super Peace Buster Chronicle” and the two slimpak DVD cases containing both the DVD and Blu-ray discs of the series.
The art book itself contains a number of interesting tidbits. It contains character descriptions and artwork of each of the “Super Peace Busters” in their teenage and child forms, Menma’s scrapbook which features various images of a young Menma as she enjoyed time with her friends, a Super Peace Scrapbook which also functions as an episode guide. Closing out the art book we have some character sketches, various images translating Jinta’s T-Shirts, lyrics to the ending song and bonus artwork. The amount of bonus content in the pages of the art book is certainly pleasing.
Overall: anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day is a touching story that tackles a number of emotional issues such as the struggles that friends go through as they age the death of those closest to you. Although the series may be shorter than standard, the experience will leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Rarely do anime series come along that can trigger such emotional responses from their viewers such as this. To put it simply when a series can make you care so much for the characters on-screen that you cry along with them, it is one that simply should not be missed.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 is right around the corner, and we here at Capsule are excited to get our coin loving hands on the game. One month can be quite a wait though, so Nintendo have announced that they will be slashing prices on the best Mario titles in the eShop so that fans can contain that urge for the time being.
Check out the dates and titles participating for yourself:
July 26 – Aug. 1 – Super Mario Bros. – $3.99
Aug. 2 – Aug. 8 – Super Mario Land – $2.99
Aug. 9 – Aug. 15 – Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – $2.99
Aug. 16 – Aug. 22 – Mario’s Picross – $2.99
Not too shabby. I know a buck doesn’t sound like much, but Nintendo doesn’t have to cut any of these prices to get them to sell, and every little bit helps. New Super Mario Bros. 2 lands in stores on August 18th, so until then, take advantage of these sales while you can.
Need some inspiration on things to do with that fancy Parrot AR.Drone? Parrot has released their latest iOS app that works with their line of remote controlled aerial drones. AR. Rescue 2 takes the camera on the Parrot AR.Drone 1 and 2 and gives players a shooting/piloting game that will require players to pilot around their environment and collect pieces of the alien rockets scattered around the world using their iOS device in Augmented Reality. Players will need to lay an AR base down to help the aliens rebuild their rocket while protecting them from the crunchers, flying robots bent on destroying your drone. The AR.Rescue 2 app is available for free on the iTunes App Store here. An AR.Drone or AR.Drone 2.0 will be required to play this game.
A while back, Majesco announced some nice value packs that are soon to hit the DS and Wii, which puts two older titles into one package for a fraction of their original price-tag, which means Mama is seeing six re-releases in one day.
Mama’s Combo Pack Volume 1 includes Cooking Mama and Cooking Mama: Outdoor Adventures,
Mama’s Combo Pack Volume 2 includes Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends and Crafting Mama, and finally, the Wii will be seeing some love when both of the Cooking Mama titles revisit the platform in Mama’s 2 Pack. Yes, that’s a whole lot of Mama, and all will be out on August 14th for us to dine on.
IronMonkey Studios and Firemint has been merged by EA to become FireMonkeys. Melbourne, Australia based IronMonkey Studios has made titles such as the Sims 3, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, and Need For Speed Hot Pursuit for the mobile platforms. Also based in Melbourne, Firemint has hit games such as Real Racing 2, Spy Mouse, and Flight Control Rocket to the iOS platform. This merger makes FireMonkeys the largest game development studio in Australia. FireMonkeys will be working out of the EA Melbourne studio on separate products and new collaborations. FireMonkeys is also looking to hire staff to fill new positions on the FireMonkeys team.
The Farm 51 has started giving more information about their Project Adventurer, a working title. Adventurer sees players exploring the 1930’s adventure scene as a private investigator caught up in the search for an ancient artifact as anyone who was anyone at that time seemed to be.
But, players shouldn’t worry too much about jungle dysentery as they can see from the gallery below the game is set to feature a variety of locations including an inhospitable frozen landscape complete with frozen corpses. Additionally in the gallery, players can check out the antagonist known as The Sentinel, a Mayan king of The Lost City, who now guards it from all who would enter.
Project Adventurer is an action/adventure/FPS utilizing the Unreal 3 engine that is set for release on the Xbox 360 and PC in 2013, but with hopeful plans to be making it’s way to the PS3 as well. Let’s hope that The Farm 51 can nail down a more definite title soon as well.
Match three is a pretty standard genre for casual gaming as it’s pretty easy to understand the concept and then it’s simply balancing out scoring. So, what big changes could a game like Monster Cube be adding to spice things up? Make it a 3D cube of things to match, so players have to race the clock to dwindle the cube down, as opposed to clearing a board.
With more than just having to clear as much of the cube as possible, there are missions for players to take on and try to complete. Those looking for a more frantic experience can play in Fever Mode.
Monster Cube is a game coming from Brazilian mobile developer Monster Juice onto the App Store and Google Play. Even better players can check out the game for FREE, so there’s no reason not to. Players can download it for their preferred mobile device on Google Play or the App Store.
Well, everyone, Konami might be at it again. It looks like Konami is trying to recruit for a new dedicated PES production studio that will be based out in London. The office will work with the main studio that is based out in Tokyo to try to capture the local culture of football and keep the Pro Evolution Soccer series fresh and new! The Konami president Shinji Hirano reported, “We are looking for a number of creative people who can help us elevate PES to whole new levels. As part of Konami’s commitment to ensuring PES captures the majesty of European football, we are looking for people to help capture the very essence of the beautiful game and bring it to life.” He later said, “”We look forward to meeting interested parties at GDC Europe.”
That being said, anyone who is interested in sculpting the future of the PES franchise should head on over to Booth #165 at GDC Europe 2012 also for those of you who live in Europe you can expect a demo for PES 2013 to be released tomorrow!
Match three is a pretty standard genre for casual gaming as it’s pretty easy to understand the concept and then it’s simply balancing out scoring. So, what big changes could a game like Monster Cube be adding to spice things up? Make it a 3D cube of things to match, so players have to race the clock to dwindle the cube down, as opposed to clearing a board.