Button Brigade is a new adventure app where instead of controlling the game, the buttons are a part of the game. With a top-down world with touch controls, you help a robotic worm escape from the factory that created it. The factory is home to hundreds of buttons that can be used to solve the puzzles created by factory foremen, as well as take down hostile worms.
This will take some strategizing as you utilize each button for its unique talents, and try to avoid the pitfalls to each puzzle. And if you mess up a puzzle then don’t worry, there is a reset button you can use.
Check out the trailer for the game below, with it’s fairly simplistic graphics, but quite an interesting gameplay that looks different than what you’d usually expect. There are more than forty levels with a variety of buttons and strategies for you to take on, as well as Time Trial mode, and an extra hard mode for super skilled button tappers.
For more information head over to the game’s website HERE, or the Facebook page for the game HERE. Keep tuned to Capsule Computers for more information on the game as it comes out, or any other games that are due to hit the App store.
The sequel to the turn-based RPG hit SQUIDS has released today for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. SQUIDS Wild West continues the story of the cephalopod adventurers as they try to save the seas from the terrors of the black ooze. This time heading to the hometown of gunslinger Clint to seek aid in their journey, the group meets up with 4 all new squid to join the party, as well as new foes, obstacles, and helmets.
SQUIDS Wild West is set to have the same quality in art, humor, and music of the first game, but also providing more challenges and features to spice up gameplay. From easier party customization, to difficulty adjustment, to iCloud syncing so players can utilize the same saves on any of their iOS devices. Be sure to watch the trailer below and check out the game HERE, which is currently 50% off or $0.99 in honor of its launch.
Namco Bandai Partners, the operator of retail distribution in 50 countries worldwide, will be partnering with Bohemia Group, part of the Australia’s top marketing and communication service STW Group, in order to bring Bohemia’s experience with marketing to some of the biggest names in games like Tomb Raider, Hitman, and other Namco Bandai products.
Currently, the games slated to feature and hopefully excel through Bohemia’s media talent will be the bigger name Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, but many of the other titles to ship this year.
We’ll see where this partner ship can bring Namco Bandai in the Australian market and what Bohemia can do in terms of PR for them. They should have there work cut out for them though as long as they don’t follow the marketing strategies used by EA’s Dead Space 2 and Dante’s Inferno.
Telegames today announced that they have been approved for developing and publishing Wii U titles. They are most known for developing and publishing titles for classic consoles as well as Nintendo DS and Apple iPad, in fact this will be their first attempt at home consoles since the original PlayStation.
“We are thrilled to return to game consoles but will continue to actively support portable systems as well,” said company president Terry Grantham. “We have projects in design that we feel will not only maximize the use of the console features but also establish new standards for gameplay interaction via the visuals available on the Wii U GamePad screen.”
It seems this could be one publisher we may have to keep our eyes on! For more information on Telegames, make sure to check out their official website.
So for those of you who are looking to get Darksiders II and were wondering just why you should pre-order yourselves a copy, THQ have got an answer for you. For Australians if you put an order down on a limited edition of Darksiders II via shopTHQ Australia you will get a Darksiders II season pass as well as an exclusive set of in-game armour and free shipping.
The Darksiders II Season Pass entitles customers to download the second and third DLC packs when they become available online for free. As well as this, pre-orders are automatically upgraded to the limited edition of the game which includes the first DLC pack, Argul’s Tomb. This first pack will be available about one month after the game is released, and all of the packs will include significant single player content.
As well as these packs, you will receive an exclusive Maker’s Armour and Scythe set, with upgraded stats and a unique design, it will give you a boost during the game.
Unfortunately Season Passes are not available for Playstation 3 in Australia, so shopTHQ will be offering the limited edition of Darksiders II with Saints Row 2 for free. The PC download version also includes Metro 2033 for free as well.
The Vice President of Global Brand Marketing, Jim Huntley, states about the pre-order package:
“We are excited to be able to reward customers who pre-order the game via shopTHQ with these great incentives. Not only will they get a unique armor set at launch, but they will also get significant free content for months to come. And while the Season Pass is not available on PlayStation 3 in Australia, we think PS3 owners will enjoy the opportunity to play another THQ title in Saints Row 2 at no extra cost.”
So head on over to THQ’s site and pre-order your copy of Darksiders II HERE!
Darksiders II is due for release on August 16, 2012 in the Australia and August 14 in the US on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The WiiU’s date set for a tentative late 2012. Keep tuned to Capsule Computers for more news on Darksiders II as it is released.
As we recently reported earlier, Activision and Beenox’s The Amazing Spider-Man: The Video Game which slinged into stores today! To help promote the release, an epic launch trailer has been released which is really breath taking! Featuring the song “Control” by the band Garbage, fans are introduced to the re-imagined world of Spider-Man, alongside glimpses of the re-imaginings of villains such as The Lizard, Scorpion, Felicia Hardy, Rhino, Iguana and more. Make sure to check out the awesome launch trailer below!
But why just sit around watching a trailer when you can play it yourself? The Amazing Spider-Man is available now on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. Portable versions are also available on Nintendo DS and 3DS.
Yesterday Developer: Pendulo Studios Publisher: BulkyPix Platform: iPhone/iPad(reviewed)/PC Release: 21/6/12 Price: $5.49 – Available Here
Overview
I tend to approach ports to iOS devices overly critically. Arcade titles, and made-for-console games just don’t feel great on a touch screen device. It’s not just the interface; the whole thing just manages to feel sloppy in one-way or another. It’s like cramming your old television into a box it didn’t come in, it just won’t fit and in the end you just damage the box, the TV and yourself. Okay well, that is a little dramatic. There are of course certain genres that work very well on iOS – particularly on the iPad with it’s larger screen and, most of the time, better quality graphics.
One type of gaming is the adventure game. You explore, point and click, and slowly uncover mysteries along the way. I’ve always had a soft spot for these games, as feelings of nostalgia sweep through my mind, and I remember as a young child trying to navigate the virtual labyrinth that was Myst. Latest in my PC-to-iPad collection is Pendulo Studio’s title, Yesterday. A fitting title given my own subjective experience of the game brought back so many memories of a genre I have long forgotten. As I said, the game was original a PC title, that has already been received quite well here at Capsule Computers. But how does the iPad version hold up? Read on to uncover the mystery.
Gameplay
Replacing the mouse with the player’s own hand tends to work well with adventure games. It worked to some extent with Telltale Game’s Back To The Future franchise, and it damn well works with Pendulo Studio’s Yesterday. The game is essentially a series of static images with interactive hot spots that can be tapped. Unlike other adventure games, there isn’t a need to move the character around. While some people may be put off by the lack of player input, I welcomed the lack of control and the focus on point-and-click mechanics.
The interface sits perfectly on the side of the screen, with buttons to help reveal points of interest, a hint button and most importantly the inventory of collected items. At times the puzzles can be a little tricky, but that is half the fun of the game. You’ll need to combine elements and uncover secrets hidden throughout a series of scenes in order to uncover the mystery-based plot of the game.
Story
Yesterday is the story of one man, John Yesterday. He wakes up from a coma with no memories, only a series of clues in which to uncover a forgotten past. The game takes place through multiple flash backs into the memories of not just John Yesterday, but also a series of other characters. Without giving too much away, the story revolves around the investigation into a Satanic cult, and also the attempted suicide of the protagonist, John. The story isn’t too long, it shouldn’t take you long to play through it all. But it is engaging, you become engrossed in finding out answers, as more questions appear and you delve further into the memories of John Yesterday in an attempt to answer these questions. If you are the type who needs to compare a mobile game worth against PC/console games, then think of it this way. Yesterday has the same quality story as a PC game, but can be played anywhere, allowing you to hop in and out of the story whenever you feel like it.
Visuals
I found the visual style of Yesterday particularly engrossing. Although this comes as no surprise. iPad games are progressively becoming more and more sophisticated in terms of graphics. Each scene is created with a fantastic amount of atmosphere, with different locations all having a unique look and feel. I was also impressed by the animation in scenes that involve dialogue. Also, the use of comic book style panels to illustrate attention to certain objects when they are in use or if a conversation was taking place. Nice subtle animations keep the scenes from looking static. The only issue I had with the graphics is towards the end of the game, the background, some objects, and even a whole animated dialogue box appeared as blank. I was a little concerned at first, hoping this wouldn’t continue into the end of the game. I shut down the game completely, re-opened it and was back on track in the exact same spot. I should also note, this is the one time during the course of playing that I actually shut the game down. It’s hard to not want to progress further and further.
Audio
The audio at times can be a little dull. There are moments where all you will hear is the sound of your own footsteps and some random sound effects. For the most part however, there is an ominous soundtrack that runs through the game, which is rather fitting given the title’s satanic themes. Similarly, the voice acting matches the characters well, and isn’t as cheesy as you’d expect, it being an iPad game after all. Overall the audio works well with building the games atmosphere, and doesn’t draw too much attention away from your goals – allowing you to focus on the environment and search for clues.
Overall
Despite graphically issues, the game is very hard to get away from. It does start a little slow, but once you leave that first section of the story the plot draws you in. There were a few times were the search for clues became overbearing and I had to put the game down for some time. But that is the beauty of having the game on the iPad, I can just put my device to sleep and pick up where I left off wherever I want. There is a great attention to detail, and as I have explained, I have a soft spot for these types of adventure games. Chances are, after giving Yesterday a try; you will develop a soft spot for adventure games too.
Activision’s The Amazing Spider-Man: The Video Game swings into stores today!
Is your spider-sense tingling? Because mine sure is! Activision and Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man video game has hit Australian stores today. Based as an epilogue to the highly anticipated reboot film that comes out next week, The Amazing Spider-Man features a free-roaming Manhattan as your playground and a story that takes place after the events of the film by Hollywood writer Seamus Kevin Fahey (Spartacus: Vengeence, Sparticus: Gods of the Arena, Battlestar Galactica), players will get to experience playing like Spidy as you face off against re-imagined villains exclusively for the game such as Scorpion, Felicia Hardy, Rhino, Iguana and more. While the game may not feature the film’s voice actors, it does feature fan-favorite voice actors such as Evil Dead & Burn Notice’s Bruce Cambell and of course Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.
Developed by Beenox, the game is rated M on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions and PG on the Wii and Nintendo 3DS versions. An entirely different game with the same storyline has also been developed by Other Ocean and is rated PG for the Nintendo DS, developed by Other Ocean.
Last night 2K Games threw a launch party for their new shooter, Spec Ops: The Line. Everything had an awesome army feel to it and they let us try out the game, with some headsets hooked up. Unfortunately the loudness of the music meant that we couldn’t quite make out the dialogue or the quips that the soldiers trade back and forth, which are one of the things I actually quite like about the game.
On the surface Spec Ops seems to offer nothing more than any other game in the shooter genre, however it is definitely a game that deserves more attention. Just by playing it for a short amount of time, there is already such a different feel. There is more weight to your actions and what you do, because there is an actual story line to the game. Story and characters is an important aspect of a game for me, and usually something that is lacking in shooter games. Usually, shooters have the character development that can be expected from a game where the most important aspect is how many head shots you can get.
Unfortunately, this whole ‘character and story development’ isn’t something that really appeals to your standard shooter game player, unless they’re after something that is a rarity in the genre. So if you are a shooter that’s looking for something different while keeping that familiar gameplay, or someone who isn’t usually a shooter fan for the same reason as me, then this is a game that you should look at trying out.
Spec Ops: The Line is being released on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on June 29, 2012, or the 26th for the US. Keep an eye out on Capsule Computers for a review of the game!
Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Developer:FromSoftware Publisher:Capcom Release Date:June 19, 2012 Price:$59.99 – Available Here
Overview: When the Kinect was first announced it was met with much concern about what type of games would actually work on a system that involved motion controls with no controller whatsoever. Now since the Kinect’s release we’ve seen at least one or two games try to be something more than mini-game collections, exercise titles or dancing games, but even then those titles were lacking in a few regards.
Developed by FromSoftware many of you may remember that the first Steel Battalion was brought over to North America with what can be seen as the most amazing looking controller ever, as it contained twin joysticks, multiple switches, dials, levers and foot pedals that allowed the gamer to control every aspect of the mech. Enter Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, a game which has taken that complex set-up and made it nearly all motion based. Has this transition worked fluidly to create a great Kinect experience?
Story: In the not so distant future a catastrophic event called the Datacide has destroyed nearly all of the world’s electronics, microchips and various other advancements in science through some sort of unexplained means. The loss of all technology has thrown the world into chaos and now the United Nations has taken control of the world. However it seems that the United Nations now is pretty much China and they are nicknamed Uncle.
Players take the role of Winfield Powers, a man with a dark history of Uncle’s rein over the nation, who now is one of the best tank pilots in the United States. Now he has been placed in charge of a Vertical Tank, also called a Veet and will be sent on a number of missions which involve everything from destroying enemy bases, wiping out enemy patrols, destroying assets to the enemy and more.
With you is a crew of three co-pilots who help perform various tasks in your Veet, such as reloading, starting the engine and other things. As it stands the storyline is extremely predictable and full of so many war story clichés it is slightly ridiculous. The other members of your team tend to be comically bad as well, though you can also interact with them inside of the tank. This can either mean trying to pull in a panicking crew member or simply giving them a fist bump for a job well done. Though when the Kinect fails to read your simple fist bump motion, your co-pilot’s dejected and saddened face will mirror your own.
Visuals: Thankfully the title makes up for visually what it lacks in storytelling. Players will spend nearly all of their time playing the game inside of a Veet and the amount of detail with various blinking diodes, information readouts and may make you feel like you are actually inside a futuristic steamworks robot tank. The tank itself will also incur various battle damages, such as dirtied, cracked or broken viewports or shattered parascopes which can severely limit your battle capacity.
The battlegrounds you traverse are also varied well enough, though things do tend to become quite repetitive, especially considering most of the enemies you fight against are very static in appearance and will usually always look the same. This is quite problematic as well due to the fact that the title will take pleasure in making some enemies nearly invisible due to the lack of actual color diversity in the title, though whether you can either chalk that up to impressive camouflage work or poor design.
Audio: If gamers had a nickel for every time a curse word was uttered in the first hour of the game then they probably could have paid the game off and more because there is so much swearing in Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor it simply comes off as unenjoyable. There are some decent lines of dialogue spoken and mission briefings, however for every single piece of interesting or even alright dialogue is a slew of uninspired tripe.
Thankfully the game’s sound effects are quite stunning as gamers may truly feel like they are in the inside of a moving tank as it rumbles over the terrain, bullets pinging off the armor plating. Explosions sound believable enough and the title does feature some rather nice background music when it actually plays.
Gameplay:
When it was first revealed and detailed, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor sounded wonderful. It would be played nearly entirely with the Kinect with only a few necessary controller actions. Indeed that is what Heavy Armor does present the player. Throughout nearly every stage of the game players will be inside the cockpit of the Veet and will have to use their hand motions to flip various switches, switch between ammo types with virtual presses of buttons, and more. Players will even be able to stand up and look outside of the tank while using their left hand to activate binoculars in what truly feels like a cool gameplay element. In fact, the only thing the controller would be used for was basic movement and the firing of your machinegun and cannon.
Now while everything else sounds like it should work perfectly and crate an amazing gaming experience, in the end the Steel Battalion creates what may be the worst melding of action and Kinect ever to be created. When players begin the game they are run through a number of tutorial sections and the game’s manual will even explain the most optimal sitting posture to make sure the game works perfectly. Unfortunately despite all of these warnings it is difficult to put into words just how awful Heavy Armor’s motion controls work while in action.
There are a few rare times that the game’s systems will legitimately read your motions properly and you can actually fly through the game’s rather short missions with ease, experiencing what should have been an intricate mech vs mech simulation unlike anything we’ve seen before. However nearly every other time players will be spending more time fighting their Kinect than fighting Uncle.
You see, there are a number of legitimate gameplay systems which are locked into the Kinect only, meaning that in the middle of combat players may need to switch ammo types, resulting in them having to let go of the controller (either making them immobile or unable to look around) and attempt to make the Kinect properly read your attempted reach and button press to switch ammo, all while your mech is being hammered with enemy fire.
This would be a little excusable if it wasn’t for the moderate difficulty of the game as a whole. Player’s Veet can and will be destroyed with a few well-placed explosions, effectively disabled if your legs are blown off, or you can simply be killed by an enemy getting a lucky shot through your shattered viewport. Of course, you can try to close the shutter on the viewport but then the game will mistake your gesture for pulling down the periscope where you will then be killed. Oh and best beware of the self-destruct button as it seemed that Powers certainly didn’t want to live before turning on the mech’s headlights.
Interestingly enough, Heavy Armor does feature an online co-op mode that allows players to take on certain missions with other players, with ranks given depending on total points earned, though good luck finding others to play with. If you play these levels without a partner you are instead saddled with AI partners which will do everything in their power to fail and actually earn negative points, which lowers your rank. This is disappointing thanks to the fact that your rank will also reward you with customizable parts for your Veet, though most of these parts are only slightly helpful in the long run.
Overall: It is truly disappointing to see what became of Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor as I truly wanted to enjoy and like the title. However after struggling for hours trying to manage the Kinect control scheme it ultimately became a battle against the game rather than the enemies on-screen. It doesn’t help that the game’s storyline barely serves as a structure for what is happening on screen. Ultimately if Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is crushed under the weight of its own ambition, with a control scheme better suited for a controller than shoe-horned motion controls.
Button Brigade is a new adventure app where instead of controlling the game, the buttons are a part of the game. With a top-down world with touch controls, you help a robotic worm escape from the factory that created it. The factory is home to hundreds of buttons that can be used to solve the puzzles created by factory foremen, as well as take down hostile worms.
