Hey! Yeah, you! You’re a hunter too right? Oh… you’re not? Well who gives a crap, you will be once Hunter x Hunter: Wonder Adventure is released on the Playstation Portable later this year.
The game which is developed and published by those legends over at Namco Bandai, has now gotten it’s official Japanese release date. Hunter x Hunter: Wonder Adventure is slated for release in Japan on the 20th of September for the price of ¥5,230.
It is unlikely the game will see a Western release but the hardcore of the hardcore will surely import this badboy. So, let the hunt begin!
Assassin’s Creed Liberation is a complementary experience to Assassin’s Creed 3. However, just because its on a smaller system doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack a punch.
Liberation is set in the same time period as AC3, but from an entirely different perspective. During this period of history, Louisiana was controlled by the French, although Spain was attempting to nab it for themselves. This game will primarily focus on what America was like before the Revolution. You’ll play as Aveline, a female assassin who is French African. Her reasons for fighting are very compelling; she protects civilians, battles against injustice, and is an all out opponent against slavery.
Liberation shares basically the same engine that is powering its bigger sibling. For example, the tree running, combat mechanics and graphics are not only on par with Assassin’s Creed 3, but they are in many cases more impressive, partly due to the fact that the Vita is such a small machine. This game even has real time cinematics. Plus, Liberation features a huge open world, side missions and anything else you’d expect from a full fledged Assassin’s Creed game. The only difference is that Liberation’s missions are tailored for the mobile audience; they will be shorter to accommodate subway rides and trips to the store, but they will still be packed with action and adventure. In fact, Liberation will take about 15-20 hours to complete, and that is if you rush through it.
As with many games nowadays, Liberation supports multiple play styles. You can go stealthy, full action or a mix between the two. Aveline has several new weapons at her disposal, such as the machete, blowpipe and duel pistols. Liberation’s combat appears to be extremely smooth and well suited to the Vita’s controls. In fact, it uses the exact same control scheme as AC3 during the majority of gameplay. Ubisoft will only be using the touch screen and camera on the Vita to accentuate the gameplay where it makes sense. For example, once you’ve built up a special meter you can mark enemies, similar to Splinter Cell Conviction, and then take them out with one tap in a single incredible choreographed flurry of mayhem.
As Ubisoft says, this is no mere port. It is designed purely for the Vita and is meant to take on AC3 as an equal.
A Tomb Raider reboot has been needed for some time now. Thankfully, Cyrstal Dynamics has also recognized this need, and at E3 2012 I got to see Lara Croft in action as she vied for survival after crash landing on a dangerous island.
Lara has just escaped from her captors and is trying to find other survivors. The last time this game was shown off, fire was featured as the main device in her arsenal. However, this time it was revealed that she can use a variety of tools. For example, she happens across a ‘prying tool’ that can be used to open locked doors, twist gears and more. But Lara can also upgrade these tools, in addition to her weapons, at base-camps using XP that she has earned by killing deer and wolves in the wild, or through other actions.
Crystal Dynamics has described this game as having a limited open world, which means that while there is definitely a path for Lara to take, similar to Tomb Raider games of old, there is also a lot open space and side missions that she can explore. Oftentimes, this “open world” also appears to hold the key to finishing the current mission. I wouldn’t say its an open world like GTA, but it is way more open for exploration than other Tomb Raiders, which is exactly how it should be for an explorer of Lara’s caliber. Take for example, the river that is present in the game. Rather than simply being a random stream of water, it actually has a source upstream, in addition to a waterfall. One task that is asked of you is take Lara back to one of her basecamps, which was by a waterfall. By following the river, you will be able to find the camp.
Thematically, this game is quite adult, and it will be exploring more mature material than in past games. While Lara looks quite badass in many trailers, in the beginning she is actually quite innocent and inexperienced as she makes her way through dangerous environments. For example, Lara has to fight off an attempted rape by one of her captors. During this fight, the attacks and cut scenes featured gruesome violence. After she shot the man in the face from 2 feet away, she broke down and started crying, which was quite uncharacteristic of previous Lara. Nevertheless, this entire scene was incredibly emotional , gut-wrenching and hard to watch. It will undoubtedly be one of the most compelling games of 2013 .
In another scene, Lara gets caught in a bear trap. Although this scene was quite graphic, I had a bit of a problem with it. Most of the time a bear trap will, at the very least, break a human leg. However, in this game, she was able to be extracted from it without too much repercussion, although she appeared to have a serious injury. She had to be helped away, but in real life she probably would have lost her leg. While I recognize that this is simply a video game, I really hope that Crystal Dynamics is able to effectively toe the line between fantasy and reality in the majority of the game.
Visually, Tomb Raider is absolutely incredible. Take for example, the rain effects. The rain will actually affect Lara’s skin, making it shiny, while her clothes deepen in color as the rain hits her. And that is just one example of the amazing graphics that are present in the game. You may have seen the gritty screenshots and the hardcore trailers, but they pale in comparison to actually seeing the gameplay up-close.
While my excitement level for Tomb Raider was high before, this demo confirmed pretty much all my hopes for the game. The graphics look amazing, the world has a real sense of danger, and the story is incredible. Although I only saw a 15 minute demo, it appears that Crystal Dynamics is making a game that will put Lara back on top of the explorer leaderboard.
Fans of Strategy RPGs will be happy to know that another great looking SRPG is coming down the pipe today from Sting and Atlus USA. As you can probably tell from the title of this article, that title is Gungnir and it will be offering a number of twists to your standard SPRG mechanics, such as time management, creating a fresh experience.
It is worth noting that, at the moment, Gungnir is not compatible with the PlayStation Vita so some of you may need to dust off your PlayStation Portable. Perhaps the below launch trailer may encourage you to dust it off a bit faster to pick this unique-take on the SRPG genre.
In preparation for the release of the “Riders of Rohan” expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine has started a video series showing off the behind the scenes of what they are doing for the expansion. This first video shows off the live action stuff that they are doing for it as well as a bit of the actual content the expansion will be bringing to the game.
Overall, the video doesn’t cover a lot of detail, but it does show off their live action a bit and that definitely looks good. Explaining the motivation for direction of the short does technically count as behind the scenes, though if it would pique the interest of players interested in the MMORPG will remain to be seen. “Rider of Rohan” is set to release for Lord of the Rings Online in autumn of this year, which players can already pre-order and get in-game content for doing so.
If you read our preview of Assassin’s Creed 3 then you may have read about a number of amazing new features such as tree navigation, Connor’s new fighting animation as well as the game’s new quest system. If you haven’t read it then you can do so here, but now you can even take a look at the same gameplay through the trailer released today by Ubisoft.
In case you are curious about who is providing the voice over for this gameplay footage, it is Alex Hutchinson, the creative lead for the game. So, after seeing the game in action, does this put all of your worries to rest? After seeing it in person this absolutely secured my purchase.
A few months ago Nintendo revealed plans that they would start to release a slew of full-retail titles digitally on their eShop and while we already knew that they would release their New Super Mario Bros. 2 digitally on the system, Nintendo never did reveal what else would be available digitally.
Now however Nintendo, namely Reggie Fils-Aime, revealed a slew of other digital titles including some third-party games which can be seen both above and in the list here: New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.
Remember last week at Nintendo’s Pre-E3 press conference when they stated that the Wii U would be able to support two Wii GamePad controllers at the same time? Well it turns out that at least right out of the gate, it can’t. In an interview with Gamasutra Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that none of the game’s launch titles would support this functionality.
To be a bit more precise he stated that “It’s going to be well after launch for those game experiences to come to life.” So it seems that after media and fan backlash after it was revealed the Wii U could only support one GamePad may have encouraged Nintendo to add functionality for such compatibility in, but not soon enough to actually put it in the first game’s people will be playing.
Now we all know what Zuma is, casual gamers around the world have use their skills to uncover its ancient secrets by firing magical balls from the stone frog idol and exploring over 20 temples. Being able to rack up huge combos, special bonuses and power-ups. It’s a game that that’s been enjoyed on PC, MAC, Mobile devices, PSP, PSN & even XBLA. Now it looks like you can even take your Zuma addiction literately one step further. Are you Feelin’ lucky? If you are it looks like you can try out Zuma slots online! The game is a five reel, 20 line slot machine inspired by the legendary Popcap game.
Zuma slots has a range of play options from Reel Wins to Zuma Wild, when you throw Free Spins and Scatter Bonus into the mix, it’s a refreshing take on the slot games concept, with the same great thrill and excellent graphics only found in classic Zuma gameplay!
This is certainly not for everyone, as it looks like you’ll need to be over the age of 18 to register and play and you will also need a credit card or paypal. We wanted to let you know how popular this game has become. So you have been warned, take caution if you do decide to give it ago. Remember play with your head and not over it!
EA has announced The Sims 3 Supernatural as the latest expansion pack for the long running series. The 7th expansion pack for the series, as the name suggests, introduces supernatural creatures to the game with the likes of werewolves, witches, vampires, fairies and zombies.
Players can directly create werewolves, fairies, witches and vampires in the Create A Sim tool. These new supernatural sims will have their own unique abilities, traits, skills and interactions. Sims can also become zombies through the zombification elixir, which can be created by sims in the game through new magical crafts.
For those that pre-order The Sims 3 Supernatural, you’ll receive an exclusive Plants vs. Zombies content pack that includes the classic Pea Shooter.
The Sims 3 Supernatural is to be released in September for Mac and PC.
