There are so many apps on the iTunes Store that it is almost impossible to look through every single one, but I would have to say that the five apps released last week by KAYAC Inc may just be the top apps to give yourself and anyone around you terrifying nightmares. But hey, these nightmares can actually come free of charge because the five apps cost absolutely nothing as each one of these is free.
First we have a game called Rotate Head, where players will blow up a man’s head as often as possible, available here, Fish Man where players will literally need to slice apart a fish-shaped man as many times as possible here, Kill Bee, a creepy chameleon-human hybrid who must eat flying bees here, Ugly Hand, where you will need to cut off human faces which appear as scars on the back of the on-screen handhere and Worm Bowls, a title about catching worms in a bowl here. Now as you can see from the images in each game’s iTunes profile, each one of these is quite creepy, so KAYAC’s classification of “yaCreepy” for these titles is quite accurate.
Taito released their latest game for iOS. Zombie Carnival is a social sim that has players taking care of a variety of zombies in a spooky undead theme park. Zombies range from the undead cat to the mighty dinosaur. Players will be able to put their own unique touch to the carnvial, laying out roads, buildings, decorations, and other landmarks while upgrading their zombies into a team of fighters to be reckoned with. Zombies can be fused together to create new monstrous creatures. Players will also be able to visit their friend’s carnivals and request their assistance in battle.
Zombie Carnival is currently free and can be downloaded from the App Store here.
Com2uS’ newest title hit the App Store. Swing Shot is a simple but addictive game for all ages. The game stars a full menagerie of animals and physics based game play as players drag across the screen to sling shot. The game features four single player modes and competitive multiplayer. Arcade mode features four worlds and 48 stages. Classic mode provides turn based sling shotting action while Sniper mode will require accuracy and efficiency like a good sniper. Finally, Crazy mode will require fast reflexes in frantic gameplay. Swing Shot features a full upgrade system as you add more animals to your team, upgrade their stats, and equip them with better gear. Swing Shot is free on the App Store and is available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch here.
Despite the fact that Dante’s personality was extremely annoying (not every situation requires a snarky or ridiculous comment you jerk!), DMC was actually quite awesome. Demon mode is mapped to the Right trigger, while Angel mode is on the Left. Pressing one of these will modify the current attack, thus enabling you to perform a huge variety of combos. This game is a joy to control, there are a plethora of amazing attacks, and I had a great experience during my brief demo. The platforming was solid and the fighting was brilliant. Demon attacks tend to strike with brute force, while Angel attacks are more elegant and smooth. However, it is really easy to switch between them, rack up huge combos and have a ton o’ fun defeating crazy enemy types.
Hitman Absolution
The latest Hitman game features a graphics upgrade and better AI. The AI will now respond differently depending on what disguise the Agent has. For example, if 47 has a janitor uniform, other janitors will instantly be able to tell the difference. However, other characters will ignore him. In addition, Agent 47 will posses a feature called “Instinct”, meaning that he can now detect NPC routes, see through walls, and get a better understanding of the terrain for a short time.
Two other features were also shown off at E3. Absolution has Splinter Cell Conviction-like marking of enemies; once you get enough “Instinct”, you can mark several enemies at once,and then take them out in a maelstrom of magnificence. There will also be an in-game rating system, or leaderboard, that tracks stats and compares you against your friends.
Hybrid
Hybrid is a unique 3rd-person shooter being developed by 5th Cell and coming to XBLA. What makes it unique is that you don’t have much control over your character. In the map that I played, there were a few platforms situated around a central column. On each platform, there were knee-high walls that could be used for cover. You can slide along the walls, hop over them and shoot over them. If you want to move to the next platform, press ‘A’ and you will jetpack over there. Mid-air dogfights and jousts are a regular occurrence. Hybrid is a multiplayer only title, and it is certainly unique. Its pretty hard to describe, but once you try out it out you may never go back.
Mark of the Ninja
Mark of the Ninja is the complete opposite of Shank, the previous game from developer Klei Entertainment. Whereas Shank was all about gory violence, Mark of the Ninja is all about stealth. While you can fight your enemies head on, it doesn’t go too well as I experienced many times during my play-through. Mark of the Ninja is a 2D game that truly makes you feel like a Ninja as you knock out lights, swiftly execute ignorant guards and jump around like a true master of the art.
Wreckateer
Ok, the Wreckateer demo may have been the weakest point of Microsoft’s conference, but in actuality it does look like a solid Kinect title. Wreckateer appears to combine Angry Birds and Boom Blox. Your job is to use a canon and destroy a castle. However, the canon shoots out a variety of items. For example, once one of the weapons had been launched, you could use your arms to turn it into a glider and then steer the weaponized glider into combo multipliers before hitting the castle in a strategic spot. The controls were extremely accurate for a Kinect title and just like Angry Birds, its a pretty addicting game. I imagine it will probably be a pretty good party game, after everyone is tired of Dance Central 3.
Pid
Pid tells the humorous tale of a chubby boy from the future. After he misses the space bus that should have taken him home, he must traverse a dangerous world using a strange artifact he found in a treasure chest. The artifact allows him to use two gravity modifiers. He can attach them to any surface, at any angle. In addition, he can collect items, like bombs, to help him achieve his goal. Pid’s charming graphical style, intense action, and brilliant puzzles will be available on XBLA, PSN and Steam soon.
Madagascar – Join the Circus!
Madagascar-Join the Circus is actually already available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. However, during E3 I was able to get my first hands on time with the game. It is a fairly straightforward city building game, except it uses the Madasgar licence. Nevertheless, I immediately downloaded the game on my personal iPhone after I got home. It is just too fun building a circus! Plus, I would wager that this game is actually funnier than the movie; you can build all sorts of wacky buildings that are hilariously named. In addition, this city building game also features mini-games. For the time being there is only one minigame — you shoot Marty out of a cannon and attempt to collect as many balloons as possible. Its pretty fun. However, D3 will be updating this game throughout its lifetime with a ton more minigame options. The download link for the game can be found here.
Blacklist is the first Splinter Cell game to be developed by Ubisoft Toronto. Their aim is to make the “biggest and most ambitious Splinter Cell yet.” While Splinter Conviction took Sam Fisher in a new, darker direction that was met with much acclaim, some past fans of the series met it with chagrin. Blacklist appears to strike a balance between the two sides while at the same time adding its own twist. To that end, Blacklist will see the return of classic Splinter Cell items, like the knife and the sticky shocker. Plus, Spies vs Mercs is back.
However, there is still a lot of awesome stuff that has been transferred over from Conviction. Ubisoft Toronto wants you to be able to “traverse the environment and take out the enemy” which is referred to as “killing in motion.” Hence, you’ll still be able to mark your enemies and then take them out in a fantastic burst of destruction. Nevertheless, this system has been greatly improved allowing for easier marking, especially while on the move. Most importantly, it makes Sam Fisher look like even more of a badass. A variety of multiplayer modes will also be making a comeback, in addition to co-op.
Just because Sam takes his enemies out even more ruthlessly though, doesn’t mean that you agree with his actions. Blacklist is implementing an entirely new moral choice system, that allows you to make the decision during tense moments:.When in control of a hostage enemy combatant ,will you kill him or knock him out?
Blacklist will also enable players to have a variety of options to take their prey out, whether that means you play stealthily or not so stealthily. Most interesting is that Blacklist will also be providing a bevy of options for you to use when the s**t hits the fan. Thus, if you are trying to be stealthy but you mess up, that doesn’t mean that you have to restart. In addition, Blacklist will provide of variety of gameplay perspectives. For example, if Sam launches a drone you will be able to control it if you wish.
This Splinter Cell will also feature Kinect support, which will you allow you to distract enemies using the power of your voice. Finally, a new feature enables Sam to perform “kill and drag” stealth melee takedowns.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist launches in the Spring of 2013 on Xbox, PS3 and PC. Sam is in control of Fourth Echelon, a new agency set up after the President shuts down Third Echelon. As he travels through Iran and Iraq, he’ll discover the true terror of The Blacklist.
Always be brave…even when your running away from demon bears!
Temple Run: Brave is now available for digital download on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android in Australia and New Zealand from Disney Mobile and Imangi Studios. Based on the Disney Pixar film Brave, this title places the licensed characters into the familiar gameplay of the hit mobile game Temple Run with a new archery feature to collect extra coins. Temple Run: Brave is available now for $0.99 and comes with 2500 coins for upgrades and includes Game Center Leaderboards and Achievements.
Temple Run: Brave is available now in Australia and New Zealand on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android for $0.99. (BUY HERE) For more, check out the trailer below.
With Pro Cycling Manager 2012 set to release on PC this June 21st, Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have released one last slew of screenshots to tide over all those spoke-crazy cyclist die hards. Players can check out the screenshots below to check out all the cyclists in all their bike shorts glory.
The game is set to bring more than last year’s iteration, from more cyclists, to more events, to better training for all the cyclists on the team. This time it seems they really want to present every aspect they possibly can in the game, while not skimping on the visual side. According to the Pro Cycling Manager 2012 website they will be releasing one final trailer as well to coincide with the launch of the game, so hopefully that will show more of these new features in action.
Out of all the E3 booths, Borderlands 2 may have been the loudest, blaring out a tremendous cacophony of dubstep while Claptrap showed off his stylish dance moves on a giant screen. Borderlands 2 is not focusing on a new gimmick to differentiate itself from the first game. All its trying to do is polish some rough edges, and give you more. More flash. More loot. More guns. More WUB WUB.
During the gameplay demo, I chose to play as Axton, one of the new characters that will be making an appearance in Borderlands 2. Right off the bat, I noticed that Borderlands 2 has fixed one of the most frustrating parts of the original: it is now much easier to collect the loot you want and have it work for you. And that is really important, as Borderlands 2 features so much loot, it nearly sent me into sensory overload. There are bajillions of guns, cajillions of grendades, gajillions of ability modifiers and more. If you thought that Borderlands was cool and had a ton of guns, then be prepared to be shocked with the sequel. Gearbox has applied the same “no gun is the same” mantra to nearly every weapon in the game. However, they have also focused on making sure that your weapons actually feel different from each other, which was a huge complaint in the first game. Now, each weapon not only has visual differences, but they actually feel different while playing with them, meaning that some guns will work better on some enemy types or in certain situations.
Of course, Borderlands is also an RPG, and the same insane level of customization is applied here. There were so many screens of options that I felt like I could just spend hours tweaking my character. And that is the only complaint I have with the game. There is just so many options, and so much loot shooting out of everything, it boggles the mind. It will be nigh impossible to see everything in the game, much less try it out.
One major improvement in Borderlands 2 is that Gearbox has been messing around with AI enemies in the game, making them much smarter and harder to kill. In addition, the graphics nearly brought me to tears because they were so beautiful. Admittedly, I’m pretty sure I was playing on a PC, but still, those visuals were eye candy on top of a banana split with 100 cherries on top. As if that isn’t enough, Borderlands irreverent humor is returning in fine form.
Borderlands 2 is looking like a spectacular game for those who loved the original and can handle ginormous amounts of loot.
During the opening night of Supanova Sydney, Madman Entertainment held a special premiere screening of Gintama: The Movie. The premiere screening marks the first time Sentai Filmwork’s english language dub of the film has been shown in Australia.
Madman previously licensed the film for distribution on DVD and Blu-Ray, which is scheduled for release later this year. The film itself follows the Benizakura story arc of the anime series Gintama but in an abridged format.
This won’t be the only anime screened at the event as Madman plan to show a lot of other anime series and films at the event on Saturday and Sunday. You can check out what is being screened at the Madman Area at the event.
Akai Katana Developer: CAVE Publisher: Rising Star Games Release Date: May 16, 2012 Price: $39.96 – Available Here
Overview: In different regions around the world, certain genres can either be loved or mostly forgotten. For example, while hardcore FPS games are quite popular in North America and much of the rest of the world and companies have flocked to bringing as many of these games to the public, creating a flood of occasionally generic titles with little to no replay value.
On the other hand, a genre which unfortunately hasn’t been shown much love in Western countries, but is thriving in Japan, is the shoot’em up genre, also known as shmups or bullet-hell games. We’ve seen a scant few titles brought over to Western audiences in the form of Deathsmiles and even Otomedius Excellent, but now that Rising Star Games has settled into North America we now have another bullet-hell title gracing our shores in the form of Akai Katana. Does this unique looking bullet-hell styled game provide everything fans of the genre are looking for?
Story: Now the actual storyline for this game is set in an alternate universe which is similar to Japan in the early 1900’s where people have found these mysterious and powerful Blood Swords (Akai Katanas). These blood swords require a human sacrifice to reach their full power and a powerful nation has risen out of the blood of their fellow soldiers. A few soldiers (the three playable characters) have chosen to rebel against this practice and put an end to this nation’s power once and for all.
Interestingly enough, Akai Katana actually contains some sort of storyline, though barely any actual attention is paid to the story and with the English translation of the game being so bare-bones (more discussion on this later) barely any actual storyline is presented to the player, so those looking to understand what is actually happening in the game will probably be left out in the cold except for a very brief ending dialogue as the story itself is almost never mentioned in-game.
Visuals: Rather than try to conform to modern day 3D models, CAVE has chosen to stick with sprite based designs and hand drawn artwork for the game, which is quite a bonus. Based on the game’s setting of early 1900’s Japan and the rise of industrialization, most of the zones players will fly through have an appropriate, albeit bland, industrial feel to them. The enemies are varied well-enough with some surprisingly detailed mid-boss enemies appearing every level.
Where Akai Katana truly shines is when players are presented either the hand-drawn artwork of the characters, though it is unfortunate that most of these pieces of art are only briefly shown. Now one of the biggest questions about a bullet-hell game, is how does it perform when there are hundreds of projectiles flying around the screen? Well my friends, there is no cause for concern with Akai Katana as the title never experienced any slow-down despite the massive amount of colors, explosions, projectiles, points, orbs and more flying around the screen at any given time.
Audio: As one would expect, Akai Katana features some lovely Japanese-styled music with plenty of songs to accompany the fast paced action that is happening on screen, with music changes during difficult boss encounters. Fighting against enemies and destroying them in large droves is satisfying thanks to some decent sounding destruction but nothing too disturbing as to take away from the game’s wonderful background music.
When Rising Star Games brought this title to North America they chose to leave the Japanese voice track unchanged which is for the best, but unfortunately the company chose to provide barely any actual subtitles for the game itself, with only an English translated menu system and some very minor English translation for ending scenes. No actual in-game dialogue is given the slightest translation, which is disappointing as the already bare-bones story is made even more non-existent due to this.
Gameplay: At its very core, Akai Katana is a bullet hell shooter with hundreds of bullets flying around the screen at any given time . As they do this they will need to take down enemies using rapid fire attacks, smaller but more direct attacks and even bombs to clear the screen. The player will have a limited amount of health and lives and will receive damage whenever an enemy projectile hits their tiny green hit-box which is clearly displayed. Now with these limited lives, the player must make it through each stage without continuing in an effort to retain their high score.
Now while Akai Katana can actually be completed in under a half hour on a simple-playthrough and can even be completed by newcomers as there are an unlimited amount of continues provided for the story mode of the game, meaning that inexperienced players can still enjoy the experience and try to get better at taking out their enemies quickly while weaving in and out of the intricately patterned projectiles.
Despite the fact that it is quite short, the game’s true strength relies on the player’s tenacity to try and be the best by getting the best score possible. The challenge to be the best is even further increased by the fact that there are now two modes of play to choose form, a Slash mode and an arcade mode (as well as an upgraded Climax mode for console release). Now in Arcade mode players will need to acquire energy from destroying enemies to summon their Phantom, which can then allow you to acquire golden items which provide the most points to increase your score.
The Phantom form is extremely valuable and nigh-essential for surviving some battles, as players will be actually immune to enemy attacks as long as they aren’t firing while in Phantom form. Instead enemy attacks will bounce off as you maneuver for the best positions to take shots from. Ultimately, Akai Katana is very unforgiving to those who don’t know the game’s mechanics, and even the training area is hidden, though Rising Star has actually provided useful tutorial videos which should be watched here.
Outside of Arcade and Climax mode there is another gameplay type called Slash which ups the ante by giving the player new ways to attack. Outside of Phantom mode players can accrue steel orbs which will circle around their ship until they enter Phantom mode. In Phantom mode these orbs can be fired off to deal out heavy damage to enemies on-screen, which is especially useful for quickly defeating mini-bosses and weakening the powerful end-level bosses.
The bosses players face off against at the end of each stage deserve special mention not only for the insane amount of maneuvering that players will need to do simply to survive, but also due to how strangely insane these experiences can be. Initially the player can be firing upon the enemy already in Phantom mode until a giant warship appears out of a vortex in the air, bringing even more projectiles onto the screen in what can only be described as a colorful rain of death.
Overall: Akai Katana delivers everything a fan of shoot’em ups or bullet-hell games could ask for. It has a few gameplay modes to choose from and master and players can set punishing challenges for themselves as they try to rank on the leaderboards. Interestingly enough the game even provides replays of stages which can be useful for those who want to train to be the best Akai Katana player possible. The game may be a bit faulty in some areas, such as its non-existent storyline and barebone translation but also provides the same hectic action and polished gameplay mechanics that CAVE is known for. All in all, Rising Star Games has picked a hell of a title for their inaugural release in North America and it is one that shouldn’t be missed by any fan of the genre, or even some of you who have always been curious about it.
There are so many apps on the iTunes Store that it is almost impossible to look through every single one, but I would have to say that the five apps released last week by KAYAC Inc may just be the top apps to give yourself and anyone around you terrifying nightmares. But hey, these nightmares can actually come free of charge because the five apps cost absolutely nothing as each one of these is free.
