Remember earlier how we mentioned that Natsume had been teasing a game release over their Twitter account and would reveal the game first on their Twitter? Well just a few minutes ago they revealed that the game that they had been teasing is a brand new Harvest Moon title for the 3DS that goes by the name Harvest Moon: A New Beginning.
Earlier clues had pointed to either the previously named Harvest Moon: Land of Beginning or Rune Factory 4 as being the teased game and it seems that Land of Beginning, under its new name A New Beginning will be the first title to grace North American shores. Natsume has stated that they will be showing off the game for the first time at next week’s E3 convention so be sure to stay tuned.
Men in Black 3 Publisher: Gameloft Developer: Gameloft Platform(s): iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch, Android Release Date: May 17, 2012 Price: Free –Available Here
Overview
The Men in Black have been away for a long time. Nevertheless, these ‘nonexistent’ people are quite hard to forget. Of course, they aren’t just returning in movie form. Soda pops, t-shirts and many more items have been emblazoned with MIB monikers. And of course, ‘they’ also have their own video game. This review will focus on the iPhone version of the game, although there is also a Xbox and PS3 Men in Black 3 game that is different entirely.
Does this game have what it takes to live up to fan’s memories of past alien lore? Does it add to the MIB universe in a substantial way? Or is it merely another marketing agent, preying on the sentimentality of people’s emotions and the addictive desires of in-app purchases? Find out the following review.
Story
I have not yet seen the movie, but from what I can deduce, the game’s plot is inspired by the story of the movie, and they seem to follow each other fairly closely. Of course, there are numerous side missions and other little variations, but it seems like the main plot follows the film. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to personal opinion. If you enjoy the movie, you’ll rather like playing it out again, and if you don’t, the story doesn’t affect the gameplay too much and can be easily brushed over.
Gameplay
The culprit of most bad video game adaptions is that the developer was rushed. Thankfully, the iOS platform allows for speedier development and Men in Black 3 does not suffer at all from any of the standard ‘movie to video game’ flaws.
You don’t actually play as any of the main characters, but the game allows you choose your own identity as a new agent. You’ll be given missions to complete, and once you complete them, you’ll be rewarded. All over each locale, there are a ton of side quests and missions to complete. Completing missions can be very addictive, and they are, for the most part, simple. Tap here to investigate, tap there to question a person, tap over there to neuralyze a witness.
Combat is one mission that pops up a lot. Combat requires you to just tap on the enemy to fire. During battle, you can manage your resources and health from a menu system, or call in gadgets and resources to help you out.
MIB headquarters is your main base of operations, as is to be expected. Here, Men in Black 3 turns into a base building game. You can assign Agents to complete missions, create buildings that pump out resources, research new weapons and gadgets, etc. A lot of time can be spent here.
All in all, the gameplay can get a little repetitive by the end of the game, but it is also extremely addicting and can be quite fun for many hours. There is only small issue: the in-app purchase system is a little unbalanced. Literally everything, and I mean everything, requires energy capsules. When used up, you need to use TIME credits to purchase more, or let it recharge over time and by completing specific requirements. Or, you can use in-app purchases to buy TIME credits. Time credits also allow you to upgrade items faster and do many other cool actions. If you take out your phone every hour to play the game, then you’ll probably be fine. However, if you want to complete the game in a straight shot, be prepared to be patient or spend some money. While I don’t mind in-app purchases that are balanced, I feel like this game almost chokes the experience with in-app purchase options. In addition, sometimes it tries to disguise these in-app purchases. Nevertheless, depending on how you play, you may have a different experience, and those annoying pop-ups about in-app purchases don’t affect the fun too much.
Audio and Visuals
The game sounds great. The score is terrific and the sound effects are amazing. Everything sounds exactly like it was stripped out of the movie. I would have liked some voice acting to be present, but I don’t mind reading everything either.
This game is one of the best looking games on the iOS. Everything is smooth and renders beautifully. There are occasional instances of what looked like texture pop-in, but that hardly detracts from the experience too much. There are plenty of cool enemies, awesome gadgets and more to check out.
Overall
In conclusion, Men in Black 3 enhances the MIB universe quite a bit. If you are a fan of the franchise, this game will be right up your alley. Even if your not, I would recommend that you at least try it out, as it is free. The addicting and fun missions, plus the great graphics, make this a fun iOS game to play. The constant nagging to check into social networks or buy stuff does get old, but as long as you can get over that, Men in Black 3 is an awesome game.
You command the dropship ‘Salvation”, tasked with rescuing Earth’s inhabitants and helping with the EDSF defense effort. This is the brand new iOS game from Blowfish, published by Crescent Moon – Razor Salvation. The game is the first installment in a series of games that take the player through the story of the Xenos and why they have invaded planet earth.
The game features dynamic cover-based AI, with enemies that exhibit different strategies, dynamic objects that can be blasted around each level, which enemies can still duck and cover behind. Classic FPS weapons like grenade and rocket launchers, as well as awesome specials like the Redeemer are available for players to blast away at the Xenos. Razor Salvation also has stunning retina display, with console grade graphics. Not only this, but players can create their own factions with friends and fight together to be the top performing faction – even helping your world region to the top of the ranks. The game also has unique leaderboard titles to show off your skills. For more information, head to the official Razor Salvation Facebook page. Watch the trailer below to get a glimpse at the upcoming title, soon to be released for iOS.
Dragon Evolution Developer: Nob Studio Publisher: Nob Studio Platform: iPhone(Reviewed)/iPad Release: 24/5/12 Price: $0.99 – Available Here – Demo Lite Version here
Overview
Known perhaps best for their flash development, Nob Studios have attempted to evolve with their latest title, Dragon Evolution. The title is a unique take the casual game formula of side-scrolling run-and-attack games, moving past what seems to be simplistic controls, to create a distinctive and enjoyable title for both the iPhone and iPad.
Story
There isn’t a whole lot of story to Dragon Evolution. Evil tribes, for some reason, have stolen eggs from a dragon. The dragon has nine years to attempt to retrieve them back. The story gets played out in a little more detailed, but not often, with eggs being used as traps or being boiled by some rather gruesome looking bad guys. This doesn’t really add any motivation to the game, the dragon moves of its own accord. However, it is interesting to gain little bits of extra insight into the story, and the read them in whatever way you see fight.
Gameplay
Dragon Evolution has a simplistic gameplay that clearly borrows from Nob Studios experience with flash development. The actual control of attacks is simple to pick up, tapping on the right will cause a special attack, tapping on the left will cause a strong physical attack, and tapping (and holding) both sides at once will bring the dragon up into the air. The rest of the game in automatic, and has a lot to do with the evolutionary choices the player makes. The dragon will run its course on its own, and bite any tribal enemies that get in its way. Attacks against the dragon will deplete its energy, as will the use of any special abilities. The overall goal of the game is slight ambiguous. Being an arcade game, it all comes down to the final score, but the means in which the score is generated can be a little confusing. Regardless, it is still fun to watch your creation running across 9 unique worlds, laying waste to all in their path.
Although the control input may be simple to learn, there is a skill to the RPG style elements of the game. Dragon Evolution takes place across nine in-game years, with each year beginning when the timer runs out. Timers can be extended by making it through one world, but this becomes harder and harder the future into the game you progress. Each year takes you back to an evolution menu, where you can select abilities that will dictate the dragon’s strengths, weakness, skills, special abilities and appearance. This is a rather fun feature that really makes the game unique. The only downside is that once you complete your nine years, and the dragon is fully formed, you can’t export or share your creation with others.
Visuals and Audio
The unique worlds are particularly fun. Each has their own theme, with enemies to suit the conditions of the world. Multiple types of enemies, with distinctive designs only add more to the games overall detail. The colours and level designs are all crafted with that charming hand drawn ‘flash’ game design look, which is very enjoyable. The silhouette style characters, both enemies and your dragon, really pop against the vivid colours of the games multiple thematic worlds. The audio at times can feel misplaced, with sound effects often being too comical for the theme of the game. It does add to the overall fun, but can take away from the theme of the game at times.
Overall
Dragon Evolution is a fun casual game. The simple mechanics, which at times can be very similar to Jetpack Joyride, make it an easy to pick-up-and-play game. The integration of RPG elements makes the game stand out amongst the dozens and dozens of casual games. This coupled with the way the dragon changes based on the fusing of different evolutionary elements, means that every time you play Dragon Evolution, it is a new and visually impressive take on an all too familiar genre. Although this review is for the iPhone version, the control system would be great for the iPad, not to mention the benefits the large screen would have for the charming, hand drawn graphics Dragon Evolution has to offer.
Black Pearl Game’s action RPG Brutal Street is free for a limited time. A bloody gang war has started and it is up to the player to lead their gang to victory. There are six different classes to choose from with thousands of gear and skills to upgrade your gangster with. There are 40 different locations over four blocks to brawl in, an extensive character growth system, and epic boss battles carrying powerful loot.
Brutal Street is available for both the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch and sports a classy anime visual style. No word on exactly how long Brutal Street will be free for, so be sure to download it here.
Following the announcement and screenshots, we now have a full gameplay trailer for the the upcoming HD port of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus. The HD port carries a slightly different name now, as it is now called Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (Phew!).
The gameplay trailer shown here basically demonstrates almost all the playable characters. The music playing in the background is a classic Guilty Gear track called ‘Still in the Dark’. The game still very much looks like the original, obviously optimised for modern resolutions.
The game is set for a location test in Japanese arcades sometime in June 2012, there is still no word on the release date for the digital download version that is set to hit the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network sometime in 2012. In the meantime, you can enjoy the trailer below.
With Atelier Meruru bringing a close to the Arland series, Gust has been hard at work making sure that their next Atelier series is better than ever. As such they have revamped the battle system for Atelier Ayesha by factoring in distance, traveling around the battle field and area of effect for explosions and alchemy.
Today Gust released the below trailer which contains footage of two separate battles which demonstrate attacks from behind, which will likely cause more damage, as well as the classic feature of allowing allies to either assist with combo attacks or defend from enemy attacks. Atelier Ayesha currently hasn’t been announced for a North America release, though perhaps with E3 next week way may hear something from NIS America…
With E3 only a week away, it makes sense that a few things may sneak out of various studios. As such it may come as no surprise that Microsoft’s very own PlayXBLA has placed two “Secret Squirrel screenshots” on their website. It seems that this squirrel just loves those E3 secrets and had to bring these two motorbike racing screenshots to the public.
Currently no name was released for the title though it seems that we will find out a lot more about the game next week when Microsoft hold’s their pre-E3 conference. Until then, enjoy these two little images of Avatar looking figures racing on dirt bikes.
Those who don’t have a chance to go to their local video game retailer, or simply don’t want to stand in the corner of a store playing a demo version of the Vita will soon be able to play the Gravity Rush demo for the first time on their own PlayStation Vita.
The demo is set to be released tomorrow on the PlayStation Network while European gamers will need to wait until the 30th to download the game. Those who pre-order the game before its release on June 12th from GameStop or Amazon will receive the military outfit for Kat. Too bad it wasn’t the maid outfit seen above huh?
Over the past few years HD Collections of classic franchises have become quite common. Just a few months ago Konami released their own HD Collection featuring two games from the beloved Silent Hill franchise. However upon review, many people, including myself, found that the HD upgrade actually made the game worse in a number of areas.
The reason for this was never made quite clear, however it seems that Silent Hill: HD Collection was actually created with incomplete source code. During a large feature piece about HD re-makes, 1UP spoke with Tomm Hulett, head man behind the Silent Hill: HD Collection creation and in this piece he stated the following:
“We got all the source code that Konami had on file — which it turns out wasn’t the final release version of the games! D’oh! So during debug we didn’t just have to deal with the expected ‘porting’ bugs, but also had to squash some bugs that the original team obviously removed prior to release, but we’d never seen before. A lot of assets such as textures and sound had to be taken out of the compiled game, and that brings with it a host of unique issues, especially taken on top of the tricky coding workarounds at play in the original games. We certainly had our hands full. I think at one point Silent Hill 3 protagonist Heather was blue.”
This issue may explain a number of problems that gamers had with the title, such as buggy gameplay, audio problems and sub-par texture and graphic enhancements. However all is not lost as Tomm also said that after the company released their initial patch he “played through Silent Hill HD Collection armed with righteous indignation and Internet complaint threads. I made a list of every issue I could find. Hijinx is hard at work addressing as many of those issues as is feasible given our resources.” So perhaps there will be some new patches in the future that will iron out fan complaints.
hat can be blasted around each level, which enemies can still duck and cover behind. Classic FPS weapons like grenade and rocket launchers, as well as awesome specials like the Redeemer are available for players to blast away at the Xenos. Razor Salvation also has stunning retina display, with console grade graphics. Not only this, but players can create their own factions with friends and fight together to be the top performing faction – even helping your world region to the top of the ranks. The game also has unique leaderboard titles to show off your skills. For more information, head to the 
