Metro: Last Light hasn’t had a lot of news released about it since the last gameplay trailer video released during E3 last year. THQ have released a short trailer hinting at something being released on May 25th though, and the Metro: Last Light website has entered into a countdown to the release of the live action short film. Check it out HERE.
The teaser is just that, a teaser. With shots of a sterile looking hallway that we can assume to be the Metro, a general pacing the hallway, and people outside running around in distress we can guess that they will go into what happened before Russia became ground zero.
This live action film will just add to the mystique and interesting back story of Metro, giving us more of a glimpse of what happened as well as possibly more about Artyom.
Check out the teaser trailer below. What do you guys think? Does it look like something you’d be interested in watching? Or does it just seem like yet another live action film designed to try and get people more interested in the game?
Keep tuned to Capsule Computers for more information about Metro: Last Light, including the live action trailer and any E3 announcements, as they come. Metro: Last Light is being released on PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U in early 2013.
Fourscore and 30 dollars ago I went forth on this great internet to purchase a game, for those not as “in the know”, score is equivalent to 20, making the purchase about $110 dollars after tax. Which game would it be that I was getting then? Obviously, some sort of special edition seeing as currently here in the US the mainstay is 60 for vanilla edition. Well, to be honest it was the Halo 4 Limited Edition, which despite its added content still has people decrying about a lack of Legendary Edition. My question is, why?
Yes, the Legendary Editions in the past were cool and interesting, but now the market seems to be gluttonously engorging itself on these kinds of things. The Halo 3 helmet was interesting and I certainly got it, but now it sits on a shelf under its dust cover, while the cover collects dust. When Reach came out I was not so easily led by its pied piper song, and abstained from its Legendary Edition because I don’t really have room for the statue it included.
Other games have followed suit and have begun offering similar fair. Batman with its Batarang, COD with night vision goggles, and the Assassin’s Creed series with a variety of statues, but these are all cosmetic physical items that should only be for the truly die hard fan. Now, Assassin’s Creed 3 will have a 3 different editions to choose from, but the worst problem is that getting the most expensive one does NOT net the buyer with all the previous editions material. At least Halo: Reach had the decency to have the Standard Edition inside the Limited Edition inside the Legendary Edition, to ensure you got everything.
This is why I believe Halo 4 is doing it right, no Legendary Edition with a statue that will be filling up your shelf space, but even more than that it includes future DLC with the purchase. Talk about doing it right, stats show that DLC needs to be dropped in a fairly quick succession after release to ensure it’s bought before players move on to the next thing. Ensure its purchase at launch and BAM, it’s up to the players to ensure they get their monies worth out of it. Games have already been putting the first DLC with the initial purchase to try and do this, but Halo 4 is going all in with 3 map pack DLCs, not to mention the already included Spartan Ops season of weekly updates completely for free.
So my question is, why the desire for a Legendary Edition, when after you think about it the Limited Edition is offering a lot more than most other games in terms of actual gameplay, plus an entire 90 minute film.
Fourscore and 30 dollars ago, I went to purchase a game, so I purchased an entire game.
Those who were awaiting the next big 3DS release can now celebrate, as Nintendo have launched Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS. Yeah, this is pretty much the Mario Tennis we all know and love, but a good number of extra features have been included this time around to season the franchise with some new flavor. This time around, players can customize their own Mii character in gear that can be unlocked, which boosts stats depending on what you equip.
There is an online mode as well, which will allow anyone with wireless internet to go up against a friend or rival via the 3DS’ Wi-Fi support, which is yet another new feature for the series. Special games also look to add in a bit of replay value to the package, delivering little romps such as Super Mario Tennis, where you get to go into the original Mario world and use your racket to knock off oncoming enemies. There is quite a bit of content in this portable offering, and this may very well be the most ambitious Mario Tennis title to date. The wait is over though, so all of you Mario Tennis fanatics can go snag a copy at any retailer under the sun as of today.
Cyanide Studio are at it again working on expanding the Games Workshop Blood Bowl universe with Dungeonbowl, set to release June 8th, 2012. Dungeonbowl takes the popular bloody sport of Blood Bowl and puts it down in the dungeons, focusing more on the different colleges of magic than the races of the universe. So, teams will actually feature three different races that are dependent on the specific college of magic. Even more game changing is that games are won on the first touchdown as the ball is far harder to find and score this time around being hidden in one of six chests, while the other five will explode upon opening.
Even though the Dungeonbowl is set for release June 8th, players can get the game a week earlier on June 1st by pre-ordering before May 31st. Pre-orders are being done through Cyanide Studio HERE, but players who can wait also have the option when it comes to Steam at the end of June.
KOTOMON Publisher: MONSTARS Inc Developer: MONSTARS Inc Platform(s): iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: May 15, 2012 Price: $2.99 till May 31 – Regular Price $3.99– Available Here
Overview
From the minds of the developers of games like Rez, Child of Eden and Lumines comes KOTOMON. KOTOMON was created by Monstars Inc, (no, not the movie). Monstars is a new development company headed up by Osamu Kodera, and KOTOMON is their first project. KOTOMON is available on the App store for iPhone and iPad, and it sports universal support. How well does it stand up to the games before it? Keep reading to find out.
When one thinks of monsters, one usually envisions something like the Chitauri from the Avengers movie. However, in KOTOMON, that perception is entirely different. The good monsters in KOTOMON are cute and lovable, while most of the enemy monsters in KOTOMON are small, evil urchins that live only to impede the good monsters. No explanation is really offered as to why these monsters, good or evil, behave as they do. But, in a game like this, no explanation is really needed.
Gameplay
You play as KOTOMON. By moving your finger around the bottom of the screen, you can control where KOTOMON moves. One day, you find a spiky ball, and as you roll it along the ground, a creature suddenly pops out of it. Amazingly enough, this creature will stick to KOTOMON if KOTOMON comes close enough to it. Once the other monster is stuck to KOTOMON, you can also tap the screen to send the other monster flying off. Once the monster has slowed down, he will return to you and follow KOTOMON until KOTOMON needs to shoot him again.
In each level, it is your goal to reach the campfire at the end. While you can just rush through most of the levels if you desire, you won’t get a very good score. To get a good score, you must defeat the enemies in each level. Defeating the enemies require that you use one of the monsters at your disposal to “shoot” at the enemies. Each monster has special abilites. One monster acts like a pinball and will take out a slew of enemies out in one single attack. A second monster detonates on impact. Another enemy shoots fire out his mouth, although he must be attached to the KOTOMON to perform this action and he can’t be shot. If you kill multiple enemies in a row, the game awards with you even more points via combos. In addition, shooting enemies changes up the music, similar to games like Rez and Child of Eden, which is a really neat effect.
Your monsters automatically eat little pellets of food on the ground, which provide them with energy. If they take too much damage, they will yell for help and simply picking them up will heal them. If you are carrying a monster and an enemy hits you, you will live on as the monster attached to you kills the enemy. But, one single enemy attack can also kill KOTOMON if he is unprotected, which makes the game pretty hardcore for an iOS title. If your into that, more power to you.
There is only one single, solitary aspect of the gameplay that is really annoying all the time. The monsters are supposed to follow you. However, most of the time they lag so far behind that you have to go back and get them to follow or they start crying for help. They love to wander off into lava fields and kill themselves. This can make some levels agonizing. Luckily and thankfully, the developers have already submitted an update to the App Store that will fix this issue.
One problem with the game that occasionally crops up is the controls. While I love that the screen is not cluttered with buttons, and that the controls are just simple and sleek, this can also present several problems. Turning around accurately, or firing rapidly, is virtually impossible. You really have to take your time and move deliberately in many levels because the controls can be very inaccurate.
The developers have told us:
“We have received quite a lot of frustrated feedback that our monsters fall off into the lava so easily. The game is intended to be quite hardcore with a cute attitude but our monsters slip too much, So, over the last couple of days, we have educated our monsters that lava is dangerous. In the next update, they will be a little more careful of the lava and not rush into it themselves. Other small tuning is also planned to ensure that our customers enjoy the world of Kotomon.”
Therefore, the above issues will be addressed shortly. So, most of the problems mentioned will hopefully be gone by the time this review is being read by you. Nevertheless, these issues currently tarnish the fun in KOTOMON.
Audio and Visuals
As previously stated, KOTOMON has a unique audio element that really enhances the gameplay. This is one iOS title that sounds terrific in the audio department, and I have absolutely no complaints with it. All the sound effects and music are of the utmost quality.
On the other hand, the visuals in the game are on the low end of the spectrum. The lack of detail in many levels is astonishing, and most of the worlds are pretty lifeless, with just plain grey, lifeless brown or flat green colors occupying a lot of the scenery. While the monsters and enemies do brighten things up a bit, it is still a little boring visually. Nonetheless, I really appreciated that the enemy variety in the game is fantastic. There are just as many unique enemies in the game as there are unique monsters. In addition, it seems like each monster is better at taking down certain enemies than others, which enhances the gameplay a lot.
Overall
In conclusion, I would absolutely recommend this game to all iOS owners. The developers have been actively listening to feedback and fixing the small issues that have arisen. Although KOTOMON is already awesome, once those issues have been fixed, this game will be one of the best on the App Store.
EA is keeping the major changes to their 13 series of sports game alive with the announcement of NHL 13’s innovations. NHL 13 will sport a new AI called Hockey I.Q. Previously the AI was only aware of players in the near area and reacted only to the player with the puck. With the new system, the AI is aware of all players, better replicating the decisions of real hockey players. The GM Connected mode takes the ever popular Be a GM mode online, pitting you against 29 of your friends in a 30-team NHL league. The GM Connected mode will come with a mobile companion app so you can stay up to date with the latest trades and offers, just like a real GM. Over 1000 new animations has been added to the physics based skating system for NHL 13, giving total realistic control to players.
NHL 13 is slated for a September 13th, 2012 release for Xbox360 and a Q4 2012 release for the Playstation 3.
With a stunning why didn’t people think of this sooner idea, Incase has released their new Book Jacket Revolution for the new iPad and the iPad 2. Incase took their wildly popular Book Jacket case and added the ability to rotate you iPad between portrait or landscape mode while propped up in one of three hands free viewing angles. Afterall, some books and magazines are just meant to be read in portrait mode and holding your iPad for hours on end can get tiring. The case also sports a magnetic cover that will put your iPad to sleep when closed or wake it up immediately when the cover is opened. The Book Jacket Revolution is available in black for $69.95.
While we have seen a few pieces of artwork as well as plenty of screenshots of Atelier Ayesha and even the game’s opening movie, we haven’t seen any actual gameplay yet. Gust rectified that situation earlier today by releasing the below trailer which contains plenty of footage from the game.
In the trailer we see nearly every aspect of the game, including dialogue scenes, the exploration of fields, plenty of combat footage and even a glimpse at the alchemy screen. Of course the trailer itself is fully in Japanese as the game currently has not been announced for release in North America yet, though perhaps we should be expecting such an announcement in the coming months from NIS America. Of course, if you can’t wait until then you can always pick up a Japanese import of the game when it is released in Japan on June 28th
Coinciding with Ghost Recon Future Soldier’s release, Ghost Recon Commander has made its way into beta status on Facebook. Commander is a isometric tactical combat geared for both the hardcore and the casual player. The game mixes great graphics and tactical but easy to pick up gameplay. Ghost Recon Commander features 10 replayable missions, three difficulty levels, and a customizable team. Players will be able to outfit their Ghosts with the latest in cutting edge gadgets, armour, and weaponry while offering their assistance to their friends through asynchronous co-op or hire themselves out as guns for hire. Players will also gain exclusive benefits for Ghost Recon Future Soldier by playing Commander. Check out the game here.
As we all know, E3 is a big time of year for publishers and developers. Nintendo knows this more than anyone else and considering they probably have some big announcements for the Wii U they are quite eager to make sure you will be kept up to date on everything happening during the show that is Nintendo related.
There are various options available, though the only one that doesn’t involve sitting on your computer or phone will involve watching the event on TV. Spike TV and MTV2 will be presenting Nintendo’s press conference with no commercial interruption while Nintendo’s website will offer updates all through the event and will stream the companies E3 press conference when it occurs. The company will also be releasing updates on their Facebook, Twitter and will even be uploading sneak peaks and trailers on their YouTube channel during the event.
