Yep, it’s that time again, folks. Kirby has yet again hit the eShop, but this time in a fun-loving ball form. The Game Boy Classic, Kirby’s Block Ball is now available on the Virtual Console, and offers a fun, refreshing take on breakout with a good number of the familiar foes from the series in tow for just $2.99.
Next up is a DSiWare title some may be familiar with due to a similar offering from the retail DS selection, Chronicles of Vampires: The Awakening. This $4.99 hidden object mystery title is the final installment in the Chronicles of Vampires series, and offers 200 items to find in 20 different locations. As we have mentioned before, Rayman Origins is also on the way to the 3DS in the next coming month, and those who want to get their unattached feet wet can do so now with the demo also going live for the eShop.
Finally, Nintendo video is ready to get us hyped for Men in Black 3, with a nice little 3D trailer that is Fresh Prince approved.
As a lot of Darksiders fans will remember, THQ released a trailer showcasing the new protagonist, Death, in the Darksiders series as he travelled around and eventually came face to face with a boss many magnitudes bigger than himself. This latest trailer is the continuation of that scenario and shows how powerful Death really can be.
Unfortunately for people looking to glean a little insight into the gameplay of Darksiders II, there is absolutely no gameplay footage of the entirety of the trailer. It’s just CGI Death riding around and killing mooks. However, it does look pretty cool, so there’s something.
Non Flying Soldiers Publisher: Chillingo Developer: Blue Shadow Games Platform(s): iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: May 17, 2012 Price: $0.99 – Available Here
Overview
Birds can fly. Â Birds can fight.
Or can they?
Non Flying Soldiers explores both those ideas in Chillingo’s newest game on the App Store. Â You are the leader of a squadron of birds. Â However, these birds are no ordinary birds. Â You must “take your squad of super squawking soldiers to the limit. Featuring a unique blend of humor, puzzling gameplay, and action, Non Flying Soldiers hits the target in every way possible.” (Apple.com)
Does N.F.S. really take to the skies and deliver an adrenaline rush worth ponying up the dough for? Â Or is it simply another game that passes through the app store like a migrating flock of birdies; here one minute, and gone the next, with barely a moment of entertainment in-between? Find out in the following review.
Gameplay
As the leader of this grand army, it is your job to get your courageous, yet slow witted soldiers to the end of each track.  Why is it so important they run these drills?  Why are there these strange obstacles obstructing their path?  Why do they need to follow the road and get to the other side?
No one knows for certain, but when you are  a soldier, you don’t question orders. Therefore, your task is to get your obedient avian companions from point A to point B.  Along the way, you must guide them through rings of fire, ginormous pits of doom and other nasty traps that would make most birds shake in their boots.  The other huge problem that must be solved is that these birds can’t fly. At least, not very far.
Therefore, the crux of the game is building new objects that can help your infantry traverse the expanse of each level. At one end of the level, your soldiers are all boxed in.  Before you let them out, you have to prepare.  After all, you as the general, can see what the entire level looks like from above or from the side. The game gives you an inventory of items to choose from for each level.  Each item can help your recruits get to the box on the other side of the level. For example, you can build a ramp which the birds could jump off and safely fly through a fire ring before their pitiful flying skills give out.  Or, you could position a log so that they avoid a ground trap as they are walking. And, you can position items so that the birds can reach collectible medal pins.
Once you have everything set just so, it is time to release the birds.  Out they march in formation.  If your preparations were a success, they will hit all items you laid down, avoid all the traps and collect all the things that need collecting.  Hopefully, they will also do it in record time too.  After all, the military gives out up to 3 stars per level if you can keep all your soldiers alive, get all the medals and do it fast.  Bird governments are weird that way.  Of course, if you lose a soldier or some other terrible misfortune befalls you, you can still pass the level as long as one bird reaches the end of the level.
All in all, the game is terrific fun.  The puzzles really make you think, especially if you are trying to pick up all the collectibles.  In addition, I love that this puzzle game makes you be the one making the decisions on where to place items.  There are multiple ways to solve levels, and I enjoyed unlocking and using all the items in my inventory to get through each level.
I do have one major quibble though. Â The camera in the game is simply atrocious. Sometimes it is impossible to distinguish where to put items down. While it may look ok in one angle, once you let the birds out, they miss the item because it wasn’t positioned 1mm to the left or the right. Â Â Or they get stuck on an item because you didn’t notice some piece of something sticking out. Â This can be maddening, as you know that you have the correct solution(s), but you keep having to reset the level because one of the idiot birds keeps missing his cue because you can’t rotate the camera to see the level correctly.
Audio and Visuals
Audio in the game is ok. Â The sound effects are funny, and they match the mood of the game. Â The soundtrack is a goofy military mix and it also fits Non Flying Soldier’s theme well. I would have enjoyed some voice acting, but I didn’t mind reading everything either.
Graphics in the game are also good. Â Although they can be a little frustrating, as they contribute to the problems mentioned in the Gameplay section, I don’t really have a problem with the visuals. Â The colors are bright, the graphics are interesting and they don’t take away from the game. Plus, those birds are so gosh darned cute when they dance around at the end of each level.
Overall
Overall, I would heartily recommend Non Flying Soldiers. Â It may not be the most exciting game on the App Store, but it provides a lot of fun moments and some of the puzzles can really make you think. Â Building each course was a ton o’ fun, and I can’t wait to get back to playing it. Â Although there are some frustrating moments, these don’t crop up enough to give this game a bad review.
As the days go by more information about Halo 4 is slowly coming out of Microsoft. We’ve already heard about the special editions that will be available for those who want to drop $100 when Halo 4 is released and now they have revealed what fans of the series can expect out of Halo 4’s multiplayer.
Through weekly episodes, players will be able to take part in Spartan Ops. These Spartan Ops tell the story of the above pictured UNSC Infinity. The UNSC Infinity also happens to be Halo 4’s multiplayer hub. The story of the UNSC Infinity will center around the “UNSC Infinity leaders and crew, and a new team of Spartans – Majestic Squad.” These episodes will offer new missions that allow up to four players to see “corners of Requiem in these objective-based missions, and help uncover the secrets of the mysterious Forerunner world.”
War Games will be Halo 4’s competitive multiplayer mode and in this mode players will be able to customize their Spartan’s armor as well as enable “combat enhancements” which will alter their character to better fit their play style, offering a Halo experience unlike anything players have had before.
Incase has released their new Heathered Snap Case for the iPhone 4/4s today. Taking their classic Snap Case design, Incase added heathered fabric to provide a wonderful feel to the case. The Snap Case is a hard shell case designed to be one of the lightest weight cases on the market. The case offers protection to the body while providing access to all ports and buttons on your iPhone 4/4s. The heathered fabric helps protect the case itself from scratches and damage. The Heathered Snap Case is part of the Heathered collection of bags available from Incase featuring the same dark grey materials. The Heathered Snap Case is available in pink or aqua dots and costs $39.95.
We’ve seen plenty of special collector’s editions, in fact we reported about one earlier today. These collector’s editions contain little bonuses to reward those who want to put a little bit of extra money down on their favorite franchise. However there has yet to be a special edition of Lollipop Chainsaw announced yet.
Perhaps that is a good thing, considering Grasshopper Manufacture and Warner Brothers would love to include a life-size robotic version of Juliet in every collector’s edition of the game. There is a good reason though why this won’t happen and you can see it below with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor. So for now it may be best to just pre-order the game as it is so when it comes out on June 12th you’ll enjoy a nice virtual Juliet instead of a robotic chainsaw wielding one.
If, for whatever reason, you haven’t picked up Rayman Origins on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation Vita and even the PC then perhaps you may want to play it on the last possible platform the game could appear on, the Nintendo 3DS. After being delayed multiple times and now falling over half a year past the original release date of the console version, Rayman Origins finally has a release date.
Ubisoft revealed today that the game will be available in North America on June 5th and June 8th in Europe. Those curious about the game can try out a demo n the eShop, but it is certainly strange that anyone who would have wanted to play the game would have waited so long to do so. Either way, a launch trailer was also released and can be seen below.
If you are a fan of Diablo 3 then you most likely know that Blizzard has been handling the release of this huge title rather badly, with pre-purchasers having to wait until the game landed on store shelves, multiple bugs and errors and even the servers going down continuously. Now it seems that Blizzard can’t even manage to keep its promises when it comes to features planned for the game.
The auction house which was meant to be made available on May 22nd has now been delayed as Blizzard community manager Micah “Bashiok” Whipple revealed on the Blizzard forums. The main reason for the delay is thanks to the fact that Blizzard doesn’t know how to run its own servers and as such they have had to delay the auction house’s launch date for the unforeseeable future.
While the Japanese may have to wait until June 28th it seems that North American gamers will be able to take the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection with them on the Vita sooner than anyone else. Today Konami revealed that the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection which contains the HD upgraded Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 will be released on June 12.
As previously mentioned, those who have the PlayStation 3 version of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection will be able to transfer their save data over to the PS Vita version of the game. Another new addition is the use of touchscreen controls to make use of the Vita’s capabilities. It is worth noting that Peace Walker HD is not included in this collection like it was on the console version.
Perhaps in an effort to stimulate the sales for the soon to be released Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, any GameStop PowerUp Rewards member who purchases said game will receive a code that will allow them to participate in a closed multiplayer beta for Far Cry 3.
This beta was announced by Ubisoft earlier today and will last for two weeks sometime this Summer. Currently the only platforms which gamers will be able to access the beta on are the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 so any PC gamers will be out of luck. If for some reason you don’t feel like picking up Ghost Recon then Ubisoft is going to be offering 500 beta codes on their Facebook so perhaps it would be best to stop over there and take a look.
