Perhaps one of the things that the Dead or Alive series is known for is having a… lets say bounce, to its gameplay. To be a bit more specific, the female fighters in the title have always had rather interesting breast physics and movement. However it appears that Dead or Alive 5 will take a different approach to breast physics this time around, as it the girls’ breast movement will not only vary by character but also what outfit they are wearing as well.
In an interview with Famitsu Xbox 360, as translated by Andriasang, director Yohei Niibori revealed the above fact as well as saying that each piece outfit will also have a varying level of transparency, as seen in the above image of Hitomi. Producer Yosuke Hayashi went on to say that, while so far all we have seen are new costumes for each character revealed so far, some older costumes will also be returning.
Nintendo have always been known to tweak the colors of their handhelds, and it looks like purple is finally making a comeback as a Joystiq reader recently caught a glance of a new listing online for a “Midnight Purple” 3DS at Sam’s Club , and you can check out the still live page for the product here.
Nintendo have already released a Flame Red, Aqua Blue, Pink, and Black 3DS thus far in the U.S., so I would say there is a good chance of seeing more from Nintendo on the subject in the coming months. I, personally, would like to see a nice platinum or gold unit released, but purple (or indigo) is classic Nintendo and it will be interesting to see if or when an announcement is made.
*Update*
Nintendo have now announced the Midnight Purple as of April 30th, and it will be hitting shelves as soon as May 20th. Click HERE for more information.
N.O.V.A 3 is the latest title in the Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance series for handheld devices, such as the iPhone, Android and iPad. The sci-fi shooter series follows the story of Kal Wardin, who is a part of the Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance. This is the third game in the series and is a near-direct continuation of the story.
The game opens with Kal crashing his spaceship into Earth after a landing gone wrong and is soon met by other soldiers who seem to be doing battle with the games enemies, the Xenos. Players are almost immediately thrown in to do battle with the enemy in what appeared to be a short tutorial section, which I found to be quite intuitive in it’s excecution. What the developers have done here is they have included the tutorial sections in the first level on the game, so you get the feeling that you’re just playing the regular game, rather than some boring mission tacked on to the game before the actual meat begins.
The levels in N.O.V.A 3 are pretty well designed. The first level is set in a major city on Earth, and it, for some reason, gave me a reminisce of Half-Life 2, even though there was a lot more action in the overall design. Each level in NOVA 3 is broken up into sections, or checkpoints, that players go through and complete before moving on to the next checkpoint. In the first level this means that you’re travelling through the streets, through building and eventually to a military base before you’re done playing through.
Combat in this game felt quite fluid and had pretty intuitive controls for a game played entirely on a touchscreen. Gamers that have played previous Gameloft shooters will have a fair idea on what to expect from the games interface, but for those that haven’t I will quickly discuss this. Basically the left-hand side of the screen is your digital thumbstick, which you can use to move in a number of directions; on your right, you have all your combat buttons, like the shoot button, an ability button just above it, a jump button below it and a weapon button at the top used for reloading and switching weapons. Of course, some players may not like this set up, or it may be too finicky on some displays – fortunately, you are able to fully customise the screen to play how you would prefer.
One of the things I noticed during my playthrough was how nice everything looked. While I know that different devices have different technical specifications and that the game might have lower graphics than that which can be achieved on the device with the highest specifications, they are still incredibly brilliant. It’s hard to compare them to the graphics of other gaming devices, but I’d say that they’re roughly Xbox360 level at a lower resolution. Similar to the 3DS perhaps? But they were much sharper, so it’s really hard to compare.
Screenshot Exclusive to CAPSULE COMPUTERS.Click to open in a new tab.
In this iteration of the series I noticed that there is a larger emphasis on abilities. Over the course of the game, players will gain access to various abilities and during my playthrough I got to manage two of these. The first is a kind of ‘Force-push’ like technique that forces enemies forward and causes them to be temporarily grounded and stunned. This is of great use in those instances where there are many enemies in front of you and you need to force your way forward quickly to avoid a quick death. The second technique I got to use is a kind of slo-mo/ bullet-time type of technique where you slow down the game to assist in you in combat. Of course, there is a price to pay for using these techniques, and they come in the form of a reduction in your shield temporarily. This introduces a kind of give and take feel to the game, where you have to decide if the trade-off is worth the outcome. Maybe using the slo-mo in a firefight with a group of enemies might better than having to keep stopping and popping, but maybe it wont be as good for a small amount of stronger enemies who will rip you apart if you fail.
Weapons are something that every soldier needs on their mission and in my session with the game, I got touch a fair few of these weapons. When you start, you have access to an Assault Rifle and a Pistol. However as you progress, you gain access to more and more weapons, such as the Shotgun, Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle. What I really liked about the weapon system in this game is that you could hold all of your weapons at the same time, much like classic shooters. This meant that at no time were you under-equipped for a situation, unless you had spent all of your ammo for a particular weapon. However, I found that the game was quite litterous with ammo, meaning that if I looked in the right places, I would always usually find some more.
I’m not really the most avid handheld gamer, I most definitely prefer gaming on my PC, and I find that most handheld games seem to lacking in a certain kind of grip of friction that most games need in order to keep a player interested. Fortunately, NOVA 3 has this friction and almost right from the start I was hooked. A lot of games, especially nowadays, seem to focus on trying to do everything. They want that cinematic experience, they want to be like a movie, they want to be like a game, they want a quality story that rivals Shakespearean literature. NOVA 3 knows that it is a game. This doesn’t mean that it’s lacking in any of the previous regards, it just seems like it was built with the fact that its a game in mind, instead of a run-in to contend with in the Oscars.
N.O.V.A 3 feels as though it is going to be a great game from what we’ve played of it so far and can’t wait for it to be finally released.
Additional Details for game when it launches –
Even more weapons, like ice guns and flamethrowers
Plethora of enemies and environments
12 Player multiplayer
– With vehicles
– 6 Game Modes
– Class Customisation
Overview
Who would win? That age old question has been asked for centuries when it comes to just about every past warrior known to man. For the past three years, Deadliest Warrior has been answering with recreations of battles, where knowledge of weaponry is combined with dramatizations, enabling an audience to finally know the victor to the feuds that never were. 345 Games seen the potential with the concept, and aided in bringing the television show into the video game world two times now, with both Deadliest Warrior: The Game and Deadliest Warrior: Legends, which were released originally on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network.
After finding success, a retail version has now been delivered, bringing together both titles and a bevy of extra features to the fans in one small package labeled Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat. Are these two Warriors enough to compete on shelves? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The first thing you should know about both Deadliest Warrior titles within Ancient Combat is that they both fall into the fighting game genre. When first hearing about the weapon based combat mixed in, I went into the first title expecting to see something like Soul Caliber. I was wrong with that comparison completely however as Deadliest Warrior: The Game and it’s sequel are very far away from the traditional fighter as there is no rush to deplete any HP bar, and instead require the player to simply take out their opponent as quickly as possible by using the arsenal provided. Forget about combos, or any other traditional fare as well, as the main concept of each match is to simply out power the opponent by using the weapons provided, while defending against incoming attacks. These unique core mechanics stick throughout both titles on the disc, but each game still plays quite a bit different from the next.
Deadliest Warrior: The Game actually has HP bars, but they’re completely useless. Players are equipped with long, mid, and short ranged weapons to do battle with, and must use them accordingly to take out their foe as effectively as possible. Long ranged weapons such as throwing stars and arrows can be launched across the map for mass damage at a distance, while swords and other blades are utilized for the mid and long ranged slashes. Yeah, you can just slash away and drain the given life bar, but a good portion of the time I was able to perform a kill just seconds in as it’s very easy to perform a beheading or toss a well aimed projectile and end a match-up entirely. This takes away a ton of strategy from the overall experience, but in a way the extreme take on realism is rather refreshing to see and puts a much higher emphasis on defense.
Legends is nearly identical in terms of gameplay, but is much more refined. Instead of playing with generic personas such as a Monk, Ninja, or Apache, players can select from more famed warriors, like Joan of Arc, Hannibal, and Alexander the Great. 345 wisely rid the game of that HP bar as well, which puts the focus entirely on the kill. Grapples also replace what were once finishing maneuvers, and can allow a devastating attack to be executed in order to severely weaken or destroy a foe. Yes, you can still finish anyone off in one hit, but the animation sequence seen in grapple attacks is worth the risk of getting up close and personal.
Both titles’ main campaign mode of sorts work exactly the same as well, with the player running a gauntlet until the end. This would be fine and almost like any other fighter, but the low difficulty makes for quick matches and shortens the life of the game itself. For Deadliest Warrior: The Game’s Arcade mode, I clocked a finish of the mode in around ten minutes on normal, as most of the time, spamming projectiles is all that is needed to plow through an opposing warrior. These methods can rob you of the simulation experience that Ancient Combat has the potential to deliver, but also proves that there isn’t a ton of skill needed to succeed.
Oddly enough, even with the short Arcade mode, I still went back in time and time again. You see, half of the charm of Deadliest Warrior is getting to use the impressive variety of weapons that each character has in their arsenal. Throwing stars feel much more distinct than other projectiles like the crossbow, and the small detail in character speed and animation make each blade, axe, or spear wprth taking to the battlefield, increasing the main game’s re-playability greatly. Each title features an online mode, but as it stands, there isn’t a lot of action left on the servers and those who want to duke it out with a real person would be best to call up a friend or battle locally.
As far as extras go, Legends brings the most to the table by including a nice little time killer by the name of Generals. This strategy game has the player pick a warrior and then lead an army into battle against an opposing squad in order to claim a fort. Much like the show, each warrior is equipped with various abilities to assist in survival, and assigning the correct brigade to the appropriate terrain is crucial in order to claim victory. It’s definitely an admirable mini-game of sorts with a good number of clever ideas behind it, but there isn’t a lot of reward for success aside from a pat on the back, which makes Generals’ current state feel like a missed opportunity.
Visuals/Audio
Even though the same development team worked on both titles within Ancient Combat, it’s very easy to spot the visual differences between the two. Deadliest Warrior: The Game has a somewhat bland character design, making each warrior seem like a random enemy from a very early Xbox 360 action game. The amount of blood and thrilling animations make up for this a bit, but if you are going in for a graphical spectacle, you would be best suited to start off with Legends. Everything from the models to the arenas have been given much more detail, which makes every battle feel more authentic. Even watching something as minor as an arm ripping off looks better in the sequel, as the brighter colors and more polished appearance does wonders to give Legends a more big budget aesthetic.
The soundtrack for the game isn’t bad, but doesn’t play at all during anything than the menus. Yeah, this could very well be a huge negative for most out there, but yet again, I feel like this development decision works in the favor of the game, as for authenticity purposes, you really don’t need music to create an epic match-up. The sound effects that fill in also assist well, with the main audio capturing wind, footsteps, and swords clashing to near perfection. It really goes to show that you don’t need a song blaring to feel intensity between rivals, and the strong point of both titles is the fact that each can pull off excitement with just the warriors involved.
Overall
Licensed games are a dime a dozen these days, and if a gem is created among the lot, it’s usually due to the team behind it playing it safe and taking the clone route during development. I wouldn’t necessarily call either Deadliest Warrior title a gem, but the games packed within Ancient Combat are both fun and unique, which is definitely something you don’t see everyday in the currently crowded market of fighters. It’s almost a disservice to consider Deadliest Warrior: The Game or Deadliest Warrior: Legends serious fighting romps though, as these two are all about paying homage to the show and deliver some decent, yet somewhat bite-sized simulations to anyone who want to rip through the greatest combatants of all time.
Shifting World Developer:Fishing Cactus Publisher: Aksys Games Release Date: April 24, 2012 Price: $29.99 – Available Here
Overview: Once in a blue moon there are a series of flash games that become so popular online, that they receive a true console counterpart. This has occurred only a few times in the past but it has happened once again with Shifting World. Shifting World is part of the Shift series which has seen multiple flash releases and even has appeared on the iOS. However Fishing Cactus and Aksys Games have chosen to do something that no flash adaptation has done in the past, and that is place the game as a full retail title. Was this a wise choice or could this move have made potential buyers shift their attention elsewhere?
Story: The unnamed protagonist has received a “mysterious” invitation from someone who is called the Duke of Shadows. When he arrives at the address listed he finds himself trapped in a dimension separate from our own. With the help of a few others who have been trapped over the years, the protagonist must try to find his way out of this dimension and escape the depraved Duke of Shadows.
This may sound like an intriguing story premise; it is unfortunately left to languish as the focus of the game placed solely on solving puzzles, not telling a story. With a story that is barely up to snuff with its Flash counterparts, Shifting World’s barely explored storyline reeks of missed potential, instead settling on a bland setting in a blander world.
Visuals & Audio: Shifting World’s gimmick is the fact that the player can shift the world from black to white and change the area around him. As such, the only colors that players are presented with are black and white throughout the entire game, even in character portraits. While this follows the style of the flash versions of the game, even the blood that would appear when the player died due to spikes was removed for some odd reason.
Each level is designed well enough, though the same repetitive coloration can be tedious and dull. To top it off, the protagonist’s body appears pixelated and jagged, a strange choice for a game with so little visual power anywhere else. The lack of coloration or detail in the worlds also makes the 3DS’ 3D capabilities seem for naught. While the forefront world may receive a slight depth increase, the difference is negligible and will likely cause mild headaches from the simple black, white and gray color scheme.
While the visuals may be somewhat varied from one level to the next, gamers better be ready to listen to the same background music over and over again without end. Those who like jazz may appreciate the song, but nearly everyone else will be more interested in playing the game with no sound on rather than listening to the repetitive music.
Gameplay: This strange alternate dimension that the protagonist has been trapped in contains a unique feature. The man now has the ability to shift the world. The basis of Shifting World is to progress through each stage and make it to the room’s exit door. While it may sound easy, there are a number of obstacles in your way such as locked areas, switches, keys and more. At its core the title is a simple puzzle platformer with a unique world shifting mechanic.
When the player uses the shift ability the world will become inverted, allowing the player to traverse previously unreachable areas. As the player shifts worlds the forefront will change from black to white and vice versa. The mechanic itself works well and offers a unique challenge that many other puzzle games won’t offer as players must use this shifting ability to reach many objects needed to complete a stage, such as the aforementioned keys to unlock gated areas. This is especially true once the player obtains the Layer Shifting ability which can change the world’s perspective from 3D to 2D and vice versa.
However making simple jumps and traversing the strange and puzzling world of this new dimension isn’t risk free. In fact, there are numerous spikes at the bottom of pitfalls which will ultimately be the doom of most players quite often. These spikes are a signature feature from past Shift games, though as I mentioned earlier, any sign of blood has been removed from the game so whenever the player simply touches these spikes they are reset back to the beginning of that stage, forcing you to start over.
While these spikes add an extra layer of challenge as you avoid potential death, they feel slightly out of place in Shifting World. Being a puzzle game, there is no life system or even a timer, meaning that gamers can die as many times as they need to until they figure out the exact way to clear each stage. All the inclusion of these spikes does is increase the amount of time the player will need to take to finish the 60+ levels included in the game.
The risk of these spikes is only further increased by the fact that the top viewing screen where players will spend most of their time looking is zoomed very tightly on the main character. This means that you will be hard pressed to see anything not immediately by your character. Ironically, this problem is “shifted” in the bottom screen as the map is usually very compressed which not only degrades its visual quality but also the ease of use. This is quite a shame as the levels are impressively designed and rather large and an adequate map system would have come in quite handy.
Overall: Shifting World isn’t a bad little game by any means, as it offers a decent amount of levels for puzzle lovers to explore and spend their time on. However even with Shifting World’s unique shifting mechanic, the strange fact that the game was given a full retail release costing $29.99 is a significant detriment as everything else about the title reeks of an eShop release. Fans of the Shift series will most likely be eager to pick up the title to experience the series’ newest release, however everyone else may wish to steer clear of a title that would have been better served with a much cheaper price tag and better use of the 3DS’ capabilities.
Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo has held the number one spot for fifteen consecutive weeks on the UK Nintendo DS charts. This means that Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo has replaced Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training as the longest ever number one on the UK Nintendo DS chart history. The game has also spent eighteen non-consecutive weeks at the top and twenty-four consecutive weeks in the Top 2 since its release in November 2011.
Coming in at number two is the popular Mario Kart DS, Jewel Quest: The Sleepless Star going up six places to take the third spot and to round out the Top 5 are the New Super Mario Bros. and 1001 Touch Games.
If you’re a Melbourne video game fan, don your red skivvy and blue overalls, grab your cardboard weapons and parkour your way to Federation Square this Saturday.
The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for “Largest Crowd Dressed As Video Game Characters”. The previous record was set last year in Wisconsin USA, with 425 participants, but the Melbourne one is well on the way towards beating it: currently, the event’s Facebook page has almost 400 listed as Attending, with another 270-odd Maybes.
But be aware, this is an official world record attempt, so naturally there are a few guidelines for participants to follows.
The main thing to remember is the definition of a “video game character”. Sounds easy, but it’s keep in mind that the character MUST have originated from a video game. It’s fine if they’ve appeared in other media since, but if their first appearance was in film, TV, comics or anything else before they starred in a video game, they are ineligible.
So, Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in a video game in 1991, before he went on to appear in cartoons and comics, etc, so he’s eligible. However, Batman, despite many video game appearances over the years, isn’t acceptable, having originated in comics some fifty years earlier.
If you have any sort of video game character costume lying around, slip it on and I’ll see you at Fed Square at 11am Saturday 5th May.
Have you seen Bethesda’s latest game ‘Dishonored’ yet? Set in a futuristic yet Steam-Punk/Neo-Victorian world, Dishonored is the new game from Arkane Studios and Bethesda. The game’s setting is pretty insane itself – just watch the cinematic debut trailer and see for yourself. Six new screenshots of the game have today been released to give players a view of the futuristic yet old timey world.
A release date for Dishonored has yet to be announced, but the game is set to be released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC sometime in 2012.
Expect to see a lot more of Dishonored at this year’s E3 2012 in a few months time.
FUNimation had more to reveal today than just their recent license acquisitions, they also revealed the English dub cast for their upcoming anime release Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. The anime itself will be released on July 10th on DVD only at the moment. The English voice cast can be seen below:
Panty – Jamie Marchi
Stocking – Monica Rial
Garterbelt – Christopher R. Sabat
Chuck – Ian Sinclair
Brief – Joel McDonald
Kneesocks – Cherami Leigh
Scanty – Colleen Clinkenbeard
Fastener – Christopher Bevins
Corset – Chris Ayres
For those who don’t know, Panty & Stocking follows a blonde celebrity-like girl named Panty and a goth girl named Stocking. The two of them are angels sent down from heaven to battle against various ghosts on Earth… if only they can stop trying to sleep with everything that moves or eat all the sweets they see. Don’t believe me? Check out the trailer below to see for yourself.
Sentai Filmworks had plenty to reveal this weekend at Anime Central, though only one of these reveals was something anime fans may have been expecting. Today Sentai Filmworks announced that they have acquired the Upotte!!, Cluster Edge and Hakuōki animes for release in North America.
For those who don’t know, Upotte!! Just recently begun airing in Japan and follows the story of female students who possess amazing skill with guns… the only problem is these girls are all guns in human form! Cluster Edge on the other hand aired in 2005 and ran for 25 episodes. The story of Cluster Edge follows Agate Fluorite, a transfer student to a school where only elite families go to. However Agate has a unique power all of his own, a power to create miracles.
Also acquired today by Sentai was Hakuōki, a show that follows the historical group of samurai known as the Shinsengumi. The anime itself was aimed towards a female audience and Sentai Filmworks will be releasing the entirety of the series, including both seasons and the OVA set sometime in the future.
Story:
Each level is designed well enough, though the same repetitive coloration can be tedious and dull. To top it off, the protagonist’s body appears pixelated and jagged, a strange choice for a game with so little visual power anywhere else. The lack of coloration or detail in the worlds also makes the 3DS’ 3D capabilities seem for naught. While the forefront world may receive a slight depth increase, the difference is negligible and will likely cause mild headaches from the simple black, white and gray color scheme.
When the player uses the shift ability the world will become inverted, allowing the player to traverse previously unreachable areas. As the player shifts worlds the forefront will change from black to white and vice versa. The mechanic itself works well and offers a unique challenge that many other puzzle games won’t offer as players must use this shifting ability to reach many objects needed to complete a stage, such as the aforementioned keys to unlock gated areas. This is especially true once the player obtains the Layer Shifting ability which can change the world’s perspective from 3D to 2D and vice versa.
While these spikes add an extra layer of challenge as you avoid potential death, they feel slightly out of place in Shifting World. Being a puzzle game, there is no life system or even a timer, meaning that gamers can die as many times as they need to until they figure out the exact way to clear each stage. All the inclusion of these spikes does is increase the amount of time the player will need to take to finish the 60+ levels included in the game.
