This weekend was Anime Central in North America and FUNimation was there with a couple of anime licensing announcements. During their panel at the show today, FUNimation revealed that they have acquired the rights to release Eureka Seven AO sometime in the future in North America and will begin streaming the show on their website next Thursday. To go along with this announcement they also revealed that they had acquired the anime movie known as King of Thorn for release in North America.
Eureka Seven AO may sound familiar to some as it is the sequel to the previously released Eureka Seven anime. King of Thorn follows the story of a group of people who have become infected with a deadly virus. Kasumi, a young girl infected with the virus, and 159 others were selected to be placed in cryogenic suspension until a cure was made. These 160 people awake in a dark future where the world is full of monsters.
Today at Anime Central NIS America revealed that they have acquired the license to release Usagi Drop in North America. The title of the show will be changed to its English counterpart, Bunny Drop, when it is released on both Blu-ray and DVD on August 7th. As one may expect NIS America is going to be giving Bunny Drop their usual premium edition treatment which means the title will come with a collectible slipcover as well as a hardcover art book.
For those who don’t know, Bunny Drop follows the story of a thirty year old bachelor named Daikichi who attends his grandfather’s funeral only to find out that his grandfather has a 6 year old daughter named Rin. When no one in the family wants to take care of her, Daikichi vows to watch over her and raise her as if she was his own. It is worth noting that Bunny Drop is only an eleven episode series, however NIS America will be including the four bonus episodes which were released after the series ended in Japan.
It has to suck for Activision a little bit. They go ahead and plan a big reveal for their next Call of Duty title during the NBA playoffs, organize a teaser website and go through the motions to hype up their fan base. Yet despite all of these plans they just happened to fall through thanks to one image and one retailer who jumped the gun.
As you can see in the image above, Target has already placed pre-order cards out for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and not only do they confirm that the game is indeed what will be announced next week, they even reveal that the game will be released on November 13th. Those with decent memories may recall a retail listing that appeared a short time ago in Spanish that showed the game’s release date as November 12th. Looks like we will know for sure next Tuesday when Activision finally makes their own announcement about the game everyone now knows is coming.
Fox has announced they will be adopting Axe Cop for their new Saturday night animation block, Animation Domination HD.
For those unaware of the pure awesomeness, Axe Cop started as an online comic in 2010, written and created by then 5-year old Malachai Nicolle and arranged and drawn by his 29-year-old brother, Ethan. The comic has since taken the world by storm, even going so far to have it’s own Mini-Series published by Dark Horse comics. What makes Axe Cop so special? Think about it – it’s the mind of a 5-year old. Logic doesn’t exist here, this is as creative and imaginative as you can get. Dinosaurs with machine gun arms, people with socks for arms, talking avocados that are also police officers, you name it.
The adaptation of Axe Cop will be a part of Fox’s 90-minute animation block on Saturdays, overseen by former Adult Swim executives Nick Weidenfeld and Hend Baghdady. This marks the first show picked up for the series, with another five yet to be announced. Episodes for all series will be 15 minutes each.
This isn’t the first time Axe Cop has been adopted though. Fans worldwide have made multiple animated and live-action adaptions of the series, as well as also having a few official motion graphics as well. Regardless, this is set to be a really exciting endeavor for the franchise!
Axe Cop will appear as a part of Animation Domination HD on Saturdays at 11pm next year.
Legend of the Legendary Heroes Part 2 Studio: Zexcs Publisher: FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: April 17, 2012 Price: $69.98 – Available Here
Overview: Whenever the voice cast of any given anime is openly sarcastic about the anime they are working on’s name it is never a good thing. However with a name like The Legend of the Legendary Heroes it is difficult not to call the naming department out on the redundancy of this fact. Now while the name is bit of a handful, the first part of the Legend of the Legendary Heroes turned out to be quite a surprising journey with plenty of action, a likable cast and even some political maneuverings.
However it was consistently bogged down by slow storytelling and random plot tangents. Those more interested in reading the full review of Part One can find it here. Released alongside the first half of the show can Part Two of the Legend of the Legendary Heroes bring this journey to a satisfying conclusion?
Story: In Part One of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes we were introduced to the core cast of the series and their separate stories. Ryner has been tasked by his old friend and now new king of Roland, Sion, with finding long lost relics that were used by the heroes of legend long ago to shape the world as they now know it. As such Ryner must find these “hero relics” in an attempt to bring peace to a land in turmoil.
However Ryner is no ordinary person, in fact he is the bearer of the “Alpha Stigma,” a magical eye ability that allows him to instantly learn and copy any magical ability he witnesses and also allows him to unleash devastating magical power at the risk of going berserk and killing everyone around him, including his friends and foes. Sent along with him is the dango loving swordswoman Ferris Erris. While these two traveled on their journey at the forefront, Sion’s political dealings to keep Roland safe and prosperous, being the light of the nation while his subordinate Miran manipulates allies and enemies alike to assure that Sion is successful.
At the culmination of Part One Ryner and Ferris battled against another pair of travelers seeking the hero relics, Sui and Kuu. Not only did Sui and Kuu already possess multiple relics of their own, they knew more about Ryner’s Alpha Stigma than even he knew. When we last saw Ryner and Ferris however they had encountered a young Alpha Stigma owner and rescued him from certain death. The two had paused in their search for the relics in order to return back to Roland and find him somewhere safe to live.
However upon returning to Roland their journey immediately meets its end as the two become entangled in the web of politics that Sion has spun to keep the land of Roland prosperous, so prosperous in fact that the people have begun calling him the Hero King. However dark shadows are moving around the land as Roland braces for war against the Gastark nation. With the Taboo Breaker squadron sent to eliminate escaped human experiments, a new and extremely powerful Alpha Stigma owner appearing in search of Ryner and Sion’s own dream for a future where everyone can nap peacefully becoming one of shadow and destruction, what will happen to Ryner and Ferris?
It goes without saying that Part Two of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes excels in telling its story much better than Part One. One of the main issues with the first half of the series was plot progression as too much time was spent with various backstories being explained and characters being introduced. While a lot of the slowdown in the first half of the series was still unnecessary, all of the exposition in the first half has culminated in the story that is presented in Part Two.
Multiple themes are explored throughout the second half of the series, including how the world treats those who are born with Alpha Stigmas with the treatment of the young child and what is revealed by the Alpha Stigma bearer seeking Ryner. Ryner, who usually would rather find a place to nap and believe that everything sucks (his own words) begins to come out on his own throughout the second half of the series as he begins to take matters into his own hands instead of letting the world pass him by.
Ferris and Ryner’s relationship is also explored further in Part two as the odd-couple pairing that began in Part One begins to flourish. Their interactions with one another are still the highlight of the series. Ferris’ past is also partially explained and the previously enigmatic swordswoman with a penchant for smacking Ryner around with her sword slowly comes out of her shell and sees Ryner as a true friend.
While Part Two of the Legend of the Legendary Heroes capitalizes on the various storylines from Part One and offers us an amazing story with likable characters, many viewers will feel like they are only getting part of the storyline here. Unlike Part One where a cliffhanger would be expected, The Legend of the Legendary Heroes ends on a terrible conclusion.
Multiple new elements are explained near the end of the series, including a large plot twist that ultimately ends with a “To Be Continued” feel. Now while this is understandable considering the light novel series that the anime is based off of ran for forty volumes, as such this is only part of the story, there has yet to be any sign of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes receiving a second season in Japan and thus viewers may never see what happens next despite the large cliffhanger of an ending.
Visuals: The production values for Part Two remain very much the same as Part One though it is worth noting that Part Two features more action than the first half of the series, meaning that the impressive combat choreography and animation is all the more present in Part Two. Magical attacks are impressively animated and powerful, though it does seem that, despite the large amount of spells available for his use, Ryner often re-uses certain spells to death (namely his lightning spell izuchi), with only brief uses of alternative magic and Ferris’ skill with a sword is the same as ever.
The show itself is full of lush coloring and beautiful background sets with a heavy medieval European theme. The characters themselves are well detailed and even undergo a number of outfit changes throughout Part Two which helps to freshen up the characters’ appearances after Part One.
Audio: As one may assume, the same voice actors who handled Part One all retain their roles for Part Two as well. The English dub cast continues to deliver an admirable performance as they handle each character, with Ian Sinclair’s Ryner sounding better than ever. Luci Christian’s voicing of Ferris is exceptional this time around as we slowly begin to see Ferris show more emotion in her voice where there was none before. Part Two also contains the Japanese voice track for those who choose to listen to the original voice cast.
The background music for the show remains suitable and is at its best during the action sequences. There is one inserted song near the end of Part Two which did not receive any English translation, though it is still enjoyable as is. For Part Two we are given “Last Inferno” by Ceui as the opening song and “Filament of Light” by Takagi Ayahi as the ending song. Last Inferno has a suitable tone for a fantasy adventure title and is enjoyable to listen to, while Filament of Light is much softer and dramatic, making it a suitable fit for the series.
Extras: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes Part Two contains a number of expected special features such as a clean version of the opening and ending song, the English trailer for this release and English trailers for past and upcoming FUNimation releases. Besides these few standard inclusions there are also two episode commentaries, one for Episode 21 and one for Episode 24.
Episode 21 features the ADR Director for the second half of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Joel McDonald and the voice of Sion, Eric Vale. The two discuss other voice actors who are working on the same show as well as Eric’s convention experience with some unkind Jewelers. They spend a little bit of time speaking about the episode and about Sion, but mostly stay off-topic with some minor humor.
Episode 24 features the two main characters voice actors, Ian Sinclair as Ryner and Luci Christian as Ferris. The two can’t help but mention the redundancy of the title and mention how much they loved working on the show and acting out together as well as working together. The two discuss how multiple questions from their own little cheat sheet, ranging from how different the show is from past works, if they were affected by various scenes in the show such as the Alpha Stigma and Ferris’ past. This commentary is mildly humorous though it does not follow the final episode at all.
Overall: The conclusion of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes Part Two will likely leave many viewers wanting more, despite the fact that there may never be a true conclusion to the journey of Ryner and Ferris. However this show is one of the best examples about how it’s not about the destination, but the journey itself. The fact that Part Two focuses almost entirely on Ferris and Ryner also is for the best, as their interactions with one another and character developments throughout the story is the best part of the entire series. By shedding the story presentation issues of the first half of the series, the story truly shines during Part Two, providing us an intriguing storyline with well-developed characters that will leave viewers hoping for a continuation somewhere down the line.
Where’s My Candy will be free for a full 24 hours on May 1st. See what 200,000 users are raving about! Where’s My Candy features Joy the panda who lives in Bamboo Village, happily munching on candy instead of the traditional bamboo diet of other pandas. One day he discovers spiders has stolen his beloved food. So Joy takes the form of the legendary Dragon Warrior to take back his candies with style. Use unique abilities and summon puppets to make sure Joy will be able to satisfy his sweet tooth. Where’s My Candy features four game modes and PacMan inspired game play for hours and hours of family friendly fun.
Welcome back for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed or are new to the suggestions, click on the link below and check what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS along with the introduction and disclaimer on how the suggestions work. (suggestions 1 has the disclaimer)
What I’ve also introduced is video game play footage (if it’s possible) on some of the iOS games I’ve suggested, you can check this out at the bottom of the article. Currently video game play footage for this week’s suggestions are not available, check back in a few days there will be some more added. For now, if you jump into previous suggestions there are a few videos to check out.
Once again it’s been a great week on iTunes, it started off slow but ended with a bang with many amazing games released, this week I’ve suggested a total of 30 great quality titles.
14 – FREE Games 7 – $0.99c Games 9 – Over $0.99c Games
As always for this week’s suggestions are all new titles that you should take a look at and spending your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. This week I’ve focused on Free and games over 99c.
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
MASTERABBOTT’S FREE PICK OF THE WEEK
Knights Arena – Price : FREE – Publisher – NAMCO. (The king seeks the bravest knight of the realm! Can YOU step up to this challenge? Are you prepared to fight other players for this title?
Gain experience, honor and gold in online DUELS and TASKS! Get the best equipment and crush everybody else in a game of skill and courage!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Inotia 4 : Assassin of Berkel – Price : FREE – Publisher – Com2us. (Appstore’s number 1 RPG chronicles of the Inotian continent has returned with more action and thrill that allures you to exciting party gameplays and other journeys. Stride along with Kiyan, the Shadow Tribe’s virtuoso, and Eara, the influential Channel of Light, in their fantasy adventure story. With improved graphics and storyline from the previous series, get indulged in the battles against goblins, orcs, and more! A new hero awaits to be released from his shadows, or not…in the all-new Inotian continent mobile RPG action game) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Zombie Carnival – Price : FREE – Publisher – TAITO. (Welcome to the undead paradise: ZOMBIE CARNIVAL! Build your own carnival, fill it with icky and cute zombies, and conquer the world! Think zombies only come in human form? No! Zombie Carnival features zombies of all shapes and sizes, from dogs and cats to people and even dinosaurs! Think all zombies are scary? Wrong again! Zombie Carnival zombies are both icky AND cute! These zombies aren’t just for show; they’ll also serve as your army in your quest for world domination!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Lil’ Kingdom – Price : FREE – Publisher – Glu Games. (Work and play in your own lil’ underground kingdom!
Dig deep dungeon dwellings beneath your fairy-tale castle and fill it with hardworking castle citizens. Gallant Knights, mischievous Goblins, gold-protecting Dragons, and of course, our resident beautiful Princess all depend on you to build them the perfect lil’ paradise!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Aby Escape – Price : FREE – Publisher – BULKYPIX. (Run Aby, Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun !!! Help poor Aby, the unluckiest and clumsiest raccoon, escape from his assailants. Whether being pursued by the hunters in his native forest, by the police in town or by the bikers on Route 66.5, Aby never stops running to escape from all these dangers. Progress through 30 levels split across 3 different universes, and take on every kind of obstacle and unique situation: a catapult, an American football stadium, elephants, and trucks, just to name a few.
Get an overview of the next update by completing Story mode. ) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Dragons Ate My Candy – Price : FREE – Publisher – SGN. (Dragons Ate My Candy – more FREE fun by the folks at SGN! Save Candytown from terrible dragons with an appetite for destruction! Cook up a perfect defense with Licorice Whips, Explosive Cupcakes, and Nougat Walls! Let Little Miss Ginger guide you through over 40 levels of sweet strategy. Fuel your defense with upgrades and power ups, like the Gumball X-treme Carronade, or Marshmallow Stun! ) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Sunkist Speedway – Price : FREE – Publisher – Sunkist Growers. (Get on the speedway with Sunkist® citrus! Earn the highest score possible by avoiding obstacles and picking up citrus fruits as fuel in this endurance style raceway game. The game doesn’t end until you run out of gas or destroy your car. There are 5 levels of the game for you to test your steering skills. Pick up different citrus varieties on each level and learn cool citrus tips and facts along the way.) runs on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Summer In Smallywood – Price : FREE – Publisher – The Centre for Skills Development & Training. (Where can you find the World’s Shortest Roller Coaster, a teacup ride made of actual teacups, and a miniaturized gallery of Canada’s largest roadside attractions? Only in Smallywood, a B-grade amusement park packed with cranky customers and neurotic co-workers. You’re one summer away from landing a big promotiona, but first you have to prove to the boss that you know what it takes to hold down a job.) runs on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Alien Frenzy – Price : FREE – Publisher – Fireshark Studios. (You are the last soldier alive stranded at a far outpost and the aliens have found a way into the outpost. Stay alive as long as you can in this fun and action packed survival shooter by leveraging the right pickup buffs and special abilities. Pickup buffs include split shot, ricochet, knockback, lifesteal, and many more. Just stand by any buff hologram for 1 second to activate a pickup buff. Choose your pickup buffs wisely though as you have limited pickup buff slots.) runs on iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Castle Master 3D – Price : FREE – Publisher –Alpha Cloud Inc. (Romance of the three kingdoms’ Strategy + Diablo’s Action! Full 3D Action Strategy Siege Game, Castle Master!Massive Battle of 600 will thrill you! First 300 vs. 300 siege battle on mobile! With 300 followers, go destroy the gate of the enemy castle! Humans, abandoned by God for their arrogance and greed, were deprived of all their 45 castles by the evil hordes from Hades.) runs on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Red Bull Augmented Racing Reloaded – Price : FREE – Publisher –Red Bull. (Red Bull Augmented Racing Reloaded – take the wheel and prove your driving skills! Play this polished and powerful racing game and enjoy excellent visuals and top-level game design. Create your own tracks, race and share them with your Facebook friends, or compete on spectacular pro-designed courses. Experience the pulse-pounding thrill of European circuit racing in the cockpit of the RB7, the Red Bull 2011 World Champion car. Power up, strap in, and pedal down.) runs on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Princess PAJAMA for iPad – Price : FREE – Publisher – Blueside Inc. (Escape from your daily routine with Princess PAJAMA!
Once upon a time, Princess PAJAMA, who was likable but too naive sometimes, got kidnapped by the world’s most bored king, King Mon.
Your job is to rescue the princess and escape from the monster’s den while protecting her!
Only the true hero knows the true meaning of multi-tasking.) on iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Bullet Sky – Price : FREE – Publisher – Front Network. (“Bullet Sky” is a cross-platform flight shooting game created and developed by 1mpact Games. Applying Adobe Stage 3D and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) related graphic acceleration technologies, we bring gaming experience in such kind to a whole new level. * Incredible fun
* Various aircrafts and their own upgrades
* Main weapon, secondary weapon and bombs
* Challenge different bosses) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Vals Panic – Price : FREE – Publisher – RELEVO Videogames. (When we considered the challenge to compress the work processes of the Marketing Agency Vals in a little game, we didn’t think it would end up looking so cute: like a classic 80s LCD handheld! You must help in the work processes so that the idea goes from the client briefing to the strategy definition, the first drafts, design process, and the final delivery as a cute paper plane. Try not to fail on the key momments, or your idea might end on the paper bin!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Escape From Age Of Monsters – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Ayopa Games. (The age of monsters is here! Mankind’s last hope for survival rests on the narrow, sloping shoulders of our hero Gizzard, a pair of mysterious talking gloves, and you. Escape from Age of Monsters is an “endless runner” platformer featuring amazing hand-drawn art, humor, hordes of monsters, lots of punching, and a rocking soundtrack from The Binges set in the Age of Monsters universe. Created by Jeff Matsuda, the Emmy award-winning Producer of The Batman cartoon, Escape! is an epic game about life’s most important lesson – don’t die (and if you can help it, save some kids and grab some power-ups along the way) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Shihounotsuki – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Team Eye Mask. (Novel Game. Story: Boy and Girl. They have a super powers. They manage to find out their whereabouts. (They want to find out their own place) The main character Shihou and Tsukigami who wants to be a singer meet each other in a park. The main character Shihou and Tsukigami who wants to be a singer meet each other in a park. The world rule is re-formed when she wakes up the ability of her voice.
I want to destroy the world They try hard to wriggle out of a difficult situation.
Their super powers save the world or destroy.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Save Spod – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Spodware. (Spod is here just waiting to be saved, don’t let the food get to him without collecting the stars first or be prepared to make him very sad. Full Game centre support, Achievements and leader boards. Can you solve the puzzles by collecting all the stars and bring down the force field? Spod goes hungry if you can`t work it out.
3 different worlds with 75 amazing puzzles to solve.Spod needs you ) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Draw The Line – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Lilypad. (For fans of the great game Cut the Rope, Lilypad Games presents “Draw the Line”. You’ll draw colorful lines with a variety of paints to guide, bounce and portal the rubber-band ball to the cute bookworm named Milton.
With many fun, innovative and challenging levels, beautiful visuals, a heart capturing story, and a fantastic soundtrack by P.SUS, Draw the Line is an addictive and warming experience for people of all ages.) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Drop The Nut – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Keingu Games. (With a wooden box you are sent on a mission to collect the coconuts across 72 levels in three different environments. Collect the nuts, catch the keys and avoid various obstacles in your mission and return with your box full of coconuts and keys. The keys are needed to unlock new worlds. Drop the Nut is a new game concept and has great cartoon style graphics combined with realistic physics and tricky levels.) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Spellsword – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Everplay. (Spellsword is a retro-inspired Hack N Slash survival based iOS game presented by Everplay and FireFruitForge. Spellsword follows the path of an unlikely hero as he quests to unleash the power of his newly found Spellsword. The player will fight in a variety of arenas to unlock new items and spell cards.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Brain School Training – Price : $0.99 – Publisher –Mastersoft Mobile Solutions (The No1 Smartphone Smash Hit brain training game finally makes it to iOS! Twenty different brain games, with over 100 levels of pure puzzle mayhem! This is a brain trainer with a difference ….. 20 amazingly addictive and FUN puzzles, each at 5 increasing levels of difficulty. Not only fun, but it will train your brain across a wide range of differing aptitudes such as; Verbal, Spatial, Numerical, and Musical …….. challenge your brain and make sure it’s functioning at it’s optimum potential!) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99
MASTERABBOTT’S OVER 99c PICK OF THE WEEK
MARVEL vs. CAPCOM 2– Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Capcom. (“The game will be available for $4.99, but in celebration of The Avengers theatrical film, act now to take advantage of the special launch price of $2.99 from April 25th until May 6th (PST)!”
Wolverine & Spider-man VS. Ryu & Chun-Li ! One of the most popular arcade-fighting games of all time arrives on the App Store for your iOS tablet or mobile device! Marvel vs. Capcom 2 brings together legendary characters from the Marvel and Capcom franchises to duke it out in an insane, action-packed, tag-team fighting experience. From Ryu to Wolverine, pit your favorite heroes in dream match-ups thanks to the robust 56-character roster. With the optimized iOS touchscreen controls, 2-player versus-mode, unlockable secrets and characters, you better buckle up and prepare to be taken for a ride!) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Natalie Brooks – The Treasures of the Lost Kingdom– Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Game Factory Interactive. (Famous teenage detective Natalie Brooks is back in an all-new adventure! In Secrets of the Lost Kingdom, Natalie faces the seemingly impossible task of saving her grandfather, a renowned archaeologist, from kidnappers holding him ransom for an ancient treasure map. She has just 24 hours to find the map, solve the mystery of a terrible curse and unmask the truth behind a legendary ghost train! ) runs iPad. BUY NOW
Build Cars with Edward and Arthur – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – PlayWithMotion. (In this game your child can create thousands of unique, crazy and fantastical cars and then test-drive them on the race track. Nice 3d-rendered graphics and sound make the cars look and feel like real miniature cars and depending on what parts you use the car will behave different when driving. You’ll need better tires to splash through mud, bigger engine to go faster etc. While playing you’ll collects stars, that unlocks more car parts, and even additional race tracks!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy– Price : $5.49 – Publisher – NAMCO. (FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE! THIS IS THE ULTIMATE AIR COMBAT GAME! With an extensive single player campaign and revolutionary multiplayer modes, the non-stop action will keep you at the edge of your seat! Become the supreme lord of the skies! CONSOLE QUALITY GAMING AND IT’S ONLY ON iOS!
Unparalleled visuals, special effects and audio including: bump mapping, atmospheric scattering, volumetric clouds with realistic lighting, sun glare, day & night transitions, God rays and more!) runs on iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Epic Astro Story– Price : $4.49 – Publisher – Kairosoft. (Ready to test your mettle against the final frontier?
Pioneer an untamed planet, building roads and houses for your fellow denizens of the future. Cultivate your quaint colony into a stellar space citadel, and you’ll pull alien tourists from everywhere this side of Alpha Centauri!
Careful though, not all intelligent life seeks souvenirs. Prepare to engage in heated battle with all manner of cosmic creatures! Win–and you just might be rewarded.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Happy Chef HD– Price : $2.99 – Publisher – NordCurrent. (Develop expert culinary skills in Happy Chef, a gripping Time Management game with tons of different dishes! Take command of the kitchen and demonstrate the skills of a master chef. Start with hamburgers and hot dogs and work your way to becoming the best known restaurant in the country! Decorate your restaurant, buy new furniture, find awesome accessories, and upgrade your kitchen to become a Happy Chef!) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Rusty Orb– Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Orator Games. (Take command of the underground exploring and excavation vehicle “Rusty 01” on an adventure into the depths of an alien planet! Gather all the valuable gems you can find and carry them home while avoiding dangerous traps and monsters lurking under the surface of the planet and solving puzzles that will open you new, previously undiscovered underground caverns. Rusty Orb is a physics based puzzler combined with action game. Featuring a unique mechanics for interacting with your environment via an extendable chain allowing your vehicle to carry other items or hook itself to a wall.) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
Mortimer Beckett and the Crimson Thief– Price : $5.49 – Publisher – GameHouse. (Join Mortimer on his most challenging adventure yet in Mortimer Beckett and the Crimson Thief. Finally home after his astounding journey, Mortimer resumes his simple life and peruses the daily newspaper. One by one, famous artifacts from museums and private collections around the world are missing. The person claiming responsibility for the thefts goes by the moniker – the Crimson Thief, a ghost that the police can do nothing about. Mortimer however, jumps on the case and is determined to find the stolen goods while bringing the thief to justice.) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
Adam Dream : Numbers Nightmare– Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Terato. (Adam Dream is a must have for all fans of arcade, puzzle and adventure games. The exciting and challenging puzzles in Adam Dream will blow your mind! Take the role of the eponymous character, Adam Dream, a 9 year old who falls asleep in class only to find himself trapped in a strange world with no way home. Guide and assist Adam Dream in his adventure. look for the solution quickly, earn mana to power ups, and get the highest possible score. The thrilling gameplay in Adam Dream will challenge your brain.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
There you have it folks, these games should keep you busy for quite some time. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if anyone would also like to suggest their own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Welcome to the third episode of CC Powerslam, Capsule Computers Wrestling Podcast! In our third episode, the CC Crew discuss the build up to WWE’s Extreme Rules PPV and give their predictions on the event.
Cast: Luke Halliday, Philip Federico, Dustin Spencer and Jahanzeb Khan
Developer: GameLab Publisher: Chillingo Platforms: iPad (Reviewed), iPhone, iPod Touch Release Date: April 19th 2012 Price: $0.99 Get it Here
Overview
Hail to the king baby! Chillingo and GameLab brings us a new twin stick shooter that takes some serious inspiration from Duke Nukem and scrubs it down to an age 13+ rating. In a genre already filled to the brim with games, can Lock ‘n’ Load rise to the top? Or will it sink to the bottom with the rest of the dreg.
Story
Lock ‘n’ Load follows our yellow coverall wearing masked hero who reminds me a little too much of Jason from Friday the 13th. Those who were misfortunate enough to be shown the film at age 10 will probably feel a little uncomfortable while playing Lock ‘n’ Load. Our masked hero has been enjoying a peaceful life living next to the most darling grandmother when one day a girl of unspeakable evil and begins her plot to take over the world. She only made one fatal error in her plan. She let her minions crush our hero’s flower garden. Now, with his elderly neighbour’s machine gun, our hero is off to save the world. The storyline isn’t the deepest in the world but it is witty and very funny. The wheelchair bound grandmother is probably my favourite character in the game. Although you shouldn’t play Lock ‘n’ Load for the plot, it sure is nice to have a little story going along as you blast away at the enemy.
Gameplay
Lock ‘n’ Load is a twin stick shooter. The concept is extremely simple. One stick to move, one stick to shoot. The game does not mess with the formula but is a great example of the genre done correctly. The main weapon is the machine gun and has unlimited ammunition. It’s weak but it is the only weapon with decent range. There are two weapons, the shotgun and the flamethrower, are limited by ammunition which must be either picked up or purchased with in-game money. There is a special berserker jump ability that recharges as players kill enemies. All these special weapons need to be purchased with in-game money to be initially unlocked and then can be further upgraded with money. I was disappointed to see that the machine gun could not be upgraded as it is the only weapon that has any sort of range and enemies tend to get a little tougher by the end of the game.
There are 32 types of enemies to kill in Lock ‘n’ Load. Almost all of them fall under four main categories, small creatures that come in packs, larger melee enemies, ranged enemies, and larger versions of the previous categories that serve as mini bosses. Creatures from the first two classes seem to only look different. However ranged creatures each have their own style of attack which helps maintain variety in the game and forces players to adjust their tactics depending on who they are fighting. I enjoyed the different types of enemies I had to face as it constantly kept me on my toes while I mowed them down endlessly.
The game usually rotates between running from point A to point B while mowing down everything in your path to fighting in an area and killing wave after wave of enemies until the exit unlocks. Once in a while, the game is broken up with small mini-games or special sequences. The run and gun portion plays well, hit detection is spot on and the game is surprisingly well balanced. The mini-games are of high quality and varied in nature. The weakest mini game of the bunch was the motorcycle game which involved possibly the slowest motorcycle chase in history. I love the fact they inserted these mini games as it provides a pleasant twist that most twin stick shooters lack.
The controls were spot on for the most part. The only issue I had was using the shotgun without automatic aiming. Since the shotgun is a slower firing weapon, it is best used with timed shots. However with manual aiming, I often found myself firing the first shot in the completely wrong direction. Overall, Lock ‘n’ Load provides incredibly solid gameplay that takes properly executed twin stick shooting and takes it to the next level with fun mini games.
Visuals
Lock ‘n’ Load uses a cartoony visual style with cel shaded roots. Characters are brightly coloured, contrasting against dark scenery which really make characters pop on screen. There is great character design with unique looking enemies and loads of extra costumes if the yellow coveralls get boring. Each skin can be purchased for 150 in game dollars once all three hidden gifts of the corresponding level are found. The game looks great on the large iPad Retina screen and scales down well to the smaller iPhone 4 Retina display thanks to the cel shaded looks. Lock ‘n’ Load is a great looking game that will be a gem for owners iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches.
Audio
Lock ‘n’ Load is a stand out game for audio with a single weakness. Sound effects are top notch and the music is a pleasure to listen to. The guns have a punchy sound and the music is a great accompaniment to the symphony of gunfire. The most impressive thing with Lock ‘n’ Load is the fact it is fully voice acted. The voice acting is top notch for the exception of the main villain. For some reason her voice acting sounds like it was done by a 10 year old. Now if an actual 10 year old voiced this, I will be more forgiving, but considering the quality of voice acting in the rest of the game, the villain sticks out like a sore thumb.
The writing for the voice acting is impressive. At first I thought the game was laced with expletives and rated too low at age 13 and up until I listened closer. GameLab has managed to master the fine art of swearing without actually swearing. Similar to that picture of a man and a woman cavorting naked that is seen as six dolphins by young children, GameLab cleverly uses similar sounding words or just barely avoiding a curse word to trick the brain. Lock ‘n’ Load provides a high quality audio experience with fully voice acted characters, strong sound effects, and spot on music.
Overall
The most mind blowing thing about Lock ‘n’ Load is the price. For a game of this quality, $0.99 is an absolute steal. This game could easily go for $1.99 and still sell well. Lock ‘n’ Load provides superb graphics, an entertaining story, great audio, and most importantly top notch game play. This game is a must have to any iOS gamer’s library!
Digital distribution has given many independent and passionate video game developers an opportunity to share their creations with the rest of the world, giving them a chance to jump all the distribution hassles and charge bargain prices to consumers. Platforms like Xbox Live Arcade and Steam have allowed many great ideas to surface, coming from talented individuals from all over the globe. Gamers will remember a little independent and free PC title called Cave Story, which would later be picked up by Nintendo for a proper release on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
Cherry Tree High Comedy is a dating simulator style game developed by an independent Japanese developer, 733, and picked up for localisation by Nyu Media Ltd and being distributed digitally by Capcom. The game is available for purchase on the official website now with release on other digital platforms to follow.
Story:
Before I get into the premise and setting of Cherry Tree High Comedy Club, it’s worth noting that the localisation didn’t just involve translating the original Japanese script as accurately as possible into English, it involved a heavy bit of Westernisation, much like the Ace Attorney games. This means that many changes have been made to the original context to make it more Western oriented. The original Japanese version takes place in Japan but in this localisation the game takes place in North America. With that, the character names and profiles were changed in order to make them fit into the new sitting, and much of the dialogue and culture references have been altered as well. That said, the setting still looks very Japanese as the main town has a Japanese temple even, but the translation team have cleverly covered their tracks as convincingly as possible by making it seem like a multi-cultural American town. With that in mind, let’s move on to what this game is really about.
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club takes place in quiet countryside locale called Cherry Tree Town, and players play the role of a high spirited high school student by the name of Miley Verisse. Miley is a passionate fan of stand up comedy and loves the idea of making people laugh, and with that passion she decides that she wants to start her very own Comedy Club at her school, Cherry Tree High. However her rival, Octavia Richmond, who is also the head of the student council, informs her that starting a proper school club isn’t a simple ask as she will need at least five willing members to formally join the club before it can be established. Not only that, but the deadline is at the end of April and when the game starts it’s already March, so she has very little time to work things out. Miley quickly realises that finding additional people who share a similar passion for comedy is not going to be a simple task.
It’s a fairly simple plot akin to those of slice of life comedies you see in Japanese animation. It’s all very light hearted and happy, and contains a lot of humour and charm. There is a fair bit of characterisation involved here as you interact with the game’s colourful cast. There are some serious undertones just to make the setting and characters more relatable, but it is generally quite uplifting. Apart from the main underlying plot of starting a Comedy Club, the experience that you have with the town and characters really depends on you. It’s one of those player driven experiences that allows you to choose how you interact with the game world and what characters to interact with and how. Overall, it’s a nice game world that lets you escape and unwind a little.
Visuals and Audio:
Being an independent game developed by just a handful of inviduals, Cherry Tree High Comedy Club looks decent enough. It looks like one of those free browser based video games built with flash. It’s still a decent enough 2D effort with simplistic character models and backgrounds, and the colour scheme is appealing enough. What really stands out about the game is the artwork, as you’ll get to see plenty of beautiful character illustrations. The character designs are quite nice, nothing unique but still charming enough.
The soundtrack is as upbeat and happy as the rest of the game, with fast paced jazzy pop tunes akin to a Shin Megami Tensei: Persona video game. The music is pretty catchy but there isn’t much variety, and so it can get pretty boring fast.
Gameplay:
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club uses a dating simulator like game structure, where you essentially engage in various activities and simply socialise with the game’s many characters. The goal here is to build on Miley’s character and also her relationships with other characters. In a way, the game structure is a lot like the dating simulator portions of Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 and Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4.
The game progress on a day by day basis, with each day divided into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Activities generally involve socialising with characters or engaging in activities like doing homework, watching television, playing video games, and various other things.
As Miley, you need to work on her repertoire of conversation topics, and these topics include video games, music, fashion, and several others. You build Miley’s knowledge on these topics by engaging in various activities like reading magazines and watching television. It’s important to build on Miley’s repertoire as it helps her communicate with characters more effectively.
Miley’s goal is to recruit three people into her Comedy Club, as she already has herself and her best friend Harriet as members. There are six potential recruits, and you have to essentially max out your relationship level with at least three of these potentials before the game duration ends (end of April). Knowing the character’s likes and dislikes is key to knowing which topics to talk about in order to speed up the relationship development.
It’s a fairly interesting game that’s nicely paced, and you need to manage your time and days before the deadline at the end of April. It’s a challenge to figure out whether you want to spend time building your own repertoire that will help in socialising, or trying to figure out the characters better in order to pick the right conversation topics.
The localisation is actually quite good, as the dialogue is fun and the characters are expressed really well and have a lot of personality. The localisation team did a nice job retaining the flow and charm of the dialogue and the Westernised elements actually blend in quite well. It’s a very short game that can be completed in a couple of hours or so, but it’s a fun and relaxing ride. Still for its price it could have used a lot more game time but there is some minor degree of replay value given that there are six potential relationships to maxmise.
Overall:
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a nice little indie video game with very modest production values. However, it’s still a nicely executed dating simulator style game with some fun characters, good dialogue, and pleasant and colourful art style. It’s a fun and relaxing game that’s good for what it is. Graphically and musically it’s nothing really special as it resembles those free browser based flash video games, and it’s actually really short since you can complete it in a couple of hours with some minor incentive to play it again. For its price, it could have been a lot better but if you’re curious to try an independent Japanese video game localised for your convenience, then give Cherry Tree High Comedy Club a shot.
