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Pandora’s Tower Review

Luke Halliday
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Pandora’s Tower Review


Pandora’s Tower
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Ganbarion
Platforms: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: April 12, 2012
Price: $69.00 – Available Here

Overview:
It’s not too far a stretch for one to state that the Japanese RPG genre has taken a turn for the worse in recent years, with the Western world missing out on a large portion of the truly brilliant Japanese RPGs and instead receiving the next ‘big’ Square-Enix game. Now this isn’t a knock on Square-Enix, they can still produce a quality title (sometimes), but they have caused an unfortunate stagnation in the genre with their overwhelming quantity of monotonous drivel that they pass off as JRPGs.

That’s where Pandora’s Tower comes into the equation. Amidst the stagnation in the genre and on a console on it’s last legs, Pandora’s Tower provides a fresh burst of a life to both the genre and the Wii itself. It’s a classic throwback to role-playing games of old, while implementing a dash of new school style that make’s Pandora’s Tower such a delight. In the overpopulated and malign market of Japanese RPGs Pandora’s Tower represents hope for the once mighty genre.

Story:
Pandora’s Tower tells a simple tale that harkens back memories of the RPG genre’s past, specifically games like Azure Dreams and Guardian’s Crusade. The concept is simple and doesn’t dabble too long in overwrought cut scenes, putting more emphasis on the journey and the feelings it evokes in the player.

The plot revolves around two ‘friends’ Aeron and Elena, both of whom are on the run from the military. Why is the military after them? Well as it turns out Elena has received an unfortunate curse that is slowly turning her into a beast. The military appear to want to keep this curse hushed and plan to eliminate Elena, hence eliminating evidence of the curse. Aeron of course wants to save her, to do so he needs to overcome the trials and tribulations of 13 towers in order to break Elena’s curse.

It’s a rather simple concept, but it works excellently. The world itself and the history of the characters is slowly revealed over the course of the story without the unnecessary gameplay halting cut scenes that are commonplace in the genre these days. It’s utterly refreshing to see such a ‘to the point’ storyline in an RPG game and it would definitely remind gamers of RPGs of generations passed.

Gameplay:
Interestingly enough, while Pandora’s Tower feels old school aesthetically and thematically, it’s gameplay is decidedly new age. Instead of being turn-based like it’s fore fathers (Azure Dreams for instance), Pandora’s Tower is an entirely real time action RPG. There is no random encounters just pure hack and slash, reminiscent of action adventure games more so than RPG games. The real time combat feels a lot like the 3D Castlevania games or even like the Legend of Zelda franchise.

It is a rather nuanced experience with a large amount of attention to detail gameplay wise. As you progress through the game you of course level and unlock more equipment and items, giving more different ways to battle. But it’s not all about the battle system, perhaps the most interesting part of Pandora’s Tower is it’s dungeon crawling aspects.

Each tower in the game is essentially a dungeon with a big boss at the end (Tower Master) for you to take down. This dungeon structure doesn’t necessarily work the same way as your average RPG dungeon instead opting for a more Zelda dungeon vibe. There are puzzles to solve and a fair amount of backtracking and area memorisation to take in. Each tower in itself is largely different, which prevents any repetition one may find from a dungeon crawler such as this. The emphasis on exploration is incredible and is refreshing especially when placed alongside the linear structure of the common modern RPG.

All in all, Pandora’s Tower mixes a bit of old with a bit of new to great affect. There isn’t a lot to this game as it’s a rather simple yet emotionally rewarding game. The depth and profound journey the player takes is such a rewarding experience, that ploughing through each tower is addictive.

Visuals and Audio:
Like most good things, Pandora’s Tower has it’s let downs and that is unfortunately it’s weak visuals. Of course for the graphical standards of the Wii, this is beautiful. But visually Pandora’s Tower looks sadly very rough around the edges, this is more the fault of the Wii as a console than the fault of the game. The game looks like it does not belong in this generation and it’s messy graphics only serve as a detriment to the game. It honestly looks like a late PSOne/early PS2 RPG game and that is not a good thing, not in this day and age. It’s a crying shame, because the graphics alone will deter many as the game itself looks more than a decade old aesthetically.

While there isn’t much that can be done in the way of visuals due to the Wii’s limited power, Pandora’s Tower features a beautiful soundtrack as well as excellent voice acting from an entirely British cast. The soundtrack does not feature a single dark spot and features tracks that sound as though they would be at home in classic RPGs of yesteryear such as Final Fantasy IX. It is an all round great job from Ganbarian aurally, but a disappointing visual experience due to a console that has spent the last 3 years knocking on death’s door.

Overall:
In a time when most people’s Wii’s are doing nothing but collecting dust, Pandora’s Tower is released and gives the Wii that last flash of life before it will begin being phased out in place of the Wii U. The game itself is an anomaly, coming out so late in the Wii’s life span it’s a wonder why it couldn’t wait for the surely superior Wii U was released, but it also serves as a reminder that the Wii could house good games, even when it feels like the Wii has long since been written out of the equation for many gamers.

In Ganbarion’s first RPG attempt, they have certainly done a commendable job. After spending years making mostly One Piece tie-in games, they come out of practically nowhere with a brilliant and inspired game that proves that as a studio they are capable of so much more. Pandora’s Tower is a game that deserves more than a tail end release on the Wii and Ganbarion have proved themselves to be a developer that we should all keep our eyes on.

At the end of the day Pandora’s Tower is an incredibly fun and wildly addictive RPG that doesn’t bother with any tedious formalities. All it wants is for you to simply have fun and isn’t that really the measure of what makes a good game?

8-0-capsules-out-of-10

Bullistic Unleashed – A Game with BULLS!

Thomas Giles
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“Bullistic Unleashed” looks to be a cross between Angry Birds and Pinball, with generous dollop of puerile humor to bring it all together. You’ll be flinging bulls around a shopping mall, in the hopes of bringing the whole building down, or, failing that, destroying as much as possible.

The game is being developed by Millipede Creative Development, creators of the original Bullistic. After already releasing a big update to the original game, they’re gearing up to add more bull- and destruction-related awesome in the form of Bullistic Unleashed.

The game will be released on the 24th April, from the gameplay we’ve seen so far, it looks pretty fun! Stay tuned for a review coming soon!

Kingdom Hearts 3D Hits Europe July 20

Joshua Spudic
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During Nintendo Europe’s own Nintendo Direct broadcast, Nintendo of Europe’s president Satoru Shibata has revealed that the next entry of the Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, will hit European and PAL retail stores July 20. The European release will actually precede the North American release by eleven days.

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, players will get to play as both Sora and Riku as they are put to the test in the form of the Mark of Mastery exam. They must traverse through the World of Sleep and defeat the “Nightmare” Dream Eaters. If they are successful, then they will be considered Keyblade Masters. The sudden exam is triggered by the return of a familiar enemy. North America will be receiving the game on July 31. The game is already out in Japan.

Four minute footage for Etrian Odyssey IV

Jahanzeb Khan
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Many awesome announcements were made, and many great games were showcased at the Nintendo Direct live-stream conference broadcast this week. Etrian Odyssey IV for the Nintendo 3DS was one of the games showcased in the broadcast, and they streamed four minutes of gameplay footage for it.

The four minute trailer shows off the towns, the character classes, the 3D exploration where we catch a glimpse of the many areas that will be featured in the game, and plenty of combat footage. Like in past games, you will be able to draw your own maps on the touchpad, to capture the feel of old school first person and maze-driven role playing games of the 1980s. The game is also set to feature a Casual difficulty setting.

You can check out this beefy trailer below.

 

Madman acquire three new anime feature films for local release

Jahanzeb Khan
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At the recent Supanova convention in Gold Coast (Brisbane), Madman Entertainment has announced some new acquisitions for 2012. These acquisitions are three new anime feature films and they will be distributed in Australia.

First off is Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, a computer generated feature film where a young girl ventures into a whole new world in search for a mirror she cherishes. Next up is Gintama: The Motion Picture, based of the popular action comedy anime series of the same name. Finally, there’s Sengoku Basara: The Movie.

This is in addition to the acquisitions announced at the Supanova convention in Melbourne last week, which included Aquarion EVOL, Star Driver, Mayo Chiki, The Legend of Legendary Heroes, Oreimo, and Berserk: The Golden Age Arc Trilogy.

Trials Evolution Review

J. Bradshaw
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Trials Evolution
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: RedLynx
Platform(s): XBLA (Reviewed)
Release Date: April 18, 2012
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points – Available Here

Overview
Trials HD was one of the most successful games ever for XBLA. Over 2 million copies of the game have been sold overall, and it is well regarded as one of the most grueling, addictive, hardcore and entertaining games on the market today. Getting some of the tougher achievements in the game is a sign that you have endurance, patience and skill. The developers of Trials HD, RedLynx Studios, truly created a wonderful game. However, they couldn’t just stand on their laurels. So, they created a sequel called Trials Evolution. How can they top one of the greatest XBLA games ever? Does Evolution even come close to the masterpiece that was Trials HD?

Gameplay
All in all, the gameplay is remarkably similar to Trials HD. RedLynx has tweaked the physics engine but, other than it being much easier to crash, I can’t exactly tell you in what areas that I noticed any changes. All I know is that it feels slightly different. However, that does not detract one bit from the experience. Trials Evolution is still an intense ride that is easy to learn, but incredibly difficult to master. The game is still set in 2.5D, although the game does seem to explore the depth of the screen more often. For example, some of the tracks are set in a circle, instead of merely a straight line.

Of course, Trials Evolution is still murderously hard. While there are more easy levels in this outing than in HD, the medium levels still are tough. By the time you get to the hard levels, you’ll want to rip your hair out and throw your controller to the ground, all while while cursing the TV, the controller and anything else nearby. By the time you get to the extreme levels, you will cry for someone to just kill you already; just tear your eyes out and cut your throat already. And yet, you’ll still play. You’ll keep hitting restart, knowing that this is the time that you can get through the track without any faults. That you’ll take it slower this time and get a better medal, even if that means you won’t have the fastest time to show off on the leaderboards.

All in all, the amount of content Redlynx stuffed into Evolutions makes this game a bargain. You can spend hours trying to perfect your runs, attempting to beat ghosts, viewing other people’s replays, creating content, racing in multi-player, and trying out all the wacky Circus modes, like skiing.

One of the biggest improvements to Trials is the addition of multi-player. While I could not connect to any games, due to the intense server load that the game is experiencing currently, there are plenty of modes to experience. If you ever 100% all of the levels in Trials Evo, you’ll still have endless multi-player “fun” to satiate your addiction.

The track creator returns to Trials Evolution in spectacular form. There are two editors: a lite version and a pro one. The lite version is easier to create with, while the pro version will literally give you any option you can think of. You can even create your own FPS game with it. You can also download, try out and rate other people’s creations, which is amazingly insane.

There are only a few faults with Trials Evolution. One is that the tutorials will teach you something, like bunny hopping, but you won’t actually use that skill for another hour or two, maybe not even until you unlock the next set of tracks. Two is that you must reach a certain medal count until you can unlock  more levels. So, if you just can’t attain that last medal and you are stuck at 99 medals, then you literally can’t move on. This can be extremely frustrating.

For the most part, the difficulty level does ramp up in a balanced way. However,some of the medium levels feel like easy levels, and some of the medium levels feel like hard ones, while some of the hard levels feel like medium ones. While this does give you a brief respite occasionally, it is a little weird. The fourth fault is that the the replay functionality seemed really spotty to me. Although you can view your most recent replay, I couldn’t find a way to save it. In addition, you can only view certain replays. So, if your first run was spectacular, you can’t save or replay it, but you might be able to save your 3rd retry of that run.

Audio and Visuals
Once again, the soundtrack of the game is generic, awful hard rock. However, some hip-hop and standard soundtrack music also made it into the game this time. Your rider will also still be yelling like a redneck whenever he goes off a huge jump. Overall, Trials Evolution is best sounding when you are playing your own music.

The biggest improvement in this Trials game is the graphics. The backgrounds are insanely detailed and full of life. For example, on one track, there is a jet that flies overhead. The visuals truly draw you into each track and they are incredible. This is probably one of the best looking games on XBLA. I was also really pleased this game was set in the outdoors.  It made it so much more interesting than the dark caverns of Trials HD.

Overall
In conclusion, I was really impressed with the amount of creativity RedLynx put into Trials Evolution. This is no mere copy and paste of Trials HD. The entire game has literally “evolved”, and it is one of the most fun, exhilarating, addicting and frustrating games of this year. I wager that it will be on many GOTY lists this December. There is only one warning I feel compelled to give you: please try it out and make sure you won’t have a heart attack on the later, extremely difficult levels. If you don’t like being angry and frustrated while playing games, then you will not like Trials Evolution. On the other hand, if you like a challenge and you love being completely addicted, then you will adore Trials Evolution.

9-0-capsules-out-of-10

Kirby’s 20th anniversary celebrated with Kirby game compilation for Wii

Travis Bruno
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The Kirby series is turning 20 this year and Nintendo is going to celebrate this momentous occasion the only way they know how, by giving us a slew of older Kirby games all on one disc. Via the Nintendo Direct stream last night it was revealed that Nintendo is planning to release a compilation disc for the Wii that contains all of our “favorite Kirby games” though what these games were was not revealed.

Also announced alongside the Kirby Compilation is the fact that the 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure which has already been released in the West, will finally be released in Japan. Also it is worth noting that the Club Nintendo site will soon be flooded with Kirby goodies, so any fan of Kirby better keep an eye out.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 coming to North America in August

Travis Bruno
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Last night during a Nintendo Direct event, Nintendo revealed that there would be a new Super Mario game coming to the Nintendo 3DS. At the time the game, which is to be called New Super Mario Bros. 2 was only announced for a Japanese release in August, but today Nintendo of America released their own set of press releases to coincide with the event.

This press release stated that New Super Mario Bros. 2 would be released in the West as well. The game itself is being described as a “traditional side-scrolling adventure game” that was designed “specifically as a pick-up-and-play experience.” As you can see above the gameplay itself looks to be very much unchanged from the classic Mario titles, though expect more information soon.

First Open Beta for Brick-Force to Be Released

Jessica Barabas-Bui
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First Open Beta for Brick-Force to Be Released

The first phase of the Brick-Force Open Beta, a special VIP Open Beta, is set to begin on April 26. Over 500,000 registered players will be allowed to send out invites to their friends for guaranteed access to the sandbox shooter. To ensure a smooth start to the Beta, Infernum Productions are granting these lucky people an exclusive pass to play around in a block-based universe. The full Open Beta will soon be freely available to all, and all the stats will be perfmanently stored from the 26th for all players with an invite.

The VIP Open Beta will features numerous changes and improvements based on community feedback, including an expanded building mode, brand new sounds, several new items and redesign of the interface (which will be implemented shortly after the Open Beta launch, along with the browser version.

Two other shooter modes are also being created by EXE Games and Infernum Productions which are set to launch in a few weeks. These are ‘Defense Mode’ which introduces new PvE maps, and ‘Build and Destroy’ where players get to build bricks and frantically fight at the same time. You’re definitely not going to get bored in that mode.

For more information on Brick-Force as it comes out keep tuned to Capsule Computers, or check out the Brick-Force website HERE and the official Facebook page HERE.

Codemasters Racing and Racenet introduced with DiRT Showdown title

Darren Resnekov
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Codemasters Racing and Racenet introduced with DiRT Showdown title

Some huge news from Codemasters who have announced plans to focus primarily on racing games, in particular the DiRT, Grid and F1 titles (who they recently signed exclusive rights with the franchise), and all under a brand new label Codemasters racing. To compliment the new label they are also introducing Racenet, a portal to bring together all Codemasters racing games and fans onto one interactive platform. DiRT Showdown, which now has a release date of 24th May across Australia and New Zealand will be the first gam released on the new label, and in typical Codemasters style a new Showdown trailer has been released in conjunction with the announcement. The new Ultimate Hoonigan video speaks for itself featuring many of the amazing tricks and stunts from the upcoming title as well as Ken Blocks Ford Fiesta Gymkhana exclusive to showdown.

The Demo will go live on May 1st and alongside its release will come an invitation to join Racenet in its Beta stages, and for the first time gives players one driver profile with which they can use across all Codemasters driving titles. Have a look at the new video to see some of the Hoonigan goodies available to those who pre order the game from Australian and New Zealand retailers such as in game cash and liveries for your garage.

Dirt Showdown launches on 24th May for XBox 360, PS3 and PC platforms so get ready for plenty of community events, massive social networking interaction and fast and destructive racing  and until then remember to sign up to Racenet for some added bonuses such as $20000 in game cash.

 

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