Interestingly enough, the previous main game in the Yakuza series, Yakuza 4 had four main characters that the players switched between periodically. Now today Sega has revealed that Yakuza 5 will feature 5 different characters to play as as well as five different locations that can be visited. This information comes from Famitsu as it is reported that Kazuma Kiyru, my favorite Shun Akiyama and Taiga Saejima will be among the playable characters. Also playable in Yakuza 5 is Haruka Sawamura, the girl who Kazuma has been protecting for a long time.
The other new character is named Tatsuo Shinada and he is a brand new character that used to be a baseball player before he was banned due to gambling. Andriasang reports that Famitsu details Shinada as a character players will be able to emphasize with. The five areas gamers will be able to visit are Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and Hokkaido, easily making Yakuza 5 probably the largest game ever in the Yakuza series.
Yakuza 5’s storyline picks up after Yakuza 4, with Shun traveling to Osaka, Kazuma working as a cab driver in Fukuoka, Haruak working as an idol in Osaka and Taiga serving a prison term. How these characters’ storylines will develop has not yet been revealed. Currently Yakzua 5 is set to be released in Japan in December exclusively on the PlayStation 3 with a release overseas still up in the air.
Capcom have revealed that they plan on becoming the #1 provider of digital content by the year 2022. This shouldn’t come as any surprise to gamers, who have been subjected to a ridiculous amount of downloadable content from Capcom (most of which exists under questionable pretences).
This goal that Capcom has is certainly not too much of a stretch of the imagination, especially when you consider their current business model of releasing incomplete games only to release countless DLC packs afterwards, many of which by all rights should have been on disc to begin with (Dragon’s Dogma says ‘Hi’).
The basic gist of Capcom’s plan here is that they want to up their distribution and production of digital content, which means there will be more DLC and more digital re-releases. There will also probably be yet another version of Street Fighter IV as well, they haven’t made one with the word ‘Ultimate’ in the title yet, so that is a given. In related news, Satan himself has bought Capcom shares.
The sad reality here is that the continuing trend of releasing incomplete games will continue and even increase in the case of Capcom, which is an utter shame. It’s really a sad day when you see a company like Capcom lose so much faith in their consumers whom they used to be very much in touch with.
What do you think of Capcom’s goal to become the #1 provider of digital content by 2022? Sound off in the comments section below. Don’t be too hard on Capcom though, they mean well. Ask their wallets if you don’t believe me, at least Capcom is thinking of someone.
The snow lies all around him, his dark cloak fluttering in the breeze. Ahead lies the mountain – at the summit lie answers. Death strode forward. He would redeem his brother, whatever the cost.
Such is the scene which opened the new hands-on demo of Darksiders II at a recent THQ pre-E3 event. War, the first rider of the apocalypse and the protagonist of the first game, has been falsely accused of triggering Armageddon ahead of its allotted time, and so has been punished by the Charred Council, the adjudicators of balance between the realms of heaven and hell. It’s up to his brother, Death – the second rider, to clear his name, and perhaps even repair some of the devastation caused by the end of days.
We’ve already gone hands-on with Darksiders II previously, but this portion of the story takes place much earlier in the game, and, as such, the key features of the game were slowly introduced as I progressed through the level, rather than being dumped on me all at once.
As Death makes his way up the mountain, frozen guardians burst out of the icy capsules which contain them, and after dispatching a few of them with a combat system familiar to anyone who has played the first Darksiders (or indeed, most other action games in the vein of God of War) one thing becomes immediately apparent: there is loot to pick up. And lots of it.
Darksiders II features a fully fleshed-out inventory system. While the Death I’d played with in earlier demos had already received significant, dev-assigned help with his armour, this guy had nothing but his scythes between him and the cold hands of…er, well death. The loot drops make an immediate impact both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay. Death can take a lot more damage with armour on, obviously, and he can also pick up new weapons to increase his damage output.
The system is quite well designed, as loot can be equipped or sent to the inventory directly from the game screen without navigating a menu. The system also compares items of the same type while you’re picking them up, again saving you the hassle of menu navigation and easily letting you know whether you should trade out your old boots for the ones you just found. I can easily see this part of the game becoming almost Diablo-esque in addictiveness – I got excited every time something dropped, and, though I could bypass some of the enemies, I chose to fight the mountain’s inert guardians just for the sake of loot. With the promise of side-quests and dungeons hidden all around the world of Darksiders II, there’s potential for some serious hours to be dropped into the game all in the name of finding that new piece of shiny gear.
As Death continues on his quest towards the summit of the mountain, the game prompts you to make him climb, wall-run, and vault over objects in a manner that is much more reminiscent of Prince of Persia than the original Darksiders. Where War was the personification of an indestructible brick wall, Death is agile, cunning, and far more mobile. This means levels within the sequel will feature a lot more verticality, and the various ways in which Death scaled up to the mount’s summit constantly surprised me. For all intents and purposes, a mechanic of the game which could easily have been called second best in the original Darksiders was reborn here in a way that not only kept me on my toes, but added a great deal of variety to the level in general.
The level culminated in a confrontation with a story-specific character that I won’t spoil here, but suffice it to say that it’s not just the levels of Darksiders II that are full of surprising twists and turns. The boss-fight itself was quite challenging – this is no casual game. In fact, I’m fairly certain one person on the floor was actually able to beat it before having to hand a controller off to someone else.
In terms of art direction, you can expect something very similar to Darksiders. The comic book style is really appealing to the eye, but, aside from a few lighting improvements, it doesn’t look like the graphics engine has been much improved over the last two years. It’s certainly not ugly, in fact the art style could probably make a technically inferior game look great anyway, but with new games constantly pushing the bar as we near the end of this console cycle, it’s a shame to see not much was improved upon.
Regardless, Darksiders II is shaping up to be a colossal game full of cinematic moments, intense combat, and enough loot to make the heavens green with envy. For more news on Darksiders II as it comes, be sure to stick right here at Capsule Computers.
Auto Club Revolution has received a new content update today and it has none other than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or “the Brickyard” as it is also commonly known. While the update only allows players to utilize the 2.5 mile outer oval of the track, the inner road course featuring 13 turns for drivers to navigate is being developed for launch too.
One of the most well known tracks around the world, it is available to all users for free, so everyone can get a chance to emulate those drivers of the Indy 500 or Brickyard 400. First opened in 1909, the over 100 year-old track has been recreated in Auto Club Revolution as close as possible and players can check out the images in the gallery below to see how well they’ve done. The free-to-play game is available HERE.
Gamevil released their latest game for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Sakura Slash is an action game where players use their touch screen to swipe at demons to destroy them before they disappear and do damage to players. The faster players destroy demons, the sooner players will be able to unleash their sword skills. Sword skills are based on the type of sword equipped and will grow as players collect spirit orbs. The game is based around continual game play as players attempt to last as long as they can for the highest score. The art style is heavily inspired by Asian ink paintings.
Sakura Slash is available for free on the App Store. Get it here.
I got a chance to sit down with the Darksiders II creative manager, Jeremy Greiner, to have a chat with what the new Darksiders will bring to the table, what they’ve changed from the first game, and what we can expect from the new horseman, Death.
First off, the big question that you think of when it comes to Darksiders II is what it’ll be like to control Death, and will it in fact have a different feel to it than playing as War in the first game. Greiner assures that Death will be an entirely different character, with a different personality, combat style, and feel to the game. There will still be similarities to the original game, of course, but the difference will be obvious. And not just because Death has a wicked looking scythe set instead of the kickass sword.
Darksiders II will also have double the content of the first, with even vaster worlds to explore and conversation trees that can lead to further stories to explore. As well as the big main quest there are even more side quests to take on, if that’s your kind of thing.
In developing Darksiders II, Vigil Games made sure to take on fan feedback in order to make Darksiders II a game that fans are happy with. This included bringing in the horse riding far earlier in the game, in fact in the first chapter of the game you’re riding a horse. Which, since you’re a horseman, makes a lot of sense. And you also get to take on a boss while on horseback, which is certainly something to look forward to. There is also reduced backtracking within the game, which will be a much welcome change, as well as a customization element that was missing in the first one.
Greiner also mentioned that the other two horsemen, Famine and Conquest would be making an appearance. While they won’t feature heavily in the story (with a side note that their stories may be explored at a later date, of course that depends on how successful this second game of the franchise goes), it is pretty cool to get a closer look at these horsemen and get a feel of what they’re about. Personally I really want to see what Famine’s weapon is going to be. Giant spork maybe?
Kidding aside, the horsemen have a great amount of mythology and possible back story behind them, and it certainly will be interesting to explore more of that and the relationship between all the horsemen.
Last of all, there’s the fact that a premium title such as Darksiders is being released on WiiU. Nintendo is making sure that everyone remains tight-lipped on details, but Greiner did reveal that since the WiiU is a next gen console we can expect it to really impress. Plus, he hinted that it will definitely be a unique experience and will make use of the WiiU controller’s abilities.
If you are a Darksiders fan, or just someone who could totally have some fun playing as Death and exploring a range of dungeons and other worlds, this looks like it could be the perfect game for you. As the first Darksiders was Vigil Games’ first project, they’ve certainly spread their wings with the second one and started really getting into the meat of the content and focusing on increasing the scale massively.
Darksiders II is due for release on August 14, 2012 in the US on Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The WiiU’s date set for a tentative late 2012. Keep tuned to Capsule Computers for more news on Darksiders II as it is released.
Despite the fact that, at least in Japan, Bayonetta is only a pre-order character there is quite a lot of hype about the fact that she has been included as a playable character in Anarchy Reigns. Now the latest issue of Famitsu reports that Bayonetta is going to have a bunch of new moves that she wasn’t able to use in Bayonetta.
Unfortunately none of these moves were described or shown off, but it has been said that players will be able to change her outfit color. But considering the fact that Bayonetta’s clothing is nearly all her hair, wouldn’t it just be a different hair color? We shall see when Anarchy Reigns is released on July 3rd in North America on the PS3 and 360. Still no word however as to how Bayonetta’s release will be handled in the West.
It is hard to imagine that it was 25 years ago that Street Fighter was created. At that time nearly everyone on our staff wasn’t even born yet. To commemorate Street Fighter’s 25th anniversary Capcom is planning to release a large collector’s set that includes practically everything a Street Fighter fan would ever want.
The package will contain a number of games, music, movies and material goods as well. The package is set to hit stores on September 18 and will cost an understandable price of $150 when it is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Considering the fact that this release also contains Street Fighter X Tekken, that means this could also be seen as a very extravagant special edition as well. The full list of everything included in the package can be seen below but it is quite obvious that the light up Ryu statue and Ryu’s belt so any fan of Ryu is going to want this package.
Past and Present Street Fighter Games – Playable on current gen PS3™ and Xbox 360 console systems, the four critically-acclaimed titles selected from the star-studded catalog are: Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter® III 3rd Strike Online Edition, Super Street Fighter® IV Arcade Edition with all costume DLC, and Street Fighter® X Tekken® including all character and Swap Costume DLC.
Exclusive Video – The two-disc Blu-Ray set includes a documentary that highlights the profound influence the franchise has had on fans – and vice versa – throughout the years. The collection of videos also includes Street Fighter®IV and Super Street Fighter®IV Anime movies as well as all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series and Street Fighter®II: The Animated Movie.
Light-up Ryu Statue – A specially commissioned and highly-detailed collectable Ryu statue stands prominently at 8” tall and features the iconic character in mid-Shoryuken, with flames lit from below.
11-Disc Soundtrack – Street Fighter game music spanning the past 25 years, in addition to remixes and fan-created music inspired by past Street Fighter games .
64-page Hardcover Art Book – A tribute to Street Fighter game fans from all over the world, the art book includes fan pieces submitted by professional and aspiring artists alike.
Ryu’s Belt – Created to regulation specs, the full-size martial arts black belt is a replica of the one Ryu wears and even includes his classic “Fūrinkazan” in kanji!
Certificate of Authenticity – Each Collector’s Set comes individually numbered complete with a certificate of authenticity.
It is always disappointing to see a collector’s edition of an upcoming video game announced exclusively for a certain region, because that means that anyone who would have liked to receive the special goodies included in the package will either need to spend a hefty import cost or just deal with their basic edition.
This is even more disappointing when it turns out that the collector’s edition has some rather cool contents. Today Ubisoft revealed the Far Cry 3 collector’s edition which will be available only in Europe. This collector’s edition contains a bobblehead of Michael Mando with a hula skirt, along with all the pre-order content which is spread across various retailers, as well as an “exclusive survival kit packaging” and “essential island survival guide.” This Insane Edition only costs £15 more than the other special edition, the Lost Expeditions Edition which makes it quite enticing. You can see all of the contents in the Insane Edition in the video below.
Bejeweled HD Developer: PopCap Games Publisher: PopCap Games Platforms: iPad Release Date: May 17th, 2012 Price: $3.99 USD/ $4.49 AUD Get it Here
Overview
Bejeweled Blitz on the iPad is great. I have long wondered why the iPad has not received a Bejeweled game. My wait is finally over with PopCap Games’ release of Bejeweled HD. Bejeweled HD is a slightly stripped down iPad port of Bejeweled 3 for the PC updated for the new iPad’s Retina screen. Does it maintain the charm of the original?
Story
There is no story for Bejeweled HD. In fact I am hard pressed to be even able to make up a story in my mind to go along with the game. If anyone is out there who can write a plot for Bejeweled HD for me, I would love to hear it.
Gameplay
Bejeweled HD sticks to the tried and true formula of Bejeweled with Classic mode while adding three new modes exclusive to Bejeweled 3. Bejeweled is a match three puzzle game that requires players to move similarly coloured blocks into lines of three or more. Each move must create one of these groups. If the match includes more than three blocks, special gems are created that have a variety of effects.
In Classic mode, players must match blocks smartly in order to ensure future moves. As each match is made, the bar on the bottom of the screen fills. Once full, the level ends and the board is shuffled, ensuring fresh set of possible moves. The game ends when there are no more possible moves.
Zen mode is similar to Classic mode with a different purpose. Although the game play is the same, the game ensures that there will always be a move, providing infinite gameplay. The mode is designed to be a helpful relaxation tool that mixed ambient sound, positive textual affirmations, and a visual indicator to assist in breathing modulation. Although personally, Bejeweled is a source of intense competition, Bejeweled HD’s Zen mode can be helpful for those looking for a way to zone out and relax for a while.
The Butterflies mode is the thinking man or woman’s mode. There are no time constraints in this mode. Coloured butterflies simply appear at the bottom of the gem pile, every time a move is made, the butterflies advance one row unless gems are destroyed underneath them causing the butterfly gem to drop. Players must strategically make moves to ensure the butterfly gems do not reach the top of the board where they will be eaten by a spider.
Diamond Mine is the last and final game mode in Bejeweled HD. Diamond Mine is best described as a fast and furious Bejeweled experience similar to Bejeweled Blitz. The bottom four rows are covered in dirt and rock that need to be whittled down to at least two layers of dirt before time runs out. Every time the player manages to make enough moves to lower the level of dirt, they are awarded 25 seconds of extra game time. If they manage to clear the whole screen of dirt, a bonus of 75 seconds is added to the clock. Players must make matches and keep the game going as long as possible for the highest score.
I found Bejeweled HD to be a solid gameplay experience. The touch controls were flawless and the game modes were varied in experience, pacing, and strategy. Out of the original Bejeweled 3 modes, PopCap Games has chosen the best modes to suit every type of player. Notably missing from Bejeweled HD versus Bejeweled 3 is the Lightning, Quest, Ice Storm, and Poker modes. I appreciated the support for multiple profiles in Bejeweled HD as I soon discovered my little sister stealing away my iPad at all possible occasions to obliterate my Diamond Mine scores. This maintained a level of competition not only online via Game Center, but locally at home. Overall, Bejeweled HD lives up to its predecessors and brings a great Bejeweled experience to the iPad.
Visuals
One of the draws for Bejeweled HD is the Retina ready graphics. And boy do they look great. Everything is sharp as a razor with no hints of blurring at all. Although players may be too busy staring at the gems to notice, there are lots of beautiful backgrounds for Bejeweled HD. Many of them are fantasy based and would make wonderful desktop backgrounds. PopCap Games may not bring fancy 3d graphics to the table, but they have executed a perfect UI and graphics to compliment the Retina’s screen.
Audio
The audio is no slouch in Bejeweled HD. The classic sound effects are back with a great soundtrack that compliments the game. Although the game is perfectly playable muted with your music in the background, those who opt to play with Bejeweled HD’s own music will be treated to a solid soundtrack. Zen mode has its own special set of tracks for the ambient sounds. There is an impressive variety bundled in with Zen mode so everyone will be able to find their perfect place of Zen.
Overall
Bejeweled HD is a must have in every iPad owners library. There is no excuse to not have this game for the new iPad. Although missing several modes from Bejeweled 3, the $3.99 price point versus Bejeweled 3’s $19.99 price point makes Bejeweled HD a great buy. Bejeweled HD provides solid gameplay, great visuals, and a wonderful audio experience.
