What do you do when you take over the iTunes App Store? Write a novelization of your game! EA is bringing Surviving High School to a book store near you this September. Published under the Little, Brown’s Poppy imprint. M. Doty, the original writer of Surviving High School returns to expand on the story of Twin Branches High. A must have for any fan of Surviving High School, the novel will dive deeper into the stories of the main characters and reveal the answer to a major mystery in the game.
The book follows Emily, a student trapped between studying and swimming in an effort to match her older sister Sara’s track to Olympic stardom. Emily’s social life is limited to lunches with her best friend and the occasional sleep over until one day Emily falls in love with school heartthrob Ben Kale. Sara’s secrets begin to come to light and Emily is suddenly left to wonder what she has missed in her life all this time.
Surviving High School is available for iPadhere and for iPhone here.
EA Sports has started hyping a “new gameplay revolution” that will be introduced in NHL 13 with 30-second spot videos about the previous gameplay revolutions. The first video tells of the Skill Stick, which was introduced in NHL 07 and allowed for more realistic usage of the stick to better move the puck around, as opposed to the old days where it was pretty much always a slap shot. The second video released yesterday and available for viewing below, covers the real world physics for colliding players that was introduced in NHL 11, so players could really lay out the opposing team or getting laid out if you’re like me.
It makes sense to change up the formula as EA Sports is known for yearly releases for all the major sports, which often leads to demands of variety or at the very least less market saturation. Needless to say this is pretty interesting ad campaign to see and I have no idea what they could be add to revolutionize gameplay this time around. What do you NHL fans think, what gameplay revolution do you think is coming? Post in the comments and voice your opinion on what is coming with NHL 13.
ATLUS and ACE TEAM have brought zany, boulder rolling Rock of Ages to the PSN for Playstation 3 and with it additional features and modes, but unfortunately currently only for North America. As an added bonus PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download the title for free, only for a limited time though, so be sure to get on that or you might miss out on a steal for one of the most unique games of last year.
What all has been added? “Obstacle Course” is a new game mode where the player boulder competes against a friend or AI in a randomly generated course of defenses, with the winner being whomever reaches the end first. Additionally, there is an enhanced “War” mode, which features previously unusable units. As well as tweaks and changes to improve the game in general. All of which is exclusive to the PSN, for now at least.
It’s nice to see the PSN release made good, especially with the added content.
Adventure game fans will be pleased to hear that Wadjet Eye Games’ next title Resonance will be releasing on June 19th to PC and Steam. They also have a new trailer, which can be seen below, that helps fill in the story for a game that has been five years in the making. The low down is that a physicist has died and now 4 characters in connected stories are trying to get what he was working on and stop its misuse.
A retro-style adventure game with a story plenty of people are raving about, Resonance is currently available for pre-order through both GOG.com and Resonance-Game.com, as well as being available on Steam on its release date. But, it may be who of you to check out the pre-order as both offer some interesting pre-order bonuses.
GOG offers all digital with MP3 soundtrack, poster, wallpapers, and special development videos at a 10% discount for pre-ordering. While Wadjet Eye Games offers a limited edition disc copy that includes a collector’s box, printed poster, with MP3 soundtrack and other things on the disc itself, though for a higher $24.99, but that includes shipping worldwide and pre-ordering guarantees a free download on release day.
Plenty of things to chew over before Resonance‘s release, players can check out a pre-order at GOG.com HERE or Resonance-Game.com HERE.
Gamers everywhere have been looking forward to the next installment of the ever popular Crysis series of games since the ending of the second entry, Crysis 2. The Crysis games have stood as a testament in graphical prowess, with each iteration sucking as much juice out of a machine as possible to fuel amazingly detailed and beautiful locations.
Fortunately, it looks like this iteration in the franchise is not going to differ too much from the above-mentioned testament, and you can tell this from a glance at the latest screenshots and artwork that have been released from Crytek and EA.
Be sure to check out the gallery below with all the latest screens and artwork.
Earlier today myself and an associate (Kyle Moore) were invited to an Alienware event over in Sydney called Alienware: Game Victorious. It was there that we were allowed to preview and play with the latest in Alienware gaming hardware. In our report we will be discussing the newest laptop line from the crew featuring the newest Sandybridge Intel Processing architecture and the latest in gaming graphics processing technologies.
The first in line was the M14x, which is the laptop with the least power behind it from this line. This does not mean that it is not a modern machine incapable of running the latest games, far from it, it was running Diablo 3 flawlessly throughout the night and I’m sure that it would be playing other more intensive games with ease. What makes me so sure about this? I had a peek under the hood, or so to speak. Bringing up the machines specs in Windows is a pretty menial task that anybody could do and it is by far the easiest way to gauge a computers performance at a glance. What did I see? 8GB of Ram, Intel processor (I think it was an i7 from memory), nVidia 660M, a massive HDD and what I’m sure was a Blu-Ray player.
Going upwards from the M14x to the M17x your specs only increase. This was clearly evident by the way the machine near effortlessly rendered the finer details in an nVidia 3D enhanced Crysis 3. The power of this machine alone was enough to make me weak at the knees, if this laptop was a dude and I was a chick, I’d have it’s babies. And it’s not even the strongest of the three machines! The M17x is the middle of the three laptop computers that we saw that day, so you can only imagine how much stronger the next in line would be.
The M18x was the powerhouse of the night, boasting the highest specifications of the three machines in the laptop line. This machine is also the most expensive, but it should tide you over for the next few years. I can not think of a better game to show off the power of this device other than Battlefield 3, which is the game that Alienware had showcasing the prowess of the machine with. From what I could see, it was running the game at maximum settings incredibly well and made my own home machine look like a kitten in comparison to the big, powerful lion that the M18x is. If you’re a gamer that plays on the move, loves their games running at absolute maximum and has the money to back a purchase, you will definitely want to have this machine. There is no comparison (aside from a custom-built home PC) in the current Laptop marketplace and probably wont be for a few years.
Of course, an Alienware gaming device is not an Alienware gaming device with the sleek Alienware aesthetics that go along with them. These gaming laptops are simply beautiful to look at. Light-up keyboards, sweet as casing and that instantly recognisable Alienware logo makes for a brilliant package. Also, I’m not too sure if each device is colour locked, but each iteration had a different backlighting unique to each machine at the event. This gave each laptop a very distinct feel. Also, I would like point out that if carrying weight is a concern, the M14x is the lightest machine and the M18x is the heaviest.
Overall Alienware have released a set of brilliant laptop machines that are tailor made for the hardcore game market. If you are constantly on the move, or are sick of desktop PCs these would be your best move to make in purchasing your next gaming machine.
Korean iOS developers, Com2uS have just released a new game for the iPhone. Witch Wars is a real time puzzle battling and fast-paced block shattering game. The game features three block matching puzzle gameplay, with five block elements that add specialized skills to your status. For examples, knife (attack), handcuffs (imprison), potion (heal), skill book (skill gauge) and coin (earn coins). Best of all, there is a power block to activate stronger attacks when bursting four or more blocks. There are a variety of different modes, including online match mode, single match mode, flash mode and infinity mode. Best of all, the game is free! All you need to do is click here and BAM! Start smashing!
Ever wanted to play a videogame on the big screen at a cinema? Well, Capsule Computers were lucky enough to have the chance to do so today at an event held by Alienware and Dell. The event was to showcase the new range of gaming laptops that have just recently been released, and what better way than to hook one of those bad boys to the big screen and let us gaming enthusiasts duke it out in a Need For Speed tournament. Okay well, the tournament was rather unofficial, as we casually tried to out do each others best scores. I am not ashamed to admit that I didn’t fare to well, but hey. That’s not what is important here.
What is important, is that we got to play through some of the latest PC titles on some rather impressive, brand new, Alienware laptops. Available for a test run were all three of the latest models; the M18X, M17X and M14X. Also available were some desktop computers with the same games loaded on them. Technical specifications for the laptops can be found here. Each laptop comes with an Intel Core i7 chip, Windows 7, and variable screen sizes and amounts of RAM. Starting at $1,799 and going all the way up to $4,299, these refreshed laptops may not be the easiest on the wallet. But man, do they look spectacular.
As I said, the event took place in a cinema, with one of the laptops being projected on the big screen. The rest of the laptops and PC’s littered the cinema floor: illuminating the dark hall with their technical prowess. As you can see, the laptops feature a number of lights in a variety of colour, which make for a wonderful looking machine.
After a brief introduction we were free to play around on all the laptops. Testing out games like Starcraft, Diablo III (the server actually worked for the most part) Call of Duty, Need for Speed and Mass Effect 3. Each game played well, whether it was laptop or desktop, with remarkable speed and stunning graphics. Overall, it was a great event and was exciting to get a look at the new range of laptops coming out from Alienware. I think I best start saving my five cent coins sooner rather than later.
In anticipation of the September release of Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, this new video released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment goes behind-the-scenes with professional insights from Game Director Sefton Hill of Rocksteady and foley artist John Roesch (The Dark Knight, The Matrix, Inception, Fight Club). Viewers get a chance to head into the studio where skilled foley artists create the sound of beating up Mister Freeze, and go out to the world famous Warner Bros. Studio to capture the sound of live gunfire in an urban environment reminiscent of the streets of Arkham City.
The video comes in advance of the release of Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, out on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 7th September. It gives a fascinating insight into how the audio is handled for a game as big as this – just hope you can still enjoy the game of the year edition now you know it’s actually a man in a room breaking some celery.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II Publisher: Sega Developer: Sonic Team Platforms:Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, PC Release Date: 15/05/2012 Price:1200 Microsoft Points
Overview:
Making Sonic the Hedgehog 4 an episodic game was a pretty peculiar move, and when the first episode was released back in 2010 it received a fairly mixed reaction from both fans and critics. The game was far from being a disaster as it was actually a step in the right direction, bringing the franchise back to its glory Mega Drive/Genesis days. However, it was far from being ideal as the game had its issues in terms of the level design, core mechanics, and visual/art style. Episode I was a fairly good game for what it was, it wasn’t broken, but its shortcomings prevented it from reaching the unanimous acclaim and greatness that its Mega Drive/Genesis predecessors so deservingly enjoyed.
After a major hiatus, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is back again with its second episode. The nearly two year gap actually proved to be worthwhile as it gave developers enough time to really build a better game.
Story:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II picks up where the first episode left off, but the main plot actually ties in with a cult classic title, Sonic the Hedgehog CD, which was originally released for the Sega CD/Mega CD back in 1993 and then later ported to numerous platforms last year. In fact, Sega’s decision to release a Sonic CD port for numerous digital platforms was largely because of the fact that Sonic 4 Episode II was going to be somewhat of a sequel to it.
Sonic CD introduced a new foe by the name of Metal Sonic, a creation of the series’ antagonist, Doctor Eggman. Years after facing defeat at the hands of Sonic in Sonic CD, Metal Sonic has been revived once more by Dr. Eggman, and now they work together to once again engage in all things evil. Sonic once again steps up to the task of putting a stop to their evil scheme, but this time he is joined by his longtime friend, Tails.
Visuals and Audio:
If there was one thing about Sonic 4 Episode I that immediately annoyed fans of the series, it was the game’s visuals as it resembled a really ugly PopCap video game, and the art style lacked the same charm and character that made Sonic games so cool in the past. Fortunately, Sonic 4 Episode II features a very significant improvement in the visuals department, as this is one fine looking game.
Visually, Sonic 4 Episode II has about the same quality as Sonic Colors and the excellent Sonic Generations. The game features some nice and crisp 3D graphics with a lot of detail, plenty of eye watering effects, and good use of dynamic lighting. Everything is pretty much built with polygons, giving it a very nice 2.5D look akin to the Classic Sonic sections of Sonic Generations. The backgrounds and stage visuals in particular look really impressive, as they have a ton of colour, variety, and detailed artistic touches. The 3D character models look really nice and animate well, a huge improvement over the dull and lifeless character models in Episode I. The art direction is pretty solid too as it adds a lot of personality to the various levels in the game, and the boss designs are actually refreshing and memorable this time around.
Musically Sonic 4 Episode II, like the first episode, tries to recreate the chip-tune music of the Genesis/Mega Drive Sonic games, and it does a fairly decent job. The soundtrack is a definite improvement over the first episode, with many tracks being quite catchy and memorable, and having just about the same charm as the chip-tune tracks of the 16-bit Sonic games. In fact, traces of classic Sonic tunes can clearly be heard in the soundtrack of Sonic 4 Episode II. Unfortunately, some of the more annoying and grating tracks from the first episode can still be heard in Episode II, in particular the infuriating boss theme.
Gameplay:
Sonic 4 Episode I was a fun game but it was mechanically flawed, and with a fast paced twitch heavy game like Sonic, every minor intricate detail matters. Sonic 4 Episode II is a significant improvement as the game mechanically feels a lot more refined and spot on, but that said it still is very much like the first episode. Sonic still feels rather heavy and a bit sluggish as you can sense a lot of weight when he runs and jumps, but the momentum issues from the previous game has been addressed to a large degree, making this a relatively more faster paced and precise experience. The homing attack is also back again but like the first episode there are still some instances where it is a bit of a hit/miss affair, and while these instances are minor, they still cause a fair bit of frustration during the more intense and twitch-heavy moments of the game.
Sonic 4 Episode II blows the first episode completely out of the water in terms of level design. Gone are the out of place gimmicks and awful design choices that plagued the first episode (torch puzzle…enough said), as this game features some truly entertaining and rich level designs that will make you want to keep coming back for more. The levels are big with plenty of routes, and they feature that ideal mix of platforming and high speed loop tearing action that defined the 16-bit Sonic games. You can clearly see that the developers adopted the same design philosophy that was showcased in Sonic Generations, as the levels are very fairly complex and challenging, but never in a cheap or unfair way. Levels still have gimmicks but they integrate nicely enough, such as sandstorms, oil spills, and even underwater sections. Also worth noting is that the levels in Episode II are inspired by classic Sonic levels, but in a good way as they still are quite refreshing and unique.
Tails the two tailed fox returns as Sonic’s sidekick, constantly following and mimicking Sonic and giving him a helping hand. The co-op aspect is very much similar to how it was in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994), but this time they’ve added some special tag-team techniques to add a little twist to the level design and platforming. The sections that require the use of tag-team maneuverers are pretty intuitive and blend seamlessly with the core Sonic gameplay. Now the good thing about the game design is that it doesn’t overdo the whole co-op aspect, the moments where you have to work with Tails are intuitively placed and not too frequent, so the game is pretty much a traditional Sonic game where you mainly take control of Sonic. What’s also cool is that you can enjoy two player co-op via local and online multiplayer.
As with any Sonic title, Chaos Emeralds are present and all seven need to be collected in the special stages to unlock Super Sonic. The special stages of Sonic 4 Episode II are directly based on the ones in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), with some added bells and whistles, and the obvious modern graphical touches. These stages require you to run on-rails through a pipe, collecting a set number of rings before passing through a checkpoint, but along the way are plenty of traps and obstackles that you need to quickly avoid. The stages are as hectic and fun as they were in Sonic 2.
The boss battles in this game are really awesome, which is suprising considering how absolutely awful and frustrating they were in Episode I (the final boss of that game is easily amongst the worst boss designs in recent memory).They’re massive, very challenging, and put up a much more satisfying fight than your standard Sonic boss battle. Metal Sonic offers not just one, but three thrilling and fast paced battles, and Eggman takes control of some truly monstrous mechanical behemoths. The boss designs and patterns are pretty clever and intuitive, forcing players to fight smart instead of strolling through as they would in traditional Sonic games.
Now in an attempt to add some validity and purpose to the episodic structure of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the developers decided to take a page out of the legendary Sonic 3 & Knuckles and add a little ‘Lock-On’ gimmick. Back in the day, Sonic 3 had an expansion called Sonic & Knuckles, and the unique cartridge lock-on feature would allow you to play the complete game with some new bosses and levels. With Sonic 4, they try to imitate this idea, albeit quite poorly.
If you own both Episode I and Episode II on the same platform, then you will initiate a ‘Lock-On’ which will unlock a whole new episode titled ‘Episode Metal’. In this episode you take control of Metal Sonic and learn about his story after the events of Sonic CD. While this all sounds very exciting, it actually ends up being a throwaway extra. Metal Sonic has only 4 acts/levels, each taking place in a slightly redesigned version of the four main Zones in Sonic 4 Episode 1. Metal Sonic plays exactly like normal Sonic, and the levels aren’t really that interesting and they don’t even feature boss battles or special stages. The actual ‘story’ aspect is pretty much pointless and non-existent, as it doesn’t really tell you anything new. So basically, Episode Metal should not compel you to go out and purchase the inferior Sonic 4 Episode I. Sonic 4 Episode II has enough quality to keep players satisfied, and if you just happen to own Episode I, then Episode Metal will offer a short lived distraction that feels like an afterthought.
Overall:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II is a profound improvement over its predecessor, an ideal case where the developers take serious note of community feedback and criticisms in order to make a better game. The game improves upon the first Episode in just about every aspect, not just incorporating suggestions from fans, critics, and the general gaming community, but also adopting some of the best aspects of their recent successful Sonic titles.
The the core mechanics and physics still need a little bit of work, as there are moments where Sonic feels a tad bit heavy with the homing attack being a bit of a nuisance (I personally think it’s best suited for 3D Sonic games). Also, there needs to be a more compelling connection between each of the episodes, to give gamers a greater incentive to purchase them all. While it is a pretty cool idea to have that little ‘Lock-On’ gimmick between Episode I and Episode II in order to unlock ‘Episode Metal’, it unfortunately feels like a throwaway extra as the Metal Sonic quest is uninspiring and lacking.
Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II is a step in the right direction and another solid entry to complement the fairly recent revival of the franchise. Episode III with Knuckles as a playable character? Yes please!
