In the wake of the Saint Seiya Omega anime series premiere on April 1st, Namco Bandai Games have announced that the series will be getting a video game adaptation.
Namco Bandai did not elaborate on the game’s platform, release date or you know, anything else, but they did reveal a screenshot which you can see above. The screenshot features Koga Seiya, the protagonist who inherits the power of Pegasus Seiya.
It’s interesting to note, that last November Namco Bandai released Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle, a video game based upon the original series from 1986. That game was released on the Playstation 3, which does give extra weight to any thoughts that the Saint Seiya Omega game will follow suit.
We will keep you updated on this title as more news becomes apparent. What do you think of a Saint Seiya Omega video game? Does it get your cosmos burning? Let us know in the comments section below.
Eureka Seven fans already got good news when they heard that the cult classic mecha series was getting a sequel Eureka Seven: AO. They have even more good news now. The upcoming Eureka Seven: AO anime series will be adapted into a Playstation 3 game.
Namco Bandai recently unveiled a mysterious teaser website, which has now been confirmed to be for Eureka Seven: AO the video game. You can check out the teaser site here. More details on the game are expected to be revealed in the next issue of Famitsu magazine.
What do you think of Eureka Seven: AO getting a Playstation 3 video game adaptation?
Armored Core V Developer: From Software Publisher: Namco Bandai Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: March 20, 2012 Price: $59.99 – Available Here
Overview: Whenever someone is growing up there is usually always one thing they believe is the best thing in the world, and that is giant robots. These robots are even better when they have weapons attached to them. The Armored Core series has long strived to capture the thrill of giant robot combat by giving gamers tons of customization options and plenty of action. From Software’s efforts have been met with middling results over the years but they have returned to give us Armored Core V. Does this giant robot series deserve its fresh coat of paint or should it have been left to rust?
Story: Armored Core V follows the futuristic war between the Resistance as they battle against an oppressive dictator known as “Father.” With the world torn apart by war the Resistance must do whatever they can to free the land from his rule. If this doesn’t sound like an exhilarating plot then you’d be completely correct. It is extremely obvious that the single player story mode for the game is not the focus of Armored Core V, as the story is not only convoluted and uninteresting but brief as well.
The only highlight about Armored Core V’s storyline is the fact that your AI teammates are somewhat interesting to listen to and are given a small amount of personality development. Unfortunately this is the best part what can be seen as a single player focused mode tossed in to give those without internet connections a small chance to still enjoy Armored Core V despite the obvious focus on multiplayer.
Visuals: One thing that Armored Core has always been known for is extensive customization and there is thankfully tons of different pieces to customize your core with. While I will speak shortly about the impact core customization has on actual gameplay, fans of the series will be glad to know that there are plenty of differently designed core pieces and weapons to choose from.
That being said, it is unfortunate that From Software seemed that the best way to go with the color palette was to find the blandest colors imaginable and toss them in the game. Armored Core V’s environments are various shades of brown and gray and become repetitive very quickly. In fact if you play through the game long enough in various missions and online you’ll notice plenty of battlegrounds recycled, which creates tedious and unimaginative combat situations.
Audio: While the characters themselves are a bit of a highlight in the story, the voice acting in Armored Core V can be seen as something barely tolerable. The voice actors are absolutely terrible and feel like they are simply going through the motions and are looking for a quick paycheck. In fact there will be some times in the game you will wonder how many characters one voice actor/actress is taking care of due to how similar they all sound.
Thankfully, Armored Core V’s cores sound wonderful whenever they are in combat with realistic seeming sound effects that make the battlefield come alive. To accompany the combat there is some decent background music but nothing that will likely be remembered when the level finishes.
Gameplay: Now the Armored Core series has always been one that has had a small to significant barrier of entry for new players as it features plenty of customization and various little mechanics that new players will find difficult to understand at first. What makes it even stranger however is the fact that Armored Core V has seen fit to simply forgo any in-depth explanation about any of the game’s systems outside of a basic tutorial teaching you how to control your giant robot.
This makes things only more confusing when gamers are presented a choice of what team they wish to join when they start up the game. You see, at the time of this choice you are given absolutely no explanation of what these teams will mean or what affect this will have on your gameplay experience, let alone the fact that it factors into the game’s online mode.
This poor explanation makes the introduction to Armored Core V’s significant online focus a very difficult mode to come to grips with at first. Still when players to become a member of a team they will realize that the online mode’s gameplay options are extremely expansive and provides the meat of Armored Core V’s experience.
These teams that players can join will feature around 20 players on average and feature an interesting guild type setup. If other members of your team are online you can jump into their missions and help them out or if you begin a mission solo then the rest of your team is given notifications so they can lend you aid as well. You can even sell your abilities to another team temporarily for a bit of quick cash to help out.
The main purpose of these teams is to conquer territories. Every team can hold various territories in the world, of which there are thousands of. Whenever you take a territory for your team, either through solo or combined combat your team’s name will be shown on the game map which is a nice feature as it shows what teams are currently dominating the world.
The way territories are claimed from or defended against other players is a bit complicated however as there are some strange gameplay mechanics at use here. Your territories cannot be taken simply by having enemies attack and win the battle. Instead you will need to take part in a Defense mission to keep a hold of your territory and if you happen to fail that mission then it will be claimed by your opponent. Though if you fail to enter a defense mission before the territories defense points fall to zero then you will also lose the area.
In the end this mechanic is more than a little strange as it features very little sense of progression and barely any accomplishment besides seeing your name on the territories owned. This is made worse by the fact that From Software implemented a mechanic that won’t punish players for not spending all their time on the game. You see, when you invade an enemy territory and defeat all of their forces and win the battle, you will actually have to wait six hours to see if they were able to defend your attack. This is made worse by the fact that this timer can be extended through side-missions.
This can create a lot of frustration as you are forced to wait and see if you are even able to win a territory or have to wait for the countdown to end. Now this is only the situation when players are not online to defend their territories. When others are online and willing to defend their territories and also try to attack yours it creates an interesting and exhilarating battle management system as you lay your claim to the world, though it is an issue at the moment that not a lot of people are actually online at the time of this review.
Enough about the gameplay modes however, what about the bread and butter to every Armored Core game… the customization? As mentioned before there are tons of different pieces to equip onto your core. What you equip can change depending on what type of robot you want to play with of course, as you can fight with bi-pedal robots or those with quad-legged ones as well. To accentuate the various body types there is a wide range of weaponry as well with so many choices that it is very easy to create one to fit your exact play style and create a unique core of your very own.
Another interesting mechanic with selecting your equipment comes down to what type of weaponry you wish to use. There are three different weapon types which are Chemical Energy, Kinetic Energy and Thermal Energy weapons. These weapon types all handle differently and have their own advantages and disadvantages which also factor into how well various enemies are equipped to defend against these weapon types. This provides a certain depth to the customization that means you will need to spend plenty of time modifying your core to keep it fresh for every battle.
This is great for the game as there is going to be plenty of action and creating a core that handles exactly to your specifications will be essential to winning battles. Thankfully the difficulty of the controls for Armored Core V has been toned down slightly so newcomers will find it easy to control their core once they actually enter combat and take on their opponents in what can only be seen as satisfactory mecha action.
Overall: While Armored Core V has been made a little easier to handle as far as controls go, the game itself can still be seen as a very hard to understand game that offers practically nothing in the way of explanation for how to be successful in the title. To make matters worse, environments and even battles can become repetitious very quickly. However those who look past this can find an online multiplayer game unlike any other on the market today where players can team up with others to take over various territories with highly customizable and destructive giant robots.
When Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition was first announced for the Nintendo DS, many were skeptical that the game would ever see a western release. The DS is winding down, and Nobunaga’s Ambition is something that most outside of Japan have not even heard of thus far. Luckily, Nintendo have been in a localizing mood as of late, and have now confirmed that this title will be seeing a U.S. release, but under the name “Pokemon Conquest”.
As many of you know, Pokemon Conquest will be a strategy game where players must recruit a Poke-army and battle rival kingdoms. Yes, it’s different for the franchise, but certainly welcome considering the DS can always use more Pokemon titles in general. You can check out the first English trailer down below, and get your pre-order in soon as Pokemon Conquest launches in June.
SZC Beyond Dead Developer: Monster Robot Studios Platform: iPad (reviewed), iPhone, iPod Touch (iOS 3.0 or greater) Release Date: March 9, 2012 Price: $.99 DOWNLOAD NOW!
Overview
Clones on the iOS are a dime a dozen. You know the drill. A big company refuses to have anything to do with the growing mobile marketplace, and someone goes out of their way to create a “similar” experience for actual the classics, without harming any copyright laws of course. Monster Robot Studios are the latest to make that very plunge with SZC Beyond Dead, crafted exclusively for the iPad. Imagine Metroid with a dash of space marine and a dab of Dead Space. Yeah, that is pretty much the main concept behind Beyond Dead, and it’s obvious that the small team behind it were inspired by the very titles we all grew up on right from the get-go. So does this doppleganger pull off a tribute worth raving about? Let’s find out.
Story
If you go into Beyond Dead expecting to be blown away by a intense plot that compares to the many AAA blockbusters of today, you will be somewhat disappointed. Honestly though, a deep plot isn’t the point of this downloadable title to start with, and the little tale told is charming enough to keep the player interested as they traverse through a majestic space setting. In this game, players must assist Tank and Vera, (who resemble Master Chief and Samus) as they set out on a mission to investigate a facility filled with crazed zombie scientists and other terrifying foes.
There is a little more to the plot, but the concept alone is sure to catch the interest of several fanbases and whether your into sci-fi, or just enjoy watching re-animated corpses run around, you are sure to fulfill one of your fixes with this delightful and campy narrative.
Gameplay
If you have ever played any Metroid or Castlevania title, you should know what to expect when it comes to Beyond Dead’s “SNES-like” mechanics in tow (the Metroidvania did genre get it’s name for a reason). Players take control of Tank and must traverse a gloomy space station to progress, with a mini-map displayed up top that always shows you your next objective. Grabbing maps, weapon upgrades, and intel is the main motivation for progressing aside from the plot, and the freedom given allows players to go at their own pace and enjoy this nostalgia trip while scouring the map for any extra pick-ups available.
Screenshot from iPad Version
Now the concept of this title’s gameplay may sound great, but the controls leave a lot to be desired. Tank controls like..well, a tank, and is one very slow protagonist. Instead of utilizing the control pad for all movement, Monster Robot Studios decided to go a different route and create an extra control option to point where Tank needs to fire his weapon. This means that if an enemy is behind Tank, you then must spin your body around 360 degrees (which is a function of this handy suit) and then fire away in a preferred direction. I definitely can respect the idea behind these controls as they’re certainly unique, but movements are not very fluid and performing a task as simple as aiming can become a chore after just a few minutes in.
Jumping isn’t very easy for this space traveler to pull off either. While there is a jump button, Tank can hop to a higher platform if the player just hits up on the virtual directional stick. A lot of the time though, the platforms are just a bit too high and several jumps are needed to reach the next step up. The fact that there is no true speed (or animation) behind these pounces doesn’t help matters, as the whole “lack of gravity” gimmickry makes these jumps feel floaty and imprecise. Sets of stairs are also very present throughout the levels, but to climb them you must be locked on and take it slow or you will see your character fall through and then have to trek back up all over again. It’s very frustrating at first, but the more time I spent with Beyond Dead, the more I got used to this odd design choice. Don’t get me wrong, climbing stairs that seem to have holes in them and performing floaty jumps isn’t exactly fun and these tactics never see improvement later on, but I kind of grew accustomed at slowing down my own pace as I played, which actually made my enjoyment of the overall game grow as I played.
To fight off the zombies, monsters, or bosses, Tank has an upgradable arsenal at his disposal. Shooting is easily performed with a press on the right of the screen, and unlike the movement, rarely gives much problem for the most part (aside from the aiming issues which I mentioned earlier). Also equipped is a scan visor, which can be used at anytime to further detail the monsters that inhabit this creepy setting as well as the many doors and items you may come across. One could spend a good amount of time just flipping through all of the lore that this visor unlocks, and much like Metroid Prime, it’s rather small inclusion provides a ton of incentive to explore and scan everything you come across. For those who want to speed Tank along his path, a dash feature has also been included, which comes in handy when dodging oncoming enemies.
Visuals/Audio
While the gameplay may not be up to par with the heavy hitters that Beyond Dead tries to emulate, the visuals are honestly the coupe de gras of the entire experience and make this title well worth the dollar price-tag. Throughout the game, players are treated to fantastic 2D sprites that are heavily detailed and full of character. The zombie scientists break up the serious and eerie environments, adding in a bit of a cartoony flavor that acts well as a balance and fits in perfectly with the retro-esque game design. The top screen menu also makes this title feel as if it were ported straight from the DS, and makes navigation simple as everything you could possibly need is always just one touch away. Animations are a bit stiff, however, and in a future update, I would love to see a bit more done to make the protagonist a bit less robotic and a tad more human.
There isn’t much of a soundtrack to Beyond Dead, but what is present is certainly noteworthy. A guitar driven song is played as you progress, which is simply exquisite and sounds like a secret track that should have been in Super Metroid. This music choice also provided a great deal of atmosphere to match the top-tier artwork, which in my opinion made even of the most frustrating of situations more enjoyable just due to it’s existence. Sound effects are not too effective in making weapons sound powerful, but are just sufficient enough to make you feel like you are actually doing damage.
Overall
At this very moment, SZC Beyond Dead feels like a piece of the Mona Lisa, but without that famous smile. The art and audio are simply brilliant, and the story and characters within do a fantastic job at paying homage to all of the protagonists we grew up with. Sadly, the game feels a bit unfinished when it comes to the gameplay. Yes, there are some great ideas at work and you can tell that Monster Robot wanted this title to be unique on it’s own, but the lack of polish and proper animations keep this tribute from reaching it’s full potential. At the end of the day though, this title is well worth it’s asking price and then some, as this work in progress is sure to see future updates to correct it’s current flaws and is still one of the better Metroidvania titles on the platform.
*UPDATE!*
As I was writing this review, Monster Robot have now delivered an update that greatly enhances the control scheme and allows for full movement to be controlled with the left stick, with shooting and jumping commands now controlled with the right stick. This definitely assists with the nagging problem of aim, and jumping is no longer an issue. The updated score can be found below.
Yesterday Harmonix revealed Rock Band Blitz, a new rhythm game that will be coming to the PSN and XBLA. Today they released a new video that goes into detail about what we can expect from the game.
First off, the game will be similar to Rock Band Unplugged, meaning that no extra accessories will be required to play it. Second, there will be 25 tracks included in the game. Some of the ones that have been revealed are:
“Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People
“Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield
“Always” by Blink-182 and
“Bang your Head” by Quiet Riot.
You’ll be able to play all of the 25 tracks in Rock Band 3.
Third, the game will also have access to the full Rock Band Music Store, plus the music on your hard drive.
Fourth, Rock Band Blitz is NOT currently planning to allow you to import tracks from Rock Band 3 into Rock Band Blitz.
Rock Band Blitz has a release date of Summer 2012.
Everytime I see that Wayforward are bringing back a classic franchise, I feel a bit warmer inside. This time, the retro-fueled developer have their eyes set on Billy and Jimmy, as Double Dragon Neon was announced a bit earlier today and will be yet another project headed by Majesco and Wayforward.
If you are expecting an old-school, 2D beat-em-up though, you might be surprised to know that this old dog has been given a complete facelift and features a more modern and detailed 3D-ish art style.
Here is a brief description from the game’s Facebook page:
Grab your BRO and get ready to rock!
Billy and Jimmy are back to celebrate 25 years of being the Best Around! Pick up weapons! Throw fireballs! Knee thugs in the face! Collect Power-up songs and put them onto your custom mix tape! Travel to strange places like SPACE and the mystic orient, kicking everyone’s butt along the way! Fight thugs, monsters, huge bosses, and save Marian.. If you can!!
Coming Summer 2012!
As of now, a few screenshots is all that we have in the form of a preview, but much like the title states, this will in fact be a neon-lit reboot that generations new and old are sure to enjoy. Check out the brand new screenshots for yourself below, and you can head over to Double Dragon Neon’s freshly baked Facebook page here while you await this beauty to hit the XBLA and PSN this summer.
The canned Free Radical version of Battlefront has long been mourned by gamers. Down below, you can see a video of what could have been if they had been allowed to finish the game: Seamless air to ground (and vice-versa) combat, melee options and huge maps. Unforgivably, we’ll never get to play it.
Nevertheless, it seems inconceivable that Lucas Arts would abandon the franchise. It was, after all, one of the best selling Star Wars games ever. Plus, recent rumors indicate it is still alive. Lets hope so.
What would you like to see in the next Battlefront? Let us know in the comments.
It was revealed today that Microsoft registered at least two new domain names related to Halo. MarkMonitor has (which also handles Microsoft.com) registered nearly all of the “dot” iterations of “Halo Infinity” and “Halo Infinity Multiplayer,” like .net and .org. In addition, they registered the site SpartanOps.org and morethanjustamap.com earlier in the week.
The Halo map “Infinity” was exclusive to the PC port of Halo: CE.
Microsoft has yet to respond to these findings. What do you think they intend to do with the Halo franchise? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Anomaly: Warzone Earth has been ported to many systems. The newest version of the game came out today on XBLA. In the developer diary below, you will find how the development made this game different than others. For starters, their is a new feature called ‘Tactical Missions.’ In addition, many missions will require you to ‘think outside the box.’
Once you have watched the video, let us know what you think in the comments below. You will be able to read our review of the game soon.
Screenshot from iPad Version
