Good news for Uncharted 3 fans: new multiplayer DLC for the title will be available for download on April 10. Fortune Hunter Club members will be getting it for ‘free,’ while the rest of us will have to pony up $10.
This DLC includes the maps Graveyard, Old Quarter, London Streets and Oasis.
This will be final DLC available to Fortune Hunter Club members. After April 17, the Fortune Hunters Club will no longer be available to new sign ups and you can only buy DLC individually.
Super Lemonade Factory
Developer: Initials Video Games
Publisher: Initials Video Games
Platform: iPhone (Reviewed)/iPad
Release: 15/3/12
Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview
In an attempt to avoid a pun about ‘being thirsty for a good platformer’ I’ll just dive straight into it. There seem to be a few ‘retro’ style platforming titles for the iOS jumping around on the App Store lately. The latest to join the increasing market is Super Lemonade Factory. The title is developed by Initials Video Games, a small studio who produce games for the pure love of producing games. And boy oh boy, is Super Lemonade Factory a loved game!
Story
Super Lemonade Factory has a rather original story to accompany the jumping mechanics. Set in the post World War II era, Andre’s father has bequeathed Andre and Liselot with a lemonade factory. The two must venture throughout the entire factory – across warehouse, factory and management office. The story is primarily played out in cut scenes that take place before and after a series of levels are completed. Characters can also be talked to as you play out the game and gain insight into the running of the factory. It’s an extremely interesting and original premise, and it’s a joy to see it played out so well.
Gameplay
The game has everything your typical platformer should – platforms and a character that can jump. What’s interesting is how something as seemingly mundane as a factory, minus a premise of it being invaded or being the property of some evil overlord, can become a dangerous world that the player must nimbly navigate through in order to claim victory. The player takes control of two characters, who play co-operatively throughout the factory. Both have their own unique skills, Andre can smash boxes with a shoulder charge and Liselot can perform a double jump and also give small crates a giant heave. Moving through the levels with two characters will take a great deal of strategy, especially when attempting to collect all of the special items and making your way through all of the normal and hardcore levels – of which there are 72 in total. It’s interesting how the other factory workers act as enemies, in a nice little subversion. It is odd though that Liselot can converse with them, but it’s just another element of strategy and type of collectable that the game possesses. The game has a steady learning curve, with the normal levels being rather easy for those accustomed to platforming titles, and the hardcore levels posing a bit of a challenge. Luckily, the game will bring you back with determination attempting to collect all the items and beat the game in its entirety.
If the glory of finishing the game isn’t enough, then perhaps you can have your own turn at designing levels. Initials Video Games are allowing players to create their own levels for the flash-based version of the game. Just follow the link here, http://superlemonadefactory.initialsgames.com/play.html, to build your own co-op platform levels. The developing team will also take submissions and publish them in future updates for the App.
The title also manages to blend simplistic control design, in the form of two buttons and a two-way direction pad, and fuse it with intuitive swipes along the screen. To piggyback, swipe upwards while near your partner, or swipe left and right to change character. This creates an amazingly sense of seamlessness within the game and makes the fantastic use of the iPhone’s control system.
Visuals and Audio
The visuals and audio adhere to the standard ‘retro’ look and feel. The music is an 8-bit style soundtrack that loops throughout the game. It’s a catchy tune that really gets you moving along throughout the world – with each series of levels having it’s own unique soundtrack. The sound effects too, are reminiscent of games now long gone and gathering dust. Not only was care taken in designing the characters, with colour schemes to match their occupation. But the world itself is meticulously designed. The pixel art is suburb, and I love the fact that each series of levels has it’s own colour pallet that reminds me of soda flavours. The platforms and background objects all fit perfectly together. Not only that, all three colour schemes match together to make a well crafted game. Little touches little bubbles floating on the title screen also just show how much time, effort and pride has fueled this games develop.
Overall
Both the artwork and mechanics are appropriately simplistic for the genre and platform, yet the title itself is filled with complexity. Super Lemonade Factory is a beautiful game about two working class heroes. It subverts the normal game conventions with a seemingly ‘everyday’ plotline, pushed forward with original mechanics and topped off with a beautiful game world. Super Lemonade Factory is nothing short of a treat to play, and replay, and replay again.
Although the DLC the Internet is crying for is still a ways out, Bioware has announced plans to release some new multiplayer DLC that will be playable within a few days. The “Resurgence Pack,” will hit platforms on April 10 in North America and April 11 in Europe. It will be a free add-on.
Resurgence contains two new maps and 6 characters. The map Hydra is an abandoned Quarian warehouse that has been turned into a hydroelectric generator, while the Condor map is an outpost on the Turian home planet
In addition to a Batarian Soldier & Sentinel, Geth Engineer & Infiltrator, a Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard and an Asari Justicar Adept, there will be new weapons to play with.
Check out the trailer below for more information.
It seems that long running manga are starting to become an endangered species as yet another manga is about to reach its end. It has been revealed in the 19th issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine that Air Gear is going to be ending in only five more chapters.
The series has had a very long run as it has been published since 2002 which means it will be ending a decade long run that saw a few anime series released in both Japan and North America as well. Does the ending of Air Gear strike you as something odd or does it seem fitting that the manga end now?
Huge news coming out of Sakura-Con today as it was announced by Aniplex of America that they will be releasing the anime series Bakemonogatari in North America at some point in the future. Unfortunately at this moment Aniplex did not want to go into any further detail about how the show will be released nor when we can expect the release.
It is worth noting that the original release of Bakemonogatari featured 15 episodes, with three episodes released after the original airing of the series. Unfortunately Aniplex did not have anything to say about the sequel to Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari at the time of this announcement either. With high buy-rates and plenty of fans begging for a release in North America, Bakemonogatari may be a very lucrative release for Aniplex in the future.
Though largely unknown by North American gamers, Rising Star Games has been on the scene in Europe and other PAL regions for quite some time. Now the company has put down roots in North America and the very first game that they are bringing to everyone is a bullet hell shooter from the masters of the genre, Cave.
Below you can see the teaser trailer for Akai Katana which is currently set to be released sometime in Spring of this year. In Akai Katana players will be taking control of a number of characters as they battle in a parallel world’s version of Japan during the Taisho period as they battle against an oppressive empire. Expect to see some big things from Rising Star Games in the future.
Silent Hill HD Collection
Developers: Team Silent, Hijinx Studios
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed)
Release Date: March 20, 2012
Price: $39.99 – Available Here
Overview:
Perhaps one of the driving factors to why people still play relatively old video games today is due to nostalgia. Because of nostalgia fans will clamor for a re-release or remake of their favorite classic games with modern day techniques. If nothing else, a simple HD upgrade would please most of these people.
Over the past year it has become very prominent in the game publishing business to do exactly that and Konami has been leading the way. Now they have brought us the Silent Hill HD Collection, one that will certainly bring fans of these classic horror games running to stores. The question however is whether or not this HD upgrade is worth your time.
Story:
The Silent Hill HD Collection contains both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 and anyone who has played the games before know exactly what they are in for when it comes to these games’ stories. Nothing has been changed in these stories and they still provide what can be seen as perhaps the best survival horror stories of all time.
For those who need a refresher course or have never touched a Silent Hill game before, Silent Hill 2 follows James Sunderland, a man who goes to Silent Hill after receiving a strange letter from his wife who has passed away. This letter has asked James to go to their old vacation spot in Silent Hill and in an effort to see his wife again he makes the trip.
Silent Hill 3 follows Heather Mason, a teenage girl who tied to the events that occurred in the first Silent Hill game, which is not included in this bundle, as she is confronted with answers to her past and thrown into the creepy Otherworld multiple times until she is determined to enter Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2’s symbolism is still prevalent and the storyline is as engrossing as ever while Silent Hill 3 provides plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. For those who have never played these original games then now is the best time to take the jump and enter the town of Silent Hill for two unforgettable adventures.
Visuals:
Now it is common knowledge that anytime a game collection is released that has the words “HD Collection” in its name that the graphics would actually take a jump of some kind, even if just by a small amount. However the Silent Hill series has always had something special about it, and that was the games’ fog system.
Some may not know, but the inclusion of the fog in the Silent Hill games was actually to hide various technical limitations of the original releases on the PlayStation 2. However with this HD upgrade it was deemed necessary to remove a few layers of this fog and show off a bit more of the Silent Hill world. While some may have thought that would have been the case, the reduction of the fog has actually caused quite a significant issue… you can now see where the level design and development ended in certain areas.
To be more specific, you can now see where things were left unfinished as they were never meant to be seen in the original games. As such it lets players see just blank areas of the game that were left unfinished and is a significant problem during outside segments of the game, especially a few key areas where it is impossible not to notice.
Another issue that arises from the fog being pushed back in both Silent Hill games is the fact that the towns are now less oppressive than they were before. One of the key features of Silent Hill’s horror was that you would never know what was around you as the fog was very prevalent and would obscure much of the world. With the fog lessened the area of sight is much wider and therefore creates a less threatening environment.
While this problem is prevalent in both games, the main issue with the fog is noticed in Silent Hill 2 while Silent Hill 3 fairs better with its upgrades. Releasing two years after its predecessor, Team Silent was more experienced with the PlayStation 2’s mechanics and this shows with how impressive Silent Hill 3 has turned out with this HD upgrade. The characters are great looking and the environments have seen a significant improvement, making Silent Hill 3 the key HD game of this collection.
Audio:
While there are plenty of things wrong with how well the game’s HD upgrade went, another significant problem arises when you turn your volume up and listen to either of these games, unless you like playing your horror games on mute. Now it is worth noting that due to various issues, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 have been re-casted with brand new voice actors though there is an option for purists to retain the original voice work for Silent Hill 2.
While the new voice actors do their best, it is obviously a nostalgia breaker hearing memorable characters sounding completely different form how we remember them. Plus the new voice actors are absolutely a bore to listen to as nearly everyone feels like they are phoning in their lines. This is especially true with Silent Hill 3’s protagonist Heather who originally sounded like a proper teenage girl thrown into a hellish world and is now being voiced by someone who sounds like a middle-aged woman trying to be a teenager again. Also, with the new voice cast there are plenty of lip synch issues that arise whenever the new audio tracks are listened and fans may notice wherever certain lines have been changed or words omitted. However that is only the start of the issues.
Throughout your time playing the Silent Hill HD Collection you best be prepared to listen to plenty of audio issues as both games struggle to provide consistent audio quality. There are plenty of times that the game’s audio will simply cut out whenever certain weapons are used and there is plenty of instances where the game will undergo any number of audio issues such as crackling, sound loops and more which is just unacceptable.
Gameplay:
Thankfully one thing that has been left untouched in both Silent Hill games is the way that each title plays. Although absolutely nothing has been added into the titles, purists and fans of the series will be glad to see that their gameplay experience will remain more or less the exact same short of the audio and graphical issues.
This also means that one of the highlights of the Silent Hill series is retained in full quality here, the difficult puzzles. Silent Hill 2 and 3 never held the player’s hand when it came to puzzle solving and though it may be easier to figure things out now thanks to the internet and countless walkthroughs, there is still a certain level of difficulty here that isn’t found in nearly any of today’s games.
Also returning is the same combat and classic survival horror action fans are used to. Though difficult, this combat made the characters feel all the more human as they tried to survive against horrific monsters with weapons they have barely any experience using.
Overall:
While the Silent Hill HD Collection contains the exact same gaming experience and offers fans what can be described as some of the best classic survival horror on the market today, the whole “HD Collection” is impossible to ignore. Rereleasing Silent Hill 2 and 3 to fans should have been an easy way to restore the Silent Hill series to greatness and offer fans exactly what they want.
Instead we are presented with a graphical upgrade that barely should be called such and more audio issues than you can shake a stick at. If this title was simply called Silent Hill Collection, it would easily be considered a better game, instead with just two letters and a promise for a better looking game, Silent Hill HD Collection is a travesty that could have easily been avoided.
The Fields of Justice warmly welcomes new champions, and the latest addition is Hecarim, the Shadow of War. This quadruped is a massive centaur that wields a devastatingly long spear that can cleave minions to pieces. Boasting incredible speed, the champion can be used as a ganker to kill weakened or unaware opponents. Other summoners may think they can avoid this beast by weaving through minions. However, this ghostly visage can ignore such collisions and charge straight towards his victim.
Abilities
Lore
The northwestern shores of Valoran have been hosts of many strange occurrences, but the arrival of Hecarim was terrifying. As the ghostly apparition strode through the plains of Valoran only a mark of destruction lied in its wake. People began fleeing their homes upon hearing the tales of a creature of death. As Demacia’s gate overflowed with these refugees, a commander took initiative to hunt down the beast.
With a handful of Demacia’s finest warriors, the commander soon found the line of Hecarim’s path. As the soldiers bravely intercepted the quadruped they soon realized their fate. Overwhelmed by fear, the soldiers could do little to avoid the the beast’s wild spear and trampling hooves. Hecarim bore down and massacred each foe until he came upon the leader of the brigand. The commander was crippled by the weight of the centaur and awaited his certain death. The ghostly figure uttered, “This is merely the beginning. No mortal army can withstand the might of the Shadow Isles.”
Hecarim reached his destination, the Institute of War. Demanding a place in the League of Legends, the quadruped found little resistance as the doors had already begun to open.
Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Publisher: Microsft
Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Platforms: XBLA (Reviewed), iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, and PC
Release Date: April 6, 2012
Price: 800 Microsoft Points – Available Here
Overview
The award-winning Anomaly Warzone Earth comes to Xbox Live Arcade, with loads of exclusive XBLA content! Experience the innovative Tower Offense formula where you are the attacking side. Be captivated by a new approach to strategy designed specifically for gamepad. Take on the role of the Commander whose special abilities are crucial in the quest for victory. Manage your armor squad’s tactics – choose your formation and plot your course. Gather resources for new units and upgrades. Jump into a variety of modes – story campaign and two Squad Assault Modes. Become the strategy master by solving puzzles in Xbox-exclusive Tactical Trials levels. Enjoy extraordinary mixture of strategy and action packaged in great visuals and atmospheric sound! (Xbox.com)
Story
It is the year 2018. Fragments of an alien spacecraft have rained down on Baghdad, Iraq and Tokyo, Japan. However, they are encased in “anomalies,” or bubble shields, which prevent outside intrusion. The only way to find out what is going on is to send a group of soldiers into the Anomaly to prevent whatever horrible thing the aliens are planning. You, as the leader of the 14th Platoon, are assigned to direct the mission. With help from Command, air support, vehicles and your fellow soldiers, you may be able to save us all.
Overall, I loved the settings of the game. Although COD and a few other games have been set in Iraq, there are not any titles that transport you from Iraq to Japan. In addition, I am a sucker for alien invasion plots. Nevertheless, I have to say that Anomaly Warzone Earth was a little too generic in how they handled the plot. Plus, the other characters are, unfortunately, really boring. So, while there are some unique elements to the story, it ultimately can not compete with many of the games on the market today. Nevertheless, there are enough exciting explosions and adrenaline moments to keep it interesting through one play through.
Gameplay
As mentioned in the Overview section, Anomaly Warzone Earth places you on the offensive side against tower defenses. Hence, in about every mission, you will lead a convoy of vehicles through the city to a specified target zone. Along the way, you can collect resources, upgrade your vehicles, sell them, or build new ones. In addition, since your are the leader, you can collect power-ups that air support drops down. These powers-ups enable you to repair your troops, give them cover and help them out in other ways.
As a lone commander without vehicle, you are the only thing on that map that can be moved. Your troops, in tanks and walkers, follow the roads. Thus, it is up to you make sure to draw fire away from them or provide a decoy. In addition, you can reroute your troops through the road network of each city, thus sparing them the brunt of some attacks, or strategically placing them in a good line of sight. However, if you do choose not to fight, you may miss out on collecting some resources.
Overall, I found the gameplay to be extremely satisfying. Although I have heard of ‘reverse tower defense,’ this is the only game I know of on the market that allows you to actually play it. And it is totally awesome. It feels like a terrific blend of RTS and Tower Defense and it plays wonderfully.
A couple of things to note about the game though. First off, the game starts really slowly. By the 6th mission, out of 14 missions, the game is still in sort of a tutorial mode, teaching you how to do things when it should have told the basics in the first mission and allowed you to figure out the other stuff later. Secondly, the game is extremely difficult. Even on Casual mode, I was forced to restart a few levels and rethink my entire strategy for the map. Third, the game is a little bit too short. Even the extra modes, detailed below, don’t add too much length to the game. At the end of it all, you can go back to complete the levels on higher difficulty levels, but there is not a whole lot of re-playability.
Luckily enough, Anomaly more than makes up for these shortcomings by offering an intense, action packed gameplay experience that requires thought. Plus, even though the game is not really long, it makes up for that with a super cheap price and the sheer uniqueness of playing ‘reverse tower defense.’
This XBLA version of Anomaly includes a new feature: Tactical Assault. It strips away all the fancy graphics and leaves you with a wire-frame map, which you are then required to complete a goal. All in all, I found it to be a great challenge, but I wish there was more levels. Tokyo Raid and Baghdad Mayhem are other modes in the game. While they are fun, they lack the same amount of quality that Tactical Assault and the story does.
Audio and Visuals
Oddly enough, the characters in the game are British. I was expecting American soldiers, since it is set in Iraq, but I guess in the year 2018, England has decided to jump wholeheartedly into Middle East stability. Go figure. Thankfully, the voice acting is great. I thoroughly enjoyed all the other sound effects in the game as well, although I could have stood for a bit more variety in the soundtrack.
Graphics are, for the most part, amazing. Throughout, you’ll be switching from a brightly colored HUD overlay to an overhead real time view of each respective city. The HUD overlay is plenty detailed enough, and the real time view of each city is adequate. There could have been more palette colors and detail, but I found it to be one of the better looking XBLA games.
What I really enjoyed was the clean and uncomplicated UI. At a glance, I could see exactly how many power-ups I had, and how much money was in the reserve. This same UI also extended to managing units and directing where they should go. I also really liked the fact that when I did a combo, or was able to afford a new unit, huge flashing blocks of text would pop up and notify me. Although that may sound tiresome, 11 Bit Studios managed to make this text classy and stylish and it was not bothersome in the least.
One visual component that really annoyed me though, was that sometimes there was so much activity on the screen, I could not see where air support was dropping my packages. Then, while I was hunting for them, my squad would be obliterated.
Overall
All in all, Anomaly Warzone Earth is probably one of the best quality XBLA games to come out so far this year. Although it probably wouldn’t win first place prize, it is definitely in the top 10. The graphics are, for the most part, top notch, as is sound design. Gameplay is energizing, exciting, fun and singular. The major problems I had with it was the extreme difficulty, and when important collectibles would get lost due to the sheer amount of activity on the screen. In addition, the game gets off to a dreadfully slow start, and the story is a little bit generic.
In conclusion, Anomaly Warzone Earth is not just a great game. It could help push game development forward. I love seeing unique gameplay concepts being explored, and that is why I am so excited that Warzone Earth is a good game. Although they were not the first to explore this idea, they have gained enough exposure with this game that other games will follow and expand upon the concept. I eagerly await the next iterations of this genre, either by this developer or another one. Anomaly Warzone Earth may have started a trend and I can’t wait to see where it is going. Whats more, I believe it may help propel developers to explore other genres of games, some that we may not even have thought of.
SDP Games is going to be releasing Save the Furries May 1st on iOS. What’s even better, if you haven’t figured it out by the picture or title, is that the game will be FREE. While the game will feature a total of 60 levels, 30 will be released for free, so players can get a solid feel for the game.
Save the Furries has the player trying to protect the oblivious Furries from all manners of dangers. Players must move obstacles like pinballs, ropes, logs, crates, carts, switches, fans and more as the Furries march merrily along. Protect them from spikey pits, huge explosions, giant drops, and becoming food for the Furax to get as many to the exit as possible. Be sure to check it out come May 1st and save all you can.
