Kingdom Hearts 3D still has a ways to go before seeing a western release, but those in Japan are just days away from seeing the highly anticipated entry hit shelves. Of course with all upcoming blockbuster titles, commercials have been released to show off the game, and the latest from Square is short but oh so sweet.
In this clip, players get to hear the melodic tunes of Utada Hikaru, as footage from the game is shown off, showing the cast of characters in the worlds of Tron, Pinocchio, The Three Musketeers, and several other Disney franchises that Sora has yet to explore. Check out the clip below, and for all you importers, keep in mind that Dream Drop Distance lands on March 29th.
Pit has been making quite the comeback lately, as I’m sure many of you 3DS owners are playing uprising until your hands cramp with joy. Now, if you pre-ordered the game, you should already have your code for 3D Classics: Kid Icarus, and be pretty content about this monumental re-release. Those who missed out on buying early though can still have more of the heroic angel as Gamestop are set to sell stand alone codes for the classic at $5.99.
Kid Icarus will join the likes of Pushmo and Super Mario Land 2, which have already hit all Gamestop locations. At the moment though, there isn’t an exact date for this 3D classic to release though, but stay tuned as once that day is called, we will be sure to bring you an update.
Here is some awesome news for all of you PSO fans. Phantasy Star Online 2, which will launch later this spring for the PC, has now been given the free to play treatment. After years of monthly fees, this will mark a first for the franchise that truly started the console MMO, but those expecting a free ride completely might want to open their wallets a bit, as an “item transaction system” will be utilized to rid the game of it’s monthly fees and assist in keeping the servers open.
PSO2 will also be seeing a release on the iOS and Android, which will be smaller but more social versions of the main game, and is expected to launch this fall. Vita owners still have the longest wait, with a 2013 release date listed for Sony’s latest handheld. Thankfully, that time should be made up entirely with the PC/Vita cross platform play that both releases will offer.
Everyone may have expected it but it seems that Tales of Xillia may be getting localized for release in North America. Siliconera has discovered another listing from Namco Bandai which registers the Tales of Xillia name for use in video game software and other games.
Now at the moment this is currently just a rumor as Namco Bandai has never made an official announcement about the game being released in the West, though there is a very high chance of this as there are plenty of fans of the Tales series waiting for this release to come overseas. It is worth noting that the localization chances of this game may depend on how well the recently released Tales of Graces F does in sales.
While we wait for the highly anticipated June release of Lollipop Chainsaw, the team behind this crazy looking game has decided to start a rather interesting promotion campaign. What they have done is transform an old run down school bus into an awesome tour bus with console set ups, beautiful interior design, and above all a cool Lollipop Chainsaw themed paint job complete with blood splatter.
In much similar vein to how Sega once promoted Sonic the Hedgehog by doing a nationwide bus tour for the title, the Lollipop Chainsaw school bus will be doing a nationwide tour in North America. You can check out the making of this cool bus below and keep an eye out for when it passes by your city.
We’ve heard a little bit about Connor, also known as Ratohnhaké:ton though we will refer to him as Connor for spelling mistakes sake. However we haven’t seen what type of weaponry he will be officially using when the game is released and in this trailer we get to see a few of his weapons.
Nothing too new is revealed besides the fact he is going to be using two pistols and does indeed wield a hidden blade. Then again, that tomahawk looks extremely flimsy with its hollow axe head. Seems like it could break any minute doesn’t it? Anyways, check out the brief trailer below to get a closer look at the weapons.
Anyone on Google may have notice a bright red “New” next to Play, situated between Maps and YouTube. What is Google Play? Well, most simply it is a rebranding of the Adroid Market. Google Play allows users to rent Movies or download Music, Books, and Android Apps from either a browser or their Android phone, while allowing them to use it on the other.
Each category is associated a color: music – orange, books – blue, movies – red, and apps – green. Navigating for what you want is simple enough with tops, features, and genres in each category, but searching for what you want depends on whether or not you’re in a category. Searching on the main will separate results by category, but searching in a category will focus on only that one and separate results into different breakdowns relevant to the category.
All very simple enough, so here’s hoping the rebranding works out for them. Then again, this is Google.
Namco Bandai loves their teaser websites and today they have revealed a new one. This time around they have launched a countdown site that contains nothing besides a flashing X. What could this game possibly be about? What consoles is it on? Who knows at this point.
The teaser site can be found here. Feel free to take a guess at what possible games this could be about, though it is worth noting that Namco Bandai loves crossover titles and has already released an anime based game, One Piece Pirate Musou in Japan. Could this be a possible Hunter X Hunter title or are we just getting our hopes up?
Overview
Light the Flower is a cutesy game in which you position mirrors to reflect sunlight onto all flowers in a level. It’s a puzzle game, to be sure, but not your usual physics-based Angry Birds clone. Instead, you’ll be dealing with bouncing light around the level, feeding plants until they dance with life.
Story
There is no story. Flowers need your help! Are you going to deny them the light they need to survive?!
Gameplay
In each level, you’ll first be presented with a black and white room, with colorful key pieces you’ll have to use to complete the puzzle. Once you begin manipulating these pieces, the background will fill with colors once more.
The main thing you’ll be doing throughout this game is moving and rotating mirrors in order to reflect the light around the level, around any obstacles, and finally reaching the plant, or plants, of that level. There are, at times, different colour plants, each with their own personalities and animations, but more importantly, requiring different colour light to feed them. So to feed a red plant, for example, you’ll have to direct the light through a color filter, and then onto the plant itself.
As you progress through the levels and stages, you’ll be introduced to more pieces; prisms, switches, torches, and even light-activated bombs. There are even levels where the power has been cut, and the room is pitch black, letting you only see what the beams of light show you.
Each level also has three gold stars, which you’ll need to pass light through if you want a perfect score. These collected stars also unlock more rooms and stages as you go along. It can be a little annoying that the level will end once light has been shone onto the flowers for a certain amount of time; especially if you’re trying to line up the rays just right to get that last tricky star you need. But overall, this doesn’t become too much of a problem.
After each level, you are scored based on the time taken to complete it, the number of stars you collected, and how many flowers you kept alive. You can then Quit, Retry, or go onto the Next level. There’s also a little achievements tab you can tap on to the left of the screen. As far as I can see, these are only “save all the flowers in a particular house”. From the main menu, however, there is further social elements integrated with the Crystal platform.
This game will be great for puzzle fans. And while it has a similar cutesy art style to other puzzlers out there, and the gameplay has been likened to Hellsing’s Fire, this title is unique and fun to play. The way the light behaves is simple and intuitive, and once you get your head around how light bounces off of mirrors and such, you’ll find solving the puzzles to be straightforward to execute, but challenging to solve; just how it should be.
Audio & Visual
The art style in this game is very nice indeed. The backgrounds are nicely painted, with colorful palettes that change with each “house”, or stage you play through. The flowers dance when they’re being fed light, each with their own distinctive animations and personalities.
The light is made up of individual rays streaming in from one or more windows to one side of the level. Traveling these rays are happy little mini-suns, making it easy to determine the ray’s direction. The rays also cause some sort of heat displacement-like effect on the background, a nice touch.
The music is pleasant enough, the happy, cartoony music complementing the art style perfectly. The sound effects, too, do a good job of bringing the colorful characters alive. The audio clues are useful, too, with sounds effects associated with sunlight being fed into a plant.
Each plant has it’s own character, including both sighs of disappointment when you move the sunlight away from them, and squeals of joy when you put it back on them. It’s all quite endearing and keeps the atmosphere, no matter how stuck you may be on a particular puzzle, happy and fun.
Overall
If you like the kind of head-scratcher puzzles so popular in the casual mobile-gaming market today, then you’ll love this game. And if you just find puzzlers annoying and a waste of time, then you likely won’t be swayed by Light the Flower’s wonderfully bright and colorful aesthetic.
Rayman 3 HD Publisher:Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Platforms:Xbox 360 (Reviewed), Playstation 3 Release Date: March 21, 2012 Price: $10.00 – Available Here
Overview
Rayman is undoubtedly one of the most classic platforming franchises ever. Almost any person who plays video games has at the very least heard the name. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Ubisoft is slowly updating their past Rayman games and releasing them again on this generations hardware. Rayman 3 is the latest game to get this treatment. Ubisoft has seen fit to polish up Hoodlum Havoc with HD graphics and other extras. Read on to see if this classic game can hold a candle to the platformers of today.
Story
Although many people will remember this story, I’ll recap the beginning for our younger members. In the opening cutscene, a gang of bad guys (known as Lums) are chasing one of the Fairy Counsel members. As the chase continues into the forest, Rayman is revealed to be asleep. However, he is dragged to safety by the Fairy Counsel member, and they both manage to escape the Lums. However, it is soon found out that these Hoodlums have not been deterred. Their evil plan is to steal the Heart of the World and use the energy from it to create an army of Hoodlums. Thus, the entire world is at risk!
Although it sounds serious, the story is actually quite goofy and cartoony. Nevertheless, it is hilarious and very well told. I was never once bored, and I felt like I always had a grasp of what was going on. In addition, the dialogue is fantastic. Although some of the jokes may be a little dated, I actually found them to be much funnier now as a result of the passage of time. Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc does a fantastic job of being self-aware. They make quite a few pointed jokes aimed at other platforming franchises, and I enjoyed that immensely.
Gameplay
Other than the story, Rayman 3 also possess stellar gameplay. You’ll traverse strange and wonderful places in your quest to stop the Hoodlums. All the while, you’ll need to solve puzzles, grab powerups, and jump on platforms as you attempt to collect as many gems as possible. At the end of the level, you’ll get graded on how well you did. In addition to the amazing platforming though, you’ll also have the chance to travel across a few levels using vehicles.
Certain puzzles must be solved by finding cans of special “Laser Washing Powder.” These cans will grant you powers, like being able to hurl tornadoes, increasing strength, or being able to fire missiles. In addition, Rayman can also use his regular ol’ fists to find a solution.
I find that I just can not express in detail how I felt about playing this game because all I really can come up with is that I had pure fun while hopping around and getting through it. Its not too complicated and yet it is challenging. Its joyfully simple, and I think it taps into something that most modern games have forgotten: you don’t have make something complicated and flashy for it be to a quality product. Overall, I found Rayman 3 HD to be one of the best platformers I have played in the past couple of years.
Audio and Visuals
Voice acting in this updated version is still spot on. Plus, the music is still great, as is all the sound effects and other audio pieces. They complemented the game well. I can’t complain about anything as far as audio is concerned.
Of course, the main new feature in this game is the modified graphics. While the high-definition update certainly makes everything look a lot nicer on an big HD TV, all the visuals are still pretty old and outdated. Textures are a bit rough and all the environmental elements are not as smooth as current generation graphics. All in all, they just still seem like they are nearly exactly like the Gamecube version. That said, it certainly adds to the nostalgia of the game and I can’t deny that seeing everything in HD makes the experience better. But, just be aware that Ubisoft did not actually do anything to the visuals except upconvert them. Nonetheless, Rayman 3’s visuals are still some of the best out there. Bright colors lighten up everything and the hand-drawn art has held up extremely well. In addition, all the environements are amazingly varied.
Overview
In conclusion, I highly recommend picking this game, especially if you are fan of platformers or of Rayman. Ubisoft has added in leaderboards, achievements and tons of other extras, like mingames. However, I did notice that some of the bonus videos are missing from this version, but I guess only hardcore fans will be missing those. Some minor camera and control issues also present themselves, but being able to play this game once again with new graphics more than makes up for that.
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc has finally made it to the big screen and it is well worth playing again. Classy, stylish games never cease being awesome.
