Hop on to Xbox Live Arcade and you will find that the hotly anticipated Sine Mora is now available for purchase at a price of 1,200 Microsoft Points.
Sine Mora is a horizontal scrolling shooter, otherwise known as ‘shmups’, that was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality. The game is exclusive for the Xbox 360 and is backed by the creative genius of talented inidviduals such as Akira Yamoaka and Mahiro Meada.
“Grasshopper Manufacture holds a high place in the gaming space as true visionaries, and it’s well-deserved. We absolutely love working with them, and we couldn’t be more proud of Sine Mora,” said Balázs Horváth, director of publishing for Digital Reality. “Players are going to be challenged, and when they overcome, they’ll know just how brilliant this game truly is.”
Blades of Time Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment Developer: Gaijin Entertainment Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC Release Date: March 6, 2012 Price: $39.99 – Available Here
Overview
Blades of Time originates from the game X-Blades that hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles mainstream in 2009. Dealing with the powers of light and dark, X-Blades offered powers to the protagonist Ayumi that could directly affect her actions towards the end of the game. Similarly, magical powers are offered to the remastered Ayumi in Blades of Time. Considered as a spiritual sequel, I can only guess the storylines mesh like Link’s character in the Zelda series – character stays relatively the same but story changes.
Whenever I hear the term ‘hack-n-slash’, I automatically believe that I will be tearing limbs off my opponents. This mentally isn’t completely evil but does emanate a strange expectancy out of the visual effects for this genre. Will Blades of Time satisfy your bloodlust?
Story
The story begins in a cult-like cathedral with an elderly man directing a masked crowd of warriors. Commanding attention to the sphere before him, he briefly begins to mention the portal to the dragon lands where many treasures await them. Simultaneously as he projects the perils of the awaited land, a fireball crashes into the center of the building. A brawny man bursts through the front doors and offers a quick snap of his blade to his oncoming foes. Our protagonist – Aymui – slips in behind the commotion and directs her katana at the robed elder. He admits that he has been expecting her and will not delay her intrusion if she so wishes to use the sphere. Her friend, Zero – the brawny fellow, calls to her to hurry, and so Ayumi grasps for the sphere.
Feeling almost as a dream, she is transported to another world or realm. The dragon lands have kept many secrets from the human race, but none in this land has encountered the likes of Ayumi – the treasure hunter.
Gameplay
Hack-n-slash games normally are straight forward and divert little from the central mechanics of gameplay. Blades of Time is certainly an oddity as the mixture of puzzles directly affects the use of abilities when new mechanics are brought in throughout the game. First, let’s discuss the basic fundamentals that provide the foundation of gameplay.
As you are conjured into the dragon lands, you are immediately thrown into battle. A slash attack with (X) will offer several momentous swings of Ayumi’s blade in the direction of choice. Vertical damage can be administered as well by providing an upward kick with swirling blades by a press of (Y). Adept in evasion she can also perform a dash technique by touching the right trigger. Dashing can provide a quick escape or a direct line of continual attacks – my preference is the latter.
By pressing down on the right analog, players will bring up their gun. Wait, a gun in a hack-n-slash? That is correct. While the gun is up left trigger can be used to aim at your opponent and right trigger is now used to shoot. Depending on the type of gun, you may be able to run around with the equipped weapon. The default gun is a rifle and becomes useful in taking down opponents from afar. As a core mechanic, it is necessary to understand shooting methods as it can be essential to bringing down heavily armored foes.
Advanced abilities stem from mystical dragon shrines. At first, very few skills are available to choose from. Advancing through realms opens up the skill tree even further and allows for greater player customization. Magic attacks require certain amounts of rage in order to initiate. Basic attacks require small amounts of rage that can be easily attained by continual attack combos. After hitting the first dragon mark on the rage meter, a player can attempt a basic magic attack. Such magical abilities include fire, ice, and heavy strike.
Upon selecting a magical ability, you will enter a testing ground to try out your new skill. Magical attacks begin with the combo starter (B) and ends with another button(s). If you had selected fire strike, the combination would start with (B) and end with (X) to unleash a blaze of fire. Once again, this would only occur when you attain the first dragon mark on the rage meter. The testing grounds provide a continual source of easy to kill foes, and you must execute the skill enough times to leave.
Having weapons, guns, and magic is great, but what if you could rewind time? Eventually the skill is begotten upon you by your overseer which allows you to rewind time, but retain control of your present self. This may sound complicating because it truly is. Holding down the left bumper for the full duration will turn the environments to a bright red hue and recapture previous moments of your recent adventure. A perfect example of using this ability is by opening a gate that shuts almost immediately after letting go of the lock mechanism. You may think this game has just become impossible to beat; however, time rewind can place you right in front of the gate as it had previously opened.
Ever-changing opponents create moments of tactical maneuvers and insightful revelations. In several instances there are opponents that cannot be killed by normal means. A jungle troll that has a magical barrier cannot be kill by the edge of Ayumi’s blades. However, this is when your gaming skills coming into play. Combining several shots from a ranged weapon and time rewind, you can create a chain attack with your previous avatars as well as your active one. Continual use of time rewind will break through the barrier and drop the troll with ease. And he thought he was invincible…
Boss fights provide further headaches if you truly believe a hack-n-slash effort is all that you need. One boss in particular has a rejuvenating life tank on his back. Delivering constant melee attacks will take down his health, but his energy pack recovers lost health when nearing death. You are even initiated to make an in-battle response by tapping the right bumper to jump to the skyguard’s head. Continually stomping on the head will not kill the beast either. Detaching the energy pack was a given solution, but the know-how was problematic. Eventually, time rewind alongside stomping on its head provided the necessary distraction. Then came the endless bladed assault.
So far all that has been discussed is the story mode. Outbreak is a neat little addition that plays out as an action tower defense game. Like the story mode, the player can choose magical abilities to enhance the characters effectiveness on the battle field. However, the neat addition is that you can choose between three characters: Ayumi, Zero, and Michelle. Only difference that can be noted among characters is the appearance. Additionally, trinkets you find in the story mode can be altered in Outbreak to help you defeat the horde of enemies.
Outbreak begins with two opposing sides that are vying for decimation of the other team. A series of towers are placed in between each base which automatically attack enemies within its range. Each side spawns AI bots that attack opposing forces. As one of the three characters, the challenge becomes clear to defeat the opposing force by removing each attack tower. As a player advances closer to the base, stronger AI units are unleashed to turn the tide of battle.
While Outbreak can be enjoyed cooperatively or versus online players, you can also access single player matches to test your bronze against the computer. Single Outbreak might be the best bet for a match unless you have friends that have purchased the game as well. This mode is fast-paced and can seem overly complicated to beginners that have not played the game fully. Understanding the game mechanics is essential to provide fluid skill combinations as well as executing evasive maneuvers from deadly towers.
Visual/Audio
Voice acting in junction with animation is one of Blades of Time’s unappealing qualities. In the opening cinematic we can clearly tell that vocal movements are a bit off from the actual animations. I realize that creating facial animations can be tough to master, but I would have expected a little bit more quality from an experienced studio. However, this minor distraction does not deter from actual gameplay because the main focus is hack-and-slash. Additionally, in-game there is active dialogue which projects Ayumi talking but not yield visible facial animations because of player control. While the facial animations are annoying because of miscues, they can be overlooked by the engaging amounts of in-game material.
Alright, so the talking animations aren’t that great. But the environments are incredible. As you are dashing around as a skinful treasure hunter, it is hard to escape the beautiful tree-encased jungle or the harsh glaring sun of the desert. Eventually, Ayumi makes her way to the snowy landscapes of the Brutal Lands where winter never ceases. Passing through a portal on the mountain landscape only escapes you to a broken down town equally deserving of the title ‘brutal’.
Customization brings in some wonderful aesthetics. As a player progresses through each level, they may find hidden treasures. New weapons in particular will provide additional attributes to the character as well as offering a new skin. For instance, there would be a drastic difference in look by switching Ayumi’s rifle for a machine gun. Both appearance and controls are affected, but this differently provides a wider range of potential gameplay. Another aspect of customization can be noticed by acquiring new suits for Ayumi. Entering the Skyland domain, she will dawn a metallic type of armor that reflects the imagery seen in the foes you meet. Suits can be interchanged at any time, yet it is hard to resist the initial ‘skinful’ skin.
Overall
An addictive game makes a gamer want to play more, and that is how I felt about Blades of Time. The facial animations were not the best, and the story may not have been presented as well as it could have. However, the game did provide a continual learning environment that expanded the normal endless hacking into an art of developing talents. Not only are players allowed to choose abilities akin to their own playing style, but they also need to think outside of the box to complete puzzles and kill bosses.
I will admit that Blades of Time is not for everyone. The normal hack-n-slash turns into a complex battling system that will intrigue combo fanatics and role playing enthusiasts. If you are interested, try out the demo first to get a feel for it. Enter the dragons lands if you dare, some just can’t handle the fun.
Some really exciting news for any fans of the Fantasy genre in general and a real treat, as Little Orbit have announced they will be bringing the well respected and award winning author Brandon Sandersons epic fantasy Mistborn to gaming life in 2013 for XBox 360, PS3 and PC/MAC formats. The Mistborn World is one of ash, mist and dark gothic fantasy creations who are all under the rule of the immortal Lord Ruler. The individuals follow a unique and powerful rule based magic system known as Allomancy that allows them to temporarily increase mental and physical abilities by ingesting and burning metal flakes. The Mistings can only ingest one metal while the Mistborn are capable of devouring and utilising multiple metal components.
The upcoming RPG is a completely new and original storyline set hundereds of years before the Mistborn saga and will have a large focus on the unique combat system that melds Allomancy into the hands of gamers. Players take on the role of Fendin Fiddle Fathvell, an arrogant young man who must learn the art of Allomancy as quickly as possible to engage and beat the evil forces trying to destroy his family. “I’m a huge fan of the series, and I cannot wait to get this into the hands of gamers,” said Matthew Scott, CEO of Little Orbit. “Between the distinctive magic system, the story twists Brandon has planned for the game, and the rich depth of character skills, we’re creating something very unique for players to enjoy.”
Brandon Sanderson has an inspirational work ethic, and is no stranger to the video game industry having recently finished the story development for Infinity Blade 2 as well as the accompanying novella. Additionally, in between working on his own projects in the form of Mistborn and the Stormlight novels, he was chosen by Robert Jordans wife to complete the Wheel of Time series after Jordan passed away before completing the saga.
“I’m a huge fan of the series, and I cannot wait to get this into the hands of gamers,” said Matthew Scott, CEO of Little Orbit. “Between the distinctive magic system, the story twists Brandon has planned for the game, and the rich depth of character skills, we’re creating something very unique for players to enjoy.” Also in the works is a motion picture.
In anticipation of the next instalment of the smash hit Darksiders franchise, Darksiders 2, which is slated for release in June 2012, THQ has released a new trailer for the hotly anticipated title.
The trailer features Death, one of the Four Horsemen as he combats a boss character which is more than 10 times his size. If this isn’t the right moment to use the word ‘epic’ I don’t know what is. Epic!
Be sure to check out the Darksiders 2 Death Strikes trailer below and let us know what you think of it in the comments section. Does Death trump former protagonist War?
The latest video for Ghost Recon Future Soldier shows off two features of the game: the Gunsmith and co-op. For the first few seconds, there will be an explanation of the Gunsmith feature, where you can customize a gun with virtually part or piece you want. In the second part of the video, Adrian, the IP Director at Ubisoft, comments during a playthrough of the co-op mode in Ghost Recon : Future Soldier.
You’ll be able to “find out how you will be able to assist your team in high profile military operations.”
I’m sick of hearing that the adventure game genre is dead. It’s still there, lurking in the background of the scene, waiting for you to click on it – it’s just that your inventory is probably full of shooters.
Telltale’s Sam & Max series, and their recent takes on Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, show there’s still an audience. Hell, gamers have just thrown $3 million at Double Fine to make a new adventure.
Meanwhile, Pendulo Studios have been working in the genre for years, releasing their latest title Yesterday yesterday.
Yesterday is a pretty standard adventure game, but a very solid one. There’s little here you haven’t seen before, but it all works, and for a genre that isn’t common in today’s market, an adventure game that sticks to classic conventions is welcome.
Gameplay
You know how an adventure game works: you click on objects in the environment, pick stuff up, combine inventory items and use them in obscure ways, worthy of old MacGyver episodes.
That said, most of the time the solutions aren’t too obscure. Using a bit of adventure game logic (which is different to regular logic) will see a problem solved. When the puzzles do fall outside a normal person’s line of thinking, deduction can help – everything in each scene is there for a reason, and if you can interact with it, it’s important. If you have an item you haven’t used yet, chances are that’s the key to progressing.
Regular scene changes keep your inventory from becoming too cumbersome: items picked up are usually required in that same scene, so you won’t have heaps to trawl through whenever you get stuck.
There are times where the game dips into tedious trial and error, as you try to use every item you’re carrying with everything in the environment, until some bizarre combination triggers something.
Thankfully though, if you do get stumped, there’s a hint system to get you through. Click the hint button once for a tip on which item is required for the next step – but not how to use it. If that’s not enough, a second hint will be more specific about what to do with it.
If that’s too cheaty for you, a less direct help system is also included. Clicking a crosshair symbol in the toolbar briefly highlights the objects in the area that you can interact with. It doesn’t give away anything about how to use them, just lets you know that they can be examined, picked up or used in some way. I found myself using this feature a fair bit, as a mechanic rather than a “cheat” system. I don’t think it detracted from the game, although I could understand if purists choose to steer clear.
Story
Yesterday tells the story of one John Yesterday, who wakes up with, ironically, no memory of yesterday. All he recalls is that he recently tried to commit suicide in Paris, he’s an expert in Satanism, and he’s been hired to investigate a religious sect’s involvement in a spate of murders of New York’s homeless population. A life like that you’d assume one would remember, but it’s clear the memory loss is due to powers beyond his control.
Most of the story revolves around figuring out who Yesterday is, why he attempted suicide, how he’s linked to the Satanic cult, and if that cult is responsible for the murders in New York. A protagonist with amnesia is very old-hat, but it frames the action surprisingly well. Objects you pick up or interact with can have memories attached, launching a cutscene or playable flashback.
In fact, these flashbacks form a large chunk of the game: as Yesterday is filled in on earlier events by other characters, or remembers them himself, the game cuts to that scene and has you play it out.
Flashbacks appear in a non-linear fashion – often, a scene won’t make sense until another flashback contextualises it. It makes for some confusing storytelling, but you are given all the pieces, you just have to put them into the right order yourself.
Despite it’s interesting approach to narrative, there are elements that don’t quite work. Some lines of dialogue sound awkward, and certain plot points may be hard to swallow. Taken with a grain of salt though, the story is compelling and reasonably satisfying.
Dealing with Satanism and torture, Yesterday is quite a bit darker than Pendulo’s previous games, but it isn’t completely devoid of humour. Some characters are purely there to provide comic relief, such as the seedy concierge at the Paris hotel and the fat American tourists in the antique shop. It’s never laugh-out-loud funny, but the inclusion of some grin-inducing characters is a welcome break in tone.
Visuals & Audio
The cel-shaded visuals might seem at odds with the darker tone, but it serves to convey meaning clearer. The characters are caricatured, with exaggerated facial features and expressions normally reserved for comedy. Strangely though, Yesterday himself has a face that just feels… off. It’s hard to explain why; he just looks like an early concept sketch that somehow made it into the final product.
In dialogue scenes, we see close ups of the characters talking, but rarely do their faces contort in time with the voices. Instead, their jaws flap up and down like badly-timed Muppets. This could be a result of the English translation though: we might have a dubbed version of the original Spanish game.
The environments are beautifully rendered and highly detailed, hiding interactive objects among background elements without making them too hard to find.
Cutscenes are presented in a comic-book-style, with multiple windows into the action allowing several key aspects of a scene to be displayed simultaneously. The comic book motif reappears during gameplay, as clicking on an item of interest in the environment brings up a window showing it close up. This is often the key to figuring out the item’s importance.
Unfortunately, the sound doesn’t seem to have received the same amount of attention as the visuals. The voice acting varies in quality almost line-to-line. Most is serviceable, but some is pretty awful. The sound and music is nothing special, doing its job without drawing attention to itself.
The stand out audio feature is the creepy tune Henry keeps whistling. It’s simple, memorable, eerie and often the first sign that all is not right.
Final Comments
Yesterday is quite short, but provides a satisfying narrative without stretching it out too long. There may have been room for some extra polish, but with only minor issues, Pendulo Studios have delivered a solid adventure game with an intriguing plot.
With last week’s addition of Game Gear titles to the eShop, it’s really no real surprise that this is going to be a slow week on the Nintendo Download scene, but there still are a couple releases to talk about this week. The most prominent is Zombie Slayer Diox, which is quite an interesting mix of genres. In this rhythm-action side-scroller, players take control of Diox, a Samurai Guitarist that battles zombies. Yes, you heard that right, and yes, the concept is truly amazing, but this dandy also features an original soundtrack and hand drawn artwork that is sure to please anyone with a working heart. You can get Zombie Slayer Diox for $5.99, exclusively on the 3DS eShop.
On the DSiWare, 1st Class Poker & BlackJack lets players enjoy both games with cheeky, animated characters for $4.99 while on the WiiWare front, Carmen Sandiego is back yet again with another math game.
Those who have Swapnote installed can also expect a message from Nintendo’s spokesdog, Uggie, as he has sent all 3DS owners a brief hello to further promote Nintendogs+Cats.
Other than a new 3D music video, that pretty much sums up this week on the Nitnendo download scene, but fret not if nothing interests you (SAMURAI ZOMBIE SLAYER should be enough, honestly), as I’m sure we will see Kid Icarus’ 3D classic debut within the coming weeks due to the release of Uprising.
Rockstar have always been nice to their fans, and even more so with the new Max Payne 3 multiplayer, with their competition to include likenesses of actual Max Payne fans as playable characters. The competition ran from December 16, 2011 til January 13, 2012, and they ended up with eight winners from all over the world (including Aus, whoo national pride!). The competition ran through Twitter, selecting ten people at random each week that they saw using the #MaxPayne3 hashtag. From these ten they picked two each week, ending with the final eight.
Take a look at the winners here, aren’t they a bunch of interesting characters? Have to say, they definitely picked well in terms of people to build character models on. You’ve got the badass ones, the good-looking girls, the guy who looks like he’s seen far more action than the rest of them, and the standard male-y males.
For the first time since the competition winners were announced, Rockstar have released in-game shots of the digital versions of the winners. And damn, they’re looking fine. And that’s ‘fine’ with an elongated middle vowel.
Of course, you can customize the avatars, so you can swap up what the characters are wearing, as well as what firepower they’re toting, before you get your gunning down on.
Check out all of the shots in the gallery below!
For more info on the Max Payne 3 multiplayer stay tuned to Capsule Computers, for news as it comes out.
Max Payne 3 will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 on May 15, 2012 in the US and May 18, 2012 in Australia and Europe, with the PC version launching on May 29th, 2012 in the US and June 1st, 2012 in Australia and Europe.
Fans of Square Enix best dust off their Steam wallets – there’s a little bit of a sale on the go. Running from now until Monday March 23, PC gamers can get a serious discount on Square Enix’s back catalog, new titles, and DLC. All Square Enix games will be sitting with 50% off their normal prices, with new game specific super deals running each day until the event ends. So what’s a bargain today? The entire previously released Hitman series, reduced by 75%.
New Daily Deals will be announced every day on Steam, and fans of the developer’s catalog can also get their hands on a Hit Collection bundle that packs in over 15 games including: Deus Ex, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Dungeon Siege III, Just Cause (1&2), Kane & Lynch (1&2), Thief: Deadly Shadows, and numerous Tomb Raider games including Guardian of Light and Underworld. How much is all that I hear you ask?
$74.99 USD.
Not bad.
So make sure and head on over to Steam if you’re lacking a little Square Enix love in your library.
In accordance with the 10th anniversary of the Naruto anime series, a new Naruto film has been announced. The film will be titled Naruto Shippuden: Road to Ninja and will feature Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, with creative control over the project.
Kishimoto will be in charge of the plot and the character designs, leading many to believe that this very well may be the first canon Naruto film. The film is scheduled to hit cinemas across Japan on the 28th of July, 2012.
Currently no other details regarding the film have been revealed. Be sure to let us know what you think of this announcement in the comments section below.
Hop on to Xbox Live Arcade and you will find that the hotly anticipated Sine Mora is now available for purchase at a price of 1,200 Microsoft Points.
