We have a few codes to give away for the new Cut The Rope Experiments on iOS courtesy of Zeptop Lab. To win simply leave a comment on MasterAbbott’s iOS Suggestions #8 and we’ll pick a few lucky winners.
We’ll pick the lucky winners once we have a few entries. Make sure you leave a valid email when you post your comment so we can send you your code via email if you win.
Good Luck to all!
Want to know what Cut The Rope Experiments is all about? Check out our review and game play video below.
If you have a Vita, you may have noticed the ongoing problems plaguing the new Facebook Application which was released last week. In order to provide a fix, Sony have now removed the app from the PS Store for the time being and released a statement to all owners that it will be “republished once the difficulties Facebook have experienced have been resolved”.
As for when Facebook will re-join the Vita, it was also mentioned that there is no time-scale at the moment, so those who are wanting to get social on their portable will just have to play the waiting game for the time being.
Cut the Rope: Experiments Developer: ZeptoLab UK Limited Publisher: ZeptoLab UK Limited Platforms: iPad (Reviewed), iPhone, iPod Touch Release Date: August 4, 2011 Price: $0.99 USD/AUD – Available Here
Overview
The original Cut the Rope earned its place on the must own list for iOS beside such classics like Angry Birds, Plants VS Zombies, and Infinity Blade with its cute visuals, thoughtful puzzles, and an addiction factor rivaling Farmville. Almost a year later, ZeptoLab brings the second iteration of the series called Cut the Rope: Experiments, which adds new gameplay elements and a slew of new puzzles.
Visuals & Audio
Cut the Rope: Experiments does not mess with the original formula of cute visuals and sound. The visuals and sounds are appealing to all ages and genders, and is child friendly. This is a bonus for parents with little ones who want to play on mom or dad’s iOS device. The game is colorful and the sound fits in perfectly with the mood of the game.
Cut the Rope: Experiments also adds the wacky Professor to the game. He will provide commentary on your performance and his observations as the game progresses. The Professor’s adds a little bit of storyline to the game and some hidden photos that can be collected in game. Although nothing ground breaking or game changing, the Professor’s commentary adds a little extra to the game that is well appreciated.
Gameplay
The premise of the game is still the same. A piece of candy hangs on a length of rope, and by manipulating the environment; you are tasked with delivering the candy to Om Nom’s mouth by means of cutting the rope. On the way, three stars will are scattered around the puzzle, ready to be collected for bonus points. At the end, you will be scored based on the time required to complete the puzzle and how many stars collected. This adds a level of difficulty and replay value to Cut the Rope: Experiments.
A game like this requires accurate touch controls, and ZeptoLab delivers. Cuts are accurate with no noticeable lag. The game hiccups once in a while during high speed movement of the camera, as it struggles to differentiate between taps and cuts. Thankfully these occurrences are rare. There have been a few game play additions to Cut the Rope: Experiments. New items such as suction cups and rope launchers add a twist the game that is well executed and fit into the theme of the game.
Overall
For gamers new to the Cut the Rope series, purchasing Cut the Rope: Experiments is a no brainer. It is a finely tuned game that mixes cute visuals, great audio, and simple, yet highly addictive gameplay into one package. After completing all the levels, new players may find themselves purchasing Cut the Rope just to satisfy their addiction. However, owners of the original Cut the Rope will most likely be asking why they should spend the extra 99 cents and purchase Experiments, especially since Cut the Rope has received incremental updates since the release of Experiments.
The additions of the Professor and the gameplay elements are well executed, but those alone may not convince owners of Cut the Rope to make the purchase. What should convince them is the 125 levels Cut the Rope: Experiments brings, the promise of continual free updates similar to the original Cut the Rope, and the 99 cent price point. Whether you are a veteran of the series or a new player, Cut the Rope: Experiments is a must buy.
PokeBeach reports one bombshell of an announcement made at the Pokemon Smash event, the next Pokemon games have been decided and they will appear on the Nintendo DS, they are Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2.
In the past, there was always been a final expansion to the set of Pokemon games. Red/Blue was followed by Yellow, Gold/Silver was followed by Crystal and so on. However, instead of getting an expansion to Black/White (which many imagined would be Pokemon Grey), fans will be getting direct sequels.
The Japanese release will happen on 2 June 2012 and it will be for the Nintendo DS platform but there will apparently be some DSi and 3DS features. At the moment, there is only a teaser poster showing off two new Pokemon that are also set to appear in the upcoming Pokemon movie.
Ridge Racer Vita Publisher: Namco Bandai Developer: Cellius Release Date: February 22, 2012 (AUS/UK), March 20, 2012 (US) Price: $29.99(US) – Available Here
Overview:
Over the past few years there has always been a series of games that will be staring at you from the store shelves as you purchase a brand new console or handheld gaming device. Practically every single handheld or console release since 2000 has been accompanied by a Ridge Racer title launched right alongside the new console. Now that the PlayStation Vita has been released Namco Bandai continues their tradition of bringing out a PlayStation Vita version of Ridge Racer for the system’s launch. Is Ridge Racer going to burn rubber on your new handheld or did it stall at the starting line?
Visuals & Audio:
Ridge Racer may not be the best running game right out of the box, but immediately upon starting the game you should be given a notification that there is an update that will help fix most of the problems that are included in the vanilla release of the game. With the patch applied the game features very nice graphics which are undeniably attractive on the Vita’s large viewing screen.
The colors used in the environment are very bright and given a decent amount of detail and this detail transfers itself flawlessly to the few cars you get, making the small amount received at least great to look at.
As you’re drifting around curves and racing around the tracks you will be hearing plenty of techno-style music that goes well with the racing style used in-game and fits with what Ridge Racer fans would expect from the series at this point. The cars themselves sound great and the engines themselves provide a nice and powerful noise coming from the engine, providing a satisfying feeling that there is plenty of horsepower under that hood, especially when the nitrous kicks in.
Gameplay:
Now… there are a number of things that are wrong with Ridge Racer for the PlayStation Vita however the racing itself is not one of them. Those looking to see the same style racing from Ridge Racers past need not worry as Ridge Racer on the PlayStation Vita retains all of the same charm as the rest of the series, though this also means that barely anything has changed from past iterations in the series.
Meaning of course that the game simply ignores real world physics in favor of providing high-speed drifting action where cars traveling at high speed can make hair-pin turns without spinning out of control and crashing into a wall. As such it is essential that players quickly learn to drift properly or you will likely end up in last place as you race against the computer opponents. Now the reason for why drifting is essential to finishing well is thanks to the fact that each of the tracks you will be racing on all have a large amount of sharp corners and impossible turns.
Thankfully drifting is very simple to do and this is only helped out further by how tight the control scheme is on the PlayStation Vita. Being that the Vita has two mini-joysticks it is easier than ever to control the car and steer it around the curves with their satisfying precision. This means you can easily put the pedal to the metal on straightaways, and then take your foot off the gas, steer into the turn gently and make sure you don’t steer too much or you’ll crash. Mastery of this system makes the racing addictive and it only makes it more enjoyable when drifting charges up your nitrous meter which can then be activated by tapping the screen to gain a temporary speed boost.
Now as you begin racing in Ridge Racer on the Vita you will be asked to choose one of four different sponsors. The sponsor you choose is then locked in place and this also locks you into a community of players where all of your actions either help or hurt your sponsor. This means that every time you win a race, your win will be uploaded to the online servers and this can either help or hurt your sponsor as you try to have your sponsor become the best in the world over the other three.
Unfortunately this system is completely empty of any true objective or incentive. There is practically no reason to care about what sponsor you choose or even if your sponsor is leading the pack as there are no rewards given nor is there any actual story mode for these online sponsors which makes the whole system seem contrived and tacked on.
Now besides that rather negative online experience, the game also supports 8 player wireless racing where players can compete against one another to see whom is the best, while the PlayStation Vita Near system will download ghosts from players in your area and then compete against them to see who is the faster racer on any of the three given tracks.
However there is a major problem when it comes to the ghost system and the online mode in general. Considering the title only features five cars, each car will have nearly the same exact stats as any other you own; however your car can get progressively faster as your level increases. This means that if you haven’t raced as much as anyone else you are facing off against, there is a very good chance that you will be left in the dust, meaning even with more skill you will lose to those who have played the game longer.
Now you may have noticed that I mentioned two key numbers in the past couple of paragraphs and they are what cause Ridge Racer to feel like a hollow experience despite the adequate racing mode. Right out of the box Ridge Racer gives you only three tracks to race on and only give five cars to race on them with. This meager amount of content is absolutely appalling, even with the titles smaller price tag, though a $10 difference shouldn’t justify such a lack of content. Instead, Namco Bandai is promising DLC of some sort in the future, though has given no information about this content or whether or not if it will be free, though at this moment it is not, which just leaves the entire game feeling empty and without substance.
Overall:
There are many times that the lack of content can kill a game and there can be no better example than Ridge Racer on the PlayStation Vita. While the racing itself is rather enjoyable, there are barely any changes to the actual structure of the game, though fans may enjoy this, the lack of tracks to race on and cars to use just feels like a hollow experience that would best be avoided.
The Etrian Odyssey series began on the Nintendo DS with three games released for the platform. These are very old school RPGs that use a first person perspective, and offer the same intense and grind heavy gameplay that Japanese RPGs had back in the 1980s.
Etrian Odyssey IV was recently announced for the Nintendo 3DS, and Famitsu has shared the very first screens of the game. The game looks to be similar to past games, but with the obvious difference being that everything is now constructed with polygons that actually animate, unlike the previous games which only had static sprites.
Following the cool boxart unveiling of the 3DS Fire Emblem game, Nintendo has recently revealed some in-game action via a trailer and some screens. The trailer shows off the characters and the cool No More Heroes style art direction, but more importantly we get to see some actual gameplay in motion.
Fire Emblem Awakening is a full 3D title with the game world and characters made entirely with polygons, which is a big change from the sprite based titles released on the Nintendo Ds. The game actually looks pretty cool, and fans can expect the same Strategy RPG style of gameplay with some cool 3D effects and new art direction.
You can check out some screens and the trailer below.
EA Mobile’s weekly update had exciting news: Fly with Mewill be available to download for free for a limited time on the iTunes App Store. In addition, The Sims Medievalwas released for the iPad and “will be available for a limited time at a special introductory price of $2.99.”
Fly with Me is an ” aerial adventure” featuring birds eating bees. In The Sims Medieval, you’ll be able to create heroes, complete quests and engage in combat.
Many more EA Mobile games are also on sale. You can check out the all of the EA Mobile deals by visiting EA’s Daily Deal page.
SEGA’s most recent trailer for the Fall of the Samurai expansion was recently released. During the video, “The Creative Assembly team discusses the changes which the Boshin War brought to Japan, and reveals some of the thrilling new campaign features with Fall of the Samurai brings, including the extended map, the new Foreign Veteran agent, and the rapid modernisation of civic and military technologies. “
After watching the video, we realized we were only going to do one thing in the expansion: build lots and lots of Gatling gun factories.
Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai releases on March 23. Are you ready to take over Japan?
Question : What is the differences between ‘Distinguished Service Cross’, and the ‘Medal of Honor’?
The competition ends on the 2nd of March! We’ll be picking 1 lucky winnes, so keep an eye on the Capsule Computers Facebook Page as we’ll be announcing the lucky winners just after the the 2nd!
Don’t forget-you MUST Like both pages FIRST then post the answer on the Capsule Computers Facebook wall, in order for your entry to be considered. The question once again is:
“What is the differences between ‘Distinguished Service Cross’, and the ‘Medal of Honor’?”
