Army Corps of Hell is bringing a bit of attitude to the PS Vita’s launch line up. Available at retail now in Australia and New Zealand,the Vita exclusive game from Square Enix sees players take command of the King of Hell, who in turn controls an army of hundreds of goblins! A launch trailer has just hit to celebrate the arrival of the game, as has news that there are three DLC packs forthcoming.
The free DLC takes the form of equipment sets, which will be staggered across the coming months. February 29 sees the release of the ‘Pumpkin Equipment Set’, March 14 the ‘Frog Equipment Set’ and April 4 the ‘Bunny Ears Equipment Set’. As the names of the packs perhaps suggest, each will come with a set of gear for dressing up your goblin army – who doesn’t want to wage war for Hell whilst wearing some bunny ears?
You can also check out the new launch trailer below, so make sure and check it out for some metal fuelled demon mashing action.
The PlayStation 3 is getting quite the Gundam love lately. The popular arcade title, Gundam Vs., recently got a PlayStation 3, and there is the full fledged action game based on the Gundam Unicorn sub series.
A new gameplay trailer has just been released and it basically showcases the gameplay mechanics. The actual combat system looks rather slick, and is quite similar to the system in Hideo Kojima’s Zone of the Enders series. What’s interesting is that the game has a cover system in place, as you’ll notice in the trailers that takes place in an asteroid belt, you can use your surroundings to take cover Gears of War style, and also cause some real time damage.
It’s looking to be a pretty awesome game, but no localisation plans at this stage unfortunately.
THQ have announced the release of the latest mission pack for Saints Row: The Third, this time taking the form of a sci-fi epic movie “Gangstas in Space”.
Critics in the game have raved about the movie, for example the official Steelport Magazine said: “Not suitable for children. Or adults.” Not to mention Stilwater Entertainmen’s comment: “I would rather do my taxes than watch this.” Why would you want to miss out?
In the latest pack, Hotshot director Andy Zhen has cast you as the star of the blockbuster movie as you are needed to defend your planet against scantily-clad aliens with laser beams and spaceships (which also have laserbeams). The pack will also include the usable alien spacecraft, the Aegian, as well as new alien gang customisation options, and new homies Kwilanna and Space Brutina.
Gangstas in Space is available to download today for Xbox 360, Steam, and the PS3. Gangstas in Space is free for purchasers of the Saints Row season pass, and is available for 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live, and $6.99 on PlayStation Network and Steam.
The Sega Blog has just been updated with some more Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II related media. While they have been adding concept art on a weekly basis, it’s the in-game screens and actual gameplay footage that we want more of. Several new screens have been added today, along with a gameplay trailer.
The new trailer shows off this new level that has underwater sections. Underwater sections have been a staple of most, if not all, Sonic games. They really improved the underwater design in Sonic Generations, as the mechanics felt a lot better thus making the section much bearable than they were in previous games. Hopefully, this design carries on to Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II. Also in the new trailer, we get to seem some team action which should make co-op more interesting.
That said, the levels do look quite pretty and the water effects are cool. The other screens further showcase the levels that were shown in the initial batch of screens.
Third person shooter for iOS, M.U.S.E has been updated. And with the current sale price of $0.99, there’s no reason not to download the title and enjoy the range of new content available to all.
The update includes:
-Two new levels: Oil Rig Part 1 and Part 2
-Two new boss fight levels: Aneurysm and Final Encounter with Psychosis
-New enemy: The Massive Chain-Gunner
-Mountable chain-gun turrets in the final boss encounter
-Across the board 20-30% performance increase on all devices
Receiving a solid 7 out of 10 Capsules here at Capsule Computers, M.U.S.E, with it’s brand spanking new update is a title not to be missed. Click here to get M.U.S.E for the iPad and iPhone for just $0.99.
Pizza Vs. Skeletons Developer: Riverman Media Publisher: Riverman Media Platforms: iPhone (reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: February 16th Price: $2.99 (HERE)
Overview
Pizza Vs. Skeletons is a hard game to review. Not because there’s anything wrong with the game; in fact, it’s the first iOS game of 2012 to truly enrapture me. But there’s just so much in there.
The amount of content and variety packed into Pizza Vs. Skeletons puts some full retail games to shame, and the quality remains high throughout,making this a must buy for anyone who loves portable gaming.
Gameplay
Pizza Vs. Skeletons features one hundred levels of a giant pizza confronting the undead. This confrontation always involves using tilt as the main means of navigation for the gargantuan, rolling Italian dish, but the controls are just about all that’s similar between the different game modes.
The “core” gameplay (as in the first mode you play and the one to feature most heavily, though it still appears for less than half of the adventure) involves rolling the pizza in a small arena, crushing various skeletons. As the levels progress new enemies are constantly appearing requiring your pizza to jump, slam the ground, and roll it’s humongous heart out to avoid getting skewered by all manner of undead creatures.
Beyond that, there are a ridiculous amount of other modes involved in completing the game. Bouncing off brains to crush planks, slamming into buildings attempting to avoid civilians and bring down skeletons, freeing puppies from prison, boss fights in which giant skulls and giant pizza are locked in a battle to throw each other off a cliff, and a parody of angry birds, in which the pizza has to destroy some simple buildings to destroy the skulls inside. There are many more, but this entire review would become a list.
The thing to note is that through clever variations, no level of the same mode is ever the same as the one before it and that the controls remain solid throughout. And because levels are unlocked based on a star system (each level gives you the opportunity of three-star completion), if there’s a mode you find too challenging or don’t like, you can go ahead and skip it entirely. The three-star system also adds a great amount of replayability to the levels.
You can also use dollars earned in game to customise your pizza with everything from different toppings, to hats, to varying faces, or even turn the pizza itself into entirely different round object, like a bagel.
The only issue I have with the game is that occasionally the controls do go a bit wonky, particularly on the levels where the pizza is sliding down a snowy mountain collecting coins and crushing skeletons. To jump you tap the screen, and to do a body slam you tap again while in mid-air, but on some of the snow levels, though the pizza was firmly rolling on the ground, my first tap was interpreted as a slam. This got a little frustrating as the complexity of the platforming in the levels increased. However this happened rarely enough to be merely a bug-stain on the game’s wind-shield, rather than being a chink in the armour.
The sheer amount of content available in Pizza Vs. Skeleton is not what makes it stand out. What makes the game stand out is the fact that all of this content is polished, varied, and (for the most part) controls wonderfully.
Audio & Visual
Pizza Vs. Skeleton‘s graphic style is like a distant cousin of the cartoon style so prevalent in iOS games, and this is the famous cousin who wins a Nobel Peace Prize or becomes president. While still definitely a cartoon, the hand-drawn aesthetic given to the various enemies, location, and the pizza itself pull the game’s presentation well and truly above the others.
Though it is perhaps not as impressive as some of the iOS games out there renowned for their graphical fidelity, it still pretties up nicely and some of the levels will make you pause and take it all in for a moment.
In the audio department, there’s a good variety of musical themes associated with each mode, and the crash of a giant pizza tumbling into and destroying buildings, skeletons, and the icy slopes on which it’s snowboarding sounds as powerful as it should.
Overall
Pizza Vs. Skeletons does something very few iOS releases do: it dumps the concept of a core gameplay type and instead focuses on providing a fresh, varied experience each time the player reaches a new level. Mix that in with an art style that sets it apart from the muck, and Pizza Vs. Skeletons is a truly unique experience that you can’t have from any other game or any other platform. It is the epitome of a game designed from the ground up for the iPhone, and it is well worth your $2.99.
Want a chance to get your hands on a piece of horror history? Want to get your hands on a great strategy/rpg game for iOS devices? Here’s your chance!
Red Wasp Design, the developers of Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land, is giving away an original March 1936 issue of “Astounding Stories.” This magazine has a part of H.P. Lovecraft’s Antarctic horror At The Mountains of Madness along with illustrations by Howard V. Brown. So what’s the catch.
You will need to purchase a copy of Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land on the iTunes App Store and write a review for the game in the style of H.P. Lovecraft. Red Wasp’s designer Tomas Rawlings explains, “Lovecraft was famous for his distinctive writing style; long descriptions with lots of adjectives, using obscure words, plenty of indescribable and nameless things crawling through the text. He was an evocative writer, which is part of the reason why he is still so widely read today. We want people to go Lovecraftian-crazy in reviewing the game with gibbous, visceral pleasure and wild Bacchanalian abandon!” Once you have written your review, email them a copy of your review and the country of the store you posted it on to contact at redwaspdesign dot com with the subject line “Review Competition.”
The best entries will be featured on the Red Wasp Design’s site and the winner will be chosen on March the 9th, 2012. Deadline for submissions will be March 8th, 2012.
While those of us in North America still have to wait until next week on February 28th to take the war to the machines, the battle has already begun in Europe and Australia because Sega’s Binary Domain is now available in both those regions.
Created by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the man well known for his Yakuza series, Binary Domain places players in an emotional war filled world where humans are in a battle against an army of robots in 2080. With illegal robot-human hybrids known as ‘hollow children’ appearing all over the globe, the world begins to change for all of humanity. Players will take control of Dan Marshall, who leads the covert operations R.U.S.T. crew in an effort to discover who is creating the hollow children.
Capcom has revealed today that they are planning on bringing a PC version of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City to gamers everywhere, however it won’t be on March 20th alongside the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. Instead, PC gamers will have to endure a two month wait as Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City on the PC is currently set to be released on May 18th.
The PC version will offer support for Nvidia 3D Vision so those with fancy 3D computer monitors will be able to make use of them, and will also include “stunning high-resolution visual effects.” To go along with this announcement Capcom also released a new brutality trailer which can be seen below.
It seems that Sony is feeling quite generous. Next week gamers will be able to download the multiplayer section of Killzone 3 without having to buy the game itself. The standalone multiplayer mode will be released as a free download on the PSN.
This mode will be launching on Tuesday and the only negative is that players can play for free up until a certain unreleased level cap. If a player hits that level cap and still wants to level up further they can pay $14.99 to unlock the full multiplayer experience. However it is worth noting that you can still continue to play for free, though you won’t be able to level beyond that cap without paying extra.
