The zombies mode has been one of the most well received additions to the Call of Duty franchise. And when that mode came to iOS, it was just as sweet. Now, Activision has made it even sweeter in a new update.
The new update adds the ray gun, in-app purchase abilities for points , and monkey bombs. In addition, it is now possible to save and load games when you are in the middle of a game, for those times when the grocery store line moves at exactly the wrong moment. We’ve all been there, right?
Psyren Volume 1 Author: Toshiaki Iwashiro Publisher: Viz Media/Madman Release Date: November 11, 2011 Price: $14.95 – Available Here
Overview: It isn’t often that a ‘shonen’ manga exceeds the common conceptions attributed to the genre. Psyren, like Hunter x Hunter and Full Metal Alchemist before it, are not only well suited to the teen demographic, but also feature highly complex plot and characters alongside some rather mature content. It certainly is not a series that dumbs itself down to cater to a younger audience.
In terms of complexity and grand scale brilliance, Psyren is one the very few truly ground-breaking ‘shonen’ series available to manga readers right now. The first volume of Psyren promises to be merely a taste of things to come, while proving to be an exciting 7 chapter’s of intrigue, action and intensity.
Story: Psyren is one of the very few manga I have ever read that focuses it’s first chapter on completely giving dimensions to it’s mythology. Within one chapter, Iwashiro have explained the urban legend that is Psyren and built up for the events that immediately follow. That is an impressive feat for any manga artist and he does it with ease and style.
What follows on is an immense journey set within a barren wasteland filled with deadly creatures, wherein the series protagonist Ageha must try to survive as well as save the girl he ventured there for. It may sound relatively simple, but it is this first journey into the apocalyptic world of Psyren that promises even more intense things to come in the next volume.
This first volume is not only deep and incredibly well conceived it is also a brilliant series opener. I left the final chapter salivating at the mouth for more of this manga, left with nothing but a preview of the next volume.
There was just so many things that clicked for me in Psyren; the survival game concept that harkens back feelings of Gantz, the well drawn mythology and characters, the deft artistic talent of Iwashiro and of course the sheer fun this manga provides.
Artwork:
Iwashiro has a very distinctive art style, it is not only sleek and pretty on the eyes but it is also gritty and intense with a sense of danger to each panel he draws. He is simply an incredibly talented artist and it shows throughout every page of this volume.
Whether it is his unique character designs, incredible landscape shots, fist-pumping action sequences or even the comedic scenes, Iwashiro handles it with finesse, giving life and motion to his characters and the world they inhabit. It isn’t everyday you read a manga that feels alive and it was a pleasant surprise to get that feeling from Psyren, a manga I had not known much about before reading.
Overall: Psyren Volume 1 is an impressive first entry into Iwashiro’s manga series and one that has certainly left a lasting impression on me. The final chapter left me on one hell of a cliffhanger, with nothing but a desire to read more of the thrilling manga. Psyren is more than just your everyday run of the mill ‘shonen’ action series, it is deep, engaging and above all pure fun.
Honestly, I can hardly wait for the second volume of what looks to be an utterly brilliant action series all around. If Iwashiro can keep up this level of quality that went into this first volume (which I wholeheartedly believe he can), Psyren could easily become true ‘shonen’ classic.
Another day, another free iOS game, this time from Guild Wars developers NCsoft. Gem Keeper is the company’s first mobile game, and it will be part of the Free App a Day promotion for a limited time.
Gem Keeper is a highly rated tower defence game with 40 unique levels, 14 different towers and 30 types of gem crazy monsters! It will run on any iPad, iPod touch or iPhone running iOS 4.1 or later. You can check out the game’s website here, or if you don’t need any more convincing to drop exactly none of your well earned money, then click here to head straight to the App Store.
Today in Sentai Filmworks title acquistion; The Book of Bantorra. Following a long list of recent license acquisitions from Sentai Filmworks comes yet another announcement of The Book of Bantorra being picked up for digital and bilingual DVD release later this year.
Sentai have made a name for themselves recently for their haphazard license pick ups of series that they mostly don’t plan on even dubbing or releasing in any kind of meaningful manner, but at least more anime is getting licensed right?
Book of Bantorra funnily enough is based off a series a books (light novels to be precise) and runs for 27 episodes. Sentai plan to release the series later this year.
Following last month’s January Forza 4 car pack, Microsoft are releasing yet another DLC pack filled to the brim with more hot cars for players to tear up some asphalt with come next Tuesday when the pack hits the Xbox Live Marketplace. The car pack will be titled ‘February American Le Mans Series Pack’ and is set to feature enough vehicular goodness to please any racing fan.
The cars featured in the pack include:
2011 #2 Audi Sport North America R18 TDI
2011 Panoz #050 Panoz Racing Abruzzi
2010 Dodge Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Challenger SRT8
1991 Mazda #55 Team Mazdaspeed 787B
2011 Bentley Platinum Motorsports Continental GT
1986 #2 Audi Sport quattro S1
1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4
1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R
2011 Holden HSV GTS
2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI
So be sure to pick up the ‘February American Le Mans Series Pack’ for Forza Motorsport 4 next Tuesday for 560 Microsoft Points, or alternatively (if you haven’t done so already) you could purchase a season pass to the game which unlocks all DLC as they are released for the price of 2400 Microsoft Points.
As reported yesterday, DoDonPachi Saidaioujou is currently undergoing location tests in Japan. Yesterday we learned about the new Dress System, but today we get to see some actual gameplay footage. The footage comes straight from a location test, and while it is not the best quality (taken using an amateur camera), it still shows off the game well enough.
The gameplay looks like typical DoDonPachi, and there is some insane bullet hell action going on here. The footage here shows off the first three levels, complete with the boss battles. It looks rather impressive, and there is a noticeable improvement in the background visuals compared to past games.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Scribblenauts Remix, a port of the NDS game has been downloaded over one million times on the iTunes App Store. And to celebrate this achievement, players will receive a brand new Valentine’s Day update as a reward.
However you won’t have to wait until February 14 to download, the update is available today giving players access to the Valentine’s Day themed playground. Players here can be inspired to create objects with a certain romantic theme, such as a “loving, polka-dotted charonosaurus” or “giant, pink, flying chocolate box.”
Scribblenauts Remix is available to download on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch for $0.99.
Thanks to the lovely people over at Daily App Dream and independent Canadian-based developer, XperimentalZ Games, the iOS title Don’t Run With A Plasma Sword is free – but for a very limited time.
The title has been well received by both players and critics alike – distinguishing itself by offering an astounding mix of game modes – featuring story mode and endless mode with four highly unique gameplay environments. With a retro sci-fi style, RPG elements, awesome boss fights, comics and plenty of humour this is a title you’re not going to want to miss.
If a free game wasn’t enough, XperimentalZ Games have added a few more potential bonuses. If the title makes it to 100k downloads, the game will remain free for a minimal period of one month. At 150k downloads, an additional game mode will be developed on top of the already scheduled updates. At 200k downloads, yet another game mode will be added! So download the game and sit back and wait for your soon to be developed updates.
Marvel: Avengers Alliance is a Facebook game, the very first in fact, for parent company Marvel. It sees players take on the role of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent tasked with taking on the very worst of Marvel’s rogues gallery – more powerful than ever thanks to a mysterious evil power that brings them all together. The game is being developed by Playdom, part of the Walt Disney company.
As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent players must assemble the best team of Avengers that they can in order to become the greatest S.H.I.E.L.D agent of all time and save New York from impending doom. How? By recruiting and training heroes. That’s right, you get to be human resources. Looking further into the game’s already established Facebook page sheds light on a fairly standard Facebook set up – play is limited by energy that gradually refills over time, and players will unlock more content (new heroes, equipment and items) as they go.
Today some new recruitable heroes have been announced, adding to the line up that already includes given characters such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hawkeye:
Human Torch
The Invisible Woman
Mr. Fantastic
The Thing
Colossus
Cyclops
Kitty Pryde
Nightcrawler
Phoenix
Storm
The full game will be launched in Q1 of this year, and you can watch the full announcement trailer below:
General Aladeen has an announcement for the people of the world – you should listen to his wisdom:
“My website just launched – it’s already bigger than Facebook! Visit it! (unless you’re in Wadiya, where for some reason there’s no internet. I didn’t ban it. Honest)”
His Excellency has constructed this magnificent site to be read in both English and Wadiyan, so that you can learn more about his greatness with ease. You can also friend the General on the lesser known site that is Facebook, or follow him on the site where birds sing via @RepublicWadiya.
General Aladeen has several useful and informative links on his website, including news of his fellow great leaders and humorous things such as the UN .
