When Pikachu had an adventure on the Wii a while back, I passed it up completely as Pokepark Wii seemed to be more of a simplistic cash-in for the franchise as a whole. After seeing the promotion for a sequel that has rose up over a year later though, things are looking up for the series. In a new trailer for PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond, we get to see Pikachu and the three Unova started roam around the region and dish out special abilities to their opponents.
Yes, it’s still not the same as Snap or the Mystery Dungeon series, but this follow-up seems to be better built all around and packed with more fan service than any Pokefan could ask for. Multiplayer, mini-games, and the standard fare all look to have improved greatly, and those thirsty for more monsters to interact with should now take notice. Check out the trailer below for yourself, and mark your calenders Pokefans, as PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond launches on February 27th for the Nintendo Wii.
.hack//Quantum Studio: Kinema Citrus Publisher: FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: February 14, 2012 Price: $29.98 – Available Here
Overview:
The .hack series has been around for nearly a decade and over that time we have seen multiple video game series produced as well as a number of anime and OVA’s to provide original content and sometimes even follow the events of the video games. The three episode OVA .hack//Quantum is the latest addition to the franchise. Does .hack//Quantum live up to the franchise’s name or does it not have enough Chim Chims to get off the ground?
Story:
Many years in the future, an MMORPG (Massive Online Multiplayer Role Playing Game) has been developed that has engulfed the entire world with its popularity. The Cyberconnect Corporation has created The World R:X, a game that allows the use of face mounted displays that make the player feel like they are truly in the game by providing near virtual reality like displays.
The story of .hack//Quantum follows three main characters who just happen to be friends in real life who attend the same high school as one another. The main lead is named Aida Asuma, also known by her in game character Sakuya, Ikuta Iori also known as Tobias online and finally Etou Eri who is also known as Mary in The World. These three girls have been playing The World for quite some time and love spending time adventuring and enjoying everything it has to offer.
However one day when the group attempts to sneak through a high level dungeon containing the most powerful boss in the game, Sakuya’s foolishness in wishing to catch the Yata Mirror guild’s battle against the final boss she triggers a trap that not only causes the death of nearly the entire guild but also draws the boss’ attention. Despite surviving the ensuing pursuit, Sakuya’s actions in the dungeon are not long forgotten and a bounty is soon placed on her head for malicious interference with the guild’s battle.
Besides Sakuya and the rest, there was one more character there however, a strange cat player known as Hermit who possesses strange powers. That happiness soon ends however as the ones who placed the bounty prepare to Player Kill their characters. Yet right at the height of the battle everything changes and The World as Sakuya and her friends know it changes forever. As darkness and mystery surrounds the group, Sakuya, Tobias and Mary find themselves in the middle of dangerous circumstances that cause anyone who is killed by certain monsters or in a certain area to fall into a coma and trap their bodies inside the game. With a friend seriously wounded and areas around The World appearing where pain is reality can Sakuya, Tobias and Mary find the truth and put a stop to it all?
With only three episodes in length, it may be better to think of .hack//Quantum as a movie more than anything else as each episode flows together at a fast pace with very little interruption from ending songs and recap. Being that the show is only a few episodes long there are it is quite surprising to see how quickly the characters can flesh themselves out emotionally. While there isn’t too much character development to speak of and only a few focused on, the short length never allows for any down time. Sakuya’s change from a careless and easygoing player into one that will do anything to save her friends is a great transition that shows how close knit the group is. Hermit is another highlight of the show who carries an interesting personality mixture of playful mystery.
One thing that should also be touched upon is the amount of time that is spent on the outside of The World as well. Through nearly all of the .hack series we nearly spend all of our time watching the characters interact within The World itself and we rarely ever see real world counterparts to the characters and how they get along in the real world. While the bulk of the story still occurs within The World the times when Asuma, Iori and Eri are shown in the real world flesh out their personalities and provide an oft-unseen look at the effects of The World on those in the normal world.
Now for those unfamiliar with The World or any of the .hack series as a whole the show isn’t the most inviting however an uninformed viewer can still jump in and find enjoyment. They will however miss out on a number of references to past games, such as character’s from the past revealing themselves and especially a number of visual references and mentions of past occurrences within the series. Any newcomers will likely be able to still follow along however as nearly every mystery or technology is given explanation in a story that will leave you wanting more. .Hack//Quantum provides a compelling story full of mystery and likable characters that provides a gratifying narrative.
Visuals:
Being that this series is an OVA with only three episodes it is clear that the budget for the show was extremely high because the quality of the artwork the viewer is treated to is a treat for the eyes. The characters themselves are all references to past characters, such as Sakuya’s female Kite, Tobias’ take on Balmung and Mary who appears similar Blackrose. A number of other characters who stay true to the video game’s classes are there and each features the same level of detail and quality and long time fans will take pleasure picking out various background characters who look similar to main characters from past series.
While the characters are impressive, the background detail is even more so. The World is a beautiful place full of adventure and although a number of areas are shown multiple times, the environments are high quality. Kinema Citrus, the studio who produced .hack//Quantum also did an amazing job mixing together standard animation with 3D CGI with barely any drop in the quality of the background characters or the monsters given such treatment.
Audio:
It is unfortunate that while the series is a treat for the eyes, the music as a whole is not. There is no opening song but there is an ending song called “Shizuku” by Yūka Nanri which is enjoyable to listen to and fitting for the theme of the series. It is disappointing however that the background music never takes the series to a higher level. At best the background music simply helps provide a better atmosphere for anything occurring on screen but never goes beyond that point.
Both the Japanese and English voice tracks are provided with this release so that means viewers can choose their preferable track. The English voice actors perform their job admirably and features a few veteran voice talents. The fact that we are shown the characters outside of their player characters in The World is one of the biggest reasons that the English dub is preferential compared to the Japanese dub due to the personalities we see from the characters both in-game and outside of it.
Extras:
With this release of .hack//Quantum we see a plethora of bonus features. Unfortunately most of these special features may not be something one would be willing to sit through and watch for any given length of time. There are your more standard inclusions such as trailers for past and upcoming FUNimation releases as well as the Japanese commercials and promo videos for the title.
Also included is a three part series called Go, Our Chim Chims!! which range between two to three minutes long each and are very strange, as they feature chim chims from the show with the main characters hair styles.
Also included is a series of longer videos featuring Yui Ogura, the Japanese voice actress for Hermit. We follow Yui as she takes cooking lessons and makes a Hermit styled bento In “Yui-Yui Cooking” as well as a club-like activity with “Yui-Yui Club” and finally a simple quiz show featuring Yui asking various obscure questions about things that occurred in the anime in “Yui-Yui Cult Quiz.” All of these specials are in Japanese and while Yui’s bonus features may be worth an extra half hour or so of your time, are not something most would wish to watch a second time.
Overall:
Now while I may not have mentioned it before, .hack//Quantum has a unique quality that none of the other series produced so far have had. That being that this is the first anime for the series that hasn’t been produced by studio Bee Train and directed by Kōichi Mashimo and perhaps it is a good thing that neither of these two things is involved with the series anymore as .hack//Quantum is probably the best part of the .hack anime franchise so far.
By showing us both the events in The World and the real world this anime has elevated the story telling by showing us that everything in the series has consequences to those in real life. This is especially true during the segment where players feel real life pain as they are injured in the game. Couple that with great artwork and animation and you have a highly enjoyable OVA worth every minute of your time.
EA Sports have released a trailer for FIFA Street showcasing some of the tricks, players and locations which will be featured in the upcoming game.
The locations include Tokyo, Rio, and New York City amongst others, with each area having unique surfaces and surrounding environments, naturally. The trailer also includes soundbites from real life street football stars which really set the aspired tone for the game.
Street football is not just about scoring goals, it’s about doing it with style and that’s the key message that comes through in this video. Check it out now down below!
FIFA Street will be out March 13th for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Vacation Quest: Australia Publisher: PopCap Games Developer: SpinTop Games Platforms: PC Release Date: January 18, 2012 Price: $19.99 (US) – Available Here
Overview
Knowing very well Vacation Quest: Australia was a hidden object adventure, I was not prepared to appreciate its simplistic nature. I have often expected moving environments and 3D visuals to capture my attention, but the stillness featured by each scene can be mesmerizing. While distinctly showing off some of the major sites of Australia, the game does not show the continent’s full beauty nor imminent danger throughout each scene. Glimpses of a mystical adventure to the Great Barrier Reef can be noted, but the yielding experience of bathing boxes is less than magical.
Gameplay
The idea behind Vacation Quest: Australia is to identify key items on the map by words or clues. Designed as a hidden object game for the PC, players can ultimately point and click in any area of a given scene to find items. Depending on the options selected, your overall score may be affected by having an aggressive clicking spree. Finding all of the described objects will complete a level and continue your vacation to the next selectable venue.
Just in case you feel to hunt items with that sporadic finger, a suggestive offer would be to first try the hint button. Even though the button administers a negative amount to your score, you reduce a higher potential loss of points with certainty of item retrieval. Once pressed the button will receive a cooldown and cannot be used for that duration. The exception to this is if you mark [unlimited hints] in your options, but no one likes a cheater.
You are given 21 days to navigate across Australia with a potential of 7 additional days to unlock. To extend your stay Down Under you must collect boomerangs which can be found in groups of three in each stage. Finding successive amounts of boomerangs will eventually unlock a full 28 days at 63 boomerangs. Managing to find all of the boomerangs – 84 total – will provide heaps of bonuses to the overall score.
In between levels, there are mini-games to avoid monotonous searching for hidden items. Among the mini-games are Match 3, Majong, and Jigsaw puzzles. Match 3 plays as an Australian version of Bejeweled. This should not surprise anyone since the developer SpinTop was involved in the creation of Bejeweled 3. In order to win in Match 3, you must simply align three like tiles together causing the tile to change color. By converting all tiles from blue to brown, a player will complete the stage and earn additional points to their overall score.
The only way to truly lose during one of the mini-games is by leaving the computer. I have tried several times to lose at Majong by picking tiles that would leave me without another move. Once you reach this point, the tiles will automatically shuffle and resume playing as if nothing happened. Wait a minute! I arbitrarily lost to find out that I couldn’t lose… Additionally, Jigsaw pieces are big enough to easily know where to place. Wouldn’t be much of a “mini-game” if there were 100 pieces to sort through.
After every completed calendar day, a report card will pop up with your overall score and some interesting facts about Australia. Additionally you can pick up some Australian slang by knowing the words and their meanings. The involvement of facts and slang on the report card make the transition from day to day fun and a learning experience.
Audio/Visual
The first graphical impression that I received was not actually a good one. I noticed a tacky animation of a surfboard moving laterally across the screen during the main menu load-out. While this may not strike most players as a major fault, I believed that this was a visual representation of the game’s effects.
I must admit the game becomes really exciting if you can find one item after another. Not only are you completing the stage quickly but also earning bonuses towards the overall score. By clicking on subsequent items quickly you gain bonuses that can be visually seen in a sparkling ring. I am unsure if it’s my ability to be easily entertained or my increased eye-clicking coordination that keeps me focused (go with the first one). Note the rings below are from using the hint button continuously; remember that cheater I was talking about?
The music changes only between a few tracks throughout the entire game which can reduce the quality. I would have loved a specific track per level that could identify the mood and atmosphere. Finding items in the level Shark Cage should not encompass a flowing guitar melody with gentle waves in the background. A more preferable musical choice would be that of JAWS or built up crescendo that creates a panic for the player. Even the Croc Adventure stage uses similar music when it should be dangerous.
Overall
PopCap does well to emphasize that there are over 2,200 hidden objects within 28 individual scenes, yet are we counting item repetition? I noticed that treble clefs, fleur-de-lis, crowns, and other items show up quite readily from scene to scene. More variety or additional clues would have given the game a more challenging experience rather than looking for similar items.
Since I have visited Australia for a short duration, I imagined I might be able to relive parts of my own adventure through Vacation Quest: Australia. I thought surely Captain Hook’s adventure would have been part of this unique experience, but I failed to even see Australia’s endangered Daintree Rainforest. While some places I ventured did not make the list of scenes, the Great Barrier Reef as well as monument site of Uluru were pleasant necessities.
If you want a virtual vacation to Australia, this game will be your best bet. While several of the scenes display an interior design of a market, house, or luxury spa, the main attractions will become available once you extend your trip. Even though levels will become repetitive in both audio and visuals, pacing yourself by taking breaks or playing the mini-games will relieve this tension. I would advise anyone to definitely grab your passport because PopCap has a free 60 minute trial.
EA’s latest addition to the world of MMO’s is The Secret World, a game where the ghosts and goblins of myth and legend have come to life and plague the streets of the civilised world. This new trailer is a location preview, setting up the Blue Mountain area of the game. Not the cheeriest of places, the Blue Mountain dominates an area with a horrifying past, an area with dark secrets that could hold the key to striking a blow against the coming darkness. Showcased in the trailer is a mine bored into the mountain itself, a more than haunted house and a ton of deadly demons.
Due on PC in April of this year, The Secret World is gaining a lot of heat in the gaming world, with no classes, no levels, three warring factions and a fantastic set up – this is one to watch.
There’s no denying that the PC as a platform has a lot of perks, but with the easy access to mods and more adaptable hardware comes the fact that someday, your PC just won’t play every top spec game unless you fork out a wad of cash to upgrade it. Thus the news that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition will be coming to the Xbox 360 is welcome indeed (to those of us with slightly doddery PCs especially). Today CD Projekt RED announced that not one but two versions of the hit RPG will be making their merry way to Microsoft’s home console.
And it isn’t just a last second port. The code has been rewritten so that it feels more native to the console, and there will be a number of brand new cinematics including an all new CGI introduction (which you can see below). New quests and locations will beef up the gameplay, and additional NPC’s will take major roles in the story as the struggle for power in the Northern Kingdoms goes on.
Not ones to kick PC owners of the game in the teeth, the developers also confirmed that all this extra content will be downloadable free of charge for those who invested in a PC copy of The Witcher 2 upon release:
“PC users who already own the game will be happy to learn that they will be able to download all the added content free of charge. At the same time, the Xbox 360 version will incorporate all DLCs and upgrades made available thus far for the game’s original platform (including the ‘Arena’ arcade mode and Tutorial that were part of the latest and richest PC version)”
Adam Badowski, head of CD Projekt RED studio
Even more tweaks have been made to the original game, with enhancements to the user interface to match appropriately with the Xbox 360’s controls, and the targeting and camera systems have also been adapted to the new platform.
So, coming on April 17 are the Enhanced Edition and the Dark Edition, which along with upgraded content include several bonus items. Both issues will contain the 2 DVD copy of the game, a copy of the original soundtrack, quest handbook, game manual and a full world map. Fork out a little extra for the Dark Edition, and you’ll also find some stickers, a making of DVD, a metal wolf’s head medallion and an artbook, all stashed away in a rather sinister cardboard box. Quite the haul.
If you want a closer look at both editions click here, where you can also check out all the nifty preorder bonuses available in certain countries.
For those iPad users who find that casual and puzzle games just don’t help in venting rage, perhaps you should give some thought to the newly updated Rage HD. Bethesda Softworks have updated Rage HD to version 2.0 which includes new melee combat, official support for iOS5 and enables the in-app purchase of two new episodes: Kraken and Aqueduct. The new episodes will be available for $1.99 via the Store button on the Rage HD main menu. For just $1.99 you can battle your way through the wastelands of Mutant Bash TV, a post-apocalyptic game show. Find ammo and cash, make a deal with the host J.K Stiles and see if you can survive the carnage-filled carnival of death. Get your copy of Rage HD by clicking here.
If you were down at the harbor the other day, just minding your own business around the Sydney Opera House, you may have seen this (prepare your ears for some serious wind noise!):
Yup. That is the new logo for ‘The Amazing Spiderman’, so what’s it doing on there? The click happy/eagle eyed among you will have noticed the web address that pops up at the end of the projection – theuntoldstorybegins.com.au
Want a chance to go see something potentially Amazing Spider Man related? Well the first 150 people to send a simple e-mail will be invited to a ‘sneak peek’ of the ‘Untold Story’. Given that the posters for the new movie are awash with this kind of catchphrase it’s fairly safe to assume that there’s a bit of Amazing Spiderman footage somewhere in Sydney, all ready to go for a special screening on February 7. The film is still listed as in post production according to imdb, so exactly how much of the movie will be on show is anyone’s guess.
If you think it’s still worth a shot, click here, and if the lovely people of Supanova see fit, you might be lucky enough to see some of the brand new Spidey way before anyone else.
It’s fair to say that there was a tiny bit of fuss when it was announced that Bioware’s Mass Effect 3 would have multiplayer in the form of co-op. Now, months down the line and not far from the games release, EA are keeping up their steady stream of trailers with a new Special Forces video showing off the various classes available in co-op play. From Krogan to Asari and Soldier to Sentinel, nigh on every major race encountered as a companion crops up as part of this elite team. The trailer also showcases a great big handful of gameplay and gives you a good feel for what the finished product will be like – Shepherd does his/her thing then calls in these guys to clean everything up! Interestingly most of the races seem to stick to the classes you would presume from their main cast counterparts, so it’s not too big a stretch to imagine that Turian with a sniper rifle is good old Garrus.
Also recently released are a trio of new screenshots lifted from the co-op mode, so sneak a peak at the other two action shots below by clicking on the thumbnails.
Nintendo Australia have recently confirmed that TEKKEN 3D Prime Edition will be available for the Nintendo 3DS as of 23 February 2012. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the title, TEKKEN 3D be the first time the famous King of Iron Fist Tournament will be played in full 3D – featuring unique functionally that only the Nintendo 3DS can offer. Players will be able to choose from a selection of more than 40 characters and battle across totally new stages alongside older stages redesigned especially for the 3DS. TEKKEN 3D Prime Edition will also feature a full-length CG movie on the cartridge – TEKKEN Blood Vengeance – produced by Digital Frontier and directed by Youichi Mouri.
As if this was not exciting enough, Nintendo have also released some new information about other 3DS titles including: Resident Evil Revelations, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Resident Evil Revelations will be available alongside the new peripheral, the Circle Pad Pro, from February 2. The title can be purchased on its own or with the Circle Pad Pro, which features a second analogue stick with two more shoulder buttons. Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, available March 8, and Kid Icarus: Uprising (TBC) will also make use of this soon to be released peripheral. This looks to be a great start of the year for 3DS owners!
