Coming to store shelves everywhere (except Australia) on February 21, 2012, Syndicate will allow for single player gaming. However, 4-player combat is a heavily touted feature of the game. It is that which is shown off in this latest video from EA.
2069 is a dangerous corporate landscape and sometimes it is not possible to go it alone. And that is where your elite team comes in. The game will require you to learn each of your partners strengths and weakness and use them to the fullest in order to survive and complete the objective. Pre-orders for the game are now available. Will you be playing it day one or waiting for the reviews?
Despite Rise of Nightmares coming out in North America many months ago, it still seems like Sega thought that it would be best that a demo arrive for the title. Just so happens that rather than have the demo arrive in 2011, it is coming out today… the third day of 2012.
The demo will of course require the use of the Kinect as the full title will require, and it does seem beneficial to release the demo now in a small way. Considering the holiday season just ended, the amount of gamers who own a Kinect has likely jumped quite drastically over the past few weeks so the demo is a great way to try and sway all of these new Kinect owners to pick up the title. The demo for Rise of Nightmares can be picked up here for free.
Today, Microsoft unveiled a brand new way to spice up your avatar. As you may have guessed from the headline, it is now possible to outfit your Avatar with a variety of tattoos. Currently, there are 23 different variations available, starting at 160 Microsoft Points and going up to 240. Undoubtedly, there will be plenty more and developers will also bring tattoos from their games in. Perhaps you will even be emulate the tattoo of the ill fated character from the Gears of War series, Tai. However, tattoos are currently limited to only the arms. Its funny that Microsoft recently banned Avatars from holding gun props, spouting family accessibility as the reason, but now they allow tattoos. What do you think? Will you be getting any ink? Check out the full range of tattoos here.
Not much has been heard about Dust: An Elysian Tail since it won the Dream-Build-Play competition in 2009 but it has been in development every day since then. The last time we heard anything about the title was now two years ago that it would eventually be making its way to the Xbox Live Arcade, but no release window was ever given at that time.
Now however, the solo developer of the title, Dean Dodrill, has promised that the game will be finally released sometime in 2012. He has done this on the NeoGaf forums under his forum name “Noogy” where he stated that “It’s coming out in 2012, promise.” No other details were given, but one glance at the trailer for the game released two years ago, which can be seen below, tells us that this downloadable game is certainly worth the wait.
After all the Black Friday madness, holiday deals and New Years steals, many wallets and bank accounts are lying limply, barely breathing and close to death. If you want to push yours over the edge, or if you received a fat stack of Microsoft Point cards this year, EA invites you to buy some of their games on the cheap. For this entire week, many of the publisher’s games and DLC are on sale. Check out the list of discounted goodies at Xbox.com here and here. Gatling Gears is 400 Microsoft Points, while Shank is priced to move at $7.50. Dead Space, Need for Speed and other titles round out the lists.
Earlier today Crunchyroll revealed that they will be simulcasting the Nisemonogatari anime series when it begins airing in Japan. For those who don’t know, simulcast means that the series will be shown immediately as it airs in Japan and will be available on Crunchyroll at 12:30 PM every day that the anime is on begining on January 7th. Nisemonogatari will continue the story of Bakemonogatari and will heavily follow the story of Araragi’s sisters Tsukihi and Karen who are also known as the “Fire Sisters.”
Nisemonogatari as well as its prior season Bakemonogatari have yet to be licensed in North America, but it is possibly a good sign that Crunchyroll was so fast to jump on the simulcast rights to the series. Could an announcement for North American distribution from FUNimation, Sentai Filmworks or NIS America be somewhere down the line? Possibly.
Gamevil have announced that 8 months after the release of the cute and cuddly Air Penguin, it has been downloaded over 13 million times. Dveloped by Enterfly, Air Penguin encountered a huge amount of success after its release, becoming the number 1 app in more than 20 countries. It also managed to make more than $1 million in revenues in less than a month.
Air Penguin debuted on the Android Market in October, bringing the strongly popular app to those of you without iPhones, and helping achieve the amazing 13 million downloads across all platforms.
Haven’t yet picked up this awesome app? Well, make sure to head on over and get yourself some Air Penguin goodness, because who doesn’t love penguins? Especially penguins who you can help jump, fly and dodge through Antarctica.
Air Penguin is available NOW for $0.99 on iPhone, iTouch and iPad – Get it HERE
And it’s available on Android devices for FREE – Grab it HERE
Dungeon Hunter 3 Studio: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: 21 December 2011 Price: FREE! Available Here
Overview
Of all the games I played through 2011, Dungeon Hunter 3 without a doubt is the game that surprised me most for a variety of reasons. In my eyes, Gameloft have always been a company content with playing it safe, sticking to similar formulas of popular console titles and emulating a similar experience on mobile devices with their own titles. While this would be considered a ‘cheap move’ by some standards, nobody’s ever really upset because usually their games are pretty damn good. So why is Dungeon Hunter 3 so surprising you ask? Because Gameloft have taken countless risks with one of their biggest series, Dungeon Hunter with this game, and for that I think they should be commended. But the only question that matters still remains: is the game any good? The answer for this title is definitely going to vary from person to person, so the main thing this reviewer can suggest is to pick up Dungeon Hunter 3 with a very open mind.
Gameplay
Unlike the previous Dungeon Hunter titles that brought a very Diablo-styled dungeon crawling experience to the iPhone, Dungeon Hunter 3 cuts out all aspects of dungeon crawling and RPG-styled adventuring and turns it into an arena-based brawler with social elements reminiscent of Facebook games such as Farmville. It’s a very unique combination which I’ve certainly never seen before and a risky move on Gameloft’s part as they are removing many of the series’ best aspects which is sure to disappoint fans. Players can still collect gold and XP to advance, but the difference this time around instead of constantly doing so to improve your character, these are just to unlock barriers to upgrading. This is where the freemium banner comes into play as the game is constantly reminding the player they can advance more quickly by paying with money from real-life. While downloading and playing Dungeon Hunter 3 is completely free, advancing through the game and upgrading can be a long and tedious task unless you want to throw in a bit of extra cash. So while the concept is unique and interesting on paper, unfortunately these ideas don’t come together very well once the game is in your hands.
This isn’t all bad however as the game’s core engine is pretty solid and the combat aspect which the entire game is focused on is basically the same as previous Dungeon Hunter titles. So those familiar with the series will feel right at home and know what to expect: fun, simple and addictive fighting, with awesome additions such as skills and fairies (that can cause some serious havoc) to spice up the game as well. What is unfortunate with Dungeon Hunter 3 most of all however is that this combat system is very shallow. See what made this work with previous Dungeon Hunter titles is that dungeon crawling, adventuring and the idea that your character is constantly moving forward made it so this simplistic gameplay wasn’t so obvious, but in Dungeon Hunter 3 you are constantly fighting wave-by-wave in a small arena and sadly that is all this game has to offer.
To further salt the wound, the upgrade system only further hurts the gameplay and discourages the player from wanting to advance. For example, upgrading armour can take 30 minuets in real-time for the blacksmith to produce rather than it being able to equip instantly. So players are forced to either wait for that item they need to help them get through the next level or ‘speed up’ the process for a price, which is basically the game encouraging you to dip into your real-life pocket. So sadly, it feels as if you are punished for playing the game and discouraged to advance. While this works well for some browser-based games that involve planning, in an action-based game like this you really just want to upgrade quickly and get back to the fun. Furthermore a key system limits your chances to advance and collect rewards and if you die revival is a hefty price. So really by the end of the day it kind of feels like Dungeon Hunter 3 has put a price playing it to make you want to stop playing all together.
Audio/Visual
On the plus side however, Dungeon Hunter 3 has some serious eye candy and is by far the nicest looking Dungeon Hunter to date. The game looks gorgeous with interesting textures and smooth animation and some of your enemies such as the boss characters look very menacing in design. Oh yes, and there’s lots of beautiful, gory blood! To sweeten the deal it sounds great with a solid and engaging soundtrack. Each hit you connect with your opponent sounds really brutal and gives a sense of satisfaction, making the endless waves of slaughter all the more fun. Without a doubt, the graphics and soundtrack are the #1 highlight of this game.
Overall
Dungeon Hunter 3 is a swing-and-a-miss, but it’s not all bad. If your one of those losers who don’t read reviews and just check out the score (and believe me I know your out there!) your more than likely going to get the wrong idea about this game. Sure many of these elements of gameplay clash and don’t mix well together but the game does have some heart to it. As the game is completely free to download, I recommend you even try it out for yourself, but Dungeon Hunter fans don’t get your hopes up. I reviewedDungeon Hunter Alliance earlier this year and couldn’t put it down, so to say the least I was very disappointed and surprised with this title. Perhaps it would’ve worked better as a spin off rather than an actual sequel. But Im not mad at Gameloft, in fact Im proud of them for taking a risk and stepping out of their comfort zone with this game. That being said however, I do hope the developers decide to revert back to the original style of gameplay fans originally fell in love with for their next instalment in the exciting Dungeon Hunter series.
Below:Capsule Computers Editor in Chief – Director, Phillip Federico shows off Dungeon Hunter 3 gameplay.
The Domaginarium has just released a trailer for the newest version of their top-down shooter SteroidS.
When I first saw the title, I thought that my character would be popping insane amounts of pills to imitate the Incredible Hulk and start bouncing off the balls. However, SteroidS is about shooting steroids into your opponents. By shooting your opponents you make them faster, but subsequent hits will destroy them altogether. Pump them up until they blow up!
The new version of SteroidS includes the following additions:
A new power-up, The BSG, is now available. The BSG (Big Steroids Gun) is a faster and more powerful steroids gun that lasts for 30 seconds.
The enemies’ “Steroids boost” has been tweaked, so that different enemies get different boosts of speed when shot.
Some sound effects have been removed, as many sound effects playing at the same time resulted in a busy-sounding game.
Three music tracks have been added. Dubstep and electronic music fit the arcade scenario well.
Introductory messages for the different game modes have been modified, and provide a better explanation of each mode.
Be sure to check out the version 2.0 trailer below, and definitely try out the demo for SteroidS (HERE). SteroidS is available for purchase at GamersGate and Indievania for only $5.99 including future updates.
Windows 7 users with a penchant for word puzzles are in for a treat, with M80Games releasing a new, addictive, arcade style word game with a twist. You have to find words in any directions for points, with the goal of chaining them together to create a combo for awesome points. Plus, if you go through it quick you can catch the hive on fire with your lightning fingers and wits! You also have to avoid the bugs, because they’ll ruin your honey pot if they fall in!
There are two game modes on BuzzWords, with game boosters to enhance play sessions, high def graphics, and online leaderboards, so you can keep playing for that top notch score.
Check out the trailer for the game below, showing the gameplay that can be expected from BuzzWords. It looks like a pretty sweet puzzle words game, perfect for anyone who wants to test out their vocab skills.
BuzzWords is available NOW on the Windows 7 Phone for $0.99 – Get it HERE.
