Can you believe we’re only 9 days away from Christmas? It’s the happiest time of the year for many, and PopCap are celebrating with a nice seasonal update for Plants vs Zombies. As you can see in the photo above, this update lets the many characters of the game don some holiday attire and hats, but there is a bit more that has been packed in this download.
A new mode by the name of I, Zombie has been added and allows players to play on the zombie side of the garden. Boasting one free level (with 8 additional levels and Endless mode available for in-app purchase through Crazy Dave’s shop), I, Zombie offers the same kind of features that the PC and Console versions have seen as well as four new achievements (Better Off Dead, I,Win, Where the Sun don’t Shine, and Undead Space) as well as the introduction of Bronze, Silver and Gold Mystery Sprouts. Leader board support has also been added, so you now have no excuse to purchase or simply download Plants vs Zombies for your on-the go fix.
So take a break from shopping and get to the backyard, as Santa’s undead friends are plotting an attack on all iOS devices.
The 3DS may have had a worringly slow start after launching in March this year, but Nintendo have again proven their might in the gaming industry as the 3DS became the fastest-selling games console ever in Australia.
Reported proudly by Nintendo, and confirmed by the NPD Group Australia, the 3DS sold 200,000 units in Australia in under 37 weeks, surpassing the mark faster than any other handheld or home console in the past.
The strong sales have no doubt been the result of several factors, including the price drop of recent months, the Christmas shopping craze, and the recent release of two fantastic first-party Mario games, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7.
It’s a little surprising, really, considering both the slow initial uptake of the 3DS and Nintendo’s previous high-selling consoles – there was a worldwide shortage of Wii consoles after launch, as orders came in faster than the machines could be produced. And the original Game Boy broke sales records in the early 90s, some of which still haven’t been topped after more than 20 years. It makes you wonder what might have been, had the 3DS had a stronger software lineup at launch.
Regardless, it goes to show that Nintendo are certainly not struggling, as it has been suggested, and it brings hope for next year’s release of the Wii U.
Are you 3DS Ambassadors ready to get your Game Boy Advance fix? Good. All 10 of the promised GBA titles are now available for download in both Australia and the United States.
As a reminder, the full list of games includes:
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island
Zelda: The Minish Cap
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
Mario Kart Advance
Mario vs Donkey Kong
Metroid Fusion
Wario Land 4
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames
To download these titles, you must make sure you are connected to a Wi-Fi point, and then access the eShop. From there, just go to the Settings/Other tab and then “Your Downloads”. After that step, just hit Re-Download on each game and you are good to go! Simple as that. Now go enjoy your Game Boy Greatness!
The upcoming shooter remake of the Bullfrog classic Syndicate, developed by Starbreeze Studios, delves into the futuristic world of 2069 where super Mega-Corporations rule over the world. The normal civilians in this world have chips installed in their heads, while covert agents have modified chips for combat purposes.
These weaponised chips are called the DART6 chips and they allow for agents to mess with regular civilian chips, as well as perceive environmental details with the use of an array of applications and programs. The trailer and screenshots go through the various technologies at the disposal of agents in this universe and are pretty interesting to learn about.
So for those interested, be sure to check out the trailer, embedded below. Be sure to check out the Official Website.
… by Bioware and EA games. This is good news for all players of the MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe because it essentially means that for those of us who have ordered the game online and have to wait for shipping, we are able to use our early access keys to continue playing the game up until the 22nd before our accounts become locked.
Star Wars: The Old Republic launches on the 20th of December and is currently in it’s early access phase of the games launch. So this grace period allows players an additional two days of access before requiring a retail code of the game to be input on a players account.
This means that everyone who pre-ordered and is in the Early Game Access program has forty-eight hours from launch in which to enter their product registration code, which will be found inside the physical Standard and Collector’s Editions of the game; for digital editions of the game from Origin.com, the registration code will have been emailed to you after December 16th and will arrive before December 19th at 11:59PM EST. After December 22nd 12:01AM EST, you will be required to have a valid payment method and a product registration code registered to your account to continue to play. We strongly recommend that you register your product code as soon as you are able to do so (rather than waiting until the last minute) to ensure a seamless entry into the game, a smooth experience on the account website and to collect any special gifts and items you may be entitled to based on the version of the game you purchased.
Hopefully everyone will be having fun with this game when it comes out, I know I will be. For people wanting to purchase this game here in Australia, I recommend obtaining it from Amazon.
We’ve all seen plenty of zombies in the virtual world, so many in fact that a zombie outbreak has occurred in so many cities around the world that you would think by now, someone would have thought up a cure. Besides y’know… killing them in a whole variety of different ways. While the rule of thumb for a zombie apocalypse is to always aim for the head, where is the fun in that?
The Yakuza know a thing or two about beating people up and killing their enemies so it should only be an average Sunday afternoon when it comes to beating down a mob of zombies with a bicycle or even a Gatling gun attached to your arm. Don’t believe me? Check out the video that Sega has released for Yakuza Dead Souls below and keep an eye out for this PlayStation 3 exclusive March 2012.
Even though Ninja Gaiden 3 is coming out on March 20th next year, some of us can’t wait to get another taste of Ryu Hayabusa. Nor can we wait to get our hands on a Ninja Gaiden title that makes use of the touch screen controls of the PlayStation Vita. If either of those past two statements apply to you then you will be happy to know that Tecmo Koei is planning to release Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus in North America on February 22nd, the same day the Vita is released.
This effectively sets Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus as a launch title. Those interested in seeing a bit of what the titles touch screen controls can do can see the above image where the player must use the touch screen to use Ryu’s ninpo abilities.
Now before you say anything about that title being misleading, just think for one second… 10 million copies of Skyrim are now in the wild and each contains the ability to create an infinite amount of dragons. Just try and stop 10 million infinite dragons… Now in all seriousness, Zenimax, parent company of Bethesda, has revealed that they have shipped out 10 million copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to retailers since the title was released a little more than a month ago.
These 10 million units can equal $650 million in sales, and though this number doesn’t mean that they have sold that money, it does show the high demand for the title. To make it even better, Zenimax has also stated that the title has outsold all other PC titles by a factor of3 to 1 in the month since it was released and is also the fastest selling game in Steam’s history. Bravo Bethesda, bravo.
Man… out of perhaps all of the current hardware developing companies in the video game industry today, Sony tops even Nintendo on not knowing what they are doing with their handheld. Sony had previously stated that the Vita could actually support multiple PSN accounts if you decided to buy multiple expensive memory cards. Now it turns out that the PSN accounts aren’t just tied to the memory card, but the system as well.
In a response to Wired, a Sony rep told the company that “If a second person is using your Vita it’s not just a case of switching out memory cards, it’s clearing out all of your saved data on the Vita itself when you do the factory reset.” Hear that my friends? Progress….
Now in all seriousness, this may not affect most people, but one glance at the massive amount of content on the Japanese PSN compared to the US PSN is a prime example of why most people prefer having separate US and Japanese accounts on their Sony devices. The Vita could have been a great step forward by keeping with the multiple account system that the PlayStation 3 benefits from, but now it appears that Sony just loves shooting itself in the foot and withholding legitimate, already created and used in their previous product, features. Stay classy Sony… stay classy.
XIII – Lost Identity Developer: Microids Publisher: Anuman Interactive Platform: Mac(Reviewed)/iPhone/iPad Release: 08/12/11 Price: $10.49 – Available Here
Overview
Based on the 1984 comic book series, XIII, this title is not to be confused with the 2003 Ubisoft title XIII. Developed by Microids, XIII – Lost Identity takes the story of the original source material and attempts to make a videogame out of it. It’s an odd endeavour, considering that some time ago this was already done. Regardless, Microids have created their own multiplatform title with, shall we say, a somewhat original take on the source material.
Story
A man is washed up on the shore with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. The story progresses as he attempts to uncover his lost identity by searching for clues while avoiding dangerous strangers who seem to be hunting him from every direction. Telling the story beyond this would ruin any twists in the plot, and there are a few. Unfortunately this would defeat the purpose of playing the game considering the story is all the game has. It’s an interesting tale full of red herrings and twists, yet seems to be oddly delivered through this medium. The dialogues become painfully long as you are required to click next repeatedly as you read through comic-style text bubbles which will take hours of your time. Granted the story is an interesting one, but you’ll have to endure hours of tedious gameplay in order to uncover the identity of the mysterious man.
Gameplay
Cutting straight to the core mechanics, XIII – Lost Identity is a point and click game. While Microids have tried to mix it up by adding puzzle elements, these fall short of refreshing. In fact, the addition of puzzles and other gameplay elements such as tap-to-shoot sit uneasily within the framework of the story. For example, attempting to decode a computer will through you off into a Bejeweled style puzzle for all of thirty seconds, before you jump right back into clicking away. Even if one would be so inclined to deem these shifts from the core mechanics as a refreshing break, the lengthy tutorials add insult to injury: explaining how to get hints, what buttons to what and so forth. The puzzles are obvious enough that these can be skipped, although it would probably be best to stuck it up and endure the first one just to make sure.
The majority of the game will be spent searching through static scenes which have ‘clues’ littered throughout the screen. Often these clues sit strangely on top of background elements, or tucked uncomfortably behind foreground elements. If it weren’t for the subtle feedback loop of screen blocking to punish consistent incorrect clicking, this wouldn’t feel like a game at all. There are weird moments where you need to collect items such as ‘condensation’ from a window in order to unobscure your view through a window. If you are clever enough to succeed in this, you’ll be rewarded with another length dialogue scene which explains some more of the mystery – to a small extent. The more you click, the more people will attempt to explain who this mystery man you control is. Yet, more and more questions seem to be raised and the time it takes to get any answers starts to stretch into hours. Any redeeming features the story has are immediately rendered insignificant to your new found repetitive stress disorder from over clicking.
Visuals
Being based on a comic book, Microids attempted to capture the gritty noir style of the original work. For the most part they have. All the characters seem as if they have cut straight out of a comic and pasted onto the screen. I literally mean pasted. As well designed and classically comic book the characters may appear, the overall design has a seemingly collage element to it. The players sit uneasily over the top of the background for moments of dialogue accompanied by the appropriate text panels. The background doesn’t fare any better, with elements all looking like they are cut and pasted together to make the appropriate image. What’s worse is when clues start to litter themselves around the game, hiding in the most inappropriate places and often appearing disproportionately to other objects – such as a fishing hook the size of an umbrella. Perhaps transitional animations that appear to be moving through comic book panels would have been more appropriate, or even a simple white frame to represent panels may have connected all the elements together a little neater. All visual elements that attempt to tie this to the medium of videogame seem to take it further away from being a videogame. Ideally the game should have been graphically pushed to represent a comic book a little bit more.
Audio
A mysterious and often haunting soundtrack is layered under the length of the game. While it may not seem to deviate from first song you encounter, you don’t seem to get lost in the refrain. Rather, the soundtrack actually works well to provide an ominous undertone that doesn’t overshadow the story of the game.
Overall
I can only imagine the frustration of losing your memory. Thanks to this game, I have a little insight into that frustration. Of course this game will give you hours of gameplay, but it won’t be the most engaging game you’ll ever encounter. The graphics have potential but seem to fall short when attempting to add interactivity or gameplay elements – which of course is integral to a videogame. The mechanics seem to be designed to keep you playing and engaging with the story, but eventually you will start to get bored and any hooks the story arc may have had in the beginning seem to detach themselves and leave you a bored, mouse-clicking mess. If you’re after an interactive story, this may be a title for you. However, if you’re after an engaging puzzle-based point and click – this title falls just a little short.
