One of the most addictive puzzlers is now getting a facelift thanks to PopCap. As of today, an all-new adaptation of Bejeweled as well as a new freemium standalone version of Bejeweled Blitz have crashed onto the app store and are ready for download.
Why the change? PopCap have made a statement about the new Bejeweled which gives us a further look into the causal mastermind’s future.
“With nearly 40 million mobile units sold over the past eight years, Bejeweled is the second best-selling mobile game of all time, behind only Tetris,” noted Giordano Bruno Contestabile, Bejeweled franchise business director at PopCap Games. “As we strive to reach virtually everyone with a mobile communications device, PopCap will continue to make games that are even more accessible to that ever-expanding global audience. We’re taking a critical step toward this goal with the introduction of these new Bejeweled titles that will enhance our offerings on the iPhone for years to come.”
This new and constantly evolving Bejeweled sounds great so far, and luckily, some new features have also been detailed to give us a glimpse of all the offerings included.
New high-res graphics and retina display support
3 game modes: Classic, Zen (featuring 6 ambient sound tracks and 6 mantras) and Diamond Mine
In-game leaderboards to track personal high scores
User profiles with gameplay statistics and 30 PopCap icons to personalize the experience
7 achievement badges with 4 levels each (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), plus 3 elite badges
A player ranking system
As mentioned, Bejeweled Blitz is also getting an overhaul with it’s own goods in store. As most of you are aware, this little title started on Facebook and has turned into a social gaming phenomenon. Here is what’s in store for this outing:
An entirely new and irresistible user-interface
The Daily Spin feature where players try their luck to get bonus coins
A fun new tutorial system to help get new players moving up the leaderboards as quickly as possible
Retina display support and more
So what happens to the old Bejeweled 2 + Blitz? A nice room at Shady Falls as that classic has been completely retired to make room for these much more enhanced versions. Players can visit the Apple App Store to download the all-new Bejeweled for €0.79 (UK £0.69).
The guys over at THQ have released a new video of UFC3 Undisputed which simulates a UFC 140 fight between Lyoto Machida and Jon Jones.
The video showcases the vicious moves, takedowns, and submissions the UFC franchise is known for, and the results of the fight were gathered by simulating it 25 times. To see who emerged victorious, check out the video below.
UFC3 Undisputed hits store shelves on February 14th, 2012 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
WWE ’12 Platform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii Publisher:THQ Developer: Yuke’s Release Date: November 22, 2011 Price: $59.99 – Available Here
Overview
Fans of World Wrestling Entertainment have been treated well in terms of releases in the past decade as each year, we see a brand new title come out that always promises to be bigger and better than it’s predecessor. THQ have been delivering the goods for over 11 years now and I can definitely say there have been some absolute masterpieces to come out of the prestigious “Smackdown” series. If you need proof on that statement, just look at Smackdown 2 or Here Comes the Pain, both of which completely shook ground on their platform and delivered just about everything a fan could want. They were simple, true to the sport, and most of all…fun. Unfortunately, that is all in the past now as the last few titles in the franchise have been taking more steps back than forward.
2011 is a whole new year though. No longer donning the “Smackdown vs Raw” name, WWE ’12 is THQ’s fresh take on the series. Featuring a new control scheme, new gameplay mechanics, a brand new Road to Wrestlemania Mode, and a healthy array of customization, this is supposed to be the wrestling game that changes it all. “Bigger, Badder, Better” was even the catchphrase used to promote the game. After foaming at the mouth for months just to see what this offering would bring, I finally got to get my hands on this reboot. Sadly, I feel like I need some soap as this may in fact be the worst wrestling title to ever grace a console. Why do I say that? Here is my review for WWE ’12.
Road to Wreslemania
For the past few years, Road to Wrestlemania has taken over the standard “Season” mode where the player was allowed to choose one of five Superstars and then go through a WWE calender year, performing in matches while getting fed plots and feuds along the way. WWE ’12 utilizes that same formula this time around, but now everything is much more limited. Instead of actually selecting your favorite Superstar, the player starts off playing as Sheamus, then switching to Triple H, and finally getting to embody your own creation…by the name of Jacob Cass.
Each week you will take your assigned Superstar into a match, with new feuds and scenarios thrown in at random to build up hype for the next Pay-Per-View. As far as a serious plot in a wrestling game goes, we have seen some good and not-so good storylines in the past, but the Road to Wrestlemania mode with WWE ’12 is just flat out sloppy. It’s not that the writing is terrible, as a lot of the scenarios feel very true to the real thing. This mode’s downfall comes down to execution. You see, each of the three participants of this mode are given just six months to tell one full story. Sheamus’ arc is about the rise of a new faction, Triple H wants to be WWE Champion yet again, and Jacob Cass is a rookie who runs into some “Classic” competition. Again, there is a lot of meat to these narratives, but going four hours with each persona in the same storyline becomes a tiresome road to travel on. Players will fight backstage, in the ring, and see a good number of opponent changes, but everyone of these plots fall apart before finishing as unlike the television product, there isn’t much continuity.
If the story wasn’t jumbled enough, the matches within Road to Wrestlemania have been replaced themselves with a new objective based formula. These play out like matches, but instead of pinning or making an opponent tap out, the player just presses an action button to be taken straight to a cutscene. Sometimes I would have dominated heavily before hitting the action button, just to see my Superstar layed out in an instant due to the the cutscene that followed. This eliminates any feeling of completion or any safisfying finish and it’s almost as if Yuke’s pulled away the controller and said “NO! We’ll do it!”. With such a huge variety of match types in the game, it was also a bit saddening to constantly be thrown into 6-man tags and tag matches in general. This type of bout did not work well with the objective-based finales at all (imagine taking out a whole team, only to be destroyed by one of those Superstars after completing the objective), and led to a lot of line-ups being a near mirror-image of what was offered for the previous week.
Gameplay
As far as gameplay goes, a lot has changed in WWE ’12. Instead of using the control stick to perform grapples, THQ and Yuke’s have went back to the old face-button formula. For example, on the Xbox 360 controller, the A button is used to grapple, irish-whipping can be done with the B button, X is used for strikes, and Y is used to perform special maneuvers. After refining the stick method for so long, it was a bit odd to see such a huge backtrack in terms of control, but it’s not too difficult to re-learn the basics in a short time. Blocking works nearly in the same manner that we seen in previous entries with the player having to tap the appropriate trigger, but the timing windows have been minimized. Thankfully, this does improve countering, as blocking a move is a lot more strategical and accuracy and timing must be used to turn a move into a reversal. Running, taunting, and all of the other controls have remained in tact for the most part, so those familiar with the Smackdown vs Raw series will feel right at home when it comes to beating down a foe in the vast amount of exhibition matches after forgetting all about that now unnecessary stick. The core system is still solid and enjoyable…that is until the new physics engine comes into the picture.
One of the most promoted inclusions in WWE ’12 was the new “Predator Technology”. For those unfamiliar, this lets players now interrupt grapples and attack a wrestler who is in an animation. This tech also stops Superstars from teleporting to an appropriate spot to perform a maneuver so that the action looks and feels more realistic. While this addition was needed in the Smackdown vs Raw series, it was pulled off atrociously here. When you do interrupt a move, there is little to no hit detection and most of the time, both of the opponents attacked will just fall to the ground and land on their feet, like nothing ever happened. To make matters worse, glitches also rear their ugly heads while attacking an opponent in an animation. I have had several occasions where my wrestler would literally twist into a rival while performing a move, temporarily creating a polygonal pretzel. Yes, it can be a hilarious sight to see, but my laughs were usually met with a sigh as there isn’t any reason these intrusive glitches should be happening. Looking back, wrestling games other than the Smackdown series have incorporated the same physics as the Predator Technology and did so quite well. Even No Mercy for the Nintendo 64 allowed for animation interruptions, and sadly that method was executed in a more realistic and fluid manner than what we see in WWE ’12.
Staying on the same topic, the teleporting was one issue that was fixed. No longer do Superstars float to a spot to perform their finisher, and when you do pull off that said move, the result still looks authentic. For some odd reason though, if you are playing as someone who had a location based finisher, their special move will then be changed to a small elbow to the face outside of the ring. When you battle all match to get the chance to pull off an ultimate attack, it’s quite disheartening to see such a light technique done to an opponent, and also out of character for a good number of personalities within the game.
Time to put on your soccer boots and join ‘Coach Tony’ Gonzalez, Holly, Jolly and friends in the first of many interactive sports adventures from Jolly Productions. The game features NFL All-Pro Tony Gonzalez as Coach Tony, who teaches Holly and Jolly Blast the basics of soccer.
The game will feature an animated version of the five-time All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons, Coach Tony, who will hopefully use his impressive resume to encourage children to be active and spark a lifelong love for games and movement.
“Jolly Blast’s mission is to teach kids and parents that participating in sports is a fun way to build self-esteem, get some exercise as well as learn teamwork and sportsmanship,” said Gonzalez, who is the second leading receiver in NFL history. “Whether it’s an organized sport, a school playground activity or a made-up backyard game, kids who are physically active develop solid health and fitness practices that enrich them for a lifetime.”
The story follows Holly and Jolly who are on a mission to save their home planet Blah from bordem, and what better way to do that with a game of soccer. The app is designed to get children up and moving as well as teach them the basic soccer rules, moves and terminology. Parents will never need to frown when their kids start to play videogames with a title like this.
Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow Developer: Epic Games Publisher: Microsoft Platform: Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: December 13, 2011 Price: 1200 MSP
Overview:
Ever since Gears of War 3 was released a few months ago we have seen a number of pieces of DLC for the title. Nearly all of the DLC has been for weapon skins, but there was a multiplayer piece of DLC which added multiple maps to the experience. It is quite surprising however, that Epic is releasing a piece of campaign DLC so quickly after the release of the title, at least compared to the year long wait for Gears of War 2 campaign DLC. Now we have Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow which provides a whole new chapter in the Gears of War series. How does it fair?
Story:
We’ve all seen the end of the Gears of War storyline… but what about what happened before Delta Squad entered the fray and Marcus Fenix became the headline man of the Gears of War series. Well while Marcus was sitting in jail before the events of Gears of War 1, other COGs were fighting a losing battle against the Locust swarm. Players will jump into the boots of Michael Barrick the leader of the Zeta squad who is joined by Lt. Minh Young Kim, Tai Kaliso and Alicia Valera.
While Minh Young Kim and Tai Kaliso may be familiar with most Gears of War fans, Alicia Valera is brand new to this piece of DLC and to the Gears series while Michael Barrick is actually known from the Gears of War comic book series. Zeta squad has been tasked to evacuate civilians from Ilima City and to try and protect them against the various Locusts and get them out of there before the Locus Kryll storm turns the city into a graveyard.
Myrrah on the other hand, wants to eliminate every human occupying the city and murder them by any means necessary. As such she has sent forth an elite squad of Locusts headed by General RAAM to bring forth Seeder artillery to fill the sky with ink and bring about the death of the humans via the Kryll storm even faster.
In RAAM’s Shadow we are given our first taste into how the Locust Queen Myrrah issues her commands to the soldiers as well as how powerful RAAM himself was. Unfortunately that is the only real interesting bit of the story we see in this DLC. Out of all of the characters in Zeta Squad, not a single one of them sees any type of character development nor do they see much characterization even outside of soldiers.
Sure there is a very minor amount of development, but it simply turns out to be non-consequential by the end of the story and ultimately feels like a waste of time. While it is great to see more story for the series rather than multiplayer DLC, this additional content simply feels like a waste of time as it does barely anything to expand the player’s knowledge or experience in the series. To make things a bit worse, the game attempts to be dramatic a few times, especially in the first minute of the story nearly all drama is useless thanks to practically no character development. Trying to make players feel something for characters that say around a minutes worth of dialogue throughout the entire story simply doesn’t work.
Visuals:
One thing that is interesting about this piece of DLC is that it takes place before even Gears of War 1. What this means is that the world itself is still mostly intact and everything around you isn’t burned down, destroyed or looks like it has been abandoned for years at a time. This means as you fight through the streets of Ilima City you will be seeing what used to be a thriving city evacuated and left at the mercy of the Locust. This new look is certainly a breath of fresh air and helps make the experience seem worthwhile, especially after most of the environments that were experienced in Gears of War 3 were so desolate and downtrodden.
As a whole it is good to see a whole set of new characters to be played rather than the ones we have been dealt over the past three Gears of War titles. Kim and Tai both look as good as we may remember them from their past titles, though Alicia and Barrick actually have rather unique looking designs, such as a cigar hanging out of Barrick’s mouth throughout the entire campaign which will be immediately noticeable being as those are the characters played, with the co-op partner taking control of Alicia.
Audio:
Now Gears of War has always had a rather gruff sounding voice cast and that has stayed the same as always. The voice actors for Tai and Kim have reprised their roles while Alicia’s actress performs an admiral job with her lines. Barrick is the replacement for Fenix’s gravelly voice that is heard all of the time, so you won’t find anything substantially different or interesting here. Myrrah’s actress also reprises her role as well and the rest of the DLC’s score is much of the same that has already been heard before.
Gameplay:
As players step into the shoes of the Zeta team they will be given a five chapter long scenario to play through. This piece of DLC provides both the standard version of these levels as well as the arcade versions for those who feel like competing with one another. Of course the multiplayer aspect has also returned which allows four players to play on the same team as they make their way through the story which is just as enjoyable as it was throughout the Gears of War 3 campaign.
Now the only new weapon introduced for the COG soldiers turns out to not even be a new weapon at all in this DLC, but actually a different way to make use of the Hammer of Dawn. Rather than add any new or interesting weapons for the COG, we have been given the Hammer of Dawn Command Center which is a stationary piece of equipment that provides a top down view of a certain section of the battlefield to eliminate the Locust.
While the COG receive a completely anemic weaponry addition, the highlight of this DLC is playing as none other than General RAAM himself. RAAM is a slow and practically unstoppable force on the battlefield and players can finally wield his abilities to eliminate countless faceless COG soldiers. RAAM moves around with a full Kryll swarm shield that is only dispersed whenever you send it out to tear apart COG soldiers into bloody messes or whenever an explosion occurs near them.
The Kryll are a brutal weapon that is absolutely devastating, but his other weapon is his a very wicked looking blade that is carried in his left hand. This blade can be used for simple melee that will likely kill any COG it hits, or can be held down to perform the same action as a bayonet charge. The sound for the charge is even the same as the bayonet which is unfortunate and the animation for the stab is almost the same exact thing except with more brutality as RAAM runs them through with one hand and flings them aside.
Unfortunately that is all there really is added gameplay wise to the story part of the DLC. Those who are interested in playing plenty of multiplayer will see that every gun you can use in multiplayer can now be equipped with a Chocolate skin. This is a neat little skin but is completely static in appearance and looks like a mix between dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Besides that there are also new skins for the multiplayer mode in versus mode, four COG skins and two Locust skins. The four skins for the COG is of course each of the Zeta squad members and the two Locus skins are the big man himself General RAAM and Theron Elite.
The enemy and allied AI seems to follow the exact same structure as it did in the Gears of War 3 campaign mode, though I experienced a number of new issues that emerged with this piece of DLC. Whenever an E-hole popped open and locust would crawl out, there are a number of times that they will simply fall back into that same hole and die. This is especially true with the ally AI as I experienced a number of mission failures due to an AI partner stumbling into a hole and dying with nothing even near them.
Overall:
All in all Gears of War 3: RAAM’s Shadow gives us all the power of RAAM but unfortunately we have only a minimal amount of time to take advantage of his power as the balance between COG and RAAM gameplay time is 75% COG and 25% RAAM. As a whole the DLC fails to actually add much storyline or even draw any emotion out of the player with its lackluster story content and story run through time of around three hours it doesn’t quite live up to its 1200 MSP price tag. Still, those looking for more Gears of War action can’t go wrong nor can those who are looking for new skins in multiplayer.
A game that etched it’s way into history back in the 90’s on the Super Nintendo, will be travelling forward through time and landing inside of iPhones across Japan on the 13th of December. That game is of course the legendary anime-styled role playing game Chrono Trigger.
To coincide with the release of Chrono Trigger on ther iPhone, a trailer has been released to promote the trek through time. You can check out the Chrono Trigger trailer below.
While the iPhone release is currently set for Japan, it is said to be coming to other regions in the future. What do you think of Chrono Trigger on the iPhone? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
With over 600 Toy Pokémon, Super Pokémon Rumble is an action-packed 3D game available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS! You get to create your own elite team of Toy Pokémon from those you encounter and you get to do some real-time battles with other Toy Pokémon and giant Boss Pokémon!
Not only is this brand new Pokémon game on the 3DS, but there are two exclusive passwords to unlock two special Toy Pokémon in your game to celebrate the launch! For Tepig enter 54870822 and for Snivy enter 49416440. Ensure you talk to Munna in Easterly Town, which is the second town in the game, and after entering the correct password Munna will tell you where to befriend the special Toy Pokémon. Additional exclusive passwords will also be revealed soon.
For more details and a sneak peek at the game, head to the official Super Pokémon Rumble website HERE
Super Pokémon Rumble is available NOW for Nintendo 3DS for $34.99 – get it HERE
Launching Pad Games have decided to give us all a little Christmas present, in the form of a holiday update for Mighty Fin! There really is nothing like a little holiday update for an app, it makes you all cheery and Christmas-sy in ways that shopping centre carols just never will.
There are three new holiday levels of Winter Wonderland, Down Under and the Tim Burton-inspire Haunted Holiday. And what is more festive than some Tim Burton? There are also twelve festive costumes, and a generous sprinkling of some damn good cheer.
For those who already own Mighty Fin you can grab the update for free of course, but for those of you who think this sounds like a pretty awesome deal then make sure you grab yourself a copy!
Mighty Fin is available for iPad, iPhone and iTouch for $0.99 – get it HERE
With a name like Buck Crosshaw its no surprise that he’s a bit of a badass. Put on top of that the fact that he’s an outlaw who had to fake his own death and escape Arizona, oh and also the fact that he’s a character from a game called ‘Six-Guns’, which is set in the Wild West. Well that’s damn near enough to get me interested.
Explore the open world set in Arizona and Oregon, filled with events, mystery and challenges which count – but are not limited to – outlaws, vampires and many others which will probably leave you pretty drawn into this not-so-usual title.
There are forty missions overall, and with a wide range of tasks you’re bound to never get bored! There are 8 different horses to unlock, 19 weapons, and a whole heap of clothes, ammo and other items.
Six-Guns is available on iPhone and iPad for FREE – get it HERE
Everything is magical and nothing hurts! That’s how they roll in Fantasy Town. A place for magic and imagination where you get to grow magic plants, build a village of your own, and explore mysterious lands. Expect to run into some fantasy creatures, from dwarves to (I’m guessing) unicorns. Because what’s a fantasy game without some unicorns thrown in?
There aren’t any limitations to what you can build and decorate, so this is great for kids if they’re going through the stage where everything simply must be as colourful, shiny, and rainbow-y as possible! Or if you’re just looking for a place to vent your inner interior designer.
There are items to collect and monsters to slay! Fantasy Town will certainly fulfill your thirst for the fantastical, either way. Plus, you can invite friends over Facebook Connect and check out each other’s towns as well as trade some stuff.
Fantasy Town is available on the iPhone and iPad for FREE – get it HERE
