Konami Digital Entertainment announces new downloadable content for Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone. With the Pure Pwnage Pack players will be able to explore an underground military complex loaded with weaponry. Filled with test weapons and toxic waste, what more could you ask for except for an endless stream of zombies?
Additional to the new map, gamers will be able to enjoy playing as the original characters from the first Zombie Apocalypse as well as a new mode of play. Experience the Pure Pwnage mode and fight your way against hordes of zombies to achieve the best overall score.
If you are new to the Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, think about blowing up zombies with teddy bear explosives in an action shooter format. Only 400 MSP is necessary to purchase the Pure Pwnage expansion. Check out the screenshots below to catch a glimpse of the new content.
The Hidden Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Publisher(s):Majesco Developer(s): 1st Playable Productions Genre(s): Augmented Reality/Adventure Release Date: November 3, 2011 (US) Price: $29.99 – Available Here
Overview
Whether it be on late night cable television or in a famous flick starring Rick Moranis, ghost hunting has been a popular topic for years now. 1st Playable were well aware of the trend and took to using nearly every feature on the 3DS to bring their own ghost snatching romp to the public in The Hidden. As a member of an elite squad known as G.E.I.S.T. (Ghostly Entity Investigation and Strike Team), players must use the 3DS’ augmented reality feature to track down dangerous entities in several different missions located in real-world environments. Yes, it’s quite an ambitious concept, but does this unique formula work? Here is my review for The Hidden on the Nintendo 3DS.
Gameplay
Starting out in The Hidden, players literally get to be a member of a paranormal investigation squad by creating a unique I.D. card for themselves. After your picture is snapped, details are taken, and fingerprint is “scanned”, it’s then your job to set out and find entities and complete your team’s objectives. Luckily, this title shines at making the player feel like they apart of a ghost hunting organization as the menus are cleverly designed to provide them with every tool needed for whatever task is at hand. Each time you receive a new mission or side objective, an email hits your in-game inbox and you must then start a hunt to find the ghost plaguing an area while receiving constant feedback in the process.
Whenever you are hunting a ghost (or “shade” as they are called here), the complete experience is done using the augmented reality function. The bottom screen is used to display all of your high tech weaponry and tools, while the top uses the 3DS’ camera to capture the environment you may be in along with the HUD. Whenever a shade is found, they will slowly appear on screen and can be scanned and then fought with the player’s upgradeable arsenal. If you think this sounds like Face Raiders, then you would be right as everything controls in nearly the same manner. The Hidden however is much more complex though as these shades must be logged as well as destroyed. This isn’t a game you can play while just sitting in one spot either as you must actually walk from area to area to seek out specific entities to complete missions. I personally didn’t mind this at all as it certainly gives a nice feeling of actual progression to the experience, but I would also imagine those who are just wanting to sit and play a game will be put off with the constant requirement of movement.
When a shade is encountered, they usually float around in all directions and the player must spin around and use the face buttons on the handheld to fire their weapons. Battles usually consist of the same kind of push and pull mechanic seen in the likes of Luigi’s mansion, where you must also use the circle pad to keep your target locked on to. Once defeated, ectoplasm is dropped which in turn can be used to upgrade weapons. It’s a well made upgrading system that offers a lot of variety, but the way players actually discover these ghosts leaves a lot to be desired. You see, the game uses a form of “wireless” technology to distinguish where the player is located so you must constantly change up your surroundings. This concept sounds fantastic, but I found it nearly impossible at times to find a shade. At first, there were no problems and one shade after another made themselves present and an intense battle followed. After that though, I walked around for a lengthy period of time just to find nothing at all. I walked outdoors, in a shopping mall (with all the shoppers in my sights), and several other locations, only to land one shade outside my own home. One can look at this in a good light as it certainly makes things feel realistic, but I did however wonder if the tracking system was broken at times as the number of ghosts I found were just so few and far between.
That isn’t to say The Hidden isn’t still clever, as there are maps that can track where you have been and a log can keep track and take photos of every ghost the player has found. Sadly, all of these great ideas felt wasted as the longer it took myself to find a shade, the less invested I became in the overall experience. I’m usually patient with any game that requires actual effort to play, but the wireless tracking left me walking for what felt like miles and I had hardly anything to show for it all in the end except for a few slightly upgraded weapons, begging to be used.
Visuals/Audio
The Hidden utilizes the 3D visuals of the handheld well and when you do find a shade, they can seem to be ready to fly right out of the screen. Due to all of the movement, I honestly expected the 3D to not work but since the player is required to hold the 3DS upright, the “sweet spot” is always in focus and no one should have any problem in getting that same “popping” effect at all times. As far as art style goes, shades appear a bit cartoony, usually resembling a colored blob or spirit of some sort. The menus are very impressively designed and the HUD being active in every area the player is in makes hunting these ghosts an interesting adventure as all of the small details make everything feel authentic to the premise presented.
The sound in the game is also well done. The music can be a bit forgettable, but all other effects such as your radar, emails, and the grimacing shades within set a nice atmosphere on top of your own real world environment that can add a ton of incentive to keep walking and searching. Weapons all have their own distinct sound when taking on a shade and the variety of satisfying blasts you can unlock is yet another factor that makes progression (and the collection of ectoplasm) more rewarding overall.
Overall
When it boils down to it, The Hidden is the most ambitious game the 3DS has seen so far. Unfortunately, even with all the useful and fluid mechanics in tact, the wireless tracking system doesn’t let the player find many ghosts to start with and the game falls a bit flat as a result. That doesn’t mean I don’t recommend this title’s unique offerings, as those who want something that thinks outside the box and that feels different are in for quite a treat. However, if your patience wears thin easily and you simply want to sit and not be bothered in taking your beloved 3DS with you everywhere, you may want to leave ghost hunting to the experts and give this one a pass.
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3 Releasedate: November 18, 2011 Price: $39.99 –Available Here
Overview
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is another title in a string of Capcom releases that is controversial. Capcom’s M.O. of late is to release a game and then almost immediately release the same title, albeit with updated content and fixes. However, many Capcom fans have decried that these “updated releases” could easily be released as downloadable content for a 1/4 of the the price. Nevertheless, that has not stopped Capcom from charging $40 for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. Does this title have what it takes to be a retail release, or should it be $10 DLC? Find out in the following review of the game.
Story
Not much has changed in the way of story from the original Marvel vs Capcom 3. As with many fighting games, the story verges on being nonsensical and silly, but the crossover between the two universes is nonetheless compelling.
For some reason, the characters from each franchise, Marvel and Capcom, have teamed up. However, this alliance has devastating consequences. You see, the universe is not equipped to handle mind bending paradoxes, such as one universe colliding with another. Therefore, when Marvel and Capcom characters come together, it poses a serious threat to everything. In addition to that though, this heinous alliance has angered the god Galactus!
Although I found it hard to follow exactly what was going on in the story (this is no linear, beginning to end game after all!) I still enjoyed it. At times, it felt as though the game had become a fantastic animated comic. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is obviously not designed to satiate ones need for a complex plot. However, as a base for the rest of the game to hang on, the plot in Marvel vs Capcom 3 is perfectly fine, so long as you don’t mind not quite understanding how every little detail makes sense.
Gameplay
At its core, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 carries on as a stellar fighting game, wherein you face off with a squad of 3 against another squad of 3. You have to memorize combos, pull off stunning fighting moves whilst hitting buttons madly and there is a ton of high flying action moves that look A-MUH-ZZING! Nevertheless, if you look closer at Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, it becomes apparent that there is a lot new going in this game.
Undoubtedly, one of the most anticipated features of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom was the balance fixes that were promised. In part, Capcom used the new characters to help the game’s balance. For example, many of the new characters attacks focus more on projectiles, which are a great help in taking down the melee based characters. However, it was also evident that they really worked a lot on making sure every character was not too powerful or too weak. Although some would argue that the original game should not have been released with the balance issues it had, the changes made in this version of the game are still a treat. One particular fix of note is the changes made to the X-Factor. It is now a much better dispatching method.
In addition to the balance tweaks that the new characters bring, they also bring some very exciting new moves to the table. None of the new characters exemplify this more than the addition of Phoenix Wright. The addition of this scholarly lawyer is innovative and exciting. In fact, it is so awesome how they implemented his courtroom antics that I would hate to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that if you can imagine him fighting the Incredible Hulk, you will have a good idea of how hilarious and awe inspiring it is to have him as a playable character in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.
Of course, each new character (12 in all, 6 to the Marvel side and 6 on the Capcom side) is fun to play around with and master, and it is no surprise that they are the highlight of the this Ultimate version. Sure, the balance tweaks are fine for the older characters and they are still fun, but Capcom really did a tremendous job with all the new characters. Each has very exciting attacks, and they all add their own special ingredient to the game.
To get a better idea of how this game treats new fighting game recruits, I asked my brother to test this game out. He and I were excited to find out that Marvel vs Capcom was trying to make their game accessible to all skill levels. However, we personally found this to be a little untrue. There is no real tutorial. The game has practice sessions and it will allow you look up moves, but it is still more or less a trial and error session for new players. The game is incredibly hard, and even on the lowest difficulty setting, he had some trouble with getting smacked around. Hardcore players will undoubtedly be thrilled at the challenge, but newbies will be frustrated for awhile, as sometimes the AI literally seems like they are ticked at the player and want them to throw a controller. Nevertheless, it seemed as though he still had a blast once he learned some of the basic combos, went through the Missions mode and pulled some amazing combos. New players should be warned that this is not a game that is pick up and master. You will need to spend a plethora of time to truly understand what it takes to be any good at this game. And a fighting stick will also go a long way, as it is nigh impossible to do everything with just a controller, even once you switch to the simplified controls.
Audio
The soundtrack in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is fantastic. Plenty of high energy audio makes each fight come alive and I really found myself entranced with each new track. In addition, voice acting is also quite solid. Each character, whether they be from the Marvel Universe or the Capcom Universe, were each voiced with care. For example, Iron Man’s voice sounded great, as did X-Men’s Storm. Every single one them sounded true to form. They even had specific voice lines that were tailored to each character they were facing off against. That being said, I couldn’t help being a little disappointed when I heard the same lines over and over again. If there is anything this generation has taught us, it is that game developers can and should be able to make it seem as these characters are actually real and not saying the same lines over and over again. Unfortunately, the characters in this game have around 2 standard lines that they say at the beginning of their battles and at the end when they win. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, they do change it up depending on who they are fighting, but it still gets old. Adding to this lack of verbal expression, the voiceover guy also seemed to be at a loss for words. For the first hour of the game, I thought he only knew how to pronounce each characters name and tell you to “Get ready for the fight of your life!” Thankfully, almost mercifully, he finally started switching up his lines later in the game, although he still seems to only have a few.
Visuals
One of the biggest complaints many had with Marvel vs Capcom 3 was that the HUD was terrible. Capcom had promised to refresh it, and they did. Nevertheless, it still has some serious annoyances. For example, making it so that that A1 is on the bottom was an awful decision. In addition, the Dos Equis X’s are terribly huge and could have been reduced in size, thus allowing more important elements of the HUD, like the terrifically tiny life bars of tagged out partners, to be larger.
I digress though, as the graphics in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 are actually quite wonderful. Each background is full of action and interesting secrets that you can pick up on when you have a moment away from the frenetic fighting. In addition, Capcom created a variety of alternate color schemes for the game’s characters.
Overall
Overall, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom is great buy for those who have not picked up the game yet. You get all the updated stuff and a brand new game for 40 bucks. As far as those who bought the original game though, this game is a tough sell. You could buy each new character at $5 a pop and and that would be a $20 price increase than this game, which also includes balances, tweaks, better online features and spectator mode. That said, it still feels as though this game was intended to make sure that Capcom thoroughly wringed every single cent they could out of this release of Marvel vs Capcom. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide whether you think it is worth it to buy an updated version of a game you already have in exchange for a slew of new characters and all the other cool new hawtness that Capcom included. This game is fun, has awesome fighting mechanics and will completely satisfy any gamer who wants a fantastic, violent comic book experience.
Well well well, it is that time of the year in North America. The time of year when everyone sat down yesterday to eat turkey to fuel their rage to shop later on that day. Well, to be honest most people enjoyed a nice family meal with their extended family and had a wonderful day. But that night, Black Friday began and it is when most stores provide the cheapest deals on various electronics, household items and video games all year long.
It seems however that one Californian shopper wanted to get to the deals a bit too much however. The LA Times reports that right before the Black Friday deals at Walmart went live an unnamed woman pepper sprayed all nearby shoppers in the crowd including a gamer known as Matthew Lopez just so she could make it to the video game section first. Twenty people suffered minor injuries from the pepper spray and the video game section was torn down and employees were trying to pick up scattered games and screams broke out as those waiting in line for the 360 and Wii deals began shoving others into shelves and taking consoles out of each others arms.
Capcom has officially revealed when most of the world can expect to be playing their big action RPG Dragon’s Dogma. The release dates are surprisingly spaced apart however, with the North American release on March 27th, European release on May 1st and a yet to be confirmed Japanese release date of sometime early 2012.
For those who don’t know, Dragon’s Dogma has the appearance of an action RPG that will allow players to summon three “pawns” which are AI companions which will help you in battle. The unique thing about the pawns are that they can either be collected from your own world or from other players’ games. Any pawn that joins the player from another game will be able to provide tips and hints against enemies if the player of that title has already met up with that enemy.
When Battlefield 3 was released it was quickly found out that EA had decided not to include a promised free digital copy of Battlefield 1943 in the PlayStation 3 version of the title despite promising to do so back at E3. The company never revealed that information and only quietly mentioned it on Twitter after Battlefield 3’s release. Because of this, a group of angry consumers got together and set up a class action suit that would hold EA responsible for false advertising.
In a way to avoid the lawsuit, EA has set up this website to obtain a 1943 voucher. The vouchers will begin being released on November 26 in Europe, December 10 in North America and December 17 in Japan. It is good to see that companies, even ones as large as EA, can be held liable for breaking their word, though it is sad that legal action and threats had to be made for the company to follow through with their promises.
While the people of North America have been enjoying the unique puzzle title that is Catherine, the rest of the West has unfortunately been unable to take a crack at the romantic nightmarish world that is Catherine. However it appears that Catherine will be showing up in Europe early next year in February 2012.
Deep Silver will be handling Atlus’ release and will also be releasing a neat double sided cover which will contain both the PS3 and Xbox 360 covers which were different in North America. Deep Silver is doing this so that “consumers will get the opportunity to select their personal preference as to which of the women in his life the game’s main character, Vincent, should choose. If you want to check out our review for the title, you can d o so here.
Rising Star Games today announced the release of The King of Fighters XIII, the latest instalment of the long-running beat ’em up. It will be putting up a fight for Christmas sales in retail outlets from today, on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The series started back in 1994, and this latest instalment marks the final chapter in the Ash Saga story-wise. It will allow you to test your abilities online, customise fighters to create a unique character to truly become the fighting king and stand out from the crowd.
The King of Fighters XIII is based on the arcade version of the game and allows up to three playable characters in 3-3 battles, taking the non-stop frenzied fights to the limit.
Fishlabs Entertainment has announced the release of Sports Car Challenge, the perfect app for people who would love nothing more than to gun some fast cars and reach the top speed of more than 400 km/h. And who doesn’t love that?
Working with Volkswagen, the list of sports cars include Audi TTS Coupé, the Bentley Continental Supersports ISR, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, the Porsche Cayman R and last but not at all least the Volkswagen Scirocco R. And I may not be the biggest car fan, but these are some damn fine cars that even I know are all super drool-worthy. Using super detailed 3D models and an overall sweet visual treat and a huge variety of authentic colours and rims for full customization abilities. You can choose between automatic and manual and experience first-hand what it feels like to shift up through seven gears in some completely kickass four-wheeled powerhouses.
There are three different race modes, time trial, slalom and braking contest.
Sports Car Challenge is available now on iPhone and iPad for FREE – get it HERE
Arcen Games have pitched in for Steam’s Autumn Sale, putting their deep space strategy game AI War and all of the expansions on sale for 75% off. This basically means that you can get the base game for $5, small DLC for $1, full expansions for $2.50, and the whole AI War bundle together with some extra savings in the Alien Bundle for just $7.50! If that doesn’t get you excited then the unique puzzle game Tidalis is 80% off and is going for just $2 instead of the usual $10.
The sale goes until November 27, giving you a small window to grab the games as soon as possible. You can get both the PC and Mac versions, so pick your poison well. Or, heck, if you have both you may as well pick both since the discounts are so huge.
