During a hands on demo of a more advanced version of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Impress Watch noticed something a bit strange about the game’s opening. If you were to have a save file from Final Fantasy XIII you would be able to hear the game’s opening narration from a number of different characters instead of just one.
Whether or not there are more bonuses other than this to be had has yet to be seen. Siliconera reports that the equipment system and level up system has been changed as well. Each character can equip four different items at a time and monsters can wear items that will change how they look in battle. Noel and Serah will still level up using the Crystarium system, but rather than having multiple paths, there will only be one path with various branching grids.
Remember yesterday when Sony released a video to give Home goers a sample of what the new PlayStation Home was going to be like? Well perhaps you should go watch that video. Sony revealed today that the PlayStation Home will be relaunched at some point tomorrow with all of those new features.
The PlayStation Home will still be free to play and will feature some new districts and a few free to play games. Also added is a revamped hub that allows players to get from place to place easier than before. I’m not a big fan of the PlayStation Home myself, but this is certainly good news for those eager to take their avatar into the Home again.
Game: Dance Central 2 Publisher/Developer: Microsoft/Harmonix Console(s): Xbox 360 – Kinect required Genre: Music/Dancing Price:$49.99 – Buy it here ESRB Rating: T for Teen
The Xbox 360 Kinect launched with mild critical acclaim and a ravid customer base. When it was released, there were only a few games worthy of actually playing with the new accessory. And Dance Central was one of those few games. Building on their knowledge of music and gaming, Harmonix truly innovated with the Kinect and made the Kinect peripheral worthwhile. Now, nearly a year later, Kinect games, let alone good ones, are few and far between. Dance Central 2 attempts to rectify this problem. And boy, does it ever succeed.
At its very base, Dance Central 2 is very similar to the first game. You mirror the onscreen character, try to copy their dance moves and max out your score. However, saying the two games are the same would be a mighty insult. Dance Central 2 has a ton more to offer than the original game.
First off, Dance Central 2 offers a “story” mode, or about as close to a story mode as one can get in a dancing game. You must face off versus a variety of dancing teams as you climb the ladder and try to take down the reigning champs of the dancing league. Along the way, you will encounter a variety of dance moves to learn and master. In addition, this mode is where you will unlock new costumes and add-ons for your character. All in all, this is probably where you will want to start off your dancing experience, as it offers the most structure and would most likely give you the best introduction to the basics of the game.
Nevertheless, even if you don’t start here, Dance Central 2 does a very good job of teaching you the ways of dancing like the stars. Notice I said teaching you. Dance Central 2 does not help you in an annoying, insulting fashion, does not make you read walls of boring tutorial texts and does not play the game for you, unlike so many video games that make their tutorials about as worthless as a $3 dollar bill. No, Dance Central 2 will evaluate your performance on a song and then make suggestions on what you need to work on at the end of the song. Then, if you choose, you can opt to learn different moves in the Break it Down mode. Here, everything is slowed down and explained in a very easy to understand manner. You can also switch to Break it Down mode in the middle of any track you are playing. Harmonix made switching between Break it Down mode and the main game so easy and effortless it is astonishing. You are not penalized for taking the extra time to learn a move and it does not require you to exit all the way to new menu. You simply say “Xbox Pause” and then select the Break it Down option. You can even record your moves to see what you are doing wrong. The overhead voice that attempts to teach you the ways of the dance is not overbearing or annoying either. He gives actual helpful tips and advice.
If your worried about the Kinect gesture tracking, don’t be. Yes, just as Rock Band occasionally lagged or screwed up (or at least, YOU thought it did) the Kinect will very rarely say that you missed a move although you would swear you were right on. However, 98% of the time, you will be be not just impressed, but slack jawed at how well the Kinect recognizes your movements. Harmonix has shown that not only know how to make a stellar dance game, but that Kinect motion controls CAN be used to accurately measure gameplay movement. I look forward to how other companies will implement this after they realize it can be done.
Secondly, Dance Central adds synchronous multiplayer support. Coop and competitive modes are available. In any mode you can have up to 2 players playing side by side. However the Dance Battle competitive mode is just as fun. You and a friend can compete for the highest score by performing as best as you can. As is usual for party games, especially dancing games, multiplayer is where the game truly is the most fun. Dancing with others is always best because you can laugh at each other and just have a great time in general.
Dance Central 2 offers a lot of options to play: You could defeat the AI on top and take over as the masters of the dancing world. You can play Break it Down and master everything. You can show up your friends in Dance Battle. And you can go all crazy and just dance any of the songs in free play. But you can also play the fitness mode. This mode has different playlists of various lengths and asks you to complete each playlist. Along the way, it will track your calories burned and how many minutes you have been exercising. Sure, it is not a full on workout, but for people who just want to be a little more active and do a bit of exercise, it is a great little mode. Its like the icing on the cake.
Dance Central 2 is very stylish in the way it handles the user interface. Voice control is used extensively, and you can basically select about 70% of the menu items using voice recognition alone. If you don’t feel like speaking though, then you can also use hand gestures. However, these hand gestures are not the same as the ones used to control the Kinect reguarly (which requires you stand and hold your arm at a 45 degree angle for 15 seconds at a time). Dance Central merely asks that you hold your hand up, select an option and swipe. It reminds me a lot of the way the iPhone controls: you simply tell Kinect to select something and it effortlessly does. Microsoft can learn a plethora from Harmonix in menu design, and I hope to see some of their control elements used in future Xbox Dashboard updates. The only problems I had with the voice and gestures was that occasionally I would try to speak and use voice control only to be forced to use hand gestures instead. There is a little disparity between knowing when you must your hands and when you can use your voice. For the most part though, it is very easy and intuitive.
The rest of Dance Central 2’s package is equally appealing. There is a great set list to play and even people who are fans of pop music can enjoy just dancing to the compelling beats. Plus, there is a wide variety of song selection, from older pop hits to brand new stuff. In addition, Dance Central 2 has an easy way to buy new tracks. Plus, you can import all the original Dance Central tracks. My point is, you will probably never have the problem of not having something new to dance to and/or master. And, if you do, you should probably go back and try to play every song on Hard, as each difficulty level adds new stuff to the mix. Even if you get through every song on the disc, which takes about 5 hours, you can spend hours passing a song on the various difficulty levels. It never really got frustrating though. I wanted to learn and get better. It is a very similar experience to Rock Band in that respect.
There are two minor quibbles I had with the game. First is that there is no online support. Although this could present problems if it was implemented, (especially in the foul language department) it would have been great to be able to dance with your friends across the country and the like. The second issue with the game has to with choreography. Now, I am no dance pro, star or even a slightly good dancer, and I don’t know a lot about dance moves, even the ones I have seen on TV. However, it seems as though a slight majority of the moves that the game would like you to make are more feminine in nature. Male members of the gaming community may be a tad turned off by having to perform lots of hip shaking and more feminine dance movements. Nevertheless, this is still a fantastic party game and watching somebody make a fool out of themselves is always a great time. In summary, just have fun, do your best and don’t worry about it. Your kick butt moves and crazy high score will shut any haters up. Overall, I found that I felt good about the way I performed, and I did not mind doing any of the moves. The game does a fantastic job of making you feel as though you are the best dancer in the room. Only occasionally did some move come up that had me pause for a moment before I decided to just go ahead and dance.
Harmonix has been in the business of creating music based video games for a long time. Starting out with Guitar Hero, then Rock Band and then Dance Central, it should come as no surprise that they KNOW music. And with the release of Dance Central 2, this knowledge is applied in such a way that it is evident that Harmonix is not only very good at what they do, but they are also the best at they do. The first Dance Central game was the prime reason to own a Kinect. Although it had some rough edges, it was still a great game. Dance Central 2 refines, polishes and makes the experience so much better. If there is one dancing game to get, this would be it.
In a bit of a surprise announcement, Viz Media revealed today that their localization of the Professor Layton anime movie, named Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva would be released to American shores in just one week on November 8th. The DVD will cost $19.97 which is quite cheap considering normal anime releases, even movie length only, are roughly $30 at release.
To go along with the release date announcement, Viz Media revealed a thirty second trailer for the show which can be seen below. Unfortunately the video does not contain any voice acting so don’t expect to see how the English voice work is in this one until it is fully released.
Counting down like it was New Years, GTA fans waited patiently (ok, most of them weren’t so patient!) for Rockstar’s countdown to reach zero in anticipation of the debut trailer of Grand Theft Auto V.
The big surprise for fans however is that the series is returning to the city of Los Santos, San Andreas, as given away by a huge sign confirming Vinewood as a location. It seems that Los Santos isn’t the only thing that’s returning-GTA4’s Niko Bellic also appears in the trailer, looking rather grim! The trailer also contains some very impressive visuals, but most notably the focus on a new plot introducing a new protagonist trying to get away from it all to settle down, although fate seemed to have something different in mind.
Rockstar is yet to announce a release date, but stay tuned to Capsule Computers as we do our best to get all the latest details to you as quickly as possible! In the meantime check out the trailer below.
Disney Universe Developer: Eurocom Publisher: Disney Interactive Genre: Platform/Family Platform: Xbox 360 (PS3, Wii) Released: 28th October
Not content with just a Disney World, Disney (well, Eurocom on their behalf) have created a Disney Universe for you to frolic freely in. Unfortunately for you, the simulation program which provides a safe environment for the meat-headed, colourful characters that represent you has been corrupted. The friendly user interface/tour guide V.I.C is battling for control of the system with H.E.X, and it seems H.E.X has gained the upper hand as it’s been able to insert bad guys into each of the six separate zones. Cue the adventure.
Playing as these colourful creatures and dressed in costumes of popular Disney and Pixar characters you run, jump and fight your way to the end of each level, retrieving a trapped fellow adventurer (unlocking a new costume), and ridding each themed world of the enemy rabble. Its mix of platforming, battling and basic puzzles involving pulling a lever or piecing together a broken object performs much like the LEGO games. You walk and jump from place to place, clobbering any enemies that attempt to ambush you along the way, opening doors or finding items needed to progress by completing simple tasks, which don’t require a lot of brain power given the target audience is youngsters.
In fact, the whole game can come across as a little straight forward for anyone over the age of 10, although this isn’t a criticism, just an observation. No efforts have been made to cover up this fact, as there’s even a large blue arrow which literally points where to go next (this can be switched off in the options menu if you don’t fancy it). There’s no shame in it being easy, as this way it’s well suited for younger players or due to up to four player co-op, something for more experienced players to play with less experienced players. Four player co-op gets a decent number of people involved and is a feature it has over the LEGO games, which are limited to two. Where its co-op doesn’t work quite so well is that it is lacking a fluid drop-in, drop-out system, which can occasionally be problematic due to the way we’ve been spoilt by almost all co-op games using the system these days. We now come to expect it, so when one of your crew has to relieve him/herself or has to leave for good, you could find yourself in a tight spot. A ‘Hurry Up’ message which transports any players falling behind and being cut out of view to the rest of the group should go part of the way, though.
You would usually think of co-op as an exercise of teamwork; while it can be that way in Disney Universe, it can equally be a messy free-for-all. It’s almost pitched as competitive because on top of being able to attack enemies, friendly fire is very much allowed, including the ability to pick up your companions and throw them off the edge. Another aspect of gameplay showing a competitive streak is the curses that can sometimes be sprung on players. Before the time runs out players can pass the curse on to an enemy, but at the same time could choose to pass it on to another player to afflict them. Besides, if the gameplay wasn’t enough to convince you that the game wants you to be rivals as well as teammates, during the level each player has an ongoing score which increases based on how much they’ve helped with the objective, and a podium finish at the end crunches the numbers to decide who came out on top and who was the lowest scorer. Depending on the attitudes of the people you are playing with, this has potential to add to the gameplay through the age-old pastime of ‘mucking about’.
Replay value is added to the levels in the form of challenges and collectibles. Challenges are a worthy reason to playback levels, presenting a slightly increased level of difficulty through the tasks, albeit not by much. But this won’t matter as the tasks have fun ideas behind them anyway – for example, staying alive for a certain time, or defeating a given number of enemies within the time limit. Collectibles, on the other hand, earn extras like music tracks and concept art accessed from the main menu via the ‘Viewer’.
The six worlds – Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice, Lion King, Monsters Inc., Aladdin, WALL-E – are broken down into more palatable bite-sized levels. These carry graphical changes to represent moving from world to world to reflect each Disney film featured, or other visual changes relating to specific scenes in each Disney creation. The problems come in that these can be quite generic scenes, like the token factory, snow, desert (and so on) levels seen in many games. In fact, the whole game seems to lack that trademark Disney magic. Instead, it feels like a faceless game given a Disney overcoat in an attempt to fob it off as the real thing. You feel no connection with the personality-free characters as quite frankly they could be from any game, as could the enemies who are similarly lifeless and generic. Music which pays homage to the franchises and familiar-ish settings for levels give it a Disney appeal at face value, but goodies and baddies alike are all just dressed in Disney outfits but not actually part of the world, and what goes on in the level seems a bit random, even though this could be excused as an artistic interpretation of each individual Disney region.
Whether it didn’t have Disney’s full backing or whether the concept just went wrong, Disney Universe comes across as a little generic and lacking the usual flourish of Disney magic. This starts with the environments – it was only when I saw a pirate ship in the first Pirates of the Caribbean world that the world seemed vaguely linked to the films – and ends with poor character design, which doesn’t provoke any strong feelings towards both friend and foe. However, with that said it’s still a decent enough platformer for playing around with on multiplayer, and its simple controls and level structure make it ideal for younger players, even if it grows repetitive by the time you’ve explored several of the worlds on offer.
The worldwide gaming phenomenon ‘Angry Birds’ has smashed through the 500 million downloads milestone and is still going strong. Rovio Mobile originally released the game for the iPhone back in 2009 and it has since spread across multiple platforms and odds are you’ve probably played it. The game is now available on almost every smartphone and computer thanks to Google Chrome web browser.
This news comes to no surprise Angry Birds fans that have so far tallied up 200,000 years of playing Angry Birds. The mega franchise has also expanded to toys and other merchandise giving gamers the next best excuse to start picking up a slingshot and firing birds at pigs in real life…Oh wait that’s already been done.
Wired Productions’ latest app is now available on the app store, making the most of the recent World Cup hype with a game called Spot Kick Hero. Pick your spot and hope your aim is true to get it between the sticks.
It’s a free app, so if you’re interested then take a look HERE
Game Details:
Spot Kick Hero Rugby will test your nerve from the spot with 3 exciting game modes and quick-play shoot-out challenges. Choose your team and progress through Tournament mode, judging wind-speed and direction carefully as you take on friends en route to the final and ultimate Spot Kick glory.
Features:
3 intuitive game modes.
Exhibition mode to practice your spot-kick skills.
Tournament mode, taking on friends or the AI players.
8 countries to choose from, all with different skills.
Hoopla fast-action Mini Game.
Multiplayer for up to 8 potential Spot Kick Heroes.
New updates coming soon, including Soccer and American Football.
In case you missed it the first time around ‘Enslaved: Odyssey to the West’ is now available for download for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Games on Demand service. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is probably one of the most overlooked games of 2010. Initially releasing in October last year to rave reviews, this game unfortunately suffered from poor sales figures.
The game has since gone on to receive a has won a number of awards which included winner of ‘Best New IP’ at the Develop Awards 2011, nominated for ‘Best Action Game’ at the Golden Joystick Awards 2011 and nominated for ‘Best Original Game Score’ award at the 2011 Ivor Novello awards. Acknowledging its initial critical acclaim from both fans and critics.
The game has been praised for its unique focus on the partnership of its lead charators Monkey and Trip, in both story and gameplay. The 4.91 GB download of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is available for $39.95 and downloadable right now on Xbox live.
In continuation of its partnership with CAVE, Rising Star Games has announced they will be exporting another CAVE title out of Japan, to Europe in 2012.
Akai Katana Shin was originally available in arcades. This Xbox 360 version, scheduled for release in the first half of 2012, has been remastered for home consoles. The display ratio has been expanded to make full use of HD TV widescreen visuals, and the visuals rendered in HD.
“There is always something special about a CAVE game,” says Martin Defries, managing director, Rising Star Games, “and Akai Katana Shin is no exception. It’s
an exceptional shooter, which looks stunning in HD, and we’re delighted to be able to give it the full Rising Star Games treatment when we release it next year.”
Akai Katana Shin takes place in a fictional era resembling the years of industrial expansion in Japan, full of hope for reconstruction. Amidst record-breaking economic growth and technical innovation, the people of this era discover a new energy source, a mineral called Guiding Ore.
A powerful natural resource, this Guiding Ore held other mysterious qualities. It could be tempered into a blade, a “Guiding Katana” that endowed certain soldiers who held special symbols with access to a unique psychic power.
It was said that once this katana killed another human being, it would turn blood-red and endow its owner with an overwhelming power. It was this power that the Emperor Basho used to expand his reign, waging war on his country’s neighbors with an elite battalion who wielded the so-called “blood swords”.
Now only a small squadron of rebels stands against his empire and its most fearsome generals. The struggle for justice begins here. Akai Katana Shin will be released in 2012, on Xbox 360.
