Overview:
The iOS has become a proving ground for so many genres. Many genres flopped about like a fish out of water, clinging desperately to life, but ultimately dying, leaving behind nothing but a cold grave in arguably the biggest video game shouting contest in the mediums history, the iTunes app store.
There are some genres that work on the mobile platform and then there are those that don’t. The role-playing-game genre, is one of those in between genres, where it either works, or doesn’t. ADVENA is one of the role-playing-games that should work, but ultimately, falls short due to some preventable mistakes.
Gameplay: ADVENA is an action RPG, however it plays more like a side-scrolling beat-em-up with RPG elements slapped on. Gamevil do however have a track record of great RPGs, what with the Zenonia franchise. I had hoped that would translate well into ADVENA, but while the battling is fun, addictive and most of all inventive. It does suffer from a large range of problems.
The most evident of which is a game-crashing glitch. This is something a lot of iOS games are afflicted with, a lot of which is due to the game over-exerting the system, or just not being able to handle what it is trying to do. Which is the case with ADVENA.
ADVENA often crashes, particularly during or after an intense fight. This is devastating for the player, because more often then not, the game has not auto saved. This causes the player to have to re-do something that was very time consuming. It can be a huge deterrent for those who enjoy sitting down and plowing through an RPG like this.
As for other portions of the gameplay, it’s pretty good all around, with fast paced action as well as a plethora of character customization. Though battling can get repetitive at times. There is very little variation between enemy attacks and it does not take long to get tired of fighting against enemies with very little difference in attack pattern. But despite that it’s very inventive, for this type of game.
The game controls well enough, although the control for moving your character can be a little irritating at times when you can’t allign yourself perfectly with an enemy, but it’s just a minor gripe. As a whole the controls work well.
Story-wise, it’s pretty run of the mill. There is little here that you haven’t seen from an RPG game before, what with the evil brother, vengeance story-line, characters bound together by fate, etc. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but the way it’s told make’s it feel at the very least some what fresh.
Visuals and Audio: ADVENA has quite a unique visual style, with a lot of purple hues that promise a hint of magic behind the game, with just a dash of darkness thrown in. Sadly these visuals, whilst being impressive to look at, don’t have a lot of depth behind them. I know visuals are a surface thing, but adding a little meaning to the style, is warranted.
The character designs are very japanese-inspired, much like ADVENA’s predecessor, Zenonia. ADVENA focuses much more on chibi character’s than Zenonia. This is a good style for ADVENA and makes it stand apart from Zenonia, while still oweing a lot to it’s preverbial “big brother”.
The soundtrack of ADVENA is what you’d expect from an RPG for the iOS. It’s generic, yet still manages to effectively do the job it’s required to do. You could literally place most of these tracks onto any other RPG for the iOS and it would work effectively enough to be the backing for a game. That isn’t a good thing. It shows that it’s generic and is something that was clearly designed just to “work” not to “excel”.
All-in-all, the visusla and audio of ADVENA work well enough, but lack the heart of other Gamevil titles, namely Zenonia.
Overall:
The biggest problem with ADVENA is that it doesn’t know what wants to be, nor was it given the love and care during it’s debugging phase that could’ve eliminated some of the glitches that afflicted the game. Also unlike Zenonia, it doesn’t ever break through into classic status. It never reaches greatness, preferring to sit comfortably in mediocrity. Which is a true shame, as this could’ve been a big step forward for Gamevil in terms of creating a new IP. If only a little more care was placed into the game it could be so much more than just “good”.
It seems that Namco Bandai’s Tekken’s first title on the Nintendo 3DS won’t make it in time for Valentine’s Day in Japan, as this week’s Famitsu announced that the title will be released on February 16th. Not to be confused with Tekken Hybrid on the PlayStation 3, Tekken team is also working on this 3DS title which is known as Tekken 3D Prime Edition.
Currently however, there is no announcement for a North American release date, so don’t expect it to arrive in time for your loved ones in the West either. Fun fact: Did you know that in Japan girls often give men chocolate on Valentine’s Day which is the complete opposite of how it is in the West? Interesting.
It appears that Konami and tri-Ace’s newest title for the Nintendo 3DS may have some life in it after all. Despite there being only a few details about Beyond the Labyrinth, this week’s copy of Famitsu has listed that Beyond the Labyrinth will be released in Japan on January 19th. Of course this doesn’t say anything about a North American release, but we can always hope.
As far as we know so far, the game will involve the players following around a white-haired girl who is the main character’s companion and the end goal of the game is to escape from the Labyrinth where you will face off against enemies that will try to stop your advance. Hopefully as time goes on, more information will be revealed in the future.
Shantae and WayForward fans now have a reason to celebrate as Shantae: Risky’s Revenge has now received an arrival date for the iOS. The critically acclaimed title will be seeing new life on the mobile circuit on October 27th, which is a lot sooner than expected.
As we have mentioned before, this version will feature a brand new control scheme that has been molded to the touchscreen to better compliment the platforming game style within. Mark your calenders now, as by Thursday, everybody’s favorite genie will be making her fresh debut in just two days. So tell us, are you planning on grabbing this port for the iOS?
Since the Kinect has launched, we really haven’t seen many studios use the technology to create a shooter. Blackwater however has now arrived in stores today and looks to change that completely. This title puts players as the lead a team of Blackwater operatives as they protect inhabitants of a fictional North African town who are battling a corrupt general in order to restore peace.
“Blackwater will have a unique appeal to gamers on the Kinect for Xbox 360 platform. The physical, visual and virtual feel of participating in a mission brings a level of excitement, realism and fun to the game that is hard to match,” said Erik Prince.
During these exciting missions, players can use over 25 different motions to crouch, shoot, knock down doors, throw grenades, and use various environments for cover. You can see how all this works in the new “tutorial” trailer released today, and also keep in mind that as of today, Blackwater can be purchased at stores everywhere for the Xbox 360 with Kinect.
Attention gamers everywhere! Capsule Computers is putting on a contest to win a free copy of Dungeon Defenders! This Xbox Live Arcade title is a tower defense RPG that is addictive beyond belief. Customization is a huge factor and provides extended gameplay not only for campaign but also for the online/local multiplayer. Join with players online, or play with up to 3 friends at home.
Do not miss out on this incredible chance. Details are as follows:
Contestants must sign up with Capsule Computers and have a valid email address.
Contestants will automatically be entered by commenting on the Dungeon Defenders review.
Contest will end on October 30th.
To enter the contest, comment on the Dungeon Defenders review (HERE).
We’ve seen zombies in many different forms, sometimes you even find a zombie like creature that can be your friend or ally. But not in this game, no every zombie must die this time around. Just in time for Halloween Double Six is bringing a twin stick shooter with a bit of a cartoon flair to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
The trailer released below goes over the various characters you can play as as well as showing off plenty of action like we will be seeing once the game is released sometime in the future. With four player co-op, players can take on the zombies with their friends and family unlike anything we’ve seen before. Especially when you think about an alien taking on zombies… bad time to crash land on this planet huh?
The Secret World is a place where nightmares come to life. Vampires and werewolves hunt the humans of New York City and tweens are setting the pop culture standards of the day. On top of that, there are zombies. That is the story (minus the tweens) being told in Funcom’s latest MMO, The Secret World. This is an “online world where every conspiracy theory, myth and urban legend is true. Enter The Secret World.”
What do you think of the game so far? Will it satiate your vampire fantasies enough or are you still ravenous for the next Twilight thing? All we have to say is that this game certainly looks darker and like a much better interpretation of the vampire craze. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Dungeon Defenders Developer: Trendy Entertainment Publishers: Reverb Publishing, D3Publisher Platforms: XBLA (reviewed), PSN, PC Release Date: October 18, 2011 (PSN), October 19, 2011 (XBLA, Steam) Price: 1200 MSP (HERE)
Overview When I first looked at Dungeon Defenders, I fell in love with the concept of an action role playing game mixed with tower defense. Being excited would be a drastic understatement. Like most gamers feel about new games like Gears of War 3 and the upcoming Modern Warfare, Dungeon Defenders patches my gaming void. I’ll dish out all the information you need to know about this game going forward.
Story The old heroes of Etheria departed their stronghold leaving the younger generation to maintain the castle chores. Soon after the apprentices were messing around – as young children do – and broke one of the castle’s Eternia Crystals. The crystals contained the an evil essence of the “old ones”. Knowing that they had made a dire mistake, the pupils vowed to defeat any foe that breached the castle gates. Only together will the Squire, Apprentice, Huntress, and Monk protect their home from the ancient evil.
Gameplay Like any learning experience, Dungeon Defenders allows the player to undertake a tutorial before delving head first into a lava pit. Unless you would prefer to skip the tutorial, this is a great way to learn the game’s mechanics. The tutorial starts in the first level of the campaign and explains different phases, upgrades, inventory, and player stats.
Build Phase is an allotted time period that the player can utilize to build up defenses. The initial build phase generates treasure chests about the map. The chests contain mana gems that are the essential building blocks for your defense structures. Every structure has a different price as well as unit cost. For instance the Squire may conjure a spike blockade if he has 30 mana. He may continually set up spike blockades until either his mana runs out or the unit limit has been reached.
Once you are comfortable with your defensive setup you can activate the Eternia Crystal to begin the Combat Phase. Whether you are a melee or ranged fighter, it is important to upgrade and support your defenses. Whether by projectile or blade, fighting against the horde yourself can prove efficient as well as rewarding. Each foe will drop essential mana gems that can help you build additional defenses or upgrade your existing ones. Successfully defeating the wave of enemies brings you back into Build Phase where you can repair damaged defenses or build on to your arsenal.
Being able to choose and customize your character is a necessity in any RPG, and Dungeon Defenders incorporates an unique leveling system that can directly affect bonuses to your defense structures. After earning enough experience from your defenses and personal killing sprees, you are able to increase your rank in several categories. Hero attributes like health, base attack damage, speed, and casting rate can be increased by spending attribute points. Similarly, you may spend these points increasing your defenses such as health, base attack damage, attack rate, and area of effect. You are limited to how many points you can spend per level, thus personalizing your character’s build.
Increasing stats is neat, but not as cool as upgrading pets, weapons, and armor. After each battle you are able to store mana in your personal bank at the tavern. Once back at the tavern you can purchase new items as well as access the items you picked up during your battles. To upgrade any item, simply select the item in your inventory and press down the (Right Trigger). The allocated mana in the bank will be used to upgrade any item, and then you are able to choose which attribute of the item to increase – customization at its finest.
One of most interesting characteristics about the game is being able to swap between heroes on the fly. For instance you have being working on your Squire, and your weapon has lightning enhancement. For some “unknown” reason, most of your enemies have lightning resistance. During your build phase you could switch to your Apprentice character and create magic blockades that remove magic resistance. Then you could swap back to your Squire and brutally murder your foes. And that is only a sample of possibilities.
Each character has their own unique set of traps, blockades, and towers that can be advantageous to incorporate in a defense. The Monk’s defenses focus primarily on delays and bonuses. Starting off, the Monk has an ensnare aura that slows enemies movement as well as attack speed. Since there is no physical obstruction, enemies will still be able to move through the aura towards the Eternia Crystals. Thus, swapping character’s early on in the game is very beneficial to add additional physical defenses. Perhaps switching to the squire and adding a spike blockade would add to the aura’s efficiency. By gaining levels, characters will learn new defenses that will help protect the Eternia Crystals from the largest hordes.
Boss battles are tough even on Easy difficulty. Not being careful with defense placements can surely cause you to restart in a moment’s notice. The dragon boss is by far the most difficult to defeat. By shooting large ballistae around the castle, you can reduce the life of the dragon. After shooting him, the dragon will appear in one of three platforms on the ramparts stage. Its fire breathing causes massive amounts of damage and can kill characters very quickly. The dragon will stay on the given platform for a short duration, so attack when it is not breathing fire. The major problem with this dragon is that it likes to attack your defenses while airborne. Therefore, there is a sense of urgency of hitting the dragon while it is in flight.
Once you have completed the campaign on Easy or Medium difficulty, you are far from completing the game. After completing the campaign on my first run, I have only unlocked one achievement. Dungeon Defenders is a game that continually becomes more intense as you play through all of its modes. In addition to the original campaign you are able to play through challenges that will test your dungeon defending skills to the max. One challenge in particular continually shifts the Eternia Crystal after each Combat Phase. That means you may have to sell your current defenses and replace them accordingly.
Upon level selection you can also choose to play survival or pure strategy modes. Survival tests your abilities to protect the Eternia Crystal from an increasingly difficult horde. You will need to muster all of your abilities to make it to wave 15 where you may find a nice achievement. On the other hand pure strategy tests your ability of defense placement. In this mode you cannot attack with your character. This is all about improving defenses and surviving the wave of enemy forces. Pray to whatever god that an ogre doesn’t break through. Then it’s game over.
Of course we cannot forget to mention Dungeon Defender’s online multiplayer. You can create a quick game or join a custom match already in progress. The option for a private match is also available if you only want to invite friends. The single annoyance that I have with the multiplayer is the waiting period for searching custom matches. The searching queue will restart if you fail to join a custom game as well. A minor annoyance that soon dissipates as soon as you join the battle.
You will certainly meet an array of players online. While some players will help fortify your defenses, others will simply sell yours off to place their defenses instead. The best way to deal with these uncertainties is to grab a headset and talk to your teammates. At the very least they should be able to hear you talk. At the end of the battle players get excited to see their overall standing in the leaderboards, so the competitive nature is relevant.
The option of playing locally provides friends that don’t have the game or Xbox a hands-on experience of a great game. Local co-op can have its advantages as far as pre-planned strategies and knowing character builds. One character could focus on attack damage while the other focuses on health. The only negative aspect I could think of local play is having a split screen (not a huge problem if you have a big TV).
Graphics/Audio The visuals in Dungeon Defenders are simply amazing. After providing a great core of game mechanics, the developers did their best to deliver a similar artistic experience. The environments are visually appealing and potentially dangerous. Some games provide assets like mountainsides and lava pits, but do not incorporate effects that resemble realism. However, in this game you may certainly die if you touch lava or fall onto spikes.
Minor graphics give Dungeon Defenders a lasting flavor as well. Adding into the aspect of customization, players can change the color of their hero’s clothing as well as the color of the Eternia Crystals. The variety of weapons are even distinguishable by elemental enhancements as well as size and shape. You know it is a fun game when you can carry a really big weapon!
Every seems to be unique in Dungeon Defenders including the audio. Pets are given sound effects, and trust me some of the sounds they make are weird. But weird works! Whether you are collecting mana or summoning new defenses, there is a sound for it. Dungeon Defenders feels complete with every kobold explosion and goblin death.
Overall Being one of the best Xbox Live Arcade games that I have ever played, Dungeon Defenders should be a contender for best downloadable game this year. There is so much that a player can do in this game. The multiplayer is very functional and has a readily available community. Elite gamers will play the game until they can defeat every level on Insane difficulty and rank up on the leaderboards.
I highly recommend any RPG fan to try this game out. Highly customizable gameplay alongside challenging modes makes Dungeon Defenders a classy tower defense RPG. You would normally pay $60 for a full game, and at 1200 Microsoft points this game is a steal!
Remember back when Nintendo announced a pink and white version of their 3D hand held hand only announced it for Japan? Well now it seems that those living in Europe and Australia will soon be able to pick up a Nintendo 3DS in these colors as well, as Nintendo of Europe announced that these two color schemes, Coral Pink and Ice White will be available this holiday season.
The two versions of the 3DS will come with a bundled game, with the Coral Pink 3DS arriving with Nintendogs + Cats and the Ice White color coming with the much more interesting and brand new Super Mario 3D Land. Seems like Nintendo feels that the girlish pink 3DS deserves a cutesy animal game. These bundles will be available on November 18th, but those looking to purchase the Nintendo 3DS outside of the bundle in these colors will have to wait until sometime in December.
