Delays are often worrysome, but in this case I would say Sega did the right thing. After receiving feedback from a recent alpha-test, Satoshi Sakai announced that Sega wanted to postpone PS02 until 2012 to make some much needed improvements.
Those who were in the first alpha test will however be happy to know that they will be invited back for a second testing in early 2012, along with new participants. I honestly don’t care how long it takes to produce an online MMO anymore, as no one wants to see another tragedy like Final Fantasy XIV released and Sega should be applauded for wanting to make this experience the best possible for their future paying consumers.
Name: Fifa Soccer 12
Developer: EA
Publisher: EA
Genre: Sports
Platform: iPhone (reviewed), iPad
Release: September 29 2011
Price: $4.99 – BUY NOW
Overview
One of the biggest sports franchises in gaming is quite arguably Fifa. Its quite well deserved, not only is the game itself an internationally renowned game, but the game itself is a fantastic representation of both the players and the game. So the question is, does this transfer onto the iOS?
Gameplay
The feel of Fifa is excellent. While there were some lag and smoothness issues in gameplay, they were few and far between. The amount of programming and intelligence that has gone into this game, the AIs, and physics, is fantastic. It’s no wonder that this app will consume a gigabyte of memory.
There are a few different gameplay modes for Fifa, Quick match, Manager career, and Daily Challenge (which is an Origin feature). There are five different difficulty settings ranging from beginner to world class, the game starts off automatically with beginner. I realised this when I was a few minutes into a match and I was up four-nil. I may be good, but I don’t know about that good. As well as this, you can adjust tackle assist, injuries, offsides, bookings, switching, handballs and manual ground pass. All of these excluding manual ground pass are automatically on, however if you want to play the dirtiest game ever just for fun then you can do so to your heart’s content. That being said, bookings are less common than in the console version, I was only called up a few times and they were for sliding from behind and pretty much bowling the player over and probably injuring him quite seriously.
As per usual you adjust the amount of time each half will be, I went for three minutes and was quite happy with the timing of it. In one match (Manchester United vs Manchester City) I ended up tying with them by the end of the match and instead of being given a choice on how to proceed it immediately went to extra 15 minute (more like half a minute real time) halves. I was a bit stressed by that, especially since I scored a goal two seconds into the first half and then proceeded to have to hectically defend for the next minute, since it was a cup match.
The controls are innovative, simple and fantastic. And this coming from someone who a year ago hated the way team sport games had about a million random combinations to use (although it never bothered me for arcade fighters funnily enough). There is a directional ‘joystick’ which is quite responsive (although you do need to be pre-emptive when sprinting, because it naturally gets less accurate), and there are three buttons. When you’re in attack they are Sprint, Pass and Shoot, in defence they are Sprint Tackle, Slide and Switch (player). In order to make variations on these (i.e. Chip Shot) you slide your finger up. To do tricks to fend off defenders you simply tap the screen twice while running. Passing when you’re taking a corner or a penalty shot is incredibly easy, you just tap the player you want to pass too and there it goes. The simplicity is beautiful and works fantastically, everything is right there for you to manoeuvre your thumb into place quickly and simply.
That being said, the game itself does have some issues. Namely, defending is a pain. While your attackers sprint to their hearts content and outrun the defenders easily, your defenders can’t sprint. Sprint tackle just keeps you on the opposition’s tail, it doesn’t give you an faster running pace to come around them. Also, your team’s AIs seem to just stand around, they don’t defend at all if you aren’t controlling them. They’ll just stand near the attacking person as they enter the goal square, as if to say ‘I see you! Not gonna do anything about it, but I’m just letting you know I’m here!’ This is not a big surprise since it is an app version of the game and having intelligent AIs probably lost precedence over, say, realistic physics, but it was annoying knowing that once the opposition had the ball in your half you were pretty much on your own. The goalie is great though, and where my defence AIs failed, he shone.
I played in career mode as Man U (cos I can) and found it to be quite impressive. Manager mode is the main new development and draw of Fifa 12 on iOS, and I can certainly see why. You’re in charge of everything, training, contracts, renewal, organising your players, everything. And the fun of the Board. Oh the Board.
The bane of my existence in this game was not the lack of AI defence, it wasn’t the fact that the soundtrack is really odd, it was the Board. The Board basically controls your decisions, they have things that they want you to do (such as renew certain player’s contracts, win things, beat a rival team) and if you don’t do exactly what they say they get very cranky. At one point I had been winning a huge amount of games to receive only a tepid congratulations, and when I started renewing the contracts of players that were expiring at the end of the season they sent me a message telling me to stop wasting their time and money. The Board provides goals for you to aim towards which is good, but they also make you hate them terribly.
Visual
Overall, it is a fantastic looking game and one of the best on the iOS. While the graphics don’t rival the console versions, I’d say they’re about as good as earlier Fifa versions on console. Close ups on players show that they’re sort of representations of themselves but not super accurate ones, but the pitch and look of the stadiums are great.
Audio
During matches it’s the standard commentary that isn’t quite as unique and responsive as the console version, but again that’s to be expected and it does stand up really well anyway. However, the music behind the menu is unbelievably annoying and bad. Usually I like Fifa’s soundtrack but this one seemed to deviate completely from their usual selection and (not to insult the person in charge of music) was bad. It didn’t suit the game, the sort of mood you should be in when playing Fifa, and just detracted from an otherwise pretty menu screen.
Conclusion
Fifa 12 is a great looking game and on iOS it is definitely the best out there. There are faults to the game, but that’s more to do with the limitations on the system and personal preference, than a comment on the game itself. A definite must buy.
Being a massive fan of soccer (or football for fear of verbal retribution), I’m always excited to see a new addition to the sport on any platform. With the console version released in the US and coming soon to other markets, Konami digital have announced the release of it Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 app. for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. As we would expect from the PES series, the game features ultra-realistic AI, coupled with brand new game modes including the Super challenge mode which allows players to create a “world team, “ based on their favourite or highest ranked players.
Utilising the mobile nature of the game, players can download teams made by others from a cloud server and play against each other, all the while keeping tabs on their rank through facebook. Konami have also done a lot of tweaking to players movements, especially in relation to the goalkeepers who now enjoy much more freedom to close down attacks, react to finely placed shots and come off their line to close down angles. Players movements have also been upgraded to make well known icons more recognisable by their specific traits and actions.
In addition to all these goodies, the game will also exclusively feature the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League as well as the plethora of International and club teams always on offer. There’s also a game mode option for everyone, even those that are very limited with time, as players can opt to compete in full seasons, cup seasons or play online with friends via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Konami have also included a host of mini-games to enjoy such as Quick play matches and the ability to practice your shooting skills so you don’t choke in those big matches.
The Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 app. is available free from the Itunes App. store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, with additional DLC available for $5.99 through the In-App purchase.
Trackmania 2 Canyon Developer: Nadeo Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: PC Price: $24.99 US (buy here)
Overview:
Somehow Trackmania has managed to hide from me. With the first game released in 2003 and a player base of over 9 million it is the most popular online racing game for PC. Yet somehow, the first thing I ever knew of it was through writing up a random little news article about Trackmania 2 Canyon’s release date, ‘What on earth is this weirdly named thing?’ I thought, ‘why have I never heard of it if it’s so popular?’.
It is now my favourite racer.
Gameplay:
A note on controls: The default controls (fully customisable) are keyboard based, but I found the game a lot better to handle with a PS3 controller, which only required a little bit of Googling and software downloading to do. I am however primarily a console gamer, so this is by all means down to personal preference.
What shines about this game is the emphasis it puts on player skill. Everyone has the same car, starts from the same position. There are no vehicle upgrades and no power ups to randomly turn the tide – this is all about how well you can drive. The controls don’t stretch any further than accelerate and drift, but Canyon is deceptive in its simplicity. The vehicle handling and some of the reactionary physics take a bit of getting used to, but when you find your feet with the mechanic it’s just incredible fun to play. I hadn’t played it for a few weeks since the multiplayer beta closed and when I dropped into my first race I was amazed by the speed of it all over again.
The racing itself is almost exclusively time attack, and regardless of the mode your playing the main opponent is always going to be the clock! It may not sound particularly competitive, especially in solo mode, but the gameplay is finely tuned to make the whole thing incredibly addictive. Tracks are short and sweet, and bar a few online unplayables (easily pointed out with a handy thumbs up/thumbs down rating system) are incredibly well designed. As well as the standard arcade race components players will often find themselves confronted with wall climbing sprints, mind boggling loops and cross terrain leaps – there always seems to be something totally unexpected around the corner that more often than not will send you flying into the nearest solid object with a crunch. But in this case it’s a good thing – the emphasis is on learning these tracks backwards.
Again the pacing is very well thought out – find yourself in a less than stellar lap and all it takes is the push of a button to restart the race instantly. Bar one occasion in solo mode you can do this as often as you want with no penalty – it makes learning the ins and outs of the tracks a lot easier. If you do hurtle into some concrete then your car will take damage, it’s a bit of a token visual bonus as there are no collisions between cars but it’s a nice inclusion all the same. Some may be a bit put off by the lack of in-race interaction with other players, but the style simply couldn’t function if vehicle on vehicle crashes were involved – I’ll take some fantastic track design over a little bit of destruction anyday.
Solo mode is a compendium of 65 tracks spread over 5 difficulty levels, with later tracks unlocked by winning medals in those already available. These are all time trial achievements, and beating the ghost cars will give you bronze, silver and gold medals. Things start off fairly easily and new players are given a chance to get into the swing of things with some basic single element tracks. Move on though and you’ll quickly find yourself confronted with much harder challenges, and those gold medals will become ever more elusive.
Canyon remembers to add a bit of incentive too – the only way you’ll be able to post a time to the worldwide leader boards is if you manage to bag a gold medal first. Only then will you be able to enter an ‘official’ race for the track, a one shot affair that piles on the pressure by removing the availability to restart. I can’t quite decide if this is a genius bit of pressure building or just annoying – your best lap runs the risk of never being seen as your best lap, and you have to wait five minutes between attempts regardless of how well you do. What it does do is make you concentrate, posting an ‘official’ time feels ‘official’. I guess it also evaluates the overall consistency of your driving rather than a one off wonder lap, so again, a focus on your driving skill.
Multiplayer has a Hot Seat option for one machine use and a split screen option for local network play, but where you’ll probably spend all your time is the online mode. Whilst you can turn off other players vehicles to help your machine cope, it’s more fun ( and more helpful) to be able to see them – especially in particularly barmy tracks. It’s a learning tool as well, with a spectator mode that comes in handy when there’s a top twenty ranked player racing on the server – learn from the best.
All the competition comes from the lap times, and the stats are always there to remind you just how you’re doing. There are a lot of very good players out there but the sense of achievement in your own times is still huge – shaving off a few hundredths of a second thanks to a perfect bit of cornering is always a good feeling, no matter how well the other guys are doing. There’s no real end to the competition as the tracks on a server simply repeat, players gain rank boosting ladder points depending on their times and rank compared with other players, but other than that there’s no let up to the racing – it’s incredibly easy to lose hours to.
The main point to emphasis here is that the core gameplay is the most fun I have ever had with a racer. The stripped back arcade style won’t appeal to everybody, but the simplicity is definitely deceiving. Practice makes perfect, and practice is hellishly addictive.
Of course the online multiplayer showcases player made tracks, so logically there has to be a track builder somewhere. There are actually two included in the package, one simplified and one advanced, so level design virgins and pros alike can knock up their very own race. A new feature, (which can make good levels awesome), is the ability to add your own music to the background. Players can roll up to your circuit and you can make them listen to whatever you want. I haven’t seenmuch humorous abuse of this, but a bit of high octane guitar rock always makes racing better!
As for the actual ins and outs of the track editor, the simple one is as much as I can handle without getting incredibly frustrated – it’s a bit of a theme with Canyon that there is no in game tutorial info whatsoever. Like the core gameplay it promotes spending the time to learn it, and I just couldn’t help running back to the action.
Trackmania as a series has always had a huge and productive community, and there are several sites out there where you can download new environment s (some Lego to replace the canyon perhaps? A Mass Effect theme?), car skins and models. If you give the community long enough everything will exist – you can race a Nyan Cat car for goodness sake! You can of course make up your own car skins with the paint tool – which once again is as productive as you choose to make it.
Apart from the lack of tutorial information the customisation options are seamlessley integrated into the game. If you want to delve into it and knock up half a dozen race tracks to the tune of your favourite band you can, or you can just ignore it and get on with the racing.
Audio & Visual:
Trackmania 2 Canyon, although arcade in gameplay style, goes for an all out realistic world.
Visually it is a very good looking game, you only have to look at the screenshots to see it, and I had only a few minor framerate issues. The Canyon theme provides a stunning background and the number of cars Trackmania can handle at once is really impressive, especially when your own vehicle is kicking up dust and burning rubber onto the road. Nadeo have a bit of a mission to keep their games playable for as many people as possible, and true to that the spec demands are pretty reasonable for what you get in return.
The music is nothing outstanding but provides a good backdrop for the action nonetheless – if it’s really playing on your mind while you blaze around corners then you can always replace it with your own. I find myself with very little to say about the sound effects, which in a realistically styled driving game is a very good sign indeed – my brain has been fooled completely!
For the sake of nitpicking – the cars don’t splash when you crash into water, it’s a bit strange to watch them sail straight on through as if it were air: that’s all I’ve got for negativity.
Overall:
Trackmania 2 Canyon has been a pleasure to discover. A few months ago I had never heard of this series; now it’s my favourite racer. The stripped back style probably won’t get the Gran Turismo diehards going and it could use a few tutorials, but if you want fun, fast arcade racing then you could do no wrong picking this up – and it’s only $24.99 US. A bargain if there ever was one.
It’s also incredibly addictive, so if you’ll excuse me…
If you need any reason to play Portal 2 besides to enjoy the puzzle gameplay as well as the unique comedy contained in the game, then how about completely free DLC. Valve announced earlier today that they will be releasing the free DLC next month on October 4th on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
The DLC is going to be named Peer Review and will provide more missions for P-Body and Atlas and even give GLaDOS a bit of screen time as well. There are a few leaderboard single player and co-op missions to see who will be able to obtain the best time. So better dust off that copy of Portal 2 because it is going to be getting some playtime next week.
Well if that isn’t just an extremely long name for a game’s special edition, especially when the limited edition isn’t even named anything special! The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is going to be getting a limited edition version release courtesy of Konami. This special edition will come with the game of course, and also offer a 248-page art book and a fancy package.
The art book is absolutely huge considering the length, which is something any fan of Metal Gear will be wanting to keep eye out for. Unfortunately Konami hasn’t announced a price for the limited edition version at this time, but with the release date of November 8th growing closer expect a price reveal soon.
You heard right, Hunter fans, Crunchyroll have today announced that they have secured simulcasting and streaming rights for the most anticipated new anime of the Fall 2011 Season, Hunter x Hunter.
This is a surprise announcement coming at the eleventh hour, with only a day until the massive premiere of new series tomorrow on the 2nd of October, 2011.
Hunter x Hunter will be simulcast 60 minutes following the original Japanese airing. Talk about efficient! The series will be available in the following territories: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. So if you live in one of those lucky countries, rejoice!
Be sure to check out the first episode (titled Journey x And x Friends) of Hunter x Hunter starting tomorrow, it’s not to be missed!
Been wanting a nice way to spend some of those Club Nintendo coins? You’re in luck. Nintendo have recently added a set of 12 hand-drawn cards that take us through the history of their handheld line. From the Game & Watch to the 3DS, it’s all there in crisp, photo form with information about each handheld detailed on the back.
This whole set is currently going for just 300 coins. I know it’s just cards, but little things like this really make a good conversation piece and if you are a handheld buff, this set is sure to please, regardless. You can be taken to Club Nintendo’s page for the item here.
It was stated, shortly after Dead Island’s release, that Techland’s first priority would be to fix any bugs that they come across and other issues that hinder player enjoyability. Now it appears that this priority has caused the delay of the game’s DLC plans as earlier today it was revealed via Dead Island’s Facebook page that the Bloodbath Arena DLC was delayed.
The post states that the company is “working hard to make the Bloodbath Arena DLC available as soon as possible. However, due to further polishing of the main game the finalization of the DLC code has been delayed. We know that many fans are eagerly waiting for it and apologies for any inconvenience. We expect to announce a release update next week.” While delays for DLC, especially one that is free to people who bought the game new is always a bad thing, but fixing bugs should always be a companies main priority.
Soccer may not be the biggest thing for residents of the United States, but it is a huge thing all over the world. FIFA Street was an attempt to spice up the sport and give fans something different from the standard soccer gameplay. EA revealed back at Gamescom that they were planning to reboot the series and release it some point in 2012.
It appears that the release window has been narrowed significantly as VG247 reports. Last night at FIFA 12’s launch event in the UK EA revealed this fact and also copies of FIFA 12 contain a pamphlet with the new release window for the reboot. So what do you think they will change in the upcoming soccer reboot?
