2K Sports have circulated extensive details on My Player Mode for the upcoming NBA release, finally giving us some material that’s not related to the NBA’s Greatest mode.
The way you get drafted this year has changed, and now includes interviews with team GM’s. 2K have also brought in NBA Commissioner David Stern to do some voice-overs for the draft announcements, so it won’t just be completely silent in the draft hall this year.
Contract negotiation has been expanded and you can now use your earnings (which you receive on a fortnightly basis) to purchase things like skill points, dunk packages, and some more unique ones like hosting a clinic in order to build fan support. This seems like it could be a really neat feature assuming salary increases aren’t too hard to come by.
There’s still no standard sim option for matches which will probably annoy some, but instead 2K have implemented a “Play Next Key Match” feature. Basically what this will do is advance you to the matches which are most important, i.e. team rivalries, individual player rivalries, and matches that will have an effect on or are a part of the playoffs.
2K have also added Player Abilities, basically expanding on individual features of skills such as dribbling, dunking, shooting and post moves. It seems like this will be a way of making you spend your salary more wisely and [unfortunately] slow down the progression of your player.
Other features for this year are endorsements, which was included in 2k11 but apparently has been boosted as well although they haven’t really said how. One would presume that you can earn money through these and put it towards your purchases. There are also still even more improvements made to areas such as press-conferences, drills, player buzz, and milestones.
Ultimately the goal of My Player mode is to get your player into the Hall of Fame, and they’ve even added stuff to that such as speech-making.
If you want to read word-for-word what 2K have said and get all the nitty, gritty details, click here and go have a look at the post on the Facebook page.
With still no word on whether or not there will be a real season this year, at least we’ve got this to still be excited about. 2k12 will be out on October 4th.
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten Developer: Nippon Ichi Software Publisher: NIS America Platform: PlayStation 3 (Reviewed) Release Date: September 6, 2011 Price:$49.96 Standard, $59.96 Premium, $119.99 Premium Figure Set
Overview:
As a whole, the strategy RPG genre has always been one with quite a devoted following. However as the years passed after the first strategy RPG, many new RPG types were created and nowadays many RPGs don’t even involve turn based combat at all, instead focusing on more action oriented gameplay. Strategy RPGs are not gone however, and Nippon Ichi Software is here to remind us with one of the best series in SRPG history, Disgaea.
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness was originally released back on the PlayStation 2 in 2003 and it was widely heralded as a revitalization to the genre. Now in 2011 NIS America has brought Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten to North American shores. The Disgaea series has always been known for its off the wall and hilarious humor as well as its long amount of game time and depth. Will Disgaea 4 live up to its pedigree and not only satisfy fans of SRPGs but maybe even tempt new players to enter the Netherworld?
Story:
As usual the plot of the story takes place in the Netherworld, but the main character that it focuses on happens to be a bit different than past Disgaea titles. Valvatorez is a vampire that used to be a former tyrant of the Netherworld, and at least in appearance, is a more mature hero than the younger looking heroes used in past games.
Valvatorez may have been a vampire tyrant in the past but he has a little quirk, he is absolutely obsessed with keeping his promises and one such promise has caused him to deteriorate from one of the most powerful beings in the entire Netherworld to a Prinny Instructor. Living in the bowels of the Netherworld, Hades, Valvatorez takes his job extremely seriously, as serious as he takes his love for Sardines.
Despite the insistence of Fenrich, his loyal werewolf servant that has stuck with him despite his fall from power, Valvatorez is content with his duty of training the prinnies to perform their duties well so they can one day reincarnate into humans again after paying off their sins. That is until someone decides to kidnap all of the prinnies that are under his command. It seems that the Corrupterment has decided that all prinnies should be exterminated, blaming their massive population growth for all of the troubles plaguing the Netherworld.
By kidnapping his current class of prinnies, the Corrupterment agents forced Valvatorez to break his promise to give each prinny a sardine for graduating. However after saving them and fulfilling his promise he realizes that the Corrupterment has become arrogant and is displeased with the way that they are handling things. Because of this he decides that he will no longer be content living under their rule and will instead take his fight all the way to the top, much to the pleasure of Fenrich.
Those looking for Disgaea’s famous off the wall humor should be more than content with everything that Disgaea 4 has to offer. While the story may sound serious and deep, it is quite hilarious and ready to poke fun at not only itself but other titles and real life events as well. Besides the dialogue that each character has with one another which is always hilarious, the character’s personalities are the best part.
Valvatorez has such a large obsession with sardines that it is bordering on crazy, praising sardines at every opportunity and providing plenty of information about them (including false info) throughout the game. Besides learning more about sardines than any human should know, we are also treated to Fenrich who is so loyal to Valvatorez that he will do anything to make his lord become powerful again. This can be anything from slipping human blood into sardines or putting words in someone’s mouth to benefit his lord.
This is only the tip of the iceberg however, as we also have Fuka, a prinny styled school uniform wearing girl that thinks the whole world is just a dream and not actually happening, a money loving angel named Vulcanus who steals from people, a failed final boss named DESCO and even the president’s son will join Valvatorez along his journey to disrupt the Corrupterment. Of course that only relates to characters in the story. Players can also create characters and each time they do so they will be treated to a small cutscene where the character will introduce themselves, usually in hilarious fashion that usually pokes fun at politicians in some way or form.
While the game is extremely hilarious and satirical, the political tones and theme are certainly a new step for Disgaea. This breathes a much needed breath of fresh air into the series as a whole, and most players should find it a step in the right direction. There is just the right mixture of plenty of hilarity, tragedy and serious issues that will keep gamers coming pushing from battle to battle.
Graphics:
As this is Disgaea, those familiar with the title should know what to expect. Characters will be in sprite format and will do battle on a 3D field. However what some may not expect is the fact that the sprites have received an HD upgrade and are some of the best looking and animated sprites you can probably find in any game this generation. The attacks are interesting to watch, especially those that are just too crazy to explain. Of course the retro look isn’t for everyone, but the presentation that Disgaea 4 gives off is unlike anything else.
Outside of standard combat, the character artwork is absolutely amazing. During most dialogue sections the speaking characters will have their pictures displayed usually from waist up and they are absolutely gorgous. The artwork has a definitive anime feeling to it and the characters will make motions with their bodies, such as Fuka pointing her baseball bat or Fenrich bowing. The battlefields are colorful and well varied, though occasionally they can become clustered with all of the sprites and environmental pieces together making things difficult to see. This is usually fixed however by rotating the camera or the zoom of the battlefield. Plus, a small treat to anime lovers out there, any spell that is of the Omega rank will feature a cameo picture of an anime character in the background, such as Index for Omega Heal and Holo for Omega Wind.
Audio:
When a Japanese game is brought over to Western shores it is logical to think that some things may end up going unvoiced. This has been the case for many games in the past, some forgoing any type of actual English translation. However that is not the case in Disgaea 4, in fact it is quite the opposite. Disgaea 4 actually contains more voiced dialogue on the English voice track than the Japanese track and with the quality of the voice work, it is quite a treat. The performance by the English cast is absolutely amazing and extremely amusing. The actors all sell their roles extremely well and they fit their characters perfectly.
The music is just as audibly pleasing as the voice work, featuring an excellent score of musical tracks that do a great job to fit the battles and the normal scenes. The opening music and animation is also extremely catchy and works perfectly. Rarely do you find a game where you will want to watch the opening video each time when you pop the disc in, but Disgaea 4 was a game to make me do just that.
Gameplay:
Those who have never played a Disgaea game in the past will have a lot to tackle but it is not an insurmountable task. The game is a Strategy RPG, meaning battles will take place on a grid-styled battlefield and take turns with their enemies in attacking. Players can use up to ten characters at any given time and fight with their enemies, with hurt allies able to return to the base and free up a spot for a fully healed unit.
Players will fight by either performing standard attacks, special attacks or even combining their attacks into chain attacks by standing next to other allies. Players will also be able to lift and throw various things, including allies and enemies around the battlefield. Enemies can be thrown into your base for a special piece of treatment I will mention later, allies can be thrown for advantageous positions or to help them move further, and you can even throw something called Geo-Blocks that will change the effects of certain tiles on the board or destroy those of the same color.
Players will queue up their attacks in a list and then choose to execute their attacks whenever they please. When they are done they can end their turn and enemies will return your attacks, though they do not throw things or use geo-blocks, instead usually focusing on wiping out the weakest character in range. Plus there is an often funny counter system which had me laughing when the counter readout literally said Counter-Counter-Counter-Counter-Counter-Counter!
If all of this sounds complicated, it is. However the game takes and welcomes new players by giving them a rundown of every single piece of the game in an easy to understand tutorial. Players will be shown what they can and should do, and be asked to repeat that task and even take mini-quiz like battles to prove they know what they are doing. Even more complicated, out of combat sections are given detailed explanation which makes the game more new player friendly than any past Disgaea game.
Besides normal combat, there is also a magi-change system where players can have their monster type characters turn into weapons and equip themselves to human character. Every monster will become a different weapon, like the Prinny becoming a bow, and it will increase the stats of the human player. While both characters can gain experience points, the magichange is usually a bad decision. The reason for this is because although the monster turns into a weapon, they still count as two units and also if they die then both units are knocked out of the fight. Also the combination only lasts three rounds and once that round is up then the monster will still end up being knocked out.
There is also the fusion system which is actually extremely useful. The fusion takes two monster type units and allows the player to fuse them together and create one giant monster. The fused creatures can be of different species and will also have combined stats, extended range and grow quite large. This is a very fun feature to use and when used correctly can be a powerful asset to your team.
There is more to Disgaea 4 than combat however, there are also a home base area which will allow you to do any different number of things. This includes a weapon, armor and item shop, a place to learn and upgrade skills and abilities, a place to revive and heal your characters as well as random characters that you can talk to for the hell of it. But there is also a place called the Cam-Pain HQ where you will spend the majority of your time. In this place you can assign senators (read characters) to certain spots on the map and if they are standing next to each other they can have a higher chance to do a chain attack.
Players can also put down evil symbols which will provide special bonuses to characters nearby. In the Cam-Pain HQ players will also be able to create or reincarnate new characters to fill in spots of the map. However players are rewarded with a new map spot every time they complete a story battle, which is useful because it helps the player focus more on certain characters rather than make plenty and forget about the ones you have already been focusing on.
One of the most important pieces of the game, is the Mana system. Players will earn Mana by defeating enemies with characters, and each character is given mana depending on the level of the enemy they defeat. The mana is used for many things, such as learning and buffing skills as well as the passive ability titles. Players will also use mana to propose bills in the senate, and although some bills don’t require much mana or any to pass, some grinding is certainly necessary to obtain things early or even keep your skills well upgraded and bills passing through the senate.
One thing I mentioned earlier was that enemies can be thrown into your base. This can be done once you have earned enough mana to pass a bill in the senate that will establish the Discipline Room. In this room you will be able to take captured humans and monsters and “discipline” them in any matter of ways. This can make the player receive money, items or even convince them to join your team if you have an open spot.
There is little wrong with Disgaea 4, but there still is a little problem with the title. There is occasionally a rather large spike in difficulty between battles and especially between chapters. While you may have been able to win your last fight easily, the next one could be potentially devastating for your forces and cause a game over. Therefore it is extremely recommended, practically mandatory, that players save often, as difficulty levels are not shown before a fight.
Of course the best way to counter this difficulty curve is to grind levels. This is another complaint towards the game; the amount of level grinding you will have to do for not only your characters but even your items in the Item World. Many people will find this to be a major setback, though some people will actually find the grinding in Disgaea 4 to be pleasurable. I found myself enjoying it for the most part, but did find it to grow tedious after long grinding sessions and had to step away to do something different.
Disgaea 4 does have some multiplayer aspects, though they are a bit limited. There is a map editor that is enjoyable to use but due to restrictions in the North American version isn’t as customizable as some would hope. There is also a pirate ship editor that players can have fun with and also can use their own characters as crew members. They can send their pirate team to steal items from other player’s worlds and this is an enjoyable little side bit, and players can be bribed by other players by attending their senate meetings. While not very interactive, it is still a great way to pace yourself and break up the story advancement and grinding.
Overall:
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten is a stellar example of what a RPG that features grid-based combat should be. Despite a style that some may see as archaic in this day and age, the game’s combat is absolutely terrific to play. Learning how to perform actions has been streamlined so it is easier than ever for a player to jump into the series here without worrying too much about being hit with a lot of information too quickly.
While Disgaea 4 may have difficulty spikes and plenty of grinding to level up, (the level cap is 9999) the stellar storyline and oddball humor will have them going through each battle simply to see how the characters will interact next time around. NIS America has put a lot of love into this title, so much so that even the voice track surpasses that of the original Japanese release. With easily over 50 hours of playtime, any RPG lover would do themselves a disservice to pass up this title. For everyone else, as long as they are okay with turn based combat, the title is certainly worth an extensive look.
Yesterday, we brought you a tease for a mysterious “port” that Ms. Risky Boots herself hyped on Wayfroward’s official site. Well, today the cat is out of the bag as it was announced over at TouchArcade that Shantae: Risky’s Revenge will in fact be headed to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Now if you are one of the poor, unfortunate souls that have never heard of this title, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge was the sequel to Wayforward’s 2002 Game Boy Color release, which became an instant cult classic for the handheld.
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge honestly is one of my favorite games of all time, as it not only presented a polished platformer, but it actually innovated on the classic genre with fresh gameplay mechanics and a crisp visual design. The biggest worry of many would be that this title might make a bad port considering the touchscreen controls, but Wayforward have already kept that in mind and mentioned that this version has been a work from the heart and was re-built to compliment the platform with new tweaks to the platforms, graphics, and controls.
Now it is just a waiting game as there isn’t a solid date of when Shantae: Risky’s Revenge will hit the iOS, but once we hear word or even extra info on the port, we will be sure to bring you an update.
Nintendo certainly have been promoting the upcoming Kirby Mass Attack as of late and I have honestly been loving every minute of it. To further their promotion, Nintendo released the first television commercial for the game, which in my opinion is awesome as it taps upon the ads of Nintendo past and features the core audience for the title rather than any celebrity endorsement (yes Beyonce, I’m looking at you..).
In this clip, we see a real-life Whispy Woods antagonizing a kid (who is representing Kirby). Soon after this young lad has enough and makes quick work of the infamous tree by multiplying, much like the concept of the game itself. Now if this cheeky sequence doesn’t capture your attention, a bit more gameplay footage is shown as well which gives players a further look into how the action will play out on the touch screen. Check out the commercial below for yourselves, and get ready as Kirby Mass Attack is due out on September 19th, exclusively on the Nintendo DS.
THQ announced this week that they will release downloadable content every week for 40 weeks after the release of Saints Row The Third. The aim is to keep gamers constantly engaged for as long as possible, even after all the missions have been finished.
There’s no word yet on examples of the DLC that we will be seeing but given the “insane” nature of the game, it’s going to be really interesting to see what they come up with every week.
“We’re totally changing how we keep consumers engaged for a very long time. We intend to create an online digital ecosystem that keeps them interested for a year or more.” Said Brian Farrell of THQ at the Cloud Gaming Conference USA this week.
What would you guys like to see as DLC? Let us know in the comments below!
Saints Row The Third will be out November 15th for 360 and PS3.
Rod-Land is a jaunty little exploration into 90s gaming on the iOS. You play as a fairy whose mother has been stolen by an evil person (sound familiar? Old-school games don’t really have a lot of plot variation). Kinda makes you wonder why a fairy’s mother has no special skills of her own to defend her from scary black crows that hijack you and take you to far away tower tops. It offers a great window into the past with a modern programming twist.
Gameplay
Rod-Land is your typical old-school platformer, you flutter around the screen with your magic wand that can stun, throw someone around, or make ladders. This may not sound as impressive as it should, but as whenever you have two abilities, making ladders is quite an important part of the game.
Each level is a level of a castle that your mother is being kept in. Of course once you get to the level that your mother is being held prisoner she gets swept away somewhere else.
Rod-Land hasn’t evolved much in terms of controls. There’s a D-pad and A and B buttons, which you can customise and move around the screen. At first if you haven’t played it before it might take some getting used to, because you have to have a strong handle on how to use both buttons in order to successfully use the necessary tactics. The D-pad takes some effort to get a hold on how to use it really well, if you could attach an actual D-pad to the phone it would have been perfect, but the touch sensitive one is good enough once you’ve adjusted.
The A button controls your little fairy’s wand, which can either stun enemies at a certain close range, or grab them and bash them around three times until they turn into a weapon you can use against other enemies. While you chuck them around over your head for fun, you can also hit others with them. If you hit an enemy with one of the weapons you get an extra bonus, which is great and helps you gather points. You complete each level by killing all the enemies in that level, so all the flowers that give you extra points are only a bonus. Each level has a goal of reaching 10,000 points; if you get over that amount then you get three out of three stars for the level. Oddly this doesn’t change for boss levels, so you’re guaranteed to get three stars simply because by defeating the boss you automatically earn 10,000 bonus points.
In story mode you are given one life for each level, and two for boss levels although I had gotten so used to doing things in one life that I almost preferred to manage it.
The game has sixty levels in total with three different game endings, which should take you a decent amount of time to get through. The levels are fairly similar, and all in the theme of the original game. But don’t mistake the simplicity for easiness, as the levels go on you have to utilise your tactics to try and make your way through the time-sensitive levels.
Each boss took me a couple of turns to get the tactics down, given that they’re all unique in their attacking range. As they go on they get more difficult obviously, but in a good way. I never found the game so frustrating I wanted to throw something at it, it was always fair and if I ever failed it was my fault, not a lack of user-friendly-ness.
After finishing the two acts of story mode you unlock survival mode, which is the same thing except you have five lives and you’re scored on how far you can go in the game before dying.
At one point the game did have a little hissy fit at me and all the buttons turned into white and black squares on the screen replaced them. But by that stage I had played enough to know exactly where the D-pad controls were meant to be and how to use them.
Visual/Audio
The whole game screams 90s, it’s pixellated but in a stylised way. The actual potential quality of the graphics is clear in the menu screens, which are given the modern day quality. There’s a total throwback that makes you yearn for times gone past. The cut scenes are classic, a series of pictures with bad grammatical and spelling captions accompanying them. The soundtrack matches the visual, the developers really sought to get the full feel.
Conclusion
Rod-Land is a great nostalgic throwback with deceptively difficult levels. Its definitely worth a play through, especially if you enjoyed playing the previous versions although you might feel at a loss without the joystick control.
Rockstar cetainly aren’t ones to beat about the bush! Only a day after promising lots of Max Payne 3 news over the coming weeks, the company have announced a release date for the game’s first trailer, complete with its own piece of artwork. We’re getting a closer look at Max himself this time round, all blood and stress and booze.
What the trailer itself will feature hasn’t been mentioned, rather deftly adding another little hook of anticipation as to whether there will be actual gameplay on show.
If you’re not running in the same time zone as the Rockstar team (EST), then Australians are looking at the early hours of Thursday morning (3am Sydney), and Europe around 5pm (UK) on the Wednesday. But of course, keep an eye on Capsule Computers for all the latest!
Bluemouth Interactive have at it again with some more Playstation 3 releases. This time they are distributing Hunter’s Trophy all over the country. Developed by Big Ben Interactive, Hunter’s Trophy is a true hunting simulation, respectful of hunting regulations. Using a rifle or a bow, you hunt over 20 different species in many different terrains, by day, by night, in the rain or in the sunshine. The game also features an arcade mode shooting range with clay pigeons, targets and shapes.
Although you will be able to use the DualShock controller, the game will come with a genuine break-open-barrel rifle accessory for use with Playstation Move. Yes, a rifle for your Playstation Move. Other feature include stereoscopic 3D and Ball-Trap mode for up to 4 players. It was also developed in cooperation with the Loire Atlantique, France, a regional hunting federation, so the game is going for an accurate simulation.
Expect the game in early November for the price of $69.95. Check out the full package below.
Codemasters released their third Developer Diary Video, focusing on the new Co-op Championship Mode. The mode allows two players to link up online and race for the same F1 team in an attempt to win the “FIA Formula One Constructor’s World Championship”.
Racers must balance individual and team goals as they compete individually as well for the Drivers’ Championship Title, giving gamers an insight into what it’s like for the pros.
“Now when I look across the garage and see my team mate in there, I am not comparing myself against an AI team mate, I’m comparing myself against someone that I know personally.” said Chief Game Designer Stephen Hood.
F1 comes out on the 22nd of September for 360, PS3 and PC. Check out the video down below to see some footage of Co-op Championship Mode!
That’s right, the long awaited first footage of the new Hunter x Hunter anime series has finally made it’s way online. NTV (who will be airing the new series in Japan) have uploaded a 17 second long promo trailer which is also going to be making the rounds on Japanese television.
We don’t see alot, however we do get a first taste of the new voice of Gon the protagonist as well as a deeper look at the character designs of Gon, Kurapika, Leorio and Aunt Mito. Not only that but a good ear would be able to pick up what could be the opening or ending theme playing along in the background.
For your viewing pleasure Hunter fans, you can check out the trailer below! Hopefully that can subside your thirst for Hunter x Hunter. Be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you think!
