Codemasters have kick-started a new behind the scenes arrangement of videos today, dubbed ‘Behind the Bullets’. This first part is centered very much on the weaponry, and the impacting, heavy-duty firepower it possesses and that the developers are going for.
As Codemasters Guildford Studio team members discuss the way in which gun handling, VFX and level design combine to deliver a “crazy, over the top” experience, the video shows players shredding through cover, blowing enemies through walls, spectacular stunt deaths and Bodycount’s innovative cover-lean system in action.
Bodycount blasts its way onto Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 2nd September this year, so with about a month to go, who’s excited for its release?
Developer:Namco Bandai Platform:Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network Price:800MSP(Buy Here)
Galaga Legions DX is the Namco Generations reboot of the Galaga arcade game. In Galaga Legions DX, players take the role of a Space Craft armed with two satellites and must take down swarms of Galaga, an insect like race of aliens, in order to score points and survive. Galaga Legions DX differs from the original Galaga in that players are able to move about the playfield freely, and by utlising the satellites, fire in any direction around the player.
Story
During my entire playthrough of the game, I had no idea what the actual story of the game was. I mean, I got that you were someone in a spaceship who had to rip through wave after wave of Galaga in order to do something, but I’m not entirely sure what that thing was. Protection of my planet? Maybe, though I never see it. Destruction of the Galaga, making me the bad guy? Possibly. Though, I’d say that Galaga isn’t a game that needs a story, it’s a game that allows players to make up a story as they go.
Gameplay
In Galaga Legions DX, players take the role of a spaceship designed to take on wave after wave of Galaga. At your disposal you have two different mechanisms of attack, a formation of satellites that shoot forwards, and a formation of satellites that shoot in a spread-like fashion. By using the right type of weapon during the right wave, you can maximise your killing efficiency and maximise your score. As you progress through a level, you will be able to capture an enemy swarm of Galaga, which act as an extension to yuor satellites and enable you to fire even more shots towards an enemy, as well as doubling your own satellites on your ship.
Galaga Legion DX has 9 areas for players to battle through, with each one having 5 levels within it. Each subsequent level and area present an even greater challenge to a player. The last level in each area will present players with a great challenge, which is something that I love, and that challenge is that players can battle through 99 waves of enemies in whatever time they have left. Of course, not completing all the waves in any level of any area before the timer runs out will not cause you to lose the game (that’s reserved for being killed), it just cuts your chances of achieving the highest possible score that you can. I quite liked this aspect as it stopped you from being stuck on a particularly difficult wave for too long and kept the highly frenetic flow of the game. Of course, only the most hardcore and dedicated player will be able to reach the 99th wave in the last level of an area.
As you go through a level, enemies will spawn in different locations across the screen (as opposed to the original Galaga where it was always top down), which can create some pretty chaotic action if you’re unprepared for it. Though, if you master these spawn locations, you will be ripping through the game with the fastest speed and highest scores!
And speaking of highest scores, Galaga Legions DX allows you to save your rank for each area on the online leaderboards. If you should choose, you can also upload your replay data for other players to enjoy. I found that watching the replays of the highest ranking players to be essential in learning the game in order to maximise your score and hope to overthrow them. This is esepcially true for the Championship area, which is, not only the most fun area, but also the most competitive. At the time of writing the number one ranked player is UnspokenSix8, with a highscore of 11,726,300. Just completing an area will only yield 20% of that at best, so be sure to learn the levels.
Included in the gameplay in addition to each area is a Time Attack mode. In Time Attack mode, players can take on any level in any each area in an effort to down each wave against a clock counting downwards. Get the highest score and the best time to win. This adds an amazing replayability to the game, and along with the leaderboards and personal statistics, this game will have you returing for more.
As a gamer, I absolutely love arcade style games (which you would think is strange given my love of PC gaming over all else) and Galaga Legions DX gameplay takes me back to the arcade, even if I wasn’t actually around early enough to experience the almighty retro game arcade cabinets of old, and it’s through the gameplay that it does this. This is definitely a game I’m revisiting, I only wish it were ported to the PC.
Audio
Galaga Legions DX features an amazing techno/electronic soundtrack that compliments the games visuals nicely. There isn’t too much to say with the audio here, the soundbytes that play at the beginning and end of the areas are indicative of what you’re supposed to be doing and what has happened.
All the weapon blasts, explosions and the like all sound quite believable, as well as extraordinary and great. No complaints from me, the sound team did a great job and should be commended for their efforts!
Graphics
Galaga Legions DX has amazing visuals, even if looking at a still image of the game might not convey that. As a still image, everything looks like it doesn’t belong on the playfield at all, or at least that’s the impression that I got anyway (for this section, I refer to the default skinset). But, once you start playing, it all comes together nicely and it fits perfectly. I am absolutely in love with the games models while they’re in motion and think that the team did a good job with them.
While the games default skins are modern adaptations of classic Galaga enemies, the game features different types of skins for the models within the game. All of these are more retro looking, in that they are pixel based and are often reminiscent of classic top-down shooters of old. It’s interesting going back back and watching the top players play through the game and noticing that each player has their own preference of skins within the game. I use the type-1 skins myself (the default new updated ones), but a lot of people like to use the classic Galaga skinset.
Not only are the skins for the game amazing and plentiful, but the (what was a dense-black background in the original arcade) backgrounds within the game are amazing to watch. They shift from a starting area, to a very bright, beautiful and evolving backdrop. The colourscheme seems to reflect what’s going on in reference to the level that you’re on in an area. While it’s never explicity stated what happens between level 1 and level 5 of each area, the background helps to establish what could be happening. In my interpretation, your spaceship is increasing in speed and sitorting the space around them until they reach the final level which is Galaga controlled terriitory. I know it’s not officially stated, but it makes sense to me.
Overall
Galaga Legions DX is an excellent arcade shooter from Namco-Bandai, as well as an excellent follow-up to a timeless classic. I would maybe even go so far as to even say that it might be even better than the classic, if only for being not as locked down as the classic was. The game is an amazing package, the visuals, gameplay and audio all compliment each other very nicely and is definitely worth the price and the download. I hope that everyone has as much fun with this as I did!
EA has unveiled the players who will be gracing the covers for its latest football title, FIFA 12. This is the first of a series of announcements EA will be releasing as the launch date gets closer and more player lineups are revealed.
Australia’s cover will include Everton player and Aussie, Tim Cahill, Manchester United’s Rooney, and Real Madrid’s Kaka. Other players that will be featured on the cover from other countries includes Jack Wilshere from Arsenal, Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid, Pique from Barcelona, and Mexes from AC Milan. These players will – as they are every year – be integrated into the marketing campaign for the title before and after the launch on September 29 (Australia) and September 30 (New Zealand).
Does this cover lineup for Australia sound a little familiar? Check out the FIFA 11 cover and see if there are any similarities…
Oh wait…it’s the exact same players! We’ll forgive you, EA, because FIFA 12 does sound like a brilliant and innovative new take on the franchise (and because they’re all wearing different kits…does anyone notice Kaka’s odd hair in this cover?). However, there’s only so many times Kaka and Cahill can grace our covers before each year starts to look exactly the same.
With just five weeks to go until insomnia43, the UK’s largest LAN event, organiser Multiplay has begun to unveil some of the specific attractions appearing over the weekend.
Currys and PC World have been announced as headline attendees, bringing a variety of brands including Antec, ASUS, Kingston, NVidia, Intel, Madcatz and Roxio. The extensive range of games, peripherals and components from all of these big name brands and more can be seen online and in-store at Currys and PC World.
The event, which runs over the August bank holiday weekend at the Telford International Centre, will see upwards of 3,000 gamers compete in a host of prestigious multiplayer tournaments for a prize fund already in excess of £30,000.
Providing commentary – at the event and also for the expected hundreds of thousands of those watching the live stream – will be John “TotalBiscuit” Bain and Shaun “dApollo” Clark, from the popular ‘Starcast’ podcast – the leading authority on all things Starcraft. In addition, the League of Legends coverage will be handled by Leigh “Deman” Smith and Joe Miller – hugely respected names from the scene.
The insomnia Series of LAN events is a British institution, playing host to some of the biggest eSports tournaments in Europe – indeed, it is the host of the UK qualifiers for the World Cyber Games.
Organisers expect over 5,000 spectators to pass through the doors over the weekend, which includes dedicated exhibition space alongside the fiercely contested competition area.
The events prove a massive draw, even for those not attending. The competitions are streamed online all weekend and historically the i-Series has seen over 170,000 unique viewers and close to 10,000 concurrently – and this weekend’s high-profile billing is expected to set a new record for certain tournaments.
Full details of confirmed companies so far:-
Samsung – showcasing its latest gaming and electronic devices
PC World – offering a wide range of equipment for purchase at the show and bringing many partners to demonstrate their products.
Medion – unveiling top-of-the-range gaming PC’s, monitors and peripherals .
Iiyama – the monitor and touchscreen specialists will be showing off its wares
ASUS – tonnes of freebies and a Left 4 Dead 2 survival championship
Riot Games – sponsors of the League of Legends WCG tournament
Aquatuning – showing off their latest hardware and handing out awesome freebies
ESET UK – Andy the Android will make a triumphant return with an on-stand tournament and ace giveaways
Kingston – sponsors of the Counter-Strike Source Cup.
Pro Class TV – Coverage of the FIFA tournament including well known celebrity appearances (more soon!).
Quiet PC – showing that powerful can also be quiet!
Razer – sponsoring the international Starcraft 2 tournament.
Triple Widescreen – the makers of the iMotion Racing Seat will be speeding into i43
Ttesports – Sponsoring the Heroes of Newerth Tournament and showcasing their range of gaming hardware and peripherals.
Kustom PC – try out the latest hardware which will really help raise your game
Antec – showing all their latest range of PC products.
Team Dignitas – once again returning to i-Series, with its brilliant ‘beat the pro’ competitions
A full competitor “Bring Your Own Computer/Console” pass costs £92 for the whole weekend including camping. There are also options for those unable to bring their own equipment with “Turn Up and Play” passes costing £50 for particular tournaments and PCs being available for rent for £150 inclusive of the full entry pass.
Spectator passes start at £5 for a day access to the exhibition or £25 for the whole weekend including camping. Of course for those who can’t make it, there will be free internet coverage of the event streamed live through Multiplay’s site in High Definition.
For more information on the event, head over to iseries.multiplay.co.uk
Katanagatari Volume 1 Premium Edition Studio: White Fox Publisher: NIS America Language: Japanese with English Subtitles Price: $55.99 Blu-Ray/DVD Combo – Buy Now!
Overview:
There are many series that contain a certain a certain unique style about themselves, it could either be the characters involved, the way the show presents itself or even the art style. The other half of NIS America’s first offering of a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack is Katanagatari. Katanagatari means Sword Story and was orignially a Japanese light novel that was written by Nisio Isin back in 2007 and was finished in that same year.
Not only does Katanagatari come with the standard premium edition packaging, but it also has a unique feature all of its own. With episodes lasting fifty minutes long instead of the usual twenty five minutes, the series has plenty of content to watch. With the first six episodes in Volume 1, how does the series present itself?
Story:
The story of Katanagatari follows a man named Yasuri Shichika. He is a self proclaimed swordsman who actually fights without a sword. He is hired by a woman named Togame to collect twelve legendary swords scattered across the country. These swords were forged by the legendary blacksmith named Shikizaki Kiki, who made 1,000 different swords during his lifetime, with every one of them being a practice sword to perfect his craft and create the twelve best weapons in the world.
Yasuri had been schooled in the martial art of Kyotoryuu which means that he is the best fighter who could join with Togame to complete this dangerous mission, as such he agrees to journey alongside her and assist her in defeating the owners of the twelve blades. Earlier I mentioned that the name of the series, Katanagatari roughly translates into sword story which is certainly a proper name for the series.
This is because the main plot of the story follows the journey of these two characters as they not only have to do battle with these other samurai to obtain the blades, but also the consequences of what will happen because of their actions. The major feature about these fifty minute episodes is that each episode tends to focus on one of the owners of the twelve Deviant Blades. The fact that the episodes are fifty minutes long helps to make these sequences actually very well done, usually following the same formula of character development for most of the episode and then finally a battle. The enemies, though usually focused on one at a time, are fleshed out thanks to the fact that they often get some background information revealed as well as why they are holding one of the swords.
Something that some viewers may find a bit problematic however is the fact that the series is very dialogue heavy. Katanagatari’s story style explains practically everything that happens or is going to happen. The vast amount of dialogue at times can be a bit too much and it may overwhelm the viewer with a bombardment of information that will be hard to digest, let alone understand at first. Though when the dialogue isn’t explaining something and is interaction between the characters themselves, then it is actually a major highlight of the series. Though be warned, with the vast amount of spoken dialogue here, the average viewer may grow tired of just constant talking without anything going on in any given moment.
Mixed in with all of this dialogue however is a lot of humor. The humor in Katanagatari is a bit unique however as a lot of it is meant to be simply deadpan. This means it tries to get laughs through failed attempts at humor which only make things funnier. This can either come from a character’s ineptitude, sexual themes being unacknowledged though blatantly obvious among others. This does help brighten up the mood during long periods of dialogue. Artwork:
Although the anime itself is supposed to be set in feudal times, there is little to no historical accuracy present in the character designs as well as a few weapons themselves. The clothing that some characters wear is extremely colorful and unique, which is certainly a point in the shows favor. If it were plain clothing set simply for that time period, it would lose much of its charm. Instead the series comes off like a fairytale in its design and is all the more wonderful for it.
The character designs themselves can feel a bit plain at times, though thanks to their unique outfits and coloration this helps to offset the designs themselves. The character’s facial animations can be seen as too simplistic at times, and the art direction is obviously not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but the series manages to pull it off swimmingly. Meaning that if you can tolerate the character’s facial animations then you will be in for one of the most unique looking recent anime in 2011.
Audio & Subtitles:
For a show that puts as much stake into dialogue as this one, it also requires a very good crew of voice actors to go along with it. Thankfully Katanagatari contains a stellar crew of voice actors. At first, Shichika may sound like a very poorly voiced character, until you realize that that is simply his personality and that his performance grows on you as you watch the episodes. This is certainly a hard feat to perform, but it is made all the better with the rest of the cast delivering a masterful delivery of the dialogue.
Katanagatari is a bit different as far as Opening and Ending music goes. Sure the Opening song is relatively good and most viewers won’t mind hearing the music from time to time, each episode features a different ending song. This means that all six episodes contain a different song, though some may not all be hits, it will be difficult to not find at least one song that you will adore thanks to the variety implemented here. The background music for the show itself is well exceptional thanks to masterful application. Every bit of background instrumental is used at the proper moments and enhance the scene for the viewer’s enjoyment.
NIS America’s release of Katanagatari is an English subtitle only release which means that there will be a lot of reading involved. This shouldn’t put most viewers off, but it is something to watch out for. The subtitles themselves do a good job for the most part, though there are a few jokes that will likely go over the viewer’s head due to the way things are described and Japanese names are preserved.
Characters:
Katanagatari focuses heavily on only two characters throughout the first six episodes. This being Shichika the man who has been trained to fight without a sword and instead uses his hands and legs as sword-imitations to deal out damage. Shichika is a man who has had very little dealing with the rest of the world and is very bad at dealing with emotion and understanding certain aspects of the outside world. Because of this he simply views himself as a weapon who Togame can wield at will for her quest.
The other half of the duo, Togame is a self proclaimed strategist. She requests that Shichika falls in love with her because she believes that is the only way to assure that he won’t betray her. Although she is only self proclaimed, she is quite intelligent but is also clumsy. This often places her in situations where she is most likely to be embarrassed and provide humor to the viewer.
This duo works extremely well together and their personalities do a great job of feeding off of each other. While Togame can be seen as a tsundere type character and it is easy to place Shichika in the idiot category, they break these molds by their actions and developments. Considering most of the other secondary characters see little long term development the fact that these two work so well together is a necessity.
Extras:
NIS America delivers yet again with Katanagatari Volume 1 Premium Edition’s contents. As usual their package comes in an oversized, tough collector’s box that contains two slip cover DVD/Blu-ray cases as well as a hardcover art book. The hardcover art book is named Togame’s Travel log and contains a number of proffesional artwork as well as episode summaries, a glossary of terms and more.
The DVD and Blu-ray bonuses are rather slim however as the only bonus content on these discs is they only contain the clean openings and endings for the series. This is a bit of a let down but the premium edition comes with plenty of extra content already, and the fact that the Katanagatari Volume 1 Premium Edition’s collector box has the same styled artwork on the cover as the rest of the anime, it is a work of art in and of itself that is almost a shame to tuck away into a shelf somewhere.
Overall:
Katanagatari can take the prize for containing some of the most unique looking art styles you can find in an anime. It also contains plenty of narrative and storytelling with amazing combat and a pair of characters that work well together. Still the focus on discussion can put some viewers off and, even though the series looks great for some, not everyone will enjoy the style used. The series itself cuts off in the midway point and will be leaving fans waiting for Volume 2 to be released later this year. With the amount of emotion and enjoyment that can be derived out of simply watching the first volume, anime fans would truly be missing out if they ignored picking up Katanagatari’s volumes.
Добрый день, уважаемые товарищи,
[Good day, Dear Comrades]
The new Metro: Last Light trailer is the 2nd part of the E3 demo and it shows us how action packed the sequel is. Hopefully, it can retain the horrific creepiness of Metro 2033 and yet improve on the faults that game had.
What do you think? Are you excited about taking down the evil that resides in a post nuclear world? Or will you be too scared? The third video drops soon, and we can’t wait (the tension is killing me). Metro: Last Light releases on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC next year.
Sending a rocket off into vast open space is always a big risk. But it’s a risk worth taking when evil aliens, who are jealous of all the fantastic and wonderful things we have here on Earth, like delicious food and awesome video games, attempt to take those things away from us. The aliens have invented an Evil Soul Ray Gun and are blasting all our precious commodities in an attempt to destroy the Earth. Enter Ranger Rocket, a captain who stands between the aliens and the fate of the world. Help Ranger Rocket fight off invasion by capturing vast amounts of space by maneuvering the rocket out into the vast open space.
Gameplay
The story line might be a little bit silly but the gameplay is fairly simple. While it took a few tries to get to grips with control the rocket, once it’s picked up the game is fairly straightforward. The basic goal is collect a large number of space while avoiding enemy fire and collisions. Enemies will also fire at the rocket, which then runs along the rockets trail at great speed before creating a huge explosion: resulting in the loss of a life. The enemies in each level tend to be fairly similar. There are a few levels, such as the level with traffic lights that command the movement of other enemies, and the giant spaceship that can be shrink with lasers, where enemies have special abilities. However, it doesn’t take long to chip away at the surface and get back to the basic gameplay of capturing space. In this sense the game might be a little bit limited. There are varied difficulties, but they just involve capturing more space in the same levels you have already played, which means by this point you might be a little bored of the levels.
A downfall to the gameplay is the number of lives you are given. Each level has nine lives as the starting base, which is far too many to start with (unless of course you are playing Bubsy on the Super Nintendo, which fits thematically because he was a cat, and we all know they have nine lives… right?). The fact that these lives can get used up fairly fast is a comment on the difficulty of gameplay. Often there are far too many objects flying around and enemies shoot fairly suddenly and with great speed, so it is often hard to avoid these in time. That being said, there are a number of power-ups to collect through different levels to help along the way, ranging from bonus points, speed boosts or the ever helpful laser gun. For that little bit of extra planning to avoid attack, conquer space and defeat the evil aliens, it is possible to change the control system so that the rocket isn’t constantly moving. This makes it a lot easier to slowly push out into the middle and gather large amounts of space in one go, but a little less fun.
Graphics and Audio
With a cartoon like charm, Ranger Rocket showcases its graphics with little comic book style introductions that explain the narrative of the game. Each level has a little introduction where the enemies taunt both you and Ranger Rocket before attempting to destroy you. The graphics in game lack the humour and cartoon-like quality of the introductions, but still manage to work well. Interesting character designs, and unique backgrounds work well in Ranger Rocket. I especially like that the background will start as black and white, and then gradually become coloured the more space you capture.
While the game might not have too much going on in terms of sound effects, there is a rich soundtrack that plays throughout the background of Ranger Rocket. While it isn’t completely fitting to the games theme of alien invasion, it is the sort of music that makes playing casual games such a treat.
Conclusion
With very simple, and sometimes fast-paced gameplay, Ranger Rocket makes for a decent casual game on the iPhone. However, it can get a little repetitive seeing as each level is essentially the same. The enemies don’t vary all that much, only a few levels have enemies with special abilities and as a result don’t really change the core challenge of the game. For a small casual game, it not only ticks the right boxes, but also structures the game around making them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t push outside of these boundaries often. Despite this, it is still a fun little game and worth investing some time in, even just to play through the basic levels.
Colosseum, the latest game from Gamevil, is now on the Android Market.
Endless waves of monsters will enter an arena and you must defeat them using melee and ranged weapons, like swords, maces, throwing knives, bombs and more. If you survive, you’ll get loot and all kinds of awesome rewards. There are also magic attacks like ice, lightning and fire.
“We’re excited to finally bring Colosseum to Android and we’re also working on new versions too.” said Kyu Lee, Head of GAMEVIL USA, “As part of deal done with GAMEVIL’s Partner Fund, COCOSOFT has developed a great pickup-and-play RPG title that has garnered many fans, and we’re happy now to bring it to Android so players can finally join in on the fun.”
The fighting tournament Evo2k released some Super Street Fighter IV stats today via their twitter account that may interest many fighting game fans. They tweeted the following three statistics:
The Player that gets the first hit wins 58.9% of the time.
The player that sends his/her opponent to 25% health remaining first wins 87.1% of the time.
The player that wins the opening round of a match wins 69.1% of the time.
These stats seem to support the theory that “A good defence is a good offence” as the most common winners are the ones getting their enemies’ health lower first (duh!). However, note Street Fighter is a fighter focused on counter-attacks and looking for an opening in you opponents’ moves to land a quick hit or combo, so this may not be the case. Regardless, knowing these statistics will definitely help me decide who to place my bets on in the future, so thanks to Evo for these interesting points of interest!
Today the arena was set and the fighters were ready for the final day of Evo2k, the biggest and baddest fighting game tournament in the world took place at the Rio Hotel and Casino. Free for all spectators, tournament fighters went head-to-head in Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Marvel VS Capcom 3, Tekken 6 and Blazblue Continum Shift 2 and Mortal Kombat 9 all on the PlayStation 3.
The championship winners have been announced!
Congratulations to all the winners:
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition: Fuudo
Marvel vs Capcom 3: Viscant
Mortal Kombat 9: Perfect Legend
Tekken 6: Kor
BlazBlue Continuum Shift II: Spark
The battles were so intense, that 4 out of the 5 championship matches today needed a second finals to decide a winner. The only one that didn’t need to be reset was the main event, the Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition championship. Players Wolfkrone, Perfect Legend, Viscant, Daigo, were all trending topics on twitter, in fact Viscant was at one point the EIGHTH on the worldwide trending topics on twitter, Perfect Legend was the NINTH! Amazing!
