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!
Game: Hal 21 Publisher/Developer: SNK Playmore Price: $2.99 Genre: Top down shooter Consoles: PS3 (Reviewed), PSP
HAL 21 is yet another classic from SNK Playmore that has been released onto the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable through the Mini section of the Playstation Store. If you buy one copy of the game, you can play it on either the PS3 or PSP, although saves will not transfer over. Although I did not personally play this game when it was originally released (I was just a tadpole in a swimming pool, so its not my fault) I had a pretty fun time with this re-release that is currently available.
The current offering of HAL 21 on the Playstation Store has no updated HD graphics, no changes in gameplay and no crucial differentiations that would allow a retro gamer to distinguish this game from the one he used to play in the arcade. At its very core, this game is a top down shooter that has been duplicated by many in the years after its release in 1985. In the game, you fly a combat fighter that has been equipped with bombs for ground targets and missiles for the hundreds of enemy aircraft that will attack you. If you manage to get to the end of the level, there is huge boss ready to take you down if your not prepared. If the action gets to be bit much, then you can always bring in a buddy to help clean up the mess.
However, even with two people playing, this game can get rough. Designed as a quarter crunching game back in the 80s, not much has changed as far as difficulty goes. The enemies all have incredible aim, and when there are literally 20 of them on the screen on at once, it is tough to navigate through them and do some shooting too, especially when you also have to account for ground targets. In addition, some slightly inaccurate controls and 1985 graphics that are not very detailed can leave one feeling quite frustrated. Luckily, the options menu allows you to save your progress and the game has unlimited continues (so long as you insert another “coin” after the game over screen).
In conclusion, those wanting to hone or train their reflexes will get a plethora of practice by playing this game. It is definitely rough going at first, but in the end, you’ll have fun and you will have learned some valuable skills like: patience, self control (I didn’t throw my controller!), pattern recognition, and, as mentioned, better reflexes.
Those looking for a fun gameplay experience for a few hours should also take a look at this game. It provides a nice history lesson and they can see where their current generation of games has come from. On top of that, the unlimited continues option will allow them (after quite a few deaths anyway) to actually beat the game. All in all, there are a ton of worse games for $2.99 and if you can control your anger a few times, this game can be quite fun, although the game will leave you with one question: What in the heck IS a HAL 21?!
Arakawa Under the Bridge Premium Edition Studio: SHAFT Publisher: NIS America Language: Japanese with English subtitles Price: $55.99 Blu-ray/DVD Combo – Buy now!
Overview:
If you’ve been following anime localization to the West then you may remember that Nippon Ichi Software America (NISA) have been bringing a number of anime to North American shores for nearly a year now. Now, for the first time, the company has released two anime series in dual format and released them in a combined package of Blu-ray and DVD. Of course, what better way to watch an off the walls comedy such as Arakawa Under the Bridge than in the best format possible to date?
Arakawa Under the Bridge first began in manga format back in 2004 and last year was made into an anime. The company in charge of bringing this unique manga to television screens was SHAFT, a very unique animator with a number of traits. How does Arakawa Under the Bridge feel now that it’s been released out into the daylight of American shores?
Story:
The story of Arakawa Under the Bridge follows a young man named Ichinomya Ko. Ko is the twenty year old heir to one of the most successful and powerful international corporations in the entire world. He has always been a man at the top of the world, with great looks, intelligence, money by the helicopter load and usually talented at everything he does. That is of course until one day he gets pantsed on a bridge by a group of punk kids.
Now these kids did a bit more than simply pants him, they also hung his pants up on a bridge girder. Now Ko’s family has a unique trait about themselves, they simply refuse to be indebted to anyone. This only becomes worse when Ko finds that a girl is sitting only a few feet away from him fishing. She offers to help him but he refuses her help, instead he tries to climb the girder himself only for it to fall into the water on top of him.
As he sinks deeper into the water he realizes that he is at the mercy of death that is until he suddenly wakes up on the shore. The girl fishing off the bridge had saved his life. After having the concept of never owing anyone a debt ingrained into his very being, he owes this girl the biggest debt of all. The debt of saving his life…
He learns that the girl is named Nino and that she has nothing she wants from the Ko in the way of goods or services. Despite being a homeless girl living under a bridge by the Arakawa River she only has one method for Ko to repay her, and that is to become her lover. To make matters worse she also tells him that she is Venusian, or from Venus.
Ko takes her up on her offer to become her lover (boyfriend) and joins the family of strange people living under the bridge over the Arakawa River. He is introduced to the residents living under the bridge over time, and is named Recruit by the Village Chief after it is said that every resident under the bridge is given a new name. At the same time he realizes that, despite her belief that she is from Venus, Nino is perhaps the only sane member of the village. He quickly builds a house for himself on top of one of the bridge’s supports and settles in to his new life among the strangest people you could ever imagine… even in an anime.
Now, although Arakawa Under the Bridge is billed as a thirteen episode anime series, there are actually many more. Each episode actually contains at least five chapters in each episode. This lives up to the fact that each chapter of the original manga was rather short and the gags came fast and hard. This also translates perfectly into the series itself. These chapters are often connected with one another and form a rather intriguing story. To make things even better, the flow is so flawless that, despite one chapter ending the episode and the next chapter starting the next episode, it didn’t even feel like a break of pace.
The reason for this is that the amount of gags and jokes are quite hilarious. There are many times that viewers will find themselves laughing every few minutes thanks to the comedy that is completely off the wall thanks the unique characters living under the bridge which I will mention later. One drawback however is the fact that when a gag falls flat, it falls hard. Also, although the chapters and episodes run pretty well together, there is usually very little story progression outside of the fact that Recruit (Ko) tries to accept the crazy life under the bridge.
Artwork:
Earlier I mentioned that the studio that was behind the creation of Arakawa Under the Bridge the anime was SHAFT. Anyone familiar with SHAFT’s other anime should understand what this means. The company’s unique traits return in Arakawa as they often use open spaces in the environment to put a little side message in for emphasis to the events occurring on screen, as well as the use of a relatively faded looking color palette.
Despite this however the animation is extremely clean and crisp. Backgrounds are strange at times but they are certainly a sight to behold as they are usually highly stylized and wonderful. The character designs themselves are easy to look at, which is impressive considering the oddity of the characters themselves and their appearances. The animation doesn’t dip at all and the fact that the series can now be seen in Blu-ray makes everything all the much better. The DVD version looks just as good, though things still appear slightly less crisp than in the Blu-ray disks.
Audio & Subtitles:
As one would expect, Arakawa Under the Bridge’s music ends up falling into your standard slice of life category of background music. There are a few pieces of inserted instrumental music, though the true highlight of the musical department is the opening and ending sequences. The opening song “Venus and Jenus” may look a bit strange thanks to the animation but the music itself will leave you often watching the entire opening sequence even if you are on episode eleven and have already watched it ten times. There is also a special opening song for Episode 5 which is called “Think up a title yourself” and will have the viewer laughing just as much as the actual episode itself will.
Arakawa Under the Bridge’s voice work is certainly well done. They may not sound like the best cast when you first are introduced to them but they end up growing on the viewer over time. The only problem with this is that some may be a bit disappointed at the beginning by the voicework. Considering Arakawa Under the Bridge is only subbed in English and retains the Japanese voices this means that unfortunately there is no chance for a change.
The subtitles themselves are good at what they do. Whenever SHAFT’s animation places text somewhere in the scenery or on someone’s clothing the subtitles showing what is written will often appear at the top of the screen to help distinguish between the lines being said outloud and the translated kanji.
Characters:
Though there is a very large cast of characters living under the bridge, the anime itself essentially only focuses on Ko and Nino. As I said before Ko is a man who has never had any shortcomings, he is extremely intelligent and gifted at nearly anything he does and holds himself to the family rule that he would never be indebted to anyone. If he ever becomes indebted to someone and cannot repay it back somehow, he begins to suffer an asthma attack due to the stress of breaking his families rule. After being renamed by the Village Chief he is called Recruit or Rec for short. Rec’s unique personality and sense of entitlement usually puts him at odds with the rest of those living under the bridge, especially since he doesn’t easily accept most of their quirks.
Nino is the other main focus of the anime. She is a self-proclaimed Venusian who saves Ko’s life and requests that he experience love with her to repay the debt. She is a very gifted swimmer and often gathers fish for the residents under the bridge. She is a bit of an airhead and her unique character design includes distant looking eyes.
Besides these two there are many other unique people under the bridge, including the Village Chief who is a self-claimed Kappa, although he often exposes regular skin underneath the green costume he wears. A singer named Hoshi who wears a yellow star mask over his face all the time, he is jealous of Ko due to his relationship with Nino and his long unrequited love for her.
This is topped off by a man named Whitey who can only walk on white lines, a nun named Sister that looks like a walking tank, a woman named Maria who cares nothing for humans and more. Everyone under the bridge serves a purpose to the others, allowing the group to function much like a small village despite their very eccentric ways.
The problem with having so many different characters in an anime that is only 13 episodes long has a very limited time for character development. This means that the majority of the side characters actually see very little development at all, and except for a few of the main characters they only will appear every so often or be in the background during other scenes. This can be irritating for the viewer because there is a lot of unexplored mystery to the residents and we learn little about their past or why they even act like they do.
Extras:
As with any of the past NISA anime releases Arakawa Under the Bridge comes with an oversized collector’s box which also comes with an art book. The box itself is extremely sturdy and features a glossy finish on both sides, one featuring Nino on a blue background and the other side featuring Ko on a pink background. As mentioned, the box is quite large, which means you will either need customized shelves or a place to sit it out as an art piece on its own.
The artbook itself is quite detailed this time around as it carries character biographies of all the people under the bridge shown in the anime, a synopsis of each episode, interviews with the cast and crew from Japan and of course some actual art too. The book is best saved until after watching the anime however, as it may spoil a number of surprises that you would experience otherwise.
Besides the extra bonuses, we are also treated to some on disc bonuses. Ten of the thirteen episodes have audio commentary that can be played during the episode and subtitled instead, as well as commercials from the series when it was advertised in Japan.
Overall:
There are a lot of things that can happen under a bridge in normal life, but this is far from normal. Arakawa Under the Bridge is certainly full of oddity at times but it certainly works in the shows favor. It is a very entertaining and funny anime series that doesn’t have to even try hard to make the viewers laugh, as simple gags can turn into hilarious moments. This series is genuinely funny and that is a hard compliment to come by these days. The eccentric characters are one of the shows main highlights, though it is a bit disappointing that a number of them see little actual development or information revealed.
Konami has recently released some beta gameplay footage of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which has been one of their most well recieved Castlevania games as of late. In this footage, Simon Belmont (TEH VAMPIRE HUNTER!) strikes down evil. Later in the development process, he was struck down himself and replaced with Gabriel Belmont. Now though, you have a chance to see this never before seen footage yourself. Check it out over on Konami’s Facebook page here.
Recently, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow swept the gaming industry awards at the Gamelab Conference in Barcelona, earning 8 honors including ‘Best Game’.
The complete list of Madman and Siren Visual releases for the month of August 2011 is out. There are some huge titles on their way to shelves this month including High School of the Dead Collection and One Piece Collection 12 from Madman Entertainment and Ghost Hound Complete Series from Siren Visual! Check below for the complete list of releases.
And that’s it for this month, anime and manga. We have some keepers here, so get buying everybody! You don’t wanna miss out on some of these. Bank on it!
Like anime? Well if so, you might want to head on over to Siren Visual’s facebook page and like the trailer for Kaiba, for a chance to be one of the lucky 5 to win a copy.
Kaiba is an amazing new anime just released by Siren Visual through-out Australia. In celebration of it’s release Siren have decided to hold their Kaiba 5 for 5 Competition. They will be giving away 5 copies of Kaiba to 5 randomly selected people who like their trailer for the series on their facebook page.
To jump in on the action and have a chance to win, follow this link to their facebook page and give the trailer a like. Good luck!
Two Tribes and Mobi Games have announced that their block-rolling platformer, EDGE, will be coming to the Steam platform for Windows and Mac on the 11th of August, 2011. The award winning game will also also ship with its DLC content, based on the upcoming iOS game, completely free as ‘Post-launch DLC’.
When it arrives on August 11th, gamers will get to experience a unique retro-styled platforming game with light puzzle elements. Players take direct control of a cube as it rolls around dozens of block-based levels in search of colorful prisms and the fastest routes. Throughout the game’s levels, unique techniques – such as the balancing act called ‘EDGE time’ – are introduced to deepen the experience. To top it all off, EDGE will include all the content of the soon to be released iOS game ‘EDGE extended’ as free post-launch DLC!
