Anyone who has been following the Mega Man Legends 3 Project will notice that Capcom has taken many different developmental procedures with the game. They involved the fans by allowing them to create a character in the game, but one thing that it never has seen yet was a green light to be developed. The 3DS game has never actually been given confirmation to be created, meaning that at any time Capcom can pull the plug without the slightest worry.
The release of the Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype Version on the 3DS eShop is explained by director Masakazu Eguchi as being an unprecedented agreement to see how much hype the game will be able to pull in with fans. Meaning that if the game does not see strong movement on the eShop then there is a high chance of the title being dropped by Capcom entirely.
In perhaps the oddest choice of game type, TopWare Interactive has announced that they will be bringing another Two Worlds game out next month. It will be called Two Worlds II: Castle Defense and will be released only on the PC and Mac with an iPad and iPhone release some point in the future. It certainly is interesting to see that they created a tower defense game from what was a massive RPG.
The tower defense game will take place between the story of Two Worlds and Two Worlds II and will follow the trouble that occurred between the Orcs of Analoor and Gandohar. The game will be released on the PC and Mac on May 17th and you can already download a demo for it here.
Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro is Gamevil’s latest fully featured soccer (or football) game for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Complete with six diffrent modes: My League, Season, Exhibition, Cup, Dramatic and Match Mode, Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro is filled to the brim featuring 60 clubs, 79 nations and 3000 players. Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro features newly improve AI which allows for better semi-auto play mode and an enhanced My League and Season modes, where up to 8 legendary players can be recruited and customized.
Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro also feature new motions and shoot patterns such as header, free kick and corner kick along with super skills such as teleportation, high-speed dash and bullet-speed shooting which will surely make for some exciting gameplay. “Soccer Superstars 2011 improves upon every aspect of its predecessor and for the first time has been expanded with new online features,” said Kyu Lee, Head of Gamevil USA.
Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro is now available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad on the App Store for $4.99
Game: The Fancy Pants Adventures
Platform: XBLA (Reviewed); PSN
Publisher: EA
Developers: Over the Top Games and Borne Games
Genre: Action Platformer
Release Date: April 20, 2011
Price: 800 Points XBLA (BUY NOW)
The Fancy Pants Adventures is a simple (if slightly absurd) concept. Made as browser flash games, the originals featured a stick figure sporting a spiky hair-do and bright orange pants running through worlds populated by spiders and snails for the most inane reasons possible. The newest tale of the fancy-pants wearing hero is pretty much the same thing, but on a console. A semi-lucid combination of a Sonic game, a Mario game, and a Don Hertzfeldt cartoon, The Fancy Pants Adventures is a pleasant, momentum-based acid trip.
Story
The previous entries in the series had plots so ludicrous and silly the characters themselves would often point out how positively nonsensical the whole game was, and The Fancy Pants Adventures proudly carries on that tradition. The game begins with our intrepid protagonist being woken by a messenger from the king, who’s king-sized bathtub has been stolen by pirates. After the tub is retrieved, the pirates decide that their captain is not all that captain-y after all, and kidnap Fancy Pants Man’s sister, Cutie Pants Girl, to be their new captain. Thus, Fancy Pants Man is forced to traverse 11 colorfully bizarre levels to save her.
It’s not much of a plot, but it works well enough. Where the game’s story side truly shines, however, is in the bits of dialog the NPC’s scattered throughout the game toss out. Almost always worthy of a chuckle, the characters have no qualms against breaking the fourth wall, and at one point even try to dissuade Fancy Pants Man from finding a useful item by claiming that there is absolutely no reason to go back a level and check a secret cave, because that would just be poor game design.
Gameplay
Here is where the game really shines (at least, for about half of it). As Fancy Pants Man, you sprint through platform-filled levels collecting coin-analog squiggles and building up momentum for traversing loops and making wide jumps. In that manner, it evokes the feeling of playing a classic 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game, but without the crushing knowledge that the franchise will fall to the level of making games like Curse of the Werehog. Occasionally, you will encounter enemies in the forms of spiders, snails, gun-wielding mice, berserker ducks, and brightly-colored frogs, all easily dispatched with a bounce on the head. Because hopping on enemies provides an extra-high jump, the game will often force you to time your kill to get to hard to reach areas, a two-birds-with-one-stone philosophy I can appreciate, as it allows for combos involving building up speed, running through a loop, and leaping at just the right time to kill an enemy and maintain your momentum through a long jump, giving the whole game a parkour vibe. The addition of wall-jumps and back flips just adds to that delightful sensation of being a speedy badass.
And for the first half of the game, all was well. However, once you begin closing in on the pirates’s lair, you pick up the ability to wield a pencil like a sword, complete with charge-up attack and flying stab. Here is the first real hiccup in the game. The weapon combat, while kind of fun, looses its novelty in about 5 minutes. After that point, it just starts getting boring and annoying as it throws off your parkour groove. While I understand the urge to include new moves with the console game to differentiate it from the free PC flash games, I think it it infinitely more satisfying to just keep bouncing on your enemies. Because of this, I feel the last several levels are much less fun to play than the weapon-less levels, and my overall enjoyment of the game suffered for it.
Being a lonely nerd sitting in my hovel pining away for company, I never actually got a chance to test out the four-player co-op, which disappointed me greatly. Many of the levels have areas you can only access with the help of a buddy, and the some of the combo moves two players can pull of just sound freaking fun, like one player rolling up into a ball to be kicked across the level by his friend. But while I can attest to the multiplayer sounding fun, I cannot actually give an opinion on the subject, having not played this portion of the game.
Another lame thing about not having other people playing with me was the fact that I unlocked new items slower than I would have otherwise. While you still unlock decorative items like hair styles and hats, new pants, and new weapons, playing solo, you get them much faster with your friends along for the ride. These item unlocks grant the game a certain amount of replayability, as you need to get all the difficult to reach stars, collect thousands of squiggles, find and complete all the secret rooms, and beat all the micro-trials to 100% each level and unlock all the items. My personal favorite configuration was a purple top hat, camo pants, and a wooden sword.
Graphics/Audio
As far as looks go, the game retains a hand-drawn style of art throughout, which I think fits very well with the absurdist humor. It give the game as a whole a Hertzfeldtian (yes, I just made that word up) vibe, which is always a good thing. Beyond that, there really isn’t much to say on the subject, other than it looks good and doesn’t detract from the gameplay, which I think is the most you can really hope to get with the hand-drawn style the game has.
Where the visuals are merely pretty good, the soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard out of a downloadable game. Like the visuals, the songs really seem to fit the game, and never pull too much attention from the gameplay. But if you stop playing and really listen, you’ll find that the songs are actually rather enjoyable in their own right. Hell, I left the game on while I wrote this review just so I could listen to the songs. They’re just downright catchy.
Overall
On the whole, The Fancy Pants Adventures is an enjoyable game. Nothing groundbreaking, but a great way to spend an afternoon or two. I can’t speak to if the multiplayer is any fun, but I’d place money on it being quite enjoyable. The addition of weapons was probably a mistake, but it’s a relatively minor one. The art is decent, the characters funny, the soundtrack fantastic, and the gameplay generally smooth and fun. I’d say it’s well worth the $10 price tag, and recommend you pick it up.
The original creators of the Modern Warfare series have “no prayer” in reclaiming the titles, say Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.
The legal representatives of former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella say the men could be awarded joint ownership if they are successful in an upcoming court battle.
If West and Zampella have a favourable ruling in their case, it might enable them to make and release more Modern Warfare games. However, Pachter believes differently. “West and Zampella have no prayer of obtaining control of the brand,” he told IndustryGamers. “As it happens, they have never claimed that they ‘own’ the brand; instead, they claim that they were granted creative control over the brand under their employment agreement.
“These are two completely different things. Their creative control was clearly intended to be in effect only while they were employees, and the day that their employment terminated, their creative control ended.”
He added: “If they want their old jobs back, they can ask for them, but they didn’t do so. Instead, they are blending the two concepts of legal and equitable remedies, asking for damages and asking for control over the Call of Duty brand, but not asking to be reinstated as employees. The law just doesn’t allow stuff like that, as it would be unreasonable to require Activision to grant control over its valuable property to unrelated third parties.”
The third instalment of the Modern Warfare series slipped out of West and Zapella’s grasp after the fallout between Activision and Infinity Ward began in 2010, giving the rights to Sledgehammer to make the game.
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller Director: Alfred Hitchcock Starring: Robert Donat, Wylie Watson, Lucie Mannheim, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle Running Time: 86 minutes Available for purchase at:Madman Online Store ($34.95)
Overview
When I first told someone I was going to watch The 39 Steps, they were extremely excited because they had seen it before, and offered to watch the film again with me. Partway through watching, though, confusion set in: “This isn’t the one I’ve seen. Where’s Robert Powell?”
Truth is, The 39 Steps has had plenty of filmic adaptations over the years which are all loosely based on John Buchan’s suspense novel of the same name. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film was to be the first of a string of films all involving Richard Hannay’s entanglement with the world of crime, and – although the suspense aspect isn’t perhaps as powerful now as in some of the later adaptations – still one which gives the audience a good old dose of that Hitchcockian suspense we’ve all grown to love.
Plot
The plot is so typical of crime and thriller films these days that audiences may end up shrugging a shoulder to it and writing it off as unoriginal without remembering that Hitchcock was one of the directors who used this narrative first. The film demonstrates Hitchcock’s flair for plot twists and suspenseful build-ups which have become so prevalent in his later films.
Hannay, hiding from the cops.
Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is at the music hall melee and sees Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson), who memorises fifty new facts each day. In the middle of the show, a shot is fired and as everyone is leaving the theatre, a woman (Lucie Mannheim) asks Hannay if she can return home with him. When they arrive home, the woman, whose name is Annabelle) reveals that important information is on the loose and begs Hannay for help. However, when she is murdered in his apartment, Hannay is seen as a prime suspect and flees to Scotland where he meets Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) and recruits her in order to stop the information from being passed on and clear his name.
Hitchcock’s film was made during the lead-up to WWII, so it’s no wonder that the film has plenty of references to foreign spies and important information. The narrative can become confusing and unenjoyable (especially towards the end) if audiences don’t realise the context of the film, so there’s a little tip straight off the bat.
As I mentioned, the plot used in this film has become so commonplace in our cinema that it doesn’t seem as shocking or suspenseful anymore. The film does still lose a bit of lustre in our day and age and it definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea – the person I watched the film with actually found it boring because it didn’t involve ridiculous amounts of car chases and maniacal camera movements. With that being said, Hitchcock is still a genius at manipulating his audience and in The 39 Steps, as with any Hitchcock film, it’s almost impossible to guess the ending until it actually unravels before your eyes.
This isn’t as romantic as it looks…Hannay and Pamela are actually handcuffed together.
Hitchcock also inserts timeless humour in the film and it builds for a wonderful and enjoyable experience where you are laughing one minute, and enthralled in a chase the next. It’s here that the seeds of his comedy-thriller genre are sown, and any fan of Hitchcock ought to appreciate the early beginnings of his suspenseful and witty filmmaking.
Characters
In Hitchcock’s earlier films, characters do not generally tend to be overly complex because the focus is on the narrative and their involvement, as opposed to their psyche. The characters in this film are much like the plot: archetypal but engaging.
Richard Hannay is the witty, likeable protagonist who finds himself caught in a situation which is less than desirable. He has speedy reactions to danger and can keep a cool head, but at the same time he will constantly make quips at the people he comes across even when he is in a sticky situation. We never learn much about Hannay’s background but it’s really unnecessary because I found that I liked him just as he was. The female protagonist, Pamela, is also quite likeable as Hitchcock’s archetypal fiesty female character, but something about the way she was included in the plot made her less than memorable. In fact, she often seemed to take a back seat to Hannay as women do in classic films and I’m not sure the plot would have really been missing something had she not been there.
The main protagonists, Hannay and Pamela.
Both characters are portrayed well, and Donat in particular gave a great performance as the leading man. Another commendable performance was made by Wylie Watson, the man who played Mr. Memory. While the side characters are often forgotten in these films, the Mr. Memory leaves a mark not only on the narrative but on the audience as well. I did find that aside from Hannay and Pamela, he was the one I remembered and liked the most.
Visual and Audio
For a film made in 1935, The 39 Steps is still great to watch visually. Hitchcock was not only the master of suspense, but also – in my eyes – the master of the spectacle.
For starters, Hannay just looks like someone who belongs in a crime-thriller film. The way he is dressed and his makeup (the make-up is exceptionally obvious) all contribute to this detective-esque manner. Throw him together with a police chase against the backdrop of a rocky waterfall in Scotland, and he looks like he was plucked straight from Buchan’s book. The rest of the costuming and set design brings together a world that is far more sophisticated and realistic than many others of the same era, which really shows off Hitchcock’s flair for special effects: there is one point when Hannay has climbed on to the outside of the train and is holding on for dear life as the train crosses a bridge, and the effects look almost exactly the same as its counterpart scene in the 1978 film.
Hannay hiding from the police…told you the special effects were great for their time.
As with any other older film, however, the sound is not as great as it could be. At times it becomes difficult to distinguish what each person is saying (thank goodness the DVD comes with subtitles), and sound effects like gunshots are just not realistic enough to give a convincing portrayal. Thankfully, the narrative doesn’t revolve around a consistent use of sound effects and the audio is satisfactory enough to not take away too much from the overall effect of the film.
DVD Extras
One of the more interesting extras which is included with the DVD is ‘On Location’, a featurette with Robert Powell (star of the 1978 adaptation) on the locations used in three versions of the film, The 39 Steps. It’s a great comparison of the three films and their locations, and is a unique extra which makes this DVD stand out. In fact, upon watching this featurette I was suddenly inclined to watch the 1978 film as well – perhaps a double feature would be a great idea in the future.
The essay by Brian McFarlane on the film is also a great read – yes, yes, the word ‘essay’ is boring but the content is not – and provides plenty of insight into Hitchcock’s novel-to-film adaptations (most of his films are actually based on novels, including his famous film Vertigo) and the greater themes of the film. It’s not a lengthy essay, and – true to the Director’s Suite form of Madman – comes in a nice booklet in the DVD which is a nice bonus for all us Hitchcockian buffs out there.
The DVD also comes with the complete 1937 radio broadcast of the Lux Radio Theatre’s adaptation of the film. The broadcast can get dull after a while since we live in a society which demands images, but it’s nice to have there and this extra works a treat when scavenging around for gifts for a dad. uncle, or grandfather’s birthday. Also, the DVD comes with audio commentary from the University of Melbourne’s film lecturer, Dr Wendy Haslem, but it does take a lot of patience to watch the film again with commentary.
Final Comments
The 39 Steps itself is a great film, but what makes this DVD even better are the extras. The Director’s Suite series is known to provide tons of bonuses that heighten the experience and effects of the film and this may be one of the best. This film is definitely one of Hitchcock’s great early works – after all, it didn’t get ranked by the BFI as one of the top five great British films of all time for nothing – and should be watched by anyone who likes suspense thrillers, British films, or Hitchcock.
Rarely in the film industry, would you find a sequel that does better than its predecessor but in the gaming industry, sequels are often gold.
With the recent release of Portal 2 this month, games that come in second to its original sister often find themselves recording better sales and receiving a lot more acclaim than before.
This is due to technology. It is no secret that every year that passes, the games that are released look better, sound better and often have an improved storyline and campaigns.
Valve released the highly anticipated puzzle title Portal 2 to much praise. The sequel recorded improved sales and fans applauded it’s realistic graphics and comedic characters.
The Call of Duty series can never do wrong with each sequel earning mammoth success from its last installment. Particularly reigning with the Modern Warfare duet, Activision and Sledgehammer expect worldwide excitement as well as massive sales when Modern Warfare 3 makes its appearance in November. Despite having no information leaked on the title at all, fans are still reveled in the thrill and sheer pleasure the games make every year.
Nathan drake is a name in par with Miss Lara herself and the Uncharted series are becoming a huge competitor. Uncharted 3 is expected to do damage this year but when Uncharted 2 was released, it had made much improvements from the original. Gameplay, storyline, graphics and even new characters heralded the sequel as a favourite among fans of the series.
Dead Space was a title that was purely original, beautifully orchestrated and held such an appeal. Fans were hiding behind their controllers when they played and never expected anything better but EA gave us the much improved Dead Space 2 in January. The plight of Isaac Clarke was beautifully made and with such incredible graphics it gave Isaac a much needed make over and influence. With the improved engine and animation, the necromorphs held much more scare appeal and thoughts are being considered for a Dead Space movie.
Killzone is a series that has the opportunity to rival Call of Duty and Medal of Honour, but the shooter made by Guerilla gave its loyal fans a much needed installment with the incredible Killzone 2. The game was flawless with its impeccable graphics and much improved controls and gameplay. It definitely lifted the benchmark for the third installment which arrived in Feburary this year.
However, sequels give developers a chance to fix outstanding issues, reign in their ideas and redeem a failed series. EA hopes to kick the failed Medal of Honour title back to its original status rivalling COD by releasing a sequel later in the year.
Polish developers People can Fly received reasonable good graces for their space title Bulletstorm and are already underway thinking of a new adventure for Hunt and Triska.
THQ failed to live up to expectations with their apocalyptic war title Homefront. The game had much potential but the developers are washing their hands with releasing a sequel expected in the next year.
Korean mobile developer Com2Us today released Third Blade, their newest Action RPG available on iOS devices.
Judging from the screenshots, the game looks gorgeous, and seems to feature some classic RPG gameplay. If that’s the kind of thing you’re after for your iPhone or iPad, look no further! With a long line of popular mobile games behind them – RPG and otherwise – Com2Us’ latest release should be a good portable RPG experience.
The company describes the game as follows;
“Wading through a gorgeous but mysterious forest, you start to grow uneasy. As you and your companion go deeper into the woods, you are overwhelmed by an onslaught of monsters, who get progressively more vicious and complicated. But you’ve got tricks of your own up your sleeve: three weapon styles including dual wielding, one-handed blade, and an enormous ‘buster’ sword!”
They also list features such as levelling up skills and weapons through three tiers, performing combos, and fighting various enemies across 28 battlefields. It all sounds like a standard role-playing game. But it looks so damn pretty! With an art style like that, as long as the gameplay is solid, it will resonate with plenty of people.
Try it out if you’re into RPGs, and let us know what you think, and stay tuned for our review.
Its fairly obvious: Mortal Kombat is pretty much the biggest thing in the video game world right now, right up there with the new Nintendo 3DS. The new game is insanely popular at the moment, a new web series based off the game debuted with 5 million viewers, and now this new rap song by Jace Hall is taking the internet by storm, collectively with over 65, 000 views on youtube in less than a week!
From Jace Hall, the man behind the popular ‘I Play WoW’ song, the ‘Mortal Kombat Rap’ makes a lot of references to the Mortal Kombat universe, the gaming community, as well as popular songs through hip hop history, including iconic rappers such as Eminem, Nelly and even Vanilla Ice. Paying even more video game homage to the franchise, the beat that is rapped over is a remix of “Techno Syndrome” by The Immortals, the popular Mortal Kombat theme song taken from the 1995 & 1997 Hollywood live action films based on the series. If your a fan of Mortal Kombat, definitely check this out if you havn’t already, it certainly gets you in the mood to crush skulls and decapitate fiends! You can download the song for free here, and check the music video below!
iOS and Android have proved to be valuable platforms for replaying classic games you can’t play without owning the original consoles.
EA have revived the classic arcade game, NBA Jam, available in the iTunes App Store from today.
The game has received a graphical facelift from the pixely look of the ’90s, but still maintains the playful visual style. The original voiceover announcer, Tim Kitzrow, returns with his classic lines, plus a few new ones.
Long-retired players of the actual NBA also return, including Scottie Pippin, Dennis Rodman, Dr. J, Scott Skiles, Karl Malone, Detlef Schrempf, and Danny Manning. None of these names ring any bells for me, but if they get you all nostalgically excited, then you’d probably want to snap this one up. In addition, the iOS version has some new players to unlock as well.
There are two control schemes, and three play modes to try out. The meat of the game will be the classic Campaign, where you play through a season, defeating all the other teams, and unlock players and cheats. As the game is on a portable system, there’s also a Play Now mode, where you simply select a team and jump straight into a match – perfect for smaller, bus-ride-length sessions. Or you can play against a friend, in local multiplayer via Wifi or Bluetooth.
Whether you remember the original in the arcades and home console ports of the mid-nineties, or are just looking for a solid basketball game for your iOS device, EA’s handling of an old Midway IP should satisfy.
