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Third Blade Review

Kyle Moore
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1

Third Blade

Platform(s): iPhone(reviewed)/iPod Touch (iOS 3.0 or later)
Publisher(s): Com2uS
Developer(s): Com2uS
Genre(s): Action/RPG
Release Date: 13/04/2011
Price: $3.99AUD/$2.99US (Buy Now)

Overview

With a history of releasing great titles for iOS, it isn’t a surprise that Com2Us’ latest game, Third Blade, should be any different. Third Blade fits into the classic model of an action role playing game, with the ability to swap between three different weapons, hence the title I assume, weapon upgrades and an onslaught of enemies just waiting for be destroyed. It’s time to arm yourself and head into the mysterious fantasy world of Third Blade.

Gameplay

Third Blade is a pretty standard RPG. You roam through a series of levels, vanquishing foes as you run through fields, swamps and a variety of other places that normal people wouldn’t dare tread, especially considering zombie-type things or monster slugs inhabit them. There are three options of weapons in Third Blade each with positive and negative aspects to their use. The standard weapon is a katana; it is fairly average in speed and strength. There is also the option of smaller knives that are particularly fast or a huge sword that is painfully slow but packs a punch. Each of these three weapons also comes with the ability to use magic when attacking. The magic attacks have their own buttons next to the attack button on the right hand side of the screen. Once pressed, it takes a certain amount of time before the manner is built up and the attack can be used again. This process is pretty universal for action-RPG style gaming.

Like any RPG, there is the ability to upgrade weapons and purchase new magical skills. At first I was a little annoyed by the interface. To change weapons you need to reach all the way to the top left corner, and after purchasing some new magical skills, I noticed that their buttons came further out on to the screen. After a few more attempts playing the game, the magical skills being right there really work and make it easy to combine them in order to smite foes. The weapon-changing button is still slightly out of the way for my liking, but in reference to the actual gameplay it doesn’t really matter. I basically choose the weapon I like the most and stick with it, sometimes changing when given a few spare seconds so I can use some heavier hits on bigger enemies. Once you get the hang of the game, which doesn’t take all that long, you hardly realise the button placement. The amazing graphics and abundance of enemies keeps your attention pretty focused on the screen and the musical score really sets the scene of an epic battle.

Graphics and Audio

As previously stated, the graphics in Third Blade are amazing. The game is completely two-dimensional, which means the characters might come across as a little cartoon-like. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the earlier levels the enemies are a little dull in their design, often some weird zombie-creature or slug. As the game progresses so does the character design. The hero stays the same throughout the duration of the game. While the hero might be minimalist in design, there is still a huge emphasis on character, despite his lack of facial features. There is also amazing attention to detail in the design of the weapons, particularly the giant sword. What is truly impressive though is the design of the game world. Each level is perfectly rendered and creates a sense of a complete fantasy world.

From the moment Third Blade starts, the music immediately draws you in. While it may be a bit cheesy, the guitar ballad works. It sets the scene for the epic battles that are about to take forth as you roam across the land on your quest. A similar tone of music runs through the whole of the game. It’s not often I find on an iPhone game where the music is well done or adds much value to the game, but Third Blade seems to have done the job. I’m completely drawn into the game world and can sit there playing until I either beat the level or die before I realise any time has passed. All the sound effects fit with perfect precision and seemingly sync with the musical background to create an all-encompassing battle soundtrack.

Conclusion

For a two-dimensional action-RPG, Com2Us’ Third Blade is a fantastic game. While the graphics might not be as advanced as some of the other RPG’s available for iOS they are still beautifully rendered and add to the game significantly. Despite the game format not being completely original, it is simple and incredibly fun to master. With the music on full blast, Third Blade can completely sweep you off your for hours of addictive gaming.

Call of the Dead to Include All-Star Cast!

Matthew Vella
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4

The Call Of Duty: Black Ops DLC ‘Escalation’ is to be released on May 3rd, and Activision Publishing and Treyarch have just announced that not only will it contain 4 all-new multiplayer maps, but that it will also include a new Zombies level, cleverly titled ‘Call of the Dead’ which will have a massive all-star cast paying tribute to some of the horror film genre’s greatest stars. As a horror movie buff myself, I couldn’t be more excited. Why you ask? Well allow me to introduce you to the team….

First on the list to kick things off with a massive bang is tough guy Dany Trejo. Known for playing badass anti-hereos and villains in hollywood films, Trejo recently starred in the action-thriller Machete last year which was a tribute to B- grindhouse films, much like his appearance in Robert Rodriguez’s and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse. He also appeared in Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, and Predators last year among countless other action, thriller and horror roles. Appearing in a video game isn’t anything new for Trejo either as he has provided voice acting for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Vice Stories, Fallout: New Vegas, The Fight: Lights Out as well as Def Jam: Fight for NY in which he also played himself.

Every self-confessed geek will need a tissue to help themselves stop drooling as the next addition to the zombie-killing frenzy is Sarah Michelle Gellar aka: Buffy The Vampire Slayer! The switch from hunting vampire to zombies seems like an easy transition for her, as this actress is very familiar with the horror franchise. Other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she has graced the screen in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Grudge 1 & 2 as well as being ‘that hot chick’ in Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 and Cruel Intentions, as well as doing voice work in Small Soldiers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now in a Call of Duty game that includes both ray guns and pizza, every nerd’s dream girl just got hotter!

The nightmare continues with my personal favourite, Robert Englund, the original Freddy Krueger! And he’s even wearing Freddy’s hat in game, awesome. Making over 100 appearances on film and television, Englund is one of the only two actors to ever play a horror character eight consecutive times, the other being Doug Bradley, who portrayed the Pinhead character eight times in the Hellraiser film series. Besides the highly successful A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Englund has appeared in Urban Legend, Idle Hands and of coarse Zombie Strippers. Hopes up for some Zombie Strippers in this map, hey guys? 😛

Michael Rooker is sure to kick all kinds of undead butt as zombie killing is nothing new to him, recently starring in the zombie-based television series The Walking Dead, making him perfect for the role of zombie hunter. He fits well into horror with titles such as The Bone Collector, Slither and Hypothermia also under his belt, as well as making an appearance on the horror-based TV series Scream Queens. But most of us pop culture fans know him from starring in Star Gate SG-1.

The Call of the Dead storyline is based upon ‘godfather of all zombies’, George A. Romero the legendary horror writer and director who also stars as himself in this new level. Havn’t heard of him? Then you havn’t heard of zombies! Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Document of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Survival of the Dead……it’s all him baby!

“This is Treyarch’s tribute to the legendary George Romero, who truly defined the zombie genre and whose incredible work has been such an inspiration to our team,” Dave Anthony, Call of Duty: Black Ops Director said.  “It was an absolute honour to work with such an amazing and talented cast whose passion and energy brought their characters instantly to life.  Fans are going to love this.”

Damn straight we are! Developed by Treyarch and published by Activision Publishing, Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation content pack will launch first on Xbox LIVE on 3rd May.

Meet Kingpin Mickey Cohen…

Dustin Spencer
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Meyer Harris Cohen, also known by his alias “Mickey” is the notorious kingpin of all gangsters in L.A., with a record that includes larceny, extortion, alleged murder and a laundry list of other crimes that span all the way from his hometown in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles where he currently presides. In L.A. Noire, Detective Phelps looks to have a few run-ins with Cohen during his investigations and getting by this hardened criminal may prove to be quite a feat.

Cohen also is said to always be with his bodyguard, Johnny Stompanato, which makes encountering this madman all the more intimidating.

Rockstar have released a full Character Dossier for Mickey Cohen which you can check out on the official website. L.A. Noire is just a few weeks away now from release and soon we can all get to work on exploring this world filled in-depth personalities and real-life crimes that Rockstar have created in what is sure to be a big contender for game of the year.

Learn how Objectives work in Brink’s Second Get SMART video…

Dustin Spencer
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1

Just yesterday we brought you a new video from Bethesda going over the basics any player would need to know on playing Brink, which was more of a tutorial of sorts showing off different character abilities within the game. Today a brand new video in this series has been released which goes in depth to explain the way objectives will work.

Each character class appears to have their own function in each match such as guarding, destruction, hacking, and may other tasks which are all handled seamlessly with an objective wheel. As you set out to perform a task, it is no lone job as you must work together with your teammates as certain tasks require sole participation of particular classes to complete, such as the engineer who is the only team member who can tackle repair or construction objectives.

The video is nearly five minutes long and I must say I’m starting to get pumped up for Brink, as at first look I put it off as a standard team-based shooter but as we are now seeing Brink looks to be layered in depth for just about every scenario players must participate in. You can see the the video in full below and be sure to check back as Bethesda have only started to release this Get SMART series for Brink and we will be sure to bring you each new video up until the May 10th (or May 13 for the rest of the world) release date.

The Digital Age

Peter Moorhead
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5

Picture if you will, a nerd, as strange request as it seems. You will probably imagine someone with frizzy hair, a knitted sweater-vest, and huge glasses, someone who sits in their parents basement playing text based adventure games and polishing their enormous collection of star wars figurines. Perhaps twenty years ago, but today, you’d be wrong.

The nature of the nerd is changing, bizarre though it may be. The synonymous Glee Clubs and A/V Clubs and Chess Teams reduced almost to the point of fiction, seen more in popular seventies styled television shows than in the real world, particularly with new shows such as the titular, bizarre, and almost sickeningly joyful “Glee”.

So what then, is the modern day nerd? What defines, encompasses him, in the same way that that all too familiar diet of Dungeons & Dragons and scrolling monochrome lines of code did for previous generations. Simply put, in this day and age, what is a nerd?

Cool. Yes, you read that right, the modern nerd is COOL. Think about it, with technology and communication advancing in wholly new and totally unpredicted ways; the hottest music in the world is created almost entirely electronically, the most popular and profitable entertainment medium by a country mile is the video game, socializing is as much a part of cyberspace as it is a part of the real world. You sit reading this on the internet, not in a magazine or newspaper. You contact and arrange meetings with friends on Facebook and Twitter, not by phone or text. Everywhere you go and everything you do, you are interacting with computers in ways never before imagined. You are living in a world of science-fiction.

We had the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, and for far too long the strong have bested and outranked the intelligent.

The year is 2011. Welcome to the digital age. Here, the nerd is king.

Catherine box art may have been modified for North American release

Travis Bruno
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2

Y’know, this is why we can’t have nice things. Sure some people may have complained somewhere down the line but the rest of us would have been just fine. You may have remembered that the Japanese box arts for both versions of Atlus’ upcoming horror puzzler Catherine were a tad revealing. Nothing was actually shown but as you can see one features Vincent sliding in between Catherine’s bra while the Xbox 360 version saw him climbing up Katherine’s back.

Now despite Atlus originally confirming that the covers would remain the same for a North American release, that may no longer be the case. Anyone who uses the service Gamefly in the U.S. may have noticed already that the website has altered cover art for the game instead of the original Japanese boxart. You can find the modified cover for the Ps3 version here and the Xbox 360 version here.

You notice that both box arts now show a closeup shot of either Catherine or Katherine depending on which box art you are looking at. This eliminates any worry for offending consumers but we have still contacted Atlus in an effort to clear up any confusion which has sprung up due to this change of box art.

UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office wants answers from Sony about PSN data theft

Travis Bruno
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Bring out the torches boys, there is a hunt on. Or at least that is how it seems. Sony’s handling of the PSN situation has been less than stellar with important information being withheld from its customers and even the banks linked to possible credit or debit card theft that was accessed over the PSN debacle. Now it seems that the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office, better known as the ICO, is stepping to the plate to ask Sony some difficult questions.

ICO deals with data protection and often reports its findings directly to the UK parliament (government). They are currently holding an investigation of Sony’s security to see if anything was even protected in the first place from attack and if it was, how it was broken. A representative from the company told Eurogamer the following:

“The Information Commissioner’s Office takes data protection breaches extremely seriously. Any business or organisation that is processing personal information in the UK must ensure they comply with the law, including the need to keep data secure.

“We have recently been informed of an incident which appears to involve Sony. We are contacting Sony and will be making further enquiries to establish the precise nature of the incident before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken by this office.”

If the ICO’s investigation finds that Sony is indeed at fault for not providing enough security or any violation that the ICO will be looking for then it will lead to much more serious consequencses for the company. Exactly what this may be however has yet to be seen.

Telltale Games reaches licensing agreement with Microsoft

Travis Bruno
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If you’ve been following Telltale’s release of games then you may have noticed that they have been releasing plenty of games on the PC, iPad and even the PlayStation 3. One thing you may not have noticed is that there had been no release of any games for the Xbox 360. No news of Back to the Future or anything upcoming, but apparently that is all about to change.

This news comes as Telltale Games announced that they have struck a licensing deal with Microsoft that will allow the company to release games on the Xbox 360, most likely through the XBLA. There has yet to be a release of any of Telltale Games’ games on the Xbox 360 other than Wallace and Gromit quite some time ago. This means that we can hopefully expect some titles to be announced soon for the Xbox 360 as Telltale is currently working on a delayed Jurassic Park title as well as The Walking Dead which has yet to see a release date.

Telltale’s co-founder and CEO Dan Connors spoke today about the agreement saying that “adding console support to our acknowledged expertise in digital downloads is another positive step in our long-term growth strategy.” He went on to say that they “are pleased to expand the size of our potential audience by encompassing the Xbox 360 console consumer and bring our vision of video gaming to them.”

Tri-Ace announces titles for the 3DS and for PSP

Travis Bruno
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0

Developer Tri-Ace, best known for working on the Star Ocean series and the Valkyrie Profile series has announced two games today that will be published by Konami in the future. Though the announcement isn’t really from the company itself but actually a leak from Famitsu, the standard source of all leaked information from Japan with Andriasang placing it on the internet.

The title for the PSP that they will be developing is called Frontier Gate and will apparently combine Monster Hunter styled gameplay with turn-based RPG gameplay. The game will contain three player co-op and allow players to select one of fifteen partners to travel with and each will have a unique storyline. The other title announced is Beyond the Labyrinth for the 3DS. The title will be a 3D dungeon RPG that is being developed by Takayuki Suguro who worked as director for Resonance of Fate and also Elebits producer Shingo Mukaitouge.

Neither title has a set release date but Frontier Gate is most likely going to be released sometime this year. A few days ago Tri-Ace revealed a tech demo that shows just what they are capable of creating with a game and it certainly is amazing to see. Hopefully we can expect this type of quality with these upcoming titles.

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