While this isn’t huge news, it might interest those who have yet to pick up either Wii Party or Wii Sports Resort as Nintendo have now decided to lower the MSRP by $10, making each $39.99. This isn’t a huge drop by any means, but considering that Wii Party comes with a bundles in Wii Remote with Motion Plus and Sports Resort comes with the Motion Plus attachment, it certainly might make those who have been on the fence with either make the plunge.
Wii Sports Resort as it stands has already sold 10.7 Million units so this cut in price is sure to make that number rise even more throughout the year. As for Wii Party, since it just debuted last holiday season a drop comes as a bit of a surprise as most first-party Nintendo titles keep their value for years, so ten bucks off is definitely something and makes this title nearly free if since the Wii Remote values at $39.99 by itself.
October just can’t here fast enough as that is the current release month for Silent Hill: Downpour. Thankfully though, Konami have been generous enough to release a few new screenshots today which show off the small town of Silent Hill in all it’s creepy glory. These screens take place after the main protagonist Murphy Pendleton wakes up alone in the woods after his prison transport bus crashes near the town of Silent Hill.
The visuals for this title are looking rather impressive as you can see and I am really liking the detailing that has went into environments for Downpour as the setting seems like it will provide an eerie world to explore. You can check out all six of the new screenshots below and rest assured we will bring you even more updates as the release for Silent Hill: Downpour grows near.
As many Portal fans are probably aware (or at least those who plan to get it on Steam) there has been an intricate alternate reality game going on related in some way to the release of both Portal 2 and Valve’s Potato Sack bundle of indie games. At the beginning of the weekend, the ARG finally concluded and it was revealed that if fans bought and played enough of the indie games included in the pack, then Portal 2 would release earlier than its scheduled Tuesday morning release date. A website called GLaDOS@Home began tracking the community’s progress towards unlocking the release of Portal 2, which required computational processing power to be gathered for the game’s HAL-like villain. Here is what that site looked like as of 8:00AM EST on Monday Morning.
As you can see, the game is predicted to release in almost 21 hours. This would place the Steam release at almost 5:00AM EST on Tuesday Morning, only 4 hours earlier than its intended ~9AM release. While progress towards completing Glados@Home was speedily moving forward for the first 2 days, with help from heavy community coordination including Steam groups, Reddit conversations, and even a wiki, by Sunday night it has slowed to a crawl. Several days worth of playing indie games by the community has failed to produce any significant results towards releasing Portal 2 early, and some fans are upset that they won’t be able to play the game until several hours after the console crowd who will buy it at midnight launches.
Hopes are now being placed on the completion of all of the progress bars at GLaDOS@Home leading to some kind of Half Life announcement, such as the reveal of either Half Life 3 or a release date for Episode 3. However, it seems that Portal 2 will in fact not be releasing early. I can’t say if this move by Valve was genius or ill-conceived. On one hand, they organized an excellent ARG, got tons of people to buy 13 indie games which they probably wouldn’t have otherwise, and sparked some real fan cooperation towards a goal. On the other hand, that goal seems to have been unattainable and I’m sure this will leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouths of more than a few fans.
Opinions are varied, and some still defend Valve, saying that supporting indie developers is important or that a few hours earlier is better than nothing. The slightly earlier release will especially be more beneficial towards those outside of the United States, where the game will launch some time earlier in the day rather than during the evening. Many American players however feel that Valve screwed the pooch with the ending to this whole event. Ultimately, there is still some time to go on the countdown clock so I guess we’ll see whether Valve can find a way to make everyone happy (although this is the Internet, so you can never please everyone).
If anyone remembers at little game called Sniper Elite from 2005, then this follow up to the succesful simulator will probably excite you. Sniper Elite, an action/adventure game is being released on the Wii this June. It’s a tactical shooter set in the Battle of Berlin in 1945. It’s based on sniping (more like camping!), which puts you in the shoes of an American OSS agent, Karl Fairburne, disguised as a German sniper, with the objective of obtaining German nuclear technology before the Soviet NKVD does.
Intense storyline aside, the accessory (picture below) included with the game looks crazier and is the whole reason I wanted to show it off. It has options for enabling realistic ballistics, such as bullet drop, wind strength and breathing while attempting to fire. A game a like this wouldn’t be complete without bullet-time and it just happens to be included. The accessory (may look suss in your lounge room) is made by Bluemouth Interactive, the top distributor of gaming accessories across Australia and New Zealand. I may be getting the chance to review this game and look forward to updating you on the success or failure of my camping skills. Whether or not the game will see a major graphical overhaul is unknown, but hopefully this is the case.
It has been 30 years since the original Yars’ Revenge was released for the Atari 2600. The original title portrayed a Yar, a creature which resembled an insect of sorts, trying to break a shield and destroy a cannon on the other side. With such a simple concept, one might think it may be hard to actually reboot a series just on that premise alone. Fast forward to today and Yars’ Revenge has seen a brand new reboot which completely changes what we know about the game with a whole new take on gameplay as well as a new plot that aims to introduce players to a brand new experience as a whole. So how does this reboot stand up by today’s standards? Here is my review for Yars’ Revenge for the Xbox Live Arcade.
Story
Yars’ Revenge starts out with a nameless Yar being informed by an elder that she has been brainwashed by the Qotile, an evil empire who have pushed her species to near extinction. This Yar then sets out on a mission of revenge to take down the Qotile and rescue the few remaining Yar while there is still time as she alone is their only hope for survival.
While the new plot is interesting, I must say I really had a hard time following it. The story is told through a few cutscenes which take place in certain points after or before levels, but sadly these scenes lack voice acting and animation that could have really added depth to each character. This alone is a true shame due to the stunning art design that is portrayed with the stills used for these moments. I didn’t ever feel anything for this Yar in particular as I struggled to keep up with the story. During each in-game level, a majority of the plot also unfolds through a small box which pops up in the corner with a sprite and dialogue depicting a conversation. Again, this is hard to keep up with as the box is rather small and you are expected to read these small conversations while you are heavy in the game’s action. Instead of voice acting for these sequences, we simply hear a few sound effects added in that don’t do a thing to actually portray emotion or any sort of feeling towards the dialogue displayed.
I found this personally to be a huge upset as I really wanted to be more involved as a player with what seemed to be an interesting portrait that the writers painted for this tale, but it was nearly impossible to follow it all as the cutscenes presented text which ran by too fast and faded in with the artwork as well as the the in-game sequences which can easily get you killed if you take the time to try to read the small text bubbles.
Gameplay
While the story is a bit of a mess to follow, Yars’ Revenge fully redeems itself in terms of actual gameplay. This title is a full on-rails shooter and really captures a nice true arcade style feel as swarms of enemies are presented at once that the player must take out with a vast array of weaponry and power-ups that are collected throughout a stage. When I first started though, I quickly found out there is a huge learning curve if you are used to the more automatic approach that has been presented with titles such as Sin & Punishment. In Yars’ Revenge however, each button on the 360’s controller is utilized for a different purpose and it takes a bit of time to fully tackle the controls. While it was a bit complicated though at first, this method does do wonders to add depth to the overall experience.
As far as controls go, players must use the left stick to actually control the Yar on the screen with targeting reticle being controlled fully with the right stick. This means that the player must simultaneously control each as they battle through a level. Shoulder buttons also come into full play as they are used for firing different attacks at enemies. The left bumper acts as a quick dodge, the right bumper is a charged laser, the left trigger is used to highlight enemies and fire missiles, and the right trigger is your standard shot. As I mentioned, it does take some time to take all this in, but everything works well and is all useful for just about every stage in one way or another. The face buttons on the controller also come into play, as they are used for activating different power-ups and attacks which are collected after certain enemies have been defeated. I went from feeling pure frustration trying to get used to all of this to a feeling that it was brilliant in an hours time, so patient gamers will be rewarded by one of the most in-depth control schemes an on-rails shooter has seen in a long time if they just stick with it.
Each level is laid out with a different batch of scenery that you are taken through and as you progress, different swarms of insect-like enemies rear up their heads to try to destroy your Yar so you must constantly be prepared for a full on offense (as well as defense) at all times. Shooting works well for what it’s worth, but your Yars’ much more vast arsenal is where the meaty element of gameplay is found as it adds a thick layer of strategy for dealing with the much more intense combat. Small enemies can fall at an instant with one bullet from your standard shot but other enemies simply take more to defeat. To do this, you are equipped with a laser which requires a small charge before use that can be controlled to take out a few bigger insects at a time if you pull the reticle fast enough. Missiles are also very useful as several foes can be targeted at once and finished off in one shot if performed correctly. Power-ups come in handy and add in an upper advantage when collected. Some of these perform actions like wiping out a mess of the Qotile at one time, an attack that destroys enemy fire, a shield that regenerates health, and a pick-up that deals extra damage. An added in multiplier rewards the player a much larger score for taking down several enemies in bursts and also provides an extra incentive to eliminate enemies in quantity and speed.
Each stage actually can be a lengthy affair, and with that checkpoints are assigned for a nice safety net if you happen to fail during a mission. The combat is a bit repetitive to be honest, but with the many techniques and strategies given as well as the constant action at hand, I can easily say I was never bored once as Yars’ Revenge provides an intense setting in just about every level that is both rewarding and fulfilling. The greatest part though is that every stage ends with a boss battle that acts as a fantastic swan song to each level as each boss requires a different strategy to eventually take down, with a distinct feel for every one of these encounters. After completing the game, there is still a moderate amount of extra content to complete such as a challenge mode which has you tackle different tasks such as aiming to take down as many enemies as possible or take on the game with different stipulations such as unlimited ammo and no shields. For the competitive, there is also an online leaderboard where can compete for that top score against a world of other players.
Graphics/Audio
Each level in Yars’ Revenge is set in beautifully drawn backdrops which fit well with both the sprites as well as the actual theme for the game. Textures are rich and full of color. Models are also a visual treat as enemies and the nameless Yar are all very detailed and it is very evident that a lot of time went into every aspect of design. In my opinion an on-rails shooter of any sort should take let players explore with their eyes since they are guided through each stage, and that is exactly what Yars’ revenge accomplishes with it’s stunning presentation.
The music in Yars’ is also fitting for each stage and keeps the game upbeat and captures the atmosphere for each level. The sound effects are also nice with a hint of the older 80’s version of the game thrown in that better capture the essence of the original. The only downside of the audio though is what it is lacking, voicework. I know I already mentioned it, but that alone would have brought out the true depth of the story and is the one thing that keeps this title as a whole from accomplishing greatness.
Overall
Yars’ Revenge is a fantastic title which offers both rewarding and fulfilling experience that fans of on-rails shooters or simply older arcade games will love through and through. The story is there but due to poor execution, it is simply too hard to actually follow and this does hold this game back from achieving on it’s narrative. For just 800 points though, the intense and strategic gameplay that each stage presents as well as the stunning scenery that is seen along the journey makes Yars’ Revenge one reboot that should not be ignored.
As usual, it’s a busy week with gaming. Our lives are getting in the way of gaming though, which is a bit annoying…but when there’s a will there’s a way, and us gamers always find a way!
Editor-in-chief: MasterAbbott
Ohhh what a week.
With making some minor changes to the backend of the site and also adding our new Play-Asia Specials page and affiliate links which you should check on a daily basis (here, so you can pick up the latest video game/anime/toys deals) I haven’t had too much time to play a lot of games. I did manage to play some games on the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, I’m quite amazed it’s been able to keep me interested for this long. By now it’d be gathering dust on my desk, but to Nintendo’s credit even the humble little Streetpass quest along with the Augmented Reality keeps me coming back for more.
This week I briefly got to step into the shoes of Sam Fisher in UBISOFT’s – Splinter Cell 3D. Now for a 3DS title it’s lacking some side 3D features like Streetpass stuff (which I now expect EVERY 3DS game should have). The menu system is very bland: just start the game and off you go. Graphically I have to say it’s impressive as it’s got elements from Splinter Cell Conviction in it and there is quite a lot of voice acting in the cut scenes and also within the game. For a launch title UBISOFT have done a pretty decent job at it. If you’re a hardcore Splinter Cell fan, I’d say pick this up. If you’re not then maybe just rent it just to experience some of the cool gameplay features. It’s a fairly lengthy game as well so it will keep you busy for a while so prepare to charge your 3DS battery a few times.
I also picked up Capcom’s Okamiden and whacked it into the 3DS for a few hours. Graphically it’s not the best game compared to the games that are out now on the 3DS but the story and gameplay makes up for that. I’m having a great time with it. Check out our review for Okamiden here. I also picked up the following DS games that I “MIGHT” play if I have time, Heroes Of Mana, Final Fantasy IV and Lux Pain. I’ll keep you all informed if I manage to play them this week.
Finally my trusty iPhone has been keeping me busy as well. I’ve been beta testing Com2us’ up and coming Tower Defence game called Tower Defence : Lost Earth. If you’re a fan of Tower Defence games this is a must for your iPhone (expect a gameplay video soon). Oh, and I FINALLY finished with Gameloft’s Sacred Odyssey…YAAYYY!
That’s it for me. I hope I haven’t bored you all to tears. Have a great week and enjoy all the latest news, reviews, rambles and anything else we throw at you here at Capsule Computers…Remember: play hard or don’t play at all!
Senior Editor: Travis Bruno
The opening of Dream World for Pokemon has brought my attention back to Pokemon White after I let it sit for quite some time. The mini-games might not be the most interesting thing in the world but I have already gathered two different Pokemon that I used to use in past games that were my favorites. The launch of the system certainly piqued my interest in the title again at least. Besides that my 3DS hasn’t been getting a whole lot of attention lately as I’m sitting here waiting for more games to be released in the coming months. Besides that I have been playing Record of Agarest War in an effort to still finish off that complete playthrough that I keep managing to get distracted from despite my love for the title.
Other than that it has been a relatively slow week here. The first few days of my week were spent on vacation so there were absolutely zero games being played so it cut down on my gaming time. Even with my 3DS on at the place we stayed however I still never managed to get any SpotPasses so I’m disappointed with that at the moment. But I digress that besides my 3DS disappointment I’ve had a good week with games and I have started Deadly Premonition a second time around in the hopes of finding all of the Trading Cards and doing the side quests that I ignored the first time around. Playing through again and knowing all of the different twists and who Zach is actually makes for quite a different experience with the story. Especially when you notice everything you never did before.
Senior Editor: Jed Bradshaw
This week, I fell behind in almost all areas of my life, including gaming. Nevertheless , I did manage to play some Forza 3 for the first time and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It is a lot harder to get used to than an arcade racer, and drifts are near impossible to perfect, but it is an awesome simulation. Plus, it is the only chance I will ever have at driving all the dream cars.
The other game I played this week was Might and Magic on XBLA. Look for a review soon, but the short version is as follows: the gameplay is amazing, addictive and genuinely original. Give the game a try. The only big fault is the story, but that is easy to overlook. That’s all ’till next week.
Senior Editor: Dustin Spencer
It has been a busy week, but thankfully I’m getting taxes done before the big deadline is nearly done. Other than that, I have been playing some quests on my 3DS in the Streetpass feature which I am liking more now that I have more coins/encounters. Yars Revenge has been getting a workout as well and a review should be coming very soon. I am digging the gameplay despite the learning curve, but the story is really hard to follow due to some issues with the text size and the lack of voice acting.
I picked up a couple of games this week. One of them is Radiant Historia which at the moment I have barely touched but it is really giving off a Chrono Trigger vibe at the moment, mainly due to the time travel plot. Also staring at me all sealed up is a copy of Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. It says over 100 hours on the back of the game so that is pretty intimidating at the moment, but when I get some more time I will be giving it a go and you just may see a review, eventually…Other than that, Dragon Quest and a bit of Pokemon have been keeping my DS on as well as a bit more Rayman and Street Fighter for the 3DS to top off the week. Mortal Kombat is just 5 days away and my Kollector’s Edition is awaiting so that has been about all I have been thinking about for the future…and how I will have to remaster Sindel all over again of course.
Editor: Ben Webb
This week I have been playing a bunch of Quakelive, a little bit of Dead Space, Pilotwings Resort 3D, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2, Quakelive, Streets of Rage Remake and Super Street Fighter IV 3D. I haven’t put too much time into many games this week with the majority of the time being spent on Quake. I’ve been busy hanging out with friends as I’m moving soon and I’m not sure if there’ll be a time to see them afterwards.
Editor: Kyle Moore
This week I have been spending my time getting to know my Sim on The Sims 3 for 3DS. Although I have been playing it to review, I have been having a great time getting into it. I’ll admit that I had only played the original Sims game once when I was about 14 years old, and the basic game play then consisted of burning someone’s house. I’m glad to see that I have grown, and I’ve found The Sims 3 to be a fantastic game. I’ve had a lot of fun forcing my Sim to learn guitar, and earn some money on the side busking, as well as trying to push him into intellectual pursuits after getting a job as a test subject for a science company. If I can’t have weird things tested on me, then at least my Sim can! The 3DS seems like a great platform for this type of game, especially with the way they have used the street pass as a means of exchanging Sims. As I mentioned in my review, it really made me think about the way games are expanding into the real world, and how we can exchange Sims while walking around, similar to the way Sims interact in the game almost. Other than that though, The Sims 3 is an addictive game, despite little annoyances like robbers and broken toilets. I’ll add that my Sim now has to watch a small TV on a pile of boxes, and that his friends continuously clog his toilet. It’s times like this I’m glad I’m not a Sim.
Editor: Jack Joly
What better way to celebrate the Masters Golf tournament being in full swing than a game of tennis on Top Spin 4? Top Spin 4 aside, it has been a mixed week of games for me, with no game getting a solid amount of play time. In fact, I’ve probably spent as much time swapping the discs as I have playing.
On the Xbox 360 I’ve revisited GRAW and trialled Yar’s Revenge and Dragon Age II. My Wii’s been seeing a lot of action too, making use of the backwards compatibility with Gamecube games to dig out classics like Super Smash Bros. Melee and Mario Kart Double Dash. I also played their Wii counterparts, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, as well as a session of Wii Sports.
Editor: Kelly Teng
Oh, this week’s been a blur and for some reason I haven’t gotten anything done! I’ve dabbled in a bit of Pokemon Black as usual: I’m trying to find the Seven Sages but with my refusal to use a walkthrough, it’s proving to be a mission. I’ve also been hacking away at Tomba!, although that’s not working out very well since I can’t carry the game in my pocket and play it on trains like Pokemon. On Friday night, Jared and I went to the World Cyber Games launch event for Australia, and played a heck of a lot of Tekken 6 too (I kicked his butt, by the way). You can find out more on that here, otherwise stay tuned for some more Madman reviews which I’ll be knocking out this week!
Editor: Chris Cerami
I’ve been playing a lot of Final Fantasy X this week since I’ve only beaten it once and that was back in 2002. My old save file has 129 hours on it, and I have absolutely no idea how I spent that much time in the game and still have such pathetic characters. Anyway, I’m also playing Kya: Dark Lineage a bit, a 3D platformer for the PS2 similar to Jak and Daxter. On the more modern front, I spent quite a bit of time playing Dungeon Fighterson PS3 with another Capsule Computers editor to help him in reviewing the co-op. It’s not a bad game but you can tell it was ported from the iPhone. And finally, since everyone here knows me as the retro guy I’ve obviously been playing some retro games. On my Genesis (Mega Drive) I played some Cool Spot, which I think is probably the best advergame ever released: it stars the little red dot from 7UP soda. I also finally found a copy of Splatterhouse 2 at my local used game store so I spent a few hours on that this week. It was a European version of the game, which might have dissuaded some American gamers, but luckily my Genesis 3 can play anything. I also picked up Phantasy Star II with it so I’ll probably start that next week. So as always, a little bit of new, a little bit of old, and a lot of variety.
Editor: Darren Resnekov
This week I’ve been playing a lot of FIFA 11 in between Shift 2 for a review. I also played more Crysis 2 and had a go of Halo Reach in multiplayer mode which was quite impressive. I pretty much only played those as Shift 2 took up most of the time, as I had to play it a lot to unlock the various levels to review them.
So there is this contest going on over in Australia called the Million Dollar Memo which is basically a contest to get three employees from any company one million dollars (AUD) worth of traveling throughout Queensland. Basically, the employees need to make a video about why their company is awesome and why they want to get away to Queensland. Finalists will be chosen based on the number of shares, views and likes of each video. Simple right?
Well, our good friends over at Ubisoft have entered and are asking for your help to win it. Check out the video, it’s characteristically silly in the ways you would expect, being a bit tongue-in-cheek. Share the video around and help Ubisoft win a trip to Queensland.
What have you got to lose? And after all, if they win it they might be a bit more motivated to really get to work on releasing Beyond Good and Evil 2…because you know you want it.
Game: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Publisher/Developer: Ubisoft/Capybara Genre: Strategy RPG Console: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3 Try the game here.
RPG fans and strategy fanatics have a new game to love on the XBLA. Although the game is not without faults, there are so many fantastic parts that the addictive nature of the game play will have you humming with joy.
Story
Well, although that first paragraph up there was glowing with praise, the story in the game is unfortunately not worthy of commendation, so if we can get it out the way first , the sickeningly awesome parts of the rest of Might and magic can shine through.
The problem with the story is in its originality , or rather, lack thereof.
Hundreds of years ago, a tradition started among the demons: they would randomly attack the human and Elvin populations. Suddenly, a weapon of magical power was bestowed upon the warring nations, and the lead demon managed to get his hands on it. This artillery piece granted the wielder ultimate overarching power over ANY and all demons. But, the humans and elves won the war anyway, and peace reigned in the land.
Years later in the time period that you play in, a delegation of tribes is meeting up when they are attacked. The convention members are killed and thus, it is up to their children (you) to find the fabled weapon that had been protected and hidden.
It would be easy to go on and on about plot holes and other defects in the story , but it is easy to recognize that a lot of other tales have been told with very similar plot lines. Luckily enough, it is easy to skip through the dialogue, and after the beginning cut scenes, there is really no reason to pay attention.
Game play
Where the story fails in depth though, the game play fully restores all faults made in that department. Most of the time spent in playing the game will used up while battling enemies throughout the land. And indeed, this is where the focus of the entire game is too. Two armies, yours and the enemies, will face off on separate sides of a battlefield. Getting past the attackers and doing damage to the other sides HP bar is the path to victory. However, actually performing these actions will require use of many different strategies and all the tools that the game provides you. To attack for instance, there must be a line of 3 soldiers standing in a vertical line, and the coloring on their uniforms must match. Organizing the troops effectively is a must, as defending your HP bar requires you to line up 3 matching soldiers in horizontal line, hence building a wall. Each time a trooper is placed into a different line, one move is subtracted and the player is allowed to keep setting up the battlefield until all moves are depleted.
Up to that point it sounds pretty simple. Nonetheless, there are still plenty more options for you to turn the tide in battle. For example, if you remove a soldier from the field, it costs a move, but if, once that soldier is removed and the person behind moves up to create a matching formation, a bonus move is added. If it is possible to match up 2 formations of soldiers before an attack is made, then the two formations are linked together and they will cause extra damage when unleashed. There are plenty of other strategic moves too. Setting up two regular defenders behind a specialized attacker, and then linking them, will put a huge dent in into the nasty demon on the other side. Fusing 6 colored uniforms will produce a defensive line with twice the power as a standard formation. Once you win a battle, all the characters and fighters used will be leveled up.
Although the battling part of Might and Magic is the most interesting, it will only level up the characters and attackers so much. Exploring the land, finding hidden treasures and upgrades, completing side quests or progressing the story is also a lot of fun. In addition, you can buy new attackers, or find new ones while travelling. Each attacker has different traits that can be used in battle.
One feature that was great while I was learning all about the battle systems was the tutorial. It explained everything clearly and succinctly, leaving no room for confusion. Sometimes, it was almost a little too detailed, but it was still nice not be looking for answers on how I was supposed to complete a battle, or learn a combo. There is an option to skip these tutorials if you wold like too, but there is so many things to learn, I would suggest sticking with the helpful system.
The art style in the game is also sublime. The characters are a little cartoony, however they are not so childish that they distract from many of the more adult elements in the game. Environments are also presented in an amazing style, and they were a joy to explore. The only issue with the graphics is that it was difficult to discern the uniform color of a particular unit. This was a big problem, as almost the entire game is based on matching together different colors.
For a game that is $15.00, Might and Magic does pack quite a punch. Although I hate anything over 800 points on XLBA, this game is worth it. There are over 20 hours of campaign goodness, plus online and local multi-player and coop support. With plenty of hard-hitting game play spread throughout, there is only one possible answer to the question, ‘Should I buy it?’ Yes.
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is actually an improved iOS game ported to the PS3. Given that, one would assume that the game is a bit lacking in the content and quality departments. Fortunately, these are incorrect assumptions.
Story
I’ll be honest, the story isn’t much. It’s a generic means to an ends consisting of the obligatory and obvious mcguffins one would come to expect. You are a dead king tasked with traversing the landscape with the aid of a fairy (yes, a fairy) in order to find other fairies and stop whatever insidious evil is out to stop you. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great or very interesting. All you really need to know is that there are some elemental based bad guys who have trapped some fairies that you require the aid of.
Aside from the inevitable fantasy RPG subject matter, the story is actually told in a pretty decent way, considering this game’s roots. Much of the story is told through in game events, with the camera zooming in closer to the character and the events (as opposed to its usual isometric view). Scattered throughout the game world are small, glowing pieces of paper that will tell you a bit more about the backstory and lore of the gameworld. A nice touch for those who care, but for those who don’t you will find solace in the fact that you don’t need to read these or pay attention to the story at all.
Gameplay
The easiest and simplest way to describe this game is that it’s a top down dungeon crawler RPG, a la Diablo and the like. All of the basic elements of these games are present in this one, classes (three) skill trees, randomly generated loot, etc. If you are any sort of fan of this type of gameplay, chances are you will find a moderate amount of enjoyment from Dungeon Hunter: Alliance.
The basic structure of gameplay is fairly predictable. Gather as many quests are possible (never more than a few) from the latest town you’ve discovered and then venture off into the next dungeon to defeat the boss and claim your rewards. Along the way you will gather excessive amounts of loot (most of it not being beneficial to you, as is the curse of randomly modified loot), all of which is visually represented on your character. The variety between different armor pieces and weapons is thankfully diverse, ensuring that you will continue to become cooler looking while gaining better stats all the way until the end; even when you beat the game and begin Legend mode (hard mode), there is new types of armor and weapon models to be found.
Skills will level up and improve at your discretion, allowing for any sort of playstyle one could want, tank, berserker, hunter, rogue, nuker mage, healer, etc. It’s actually pretty fun to play around with the skill trees to see what suits you, and “play around” you will. I found myself respeccing quite a bit through my various playthroughs to see what worked and what didn’t, what I liked and what was actually useful. Unfortunately, there are only 3 slots for equipping abilities which can be a bit of a hindrance (why couldn’t they just use the d-pad?) but it isn’t game ruining.
One thing that sets this game apart from most (in fact, maybe all?) games on the PS3 is that it is 4 player coop, allowing any combination of players both locally and online, at the same time. No other game that I know of on the PS3 allows you to have local players with you while you hop online to fill in the gaps. If multiplayer RPG’s are you thing, then this game has you covered. Hell, even if you don’t absolutely love this genre, if you have a friend or two who you enjoy to game with on the same couch, then I seriously suggest you try out this game.
Another welcome commodity to this game is the level of attention the difficulty gets when it comes to multiplayer. Most games (that I know of) do not understand how to appropriately scale difficulty when it comes to multiplayer, and by that I mean when you get more party members the game doesn’t recognize it and plays just as if you were alone. For each person you add the game will appropriately ramp up the difficulty, making enemies do more damage and get more health, meaning you really do need to work together and coordinate SOME sort of strategy. In my experience, that meant that I (the shield using warrior) would need to position myself between the enemy and my friend (the nuker mage) while he dealt out the damage. I was still able to deal a decent amount of damage myself, but nowhere near the level that he was capable of producing. All in all, this was a sound strategy as he would die in two or three shots. Basically, when you play multiplayer you need to at least have some semblance of cooperation or your teammates won’t be very happy.
Presentation
For a game that got its start on iOS, it looks pretty good. Textures can be a bit rough up close, but the lighting and effects aren’t bad. It’s always fun to find a new piece of armor or weapon (even if the stats aren’t better than your current) if only to try it on and see what it looks like. When playing on legend mode (hard mode) you will notice that all of the equipment models are just copies of the same from the previous difficulty. Copper becomes hard copper, felt becomes velvet, it was a bit disappointing to discover that I would be going from looking like a badass warrior decked out in bulky, spiky armor to some small soldier again. Luckily, there are new models to be discovered on legend mode. Rare drops which previously were just a slightly re-colored armor of the current equivalent now have their own look, and they look pretty awesome to say the least.
There is a pretty decent array of locales to trek across like a skeleton filled dungeon, corpse littered necropolis, bandit infested caves and gargoyle occupied balconies. An avid fan of RPG’s (namely Diablo and World of Warcraft) will instantly recognize a view of the locales as being heavily inspired by these games, which is always a nice, if not lazy, touch.
The game is actually a decent length, taking around 8-10ish hours to get through one playthrough, not bad for a digital game. A few of the bosses can prove to be a bit of a brick wall when playing with other people, especially when some of those other people aren’t much help to you and are basically increasing the difficulty without really adding to your party.
Final thoughts
All in all I was pretty surprised by this game. I went into it expecting it to be a bland rip-off of this done-to-death genre, but the multiplayer and level of content here really allow it to be a fun, multiplayer experience. Legend mode really makes playing through again worth it, giving you cooler and more powerful equipment and allowing you to further improve your skills to level 10 (previously capped at 5).
However, one thing must be noted, the hit detection. It sucks. A decent amount of the time your hits, be it ranged or melee, will just not register. NOT due to dodging or missing, but due to the games poor level of hit detection. Even mere barrels, stationary objects that only serve to be destroyed, will prove to be a challenging target to hit with this game. You can spend an endless amount of time, literally, mashing the attack button on a barrel and never destroy it. This is especially annoying when you are a melee class with a group of enemies around you and none of them decided to get hit by your area attack, especially when you no longer have enough mana to cast it again. This isn’t a game breaker, but it can definitely serve to hinder you at times. If Gameloft can patch it, it’ll go a long way.
Fate of the World, the strategy game of global warming and eco-political management, was received pretty well here at Capsule Computers (check our review here) for its complex and challenging strategy gameplay combined with a responsible and accurate message. This week, developer Red Redemption announced that new content has been released for the game in the form of a downloadable update. This expansion includes two new scenarios for the game, both of which can be downloaded for free by players who already own the game. New players who purchase the game during the week of Earth Day (April 22nd) will also get a 33% discount.
The two new scenarios will offer new approaches to Fate of the World. The “Oil Fix It” scenario (clever pun, no?) mission will serve as a bridge between the relatively easy “Rise of Africa” introductory mission and the overwhelmingly more complex “Fuel Crisis”. This intermediate campaign requires players to maintain the world supply of fossil fuels until the year 2080. The second new scenario, “Earth Day”, tasks potential eco-politicians with slowing global climate change for nearly two decades. However, the nations of the world decide on Earth Day 2020 to act selflessly in order to save the planet, giving the Earth a fair shot at surviving. Fate of the World can be downloaded now at FateoftheWorld.net or on Steam.
