Mortal Kombat Legacy’s highly anticipated season finale has finally been officially released on Machinima’s youtube channel! The 9th episode was originally previewed at Comic Con on Thursday and blew audiences away, which leaked to youtube only hours later. The episode involves Shang Tsung, Kano and the Grandmaster as they turn Cyrax and Sektor into emotionless Cyborgs in preparation for the Mortal Kombat Tournament, and most likely takes place before the first episode. To test the cybernetic ninja’s abilities, they are sent into combat with a cyborg named Hydro! Incase you haven’t heard about the character, you can find out about Hydro here!
You can check it out alternatively on Machinima’s Youtube Chanel for a much higher quality version of the video this Sunday, or alternatively buy the episode oniTunes here once it’s released, or grab it on Blu-Ray when it hits the shelf in fall this year. As for now, enjoy the episode below!
King of Fighters-i 002
Platform(s): iPhone(Reviewed), iPad
Publisher(s): SNK Playmore
Developer(s): SNK Playmore
Genre(s): Fighting
Release Date: 7 July 2011
Price: $8.99 BUY NOW!
Overview
Mixing characters from many of it’s previous games along with new ones, the ‘dream battle’ King of Fighters saw its debut in 1994, and the series still rages on today! In anticipation for the latest title, King of Fighters XIII due to hit the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 later this year, SNK Playmore have decided to send a much stripped-down handheld version to iOS devices to give us a taste of whats to come. The iPad/iPhone market these days seems to be getting more and more crowded with ported fighters becoming increasingly common on the system, but King of Fighters-i 002 stands out amongst the rest, even going so far as to give Street Fighter IV: Volt a run for it’s money as the title for being the….well…the King of Fighters? But have SNK mastered The Art of Fighting with this mobile title, or will SNK leave it’s fans in a state Fatal Fury? Insert Metal Slug reference here, now read on!
Yep! This pretty sums up the entire game!
Gameplay
There are two elements to a good fighting game: #1-awesome character design, and #2-a unique system that makes it stand out from it’s competition, so it doesn’t become yet another Street Fighter 2 clone, making Capcom want to tease you with a parody character like Dan. While SNK have failed at doing so in the past, in 1994 they got it right with King of Fighters (and arguably earlier with Fatal Fury), and they’ve stuck with “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” ever since. I’m happy to say the combat system helps it stand out from the rest of the pack. While Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is based on spamming the special attacks for free hits and Street Fighter IV: Volt focuses on slowly analyzing your opponent’s moves to preform a counter-attack, King Of Fighters focuses more on fast paced game play and button-mashed combos and evading attacks rather than blocking with 3-on-3 team battles rather than 1-on-1. It’s always been one of the more complex fighters of the genre, but it’s been hidden well to appeal to newcomers and works well, and its smooth translation to the iPhone generates an identical experience.
Unconscious, half-naked Mai with hundreds of soccer mums cheering you on? JACKPOT!
So what did I mean when I said King of Fighters is kinda complex for a fighting game, but they try and make it seem simple? Well the one of the reasons behind that is you’ve got 4 separate gauges to worry about! Sure one of them if your health, but you’ve also got a Guard gauge, a Drive gauge and a Power gauge. The Power gauge has 5 stages, and builds with each time you land a hit or receive a hit and allows you to preform Super Special Moves with one full gauge by tapping the gauge, and with two or more you can preform EX Moves which are advanced versions of your normal attacks by using the correct combination. So that seems kind of standard right? Street Fighter IV did that in two separate bars and that wasn’t so hard to get! Well on top of that, your Drive gauge fills also as you take hits and land hits, and when you have 3 Power gauges full along with your drive gauge fully charged, tapping on your fighters’ face can activate devastating Neo Max Super Special Moves. The Drive gauge also allows you to preform Super Cancels and Drive Cancel Moves when it’s filled half way, and Hyper Drive Mode which has it’s own separate button can be used when your Drive gauge is fully charged. You following? Cause there’s more! While in Hyper Drive mode, your character will glow, which gives you the ability to preform a Max Cancel, which will let you cancel a Super Special Move into a Neo Max Super Special Move for an extended combo. On top of all this you have to keep in mind during this action-packed, fasted-paced game, you have your Guard gauge which decreases as you block attacks, and if it reaches 0 a Guard Crush will occur, encouraging you to use the evade button more often and to block only when when necessary. Oh yeah, and you got a heath gauge too, let it hit zero and you’ll be knocked out! There’s also a little challenge screen at the bottom of the menu, requesting you to preform certain tasks called Target Actions, and most of them are quite easy to pull off. Preforming these tasks and manoeuvres will reward you by filing up a portion of your gauge. It’s pretty innovative and a nice idea to implement, and keeps things nice and fresh and if your not a fan of it, it can be easily ignored.
Preform Three Jumps? THREE JUMPS?! What is this? Xbox Kinect?
While all that may sound technical, KOFi actually plays quite simple for a King of Fighters game. Elements like the popular Striker System and similar game play elements involving team-based attacks from previous games aren’t present and while the matches are still focused on 3-on-3, one after another, no tag team game play is involved unfortunately! Also, taunting has been removed, and special moves have been simplified down into one ‘special’ button, much like in the recent Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat IOS titles. The controls also come damn near close to perfect! The buttons are fully responsive, but what I like most about them is just like other popular IOS fighting games you can customise the buttons, but with an extra feature I personally havn’t seen before: the ability to control the transparency of the joystick and buttons. This is awesome for players who master the controls, and know where everything is and is sick of half their screen taken up by a virtual joystick and buttons, because you can just put the transparency down to zero and have invisible on-screen controls which is a very nice touch and I hope other fighters on the device follow suit in this area. My only complaint about controls is that movement doesn’t seem so tight, while it is responsive they seem to move unrealistically fast and don’t seem very grounded, but its a minor thing and it speeds up the game play so I suppose from that perspective it’s actually a good thing. Theres also an endless mode and a choice to play either 3-on-3 or 1-on-1, but honestly all three of those modes play out almost exactly the same so there isn’t much difference at all.
They call Benimaru a ladies man, but his choice of clothing may suggest otherwise…
Graphics and Audio
King of Fighters-i 002 is filled with so much eye-candy you’d think you were in Willy Wonka’s factory! The animations are some of the smoothest I’ve seen on an iOS device, that go hand-in-hand with the awesome character design and anime-art style. Character sprites are incredibly detailed and filled with texture and character that should impress even the harshest of critics. The only downside is that while standing still they occasionally look pixelated, so that’s why they don’t seem as nice in screenshots. While in motion, the art looks beautiful. The character design is amazing, with a flawless anime art style which just begs to be shown off. I find my biggest criticism for the entire game is that I loved it so much that I wished they had more to show off! Some anime cut scenes would’ve been amazing, but perhaps terrible for file size, so its understandable why this wasn’t included. Hopefully it will be for KOF XIII! Over exaggerated sparks and miniature explosions fill the screen when a blow is connected, filled with vibrant colors reminiscent of fireworks which really light up the screen and excite the player. Each blow you land feels like a miniature victory, accompanied by an appropriate sound effect. The backgrounds suffer the same flaw as Street Fighter IV: Volt, where they look nice but remain still, even when there are people in the background. It’s not a terrible thing, but it would’ve been nice to see some slight movement.
If I made a fighting game, I’d show the looser with big font saying ‘LATERZ!’ Also, that game would suck.
Music is great and filled with energy as well, though the tunes for the most part are not very memorable. However, they are composed and recorded nicely, and the choice of melodies and instruments do suit the exaggerated, hyperactive style of KOF, so the soundtrack works as an extra layer of depth to the action rather than a separate entity to enjoy, so in that aspect, the music does a swell job and is pulled off well. Voice acting is sweet and executed well, and expresses the persona of each fighter with style, which can be hard to do when somebody is screaming something under the lines of “GENERIC FIREBALL ATTACK!”, so kudos to SNK for that!
K’, Kyo, King, Kula…OK, Im sure SNK’s King of Fighters cast are brought to you by the letter K. Take that Mortal Kombat!
Presentation
King of Fighters-i 002 opens up on a sweet animation, and straight away you know your in for a beautiful game. While the menu’s are kind of boring and a chore to navigate at times, the randomised character artwork is a nice touch and a joy to look at which keeps it looking all right. There’s tons of extra features and collectables as well, but honestly most of them you’ll never care about. If your keen for a fetch-quest or love achievement hunting, it might be for you though. There’s a bunch of concept art and illustrations as well, and an unlockable novel if for some reason you’d rather read than play the game, plus you can record your replays. The game follows the same story as King of Fighters XIII, but it isn’t told at all. Perhaps this is why the game was called King of Fighters-i rather than King of Fighters XIII IOS. The story is present in novel format, but reading is boring so most people won’t bother, though it is a nice thing it was included there. No/limited story doesn’t mean cut scenes and introductions do not exist, before each battle between fighters, a small conversation is shown between the two, which is completely different and personal depending on who enters the field. This displays a lot of the characters personalities, which really helps you learn to love each fighter individually. Also, if your not into these, you can totally skip them. Online VS isn’t present, but after the issues Street Fighter IV: Volt had, it’s understandable. Bluetooth is available though, and you can do more than just battle via Bluetooth-you can trade your collectables as well as replays as well. Again, a lot of these collectables seem kind of of pointless, but with bluetooth trading involved, you get a very Pokemon-ish ‘Gotta Catch Them All’ thing going on for achievement hunters which Im sure the hardcore fans would appreciate.
I suppose this is SNK paying tribute to the Dead or Alive franchise?
Conclusion
In conclusion, I’d have to say that King of Fighters-i 002 is the nicest looking and the most in-depth fighting game, with the most fast-paced action on the iPhone to date. I wouldn’t call it the best, but I’d call it a close runner up to Street Fighter IV: Volt, but others may disagree. Honestly, these two are very neck-and-neck, and there are many elements that each game does better than the other. Most of KOFi’s biggest flaws will also be addressed soon, such as the small character chart being updated later this year to 20 fighters, including the now-missing fan-favorite Iori. My biggest criticism is that the engine is fun to use, but little strategy can be used at times, as moves can be easily spammed and can become easy to take advantage for button mashers. Still, a pro fighter is still a pro, but that extra level of strategy which is so focused on in Street Fighter isn’t so clear in this title. That being said, KOFi is very close to being the best fighter on the iPhone from my experience, and is a must download for fighting fans. It looks beautiful, its fast, its fun and has some innovative features. Fighting fans, buy this game ASAP. You won’t be disappointed!
Like I said, this game looks beautiful!
PROS
Awesome art, animation and design
Bluetooth VS as well as trading for collectables and saved replays
Customisable controls and transparency settings for on-screen controls
Unloackable trading cards, novels and illustrations
Very deep combat system
Optional 1-on-1 or 3-on-3 fighting
Fast-paced, action-packed game play
CONS
Small character selection for a KoF game (update coming at the end of the year!)
Collectables and Shop feature can seem useless sometimes
Deep fighting system and be ignored and boil down to a button-masher with little stratergy
Graphics can seem pixelated when not in motion sometimes
No online-play (but considering SF IV: Volt it may not be a terrible thing!)
The Disgaea series has always had a very unusual sense of humor. It appears that Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten will retain this humor thanks to the recent rating released by the ESRB. The ESRB has given the title a T rating for Animated Blood, Drug Reference, Fantasy Violence, Language, and Suggestive Themes.
The suggestive themes obviously come from the games dialogue, though whichever character had the guts to call one of the other characters flat chested better watch out for Etna if she is around. Check out the full ESRB description below.
This is a strategy role-playing game in which players control a group of characters on a quest to bring order to the Netherworld. From a 3/4–overhead perspective, players use swords, axes, and magic spells to engage monsters and human-like characters in turn-based combat (e.g., selecting attacks/weapons from a menu screen). Battles are accompanied by light effects, slashing sounds, and cries of pain; enemies disappear when defeated. One special attack depicts a bullet striking an enemy’s head, which is accompanied by slow-motion and X-ray effects. A few cutscenes depict brief stylized blood effects (e.g., an armored knight emitting blue droplets after getting impaled; the silhouette of blood splatter after a character is struck).
During the course of the game, some of the dialogue includes suggestive comments (e.g., “You’ve earned the right to be called a pervert, by sneaking around and peeping on us,” “I just love it when men do things that constitute sexual harassment,” and “You’re so flat, they use your chest to measure if a shelf is straight!”). The game also contains a brief drug reference (e.g., “If you inhale my dust, you’ll get really happy. It might even make you feel like you can fly . . . Just say no, kids! Bad! Bad drugs!”). The words “sh*t,” “a*s,” and “b*tch” can be heard in dialogue.
Today Ubisoft revealed that they have been working on an animated short film called Assassin’s Creed: Embers and they also released a bit of a trailer to let it know what it will be about. Ubisoft says that the film will “expand on the final chapter of the life of master assassin Ezio Auditore.”
You can catch the trailer below, though you will be able to get the film itself when the game releases on November 15th. The film will be bundled with either GameStop’s Assassin’s Creed Revelations Signature Edition or you can purchase it separately from the Xbox Live Marketplace or PlayStation Network, though no price was given at this time for how much it will be.
Eager to enter the town of Silent Hill again? Soon my friends, but for now you can content yourself with two screenshots that were released by Konami from Silent Hill 2. The screenshots can be seen both above and below and as you can see the HD graphics really have made a decent improvement to the overall appearance of the series, though it still is as dark as we remember.
Also released alongside these screenshots was a press release that said that the Silent Hill HD Collection will have a release window somewhere in September/October of this year. They also revealed that the developer for these ports is named Hi Jinx Studios. Those who are looking to pick up this collection should know it is currently a PS3 exclusive and that is only comes with the Silent Hill 2 and 3 games of the series.
Capcom revealed that when you power up Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, you may be getting a bit of a bonus surprise. That is of course if you have played Dead Rising 2 at all. Siliconera reports that apparently Dead Rising 2: Off the Record will search for a save data from the original DR2 and will give Frank West Chuck Greene’s jacket to wear.
Also revealed was that Gamestop pre-orders will be getting a special outfit known as the “Cosplay Warrior” outfit. The outfit is a cardboard helmet, monster face paint, cardboard armor, and cardboard boots. If the player equips a practice sword and shield they will have a special attack and they also will be able to gain 25% extra PP after each attack you do. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record will be released on October 11th in North America and will come at the discounted price of only $40.
Those hoping to shoot up their favorite shuffling zombies in HD will soon have their chance because Capcom revealed over the weekend that the high definition ports of two of the best Resident Evil titles are being released in September. Also revealed is that both versions of the game will be released to retail as well, though if they will be bundled together or separate has yet to be seen.
The two games will be released at separate times to the PlayStation Network and Xbox 360 Games on Demand service. Resident Evil 4 HD will be released on September 20th while Resident Evil: Code Veronica HD will be released a week later on September 27th. Both games will feature full Trophy and Achievement support which will make the trophy and achievement hunters like myself quite happy.
Business policies coming out of EA lately have been looking worse and worse for the consumer lately. First we have the Project Ten Dollar system that is starting to be used by other publishers and now we may soon have to pay even more to play games we have already paid $60 for. This news comes as EA Sports SVP Andrew Wilson held an interview with Eurogamer and there they discussed the potential for EA Sports to begin a monthly or yearly subscription. He addressed this question with the following response, which could strike fear into the folds of wallets everywhere:
“If we look at what consumers have pushed other industries for, if we look at what consumers forced the music industry to provide, if we look at what consumers have driven as a result of television and movie subscription, if you look at us -– there’s absolutely a time somewhere at some point in the future where the consumers say, ‘Hey, this is how we want to interact with you: we want to give you a monthly or annual subscription and we want access to everything you make.'”
Wilson went on to explain that they are trying to present EA Sports “as a service” which is something that honestly should be discouraged. I will leave it up to you to decide your own opinions about this news, though I must say that there most certainly is never a time for subscriptions. This isn’t World of Warcraft, its football…
Microsoft has released their Avatar based chat service for the Kinect Labs today in the form of Avatar Kinect. You can purchase the content entirely free from within the Kinect Labs program and it will be accessible to both Gold and Free Xbox Live members between July 25th and September 8th. After that time only Gold members will be able to use the Avatar Kinect service.
Thursday will be seeing two things out of Microsoft and Xbox. First the Xbox Facebook page will be holding a contest where they will choose the best stand up comedy act to win an Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle. They also announced that the Kinect Sparkler app for Kinect Fun Labs will be released Thursday and will cost 240 Microsoft Points. This app allows players to use their fingers to move sparklers around in their environment, though the unexpected price tag may turn off many users, considering everything else in the Kinect Fun Labs is free.
Namco Bandai made it official today that they will be releasing Tekken Hybrid for everyone waiting to purchase anything related to their favorite fighting series. Tekken Hybrid is set for a release sometime in November, though an exact date has yet to be set. Those who purchase Tekken Hybrid will be getting quite a lot for their money, because it will come with one game, one demo, and a CGI movie.
The game it will come with is named Tekken Tag Tournament HD which is a remastered version of the PS2 original with Trophy support, while Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue is something of a demo for the full game which will be released in 212. The reason I am calling it a demo is because it features only four playable characters out of the next game.
Finally the games will be coming with Tekken Blood Vengeace which is a fully 3D CGI movie where “Ling Xiaoyu and Alisa Bosconovitch uncover dark secrets that could destroy the Mishima family for ever.” You can catch a trailer below for the whole bundle. At the moment there is no price set for this bundle and it will be released exclusively for the PlayStation 3.
