I am sure I didn’t have to remind anyone that the 3DS is out today, but for that one person who may have been living in a cave, now you know! Nintendo’s brand new console is now out in every part of the world except for Australia, in which it will release this coming Thursday, on March 31st. Nintendo World in New York along with retailers all over the country have been hosting midnight launches (sadly none near the small town I live in), and the buzz for the new handheld is just about everywhere.
If you have one at this very moment, please let us know what you think about it. How is the 3D? What launch titles did you grab? You get the idea. If you haven’t got a 3DS yet, let us know when you plan on picking one up and what games you will be grabbing to go along with it. The whole crew at Capsule Computers are going to be working overtime now to get out some reviews for this launch line-up, so keep an eye out for that as there will be plenty of unboxings and happenings of all sorts to come. Stay Tuned!
Pokémon seems to still be the huge property it has always been as Nintendo have released an official statement on their twitter boasting that the two titles have now exceeded 2 million copies sold in just two weeks time. This news isn’t really shocking though as this new generation of titles also shattered records in Japan as well when it was released last year.
With the future Global Link coming into play sometime later this year if all goes right, who knows what the end of year numbers could be for the series, but I can say after spending plenty of time with the titles this feat is well earned from both Nintendo and Game Freak as both titles were fantastic entries and felt like a fresh reboot for the series. I guess now we just wait and see just what will be the next title from Nintendo to capitalize on Black & White’s success.
For a limited time Gameloft and Square Enix are offering a games sale on the iTunes App store. Be sure to take advantage of this offer over the next few days. Gameloft are offering sales on game titles such as Starfront – Collision, a real time strategy, and Sacred Odyssey – Rise of Ayden, an action based adventure and Eternal Legacy, another role-playing game. These titles are all currently only $1.19AU/$0.99US. If this isn’t enough to tie you over, Square Enix have kindly brought the price on some of their classic games down for the next few days, with a huge 56% off both Final Fantasy the original and Final Fantasy II, as well as similar titles such as Secret of Mana. This is a massive discount on some pretty iconic games for the iPhone, leaving them at only $4.99AU each! Move fast though because the sales are only for a few days and will be ending on March 31st.
Type Type Train Platform(s): iPhone(reviewed)/iPod Touch/iPad Publisher(s):Clickgamer Developer(s): Ivannovich Games Genre(s): Arcade/Action Release Date: 17/03/2011 Price: $1.19 AU/$0.99US (Buy Now)
Overview
Type Type Train is exactly what it sounds like, it has trains, and it has typing. Wait a minute. Take a step back and double the amount of typing! As the trains with words on them progress along the track, you need to type the words as quick as you can to blow the trains up. This happens for two reasons; firstly, the little prairie dogs that live in the desert need help getting rid of the trains! Secondly, to finish the level and progress to the new one, earning cool bonuses along the way.
Gameplay
As I said, the basic premise of the game is to type. Personally I find the whole typing process on the iDevice screen a little difficult because there isn’t an actual button to hit, just a sensor on a flat screen. As the trains come past on the screen, the goal is to type the words that appear on the trains before time runs out. The time is measured on a little red bar to the bottom left of the screen. On some of the harder levels the timer moves way too quickly and it makes it really really difficult to type in such a panic as the screen flashes red! Due to the difficulty, I have mostly just stuck to the easier levels, but have found myself branching off into the most difficult set of levels purely because you are able to earn more bonuses.
There are three sets of difficulty in Type Type Train, easy, normal and insane. Within these three difficulty settings there are twelve levels. Each of the levels are the same at least in terms of appearance, the only difference is that the insane levels are truthfully rather insane. Way too many trains appear at one time and the timer moves so fast it is really difficult to keep up. Thankfully there are a few tricks you can pick up along the track to help you through the difficult task of destroying trains!
Throughout the levels there are bonus levels where you earn golden spikes. These levels have ten trains to blow up, which grants a certain number of spikes if you complete it on different levels. The easier levels get you one spike per bonus completion and the insane levels get you three per bonus. After collecting five spikes, you are granted a new bonus to help in the game. The majority of these are pretty helpful, ranging from different types of animals who set off bombs, such as chickens or cows strapped to rockets, to the ability to stop time or set off bombs instantaneously. The first mentioned set of bonuses are randomly generated, they appear on the screen and are activated with key words that need to be typed such as “eggs” or “corn”. The second set of bonuses are called weapons, and are set off by pressing a button near the keyboard. At first you can only use one weapon, but after collecting thirty spikes you are given a keyboard upgrade and can use two. These are pretty entertaining in short bursts, and do add to the playability of the game by making it a little more interesting and less difficult. Overall these elements don’t take away from the game itself, which is primarily just a typing game.
Graphics and Audio
The graphics for Type Type Train are a little disappointing. The characters are a little off model in design at times during loading screens and level select. However, during the game all the elements work together and have their place. The whole western meets train theme is sound and presented coherently. My favourite design element is in fact the upgraded keyboard. The first one is just some square bits of wood and it was a little disappointing. After reaching the thirty golden spikes my keyboard was upgraded to an old western looking typewriter that looked as if it had been invented by Dr. Emmet Brown in Back to the Future part 3. For me, this is a nice little nostalgic bridge between steam train technology and the modern technology of the smart phone. Unfortunately the audio didn’t have a real hook for me. Like most games for the iPhone the sound design is fine and suits the game thematically and contextually, but doesn’t really have any nice little touches.
Conclusion
It is an odd decision to make a typing game for iOS. The interface of the different iDevices doesn’t really support something that requires so much precision and often takes away from the game. Type Type Train isn’t a bad game, it perhaps just isn’t suited to this platform. Ideally, Type Type Train would work best as a PC game, or at least benefit from a keyboard input and would be best presented as a spelling game for kids, or even just a touch-typing game. It has some good qualities for educational purposes but as a source of entertainment it is a bit lacking.
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy Produced by: La Parti Production & Coproduction Office/Beast Productions Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar Voice actors: Stéphane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar, Benoît Poelvoorde Tag Line: “They came…they saw…they panicked.” Running Time: 75 minutes Language: French with English subtitles Available for purchase at:Madman Online Store ($29.95), Amazon US ($21.49), Amazon UK (£5.49)
Overview
With the improvement of special effects in cinema, directors are constantly trying to make their films look more lifelike, and transport their audiences into a fantasy world which looks like it could really exist somewhere. In all of this, it’s hard to forget that sometimes the simplest things can still be the most entertaining and innovative of all.
A Town Called Panic was released in Belgium in 2009 (it’s what many would describe as a cult classic amongst the rest of us), anddoesn’t use the latest in CGI and motion technology. It doesn’t feature the world’s most famous voice actors, the best animation studios, and a poetic, poignant storyline…but it is precisely because it doesn’t use any of this that it works and is one of those films with eternal universal appeal.
Plot
The storyline centres around three characters who live together in the town called Panic: Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier), Indian (Bruce Ellison), and Horse (Vincent Patar). One day, Cowboy and Indian realise they have forgotten Horse’s birthday. They quickly brainstorm ideas and decide on a present, but their present backfires and sends them on a journey to the most inconceivable of places. Along the way, other villagers from the town have their own small stories including Steven the farmer and Madame Longray, Horse’s crush.
Let’s put it this way: Panic is basically Toy Story 3 on really, really, really strong crack.
The trailer claims the film is “more terrifying than Psycho, more romantic than Casablanca, and more spectacular than Journey to the Centre of the Earth”, and the only way that Panic managed to put elements from all of those films is with a world where the imagination rules.
To say that the storyline of A Town Called Panic is impossible is to say the Pope is Christian. From the start, Cowboy, Indian, and Horse live in a world where anything can happen – and everything does happen: the hilarious, the sweet, and the downright odd. However, it’s this impossible storyline which brings to life the world that we as kids dreamed was possible; the world isn’t limited by anything but the depths of the creator’s imaginations. Aubier and Patar took the most mundane routine of life and transformed it into a world where imagination reigns supreme over logic, and the outrageous just becomes normal.
The story is a journey you have to take yourself. It will remind even the most logical audiences of a day where they used to believe their figurines were real and the world was filled with endless possibilities.
Characters
The reason the town is called Panic is because everyone in this town really does panic at even the slightest of things. A morning shower can be entertaining simply because the characters get so worked up over who gets to go first.
In Panic, the main characters are Horse, the father-figure in the house who has a crush on the local music teacher Madame Longray, Cowboy, the guy who always carries around a rifle, and Indian, the dude with the feathers and bow and arrow. Both Cowboy and Indian are extremely ADD, and will randomly disappear from a task to start playing ping pong or watch TV. The village only has a few other recurring characters aside from these three: Madame Longray, a soft-spoken lady horse, Simon, the cleaner of the music school, Steven the farmer and his wife Janine, the Postman, the Policeman, and a bunch of farm animals.
While Horse is probably more normal (if you can call it that), Cowboy and Indian have a strange charm in how little attention span or attention to responsibility they have. It takes us back to the time where not cleaning your room wasn’t as important as having fun, and that is their main focus: fun. The underlying love story between Horse and Madame Longray is very sweet, and all of the other characters have their own little nuances which make you love them.
Animation and Set Design
Aubier and Patar use claymation similar to that of Wallace and Gromit, but the characters don’t have changing facial expressions. Instead, when the characters talk it’s the body language which signals exactly how someone is feeling. The set is fully designed using materials such as clay and papier-mache and the time of day is shown using painted backdrops and lighting.
While the character designs are simple, their animation is effortlessly charming and really shows how Aubier and Patar can be innovative without needing a big budget. The detail in the character’s movements – again, makes them look like they’re on crack – does really get across their emotions without needing to show facial expressions. Most of the characters even have their own style of walking – take Horse and Madame Longray. Horse has a slightly more masculine way of walking while Madame Longray’s movements are slightly more petite. The sets also show an incredible attention to detail: in one room, there was even a small fire extinguisher and in the music school there was a portrait of Mozart hanging on the wall.
The movements aren’t perfect all the time, but they don’t need to be. The storyline, SFX, and sets really give audiences an entire fantasy world to get absorbed into. Half of the time, I wasn’t even looking at the character movements so much as I was trying to absorb in the world of Cowboy, Horse, and Indian.
Voice Acting, SFX and Soundtrack
As I mentioned earlier, A Town Called Panic gets its name from the characters who literally panic at the smallest things. Steven, the farmer, in particular panics at every single thing from his chickens to greeting his wife. The over exaggerated voice acting really does suit the story and provides plenty of comedic relief when you realise that two figurines are yelling at each other because of an envelope. They also speak in French, which is even funnier as French is supposed to be the “language of love”.
The SFX, like everything else in this film, are also detailed and really match what’s happening in the storyline. Considering that all the sound was added in, Panic’s sound effects really do seem like they were there from day one. The film uses so many different SFX: characters walking or bouncing around, fires starting, water drops, and brushing teeth. Aubier and Patar clearly put a lot of effort into selecting the right sounds for the right situations, and then went to the even bigger effort of syncing movement on screen to these sounds.
A Town Called Panic is not one of those films which use thousands of different soundtracks to make the audience feel a certain way. The soundtrack here is really very minimalist, with music only featuring when it’s absolutely necessary, but the few songs which are used are definitely used appropriately and well. The music school where Madame Longray teaches utilises a lot of musical instruments and occasionally features a few songs, and at the parties in the film there is plenty of music to be enjoyed. In spite of this, the opening theme is by far the standout track for me: it really made me love the film straight from the get-go. For the most part though, Panic lets the characters, voice acting, and SFX do the talking.
DVD Extras
The DVD has a few hours of extras, which is great because it really lets you into the inside world of the film. If nothing else, The Making of Panic is definitely something which needs to be watched because it makes you appreciate the film that much more. I found that as soon as I finished watching Panic, I jumped straight to the ‘making of’ and before I knew it that was ending too. Also, the trailer is included in the extras and is definitely worth having a look at if you haven’t already.
The other extras are nice to have, but some are a bit of a hit-and-miss. The Interview with the Directors feature was good for anyone who is extremely curious about the film but I found most of the information they talked about was already in the Making of Panic. The interview wasn’t filmed with a high quality camera which makes it difficult to watch. Extra Scenes was a bit disappointing; I was expecting funny gags but it was mostly one second clips which had been cut out, and Test Shot Comparison was really the one more worth watching between the two.
There’s also a short film thrown in called Obsessive Compulsive, which was made by a 17 year old girl as an entry to a competition. It’s pretty cute, but I don’t think I would have missed it if it weren’t there.
Final Comments
Overall, A Town Called Panic was a charming and funny film which took the world of the mundane and turned it into a world I only imagined was possible when I was a child. Anyone who played Cowboys and Indians as a kid or anyone who has a spark of a child still left in them should watch this because it’ll awaken that side of you once again. Even sceptics of claymation or fanboys-and-girls of CGI will find something to love in this film, and it is definitely worth watching at least once. This film is hilarious, imaginative, and unforgettable.
It seems to be more of the norm now to see Ridge Racer launching with new consoles. After well over 20 different releases on many different platforms in the past 18 years, this age old series is finally ready to debut with the 3DS. Namco also seem to be pretty pumped up about Ridge Racer 3D as well as today they released a new launch trailer today to show off just what wild ride gamers will be in for with the new 3D elements in tow.
The trailer (which you can view below) shows a bit of the gameplay as well as some nice eye candy such as a car jumping out of the screen as well as Reiko tossing her sunglasses at the player. Now as with all 3DS trailers, I am sure this is better in person but this clip certainly does a better job at showing the actual game than other 3DS trailers that have come forth. In my honest opinion if you are trying to decide just which racer to go with out of this or Asphalt, I would say due to past history and the name alone, Ridge Racer 3D is top choice for the genre at launch and is looking to be one of the better titles in this line up period at the moment. Ridge Racer 3D is also available now wherever video games are sold.
There are many different ways that you can explore a dungeon, with swords, magic or guns apparently. But don’t worry the guns are magical and shoot magic bullets. Katarina joins the cast of playable characters in Dungeon Siege III alongside previous character reveals of Lucas and Anjali. Except rather than the standard medieval fantasy weapons we see usually in a game like this we see her wielding a rifle for long range attacks and double pistols for anyone close to her.
Of course she also ends up getting to summon a hound to help separate herself from any enemies that get to close. Now Dungeon Siege III was said to have four playable characters total so that means there is only one left to be revealed before the game comes out on May 31st. After Katarina’s weapon specialty it’ll be interesting to see what this last fighter uses.
Ah Microsoft… long have you been seen as a tad bit money hungry but nothing says it more when the developers of a company say that they will release their game on your console as a freemium title, and then you turn around and make it cost money. In a response to our inquiry Microsoft has responded saying that Dugneon Fighter Online will not be a freemium game but will be game requiring to be paid to download.
They also stated that DFO will have “online multiplayer features” but did not go into further detail. Dungeon Fighter Online will be developed by Nexon and Softmax with Nexon being the company who developed the original free-to-play with extra purchasable content inside MMORPG. As to what the online will be for Dungeon Fighter Online on the Xbox 360 we will have to wait and see. Dungeon Fighter Online will see a release sometime this year internationally.
It seems like Jill and Wesker are getting along better than we thought after the events of Resident Evil 5. Nah, just kidding. But what is happening is the fact that Capcom has revealed these two characters to be playable in the upcoming Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D that will be coming out in Japan on June 2nd and an eventual release overseas forthcoming.
Capcom Japan went on to explain that the touchscreen wll be used to sort items around and to view the map. This also means that you will still be able to move your character around on screen while managing your items. Also detailed was the Duo Mode (two player co-op) that will feature both online and local play. Local play meaning someone else having the 3DS and a copy of the game itself of course.
It’s easy for us on the other side of the world to forget that while it may not be on the news ever day anymore, there are still people in Japan who don’t have a bed to sleep in, a dinner to eat, and a home to go back to.
We know that many think Japan is a rich country that doesn’t need help, but in the time of disaster everyone needs help. That’s why AppsJP is urging gamers to make a difference as well with a SAVE THE VICTIMS IN JAPAN campaign. This campaign is designed to encourage you to donate or take some action towards the devastation in Japan. In return, AppsJP is doing a giveaway on apps for spreading the word and helping those in the affected areas.
For more information, visit the page here and jump on board. Don’t forget – if you donate, you can also earn CubePoints at Capsule Computers to redeem towards games and apparel. Just visit this page for more information.
Lend a hand. Don’t buy your gaming magazine this month, or take the $10 you would spend on fast food and give it to people who need it more. Remember, for the media this disaster might be over…but for the people of Japan, it’s just the beginning of a long journey of rebuilding their towns and their lives.
