Ladies and Gentle-gamers … News just in from Two Tribes, seems that during the development of a brand new, as of yet unannounced game that could be appearing on the Apple iPhone, employees at Two Tribes have started to exhibit symptoms of what appears to be a new type of addiction…
From what we’ve been told, designers, programmers, game testers and even producers have been caught frantically switching items around. Office supplies, i-devices and even Toki Tori’s eggs have been lost and subsequently found at the most unusual places. Kinda like the same thing that Dylan does with our multiple copies of Barbies Horse Adventures. It’s a little disturbing but now we can safely say that he’s not the only one that has problems.
All we we’ve told is that it is unknown what the long term effects of this addiction are. Apart from having office redecorating effects and being highly time consuming, the addiction does not seem to have any damaging side effects (but I do beg to differ after looking at what Dylan does here in the office). Two Tribe are confident that all subjects seem to derive a healthy dose of pleasure from this ‘compulsive swapping disorder’ resulting in the addiction spreading at a fast pace!
Office cameras in the Two Tribe offices managed to capture footage of an employee suffering from addiction, check out the video below. Should we BE AFRAID !! ?? Or Be PREPARED for some serious fun !!! only time will tell !! We’ll keep you updated once we have more information.
If you happen to be one of the many that own a copy of Mass Effect 2, I am sure you are probably aware of the Cerberus Network. Since the game’s launch in early 2010, the service was pretty much used on the Main Menu to alert players about new updates and DLC that was available. As of January 24th, the Cerberus Network will cease to update as a message was posted today to any players logging in. If this news upsets you by any means, don’t feel down just yet.
This message was also included in that update:
“A week of posts will precede a downloadable content release, and two more weeks will lead up to the release of Mass Effect 3,”
Of course this means we should be seeing one more DLC pack, and I am thinking this will be the DLC that was promised that will bridge the story between Mass Effect 2 to the upcoming third entry in the series. Another thing to note is this only effects the updating news and all content will still be downloadable from the Marketplace like normal.
Either way, I am ready to see Mass Effect 3, though I do need to give it a replay to get a better ending since the content will all carry over, but this news pretty much sets the release date for Mass Effect 3 in stone for later this year and the new content for ME2 should definitely be one to watch for.
Polish video games developer and publisher, Teyon, is pleased to announce their next puzzle/logic game hitting the European Nintendo DSiWare™ on January 7th 2011. The title will sell for 500 Nintendo DSi points.
You can Swap till you drop with Super Swap, an exciting blend of arcade action and match-3 fun in which you find yourself dragging colourful blocks in one of 4 directions to connect 3 or more blocks and clear the board. As new blocks fall, you’ll have to move fast to keep the stack from reaching the top. The games features include:
4 exciting modes of the gameplay
Plenty of power-ups and combo bonuses
Colorful and nice graphics
Various shapes of blocks
In a lot of ways, Super Swap looks much like Bejeweled, but with Bejeweled 2 released only recently on WiiWare, the Nintendo download service for the Wii, will Super Swap be able to compete?
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! Developer & Publisher:Nippon Ichi Software Genre: Difficult Platformer Console: PSP (Reviewed) Release Date: January 11th, 2011 Price: $29.99 USPre-Order Now!
Overview:
Now many of us may be familiar with the Disgaea strategy RPG franchise. It has been one of the core SRPGs since its creation and has always been critically acclaimed. Now while Etna, Flonne, and many other characters have played larger parts in past Disgaea games the most memorable characters are the Prinnies. Cursed human soles woven into the body of an explosive penguin and cursed to do menial labor for their demon lords.
But life can’t be all bad for the Prinnies dood especially now that they have a game made specifically for them. Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! brings us the second installation of the side scrolling platformer starring the Hero Prinny. Now with one of the most peculiar sounding titles that we’ve seen in a few years Prinny 2 is to be released in a few weeks and we’ve got our hands on review all set.
Story:
The Prinnies lives have always been one of servitude and rarely do they ever have the chance to be in the spotlight. Now of course in Prinny 2 they have yet another chance to shine. One day in the middle of the night a Phantom Thief (named the same as who he is) has stolen a rare item from Demon Lord Etna. Now this rare item can cause the destruction of the entire Netherworld now that it has been taken by this thief. But what exactly could this rare item be? Why it is Demon Lord Etna’s panties. Yes the whole centerfold of the story is the fact that Etna’s underwear has been stolen by a thief who hunts only rare items, and if she doesn’t get them back by the end of the night she will destroy the Netherworld because she will be pissed.
Now it is your job as the Hero Prinnies to capture this thief and return Etna’s underwear back to her and avoid her wrath. You will do this by venturing out to six different Netherworld stages and retrieving other rare items to help lure the thief back to the castle so you can once and for all defeat him and retrieve the panties from him. The levels can be chosen at your own pace and increase in difficulty as the night wears on. Unfortunately while you may see a few Disgaea characters that you recognize, a lot of the characters will not be explained or given any background information. Sure you may know who Etna is, but not who Flonne is even though they converse as if good friends. There are plenty of laughs to be had as well as the Prinnies not only make jokes amongst themselves but at bosses expense at well. At the same time however those who do not know much about the Disgaea characters will still miss out on inside jokes that only those with background knowledge would understand.
Graphics:
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties may have some of the best graphics of its kind on the PSP dood. The graphics are very bright and gorgeous and are exactly what one would expect to see in a game with an Anime like feel to it. Each region you explore is full of monsters and plenty of details to make it unique compared to the other stages that you can venture too. The characters themselves are very well designed, and although there aren’t many actions taken by some of them they are very great to see.
Besides the Prinnies themselves you will see a variety of different enemies that are fully rendered in 2D and often match the world in which you are visiting though there are occasional repeats. One thing however that can be noted is that Prinny 2 does have some slowdown during parts of gameplay. This wouldn’t be an issue usually but thanks to the high difficulty level of Prinny 2 one can expect occasional slowdown to cause the death of their Prinny. This may not be much of a problem when you are playing on the Baby difficulty, but on any higher difficulty level it can cause unnecessary frustration.
Audio:
Each of the characters inside of Prinny 2 possess their own voice over work done by their classic voice actors. For the most part however Etna’s voice sounds slightly different at times but this is usually something that will not be noticed by most players as the enjoyment of listening to her voice actor (Michelle Ruff) is still there. The bosses each have their own names and are often named after ingredients one may find in the kitchen, including one trio of enemies whose names spell out a few spices but always refer to themselves in their own parts. Also even though you meet many different Prinnies outside of battle they all have their own voice actors which is another nice touch rather than making them all sound alike. The background music is also quite nice as each Netherworld stage will have a different tune to go along with it and matches said stage perfectly.
Gameplay:
Prinny 2 is a hardcore platformer to it’s core. As you begin the game you will first be given an introductory level where you will have infinite lives and be given a variety of different tips that will teach you the ropes of what to expect inside the game. Before all of this however you will be able to select your difficulty level which will include Hell’s Finest, Standard and Baby mode. The most noticeable (and partially recommended) difficulty is Baby Mode. Rather than having scarves to show your health level you will instead have diapers to signify the amount of damage you can take plus there are the addition of breakable baby blocks which will give you some easier jumps.
The reason that I mentioned that Baby mode would be recommended is that this game is very difficult. While most 2D platformers can claim the title of being a hard game, Prinny 2 takes the cake (in more ways than one) in this category. The first thing that you will notice that will signify the difficulty level is that you are given 1000 lives right off the bat. Meaning that as you lose lives throughout the game you can watch your life level slowly dwindle down. The reason that your lives dwindle is because the jumping mechanics are a little tough to get used to, especially considering you can not alter your jumping path once you are in midair. What this means as though you can double jump, if you jump straight up twice there is no way in the slightest to adjust your momentum. You can use your first jump to go straight up into the air and then use your second jump to move forward or backwards but this jumping mechanic does take some time to get used to and feels heavy handed and not the most suitable for an already difficult platformer.
Now not only is the jumping hard, but the combat and final bosses as well. The main idea of the combat is handled through performing hip pounds to stun enemies and slashing attacks to finish enemies off. You do not need to stun most enemies to kill them, but it is recommended as they can hurt you with the slightest touch. Bosses especially are only able to be truly hurt after they are stunned by a hip pound. Once you have performed enough combination attacks you can enter a Combo mode which gives your Prinny blades even more power and kills enemies faster. There are also special moves such as the Prinnikaze and Husky Hip Drop that can be performed by holding the R button and performing your standard attack. Combat is mostly satisfying but there are times that you will experience difficult boss fights that will whittle away at your total life count severely.
The reason I mention times is the fact that considering you only have 10 hours to find Etna’s panties and time passes as you finish each stage, increasing their difficulty. This means that there are many different paths you can take through a level, as sometimes you may not be able to beat a certain boss once you have made it down to the last stage, but you can choose different stages next time around and face not only different bosses, but different levels as well. This means that the replayability is extremely high as there are multiple paths to take through the game.
Beyond the replayability is the fact that there are multiple collectibles inside of the game. There are numerous soul orbs you can collect that will unlock different options to upgrade your Prinny Base. There are 120 different dolls to collect inside of the different stages that can be traded in to get special items as well as special tickets that unlock the partially hidden Asagi Wars game once you have completed the Prinny 2 storyline. A small hint however to those looking to access Asagi Wars, you must first gather the ticket pieces which appear above your Prinny base before going to each level so that you do not miss this extra game.
Asagi Wars Side Cover:
Asagi Wars is an unlockable second game that is within Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! and it features the human Asagi transformed into a Prinny due to her unfortunate demise. Unfortunately countless other Asagis have tried to claim themselves as the real her and are attempting to take her place, so it is up to you to make it known that you are the true Asagi. The gameplay itself is quite similar to the standard Prinny 2 with a few differences. For example each boss you fight will be a different Asagi, such as an 8-Bit Asagi or even Asagi Scharwznature. Also rather than having a health bar where you will lose increments you will instead have a “rating” meter where you have to constantly keep the action going or else you will lose.
The action is handled more of in a Contra style way with multiple weapons that you can acquire and use, though the eggplant is always a handy weapon in and of itself. You will use these various weapons to defeat the enemies and the bosses that stand in your way. The mode itself is a great addition and feels like it warrants a game itself and is best labeled as a game within a game. It is quite enjoyable to see Asagi do battle with the fake Asagi’s and just as funny, if not more, than what you will experience playing the main storyline of Prinnny 2.
Overall:
While Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! may be quite difficult it is not an insurmountable task. There are countless routes to take and plenty of ways that you can reach your goal in retrieving Etna’s underpants. The initial difficulty may be a daunting task to some and be warned again of how difficult the game can be, it is certainly rewarding when you finally finish a level. With its pedigree cast of characters such as Etna, Flonne, and of course the Prinnies fans of the Disgaea series will be hard pressed not to take a look at Prinny 2. With gorgeous graphics and perhaps one of the most humorous plots you can find Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! is going to be a hard one to pass up when it releases in just a couple of weeks.
Rock Band 3 owners prepare to walk the line with Johnny Cash as he makes his Rock Band Debut! On the 4th of January, 8 of Johnny Cash’s greatest hits will be available for download in the Rock Band 3 store, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii. Xbox 360 and PS3 owners will also get the opportunity to download 9 other classic songs from previous Rock Band games.
Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (Jan. 4): Johnny Cash Pack 01
“Cry, Cry, Cry”
“Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”
“Five Feet High and Rising”
“Folsom Prison Blues”
“I Got Stripes”
“I Walk the Line” X
“Tennessee Flat Top Box” X
“The Ballad of Ira Hayes”
Available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system (Jan. 4): Rock BandFree Pack 01
Abnormality – “Visions”
Anarchy Club – “Get Clean”
Bang Camaro – “Night Lies”
Breaking Wheel – “Shoulder to the Plow”
Libyans – “Welcome to the Neighborhood”
The Main Drag – “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter”
Speck – “Conventional Lover”
The Sterns – “Supreme Girl”
That Handsome Devil – “Rob the Prez-O-Dent”
(All tracks are original master recordings) (These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system Jan. 5)
The Gears of War franchise has been through the Platinum Hits wringer and the Game of the Year reprints. But Microsoft may be planning on one more release for the bloody awesome game. According to Gamestop listing since retracted, the Gears of War Ultimate edition will be $29.99 and release on February 15, 2010. The bundle will most likely compromise the first two games. Hopefully, all the downloadable content will also be included. Of course, you will still have to buy Bulletstorm to get access to the Gears of War 3 beta. And now that Sony has released several collections of their best franchises, maybe Microsoft will start releasing some more of their best games as well.
Zeboyd Games, makers of RPG parody Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, have released their latest game on the Xbox Live Indie Game Marketplace called Cthulhu Saves the World.
It was released on the 30th December 2010, and much like Breath of Death VII: The Beginning, is parody RPG. It’s part of the Indie Games Winter Uprising and if its predecessor is anything to go by, it should be another absolute cracker packed with winning in-jokes.
What’s more, a music video for the game was outed to coincide with the game’s release. Said video can be seen below and gives a taster of what is in store if you purchase the game, as it gives a good look at the gameplay.
Cthulhu Saves the World is available now on the Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace for 240 Microsoft Points.
Game Name:Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Platform(s): Nintendo DS Publisher(s):Nintendo Developer(s):Camelot Genre(s): Role-Playing Release Date: November 29, 2010 (US) December 2, 2010 (AUS) December 10, 2010 (EU) Price: $34.99 (US) $68.00 (AUS) £34.99 (EU)
Nearly 10 years ago, Camelot introduced the world to Golden Sun on the Game Boy Advance. The title was highly successful and quickly became a household name in the world of RPGs, inspiring a sequel just a few years later. Fast forward to 2010 and Camelot have finally delivered the next chapter in the franchise with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Dark Dawn is set 30 years after the events of the first two games and brings a bunch of new characters along with new features to the series on the Nintendo DS. How does this title live up to it’s predecessors? Here is my review for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.
Story
When you start Dark Dawn, you are immediately thrown into the story with quite an opening, introducing you to the story’s main Protagonist, Matthew (or whatever you decide to name your character), who is the son of Issac, the hero from the past games. Other descendants from past characters such as Karis (daughter of Ivan), Tyrell (son of Garet), and Rief (Son of Mia) are introduced shortly after and assemble the main team of the game.
Setting 30 years from the the events in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the game starts with Issac sending you on a simple quest with your allies but soon huge events start taking place as Psynergy vortexes have popped up all over the land and are draining adepts everywhere of their Psynergy power. It is now up to you and a few other descendants of the heroes from the past to find out why this is happening and set out to defeat the evil behind the chaos.
The story flows nicely through the main game, but the cutscenes can drag on a little bit too long (especially at the beginning of the game). Overall though, Dark Dawn does catch players who might not have tried the first two games up and is easy to understand. Each character have a level of depth to them and it is easy to like nearly all of the main characters in the game so getting drawn into the story shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. As you progress through the vibrant world of the game, more lively characters are introduced as the main plot slowly gets more interesting. What I mean by that is that it took myself around 7 hours to fully become engrossed in the main story as Dark Dawn has a bit of a slow start to really warm up, but once it takes off the game can be hard to put down. Fans of the past Golden Sun titles are surely to love the story from start to finish though as it stays true to the originals and several cameos from characters the past will make appearances to let you fully get caught up on the past 30 years of the story.
The story is told through text bubbles throughout the game so no true voice work is present, but the text does the job just fine and conveys the story in an old-school rpg fashion which should be a plus to fans of the classic games. There are also emoticons used to portray emotion for each character, but we will touch up on that in a moment.
Gameplay
Those who have played the first two Golden Sun titles will feel right at home as Dark Dawn sticks to the core gameplay that made those two successful and fan favorites years ago. While this one plays like a standard PRG through and through, there are many features that really divide Dark Dawn from other RPGs on the market today though and many of them come off as a refreshing way to play.
The first thing to mention of course is the bread and butter of the series, that being the combat system. As you jump into random battles you can easily level up each character to get stronger and gain new attacks, but where the true strategy lies is the Djinn. Djinn are elemental spirits you come across Weyward all throughout the game that can change up the way you battle all together. Each Djinn can be obtained by simply joining you or after winning a battle after encountering the creature. Once you obtain them, you can set it to an active party member and gain the spirit’s special powers and summons as you move along. The more Djinn you obtain, the more customization you can make as these are the key elements to having your party truly grow and with all of the choices in Dark Dawn, Djinn can lead to a lot more depth in the otherwise simple battle system classes. Djinn also have the power to be put on “standby” as you prepare for summon moves, which can unleash some devastating attacks to foes if used correctly. With these summons you also get the sheer joy of watching the high quality summoning of different beasts and mythical creatures which was feels very rewarding in itself.
Psynergy is also a huge part of the battle system as well, as your magical attacks performed in and out of battle with ease to attack a foe, heal and ally or clear a path that was blocking your way in different situations. The only problem I felt with most of the battle systems was not the strategy or Psynergy/Djinn, but how simple the difficulty really was. With such an interesting class system and refreshing way to progress, it is a shame that most battles can be won by simply spamming the same attacks over and over.
Even though the game is a bit overly simple for it’s genre, Dark Dawn pulls no punches when it comes to the clever puzzles in the game. Each area usually has one or more which add a lot of depth to the overall experience as you must think up ways to get the the next area. The puzzles all utilize Psynergy powers as well and with the quick one-button setting, puzzles can be an easy to learn and enjoyable sight once you discover the next as each feels a bit different from the next so you are not constantly doing the same thing over and over again. Most of the Psynergy that is used in the puzzle solving also involves the touch-screen as well and though sometimes you might find yourself pulling your hair out to pull a rock across the screen, the touch-screen was still a welcome method of execution for these encounters.
One thing added to the list of features is the use of emoticons to express emotion of characters based on certain dialogue sequences of the journey. For instance, you can tap on one of the four expressions and get a different reaction from the character you are interacting with. While these are a welcome addition, they are not too useful as nothing is effected in the story except for maybe a sentence of dialogue. I do however feel like if there is another Golden Sun title down the road, Camelot made an excellent template to make the series much more open-ended story wise.
Graphics/Audio
The visuals in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn are without a doubt some of the most charming and vivid on the Nintendo DS by far. The whole world is booming with life and color in full 3D. The characters also have a great artwork design with a bit of cell shading that make each stand out on their own. Each monster or boss you encounter also each have a cleverly designed model as well so it is always a treat to run into a new enemy. As great as the in-game graphics are, the way the two-screens are utilized during cutscenes and summon attacks truly pushes the DS to the limit with beautiful 3D animations that transfer from screen to screen, having you tie together both as one big production. This isn’t the first time this method was used on the DS, but Dark Dawn might be the game to say it did it the best.
The music in the game is fitting with each environment, with each tune bursting out as you go into battle or enter a new area, you are sure to want to keep the volume up as you are playing through the game. As odd as it sounds though, whenever a character is talking using a text bubble, some of the sound effect used sound a bit off and awkward. This isn’t the case for all characters, but with such a great soundtrack, the sound of a grinding “klink klink” noise used to show off the speech can actually make you feel like you are reading instead of paying attention to the story as it takes you out of the game a little. Just a small nitpick mainly, but other than that, the sound nearly matches the already high presentation value of the game.
Overall
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a superb follow-up to the Golden Sun series. The somewhat slow and dull storytelling is easy to overlook due to the complex and easy to use battle system in the game where you can always customize your team to best fit just about any situation. High presentation value was one thing Camelot nailed with this one as well as battling and using new attacks can almost be just as rewarding as progressing through the overall story. There really is nothing wrong with Dark Dawn whatsoever from an RPG standpoint as it keeps the core roots alive and adds to that with some innovative features, but watering down the difficulty may turn some players away as it leads to a much shorter experience than the previous two titles. Either way though, this title an excellent addition to any DS owner’s collection and is a worthy induction into the much loved series of Golden Sun.
The Capsule Computers Crew would like to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR, May all your hopes, wishes, and dreams come true in the year 2011.
To kick off the New Year we would like to give away our first prize for the year 2011 .. To win :: Tell us what you got up to on New Years EVE for a chance to win a VIDEO GAME !! 🙂
The best comment will win 🙂
…
Good luck to all !!
(only one entry per person – Winners will be announced in a few hours so get your entries in QUICK)
It isn’t a very big secret that many games released in Japan are never released outside of the country for the rest of us to enjoy. There are countless games released every month in Japan that never are localized and some of these games were once popular series in the US or Europe. But it looks like one game will finally get itself a localized release thanks to a few dedicated fans.
The game they are working on is Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers which is the sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner. It was released back in 1997 in Japan for the Sega Saturn but never has seen any progress to being localized even as a handheld title. The group of fans called the Devil Hackers is looking to change that however as their fan translation is nearly finished and will be playable on the PSP.
They have released a large thirteen minute teaser for their work. There really has not been any word beyond the fact that they are working on this title. Meaning that their work could be stopped dead in the water if the game’s developers wish them to stop working on the product. Time will tell.
