Game Name:Quiz Game Land Platform(s):iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (iOS 3.0 or later) Publisher(s):Undercoders. Developer(s):Undercoders. Genre(s):Video Game Trivia UPDATE Release Date:15th December, 2010 Price: $1.99 –BUY NOW
The great guys over at Undercoders today have announced that Quiz Game Land has just been updated to version 1.5, featuring major improvements such as musical questions, game center integration, retina display and iPad support.
For anyone that hasn’t heard of Quiz Game, check out the description of the game below and also have a look at our review of the game.
Quiz Game Land is an epic and delirious adventure, plagued with winks and references to the world of video games, in which players can test their knowledge on the industry through intense battles of questions. With 8 mysterious worlds to explore, alternative paths, 4 game modes, challenging mini-games, achievements and leaderboards, detailed retro-style graphics and 3 difficulty levels, Quiz Game Land is the ideal adventure for all video game lovers.
Whats New in version 1.5
-Universal App, with optimized graphics for retina display and iPad
-Open Feint and Game Center integration
-25 new challenging achievements to unlock
-Musical questions: guess the tune!
-Brand new interface design and app icon
-New questions, now over 1000 questions in total!
-Longer lite version with option to unlock the full game
Undercoders have made a teaser trailer for the game using hundreds of classic games as dominoes, which they are using also as part of their ongoing contest check it out below :
We also have a copy of the game for one of you lucky reader. To win let us know why you would like to win a copy of the game. Best Entry wins a copy. *One Entry per person*
With the release of the first DLC installment for Fallout: New Vegas under a week away Bethesda has decided to release a new trailer to hype up anticipation for Dead Money as the DLC is called. Dead Money will have plaers be caught in a deal gone bad, and you must work with three other captured survivors to steal the treasure of the Sierra Madre Casino.
The twist is however that if you refuse to do your mission, you will die. The simple fact of denying your orders will cause an exploding collar around your neck to detonate. To make matters worse your companions will also be equipped with these collars and if one of them dies, you all will. What exactly is the treasure inside of the Serra Madre? We will find out on December 21st when the DLC hits the XBLM exclusively for 800 MSP.
Well, we have all seen those “making of” videos where people put on funny suits, walk around and act like they are doing something totally original, even though it has been done many times before. But today Rockstar has shown us something completely different. In their new game, L.A. Noire, being developed by Team Bondi, they are using a technology called MotionScan. The video explains it much better than I can, but the result of them using this tech is that faces will be able to convey a lot of emotions, reactions and eye blinks. You will be even be able to tell if a person is lying, a key feature in the game. Looks like the current record holder for best graphics/mo-cap, aka Enslaved, has got a new challenger.
So, you like oddly disturbing and yet funny videos? Well Hothead Games have cooked up some of those especially for you. If you have ever wondered what Three’s Company, Communism and the Discovery channel have in common, then these videos are for you. (Hint: the answer is: game development.) Make sure to watch out for Hothead’s next game, Swarm, on XBLA and PSN next year. Swarm is a totally new kind of platformer where you control 50 adorably stupid Swarmites and try to get them to the exit. Until then, watch these videos and get educated! Also, you may want to watch out for rare, feral Australian game producer escapees. Apparently they are a real threat. Just sayin’…
Game Name: Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom Platforms: Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 Publisher: Namco Bandai Developer: Game Republic Genre: Action, Adventure, Puzzle Release Date: November 23, 2010 ESRB Rating: T for Teen: Animated blood, Violence Price: $40 (USD)
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is a game that tells the tale of a land consumed by a black ooze and the unlikely hero that teams up with an all powerful guardian to rid the land of this evil. Right off the bat you can tell this doesn’t sound very original and admittedly it isn’t. That is roughly the plot of almost every Zelda game. Unoriginality aside, Majin is a game that should not be missed.
Story
The story starts out with your character, Tepeu, sneaking into a castle to find the treasure that is assuredly hidden inside. He is aware of the tragedy that has happened to mankind, being consumed by the black ooze, even though it doesn’t affect him as he lives in the forest with the animals. As he makes his way through they castle he encounters creatures made from the ooze which causes him some distress. Eventually he happens upon the Majin and frees it from its prison. Eventually Tepeu and Majin make their way out of the castle. Throughout their journey the duo come across big glowing trees that fully revitalize their health and the Majin’s magic. Each time you come across these trees you are shown a bit of the Majin’s past in a way that mimics childrens books (which is what the Majin’s character is based off of).
These special cutscenes tell you the backstory of the game, what the Majin is and how this ooze came to be, all while fleshing out the Majin a bit. Tepeu starts his adventure looking for treasure and the Majin is tagging along to help his new friend but also in hopes of finding a girl he was originally entrusted to protect a long time ago before he was imprisoned, but along the way Tepeu realizes that treasure isn’t as important as ridding the land of this ooze as the ooze is now beginning to affect the wilderness, his home.
Some might wince at the Majin’s personality. He talks with bad grammar, like a child first learning to talk. His voice is deep yet innocent making for a good match with the Majin’s physical form, powerful yet playful. Every now and then the Majin will trip, letting out a small “ouch” which will likely make you giggle the first few times. It will wear on you as the game progresses but it never becomes a hindrance and happens less often than you are imagining right now. When you find a fruit to feed the Majin you can hear him giggling to himself, knowing he is about to be fed. He jumps for joy after defeating a group of enemies and without thinking will absorb the ooze off you so that you don’t die. Overall the Majin fills the position of “lovable oaf” quite nicely, however as he gains each new power Tepeu grows increasingly wary of the Majin’s newfound strength. After the Majin gains the ability to breathe fire, for example, Tepeu is taken back with caution as he sees the inferno the beast produces at a mere whim, wondering to himself if the Majin understands truly how powerful and dangerous he has become. These small, subtle tidbits of emotion really shine through when it comes to fleshing out the characters.
Gameplay
The actual gameplay is pretty unique. There are games with similar mechanics but none do it quite like Majin does. It follows the “escort” structure of Ico, with you leading around the Majin. The twist is that you are VERY weak, with the Majin being a veritable tank. Majin will be doing the bulk of the damage, not only is he extremely powerful but each hit from him sends enemies flying. Your role in combat will likely serve one grand purpose, to initiate the devastating, room-clearing combo attacks and finishers. After enough damage has been done to an enemy by the Majin (you cannot create the opportunity for a combo, Majin MUST be the one to break the damage threshold) they will flash red while in a dazed state. A few hits from you will open up the combo attack, as long as the Majin is close enough and isn’t incapacitated by an enemy a mere press of a button will direct both you and the Majin to team up and attack the enemy at the same time, likely killing it (until near the end of the game) and creating a blast that should knock out any affected enemies, creating more combo chances.
Once a combo is performed, a small meter is displayed at the bottom of the screen, this being the “combo” meter. The more combo attacks you perform in quick succession, the higher the meter rises. Once it reaches max, you need to work fast to get one last enemy weak enough to have a combo attack done on them. Performing a combo attack with full combo meter will see you and the Majin performing a finisher, a room clearing attack that nets high amounts of experience (more on that in a second)and kills everything nearby, regardless of its health.
Aside from this combo mechanic, combat from your character is highly discouraged. Lacking the ability to stagger an enemy with your normal attacks, you do but a mere fraction of anything the Majin can do. You have a roll technique which, like in many games with a combat roll, makes you invulnerable for the duration of the roll. Fear not if you get hit though, to heal yourself all you need to do is stand in front of the Majin and allow him to absorb the darkness off of your character. Conversely, the only way to heal the Majin is with a special plant that you find throughout the game world, though you won’t need to be healing him quite often so it doesn’t become a problem. While it is true that for most of the game your character is more or less a liability when it comes to combat, you can eventually turn that around by leveling up your character. Both you and the Majin have experience, blue is for you and red is for your “friendship” (read: Majin) level. Getting blue experience will increase your health, damage and resistance to damage. Getting red experience will open up new combo attacks for the Majin, make the combo meter raise quicker and increase the speed at which the Majin heals you. By the end of the game you should be able to handle most enemies by yourself, even though battles would go MUCH faster with the aid of the Majin.
So up until now I’ve talked only about the combat, know that combat is the sidekick to puzzles in this game. This game more or less follows the Zelda format, which is go to new area->gain new ability->use said ability to defeat boss->boss’s death unlocks new area->rinse->repeat. You can think of this game as one giant dungeon, in essence. There are a total of 35 “rooms” spread out over 5 differently themed areas. While 35 might not sound like a lot, rooms are quite large. Also to note, just because I say “room” does not mean the entire game is inside some building. Most of the game takes place outside, it is merely the way the map is structured. If you ever played Metroid Prime then you know what I’m talking about. Also similar to Metroid and Zelda is the backtracking. A few times you will see obstacles that you can’t interact with yet until you gain a new ability further into the game, forcing you to come back to get the secrets hidden here. This initially seems like a problem but it really isn’t because you eventually unlock a method of teleportation, quickly zipping you to any one of the 5 areas that you have unlocked. Yes, there are secrets. Each room (as shown by the map) contains various amounts of stuff to find, experience chests, armor chests (your character can change armor that grants him new abilities, nothing spectacular but it’s a nice touch) fruit to power up your Majin making him stronger/get more health/increasing the effectiveness of his abilities and finally the memory shards. Each room has a memory shard to be obtained, which can only be collected at night time and is often hid in an out of the way spot. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that there is no way to manipulate the day/night cycle and it often takes a while for it to finally switch over to night, something in the way of an hour or so, anyway back to puzzles.
The puzzles in this game are actually pretty clever, proving to be the most challenging aspect of the game. Most of the time spent in this game will be spent figuring out these puzzles, which consist of a combination of platforming, lever pulling and strategic use of the elements (more on that soon). While that might sound easy and lame, the puzzles are quite varied and well thought out. Boss battles take a similar structure to Zelda games in the sense that they, themselves are a puzzle. Each boss requires a unique strategy that utilizes your newfound ability, often making use of the environment and requiring close cooperation with the Majin. Most of the puzzles are completed with the help of your Majin with only a handful of instances requiring that you two separate. A few of the things the Majin will do in the way of puzzle solving is crouching so you can jump off of him reaching new heights, opening doors (as they are quite large and there is no way you can lift them) and use his elemental powers to interact with the environment. These elemental powers are the “new abilities” you find in each area, allowing Majin to blow wind, breathe fire, produce electricity and crystallize enemies. There are a plethora of uses for these abilities, both in and out of combat. Out of combat they are used for puzzles, fire to light bombs and ignite explosive boxes, wind to push platforms from away, electricity to power machinery and crystallization to nullify the annoying ooze that you encounter late in the game. In combat the abilities are used to quickly initiate combos, any enemy affected by an element can instantly be combo’d. On top of this, if you manage to initiate a finisher on an elementally affected enemy, you will perform an elemental finisher which is very flashy, covers a larger area and yields more experience.
Presentation
For a $40 game, this game has a very high amount of polish. Most games, even full priced triple A titles, don’t have the same level of polish and attention to detail that Majin has. Coming from the same studio that made Folklore, the game utilizes the same “glowing” effect that really brings the environment to life. As you take more damage from the ooze-like enemies, Tepeu becomes more and more covered in the ooze himself, with the ooze dripping off his body and sticking to the ground as he runs. Each time you feed the Majin a power fruit, which teach him new attacks, he will perform the attack as the camera is fixed on him to show you what he just learned. Various forms of wildlife will help you on your journey, some directly talking to you and giving you hints such as rats and birds while others serving as visual cues like lizards for a ledge you can grab and butterflies for environmental objects you can interact with such as levers. Every new power the Majin gets “evolves” him a little bit. The Majin originally starts out as a large brown humanoid with moss growing on his body. As he gains new abilities you will see that the moss turns into weeds and leaves, flowers growing on his back, roots coming out of his forearms, eventually with trees growing off of him, making for a great sense of progression.
As you unlock each new elemental power you can link that power with the combo system, with certain powers proving more effective on different types of enemies. Each armor piece is visually represented on Tepeu, some armors having quite the unique look such as a pirate, a thief, a king, a knight etc.
All of these things come together in such a way that make you go, “Wow, this game only cost $40?” The game will last around 15 hours, I fully completed it (100%) in about 13 hours. Some other review sites, such as gametrailers, claim the game takes around 13 to beat but twice that to 100%, don’t listen to them. The only way this game will take 20+ hours is if you have absolutely NO idea how to complete each puzzle and spend hours searching for the solution. While a 15 hour game might not sound like much, remember this only costs $40 and most other games are the same length, both Fable 3 and Halo: Reach were beaten in the same amount of time, if not quicker.
Overall, Majin is a great game for its price point. It’s nice to have a game do something different and succeed in this current generation that is saturated with space soldiers and sequels. Some might not like the Majin’s personality and claim it is enough to turn them off. For those with such short attention span, then I agree, Majin is most likely not for you. If you liked Ico or Zelda, or any game with great puzzles and a good sense of exploration, you should like this.
Our great friend Major Nelson has been kind enough to share what will be coming in the XBLA store for the coming weeks. Look out for some heavy discounts and awesome new releases.
These New Year’s Celebration promotion deals are available from December 21 – December 31. Also during this time period, look out for some surprise daily deals. Hopefully like last year, when Shadow Complex and a whole bunch of other stuff was on sale, these surprise deals will be totally amazing!
The deals below are in addition to the deals above and are the regularly scheduled Xbox LIVE Deals of the Week
Week of December 20 – Forza Car Packs:
World Class Car Pack, 200 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
Summer Velocity Car Pack, 200 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
Exotic Car Pack, 200 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
Road & Track Car Pack, 200 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
Audi R8 LMS RC Car, 160 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
Checkered Flags, 80 Microsoft Points (50 percent off)
New stuff coming to XBLA:
Xbox Games On Demand:
December 21: Red Dead Redemption
December 21: Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
December 28: Transformers: War for Cybertron
December 28: Just Cause 2
December 28: Ghostbusters
Xbox LIVE Avatar Marketplace:
December 15: Bomberman LIVE
December 15: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I
December 15: Winter Wear
December 23: Disney Sidekicks
December 23: University Collection (College Football Bowl Season)
December 23: Ninjas Collection
Xbox Game Add-Ons:
December 21: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam Expansion Pack, 1200 Microsoft Points
December 29: Bomberman Live: Battlefest Bomb-Up Pack I, 240 Microsoft Points
And finally, from December 22 – January 5, Microsoft Game Studios will introduce three new downloadable hits as part of Games for the Holidays, exclusively to Xbox LIVE Arcade:
December 22: A World of Keflings, 800 Microsoft Points and available worldwide
December 29: Raskulls, 800 Microsoft Points
January 5: ilomilo, 800 Microsoft Points
Also, a cool prize opportunity will be available for Xbox LIVE Members in the US:
On December 18, Lexus will sponsor the all-night gaming marathon for Halo: Reach on Xbox LIVE in the U.S. This will give gamers the opportunity to download Lexus content and enter to win prizes all night long. (Thank goodness it is a Saturday!) Every hour from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. PT, eight players will each win 4,000 Microsoft Points.
Remember that many of these deals and promotions are available only to Xbox Live Gold members and they may be different depending on your area of residence.
Kinect Sports Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Rare Ltd. Console: Xbox 360 – Kinect (Reviewed) Release Date: November 4 2010 Price: $49.99 US, £39.99 UK, $89.99 AUS
Overview:
A sports mini game collection is quite literally a must have for every single motion gaming system that has come out so far. The Wii was bundled with the Wii Sports when it was released initially, and even the PS Move brings with it Sports Champions. Now the Kinect has been released and it isn’t ready to be left in the dark either as they also released a new collection of sports mini-games to go along with the Kinect in the form of Kinect Sports from Rare Ltd. Does the use of the Kinect for the sports mini-games truly shine a new light on the standard sports minigame collection? Because remember, you are the controller now.
Graphics:
First off it is good to take note that Kinect Sports takes your own Xbox Live avatar and places them within the game. This can more or less speak to the fact that the avatars you play as will look just as good as your avatar outside of the game. That is of course without the extra clothing as they will be wearing sports uniforms instead.
Beyond the actual avatars however Kinect Sports does kick the graphics up a notch as the stadiums and arenas that you perform are filled with randomly generated avatars and are brightly colored and textured so that everything has a nice sheen to its appearance. If there is anything to fault with the graphics beyond their relative simplicity, is the fact that in-game advertising is quite blatant as you will notice different advertisements on your sports equipment randomly show up at times.
Sound:
Many of the different sports you will play will have your standard sounds to go along with them that all match well enough, this includes the way that the crowd reacts to your performance. The interesting bits are when the game rewards you for doing something extremely well with a bit of an encouraging song to boost your morale and make you feel good about what you did.
On the other hand there is also the British sounding announcers that will constantly be voicing over your performances and introducing you to each sport as you play along. The announcer may be interesting at first to listen to but he does grow tiresome after extended play. But then again you’ll be just as tired physically too.
Gameplay:
Kinect Sports provides six different sporting events to be played both on your own and with your friends. Unfortunately the game is much more enjoyable with friends as there are no incentives to play on your own. The good news about this is the fact that even if you don’t have siblings or a friend at hand to play with you can jump onto Xbox Live and play with others around the world at a drop of a hat.
The Kinect itself is easily recognizes player movements at the recommended distance of about six feet and suffers barely any noticeable latency issues, which is especially great during the track and field event. Kinect Sports doesn’t even have much trouble recognizing two players on camera at the same time as long as you back up to around eight to ten feet.
Another nice feature included is the fact that after most events you will be treated to a video of you yourself actually playing the game and performing the motions. This means you may get a bit of a laugh out of yourself if you catch yourself doing some ridiculous motions to make it through an event. There is an option to upload this footage if you so wish, but I would recommend it only for the brave or confident of their motions.
But enough about the extra little features, what about the games that you will be able to play? Do they stack up well enough to be enjoyable? With Kinect Sports we are given six different sports to choose from: bowling, volley ball, boxing, table tennis, track and field, and soccer. I’ve broken down each of the minigames below.
Bowling:
Bowling inside of Kinect Sports has seen a bit of a revamp as far as the actual bowling is controlled. To choose where you want your bowler to stand you step to the left or the right, and then to throw the ball you treat it as if you were actually bowling. Meaning that you will step forward and swing your arm forward in the same motion and the speed of your arm, as well as where your arm swings on your body will determine the power and spin of the ball. The bowling is extremely accurate and I experienced zero mishaps with the camera sensing my movements during this sport.
Volley Ball:
The volleyball minigame begins with a very lifelike mimicry of the real game. As you serve you must toss the imaginary ball into the air and then use one hand to hit the ball forward. Then as your opponent hits the ball back to you, you must move yourself to wherever the target shows up to hit it back. Also since the volleyball game is always with a partner whether AI or a friend you will occasionally be set up for a spike which involves a jumping motion and an overhead slam of your arm to spike the ball down. Volley ball is perhaps one of the more body intensive sports and can become tiresome quickly, but at the same time is also one of the most enjoyable thanks to its fast paced action and full body movement.
Boxing:
Ah the wonders of being able to actually throw a punch and see your avatar in game throw that same punch. Boxing is playable against a computer player or a second player (fun times to be had) and will place the fighters in three round fight. You fight as much as one would expect, by jabbing punches forward high or low will place these hits towards that part of your opponents body. You can also block incoming hits by raising your arms in front of your face, or ducking and weaving out of the way. However the ducking and weaving is not very effective compared to simply blocking.
Table Tennis:
Table Tennis (otherwise known as Ping Pong) has been around for many years and can be found inside of practically any sports fans house, and inside of Kinect Sports it does not disappoint. Serving the ball is similar to the volleyball mode such as tossing the ball into the air and hitting it, and then you can continue to swing at the ball with your own hand to simulate the table tennis paddle. It is quite enjoyable and is perhaps the simplest of all the Kinect Sports as it requires little player involvement or movement.
Track and Field:
Now this mode is a bit of a trick at first, as it contains a small bundle of minigames in and of itself. There are five different minigames within the Track and Field umbrella which include: Javeline, Long Jump, Hurdles, Sprint, and Discus. Each of these modes can be played together with a group and you can attempt to beat one another’s scores within a sort of mini Olympics if you will. These modes are extremely high in physical movement and will definitely tire you out the fastest. One thing of note is that there is minor lag in the Hurdle Jump which requires the player to jump slightly ahead of where they would originally (shown off by a green jump area).
Soccer:
Big fans of soccer games may find themselves a bit disappointed with certain aspects of Kinect Sports’ Soccer game due to the fact that it has mostly been watered down to a bare minimum. Rather than moving around and dribbling a ball with your own feet, you will be able to pass the ball between your own team mates or go for the shot then and there. The difference between the two movements is either a light kick or a pulled back kick as you smash the ball towards the net. On the defensive side of things however you will find yourself either attempting to get in the way of a pass to intercept it by sliding left and right, or if you are the goalie by jumping and trying to get your hands in the right area to block the goal. This mode is unfortunately not very enjoyable when played alone and can be disappointing when handled as such. On the other hand when played with a partner or somebody on the other team it increases the enjoy ability greatly.
Overall:
Kinect Sports brings with it some of the best motion gaming to date with full body recognition with little to no lag problems. Kinect Sports is definitely a very active game on the other hand so prepare to wear yourself out quickly if you play for extended periods of time. Another note worth mentioning is the fact that playing together with your own friends or family will definitely make for a better time as Kinect Sports doesn’t do anything special as far as single player mode goes. That doesn’t mean that you can not have a good time playing online or with the computer but the best experience is when played at home as a party game.
I give Kinect Sports for the Xbox 360:
Bowling:
Bowling inside of Kinect Sports has seen a bit of a revamp as far as the actual bowling is controlled. To choose where you want your bowler to stand you step to the left or the right, and then to throw the ball you treat it as if you were actually bowling. Meaning that you will step forward and swing your arm forward in the same motion and the speed of your arm, as well as where your arm swings on your body will determine the power and spin of the ball. The bowling is extremely accurate and I experienced zero mishaps with the camera sensing my movements during this sport.
Volley Ball:
The volleyball minigame begins with a very lifelike mimicry of the real game. As you serve you must toss the imaginary ball into the air and then use one hand to hit the ball forward. Then as your opponent hits the ball back to you, you must move yourself to wherever the target shows up to hit it back. Also since the volleyball game is always with a partner whether AI or a friend you will occasionally be set up for a spike which involves a jumping motion and an overhead slam of your arm to spike the ball down. Volley ball is perhaps one of the more body intensive sports and can become tiresome quickly, but at the same time is also one of the most enjoyable thanks to its fast paced action and full body movement.
Boxing:
Ah the wonders of being able to actually throw a punch and see your avatar in game throw that same punch. Boxing is playable against a computer player or a second player (fun times to be had) and will place the fighters in three round fight. You fight as much as one would expect, by jabbing punches forward high or low will place these hits towards that part of your opponents body. You can also block incoming hits by raising your arms in front of your face, or ducking and weaving out of the way. However the ducking and weaving is not very effective compared to simply blocking.
Table Tennis:
Table Tennis (otherwise known as Ping Pong) has been around for many years and can be found inside of practically any sports fans house, and inside of Kinect Sports it does not disappoint. Serving the ball is similar to the volleyball mode such as tossing the ball into the air and hitting it, and then you can continue to swing at the ball with your own hand to simulate the table tennis paddle. It is quite enjoyable and is perhaps the simplest of all the Kinect Sports as it requires little player involvement or movement.
Track and Field:
Now this mode is a bit of a trick at first, as it contains a small bundle of minigames in and of itself. There are five different minigames within the Track and Field umbrella which include: Javeline, Long Jump, Hurdles, Sprint, and Discus. Each of these modes can be played together with a group and you can attempt to beat one another’s scores within a sort of mini Olympics if you will. These modes are extremely high in physical movement and will definitely tire you out the fastest. One thing of note is that there is minor lag in the Hurdle Jump which requires the player to jump slightly ahead of where they would originally (shown off by a green jump area).
Soccer:
Big fans of soccer games may find themselves a bit disappointed with certain aspects of Kinect Sports’ Soccer game due to the fact that it has mostly been watered down to a bare minimum. Rather than moving around and dribbling a ball with your own feet, you will be able to pass the ball between your own team mates or go for the shot then and there. The difference between the two movements is either a light kick or a pulled back kick as you smash the ball towards the net. On the defensive side of things however you will find yourself either attempting to get in the way of a pass to intercept it by sliding left and right, or if you are the goalie by jumping and trying to get your hands in the right area to block the goal. This mode is unfortunately not very enjoyable when played alone and can be disappointing when handled as such. On the other hand when played with a partner or somebody on the other team it increases the enjoy ability greatly.
Overall:
Kinect Sports brings with it some of the best motion gaming to date with full body recognition with little to no lag problems. Kinect Sports is definitely a very active game on the other hand so prepare to wear yourself out quickly if you play for extended periods of time. Another note worth mentioning is the fact that playing multiplayer with your own friends will definitely make for a better time as Kinect Sports doesn’t do anything special as far as single player mode goes.
Game Name:ILLUSIA Platform(s): iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (iOS 3.0 or later) Publisher(s): GAMEVIL USA, Inc. Developer(s): GAMEVIL USA, Inc. Genre(s): Action, Casual, RPG Release Date:9th December, 2010 Price:$4.99 – BUY NOW!!
Overview
Among the masses of 3D RPG available on the App Store, the maker of Zenonia brought a new fresh air to the RPG scene by introducing their first 2D side-scrolling casual platformer RPG for the Apple handheld devices. ILLUSIA is the name, and it comes with the anime-inspired characters that we always see in Gamevil’s games. If you still remember Maple Story for PC few years ago, I’m sure this game will looks very familiar to you (visually, at least).
Storyline
The storyline in ILLUSIA follows a pretty standard heroic path. It all begins as the peacefulness in the land of Aztaran is struck with a massive lightning bolt, followed by the appearance of a mysterious tower that no one could enter. This unknown tower remains a secret until two adventurers, a warrior and an archmage appears. Peoples in the village claimed that they have visited the tower. The story of the two adventurers soon become the tale which is so well-known among the children, that they dreamt of becoming such heroic figure one day. Years later, the secret of the tower is about to be revealed and horror is about to be unfold in Aztaran. This is where your adventure begins as you travel from town to town to uncover the mystery.
Gameplay
At the beginning of the game, the first thing you need to do is to decide upon which job class you would like to play for the rest of your journey in the world of ILLUSIA. If you like close-range combat, then Fighter would be your best choice. Otherwise, you can choose to be Magician, whom has long-ranged powerful magic skills at her disposal. Apart from the name and the gender of your character, choosing neither would not affect the storyline ahead.
As you level up, you would gain stat points and skill points to develop your character. I like the fact that the results of the stat changes are shown before you confirm the changes. When you become higher level, you would be able to change into other more advanced job classes; each comes with its own set of skills and buffs. With up to 14 job classes and literally hundreds of combinations available, you would not be bored to replay ILLUSIA over and over again.
Among other things, I especially love the quest system in ILLUSIA. Instead of randomly killing monsters, the main quest closely follows the storyline. You would be asked to search for a specific item in the fields or kills certain monsters for quests items in order for the story to proceed. With the storyline in mind, most of the quest requirements will makes sense, providing you the motivation to complete the quests.
In addition to the normal gameplay, Gamevil brings the new Rush Mode and Mission Mode into ILLUSIA, which is accessible through the Special Officer in every town. These modes are a lot of fun and offer players something different to do apart from the normal questing and boss-beating. In Rush Mode, you would need to kill a set amount of monsters. The more waves you completes, the better reward you will get. As for Mission Mode, there will be an assorted number of missions which will be updated from time to time. At the moment, there are two-way portal contest, survive for 2 minutes contest and achieve 50 combos contest. Of course, you will need to pay a small fee to enter these missions, but there will be rewards upon completion.
There are also online aspects of the game. You can store things online, send or receive mails from other players, manage your items in an auction house, or purchase premium items in the network shop. All of these things can be done through the phone booth placed in every town in the game.
Controls
The control scheme here is nothing too different from Gamevil’s past releases. It comes with an on-screen D-pad, along with two touch buttons, the jump button and the action button. Movement with the D-pad is smooth as usual, but the jumping can get irritating at times, especially when you have to land on the very-small platform. It takes a while to get used to, nothing too biggy.
Most of the basic control mechanics are introduced in the tutorial, except for some, like dashing by double tapping a direction on the D-pad, and double jumping by tapping the jump button twice. It would be nice to include them in the tutorial, even though those are pretty common controls for gaming on the iOS devices. Everything else looks good though, except for the extremely tiny hotkey buttons on the upper side of the screen. There might be complaints from peoples with huge thumbs.
Like in Baseball Superstars 2011, the control interface here is customizable as well. You can make them bigger, smaller, more/less transparent, or move them around to wherever you would like them to be on the screen. Take some time to adjust the controls to better suit your needs.
Graphics/Audio
Graphics-wise, ILLUSIA is set in the beautiful game world where you will be constantly placed in some very pretty environment, from the snowy fields, to the heated Volcano area. You will be exploring the land of Aztaran from town to town, in seven distinctive colorful backdrops. Apart from the beautiful scenery, there are literally hundreds of costumes that change the appearance of your character, from a bunny suit to a maid uniform with broomsticks. Besides, every detail in the game is beautifully presented, like the animation effect of the magic skills. Visually speaking, ILLUSIA scored a perfect ten.
On the other hand, the audio aspect of this game certainly needs more work as it seems to be the only element that keeps the game from being the perfect game. The background music awkwardly stops playing in various occasions (eg. when you are in a conversation with the peoples in the game.) With that said, it does have a good mix of soundtrack that helps set the mood in the game.
Conclusion
All in all, this is one great game that combines the best things of an RPG and an action platformer. Not to forget that ILLUSIA is very well-packed with content too. There is just so much to do as you level your way up to the maximum of level 250. Get this while it’s still fresh, you have my word that this will be one of the best 2D side-scrolling RPG you will find on the App Store.
If you haven’t noticed by a lot of the buzz in the media, THQ’s uDraw tablet has been selling well since it’s November 14th release in the states, and now the Wii peripheral is set to touch down on AU & New Zealand shores sometime between February & March.
If you have not heard of the uDraw as of yet, you should check out our artilce here to inform yourself a bit. The uDraw was also featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show as one of the most coveted items on her ‘12 Days of Christmas’ segment (you can check out that clip here) , so while it may not be the Kinect, it certainly is a great new and innovative way to use the Wii so it’s no surprise of how well the uDraw is being received.
I have yet to get my hands on the uDraw, but being able to draw and save all of the pictures to an SD card for printing as well as the two available titles which use the unit (Dood’s Big Adventure & Pictionary) all seem to be like a fantastic idea with a lot of potential for the system. For more information about official release dates and to get a better look on how the uDraw works, check out www.worldofudraw.com. When I finally get a chance to pick one of these up myself, rest assured I will be doing an extensive review, so you can also keep a lookout for that in the future.
If you have been stockpiling those Club Nintendo points, waiting for the perfect item to redeem in the Nintendo shop, now is your chance to grab some great swag that just recently became available thanks to Nintendo.
The first item to talk about are the two patch sets from Kirby’s Epic Yarn. These are to me the most appealing item I have seen to date in the Club Nintendo shop and if you are a Kirby fan, these sets are a must have. Prince Fluff and Kirby come in one set while two vehicular forms of Kirby dominate the second, both are priced at 350 Nintendo points each.
Next up is a set of four multi-colored wrist-straps in celebration of New Super Mario Bros. Wii which should be perfect for anyone wanting to add some flare to that boring WiiMote for 450 points.
It is great to see Nintendo throwing in some worth-while items in the Club Nintendo shop without a doubt, and just a heads up to those still pondering, these items typically go fast so get them now while you still can.
