Over the past years Bethesda’s games have always been extremely well received and are some of the best open world RPGs that the world has ever seen. However they have all had one nagging problem that continued all the way from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind all the way up to Fallout: New Vegas and that is the fact they were call created using the Gamebryo engine. The engine that has always had numerous bugs and issues that plagued every single one of those games.
However that is all in the past now as Nick Breckon, community manager at Bethesda, released information on his twitter account the following: “Seeing lots of speculation about #tesv game engine. It’s brand new… and it’s spectacular!” This means that there will not be a reuse of the Gamebryo engine and instead we will be seeing a brand new engine that has yet to be named. We will know more as time goes on but we can guarantee that a new engine will be involved when the game releases on November 11th 2011 for the PS3, 360 and PC.
It takes some guts to announce that a game that was announced 48 hours ago will be developed into a trilogy. It looks like THQ has these guts as they have just announced via press release that the inSANE series will consist of three different games. Also it was announced that there will be something that they call transmedia projects that could happen involving the inSANE games. This means that there either will be books, comics, or movies involving the story if it just so happens that the game does well.
Not much is known about the game other than that it will involve the horror genre and be co-created by Guillermo del Toro. Oh and we also know the exact capitalization of the title as you can see. Since it’s announcement at the VGA last Saturday the first news that we receive about the game is that there will be three of them. Perhaps the saying of not counting your chickens before they hatch comes to mind as the first inSANE title has a release date currently of 2013…
**THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE**Launch Sale, $4.99 FOR A LIMITED TIME**Next update iPad will compatible. Please Note: Dead Rising will only run on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4th, iPod touch 3rd 16GB and 32GB, or better. NOT COMPATIBLE to iPhone 3G, iPod touch 1st, 2nd, 3rd 8GB, iPad
Ever wanted to face a zombie-apocalypse on the move? The Xbox 360 games of Dead Rising were all well and good, but for all intensive purposes, they were a little unrealistic. You would be very fortunate for an army on the undead to come knocking at your home, allowing you to fend them off from the comfort of your living room. But in real-life, it wouldn’t be like this. A horde of zombies is more liklely to attack when you’re at your most vunerable, such as waiting for a bus or relaxing in a café, which is why Capcom have brought Dead Rising to the portable platform of the iPhone: for a more “real” experience.
Dead Rising Mobile shares likenesses with the original Dead Rising that started it all off in that the game takes place in a shopping mall. In fact, the opening cutscene is so good, it wouldn’t look out of place in an Xbox 360 game. The sound and visuals are great, and for those brief few moments the storyline is enthralling, evoking feelings of curiosity as you try to decipher exactly what is happening before you are cast into the game-world. As those of you who have played the Xbox 360 versions will be aware, this initial cutscene is usually the last hint of any kind of plot because from here on out, it’s just a whole load of arcade-style zombie killing.
Essentially, it is just a toned down version of the original. Both the setting and the objectives are similar, albeit adapted to suit the iPhone’s capabilities. Some of these adaptations are for the better, whereas others detract from the overall experience, although it has to be said, most of these negative changes are as a result of the limitations of the iPhone as opposed to sloppy development work.
An example of a positive change is the adaptation of the menus, missions and save points. You save the game by going into ‘S-points’ which are located at regular intervals around the map. These are much more frequent in this version, which matches the fact that it is running on a portable machine meaning you can quickly jump in and out for short play sessions. From these ‘S-points’ you access the latest missions and select one to focus on. This can also be done from the pause menu which can be used to select which of the current missions the directional arrow will guide you to. Sadly, this directional arrow is very misleading and more of a hindrance than a help. It is so confusing that it is actually better to use it as an aid to your intuition, rather than relying on it as a full-on guide to take you directly there.
However, as I said, some of the changes do detract from your enjoyment of the game, but to be honest, they are hardly the fault of the development team, but rather the iPhone’s processing limitations. The standout difference is the number of enemies that can be on the screen at any given time is a lot lower on this game. Consequently, it never quite feels like an army of the undead- more like a small swarm followed by another small swarm and so on. Another factor that relates to this point is the poor draw distance. As a sacrifice for graphically sound visuals (at least for the iPhone’s standards anyway), enemies only appear once you are close enough by a specific distance.
Overall, Dead Rising Mobile on the iPhone is a good realisation of the console games. At times it suffers as a result of the iPhone’s limitations but on the whole, the developers have done well to bring the series to the handheld device. There are the same cheap thrills of the console version, allowing you to destroy the zombies with a variety of weaponry, including guns, knives and your bare hands, as well as other items you find along the way. There are even some interesting social networking features, giving you the option of issuing a Rescue Call as your statuses, although you really do need a friend with the game to make the most out of these. I can’t help but recommend the console versions of Dead Rising over this. However, if you are a very mobile gamer who is always on the move, or if you don’t have an Xbox 360, then this is ideal.
Pros
3-D game-world
Zombie-bashing on the move
Adapted to suit the iPhone’s and the player’s needs
Cons
Limitations of the iPhone mean only small groups of enemies, and only when up close
U-Sing 2 – Australian Edition
Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Developer: Mindscape Inc.
Format : Nintendo Wii
Genre: Music / Singing
Release Date: 3rd Dec 2010
Rating : PG
Price : $59.95 AU (Game Only) : $109.95 (Two Mic Bundle)
Are you ready to sing the hit songs from your favourite Aussie and international artists ? Well what are you waiting for, get your mates together turn on your Nintendo Wii grab the microphones and sing along to some of the biggest hits from Universal Music including such Aussies artists as :
Wolfmother – Far Away
Bernard Fanning – Wish You Well
Empire of the Sun – Walking On a Dream
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
Vanessa Amorosi and Seany B – Mr Mysterious
Alex Lloyd – Amazing
Short Stack – Sway Sway Baby
Orianthi – According To You
Brian McFadden feat. Kevin Rudolf – Just Say So
If you’re not fan of the Aussie artist, don’t worry as Mindscape have you covered as well. There’s a fine mix of international hits such as :
Bloc Party – Banquet
Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Owl City – Fireflies
Rihanna – Disturbia
Spice Girls – Wannabe
Blur – County House
Extreme – More Than Words
Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much
Coldplay – Violet Hill
Plus many more, there should be something for everyone in U-Sing 2 and if there isn’t, then you can jump straight into the U-Sing DLC Store and download (at this moment) another 49 more international hit songs straight to your Wii console.
Straight to the point U-Sing 2 is a singing / Karaoke game. There are a total of 8 single and multiplayer game modes which include the initial training/practice (which appears as soon as you power up the game for the first time) where you get to learn the basics of singing and using the USB attached Microphone. Get stuck into the Solo mode where you can scroll through, select and sing from all the 40 songs plus any others you’ve purchased from the U-Store. There’s also a neat little filter option that will allow you to list songs in alphabetical order, by year, by difficulty level, by artist or by music style. If you can’t decide you can also pick the medley option where you’ll get to sing five short versions of songs selected at random.
Once you’ve selected your song the next menu that appears will allow you to choose your difficulty level from easy, medium or hard. You also have the option to choose between singing a short or long version of the song. Just before you start the game on the left you can see the high scores obtained by yourself or others that have played in order of long or short and difficulty so you know how much you need to beat their score and claim your spot on the top of the leaderboard.
Then it’s off to the singing part, before the song starts you’re prompted to activate the microphone by singing into it till it fills up a gauge meter. If you’re playing multiplayer this is good as it allows you to see which colour you are (blue or green player). The aim of U-Sing 2 is to sing in the correct pitch and correct rhythm to increase your score as the lyrics appear down the bottom of the screen they change colour to indicate which words need to be sung. Just underneath, the next set of lyrics are also displayed to prepare you for what is about to come next. Now I’m not the best singer in the world (I did try and audition for Australian Idol one year but they took one look at me and told me to take a hike) but get the best scores in this game you’re going to sing by adjusting your pitch to accurately fill up the gauges. Just like other singing games after you complete a page of lyrics, comments will appear on the right of the screen ranging from “Good” to MASTERABBOTT … ehhmm sorry “Unbelievable”. Another cool feature while you’re singing is the countdown timer that displays how much time is left before the song ends.
One last feature that appears while your singing solo or in multiplayer is the Golden Notes. What are they you ask ? Well read on and I’ll tell you. During a song, golden notes appear in the lyrics if you sing that section / word and fill up that specific meter where the golden note is residing on it will trigger a bonus sequence during which the notes that follow in the music score become golden. For the next two pages or so every golden note meter filled completely will give you bonus points which are then added to your score at the end of the sequence. At the end of your song your score is tallied up your given a rating according to your performance, some of the grades are : Atrocious, Beginner, Pretty Good, Professional and Legend (did someone say my name once again) Most of my results had me sitting between Beginner and Pretty good, but don’t worry I’ll make it to LEGEND one of these days !!
I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want !! .. (yes I forced myself to sing a spice girls song, lucky no one else was around when I was doing it otherwise it would have been recorded and posted on youtube) U-Sing 2 lacks a Solo Career Mode, the singing part of the game is pretty solid with the speech technology picking up your pitch and rhythm pretty nicely. The sad part is there is no real point in playing the game on your own as you don’t have anything to achieve or accomplish. Having some sort of Career mode would of extended the life of the game outside the group party aspect, but alas it looks like U-Sing real focus was aimed for social butterflies with lots of friends who also enjoy singing and having a great time.
Which takes me to the multipayer modes : There are a total of three modes, they are : Duo – which lets you sing a song with a partner. In this mode you and your partner are both singing at the same time with the game screen split into two sections, blue down the bottom and green up the top. At the end of the song both the players scores are added together and combined with a grade. Next mode is Versus : This mode will allow you to sing the same song against another player, the player with the best score at the end of the song wins. Finally we have Battle Mode : As with previous modes the screen is split into two sections with each player having their own words appear on the screen, points etc. The way Battle mode works is both players sing alternately, one taking the role of the “attacker” The attacker job is to disrupt the singers performance by singing and holding notes at specific points in the song. If they do so they unlock penalties for the opposing player. The type of penalties you can unlock are : Trembling, Break in the Sound, Lyrics moving further away, Reversal of Lyrics on the screen and my favourite Lyrics disappear off the screen. The roles of attack and singer swap regularly during the song, so you got to be on your toes and be prepare to take as much as you can dish out.
Other options within the game is the Jukebox, which is accessible from the main menu. Here you can listen to and watch your favourite clips from the game without having to stress out singing everything in the right pitch or tone to gain high scores. The great function of Jukebox mode is you can enjoy Karaoke style singing with the press of the button the lyrics will appear on the screen and you can sing along on your own or with your friends. This is great for parties !!
As previously mentioned if you can’t find a song that appeals to you from the 40 songs, you can login to the U-Sing Store and purchase / download new songs straight to your Wii console. You’ll need to be connected to the internet so make sure that’s setup first before attempting to access the store. Once you’re in you can check out approx. 49 songs (more are added weekly) new songs priced at 300 Wii points each. To buy simply select, confirm and download the song, once its completed it will appear in your solo, multiplayer and jukebox.
As Shania Twain would say in her song “That don’t impress me much” is how I feel about U-Sing 2 Australia Edition. Even though it’s jam packed with great songs, impressive voice recognition technology, fun multiplayer and a great jukebox mode for entertaining your friends when throwing a party, plus a DLC store to download more songs at a price. The only thing lacking in the game was some sort of career in solo mode. If you’re a loner U-Sing 2 is not going to cut it for you as the best you can do is sing songs and beat your high score. On the other hand, if you’ve got lots of friends and like hosting sing-a-long parties over at your house then U-Sing 2 will be straight up your alley as you’ll be able to entertain them for hours.
Who wants to win a trip to Japan ? I DO !! Gameloft are giving one lucky person a chance to Win a trip for 2 to Japan and also an iPad in their Eternal Legacy “Haiku” Contest !!
All you have to do is simply submit a Haiku (3 lines poem made of 5, 7, 5 syllables) including the words “Eternal” and “Legacy”, Gameloft’s favorite will win the trip for 2 to Japan!
But that’s not all, the Haiku with the more “likes” will win an iPad! So what are you waiting for, write up a Haiku now !! then tell your friends to vote for you!
To enter click here or on the image above !! Good Luck to you all 🙂 May the best Haiku win.
If you haven’t check out Eternal Legacy have a read of our hands on preview here. Full review of the game will be released shortly. Stay tuned.
Developer(s) Terminal Reality, Def Jam Interactive
Publisher(s) Konami
Platform(s) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Nintendo Wii
Release date(s) October 5th, 2010
Genre(s) Music, Simulation
Mode(s) Single-player, Competitive Multiplayer, Co-op modes
Rating(s) ESRB: T
Difficulty: Medium Rare
For years, people have gathered around the television with microphone in hand and possibly beer while attempting to sing across a wide variety of musical genres. Failing or not games such as Singstar and Lips track pitch and timing to rate how a singer is doing, like a better version of Guitar Hero. However rap songs involve more rhythmic speaking than tuneful singing and possibly misogynistic themes in the lyrics as well. As such, the genre has been under represented in karaoke games. Until now!
Story
Enter Def Jam Rapstar yo, the game features songs from some of the most famous rap acts in the world, both past and present. The songlist is impressive, and though there are some questionable choices when it comes to what parts you do and don’t sing on a given song, the added dimension of lyric tracking allows the game to reward you for singing the right words. Rapstar can not only rate your performances, but record them as well, and there is a community Web site dedicated to creating a video-fuelled social network where players can emulate the pros by posting their videos, representing their crew, and challenging each other to popularity contests. The community features add some depth to what is otherwise a fairly predictable karaoke game, making Def Jam Rapstar an entertaining endeavour for both aspiring amateurs and weekend wannabes. The story is basically about the player and developing yourself into a star, if you can do that, I’d consider it a successful story. But the game does a good job of being believable and putting itself into the context of the rap world, especially with social media integration, which encourages competition.
Gameplay
Any modern day karaoke game lets you get straight to singing from the get-go, and Def Jam Rapstar does just that. In any mode, one player can sing solo, or two players can either sing a duet or battle each other for a high score. Party mode offers most of the robust songlist right away, from old-school tracks like Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to recent hits like “Live Your Life” by T.I. feat. Rihanna. Lyrics range from tongue-twisting to mind-numbing, and though there are some notable omissions, Def Jam Rapstar covers an impressive cross-section of the genre. The game is, however, rated T for Teen, so some of your favourites may have gaping holes where lyrics should be (especially if you’re a Lil’ Kim fan), though you can fill them in without penalty. Seeing the references to older songs in more recent songs helps cultivate a neat sense of continuity across the 45 song catalogue, and there are more tracks available for download and purchase from the online store.
There are two types of judging mechanics at work in Def Jam Rapstar. Melodic sections are represented by bars that indicate the relative length and pitch of each note in the phrase, as is the standard in karaoke games. Rap sections display a dot over each syllable, and a bouncing ball indicates when you should speak each one. The pace of the ball is meant to dictate your cadence, but it is small and moves quickly, so it doesn’t make a very good guide. While it’s possible to use the pitch bars to guess what the pitch and duration of a given note are, players who are unfamiliar with a song will likely have a harder time picking out the rap sections. If you’re braving an unfamiliar track, your best bet is to listen to the rapper and try to follow, though some artists make that easier than others. Some tracks can also cause problems for solo players because of odd phrasing that, for example, makes you sing the lead vocals and the chorus in rapid succession (like “Put On” by Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West). Nelly’s “Hot in Here” has you sing both the male and female parts of the call-and-answer chorus, while some other melodic sections have you sing a pitch that isn’t the obvious choice. Finding a spare moment to breathe and picking out the right pitch can occasionally be challenging, but on the whole, Def Jam Rapstar does a solid job of presenting the songs and tracking performance.
In addition to all of the existing material, Def Jam Rapstar also comes with a collection of all-new instrumentals for use in the game’s freestyle mode. Obviously, the game can’t score you on your freestyles, so this is strictly useful for the game’s video sharing component. The variety in the freestyle tracks is pretty good, with a range of tempos for you to employ. You can also choose to go with no backing track at all, but it would have been nice to see some sort of music import feature, to allow people to use their own tracks.
Some of the trimming around the outer edges is shaky, but the core of Def Jam Rapstar is rock-solid, and the community video feature is sure to provide a lot of entertainment on its own. If the game continues to release additional tracks at a decent pace and the community keeps posting videos, this could fill a huge gap for hip-hop fans who have been undeserved by most other rhythm games.
Graphics/Audio
All songs in the game are backed by their original videos, but these play out in a 4:3 ratio box in the centre of the game screen, a presentation that immediately makes the game look cheaper in comparison to SingStar’s offering. But it’s understandable because I couldn’t imagine the developers converting all SD videos to HD, that’s alot of work. But it does comes across like it’s straight out of a 90’s karaoke machine, rather than a high-quality transfer like gamers come to expect from modern releases.
However this effect isn’t helped by the UI design, which features jagged lettering overlaid on a rudimentary 3D model of a gold city under a blackened sky. This uninspiring interface doesn’t match up to the creative flair demonstrated by the artists on-board the game; otherwise the rest of the game looks good. The on-screen lyrics while ugly, are easy to read and a bouncing ball follows along with your rapping, though there are times it’s too easy to lose your pacing, particularly on more challenging songs.
As in any music game, much of the heavy lifting is done by the song list, and here Def Jam’s offering doesn’t disappoint. UK Tracks from London grimesters Devlin, Wiley and Chipmunk, not to mention classics from older UK rap artists, such as Root Manuva’s classic Witness the Fitness, So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds To Go and Dizzee Rascal’s Mercury Music Prize-winning Fix Up, Look Sharp.
For the US-flavoured, tracks include the mainstream hits of Kanye West and Nelly as well as vintage cuts such as Public Enemy’s Fight the Power, Run DMC’s Run’s House, Beastie Boys’ Brass Monkey, Dr. Dre’s Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang and Salt-N-Pepa’s Push It. It’s a varied and impressive soundtrack, including a slew of desirable tracks already on the Rapstar store for purchasing (including Flo Rider’s Low), with many more to come.
Overall
For owners of the PlayStation Eye, you can record, edit and upload short 30-second clips of your performances to the Def Jam Rapstar online community. While this features lets you show off some of your best performances, or most shameful, an increase over the 30 seconds clips is much needed. It’s not long enough because for the most part, 30-seconds won’t even cover the length of one hectic verse.
Perhaps the biggest gripe with Def Jam Rapstar is the exclusion of swearing, it’s a big part of rap music and taking it out is more offensive than if it was there. It’s understandable to cater for the younger market, but a simple option for the parent’s sake to turn it off would have been more practical than killing the flow of songs for the purpose of censoring. It isn’t game breaking, but it’s sure to disappoint in some areas.
Wrapping…. errr rapping it up, if you’ve been looking for a good karaoke game centred on Hip-Hop, Def Jam Rapstar is definitely the shizzle and it’s a nice inclusion into the rampant music market. It might not be incredibly complex, but it delivers the essentials to making a great, fun karaoke game. If only the best rappers were included, which is Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Concords, then I’d be even more impressed.
Interested in some Prinny footage dood? Then you are in luck because NIS America released a handful of different gameplay clips that show off different parts of the game. Most of the footage revolves around gameplay as Hero Prinny as he makes his way through a level and even fights against a game boss. The boss shown off is Bok Choy who also has gotten a small video to introduce himself a little. Or rather his masochistic side.
There is also a small clip that features Flonne and Etna discussing how much the prinnies are paid and from the looks of it, it doesn’t sound like much dood! Then again maybe if she paid them a little bit more they wouldn’t have let someone steal her panties in the first place. You can find the whole lot of the videos posted below and still expect to see Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties hitting shelves January of next year.
Now video games of this generation often try to look realistic or set themselves apart with some gimmick. But what about a video game that has a trailer that could easily pass for a Hollywood blockbuster? If you have any doubts then feast your eyes upon the newest Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer. Some bits of the trailer may appear familiar as it is the extended version of a previously released trailer.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been announced for a release in early 2011 and I can’t wait at all. After watching this trailer and seeing the entire premise surrounding the continuation of the Deus Ex series looks amazing and Square Enix is definitely set to put a new standard on the science fiction genre.
Dragon’s Lair Publisher: Digital Leisure Console: PlayStation 3 (Reviewed) Release Date: Nov 23, 2010 Price:$10 on PSN Store
Overview:
Now 27 years ago in 1983 some of us weren’t even born, and those of us who had been were still young children or in our teen years. Arcades were all of the rage still around the world and one game arrived that took these Arcades by storm. That game was Dragon’s Lair. Despite the popularity of games out in the arcades at the time, none could not hold a candle to the uniqueness that was Dragon’s Lair. Arcade-goers had no idea what to expect when they first began playing a game that was so unlike anything they had played before.
As the months wore on it grew harder and harder to simply find a working cabinet of Dragon’s Lair due to its immense popularity causing the cabinet to malfunction. Now that was many years ago and now that Dragon’s Lair has revived itself on the PSN does it still have that same old school goodness so many loved?
Story:
As far as the story goes there isn’t much structure for Dragon’s Lair. You take the roll of Dirk the Daring, a knight who is in love with the Princess Daphne. But of course it wouldn’t be called Dragon’s Lair if there wasn’t a dragon involved. The dragon Singe has kidnapped Daphne and is holding her within his trap filled castle and it is up to Dirk to save her.
Sure the storyline isn’t much to go on, but it does establish one of the earliest video game premises about a hero saving a princess. Also it helps that as you progress through the castle the different routes end up changing and can become completely maze like at times. While the storyline does set the stage for the game itself, there isn’t much development beyond the initial premise and then of course saving Princess Daphne.
Graphics:
Now back in 1983, you can count the amount of pixels that were used in most heroes on one hand, two hands if you were lucky. But what set Dragon’s Lair apart was the fact that it was a fully animated and beautifully drawn game. This literally stunned audiences when it first appeared for public use and was many years ahead of its time graphically.
Now these graphics have been revamped to look even more stunning on HD screens. The art that fans had come to love returns better than it had before with animation work rivaling top cartoon companies of this era. Of course the reason for this was that Don Bluth, an ex-cartoonist from Disney, created the animation and handled all of the drawing and his expertise is clearly evident throughout the entire game. Newcomers to the series will especially love the great look of the game and can easily have their children play as well thanks to the appealing nature of the cartoon graphics.
Also there are two modes of gameplay display. Fans of the original arcade game can take advantage of an arcade mode setting that places the screen within an arcade cabinet and certainly gives it that old time feel. Though if you prefer the more modern wide screen versions then that is originally the standard setting.
Gameplay:
Now the best way to describe Dragon’s Lair’s gameplay is as a series of quick time events. Being a full motion video game like it is, the majority of the actual gameplay is only pressing a directional button or X if you have to swing your sword. The on-screen D-Pad will highlight what button to push at the right time to avoid death, or the center of the D-Pad will highlight to show that Dirk has to use his sword to avoid death.
Now death is something that happens quite often in Dragon’s Lair as any missed or mis-pressed action will result in Dirk’s instant death. Now the ways that Dirk dies are as humorous as they are numerous and one of the more interesting aspects is the fact that you can simply fail on purpose to see what happens to Dirk in that situation (not that you won’t be dying enough already).
When Dirk dies he will resurrect from his skeletal form ready for battle again, that is of course unless you are out of lives. Then he just is a zombie that crumbles into dust before a Game Over screen. These can be avoided however as players have the option to set either 3, 5, or infinite lives which makes it quite easy to make your way through the game if you wish it, or provide yourself a little challenge.
Initially players will find themselves frustrated at the difficulty of the quick time events, as many require extremely fast reactions to avoid death. However whatever doesn’t kill you (or end the game) makes you stronger. In the Home version of the game, death will result in Dirk respawning in the same exact room and allows the player as many tries as they have lives to make their way through. The Arcade mode will place the player in another part of the castle entirely.
The gameplay itself is quite humorous as I stated earlier thanks to the fact that Dirk, even though a knight, appears to be a complete coward in some situations. He can quickly flip flop from a daring fighter to running in terror and shrieking from the current traps he encounters.
However if you happen to be having trouble with the game itself, then you can choose to simply watch the game. Yep this port of the game has a feature that allows players to watch the game be played flawlessly from start to finish. This means that if you are currently lost within the castle, or are just dying to save the princess then you can watch it happen. Then again this also shows how short the game can be if played through flawlessly.
Dragon’s Lair can be completed easily within one sitting if you know exactly what to do in each room, but even then a quick death to not pressing the right button fast enough can set the player off on a different path entirely. So while the game itself may be short, the replay value is quite high due to the amount of different paths that Dirk can take on his quest.
Overall:
Dragon’s Lair is perhaps just as iconic as Pac-Man as far as old arcade games go. It was truly a sight to behold nearly thirty years ago and it still hasn’t lost its appeal now. Though overall the actual gameplay aspect may be a series of quicktime events, it doesn’t mean anything when placed against the ever changing environment and pure nostalgia factor that Dragon’s Lair provides.
Game Name: Queen’s Crown Platform(s): iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (iOS 3.1.2 or later) Publisher(s):Com2us USA, Inc. Developer(s): Com2us USA, Inc. Genre(s): Action, Casual, RPG Release Date: 2nd December, 2010 Price:$4.99 (Now on sale for only $2.99! GET IT HERE!)
Overview
Just when you thought you would have time to finish off the already-great-amount of RPG titles that you owned in your iOS devices, Com2us adds another one to the list. The name is Queen’s Crown and it is another hack-and-slash RPG title, slightly different from their popular RPG series, The Chronicles of Inotia. It has a deep storyline, with humors chipped in here and there to assure you an enjoyable adventure throughout. This time around, you will be placed in the shoes of Ann, the precious princess and the only heir of the throne in the Scarbelhold Kingdom, which is at the edge of destruction, again.
Storyline
When you first started, you will be introduced to the history of your kingdom with sentences flashes on and off on your screen. It basically tells you about the tale of the Golden Crown. Apparently, the Fairy sacrifice herself in order to helps protect the Kingdom during the battle with Skelentom and its three demons. Years later, the castle is attacked once again by the evil forces after enjoying several years of peacefulness. Your father (more precisely, Princess Ann’s father), King William will ask you to leave the castle through a secret tunnel located just behind his throne. He also asked a female servant to protect you along the way (not for long, though).
You will then be babysat by the female servant for the next few minutes. Her name is Katrina, she will be in charge of the tutorial session in-game and will also appear on and off during the game. Only after these tutorial lessons that your journey in the Scarbelhold Kingdom will truly begins. Your mission is to recover the peace in the Kingdom. Sounds simple? You bet! Plenty of monsters and bosses will attempt to stop you (as well as the Grim Reaper who constantly express his love towards you). Be prepared for a challenging journey ahead!
Gameplay
There will be four different weapons for you to play with; each comes with a special ability of their own. It is your top priority to master the usage of each of these weapons as they are usually useful in many different situations. For example, having to dash quickly with the spear allows you to dash through monsters, or the tornado’ish ability of the mace could help you get out of trouble if you happened to be surrounded by many monsters (and it’s going to happened a lot of time, seeing that the respawn rate of the monsters in Queen’s Crown is pretty high).
In general, the towns and dungeons in Queen’s Crown are significantly smaller compared with the other similar titles (Zenonia, The Chronicles of Inotia, etc). However, Com2uS compensates that by bringing several new features to the game, which include things like infinite dungeons, weapon-leveling system, unique game quests and bosses that appears after the ending. One of it that worth mentioning is the Gem System. This is the only way to differentiate your princess from the others. By equipping different gems (which you will be collecting during your journey), your character grows in terms of increments in stats or strengthening of your skills. In addition, you can also strengthen your weapon by enchanting it with the gems. Do note that gems registered with the gem slots cannot be used/recovered to enchant your weapons, so use them wisely!
There are also a lot of other features included in Queen’s Crown which are greatly welcomed in any RPG, such as the auto-save feature, simplified mini-map and the IM-like emotions and speech bubbles during a conversation. I like the fact that important information are color-coded, assuring that they will not be buried in the sea of information presented to the player. I also like that I only need to walk over an item to pick it, instead of staying close to the item and press the action button like in most RPG on the App Store. Save me a lot of time.
The only possibly downside of Queen’s Crown is probably it’s lacking in terms of customization. You will only have 6 magic skills to play with, without any skill trees to develop. Apart from that, there are no job classes to choose from, you will play the ONE and only Princess Ann, with 4 different stats (STR, VIT, DEX, INT) to add as you gain stat points by leveling up. This also means that characters across players are going to be very similar. I’m not saying that it’s not good. In fact, I actually like it, but the other players would either just love it or hate it.
Controls
Control is one of the most important aspects of an RPG, and Com2uS simply nailed it down perfectly. The touch buttons are responsive at a soft tap of your finger, and movement is simply very smooth with the D-pad. Also, there is a wheel-style button on the top left and right corner of the screen, which allows you to quickly switch your current active skill and weapon respectively simply with a touch. Sadly, you would not be able to customize the size and visibility of the controls button, which seems to be a norm on the App Store nowadays. Well, the default is good enough in my opinion, so no complaints here.
Graphics
Visually, I think this game looks fantastic. It might not have Retina Display-enabled graphics, but I think it’s very adorable to look at. Com2uS adopted a graphics style that has never seen before in its past game releases, with adorable characters and colorful cartoonish backdrop. It is working very well with the game. It mimicked a 16-bit graphics style that was used in many chart-topping RPG on the App Store, which appeals to most gamers on the Apple handheld devices.
Conclusion
Overall, this is one of the great casual RPG that you will rarely see on the App Store. The lack of customization in terms of character building might not appeal to some people, but it is actually a plus point to people who doesn’t want the stress to worry about their character every single minute. It also has Game Center and Facebook integrated for you to show off your great stats and achievements to your friends. Simply said, Queen’s Crown has all the elements you would want in an RPG game, minus the stress. With up to 10 hours (or more) of gameplay at a low price point, there is no reason for you not to get it if you are an RPG fanatic.
