On the same day of the launch of Nintendo’s WiiWare demo download service, today four downloads have been made available:
ThruSpace: High Velocity 3D Puzzle (WiiWare: Nintendo, 800 Wii Points)
Bookworm (DSiWare: PopCap, 500 Nintendo DSi Points)
GO Series: Fatal Blow (DSiWare: Gamebridge, 200 Nintendo DSi Points)
Rytmik Rock Edition (DSiWare: Cinemax, 800 Nintendo DSi Points)
You would expect the selection of downloads this week to be a little thinner than usual with the integration of the demo feature on the Wii. It is, but that’s not to say Nintendo have neglected the downloads this week. They haven’t completely forgotten about the WiiWare and DSiWare download service amist the big announcement, adding four titles to the expansive library of games inhabiting WiiWare/DSiWare, including another iteration in the GO Series, and ThruSpace: High Velocity 3D Puzzle, a puzzler designed to test your spatial awareness and reactions to the limit.
In a move, that is sure to generate hype: Activision has revealed that the soundtrack to Call of Duty Black Ops, will be available to download November 9th when the game drops. The digital only music features 30 tracks including scores from renowned film composer, Sean Murray. The tunes will be available through iTunes and other major retailers.
Selling at US$11.90 for the whole set list or US$0.99 per track, given our recent foreign exchange rate it’s a safe bet the Australian prices will be similar. the move comes as part of a distribution agreement between Fortuna of Universal music and Acitvision Publishing. After working on Call of Duty: World at War, Mr Murray returns to compose the Black Ops music. Releasing soundtracks is a more and more popular move in the industry these days, with many indi or smaller developers releasing them free on their websites to generate interest, including the makers of SHANK and Comic Jumper. the fact that Acitvision is charging, is of little surprise.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is rated MA 15+ in Australia and drops November 9th for all major platforms, as what is one of the most highly anticipated games this year
Game Name: Blazing Souls Accelate Genre: Strategic RPG Developer/Publisher: Never-Land Games /Aksys Games Price: $39.99 Console: PSP
Story
“It has been years since a war called the Seven Year War ended and peace finally arrived in the land.
The story begins with Zero the protagonist making his living as an independent contractor. One day he is investigating a certain site. It is there that he finds a mysterious stone infused with a powerful magic known as the Core Elemental. As he takes on more and more jobs to investigate other locations, he discovers more and more Core Elemental stones. On his travels, he begins to encounter the Human Genomes—new creatures created by God to replace mankind.
One thirsts for power. One desires only the eradication of mankind. And one hopes to retrieve what he has lost.To get what they desire, each one appears before our protagonist. Through his battles against the Human Genomes, our protagonist begins to learn the truth about the secret of his birth, and before long finds himself at the very place where he was born… Finally, he will learn the truth of his existence…” (via Aksys Games)
The best part of the story is that it is deep. However, I don’t mean deep in a compelling, emotional sense. I mean deep in the “What the hell is going on” sense. This is not a bad thing, if you like that type of story. A story like that also keeps the game moving, so that is a good thing. Often, I felt like I was dropped in the middle of some storied universe, but I had no idea why exactly the I was was there, and what kind of back story these characters had. Perhaps if I had played previous iterations, I would have known what was going on, but for now, my head still pounds with questions. All in all, if you are looking for a tale that will make for roller coaster like hills of confusion, your gonna love Accelate. Mainly, though, the story merely provides a cover for the gameplay.
Gameplay
Gameplay is also deep. However, this kind of deep is like, “WOW, I can create and do all kinds of stuff!” For example, players can find and fuse together grass and ore to create a powerful ring. Sure that may not make a whole ton of sense, but the title of the game doesn’t really make sense either. What is more impressive though is that gamers can keep fusing the ring with other items found. Options are virtually limitless, especially when you consider the fact that there are a lot more things than just grass and ore available. Of course, what is a PSP enthusiast supposed to do with these alchemist creations?
Combat is where you get to use all your fancy new created duds. Sure, some of them may only increase your strength and the like, but it is very satisfying to crack the skulls on some monsters with attacks and items. It is even more fun to “chain” together these attacks. To illustrate, each character you have in the party builds up AP. Once they have AP, they can do different attacks. AP seems to come from any type of move. At any time you have an attack, you can do a charge attack. Choose either to unleash the attack right then and there, or hold the attack. If you choose to hold the attack, other characters can also hold their attacks. Once you actually unleash an attack with a character though, every character gets to unleash their held walloping attack. That. Is. Awesome. Characters also have many many unique attacks and carrying them out is a great part of the game. These things mentioned above only scratch the surface. If you want to take the time to upgrade and get all fancy with everything, you are going to have a long, satisfying game in which to do that.
The only part I really didn’t enjoy about the gameplay was the fact that nothing was explained. A plethora of old school gamers are probably laughing at me right now and saying, “Sonny, back in the old days we didn’t have nothing explained. You young’uns never wanting to do anything….etc, etc.” The point still remains though. It took me forever to finally figure out exactly how the strategies and even simple controls worked. My first hour of the game, I was unable to even attack because I had no clue what to do. This seems especially imperative when you realize that this was my first strategic rpg. New SRPG gamers will certainly be turned off if they have no clue what to do. What makes it even worse is that the downloadable copy has no instruction manual. However, although I did not enjoy that part, I do realize that most games require a lot of practice, and that practice is what actually makes the better strategies in the long run.
Graphics and Audio
Although I can rarely really tell the difference between graphics on games, Accelate’s graphics seemed to have no weird glitches or parts that would make your eyes want to bleed. The graphics did their job and didn’t get in the way. As far as I am concerned, those are some darn fine graphics.
However, audio is seriously lacking. Every character in every battle sequence says the same line, over, over and over again. Another point to bring out is that during cutscenes, you must press X to advance to the next line of dialogue. With all the high quality voice acting present in the game, why must I press a button after every sentence, especially when that scene can be quite lengthy?
Overview
Blazing Souls Accelate is a good game. No way around that. Great gameplay can often make up for many shortcomings. That is certainly the case with Blazing Souls Accelate. Extremely short loading times are also a great plus to add to the good parts of the game. A funky story, some weird audio/text choices and a lack of direction for new players are the only low points to this stellar title.
Atlus, those gods of publishing, have announced a new game. The Cursed Crusade, looks to be a taste of that Demon’s Souls formula that everybody loved, throwing the player into a medieval, European setting with that hint of dark fantasy. Now, to be fair, this isn’t developed by From Software, the people who actually made Demon’s Souls. This game is being made by Kylotonn entertainment who, admittedly, haven’t done much but are looking to “wow” gamers with The Cursed Crusade.
The game follows the stories of a knight and a mercenary as they set off on a quest to save themselves from damnation, the templar’s curse, as it sweeps across the land claiming everything in it’s path. The combat looks to be in a similar vein as Demon’s Souls, real time with various weapons. While the game does have fantasy elements, this is no Kingdom Hearts, there are no super colorful and stylized magics/combos to be had, at least from what the in-development footage shows. It just gets right down to the nitty gritty, just like Demon’s Souls. The game sports two person (sorry people with more than one friend : /) coop, both online and off. The game is set to hit this summer on the 360, PS3 and PC so keep an eye out! Click on over to the official site for some more info and images.
Following the success of Sniper: Ghost Warrior’s release on the PC and Xbox 360, City Interactive have now announced that the title is now headed to the PS3 with many updated features and even a fresh coat of paint applied on the graphical engine.
Here is a look at what to expect with the Playstation 3 version:
Fully upgraded gameplay and graphics;
Exclusive single player missions for PS3 owners;
Bonus multiplayer maps;
Exclusive new multiplayer modes including Capture the Flag and Hard Core difficulty mode
Exclusive new sniper rifles including the L96 and the M200 Intervention
Bonus single-player challenge: Additional mission with Hard Core mode to challenge the very best players.
“Sniper: Ghost Warrior was our most ambitious project to date and although it was extremely well-received by players, we wanted to ensure that the PS3TM version took the franchise to a higher level,” said Marek Tyminski, CEO of City Interactive. “With exclusive content and modes, we are eager to introduce the best sniper game on the market to PS3owners sometime in Q1 next year.”
It is great to see that the PS3 is getting some love with Sniper: Ghost Warrior, and with all of these new updates and features, this may be the definitive version of the game to get. It is also good to know that City Interactive seems to be putting a lot of love into this port and applying effort to give the game a fresher look and feel. If you haven’t noticed, the Xbox 360 version has been updated several times due to fan feedback alone which is great as this developer actually listens to the audience’s demands. There is not an official date for this port other than it will be released sometime during the first quarter of 2011 as said in the official statement but we will keep you updated as more news in announced.
Akaoni Studio’s popular arcade shooter shouldn’t need a very big introduction for Nintendo Wii owners as since it’s release, the WiiWare title has hit #1 on the charts and gained high acclaim from gamers and reviewers alike. Those who were on the fence about shelling out the 1000 points in Europe are now in luck as a demo is on it’s way to the WiiWare, but for a limited time only.
Starting Friday, players can dive into the role of Momotoro, Snow White, or Dorothy to protect Wonderland from hordes of zombies. As I mentioned, this demo will only be available in Europe at the moment and just for a limited time. Check out the trailer below to get a look at the action for yourself of this unique shooter for the WiiWare.
You can now download an official demo for the game onto your DS now through the Nintendo Channel on the Wii, as announced on the official Nintendo website too. Please note you do need a Wii as well as a DS to get a hold of the DS demo.
To get your hands on the demo, simply select the DS Download Service icon on the first screen of the Nintendo Channel.
From there you should see the Sonic Colours demo, at which point you can select it on the Wii to set off the signal needed to download it on your DS. Then all you have to do is switch on your DS, and transfer it onto your DS by choosing DS Download play on the DS start-up screen. It’s as simple as that.
So who will be downloading this? It’s free and is a great opportunity to trial the game before it releases in order to decide whether or not to pick it up. Let us know what you think of it if you do decide to check it out.
Yes, you are reading that right. Legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan along with “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart and Brook Hogan have all shown up in a new advertisement for Def Jam Rapstar. The clip is actually quite humorous and even exposes that Hogan does have the “stuff” to perform against anyone on the mic as well. Brooke on the other hand seems to think rapping to the Notorious B.I.G. needs to be sung proving anyone can use their own special talents to mix it up in the new music title. Either way, all parties involved might have just sold me a copy as the game looks to be a lot of fun.
You can check out the full clip below and Def Jam Rapstar is also now available everywhere for all of you aspiring rappers out there.
Click the above comparative image to see the new Playstation Phone
The Internet has been rife with rumour the last few months on the possibilities of either a PSP2 a Playstation Phone or some sort of eclectic hybrid of both. We are happy to announce that rumours now appear to be fact, as the popular site Endgaget have leaked the specs of their acquired ‘Playstation Phone’ collaboration between Sony and Ericcson. The question remains, is this also the long awaited PSP 2 as well as next gen smart phone?
Below are the specifications:
– The Operating system appears to be Android 2.x complete with it’s own app store
– 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor
– 512MB of onboard RAM, with a microSD expansion slot (which is comparable to an iPhone 4 )
– Standard Playstation buttons, shoulder buttons and DPAD
-3.7 – 4.1″ Screen
Internally it appears that Sony is referring to the device as codename: “Zeus”. Of note is the neat flat silver space between the two sets of buttons…turns out that is your touch sensitive multi-touch solution to two thumbsticks.
Despite the reasonable size of the device, there is something to be said for the multi touch android phones that already exist, and without all the shoulder DPAD and Playstation buttons to boot. It’s neat the Sony has finally solved the PSP dilemma of only one thumbstick, but this reporter wonders weather it will matter when it finally comes to gaming.
This is all that is known at the moment- it is unclear if the device offers feedback, rumble or even where the sound output is (presumably on the back)
Although Sony officially refused to comment their Chief Financial Officer Masuru Kato has been quoted (via translation) as saying: “As for the new PSP product, as mentioned, I know that you are not asking me to tell you when we will be coming out with a new product, but there is a gaming market based on [the] cellphones, and there are many changes that are being seen [with] Nintendo, as well as ourselves, in the field of the product for the gamers. And there are smartphones and others or even cellphones gaming markets are very popular here in Japan. So the market itself is very… expanding.”
Flip’s Twisted World is a platform title which puts you in control of a young aspiring wizard named Flip. While a platformer at heart, Flip’s Twisted World brings some innovative controls to the genre with the simple twist of a WiiMote to flip the world allowing for a unique 3D experience. There is a lot to be said about this title as it does so much right but still comes up short overall, all of which I will cover. Here is my review.
Story
Flip’s Twisted World starts off by telling the story of Master Fulcrum, an older Wizard who ends up getting a baby dropped off at his doorstep. After taking the child who is later known as Flip in, and many years later, Flip starts to learn magic and has a powerful sense of curiosity that eventually gets the best of him which leads Flip to discovering a magic book. Doing this sends him to a topsy-turvy land where Flip must prove that he has the magical know-how to retrieve the six chapter stones. Flip is also joined by a magical cube with six personalities to guide him with tips and instructions along his journey.
Now, while this story sounds appealing, there just is not enough character development to get much out of the experience story-wise. Each character looks charming and has personality in the visual aspect, but without voice acting aside from Master Fulcrum who is narrating the story, most characters come across as hollow and in need of depth. I didn’t dislike the way the story was told, I just felt like more could have went into it to fully make me want to progress and look forward to meeting each new boss. With the bosses and enemies being detailed and having sound effects to reflect their nature, there was simply no reason to really look forward to meeting any of these characters aside from appearance alone. In a way, it’s like having a really nicely wrapped present. You look forward to uncovering it’s mystery, but once unwrapped it is just an empty box. Sad to say as I felt so much potential was unused.
Gameplay
Flip’s main gimmick within the game is the ability to flip the screen instantly to explore new areas and reach certain items and doors that were otherwise unobtainable. Flip also can pull out a book to smash enemies which is his main attack in the game as he collects coins along paths and platforms set all over the various worlds. Controlling flip with the nunchuck and Wiimote is simple and if you have played any of the 3D Mario titles, it feels similar as walking, running, jumping all perform quite well for the most part. Now the general controls are solid, but the actual specialty controls are a bit of a mixed bag.
The first thing to talk about would be the flipping itself. This actually is pulled of without a problem as it really is as simple as just holding down the B button and twisting the Wii-Mote in the direction your wanting the world to flip. Let go and the world flips exactly like it sounds. There is a huge problem to this though, and that is how you fall.
You see, the rooms within the levels themselves are not properly equipped for you to flip at will which hurts the gameplay quite a bit. What I mean by this is that when you flip the screen, Flip falls to the platform on that side but the problem is usually there is nothing to fall on leading to a quick death. I even had many occasions where I fell to the platform I was supposed to land on and died instantly from the fall. It doesn’t happen everytime like that, but it happens enough to make this experience that should be fun a lot more frustrating. You have a set number of lives and while there is a checkpoint spot in each level, but it is very easy to run through lives due to the flipping deaths in the game which made me have to start over on areas constantly throughout my playthrough.
The standard attack with the book is pulled off by simply wagging the WiiMote and gets the job done fine on standard enemies. You can also perform a jump or double jump and land do a ground pound type attack with the book at your feet, smashing whatever poor foe that is below you. Bosses on the other hand can be a bit different though as while there are some creative ways to detroy them, collision detection can be off quite a bit. Simply hitting a large enemy can deal damage to Flip as attacking with the book is a bit to close ranged for these types of battles. The good part about boss fights is how they play out as strategy must be used to find the weak points for each boss.
While the main power Flip has is to twist the world, other useful techniques can be pulled of as well, such as freezing enemies and performing puzzles to get to certain keys and areas to progress further. The puzzle elements were actually all well done and well though out as well so I was happy with these and would have loved to seen more. Along with the fun boss battles, the puzzles were one of the most redeeming gameplay factors in the game.
Glitches also sadly show up quite a bit as well, and many of these come from the flipping option, but some happen by just moving in certain areas or performing general attacks. The main glitch I encountered was by flipping into platforms that lead to nothing, causing me to have to jump to my death to get off properly. There is also times when performing a ground-pound attack that I would fall through the level or fly forward and keep going until death occurred. The game isn’t totally plagued by these, but they are all fairly common in most levels.
Camera angles can also be frustrating. Most of the time, the camera follows Flip from a distance and is easily controlled allowing for zooming options if needed. When you really need a good camera angle, such as to get a view of what you are flipping into, the camera goes crazy some of the time and will zoom in without notice causing for limited sight and of course, another way to die.
If you read all of those as complaints, which yes, there are many flaws in this engine, you should also know that when the game isn’t providing any glitches or wonky camera work, the game can be fun and it is easy to see where the developer was taking it, it is just a bit of a disappointment that the gameplay doesn’t have any polish needed to let the game shine at it’s true potential.
Graphics/Audio
As I mentioned, each character looks clever and unique in Flip’s Twisted World. The worlds are also made up with clever design and the crisp, bright colors make the environments have the same appeal and quality as many A-List platformers on the Wii. Flip is easy to like based on appearance alone, as well as the cube and all of the bosses within the game so this was definitely nice to see such a high presentation value applied.
The Audio in the game has a few different elements. Voice acting is limited to Master Fulcrum aside from enemy noises, and with Anthony Stewart Head (from Buffy fame) voicing this, this is another high point within the title. I still feel that voice acting or even just mumbles like the Sims titles or Animal Crossing could have given the game more life as the text alone leaves much to be desired. Tommy Tallarico, who created some of the most memorable soundtracks for video games in the past composed the full soundtrack and the quality does show throughout the game. In a way, the music is very reminiscent of a lot of the off beat titles from the 90’s. I enjoyed each melodies up until the end and everything fit within the bizarre world. Everything ties in nicely as for a budget title, production value was definitely a huge plus in Flip’s otherwise flawed first outing in the video game world.
Overall
When I first heard about this title, I was drawn in instantly as it reminded me of the platformers that made the Nintendo 64 so popular back when every title was trying to repeat the success of Mario 64 and we were getting one gem after the next. When it came to Flip’s Twisted World though, I left my experience feeling a bit disappointed and wanting more from the game overall. Flip’s Twisted World is a fun title, but glitches and other issues hold it back from the huge potential it carries to be truly great. The innovation Flip’s Twisted World presents is fresh and exciting for platformers, and it is a shame proper execution was not put into the final product. Flip may not be a hidden gem that it may appear to be on the outiside or quite worth the current pricetag, but I definitely recommend anyone wanting a unique experience to at least give it a try, as there is still a decent game buried underneath the flaws.
