When it comes to certain genres on the DS, the mystery/hidden object games have been released in full force over the past couple of years in full force. I honestly don’t mind as a lot of these games are great as not only do they utilize the touchscreen well, you usually get an interesting story. O-Games recently announced their newest title, The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde will be hitting shelves February 18th for the PC and the Nintendo DS.
This mystery/hidden object title puts players in the year of 1886 and straight into a hot murder case where you are trying to find a killer and a motive as well. Playing as “Inspector Newcomen”, you must work with Dr. Jekyll and try to solve this mystery once and for all.
Throughout your investigation you will have to complete over 30 exciting mini-games: collect fingerprints, examine your findings, navigate your way through all the twist & turns of the story and solve the crime. Based on the screenshots (which you can view below) I think this game looks a bit interesting, but then again I am a sucker for this genre on the DS to start with, but still I feel a bit of promise as the plot may not be too original but it still looks like a solid title. The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde does release as I mentioned for the DS and PC come February, but rest assured if anymore information comes forward for this interesting title, we will be sure to bring it to you
Have you heard of Queen’s Crown? Well, not literally Queen’s Crown, but a game from one of the greatest game developer cum publisher for the iOS devices – Com2uS. If you do, I’m pretty sure you are looking forward to it. Fear no more, as their latest RPG title finally hits the App Store yesterday.
This time, it features a heroine going by the name “Ann”. She is the princess of Scarbelhold Kingdom, and she is tasked to embark on a journey to save her kingdom. Apart from all the things that made it a great RPG (awesome graphics, great UI, endless dungeons), it also has Facebook and Game Center enabled that allows you to show off all your amazing skills in hack and slashing to your friends. The game is now available for purchase on the App Store worldwide at a puny $4.99 (iTunes LINK). Quickly grab your copy now! Also, do check back for here an in-depth review, only on Capsule Computers!
Just yesterday, Com2uS announced a free update for their popular puzzle game – Slice It! in prepare to celebrate the greatest holiday this month, the Santa Claus day (aka Christmas)! Other than additional Christmas-themed stages, there is also a lot of new stuff bundled together with the update to get you into the holiday mood. This includes Christmas Carols BGMs, additional bonus stages that are hidden and can be opened as you play the game, etc. I shall let you find out the rest of update yourself, so i don’t ruin the surprise. If you have already bought Slice It!, then head over to iTunes to receive your free update. If you didn’t, you should really check this puzzler out (LINK). It’s simply amazing.
Sega released a new trailer today for Yakuza 4 that delves into the backstory of one of the main characters, the newly added Shun Akiyama. From what the trailer describes he is a self made millionaire and also a ladies man, but upon finding the woman of his dreams he becomes involved in a dangerous business involving a hundred million yen and must fight to not only protect the girl, but himself.
We also see plenty of fighting in the trailer which shows off a bit of the gameplay and fighting mechanics that we’ll be graced with when Yakuza 4 shows up sometime early next year. It begs the question however as to why does Shun Akiyama who used to live on the streets, willing to risk so much for this girl? And who is she even to have such a drastic request? All questions that I can’t wait to have answered.
Great Scott! Well you knew that had to be coming eventually, but good news regardless of quoted movie lines. We have a the full list of the release months and titles for the five episodes of Back to the Future: The Game that is being worked on currently by Telltale. The episodic game will be receiving a new episode released almost a month apart from one another and we also now know the names of each episode.
December: “It’s About Time” (Episode 1)
February: “Get Tannen!” (Episode 2)
March: “Citizen Brown” (Episode 3)
April: “Double Visions” (Episode 4)
To be announced: “OUTATIME” (Finale)
But that isn’t the only good news, we also have a new trailer courtesy of GameTrailers that shows off the game’s storyline and also how the game itself will look when we get our first taste of it in December. Other than that however you may notice that Michael J. Fox is not voicing Marty, but thankfully Christopher Lloyd has returned in his role as Doc Brown.
When Catherine was announced by Atlus it was already seen as quite an Adult oriented game in the first place. In the subsequent months since the game’s announcement there has been more and more suggestive material released such as scenes that appear sexual in nature, or show the act with barely any regards to hide the fact. Sure sexual themes have been in games before but it sure looks like Catherine is going to go right to the border of Mature rated games.
Of course with all of the adult marketing that they have already done, why should they stop there and go with simple box art? They are instead going with two different box arts for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The PS3 box art features the blond girl Catherine whom the game is named after and whom the main character Vincent has an affair with that could lead to all of his problems, while the Xbox 360 box art shows Katherine who is his actual girlfriend. Both of them feature Vincent crawling on them, and the sheep men that seem to plague his dreams.
No news that this game will ever see a release outside of Japan, but if it is I wonder how drastic the box art will be changed and how much the game itself will be censored. Or could it perhaps make it to western shelves completely uncensored?
In Okamiden you happen to play as a young wolf god known as Chibiterasu and he has already struck a chord with many for the cuteness factor that he brings to the game beyond it’s Okami pedigree. Now we’ve seen some pre-order information before but someone just definitely set a new standard as far as the pre-orders go. Capcom’s Online Store is offering pre-ordering consumers a 3″ tall Chibiterasu keychain plushie for US pre-orders.
He is to die for obviously and it is impossible for anyone to not want to pre-order this one from Capcom’s store unless some other retailer decides to set up an even better bonus with a larger or more fancy Chibiterasu bonus. Fans of any wolf related material will die for this one, beyond just getting the game itself of course which comes out on March 15th 2011 for the Nintendo DS.
I’m pretty sure you guys still remember the chart-topping RPG from Com2uS? The second installment in the Inotia series was one of the best in the App Store, and had set the bar for its genre for the Apple handheld devices. This leads to a lot of expectations on its next sequel – The Chronicles of Inotia III: Children of Carnia. This latest installment has just completed its beta testing stage last week. Thanks to Com2uS, I’m lucky enough to be selected to join the team and test this game out! A huge thank you from me here!
Anyway, back to serious business. During the test, I have devoted around 6 hours into the game. To be honest, I’m not impressed, yet. Don’t get me wrong, I like Inotia III so far. I also got both the first and second in the series and I love them a lot. However, the third installment at its current state is still not up to my expectations, and I have HUGE expectations.
Personal opinions aside, let me give you a brief walkthrough of the game. When you first started, you will be greeted by a screen to create your character. Six classes are available to suit everyone’s fighting needs, be it a hunter that shoots arrow from far, or dual slashing assassin. As for me, my first character is a Rogue, because I simply enjoy the double slashing fun. (Yes, I wield two weapons on both of my hands; it is very deadly and assassin-like).
After you have made your choice, you will be greeted with several introductory cut-scenes, and then gain control of a long silvered-hair man in a sepia surrounding. His name is Lucio, and he will be the main hero in this game. Apparently he was chased by several Imp Pursuers, who have captured all his friends, including his sister, Irene. Lucio looks pretty strong at that time, and you were given the opportunity to familiarize with the combat control and test some of Lucio’s advanced skills that are full of awesomeness (like the tornado one). Sadly, you were defeated by your own sister, who is possessed by the bad guys. And, you woke up after, as a very young (and weak) Lucio. This is where the story (and the game) begins.
Like its prequels, progress is made through the main story quests and several side quests to keep you busy from town to town. Not much grinding for level is needed though, you are always at the appropriate level to fight at the map or the dungeon presented to you. Of course, you can choose to get a little higher level than the monsters to make your life easier, but that is your choice. You are not obligated to do so if you want the game to be a little bit more challenging.
The combat mechanism very much stays the same. The party system remains, where strategy becomes an important factor when you fight monsters and bosses in the game. However, instead of getting NPCs who are a totally stranger to you through the mercenaries system in Inotia II, you will get NPC characters throughout your journey whom are relevant the plot of the game. They will be introduced to you through the main storyline, and it makes much more sense to have them in your party. (The first one will be the girl you like!). There are also other similarities with its past installment, such as the control customization, auto-save feature, music-playing directly from your Music library, etc.
Apart from that, Com2uS also brought something new to the table. Apparently there will be a multiplayer/network mode for this, but we can’t test this out. On the other hand, items available in the game are much more robust. They have included new items that brings new feature to the game. For example, you can reroll your character’s stats with the Dices, and you can also unlock skills of your party members with the Awakening Emblem.
Visually, the game has gone from great to not-so-great. The game in general is looking more dull than Inotia II, not to my liking. It is probably due to the fact that I’m being pampered too much by games that look so good graphically on the App Store recently. That also means this game needs to have something special to attract attentions from millions of iOS gamers. At the moment, it’s not doing well on the graphical part. However, the menu looks great, and there are a lot more details that are visually presented, like the splashing of the pond water when your party runs on it.
At this stage, I would say that this game is still incomplete. Much more work need to be done before it is presentable to their fans. It does have the potential to surpass its counterpart to top the chart in its genre of games for the Apple handheld devices. We are very excited about the game and are looking forward to see it in its finished form. Till then, enjoy our video preview of the game below!
(Please note that above preview is based on the beta version. This is in no means will be the final version of the game.)
Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva Format:DVD (Also on Blu-ray) Developer/Publisher:Team Layton/Level 5 Distributed by: Manga Entertainment Feature Running Time: 95 mins Rating: U Released:18th October
Here at Capsule Computers, we cover all things gaming, but we also dabble in anime. Therefore, as an animated feature-length film based on a popular videogame, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, otherwise known as Professor Layton – the Movie, couldn’t be more relevant to what we do. The movie itself has actually been around a little while in Japan, but has only recently come into circulation in the Western market thanks to a reworking of the Japanese version to make it suitable for an English-speaking audience.
I was unsure of the nature the translation, to say the least, uncertain of whether there would be English subtitles or whether Level 5 had went the whole hog and dubbed the entire film. To my pleasant surprise, the latter was true, but they haven’t just voiced over the characters using some generic Professor Layton sound-alike. On the contrary, the cast who did the voice work for the characters of the games were also drafted in to do the film.
This is something I was genuinely thankful for because, playing the Professor Layton videogames, I was completely captivated by the charming in-game cut scenes which were such good quality that it felt like they had been pulled straight from an intriguing cartoon. It seemed like some sort of cartoon series spin-off was inevitable with clips of such high-calibre, and my ideas were later confirmed in the form of Professor Layton – the Movie.
The story sees Professor Layton embark on his most daring adventure yet when he receives a letter from an ex-student turned Opera diva inviting him to see her next performance. As always, he has his loyal young apprentice Luke by his side, and a with a spate of disappearances in London, the Professor needs all the help he can get in order to solve the mystery of Eternal Life. I would hate to spoil the story for everyone, so I won’t reveal anything else. One of the real perks of the storyline is the constant twists and turns, much like the games, which mean you can never be sure who to trust or what is going to happen next. It starts off well, loses momentum in the middle with some parts becoming predictable or boring, but quickly makes up for it with an epic finale.
The characters possess the same wit and charm of the games, giving an amusing insight into Japanese culture. Like I said, the voice actors from the games played their parts in the film, and as a result, the characterisation improves on that of the DS titles due to the fact that everyone has a voice. While some of the more quirky characters will be a comical oddity to most, it will probably be a formality for those who regularly watch anime.
Visually, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva is an engrossing experience, with the cutesy art-style of the games brought to life as a feature-length film, and further complimented by occasional elements of CGI special effects. The music is up to similar high standards. Like all good cinema, it conveys the mood of each individual scene through subtle tones in the background, at least for the most part.
On the whole, Professor Layton’s film debut is a success. The plot features all the twists and turns of the games, plus a slightly sinister inner lining- the puzzles of the games even make a cleverly implemented appearance without being too intrusive on the viewing experience. The regular warping of the story can lead to confusion at times due to its over-complexity, but overall it is a funny, enjoyable escapade for Professor Layton that is particularly appealing for fans of the games, fans of anime, as well as children in general.
Also check out our review for Professor Layton and the lost future here on Nintendo DS
Pros
Cutesy visual style
Emotive musical score
Just as charming as the games
Voices actors of the games
Cons
Constant twists and turns in the plot make it confusing at times
Cube Points are officially live and working to their fullest potential with many ways to gain points and many ways to spend them on cool rewards.
Cube Points have been technically floating around on the site since the end of October, but we have officially dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s and placed the entire rewards system onto the site. The cube points system is fully working and everyone can gain points and spend them on whatever they want.
There are a lot of additions so check out the numerous pages we have set up and familiarize yourself with the system.
Click the links below to go to each page, or hover over the Cube Points tab at the top of the site and pick the particular section you are interested in.
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We hope everyone uses this new rewards system to its fullest potential and that everyone enjoys themselves as they participate in the community and gain cool rewards for doing so.
As a big thank you to those who have been posting recently, we are awarding the current top 5 on the leaderboard extra points onto their account. (Please give up to a week for these points to actually get into your Cube Points account)
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