Picking up three years after Phantasy Star Universe Saga, this latest title sets out to bring the world of Phantasy Star to the PlayStation Portable. It brings an exciting new adventure to the PSP, with all new content and a return to it’s online roots. New to the franchise on PSP is Infrastructure mode and improved social interactivity features, integrated to improve the experience for players of the game.
Phantasy Star Portable 2 cummulates the series to its conclusion as players take on the role of mercenary to save the Gurhal system. Phantasy Star Portable 2 offers a gigantic dose of original content from new combat moves, weapons and character customisation options, a promising proposition for fans of the series and newcomers alike.
Phantasy Star Portable 2 is available on PSP now. Take a glimpse at the story trailer below if this game tickles your fancy and you’d like to know more.
This latest trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (which will hit the PSN and XBLA late 2010), showcases the Casino Street Zone. As you will see from the video, the game looks very fluid, and the Casino-theme, a concept already explored in many previous Sonic games, seems to work well, with a whole manner of cards and slot machines meeting you along the way.
Overview:
What happens when you combine platforming gaming with the agile quickness of a catgirl bounty hunter? Well you get Blade Kitten of course! Coming to us from Krome Studios and the web comic creation of the same name bySteve Stamatiadis we are placed on a lawless world currently occupied by the Sol Army and the native alien Squamatans.
Story:
Kit Ballard is a space bounty hunter, known as a Breaker, and has just landed on Hollow Wish looking to pick up a very expensive bounty, the leader of a group of bandits known as the Norteun Wolves. Only problem is there are no laws on the planet of Hollow Wish, and another bounty hunter, Justice, just blew up your space ship.
What initially occurs will begin to set the whole story of the game with small snippets added in between levels that help to drive the game along. There is little character development occurring beyond the fact that Kit eventually joins with her new ally/pet Skiffy and they begin their journey together. The story stays quite set on following the bounty, but Kit is very easily persuaded into helping anyone that asks her to perform a task which can cause the story structure to flutter and lose track of what it was initially trying to establish.
The story is little more than a structuring to the game that starts to take a back seat to the action shortly after the game begins. The various cutscenes between levels and during levels will help fill the voids and sometimes explain why you are where you are, but there are many things that have been unexplained, but then again this is only Episode 1 of a two part series. Also in the help area of the menu the game has a helpful glossary which will explain a few small details which aren’t explained normally through the story.
Graphics & Audio:
From the very opening cutscene players can expect to see very bright visuals that appear very much comicbook like in design but also gives the feel of an Anime styled game. Kit Ballard is well drawn and comes with many different costumes you can eventually purchase later in the game to help change her appearance adds a nice touch to the heroine. The other characters in the game, unique characters that is, also contain the same amount of care put into their design that singles the game out for its unique appearance. One downfall though is that many of the enemies you will be facing always have the same exact appearance regardless of which level you are playing.
Each level you play through will have action not only happening on the main pathway you are traveling but behind you as well. Most levels will have action occurring in the background which provides a more immersive experience into the breathing world that one would not usually find in Arcade game.
To top it all off with the gorgeous visuals, the cast of characters has believable voice actors performing their rolls in the story. There are moments when you are fighting enemies that they will continue to spout the same lines over and over again but more often than not the characters you meet and talk with sound perfectly in character. Though the games background music does slowly begin to become repetitive as the longer levels drag on, each level contains a unique song which provides a break in the occasionally repetitive sounding beats.
The graphics are not without their errors though. As I said before the game does feature three dimensional space even though you can only traverse left, right, up, and down. This can lead to problems where an enemy soldier will glitch halfway through his intended path and become stuck and unkillable due to not being able to reach them. Also the Sol soldiers occasionally sink into the floor while still alive.
Gameplay:
Despite the graphical glitches the game may have, navigating around the world of Hollow Wish is extremely enjoyable. The fact that Kit Ballard is part cat aids her adventurous spirit greatly and provides players with a number of different ways to get around. She is able to easily climb nearly any wall and even swing along the most ceilings with ease which provides her access to many varied paths to take.
Many of these off shooting routes however will simply lead to a treasure chest or another collectible which the game has an abundance of, as well as costumes for Kit as a reward for finding them all. These collectibles provide an extra bit of replay value to the game as you explore each level thoroughly to make sure that you had not missed anything that could make you miss out on a new costume.
Besides being able to climb walls and climb along ceilings Kit also inherits her feline grace in the form of a stamina bar which, when used, will make Kit run faster, make long leaps through the air, and even climb up walls faster. The turbo is very useful for quick navigation throughout a level but sometimes can lead to the controls acting unpredictable and causing you to make your way back to where you once were. In the same display of the stamina bar, there is also Kit’s health meter; signified by a pink ring. Plus an anime style picture of Kit’s face which has a nice touch of changing depending on how much health Kit has, her situation, and even when she is angry enough to perform a special attack.
As in any good platformer, there needs to be a decent combat element to go along with all of the various jumping and climbing. This is unfortunately an area that Blade Kitten falls short on, but not in the standard way you may think. Since as it turns out, the actual attacks you are able to deliver are very intriguing and the way attacks are handled with the Free Floating blade is definitely unique. Only problem is the enemies that you are facing are extremely simple.
There are close up attacks and long range attacks each handled with a respective button press but unfortunately the enemies you will encounter can easily be dispatched with just a few simple presses of these buttons and when stronger blades are bought, just one swing can drive your opponents into the ground. The special attacks are simply a pre-set attack movement but each is unique to the blade you have equipped. Though as I said before, except for a few interesting boss fights where you will have to outmaneuver your enemy with Kit’s array of attacks, most enemies are simply way to easy to defeat.
Another small feature is the fact you will be able to collect money known as Hex around the world and more often than not following these paths of Hex can lead you down different paths you would not have before. This Hex can then be used to purchase food items which can increase your health and stamina bars, stronger blades and outfits for Kit to wear. Some of these outfits even change her into a completely different character in appearance but can cost quite a lot of Hex to acquire. The food items are very beneficial as with the purchase of enough health upgrades Kit is nigh impossible to kill. But without a modifiable difficulty she really does not need the extra health boosts to make it through the levels.
Kit doesn’t travel alone throughout her adventures on Hollow Wish as she shortly makes friends with Skiffy the skiff. Skiffy is more or less a tool used for the small puzzles you will encounter throughout the game and retrieves Hex that is outside the 2D plane that Kit can travel. She also will be rewarded with a lizard/horse creature called a Noot which will allow you to traverse the landscape of the larger levels. The Noot is an interesting feature but ultimately feels slightly clunky to control especially in the dismount which can cause frustration from Kit constantly getting back on the Noot after hopping off.
Overall:
Blade Kitten is a very fast paced and light hearted game that falls short in some areas. The game itself is presented with gorgeously bright graphics which are unique to Blade Kitten alone and definitely provides a unique gaming experience, albeit a very easy one. However if you can overlook the easy gameplay, Blade Kitten has plenty to offer and you will be hard pressed to find any game like it now or in the future on the marketplace. At the price tag of 1200 MSP it offers quite a bit of replayability thanks to the collectibles and level exploration on top of a respectable amount of play time from start to finish.
And the hand grips on it are ridiculous in appearance. I know what you must be thinking too, that it bears a striking resemblance to nearly any Playstation controller you can think of. Well surprisingly enough this is the official controller for the upcoming online MMO Final Fantasy XIV. Sunflex, in partnership with Square Enix, has set this controller for a release day on the same day the game comes out, which is September 30th.
The buttons are numbered which most likely means that they can be mapped to various in game skills to allow an easier playing experience, but they are also very unappealing. Without the Final Fantasy XIV name one may think that this was just a rip off controller by a third party developer. However as it is official from Square Enix it’ll be interesting to see if the controller makes any significant improvement to MMO players experience within the game.
So with the release of Dead Rising 2 in the US less than a week away Capcom has released perhaps one of the longest trailers for the game, called “What would Chuck do?” As you will see below this video not only gives us an even more in depth look into the combination system, it also gives us a look into a couple of combinations and ways to find certain cards which may not have been easily discovered.
Also who doesn’t like seeing zombies torn apart or blown to pieces while having a dragon mask on their head? Expect to see Dead Rising 2 on shelves September 28th in the US, though those everywhere else already have their hands on the game.
If you don’t have a PS3 you may have thought that you were left in the dark when Enslaved: Odyssey to the West’s demo was added exclusively to the PSN, but fear not it is now on the Xbox 360 as well. Though you do have to be a Gold member to play it. You can queue up thedownload right here for the demo. Though if you want to be surprised you can simply wait until October 5th and the 8th when the game comes out in the US and the UK respectively.
Also being released is a nice demo of ArcaniA: Gothic 4. Now I may have been far out of the loop on this game, as the last Gothic I played was the very first one on the PC many years ago. But now we are seeing the first iteration making its way to consoles and you have the chance to play the demo right now. If you wish to explore the Southern Islands that make up Gothic 4, then queue up the demo right here. But just like with Enslaved you can wait a few more weeks and pick the game up on shelves fresh to the experience when it releases on October 12th for the 360 and PC, though the PS3 release date has been pushed back to sometime in 2011.
Love it or hate it, Katamari is certainly fun to look at. Portland, OR comic shop, Floating World Comics, has started a fundraiser where they sell Katamari art. The art isn’t actually from the game or from the games’ artists, but they still look fantastic and I want them all.
You can view and bid on the art over at eBay, but you’ll have to pry them out of my hands first.
Sonic fans can now check out a new trailer that was released for Sonic Colors today from Sega for the Nintendo Wii version of the game. This title is really coming together well from the looks of it and in my opinion could be the title that the series needs to fully get Sonic on track to a “colorful” return.
The Description of the video also gave a bit of insight on the story:
The diabolical Dr. Eggman has hatched another plan for world domination!
He has built an amazing interstellar amusement park, floating in space around Sonic’s home planet, bursting with incredible rides and attractions.
However, all is not as it seems as Dr. Eggman has abducted an alien race and is harnessing their colourful energy to fuel a sinister plot. Before Dr. Eggman completes his evil plans though, Sonic discovers his mysterious theme park in space.
When he arrives, Sonic finds he is also able to use these alien powers and is ready to help. Sonic will need all his speed and skill as he faces this test, but, empowered by the alien energy, it’s a test he’ll pass with flying colours.
This title is one I am truly looking forward to and with the love Sega is bringing to the project I think our blue hero will be back on top to stay when the game releases in November. Check out Sonic, Eggman, and the wisps in this brand new trailer for Sonic Colors for the Wii Below!
Check out the latest video for Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. This trailer goes through footage of the campaign, how the gyro control functionality works and also some multiplayer gameplay. It’s looking really good. Get ready to finish what you start !! Modern Combat 2 will be available in early October.
We also have a competition running at the moment for a chance to win the game on iPhone. All you have to do is RT & Follow both @gameloft_aus and @capsulecomputer on twitter. The more you do you the more chances you have to win !!
Go Series: Defence Wars(DSiWare: Tom Create, 200 DSi Points)
Music On: Learning Piano(DSiWare: Abylight, 200 DSi Points)
My Exotic Farm Land(DSiWare: BiP media, 200 DSi Points)
Of the five downloads this week, my pick would be Mystic Quest Legend, a rather obscure title which debuted on the SNES back in 1992. Back then, it was released by Square Enix as a more accessible alternative to Final Fantasy, offering a less complecated RPG interface and simpler level design. Although it’s fairly ancient now, it would still be a good buy for anyone who struggles with heavy RPG’s and would prefer a lighter, simplified version. Other than that, it would be good purchase for those looking for a lesson in gaming history.
