Undoubtedly a fan-service centric game, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage is the new beat em up by Tecmo Koei, famous for the Dynasty Warriors series. When we previewed it at E3, it looked quite promising. How did the full game turn out?
Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes is Capcom’s followup to Devil Kings, a hack and slasher featuring warlords from Japan’s warring states period, all of whom either look more feminine than their real life counterparts or were outright replaced with the opposite sex. So we already know the history is bastardized, but what about the game?
Gothic lolita? Check. Cat girl? Check. Mecha musume? Double check! AkSys Games comes back with the next iteration in the BlazBlue franchise, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Anyone who has played an Arc System Works fighting game will tell you that every detail has been fine tuned, making the most enjoyable and unique game possible. Continuum Shift is no different and builds upon the success of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger to bring us yet another quality fighting game.
The vocaloid series is a voice synthesizer program by Yamaha that makes use of various virtual idols, who were created using actual voice actors. Miku Hatsune is arguably the most famous one, used for many songs on Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga, inspiring figures, new anime Black Rock Shooter, and a music rhythm game called Hatsune Miku: Project Diva. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd is the sequel and improves upon it in many ways.
Already on its seventh edition, Omega Force’s Dynasty Warriors series has been equally hated and loved. Dynasty Warriors 7 comes out one year after the ten year anniversary of Dynasty Warriors 2, which came out in 2000 and marked the beginning of the hack and slash formula. It adds a slew of new features and a brand new kingdom, Jin, which was the historical successor of the Han Dynasty. While these new additions are unlikely to convert over any skeptics, Dynasty Warriors enthusiasts will appreciate them and champion this as their new favorite hack-and-slash.
Gods Eater Burst stands out amongst its monster hunting, Arcana touting brethren with its anime-like visuals and character designs. Instead of monsters, players hunt Aragami beasts in Gods Eater Burst, which roughly translates to the same thing, so players know what they’re getting themselves into. Beyond that though, the gameplay offers little that players haven't seen before and is a mediocre game at best.
From the first time I touched a piano when I was eight, I've always found the universal language of music to be filled with layers of depth and intrigue. Although I was never an excellent player, I learned to appreciate the time and effort it takes to create and perform masterful compositions. As fans found out after visual novel developer Overdrive's last effort to encapsulate this feeling in a coming-of-age story with Kira Kira, the search for a musically inspired passion for life can make a fantastic story.
The company's latest musical endeavor, Deardrops, had one simple goal in mind: to create a spiritual successor to the aforementioned series. While Deardrops certainly does rekindle some of the magic from Kira Kira, and to a much lesser extent Kira Kira: Curtain Call, Deardrops often hits a flat note and sputters off-key in places where its predecessor excelled. This is largely in terms of pacing and a rather exhausting common route.
Ready to conquer the universe? In NISA's newest import title Mugen Souls, you take on the role of the charismatic (and slightly hot-tempered) ChouChou. This daring self-proclaimed "goddess of the universe" has only one goal: to make everything in the galaxy belong to her just because she wants to. It's just not enough to conquer one planet in the solar system: you'll need to conquer all seven planets, their continents, and pretty much every life form that can be found. Luckily, she has a small crew and a ship to help make the journey easier.
Bullet hell shooters such as the Touhou series are frightening affairs to me, but a lot of people consider them to be fun and hectic games that provide a solid challenge to gamers worldwide. Ether Vapor Remaster is a recent addition to this genre. Brought to English-speaking audiences by the publisher Nyu-media, Ether Vapor was originally released in 2006 by the doujin company Edelweiss. I managed to snag a copy from a friend when it first came out, and upon hearing about the release of the ’remastered‘ version, I knew I had to try it.
Bullet hell fans rejoice, another entry has been made available on both iOS (version 4.0 and higher) and Android for everyone to enjoy. This time, it comes in the form of an old favorite from SNK Playmore called Blazing Star.
As someone who started the Atelier series when I first played Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis on the PlayStation 2, the ninth title of Gust's flagship series, I’ve since been enamored with the franchise. Although the series has always been known for its alchemy system, the character development in the game has always been top-notch and included deep, rich backgrounds and succulent designs. Atelier Meruru: the Apprentice of Arland is a wonderful representation of this. It’s a throwback to the time when a game didn’t have notable "different" endings that were actually the same, wasn’t bogged down by battle after battle involving superfluous moral messages, and companies weren’t trying to one up competitors with awe-inspiring shiny high-def graphics. In other words, Atelier Meruru is a JRPG enthusiast's delight.
In the last Hyperdimension Neptunia, we saw intrepid protagonists save the world known as Gamindustri from evil. In Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2, brought to us by NIS America, we find Gamindustri has been taken over by a dark force called Arfoire. The player’s job is to travel and look for others to help rescue the world again. But, along the way, you need to change the views of people you interact with and convince them to actually join you. The gameplay is turn based with a free roaming component where characters move around the battle area to perform attacks that have different radii. When not in battle, the game is text based and uses 2D backgrounds. (There is a lot of reading involved.) If you’ve ever played a visual novel, then you will find this game to be similar. The first thing you’ll notice in the new game is the intro song called “Kirihirake! Glazy☆star!”[1] voiced by Nao. It’s great, so don’t skip over it; I recommend listening every time you start the game.
[1] Song translated from Japanese reads as “Kirihirake! Gracie☆Star,” but NIS named it “Kirihirake! Glazy☆Star” in the US release.
In 2004, a man named Daisuke Amaya released a freeware game known as Cave Story for the PC. A labor of love, Amaya spent the better part of more than five years developing, designing and programming the pixel-sprite 2D platforming game. Publishing the game under his pen-name “Pixel”, Cave Story is Amaya’s loving homage to many of the 2D platforming games of his youth.
Fate/Extra is one of the latest chapters in the highly popular Fate/stay night series by visual novel maker, Type-Moon. Fans of the franchise will be pleased to know the game scenario was written by Kinoko Nasu who wrote the original Fate/stay night story and most of Type-Moon's flagship titles. The game was developed in collaboration with Imageepoch who also worked on the Black Rock Shooter PSP game, while Aksys Games handled the American localization. As a warning, this review does contain a few minor spoilers but nothing you won't figure out within the first couple hours of playing.