The Game Bakers’ Squids series has already carved success on the mobile platform with the original Squids and Squids: Wild West. It seems only natural progression for a title with lush visuals and kooky character design receives a port on to the Nintendo Wii U platform. Tweaked for gaming consoles, Squids Odyssey retains its charm, with a gentle helping of features for first time calamari adventurers.
Atelier Rorona receives a shiny remake with Atelier Rorona Plus, re-designed to fix the flaws fans have complained about since the original was released back in 2010. Rorona was; and still remains an exceptional title in the Atelier series, but it had it fair share of issues. Four years on, Rorona Plus scrubs up nicely thanks to some love and care by developer Gust, who has also ported the J-RPG to the PS Vita for the first time.
Watch Dogs is the most anticipated game of the year, breaking pre-order sales records following a string of delays which left fans with an insatiable appetite for the open world hacking adventure. With so much potential to build upon the genre, Watch Dogs does a commendable job but falls painfully short of being a genre-defining title. View the full article »
Etrian Odyssey is an old soul at heart. First hitting the Nintendo DS back in 2007, Atlus introduced first person dungeon exploration and blank canvas characters to the handheld device with much success. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (2008) and Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (2010) followed, but was never made available in Australia. View the full article »
PlayStation Vita owners have been spoilt lately with the amount of J-RPGs hitting the handheld device. Demon Gaze is the newest offering by NIS America and adopts a first person view in place of the more widely used third-person perspective. I’ve never been a huge fan of this style of game, largely being unable to see your main character, but I’ll admit Demon Gaze does have its finer moments.
Child of Light is a testament to what can be accomplished when all the elements in one title work together harmoniously to become something even greater and beyond. It may not have a blockbuster budget, yet Child of Light‘s modest adventure will leave a long-lasting, lingering impression on those who are open-minded and bold enough to venture into a strange mysterious world. View the full article »
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle brings the popular Japanese manga series to a new generation, thanks to the efforts of anime/manga video game conversion specialists CyberConnect2. Responsible for the .hack and successful Naruto titles, All-Star Battle has the same gorgeous visuals you’d expect from CyberConnect2 but is lacking is other areas. View the full article »
The intense, dirt biking antics of the Trials series takes a futuristic turn with Trials Fusion. Renowned for its death-defying leaps, trial-and-error gameplay as well as its downright addictive nature, it’s a series that’s thoroughly earned its fan base – and more to the point, one willing to keep returning ‘one more time’ to finish its most unforgiving courses. View the full article »
It’s become somewhat of a tradition for each title in the Dynasty Warriors franchise to receive a revamping not too long after its original release. The latest title, Dynasty Warriors 8 kept with the traditional format and received praise for upping the hack-n-slash ante once more. Of course, there’s always room for improvement so developers Omega Force have followed it up with Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends.
Alucard’s part in the Lords of Shadow 2 mythos takes centre stage in Revelations, the two-to-three hour DLC available now for February’s divisive adventure. Those who found the tale’s ending to be abrupt and unsatisfying will no doubt be disappointed given this download’s nature as a prequel, but at least they can take solace in the ability to play as someone other than Dracula since Mirror of Fate HD. Although a welcome change from the LoS norm, it’s worth noting that those unimpressed with the series so far will find little here to warrant a second glance.
