Tag Archive

FFXV / Tekken 7 DLC Featuring Noctis Now Available On Console & PC


Posted on March 20, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Tekken 7 patch version 1.12 is now available on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well as on Windows PC.  General improvements to be found in this latest patch include better stability for online matches, across all platforms and automatic capture of Shadowplay highlights for Windows PC using Geforce graphics cards when certain conditions are met.

FFXV Noctis Lucis Caelum Pack includes the playable Noctis fighter, a fighting arena based upon the Hammerhead Station from Chapter 1, 5 unique costumes for Noctis to wear and the “Apocalypsis Noctis Remix” BGM track.

Check out a video of all of Noctis’ moves and combos which I’ve embedded below.


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Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 | REVIEW


Posted on September 22, 2016 by Ellen McGrody

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 follows up on its predecessors with a strange proposition. Imagine you’ve grown accustomed to driving a car without brakes. You hit other cars, you die, so you learn how to avoid doing so. You follow the road, you swerve correctly, you do fine, right? Then, one day, your car suddenly has brakes. And, when you hit other cars, it takes a couple hits before you actually crash. This would be disorienting, right? Because you’d have to completely relearn how to drive that car.

In Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, Pac-Man literally has a brake button.

 

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 follows a recent tradition of modifying Pac-Man’s classic formula. Games like Pac-Man Battle Royale and Pac-Man 256 have proven that Pac-Man’s basic maze gameplay has a lot of unexplored depth, and the Championship Edition series has led the charge in showing off how interesting and unique Pac-Man can become.

As with its predecessors, Championship Edition 2 is gorgeous, with a blissful neon aesthetic and incredible techno music that will keep you going for hours of play. CE 2 takes advantage of its new position on next-gen hardware to deliver mind-bending visuals at a consistently high frame rate.

The game’s new 3D flourishes exemplify this, offering fluid animations as a new reward for skillful ghost busting. It’s not surprising that Namco’s sound team has outdone themselves, either, with clever sound effects and arguably the series’ strongest soundtrack.

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In addition, fans of previous outings will find some of their favorite songs, like Pac Rainbow, left in tact, along with some series favorite mazes like Championship I & II, Highway, and Spiral. While the aesthetics remain the same, and callbacks to previous games will make series regulars feel at home, there’s a mountain of modifications to the gameplay that might not excite everyone.

From Pac-Man Championship Edition‘s release, Namco has shown it’s not afraid of changing Pac-Man in subtle ways. In the first Championship Edition, players initially play the game at the speed of the classics, collecting pellets and regenerating the maze’s layout as they collect fruit. DX changes things up a bit by allowing you to collect a “Ghost Train” rather than having to avoid the traditional four ghosts on the map.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 piles on new systems in a way that isn’t as satisfying as the natural evolution and simplicity found in the older titles. Pac-Man CE 2 adds, in no short order: Angry Ghosts, Boss Ghosts, a brake button, jumping, Ghost Routes, Runaway items, several new modes, and a compulsory tutorial just to cram all this in. It’s clear that Namco doesn’t want the series’ first proper numbered sequel to feel like a gentle iteration, but all of these revisions don’t gel with the simple gameplay of the original two titles.

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Players who were looking for a game more similar to the original Championship Edition will be left out in the cold. CE 2 will feel more familiar to DX players who are used to chasing after Ghost Trains. In 2, rather than building up speed after collecting members of Pac-Man’s Ghost Train, the player starts off at full-speed, and any ghostly minions collected become trails behind the four main ghosts, Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde.

The challenge comes from chasing pellets at full-speed while avoiding both the roaming ghosts and their new trails. It’s a race against time, as before, trying to accumulate as many points as you possibly can before time runs out. At its strongest moments, CE 2 is a fast-paced score chaser that feels reminiscent of the gameplay offered by DX with some new and interesting twists.

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Sometimes, those twists end up tangling up in one another and bog down the gameplay with undue complication. Changes pile upon each other and lead to series regulars needing to rethink their traditional CE play.

Grinding on the wall of the maze is still there, for instance, but because of Pac-Man’s increased speed and the unpredictable new behavior of ghosts, it doesn’t feel the same, and it’s something you typically want to avoid.

When eating ghosts, instead of going after the Ghost Train behind you in a satisfying finish, you’re sent on a frustrating chase after the four ghosts and their trains along Ghost Routes, colored escape routes that require memorization and constant attention.

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New rules constantly interrupt basic tenets of gameplay put in place by DX, and while offering something new can be fun, the amount of relearning necessary might be challenging to those who have been playing CE DX for the past six years.

If all these new details weren’t aggravating on their own, they’re paired with new modes that only serve to highlight the game’s shortfalls. As in prior outings, the game is rife with unlockables, but rather than simply mastering each maze to seek rewards, players must conquer a new mode, Adventure. Adventure fails to deliver the classic, simple fun of the traditional score attack mode, and most players will likely avoid it altogether.

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The new mode challenges players to complete several time attack missions in order to unlock Boss Battles, which are in themselves just a more challenging brand of time attack. Time attack isn’t very rewarding when failure is often found in having to battle stuff like Ghost Routes.

The process of completing stacks of time attack missions only to unlock even harder time attack missions isn’t rewarding, and if it weren’t for the promise of Galaga sprites for use within score attack, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Within the context of 2, Adventure mode serves as an unfortunate annoyance.

Conclusion

By no means is Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 the weakest entry in the Pac-Man universe. At its best, Championship Edition 2 is fast and engrossing, pulling you in with engaging visuals and throbbing music. It’s a unique evolution on the classic arcade gameplay that you’d be hard-pressed to compare to its 1980 progenitor. Compared to its contemporaries, however, it lacks cohesion. At its worst, skillful play feels more like a wrestling match against new mechanics.

Pac-Man 256 and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX proved that you can iterate on the maze game formula without feeling overly complicated, without needing coercive tutorial levels, and without muddling what makes Pac-Man simple and fun to play. Mastery in titles like these is rewarded by a building sense of speed that motivates and excites.

Championship Edition 2 starts fast, stays fast, and ends with Pac-Man crashing into a wall of minions behind an Angry Ghost. If you’re ready to rethink the way you play Pac-Man, or you want to enjoy one of the best video game soundtracks this year, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is absolutely worth a shot, but you’d be remiss without playing stronger entries in the series first.

 


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10 Minutes of Gameplay From The English Version of Pokken Tournament


Posted on February 20, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

The folks over at GameXplain have posted over 10 minutes of new gameplay footage from the English localized version of Nintendo’s’ upcoming Wii U fighter Pokken Tournament. In these brief clips we get a look at the games’ main menu as well as our first taste of the official announcer for the English version.

Some folks over at NeoGaf aren’t exactly impressed with the female announcer Nintendo of America has chosen for the game. They point out that her excitement doesn’t exactly come across very well but overall the game’s presentation and graphics have been praised by fans thanks to pre-release footage.

We also now know the final roster of playable Pokémon (not including the 15 support monsters used temporarily in battle.  Here’s the full line-up:

  • Blazikin
  • Pikachu
  • Lucario
  • Gardevoir
  • Sceptile
  • Suicune
  • Gengar
  • Machamp
  • Mewtwo
  • Charizard
  • Pikachu Libre
  • Garchomp
  • Weavile
  • Chandelure
  • Braixen
  • Shadow Mewtwo

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Check out all three videos below:

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Mario Kart Races Into Japanese Aracades


Posted on July 27, 2013 by Les Major

Released just a couple days ago in Japan, Mario Kart fans can get behind the wheel of Mario Kart Arcade Gran Prix DX. There’s even a trailer released for the game and the folks over at Arcade Heroes shared a video of the arcade unit as well.

Check out all the action after the break, and discuss what you think of this new addition to the series. This is a different title, not to be confused with Mario Kart 8 which is a seperate Wii U game.Read More


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Next Tekken Game Free to Play, Out This Tuesday on PSN


Posted on June 9, 2013 by Rae Michelle Richards

The Iron Fist tournament goes free to play this coming Tuesday with the announcement of Tekken Revolution for the PlayStation Network. In a bit of a surprise announcement, Namco Bandai announced the title yesterday, with a release date just a few days from now. So, right in the middle of E3 you can beat the living crap of people in this latest Tekken title.

Eight characters have been confirmed for Revolution, all of them returning from previous games, including Asuka, Jin, Lilly, Steve Fox and more. Players will be able to level up their characters in a variety of categories including strength, endurance and vigor. This is a first time character progression ha sbeen featured in the series, in previous entries gold was earned for finishing matches, but the currency was only good for cosmetic items.

We don’t know if all 8 characters are unlocked from the start, or if you’ll get only one or two at start and have to unlock the rest through in game currency/real world micro transactions. There is the potential for these eight characters to be available off the hop with more as optional purchases. Also, no details on the amount of stages available, and whether or not those will be hidden behind a pay wall.

Look for our impressions after E3 wraps up, make sure to check out the trailer after the jump.Read More


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Capcom x Sega x Namco: Project X Zone Website Launches


Posted on April 17, 2012 by Matthew Regier

After the recent announcement of Project X Zone, the collaboration project between Capcom, Namco, and Sega many fans have been speculating what the game is going to be about and what characters we will be seeing. We are now that much closer to getting more information revealed with the launch of the game’s official website which can be viewed here.

Unfortunately nothing about the story or game’s system has been revealed, but according to the screenshots found on the site we can see that it appears to be a fighting game with a sprite based art style and a very smooth manga-esque style for cut away supers (as seen by Ryu charging up a shinku-hadouken).

Read More


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Tales of Xillia Trademarked by Namco Bandai In North America


Posted on March 27, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

The next entry in Namco Bandai’s “Tales of” series might be one step closer to a North American release with the news that the publisher has trademarked Tales of Xillia in North America.

Xillia, the 13th major release  in the Tales series, was released in Japan this past September. The game uses the series staple real time battle system where up to four characters battle monsters/enemies using “artes” (special attacks). Bringing subtle changes to the series established Tales formula Xillia allows multiple characters to combine their attacks mid-battle. The game’s perspective also changes in Xillia from a top down perspective to a third person “behind the back” camera.

The last North American releases in the Tales series came within a month of each other over the last few weeks. Tales of the Abyss was released on February 14th for the Nintendo 3DS and Tales of Graces F was released on March 6th for the Playstation 3.

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