Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

Prepare to defend and attack enemy territories on January 27th, 2014. As of this week, KOEI TECMO has announced that Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires is almost ready for it’s 2015 launch date. The title will release on PlayStation 4 and XBox One physically on that date. Following it on that day will be the digital versions, both of which will launch digitally through Steam and the PlayStation Store via the PlayStation Network. In turn, KOEI TECMO has also announced the games freshly launched website that you can visit in order to find more information in regards to the title, which can be visited here: www.koeitecmoamerica.com/dw8e.

The title will feature a more in depth character customization of the warriors, horses, armies, and even the character creation for an original character of your choosing. The title will be focusing upon the lives of the warriors as they campaign across China in order to seek their claiming to expand their territories. Players will be able to choose from the games tremendous 83 character roster and that’s not including personally made and chosen characters. With many of these new features, players will also get to see their editing of new visual changes for horses with the new customization features, as well as the choosing of banners and the games ‘normal’ officers.

Much like before, players will get to adventure through the vast lands of Ancient China. This includes seeing bleak wastelands, narrow ravines, beautiful yet large castles, and even the plains that fill the lands. All the while siding with the egologistical Lu Bu, the honour bound Cao Cao and more while you claim lands for your own.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

Ready… Steady… Well not just yet. Starting on November 6th and ending on November 10th, Ubisoft has announced that The Crew will be getting a closed beta that will be landing on the PlayStation 4 and XBox One consoles exclusively. The closed beta will be set up for the North American region. If you are interested in getting in on this, visit: www.thecrewgame.com/beta.

So what does the beta include for those that manage to get in? Players that participate will get to explore the entire United States, take on challenges in two of the games five regions available: The Midwest and East Coast. This will also offer players a chance to experience the rather large world that Ubisoft’s teams have created for players to experience. This includes living cities, detailed environments that you can explore with friends or alone. The nice part? 100% seamless that is there all at once. Something that has been a striving goal for The Crew’s development team from the beginning.

Players will also be able to enter into lobbies for some competitive racing with the in-game PvP lobbies that will be present within the closed beta as well as the games final retail version. This will allow players to customize vehicles as well as fine-tune them in order to experience two of the games five car classes, which include Street and Dirt. Ready to see who’s better than the other? Good. Now go enroll in that beta and get your racing skills ready.

The closed beta will be accessible to all Xbox Live and PlayStation Network members, however some online features will require an Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus membership. For those not able to do the closed beta for this upcoming action-driving MMO, it will be available for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, XBox 360, and XBox One on December 2nd.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 PlatinumGames and Nintendo are prepared to bring back their renowned title that is breathtaking, out of control, stylish, beautiful, and critically acclaimed. This is the only way one should think of Bayonetta and now its sequel; Bayonetta 2. With the launch of Bayonetta on October 24th, 2014; Platinum Games seeks to help launch another large title on the Nintendo Wii U. This newest entry to this series seeks to bring in more intense action, massive set pieces and the beautiful graphics that Bayonetta has become known and loved for.

This time around she is more powerful now that she is wielding new moves, combos, weapons, and powers. This carries across both the single player as well as the games new entry into multiplayer where players will hunt down to take down both angels and demons in order to save one of her friends from damnation.

“The action-game geniuses at PlatinumGames have done it again. Bayonetta 2 is the kind of exclusive game that fans are going to devour like Halloween candy,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “With its challenging but rewarding game play and over-the-top content,Bayonetta 2 proves the depth and diversity of the library of games that can only be played on Wii U.”

Like before, Bayonetta will return with her chic glasses, magical hair, and those dangerous gun-filled high heels that seek to put her enemies out of their misery. These features are what makes her a rather memorable, but also original characters developed in recent years. This time around players will once more be running down buildings, off walls, on falling parts of land, but also on the wings of a fighter jet. These are not unusual for the well crafted and beautiful set pieces that PlatinumGames has planned for this Friday in North America. On these planned set pieces, players will journey through the campaign while being scored. The scores will range from room-for-improvement Stone medal to the hard to earn Pure Platinum.

Don’t want to take this game on alone? Players can go through the online co-op mode with friends using their broadband connections in order to destroy the legions of angels and demons that seek to put the stunning Bayonetta out of her misery. They will be able to do this by choosing from a variety of characters from the game itself. Don’t forget to work on getting those Verse Cards as you journey through the main campaign so that you can continue through the Tag Climax stages.

Additionally for those who do purchase the game at the 59.99 USD will get a definitive edition of Bayonetta to go along side your purchase of Bayonetta 2, this is at a fully discounted price. For those that decide to go through the eShop to save the trip, you can get both versions digitally through the Nintendo Wii U eShop for 59.98 USD. This includes in-game costumes that will be original for both Bayonetta entries. These is exclusive to the Nintendo brand characters such as Princess Peach, Samus Aran, and Link. These costumes aren’t just for show and tell though; they feature unique game changes that are said to be fun, unique, and unexpected. So what are some examples regarding these? Princess Peach can summon Bowser’s hands and feet instead of her rather well known  demons. Using Link’s costume? Listen for a rather familiar chime after solving puzzles. These are only a few of the changes that players can expect to enjoy through their adventure.

For more information regarding Bayonetta’s upcoming release please visit the official Nintendo Website for this game:  http://bayonetta2.nintendo.com.

 Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

 Are you familiar with a game called Strike Suit Zero that released earlier this year on PC, Linux, PS4 and XBox One? If you haven’t, it’s a game you should check out, and the veterans behind it have announced that their newest title Fractured Space is on its way into development. With this game they are taking a look into space combat as never before. You will be at the command of a rather gigantic capital ship in an online team-based space battle that will break cosmic scales.

With their development, Edge Case Games has announced that they are bringing their known ethic through the door; open development. This means they are focusing on the community as well as sharing early assets for the game, which is developed solely for the PC crowd. Among this policy, they will release prototypes as they become ready for public viewing as well as listening to you, the community through the games lifespan. The founding members of their games community have already been contributing to the games development and seek to help further the game through early builds as well as private play tests to assure players of a functioning title.

 “Fractured Space is an ambitious project we have wanted to do for quite some time, and we’re very excited to now confirm its development,” said James Brooksby, CEO of Edge Case Games. “Above all else we want to transmit a sense of scale to the player – the feeling of participating in a massive space battle inside their own titanic capital ship, blasting apart enemy ships and working together with other players to achieve a common objective.”

 If you are interested in giving this game a chance, check it out through Early Access on the Steam Store later this year before it lands into a free-to-play launch, which will be sometime in 2015. For those who are founders via the Early Access, you can look forwards to special perks, this includes ships, crew, boosters and ranks. This will help as players earn their way up the ranks. For more information and for a chance to take part in their early playtests of Fractured Space please visit their website at www.FracturedSpace.com.

Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Dustin Murphy

 Ready to see how the characters from the Hanzō, Gessen Girls’ Academy, and Heibjo Clandestine Girls Academy can cook? We will be seeing this as the game launches on November 11th, 2014 for North America through the PlayStation Network. Unlike Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus, this game will not be launching physically like the previous title. Additionally, XSEED Games has also stated that the Gessen x Hebijo expansion will follow on November 25th, which will put both the Gessen x Hebijo expansion pack will release on November 25th. This will implement the other two academies into the title. This will bring the games total roster to a size of 20 shinobi to choose from. This expansion will also include a soundtrack app, which will include the songs for each character.

 So what goes in in this game? Like before, the game carries on the games insanely silly and outrageous combos along with tempting specials and offbeat humour into a fast-paced rhythm game, which is set to a soundtrack of upbeat and fun Japanese songs while all the while cooking! The game will be released as a spin-off from the base series of which it comes from. This game will continue the story with the grand rivalry between the ever-competitive filled shinobi school-girls. This will include them taking a break from their ever-going fighting situation that has been going on. This time around they are cooking some amazing Super Dishes for their guests to eat from, all of this being hosted by shinobi master Hanzō himself. What is their prize? A magical scroll he has promised to them through his first ever “Super Dish Gourmet Cook-off”.

 For those who purchased Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus, be prepared for some awesome gifts! Importing their costume and character from the previous title, characters will be able to use their DLC in Bon Appétit! This will also allow them to import the two playable bonus characters Daidōji and the masterful Rin. Both of these characters will include complete new visual novel scenarios, music, and battles. In order to use Rin’s content, the Gessen x Hebijo DLC must be purchased.

 So are you interested? In order to enter the cook off, Meterosie, developing alongside Marvelous Inc. of Japan have developed this game exclusively for the PlayStation Vita. The game is being published by XSEED Games for North America and will be available November 11th while the DLC will launch November 25th, 2014. Marvelous Europe will launch the game digitally in Europe on November 12th, 2014. The game will be priced at 14.99 USD while the DLC will be available as well for 14.99 USD. The game has been rated M for Mature in North America, 16+ by PEGI in Europe, and MA15+ in Australia. Stay tuned for our upcoming review.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.