BioWare’s Anthem is Amazing Beautiful and Could Surpass Mass Effect in Scope

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anthem_trailernce the teams conception, BioWare has been a company that has kept us on edge with their creativity and the sheer imaginative vision they have for the worlds they create. They are a company that isn’t shy about pushing the limits of what is possible whether it’s in story, graphics, or even interactivity. They’ve been a team that continues on with some of the best games to date ranging from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, to even their medieval fantasy series Dragon Age.

Among their visions comes a new series, a new element that will push graphics, gameplay mechanics, and the hardware we know as well as love to game on. Their latest title is Anthem. A game that takes place in what seems to be a rather futuristic world much like Earth called Anthem. In their upcoming game, players will be playing a Freelancer, a gun for hire that uses power suits in order to enable their full potential in combat, exploration, and survivability.

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Review: Dark Rose Valkyrie – Let the Petals Dance

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Pros:
+Extremely beautiful graphics, character animations, and well written scenario
+Strong soundtrack, score, and combat systems.
+Dual Audio allows for a rather fun and enjoyable time

Cons:
-Areas of the game are blocked off unless required by the games story
-Combat scaling could have used some work.

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Dark Rose Valkyrie is a joint venture with artist and mangaka, Kosuke Fujishima (Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Wars, nearly every Tales Of title), scenario writer, Takumi Miyajima (Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, screenplay for Fate/Zero), and Compile Hearts (Hyperdimension Neptunia, Mugen Souls, Record of Agarest War) set in an alternate version of 1920’s Japan, where the world is dealing with a dangerous virus that can turn people into Chimera, thanks to the Black Garnet meteorite that hit the Earth. You assume the role of Asahi Shiramine, the new commander of Special Force Valkyrie and together with your team of anime stereotypes, you fight back against the chimera threat.

You’re squad is comprised of such tropes as the naïve rich girl, the hard core Japanese character, the gun nut, the super shy kid, the super tomboy kid, the horn dog, and a down to Earth son of a wealthy family. During your journey, you’ll uncover each teammate’s quirk/issue, build a stronger team, and fight against the true threat of the game after a twist later in the game, or so I’ve gathered as I was only able to put in roughly 30 hours.

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Review: Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds – A Tale Where Winds Blow and Love Blooms

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Pros:
+First chapter in a split story, which delivers a need for both, and will drive players to continue forth with the next game.
+The new characters are great, comedic, and provide an exemplary portrayal of entertainment value.
+The story is fleshed out quite well due to the games pacing and story-telling approach.
+Character designs remain fresh and unique for returning fans

Cons:
-Some narrative based story seems left out and won’t be answered until the games follow up title.
-Does require some knowledge of 1860’s Japan and the culture.

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When it comes to storytelling, it’s not hard to find a good game, one that makes you press forth through its endless barrage of beautiful graphics, and harsh endeavors. It’s a common trait in game design and one that will push you forth as you work your way through every inch of each story. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of visual novels as they have begun to appeal to North American audiences and dragging them deeper into their tales. Among these many franchises comes the Hakuoki series, which has held fans’ interest in recent years.

With Idea Factory, Inc. at the helm of the franchise, it’s no surprise to anyone that Hakuoki has garnished a following that keeps fans amused, and lured into the franchise. However, what appeal does a series that took places in the 1860’s featuring the legendary Shinsengumi have over fans new and old? First is the appeal to fans of the PlayStation Vita, which received an enhanced port of the first entry called Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds, which promises more romance options more-so than ever before.

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Marvel Heroes Omega Hands-On – A Fist-Swinging Good Time

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You know you’re onto something when you take what made franchises such as Diablo, Sacred, and Ultimate Alliance staple points within the gaming industry and throw a Marvel infused cocktail into the mix. This is just what Gazillion and Marvel have done with their recently having entered open beta title Marvel Heroes Omega, which takes on a unique twist for super hero games. Set as a free-to-play Marvel themed dungeon crawling MMO, Gazillion Entertainment hasn’t been shy about what their game does or how it even does it. It’s an experience that console gamers are getting a fresh taste of as of late.

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Review: The Caligula Effect – Where the Effect of Hope Comes True

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Pros:
-Unique and well placed combat systems that do come with a bit of a learning curve
-Character story development seems critical through the course of the game, providing a need to know you party, and the story elements to the game
-Music and sound quality is on par with what one would expect from a PS Vita game
-Multiple approaches to combat ensures that not every encounter will play out the same

Cons:
–The game offers a lot to learn in so little time.
-Social interactions can provide a bit of a hassle when wondering from location to location

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When I first caught wind that our friends over at Atlus USA would be localizing The Caligula Effect there was an instant shudder with excitement that rang through my body. Having played a bit of the Japanese version, I found myself exhilarated at the idea of being able to finally understand what I was doing, how I would go about doing, and what my abilities as well as talents did.

With a unique turn-based system, social interactions, and musical score – my Persona fan would finally be sated till the next installment would be announced. Much like many JRPG games these days, I was expecting for the game not to initiate a sense of contentment inside of me, but the fact the game could sate the need for another style of Persona game need.

With strong RPG’s being the Vita’s strong suit, it seemed only natural that team Aquaria would be placing their title on the PlayStation Vita as an exclusive game for the console.

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TEKKEN 7 Is Getting a World Tour Post-Release and the Prizes are Big

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As many know, TEKKEN is a franchise that has stood against the ticking clock of time and remains one of the most original, and one of the most carefully created fighters to date. Featuring realistic fight mechanics, in-depth combo systems, and unique fighting-styles for each of the playable characters; it is a game franchise that stands up against any other available. It is a game franchise that remains unique in what it is and continues to do so without question.

Today, our friends at Bandai Namco have announced that one of the worlds largest fighting games in history has now officially partnered with Twitch, which serves as the biggest social video platform in the online world to this date. The platform will allow for the TEKKEN World Tour to exist. The event will be managed and streamed exclusively by the social stremaing platform, and will encompass TEKKEN Tournamens around the world. This tournament will seek the best of the best from the endearing fans that play the game. These players will go on to take part in the TEKKEN World Finals this November in North America.

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Sony Announces that PlayStation Network Now Has 70M Active Monthly Users

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According to a Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting for the Fiscal Year of 2017, they have announced that PlayStation Network has announced that they have broken 70 million users, but however, Sony has not announced what it means to be “active” or when the number had been broken. There’s no doubt that this number was likely surpassed based on how many users are active on PlayStation Network at one time using PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and their PlayStation Vita family of consoles.

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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Has Been Announced for Xbox One and PS4

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Five years ago, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen arrived on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. With it came ambitious gameplay, difficulty that almost surpassed Dark Souls, and a creativity unlike any other before. It was a game that Capcom could be seen making their mark with as fans rallied behind its uniqueness and tore across every inch of the games amazingly crafted lands.

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Review: Prey – In Space, No One Hears You Scream

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Pros:
+An incredibly well written story that will drive you through 40+ hours of gameplay
+Easily stands beside games such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution and System Shock
+Insanely large amounts of freedom to explore
+Typhon enemies are unique in design as well as their originality
+Zero G sequences are a fresh breath of air in the first person genre
+Strong FPS mechanics that serve well in the horror-survival elements the game offers
+Headphones are absolutely a must to enjoy the amazing depth of sound quality and music

Cons:
-Not beginner friendly at all
-Fabricator is overly relied upon
-Inventory fills up entirely too fast due to materials
-Resource management is painful to deal with and rather tedious

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When first looking at the title Prey, many may relate it to the 3D Realms published game of the same title. It was a game that took us on an adventure through space as protagonist Domasi Tawodi (Tommy for short) who lived on a Cheeroke Reservation in Oklahoma. His job was simple in the original, he was a mechanic who just happened to end up on the wrong side of a bad bargain.

After the game was rallied to obtain a sequel through Bethesda Zenimax, the title seemingly fell into obscurity since it was rarely spoken of, but when it was there was always trouble behind the door. It wasn’t until last year that publisher Bethesda Softworks came out at QuakeCon 2016 with an ambitious idea: A reboot. With their announcement, fans sat bewildered by the inconceivable thought, which left fans curious to what was going on.

Within the past few weeks, we’ve been able to sit with a copy of Prey on a PlayStation 4 and a PlayStation 4 Pro in order to see the differences in performance, but that’s not where we will begin. Prey by far is one of the most ambitious titles to come out of Arkane Studios (Dishonored, Dishonored 2) and it even sought out to distance itself from those two titles with quite a bit of easy. While reviewing, you must keep in mind that games are usually pushed out quick for their reviews. Some getting only a few days gameplay time, while others merely a few hours. Luckily for us, Bethesda is a company that is patient, and prefers reviews to take time before being published, which fortunately for us, is the same case we have here with the game Prey.

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Indie Publisher Devolver Digital Set to Have an E3 Press Conference

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If there’s any publisher that’s making a splash in the pond, it’s definitely the indie publisher Devolver Digital, who has set forth with releasing games such as the Duke Nukem Megaton Edition, Shadow Warrior, Hot Line Miami, and even the Serious Sam series in recent years.

The announcement was made via Devolver Digital’s social media channels, which means the publisher is ready, and we can be rest assured they’ll be making plenty announcements next month. They haven’t revealed in any form what games they will be showing off, what they plan on discussing, or what their current ongoing or future projects are at this time.

The publisher is known for being the best host at the E3 event known as the Indie Picnic, which takes place in a parking lot across from the main event, which takes place in the LA’s Convention Center South Hall. The same event will once more go on this year, and will be separate from the publishers mains stage briefing.

E3 is set to take place from June 13th to June 15th in Los Angeles, CA at the LA Convention Center.

About the Writer:

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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, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. 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. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.