Unbound Gamer

Official 'Devil Summoner Soul Hackers'...

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:30:07 +0000

Atlus has opened up the full website for their 3DS remake of Devil Summoner Soul Hackers earlier today. You can check out the site for yourself here.

The only section open right now are Story and Characters with a section detailing what will be new on the 3DS to be opened later. There are a few cool screenshots over on the official site, so go check it out!

Blip: Square Enix Teases 'D vs D'

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:25:44 +0000

Square Enix opened a new teaser site earlier this morning for a game called D vs D.

What could it be? No one knows...

Updates in the App Store: May 16th

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:49:22 +0000

NEW:

UPDATES:

Motoheroz

PRICE DROPS:

Next PlayStation Vita Heaven Broadcast Coming i...

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:44:04 +0000

Sony teased in this weeks Famitsu that the next "PlayStation Vita Heaven" would be happening sometime in June. He did not share a specific date.

The first event, held in early March, offered new footage of upcoming Vita games like Persona 4, a Metal Gear Solid HD release date, a Soul Sacrifice teaser, the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2, and a few other news bits.

We expect more details in the coming week.

Cave Cancels PlayStation Vita Titles

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:39:27 +0000

The two games that Cave announced at the Tokyo Game Show last year, a shooter and a social title, have now been listed as "cancelled" on Famitsu.

The social title was a portable version of the popular Sengoku-themed Shirotsuku, a dynasty building game where players take the role of an all powerful dynamo. There were not details shared about the shooting game at the time.

There is no reason currently listed as to why both games were cancelled, but it presumably has to be something with financial issues.

PSA: The 'Mario Kart 7' Patch is Here

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:35:15 +0000

Nintendo released a mandatory patch earlier today which removed three shortcuts from the online version of the game. The offline tracks will still have these shortcuts.

What are you waiting for? Go race!

'New Love Plus' Patches are Coming Soon

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:32:36 +0000

Konami announced today that it will be releasing two patches for their title New Love Plus through the Nintendo 3DS patching system.

The first patch will arrive in mid June. The patch is supposed to contain various bug fixes, improve touch control response, and add refinements to the various forms of communication between you and the girls.

The other patch will be arriving in late August and will fix up some controls, fix the ToDo system, and revise the schedule input screen. There will be more fixes in the patch; however, they have not been announced yet.

'The Lost Shapes' iOS Review

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:06:46 +0000

I haven’t played a good puzzle game in a while. In fact, I’ve been so caught up in perfecting my Solitaire skills that I haven’t been playing much of anything else. But then I learned about Dreamfab and RockAByre’s new title, The Lost Shapes. The Lost Shapes is described as a story-based puzzler for iOS devices.

The whole goal is to use the touchscreen to drop tiles with different lines or symbols on them. These include horizontal, vertical, and bent lines with the addition of symbols like a star or moon. You need to combine these markings to create a fully enclosed shape. Every couple of seconds a tile will drop into a tile queue where new tiles can be dropped onto the gameboard or old tiles can be swapped out.

The two modes available are Shape mode and Survival mode. Shape mode is the story part of the game which follows the story of Willow, a young magician. In order to progress through the story you’ll need to match tiles to the glowing outlines of shapes on the gameboard. The story is comprised of 30 total levels with 30 more available through in-app purchases. Survival mode is really a free play time-trial mode. There are no outlines to follow and the game will throw in random obstacles such as boulders and holes. There are also special tiles like the bomb and freeze tiles which help immensely. The rules are simple: make shapes and if you’re queue fills up, you lose.

There are no major flaws in The Lost Shapes, but iPhone users may have a hard time distinguishing some tiles from others. Everything looked great on the iPad. Of course, The Lost Shapes also brings with it the Tetris curse where at points you’ll be shifting and placing useless tiles for a fair amount of time. But that’s part of the challenge, isn’t it?

While The Lost Shapes isn’t the next revolutionary puzzle game, it’s certainly a lot of fun. The game has some bright and colorful visuals, fun music, and a different approach to the everyday puzzle title. I would recommend this game to iPad owners, but unless you have great eyesight iPhone users should avoid The Lost Shapes (at least for the time being).

The Lost Shapes is available now on the App Store for $1.99.

Unbound Gamer Score: 85%

The Positive:

Unique puzzle style
Fun storyline
Endless replay ability (Survival Mode)

The Negative:

May be hard to distinguish between certain tiles on iPhone
Tetris Curse

The Countdown to the Next 'Tales' Game...

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:23:35 +0000

Namco Bandai has opened up a new website after a teaser article in Jump announced that a new Tales game would be coming. Namco is calling it the "Next Tales of..." announcement. The announcement will take place on June 2nd.

Unlike past events, you'll also be ablle to watch this event live. Tales Members will be able to watch an exclusive live broadcast of the event. Details will be announced here.

Before the broadcast, there will be a teaser commercial aired on May 28th, so we're hoping to have some early footage then.

This Week in Theatrhythm DLC

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:15:51 +0000

Four new tracks will be coming to Final Fantasy Theatrhythm this week including Final Fantasy III's Crystal Tower, Final Fantasy VIII's The Castle, Final Fantasy X's Chousen, and FInal Fantasy XI's Ragnarok.

You can check out a short preview of each song below!

FFIII Crystal Tower

FFVIII The Castle

FFX Chousen

FFXI Ragnarok

'New Class of Heroes' Opening Movie

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:11:25 +0000

Acquire recently released the opening movie for their RPG adaption of the Class of Heroes dungeon crawler, New Class of Heroes: Time Academy. Check it out below!

Gravity Daze/Rush's Music to go Live Today...

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:35:55 +0000

As a Gravity Rush enthusiast (And a big fan of Kouhei Tanaka)
this comes as major excitement.

Sony has announced that TODAY, via Nico Nico Douga, that Gravity Rush will have some of it's music performed LIVE!

Director Keiichiro Toyama will be joined by sound lead Kouhei Tanaka (who also worked on Resonance of Fate and Sakura Wars) to discuss the Vita title's musical component.
Tanaka will also perform some of the music live.

visit Nico Nico today at 20:50 to see the event! (oh I'm so excited~!)

Updates in the App Store: May 15th

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:59:04 +0000

HAPPY DIABLO 3 DAY EVERYONE!
Here's today's App Store Update!

NEW:

UPDATES:

None today!

PRICE DROPS:

Updates in the App Store: May 12th

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:25:12 +0000

NEW:

Jumping Knights

PRICE DROPS:

'N.O.V.A. 3' iOS Review

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:10:33 +0000

What can one say about Gameloft? They consistently put out good games and I’ve been hooked on Let’s Golf 3 for the past few months. And this last week they released one of the best FPS games I’ve played to date on iOS: N.O.V.A. 3. N.O.V.A. 3 is the third title in the N.O.V.A. series and by far the best looking game I’ve seen to date.

N.O.V.A. 3 follows the continuing story of Kal Warden who just can’t seem to get a break. This time he is called to the remains of San Francisco to help out an old friend in trouble. You’ll fight hordes of enemies all the way from San Fran, to other planets, a ship, and the Volterties home planet. Without giving the story away, let’s just say that Kal needs to save the human race again and he’ll fight Judgers, Volterites, and even other humans to do it.

Not only do you have a wide array of guns to fight with, but also mechs, weaponry on top of AI driven trucks, and more. At the end of each level (of which there are 10) you are rewarded with a certain number of credits based on how well you did. These credits can be used to buy new weapons and upgrades for already owned weapons. There are also IAP if players want to grab upgrades early.

The controls for N.O.V.A. 3 are basically the same as any other FPS on iOS. You have movement controls on the left, shooting controls on the right. You can swipe to change weapons, tap to reload, and generally all the controls work very well. I could see iPhone users having a bit of a cluttered interface, but on iPad everything is spaced our perfectly. Left-handed players also have the option to switch to a left-handed control scheme.

One usual criticism of FPS titled is the difficulty of aiming, but N.O.V.A. 3 offers some very helpful auto-aim support, and as an added bonus N.O.V.A. 3 also has gyroscope functionality (which works very well). There are people who will never get used to FPS controls on the iPad, but N.O.V.A. 3 does a good job of including controls schemes for every type of player.

Graphically, N.O.V.A. 3 is incredible. Most time I forgot I was even playing on an iPad. The levels usually take a while to load (with multiple loading points during a level), but it’s all worth it. I had no graphical issues and no engine errors while playing, but even if I did I’m sure it wouldn’t have made a big deal. N.O.V.A. 3 is absolute eye candy (and ear candy), and will have you thinking you’re playing on an HD TV.

I didn’t have much time to play multiplayer, but in the time that I did it was enjoyable. I would definitely recommend gyroscopic controls for an edge against other players. There are 6 different modes including free for all, team deathmatch, freeze tag, capture the flag, capture the point, and instagib. Anywhere from 2 to 12 players can play together across a variety of maps. It’s an enjoyable experience that only adds to the already impressive single player mode.

N.O.V.A. 3 is an impressive game. It boasts many hours of single player storyline, impressive multiplayer, and incredible graphics. It’s definitely a must play for all fans of the previous N.O.V.A. titles, and even if you haven’t played any of the others it’s still worth a playthrough. N.O.V.A. 3 is simply awesome.

N.O.V.A. 3 is available on the App Store for $6.99.

Unbound Gamer Score: 100%

The Positive:

Awesome storyline
Fun Multiplayer
Beautiful graphics
Plenty of content

The Negative:

In-app purchases on top of purchase price

Check Out the 'Soul Sacrifice' Press Co...

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:45:02 +0000

Sony has decided to throw up a 15 minute segment of the Soul Sacrifice press conference on the game's official website. While most of it is Keiji Inafune talking, there are some clear gameplay footage moments. Check it out below!

'This Could Hurt' iOS Review

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:54:28 +0000

Alright, running genre games are popular, we don’t need…oh, you mean This Could Hurt is a stopping game? That's right! Instead of just running nonstop you can actually stop now! Revolutionary I know. But kidding aside, This Could Hurt is a fantastically simple change-up to well-known running genre titles. But while simple, This Could Hurt is a test of patience and timing as you’ll be guiding our hero through levels full of traps.

And by traps, I mean obvious giant hammers, saw blades, turrets, fire, moving platforms, and more. Every level puts the hero against an onslaught of these traps, essentially making This Could Hurt an obstacle course game. The goal of course: get from point A to point B as quickly as possible without getting hurt. Our young hero who has set out on a quest to protect the Great Oak Tree is constantly moving, but you have the power to stop him!

You also have the ability to use powerups. After completing a level you’ll earn a certain amount of acorns which can be used to buy powerups, from shields to time warping abilities, and extra powerup slots (up to three). There are certain levels I found that powerups were a must, so don’t waste acorns!

Our hero will travel through a forest, traverse ancient ruins, brave the cold, and finish is all off with some lava. Overall, the game looks great even with a few camera issues. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to tell where you’ll be turning next and other times you can’t even see your character (but there are usually no obstacles). All the plants, icy slopes, and lava pits are beautifully detailed.

As stated, the controls are extremely easy. And by extremely easy, I mean the only thing required is a simple screen tap. To stop running simply hold a finger on the screen, and release it to start moving again. The controls are extremely responsive and user friendly. Playing on my iPad I found no issue with the placement of powerup icons, but a few iPhone users have noted that it took two or three taps before hitting the icon dead on and activating the powerup.

This Could Hurt also has a number of unlockable powerups which you’ll want to grab if you plan on getting on the Game Center leaderboards anytime soon.

Overall, This Could Hurt is a great game. It’s simple, addictive, and balances simple design with an increasing difficulty curve. There’s no free passes in This Could Hurt, and you’ll be busy for a few hours with this game (even if you don’t want to get on the Game Center leaderboards). This Could Hurt will keep you coming back for more, and at the low price of $0.99 (yes, there are also a few In-app Purchases you can make), why not check it out?

This Could Hurt is available now on the App Store for $0.99.

Unbound Gamer Score: 95%

The Positive:

Simple controls and design
Yet still a challenge
Suited for all ages
Lots of Content

The Negative:

In-App Purchases
Camera angles can be a small issue

Grab an Aqua Blue 3DS While You Can!

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:59:50 +0000

Nintendo updated the official 3DS hardware page with a startling announcement this morning which noted that the Aqua Blue 3DS will be discontinued in the near future.

Aqua Blue was one of the first system color choices along with Cosmo Black. Cosmo Black will remain in production, as no announcement was made regarding it. The other variations are still Flare Red, Misty Pink, Ice White, and Cobalt Blue.

Nintendo Pulling the Plug on 3DS Television Ser...

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:53:36 +0000

Nintendo announced today that it will be ending it's 3DS downloadable televesion service in Japan on June 20th. Known as Spot TV, the service delivered free 3D programming to your 3DS via Spot Pass. Nintendo noted that over 1 million people have used the service since June 21st of last year.

Nintendo gave no reason for the termination (I suspect it was some type of one year lease/contract/test service).

First Actual Trailer for 'Nayuta no Kiseki...

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:50:21 +0000

The brand new PSP Legend of Heroes game, Nayuta no Kiseki, got it's first real trailer today showcasing gameplay and event sequences.

And in case you're wondering, the guy talking is CEO Toshihiro Kondo. He notes that unlike past Kiseki games, Nayuta no Kiseki, willmake full use of its world. It's looking good to me so far, so check it out!