In-House:
Operations Manager: Henry M - henry.m@thegamershub.com Productions Manager: Dan H - dan.h@thegamershub.com Content Editor: Vaughn H (Starfox118) - Vaughn.h@thegamershub.co Tech Editor: Ryan P (Ryan.P) - ryan.p@thegamershub.com Media Editor: Lewis W
Team England:
Community Manager: Sam D Staff Writer: Joseph T - joseph.tyler@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Robby D (Rob95) Staff Writer: Talwinder S (JustaGamer) Staff Writer: Gagan G (gagan0305) Staff Writer: Josh Brown (Tastynoodle) Staff Writer: Andy Elliott
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Team Ireland:
News Editor: Dylan V (dylan365v) - dylan.v@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Robert D (Rob95D)
Team America:
US Editor: Anthony D (Anthony D) - anthony.d@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Chris C (Chris C) Staff Writer: Nate D Staff Writer: Liam F (lpfisher) Staff Writer: Vanessa H (Vanessa H.)
Welcome...
This is the tenth edition of TheGamersHub monthly magazine. Each issue brings you the top reviews and news of each month about games and technology. The magazine will also include events that will be happening involving TGH and the community. We are no longer just getting to grips with the magazine now and have a set template made. But ofcourse please do feel free to give us any feedback on improvements that could be made, or future topics you would like to see appearing in here by emailing: dan.h@thegamershub.com
About TGH
Set up on July 27th 2009 to provide news, reviews, articles, previews and blogs with a community aspect. We have taken big steps to get where we are today, which wouldn’t have been possible without you. The sites aim was to create a place for budding game journalists to get some experience in the industry and since then we have helped people all over the place to build a respectable portfolio which has lead to many paid freelance jobs in some big publications. We reach 100,000’s of people each month checking out the site and we help provide them with a unique string of relevant content. We have a team in the UK, RoI and the US who report news throughout the year and we have some big plans for the future.
A word from this months Magazine Editors After the madness that was the November launch window, December was a rather sedate month. Here we are now mid way through January and things are once again begining to heat up for the February launch schedule and the arrival of Sony’s new handheld, the Playstation Vita. That isn’t all thats been happening in January though, the 2012 International CES went on in the second week of January in Las Vegas. A showcase for the hottest technology for the coming year, it was by far the most exciting place for revelations. We can expect to see some tantalising products from Sony and Microsoft, as well as TVs with game streaming technologies built in. The future really is arriving sooner than we think. In this months issue you’ll be able to catch up on some of those games that may have slipped your eyes in December, as well as see lush screenshots for upcoming games like Ninja Gaiden, Max Payne 3 and Hyperdimension Neptuna MK2! If that wasn’t enough the first of our PS Vita previews has gone live, and so now you can read up all about Studio Liverpool’s efforts on the fantastic WipEout 2048. Exciting things are happening all through this month, and nothing can be more exciting than the update that is coming to TheGamersHub.net at the end of January. All new features, a new community, and a great shiny new interface for you all to enjoy navigating through. If the rest of 2012 keeps up the pace that we’ve already seen so far into January, then this is going to be one exciting year for gaming and for TheGamersHub. -Vaughn. H
As always you can contact the team for any queires at the-team@thegamershub.com or report any problems with the website or magazine to help-desk@thegamershub.com As usual you can keep up to date with everything thats happening at TheGamersHub either via the website www.thegamershub.com or via the ever popular Twitter page @TheGamersHub, Facebook page or our Youtube channel! Happy gaming guys!
CD Projekt Red Drops... Silent Hill Games Dom... Just Dance Franchise... Mojang Has Three... CES News
Max Payne 3 Hyperdimension Neptun... Ninja Gaiden 3 Wipeout 2048
Mario & Sonic at the... War of the Immortals Super Mario 3D Land Corpse Party
Blast From the Past... History Of A Hero...
CD Projekt Red Drops Legal Action Against Pirates Author: Vaughn.H
Witcher 2 developer, CD Projekt Red, have said that they wont continue to seek action against gamers who allegedly downloaded the game illegally. CD Projekt Red had previously claimed that for every copy of the game that had been purchased, 4 copies had been pirated. Understandably, the developer went on to take legal actions against the pirates, but only those who they knew for sure had pirated it. Now however they are withdrawing from the legal proceedings that they were to undertake, this is due to not wishing to alienate their fanbase, even though they still have a staunch stance against piracy.
In an open letter to consumers from Marcin Iwinski, as reported by GamaSutra, says: “Being part of a community is a give-and-take process. We only succeed because you have faith in us, and we have worked hard over the years to build up that trust. We were sorry to see that many gamers felt that our actions didn’t respect the faith that they have put into CD Projekt RED. Our fans always have been and remain our greatest concern, and we pride ourselves on the fact that you all know that we listen to you and take your opinions to heart. “We’ve heard your concerns, listened to your voices, and we’re responding to them. But you need to help us and do your part: don’t be indifferent to piracy… Unless you support the developers who make the games you play, unless you pay for those games, we won’t be able to produce new excellent titles for you.” It’s nice that they have decided to withdraw from legal proceedings, but it is also a shame that piracy is so rife on their product that they felt legal action was needed in the first place!
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Silent Hill Games Dominate March Author: Vaughn.H
It seems that March will be the month of Silent Hill for Konami and fans of the franchise everywhere. March will now see the release of Silent Hill: HD Collection, Silent Hill: Downpour and Silent Hill: Book of Memories. First out of the Konami horror house is Silent Hill: HD Collection on March 6th. HD Collection contains Silent Hill 2 and 3 and re-masters them in high definition and adds a whole new audio track for the voiceovers, from the original actors. Next up on the dark slope of horror comes the brand new Silent Hill adventure, Silent Hill: Downpour, on March 13th. Following the story of a convicted felon by the name of Murphy Pendleton, who finds himself trapped in Silent Hill after his prison transport bus crashes. Downpour is the most expansive entry into the series yet, including side missions and a whole town to explore in the darkness and fog.
To round the month of March up, on March 27th we see the launch of the Playstation Vita title Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Book of Memories takes the Silent Hill franchise in a completely new direction than before. Starting with a strange book that chronicles your entire life story and all your memories, you discover that by altering what’s written you can change the past and rewrite history. This is the first time that any Silent Hill game has supported multiplayer gaming, so you and your friends can enjoy the scares together. March is certainly going to be jam packed with Silent Hill madness.
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Just Dance Franchise Is Unstoppable Author: Vaughn.H
Today Ubisoft announced that their Just Dance series of games had sold trough 25 million games worldwide. Just Dance 3 sold more than 7 million units since it’s release in October, which brings the total franchise sales up and over 25 million sales. Just Dance 3 ended sitting up in the top five charts in the US and EU since it’s release, so it comes as no surprise that it’s been selling well! “It’s quite a feat that Just Dance 3 beat out all competition to be the No. 1 game on all motioncontrolled platforms for the month of December,” said Tony Key, senior vice president sales and marketing at Ubisoft. “The Just Dance franchise continues to be the game of choice for consumers around the world looking for games with great music and fun dance moves.” It seems that the Just Dance games aren’t going to be going anywhere soon.
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Mojang Has Three Games in the Works Author: Vaughn.H
Speaking to Edge magazine this month, Minecraft developer, Mojang teases that the team is working on three new gaming projects, with two likely to be announced and released this year. Mojang CEO Carl Manneh said to Edge that the first project, another from Markus “Notch” Persson, wasn’t “shrouded in secrecy as such: it’s just not very far along”. “What it is today, I don’t think he knows himself,” Manneh says. “We certainly don’t. It’s probably going to be a lot of testing and playing around to see what works.” Manneth is aware that the swedish company has to deal with Markus as their figurehead, and so this new project is a big deal for those inside and outside the company. ”I think Notch will always be the fixed star over a long period of time, because he’s Notch,” he says. “But we don’t look at it that way – he gets a lot of attention, but other people in the company do too. So it’s not something we’re actively concerned about.” The new games that will be announced, and hopefully launch this year, should do a lot to reduce the focus from Markus and re-align the vision back onto Mojang themselves.”They will have a big impact on Mojang over the next year. I can’t talk about them, because we have NDAs with companies. Otherwise, we want to be very transparent about everything we do, but in this case we can’t.” For more information about Mojang and the success of Minecraft, you can read a 10 page feature in next months Edge magazine.
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2012 International CES Breaks It’s Own Record Author: Vaughn.H On Monday 2012 International CES kicked off and opened its doors to journalists and companies across the globe, showing off the hottest technology coming in 2012 as well as the new technologies that will be shaping the entire industry. This year was a record breaking year for CES with over 3,100 companies taking up roost on the show floor, which exceeds 1.85 million square feet, which is more than 37 football fields of technology, those are some mighty staggering figures if you ask us! “With more than 3,100 companies showcasing more than 20,000 new products, the 2012 International CES is the world’s largest hub for consumer technology innovation,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “The pre-show media events, which drew record numbers, created tremendous buzz as the world awaits the next generation of technology that is launching here at CES this week. From ultrabooks to digital health products to connected TVs, the innovation at the 2012 CES will be nothing short of amazing, as attendees witness ground-breaking products spanning one of the largest show floors in CES history.”
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PS4 Likely to be Disc Based Author: Vaughn.H
Probably the largest piece of non-news for the day! Kaz Hirai, the Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, came out to say at CES this week that ”Relying solely on networks to deliver content is unfortunately just not possible. It’s still very difficult to have consumers download 50 gigabytes of data or more.” The future of the Playstation brand in the home can’t be solely based on downloads as not everybody can deal with that business model. It is good that they plan on delivering a continued physical medium, especially since they have invested so much time and money in creating the Blu-Ray format, it would be crazy to ditch the format in a new console, it would also be a bad move to not make the PS4 backwards compatible with the PS3.
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MS Kinect for Windows OS hitting the US this Feb Author: JustaGamer
Yep, CES is happening and we are drooling at the mouth checking out all the new kit being released into the world at some point. One of these shiny pieces of hardware is one we are all familiar with – the Microsoft Kinect Sensor. MS have announced they will be releasing a new Kinect sensor optimised specifically to be used with it’s Windows 7 Operating System this February. Currently, this is only for the US release but I am sure other regions won’t be far behind. The sensor will come with a Windows friendly version of it’s fancy firmware which will not only allow the sensor to view the object a near as 50 centimetres away from the camera, but will also do so without losing any precision tracking. Amazon currently has a price tag of $249.99 USD attached to the Windows version of Kinect, $100 more than the currently available Xbox 360 version. Now, I remember MS saying that they eventually wanted to incorporate the Kinect sensor into it’s Windows interface 3 years ago when Kinect was still in it’s development phase and had just been shown to the world. Of course it depended on the products success with the gaming audience, which has now become a reality, and I guess the company is now comfortable with trying to bring it’s face/voice & gesture based interface to the land of everyday PC use. Do you think the price is too steep? Should we wait until Indy & Pro app developers learn to incorporate the device into their interfaces before spending $250? Is this the future of browsing through your PC library’s? Let us know. You can view or comment on this article here
On Live to Join Google TV Author: Vaughn.H
As if it was a retaliation to the earlier announced LG and Gaikai partnership, Google have teamed up with the incredibly popular OnLive cloud gaming service to bring it to their Google TV platform. The addition of OnLive to Google TV means that practically every TV user can now get their hands on OnLive almost anywhere, especially as OnLive now works via tablet computers. OnLive on Google TV will also boast all the features of its computer counterpart, allowing users to utilise the Brag Clips, voice and text chat, as well as huge game spectating. OnLive is compatible with all Google TV devices that are already on the market, and can be used with the Google TV remote, the OnLive controller or most USB computer controllers. This is however only the starting point as Google TV spreads its way though Blu-Ray players and Media Streamers, OnLive will follow suit. This announcement means that now many more people can play games via OnLive from the comfort of their living rooms without having to fork out for the OnLive set top box. Now around 200 games are accessible, with titles like Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Saint’s Row: The Third, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and a ton more. Lots of big console publishers are also on board with the service so now it’s entered the next stage of its development the service can only go forward!
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LG TVs to Get Gaikai Cloud Gaming. Author: Vaughn.H
Today news came that online game streaming service Gaikai has made a partnership with Korean electronics company LG to have their streaming service built in to LG televisions. Gaikai would be built in to all LG Cinema 3D Smart TVs, starting with this years models. Its integration would mean the ability to play games without the need for a home console at all, and would spread the reach of the cloud service above and beyond what it already has. For console manufacturers this could be slightly worrying, as they are already beginning to see the effects of smartphone gaming and online services taking sales away from retail and their own products, however the effects of this conjoining shouldn’t be overplayed. Gaikai is only integrated on the Cinema 3D Smart TVs and nothing else, this means that for your 32″ set you’ll be paying £499, and for a 55″ screen, it’ll be £2999! You could factor in the cost of the integrated ‘console’ but even then they are rather pricey TV sets, and are priced out of many peoples price range. Still, it’s a mouth watering prospect that soon we could be playing away on HD games right from the moment we un-box the TV.
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Max Payne 3 Format: PS3, Xbox 360, PC Release Date: March 2012 Publisher: Rockstar Developer: Rockstar (various)
Author: Chris C The release of Max Payne 3 is just a few months away. So Rockstar Games have released four more screenshots of their most anticipated title of 2012. On top of that Max Payne 3 official website is near completion and a new video series documenting the design & technology of this game. Are you ready for the return on Max Payne, in Max Payne 3? Well you might have to wait a few months, but enjoy these screenshots.
Hyperdimension Neptuna MK2 Format: PS3 Release Date: Feb 28th Publisher: NIS America Developer: Idea Factory
Author: Vaughn.H To prepare for the US release of anime inspired Hyperdimension Neptuna MK2 NIS America have released a staggering amount of screens, as well as the US box art. You can enjoy the surreal amounts of content, as well as the box art and logo, on the site, but for now enjoy this smattering of screens.
Ninja Gaiden 3 Format: PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: March 23rd Publisher: Tecmo Koei Developer: Team Ninja
Author: Vaughn.H To go alongside the new multiplayer video Tecmo Koei released for Ninja Gaiden 3, they have also released some more screens from the game to satisfy our appetites. You can see the smattering of images on these pages, but you can find even more on our site where we have three large screen drops for the game.
Wipeout 2048 Format: PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: March 23rd Publisher: Tecmo Koei Developer: Team Ninja
Author: Vaughn.H We were lucky enough to get our hands on with Studio Liverpool’s latest entry into the WipEout series, WipEout 2048, on the new Sony handheld, Playstation Vita. This is the 8th entry into the franchise, and yet it takes place before previous entries, therefore allowing Studio Liverpool’s art teams to run with the emerging aesthetics of anti-gravity racing. Now tracks don’t solely take place in some nondescript floating environment,
now you race through city streets and parks as well as highways and occasionally a purposefully developed racetrack. It certainly is an interesting, and refreshing, ‘restart’ to the franchise. As you would expect from any WipEout game, visually this is a feast for the eyes. When placed next to WipEout HD/Fury it’s astounding that the PS Vita can pump out something that easily rivals the PS3 game, which even 3 years on still looks every bit as good as it used to.
Arguably 2048 is actually better looking just because of the lush OLED screen that the Vita boasts. The ships themselves have a rough and ready quality about them, something that doesn’t quite match up with the sleek sheen the ships had in Fury, but also not as worn and beaten as some of the textures of HD‘s ships. The ships fit in perfectly with the environment of semi built tracks, grassy routes through parks, and the more developed
meccas that you’d find in its PS3 counterpart. The track design has also changed, in the four courses we had the chance to play through, every single one of them felt different, yet still contained that unmistakable wipeout flair. Other than the environments for each of the tracks being significantly different from previous WipEout outings, such as more contemporary buildings and a surprising off road section of track, the most notable difference is the width. Yes, thats right the width. For WipEout 2048 Studio Liverpool have widened the tracks out from their nefariously narrow origins. Upon speaking to two of the developers from Studio Liverpool, the decision came from a joint wish of making the title more
accessible, and shifting the focus from navigating the track to negotiating with your opponents. After getting used to the reasonably wide birth we had on the tracks it’s a very satisfying change, and the AI seems to be more aggressive during races to compensate; regularly races ended on a knife edge finish, and had been pleasing for the entire race. Another new addition to
the tracks are ‘skillcuts’. Skillcuts are shortcuts that require skill to take, if any of you are hardened WipEout fans you’ll have enjoyed an early version of these on Anulpha Pass in HD/ Fury. These Skillcuts may be incredibly handy once taken, but if you do try to take one and miss it then you’ll be strewn across the track having lost precious seconds.
They are a wonderful addition that allow the more daring drivers to shave bigger chunks off their track times. Alongside these Skillcuts is the addition of an extra weapon pad. Instead of the previous, and rather sporadic, way of distributing weapons over red pads, 2048 has green and yellow pads, as well as your standard blue speed pads. The green pads dole out defensive weaponry, whilst the yellow pads give you offensive weaponry. By splitting the weapons into two pads it now allows you to play either offensively or defensively depending on your race position. It does take a little getting used to but it’s a brilliant strategic addition to a fast paced racer. Finally, the most helpful addition is an automatic shield cover.
Now when you are carrying a shield, you don’t need to deploy it for it to work! Playing with Wipeout 2048 on the Vita is an incredibly gratifying experience. The standard controls feel natural and the addition of proper sticks feels great for playing, although we still opted for the d-pad for fine tuned play. You can also use the motion controls to steer and pitch the ship, as well as the touch screen to absorb and fire weapons; it takes a bit of getting used to but as expected it’s intuitive once adjusted to. We’re just over a month away from Wipeout 2048‘s launch, and indeed the PS Vita launch, but from the demo we got to play, which we were told was an old demo, far from what the game looks like now. Seeing
as what we saw today was incredible for a handheld game, heck it was brilliant for a console game, we can’t wait to see what the finish product will be like. It seems that Studio Liverpool have once again provided the Playstation platform with a killer game for a consoles launch. By visiting the site you can see a couple of hands on videos with WipEout 2048.
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Format: Wii Release Date: Out Now Publisher: SEGA Developer: In-house
Author: Vaughn.H
When Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games released back in 2008 to celebrate the Beijing Olympics we all knew that this was going to be a games series that would never disappear, and for good reason. It was a wildly enjoyable game, full of fun for the entire family and included a great cast of characters from both the Mushroom Kingdom and the world of Sonic the Hedgehog. Its good to see that this year for the London Olympics, both Mario and Sonic are on top form for the vast majority of the time. Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is exactly what you expect
from Sega really. Starting it up you’re greeted with lush visual stylings based around the bold olympic logo, which still looks like Picasso vomited onto a page. The bright visual style isn’t just reserved for the static splash screens either, all the menus are brilliantly vibrant and the venues, although interpretations of the Olympic Village, are comically bright and colourful. Of course this visual style comes from a meeting of the worlds of Sonic and Mario, but it fits very well with the London 2012 theme put in place by the government, and its colourful nature is great for enticing in younger members
of the family, not that they’ll need much encouragement. As you would expect London 2012 is rammed with different games and modes, straight from the off you have the Single Play events, which contains the standard sports selection as well as ‘Dream Events’; a ‘Bonus Mode’ where you can customise your Mii, and scratch off collected scratch-cards; the ‘London Party’ mode completes the set with its mad dash antics and minigame compilations set against the backdrop of a heavily stylised London. Dropping into the main game and choosing from a bewildering amount of events is where many people will go first, and it comes as no surprise to find that this is by far the strongest part of the game. Available to play in singleplayer or co-op/ versus, the various modes on offer are enjoyable if not still somewhat confusing to play. Some sports are rather self explanatory, such as the track events requiring little more interaction than
waving your arm up and down until it falls off in agony. Other modes however are tougher to take in from the start; Trampolining feels very much like you are flailing the Wii remote in a vain attempt to do well, whilst the Parallel Bars give you zero sense of control or interaction with the sport itself. Synchronised Swimming is a better example of how such sports can be done, via on screen prompts you must strike the pose shown on screen in time to the music. It’s a nice way to recreate your actions on screen, but it still feels somewhat disjointed from the on screen action due to delay between action and response. None of the games are helped by the frankly poor, and confusing, explanations for each of the games; although this does seem to be more of a game where eager children will discover the controls for themselves by just playing the game to death. Dream Events are more sports inspired games, but instead of taking place in real world locations they take place in the Mushroom Kingdom or various places from the Sonic games. Although these modes are rather fantastical, and thankfully don’t seem to depict Princess Peach in a gymnasts leotard, they are completely surreal. Unlike the standard events that
play out somewhat like a sports game, these ‘Dream Events’ feel like rejects from Mario Party or other minigame compilations. Some of the levels can be painfully long to play in vs mode, whilst others are suited to co-op play rather than anything else. It must be said that although they show some strong creative forces, they are essentially very dull games to play through, and wont hold many peoples attention when the sports games on offer are a darn sight better. Although in comparison to the ‘London Party’ mode, they shine with an unbelievable level of polish. Other than London Party being aimed squarely at children, the less said about it’s rather abysmal existence, the better. Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is a game that can’t be enjoyed by being played alone. Bringing in a friend or a family member makes it a lot more enjoyable, even more so if
they have a sickeningly bad competitive side, but the real beauty of the game shines through only when you’ve got four people together and you’re screaming and shouting at the screen out of pure elation or intense frustration. Be warned, although this may be a family game, some of the language you’ll end up spewing wont be pre-watershed friendly. It’s very easy to imagine many families sat around on Christmas Day, or Boxing Day, enjoying this family frolic together, but after then it’s hard to imagine it getting much use from four members of the family at the same time. This doesn’t mean that it’s exclusively for families though, it’ll work great for party game fun, but it is definitely targeted towards the younger age group instead of those wanting some more serious fun.
Final Score: 3.5/5
War of the Immortals Format: PC Release Date: Out Now Publisher: Perfect World Developer: In-house
Author: Josh Brown
Big MMO portal, Perfect World may have a game of the same name under their belt, but they also have an ever increasing roster of other Free-to-Play MMO games to tempt players with. Their newest addition comes from the localisation of a top Chinese title, War of the Immortals, but how does it fare against the plethora of free-to-play games on the market today? Typical of MMOGs you choose from a range of classes to base your character upon with War of the Immortals delving deep into the fantasy genre to bring classes such as the bard amongst the standard warrior, range, mage, healer jobs. In total 8 classes are available between any of the featured races, letting you choose from any play style and not have your choice affected by which body image suits strikes your fancy. War of the Immortals features a static progression system for whatever your final choice in character may be. Whereas more recent online
games have turned multiple starting points for players to keep a nice mix of content for those starting their 4th character, here you’ll be forced to repeat the same scenario over and over detailing the unveiling and start of the war you are about to become entwined in. Carrying on from the exaggerated fantasy setting, Atlantis doesn’t actually look to farfetched in terms of architectural style and overall grand scale. Though the graphics range from average resolution textures, questionable terrain clutter and subpar lighting, the overall design of Atlantis and the games major hubs are actually
rather impressive, but the limited camera control will do its best to hinder the amount of sightseeing you can do. In gameplay terms, there isn’t anything here to stop those who have dabbled in virtually any MMORPG from easily picking it up. Action bars full of skills are well embedded into the minds of veteran MMO gamers and War of the Immortals uses the exact same system bar a few little niggling issues – actual skills. While most games have you filling up and activating additional skill bars after just a few hours of play, here you’ll be hard pressed to reach that until deep into the levelling process.
You’ll start off with only one or two skills to fight with, and while this is generally all you’ll need to beat up the mythical monsters of Atlantis, you’ll defiantly yearn for a more varied rotation to keep things interesting. Sadly that doesn’t really happen, you’ll get one or two skills per 10 levels, one of these uses a charge meter generated through fights that will usually blow away every enemy in close proximity, and while it is satisfying to use, you can’t help but think everything is a little to much of a cakewalk with mobs falling to your feet after only a couple of strikes and no thought being needed to determine your next move. MMOs are typically free roaming adventures from the get-go should you be willing to risk your life in the
higher leveled areas, but that isn’t the case here. As we mentioned earlier, the whole quest system consists of a hugely long quest chain relating to the game’s story. Pairing this with the admittedly impressive auto-route feature means questing and leveling is an extremely linear affair. While you may be tempted to try out the game’s other classes further down the road, you’d be unlikely to find the motivation to repeat the same series of tasks a second, or perhaps third time.] War of the Immortals struck us as a very story centric game, something usually only seen in bigger name titles building upon an already established lore. While most other games usually have their quest dialogue skimmed at best
by its players, paired with the visuals of the mythical Atlantis and Motenia, the huge NPC characters and the actual game title itself, we found it hard to continue without reading into the basis of the story – the returning forces of Loki from an age-old war on the land. While the tale takes its roots from Norse mythology, it helps to convey the scale of the war and the impending threat players will face. Rarely suffering from a grind or request from a random farmer to pick his crops for some coin, the questing experience will always stay close to the story and help to progress it further. Separating the story scenario into chapters, you will undoubtedly hit the required level for the next chapter right after you are
through with the last. While we were impressed by the developer’s courage to crank up the storytelling value of an MMO, its content doesn’t do much to compel you to care about what it is you are trying to achieve but it’s smooth leveling system does manage to fix some of the smaller issues plaguing most online Role playing games. Sadly it’s all let down by the severely out-dated stat system as opposed to the more modern talent trees and specialization formula and linear questing. Throughout your journey in Motenia you’ll be able to tame some of the zone’s wildlife to fight along side you, while your pet will add a little something to the laborious combat, the feature isn’t revolutionary but it may help to encourage
thorough exploration to find some more exotic beasts to compliment your character’s combat style. Score-wise, Perfect World have done a good job with the soundtrack. The atmospheric musical pieces suit the game really well and are defiantly the sort to keep ringing in your ears when you close the game. Its a shame that in-game sound effects didn’t mimic the quality of the music. Whether it be repetitive attack noises or foot steps, that’s about all you’ll hear from the world around you. Monsters make little to no noise – something evidently clear right when the first boss smashes through a portal in complete silence. It’s a damn shame, the quality animations were really let down by the lackluster audio.
Cluttered and clunky UIs are something we see a lot of in these types of games, and War of the Immortals doesn’t do much to fix this. While we stand neutral in the simple combat as something easily graspable for any player, the UI may become the wall between keeping new players or losing them from the start. The amount of menus, sub-menus and buttons within the game UI presents a learning curve in itself and will take a good deal of getting used to for any first time player. Hidden within the various menus you’ll find little gems alerting you to the weekly bonus EXP boosts, quizzes and various other nice little features aimed to keep players coming back on a regular basis.
We were given $50 (5000 ZEN) worth of in-game cash to spend in the War of the Immortals cash shop, the standard of F2P games and with cash in hand we did a good deal of searching through the wares of the store. Eventually settling on 2 pieces of vanity clothes to deck out our hero we still had 2400 ZEN to our name. The store struck us as surprisingly expensive with pets and mounts aksing for a similar, if not higher, chunk of your wallet. The clothes did give a healthy HP boost, but overall nothing likely to turn the tides in any playervs-player fight for those worried about balance. The biggest use of the cash shop looks to be for players to
shell out a couple of bucks to stock up on supplies for the game’s high-level content, for a big raid or to upgrade their shiny new weapons. Perfectly acceptable in that sense but otherwise lacking in interesting content and a bit too pricey for the quality it offers. Crafting will only make an appearance late into your journey, should you manage to stick with the game long enough to see it. You are only allowed one profession at a time with an exhaustion bar further limiting your use of the mediocre upgrade feature. Perfect World took a bold step with War of the Immortals. Focusing the entire leveling process on
nothing but story was a bold move and while it no doubt keeps the process flowing at a steady pace, but its linear fashion will prove to be the biggest reason for players to not stick around for long. The auto-routing, autopotion and simplistic combat may make the game easy to pick up for first time players but ultimately demeans and oversimplifies the game play. War of the Immortals isn’t doing anything different to pull itself ahead of the MMO herd and we can’t see any reason to choose this particular linear experience over the more varied games on the market. Spend your time elsewhere!
Final Score 2.5/5
Super Mario 3D Land Format: 3DS Release Date: Out Now Publisher: Nintendo Developer: In-house
Author: Anthony.D The Nintendo 3DS lineup has been looking bleak since its release, only recently picking up into stride with titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Orcarina Of Time, Pokemon Rumble Blast and Super Mario 3D Land. The later hopes to catch the eye of fans young and old, as well as show off the true potential of the 3DS as a platform that can surprise people when given the chance. Can Mario save the slow starting system and carry the platform into a new era, or does this old plumber lack the new tricks needed in the ever-evolving audience? This Mario title, like many
before it, starts out the same way as always; Bowser kidnaps the eternally helpless Princess Peach and so the effervescent Mario must set out to save her. This time however he progresses across a horizontal map, nothing cool like Mario Galaxy’s worlds, or even Mario 64s paintings, not even the top down worlds of Super Mario grace this title. Normally this would be somewhat disappointing, however the fact that it is on the 3DS it actually works rather well. Mario feels fresh with a few new suits such as the Rock Tanooki suit. Get used to seeing Tanooki Mario
as it is the most common suit in the game, but don’t forget Fire Flower Mario, which is a classic as well as the Mushroom and Starman power-ups. There are some new power-ups too, Propeller Mario is an addition to any suit Mario already has on and allows Mario to fly high into the air. Finally Boomerang Mario has the ability to throw boomerangs that suspiciously resemble those of a certain set of Koopa Brothers. As usual the Poison Mushroom makes a return, still imbued with powers to shrink or take away Mario’s current power-up. Nicely Nintendo has brought back a lot of elements from Super Mario World games of yore, and mixes them with the Mario 64/ Galaxy era of background and foreground interaction that has become such a staple for the series. Personally though this writer misses the good old ‘Super Mario’ where he had the red and yellow cape from Super Mario World.
Progressing across the eight worlds in search of the princess and fighting against bosses on pirate ships and castles from the older Mario titles is great fun, however levels do seem to be similar every now and gain, something that isn’t helped by Bowsers intrusions every few worlds where he takes you on for himself and then flees. It would be nice to see some more diversity in the bosses throughout the eight worlds, but it’s more than enough to keep a fan busy. In each world you’ll also come across Toad houses and mystery boxes to earn coins and extra star coins. Star coins are used to unlock the later level’s boss castles necessary to progress, of which there are
three coins in every level. If you are starting to have a hard time with the game, and thus die five times in a level, an invincibility leaf appears at the start which allows for players to become unharmed by attacks like the Starman power-up would but with the Tanooki Suit ability as well. Upon completion of the level it’ll revert back to a normal Tanooki suit. Late in the game players will come across a Star World and the Rock Tanooki suit, which upon successful ground pound turns Mario into a rock slamming objects and enemies below him. Star World nicely consists of eight levels as well as an entirely new adventure and difficulty. Super Mario 3D Land
rewards mobile gamers with the street passes ability to exchange mystery boxes with other players garnering more rewards and power-ups. The content and collectibles packed into this one handheld title really show much potential of the future of the Nintendo 3DS. It is sad we had to wait almost a year for a quality AAA original title from Nintendo but it has happened and anyone who has a 3DS owes it to themselves to pick this game up. Mario fans surely will garner hours of play out of the title and casual players will find a lifetime of fun to be had.
Final Score: 4.5/5
Corpse Party Format: PSP Release Date: Out Now Publisher: Xseed Games Developer: Team GrisGris
Author: Chris C The shocking, intense, and creative game called Corpse Party was originally released in 1996, meaning that those lucky so-and-so’s in Japan have already experienced this horror adventure title, but thanks to XSEED games, both North America and Europe can finally get their hands on this terrifying PSP game. Does Corpse Party bold well in this localization, or will it fail to meet horror standards?
The story begins with a group of students telling ghost stories of their school’s dark history. The old school, called Heavenly Host Elementary, was host to murders and disappearances of staff and students, so understandably the school was torn down. Upon its tainted plot a new school called Kisargai Academy was built. As the group of students finished up their ghost telling, they
soon find out that one of their friends is moving away, they soon start a ritual to symbolize their friendship even if they are far apart. After completing the ritual, an earthquake starts and the floor breaks, engulfing the group of students. They soon find themselves separated within the hollow halls of Heavenly Host Elementary. The main goal is to escape from this terrifying place
alive. As all hope feels lost for these students, this story offers a well told experience until the very end. Overall it’s quite a linear affair across the five main chapters, but it’s a well-paced and intense experience that people will not forget for quite some time. It will however take multiple play thoughs to fully experience this gripping story. As terrifying and intense the story is, the gameplay also shares these horrors. Corpse Party is a topdown horror adventure title, primarily based on exploration, puzzle solving, and simple RPG elements. A good chunk of the game is spent on exploration so the school is a huge place with many mysteries, secrets, and traps to discover and overcome. The whole school itself feels like one gigantic puzzle with many different paths and decisions to take. Each one of these decisions will either extended your life a little further or lead you to your demise a giving the player a “wrong end”, which is essentially the game over screen, where you’ll see/hear one of the many playable characters die in rather painful agony. You’ll die a lot in this game, so be prepared. Ultimately you’ll be spending your time searching the
halls of Heavenly Host for clues to reunite everyone before they start losing their minds, or worst. Gameplay is simple, intense, and creative from beginning to end. Everything you do affects the outcome of each chapter, the only thing thats annoying is that the “wrong end” is un-skippable. So the player must watch/listen to their character die over and over again, if you fail at a certain objective. Overall, gameplay for Corpse Party has elements that have been missing from previous horror titles. Without it’s slick presentation, the story and gameplay wouldn’t be anywhere near as chilling. Everything from the graphical retro style, audio, and voice actors; it’s presentation of retro styled graphics for gameplay, and anime visual novel graphics for character portraits and special scenes really make it pop. The audio is a pleasant mixture of disturbing ambient sounds, like screams, creaking floors, etc, whilst the soundtrack is great with tunes fitting for an horror adventure. The voice actors also up the horror ante by breathing life into each character, however the whole game is spoken in Japanese with English subtitles, just in case
you were wondering. Overall Corpse Party is a great horror adventure that people will love. The story is well-told, deep, and intense experience across five chapters that’ll hook everyone ’till the very end. Gameplay is simple to understand, with lots to explore and clues to find. Its only problem is that none of the cut scenes cannot be skipped especially that dastardly “wrong end” screen. Presentation wise, the game is great with a mixture of retro graphics and anime styled visuals with excellent ambient sounds, soundtrack, and voice actors. Those looking for a chilling and unique experience, Corpse Party will tick all the boxes.
Final Score: 4/5
BLAST from the PASt Ninja Gaiden
Format: Xbox Release: 2004 Genre: Hack ‘n’ Slash Developer: Team Ninja
Author: Vaughn.H
With the announcement of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus coming to Playstation Vita on launch, and with Ninja Gaiden 3 releasing soon on PS3 and Xbox 360, now seems like a better time than any to go back and look at what kicked off this newest generation of the Ninja Gaiden games. Now we’re not talking about the original Ninja Gaiden released back in arcades, or on the Nintendo Entertainment System over 20 years ago, instead we’re taking a look at the somewhat newer revival of the series on the original Xbox back in 2004. Set before the events that you follow in the NES games, Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox followed the story of Ryu Hayabusa and his journey to retrieve the stolen and sacred Dragon Blade from his clan’s village. However it isn’t as plain and simple as that, Ryu’s journey is one of vengeance and betrayal, it was Team Ninja’s foray into a brilliant sparking narrative, and action oriented gameplay, that has continued on through the series. Set in the fictional location of the more industrial and futuristic Vigoor Empire and what appears to be a feudal era Japan, the juxtaposition between the two environments leads to vastly different styles in how you deal with each level; with battles in the former taking place in wider open environments, whilst in the latter seem to happen in smaller tighter spaces.
So what really made Ninja Gaiden into the brilliant game it became? Well for starters it was built and geared towards a more western market, yet it still contained all the traditional gameplay you’d expect from a Japanese hack ‘n’ slash game. Oh, and it was unrelentingly hard. Its incredible difficulty curve saw those who couldn’t deal with the combo and evading systems losing out before they had even encountered the first boss, and from then on in it just got even harder. Like Dark Souls, and Demon’s Souls before it, Ninja Gaiden was a game entirely about skill, nerves of steel, and dying over and over again. The great moment of satisfaction comes when you begin to play the game near instinctively, you know exactly how to surmount each enemy, you can destroy and defile anything that gets in your way, no longer do you feel powerless and wildly hack away at your foes. No, now you deftly dealt with whatever Team Ninja threw in your way. As Ninja Gaiden had many fans in the west, Tomonobu Itagaki, head of Team Ninja, was keen to keep fans on side for a game that was essentially completely different to previous Ninja Gaiden games. To do this, he decided that the major selling point for the west was the games violence, and so he kept it in, in fact he ramped it up!
Take one look at Ninja Gaiden II and you’ll see Itagaki taking it one stage further, and Ninja Gaiden III sees new Team Ninja head, Yosuke Hayashi, expanding to make that intense level of violence into a deeper gameplay experience. Of course this high level of violence also meant that upon its launch it met the hands of censorship restrictions, with beheadings being removed from PAL versions of the game (although it was re-introduced for Ninja Gaiden Black a year later). The final part to Ninja Gaiden that made it the killer game the Xbox needed was its integration to Xbox Live. At the time the service was not the powerhouse of online gaming that it is now, but it was on its way up to the top, and arguably Ninja Gaiden helped get the service even more members. Via Xbox Live, players could enter the Master Ninja Tournament. This tournament entry took place across the main game and its online distributed game packs (the Hurricane Packs), where players would have 14 to 24 days to gain a high score and submit it on the online leaderboards. Those who got through to the finals got to travel to the Tokyo Game Show where they played against finalists from around the world. The Master Ninja Tournament was so fierce in its competition that it broke all Xbox Live participation records for the time!
The true measure of how great a game is, is usually the reception it gets upon release; however in Japan the game sold in meagre amounts, and in the west it faired a little better, so in terms of sales it was slow. When it came to critical acclaim though, critics everywhere were in love with this new adventure that Tecmo and Team Ninja threw at them. Many heralded it as one of the most difficult games around, and one publication even said that no Xbox should go without it! It’s true too, this is one of the most amazing games from Microsofts fledgeling console, and now with a new master at the helm of Team Ninja, and the combined forces of Tecmo Koei, Ryu Hayabusa’s journey through Ninja Gaiden III will be one of the most exciting yet.
Sonic The Hedgehog
History Of A Hero
Author: Josh Brown
Coming back from the Christmas break we find ourselves itching to jump straight into the week’s History of a Hero. The series has been going on for a good 3 months now and, looking back, somehow we have yet to cover the character most likely to be recognised by the masses in a line-up of “popular video game mascots (behind Super Mario). This blindingly fast creature probably only needs that one simple string of words to instantly pop into your mind. Those of you who didn’t guess who our focus is today from the get-go should wonder where they went wrong in their gaming life. Today’s History of a Hero is none other than Sega’s speedy obnoxious oddly coloured hedgehog, Sonic. Sega’s chirpy little mascot of the 90’s came about through the direct competition with Nintendo. While the Japanese giant was tightening its grip on the market with Super Mario. The company needed a mascot to call their own, one to be recognized and associated with Sega’ themselves much the same way Mario instantly spelled Nintendo. Sonic’s design was chosen and altered from an array of designs penned by other company members, though most of these would later be used as a basis for other Sega characters. The inspiration behind Sonic’s design and attitude came supposedly came about from the likes of Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson to name a few with a signature swimming trait (or lack of) coming from creator, Yuji Naka’s misconceptions of the hedgehog species. As Sonic came to fruition as a fast-paced platformer, he debuted on the already established Sega Mega Drive system. The critical acclaim and its resulting sales numbers quickly earned Sonic the prize of becoming the Mega Drive’s main bundled game, replacing Altered Beast. Sonic’s simple side-scrolling premise was enhanced by the sheer velocity and dizzying speeds players could achieve, partnered with the jump and spin dash attacks giving the game a trait other side-scrolling platform games could only imagine. Fans willing enough to practice
and perfect the timed jumps in accordance to their speed could see whole levels pass by them in seconds while others could take the a simple and more careful approach to hop through each stage. The success and buzz generated through Sonic’s first outing was enough to secure him the place of Sega’s new mascot and gain himself a reputation enough to score him endless amounts of sequels and spin-off games. His second and third outing would see the hedgehog partner up with the ever increasing characters of his universe, Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna. Taking gameplay as the main focus, Sonic games generally recycle the same plot points of their predecessors. Sonic’s nemesis, Dr. Robotnik, would capture the animals of the Mobius planet and threaten to change the lavish green paradise of a world into an industrial metropolis at the Doctor’s helm with Sonic being the only one to be of any help. The games are often shrugged off story-wise without people taking the deep message of deforestation and pollution to heart.
Sonic was rapidly becoming a pop culture icon; his ever increasing catalogue of games took on the likes of Mario head on with sport and puzzle spin-offs propelling the character hard into the eyes of the public. Following suite of the great American cartoonisation of the 90’s, Sonic would later make his animated appearance in several cartoon shows as well as spreading into the comic books, popular media and general merchandise and even McDonald’s toy – all of which still happen to this day. Big fans of the series sometimes ridicule Sega for their decision to bask in the success of the franchise as an excuse to release sub-par games. Arguably starting with the characters serious jump into 3D with the 1998 game Sonic Adventure, fans complained for years yearning for the return of the classic side-scrolling gameplay of the series’ origin. Fighting against Dr. Robotnik, Sonic’s change from a silent hero to an voiced and cocky persona coined the nickname of Dr. Eggman to the main antagonist, a name which would prove popular enough to stick as Robotnik’s new title in every game since. As Sonic aged from the small mute hedgehog of the early 90’s, his trip into 3D would see his design fundamentals altered to create a version more akin to the change of scope in his later games. Cheesy one-liners would eventually become his hallmark as something to say at the end of a stage or as a reply to the provocations of his rivals. As time went by, Sonic’s change in personality and gameplay would see Sega throw in a whole host of new “friends”. After the declining sales of Sega’s console presence by their rivals, the company pulled out of the market leaving the blue mascot in a limbo-like state. His outing would soon take refuge on the platforms that aided their downfall with Sonic himself becoming a close friend of Nintendo themselves. Once created as Sega’s answer to Mario, Sonic eventually wound up in Nintendo’s popular all-stars fighting game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, A game once reserved for the characters of their creation. Fighting for the subspace emissery, the hedgehog would also show up as the second title character of Nintendo’s licensed tie-in to
the Olympic games alongside Mario himself. Celebrating his 20th anniversary last year, Sonic featured in Sonic Generations, a game offered as the perfect swan song to the wants of his conflicting player base. Bringing back the hedgehog’s former 16-bit self, he was ushering into a 2.5D remake and re-imagining of the series’ more memorable stages with the “Modern” taller Sonic bringing his one-liners to fill in for his former self while dashing his way through the 3D versions of the same stages. Continuously foiling the plots of Dr. Eggman and the minions he controls, Sonic himself has been until criticism for the good part of a decade. His fans have generally stood by to make him become not only one of the most recognizable characters in gaming history, but also of the most tenacious. Most of his recent adventures have been met with criticism from both fans and critics, from going on-rails to becoming a werewolf and even taking up arms, Sonic has proven himself able to resist years of declining popularity to come back strong. With his birthday over and the warm reception of Sonic Generations still looming, we’re unsure of how Sega will continue to push for his success once again. Aside from the second episode of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 on the horizon, we still have little in the name of how Generations will be succeeded.
When is the next issue of TheGamersHub Magazine? The next issue of TGH magazine will be released on the 6th of Feb 2012. This will be our eleventh edition of the magazine and hopefully with all the feedback we recieve from you, it will be improved even more and so we always are aware off what our audience would like to read. If there is anything you would like to see appearing in this magazine or just want to give us feedback please email Dan at: dan.h@thegamershub.com For advertising in the magazine please contact Henry at: henry.m@thegamershub.com