TH E O F F I C I A L NINTENDO MAGAZINE Issue 87 November 2012
New screens of... • Scribblenauts Unlimited • Assassin’s Creed 3 • Marvel Avengers • Bravely Default • WWE 13
Issue 87 November 2012
www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk
£3.99
THE LATEST NEWS INSIDE
Nintendo’s juggernaut franchise makes a triumphant return to DS & 3DS!
Paper Mario ZombiU Animal Crossing
2 AMAZING COVERS! Which did you get?
Access All all areas Areas
Wii U Digest
WIN A
Wii U Plus Launch Games! Turn to p24
S S S E A C E C A L AR L A f all o p d-u otes n u o r u thly ures, q tendo’s n o al m acts, fig ng Nin i t n i e f n r ess inating rround onsole u , the o o c u Y fasc first self int s s e e s r g r ls a u m i p a o u t ese hack y ch de d the rumo ew ho h t n e to lau st an nd w and some n If you’ve tchoembrakeresvaealed trheead thaint afinr imate on ’ve en’t 7, so ou awe step se! We s 06- 0 ere. Ar rse y
r e h u reve on pag still be f co launch t? O ll k bac ck. We’ that? w, righ e Wii U our ba like ng y nt in d no th th ome esome excite ou? Wi planni citeme e for c n t the cts aw You’re ame y o star ore ex e plac well l obje i there! can b ’s time t even m eas is th way as at H ho ay, it take w ive a ook ll Ar and ks aw u can ccess A ii U to g nts, a l e r a wee rW eme h, A If yo ore! just hases. thoug anothe nounc uch m n c t m m r a e e u d t e y p e an got r sys gam you We’ve f new look lik . o d u l h u yo bunc U co as a F-Zero t wha
In just a matter of weeks (you can count them on your hands) you’ll get the chance to hold your own Wii U GamePad. The wait is becoming totally unbearable!
016 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
Access All Areas
Wii U Digest
Digest Get stuck into the all the juiciest Wii U news snippets from all around the world. Well, they are mostly from Japan, actually… There Be Dragons!
We’ve seen a fair bit from Square Enix’s Wii RPG, Dragon Quest X, but it’s easy to forget that the game is also coming to Wii U. The Tokyo Game Show (which has literally just finished in Japan) is the place where the Wii U version will be shown off in all its glory for the first time. Will the two games be compatible somehow? Will the Wii U version talk to your 3DS? The honest answer is that we don’t know right now but Japanese developers are understandably keen on 3DS-Wii U link-up because the 3DS has been so successful in their native country. Expect plenty of hands-on impressions and a whole bunch of info regarding online play and Wii U GamePad functionality next issue.
print deadlines, crazy lead times and… time travel, we can tell you that this game is Monster Hunter! Capcom’s support is unlikely to be limited to one game though. What else could be on offer? It could be a special version of Resident Evil 6. It could be a sequel to Resident Evil Revelations. Then again, it might have nothing whatsoever to do with Resident Evil. Zack & Wiki anyone?
Announced: The Cave
Ron Gilbert might not be a name with which you’re familiar, but he was behind fantastic puzzlers such as Tales Of Monkey Island. His latest game, The Cave, is a unique little puzzle game where a set
There Be Zombies!
Okay, that may be a bit misleading. It seems Square Enix isn’t the only major Japanese developer that will be talking about its Wii U titles at the Tokyo Game Show. Capcom has also revealed it will be announcing and showing off at least one of its Wii U offerings at the Japanese show. Through the wonder of
Why hello there aqua-haired, tiger-claw girl in skimpy clothing. How you doin’?
of characters throw themselves into a labyrinth of tunnels in order to ‘find themselves’. Did we mention that this cave talks? Yup. Spooky, huh? Puzzles, dragon bosses and pirate treasures await you and up to two other friends in this multiplayer, co-op adventure.
Far Eastern Pleasures
Admittedly, there’s a noticeable theme in this month’s updates: the Tokyo Game Show! We’ve already told you about two titles that will be displayed, but there will be more Wii U games on show, including the near-final versions of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Sonic All-Stars Transformed. The show takes place on 20-23 September, which is too late to feature in this magazine, but it does mean that round about now (depending on when you’re reading this, of course. If you’ve bought the mag and then travelled back to 1962 it won’t have happened yet) you’ll be able to jump onto our website (www.officialnintendomagazine.co. uk) and take a look at all the latest screens, videos and hands-on impressions. Go there now!
The irony of a screenshot from The Cave that doesn’t feature a cave is not lost on us.
THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
017
Connect Your Official Nintendo community views
Network
New ways to connect using 3DS, Wii and DS this month
Quick Tips
1
Download Nintendo Video Step 1
Make sure your 3DS can connect to your wireless connection. If not, set it up via Settings.
Step 2
Head to the 3DS eShop and search for the Nintendo Video app. It’s a free download.
The all-new Professor Burnett… not a great look.
Step 3
Make sure you have your SD card in, because Nintendo Video uses this to save its videos to.
Step 4
Keep your 3DS on Sleep mode and it’ll automatically download new videos every week.
New Every Day
Crazy character design? Yup, it’s a Pokémon alright!
Playlist
Dreaming Of Beaming Make reality a dream with the new Augmented Reality Pokémon game Pokémon Dream Radar is a curious little thing. Coming out on the same day as Black 2 and White 2, the eShop-based app is an added bonus for all you 3DS owners buying the DS title as well as the fully-fledged game itself. This hybrid of Pokémon Snap and Face Raiders will have you assisting brand-new Poké-Professor Burnett to study the spaces inbetween dreams. It all sounds very complicated, but what it amounts to is you whirling around your kitchen in a literally dizzying quest to catch hidden beasts with a very pretty laser beam. Turning on the game will present you with an image of your room of choice, with one key addition - it’s now rather cloudy. With the judicious addition of what we’re calling the ‘dream beam’, you’ll soon find that there are all kinds of surprises behind them, from creatures to collectible currency. The brilliance here is that any Pokémon you catch or money you collect in the process can then be transferred to the main game – which is especially cool when you realise that there’s a chance to grab the new Therian Formes of the legendary Kami Trio (Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus) well before you’ll have the chance to in Black 2 or White 2. We’ve even heard tell that, by inserting previous Pokémon games for Nintendo DS, you’ll be able to grab even older legends. Considering that the updated Pokédex 3D Pro (see next page) comes out soon after, it seems the rewards for owning a 3DS are getting bigger with every Pokémon release, and we couldn’t be happier with that fact. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re off to shoot a Lillipup.
Grab some more classics from Foo Fighters, Queen and Barenaked Ladies with the new Rock Band 3 DLC update.
032 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
Forget the mystical Pokémon, we’re more amazed by how tidy that bedroom is. What is this, a show home?
With luck and anti-nausea meds, this is the kind of legend you’ll earn.
Beyond the Grave
ZombiU lets you leave messages for other players in single-player games. We’re going to lead them into traps.
Connect
2
Community News And Views
Round Of App-lause
Games they’re not, but 3DS apps can still entertain – here are the best of them
Pokédex 3D Pro
We’re Pokémon crazy this month how could we not include this? With 648 of Ken Sugimora’s creations inside, plus AR features and quizzes, this is invaluable to any trainer.
3
Riku, we know that the blue hair dye didn’t turn out quite how you wanted, but cheer up will you? Honestly, some people...
Colors! 3D
Perhaps the biggest bargain on the eShop, this fantastic layer-based masterpiece maker is among the best the 3DS has to offer overall, never mind just the applications.
Nintendo Letter Box
There’s almost no better reason to go grab friend codes than this. We’ll never tire of sending insults to our mates, especially when we can draw useful illustrative diagrams.
Play Your Cards Right New Kingdom Hearts 3D AR cards, you say? That’s the Spirit! The always weird, ever-brilliant Kingdom Hearts series made its 3DS debut recently and it remains one of the best titles on the system. If you’ve been clever enough to grab a copy, then you might remember the two AR cards that came bundled inside, giving you access to new Spirits for your party. Well, for a measly 200 Club Nintendo points, you can grab three more of those magic rectangles and treat yourself to some new friends. Every pack is the same, and doesn’t have any crossover with the cards you already have, so one pack will get you everything on offer. Magic!
Tired of these guys? The new Kingdom Hearts AR cards give you some fresh options.
Fantastic
For those of you still tapping away, there’s another set of four Theatrhythm Final Fantasy songs to download for 90p.
Inchworm Animation
Who made more money: Van Gogh or Disney? Exactly. Don’t just draw pictures, bring them to life with Inchworm and maybe one day you’ll have your own theme park. Maybe.
We can’t help but think Laura there has better things to do with her time.
4
Just look at that little smile – you just know he’s up to something, don’t you?
The Social Network None other than Satoru Iwata wants the Miiverse to be your purpose-built virtual playground Nintendo always likes to do things its own way, so when we heard that Wii U would come bundled with its own online service, Miiverse, we had a sneaking suspicion it would blaze its own trail too. Mr. President himself, Satoru Iwata’s been talking to Kotaku about just that, and revealed that it will function as much as a talking tool as a competitive one. He likened the use of Miiverse to chatting with friends about how to complete a game and it seems to be that communication will be at the front and centre of getting online with the new console. We’ll be letting you know just how it works when we get a hands-on. We’re already massively excited about it.
Penny Pinching
If the global coin total is anything to go by, NSMB2 is pretty popular – the total’s already passed 50 billion!
THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
033
Previews
Previews Previews Nintendo Nintendo3DS Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask
Planet Nintendo’s best forthcoming games “Ubisoft’s hidden-blade debut is going to be spectacular” Assassin’s Creed III Page 60
Contents 58 Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Mario and sticker collecting. Bliss!
60 Assassin’s Creed III
Superlative stealth adventure
62 Fluidity: Spin Cycle Put a dampener on things
64 Bravely Default
Silly name, rather lovely game
66 WWE 13
The wrestling fan’s wrestler
68 Just Dance 4
An new twist on the groove thing
70 Epic Mickey: Power Of Illusion Delightful Disney love-in
72 Spirit Hunter
Round up some restless shades
73 HarmoKnight
Game Freak’s got rhythm
74 escapeVektor
Puzzler with a dash of Tron
75 Cave
Amazing looking platformer
76 Scribblenauts Unlimited
Vocabulary-based hilarity
78 Marvel Avengers Tedious comic brawler
80 Virtue’s Last Reward Ignore the title, this looks ace
81 Tank! Tank! Tank!
Mindlessly brilliant shooter
82 Animal Crossing 3DS This time you’re the mayor...
84 Ace Attorney 5
Top-drawer legal laughs
052 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
Previews Nintendo Nintendo 3DS Previews Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask
Professor LaytonAndThe MiracleMask
Layton takes 3DS on a trip down a puzzle-strewn memory lane n true Professor Layton fashion, here’s a puzzle worth 10 picarats: “What whisks you back to the past, while taking a bold step into the future?” It’s a tricky one all right. You might want to throw a hint coin at it (you’ll find that there’s one hidden in Chandra’s face on page three...). Still struggling? Oh, okay then: you’re reading about it. Professor Layton’s 3DS debut is a game with a foot in the past and an eye on the future. For starters, it’s a sequel to a prequel, the second part of an origins trilogy that charts Layton’s rise to fame and the forging of his partnership with boy assistant, Luke. Think of these prequel adventures as Star Wars Episodes I – III, only Layton’s ‘young apprentice’ doesn’t end up turning into a galaxy-crushing robo-loon at the end. And there’s no Jar Jar bloody Binks to ruin everything. Where 2011’s Professor Layton And The Spectre’s Call revealed the duo’s humble beginnings (and thereby dispelling our long-held belief that Layton had somehow kidnapped Luke), Miracle Mask covers their first big case together. Still riding high from his archaeological find at the end of his last adventure, Layton is invited by a childhood friend to investigate the appearance of an alleged miracle worker in the town of Monte d’Or (not to be confused with the ice
I
Info...
Publisher Nintendo Developer Level-5 Multiplayer No In a word Gentlemanly
ETA:
October 26
THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE 053
Previews Previews Nintendo Nintendo3DS Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask Professor Layton And The Truly Ludicrous Hallucinations
A 1
In Pandora’s Box, Layton and Luke explore Folsense for five hours of game time, only to discover they imagined the town having inhaled ‘mine gas’. And that vampire with whom Layton had a sword-fight? An old man: Layton just hallucinated he was battling a young bloodsucker.
A 2
Professor Layton And The Artificial London
Unwound Future’s big baddie tricks Londoners into thinking they’ve travelled through time by building... a second version of London. He builds it under the real London and connects them by an elevator disguised as a time machine. It took Layton an entire game to work it out. All he needed to do was look skywards. Stupid.
A 3
Professor Layton And The Worst Disguise
Layton’s arch-nemesis, Don Paolo, has an eye for a good disguise. But in order for the plot of Pandora’s Box to make sense, we’re meant to believe that this fat, 40-year-old can dress up as a 15-year-old girl, Flora, without anyone realising. Layton rumbles Don Paolo’s ruse, but why doesn’t anyone else? He’s got a moustache!
A 1
A 2
Professor Layton And The Ridiculous Bits
A 3
A 4
A 5
A 6
The face of smarter interactive fiction doesn’t half take us to some silly places. Here we track the six silliest moments in Layton’s illustrious career
A 4
Professor Layton And The Aquatic Wrestling
Spectre’s Call revolves around the identity of the titular beast: a redeyed fiend that plagues the streets of Misthallery. Layton solves this puzzle by, er, looking at the spectre. Why didn’t anyone else think of this? Probably because the answer was too stupid to accept: the spectre is a mining drill having a fight with a giant otter. Once again: a mining drill having a fight with a giant otter.
054 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
A 5
Professor Layton And The Ruffian’s Sport
Professor Layton is a gentleman, and everyone knows that cricket is the gentleman’s sport, right? Wrong. Layton and his friends make their sporting debut as a hidden team in Level-5’s Inazuma Eleven. The idea of Layton making like Wayne Rooney on the pitch deeply disturbs us. Hell, merely the sight of Layton in football shorts is more than enough to disturb us. A troubling state of affairs.
Professor Layton And The Mysterious Missing Mini-game
A 6
The most baffling moment in Layton’s entire career? Has to be removing the London Life mini-game from European copies of Spectre’s Call. This Animal Crossing-like bonus mode boasted hundreds of hours of content but alas, localisation was considered too time consuming, despite Britain being the only country in the world in which the game was actually set. Gah!
Previews Nintendo Nintendo 3DS Previews Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask
Look at his lovely hair. Across the world, balding games journalists shake their fists.
The fifth Professor Layton adventure takes the currant-eyed puzzle freak to a desert city and back into his own sordid past.
There’s a colourful carnival theme to Monte d’Or. Lots of shifty clowns, too.
Layton’s 3DS debut has one foot in the past and an eye on the future cream)..This is no benign Jesus-alike, bringing the dead back to life or turning water into vintage plonk, but a vicious prankster. In the opening five minutes the masked menace turns a crowd of festival-goers into stone before growing wings and flapping into the night sky. Add in some unpleasantness involving horse transformation and a living art gallery and you’ve got the makings of Layton’s most tangled case yet.
Teenage Kicks
This being Level-5 – the masters of spaghetti-like plots – Miracle Mask is tangled further. After an introductory
That’s what passes for a Transformer in Professor Layton’s antiquated world.
A rare puzzle on the upper 3D screen. Smash totems to mimic the given deisgn.
It’s fun to face off against a preening antagonist instead of a single mystery.
chapter, action splits into two timelines: Layton’s present-day sleuthing and flashbacks to his childhood adventures, as retold to Luke and Emmy (his plucky, kung fu-kicking research assistant) as they relax in their hotel at night. Not only is this a sequel to a prequel, but it contains its own pre-prequel. It’s enough to make Layton’s hat spin. This isn’t the first time we’ve poked around Layton’s past. Lost Future introduced us to his first great love and, more importantly, his first great hat. But Miracle Mask goes further, back to his teenage years, when Professor Layton was plain ol’ Person Layton, or Hershel. ‘Hersh’ to his friends. Unlike Lost Future’s flashbacks video clips, these fl ashbacks are fully playable chunks of the game. Exploring a quiet village makes for a nice change from the hectic neon buzz of Monte d’Or. It also gives us a chance to meet his old school friends, Randall and Angela, a couple who play a key role in first his fi rst steps towards becoming the prof we know and love. Their youthful hi-jinks are almost more interesting than Layton’s present-day work, and we can’t find wait to play more of the game to fi nd out what happens to them. These time jumps are shaping into a brilliant bit of fan service. Exploring the sleepy hamlet of Stansbury – Hersh’s hometown – is a bit of a Back To The
Future moment. Just as Marty McFly stared in disbelief at his hot mum, so there’s a thrill in seeing Layton when he didn’t give a damn about puzzles. There are hints of habits to come – visit the teashop for the beginnings of a severe addiction – and some amusing insights into his formative years. Needless to say, this is a very different person to the hero plastered all over our DS game collection; we wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise of meeting him for yourself. And from the few chapters we’ve played, it’s clear that the events of the past weave closely into the mystery of the present. After following a template for four games – turn up, hear mystery, tap lots of bushes, solve mystery – it’s nice to see Level-5 trying something a bit more ambitious.
Future Perfect
But if this accounts for the first half of our riddle, the ‘whisks you back into the past’ bit, what of that promised ‘bold step into the future’? This is where Nintendo 3DS gets to flex its muscles. To say that Layton games are resistant to change is like saying tabloid papers are resistant to unvarnished truth – bar a change of location it’s impossible to tell Layton 1 from Layton 4. Try to recall a specific moment and it blurs into a mass of spud-shaped faces and accordion parps. THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE 055
Previews Previews Nintendo Nintendo3DS Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask
Love
Monte d’Or
After four dour entries, this is a welcome burst of colour.
Flashbacks
Who can resist a portrait of the professor as a young man?
Mean Miracles
The mystery is much more in your face than past games.
Monte d’Or: the only town where the police look shiftier than the criminals.
Okay, so it isn’t going to win best action game at the Golden Joysticks, but the chance to chase a villain on horseback is a nice break from the 150 puzzles.
It’s the most generous DLC ever: a new puzzle every day for a year
Infernal Accordion
It’s time Level-5 brought its composer a new instrument.
Feeling Stupid Layton still makes leaps of logic beyond any sane mind.
Hint Coins
Tempting and yet so humiliating. Best not to pick them up.
Randall and Agatha are Layton’s childhood chums. He’s a cocksure history fiend, she’s his doting girlfriend. Their past is key to Layton’s future…
While those infernal musical toots aren’t going anywhere (though they’re less compressed in the roomier 3DS cartridge), the potato-shaped faces get a new lease of life, thanks to virtual flesh. Layton’s lumpy citizens translate brilliantly into gesticulating polygon models. For what was stereoscopic 3D invented if not bringing Level-5’s protruding noses, rotund bellies and foot-long necks to life? Granny Riddleton’s demonic grin has to be seen to be believed. Bizarrely, though, it’s
Layton who takes getting used to. Where other characters get fully formed eyes to express their emotions, Layton has to make do with a pair of blank, staring raisins. More than ever before, he resembles a toilet roll with two rabbit droppings sellotaped to it. His younger counterpart fares a bit better, mind, with a natty red jacket to distract from those two scary, unblinking pinpricks. When you’re not shaking in fear at Layton’s ocular cavities, you’re gawping Level-5 achieves with at the lovely things Levelterrificc 3D the world. Monte d’Or is a terrifi creation, with layers of incidental detail piled into an almost shoebox theatre-like design. As you move the onscreen magnifying glass – by dragging the stylus on the touchscreen below – the whole structure shifts with it, giving the effect
When exactly is Layton set? The early 1900s vibe clashes with futuristic robots.
Shelf stacking is hard work. We’ll never make fun of gormless Tesco’s staff again.
056 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
Hate
of peering round corners into a physical space. Very cool indeed.
Fun On Tap
The new control scheme also removes a major Layton bugbear: tap fatigue. What with Level-5 squirrelling away hidden puzzles and hint coins in every last bit of scenery, players could grind their styluses to dust in search of treats. This time, the magnifying cursor illuminates and beeps whenever it touches scenery of note, eliminating the need to tap at every last pixel like a miniature jackhammer. A huge relief, as any Laytonite will attest. The 3D aside, it’s just good to see the extra horsepower of the 3DS add a layer of graphical sheen. It’s particularly nice to see Layton’s Ghibli-esque cutscenes minus the horrible compression artefacts that plagued the DS games. Considering Layton is little more than an animé film broken up with puzzle hurdles, the slick delivery makes all the difference. In fact, our only concern so far is with the puzzles themselves. A dedication to touchscreen controls paints Level-5 into a corner, as most interaction takes place on the distinctly non-3D screen below. A puzzle about ladybirds trapped on a rotating corncob shunts the action up
Previews Nintendo Nintendo 3DS Previews Wii Professor Layton And The Miracle Mask
The Last Action Hero
The professor swaps brains for brawn in his feistiest performance yet!
Sword Loser
Ever wondered how Layton came to be such a good swordsman at the end of Pandora’s Box? You don’t become a top blade-waver by hanging around dusty ol’ digsites. Thankfully, some youthful fencing lessons shed some much-needed light on the subject.
Professor Neigh-ton
The prof climbs into the saddle for a playable chase sequence. Dodging barrels on horseback is hardly Ninja Gaiden, but it’s makes for a nice change of pace. Later in the game you can compete on obstacle courses, too. A whole lotta game for your dosh.
A pair of mystical masks – the Masks of Order and the Mask of Chaos - are at the heart of the mystery. Guess which of the masks is the bad one.
top, but for the most part, the 3D screen is used for 3D illustrations and little else. Here’s hoping we find more stereoscopic puzzles as the adventure progresses. Not that there aren’t some winners in there. The increased screen resolution of the 3DS enables more visual-based puzzles, such as tracking footprints through gloopy mud or looking for images hidden inside others – the kind of nuance that the DS’ blur-o-matic screen simply couldn’t handle. In our first few hours of play, there’s been little repetition of puzzle types from the first four games, a criticism many (rightly) levelled at Spectre’s Call.
Side Attractions
There are also three delightful new mini-games to get your head around. One, piloting a toy robot who can only walk three paces at a time, feels like a riff on Lost Future’s toy car game. You have to steer the robot towards an exit tile, while dodging wind-up mice and grabbing block-destroying power-ups. It’s simple stuff, but does come with a snazzy theme tune that reminds us a bit of Blade Runner, so we’ll happily forgive it. The second game takes the ‘insert the missing word’ formula of Last Spectre’s puppet theatre and grafts it onto a
Cast List
Emmy Altava
Female assistant, scooter driver and all-round arse-kicker.
Clamp Grosky This detective boasts the finest quiff in all of Scotland Yard.
The Masked Gentleman
He’s masked, but no gentleman. Question is: who is he?
Run Hershel, Run!
Feed A Rabbit
A gentleman never breaks into a sprint unless a) someone is about to spill some tea, b) all that tea has finally gone to his bladder and he needs to relieve himself, or c) a carnival is exploding around him. In this case, it’s scenario c). And maybe a bit of b).
It can’t all be action, okay? After a busy day imitating Arnie, it’s a nice to wind down with rabbit petting. Pet it in the right place and it might even learn some new tricks. And if that’s a little boring, you could always keep feeding it carrots until it explodes.
There are few gaming momenst as satisfying as staring at a puzzle for ages only for all the pieces to slot into place. Doesn’t happen often, mind.
Nintendogs-like pet rabbit simulator. When Luke overhears a circus performer lambasting a lazy rabbit, he offers to take the floppy-eared slouch and train him up. We spent a good five minutes trying to teach him to shake his bunny bottom (nothing weird, the game told us to) to no avail. We’re unsure of this one. The star of the show is the new shopping game. You stack shelves in order to tempt the customer’s eye from one item to the next. The trick is to use similar colours or products to force them to buy the entire catalogue. It’s a strangely hypnotic game, though that might just be the pull of nostalgia as we’re taken back to Sunday afternoons stacking shelves in Homebase. Needless to say, any playable flashbacks to our teenage years would be rubbish. Don’t forget the one aside that threatens to dwarf the game itself: the most generous DLC regime ever created. A new puzzle, every day, for a year. It’s a preowned game dealer’s worst nightmare, but an absolute dream for cash-strapped fans. Just don’t expect 365 unique puzzles; if the Japanese DLC was anything to go by, you’ll see that each puzzle is one of 12 types. Still, it’s a massive undertaking, one we’ll still be playing in October 2013.
You’ll need to be an expert in aquatic dentistry to beat this. Good luck with that.
By then, we’ll be rubbing our hands in anticipation for the recently announced Professor Layton 6. The second 3DS outing will round out the prequel trilogy in a game Level-5 president, Akihiro Hino, described as “Layton’s last”. Let’s not dwell on an ominous future, but focus on a glorious past, a past we can finally explore to our heart’s content. Layton’s days may be numbered, but at least Miracle Mask promises more of those days than any game before it. A second puzzle for 10 picarats: will you want to pick up Miracle Mask after next month’s review? We’ll have to pop that one into Granny Riddleton’s shack for the time being, but have a gut feeling that the answer will be a welcome one. Matthew Castle THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
057
Previews Previews Nintendo Nintendo3DS Wii Ace Attorney 5
We can’t wait to make our foes tremble under Phoenix’s giga-fingers.
That’s either the hip new hairstyle to have, or the world’s greatest combover.
The usual courtroom drill given an intriguing twist by new emotion controls. We have no objections to this, your honour.
“We’re fine, this bomb has over 88 minutes left on the timer! Want to see my juggling act? Eh? Why are you running away?”
Info...
Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom Multiplayer No In a word Relieved
ETA:
Summer 2013
Drawing on our years of fictional legal experience, we reckon this is a baddie.
Bald heads and beards usually betoken wisdom. Clearly, Ace Attorney’s Judge didn’t get the memo. The man’s a dolt.
Ace Attorney 5 All the evidence points to a verdict of ‘awesome’ hings haven’t been looking good for the Ace Attorney games on our shores. As sure as the tremble of a newsagent as ONM’s Matthew Castle approaches a Wispa Gold display, any new game featuring our favourite rude lawyer (we were taught never to point) will go on to sell less than the square root of sweet nothing [translation: not very many at all – Ed]. After Ace Attorney Investigations 2 skipped our shores we’d given up on seeing a new sequel (never mind that Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney game we’re all giddy about). The news that the fifth entry is heading westwards makes our hair explode with excitement, in true
T
Wright is back where he belongs, protecting the wrongly accused 084 THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO MAGAZINE
Ace Attorney fashion. That we get to see a whole new game of hair explosions – and in 3D to boot – is almost too much. Hopefully, Wright can keep it together. Making his triumphant return after the introduction of protégé and all-time videogame character name champion, Apollo Justice, our ace attorney ditches the hobo look and takes his rightful place in the courtroom. Er, only for someone to come along and blow it up. Wright’s first case sees him defending Shinobu, a girl accused of setting off a bomb in the courtroom he calls home. Worse, he’s up against the brother of Winston Payne, the follically challenged prosecutor who traditionally opposes players in the games’ opening cases. Unlike his bewigged brother, Payne the younger rocks a rather natty quiff. Should look great protruding in 3D. Of course, familiarity is part of the charm – we often liken Ace Attorney to the greatest TV show never made – but this isn’t to say the game tries nothing
new. Having put us in control of Wright’s voice with the DS microphone (although shyness often forces us to resort to the buttons instead), Capcom now hands the reins over to his face. New ‘emotion controls’ enable Wright to display his feelings on proceedings (happy, sad, surprise, etc.), presumably enabling us to lead witnesses with sympathetic glances. Apollo Justice’s ability to read nervous ‘tells’ felt a little undercooked, so here’s hoping our newly emoting attorney gets more to do with his powers. We’ll also be able to control camera angles during cases, adding to the cinematic vibe of previous games. Add in some bang-on 3D models – the way Wright’s nervous looks translate to his new 3D face is uncanny – and this promises to be a technological update to rival Layton’s similar transformation. Our man in Japan began queuing for the TGS demo the second the game was announced. Full preview next issue. Joe Skrebels