Review: Brawl Busters (PC MMO)
On the surface it’s hard to forgo the obvious similarities of Brawl Busters to Valve’s popular Team Fortress 2 title. There’s no escaping the fact that the character models share the same whimsical charm, and that it’s red vs blue, but once you dig a little deeper and get a few games under your belt, it starts to show its true colours and proves to the world that it’s not just a simple knock off.
To kick things off in Brawl Busters, you’ll need to choose a class – The long ranging Slugger, The slow but durable Firefighter, the sluggish but heavy hitting Blitzer, the speedy but fragile Boxer and the all-rounder Rocker – to then head straight into online action, or engage in some single player missions to sharpen your skills.
Upon starting the game, you’re given a brief tutorial of the game’s controls which are simple but effective, though certain actions including dodging do make it feel that Brawl Busters could have benefited from gamepad support. They chose to opt for a third person camera, as opposed to the ever popular first person viewpoint, which can make playing with a keyboard and mouse a little more tricky than if it was a first-person shooter. However, these are minor issues and not deal breakers and you’re more likely to be less responsive due to ping rather then the controls. Overall you can say that the controls get the job done.
On the presentation front, Brawl Busters is very successful, even the menus have an “in your face!” attitude to them with the bright colours, extending to the stats screen with their funky charm. The level are very well designed, each one showcasing a theme and varying in size; with Pinball Avenue you’ll find yourself battling over a stage that’s laid out like a pinball machine, having to concentrate on dodging rolling balls and flying vehicles on top of both environmental hazards and your opponents themselves. Rumble Factory has you fighting in a small arena with everyone having to be careful they don’t fall to the ground below or else they will be quickly burned. The classes look pretty nifty and animate quite well and while the special attacks won’t have the anyone’s jaw’s dropping anytime soon, it’s still proves to be entertaining.
What’s great is that for a good looking game, you don’t need a powerful machine. In fact what you should be concerned with more is how good your connection is, as that will determine if you will have fun or just find the hectic experience that Brawl Buster provides frustrating.
For game modes, you have the classic Team Deathmatch, and while this may be familiar to any shooter fan, the main goal is to be the first team to achieve a certain score (in Brawl Buster’s case, nine points). There’s also Glow Rush, proving to be quite weird as it can be over quickly or very drawn out. The aim of the game is to get a certain amount of points (or have the most when time has run out) and each player begins with eight points. When you kill a player with points you take those points BUT also add to your own value. So killing someone with eight points gives you 16 points but if someone kills you they get those 16 points. It’s a mode where beginners will be punished more harshly by skilled players than any other mode and so you may find it either fun or very frustrating.
Free-For-All also makes an appearance, especially if you can’t stand being in a team and two co-op modes if you can’t stand fighting against human opposition; Zombie Survival and Boss Battle. It’s nice that Brawl Busters caters to all kinds of players, even if most will go for the Team Deathmatch or Free-For-All.
One of the more surprising postive elements about Brawl Busters is the music, providing a very funky backing track with different menu screens having their own distinctive tunes. While it’s not perfect, Brawl Buster’s soundtrack is probably one of the more enjoyable ones compared to other F2P’s (Free to Play), since it’s very catchy. Hopefully they’ll be adding more toe-tapping ditties and even have personal tunes for the classes themselves.
With being a F2P game, Brawl Busters does of course offer you the chance to gain an edge via a the ever popular micro-transaction item shop. There are two types of currency; Buster Points which you get through gameplay and allow you to buy permanent fashion clothes which have no affect on gameplay but allow you to look your best while kicking ass, and Rock Tokens which have to be brought with real cash and allow you to get weapons and armour that will give you a definitive advantage but only for a number of days. It is nice some of the stuff in Brawl Busters cash shop doesn’t require the process of spending actual money.
So what about the game itself? While some will play Brawl Busters for hours and hours (like you would any typical MMO game), getting to level 20 (required to play Ranked Matches) takes a lot of time. Brawl Busters seems to be more of a game that you’ll play between 30 minutes to a couple of hours each day. Having a good connection will see you play for longer and if you’re lacking skills or interest in this genre, Brawl Busters will not change your mind (though being a recent release means that it’s the best time to jump online).
Overall though, it’s a fun hectic game that has tons of personality and potential for growth. It’s not a Team Fortress 2 beater, but it looks like Brawl Busters isn’t trying to be. It’s just a fun arena based shooter with it’s own fun spin on the genre.
7/10
Note: Brawl Busters is a free-to-play Online Multiplayer Action video game developed by Korean developer SkeinGlobe, and published by Toronto-based publisher Rock Hippo Productions, and is available for the PC. The game was officially released on December 15, 2011.
You can download it here – http://www.brawlbusters.com/download
Japan video game sales charts – January 9th – January 15th
The latest software sale figures for the Japanese video game industry sees sales slumping with even the top selling game failing to sell over 100k copies.
If you think about it, it’s not surprising that the Japanese video game sales charts shows that even the #1 game only just sold over 80k copies. With parents having given their money to children last week as part of “Otoshidama“, they themselves don’t have much to spend and children have little to spend, especially those who don’t get any kind of income (such as allowance”. So as a result, the fact that Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Masou Kishin I & II manage to get the top spot on its debut feels underwhelming. The only other new debuts to get into the charts was Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, which got to 7th spot with over 16k copies sold and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy which took the 9th spot with just under 13k copies sold.
As such, this week’s charts will feel familiar to last week as Nintendo still dominate, system and publisher wise. What is interesting is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Dubbed Version) made a re-entry into the charts making it the biggest climber, going from 24 to 19 (the Go Vacation Last Week and This Week stat seem to be an error). Monster Hunter series continues to be…Well a monster in sales, with Monster Hunter 3G staying in 3rd spot while Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP the Best) climbs up from 18 to 13. The biggest drop belonged Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, going down by seven positions while the aforementioned Go Vacation, Inazuma Eleven Strikers 2012 Xtreme and Nintendogs + Cats followed closely with the former two dropping by six positions while the latter went down by five positions. Final Fantasy XIII-2 continues to do poorly and it reaching the million mark seems like a huge struggle, if not impossible. Square Enix will be banking on the North America and European sales to do very well.
Source: Siliconera
BioShock Infinite takes you back to the challenging days with 1999 mode
Irrational Games has revealed a new mode for BioShock Infinite called ’1999 Mode’, which will see the gameplay of Bioshock Infinite become more demanding with permanent decisions.
“…These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They’re back! There’s no choice left. And I’m ready for war.” – Marv, Sin City
Fallout: New Vegas had hardcore mode which added more difficult tweaks such as the way you heal broken limbs or radiation poisoning and having to eat, drink water, and sleep. Now BioShock Infinite will something similar with the 1999 Mode, which will see players requiring to think more deeply about their choices if they want to get through with Elizabeth to the end.
Tweaks and features will be exclusive to this mode, with even the hardest difficulty for the standard single-player mode in BioShock Infinite not featuring the kind of challenges one can expect from 1999 Mode.
So how did 1999 Mode come about? “We want to give our oldest and most committed fans an option to go back to our roots,” said Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games. “In 1999 Mode, gamers face more of the permanent consequences of their gameplay decisions. In BioShock Infinite, gamers will have to sweat out the results of their actions. In addition, 1999 Mode will demand that players pick specializations, and focus on them.
“I’m an old school gamer. We wanted to make sure we were taking into account the play styles of gamers like me. So we went straight to the horse’s mouth by asking them, on our website, a series of questions about how they play our games. 94.6 percent of respondents indicated that upgrade choices enhanced their BioShock gameplay experience; however, 56.8 percent indicated that being required to make permanent decisions about their character would have made the game even better.”
So you can expect to see demanding weapon, power, and health management and even the “Game Over” screen if you don’t have enough resources to be brought back to life. Even veterans of the BioShock series would be advised to have a playthrough of the standard single-player before diving into 1999 Mode. Who knows? “BioShock tough” could become a new meme in the video game industry in a few years time.
Prince of Persia Jumps Its Way onto the 3DS and Wii
Nintendo’s eShop (along with Nintendo DSi shop and Wii Shop Channel) gets an update this week, and included for 3DS and Wii owners are the retro Prince of Persia games.
Depending on where you shop, you will get a different version of Prince of Persia. Those who browse the eShop will find the Game Boy Color version while those who check out the Wii Shop Channel will find the SNES version.
For DSi owners…Yeah you’re screwed as you get no Prince of Persia. On the plus side you get 40-in-1 Explosive Megamix and a cute looking tower defense game called Come On! Heroes. Okay so that’s not much of a consolation, especially with the former sounding like a huge waste of time. At least the latter seems to be charming with a cute visuals and hopefully an amusing story behind it.
You can check out the prices and descriptions below.
For those using Nintendo Video, you’ll be pleased to hear that:
“Available this week via Nintendo Video, is the next instalment of the Circus 3D series. Circus 3D is a series of clips which will transport you into a world of a real life circus and put you the viewer in the heart of the action wherever you may be. Take in a birds-eye view of an acrobat on parallel bars or feel like you are with the artists on stage through innovative points of views. Watch an aerial performance from the floor or the point of view from inside a cage with tigers. Circus 3D will offer you an exhilarating experience which immerses you into circus life as if you were actually there, all in 3D and in the palm of your hand.”
“Also available this week via Nintendo Video is a 3D clip courtesy of Red Bull, showcasing some of the world’s best skiers taking part in the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel, Austria. From the Start all the way down to the finish, this unprecedented 3D clip provides a breathtaking insight into the toughest downhill ski race in the world.”
Celebrate Valentine’s Day early with Catherine
Deep Silver have announced that those who pre-order Catherine will recieve some nice extra goodies.
Catherine is set to be released on February 10th and if you’ve pre-orderd before then you’ll get an exclusive artbook and a soundtrack CD. The artwork will not be available anywhere else (until someone makes scans of the exclusive artbook) and the same goes for the music found on the soundtrack CD (until again someone rips the CD and posts it to be downloaded).
The pre-order bonus will only be available through a “special retail partner” that Deep Silver have chosen. For the UK I would say it will most likely be GAME who will carry the pre-order bonus.
Catherine will be released in Europe on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 10th, 2012.
Japan video game sales charts – January 2nd – January 8th
The latest software sale figures for the Japanese video game industry have been released, seeing Nintendo dominate the charts.
According to Siliconera, the software sales benefited from a Japanese New Year tradition called “Otoshidama” where “children receive money from relatives after the new year begins” (I wish that was a British tradition).
As you can see on the sales chart below, Nintendo has benefited the most from this tradition, with two games in the top five (Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land taking the top two spots respectively), six games in the top ten and altogether ten games in the top 20. Namco Bandai and Capcom also got a good rub from Otoshidama as they had three and two games place in the charts respectively.
System wise, Nintendo again dominate as five Nintendo 3DS titles, two Nintendo DS titles and NINE Nintendo Wii titles take up the charts, leaving only two PSP and PS3 titles to fill the rest of the top 20. No surprises that no Xbox 360 titles are to be found in the top 20 as rarely do they remain on the charts for more then one week. No PS Vita titles appearing may be alarming but I’ll attribute that to early days.
Onto the games themselves. the aforementioned Mario Kart 7 retains its top spot while Super Mario 3D jumps up from 4th to 2nd spot. Monster Hunter 3G goes down one position but Capcom will be pleased to see Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (PSP the Best) re-enter the Japanese software sales charts at number 18, after spending last week at the 26th spot. That’s not the only game to re-enter the charts; Rhythm Heaven (21st to 19th position), One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 New World (24th to 18th position) and Magician’s Quest: The Stylish Wizard (22nd to 16th position). However, the most impressive re-entry is Nintendogs + cats, climbing a whopping 10 positions to go from 23 to 13. Biggest drop was Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, which dropped from 17 to 20.
In other notes, Final Fantasy XIII-2 continues to do poorly (compared to the Final Fantasy XIII) and Level 5 will be please to see the Otoshidama tradition give them a much needed boost of sales for Inazuma Eleven Go: Shine/Dark, which had suffered compared to previous Inazuma Eleven installments.
Source: Siliconera
Latest The Secret World trailer exposes the Illuminati
EA have released a new trailer for The Secret World that reveals details about the Illuminati organisation. The trailer shows how they think and how they operate; “they play hard and they work hard.”
The Secret World has quietly been getting hype as an interesting MMO. At the very least the story overall seems to be more in-depth then your usual MMO. The trailer below gives us a look at the Illuminati, an organization that seems to be more chaotic then sinister (though that’s not to say they lack the latter) and see themselves as the big dogs of The Secret World universe. Also for those who consider themselves connoisseurs of alcohol, there’s a handy recipe at the end of the trailer.
The Secret World Illuminati Teaser Trailer
Source: MMOJunkie
Become the Legend that never dies in the UK’s SoulCalibur V tournament
As SoulCalibur V releases next month, Namco Bandai have decided that the games arrival will be the perfect time to find just who is king at SoulCalibur V in the UK.
Those who want the chance for bragging rights (and of course “exciting prizes”) can sign up at the SoulCalibur V launch party at The Chapel Bar in Islington from 12-6pm on Saturday 4th February. Admittance to the tournament will be on a first-come- first-served basis, with a limit of 200 players. And of course, if you need some liquid courage there will be a “limited free bar.”
This will all lead the best players qualifying to take part in the UK finals on March 16th, with the winner awarded the grand distinction of taking part in the European finals in London.
For those who can’t make it to the SoulCalibur V meetup but want to check out their potential online opposition or just want to watch at home, Namco Bandai will be streaming selected matches at http://www.twitch.tv/namcobandaiuk.
It’s not just all about finding the best SoulCalibur V player in the UK though, as Madcatz will be demonstrating their SoulCalibur V Soul Edition arcade sticks and showcasing top UK and French players Ryan Hart (Prodigal Son) and Marie-Laure Norindr (Kayane) skills via giving out tips and taking part in exhibition matches.
The stage of History will be set when SoulCalibur V is released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in the UK on February 3rd 2012.
Taito’s Rayforce blasts its way onto the iPhone
Rayforce, the classic arcade and Sega Saturn shmup game from taito, will be making its grand return onto the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The iPhone has become a hotbed for shmups, with Cave showing that the smartphone wonder can actually handle shmups very well, with Dodonpachi Resurrection and Deathsmiles showing how it’s done. Now Taito will attempt to prove that one of their shmup gems, Rayforce, will be just as playable and addictive as it was in the arcades back in 1993.
With this being an iPhone app, it won’t just be a simple port as it will come with, according to the press release: “Specially Enhanced for iPhone with Customizable Options and Game Center Support! RAYFORCE includes a variety of features intended to provide the most optimized iPhone experience possible. Intuitive smartphone controls allow players to guide their X-LAY fighter with simple sliding gestures and a number of customization options have been included, allowing players to change the game to best suit their individual play styles. Purists may choose to view the game with its original arcade aspect ratio, while others may enjoy the game in the full-screen zoomed mode. Manual weapon controls are available for experienced shooting fans, but automatic firing has also been provided for those preferring a button-free experience. Finally, Game Center support with stage-specific global rankings and a wide variety of challenging achievements complete the iPhone experience.”
If Rayforce proves to be a success we may see it’s sequels Raystorm and Raycrisis in the future. Rayforce is available now from the app store for £7.99. You can check out the screenshots and trailer below.
Rayforce Trailer
Rayforce Screenshots
Sega wants you to see Binary Domain as ‘Bigger than you Think’
Sega have released a new trailer for their sci-fi action game Binary Domain with the title being ‘Bigger than you Think’ in where viewers will see cut-scenes and gameplay footage.
During the two-minute trailer, we see mostly story elements that seem to showcase Binary Domain as more then just about shooting androids and saving the world from a crisis. Instead Sega promises to deliver more then that with a in-depth look at the actions and consequences of the humans and androids.
That’s not to say that the shooting itself will be overshadowed by the story, and Sega do give us a short look at how the gunfighting will do down. So far it looks good but a gameplay video will give us a clearer indication of what to expect.
Check out the trailer below. Binary Domain’s release dates are: EU 24th February, USA on the 28th February and Australia on the 23rd February.
