Otaku Gamers UK - News & Reviews: 2013-11-03

Friday, 8 November 2013

Localisation Prospect: Criminal Girls Invitation

Today I'm gonna have a quick peek at Criminal Girls Invitation. I'm not entirely sure why this has been given as much exposure on western websites as it has. No announcement of a localisation has been made, or do they know something we don't? I was going to stick the 'Fan-Service Warning' banner on this but Ive decided not to. In truth, doing so is pandering to people who don't like it while those that don't mind it could find the banner to be an irritation. Either way, not putting it on is the best way to go. You don't like fan-service? Then you wont be reading the article about a game that has it anyway. I guess I could at least mention it in the opening paragraph, but the banner is going to be binned. It was a silly idea anyway! Onto the game...

Nippon Ichi’s punishingly sexy RPG Criminal Girls is finally receiving a PSV release in the form of Criminal Girls Invitation, which promises to upgrade the spanking experience the title was infamous for to use the Vita’s touch panel. Set for release on November 28th, aside from new scenario content, additional playable characters and graphical upgrades, the main addition is that game’s “punishment system” has been updated to take advantage of the Vita’s generous touch panel. Accordingly, players are now promised the ability to reform the poor penitents with spanking using their bare hands… (Sankaku Complex)

EDIT: We now have a review for Criminal Girls Invitation [HERE]

Criminal Girls Invitation is an enhanced port of a PSP game (Criminal Girls) where you guide a group of female prisoners through a tower located in hell to be reincarnated. The girls are punished because of their deeds during their life (which match with the 7 capital sins for each girl) Each girl has a different vice and when you first band them together they won’t always listen to your battle commands. That’s where the punishment system comes in. If they refuse to acknowledge you, a swift punishment can be dealt. How about a bit of spanking? I'm being serious. You can do that if you want. Its a shoujo punishment RPG according to NIS after all.

You've probably guessed that there isn't much to go on. That's true. Anything solid for the game is in Japanese due to the original not making its way west. From what I understand so far, from what Ive read from numerous people able to import & play Japanese games, Is that its not exactly the best game ever though. The PsP version had relatively mundane combat with enemies that weren't necessarily different from each other much (Actually everything about battle is minimal; minimal choices; minimal creature designs and minimal battle animations) and apparently the fan-service aspect of the game wasn't as bad as was made out to be (So far as sexual content goes, aside from the spanking, it's very tame. Compared to Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos it's really nothing) Sounds a little average to me. Why is it getting so much exposure then? Maybe the mainstream actually want this localised? I dunno. The game is due for release in Japan on the 28th November. If we don't hear anything within a few months about a localisation Id say its not coming. Here's some artwork to mull over till then and a Trailer. If these few images don't cut it for ya, follow this LINK. You'll find some saucier artwork! Gonna have to hand it a nosebleed warning though. I guarantee you'll have one.

inal Girls Invitation is an enhanced port of the PSP game where you guide a group of girls through a tower to be reincarnated. Each girl has a different vice and when you first have a team they won’t always listen to your battle commands. That’s where the punishment system comes in. Criminal Girls Invitation has Live 2D models, touch screen controls, and alternate outfits for this part.

The Vita version also has two additional playable characters you can find in the Garden of Evil Memory story episode. This story takes place near the end of the game in night school. Players will run into a blue female-like figure, but it isn’t clear if she is a friend or a foe. Himekami, one of the new playable characters faces a shadow in this story episode, which may be a reflection of her crimes.

Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/17/criminal-girls-invitation-new-story-episode-rated-m-material/#hRYJg6fT5irygCeK.99The Vita version also has two additional playable characters you can find in the Garden of Evil Memory story episode. This story takes place near the end of the game in night school. Players will run into a blue female-like figure, but it isn’t clear if she is a friend or a foe. Himekami, one of the new playable characters faces a shadow in this story episode, which may be a reflection of her crimes.
Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/17/criminal-girls-invitation-new-story-episode-rated-m-material/#hRYJg6fT5irygCeK.99

Criminal Girls Invitation is an enhanced port of the PSP game where you guide a group of girls through a tower to be reincarnated. Each girl has a different vice and when you first have a team they won’t always listen to your battle commands. That’s where the punishment system comes in. Criminal Girls Invitation has Live 2D models, touch screen controls, and alternate outfits for this part.

The Vita version also has two additional playable characters you can find in the Garden of Evil Memory story episode. This story takes place near the end of the game in night school. Players will run into a blue female-like figure, but it isn’t clear if she is a friend or a foe. Himekami, one of the new playable characters faces a shadow in this story episode, which may be a reflection of her crimes.

Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/17/criminal-girls-invitation-new-story-episode-rated-m-material/#hRYJg6fT5irygCeK.99

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Localisation Prospect: Project Diva F [Vita]

I was considering not doing a post after spending most of the night awake with a fever so I feel like death today. Still, with such awesome news last night, provided by Remy Dalmulder (Should give the guy a job keep digging up juicy tidbits like this), of Project Diva F making its way to the west on Vita I can't help but do a post today. Any opportunity to talk about Hatsune Miku & Kagamine Rin should be pounced on!! Is it just me or does the Vita's niche announcements just keep coming lately? Hyperdimension Neptunia PP had me cartwheeling around the office, so this is golden for the Vita. Anyway, lets have a look at this on Vita..

The game retains many of the staples of its gameplay from the previous PsP iterations. Anyone coming from those releases will feel right at home. For everyone else, You'll be dropping into a superbly refined rhythm game that's easy to pick up but devilish when the difficulty its ramped up. Basically, as with all rhythm games, the face buttons are pressed in time with the music to yield points. On Easy only the Circle button is used (also the analogue, more on that later) which is a perfect starting point for anyone new to the game. Up the difficulty and this is where Project Diva really comes into its own. On Normal not only is another face button added but another symbol is then used in-game, an arrow coloured the same way as the face button. With this you have to press the face button and the corresponding D-pad direction - ie Square+Left for an arrow the same colour as the square button facing left. The jump up to Normal takes a little getting used to, especially if you have just finished Easy, but the Jump to Hard isn't too bad once you've cleared Normal. Its the same but just uses all the buttons (except LI,R1,L2,R2) I have yet to try Extreme but if the PsP versions are any indication, Ill be sobbing in the corner after 30 seconds. With this being a new release there are a few changes to the old formula. The most notable is the 'Star' symbol which requires a flick of the analogue although these tend to usually only show during the new 'Technical Zone' portion of a song. The Technical Zone is another new addition whereby you have to maintain an uninterrupted combo within a time limit for bonus points. Another change comes with the 'Chance Time'. While bonus points are still awarded during this segment like in previous releases, A star in the corner will also fill up ( 'Cool' will fill the star quicker than 'good') which when filled will enable a singular rainbow star to appear at a later interval in the song. Hit this Star and not only will you get a nice boost to your points but also a bonus event will happen during the song. - Anyone who's been following my stuff will notice this segment as being from my Ps3 Project Diva F review. That's because the game plays practically identical aside from obvious differences in regards to touchscreen controls instead of analog (although the analog control was a minor gripe in my review so that's an improvement!)

There is one minor concern so far with regards to content. Will it feature the full set of 44 songs (including DLC) from the console version or will it be cut back to its eastern brethren? No one knows at the moment but with the game being 5+GB on Ps3 and Vita cartridges only holding up to 4GB, somethings gonna have to give. With the game not having to push 1080p on a handheld with a 960x544 screen, hopefully the obvious reduction in asset file sizes from dealing with a lower resolution will yield the space for those extra songs. Its not a deal breaker for me by any means. Graphically it should hold up to its big brother fairly well. From what Ive seen in screenshots it looks to be the same, just a tad less detail and a bit more aliasing. Everything else appears to have made it, so hopefully it'll have all the content of the Ps3 version chucked in too to make it a tasty deal.

One gripe though. Its digital only in both the EU & the US. I was hoping for physical for those AR cards, but if they keep that in and allow the printing of the cards I guess Ill be happy enough. No release date penned by SEGA either, Just an 'early 2014' statement. The main concern I had with the Ps3 version was that Id always played via PsP before so playing on a console seemed a bit jarring. Ill be double-dipping for this but I'm not sure about doing a review for what is the same game. The main gripes (inaccurate analog & non-handheld version) are both being rectified, so does that mean the Vita version would be a 10/10!? Maybe. It is a perfect handheld game after all, but the Ps3 review would still stand for the Vita version too so I doubt I'm going to review twice. You'll have to decide for yourself whether it gets that extra point or not on the Vita. If your interested, here's the Project Diva F Ps3 review

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

Retrospective: Army Men Series

Today Im going nostalgic. Like really nostalgic. The series Im gonna do a post on today was pretty much universally panned (aside from a few notable releases) but nevertheless managed to build a cult following. And why not? Back in my day all the kids played with army men at some point. Not sure about the young uns today, but it was sort of like a right of passage back then. Those were the days, building battlefields in the back garden and ignoring your mum shouting you in for your tea as there's still a few stragglers holed up to take care of. Good Times. So what about the games?

Localisation Prospect: Demon Gaze

What to do today? Well I've decided to do some localisation & retrospective stuff for a while seen as I've got a bunch of games to play through until I can review them. The only problem with reviewing Jrpg's is you've gotta put time into them otherwise you'll unfairly review them. I could do with keeping an eye out for some quirky niche titles that aren't Jrpg's seen as they don't need as much playtime as an Rpg to review. Today I'm going to look at Demon's Gaze. Its been out in Japan now since January but was announced for localisation several days ago & is due in early 2014 on our shores.

The game takes place thousands of years after the events in the prequel Students of the Round, which appeared on PsP. You play the role of Oz, a mysterious young man with the power of a magic eye that allows him to seal demons. The game allows you to create secondary characters that can join him on his quest, with seven character classes and five different character races to mix things up from altogether. There are 45 character illustrations, which may be changed by "taking a bath". The demons in the game are part machine and have the ability to go on a rampage and maybe transform too. After you have defeated a demon you are then able to summon them to use yourself.
Oz journeys into the dungeons of Mislid to kill the demons and gather treasure before returning to town with his loot. Loot can then be used to pay for the rental fee at the inn you are staying or to buy weapons & equipment for your party. Battles take part in dungeons, but the game's central hub is set in a town. While at the inn or in the town, You can rest or have conversations with other characters at the inn, inn, Certain characters you have a chat with can trigger event cutscenes too, so it may be worth talking to almost everyone that you can.

Gameplaywise I'm gonna use an excerpt from a preview on Kotaku - Demon Gaze is very much a dungeon crawler RPG in the vein of games like Wizardry. The basic flow of the game is that you take a party of characters into a 3D dungeon, a la the old Windows 95 3D Maze Screensaver, where you explore, battle monsters in basic turn-based combat, collect treasures, level your characters, return to a base of operations to recuperate and sell off excess items to buy better items, and head back into the dungeon to explore further. It's all very straightforward. My own experience with these types of dungeon RPGs is somewhat limited. I played but never cleared the original Wizardry on my father's Mac back in the 80's (P.S. Trevor sucks), and I played the Game Boy game Wizardry Gaiden 2 -Curse of the Ancient Emperor- so much so that I ended up with a party of characters with over 3,000 hit points apiece. Those are my only real points of comparative reference, so I don't know how Demon Gaze stands up to or compares with more recent dungeon RPGs. Sounds like It could be similar to Eterian Odyssey IV, which personally didn't go down to well with me. Lets hope that's not the case and theres more to it than meets the eye.

It all sounds like a decent dungeon crawler with some nice artwork (Judging from the screenshots) With my previous experience with dungeon crawlers not being too hot I'm not as hyped for this as Id usually be at the prospect of a localised Jrpg for Vita. Still, come 2014 I'm sure ill be grabbing a copy and reviewing it for you guys. Looking forward to it yourself?

Monday, 4 November 2013

Roundup: Reviews so far...

Yeah we got cheerleaders today as Its been almost 2 months now and with reviews for new & recent game releases now starting to make their way onto here more often, things are starting to pick up! I thought Id compile together all the reviews so far to see whats been looked at already. Over the weekend I traded Dragon's Crown & Pokemon Y so Ive managed to grab a handful of games that I may review over the next couple of weeks. The biggie would Probably be Disgaea D2 which released a couple of weeks ago, so Ill hopefully drop one onto here for that next week. What else is coming? Who knows, but the reviews are definitely going to be continuing to be published on a regular basis. With this list the reviews are listed in chronological order (oldest first > newest last) with links to the complete review under the conclusion. Onto the list!!

Project Diva F (Ps3) - 9/九
What we have here is a superb rythmn game. There is no denying that fact (Personally I couldn't help but wish I was playing this on the Vita though, damn SEGA!, but maybe that will come with the sequel next year). While people who have no interest in Vocaloids or rythmn games will probably give this game a miss regardless, any open-minded gamer out there looking to try something new could do a lot worse then to give Project Diva F a chance. There is the odd little niggle here n there, lack of online leaderboards probably the most glaring for a console release, but the gameplay has almost been refined to perfection that anyone who endears themself to Project Diva F can have hours of enjoyment. With the game also sporting the Studio n Edit features and the ability to share data online, even more hours could be lost creating your own content or downloading others. With bags of content, Stunningly refined & addictive gameplay, smooth graphics and a great soundtrack that all adds up to a must buy for Vocaloid fans. For everyone else, I cant recommend this game enough. If your still on the fence though you'd be a fool to pass up on this when theres a sale/price drop. All in all, a superb entry in series! Did I mention it features Hatsune Miku!!??
(Review Link)

Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll (Ps3) - 6/六
So what can I say here? Well, I commend Omega Force for trying to create a JRPG for a western audience. The problem is that in doing so, the JRPG aspects of the title come across as being a little underdeveloped, especially the lack of a crafting system. At times the game comes across as unfocused and its structure suffers somewhat leaving it to feel a little repetitive. While I didn't like its art-style, the fantasy styling will appeal to those fond of Western RPG's without a doubt but its technical shortcomings should also be something to be cautious of. While it deos have its shortcomings, the combat system for Trinity is actually really good, superb even. But alas, games are a complete package so even a few notable parts of greatness cannot stop the inevitable. While I can't say Id recommend this game, If you see it cheap (around £10/$10) you could do a lot worse. If your mindful of the shortcomings Ive pointed out then the combat system may be enough to keep you entertained and you could get some enjoyment from the game.
(Review Link)

Earth Defense Force 2017: Portable (Vita) - 8/ 八
While the game does little to belie its budget nature, practically revelling in its B-movie charm, Its the prime example of a gamers game. Gameplay is king and with Sandlot having made sure the most basic mechanics of gameplay are well developed, a lot of fun can be had by anyone who gives it a chance. The secondary character, Palewing, doubles the content and is great bonus for those that have played the original due to her different play style. Will it appeal to everyone? No. Its budget nature ensures a niche audience but for those looking for pure gameplay goodness, There aren't many games that betters it and the amount of content for £23.99 is more than worthy. Take a chance and I guarantee you'll be chanting 'EDF EDF EDF' or shouting 'Come on you apes. You wanna live forever!' in your best Micheal Ironside impression before the war is won.
(Review Link)

Majin & The Forsaken Kingdom (Ps3/Xbox360) - 7/七
While the game does have some technical issues & the odd clunky moment, it has enough charm to supersede its issues and provide a fairly entertaining romp. The puzzle filled adventure gameplay will no doubt keep your mind ticking over and would interest those nostalgic for adventure games of yesteryear. Where the game succeeds the most is in its ability to convey the need for the characters to rely on each other. The vulnerability that sets in when you are separated from the Majin is testament to that. If you can look past its niggles & rough around the edges nature, You'll find a charming adventure that shows a symbiotic relationship can be struck up between a player & their AI partner.
(Review Link)

Beyond: Two Souls (Ps3) - 9/九
As a swansong for the Ps3 before the next generation starts, Its a superb technical showpiece for the Ps3 while also giving us a glimpse at what to expect from the next generation with regards to fidelity & cinematic aspects. The odd moment of clunky writing and direction slightly mar an otherwise superbly compelling narrative though, but even then it never falters. The streamlining of gameplay also comes across as a little too simplified at times, but in an industry of complexity - Beyond's simplicity could be regarded as a breath of fresh air by some. If you can live with these minor issues though, you'll find yourself immersed within an emotional rollercoaster of a journey that is one of the best, if not the best, cinematic & unique experiences you'll find in gaming.
(Review Link)

Dragon's Crown (Vita) - 7/七
While at first the game appears to offer surprising RPG depth, you'll come to realise that assumption was fleeting as your nostalgia dissipates and the repetitiveness from the grind sets in. Co-op is the games shining light though, reinforced by the latest cross-play patch, that will help alleviate this when coupled with the Vita's party system. The visuals are majestic & the game seems a perfect fit for the Vita, but the game is also lacking in numerous areas like its level count & RPG elements (to name a couple) which could hurt its long term appeal. Dragons Crown does enough to warrant a recommendation though, with the Vita version being the one to go for it you have the option.
(Review Link)

Lollipop Chainsaw (Ps3/Xbox360) - 8/ 八
Lollipop Chainsaw features the spirit of those arcade games of yesteryear, with its Hack & Slash combat married to a gameplay system that's all about getting that high score. While a few issues like its lack of levels & lack of a challenge on standard difficulties may breed a little caution, Its a game that's worth at least a playthrough. The Grindhouse/Exploitation theme is absolutely superb and while those that find it vulgar will skip over this, everyone else will find a game that's hilarious from start to finish. While it lasts about as long as it takes to get to the soggy paper stick your lollipop was clung to, its just as sugary sweet an experience.
(Review Link)

The Guided Fate Paradox (Ps3) - 7/七
As mentioned previously I came into this off the back of the amazing Z.H.P, i should mention that I am not a fan of this genre to be fair. I have enjoyed titles from it mainly Izuna and mostly Z.H.P which was helped by a fantastic cast and NIS's signature comedy. Unfortunately as mentioned earlier not a single character made an impression on me to the point iv had to reference the game in remembering each characters name!.

This is such a let down for me considering iv always found the Disgaea series having memorable casts and even some of the side characters in Z.H.P are etched in my memory (Chiti Wok anyone?!).

I feel for me personally with it lacking that element I felt no drive with TGFP on top of what seemed like a cutscene hitting after every floor of the dungeon which also seemed to last longer than the time I spent on that floor!.
(Review Link)

And Finally...

Pokemon X & Y (3DS) - 7/七
Its hard to deny that the series has lost some of its charm & magic due to the wealth of iterations that has come before. While the refreshed 3D graphics look gorgeous on the 3DS, although the 3D is woeful to say the least, those looking for a similar refresh in gameplay will be sorely disappointed. Theres still fun to be had but X & Y's general structure & gameplay remains almost identical to its forbears, whether the new additions are enough for you to overlook that is something to consider. Pokemon X & Y isn't quite the Magikarp of the series, but its far from the Gyarados either.
(Review Link)

Review Policy

Surprised to not have been flamed to death by angry fanboys over having the audacity to award a Pokemon game such a score as I have. Been a few 7's of late though as releases lately just seem to have been 'good' with not much better making its way onto our shelves and pockets. I picked up Alpha Protocol yesterday due to it being a bit of an unknown known to me. Mostly been reviewing games that I know are going to be at least good (hence why Ive purchased them) which is why there's only one 6 so far, so my thinking is that this game could go either way so it should be interesting. If theres anything poeple would like to see a review of thats due for release soon or has had a release within the past 2/3 months then let us know and we'll see what we can do!