From the developers that brought you Anodyne (Jonathan Kittaka and Sean Hogan), comes a new platformer that I think may have some legs. I played, Even The Ocean in a pretty bare bones state yesterday at the Indie Mega Booth, but the concepts that Hogan briefed me on were enough to get me excited about its eventual release.
Blacklight Retribution is a game that doesn’t do much in the way of innovation for first person shooters, but it’s a game that’s going to help set an interesting precedent this Fall. Blacklight Retribution is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter that feels like it could compete with bigger budget titles – at least in terms of gameplay.
When the 3DS was first announced, I made one of my strong statements that I always make about the launch of consoles I’m not too hot on.
I said that I’d buy a 3DS as soon as they released a new Ace Attorney game, and after playing a 30 minute demo of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, I’m ready to make good on my promise this fall, even if some oddities in the writing and gameplay were present.
To make a great adventure game in my eyes, you need two things: fantastic writing and and a beautiful setting.
I’ve played through and enjoyed games that lacked in other areas but had those two traits, and yesterday I played through a 15-minute demo of Supergiant Games’ Transistor. The game passed my preliminary requirements with flying colours – colours and shapes that constantly warped and animated around the games’ world.
Of the three shows that I’ve recommended this weekend, Godless Sunday is the one that I’m the most undecided on. That’s partially due to an extended narrative-frame that’s developing at the start of the show. But if the intrigue of heavenly Grave Keepers and forsaken immortal humans, can be maintained, I’m willing to buy-in to future story arcs.
There are five racoons in this shot. Believe it.
The Eccentric Family is a show that I can recommend to anyone at this point in the season. Whether you’re a harsh anime critic, or you’re a Western-culture centred person looking for a step out of your comfort zone, it’s sure to engage you with its unique appeal.
Great comedy-dramas are works that really get me going. There’s always something there to make you chuckle and keep you hooked, but in each joke there’s an iota of character development that – over time – weaves a slightly bitter narrative that becomes more powerful as your investment in the happenings increases.
The Eccentric Family looks like it’s going to be a great comedy-drama that oozes originality, and that’s what has me jazzed.
Stella Women’s Academy (or Stella), on its most basic level, is a show about high school girls that are part of a club, but it has got one hell of a conceit.
It sounds like the description of every slice-of-life safe-bet anime that’s aired every season since K-On! took Japan by storm in 2009. Actually, I also just described the core of three other original series that started airing along side Stella. The proliferation of the setup is getting a little ridiculous.
But Stella is a lighthearted show all about airsoft, not traditional athletics, music or supernatural shenanigans. It’s about oddballs in a private girl’s boarding school shooting at each other with plastic pellets. If there was even the slightest hint of a joke in the show’s execution, I would have stopped watching it in an instant. But while Stella may be lighthearted, it’s lacing it’s combat boots as straight as a show about replica firearms possibly can.
At the beginning of each anime season, I’ve taken to pulling up “The Chart:” a master list of every animated piece of entertainment of Japanese origin that you can view in the next three months. From the movies set for release in theatres, the OVA episodes slated for home releases, and of course the list of currently airing weekly television series.
The chart combines information from official press releases and promotional materials currently available to the public, and they provide a handy visual cue that helps me compartmentalized the shows I want to see.
Kevin Pennyfeather 