Lost Dimension coming this summer to US

Atlus sent out a press release this morning to announce that they are going to bring Lost Dimension to the US (NISA is going to do the EU release).  Here's their information on the game:

IRVINE, Calif. ­­­-- March 11, 2015 -- In Lost Dimension, a tactical RPG published by ATLUS, an extraterrestrial being literally called "The End" is here to bring about the...uh... end of the world. Only a group of 11 psychically gifted warriors - each with unique abilities - are even remotely powerful enough to challenge this madman, but it won't take long for players to discover The End is not their only foe. As the protagonist, players have the extra special gift of psychic visions, a power that reveals that amongst his most trusted allies are traitors working to bring about the apocalypse. Lost Dimension will be available in stores and digitally beginning summer 2015, exclusively on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system for $39.99.
To subdue the threat The End poses to the entire planet, several countries create a special forces group called SEALED, which is comprised of eleven psychics with superhuman abilities. Each soldier has their own talents and skillsets to use in combat, which can be expanded after gaining enough experience in the field. Bonds of friendship will form amongst the members of SEALED, but be mindful of which allies to keep close, as The End mandates the player must begin eliminating teammates.  Make sure to accuse the right teammate of being a traitor though - once the final battle with The End begins any remaining traitors will fight the main character alongside him.

KEY FEATURES:

• A Cataclysmic Whodunnit! - Not only will players have to keep their eyes focused on strategically defeating the enemies laying in wait on the field of combat, but they need to carefully watch party members' tendencies in order to expose the traitor. At the end of every floor, players will be forced to vote and eliminate one of their trusted allies, and the consequences for choosing incorrectly could be dire...

• Spoiler-Free Zone - In addition to a variety of game mechanics to help assess teammate loyalty, Lost Dimension's traitor system is randomly determined, assuring that no two players will be faced with the same playthrough. Sorry, kiddies, but it's impossible to look up the answers this time around.

• Psychic Warlords - Each character in the party is a master of a different sphere of powers. There's the girl who controls molecular behavior to burn or freeze anything/anyone in her path. There's the guy who can teleport all around (also with the bonus superpower of being satisfyingly cocky). And there's even someone with an identity crisis because all he knows how to do is steal everyone else's powers.

• Keep Your Friends Close... - In between battles, players will have the option to chat with teammates and develop closer bonds with them. Juggling these friendships and keeping track of who participates in battle will be the key to sussing out the traitors and assuring that, by the time you reach The End, it won't be... the end... for you and your allies!

Lost Dimension is a tactical RPG from ATLUS and developed by Lancarse. It will be available in the Americas beginning summer 2015. NIS America has publishing responsibilities for Europe, also slated for a summer 2015 release. For more details on the game, please visit the official website at http://www.atlus.com/lostdimension. This game is not yet rated by the ESRB.

When I read about the game late last year, it sounds really interesting.  I think the mysterious traitor aspect sounds like a unique idea, and could make each playthrough very different.  It is coming to the PS3 and PS Vita, and the title is PSTV compatible.  No word on cross-buy, but I'm thinking it will go the way of Dragon's Crown, and forego that awesome feature.

Etrian Odyssey 2 release window/information

According to a press release from Atlus this morning, Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight is coming out this summer.

The Etrian Odyssey series is a hardcore-slanted dungeon crawler where you assemble a team of create a characters and well, dungeon crawl.  Similar to the Class of Heroes or Wizardy games, the enemies are tough and it takes a lot of careful planning and grinding to make your way through the game.

The Untold series also features a story mode that helps introduce the various aspects of the genre in addition to the near-storyless excursion into the dungeon depths.  I haven't played the first myself, and I'm not really a fan of these types of games, but the missus really likes them (she grew up playing the old Wizardry games on PC).

However, the new character, the titular Fafnir Knight can transform.  I do really like characters with that ability, so it's a shame that he's only in the story mode.  I'd really prefer that to be a class than some of the ones I wouldn't use.

If you are interested, you can watch the announcement trailer here.  The game will launch in the summer at $49.99 on the Nintendo 3DS system family.

ScreamRide (Xbox One) Review

When I first heard about ScreamRide, I figured it to be a Rollercoaster Tycoon-type game.  I was only about 10% right.

ScreamRide is split into three distinct sections.  First is Scream Rider, where you actually control the coaster cart as it goes around the track.  While you don't fully steer the cart, as you are on a track, you are instead tasked with balancing the cart, racking up points and getting to the end on time.  You can accelerate and decelerate while rolling along, and even collect turbo from special sections of the track.  The turbo helps you go faster, but if you don't balance properly on the sharper curves, you can fly off the track and into the scenery.  It's strangely entertaining when this happens, but it will definitely hurt your overall score.  Instead, you want to go fast enough to get the cart up on two wheels (think Policy Academy driving... assuming you aren't too young to get that reference).  It's a tricky balancing act, but it gets you a lot of points.  Your score for each stage will award you with some medals that unlock later stages.  This part controls well and is more fun than I thought it would be, since I'm not a huge racing fan.  Plus, as I said before, it's funny to watch riders or even the whole cart fly away if you take a turn too fast.

Demolition is the second section, as it's my favorite.  They have a selection of buildings set up that you must destroy.  The instrument of destruction is a capsule that has two (willing?) riders.  This cabin is set at the end of a giant spinning arm that you help aim.  I say help, since that's my one complaint with it.  Aiming is really tricky, and it is hard to reproduce any given throw.  A successful throw is very satisfying, making large towers crumble and fall into others or into the water.  There's even targets you can hit, explosive barrels to help destroy structures, and objects that catch the cabin and allow you to launch it in a different direction.  You even get a few different types of cabins to add some variety to the destruction.  Fun to watch and fun to play... I always like destroying stuff in games, just ask my best friend from highschool about our many hours playing Revolution X.

The third and final section is Engineering.  This part most resembles what I thought the game would be like before I played it.  You are given part of a track, and must use the pieces given to finish it off.  It can be a bit of work to get the track to connect how you want it to, but there's no time limit to pressure you.  How the resulting score is calculated wasn't really clear to me.  Also note how long your track must be, since I failed an early level because I didn't know I had to go out of my way to make a super long track.  Engineering is my least favorite section, but it wasn't bad.  The controls worked well, it was just harder for me to get medals because I wasn't sure how the scoring was handled.

There are six areas in the game, containing three or four levels for each of the three activities.  Doing all the math, you end up with 60 levels.  Besides the score medals, each stage has a few extra challenges, like hitting all the bulls-eyes, or getting under a certain time.  Obtaining all of them gets you the last medal for any given stage.  While it's not too hard to pass a stage, getting 100% on them all is a good challenge that can be frustrating.

ScreamRide is one of those "easy to learn, hard to master" games.  The three distinct sections are pretty fun, although Demolition is easily my favorite.  In a way, it reminds me of the good Burnout games, where the two halves were purposefully separated, each with its own set of challenges and progression.  If any of the three sections sounds appealing, I'd recommend trying ScreamRide.  I was pleasantly surprised how much fun the game could be.

Scarygirl Illustration Kit (3DS) Review

Scarygirl Illustration Kit is a nice little art application for the 3DS.  It allows you to draw vector shapes and make animations out of them if you so choose.  It's not too hard, and it thankfully has some nice tutorials that teach you the basics.  They are also repeatable, so if it's been awhile, you can brush up on what to do.

I only have two problems with the program.  One is that it can be a bit tedious to navigate the menu on the touchscreen.  It would be nice if the buttons could be set to a shortcut for some of the functions you use most often.  The second is that you can't add to a shape you made, only resize it.  It isn't the end of the world, but it can make coloring something a hassle, and it's best to just redraw the piece.

Scarygirl Illustration Kit is a fun little program to mess around with.  It won't help you create super detailed pictures, but it is a nice thing to make a few simple animations or some nice vector-based artwork.  If you have any interest in art, it might be worth checking out.