Posted on : 05-07-2012 | By : Cacophanus | In : Reviews
Despite the ongoing and thoroughly erroneous myth that all Gundam games are awful, it’s always nice to play a new Gundam Battle game by Artdink. Pretty much every game in the series has given us hours of gaming pleasure (to a greater or lesser extent obviously). So to finally have another Gundam Battle game after Universe announced for the PS Vita, we were more than a little excited. Interestingly though instead of using the Universal Century timeline, the game is solely based around the Cosmic Era from the Gundam SEED saga.
Despite what many think, changing up to develop from PSP to Vita is no mean feat for a developer as small as Artdink. As the handheld is closer to PS3 levels of development, which means exponentially more art resources and greater code risks. Picking SEED was a relatively “safe” choice as after the original Gundam as it’s one of the pantheon’s most successful entries and if Artdink ballsed it up then the precious UC timeline brand would be untarnished on the new platform. Not to mention that Gundam Assault Survive didn’t really help Artdink in securing more UC timeline work.
In any case, we are very happy to report that Artdink didn’t balls up this new game at all and in fact it’s rather good indeed.


Posted on : 28-06-2012 | By : Cacophanus | In : News
Posted on : 26-05-2012 | By : Fort90 | In : Toys/Kits

Hot on the heels of their massive Metal Gear Rex replica is an equally impressive Metal Gear Ray from the same craftsmen at threeA. It was first publicly unveiled a few weeks back, at a showcase in Hong Kong, alongside upcoming figures for Halo and Portal.
But it was difficult to get a real sense of Ray’s size, though the safe bet was that he’s just as huge as Rex (if not more so.) So thanks to close up pics, via Kojima’s Twitter, we finally have a better idea. Mostly due to Square Enix’s Play Arts Kai Gray Fox, which stands close by and offers a true sense of scale. Anyone familiar with that figure knows already how big it is, so seeing it appear relatively diminutive speaks volumes.
Details are scant, other than what the pictures tell us. Like how its mouth can open; it remains to be see if he’ll shoot water, which was a primary means of offense in Metal Gear Solid 2. Ray is also without a tail, a key defining trait of the mass production unit. Perhaps one will be included in the final package, which can be applied at will? Like the battle scars that one can apparently adorn Rex, according to previous pictures.
No word yet on availability or price, but it appears to be coming along just swimmingly, and will more than likely have the same $500 or so price tag as its predecessor. Even though Rex is the most popular among Metal Gear diehards, Ray has plenty of fans nonetheless, who would be more than willing to give it a home as well. Provided that they’ve managed to pay his older brother off at that point. Also, Arsenal Gear next, please.

