PixlBit

Here’s another batch of games I’ve been reviewing lately over at GamerDad.com.  I promise this group of reviews is more interesting this time around, so please click on the links and read as many reviews as you can, and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d really appreciate it.  Thanks!  OK let’s begin.

Dot Arcade (Wii U)

Back when I was a kid in the 80’s, if you wanted to play a handheld game, you usually had to settle with something that had blinking lights to simulate ‘graphics.’  Good examples include the Mattel Baseball and Football games, Parker Bros.’ Merlin, and Coleco’s mini arcade cabinets (I had the Pac-Man one, of course).  Anyone my age remember those?  Anyway, a WayForward employee made his own LED dot game arcade, and then ported it to Wii U.  There is an interesting story on how that happened, and you can view it if you look up “Dot Arcade” on YouTube.  Anyway, the game simulates those kind of blinking dot challenges I grew up with, and they even used artwork on the sides of the screen that would look like the designs you’d see back in the day!  The game is really more interesting than fun, but at only five bucks, if you have a Wii U I think it’s worth looking into.

When I first heard of this game, it really intrigued me so I wanted to seek out a review code for it so I can review it at GamerDad.com.  Usually when I look for contacts to get review codes, I go to the developer’s site or find who does their PR.  But since the developer was really just one person, his site was very small and didn’t even have an email address.  But he had a Facebook page so I sent him a message through that.  I didn’t think anything would come through since I sent my request in a rather unprofessional way, but he sent me a message back with a code so I was surprised and glad. 

Jump ‘N’ Shoot Attack (iPad)

This is yet another continuous runner, but it is made to look like an 8-bit game with graphics that look like a cross between Mega Man and Metroid, and music that sounds like a mix of Contra, Journey to Silius, and of course, Mega Man.  Unfortunately, like many 8-bit games, it’s way too hard to be any fun, and I didn’t get very far.  If you die you have to start over again at the last world (I couldn’t make it past the first one), and usually these kinds of games let you start pretty close to where you died last.

Skylanders Fruit Snacks

When I went to PAX South, I attended a Gamer Parenting panel.  They talked about GamerDad.com there, so I was really happy.  But another thing they talked about a lot was Skylanders.  So since it was such a big topic, I decided that I would post anything I could find about Skylanders at GamerDad.  So yeah, I wrote about Skylanders Fruit Snacks.  Sure, IGN may not think that’s important, but I’m sure kids and parents may be interested in things like that, maybe.  When I was a kid, I loved fruit snacks, but lately they don’t taste as good anymore.  I don’t know if it’s just an age thing or if they really aren’t as good as they used to be, but I think it’s a little of both.  My favorite ones were the Garfield fruit snacks.  Anyone remember those?  They had a unique flavor that actually tasted like fruit and there wasn’t and hasn’t been anything like them since.  In the comments section, let me know if you liked fruit snacks as a kid, and which ones were your favorites.

Unplugged: Skylanders Skystones Cereal Box Prizes

Anyone remember when cereal boxes had prizes in them?  You don’t usually see them anymore, and if there are prizes they are usually things like codes for online games and such.  But back when I was a kid, cereal box prizes ran rampant and oftentimes were more interesting than the cereals themselves.  You could get things like stickers, cars, little bags of candy for your school lunch, those baking soda submarines, and much more.  So when I see an actual cereal box prize nowadays, I’ll usually take notice, especially if it’s Skylanders related.  It’s just a card game you can play that’s a modified Tic-Tac-Toe, really.  But it’s still interesting.

Hola! Amiibos! (Mario Party Wave)

I got all of the last wave of Mario Party Amiibo figures, so I wrote a blog about it.  I didn’t even try to get the Gold Mario one, though; I knew that would be impossible.  Unfortunately, that may be my last Amiibo blog.  I was able to get the last waves pretty easily because I would reserve them locally at my nearby GameStop.  But ever since the last wave you could reserve, they’re doing everything online now, even if you reserve them at a store.  So since I can’t compete with the whole country, I may have to stop collecting them.  Which is a shame, because the next wave is supposed to have Pac-Man in it, and as you may know, I really like Pac-Man.  I’d also like to get a Wario and the Yarn Yoshi Amiibo, but it’s looking pretty unlikely now.  If I write one more Amiibo blog, I’ll probably call it “Adios Amiibos.”

Trivial Pursuit Live!  (360)

When I was a kid back in the early 80’s, the Trivial Pursuit board game first came out and was really popular.  Many folks, including my parents, even had Trivial Pursuit parties.  But I never really liked the actual board game that much because it was so poorly designed.  It took forever to get all six pie wedges.  Those of you who’ve played the game probably know what I mean.  I much preferred just taking the box of trivia cards and quizzing family and friends on road trips and such.  Anyway, now Trivial Pursuit has entered the 21st century with this game, and luckily it moves at a faster pace because it’s designed more like a quiz game show.  It’s a little dated, but fans of popular titles like Trivia Crack may still like it.  The CPU is pretty hard, though, even on Easy mode.  Only way I was able to win the second game was because I got lucky and got a stream of questions about Sonic the Hedgehog, Tiny Toons, and Animaniacs!

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum (PS3)

This is a sequel to a game I reviewed last year called The Guided Fate Paradox.  But even though both games are dungeon crawlers and have similar story themes, they’re not connected in any way so I think you can enjoy this one without playing the first.  But it still didn’t hold my interest for very long.

KromacelliK (iPad)

In this game you play as a cell and must move colored cells to respective bins while avoiding enemy cells.  Unfortunately, the gameplay is sluggish and play control is poor, so it’s not that good.  The guy who made this game developed it when he was going through cancer treatments, and when the game was finished and greenlighted, he got better!  So I guess that’s a good thing.

Conclusions

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my reviews and posting comments!  I really appreciate it.  And please keep my mom in your prayers, as she goes to the doctor in the next week to see if they need to remove the tiny cyst in her pituitary gland or not.  And in the comments section, give me some blog ideas.  The reason why I haven’t been posting as much is because I don’t have any blog ideas right now.  Thanks!  Later!  --Cary