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Hey folks, I got another batch of game reviews I’ve written recently over at GamerDad.com.  Please click on the links and read as many as you can and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  Also, read on to find out who Farmer Man Cary will marry in the newest farming game!

Stardew Valley (PS4)

So last year, lots of people were raving about this game on PC.  So when I got the opportunity to check it out on consoles for review, I jumped at the chance!  And I have to say that honestly, I’m not really blown away by it.  BUT, does that mean I think the game is bad?  OH HECK NO!  It’s a fantastic game.  It’s just that it plays EXACTLY like Harvest Moon, and I’ve played and reviewed many of those games in the series.  So this is really just a copy of a game that’s been out for literally decades.  But again, that’s not really a bad thing in this case.  It may be a carbon copy, but it’s a good copy.  I also love the 16-bit style graphics and the fact that it’s on a big console where Harvest Moon hasn’t been on a main console in a long time.  So if you haven’t played a Harvest Moon game before, yeah, I can understand why you’d be blown away by this.  But if you have played Harvest Moon before, this won’t offer anything new.  But if you really like Harvest Moon games, you should try Stardew Valley anyway.  One thing Stardew Valley does have over Harvest Moon is that the characters don’t look like they’re all nine years old.  That got a little awkward in Harvest Moon games when you’re trying to marry somebody.  And speaking of which…

So I’m sure you are all wondering who Farmer Man Cary will try to marry in Stardew Valley, as that’s something you do in these kinds of games.  This is starting to sound like a gossip column or soap opera.  Well, Robin the carpenter was always easily available and I knew what kinds of gifts she likes, but it turns out she’s already married!  So Farmer Man Cary decided to set his sights on nature-loving Leah.  Only problem is she always locks her house and hardly ever leaves it, so it may be a challenge.  I think my favorite character that Farmer Man Cary ever married in these kinds of games was Iris from the first Story of Seasons game.  She was a novelist and had a lot of funny lines in the game.  I also liked Iroha from the 3DS Harvest Moon game that let you pick up ENTIRE HOUSES AND BUILDINGS with your bare hands and move them around to your liking.  I always found that amusing for some reason.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap (PS4)

Now THIS is how you do a remake.  Wonder Boy has been a long running 2-D platforming series that had its heyday in the 8- and 16-bit eras.  It even has ties in with the Adventure Island series.  But it wasn’t quite as popular outside of Japan.  This game is similar to a Metroidvania style of game and you can change into different creatures to bypass obstacles and such.  Some of the things you can change into include a mouse, fish-man, dragon, and hawk-man.  I love the water-colored graphics and orchestrated music.  Best of all, you can change it back to retro styled visuals and sounds seamlessly at any time, which is cool.  What’s even cooler is that another company is making a brand new game in the Wonder Boy series called Monster Boy, and it’ll be out later this year!

LEGO City: Undercover (PS4)

When Grand Theft Auto first got big, I came up with an idea of a GTA style game where you play as a police officer and do good things instead of bad things.  Well it looks like someone ‘stole’ my idea because that’s essentially what this game is.  It’s a family friendly GTA style game that you can let your kids play, and even adults who want to play a GTA style game without all the naughty stuff will like it, too (like me).  It’s really one of the better LEGO games I’ve played, and I regret not getting it earlier when it was a Wii U exclusive.  I even bought the prequel game on 3DS, I enjoyed this one so much.  Lots of great parodies of other cop and gangster movies, too, like The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, Starsky and Hutch, and more!

Bye-Bye, BoxBoy! (3DS)

Before HAL Labs got popular with Smash Bros. and Kirby, they made a series of block pushing puzzle games on the NES called Adventures of Lolo.  I loved those games as a kid.  Well, HAL has shown they can still make good puzzlers with the BoxBoy series.  This one is touted as the last game in the trilogy, and it feels more like a sequel than the second game, which felt more like an expansion pack.  You play as a walking box who can create boxes that you can use as stepping stones or shields.  There are some new kinds of blocks and powers you get in this one.  Only problem is that in Japan, this game came with an amiibo, and we didn’t get it here, and you know how I like my amiibo figures.  I did splurge a bit and imported it, though.  Haven’t gotten it yet as of this writing, but you know I’ll write about it at GamerDad when I do.

Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop (3DS)

This is like any other Cooking Mama game except the focus in this one is more on desserts and sweets.  They’re repetitive, but I like the Cooking Mama games because they’re so weird.  And even though they’re all the same, these games are made for kids and each new generation of kids will think the newest Cooking Mama game is new to them.  I recently downloaded two Cooking Mama games on iPad as well.  One is just a regular cooking game, but you have to buy recipes separately, so I deleted that one.  The other is a puzzle game that I’m still playing!

The Inner World (PS4)

This is a point and click adventure with really wonky controls.  I would’ve stopped playing it because of that, but the story and cartoon animations were so charming that I powered through it anyway.  They’re making a sequel as well! 

TumbleSeed (PS4)

And finally, in this game you control a seed and must tilt a bar to move the seed up a 2-D vertically scrolling obstacle course filled with holes, insects, and animals.  In patches of dirt, you can use crystals to give yourself hearts, checkpoints, or thorns for defense, so you have to use some strategy, too.  I liked the uniqueness of the game, but I couldn’t get into it because it was so difficult.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading and commenting on my reviews!  Next time I may write about E3 on my blog.  Anyone excited for E3?  I’d be more excited if they would let me go to it like they used to.  Oh well.  Later!  --Cary