PixlBit

More game reviews I’ve written recently at GamerDad.com are coming’ at ya!  Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  All right, it’s time to blast off!

Darius Cozmic Collection: Console (Switch)

I’m a huge fan of the Darius 2-D shooter series from Taito.  But what is Darius?  While it may look like a generic classic space shooter at first, it has some elements that helped split it apart from others in the arcade.  One, a lot of the spaceships you battle are designed to look like robot fish.  I don’t know why that is, but it gives the game a weirder tinge to it that I like.  Two, the original arcade game was three screens long!  This was advantageous because you could see far ahead of you and could plan accordingly.  It also gave you a bit of elbow room since the game was also two player simultaneous.  And three, the music was really good!  The stage one theme, “Captain NEO” is one of my all time favorite pieces of video game music.  Taito has an in-house band named Zuntata that does most of their game music, which is cool.  Anyway, I was super excited to find out that now there are two collection of Darius titles for Switch and PS4.  There’s an arcade collection and a console collection, and I reviewed the console collection for Switch.

Really the only problem I had with this set is the lack of content.  They really should’ve put G-Darius on here as well.  It was a console game for the PSOne and had neat 3-D graphics and let you capture enemies to help you, which was a great idea.  I also think they should’ve combined the games in the arcade collection and just made one big collection instead of making you buy two to get them all.  And even then, it would be missing games like Dariusburst, the last game in the series.  I know that one you can buy separately, but it’s been around since the PS3 days.  It would’ve also been neat if they went the extra mile and added other games, too.  For instance, Metal Black isn’t part of the Darius series, but it’s made by the same team and has a lot of similarities.  Also how about Space Invaders 95?  That was a silly Space Invaders game, but one of the bosses was a parody of Darius with a seafood platter made up of the bosses from Darius!  Anyway, I guess that since I’m such a big Darius fan, my expectations of this collection were a lot higher than what we got.

Sisters Royale (Switch)

And speaking of shooters.  Five sisters with magical powers are prophesied to work together to defeat an evil being.  Only problem is, the sisters hate one another.  And instead of working together, they’re fighting each other over the love of a man!  Sounds like a pretty crazy story for a ‘bullet hell’ 2-D shooter, but that’s what this is!  Thanks to the selectable difficulties, this is actually one of the more playable ‘bullet hell’ shooters I’ve reviewed.  It was made by Alfa Systems, who also did Castle of Shikigami.  It’s been almost ten years since they made a new game.  What do video game companies do during those long stretches of time?  Anyway, the playable characters in Sisters Royale are all female, but none of them really stood out to me.

Jump Rope Challenge (Switch)

Last week I wrote about three free-to-play games, all Nintendo related, surprisingly.  The first is Jump Rope Challenge, a little fitness game that simulates jumping rope.  There’s not much to it, but at least it’s free!

Pokémon Smile (Mobile)

Pokémon has delighted and entertained kids for generations, and now the little pocket monsters are helping make brushing teeth a little more fun.  Pokémon Smile is a brushing app for mobile devices (reviewed on iPhone here) geared towards very young children.  Best of all, it’s completely free with no in-game ads or purchases.  Not sure how it makes money, but good for them!  But will it make kids excited to brush their teeth?  You’ll just have to read on to find out!  SPOILER ALERT: I couldn’t get it to work very well, myself.  I guess I shouldn’t complain about something free, just don’t expect it to work that great.

Pokémon Café Mix (Switch)

You’re about to open up a café that serves food especially for Pokémon!  And the waiters and cooks are Pokémon as well!  Help prepare delicious dishes for your Poke-pals in this free-to-start puzzle game for Switch and mobile devices (reviewed on Switch here).  Stir around Pokémon head icons to match them and make them disappear.  It kind of reminds me of other action puzzle games on mobile like Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble or the Disney Tsum Tsum game.  Unfortunately the free-to-play stuff gets in the way of the fun, so I lost interest quicker than what I thought I would.  Which is a shame, because the art style is cute and the Pokémon shaped food looks pretty good.  I’m surprised they haven’t made a Pokémon restaurant in real life.  Or maybe they have and I don’t know about it.

Speaking of Pokémon, who here is excited for the recently announced New Pokémon Snap for Switch?  You know I am!  I’ve been waiting for this game ever since the first one was on N64!  I don’t know why they didn’t make one for 3DS or Wii U, since both those consoles had gyroscopic controls AND a camera!  HAL Labs made the first game, but Namco is making the sequel!  The first Snap game was special to me because it was the first game I reviewed for the newspaper where I got a front page tagline.  I wrote that tag line and I even remember what it said, “Smile and say ‘Pikachu!’”

Cross Code (PS4)

In the future, people transfer their minds and thoughts into an empty shell avatar on another planet so they can play an online game called CrossWorlds, except it’s actually on a real planet in a distant galaxy!  But there’s trouble brewing on this planet.  You play as Lea, an avatar who has lost her memory and wakes up on a ship heading towards the island where the game is played.  Could her memory loss have something to do with what’s been going on?  You’ll find out in Cross Code, a 2-D top down viewed action RPG.  It kind of reminds me of a cross between the Avatar movie and the .hack anime.  I like the 16-bit style graphics, but I had a hard time getting into this game.  I couldn’t get into the battles or the story, but then, I’m not a big fan of Avator or .hack.  I think if I were a teen when I was more into these types of games, I would’ve liked it more.

Ultracore (Switch)

If Ultracore feels like a long lost 16-bit Genesis title, that’s because it kind of is!  There’s a bit of interesting history behind it.  Originally, it was called “Hardcore” and set to release on the SEGA Genesis and Amiga in 1995.  It was developed by a company called Digital Illusions, also known as DICE, and the game was pretty much completed.  Unfortunately, at this time the PlayStation just came out and everyone was interested in 3-D gaming, so this one got lost in the shuffle.  A short time later DICE went under and the game was all but lost.  But recently it was found again and Strictly Limited finished it up and made it available to download under the name “Ultracore” for Switch, PS4, and even the Vita.  It’s a run and gun game with bits of exploration mixed in as well.  Not bad, but still pretty hard.

OutBuddies DX (Switch)

You’re an archeologist at sea, but a shipwreck lands you in the ancient underwater fortress of Behlam.  Now equipped with a robot ‘Buddy’ you must explore the maze like corridors of caves and underwater lakes in this 2-D platforming adventure similar to titles like Metroid.  The learning curve on this one is way too high, so I had a hard time getting into it.

And those are all the games!  Thanks for reading and commenting on my reviews, I really appreciate it.  Next time I plan to write a series of blogs about the Turbo-Grafx-16 Mini!  Later!  --Cary