Happy birthday! For your birthday, I'm giving you not one, but two direct sequels to Space Channel 5! It's a trilogy! And these Aren't VR spin-off games either! Real sequels!
Birthday Reviews!
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 On 09/01/2020 at 08:40 PM by Cary Woodham See More From This User » |
It’s now September, and you know what happens this month? It’s my birthday on September 15! So let’s have a pretend birthday party right here on my blog! In the comments section, leave me a pretend birthday present. It can be anything you want. It’s the thought that counts…literally! I’d love it if you did that as I could use a bit of cheering up this year (I think we all could). And here’s some presents for you! Reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com! Please click on the links and read as many as you can and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. OK let’s begin!
The King of Fighters R2 (Switch)
SNK is best known for their fighting games, and many of their characters show up in their flagship fighter series, The King of Fighters. For a while, they had annual entries in this series, but they still make new games in the franchise every now and then. Characters from other SNK games show up in The King of Fighters titles in a tournament, so you’ll see fighters from games like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, Psycho Soldier, Ikari Warriors, and more! So of course there was a King of Fighters game for SNK’s handheld, the NEO GEO Pocket Color. This handheld came out in the US in the tail end of the 90’s, and for a while I even liked it more than the Game Boy Color. Recently some NGPC games have been ported to the Switch, so here’s a review of The King of Fighters R2!
Just for fun, in the comments section, tell me your favorite King of Fighters characters. Mine would be Leona, Shermie, Vanessa, and Blue Mary. Also Ralf and Clark, because they are on the Ikari Warriors team and you know I like my classics!
And here’s another NGPC to Switch review! One of SNK’s most well-known fighter series is Samurai Shodown. They even had a new entry in the series this past year. I didn’t get to review that one, though. Too bad. But I’m glad I got to review this pocket sized Samurai Shodown 2! Gals Fighters is still better than these, though.
Just for fun, in the comments section, tell me your favorite Samurai Shodown characters, too. My favorite is Poppy, Galford’s dog. Earthquake was also neat because he took up half the screen in the arcade. I also think Shiki, Mina Majinkina, and Iroha are cool. They’re a bit too fanservice-y, but still neat characters.
Now for a couple of really weird ones! In this game, you are participating in the SomnaSculpt Dream Therapy Program. It involves lucid dreams where you can control what happens and perception can become reality. But something feels like it’s gone wrong and you’re stuck in the dream and can’t seem to wake up. Solve first person perspective puzzles where anything can happen and rules are made to be broken. Anything goes in this game! It’s a lot like Portal, but a lot less charming.
Tcheco in the Castle of Lucio (Switch)
What if WarioWare style games were popular back in the NES days? Then Tcheco in the Castle of Lucio is what you’d get! You play as Tcheco, a man…boy…not sure…who must venture inside the Castle of Lucio which isn’t much like a castle at all. You must travel through single screen rooms quickly figuring out platforming challenges to nab keys and make it to the exit of each area. But each room is weirder than the last! The game has been available on PC for some time now. In fact, five years ago my friend reviewed it for me on Steam! But now you can play it on consoles as well.
I still remember the very first game I beat on my own. It was Mickey’s Space Adventure on our family’s Apple ][+. The game was kind of a mix between a text adventure like Zork but had pictures and word cues like a point and click adventure. I just remember the sense of pride and accomplishment I got after beating it. And yeah it was a game for little kids, but I WAS a little kid at the time! It just stuck with me and is why I have a strong interest in educational games for kids. I never pooh-pooh those kinds of games like a lot of other reviewers do, I always welcomed meeting with companies like Humongous when I wrote for The Dallas Morning News, and it’s why I still write for GamerDad.com now! So I’m really glad to get the opportunity to review Hamster Bob, an interactive coloring book adventure on Switch for the youngest gamers.
If you are stuck at home right now and want to play a multiplayer game with family and friends, but you don’t have enough controllers, then Jackbox has you covered! One of their most popular titles, Fibbage XL, has come to Nintendo Switch, and you use cell phones or other mobile devices to play it! Just connect to jackbox.tv on any phone, enter in the room code, and you’re in! In this one you have to trick other players into thinking that your lie for a trivia question is the right answer, and if you do, you get points!
Here’s another Jackbox game. This one is more like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, where other players vote on who has the funniest responses to questions. I think because of COVID, the Jackbox servers were overloaded so these games ran a bit slower on the cell phones because of that. They’re still playable, you just have to hit the refresh button a lot.
Now for a couple of multiplayer titles. One done right and one not so much. Aeolis Tournament is a collection of multiplayer mini games based around the simple concept of sucking in and blowing out gusts of air. The easy to grasp controls make this the one done right. It could’ve used some more content, though.
And here’s the one not done right. What if aliens from another planet watched Earth’s sporting events and wanted to try them for themselves. Would they get the sports right? Maybe, but maybe not. Drink More Glurp is a physics-based track and field style sports multiplayer game with goofy product sponsors and even sillier events. I guess I just didn’t ‘get’ this game, though. I’m just not a big fan of games where they make things more difficult by messing with the controls.
Unfortunately we’re ending on a low note. This game advertises that you get to race tiny cars around huge 3-D environments in places like a kitchen or bathroom. But first you have to drive through boring mountain and forest tracks to unlock those. OK, that might be fine, but this game is physics based so it’s very easy to flip over or get stuck on the track. It’s so bad they added a button for respawning. Instead of doing that, how about making well designed tracks? I usually don’t do a ‘worst game of the year’ category in my Game of the Year blogs, as I like to keep things fairly positive. But I will say this is probably the worst game I’ve played this year so far!
And that’s all for now! Thanks for reading and posting ‘likes’ and comments. And don’t forget to send me a pretend birthday present in the comments section! Later! --Cary
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