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Valentine Reviews!


On 02/11/2020 at 09:26 PM by Cary Woodham

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Happy Valentine’s Day!  I’ve got some valentines for all of you!  It’s more game reviews I’ve recently written at GamerDad.com!  Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two.  I’d really appreciate it.  Doing those things is the best valentine ever!

New Mario Valentines!

You know those cheap paper valentines with popular cartoon characters that you’d give out to your classmates on Valentine’s Day?  Well they make Mario ones and I wrote about them last year.  They’re doing the same thing this year, but the valentines are a little different so I’m writing about them again!  What video games would you like to see on a valentine?  If you could give a valentine present to any video game character, who would it be?  Can you guess my picks?  Let me know in the comments section!

Sonic the Hedgehog Toys in Arby’s Kids’ Meals!

Just in time for the live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Arby’s has toys in their kids’ meals based on the popular game characters.  Heck, I didn’t even know Arby’s had kids’ meals!  The press release I got said that the Sonic promo runs through the end of February, but I bet that if you went a little after that, they might still have Sonic toys as well, since Arby’s really doesn’t advertise their kids’ meals.  But my question is, why Arby’s?  There’s a much more obvious fast food choice for this promo, and I bet I know what you’re thinking.  Sonic Drive Ins!  I mean, the name’s the same, plus Sonic restaurants serve chili dogs, which is Sonic the Hedgehog’s favorite food.  So why not, SEGA? 

The Adventures of Elena Temple: Definitive Edition (Switch)

I’m such a staunch console gamer now that it’s hard to believe that I started out as a PC gamer in the home.  Well, I started in arcades, but you know what I mean!  But yeah, our first gaming ‘console’ was actually an Apple ][+ computer.  Aside from playing far better arcade conversions than what was on the Atari 2600 (Pac-Man, I’m looking at you), I also enjoyed playing games on our family’s Apple like Spare Change, Aquatron, and Lode Runner.  Speaking of which, another popular type of game on computer back then were single screen 2-D platformers, sometimes with multiple maze like areas that made it feel like an adventure.  Some of these kinds of games I remember were Montezuma’s Revenge and Miner 2049er.  The Adventures of Elena Temple pays tribute to those kinds of games. 

Rescue Pets (iPad)

Run your own pet rescue center in Rescue Pets, a free to download title on mobile devices.  You’ll get to select a breed of dog to help you, and then name it.  And every time you pet your pup, you’ll get coins you can use to upgrade your rescue center.  So yeah, it’s an endless clicker.   Or in this case, an endless petter?  The proceeds from this game will go to real life pet shelters, and they told me at PAX South that when someone adopts a real pet from these places, you’ll get a bonus in the game.  So I guess if you’re going to play an endless clicker, might as well be one with a good cause.

Heroland (PS4)

There is a theme park on an island where tourists can go and pretend to be RPG heroes.  It’s called Heroland, and visitors can explore dungeons, battle monsters in turn-based fashion, and nab treasure.  But they need a tour guide to help them.  That’s where you come in.  Play as “Lucky” who has come to Heroland for a job as a tour guide.  On his first day he breaks a priceless vase and will be working off debt for a long time.  But is this island more than it seems?  That’s what you’ll find out in Heroland. It’s an interesting take on standard RPG battles, but the repetitive gameplay and wads of text to wade through kept me from staying interested in it.

My Pizza Family (iPad)

Two young city dwelling siblings, Camilla and Alex, are making a video blog, or vlog.  Their family is both Italian and Spanish, and they’re documenting the rise of their family’s pizza restaurant.  It’s fallen on hard times, but is about to have a grand reopening.  Their newfound success comes from the fact they grow some of their own ingredients, and the family encourages their neighbors to join in and make a community garden in a vacant lot.  Pretty normal stuff so far, but here’s where it gets weird.  The family gets advice from a group of talking pizza ingredients, like a tomato, dough ball, basil leaf, pepperoni slice, and more.  My Pizza Family is an activity center for kids that focuses on family and community, as well as shape recognition and Spanish and Italian language learning, too!  I like the idea of the game, but unfortunately it’s so amateurish and buggy that I can’t imagine kids would play it for long.  Needed more time in the pizza oven.

Swag and Sorcery (iPad)

A king needs your help to find a lost treasure, so you must recruit heroes and equip them with armor, weapons, and swag and send them out on adventures to get more stuff.  All with neat 16-bit style pixel graphics and humor.  Unfortunately the repetitive gameplay and steep learning curve kept me from staying interested.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading and commenting on my reviews, and I hope you have a great Valentine’s day!  Even if you’re single, I’m sure there’s someone you can show how much you care about them!  Later!  --Cary


 

Comments

SanAndreas

02/12/2020 at 12:51 AM

Arby's used to do a pretty good job on social media of referencing video games. They even did something for the launch of Valkyria Chronicles 4. It's also worth noting that Sonic is actually owned by the same company that owns Arby's.

Cary Woodham

02/12/2020 at 08:35 AM

I remember Arby's referencing Bass from Mega Man in one of their FaceBook ads.

Knowing that Sonic and Arby's are owned by the same company makes even less sense as to why they don't use Sonic to promote Sonic!

KnightDriver

02/12/2020 at 03:22 PM

How about Super Puzzle Fighter valentines. Plenty of characters there for all different cards. 

Cary Woodham

02/13/2020 at 07:57 PM

I think just about any Capcom franchise would make great Valeintines!  Thanks for reading!

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/15/2020 at 11:02 PM

I'm coming to this blog late. I'll try to check out the reviews tomorrow. That pizza game sounds nice. 

Cary Woodham

02/16/2020 at 08:45 AM

Yes please!  I hope you do get to read some of these reviews!

That pizza game does sound nice, but boy is it awful!

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