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Game Review Feast!


On 11/10/2024 at 08:44 PM by Cary Woodham

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I’ve got a feast of game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com for you all to chow down on.  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.  After reading them all, you should have nice fat bellies!  OK let’s begin!

The Plucky Squire (Switch)

Jot is the Plucky Squire and the titular hero of a series of children’s books in the game.  In the books, he goes on all sorts of adventures with his two best friends: an artist wizard named Violet and the rock n roll mountain troll Thrash.  With guidance from the wise wizard Moonbeard, the trio are able to defeat the evil Humgrump every time.  But one day, Humgrump figures out how to break the fourth wall and take over the book, sending things in from the real world and kicking things out.  So now it’s up to the Plucky Squire to hop in and out of the book, manipulating the pages himself while solving puzzles and defeating enemies.  The Plucky Squire is a (mostly) 2D action adventure game similar to Zelda.

The Smurfs: Dreams (Switch)

In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids.  And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs.  Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything.  And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon.  In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon.  And that begat a few Smurfs games, too.  I’ve reviewed quite a few of them, which include 3D platformers, kart racers, and even educational titles.  The Smurfs: Dreams is a fixed camera 3D platformer, so it plays most like Super Mario 3D World.  In the game, the evil Gargemel has sprinkled a magic potion on the Smurf Berry bushes, so when the Smurfs have breakfast the next morning, they instantly fall fast asleep and get lost in their dreams.  You play as a Smurf who has to enter the dream worlds to rescue the others.

8-bit Adventures 2 (Switch)

Back in the 16-bit days when I was a teen, I loved RPGs and couldn’t get enough of them.  Not so much now, but I do like it when someone makes a new retro inspired RPG that plays like the ones I used to enjoy.  Such is the case with 8-bit Adventures 2.  I’ve never played the first game in this series, so I don’t know what’s new, different, or improved.  It doesn’t do anything new or break the mold in any way, but it does feel like something I would’ve rented and played back in the day.

Goob N Balloons DX (PS4)

Goob N Balloons DX is a single screen, arcade style action game.  It plays most like Buster Bros., or Pang depending on where you’re from.  But it also has elements from other arcade classics like Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, etc.  In the game you play as a weird alien octopus thing and you can only move left and right on the bottom of the screen.  But by using the R stick, you can aim and fire shots in any direction to pop balloons before they hit you, because if they do it’s Game Over.

Super XYX (PS4)

Super XYX is a vertically scrolling shooter that tries to replicate the look and feel of something you’d see in arcades in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Moe Waifu H BlockBlast (PS4)

Well I’m not sure what the “Moe” means but “Waifu” is what you hook your internet up to, right?  Nah, I’m just joking.  I know it means like a pretend girlfriend or something.  Anyway, in this game you can unlock pictures of anime ladies in different outfits by playing an Arkanoid and BreakOut style block breaking ball and paddle game. 

Ultimate Holidays (Switch)

Have you ever wanted to create your own vacation scenes on a postcard?  Yeah, me neither.  But if you ever wanted to, now you can with the Ultimate Holidays app on Nintendo Switch.

Rogue Sentry (PS4)

In the future, robots have taken over and imprisoned all the humans in a maze-like fortress.  You are a rogue sentry robot who abandons your post to rescue all the humans and escape the stronghold.  Rogue Sentry is a twin stick shooter featuring black and white retro graphics that remind me of old arcade games from the 1970s.  For some reason, the game also makes me think of the early 80s arcade classic Berserk, too.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my reviews and posting ‘likes’ and comments on them.  I do appreciate it.  Do you have nice fat bellies now?  Later!  --Cary


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

11/14/2024 at 03:05 PM

I've heard of The Plucky Squire but I figured it was a saying and not a franchise ... Huh. 

Cary Woodham

11/14/2024 at 08:53 PM

You're such a Plucky Squire!

KnightDriver

11/15/2024 at 10:25 AM

8-bit Adventures looks like it might be fun. I keep seeing it in the Xbox store and wondering if it was worth it. 

I might be tempted to play Moe Waifu H BlockBlast when I play a lot of block breakers in January (my theme for that month). But only if I've exhausted everything else. 

I like the look of Rogue Sentry too. Seems hard though. It reminds me to play twin-stick shooters as a theme one month next year. 

Cary Woodham

11/21/2024 at 05:31 AM

If you can find 8-bit Adventures 2 real cheap, I'd say get it.  Rogue Sentry is not that great, though.  I can think of a lot better twin stick shooters to play.  Same thing goes with BlockBlast.  I can think of a lot better games in that style.  If you have an old DS, I'd highly recommend Arkanoid DS.  The music in that game has no right to be that good for a game in that genre.

KnightDriver

11/21/2024 at 05:04 PM

I discovered recently that I do have a loose cart of Arkanoid DS in my collection. I'll be playing it for sure in January when I do block breakers. 

Cary Woodham

11/23/2024 at 07:28 AM

Arkanoid DS got a lot of bad reviews, but I really liked it.  It's my favorite in the series.  The music is SO good that I imported the soundrack on CD.  I felt like the music was wasted there, but luckily Taito repurposed all the songs in their music game series Groove Coaster which you can play on mobile devices, consoles, and even in the arcade!

KnightDriver

11/23/2024 at 12:24 PM

I'm looking forward to hearing the music in Arkanoid DS. 

Cary Woodham

11/24/2024 at 07:43 PM

Here's another sample of the music.  Keep in mind this is playing while you're simply bopping a ball back and forth with a paddle.  Taito's in-house band, Zuntata, is awesome.

The Arkanoid series is special to me because it's one of the few games my dad really likes.  It was one of the first games I got on the NES, too!

KnightDriver

11/30/2024 at 11:10 AM

Oh, Zuntata! Cool. 

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