PixlBit

Electric Seaweed.

Video game parody is hardly something new. For generations, games have found plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) ways to lampoon iconic games, the industry, and culture. Until Retro City Rampage, I’m not sure we’ve had a single work that’s so utterly dedicated to the practice. You won’t find a single mission in the game that’s not parodying games, or ‘80s/’90s culture, or something you’re sure to remember if you grew up during the days of the NES.

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When five of ten puzzles are borrowed from past episodes, we have a problem.

After playing through the past three Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math games, I’ve built up a memory bank full of the puzzles that have been featured in each one. It’s pretty easy, as each game only contains ten puzzles and each feature repeat puzzles from prior installments. The Great Gateway Grab stays true to the series’ roots, as it has a total of three repeat puzzles with two that are extremely similar, though not identical, to past puzzles. When half of the puzzles in the game are repeats, it becomes very hard to suggest anyone buy it if they’ve been following along with the series.

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A brand new first person dungeon crawler – I know, I was surprised too.

Going into Stonekeep, I was fully aware it was a budget priced WiiWare release, but still, I was excited. It’s not very often you see a company willing to revive an extremely old and niche series, much less one that’s a first person RPG dungeon crawler. While a big deal back on the PC two decades ago, these days you just don’t see many of these types of RPGs. But alas, Stonekeep quickly and effectively dashed my excitement after just a few short minutes.

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This time Big Ben is missing.

The Big Ben Burglary is the second case in the ongoing episodic production of Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math. As such, it features the same Professor Layton inspired gameplay from the The Lady Liberty Larceny, with the exception that the puzzles are more rooted in mathematics than general puzzle solving. This makes for a quest that's a bit duller than the first, in addition to being even briefer.

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It's not the "worst game ever" but that certainly doesn't mean it's good.

Finally joining the WiiWare ranks, Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder has earned something of a reputation thanks to its unique marketing spin. Sarcastically referred to by its developers as “the worst game ever,” Paper Wars doesn't quite fit the bill. Don't mistake that to mean that Paper Wars is actually good – it's not. Like many of WiiWare's recent offerings, Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder would be better served as a free Flash game in your browser, made specifically for wasting time at work.

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