PixlBit

Happy New Year!  This will be my last blog of 2015.  So what better way to celebrate than with some more game reviews that I’ve recently posted at GamerDad.com!  Please click on the links and read as many as you can and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d really appreciate it.  Thanks so much for your support this past year.  Let’s begin!

Animal Crossing 2016 Calendar

Every year for Christmas I usually get a new calendar, and for the past few years, they’ve been video game related.  So I’ll post pics and write about them on the site.  This year I got an Animal Crossing calendar, so click here if you want to see what it looks like!  I guess that shows how popular the series is if they were willing to make a calendar out of it!  I also posted pictures of some of the more unusual presents I got for Christmas, like Super Mario Maker Christmas ornaments and socks from Ubisoft!  It isn’t pictured, but I also got a PS Vita, so if anyone has any suggestions for games I should get for it, please let me know in the comments section!

Octodad: Dadliest Catch (Wii U)

This is the best game on this list!  Originally a PC project, they fleshed it out and put it on consoles.  You play as an octopus who has managed to stay disguised as a human and get married and have two kids (best not to think too much on that).  In the game you control the octopus’s limbs separately as he tries to do basic tasks and not get noticed as being too suspicious.  So even menial tasks like grilling burgers, going grocery shopping, and taking the kids to the aquarium becoming challenging, and very funny!  Two people can play at the same time, too, one controlling the ‘arm’ tentacle for picking up and moving things, and the other player moving his ‘legs.’  That’s how I played the game with my brother Jeff, and it was very fun.  The play control may not be the best, but this game is played for the humor, and there is tons of it.  Octodad’s kids are especially funny, and the humor rivals cartoons like The Simpsons and Gravity Falls. In fact, I could see Octodad being a cartoon!  The game even has its own theme song!  It really reminds me of some of the more creative and funny games that would come out in the PS2 era like Katamari Damacy, Mister Mosquito, and A Dog’s Life.  Those games weren’t perfect, but they were sure creative and funny.  I miss those days.

Family Fishing (3DS)

This is a simple arcade style fishing game downloadable for the 3DS.  It has a heavy emphasis on competition, as you try to catch more fish than your opponent.  You even get ‘health meters’ for your fishing lines, almost like a fighting game!  But then, this game was developed by Arc System Works, makers of fighters like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, so maybe that’s why it’s like that.  The translators at Aksys had a sense of humor at the beginning of the game, and you’ll just have to read my review to find out what they did.  This game is very Japanese and anime-ish, too.  One last thing, the ‘mom’ and ‘big sis’ characters are pretty cute in an anime type of way.  Personally I prefer the StreetPass Mii Plaza fishing game Ultimate Angler.

Moco Moco Friends (3DS)

Another Aksys 3DS game I reviewed, this one is a dungeon crawler with Pokemon style turn-based battles.  The monsters in this game are plush toys come to life, and the game is full of cute colorful pastel graphics.  It’s an all right game if you’re into that sort of thing.

The Three Amiibos

And here’s another batch of Amiibo figures I’ve gotten recently.  Whenever I get enough figures, I’ll post another article.  I’ve got another set scheduled to post in February, so I’m a little behind on that.   Lots of games to review that took more priority, I guess!

Rodea: The Sky Soldier (Wii U)

And now for the not-so-good games.  Rodea: The Sky Soldier has a bit of interesting history behind it.  It was originally going to be a Wii game but got cancelled or postponed.  Then many years later, NIS picked it up for release on the Wii U.  It plays like a cross between Sonic Adventure and NiGHTS, which makes sense since it was made by Yuji Naka and his new team.  Unfortunately I could just not get used to the controls, so I had to review it poorly.  Maybe if it were originally released on the Wii, it might’ve fared better.  I know that NIS did a special edition that included a version of it on the Wii, and if they sent me that version to review, I might’ve given it better marks.  But they cheaped out on me and just sent me a review code for the Wii U version.  Oh well, their loss.

Monster High: New Ghoul in School (3DS)

In this game you create your own Monster High girl and play out your first few days in school.  Basically a bunch of fetch quests in a spooky school environment.  You know how much fun it is on your first day of school and having to figure out where everything is?  (sarcasm intended)  Yeah that’s pretty much what the whole game is like.  On a side note, if I ever had a daughter or niece or whatever, I’d try to discourage them from playing with Monster High dolls.  I’ll never say never, because you should never say never when kids are involved.  But I certainly would try and encourage her to play with other things.  I just hate those Monster High toys, so awful.

Horse Life 4 (3DS)

A long time ago, one time I visited one of my younger cousins when she was little and she made me play through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on her N64 up until the point where you can ride your horse around.  Then she took the controller and just did nothing but ride the horse all over the place.  That’s what this game reminds me of, except it has two problems.  One, you can only play as a girl character.  I know the target audience for this game is mostly girls, but boys can like riding horses, too!  It wouldn’t have been that hard to put in.  Also, the races are way too hard.  I couldn’t get past the first one, and this is a kids’ game?  I can’t believe they’re on their fourth entry in the series and it’s still this bad. 

Minecraft Story Mode: Episode 2: Assembly Required (PS3)

And finally is this review of Episode 2 of the Minecraft “point and click” adventure from TellTale. It’s pretty much like the first review, so I won’t go into it much here.  I’m still disappointed that they went with the “Walking Dead” game approach where they just lead you around by the nose.  I know that most reviewers probably wouldn’t review each episode separately, but when you are desperate for content, you do stuff like that.

Happy New Year!

And that’s all for now!  Thanks again for reading my reviews and posting comments here and there.  I really appreciate it.  I’ve already got plans for blogs for next year, so here’s a sneak peek!  Next time I’ll have my Game of the Year 2015 Awards Show, and then after that I’ll talk about the games I’m looking forward to in 2016.  I’ll also talk about the mini-games in Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, and rank all the Mario RPGs since Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is coming out later in January.  In February, Project X-Zone 2 is coming out, so I may write blogs about all the characters in there.  And of course, I’ll have more blogs about games I’ve been reviewing lately, too!  Later!  --Cary