PixlBit

Hey folks, I’ve got another batch of game reviews over at GamerDad.com that I’ve written and posted lately.  So here are some links and things.  Please click on and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d really appreciate it.  Thanks so much!

Paranautical Activity (Vita)

In the past, I never gave much thought about if I was best suited to review a game or not.  I just figured that if I got a chance to review a game in a genre I wasn’t familiar with, it was an opportunity for me to learn about a game I might’ve not have played otherwise.  But lately, I’ve noticed many people on the Internet being critical of game journalists who are reviewing titles that they’re not best suited to review.  So I’ve been a bit more mindful of that recently and I’ve been trying to review games that best suit me.  Plus, reviewing all types of games is less rewarding than what it used to be, for many reasons.  So normally I wouldn’t review a game like Paranautical Activity, which is a first-person shooter.  But because of a mistake I made on my part, I had to review it.  So I’m going to admit to my mistake and hope you folks won’t hate me too much.

One of my guilty pleasures is watching those ghost hunting and investigating shows on TV.  I imagine most of the stuff on those shows isn’t real, as TV tends to exaggerate things.  But I think ghosts are cool so I have a fun time watching them anyway.  Sometimes I even like ghost movies, even the bad ones like Paranormal Activity.  I certainly would never watch any of those in a theater and waste my money.  But if I find one on Netflix or on regular TV, I’ll watch it.  Luckily nothing happens in those movies so I can watch it while I do laundry or fix dinner.  So when I got a press release about a game called Paranautical Activity, I read the title wrong and thought it was a game about Paranormal Activity.  My curiosity was piqued, and I had to see what the heck a Paranormal Activity game would be about.  But it was my mistake.  I did not read the title carefully enough.  Had I done that, I wouldn’t have requested a review code for a first person shooter.  But I did so I had to review it.  I hope my mistake doesn’t sully your opinion of me as a game reviewer.

While I ask that you be understanding of me sometimes when I’m not at the top of my game as a reviewer, I also hope you’ll be that way about other reviewers as well.  Before you criticize one for not doing as good of a job as you expect them to, please try to get their side of the story first.  Maybe they are getting paid for reviews and they really need the money.  Or maybe they didn’t have a choice.  While some of the criticism game reviewers get is deserved, just remember that they are human beings after all and maybe a little more compassion is in order.  As for me, just remember that I’m not getting paid for my reviews, I’m kind of a one-man operation for the most part, and I’m a human being, too. Plus, these are only video games. So again, please don’t hate me! :)

Skylanders Superchargers (and PowerPuff Girls) Toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals

Since Skylanders and McDonald’s are both big kid’s franchises, I decided to post a quick bit about Skylanders Superchargers toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals.  Also, PowerPuff Girls toys.  I guess those were for the girls, but I think PowerPuff Girls are awesome, too.  I think it’s cool they still use the Happy Meal shaped boxes that I got as a kid, but Ronald McDonald is nowhere to be seen.  In a way, that’s kind of sad.  Kids today won’t know about those trippy McDonaldland commercials or characters like the Hamburglar or Fry Guys.  Guess it’s a different world now.

Mini Mario and Friends: amiibo Challenge (Wii U)

A while back, Nintendo released a free game in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series.  I like these games because in most of them, you indirectly lead little toy Marios to safety.  Like a Lemmings game.  I love Lemmings games, so I like this one, too.  But the catch in this game is that you have to have Mario themed amiibo figures to play them.  I still really like it, and I can get full enjoyment out of it because I have all the amiibo figures.  But it’s certainly not worth going out and buying a bunch of amiibo just to play this.  I consider it like a reward from Nintendo to folks who have been fervently collecting amiibo all this time.

Mega Yarn Yoshi Amiibo

And speaking of amiibo, I finally got the one figure that had been eluding me for a long time.  The Mega Yarn Yoshi amiibo!  It was a Toys R Us exclusive, but I never saw it there.  The only place I actually saw it was at a vendor booth at PAX South, but they wanted way too much money for it.  I found it online for a bit less.  Still a little more than I wanted to pay for it, but not much more.  But I got it anyway because I figured, what the heck, you only live once!

Dodge Club Party (Wii U)

A while back, a former WayForward employee made a game on the Wii U eShop that resembled old light up LED games like the Mattel sports handhelds from the 1970’s.  It was called Dot Arcade, and I even reviewed it.  One of the games on it was called Dodge Club, and this is a similar version of that, just with some multiplayer modes tacked on.  The web site and videos claim that he shows this game off in night clubs and such.  While I can’t imagine people getting together to play rounds of this nowadays (maybe back in the 70’s, but not now), the game is only two bucks.  So if you like supporting small indie developers, this is a good one to get.

Letter Quest Remastered (Vita)

This is an RPG where you battle opponents by spelling letters, similar to Boggle.  It kind of reminded me of Bookworm, and at first I thought it was made by the same people, but it’s not.  I think it’s best suited on a mobile device, which is where I think it started.

Mandie Manzano Jigsaw Puzzle Art (iPad)

Normally I wouldn’t review a standard jigsaw puzzle game on mobile devices.  But the pictures here were based on works from an artist I never heard of, so I decided to review it to learn more about the artist.  So if you like her work and enjoy jigsaw puzzles, you may want to check it out.

The Sun & Moon (Vita)

This is one of those bare-bones 2-D platformers with a basic gimmick but it gets way too hard.  I’ve read that others really enjoyed it, but it didn’t really impress me.

Apestorm: Full Bananas (iPad)

In this game, a group of intelligent apes in a polluted Steampunk world hijack a zeppelin and start bombing factories and places so they can take back nature.  It’s a 2-D sidescrolling game that reminds me a bit of the old arcade game Scramble.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks so much for reading my reviews and posting comments!  Later!  --Cary