ok Cary, I'll check these out tomorrow, but I did read the Grand Kingdom one a couple days ago and I do want it... unfortunately I just spent my gaming money on a sale on Xcom 2! Oh noooooo! :)
Wacky Wild Review Style!
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 On 07/18/2016 at 10:53 AM by Cary Woodham See More From This User » |
Got a pretty good selection of games I’ve recently reviewed over at GamerDad.com, so here’s another blog with links and such. And some of these in this batch are pretty weird and kooky! I hope you get a chance to check them out and maybe even post a comment or two here or there. I appreciate it! Let’s see what we got this time!
I’ve already talked about this one on my Game of the Year 2016 SO FAR blog, but it’s worth mentioning again here. A game that combines horse racing and solitaire may seem really weird, but when you consider how many sports themed solitaire games there are on mobile devices, it’s not that weird. In fact, if Nintendo does more mobile games in the future, this would be a good candidate. Aw heck, who am I kidding? The game is still weird! It’s just presented in that quirky yet cute Japanese way. And also, the game is insanely addicting. So much so that I almost thought about making it my Game of the Year 2016 So Far, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give that award to a solitaire game. This was also made by Game Freak, the same folks responsible for Pokémon. If you’re curious, you can download a free demo on the eShop, and the data from the demo will carry over to the main game if you decide to buy it. And the game is only 7 bucks so it’s a great deal, too.
This is another one I mentioned in that same previous blog, but I’ll post it again here, too. Of course this music rhythm game is weird also, as it was made by the same folks who do the WarioWare series. I just wish it was a cartridge game and not a eShop only game, as it is still 30 bucks. But it is certainly the biggest Rhythm Heaven game out there, so at least you get what you pay for!
Here’s another showcase of my latest batch of amiibo figures! And this time they feature Kirby! Hooray for Kirby! There’s pictures, too, so check ‘em out if you’re interested.
Most people’s first experience with Square-Enix’s “Mana” series was with Secret of Mana on the SNES. But did you know that’s actually not the first game in the series? The first game was on the old black and white Game Boy, and here in the US it was called Final Fantasy Adventure, probably for name recognition. But did you know that Final Fantasy Adventure has had TWO remakes? The first was Sword of Mana on the GBA, which was more of a reimagining than a remake, as it had two playable characters and a more convoluted storyline. Adventures of Mana, which was first on mobile but now on Vita, is more close to the original game. In fact, you could use a strategy guide for the old game and it would work fine here. Only bad thing is it has many of the same problems the old game had, too. And I wish the graphics were sprite based and not 3-D polygonal based. The sprites from the old Mana games just had more personality. But I still played through the game all the way so I guess I enjoyed it anyway!
Kingdom Hearts: Unchained x (iPad)
So I reviewed the newest mobile Kingdom Hearts game because it was free and I was curious about it. I have to say that it’s not very good. Gameplay is repetitive and it doesn’t feel like there is any progression. It recycles material from previous KH games and even though it is supposed to take place before all the other games in the series, you’d never be able to tell by playing it. But it doesn’t really matter since Kingdom Hearts’ storylines are garbage. I just like playing them because you get to tromp around Disney worlds. I will say that I did like the cartoony graphics and the production values certainly were high. But after a while I did end up deleting it from my iPad. But since it’s free, it won’t hurt you to download it if you’re curious, too.
Looks like Skylanders has entered the realm of collectible card games, too. This mobile game was also free, and since the folks who make Skylanders have always been supportive of me, I decided to review this one, too. I like how you can scan actual cards to use in the game. I imagine other mobile versions of collectable card games do this as well, but I am easily amused. The game is pretty simple to play, and I like the Skylanders character designs, so I didn’t think this one was too bad if you like those kinds of things.
I didn’t think I would like this game as much as I thought I would. But it turned out better than I expected. It’s a strategy RPG, which I normally don’t like. But the 2-D side scrolling turn-based battles have some action elements to them, kind of like other RPGs like Paper Mario or Mega Man X: Command Mission. So I ended up enjoying the battles in this one. Plus I thought some of the character designs were kind of neat. For instance, the blacksmith class in this game isn’t some burly grizzly man, but a lithe yet strong hammer-wielding female.
In this game, you play as a boy who just woke up from hypersleep in a futuristic world. He finds a friendly flying robot and a huge gun, and together they must travel through obstacle-filled environments. While you can use the gun to shoot bad robots, you mostly use it to fire in the opposite direction and use the recoil to propel yourself to faraway places. It’s a neat idea, but it gets way too hard later on. Also, this game could’ve used an extra dose of personality. I couldn’t tell you right now if the boy was named Kick and the robot Fennick or vice versa. Normally, gameplay is king and I don’t care about personality as much, but in this case, it could’ve helped the game a bit. Especially since the layout looks a lot like a 2-D Twisted Pixel game, and their games always had tons of personality and character.
Conclusions
And that’s all for now! Thanks for reading my reviews and posting comments here and there. I really appreciate it. Also, I’m kind of running out of blog ideas, so if you have anything that you’d like to read about from me, let me know. If I like the idea, I may do a blog about it. But no guarantees, especially if my life ends up getting busy or whatever. And finally, a just for fun question for you to put in the comments section also: if I were an animal, what kind do you think I’d be? Later! --Cary
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