Here’s another list of links to game reviews I’ve done recently. Please read and comment on as many as you can. I’d really appreciate it. But first, I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at what kinds of blogs you can expect from me this summer. Granted, some of this may change or get added to, it’s all tentative. Anyway, let’s get started!
All next week over at GamerDad.com, I’m doing a feature on the games you can play on the downloadable Capcom Arcade Cabinet. When it’s all done, I’ll probably post links to that in a blog here as well. In a couple of weeks I’m attending an anime convention with one of my little brothers called Project A-Kon. I may write a blog about that and post pictures if it’s blog-worthy. Then after that, Animal Crossing is coming out, so you KNOW I’ll be writing at least one article about that. Later on in June I’ll probably write about the games found in Game & Wario for the Wii U, and the Sega, Namco, and Capcom characters in Project X-Zone on 3DS. I may even rant about E3 in June as well. In July I plan on doing my Game of the Year SO FAR Awards Show blog, and maybe write about the Famicom 30th Anniversary 30 Cent Wii U Deals they’ve been doing. Finally, near the end of the season I’ll do my Summer Movie Roundup. And those are the kinds of blogs you can expect from me this summer! Now on to the game reviews!
First of all, I wanted to show you all something really cool. Most of you may already know that I’m really looking forward to Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Well, Nintendo must know it, too, because they sent me something really nifty! A couple of weeks ago, I got a postcard in the mail with Animal Crossing characters on it, telling me to expect a ‘housewarming gift’ in the mail. Well on that very same day on my doorstop was a box from Harry & David, a famous order-by-mail fruit company. Inside was an assortment of apples and pears! I guess it was to represent the different fruits you can get in the game. Anyway, I posted pictures on the GamerDad.com site if you’re interested in seeing what it all looks like. Will Nintendo send me a review copy of the actual game? If my experience working at The Dallas Morning News a long time ago is any indication, hopefully so!
TellTale Games is most famous for their point and click adventures, like The Walking Dead. But did you know that one of their very first games was a character-based poker game? They used it to experiment with making conversations, a skill they’d fine tune in future releases. In Poker Night 2, you’ll play against famous game and entertainment characters like Brock Samson from Venture Bros., Claptrap from Borderlands, Ash from the Army of Darkness movies, and Sam from the Sam & Max games and comics (but Max is right there with him). Best of all, the dealer is GlaDOS from the Portal games! If you like any of those characters, you may want to check this one out. And by winning, you’ll unlock all sorts of cool stuff. See my review for details. Brother Jeff loves this game, too.
OK I have a question for you all. If you could play poker with any video game characters, who would they be? I would like to play poker with Cammy, Ulala, and Reiko Nagase. Maybe a round of strip poker? JUST JOKING! JUST JOKING! OK, rated G version, how about poker with Kirby, Pac-Man, Toad, and a Servebot. There, is that better? At least I’d have an easier chance of winning. In both cases, I’d like for the dealer to be Wheatley instead of GlaDOS. He’s awesome. Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Natsume has been very supportive of me and GamerDad.com for as long as I can remember, so I was very happy to be able to review this 3DS Virtual Console re-release from them. I’ve always wanted to try a game in the River King series, so I’m glad that I got the opportunity to do so finally. That’s one of the things I like about reviewing games. River King is a pretty unique fishing RPG. As most RPGs on older consoles go, it can get a little obtuse sometimes, and it took me forever to figure out how to fish properly. But once I did figure things out, it got addictive in a simplistic sort of way. I did take some time to explain how I learned to reel in fish in my review, so if you own this game and are having a hard time with it, please go there and read my article.
I love a good ghost story, so I’m glad I got the opportunity to review this game, too, as Fatal Frame is one of the only survival horror games to interest me somewhat. The title screen says this game is based on a true story, but I wonder HOW much of it really is true. Probably not a lot. At any rate, the game has a lot of good spooky atmosphere and some creepy ghosts. But it’s not THAT scary. I watched gameplay videos of people absolutely freaking out while playing. It’s just a game, folks. Although if this stuff happened in real life, yeah that would be scary!
Only main problem I had with this game was the controls were too stiff, clunky, and slow. The ghosts can glide along effortlessly and warp around at will, but your girl character just ambles around like she just woke up. Doesn’t even TRY to run fast. That’s one brave girl! Or stupid. Why does she have to go look for her brother in a haunted mansion in the middle of the night? Why not during the light of day? And if I were that girl’s father, I would say, “So you’re going to a ghost-filled mansion in the middle of the night, huh? Not in that short of a skirt, you’re not!” I think you can download the sequel on PSN now, too. Hopefully I’ll get to review that one as well. I think if Tecmo releases a new Fatal Frame, they should let Kasumi from DOA be the star. That way she can just eat a can of spinach and go in the haunted mansion and beat up all the ghosts! Yeah, you’re probably glad I’m not making games now, huh? Anyway, I’m glad I got to finally try a Fatal Frame game, even though technically I’ve already played one: Spirit Camera. Spirit Camera on the 3DS is actually a Fatal Frame game, too, even though it’s much shorter and not near as scary.
Another thing I like about reviewing games is when I get to learn new things. Case in point, I am MT: Card Battle. I had no idea what I am MT was, sounds like what your car would say when it needs gas. But it’s actually a popular cartoon in Asia that spoofs the World of Warcraft franchise. I thought that was kind of interesting. The card battle game is pretty standard free-to-play stuff. I like how simplistic it is, but don’t like how you always have to be connected to play. But a lot of free-to-play games are like that.
I love reviewing kids’ games, ever since I was writing for The Dallas Morning News I wanted to do that. I don’t know why I have such an interest in that, but I do. I guess it’s just because I believe that kids deserve good games, too. This one is a cute little movie making program for young kids starring Shrek characters. I love the cute, cartoony look of the game. Kids who love Shrek will enjoy this one.
I talked about Star Trek a lot in my last blog, so I won’t overdo it here. This game features characters from the new movies with a new story made just for the game. You can play single player or co-op as Captain Kirk or Spock. Brother Jeff says it’s like Uncharted in space, so we’ll go with that. Camera angles are bad and I didn’t like the fact that the game doesn’t have a physical instruction booklet, but if you really like Star Trek you may want to check this one out anyway.
Originally an iOS title, this game has been ported to Wii U. Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing other iOS games ported to Wii U, as many would make a good fit on the console. Kung Fu Rabbit is just a simple and unassuming 2-D platformer. Cute and fun, albeit not very original. But sometimes that’s OK.
I kind of liked this one, in a simplistic sort of way. Reminds me of mini-games like WarioWare’s Pyoro. You tilt the device around to move a chameleon left and right on the bottom of the screen, and push a button to make his tongue stick out to eat flying candy. Eat as many as you can for a high score and avoid obstacles and bad candy. Again, just a cute, simple little diversion.
A few years ago, I reviewed a cute little 3-D platformer called Mini Ninjas (you don’t see too many cute 3-D platformers anymore nowadays, huh?). Anyway, you played as little kid ninjas as you went off on an adventure. Now they’ve taken the characters and setting from that game and made a continuous running 2-D platformer out of it. Like iOS devices really need any more of those. But, this one is of higher quality than most, with colorful 3-D graphics and plenty of options and challenges to keep you playing.
And finally, here’s a virtual board game similar to Trivial Pursuit. Except the rules are designed better so the game ends quicker. Back in the 80’s when I was a kid; my parents would host Trivial Pursuit parties when the game was super popular. It was fun, but it took FOREVER to end a game the way it was designed. I just liked taking the box of cards on road trips and reading the questions aloud instead. We also did that in school.
And that’s all for now! Please read as many of my reviews as you can, and comments are very much appreciated. Later! --Cary
I did read just about all of the articles and they were a great read thanks for sharing this
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Thanks for reading and commenting!
Fatal Frame 2 is a bit less clunky, but it's a shit ton scarier. Play at your own risk.
Yeah I hope I get to review it, too. You know, even though I don't play scary and gory games hardly at all, I can certainly handle them. I'm a lot tougher than I look. I just generally don't choose to play those kinds of games.
dammit, I want to play Fatal Frame!
I'm glad I got to try it.
Popeye would be an awesome ghost. I actually like spinach. Never used to, but I do now.
I like brussel sprouts.
You like Brussels' Sprouts? Well you're a freak! Just joking!
I don't like those, but I do like lima beans.
You like spinach? Oh, please, sir, don't eat spinach and get strong and beat me up! I'll be nice!
Fresh spinach in salads and such is good, but I can't stand the canned stuff. Blech!
I wouldn't mind playing strip poker with Samus, Peach, and Chun Li lol. Just kidding. I'm not a big fan of Poker, but I might check out Poker Night 2. Is there a demo for it?
You'd have to be real good at cards to play strip poker with Samus if she's in her armor.
I don't know if there's a demo for Poker Night 2. Usually downloadable games have demos, so I would THINK so.
I finally got Fatal Frame back for PS2 and it is just as scary as I remember. I found a PS2 River King game on vacation recently. I like fishing,so it made me curious.The Poker Night game you spoke of is highly interesting. Another pasttime I could do better at in a virtual setting. And I would not lose real money[wife would kill me!] while doing it.
Yeah I'd like to try one of the more modern River King games, too. Good thing Poker Night 2 isn't real, the stakes are set pretty high!
Seeing all you do I just don't know how you do it. It just maddening with all the content you offering. I don't even know where to begin, what to touch base on or even how to even consider commenting on all you've written. I'm lucky I can get as far as your old 1up.com account to comment.
the best I can do is this.
HOW DO YOU WRITE SO MUCH IN THE TIME YOU HAVE! I try to write on a schedule but I always fall off the wagon!
After trying out Poker Night 2, I know I have to have it if only for Brock. If I had a choice to play poker with, it would be with the Aqua Teen Hunger Force!
Can I link your Fatal Frame review in a coming october blog in the future? I may not choose a fatal frame game as a top 11 this year but the game series has to be mentioned. Still looking to buy this PSN download if only to preserve my domestic Fatal Frame disc collection.
Well I've been doing this for 15 years now, so I've gotten fairly proficient at posting content. I guess if I had more of a social life it would be harder to do as well. Feel free to link to any stuff I review. Even Wikipedia has in the past! :)
That was a very great surprise you had with the fruit. Hopefully, you will play New Leaf before anyone gets their hands on it.
I don't have a PS2, but if I ever get one, Fatal Frame would be a game that I would buy. I'm a bit of a chiken with survival horror games, but it just looks so interesting.
Something curious is that Mini Ninjas was created by the same team that does the Hitman franchise. Definitly a very drastic contrast of games.
I am so totally excited for New Leaf! If you don't have a PS2, you can still play Fatal Frame for download on PS3 if you have that. I didin't realize that fact about Mini Ninjas. Makes sense since Square publishes them both.
The Animal Crossing fruit basket was really cool. I hope Nintendo gives you a review copy. I kind of want to play Star Trek too just in a so bad its good kind of way. I've watched a Giant Bomb Quick Look and it looks hilarious.
I hope I get a review COPY, too (not a code for this one). The Star Trek game really isn't THAT bad. Most gamers on the Internet just aren't happy with anything.