Category Archives: 6 Star Games

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Review

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Kid Icarus may have had an amazing 3DS game but before that he had rather humble beginnings with the earlier titles. This one is a pretty interesting game to play after the big 3DS adventure. It ends up being a fun title even if parts of it are certainly dated. That’s just going to be the reality for any Game Boy game but I had a good time with it. I can’t imagine how kids would have beaten the bosses back in the day though.

The story starts off with Pit needing to go find the 3 Legendary Treasures. With them he will be able to protect Palutena but standing in his way are an army of powerful monsters. It certainly won’t be easy to defeat them all but Pit is prepared to do what he has to in order to win. As the player you better have some good stamina as well because let me tell you, these boss battles are really long! You can expect each one to take close to 20 minutes.

The game is longer than you’d expect as a result although you’ll still clear it in under 3 hours. The levels themselves are easy, it’s just those boss fights which really take things to the next level. Part of why they take so long is each of the bosses like to fly around the levels like crazy with super speed. As soon as you think you’ve caught up, they dash away again. So you have to try and get in a few blows each time as quickly as you can and then rinse/repeat.

It’s a rather brutal cycle all things considered. The boss fights are creative but they definitely could have been improved with a little less movement. The actual levels tend to be more straight forward on the platforming side. You have your arrows to blast away at enemies with and you can jump around. You can use power ups to fly as well and then in the final level you unlock the ability to fly for real. I can see why they wouldn’t have added that power from the beginning though as it would have been pretty overpowered.

There was one level where I actually got lost for a few moments. To counter your ability to flight, they added a bunch of blocks in the air and you have to go through a specific path in order to avoid them all. So it’s kind of like one of those hedge mazes. I eventually got out, but let me tell you it was definitely not easy. I also died tons of times during the game with how fast the minions run around. The difficulty level is quite high here, more than what I would have initially expected from Nintendo. Clearly the Nintendo of old was a force to be reckoned with.

Usually my advice would be to go very slow and navigate your way around the obstacles but that’s probably not going to work very well for you here. You will get punished for not moving since several of the enemies infinitely respawn and move with a whole lot of speed. Instead you are going to really want to stay one step ahead of the competition and actively look for hiding spots. Find a place that is easy to defend while you think of where to go next. Alternately, pausing is actually a good strategy here to give yourself time to think.

The graphics are all green because of the Gameboy but overall I would say it looked good. The character sprites are all solid and have a lot of expressions going for them. The soundtrack is also decent even if it doesn’t have a lot of the energy that the 3DS Kid Icarus game had. This one still gets the job done when the chips are down. The length isn’t all that extensive for the game but considering the era I would say it did well enough for itself.

Overall, Kid Icarus is a reasonably fun game. The boss fights are a bit more exaggerated than they should be but you can still feel the solid fundamentals of the game. The gameplay itself is handled well and this is a title that had a lot of care put into every aspect. I suppose if you played the levels enough times then you would eventually be able to push through but yeah it’s not a relaxing experience. With this I am one step closer to playing all of the Nintendo origin games. So if you have the Switch Online then you should check this game out. There isn’t a whole lot to it, but the game did help to set the stage for future Nintendo titles and it’s not every day that you get to fly in a platformer. Even if it is only for a brief portion of the game.

Overall 6/10

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Review

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This is easily one of the toughest games that I’ve ever played. It’s clear that this is the kind of game that would take many, many hours in order to really master. My hat’s off to anyone who actually beat this one without any rewinding or anything like that. It feels like a near impossible task to me and I like to think that I’m pretty good at platformers. This one will absolutely take you to the edge and back. By the time you conquer it, the title will have either driven you mad or you will have high respect for it.

The game follows Ryu as he ends up going on his toughest journey yet. His friend Irene is kidnapped by a mysterious demon lord and a special agent with a gun warns Ryu that there is something extra dangerous about this mission. Ryu isn’t going up against mere ninja this time, but instead he will be fighting demons and deities. Fortunately Ryu isn’t the kind of guy to ever back down from a fight.

You may be surprised at just how cosmic the game gets. It really isn’t afraid to have Ryu go up against foes that are out of this world. This may as well be a full on sci-fi title. The core gameplay is the same as always though. It’s a 2D platformer where you have to slice away at your opponents as you gradually gain ground to the end of the level. You can avoid enemies but often times that may wind up getting you taken out. The villains also respawn almost immediately if you retreat and then go forward.

The combat itself is fairly straight forward. You have a sword and can slice right in front of you, you can also crouch and hit enemies who are trying to go low. You have a basic jump and can climb up on walls. There is also a whole item system but it really confused me so I didn’t invest much time in it. Basically there are tons of bubbles in the air throughout the level and when you slice them, a power up falls out. Sometimes it will summon an energy clone, other times it will let you shoot out fireballs. Each power up has a symbol but there are so many of them that it is really hard to keep track. You will quickly be overwhelmed unless you really take a lot of time to test them all out.

I decided to just plunge ahead. The bosses are all incredibly difficult but the final boss is in a league of his own. He has multiple phases, each one more deadly than the last. If you want to take them all down, it is not going to be an easy adventure for you. The one thing keeping you going will be the story itself which is really impressive. I would even say that the technicals around the board are super impressive here as it doesn’t look or feel like an NES title. It’s all about a generation above that.

The graphics have aged really well for starters. The colors are striking and the backgrounds are really good. The soundtrack is also better than it ought to be. The game has actual cutscenes and quite a lot of them as you get near the end of the game. So what you’ve got here is a very compelling title but I imagine most people did not make it to the end because of how punishing the game is. You essentially have to be frame perfect a lot of the time and a few good mistakes will completely take you out of the fight. There isn’t an easy checkpoint system here either so you will be seriously sent back if you end up losing.

It’s a little too brutal for my liking. I enjoy a difficult game to a degree but it does need to have quality of life features. I never want to be sent too far back and I like for there to be a way to get stronger. You at least need one or the other and this one doesn’t really have either of those. So without the Switch Online, I don’t really expect this is a game that I would have devoted a whole lot of time to.

Still, if you have the Switch Online then it makes for a perfect chance to play this one. One tip I will give is that the final boss has so much health that it can’t fit on screen. So you must keep on attacking. It may feel like you are not dealing any damage, but you actually are. You have to attack for several minutes before you can see the health go down and then from there you are set. I still expect you will die hundreds of times during this experience though.

Overall, Ninja Gaiden II is a really impressive game. It is obvious that a whole lot of care and detail was put into this game. You will get an enormous sense of satisfaction if you can beat the game without rewinding but you will definitely have to put a lot of heart into it. It’s not my favorite title but I can definitely say that the gameplay is smooth. It’s a fun ride even if it goes too far in being as unrelenting as possible.

Overall 6/10

Super Bomberman R 2 Review

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It’s been quite a long while since I played the first Bomberman R. I can’t say this one was too high on my list but I ended up with a gift card to Best Buy thanks to the McDonalds monopoly event. So at that point this game was basically free and so that meant it was really time to have a little fun with this. The gam decided to add quite a bit of gimmicks and minigames to the usual Bomberman formula. I wouldn’t say they landed too well. It’s a decent game but this prevents it from being pretty good. The only thing that will help the game to stand on its own would be to get a lot of value out of the multiplayer mode.

The story starts with the Bomberman brothers being called into action once more as a dark force is taking over multiple planets. It quickly threatens to destroy life as we know it. Fortunately there are nice life forms made out of energy that want to help and can power up multiple objects and landmarks to help out the heroes. With these creatures, victory should be close at hand. But is there something that the main characters have not yet accounted for?

The story gets surprisingly dark by the end. For 90% of the story it’s all sunshine and comic relief as everyone is messing around but the dark truth behind the situation is what really ends up hitting hard. I would say that the heroes even make the wrong call here. They continue to go down a path that will lead to more deaths in order to save a bunch of people in the end. Sure, it makes sense if you’re purely looking at this in terms of the greatest good achieved, but sacrificing everyone along the way just feels like a really rough thing to do. I feel like most protagonists would end up trying to save the day on their own in order to spare everyone else.

As with the last game, Bomberman’s brothers are all on the very annoying side though. They really feel like they are just here to hold him back in a big way. Without them, Bomberman would be taking center stage and fighting without distraction. The game tries a bit too hard to make them all very quirky and likable. They end up being quirky but purely in an annoying way.

Now for the gameplay, it’s pretty standard Bomberman stuff. You walk around the levels and blow stuff up. Eventually you get to the end of the area which leads to a boss battle or to another area. There are 3 main worlds which each have 15 areas and then a fourth world which is basically a boss rush. The actual platforming is fairly fun. It feels like the retro days of Bomberman and works out well.

I also liked the castle boss levels where you have to run through a level as you try to grab a key to steal the crown. Along the way you have to dodge bombs from your allies as well as the enemies. It ends up being pretty easy as the AI isn’t very good but the concept was definitely very solid. So these two gameplay styles are very good but where things go sideways is when you get to the defense levels. In those levels, you have to defend a crown from a bunch of enemies who want to grab it. The problem is you really have to rely on the enemies making mistakes because otherwise this mode is heavily skewed to the attacker. You have control over how the level is set up so that’s where you really need to put most of your effort. I would always aim to funnel the enemies through one path by putting a lot of cannons.

The first world was really rocky but then I got the hang of it. Still, the tower defense levels just aren’t particularly fun. You are trying to survive them as opposed to just having a bunch of fun the whole time. it feels like this was rather forced and shouldn’t have been in the Bomberman adventure. Tower defense can be handled well but this game clearly didn’t have the chops to pull it off.

Meanwhile the graphics are pretty solid. There isn’t a ton of animation here but the art style works really well. Additionally the soundtrack isn’t bad. It’s mainly forgettable but then you have a really intense credits song that hits you with a whole wave of emotions. I was absolutely not expecting that at all. It really showed that you can’t underestimate the series at all. Bomberman was ready to take on any AAA title in that regard. It was real catchy and I will definitely listen to it again.

There isn’t much replay value n the single player experience. Most of the content is built around the online portion of the game. Likewise most of the trophies are online based so if you want to get the Platinum trophy then you will be out of luck there. Of course if you have PS+, then you get a lot more content right out of the gate. The character roster is also fairly large so that gives you some variety in gameplay since they all have unique skill. It’s one of those areas where it felt like the game put in quite a bit of effort. The developers feel pretty random in that regard as some thing are polished and other areas are not.

Overall, Bomberman R2 is a good game but the developers should have had more confidence in the actual bomb gameplay. If the whole game was a mix of the platforming and boss levels, then this would have been an absolute success. Instead, the game tried doing a whole lot of other things and they didn’t work out. We also have plenty of puzzles which appear during the game and for some of those I don’t know how you were supposed to solve it. I would just put bombs everywhere until I got an opening. I know that wasn’t the way the puzzle was meant to be defeated though. That’s the problem there. Hopefully a third game returns to the basics.

Overall 6/10

Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind Review

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Uncle Bubsy has returned! It’s always fun to play another title in the franchise, even if this one does end up feeling a little more dated than the last few. The game doesn’t have the best gimmicks and is a reminder of why sometimes the platformers should really play it straight. When you start to get into all of these gimmicks, it distracts from what could have been a better game. Ah well, that’s just how it goes sometimes though.

The general format here is that of a 2D platformer. You are trying to get to the yarn ball at the end of the level but along the way you will have to dodge several obstacles and take on enemies. Bubsy himself is very fragile so a single hit will take out his life. Yes, there are no rings to protect you or a bigger form to absorb one hit. If you get hit at all then it’s curtains and it is very difficult not to get hit here. I’m afraid that puts you in a rough spot because there are a ton of obstacles here.

The game does not hold back in terms of difficulty. This is the kind of game where you really have to concentrate at all times because if your concentration slips at any moment, then it is curtains for you. There will be no coming back from all of that. Of course that is where the rewind feature comes in handy. Without that, it would be incredibly difficult to defeat this game. You would certainly have to be going slow which is what the developers intended. My problem is that this goes against the genre.

Now this might just be me, but I like to be zooming through levels. I don’t want to have to be going really slow and watching out for things at all times. I want to be having fun going through the levels. This is hardly the only game to do that though so it’s really just a debate between me and the genre itself. If you can get past that, then the game is fundamentally sound. I can’t really give any big negatives against it.

The graphics are also pretty solid and that’s in large part because they have a really fun artstyle here. It’s the kind of artstyle that will continue to look really good even 20 years from now. So Bubsy did good there and the soundtrack is decent although I will say it is a lot more forgettable. I couldn’t recall any of the tunes for you right here but during the gameplay they certainly sounded good enough.

There isn’t a lot of replay value because the game itself is fairly short. Not like there is an extended postgame here or anything like that. Of course that is fairly par for the course when it comes to platformers. Ultimately it’s a game that I would recommend checking out but only because it’s on the Switch Online. If you had to buy it, then I’d say to make sure you could get it for around $10-$15. Purely because you won’t be playing it for very long and you want to make sure not to overdo it.

One of the ways I’d improve this game aside from removing the maze like structure would be to fix the jumping. The mechanics here are way too floaty and it makes things difficult for you when it comes to momentum. The jumps are harder than they should be and naturally that just results in more deaths. Seeing as how platforming is all about jumping and crisp movements, this ends up hurting the game as a whole and should be a top priority to tighten up. I would also say you should be able to endure at least one hit and adding more checkpoints would be a nice addition as well.

Overall, Bubsy is a good game but definitely not a great one. There are too many obstacles to have to run around and the mazes can get rather old. The bosses are also a bit glitchy with one of them just dying and nothing happened so I had to restart the battle. If they had stuck to pure platforming then this would have probably worked but the back tracking and dying to every obstacle really takes its toll here. I will still be hyped for a more modern adventure though because you can see the potential here. It’s just a little dated in multiple ways.

Overall 6/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare Review

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This game has been one of those titles that I’ve had my eye on for decades now. I owned the first two after all so I would need to play the third one too. Unfortunately the gameplay’s been overhauled quite a bit for this one so it’s not quite as solid as the first two, but it’s still a good addition. I like the way they use clips from the show and then new cutscenes to really build the narrative here. The game is longer and even a bit harder than you might have expected as well. So you really have to go in with both eyes open and then hope for the best.

The game has 4 episodes here. The first one deals with the dinosaur war, the second has you taking on Bishop and is goonsquad, and the third one pits you against the Shredder! The final episode brings you up against a monster mutant and you’re in actual nightmares so it makes sense within the title. The final episode really amps up the difficulty although it has less chapters than the other episodes and over half of them have no cutscenes so it’s a lot emptier to compensate for that. There are also a lot of side levels you can do to grind for energy points and buy upgrades.

The upgrades are rather important here because they’re how you learn how to extend your combos as well as hold more scrolls. Scrolls can increase your base state like health and attack power as well as give you other kind of benefits. The health/damage increases are your best bets though. They can make you a real monster out there. I didn’t bother collecting a whole lot of scrolls on my way to the top so I really had to change that as I went through.

A pretty cool thing about the game is that all 4 turtles are fighting at once here. It’s not like the other games where you maybe have 2. The computer also controls them well so they aren’t just there to make you look bad or anything like that. Now, don’t expect them to be amazing. You’ll still have to do most of the work but they actively contribute which is all that I can really ask for here. Usually it feels like the A.I. just stands around in these kinds of games.

I would recommend maxing out your standard attack combo as soon as possible. The combos are level gated so it will take a little while but it’s the best way to go in. Until you have maxed out a combo, your attacks will just stop midway which makes it easy to hit you. So you are going to need to watch out for that. Damage adds up fast in this game so even the foot soldiers will take you out if you’re not careful. Never be afraid to turn back and regroup for a while.

You can use commands to help instruct the other 3 turtles during combat and you can also use super attacks. I never really understood how to do the inputs for the energy ball but the other attacks went easily enough. I ended up choosing Raphael as my character but I didn’t realize he would end up being one of the weakest. Technically I would recommend you pick Leonardo if you ever buy this game. His special attack and general moveset are just so much better than Raphael’s.

The graphics for the game have aged pretty well. The levels look sharp and there are quite a lot of character models. You can feel that the game got a pretty good budget here. Additionally the soundtrack is also classic so I have no issues here. This is a game that is just a lot of fun to play through all the way. Even when you run into a setback, it doesn’t take long to go and train to come back for the rematch. It’s the beauty of shorter levels since it is only when they are very long that you dread having to redo things.

There is some replay value here although I wouldn’t say a ton. You can search for the CDs and Scrolls in each level so that you can say you’ve beaten the game with 100% clear rate. That’s certainly not easy but it is doable. If you pay attention during your initial run, you can probably get over half of them naturally, maybe even 80%. They will help you for the final bosses (The scrolls at least) so that is something to keep in mind.

There are also some bonus modes like time attack and score attack. They each only have one level but every bit of extra content was nice to see. The game definitely went above and beyond when it needed to. So why did I not like the gameplay as much? Well, it’s more about minigames and less time was spent on the combat. You have levels on the hoverboards, first person levels with the shuriken, and also hangglider levels.

For the beat em up sections, often times you can skip all the enemies and just run to the goal. Sometimes you have to fight though and when fighting you’ll quickly notice that it’s very slippery. You end up just running past your enemy when trying to combo him or you will land the blows and they don’t have a lot of oomph to them. It feels more arcade style than the last two and just a bit watered down. Not terrible or anything but the combat just used to be noticeably better which means this is naturally going to lag behind the other two by a bit.

Overall, Mutant Nightmare is still a good game. I’m glad to have finally gotten a chance to play it after all these years. It’s definitely been waiting, that’s for sure. The difficulty will probably survive folks who were expecting a walk in the park and so I would definitely recommend checking this one out. It has aged pretty well and it’s also so nostalgic to go back to the Gamecube days. You do not want to miss out on this one!

Overall 6/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) Review

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This is one of those games that is so obscure I hadn’t even heard of it before. They really should have added some kind of a subtitle to this one so it wouldn’t just blend in with every other game. Shouldn’t that be lesson 1 for any form of media? If you ask me it feels like a pretty obvious thing to do at least. Ah well….it is what it is.

The game starts off with Splinter being kidnapped so the Turtles have to grab their gear and find him. It won’t be easy though as the Shredder and his henchmen may be involved. The Turtles are used to being able to rely on their sensei and now that isn’t going to be an option. They haven’t had to deal with a crisis like this before but fortunately all 4 of them are really big talkers. You can expect a whole lot of smack talk throughout the game as the Turtles make their voices known.

This title very clearly does not have a high budget. Each character has 2-3 lines that they continue to spam at every point. The lines don’t usually make sense within the context of the scene but the game isn’t really worried about that. I guess I’ll take this over not having voice acting. The actual plot is fairly barebones but the bigger issue is the length. This is an extremely short game. You can knock out the main story out as well as most of the side missions in under 4 hours. You unlock a few more side missions after completing the game but that won’t buy you much time. So you better hope the game is fun at least.

Fortunately, I actually did enjoy the gameplay. It’s very unpolished but there was a good amount of combat here. Basically it’s styled as an overhead beat em up. You use your main attacks to take down the enemies and as you level up, you can buy new moves and passive power ups. Essentially you will continue to grow stronger and stronger as you play through the game. You may wonder what the point of these power ups are for most of the game but then the final level hits you like an absolute truck! The difficulty spike there is absolutely insane.

You have to defeat 8 bosses in a row with no save points or check points of any nature. Ultimately I did have to go back and grind exp for about 2 hours so I guess that did inflate the playtime quite a bit. I also used all of the money to buy a bunch of food packs and invincibility items. In a sense you could say I cheesed things a bit since each invincibility item protects you for 3 seconds and I bought 100 of those. I also bought 100 potions and I unlocked Raphael’s ability which gives him another 3 seconds of invincibility. You will need all of this to win.

While you can seamlessly switch between all 4 turtles and they all have their own health bars, if one of them dies then all 4 do. So that’s something to really keep in mind here. You could easily get a game over just because you got a little too overconfident. That happened to me a few times. Fortunately the game is pretty good about having constant save points at regular intervals. If I had to back track a lot then that would have been rough.

I wonder if the game was originally planned to be longer though. There are still new mechanics being introduced when you are in the final 5 levels after all. They’re also rather pointless with how unnecessary they were, like being able to break a store or climbing a ladder. Why even have those features in the game when they are only going to be used once or twice? I dunno, I guess that’s a little over my head.

The graphics are fine. Nothing noteworthy but you can always tell what is happening and fortunately the game isn’t laggy. The soundtrack is virtually nonexistent though, I would have liked some kind of a catchy song to listen to instead. That would have been pretty cool. So the gameplay is really on its own here. I like the style and of course having an EXP system is always cool since you actually have a reason to fight against the enemies. So the game did something right there. The power up system also means there are many different ways for you to fight as you try and figure out what the best combinations are.

By the end of the game, Michelangelo felt like the strongest since he was the only one with long range options that were spammable and dealt a whole lot of damage. You could beat anyone with him even if the battles would take longer. I definitely took advantage of that for the EXP grinding. Raphael also got really strong by the end and I think the final two would have followed suit. I’m sure if the game was popular you would see a lot of debates on who has the best build since the game did a good job of making them all very different but still powerful.

If this were a game boy title I’d be a bit more lenient with the length but on the 3DS? I think they definitely could have done better there so I really can’t hold its hand here. Ultimately the Ninja Turtles still have many more games for me to try out so eventually I’ll get to see how the others stack up. In the meantime, it’s difficult to take down the classic Gamecube titles. That was really the eras of TMNT.

Overall, This is one of those games that is fun but I probably would have felt differently if I had bought it day 1 for full price. Since I got it for around $10, it makes sense that I didn’t feel too bad about it. It’s a whole different situation at this point. With a little more polish and content I even think it could have been pretty good. Alas, this just was not in the cards. If you do see this game in stores I would pick it up but it is far from being the best Ninja Turtles game.

Overall 6/10

GI Joe: Wrath of Cobra Review

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It’s been a while since I played a GI Joe game so it was time to change that. Wrath of Cobra is one of those games that never got a physical release so it was time to finally grab it on the PSN. It’s definitely a short game so I would feel bad for anyone who might have gotten it on opening day. The gameplay is fun enough and all but you really feel like they could have put way more effort into this. At least make it a few hours longer right? I don’t think that would have been so unreasonable.

The game starts with Cobra Commander deciding to take over the world but there is also a clone of him and both think that they are the real deal. So they attack the Joes and along the way will have to watch their backs or they will be absolutely dominated. One wrong step and that is game over. So Duke and friends prepare to fight them. There isn’t much more of a story than that but I do appreciate that the game will actually throw in the occasional cutscene. It helped to liven things up and we even get to see a glimpse of the outside world as Cobra Commander tries to get some kids to support his cause. It helps to flesh the world out a tiny bit.

Of course, the whole game is still only around 2 hours so it really goes by in a flash. There are 12 levels and each level tends to be around 7-9 minutes. You have your basic attacks as well as a super move. You have to use these attacks to try and claim total victory. You have 4 lives to play the game with although if you lose them all, you get infinite continues. So that’s pretty handy. There are trophies for beating levels without getting hit or dying which sounds insane to me. I just don’t know how anyone would really be pulling that off.

I suppose with enough practice but this is not a game that I think most people would end up sticking with. I definitely wouldn’t be playing the game more than once. The reason does come down to how basic it is. I prefer 3D beat em ups but the 2D ones can be good too. There just isn’t much to it because the moveset is too low. You only have two main attacks to combo with. Then the enemies don’t have a whole lot of variety to them either. I suppose you could have fun switching characters since you have several options here but even then that is not going to buy you a ton of time.

It was always fun to exploit the occasional glitch though. A few times there would be a boss or an enemy who would not realize that you were standing slightly beneath him so he would keep striking out at empty air. Was a good way to cheese some of these guys who had really large health bars. For my playthrough I decided to play as Snake Eyes because he has incredibly high attack power. I think I made the right choice there. His super attack is that he summons a dog to come in and deal a lot of damage. A bit random but a fun super since even the bosses would take a lot of damage from that.

As far as the graphics go, they look good enough. I liked how colorful everyone is in order to match the old show. The cutscenes we get definitely aren’t very high quality but at least we had cutscenes which was cool. The soundtrack is okay but also not something that I would call really memorable. You’ll have forgotten the tunes real quickly once the game ends.

My main advice when playing is to jump a lot. It’s a great way to clear the distance over to your opponents and of course you get to dodge attacks along the way. Then once you have the enemies in one spot, you can really combo them all to death. Keep on swinging even once they are in the air and usually you can finish each opponent before they had a chance to hit the ground. Pretty sneaky eh? It’s a pretty good way to whittle down the odds.

The game would be really difficult without the infinite continues but since you have them, this one is a true cake walk. While the length is extremely short, the trophies do add a lot of replay value since I think it would be incredibly difficult to get them all. Getting the Platinum for a game like this would really feel like a pipe dream. Not totally impossible or anything like that but not really worth the amount of time it would take. To me at least, maybe you could see it as a badge of honor.

Overall, Wrath of Cobra feels very much like the kind of game you would find on the app store. It’s not particularly high quality and is a very short experience. The gameplay is simple and while it’s not bad, you get the feeling that there wasn’t a ton of time spent on it. This game was just churned out quickly to take advantage of the retro beat em up feeling that everyone has been enjoying. This one loses to most of the other games I’ve played in this genre. If you really like GI Joe though, perhaps the nostalgia alone will make it worth it for you.

Overall 6/10

Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure! Review

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This is one of those games that I would pass by all the time. I never took the plunge and actually bought it though so now that it was added onto the Nintendo Switch Online, I knew it was my chance. Now I could finally see what all the fuss was about. Ultimately this is a good game although I wouldn’t call it a pretty good game because it is missing some solid quality of life stuff. If it can fix those in the sequel, then we can really be in business here.

The game starts out by introducing us to a really dysfunctional family. The daughter believes that she is a frog while the parents are always fighting. Their marriage has grown really strained thanks to the father always spending their money on toys and then lying about it. Not a really good idea at all and you can see why she would be super upset. Well, Chibi Robo exists to spread happiness and joy so this is really his big chance. His partner Telly is a nice little tv bot that provides moral support. Chibi has to find a way to save his family and may even have to go up against some serious spider bots. This will not be easy at all.

The core gameplay is really about walking around and seeing what everybody needs. It feels like an RPG in that respect. Your ultimate goal is to become the best Chibi Robo in the world in order to unlock your super mode and you do that by collecting hearts. You need thousands of hearts for this and you get them by breaking boxes, helping your friends, and picking up the trash around the house. It’s steady work that will gradually get you to the top although there are also main story quests that you have to accomplish. You won’t be able to get the top ranking without completing them all so you want to be doing both at the same time.

There is also a day and night system to keep track of. Initially the time changes every 5 minutes but eventually you can buy a power up that extends this to 15. Trust me, it’s a mechanic that you will find annoying almost immediately. Sometimes you need the day to end early or to stretch a bit longer and you’re just out of luck. I think this was definitely a mechanic that should have been skipped.

You also have to watch your energy meter. If it goes to 0, you will lose a ton of money and be sent back home. At the start of the game you don’t have a lot of energy at all but by the end you have a sizable amount. This means a lot of recharging at the various sockets scattered around the house. This can get rather monotonous fast and mixing that in with the day/night timer, you are always in a rush. You can’t afford to just survey the area and try to plan things out. For an exploration game like this, it’s a really questionable strategy.

The graphics are fairly good. I do think the art style has aged well and the special effects are solid. Some of the animations/unskippable cutscenes can get old quickly but that’s not the graphics fault. This game does opt for the made-up language/random sound effects of dialogue which is definitely unfortunate. It’s not as bad as in other games but will still get grating rather quickly. The whole time you will be hoping that you don’t have to see the characters talking too much.

Although on the other hand you are glad to have a real plot here. The soundtrack is mainly forgettable although there is a good track or two in there. The game isn’t generally combat heavy btu we actually do get a full boss fight near the end so that was pretty cool. I’d like to see more combat in the sequel since Chibi has his own blaster and everything.

While I didn’t find it to be too captivating, I give the game credit for establishing some lore and actually trying to tell a full story here. It could be a bit too repetitive, but the attempt was at least made. I also think the concept of a platformer that revolves around you being tiny is really good. You just don’t need the other gimmicks along with that. Let me enjoy running around cleaning up the house without putting some kind of a big timer on it.

Overall, Chibi Robo is a game that suffered from its own ambitions. It would have been a great calming game if they had just stuck to the core concept. It reminds me a lot of De Blob in terms of the cleaning efforts but that game was many times better because you could actually take your time and have a lot of fun. While cleaning games won’t be for everyone, I would bet that a large amount of the core fanbase would agree that they want to be able to have fun without constantly rushing the whole time. At the very least I know that’s how I feel about it. If you don’t mind being rushed the whole time, then you should check this one out. I would even say that it can be reasonably difficult at times. At least in finding out how to reach certain areas. You really have to keep a close eye on every part of the house and memorize the layouts for day and night to get to the bottom of this. Things change every few chapters as well so you want to keep that in mind.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime: Hunters Review

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It’s time for a portable Metroid Prime. This definitely changes things up since the DS is a very different console than the Gamecube or Wii. In some ways the most tragic thing is that this would have been amazing for the home consoles but alas the DS does begin to show the cracks in its armor here. The main drawback is absolutely the fact that the game is extremely painful. You can feel it breaking your wrists as you try to move the screen and fight the enemies. By the end you will have had a true workout but not one that was really intentional from the game design.

The Federation calls on Samus to stop yet another alien infection across the universe but this time there will be competition. A bunch of other hunters have decided to step in for a grand prize that is said to be present on one of these planets. Samus must crush all of these guys but they are professionals as well so it won’t be so easy. She will have to really focus up and may have to use new abilities that she never had before.

At this point it is a running gag that Samus absorbs just about every kind of creature and energy that she can over the course of the series. She has had the powers of darkness, the dread, and other mysterious energies in each game. They just never stop and yet she is still around so Samu is made of sterner stuff. This game decides to leverage that in a different way but letting her have elemental abilities. Yes, in this game you have around 6 different powers like ice, electricity, fire, and other attacks.

It makes for some really fun variety as you keep on blasting away at all the opponents. The vania aspect is naturally still around but the worlds are much smaller and bite sized so you won’t get lost as much. To counteract that, the game doesn’t actually display the map so you have to pause every time you want to look at it. A most regrettable game design choice if you ask me. You want to be able to see where you’re going even in a smaller world.

Still, the main issue here is the gameplay itself. You have to use your stylus in order to move the screen and attack the monsters. This results in a whole lot of moving but it’s clearly geared towards someone who is right handed. As a leftie myself, this was really tough. You have to tilt your hand in an unnatural way in order to get to the enemies. There is a whole lot of combat here like the constant mandatory minibosses so your hand will be sweating it out during that.

Additionally, these minibosses will re spawn every time you enter their room so if you get lost or just have to backtrack because of a mandatory power up, you will have to face them again. This makes for a pretty rough amount of tedious gameplay because you aren’t getting anything from these battles. At least if it was an RPG you would be getting stronger and stronger but that’s not the case here.

The graphics are pretty good. We have actual cutscenes here which is nice and of course the gameplay is sharp. The soundtrack is also good even if it isn’t nearly at the level of the main primes. It’s just hard to make it through without the big Ridley or Dark Samus themes. It still gets the job done and as a whole it’s clear that they put a lot of effort into this one. It’s quite advanced for a portable game and plays like the real home console versions.

As always Prime just needs to tone down some of the weaker gameplay design elements and then this would be a more fun adventure. The stylus controls were naturally a terrible decision right from the start but also the forced mini bosses doesn’t make sense. I’d also argue for more quick travel points in general but it seems like the Prime games just tend to avoid that for all of the titles. This is still a third person shooter though so at the end of the day it will be satisfying to shoot down the opponents. The large variety of weapons is fun after all and some of them are super broken like the electricity. That one is definitely a lot of fun to spam at enemies.

You do have to use the stylus to switch abilities so that can get a bit tedious but on the whole it works out well enough. Just slow down when you need to and that can make a world of difference. Pure difficulty-wise it is definitely tougher than Prime 3 but not quite as hard as Prime 2 so it’s somewhere in the middle there. Not exactly a walk in the park but you’ll get enough power ups through the course of the game to claim victory in the end. If you die, there are restart points so you don’t have to run to the boss. You just restart the fight which is a great quality of life update.

Overall, Metroid Prime: Hunters is a good game. It would have been a very good one but unfortunately the pain is just too much for me to put it any higher. I suppose if you are right handed then you can add an extra star to this game and have a blast. Otherwise I can’t say that I would fully recommend it though. You’re better off skipping ahead and getting Prime 3 or going back and playing Metroid Fusion. In either case you are getting a much stronger experience there. Prime Hunters does add some fun characters to the mix like actually getting other opponent hunters but that just isn’t enough to overcome that gameplay.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes Review

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It’s time to finally check out the second Metroid Prime. It’s been many years since I played the original so it’s about time that I get onto the sequel right? Prime 2 does a great job of getting a more intense atmosphere than the first game but still does deal with a lot of the big issues you’d expect from a Metroidvania. Additionally, the game is lacking in quite a few of the quality of life updates you would hope for.

The story starts off with Samus landing on a planet where all federation staff were wiped out by some odd zombie creatures. As she goes deeper into the planet, she really sees just how vicious the massacre was. Now she needs to eliminate this threat before she leaves the planet or it could spread across the solar system. Will she be able to fight off all of the aliens…even Dark Samus?

One thing I can say for the game right away is that it starts off with a very memorable beginning. Getting to see how the aliens took over through the flashbacks was really good. I also enjoyed all of Dark Samus’ appearances and fights throughout the game. That villain was an absolute standout and I can see why even Ridley had some competition in terms of popularity. Dark Samus is the big mastermind here and is one step ahead for most of the game.

Unfortunately the game is very front loaded when it comes to the cutscenes. The story really starts to taper off after the initial levels to the point where there will be large gaps in time where there is no big story updates. So for the most part it is just about you solving the puzzles. The puzzles can also range from being reasonably fun to incredibly tedious.

The biggest issue that plagued the game was how you had the light and dark modes. This gimmick meant that you would have to look for a portal to take you to the other side. Each side is a complete duplication except that each one has different power ups. So you will be going through the same rooms over and over again as you switch back and forth. It would have been nice to have been able to have just stuck to one side since it would have been less repetitious.

This also meant if you used up your light or dark energy, you would have to go around looking for enemies or crates to smash in order to replenish. I can tell you that this wasn’t always easy. Sometimes you would have to go through several rooms in order to find what you’re looking for. These are small things that would really begin to add up.

Aside from that there is also no quick travel until you reach the climax of the game. So you have to run a long way to get to a portal to go from world to world. Honestly even the quick travel we do get is incredibly limited so I suppose I shouldn’t give that too much credit either. It feels like a game where they did not prioritize the consumer as much as they should have.

The soundtrack is really good though. The Dark Samus theme is really quite incredible and I also liked several other themes that play during the game. There was definitely no effort spared on this one and it worked out very well. The graphics are solid throughout and that definitely helps to ramp up your enjoyment. Ultimately if the technical elements were not as good then this game could have been in real trouble.

As far as the gameplay goes, it’s not bad. The thing is, I’m still not a big fan of the FPS style of gameplay. It’s okay but the camera work just doesn’t do me any favors. I will always take a more zoomed out style where I can actually see the character. The combat works well enough but you spend more time running around rooms and trying to scan everything in order to trigger the next level.

Maybe in a way the game realized this and so there are mandatory mini boss battles every time you enter some specific rooms. Trust me when I say this gets old pretty fast. You don’t want to have to continue beating up the same opponents over and over again. That’s not really going to make things any more exciting. Especially since it’s not like there is an exp system here with level ups and everything. That would change things.

I’d say this is a game where the gimmicks really held it back. No switching between worlds and this would already be better. That said, it’s still not a bad game or anything. While getting lost for the 50th time will hurt, at the end of the day it is a game where you will gradually get stronger as you go on. The more you get used to the controls as well, the more you will be blowing your opponents away. So don’t lose heart and every 2 hours or so the game will even throw in a hint.

Overall, Metroid Prime 2 is a good game but it is carried a bit by the soundtrack and graphics. It’s a game where you could easily picture it being an amazing title if it was more of a classic 3D action brawler. Metroid should consider leaning more into that kind of gameplay someday if you ask me. Well either way if you played Metroid Prime 1 then you should play the sequel. It’s very similar in a lot of ways after all and you want to continue the saga. You will definitely be missing the daylight early on though as just about all of Prime 2 is indoors compared to 1 where you got to be outdoors at times. Hopefully Prime 2 is able to give us a little more balance there. All I need is at least some brighter level backgrounds.

Overall 6/10