Category Archives: 6 Star Games

Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham Review

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It’s time for one of my most random video game purchases. Hey sometimes that’s how you end up getting a top tier talent right? Well this one is hardly at that level but it’s a reasonably serviceable party game. It’s mainly held back by the length and lack of variety here. You won’t have much reason to play it but I do like how seamlessly they incorporate a 2 player mode into the mix. If they ever make a PS5 remake of this game I’d be temped to give it a look.

The basic plot follows that of the book. The characters want to get this one guy to eat their green eggs and ham no matter what. They seriously won’t take no for an answer and are having a really hard time convincing him otherwise. So you get one page out of the book after every minigame but then you will quickly notice that it is the same 5-6 cutscenes that repeat on loop. For example if you activate the train minigame then they will ask the guy to eat the meal on the train. I imagine this could get old on repeated playthroughs since it’s the same stuff each time. You can skip past it easily enough at least.

The gameplay is definitely a party game through and through. You are on a map similar to something like Candy Land as you roll the dice and move forward. Every time you roll the dice you play a matching minigame where you have to match shapes together. Then based on what square you land on is what minigame you will play after that. Once you reach the end of the map, whoever has the highest score/victories is the winner. I will say that the computer kept it close as we had the same amount of victories for a while there but there was also a big reason for this. The matching game keeps your progress which is fine but you can only do one turn at a time. So lets say I win it in turn 4 and now there are only two uncovered cards left. When it is the next player’s turn, he has no choice but to flip those cards and of course they are the right ones so he wins. This happens each time when the matching game is near the end which seems like a pretty big oversight.

Most of the other minigames are like mini platformers. You jump around from area to area as you collect the hams and eggs. You want to get as many as possible and if you’re lucky then you will get them all. The minigames aren’t particularly hard but they are fun. I’m always up for bite sized games like this. The whole game may take you maybe 20 minutes at most to complete. Then after that you are done so that’s why I say the game is ultra short. It’s fun but how high can you really rank a game when you are able to conquer it so easily? Just doesn’t really add up. I think I’d probably be even harsher if I had paid the big bucks for it but fortunately I was able to get it for just a few bucks.

The graphics aren’t bad. Nothing special but you can always tell what is happening at least. The soundtrack isn’t bad either but it also comes across as generic. I don’t imagine a whole lot of time and effort was put into these things but of course I’m still glad they were present. There may not be a whole lot to this game but at least it wasn’t glitchy or anything like that. It’s still a fun game at its core and if you can snag it for a few bucks then it’s not a bad purchase. If you have to spend a whole lot of money on it then that’s another thing though.

Like I mentioned earlier, I do give the game some credit for actually having a multiplayer mode though. Basically you would just hand off the GBA after each turn. Each minigame is meant to be for 1 player after all and then you compare scores like Pac Man. It’s really quite genius when you think about it. Now they still should have had more minigames and you’ll need to find someone who wants to play the game but it’s a small thing the devs did that actually does add some replay value here. l

Overall, Green Eggs and Ham is one of those games where you may be surprised to learn that it got a video game at all. I was pretty surprised myself and figured I would have heard about it by this point. Well, better late than never as they say. It’s not a game I will probably remember as the years go by but it’s definitely crazy enough where that might not be true. Maybe I ought to buy the Cat in the Hat game at some point to see how that one stacks up. I bet the game will definitely be real interesting so at the very least I won’t be bored. I’m hoping it would at least be a bit longer than this game though. Being under 1 hour is always crazy no matter how you look at it.

Overall 5/10

Pokémon Trading Card Game Review

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I’ve played my share of trading card games over the years. Mainly Yugioh but I’ve also played Duel Masters and Shadowverse. I like to think of myself as a bit of a veteran but I never got into the Pokemon one. I felt like the rules just didn’t make a lot of sense to me initially and it didn’t seem as fun. My opinions on it haven’t changed a lot as I consider this to still be the weakest of the trading card games but this title still does a reasonably good job with it. The fact that there is a story mode at all is definitely a plus as that is never a full guarantee.

The basic goal is to defeat all of the club leaders and then take on the elite four. The terms are slightly different from the main games but it’s really the same effect here. You start off by choosing a trial/starter deck from one of the main 3 types and then go from there. Whenever you defeat an opponent, you randomly get 10-20 cards. Some leaders will require you to defeat 3 trainers before you can fight them while others will fight you right away. Keep this in mind for when you are picking which leader to fight next. Since I had a fire deck, I naturally went for the grass gym first.

The initial deck took me pretty far, I was able to beat 3 leaders before I had to start doing a lot of tweaking. By the end of the game I had a balanced fire and psychic type deck. I find the Abra line to be absolutely busted in this game. They just have so many cool abilities and not a lot of weaknesses since the dark type wasn’t out yet. Some of the type advantages are quite a bit different from the original games so you should definitely keep that in mind or you will be in for a really big surprise. That definitely got me a few times so after a while I would start looking at the weaknesses. At any point you can freely inspect every card so that’s not a problem.

I should note that the game is reasonably difficult and I would even say incredibly so at times. It all depend son your deck though. For example it took me over 50 tries to defeat the psychic gym leader but then the Pokemon champion only took me 2 tries. It all depends on the deck that you have built for yourself. This is a game that is really big on type advantages and disadvantages so you have to keep that all in mind. If you underestimate that element of the game then you will really be in for a rude surprise here.

Also the game is insulated against rewinding. I believe the reason for this is that the coin flips are all pre determined even 2 turns in advance. So no matter how many times you try it, the opponent is going to keep hitting his lucky heads to knock you flat. At the end of the day there just isn’t a whole lot that you will be able to do against this technique. So make sure you have a good deck and you will just have to absorb some losses. A good deal of the game is luck based and so if the opponent wins a lot of flips then you’re just going to lose.

I will say this is definitely the weakest part of the Pokemon trading card game to me. I understand a little RNG of course but it feels like virtually every ability is related to a coin flip and so you are going to see a ton of those. It also slows down the pacing of the game by a longshot. None of these animations are skippable after all and you will be seeing them over and over and over again. I also think the games would be really annoying when the opponent would happen to draw the one card that is needed to stop you. It might make you slightly grin at how the enemies have main character levels of plot armor but that will fade when you have to do the whole thing over again.

The graphics aren’t bad. They do remind me a lot of the mainline games and for its time you could tell that they put in a lot of effort. The soundtrack is also not bad, there’s some actual variety here. It’s got nothing on the main Pokemon games to be sure but it’s also more memorable than the average spinoff which is also impressive. I keep saying this but that’s why even if the game wasn’t exactly my speed, it’s clear that this wasn’t a bottom effort cash-in or anything like that. I think they could easily make a new version that would sell really well if they put in the same kind of effort with today’s tech. Maybe just remove some of the coin flips and luck stuff unless it’s extremely ingrained into the card game itself.

Overall, Pokemon’s trading card game has a lot of depth to it. I don’t think it’s amazing but at the same time it would probably be better with some quality of life updates. The game itself is older and does feel dated in some ways. It’s like how Yugioh wasn’t ultra fun in some games because they weren’t optimized so I can acknowledge that’s part of the issue here as well. It still feels like it needs something more to spice up the game but at least now I can say that I know how to play it. If you’re looking for an intense trading card game then this could be a decent one to check out though. Not much to lose and it’s not every day that you get to see a bonus Pokemon storyline.

Overall 6/10

Tetris DX Review

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Tetris is one of those games that is known to be virtually timeless. It continues to get more and more alternate versions but people always love pulling up the original. The reason is because good gameplay is good gameplay. As long as that part ages well then the rest of the game will quickly follow suit. For the most part you can see how it surpasses the legacy of the original although I do miss the hand drawn illustrations.

There are a few different modes here that you will notice right away. You have the classic mode here as well as survival mode and a number of others like marathon mode. They’re all pretty similar but of course there are key differences in each of them. It’ll take you a while to go through them all though so you’ll need some time here. I made sure to go through each of the modes to see how they played. Generally I’d say my favorite is classic but what I liked about some of the other modes is that they had endings.

For example, in one mode you have to see how quickly you can complete 30 lines within Tetris. The faster you do it, the higher your score is. It gives you something to try and surpass. Technically speaking the main mode had an ending point as well but very few people have ever managed to get there. I remember a kid made the news for accomplishing this because it was such a massive feat. It’s not something that just anyone could do. I could probably play the game for decades and not accomplish this feat which is really saying something.

The graphics are good here. It’s not like Tetris is the kind of game that shows off with a bunch of graphics or anything like that but the ones that are there are quite solid. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. They have 3 different tracks you can choose from and they’re not bad. Just nothing to write home about, I would say they feel closer to public domain music than anything. Imagine hearing a lot of awesome beats while playing instead? Getting in Mario, F-Zero, Pokemon, and any other kind of music would be cool.

I imagine that the top level talents in Tetris may not want to hear any of that since it’ll distract from the gameplay but as a casual player, I’d certainly be down to hear some good tracs like that. It’ll just make the whole game pop more if you ask me. Naturally the replay value here is basically infinite as you can keep on playing more and more with every round being lightly different. Ultimately you just need to get the patterns down and then you can really operate on a high level but of course that is easier said than done. I feel pretty familiar with some of the shape combos but certainly not all of them.

Also after playing a few different Tetris titles, it can definitely be hard knowing the columns as well. Occasionally I would put a piece down in the wrong column by mistake so that’s something you’ll need to get used to. The spacing and such can look a bit different across all of the games even though the gameplay itself is really solid. This is just on the player at the end of the day.

There’s not a whole lot to really say about the game beyond this though. Tetris is a pretty easy to understand game after all and it’s not as if there are a whole lot of modes or variance. So you’ll know right away if you are going to like it or not. I’m still waiting for somebody to make a really story focused version of Tetris. That could really sell gangbusters because it really hasn’t been done yet. The story would draw in the more casual players like me who would otherwise not go our of their way to purchase the game. More players = more revenue. The games can thank me later!

Overall, Tetris DX is definitely a solid game. It’s a fun time even if you may not be here for long. It won’t quite top some of the other classics like Tetris 99 which has done a real good job of revolutionizing the genre. That one really took the series to new heights. The graphics here have held up well though and so it is definitely pleasant to play through. It’s free with the Nintendo Switch Online so I would definitely recommend checking it out. The more rounds of Tetris that you have played across different versions, the more you can really say that you are a Tetris pro.

Overall 6/10

Tetris (NES) Review

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It’s time for some more Tetris adventures! I played the Game Boy port of this one a while back but now I have the home console experience. It is one of those games that everybody knows about at this point but it still manages to be quite fun. After all, the core fundamentals of the game are sound and when that’s the case you can always rest assured that the end product will be good. At this point there are other Tetris titles that have surpassed this one but that doesn’t take away from its own ability.

The game has two main modes. You have the endless Tetris challenge where you try to get a high score and then you have the other one where you race to complete a certain amount of lines as fast as you can. Both of them have their fun points to be sure and when you get a new high score you will get a little animation that is pretty fun. This one also doesn’t bring in the cheesy factor of having you start off with a high score when you enter the higher speed arenas. Instead no matter what mode you begin with, you end up with 0 points. It’s definitely a whole lot fairer to the player. Ultimately my best run here was around 32,000. A far cry from other players who would deal in the hundreds of thousands. Well, what can I say..I’m more of a casual player myself.

In general the best speed I can handle tends to be around 6 out of the 9 possible options. When you get past that, the objects fall down faster than I can match them all together. Ultimately I end up going down while on the slower speeds I can really keep it up forever. That said, the game never lets you stay on a speed for very long. If you pick a slow speed, the game will automatically start leveling you up as you continue to make more lines get completed. As a result it’s almost like an online match making setup in a fighting game. It all balances well.

The game surprised me with the option to pick out of 3 different music tracks while playing the game. Music makes a lot of sense for a puzzle game like this but at the same time I wasn’t really expecting it. The tracks are fairly catchy too which goes a long way. it makes the game stand out and also gives it more replay value. I wouldn’t want to be playing in silence after all. Having a second mode for taking out lines is also a lot of fun because the main mode can be very time consuming with how long it takes to lose. This other mode is clearly better equipped for fast founds of knocking out as many matches as possible. It’s way more fast paced as a result and works out well.

In terms of any gameplay tips, I suppose I would say to always use the long 4 piece object for the sides. Mix and match the others well to take care of the center and that way you can usually knock groups of 3-4 rows out when needed. I’m assuming it helps with the score multiplier since that’s the case in other Tetris games but additionally it also makes it easier on you to keep track of the board. By knowing what you will be doing with each piece ahead of time, you don’t have to waste as much time thinking while you’re actually on the field.

Overall, Tetris is a fun game as always. It may not have anything on the newer ones like Tetris 99 but it’s a game you should check out as long as you have the Switch Online. There is basically no downside to downloading it after all so why would you not do this right? Just something to think about at the very least. I’ll be playing another Tetris game soon so we’ll see how that one stacks up. Due to how straight forward the game is, there’s not a whole lot to talk about here. You will either like the game or not and it only takes seconds to tell if it’s your kind of game. Now if it had a true story mode then that would be another matter but we’ll have to wait a little longer for that one.

Overall 6/10

Donkey Kong Land Review

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DK is one of those franchises that has so many games that I start to lose track of them. I don’t even remember a Donkey Kong Land. Mario land? Yeah I know that one but I never would have guessed that DK had this title as well. It’s a fun enough DK game. It’s a little dated and all but at the same time, good platforming is supposed to be timeless. So I can still race through the levels now or 20 years from now and it’ll still be a good time. Such is the power of DK.

There are 4 worlds in this game or roughly so. Unlike most platformers where the worlds are clearly defined, you follow a map of stages here that intersect as you go through them. So sometimes you go back to an old area but it’s a new level. Still, they are labeled as worlds when the game is saved so that’s what I’ll go with. Technically speaking the game is fairly short. It’s only around 2 hours or so but the levels are fun. You can also add onto the time a little bit since without the Switch Online I would have had to use a more conservative play style. This way I was able to just charge through at all times which I do have to admit felt pretty good.

As is standard for platformers, you can jump and climb objects in order to get past the obstacles. Additionally, it’s worth noting that you have some animal assistants. Not as many as in future games but there is a Rhino you can jump on to barrel through opponents. That is certainly a satisfying move. Then you can turn into Diddy Kong when you lose a health point but I basically stuck to playing as DK the whole time. I’d say one of the most creative levels in the game is a level in the clouds. You ride a cloud that shifts directions whenever you jump and land back on it. So you have to time your jumps perfectly to escape a whole maze that is closing in around you. That’s certainly a good way to challenge yourself right?

It actually took me several tries, not because it was particularly difficult per say but because it wasn’t always obvious exactly where I was supposed to be going. It’s easy to not notice the clouds around you that you have to jump on and that made for a pretty good shift. Then we have the boss fights and that’s an area where Nintendo has always exceled in. The bosses each have their own unique mechanics which is nice and forces you to really put in some strategy. The King K. Rool boss at the end is fun for example as you have to time your jumps perfectly to stomp on him when he tosses his crown. The more hits you land, the faster that he starts to move so you really have to be careful.

There is some actual skill at play here and it keeps the boss fight from being repetitive so that was a good design choice. The other bosses are similarly fun. Meanwhile while the graphics don’t look good because of how the colors are loaded, the sprites are good otherwise. The characters all move and act the way that they should and it’s fun to recognize all of the moves from Super Smash. I do miss the vibrant colors though. Meanwhile the soundtrack is definitely good and another reminder of just how solid Nintendo is. In any era, you can always count on them to deliver with some really top tier tunes.

One thing that is different from a lot of the other titles is how you die to almost any attack. It’s definitely a little tricky in that sense. Also any pitfall that you fall into, directly drops you out of the level. You land back in the hub world immediately which is definitely interesting. It may seem a little harsh but the fact that there are no loading times is really impressive. It really lets you get right back to playing the game with no real interruptions which is nice.

Also in terms of the one hit death thing, it’s worth noting that this will turn you into Diddy right away so it’s not like you’re in the game over screen right off the bat. Playing as Diddy can also be fun since he has all of the same moves. It may take you a second to get used to his movement but I’m not sure if that is because he is faster or it just feels that way because of the design. It’s hard to tell either way.

I suppose if there’s anything I would have added here, it would have been more of a story. The plot is basically nonexistent here and while I was not properly expecting a big story or anything like that, I would not have turned it down either. That is definitely a good way to really take a platformer to the next level and the day Nintendo learns that may be the day that they completely end the console wars. It would be really tough to defeat them at that point.

Overall, Donkey Kong Land is a good game. It definitely feels more like a mini platformer compared to the newer titles but it has strong fundamentals all around. I don’t really have any negatives with the game and it is easy to recommend to basically anyone. As long as you enjoy gaming then you will probably enjoy this game. I look forward to checking out Donkey Kong Land 2 sooner than later and seeing how different it is. What changes and what remains the same. It’s a mystery that I will get to the bottom of sooner than later.

Overall 6/10

F-Zero Climax Review

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It’s time for a classic F-Zero title although I would say this one feels a little more barebones next to GP Legend. It jumps you right into the game but really the only thing to do is play through the stages for a little while before you start to get bored. Now the racing gameplay is good but for F-Zero you are expecting a little more. Perhaps that is unreasonable since a number of the games are just purely racing titles without a big story in-game but it would have been cool to have had a little more depth. Either way it’s a fun time though.

I figured I would switch things up here a bit so I played Captain Falcon for the first tournament and then started switching it up. Only problem is I don’t remember who I played after him. Pico maybe? I know I looked for Skull and didn’t see him so I had to pivot quickly. The game itself is definitely very short though. After you play through the 3 tournaments, the credits start rolling so that’s about it. I have to assume that there are more secret stages out there though. I remember how in F-Zero GX about half of the cups were hidden and as a kid it was a blast unlocking them all. I have to assume that Climax probably functions in a very similar way with that although I suppose I don’t really know that for sure.

You still have the iconic spin move that the series is famous for so I had a blast knocking opponents off the ring. Boosting was very risky in this title though because you move so quickly that you can easily just fall off the stage entirely. Definitely something you should be careful of if you can help it. At the same time, you won’t reach the top spot without it so just try and learn the stages. I didn’t play long enough to truly master any of the levels but I imagine you could definitely do that before long. My average placings weren’t great here.

It definitely continues to be the harder alternative to Mario Kart. The stages really take time to master and of course the opponents also just keep coming. There are plenty of places to fall off the stage and you can also be directly blown up by the opponents which instantly takes you to last place. It’s a very unrelenting game in every respect so you must not take it lightly at all. There is also time attack mode so I should mention that as another way to have some fun. Try and beat your existing records to really see just how good you are. In a lot of ways this is really the right mode to start with as you hone your skills before getting into the battles.

Once you have a full grasp on exactly how the controls work, then you will really be in shape to do well. At least that’s the way I see it and while it may feel a little weird at first, racing games are the kind where you very quickly adapt. It may feel hard but after a few races you unconsciously start to turn with the right timing. So don’t give up and you will be leaving the CPU in the dust before long. I would also say as tempting as the spinning is, you should keep it to a minimum. It’s very hard to actually destroy an enemy vehicle and it takes up time to spin so every time you miss it’s rather rough. It’s probably not something that you should be completely spamming. Wait until you’re super good at the timing and then use it strategically.

There’s not a whole lot more to say about the game because it’s so basic though. This is exactly why you want to have a story mode since that is the ultimate cover up for any title. It can mask just about anything because the story will end up being memorable. It will end up being something that pushes you forward and you will have more incentive to clear every race if it takes you to the next stage. Even a super lazy text box only story will give you incentive that you just wouldn’t have otherwise and that’s why it can be a game changer.

Overall, F-Zero Climax is a good game. I think it could have been better but I suppose for its time it wasn’t bad. I cut it a little less slack though because by the GBA days I feel like games were advanced enough to really have full stories and such like that. I don’t think it would end up being an unreasonable ask at that point right? The character roster is rather small and likewise for the stage count although I assume there are more out there. It just doesn’t feel like you get a ton of bang for your buck with this title, especially when Mario Kart is also on the GBA with all of the usual bells and whistles. If you have the Switch Online then you should check this out but otherwise give it a skip.

Overall 6/10

Densetsu no Stafy Review

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Stafy is one of those classic platformers and now thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online I’ve gotten to play it on the big screen! Unfortunately they didn’t translate the game and I think this does hurt the title quite a bit because otherwise there is a whole lot of plot going on. There is a ton of cutscenes throughout the movie with text and animations running around. I would be really curious to know exactly what is going on here but I suppose in the end that’s not something I would really be able to figure out. I mean in broad strokes you get it but the details are what counts. Additionally this even has a gameplay factor to it.

See, Stafy’s not the most linear platformer out there. It’s got a lot of puzzle elements within it. Each world is made up of one massive stage that connects to various doors around the maze. When you go through a door, you will often be stopped by a character who is asking you for something but of course you don’t know what that is. So I had to brute force it by going to each door, eventually finding something that looked interactable, picking that up and trying each door until I gave it to the right person.

In that way, I would eventually get everyone everything they needed. Then I could proceed to the boss room and take him down. Doing this for each of the worlds aside from the 7th which is just a boss rush could be rather tough. With the translations it would have been real easy though. I’m not a big fan of mixing in puzzles and backtracking in my platformers either way though. Generally speaking I think the best thing to do is make things straight forward with optional collectibles for people who want them. I’d even recommend locking some secret ending and maybe even a bonus level or two behind that. It makes the serious players have to work for it while everyone else just dashes through. I think that’s a pretty reasonable way to go about things.

It might be a stretch to call this a full on collectathon of course but you definitely do have to back track a whole lot which is unfortunate. Again, it may not have been a big deal if I knew exactly what I was looking for though. The graphics are really good though, the game definitely stands out and the character models are all really good. The soundtrack is also solid enough, perhaps not a total masterpiece but it gets the job done. So on a technical level I don’t have any issues here. Mix that in with the game’s solid length and you’ve really got yourself a title here. I may not have been a big fan but I would still call it a good game.

If I was in the game stores back in the day and the game was licensed, I’d check it out. I still think the DS Stafy game I played was the best in the series and it’s going to be hard to beat that but of course I still have to get through the second and third games so it’ll be a minute before I’m done with the whole series. We’ll see how the next bosses go, this one had a lot of creative ones. They all would tend to be on the easier side but I liked that none of them were clones. They all had unique gimmicks and abilities and you had to find out how to hurt them. Once you figured that out then you were set.

There were also various minigames in the worlds. They were fun enough but didn’t help you progress in the level so I quickly stopped using them entirely. No point after a while right? If there is a minigame mode though, then that’s a pretty nice addition. the minigames were handled well and shakes up the normal gameplay so I definitely give that a thumbs up all the way around.

Overall, Stafy is a pretty classic title. It may not be on the same level as your average platformer where you get to race to the goal but it is a game where a lot of effort was put into it. The game’s length is also pretty solid for its time. You’re not going to just breeze through all of the levels in an instant or anything like that after all. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check this one. Do your best to just roll with the story and of course they also have the next two Stafy games on the system so you can bet that they will be having their time in the sun soon.

Overall 6/10

Pokémon Café ReMix Review

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It’s time for another app game and so you already know this is gonna be good! Pokemon Cafe is one of those titles I remember hearing about a while ago but never really checked it out. There’s a whole lot of content here and you can tell they put some budget into it but unfortunately it ends up being a little too ambitious. It tries too hard to be new and different which ends up crippling the actual gameplay style. It’s a shame because this could have been a whole lot better. Still, if you get absorbed into the game I think you will have a good time.

The game starts off with the Pokemon cafe being opened and you are here to help. Basically you serve Pokemon their favorite foods and when they like you enough, they join the cafe as well. It means your cafe will eventually be a Pokemon master! So that’s pretty nice and that’s basically it for the story so think of it as more of a premise than an actual plot. It’s not too surprising though, Pokemon mobile titles rarely have much of a story.

The gameplay style is to match objects together. The main twist is that Pokemon have super powers that they can use as well. So you can blast away at things and use type advantages. Also instead of just matching 3 of a type, you are trying to match whole armies to each other. It’s really ambitious but also feels a bit more like RNG after a point and isn’t as engaging. I would much father prefer to be doing this with some matches at a time. Forcing us into doing all of them at once doesn’t really make for as captivating gameplay.

And that’s what the whole game boils down to. I actually like the matching style of gameplay ordinarily. It has been present in some of the most addicting mobile titles I’ve ever played. I just couldn’t get behind the idea of spinning everything in the whole level into one spot. Perhaps if I had stuck around long enough then it would work but I definitely have some doubts on this. You can tell early on if a game is your speed or not. For a mobile game that is especially important because there will really just be one style. So if you don’t love the gameplay then there isn’t much point in continuing the game right? At that point there is nothing else that it offers.

There is a ton of content but not more gameplay. For example there are several different modes for baking, you can recruit Pokemon, learn new recipes, etc. There are hundreds of levels and so far no energy system that I can really see so that means you can play as long as possible. That’s really fun if you liked the gameplay. I can say this is a high effort mobile game that didn’t really cut any corners. They clearly put a whole lot of thought into this one so I can appreciate that.

It’s a bit of a tricky dilemma for any mobile title. Typically you figure the more content the better for any game but when it comes to mobile titles, sometimes less is more. Sometimes there is just so much to do that it can be overwhelming or it feels like you aren’t moving forward and that can happen at times here. If it stuck with the normal kind of matching gameplay then it all would have worked out but all of the spinning didn’t work for me. A better story also could have helped but I wouldn’t have expected that from a Pokemon baking game anyway. So you could say that all balanced out either way.

The game’s graphic already looked real sharp and the soundtrack wasn’t bad. I imagine as I went through the game more and more I would be able to find even more tracks. So the technicals definitely hold their own here as well. I will also say that while the game is very busy with modes and such, the UI isn’t bad. I generally know where to go in order to get to the mode I want to play. I’ve definitely played games with UI that were considerably worse than this one.

Overall, Pokemon Cafe isn’t really my thing but I can definitely see there being an audience for it. The foods all look pretty good after all and the matching gameplay does have some depth to it. The fact that you have to account for all kinds of Pokemon types and special abilities is really something. You really can’t just dive in here and pick any random Pokemon. I mean you can try to do that but it’s definitely going to end really badly for you. You want to get the maximum amount of stars on your first attempt or you’re going to have to end up replaying the level anyway down the road. I doubt this game will be going anywhere any time soon so definitely feel free to jump in and see what you think.

Overall 6/10

Blast Corps Review

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It’s time for a pretty unique title with the Blast Corps. Definitely a title I wasn’t all that familiar with but its fun. They did a good job of mixing in a lot of different gameplay styles. Of course that means not all of them will be winners but I enjoyed more than I did not and got through a bunch of the levels. They finally stumped me on the super hard ones but it was a good ride.

There’s not really a plot here and it’s hard to tell what it would be with the context of the gameplay. Maybe in this world there is an unprecedented amount of litter which is why there are always big buildings standing in the way of the moving train. If you don’t get them out of the way in time then everybody will blow up and that will be a big shame. So your job is to intercept the route and make sure everything turns out well. Definitely not for the faint of heart and of course every time you see an explosion you know that you let the team down.

The game has an overhead view and the style of gameplay varies with the vehicles. For example in some levels you pilot a giant mech and these are the easiest ones. You basically just squash all of the buildings with ease and then you’re all set. The most difficult levels have you using a car that can only break buildings with the backside of it. So you have to work on your drifts and try to land each hit with absolute precision. Make one or two misses and that will just be too many to come back from. In particular the most ruthless level is where you have to take out 3 dozen buildings along the train tracks but there is a divider. So you have to break all of the ones on one side, then go to the other side. Rinse and repeat as the train gets closer. If the train bumps into a building before you can destroy it, or bumps into you then it’s all over.

Another vehicle is the speed car where you can boost through everything. Another easy one I’d say since you always move pretty fast. Then you have a robot that can’t jump and instead it spin dashes which is always fun. Naturally the levels I got stuck at didn’t use any of these machines or I’d still be off taking my gold trophies. As the levels go by, you start to have to use combinations of vehicles though. One of them has you pilot a train, then a car, then a robot, then a car, then a boat, and finally one last car. That was one of the longest levels so losing that one is always painful.

The average level is really short at around one minute or less. Those are the levels that are easy to keep on playing and replaying because you know that you will breeze through them. The toughest ones are the long ones where you’re not really sure what you’re doing wrong beyond not being fast enough. For me the toughest level in the whole game is one where you have to use a scoop truck to push explosive blocks onto a block of wood, then control a crane to drop it on a block. You have to do this to 7 blocks before the train arrives and I just couldn’t pull it off.

It’s a lot tougher than you would think to push the block in a straight line. One wrong step and you push it off the crate and end up dooming yourself. The game will absolutely test your coordination and control skills. At the end of the day, the reason why it is fun though is because there’s not a lot of RNG here. When you win or lose, it’s all on your individual skills. Nothing is left up to chance or luck and the levels tend to be short enough where they have a lot of replay value.

There are 56 levels in the game which is a good amount of content. You don’t have to worry about running out of things to do too quickly. In terms of replay value, you can aim for getting all gold medals by completing bonus objectives but I’m not sure what you unlock for that. Either way, it does mean you have a good amount of content here so that’s a W all around.

The graphics look good and have held up over the years. The fact that there is a little voice acting is also pretty fun. Even just having a bit automatically makes the game feel a bit more special. It’s the way to go. The soundtrack is a little more forgettable but the explosion sound effects are definitely very memorable. The technical aspects work well enough for the game.

Overall, Blast Corps is a good game. I’d say the only thing holding it back from being a little higher is I would have liked to have had a real story mode. Additionally, the car that only works by hitting opponents with the back felt a little too restrictive. Just give me the normal car or mech any day. As long as you have the Switch online then this is definitely a game that you should check out. It’s a real nostalgic trip to the N64 days and it holds up well.

Overall 7/10

The Mystery of Atlantis Review

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It’s time for another really retro NES title. This one actually didn’t get translated but it’s a platformer so it’s not like there is really a lot of dialogue anyway. It’s a pretty fun title, they did a good job of emulating that classic Mario style. At the end of the day the fact that it isn’t sequential does hold it back a little and I prefer always having a straight forward level vs the puzzles but it lands way more wins than you would expect.

So I can’t really say much about the story but you play as a guy who looks like Indiana Jones and you’re wandering your way through a maze of 100 levels. Each level will have you running and jumping over obstacles. The only weapon at your disposal is the pocket grenades. The cool thing about them though is that they damage anyone on screen. So if you throw it and miss, the enemy will still take damage in most cases. Some enemies take 3 hits to take down but most go down in one hit or two. It can be tough to angle the weapon just right so this helps to alleviate that pressure a little bit.

There is a really fast timer that is going on the whole time so you need to keep that in mind though. If you forget about it for even a moment then you might be in trouble here. The time is just as deadly as any enemy you will face and in some levels I barely had any time left at all. When you jump, the momentum will keep you going the whole time so it is hard to change directions in mid air. This means one fall can set you back a whole lot or even when you bump into any of the walls. You need perfect control of your character in order to make it through these levels and it takes a whole lot of skills.

This game can be deceptively hard in that way. Then you also have the fact that levels have more than one exit. So this can launch you far into the future or it can even send you back at times. Imagine picking the wrong door and having to go through a level again? That would be rough and a lot of the levels are so relentless that one mistake will cause you to be completely defeated. There are also several “dark” levels where you can’t see anything. These levels were incredibly difficult for me to navigate. The trick in the end was to keep blowing up your grenades which causes the level to appear for a split second.

Of course this doesn’t make it easy in the end either though. You still have to time your jumps perfectly so one wrong step and you will end up falling to your doom. This is definitely a game for platforming vets. So why is this game good when it’s so difficult? Well, it feels difficult in a way that is generally fair the whole time. Additionally the levels being colorful and fast paced helps out a lot as well. You will never be just totally stuck waiting for something to happen.

So the graphics are above average for a NES game which is good and the music wasn’t bad. It’s no Mario though but it was good enough. The game feels very well balanced. It is not without faults of course but easily stands above most of its peers. If you are looking for a fun time then you should definitely play this while you have the Switch Online. Of course it would probably not be as fun without the rewind feature but that’s just how a lot of these classic games go. Each level is around 1-2 minutes so even with 100 levels it goes by quickly. I would even say some levels are under a minute because I knocked them all out in around 90 minutes. Of course, skipping levels helps quite a bit with this.

Overall, The Mystery of Atlantis is a good game. It gets a little too clever for its own good by the end with some of the gimmicks but it was certainly creative. I would say it pushed the NES hardware pretty far. Especially with 100 levels. Yes, they have a lot of levels that are pretty similar and reuse assets but this is still really impressive. I’ve played several games that basically just had one level after all so it’s not particularly easy or anything like that.

Overall 6/10