Category Archives: 6 Star Games

Flicky Review

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It’s time to check out the classic Flicky game. I’m making my way through the classic Sega games and this seemed like a good one to check out. The gameplay will feel very familiar when you turn it on and this works out in a nice way. The game has a few puzzles at the ready as the levels get tighter and tighter but in the end as long as you stay focused then you got this! I find it hard to imagine anyone clearing all 48 levels without access points though, the difficulty really spikes as you go through it.

Basically the gameplay here is to shepherd a bunch of baby birds to the goal before they are eaten by cats. So the stakes are really high and you can only run, jump, and shoot objects as you pick them up. You shoot as soon as you jump so you have to time that carefully. There aren’t a whole lot of objects to throw after all. The levels themselves are fairly small so they loop as you go right and left. That means you are never far from the goal but it also means that you are never far from the cats so you better keep that in mind. One wrong move and it’s game over.

The graphics here aren’t bad but they are noticeably old. I wouldn’t say it holds up as well as some of the other classics like Pac-Man but I will say that the backgrounds are very pleasant. You see a lot of nice looking buildings and designs behind you which is cool. The soundtrack is more forgettable but I don’t believe it’s bad or anything like that. Just could have used a little more action and excitement personally. Now with the length there are 48 levels and each level ranged from being around 30 seconds long to possibly 1-2 minutes if you are having a lot of trouble.

It’s not likely that a level would take longer than that as you’d probably have been caught by the cats by then or just naturally beaten the level. So this is really quick and you can beat the game in an hour easy if you take the difficulty aside. If you are trying to beat this on pure skill then I imagine it’ll take you way longer than that in the end. There isn’t much replay value beyond that though. You can always try to beat the game quicker or just get a larger high score but I don’t think the game quite has the staying power for that.

Still, it’s a fun game to quickly check out if you have the Switch Online. I would also say that the gameplay really is fun all the way through. Even if it may lose to other games, at the end of the day that doesn’t take anything away from this title as a whole right? I think there’s a whole lot you could do with a modern Switch Flicky game to be honest. Spyro is really the only main platformer series with full flight and he barely ever gets games so Flicky could easily steal that part of the market away from him. I do think you would need to go with a different gameplay style like that to get big.

Of course I do always believe that any gameplay style can work with the right story. If the story is engaging enough then you would play 100 levels of this gameplay style. Why not right? It is certainly fun enough. It just seems to be the case that arcade style platformers like this never really have cinematic stories. Maybe developers feel it would take you out of the immersion but I’d love it. Imagine a modern Galaga with the same gameplay but every few levels a massive cinematic cutscene shows up and furthers a cool RPG type plot. That would be awesome.

Overall, Flicky is a fun game. There’s not a lot to it which ultimately prevents it from getting much higher though. I just don’t really see the replay value in trying to get a high score as much as some of the other games. It feels more luck based. Yes there’s a bunch of skill here but even with the best reaction times you’re probably going to get blindsided a few times due to how the levels are structured. So once you’ve gotten about as far as you can that’ll likely be it for you. I can see this being a fun game to challenge friends to as you see who can go the farthest though.

Overall 6/10

Bomberman Max 2: Red Advance Review

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It’s time for another Bomberman adventure! This is one fighter that you can’t keep down. Well, it’s definitely a cool idea to have Max get his own sub series here. Bomberman gets a cameo at the beginning and he does help out in some puzzle levels but that’s really about it for him. This time it’s Max’s show as you go through the levels and try to defeat all of the enemy robots.

There isn’t much of a story here though. It starts out with the villain turning Bomberman and his friend Max into a mini size. It’s definitely put them in a very dangerous position but fortunately the villains run off rather than pressing the advantage which worked out for the heroes. There is surprisingly not an ending cutscene so it seems to get that you probably have to 100% the game or something like that. Each world does have a ton of levels and most of them aren’t actually required but it’s not like you’re skipping them. So let me explain the setup of how this works.

When you complete a level, 2-3 portals appear. Each one will take you to another level within the world but they don’t say which ones they are. So you will go from 1-1 to 1-4 for example. Then after that you go to 1-6 or 1-3. Some portals take you backwards while others take you forwards. As a result it’s pretty much luck based. The portals themselves don’t change but at least on the first playthrough you wouldn’t know which is which. When you complete a level, the portal taking you back to that stage turns red so at least you don’t run the risk of beating the same level twice by mistake. Now that would have been annoying.

The game actually remembers your progress so if you do have to go back to an old level, the portals are still there rather than having to clear the objective again. That’s definitely a good feature, it means that at least if I ever did go back to try and 100% clear it, it wouldn’t feel like an impossible challenge. Of course this is all me assuming that there is a bonus ending. For all I know it’s just an illustration or it unlocks the credits although I’d be willing to bet that it is a true cutscene.

The graphics here are pretty good. The character models are on point and the artstyle for the GBA was good. The soundtrack is also fairly good. I wouldn’t say it’s anything too noteworthy but at the same time it’s fast paced enough to work with all of the explosions. The game itself is fairly short at around 4 hours or so. I actually went ahead and beat it all in one shot, mainly because my game’s save feature was busted. So I’m actually a bit lucky that it wasn’t longer at 10 hours or something like that.

Naturally the game will usually have a working save file so I wouldn’t hold that against the title. Also I didn’t talk much about the gameplay yet. Like I said, it’s basically a puzzle title. Each level will give you an objective like find all of the food or destroy all of the spiders. Once you do that then the portals open up which will take you to the next level. You start out with all 3 of your stats at 0, speed, bomb range, and # of bombs that can be used at once. As you blow things up you get power ups to make your stats stronger to a max of 4 in each stat.

when you get a game over your stats go back to 1 in all categories on the retry. So while it’s great that you have unlimited continues on the same level, it does mean that it can be tough at first. One level had me stumped for a long while because it was super hard to win with 1 stats but eventually I pulled it off. For the most part the bosses are a lot easier than the levels because of how huge they are. It’s really easy to tag them with explosions but the final boss is an exception. He has so many different forms and power ups that it’s really hard to stay one step ahead of him. That one took me a few different attempts.

So in the end the gameplay was good but not quite enough to make up for the game basically skipping the story entirely. The way the stages have randomized objectives each time is interesting and I like the idea of level trees where you don’t know what you’re going but not if it means that you’ll miss out on an ending. There should at least be a basic cutscene after each world. Also the game feels unfinished in some ways. The main example I have is the monsters that you can summon.

They actually have levels and stats that increase as you pick up collectibles and defeat enemies but they don’t seem to matter in the actual gameplay. Each monster does have a special ability like letting you pick up extra bombs but the ability doesn’t change or improve as you level it up. So I couldn’t figure out what the level ups were doing. They seemed to be completely pointless which is odd. Maybe it’s for a different mode but in that case there’s not much reason to include that in the story. The Gamecube game had “Pokemon Battles” mixed in with the bomb puzzles so it made sense there but that doesn’t happen here. Guess it’s a bit of a mystery for now.

Overall, Bomberman Max 2 is a good game but one that could use some quality of life updates. I think you should get a proper ending when you beat the game even if you get a true ending of sorts for doing everything. Having unlimited continues is great but having to get the power ups again can be a little rough. Still, the puzzle gameplay is on point and the levels are designed well. You really get to make the most out of the bombs that you have and it always feels satisfying to complete the levels. It’s not an easy game by any means so you really have to work for it.

Overall 6/10

Rayman Mini Review

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It’s time for the return of Rayman! Definitely nice to see that he has managed to continue to get new games even if it has to be through the Arcade. This one’s an endless runner which is a pretty good idea for a mobile game because that works really well with the phone setup. That being said, could it be enough to make this a really solid title? Well the most disappointing thing is that there is 0 story, not even an opening cutscene. Surely they could have added something right? So it is a fun game but one that is more limited than it should be.

For some reason Rayman is tiny and so you play through the levels trying to get to the end where you will probably be turned back to normal size. Probably…hopefully. The gameplay is a 2D auto runner like I mentioned so what you can do is jump and attack but he won’t stop running. This means in a way the platforming is very simple and yet it can still be rather difficult because you need a lot of good timing for this one. You’ll have mastered the controls right away but you need to definitely make sure you react quickly at all times.

The graphics are solid here. I would not say they keep up with the most high end of the Arcade games but ultimately it has that Rayman artstyle matched pretty well. As for the soundtrack, it wasn’t too remarkable so you’ll forget it pretty quickly. This game will mainly be surviving off of the gameplay which is fun enough to keep it afloat for a while. I had a good time with it at least even if this game doesn’t come close to Bubsy when it comes to this genre.

The game does have a lot of variety in the level designs and backdrops though. That’s one area where I dare say it may even surpass Bubsy so the game does have that going for it. Longtime Rayman fans also may notice some cameos and such that I wouldn’t really notice since I’m not quite as involved in the fandom…yet. It’s also really satisfying when you do end up completing a level after a lot of attempts. The more difficult the challenge, the greater the triumph right? At least that’s the way that I see it.

There isn’t a whole lot more to talk about for this game though. Auto runners aren’t exactly complicated which is why the gameplay segment was short and there isn’t really anything else to do in the game. It just comes down to how much you like the gameplay since there isn’t a story or anything like that. If you have the Arcade then you should give this a download but of course if you don’t have the Arcade yet then this would not be enough for you to buy that package. It’s a game that works well in the supporting role, not as a starring player.

Overall, Rayman Mini is a fun game. The collectathon elements will buy you some extra time here outside of the missions so you have a good amount of content to play around with here. If you’re a longtime Rayman fan or you just like auto runners then I would recommend picking this one up. It’s fairly polished and also gets decently difficult in the latter levels. Particularly the boss levels at the end of each world really do not hold back. You will need to memorize each level. The levels themselves aren’t too long which is a good thing because then you can keep on replaying the levels as many times as you need to until you get the hang of them.

Overall 6/10

Kuru Kuru Kururin Review

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It’s time for a puzzle game from the Switch Online! This one has a pretty nice gimmick to it. The gameplay is fairly unique and also fun because the levels are kept quite short. The game’s difficulty level is fairly high so you will die a lot but you are really rewarded for just trying over and over again. You will eventually make it through and the game always feels fair about the whole thing. There is really no RNG here, it all comes down to your timing and reaction speed.

There isn’t really much of a plot to this but the basics is that a bunch of birds have wandered off and are now missing. You must find them and bring them all home. If you miss some of the birds you can still finish the game but the ending won’t exactly be optimal. If you get all of them though then the ending will really be on point and you can say that you have completed the job flawlessly. Pretty good incentive eh? Well not enough for me to get the last of the bird to be honest but it was still a good idea I’d say. The main thing I like about this is that you don’t feel like you are forced to obtain all the collectibles. So you can really just have fun at your own pace.

The game is fairly short. Each world is only 3 levels long and each level is typically between 45 seconds to a minute and a half. There are around 10 worlds I believe and so while the difficulty stretches the length out a bit, it’s not a game that you should have any trouble clearing in 2 hours or so. There is a little replay value in trying to get all of the birds. I appreciate that the game lets you know exactly in which levels you missed one. The levels aren’t large so you will be able to get them all fairly quick. So even with that I don’t see the game lasting more than 3 hours long. It just seems unlikely.

The graphics are decent. I wouldn’t say they are some of the higher end ones that I’ve seen for the AGBA though. In part I think that’s due to the pale artstyle that the game is going for but I also just don’t think it’s quite the AAA experience you were thinking about. Meanwhile the soundtrack is very forgettable, I can’t say that I really recall just about any of the tunes at this point which is not good for the game. You don’t always have to have a top tier soundtrack or anything like that of course but you at least want something that’ll pop out at you right? On a technical level the game could have done better.

So it’s very short without much of a story or bonus content to deal with. You can see how there are a lot of factors against it. That being said, gameplay is once again the real deciding factor here and fortunately that aspect is pretty good. The game holds up there and it’s just fun. I tend to like puzzles like this that purely rely on your physical skill as opposed to ones where you are wondering what the game is really asking you to do. So this is right up my alley the whole time. I can at least justify the positive score because the game was fun and in the end that is the ultimate objective of any game right? So long as you ace that part then the rest is sure to follow without issue.

Overall, Kuru is a good game. It’s a little basic and there isn’t a ton of replay value which does keep it from getting a higher score though. There isn’t really even much to say about it because of how direct the whole thing is. You’ll have fun playing through the game but I really doubt you will be talking about it much in the future. It’s just not that kind of title since there are no real discussion points. If the game could have had more of a story or some bonus modes then it would have really been able to climb a level. Still, I do want to underscore that it’s a good game either way, it’s just not what I would call a great one. If they ever bring this franchise back they need to add some kind of hook to really take this to the next level.

Overall 6/10

Banjo-Kazooie Review

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You know that feeling when you see a really good sweater outside but when you turn it around to purchase you see that they just went a little too crazy on the design? That’s this game in a nutshell, the gameplay is actually really solid and a ton of effort was put into the game. Then….the game fumbles the ball in the end by adding the collectathon elements. I should note that no game absolutely needs to be a collectathon. In fact most would be better off without it.

So the game starts with Banjo’s sister being kidnapped by the evil witch Gruntilda. She surprisingly puts up a decent fight but ultimately it is not enough to win and so Banjo and his pal Kazooie have to go and rescue her. To do this they will have to find various puzzle pieces and musical notes to unlock doors in Gruntilda’s lair and get to the end. It won’t be easy by any means but they are ready to pull out the win and do what has to be done. Will they really be able to get past all of her traps though?

The writing for the game is pretty fun with Kazooie constantly picking fights and generally being the biggest jerk you’ve ever seen. I really like that about his character particularly because it’s something that you just don’t see a lot of in these classic platformers. Usually everyone is super nice which is intentional because platformers are supposed to be fairly heart warming stories for the masses. So adding a little wit here was a good idea and gradually more games would continue that approach. There’s a lot of solid dialogue throughout and the sound effects each character makes instead of voice acting was also intense.

The graphics are definitely really sharp here. The game looks nice and has aged really well. It reminds me a lot of Mario 64 in a good way right from the stage designs to the sound effects and everything. I actually think Banjo sounds like Mario. The game is ahead of its time in this area and the soundtrack is also pretty solid. There are a good variety of tracks to be found here and each one helps get you invested into the stage. It’s also helpful for the quiz at the end which asks you questions about which theme belongs to which stage. That quiz definitely doesn’t hold back with how difficult it is.

The core gameplay is a fairly basic 3D platformer. You run and jump as you clear challenges and get your puzzle pieces. You gradually learn new abilities in each world so you can get used to them and aren’t too overwhelmed at the start. You can become invincible, fly, shoot eggs, etc. It makes for a pretty well rounded experience since there is just so much that you can do and of course that means there is also a greater variety in the kinds of puzzles that the game can challenge you with. Finding some of the puzzles can really take you a long while as you figure out what the game wants you to do.

Now is where the game falters a bit though. Granted, I knew that the game was part collectathon but that’s fine because I was ready for this. On average I would get around 7/10 of the puzzle pieces in a world and I would get around 80/100 of the musical notes. Pretty good I must say, however before getting to the final boss I was blocked by a door that said I needed 94 puzzle pieces to unlock the final boss fight. Why? That’s an incredible amount of pieces, that means getting 10/10 in almost every world. For example there are 100 puzzle pieces in the entire game so you’re basically telling me to 100% the title. That’s not cool when you’re just trying to beat the game.

Collecting bonus stuff should unlock a post game cutscene or some kind of really cool bonus content. I don’t even care how awesome the bonus content is, lock that behind 100% and it’s totally legitimate. What is not cool is locking the main story ending behind it. It meant I had to go back to every world and spend a ton of time there. Then you also need to collect a ton of musical notes in each world to get to the final boss too and that was also rough. At least with the puzzle pieces you can grab them and go home. For the musical notes you always start at 0 when you enter the level so that means starting the collecting from scratch every time. Come onnnnnn.

So yeah this really hurt the game tremendously because that’s way too much replaying. A similar thing ended up hurting another N64 title I was playing but I’ll go more into that in the future. Banjo is a super polished game but the collecting gives it artificial length that it didn’t need. It holds the whole experience back because at first it was a whole lot of fun and then this happened and became more of a chore. You aren’t able to just enjoy the levels anymore, you have to find every secret and be careful not to die or you lose all your progress on the notes.

The final boss is definitely well designed though. It’s crazy hard with a ton of phases so it’s a nice reward for having gotten all of the pieces. Kudos to the folks who managed to beat it without access points because it’s extremely hard to dodge the attacks in the final phase. Gruntilda smashed my health points multiple times with that one and I probably had at least 60-70 game overs there. It almost felt like she would be predicting your movements when you would give her your back so facing her all of the time is definitely the best play. Slow and steady is literally the way to win this match.

Overall, Banjo-Kazooie is definitely a legendary game. It’s one that everyone still remembers to this day and for good reason. It does operate on a high level for most of its modes and campaign but ultimately having to go back to each level and get the collectibles took a lot of the wind out of its sails. Particularly with the massive hub world requiring a lot of running around and trying not to get lost. I’d still recommend checking this game out but don’t leave a world until you’ve 100% cleared it. It’ll save you time in the long run since leaving will cause the level to reset although granted some levels may be impossible initially if you don’t have the right power up so that could be another snag…..will see if the sequel keeps up this approach or lessens the restrictions a bit.

Overall 6/10

1080° Snowboarding Review

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My Nintendo 64 marathon through the Switch Online continues here with another pretty intense one. Snowboarding can typically be pretty fun as you try to claim first place but ironically the more arcade style versions tend to be better than the full games. Like Mario Party has minigames in this style that are infinitely better than this whole game but I still had fun. It just suffers from some of the usual issues of the genre like repetitive levels and the controls not being super smooth.

There isn’t any kind of tutorial when you start the game so you really just have to jump right into the mix. There’s a training mode where you are left on your own to practice jumps and different aerial maneuvers but nothing on how to balance or accelerate. So you will learn that through trial and error but I was never quite able to figure out how to land on my board properly. My solution? I just didn’t jump. I would avoid every jump as best I could and did not perform any tricks.

I don’t even know what the point of the tricks are so far. They don’t seem to help speed you up or anything like that and if anything they slow you down a whole lot. My opponent kept on doing tricks so I would ignore him and come in first. I was able to beat the game on easy and hard because of that although I couldn’t win on super hard. There has to be some kind of advantage to doing the tricks but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Weird…but hey I suppose that’s something for the master players. I was just in here trying to have a good time, you know? It’s what I do.

The graphics are pretty sharp for the game. The colors pop out at you and the levels are pretty detailed in the background. It’s why it is a shame that all of the levels look so similar. This happens to a lot of snow based games and it makes sense to an extent but I think a good developer should be able to get around that. I would also argue throwing in a few levels in the forests, space, etc. would be a good way to break things up. Why is it snowing in space? Doesn’t matter, it would be a fun level. That’s how they need to approach these games and I guarantee you 1000% that it would work out really nicely.

The soundtrack is also rather decent. Not going to say that it’s amazing or anything but it’s pretty catchy and keeps you invested the whole time so I have to give it props there. It’s just a fun game to play. There may not be a whole lot of content but there is a multiplayer mode which should work for replay value. I suspect there are many better games in the genre by this point so there’s not a whole lot of reason to play this one in particular but it does hold up.

Really my only issue goes back to the whole balance thing. When you jump up high enough, it feels like your character always falls out of balance even when he shouldn’t. I think the game is a little too particular/picky in that area. Let me land safely as long as I have the board straight. That should be all that I need and it’s why I say that sometimes the more detailed games for a sport get just a little too lost in the weeds. I want to be able to just start zooming along the course.

Overall, 1080 is a good game. It’s over in a flash though as normal mode only has 4 races and then hard has 5. Each race is around 2 minutes so you can see how that would be over in an instant. I think there may actually be more characters and boards than stages which may not be all that crazy but it doesn’t sound right. Like you don’t even get to explore with everyone before the game’s over. The devs could have stayed with this one a bit longer and made it more of a definitive experience. They did succeed in making the game fun though which is the most important part.

Overall 6/10

F-Zero X Review

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It’s time to jump back into the world of F-Zero thanks to the Switch Online expanded pack! I’ll be having quite a few reviews coming up soon so get ready for that folks. This one’s fairly basic but you can see how it would eventually lead to the ultimate F-Zero title for the Gamecube. I also have to give it some serious props for the soundtrack which was already really solid by this point. Definitely well ahead of its time.

There isn’t really a story mode here so you just jump straight into the races. There are 3 cups with 6 races left. Each race is a little under 2 minutes so long story short, you won’t be here very long. The stages are over as soon as you blink but the designs and level maps are good. You are having fun while you play these stages because of how fast you are moving. It can feel a little tough to control as you get used to the speed but once you do then you are set. The gameplay is very smooth after all and it’s high quality so you won’t be feeling any issues here. That is why F-Zero cannot be stopped.

There is a decent character roster here as well and the boosting after level 1 is a fun mechanic. It’s something that the series has always stuck with and that was a smart move. Basically when you boost, it eats up your health so you have to choose between going too fast and conserving health for the turns. If you die during the race after all then you will finish in last so you don’t want to do that. You have to focus up and just get ready but of course the more you master the stages, the more you can afford to be reckless.

The graphics are definitely pretty good, they are well ahead of their time. The colors are striking and the backgrounds are really good. You always know what is happening. I already spoke about the soundtrack of course which is really high tier. The fast paced music matches with how fast the cars are going. I can see it having a ton of replay value in the multiplayer setup even if that isn’t true for the single player experience. 18 levels can only go so far after all no matter how fun the game is.

Of course you’re playing it for free if you have the membership so I’d still recommend giving it a play. Paying full price back in the day would have been a little trickier. I think that is in part why it would ultimately die out as a series next to the other racers. It has enough unique features to make it stand out from the pack but aside from that you also need a good amount of content which is an area where it will end up lacking in the end. It’s the classic tale of a really fun game that is just over as soon as it has begun.

Another fun feature here is how you can choose between having super good acceleration or high max speed. I usually kept my meter in the middle but going all the way in one direction or the other is an interesting way to go. I can’t see any argument for using the lowest speed but having the highest speed could make sense if you’re an expert player who masters all the turns. After all, otherwise if you bump then with low acceleration you will be completely stuck so that would not be a good deal for you to make. You would really be sabotaging yourself.

So when starting out I would recommend doing what I did and just keeping the meter in the middle. Also take a look at which racer you want to use since they all have different stats. Captain Falcon is one of the weakest in overall stats so ironically you want to stick away from him to have a better chance of winning. You’d think he would be a good character with high stats for beginners…but that is not the case this time.

Overall, F-Zero X is a pretty fun game. I have to dock some points for how quickly it ends but you’ll have a good time which is ultimately the most important part. I really wish Nintendo would give this series another chance in the current day. If they handled it right with a good amount of content I bet it would sell incredibly well. Every series makes a comeback eventually so I suppose we just have to wait…but hopefully we don’t have to wait much longer. I need my futuristic racing content and I need it stat!

Overall 6/10

Pilotwings 64 Review

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It’s time for another Nintendo Switch Online title. This time we’re into the classic Pilotwings adventure and I remember this one vaguely from back in the day. It’s fairly fun although there isn’t a ton of content here so I feel like you wouldn’t be thrilled if you bought this at opening day. In the span of around 2 hours I completed most of the content and I was still getting used to the controls. Still if you’ve got the subscription you may as well give it a go since it’s free.

There are 3 main control schemes in this game and each one has 4 levels. You can play with the hang glider and the idea is to pass through a bunch of rings to score points. Once you have passed them all then you have to head to the landing zone. Landing is the most difficult with this one because the wind will shift your glider all over the place and it can be really hard to steady yourself. You have to basically ride with the wind and then plan your landing accordingly. You can see how this would be the trickiest one because you have a lot to consider here. I definitely had a really hard time trying to get past the latter levels with this one.

Then you have my favorite control method, the personal jetpack. This is the only mode out of the 3 where I was able to complete every level. Basically you fly around and land on objects or go through rings and then land. The fun part is that you don’t need to worry about the wind here because your jetpack is stronger than the wind. Do you know what this means?? You hold all the power! It makes this more of a conventional platformer type which is really fun and it’s still one of the more in depth jetpack gameplays that I’ve seen.

Finally you have the long plane where it’s sort of a mix of the two. It’s too heavy for the wind to mess with it too much but when you turn you will feel how the wind tries to slow you down. You have a little rocket launcher which you can use to destroy targets before you head off for the landing. The landing zone is a bit less obvious than the other two though so I never quite understood it. It looks like a full airplane landing strip so I’d aim for the middle but I always lost a lot of points. Maybe I had to go for the end? Either way I would get enough points to win the level but it had me confused.

To unlock the next level you would have to get a certain amount of points. Typically they would ask you to get 70 out of 100. Your score is based on how quickly you complete the level, how many times you bumped into things, and any bonus objectives you completed. 70 isn’t very hard as long as you have a good landing so that’s really key. If you fumble the landing then you have just fumbled your score as well. Trust me you don’t want to let that happen.

The graphics aren’t particularly good for the character models here but I do really love the backgrounds and everything. It’s got a lot of energy all the way around so it does look good as a whole. I wonder if the character models were intentionally sandwiched the way that they were. It’s definitely possible since they look so out of place. The soundtrack is fun enough too. It matches with the overall bright aesthetic.

Overall, Pilotwings is a pretty good game. I didn’t really care for the glider gameplay which is ironic since that’s usually the selling point here but the other two modes were definitely good. You really get to test your balance here that’s for sure. Ultimately there just isn’t a whole lot of content so you will likely be done with this game quickly but the important thing is that you will have a good time while you’re playing it. Definitely worth giving a look.

Overall 6/10

The Grinch: Christmas Adventures Review

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The Grinch is definitely a book that just about everyone is familiar with. It’s a Christmas classic and it’s fun to have the adventure get its own game. The book is even included inside of the game so that’s a nice plus. It’s really a serviceable platformer all the way through and the only real issue you can say is that it’s super basic. The game is not very ambitious at all and would get clobbered by just about any other platformer in a head to head fight. Make no mistake, this is not the game that will change your world but if you want a quick adventure then why not right? You’ll have a good time here and that’s what counts.

The story starts with the Grinch deciding to spoil Christmas by stealing everyone’s gifts. We cannot let him get away with that and so it’s time to put an end to this. Well that’s what you’d think except you actually play as the Grinch here so get ready for a lot of stealing. There are 18 levels here, 15 of them are platformers with 3 being boss type levels where you have to slide down mountains and such. Those 3 levels are super fast and easy while the platforming ones can actually reasonably long at times.

Each level has 8 collectibles which you will want to grab so that you get the automatic platinum at the end of the game. Additionally you need to get a good chunk of them to unlock the powers needed to complete the game so why not just grab them while you can right? With the exception of maybe 3-5 pieces, they aren’t really hidden either so just playing through the game will get you to them. You just have to enter every door and really look around.

In terms of gameplay, it’s a super basic platformer. You run and jump as you’d expect those things to go. You can jump on just about any enemy to take it out or you can freeze them with snowballs once you learn that ability. You get that fairly late in the game. There aren’t really any benefits to defeating the enemies though so you could really just ignore them and keep on moving too. That’s a super valid choice and it’s not hard. This game is fairly short so you will be done in a few hours no sweat. Sometimes it feels like the cutscene introducing the level can be just as long as the actual platforming.

The cutscenes aren’t very high budget though. Most levels just start with the book being read out loud to you and then you move on to the next stage. I’d have liked some real cutscenes to be honest but I’ll take what I can get. As for the soundtrack, it’s fairly generic so you won’t be remembering too much about it. This game is really about the gameplay after all. The gameplay is good enough to cover it all up. Look in terms of budget this might be the lowest budget platformer I’ve played in a while but at least its fun.

I suppose that’s why there isn’t much to say about this one though. Already I can tell that I’m starting to repeat myself here. There also isn’t much replay value past the few hours because you should be able to get the platinum in around the same time as beating the game. You’ll be able to get most of the collectibles naturally and the few you have to seek out won’t take very long at all. It’s a short game from start to finish so make sure you keep that in mind when looking for the right price to purchase the title.

Overall, The Grinch is a good game. It has no frills, whistles, or any kind of big advantages that would make it super memorable but at its core it is a solid game and that’s really all it needed to be. I can’t imagine buying it for full price but I got this one just about free thanks to a gift card I had (Ended up spending $2) so that really worked out well. It’s really hard to mess up a platformer if you ask me. So long as the level designs are good enough where you can just peacefully jump through the stages then you should be set. The genre tends to be a very happy one and this game is no exception.

Overall 6/10

Pokemon Puzzle League Review

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Yes I finally got the expanded pack for the Nintendo Switch Online! It certainly opens up a lot of doors to the classic Nintendo games and this was one of the first ones I ended up jumping into. It’s a pretty fun puzzle game all around. I would say it doesn’t have as much replay value as some of the others in this style because there isn’t a ton of variety but it is cool to see the Pokemon characters from the anime. Adding that franchise effect is always a good idea.

The game opens up with a full cinematic cutscene which I thought was pretty awesome. Unfortunately we don’t get any more after that but there is still a slight story here. Basically there is a whole puzzle league where each of the Gym Leaders have to be defeated in order to conquer it. So essentially it’s the Pokemon league with a few extra steps As Ash Ketchum you have to make it all the way to the end and defeat everyone here. You can choose which Pokemon to use in each level from his 3 starters but I couldn’t really tell the difference in terms of gameplay. Maybe it’s just a visual thing or there was an effect that I missed.

The gameplay is the connect type where blocks fall down from the sky and you have to move them to connect to other pieces on your board. You can also reverse each block so if you have a red square on the right and a blue on the left, you can click it to reverse those spots. Every time you have a set of 3 of the same color they will all disappear which lets your other blocks fall down a level. The first one to have their blocks reach the ceiling loses so you want to be quick about this. Of course you don’t always want to connect a set just because you have 3. You get bonus points for longer sets and those also turn into attacks on the enemy’s turf so you want to keep that in mind.

Granted, it’s easier said than done as blocks tend to crash into each other all the time which isn’t easy. One wrong move and that’s basically game over for you. The opponents are also reasonably tough if you scale up the difficulty. This is one genre that I always play on easy because it tends to get virtually impossible even on normal mode. The match length can range from 1-5 minutes based on the rounds I did although I imagine that could go up if both of you play slowly and don’t attack very much.

The graphics look pretty good and have aged very well. The visuals look like they are taken right from the anime and all of the illustrations are on point during the gameplay. I also liked the soundtrack which is fairly quiet and low key but works well with the adventure. Yeah I’d say there was a good amount of effort around the game. There’s certainly more that you could do with the title even as a puzzle game but the core focus here will always be on the gameplay. Everything else is just extra frosting and since the gameplay is good then there are no issues.

I miss the era of just throwing out a quick game like this with a franchise label. Pokemon Pinball, Metroid Pinball, even Mario got a pinball game back in the day. More games should be made with similar settings for all of these franchises and I’d say that would be a really good idea. They should be fairly easy to make and yet they’re all fun to play because the games themselves are timeless. That’s the true sign of an iconic title all the way.

Overall, Pokemon Puzzle League is definitely a game that I would recommend checking out. I’m not saying that it’s top tier or anything but in terms of executing the puzzle gameplay I would say that it did a good job. It’s a colorful game with a lot of energy and excitement to it. It may not be very ambitious but you’ll feel like the story goes by in a breeze. Granted it is fairly short so I suppose that’s natural. Also if you have the Switch Online then it’s free so why not give it a quick playthrough right? It’s not the kind of game you would drop $60 on but you’d always be up for giving a quick play if a friend’s around. The replay value is technically endless with the multiplayer in mind.

Overall 6/10