Category Archives: 7 Star Games

Poppy Playtime Triple Pack Review

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I’m sure everybody here has heard of Poppy’s Playtime. Well, the name may not have an s in it, but that’s the way I’m used to saying it. This thing was aiming to be the next Five Nights at Freddy’s or Bendy. The horror and scares were going to be next level and now I finally get to play it as a triple pack. It’s definitely a solid title with a lot of scares the whole time. The lore may ultimately start getting a bit try hard edgy near the end but ultimately this is an experience you will not forget.

The game starts with the main character inside the ominous Poppy’s Playground. The game is in first person so we never see the main character. I suspect that he is one of the animatronics to be honest or a zombie since he might be dead but either way there are a lot of theories you can go with. I’m sure the fans who listened to every tape and 100% completed every chapter will have a better idea of this though. Either way you now have to try and get out of here but to do so you will have to find a way past these vicious monsters.

The first part mainly has you trying to escape Huggy Wuggy. Part of the fun in playing a collection like this is that you get to see the subtle gameplay shifts as you go on. This one is the simplest as you are basically walking around and interacting with objects. There are no special abilities or anything like that. You have to make sure and run fast too because one hug from this villain and it’s curtains for you. We don’t learn much about any of the characters or lore yet but this is just the beginning. For this reason the first part is the most ominous and I dare say that it is the scariest. You just don’t forget a title that has such an intense climax. Neither following part could match the sheer intensity of this one.

In the second part, we start getting a bit more technical with the puzzles. At one point you gain a new hand which helps with that. You are interacting with less random objects and now it’s more about specific puzzles. You are tested with a lot of new minigames to conquer by the Mother who is the main villain this time around. We start getting more lore here as well thanks to Poppy herself. Definitely not a character I would trust but then again I suppose I wouldn’t trust any character in this game. Being locked in a horror environment like this would just give me trust issues I have to admit.

The increase in platforming works well and in terms of pure gameplay I would say this one has the best mixture out of the 3 parts. It does well in keeping the main horror gameplay while also putting in a bit of that platformer kind of energy. The main hub world is also quite large with all the different areas to go through. The climax is also pretty intense and we have our full plot by this point. The Prototype is out there trying to murder us all.

In the third part the game goes even more ambitious as we enter full platformer territory. The puzzles are the largest yet as you run from room to room to deal with each impending threat. The hub world is also the biggest by far, the game is the most difficult as well with some really tricky segments as well. You even get a flare gun in this part which may be pushing the envelope a bit since a game is inherently less scary the instant you get a weapon. There are a lot of scares still for sure but slowly you’re more worried about the other creatures running around as they get picked off instead of being worried for yourself. There are still a lot of close calls though and I’d find myself flinching in every game. Even when you know that the monster is coming, you just can’t help but get terrified.

Each game has a really solid cliffhanger which is nice since it absolutely gets you ready for the next big adventure. I’m eager to see what happens in part 4 now and the main character does seem to get closer and closer to getting out of this place. Once he has escaped then things will really be looking up for him but it doesn’t seem like the kind of game where there will be a happy ending. Something tells me that the main character is going to be absolutely cooked here. He just needs to make sure that he doesn’t go alone and at least takes most of the monsters with him.

As with most of these big horror games the more of the lore you know, the less you want to know. I would say the best thing to do with these games is to not really explain anything. Just let me try to escape the monsters while getting some evil speeches and such. Keep it all shrouded in mystery because inevitably it involves a bunch of kids dying and gets all so tragic. At least based on how this game is going, you’re rooting for the monsters to wipe out humanity because all the people here seem super evil. At least all of the grownups I should say since they are constantly pulling off crazy experiments. No mercy or escape here.

The graphics are solid as it really feels like a horror title through and through. It’s part of what makes all of the jump scares work. Additionally the sound effects and quick musical tracks really work well to that end. They even made a whole parody of a happy intro at the start of the second chapter which was really unexpected. The game definitely has a lot of effort put into it which I appreciate. I would have liked to keep the flashlight in part 3 as sometimes it could be a little hard to see but I also get how it would make the game a little less scary.

In terms of replay value there are trophies to get and they seem quite difficult. You have to beat parts 2 and 3 in a very fast time to get the Platinum. It basically means mastering each game which takes a lot of dedication. I see that a lot of people have pulled this off based on the trophy percentages so maybe it’s not as hard as it sounds. Maybe… but I have some doubts on this. Either way at some point I’ll try to improve my rank since I have a D in two of the parts.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime is a game you won’t want to miss. It is definitely intense and disturbing at times so you have to make sure that you’re into horror titles but as long as you are then you should be having a good time here. There is a lot of exploring to do within the game and more details that you will pick up each time. The games go fast but as a trilogy there is a good amount of content to enjoy. I’m ready for that next bundle pack at some point.

Overall 7/10

Penny’s Big Breakaway Review

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It’s time for a wholesome 3D platformer. Penny is a new IP so it’s always impressive to see one of those grow and become the next big thing. It seems like everyone liked this one quite a bit and I can confirm that it’s a good title. It’s the kind of game that is easy to jump into and there is plenty to do after the main campaign is over. There’s no reason to leave this title on the shelf, just play through it and you will see what all the hype is about.

The general plot involves Penny heading to the Gala but unfortunately she ends up messing with the big political figure by mistake. I think he’s the mayor but now he wants her taken down. She must run fast, taking down every boss in her way as well as the proper authorities until she can get back into the gala and clear her name. Does Penny have what it takes to pull this off or is she about to be in for a very rude awakening?

Fortunately Penny is very skilled with a Yo-Yo. The general gameplay is all built around this as you use it to leap over obstacles, directly smash enemies, etc. It’s a fun way to make the gameplay a little different than just being your average 3D title. The game also moves at a pretty fast pace so you are really encouraged to learn the movement options well so that you can keep going at full speeds. The game isn’t all that hard but the real difficulty comes in trying to beat the levels as fast as possible to get the max ranks. I didn’t get a single max rank during my playthrough so it seems like this is definitely something you would need a good amount of practice for.

Additionally each level has several people asking you for help and I can only imagine that they will probably reward you with trophies for completing all of these. The main campaign is probably around 6-7 hours so throw in the bonus content and you’ve got a decent amount of things to do in order to really keep you busy here. You’ll really get to have tested your platforming skills by the end of it. There are also a lot of fun quality of life features here like a game over allowing you to continue but you lose all of your points. So if you actually want a high rank then you better prepare to play the level again while not dying so often.

Once you know the route to go for the goal you shouldn’t have a problem but sometimes it does take a bit of trial and error. Later on you also get invisible platforms so by that point in the game you really want to have mastered how far you can jump. Knowing the different distances by heart will really go a long way here. Without that then you may be in trouble but that’s why you have the option to keep on trying until you have succeeded.

Meanwhile the bright artstyle and graphics works really well here. Each world is distinct and you can tell that a whole lot of effort was put into the game. It’s all very polished and likewise the soundtrack is also super good. There are a lot of really catchy themes here and the soundtrack has a lot of variety to it. No two worlds sound the same at all. The technical elements here are all definitely on point.

The only part that can be confusing at times are the boss battles. It’s not always readily apparent what you have to do. Yes you have the trial and error but sometimes the game could stand to be a little clearer. The main example of this is the big boss where you have to use a magnet to attack him. Dodging his attacks was really hard to understand because of the odd hitboxes and the magnet’s range seemed a bit off.

All small things at the end of the day though. The gameplay itself is definitely a total win either way and I would definitely say that the sequels should stick to this kind of game design. Keep things fast to differentiate from other platformers and that momentum can easily be used to keep this title near the top of its genre. They can also start expanding the main cast a bit. It’s something that is good to begin doing sooner than later so the characters all have time to become fan favorites and everything. There are already some named characters here but none that strike you as the playable type. They seem like supporting characters, not main characters. At least that’s the way I would explain it.

Overall, Penny’s Big Breakthrough is a fun game. It’s fast paced and clever with the various mechanics. It looks and sounds good as well so you’ve really got the complete package here. There’s definitely a lot to take in and there is good room for a sequel. I’d definitely be interested in playing a follow up so lets keep our fingers crossed for that. In the meantime pick this game up and it’s the kind of title that you can really recommend to anyone. A simple but effective title that has no real issues.

Overall 7/10

Yoshi’s Island DS Review

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Yoshi’s Island is one of those games that I would have imagined that I’d have played years ago but it always fell through the cracks. As a result it feels really retro to be playing this one because it’s just from such a different time. This was back when Nintendo really did not hold back on the difficulty. Some of these levels are really quite hard but never in an unfair way. Your platforming skills will simply be tested in ways that you wouldn’t have thought possible.

The story is fairly basic but with one little twist that was nice. Basically babies around the world are being kidnapped and this includes poor Luigi. Fortunately the stork is able to save Mario and quickly locates Yoshi so that they can team up to save the world once again. These two are no strangers to mixing it up with the likes of Bowser and so they quickly get ready for this. What they don’t realize is that King Bowser has come from the future as well to really complicate matters. Dealing with two fierce opponents may be a bit much and then we have Wario as a wild card.

Right off the bat I can appreciate the wide character roster here. At least for a Platformer this feels pretty big. You can use Baby Mario, Peach, Wario, DK, and even Bowser at one point. Each character has their own special abilities while riding on Yoshi and this even affects your running speed. Additionally Mario has the ability to grow his cape while using a power star and you temporarily control him instead of Yoshi. It’s clear that Nintendo was really working hard to ensure there was a whole lot of depth to the gameplay. It’s certainly doing more than the original.

That said, more isn’t always better. How much you enjoy this game will really come down to how much you like playing as all of the characters. If for any reason you do not like playing as them, then you will probably miss the standard Yoshi gameplay. As its core the gameplay still has many of the same elements like running through the levels and getting past all the obstacles but then you use the character specific items like DK’s climbing to get past different barriers in the level.

I mostly stuck with Mario as his basic gameplay is the most comforting but the game does force you to switch on many occasions. So get used to playing as everyone. Like I said before the difficulty is also quite high so don’t think that you will just be sleep walking through this adventure. No, you’re going to have to really put in a lot of effort. Stock up on as many lives as possible in the first few worlds. I nearly didn’t spend enough focus on that since I figured lives wouldn’t be important but the difficulty really spikes starting with world 4. I had around 65 lives by that point and ended up with less than 20 by the end.

There are a lot of check points in the game which is good but some of the jumps and timings are really intense. It’s fun to see how creatively Nintendo added this difficulty while preserving the basic concept of Yoshi not having a health bar. You die if you fall through a pit, touch lava, or let your baby get away from you for a long period of time. The latter is the easiest way to die so just be careful where you’re at when you take damage.

For the most part the bosses are all really easy though as even the final boss moves fairly slow and only has a few different attacks. I suspect that it is harder to balance a boss than it is for a level which explains the huge disparity between them. So at least that’s one part you don’t have to worry about, for the most part you will be blowing the bosses away with ease. For the levels, you just have to keep going at them over and over again until you’ve found a way to win. Over 90% of the challenging parts are just about execution though so you don’t have to worry about solving puzzles or anything like that. Just put your best foot forward and you’ll be fine.

The graphics are pretty solid here. Again it has a very nostalgic kind of vibe to it with the looks and designs really being classic Mario all the way. It’s an easy game to enjoy visually and the soundtrack is also good. A solid array of themes even if I can’t point to any one theme and say that it’s an all star. They all work well within the context that they appear in which is good enough for me. Nintendo typically always does a good job on that front so I’m not surprised.

There is also a formidable amount of replay value here. The main campaign is fairly long with 5 worlds of 8 levels each but then each world has 3-4 bonus levels as well. Then you have the collectibles and there are a ton of those to grab in each level. We’re talking massive Yoshi coins as well as red coins. It will take a very long time to achieve all of those so that will add more than a few hours to your total docket.

Overall, This is a very complete Yoshi game. It holds its own with the classic Mario titles although I will always prefer the Mario gameplay over Yoshi overall. Nothing wrong with Yoshi’s but Mario’s tends to be more fast paced. Here you do often have to wait for things to get set up. The worst are the auto scroller levels but that is true for any platformer title since the movement is so slow. You should definitely check this game out if you are looking for a good challenge. I can definitely guarantee that you will find one here. It’s the kind of game that you really can’t underestimate.

Overall 7/10

Sand Land Review

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Sand Land is one of the first manga titles that I read back in the day. It’s a fun enough adventure although it ends really quickly. I never watched the new movie/show that came out though so checking out the game was a good way to see what was going on with the new story content. It’s a pretty fun game and while I think it could have used a little more time in the oven to polish some areas, I had a good time.

The story follows the prince of demons Beelzebub as he tries to prove to the world that he is a scary fiend. An army general named Rao shows up asking for his help one day though. The world is ruled by a corrupt government who has taken control of all resources. Now water is a tough commodity to come by and people are dying of thirst. Rao needs Beelzebub’s help in getting access to the water. Beelzebub agrees to help since it sounds fun but he insists on being called a villain. Then the second half of the game involves a new land with another corrupt government who has to be stopped.

The second half is more exciting since it’s all brand new content but the story in general is pretty fun. I like the universe and the characters are likable. Beelzebub makes for a solid lead even if he can be a bit desperate in trying to get people to recognize him as a villain. The guy just acts way too heroic for anybody to buy that. This is another one of those stories where for the most part the humans tend to be the worst people anyway. Demons got nothing on them!

The graphics are pretty solid. There are quite a few fully animated scenes here along with good effects for the battle. It’s a very clear looking game where you don’t have to be squinting. You also have a good soundtrack here. I won’t say that it’s top tier or anything like that but it gets the job done. There is even a lyrical song near the end which helps for that cinematic experience. That’s when you know that you’re truly in the climax.

The game’s overall length is pretty good. It’s around 15 hours or so and there is plenty of replay value. Naturally you can go for the Platinum and in the meantime you’ll be doing a bunch of side quests and beating more opponents. It’s a pretty expansive world and so even though the platinum itself is fairly easy, you can expect to be here for a long while. There is definitely a good amount of value here.

As for the gameplay, I would say the game controls well when playing as Beelzebub. The only complaint you can really have is that it’s just way too easy. You absolutely decimate all of the opponents as your damage is maxed out to start the game. It’s a pretty fun approach compared to the vehicles where you have to be constantly upgrading them the whole time. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do like that you don’t have to worry about that when playing as Beelzebub. It’s just a really welcome change of pace.

Now with the vehicles, I enjoyed them but I also thought there was clear room for improvement. For starters when you’re setting up the loadout, the game doesn’t make it clear what you can equip. You have to actually go into the piece you want to equip and then it’ll slam you in the face with the level requirement. When the required level is higher than you current level, it cannot be equipped. So if you ask me it should be grayed out or something as an easy visual indicator. That would save a lot of time there.

In terms of actually leveling up the materials, at least it is pretty quick. You usually need to buy a few things and then head out to beat enemies for other resources. If you spend a few minutes each batch doing this then you can stay on top. You’ll want to be very well leveled or the final bosses will take a long while. The final boss is easy to dodge but my attacks were so weak that defeating him took quite a long while. In any game it’s better to die fast and try again than to have a super long game that you barely win. It just takes too much time.

By the end of the game I was mainly using the Hovercraft on everybody although the mechsuit definitely had some good moments as well. I don’t want to count that guy out. His cannon and punches did a good amount of damage but the lack of speed meant he was not very reliable in other battles. The tank was also pretty good one although the damage output stayed pretty low by the end. Ultimately because of the level up system I don’t think you will ever be locked for very long but some quality of life updates here would have gone a long way.

I liked the occasional stealth missions that were in the game. Those were fun tests to see how quickly you could get around the guards. It let you be very creative with several different ways to approach those levels. It’s definitely the right way to handle a level like that and the quick loading times also meant that dying was not too painful. I’d have definitely been down with more stealth levels here. Maybe some of the side missions go more into that.

The hub world isn’t always very easy to navigate so I wonder if in the post game you would get a plane. That would be awesome, even if perhaps a bit game breaking. It would certainly be worth it though so I don’t mind losing the balance a little bit. After beating the main game I had already purchased almost every power up on the leveling screen so I imagine you’ll have that done pretty early on when working on the postgame.

Overall, Sand Land is pretty fun. It’s clear that a lot of work went into it so even though I say it could use some more polish, I don’t want it to sound like I think this is an incomplete game. There’s a good amount of bang for your buck and the story even lasts a bit longer than I would have expected. It’s pretty impressive in general that this title got a video game like this so I definitely recommend it to all Sand Land fans or to anyone looking for a fun platformer. You just can’t go wrong here.

Overall 7/10

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn Review

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Shaq Fu is one of those games that ordinarily might not have crossed into my radar but I happened to see it in store for a great price so I decided to take the plunge. How could I not right? The concept is just pretty interesting and the execution ended up being on point. I’m not going to say that it’s an all star or anything but what I can say is that the graphics and controls are on point. The story will also keep you engaged with how fun it is.

The game starts off with introducing us to Shaq who was found inside a purse and nearly drowned. Who would put a baby through such hardship? Well, he got to grow up learning martial arts and now that will come in handy because there are monsters around. It looks like a lot of celebrities can’t be trusted and things get extra personal when Shaq’s master is seemingly murdered in cold blood. He will not stand for this! No sirrrr!

The gameplay is classic 2D beat em up style. Basically you use your punch, kick, and slam moves to take down enemies. There are tons and tons of enemies so get ready for a lot of punching. Generally you can beat most enemies with the punch buttons but there is a little strategy here. Use your kicks for enemies that are holding a shield because they will block normal hits. When you have enough meter you can also do a ground slam to send the enemies away. It’s a strong attack and does the job but use it sparingly since it takes a while to get the energy back.

Meanwhile you’ve also got a few super forms that appear in different levels like cactus Shaq and robot Shaq. Both of these forms are basically unstoppable since you can spam their heavy attacks with no real drawbacks. So in this form don’t overthink things and just keep attacking everybody. Usually to compensate for how overpowered you are, the game will stack the other side with even more minions than needed. So get ready to deal with a whole lot of that. The super forms are fun but it probably would have been a good idea to have still given some kind of a challenge for them.

After all, the main levels are rather difficult to get through at times. I won’t say it’s a hard game as this is easier than most other similar beat em ups in the genre. You still do have to focus though, if you try to just close your eyes and beat this on instinct then you are going to get absolutely demolished. That’s because of how many enemies there are and how they’re all different. You can react quickly enough to shut them all down but if you get overconfident and let them walk all over you then you’re in real trouble.

The graphics are pretty solid here. It’s going for a very drawn out/cartoony look that works well with the themes of the game. Likewise the cutscenes work really well for that reason as well. Not only is the dialogue great but the fact that it’s all voice acted is incredible. As with all comedies, not every joke will land and the game did go for at least one full crude humor boss which was really unnecessary. Still, aside from that the game had been doing pretty good on the humor.

The soundtrack is solid but the main theme song can be a little much. It’s extremely loud and you hear it for the main menu and every loading screen. So you’ll be hearing it a whole lot, particularly since the loading screens themselves are really slow. I like the concept of the song but the lyrics could definitely be a whole lot better.

In terms of replay value, well you could go for the Platinum. I actually haven’t checked how hard that would be but I get the feeling it will be easy. So with the main game being under 4 hours, maybe this can add another 2-3 hours of replay value. You can usually get the game for a pretty low price so all in all I would say it’s a pretty fair deal. You’re partially playing this game for the pure novelty value after all. A good story goes a long way and since the gameplay is also sound then you have a good bargain. If the gameplay was bad then this would be a harder sell but I do think they actually put some effort into this one. It’s not just some random cash-in or anything like that.

Overall, Shaq Fu gets a lot of points for how up front it is. This game knows that the premise is rather silly and so instead of being subtle about this, it just doubles down on absolutely everything. Trust me, you haven’t seen many games that are as shameless as Shaq Fu is. It’s really the full package and while it isn’t a particularly long game, the most important part is that you will have fun playing it. That’s the key here and if they ever make a sequel, I’d be tempted to buy it day 1!

Overall 7/10

Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash Review

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Jujutsu Kaisen really got big so it makes sense that it would get a video game. Anime brawlers are fairly common after all. This one is a bit of a step down from some of the others though. If the gameplay was just a tad bit better then it could have reached the next stage but ultimately I didn’t think it would quite reach that point. I had a good time with it but you feel like the game definitely left a lot of meat on the bone.

The story covers the first season of the show along with the movie. It’s a reasonable amount of content particularly since the game goes very in detail with this. There are over 80 missions in the game, I think maybe 100 if you count all of the bonus ones. Not every mission involves a fight though so some are really just big cutscenes. The game has full voice acting which is nice but I didn’t love the presentation of the cutscenes. It’s sort of like panels out of a comic book that are stuck together but not very organically so there is often a little break before the next person starts talking. There are also portions where it will just get silent as someone types up a report.

I can see the attempt there as it’s spooky and all but I didn’t think it worked great. At the end of each main chapter was one CG cutscene though and those always looked good. Getting more of them would have been a good idea. In general the graphics are pretty good here. Not amazing or anything like that but the characters are on model and the quality is good so I can’t ask for much more out of them. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. I’d like a few more tunes but the ones that we do have are pretty solid. Some are downright catchy.

Where the game got messed with is the general gameplay. They decided to make it so that normal attacks don’t deal damage. You can only effect people with cursed energy which is typically only the last 2 hits of a combo or with special moves. You gain this energy gradually as you fight but I just never like the idea or not being able to generally damage someone outside of certain conditions. It lengthens the match for no reason and doesn’t feel organic. It’s sort of like Playstation All Stars. It’s fine to want to be a little different but this is one gimmick in particular that I think is really hard to pull off.

The stages are also impressively big but this also means that it can be tough to land blows at times. You’ll punch the enemy across town and then have to go find him. You have to jump rather high at times and sometimes that won’t be enough. There is even a super jump button for that reason and then you can attack once you’re on the same level as the enemy. It’s a bit excessive but this could have been fixed with better movement options. The game is also meant as a big online title but it’s hard to synergize with your partner since your hit will often mess up with the timing of their combo and vice versa.

It makes it so that you almost want your partner to stay out of the fight and just let you handle it so it all goes down quicker. Since you need the last hits of the combo, it basically means that your hits were meaningless when your ally hits them out of the combo. You can control your partner’s tactics at least like aggressive and co-operative but to be honest I didn’t notice much of a difference there during the game. I suppose I would need to play for a longer amount of time to really see the difference there.

The game also doesn’t feel super well balanced but I only know it on a surface level so that really might not be correct. For all I know, the game is better than most 3D titles. The trophies look rather difficult with a huge focus on online content so I don’t see myself getting the Platinum here but a few more to increase my percentage still sounds good. We’ll see if they end up adding Shibuya to the game as DLC or if they just keep that for a sequel some day. This game doesn’t seem to be super well liked so the odds of a sequel could be dicey.

Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen made some mistakes on the gameplay side but it still a pretty good game. It’s impressive how detailed the story mode is. They really wanted to cover everything to the point where we almost could call this a visual novel to an extent. There are a ton of cutscenes, then the gameplay, then cutscenes, etc. If we get a sequel I’d like it to be streamlined somewhat but it’s clear that the game was doing its best to try and make sure gave a good amount of content in the single player mode. I didn’t even touch a bunch of the side missions and mini stories for that replay value. If you’re a big fan of Jujutsu Kaisen then you should check this one out but otherwise you could do better in the fighting games arena.

Overall 7/10

Light Crusader Review

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I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10

Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS Review

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This is definitely one of the more random games that I’ve gotten to play. I can tell you that I’ve definitely never even heard of this game before. It was a pretty fun one but definitely suffers from some arcade age. There’s one boss in particular that you have to play frame perfect or you get crushed. Even with rewind and perfectly dodging every hit it was super difficult to pull off the win.

You play as a GI Joe type of hero who needs to take down a whole army of opposing fighters and giant mech suits. You can bet that this is no easy task but he is up for it. You go through 8 levels of auto scrolling where more and more enemies keep showing up. When the auto scrolling stops, you get to keep on going and take your chances with the enemy gunfire or stay put and whittle them down first. Generally I found that it was best to keep on moving but of course that can also be super risky so you need to keep that in mind. The biggest factor to keep in mind though is the weapons that you pick up. These will change your experience quite a lot. When you pick up a gun, you drop your old one and can’t pick it back up so keep that in mind.

In my opinion the best weapon is the flame thrower and it’s not particularly close. A good blast from that weapon takes out most opponents and you can just hold down the attack button to keep it shooting forever. The catch is that it won’t have the same punch as some of the stronger weapons but honestly it’s a pretty decent trade off for me. Once I picked this one up I made sure not to pick any other weapons up. There was one boss that was nearly impossible to defeat with this weapon but in every other level it really served me well.

The game is also fairly generous with all of the health items that are dropped by enemies or found in boxes. More so than the average game in this genre so I definitely appreciated that. It helped prevent the game from getting too difficult to get through. It’s still very difficult obviously but it never feels quite impossible the way some of the old arcade shooters would. There are some shooters like that where you just feel like they were made to take all of your quarters.

The graphics have aged really well and I’d say that it is due to the art style. It’s very colorful and helps complement the sprites well. The action also works really well although there isn’t much of a soundtrack. You can’t win them all I suppose. In terms of replay value, there technically isn’t one since there are no collectibles or bonus levels to play through. I guess you could try to beat the game quicker or with less deaths as some self imposed challenges though. That would be a hard sell unless you really loved the game though. Otherwise this is clearly made as the kind of game that you play through all the way once and then call it a day.

Nothing wrong with that kind of game of course, that’s how a lot of them were back in the day. It’s definitely worth playing through this title on the Switch Online. The fact that they put a good amount of effort into this one instead of letting it become generic shooter 3000 was also a really good touch. Even with that we’ll see how long I remember this one though. In my defense, there really are a whole lot of army games with no real end in sight. It’s the kind of game that people just enjoy a whole lot so why wouldn’t they continue them right? One of these games in 3D without the first person camera work would really be awesome! Hopefully that ends up being the case at some point.

Overall, MERCS is a pretty fun game. I dare say that a lot of the enjoyment is because I am playing it through the Switch Online though. Without that I would probably be in a really tricky spot. I’d give it a few whirls but in general when you are sent back to the beginning of a game, I’m not too keen to keep on trying. You just lose too much progress even if you are having fun. At minimum, all games need to allow you to replay from the latest level when you have a game over. That is the way to go.

Overall 7/10

Vectorman Review

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Vectorman is definitely nostalgic because I played through it many years ago. I don’t remember if I beat the whole game and if I had to guess, I probably didn’t. It’s a very difficult title which helps to make up for its length. The concept for the game is really sound and I enjoy the gameplay. It really is like an alternate Mega Man of sorts and it’s too bad that this one didn’t spawn a lot of sequels and turn into a complete franchise or anything like that.

The general plot is that Vectorman is the only one to resist mind control and so it’s up to him to destroy all of the enemies. This may sound like a daunting task but Vectorman isn’t the kind of villain to go down so easily. He has his blasters and only gets stronger as the game goes on. The basic gameplay style is that of a 2D shooter. Your gun can spam bullets and along the way you can get temporary power ups that makes you gun even stronger. On the flip side, Vectorman is very flimsy and a few hits will put him out of commission for good.

Virtually all of the enemies have super armor which also makes them very difficult to defeat. You have to be extremely careful or you will end up soaking up a bunch of damage in the blink of an eye. Once that happens then you are really doomed. You always want to keep at least two health points on hand because you can lose 2 in back to back hits before you can really react. You don’t have many invincibility frames here.

There are a number of bosses in the game and they are all crafted well. The way you defeat each of them is unique so there are no re-used bosses or anything like that. Each one is a unique experience all the way through. The graphics are also really good. All of the worlds really stand out and are very colorful. I like the enemy designs and the energy blasts look good. It’s a very well balanced title all the way.

Then you have the soundtrack which is a very solid Sci-fi blend. It sounds like Mega Man but even more modern for its time. The soundtrack ages extremely well and works with the gameplay. The final boss is also really intense so the game gets to end with a real bang. It certainly succeeds on the technical aspects.

When it comes to the gameplay, my main tip would be to make sure and get every single health point. You will need them for the bosses which are all designed to absolutely obliterate you. They are not balanced in any way so don’t get that twisted. These guys are as overpowered as they get and will give you no quarter. You will be on the defensive the whole time and you can expect to die a whole lot. It has a case for being even harder than Mega Man to be honest but the Wily runs do tend to be crazy so that may be overdoing it just a tad.

This is another series that could really use a modern remake. Vectorman would be an absolutely stellar main character and he already has the deign for it. You’d probably need to focus on the supporting cast next since right now there isn’t much of one but that wouldn’t be too hard to do. You can also give him more attacks but perhaps that would make it feel too much like a Mega Man ripoff. That can be avoided for now but with how he’s made of a lot of balls for joints, using some kind of shape manipulation could be within reason.

Naturally I would also add more of a story. It certainly can’t hurt right? So you can have that at the ready as well and you’ve got all the makings of a fun title. That’s probably the most fun thing about playing all of these old games which is that you can sit down and think about the concepts outside of the old limitations of the ancient systems. Something like Vectorman is a perfect example of this.

Overall, Vectorman is a pretty good game. It holds up really well both in terms of gameplay and graphics. It’s the kind of game you can pop in at any time because of how extremely simple it is. It’s ultra difficult but very simple to understand. I would definitely appreciate more of a plot but for now I will be satisfied with just having some opening text at least. It’s more than some other games bother to deliver after all. If you haven’t played or even heard of the game before then you should change that right away. Don’t let your expectations get too crazy here but you can definitely be assured that you will have a positive experience. In the end that is the most important thing after all.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land III Review

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It’s time to end the trilogy. The Donkey Kong Land games have sure lasted a while and you have to give them major props for that. That being said, this one really doesn’t do much different from the others. Sure, it brings in new levels and good ole King K Rool to shake things up…actually he’s always been the villain. So you get the idea here. If you like platformers then you should have a good time with this.

This time we have 3 different characters to play as which is definitely fun. You basically get to switch places every time you get hit. You can only hang on to one extra life point at a time so the third character is technically never on the roster. No matter though, you will get hit plenty of times as you play through the game so I don’t see this being a really big issue. It is always fun to play as Dixie though since she still has the long glide. You can really cheese some levels with her if you can avoid getting hit for a while.

One thing you will notice very quickly though is that it’s very hard to keep track of what level you’re on. This is probably a casualty of the no color issue for the Game Boy. When you complete a level, there is no visual indicator that it is cleared. Then you have to go up, right, left, or sometimes down depending on the world and this means it ends up being very risky on if you may end up playing an old level by mistake. That happened to me twice and I had to back out. It’s definitely something I’ve never seen in the genre before so it could desperately use a quality of life enhancement there.

Meanwhile while the graphics were likely good originally, hey don’t look great here. It’s all very faded out and the sprites are the only saving grace here. The soundtrack is good though, I do tend to enjoy the DK tunes. Nintendo did a good job of giving them a lot of personality rather than it sound like generic jungle environments which would have been very uninspired. So I was quite content there.

As far as the length goes, I’d say it is a fair amount of content to get through. It may feel short compared to a modern game, but playing through a lot of these Game Boy titles you see how short they can be. The most important thing is that the game doesn’t only have one world or anything like that. There are also some bonus levels that you can optionally play which increases the replay value as well.

The game can be rather difficult so you need to tread through the stage carefully. Without the rewind feature at the ready the enemies would certainly be very overpowering. You just wouldn’t be able to get through them all so easily. I could run a lot but that was a privilege of the Nintendo Switch Online. You could probably add some hours to my playtime otherwise. You also still have the animals here which is good for spreading the gameplay out. There are quite a few ways to play the game and that was a nice bit of extra work by the devs.

You’d expect that it definitely costs more time and money to set up more than one playing style. The DK games have been consistent in this though so that’s a good thing. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game though because it’s a very straight forward title and also because not much has changed from the first two. I suppose in that way it’s a sequel that should make the players feel very comfortable. It’s all things that they have seen before and so they can hit the ground running rather than worrying about learning the style or anything like that.

Naturally if we get a Land 4 one day I really hope it has more of a story. That’s what the DK games are lacking and it’s a critical component since that really gets you engaged in the series. Naturally it’s not something I would dock this one any points for due to the age and all that but for a new game I would definitely be a little more harsh. I need those cinematics!

Overall, Donkey Kong Land III is a good game that definitely ends rather quickly. It took a step back in terms of the hub world but in all other areas it manages to keep pace. It’s definitely a title to keep your eyes on the whole time. Hopefully we get some new DK games in the future. It may not be my favorite platforming series but I would still play it at some point. You can always count on Nintendo to deliver a fun experience no matter what year it is. It’s just what they do.

Overall 7/10