Tag Archives: Nintendo

Spark The Electric Jester 3 Review

Posted on by
Reply

It’s finally time to jump back into the world of Spark! Well that’s what I would be saying except the first two games never got a console port. So this ends up being the first one that I’ve gotten to check out. Well I can say it does a great job of reliving the glory days of the Sonic series. The 3D gameplay is incredibly fast paced and even the soundtrack sounds like Adventure 2 Battle. If you have enjoyed playing those Sonic games then you should definitely play this one, it is an amazing homage.

The story starts off with Jester running around and having fun as normal but then the stakes get higher. Not only is his old foe back but a mysterious girl has appeared who also has a grudge with him. Powerful forces are operating within the shadows and Spark is about to learn some things about his own past. Nothing will be the same after these revelations and Spark will need to try and keep himself in one piece by the end of this. It won’t be easy though.

I was not expecting an almost 30 minutes series of cutscenes at the end of the game but it shows how much thought the writer put into the story here. At first you mostly get context from short text bubble cutscenes but then later on you have full cinematics and everything. We learn knowledge that recontextualizes the entire trilogy which is no small feat. I can see this being a little jarring for longtime fans of the series but as someone starting with this title it was just hype.

The ending also stuck the landing which was important. Then we also have a top tier soundtrack. All of the stages sound excellent and then of course there is the one lyrical song that slips in during the 3rd last boss of the game. The song was excellent and I had fun Youtubing it afterwards. Some games may have been satisfied with replicating the Sonic gameplay but going the extra mile and getting the soundtrack was an extra cherry on top. The graphics are also really good so that is another point in Spark’s favor. It just kept on winning and winning throughout.

So lets talk about the gameplay. The main gameplay style is your classic 3D platforming. There is a big emphasis on speed so you use that to zip through the stages and try to get to the goal. Some stages are around 2 minutes while others can go up to 4. You have two jumps and 2 boosts so you have to use each one strategically to get to the end. You also have the homing attack and even a blaster. The game is designed to give you a ton of gameplay options and it’s up to you to choose the right ones.

There are also car segments where you have to drive around which was handled well. These levels were a fun change of pace. Then there is the free falling where you have to activate different moves to slow your fall as well as some levels where you have to locate coins around the level. It was pretty neat to have so many different gameplay styles in here. You don’t actually have to beat every level to get to the final boss, but about 90% of them are required. Beating the extra 10% will net you bonus lives on the final trial.

There are also combat segments where you have to use combos to destroy every robot in the way. These levels are pretty fun and can be challenging. You have to get very good at parrying every blow or they will really add up and deal massive damage. I got pretty good at it although sometimes I would just use my speed to dodge instead. It’s what Sonic would have wanted anyway I’d say.

Now for the final trial that was really intense. It’s a level that is over 20 minutes long and you have to get past every obstacle that appeared throughout the game. You have to have mastered every different element or you will not be completing this level. Before now you had unlimited lives with which to get past the levels but this time you only have a few. If you run out of lives by the end then that will be game over and you have to start again. I got the game over 3 times in this level so I got to spend over an hour on this single stage. Man that was easily one of the tougher 3D platforming levels that I’ve played. It really makes you stop to appreciate how tough Sonic gameplay can get if it tried.

Now if I could choose I’d have split it up into several levels. I like a good challenge but I think it’s better to keep that difficulty into smaller bunches so you can challenge each part without having to replay everything. I understand why you’d merge it though because that does inherently make it even harder. The mental strain of having to stay 100% focused through each obstacle can be challenging and then you start to overthink yourself. Suddenly even basic jumps start to get difficult. Whew, it was really a journey.

I’d say the most challenging part for me were the circular loops. Usually in these games you can count on it keeping you in the center but here you are in charge of keeping yourself level. So you have to react incredibly fast at every turn or you just fall off. I was able to cheese this a few times by reacting very quickly and jumping as soon as I started to fall off but that wasn’t always easy. I even ran across the outside of a bridge on the final trial to bypass 3 of the challenges. Probably not the intentional design but hey you have to break out all of the tricks to win.

Overall, Spark is definitely a great game. I had a blast playing through it and I just love fast paced gameplay like this. The stages were super creative as well as all of the gameplay tweaks to the usual Sonic formula. I wish they’d bring in the first two games at some point, or at least the second one since the gameplay is really similar. If you like 3D platforming then I definitely recommend getting this game as soon as possible. You definitely won’t regret it, this is AAA quality right here.

Overall 8/10

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Legend of Zelda has returned but of course long time fans remember when the series was not doing so well. It has had some really impressive highs but unfortunately the lows are quite strong as well. It’s what keeps me from putting the series higher than where I have it. You just never know if it’s going to end up being the next top tier showcase or if it’ll be more of a stinker. Unfortunately this one was the latter.

The game follows a young man named Link who is tasked with saving the world. A queen has turned evil in the past and this is having a negative effect on the present. Link will now have to travel back and forth from the past to the present to find a way to save the day. It won’t be easy though as the villain appears to have similar abilities. Link may need some help this time around.

Now first up I do want to say the game has some interesting ideas. I was glad to have a different setting re than the usual Hyrule days. The supporting cast wasn’t even bad like another hero who wants to be the one to save the day and a happy witch that is always flying around. There is a decent plot going on in the background here which can be more than what you see for other Zelda titles. That said, it can still vanish for large chunks of time since this isn’t first and foremost a story driven title.

I would also say that the soundtrack is pretty good. There is one track in particular that is much better than I would have expected. It just works really well as a suspense theme. Of course on the flip side, the worst themes are pretty bad. The hub world theme in particular is super jarring because of how loud it is. Your ears will definitely be hurting by the end of that because you’ll be hearing the tune so often.

This is where most of the game’s issues come from. It just isn’t fun to play for decently large periods of time. The levels are tedious and the backtracking makes this worse. We needed a better form of quick travel and other movement options to help with the quality of life. In theory you should always be able to get past an area quicker the next time you enter it. I felt like the series didn’t really understand that part and that just made things tougher than it needed to be.

The hints aren’t always very helpful so you will be wandering around for a lot of the time. Ironically the dungeon puzzles ended up not being as difficult in comparison. The hub world is what took up the most amount of time. This ended up being my game with the most amount of play time on the Nintendo Switch Online’s game boy section.

A big problem with the gameplay is how you can only equip 2 weapons. As a result you have to constantly be pausing the game to switch weapons over and over. Let me tell you, that part’s not fun after the 20th time. You want to be able to just quick change your weapon. It’s those little things that make such a big difference after a while because it heavily inflates the play time but not for any fun reasons. It’s almost funny how quickly the bosses go down in contrast.

Still, the story is a bright light here. If they ever made a 3D remake of the game with great quality of life features then I actually think it could be really good. The potential is absolutely there after all, the game just has to live up to it. You also won’t be able to play the complete game without having a file for the other game. The true ending is only obtained by having save data for both oracle games which is a really bold strategy. Not one I’d recommend since it seems a bit greedy towards the gamer.

I’d also say the game’s graphics are pretty good. A minor nitpick is that it can be hard to tell when you are in the present or the past though. The coloring is just so similar at that point. The past has a slight blue tint but trust me when I say that it is incredibly slight. You need to have a really strong pair of glasses to be able to consistently note the difference. Otherwise you are really out of luck there. There’s not really any replay value but the main campaign is long enough where this doesn’t feel like a problem.

In theory if you don’t get lost at all and crush every boss then the game will be much shorter but that still feels like a stretch to me. I don’t see how you would be able to ace everything on your first go. It would be very impressive though and would make the game more fun. It steadily becomes less and less fun as you run around in circles so if you are able to counter that, then it goes without saying that the game itself would improve quite a bit. It would almost allow the game to hide its biggest flaws from you but maybe for that reason it is better than you do run into them.

Overall, Oracle of Ages is about on par with the Oracle of Seasons title but that’s not a big complement. The game just has too many downsides that take away from the experience the whole time. With modern quality of life upgrades it would be easy to fix this title. It’s not something that you an ever take as a given though. Some companies just aren’t as on the ball about that and I suppose this may be one of those times. I would only get this game if you are a massive Legend of Zelda fan. Otherwise it’s time to skip this one.

Overall 4/10

Fire Emblem Engage Review

Posted on by
Reply


I remember having a great time with the Fire Emblem Engage video game for the Switch. It was cool to see all of the old FE main characters teaming up even if I hadn’t played through almost any of the original titles at the time. The manga does a good job of adapting the full experience as well and was quite detailed. If you are unable to buy the game then this is a good way to experience the journey. Hopefully the new game coming up will get a solid manga adaption as well.

The game started by introducing us to a guy named Alear. He has complete amnesia but when he wakes up the guy is told that he is the legendary hero who will save the world. Alear seems to be completely immortal and has the ability to interact with the souls of legendary warriors. Alear may not know what is going on but he wants to do his part to save the world. There are powerful threats everywhere and Alear does not intend to give up or allow for any of the chaos to proceed. He will need to recruit powerful allies to stop the Fell Dragon and his army of corrupted warriors.

Right away I remember liking Alear’s design from the game and of course it translates well into the manga as well. To an extent you could say that his character is fairly generic but that’s also due in part to the amnesia. He doesn’t really know what is going on and is just trying to do the responsible thing in every situation. Alear is quick to act and doesn’t hesitate so I appreciated that. At times he can be a little timid though and it takes a while for him to obtain a true level of resolve. That’s something that Marth and the other Emblems have to beat into him for a while there.

Alear may not come close to the level of Roy, Ike, or Marth in terms of being a leader but does well enough. His abilities also make him a real force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He gets overshadowed a bit by his mother who really gets several standout scenes. She probably should have told Alear certain truths before it was too late though. I really think he would have been able to handle the truth sooner and it could have avoided a lot of manipulation from the villain side. I suppose you can’t account for every eventuality but she had to suspect that this would come up at some point. I would have liked an extra fight scene for her but the manga did have to cover a lot of content in 40 chapters.

As far as the pacing goes, one thing that is always tough for adaptions is balancing out the side characters. The game has over 20-30 hours to flesh out each of the characters and give them all kinds of fun interactions. The manga has to be a lot more selective here and so things move at a very fast pace. Not a bad thing, but it does mean that most of the characters don’t get to do a whole lot. If you played the game then you’ll just be happy to see them but if you are a manga only reader then you’re going to start mixing some of the characters up. Most of their character arcs also take place off screen.

Ironically the villains get far more screentime and each of them gets their full origin story here. In a sense it might be more important to cover them since there are less villains and that is a more achievable goal. These are all tough choices though and at the end of the day I do think that the manga did a good job here. The Emblems themselves didn’t get to do a whole lot even in the game so it’s not like that has changed all that much. It’s just cool to see them but realistically only Marth does anything. Marth looks solid and has always been a great face of the franchise even if I’m a bigger Roy and Ike fan.

The artwork is pretty solid, it’s going for a not so detailed approach that makes every page really easy to read. The ink shows up for all of the fight scenes though so those definitely still get a lot of focus. It’s better than the average adaption art I would say. Additionally this makes it pretty new reader friendly. The writing is on point as with the game of course. Fire Emblem has always been a pretty classy series so there aren’t any big issues throughout the story either. This is what I would call a straight forward read. It may not have super strong highs but there are no lows so it ends up being a pretty good read all the way through.

As for the rest of the characters, the series has a pretty decent supporting cast even if their roles are smaller. I always enjoyed Yunaka who plays out a bit like a wild card. That aspect of her character is dialed back in the manga but she’s a bit of a thief with a shady past so the heroes do have to be careful on just how much they trust her. Her side plot was the most interesting back in the game. Vander’s role drops significantly once the story gets going but was a good guardian/body guard for Alear back in the intro. His years of experience on the battlefield definitely come in handy throughout.

Alfred and Celine are good examples of characters who had a big role in the game but don’t do as much in the manga. They are generally supportive throughout though. Fogado and Timerra are the same way. Basically each kingdom has a prince and a princess who join the party. In the game you will usually get a full chapter to each character and then they’re around for all the bonus content and conversations between missions. They technically stick around here too but don’t get much dialogue. I think you will still understand their general personalities well enough though.

On the villain side Hyacinth is definitely a pretty imposing figure. Initially it is definitely unclear on why he is even helping the Fell Dragon at all. Likewise most of his comrades are unsure about their directions but follow as loyal soldiers. It is definitely the big downside to being loyal like this because just following someone out of duty to the crown is not a good excuse. You always need to have a strong moral compass and the ability to make your own decisions if you ask me.

Veyle is a character who I can give a pass to because she has a lot going on with mind control and different things like that. Ordinarily she would have been moving very differently in the story and you feel bad for her as well because bad things keep happening to her and she doesn’t even know what is going on. I always feel like you should be able to just resist mind control outright but in the meantime it can be a tragic plot device. The villains do tend to look rather dumb with how obvious they act though. It would have been super easy to keep on manipulating Veyle but they couldn’t help themselves with the classic villain laughter and explaining their goals within earshot.

Zelestia is a big example of this as she is supposed to be a super strategist and yet she makes the biggest rookie mistakes. I also think that her redemption arc is really late in the game. She gets a big emotional ending and all but she has already committed so many crimes by that point. It’s just a little late for all of that. Griss goes down a similar route but it’s even more unbelievable because his whole persona is being sadistic and crazy. A bit late for second thoughts eh?

There is a difficult line to walk where you could make a character who is super evil just because that’s the only thing he/she knows and didn’t grow up in a normal environment. That can absolutely be effective but it didn’t really work here. Mauvier is the most reasonable villain as he used to be an honorable knight but he still ends up working with the villains. No real way to get around that fact in the end. I still did appreciate him and his honor code though.

Ivy and Hortensia are two other crazy type villains who get more of a redemption arc but theirs is much more impressive. The manga at least allows them moments of doubt throughout the story so it doesn’t come across as something out of nowhere. This makes a huge difference and so it didn’t feel abrupt when they decided to help the heroes. They were able to see past their usual sense of loyalty which was good. Well, Ivy more than Hortensia since Ivy was much easier to convince.

Even from the summaries you can see how the villains got much more development but I don’t want to totally undersell the heroes. They are still around and make for good characters. The manga just has to go on with the story and it’s a very classic story of the heroes trying to topple an enemy empire. Whether you’ve read a Fire Emblem story before or not, you should be able to enjoy this one pretty well. I was also glad that it answered the question of whether Alear can be summoned since he will eventually be an Emblem. The title really uses all of the concepts that it introduces instead of doing so half heartedly. A story like this will be enjoyable in any medium, maybe one day we will get a proper Fire Emblem anime to adapt some of these titles.

The story also does have time to really hit the emotional beats like Alear saying goodbye to his mother and pretty much all of the scenes with Veyle. That’s something that helps it stand out as something more than just being a basic defeat the kingdom story. The story would still be 100X better if all of the Emblems of legend were around as physical bodies instead of being spirits but I do get how they would quickly take over the story. Hopefully they can do that next time. In a longer series you probably could have given them some subplots as well.

Overall, Fire Emblem Engage is a series that I would recommend checking out. It’s a pretty good story and I always like seeing Fire Emblem content. The setting and feel of the story is much different than most of the other adventures though because it has more of a sci-fi feel to it with the various gizmos and the locations as a whole. There are a few standard kingdoms but it’s not like a lot of the older Fire Emblem stories where they are very clearly told from the perspective of the far past. This one is mixing in elements from different time periods all the way through. I’d like to see a sequel some day or a Fire Emblem game that is more of a true crossover between the characters instead of keeping them as spirits the whole time.

Overall 7/10

Dragonite and the Special Delivery Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a fun little Pokemon short. They’ve made a decent amount of these so it’s always fun to see another one come out. Dragonite was always a well known Pokemon for being one of the first ever pseudo legendaries. I would even say that in the present day he still lives up to the hype. This special doesn’t have him fighting or anything but is a fun enough adventure.

The short begins by introducing us to a mail system where Dragonite delivers mail around the world. He can deliver throughout any kind of weather situations and at great speeds so he is the perfect Pokemon for the job. A girl named Hana would like to be out there making deliveries along with him but she was hired as a cadet and has to go through some training first. She finds this training to be absolutely boring but can’t convince her supervisor to make an exception and let her get out there early. It’s all quite depressing but when a letter gets rejected for not having an address listed, Hana realizes that she has a chance to stand out. This is her moment and nobody will be able to keep this from her!

So we see Hana searching the town for a while and eventually she does stumble upon the sender and his sad story. Ultimately Hana realizes that she doesn’t have the power to save the day on her own and needs Dragonite. So it makes for a pretty wholesome story that doesn’t need a bunch of twists and turns. Hana does what she needs to do and we get the happy ending. I do feel like the dilemma was a little forced in a Pokemon world though.

Basically there is a kid who wanted to send a card to his father but didn’t tell his mother ahead of time and so he messed up. That whole thing could have been avoided with a proper address. Additionally though, how come the father can’t travel over there? We have many Pokemon who can learn teleport, others which have hypersonic speeds, etc. This guy also seems to be a big shot in the world of science so it’s not like he would be without the resources to do so. It may be a bit beyond the scope of what the special was all about but I had to think about these things during the adventure. Either way the adventure is fun though.

Hana isn’t the most likable protagonist with how impatient she is but you can tell that she is a nice kid overall. Hana learned a whole lot during this adventure so I don’t think she will take the mail duties for granted anymore. Now she knows that all of the duties are quite important. Meanwhile Dragonite was awesome as always.

On the technical elements, the special holds up. The animation is solid and the pacing is good on the whole. I wouldn’t say that there is a memorable soundtrack but this is a very short adventure so there is only so much you can do on that front. There are pros and cons to having such a short adventure. One pro is that the adventure isn’t likely to drag itself out or make many mistakes but a con is that there isn’t much of a chance to show off either. So this adventure isn’t one that will end up being very memorable but I can easily recommend it to anyone.

Overall, It’s always good to see more Pokemon adventures. Small scale stories like this one also help to flesh out the world and environment as a whole. You can see how day to day tasks like delivering the mail gets handled. A capable writer could easily take this concept and make a nice ongoing series about it. So I’d say to watch this with the mindset of it being a pilot episode and that adds a little fun to it. Regardless I would say to check this out whenever you’ve got about 10 minutes to spare. It’s also a good reminder for any kids watching to make sure your mail has an address on it because the mail office isn’t psychic.

Overall 6/10

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Review

Posted on by
Reply


Fire Emblem is one of those titles that is so cool and incredible that you have a hard time believing that it is actually a Nintendo product. The games always have real storylines to them as well as high stakes. People are dying here and the gameplay is quite difficult. The game is not going to be holding your hand at all as you go through all of the maps. Yes, the game also has perma death so if any of your allies die, then they are gone for good. While the game is on the Switch Online, there is no rewind for Gamecube games so that gets tricky as well.

The main character here is Ike and he’s a part of a mercenary guild run by his father. Unfortunately his father is defeated by The Black Knight which forces Ike to take command. He must help a princess escape her fate of death by delivering her to a neighboring country but it won’t easy. The world is divided up into around 8 countries and they had been in a state of peace for a long time until one kingdom suddenly invaded Crimea. Now all of the lands are potentially going to get wrapped up in this. Ike’s standard bodyguard mission just got a whole lot more dangerous.

First off I have to say that Ike is really a great main character. He is always ready for a fight and he doesn’t bother with the usual pleasantries. He isn’t going to play the game of the rich just because he needs their help. Ike has always been a mercenary and so he is all about producing results instead of just playing nice. His troops really trust him as a result, well except for two who run off for their own solo journeys. As with most Fire Emblem games you will have the chance to recruit a bunch of characters or destroy them yourself. It’s not always an intentional choice as some can only be recruited by specific units and others will die before you get to them.

Generally I tried to recruit everyone but I did end up missing out on quite a few. The game is fairly long with 30 chapters and the character cast is huge. Even as late as chapter 25 you are gaining new units to help you out in battle. I believe the last one may even be around 27 although I wasn’t really keeping track by then. There are so many characters in the game that you will want to settle on a few to take into battle or your resources will be spread too thin.

Each level has a certain amount of characters that you can bring into the battle. Typically the limit is around 13 but this can go as high as 19. Generally I would try to keep my group between 8-10 fighters. The reason for this is two-fold. The first is that the more guys you have on the field, the harder it is to protect everybody. You have healers, warriors, archers, etc. The healers must be protected and so each one will require around 3 bodyguards to keep them totally safe. That slows your guys down from breaking into the enemy camp.

Most of these levels reward high levels of offense so if you stay back then they will begin summoning a lot of backup over and over again. That puts you in a potentially unwinnable position so you don’t want that to happen to you. Also, it’s hard to keep everyone at a high level when each character is fighting for EXP. There are no side battles or retreat options in this game meaning there is absolutely no way to grind EXP. All you have it what you get from each level which you can distribute among the team between chapters.

You can see how this would get very dicey after a while when you have nearly 30 army fighters. So trust me when I say you want to keep the army small. Additionally, it just makes every level a lot quicker since there is less loading times between every turn on all factions. Even then it can be hard to guess what the enemy will do. Strategy is 95% of the game but the other 5% is pure RNG.

I’ll explain, so the main gameplay here is an overhead turn based system. Your objective is always to either murder the enemy king, arrive at a destination, or seize a castle. You usually don’t have a timer on how long it takes to get there, you just have to complete the mission. Now where it gets tricky is each character has a different amount of movement options based on their class. You have to keep track of all of yours as well as the opponents.

Then adding onto that you are able to see how much damage your unit will deal to an opposing one and vice versa. This lets you pick who will fight and when to move each unit. Where the 5% luck comes in is that there are critical hits and misses. Either one can completely flip the tides of battle and any death will set you back in a major way. You should always try to have some leeway but that’s not going to be possible in some instances. So that’s when you just have to hope that your opponent doesn’t suddenly land a bit critical hit.

The game feels fairly generous so typically you’ll be the one landing criticals and dodging hits. Just remember that it can go the other way around as well. Between chapters it is important to visit the shop and the forge to keep your guys properly equipped. As soon as you unlock the silver weapons, you will want to put that on everybody. For that reason I didn’t spend any money until around chapter 20 and that’s when I started arming everyone properly. It really makes a huge difference.

In terms of who the best units are, I would say Titania and Marcia were my two MVPs. For most of the game I could send Titania into a 7 vs 1 fight and she would win. She is absolutely unstoppable. The only downside is it means she can be a bit of an EXP hog and so she hit her max level with around 10 chapters still to go. Still worth it if you ask me. Marcia is also super strong with incredible range. She isn’t quite as durable though so I always had to be careful with her.

Ike is naturally strong as well. He ended up being my third best fighter with the axe wielder in 4th. The beasts tend to be strong as well and you definitely want to use the guy who gives you two turns. Unfortunately the mages felt nearly useless in this one so I highly recommend keeping them on the bench. They’re just way too weak and can die in a single hit. Same for a bunch of the other fighters. I assume they get better over time but without a way to grind, it felt too risky. Fire Emblem titles always have some fighters who are stronger than others though so in this game Titania was just the right character to have around.

The main campaign should take you over 20 hours to complete so you are getting a lot of content right there. The flip side is that there isn’t a whole lot of replay value here without side modes. You could try playing through the game with different party members or some self inflicted challenges though. It’s fine though because when the main campaign is long then you don’t really mind all of that too much. A multiplayer mode would be pretty fun but odds are that you are playing this one for the big story.

Overall, This was a great game and it is definitely a top tier Fire Emblem experience! It really makes me hyped to get more Fire Emblem titles down the road. I’m really early on in my journey here so I really do need to fix that. Should I get the remake of the first game, the iconic Awakening, or the really controversial Three Houses? They’re all right up there but in the meantime I highly recommend picking this game up if you have the Switch Online. It gives you a whole lot of bang for your buck and is a really well crafted game.

Overall 8/10

Pokemon Go Update

Posted on by
Reply


I have finally made it to level 75!! It took longer than I had initially expected with the 1000 great throws but it feels good to be up here. The next level will probably take around 2 months or so. The longest one is going to be walking 300KM. At least it’s spring/summer time so that should help out but that’s still not the kind of distance you cover in a day. I’m one step closer to making it to level 80!

Pac-Man Review

Posted on by
Reply


Pac-Man is one of those games that is truly timeless. It’s been around forever and has been ported many times. The appeal is really easy to see. Who doesn’t want to be running around the mazes and chomping up ghosts right? There will always be a case to just play Ms. Pac-Man instead because the game is just better but it doesn’t make this game any worse. Objectively speaking this is still a very fun game all the way around. It may take you a little time to get used to it since the speed is slightly different than some other versions though.

The basic concept is that you need to eat all of the pellets in a level in order to keep going on. You cannot touch any of the ghosts or you will lose a life. You can eat power pellets though which temporarily make you invincible and allow you to plunge right through them. You want to use this strategically in order to complete the levels. Assuming you are playing for a high score, you also want to eat as many ghosts as possible with each power pellet because the points are super high.

For that reason you will sometimes not want to use a power pellet right away because only one ghost is in range. The amount of time you have to eat a ghost after using the power pellet will gradually get lower as you go through the levels. Occasionally there will be a throwback level where the pellets work perfectly again but on the other side you will go to levels where the power pellet doesn’t do anything. You want to really watch out for those stages.

The game is just a lot of fun to play and you really feel good when you are able to outsmart the ghosts and get to the goal. There is a bit of RNG here but for the most part if you lose, that was really on you. You want to be careful about taking too many chances here because that just won’t end well for you. You get one extra life at 10,000 points. I want to say you get another one at 100,000 points but I’m not positive on that. So from that point on you need to be careful because you won’t be getting extra lives.

The fact that the level stays the same forever can be a bit misleading because it will make you overconfident. Just keep in mind that the ghosts will act differently. They also get gradually faster as the levels go on to the point where they will easily out speed you. During those times you definitely do not want to get in their way. A straight dash to the pellet will suddenly become a matter of life and death.

The soundtrack is fun. It’s not the type that will really stand out but it works out well as good background noise as you’re going through the game. The various sound effects are all pretty good. Then you have the bright graphics which work out well for the game. It makes the title seem very inviting all throughout the experience which is definitely a nice touch. It’s all the little things that add up together and make the game so much fun. It also goes without saying that the game basically has infinite replay value. As long as you are still alive, you have infinite chances to increase your score!

There is also a multiplayer mode in the game. That’s obvious enough where I almost forgot to mention it. Naturally that is a really fun addition as you compete for the score but ironically the multiplayer gets less fun the better that each player gets because you have to wait a long time for your turn. For that reason I always thought that it should alternate every level and then you keep going until the last person either runs out of lives or has passed the score of the eliminated player. It just makes a lot of sense to me. I suppose the counter would be that you are destroying the momentum of the first player but I don’t actually see a problem with that since it will be the case for both players.

Overall, Pac-Man is a game I’ve played in many different variations over the years. I can safely say that it always ages well and this one is no exception. If you have the Switch online then you definitely want to check this one out. It’s just a fun retro experience. Hopefully soon we will get a brand new Pac-Man game since the company is really slow about continuing the franchise. In the meantime, playing through the original adventure is going to have to do.

Overall 7/10

PAC & Roll Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a classic Pac-Man adventure. I completely forget that this game even exists 90% of the time. I give it some props for having a real story mode but that’s about all that I can say in its defense. At the end of the day it still has some pretty major flaws. The game is fun to play through but only because I got it for a great price. If you paid top dollar for this back in the day then you would really be in trouble. There would just be no coming back from that so it would probably affect the score.

The general plot is that the ghosts of Pac Land conspire together to bring back the ultimate evil. A powerful ghost that had to be sealed away before he would destroy everything. He wastes no time in declaring battle against Pac-Man. Fortunately a fairy shows up and she knows how to handle this guy. All of Pac’s friends are taken down so Pac-Man is the last fighter on the planet. If he loses, then the world will truly be doomed.

You shouldn’t think too hard on the story though because it is absolutely true that it makes no sense. The fairy seems so powerful that she could defeat the main villain on her own so why is she even asking Pac-Man for help? It’s a little hard to gauge what is actually happening here when you take away the gameplay mechanics as well. I suppose none of that matters too much at the end of the day. Pac has a job to do and he’s gonna do it! Unfortunately in this tile which appears to be a full on reboot, Pac is more of a rookie and is super scared/startled the whole time. He’s really not sure what to do and is always on the back foot here.

The sound effects don’t do him any favors here as he sounds really whiny. The soundtrack in general is only okay. There are no tunes that you will be looking up later on. As for the graphics, at least those are okay. I like the various character illustrations and the effects within the actual gameplay are good too. The technical efforts aren’t as underwhelming as you may have guessed initially.

As for the gameplay, well it is a clear inspiration from Monkey Ball. You have to guide the ball that Pac is in through a variety of courses. It’s a cool concept but unfortunately this is controlled by the Stylus which does take some of the fun out of it. I’m sure it was hard to resist using this gimmick since the game was on the DS but man would it have been more fun without the stylus. You have to move really quickly through some areas so you are swiping at your screen a whole lot.

The game starts out real easy but I gotta admit that the fire world actually gets rather difficult near the end. Nothing that will stop you for long but at least the game isn’t a total walk in the park. There still isn’t a whole lot of replay value here but the game does have a few bonus levels and collectibles to grab. So if you want to 100% the game then you do have some bonus content here at least. The main campaign won’t take you longer than 3-4 hours so maybe this can buff the whole thing to around 6 hours.

Aside from the normal rolling around gameplay, you also unlock two power ups later on. One of them makes you heavy so you sink into the water for ocean levels and the other one makes you light so you can actually glide around a bit. They don’t change things up too much but at least it’s something. The game also does have boss fights. You fight the same ghost the whole time but the battles themselves are different each time. You have to grab 3 power pellets and then tag the ghost.

The fact that you need 3 of them at once to deal any damage to him does give the villain some extra hype. He squanders it all by the end naturally but up until that point at least the reputation is deserved. This is also one of the only games I can think of where the villain has a game over theme. Every time you defeat him it plays and this isn’t just one note or anything like that. It’s an entire jingle so that was absolutely funny no matter how you slice it.

The game is a complete comedy so you shouldn’t expect any of the characters to look particularly cool. Gone are the days of the classic World series which had its share of humor but also balanced things out with a real plot. Maybe that’ll come back at some point and in that case I would be there day 1. There are a lot of things you can do with Pac-Man and yet the company is basically content to just make a bunch of remakes right now. Digging up ancient spinoffs is all that I can really do in the meantime.

Overall, This isn’t the kind of game I can really recommend but if you see it around for $5-$10 then you may as well pick it up. There’s no real downside to it at least and the gameplay itself is fun. The stylus may hurt but the core concept is still solid. The title is just so short though, you should make sure that you really understand this before you pick up the title. Then you know the risks and are all set to make the purchase. I really hope we get a real new Pac-Man game one of these days though.

Overall 6/10