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Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood Review

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It’s time for the return of Castlevania with two more big titles. These titles definitely feel fairly polished and are more on the level of the GBA games than the previous SNES ones. One of them is more like a classic platformer like the originals and then another one has the more GBA vibe to it of going through all the rooms and locating power ups. In the end this makes for a good double pack and are definitely some of the stronger games in the Castlevania franchise.

First up we have Rondo of Blood with the best of the Belmonts leading the way. Richter need to stop Dracula once and for all so he rolls up to the castle to take him down. You have to travel through 9 stages as the hero and destroy all of the enemies and bosses that make the mistake of getting in your way. They’re strong, but make no mistake, you’re stronger! The gameplay is fairly self explanatory here. Focus on using your whip strategically so you land the hits without getting nailed by any of their counters. Taking any big hit here will always work in the opponent’s favor since there are so many of them. You also have a sub weapon available at all times based on the last one that you picked up. You can use it in the standard way or charge up hearts and use the super attack instead. Either way can be really useful.

The graphics are pretty solid and there’s even some voice acting which is pretty cool. That’s all you need to make me consider you to be a modern title after all. It goes a long way to making the game more cinematic the whole time which I definitely appreciate. The soundtrack is also really solid. Definitely some fun tunes to have a good time with here and all of the level designs are on point. It’s really a complete game on all sides. There are still some parts of it where you can see the age a bit like with not having too much of a story and the length of the game being fairly short but it’s still good overall. I also think the difficulty is not nearly as intense as some of the previous games so you can really enjoy going bar for bar with the opponent instead of running and hoping for a lucky shot the whole time.

Of course Symphony of the Night is the big one here. This time you are playing as Alucard and you have to stop Dracula once and for all. The problem is that Richter appears to have been taken control of by the mad king of evil or someone beneath him. There is also a mysterious lady running around the castle. Alucard needs to stay on task and not worry about all of these extra elements but does he have the abilities needed to destroy them all? He’s strong but the odds that he is up against are definitely fierce.

So this in the true Castlevania style now as Alucard has to slowly recover different artifacts to gain new abilities. There are quite a lot of collectibles in this game and a good deal of them aren’t even mandatory for completing the story. Now this is the balance that I like to see. Yeah you will still run into some real sneaky puzzles and obstacles that may not be the most intuitive but the game never feels impossible. A big thing that helps with this is how accurate and detailed the map is. While there are some rooms that don’t appear on the map, they tend to be the optional ones. If you aren’t sure where to proceed then you just have to go to each room and check again. It’ll take time but it’s not undoable.

You will find relics that boost your abilities, stats, summon new familiars, etc. There is also a classic level up system here so if you are too weak, just gain a few levels and try again. If you continue to do that then you will be all set. I got lost so many times on the way to the final boss that I was extremely overpowered. A few good attacks were enough to take the bosses down. I had also found lots of food and potions along the way so I had a good cushion if needed.

These are all things that added up to really make this a much smoother set of fights than it would be for someone who was trying to cruise their way through the game. Definitely don’t underestimate Castlevania, you’ll always have some tricky fights in there but this one sort of lets you set the difficulty since you can continue to accumulate power as much as you want to. I really enjoyed the freedom there.

Meanwhile the soundtrack and graphics are solid as well. This feels like a very complete game and the artstyle ages well. It will still look and play well 10 years from now. The fact that the game has two castles which pretty much doubles the play time is also really cool. I won’t say it fully doubles things though since you have all of your powers by this point. It’s another really satisfying thing as you get to barrel past everyone this time around. It lets you actually get to enjoy your new abilities rather than just ending the way a lot of other games would have. It’s something Shantae has always ben the best at historically but now this is another good example I can use. You should always feel more powerful and be able to run past obstacles by the end of a game. If the area takes you about as much time to go through the second time as the first, then I feel like something went wrong during development. Once you can fly in this game, it’s really a whole new ballgame.

Overall, Castlevania returns with a pretty good double pack here. I enjoyed both games and the sheer amount of story in Symphony was great. Throw in the full voice acting and it really took things to the next level. It definitely helps to set the standard for the series. My favorite game was from the GBA but even that didn’t have full voice acting like this one. You’ll get lost a lot and the game will take some time but you will have a good experience the whole time. It’s why I love having a level up system because at least when you get lost, you have the satisfying consolation of getting stronger. This is a pretty good jumping on point for fans who want to check out the franchise.

Overall 7/10

Gargoyle’s Quest Review

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It’s time for a fairly reasonable game on the Game Boy. This one is trying to be a mini version of Legend of Zelda to an extent and it works in some ways but not as much in some others. Naturally it is missing some of the quality of life features that a modern title would have and so the game has to try and succeed in spite of that. I played through the whole thing but as a kid I don’t think I would have picked it off the shelves. This isn’t really a AAA title in the end.

You play as the Gargoyle himself although despite the cover showing him as green, the creature is fully red. You have fire blasts and can jump around although there isn’t really much flight. The demons are at war and you have to finish off all of the villains. It won’t be easy but Gargoyle is up to the task. He is really the only fighter around after all so if he doesn’t step up, then nobody else ever will.

The gameplay is an overhead style so that’s also why I throw in the Legend of Zelda comparisons. Typically you need to enter a town, talk to some folks and start up a quest. This will have you go into a cave/dungeon of sorts to beat up on an opponent and get whatever relic you needed in order to proceed further. Rinse and repeat as you go through all of the levels. It’s an easy enough formula but it isn’t always obvious where you need to go next. You will have to have a lot of creativity here as you figure out what item will get you past the next obstacle. If you mix it up then you will be in big trouble on all sides. Mainly you’ll just waste a lot of time but it also compounds the issue. Now you’re checking the whole world for a clue on where you need to go next and of course that’s not going to be easy.

The NPCs don’t give you great advice and the game doesn’t always explain the powers. You get several different
flame attacks as you go through the game but which ones do the most damage? You’ll just have to hope for the best. I found the second fire attack to be the easiest to use but for all I know I was holding myself back by sticking to that one. You just don’t really know one way or the other and that’s unfortunate.

Well, just keep at it and you’ll be fine. The game’s not all that long but it can still be a few hours. The final boss is also very difficult so get ready with the rewind techniques. Without that it would be very hard to hang in there for very long. A big part of this is because of the overall durability of the villains. They can take numerous hits over and over and over again. Meanwhile you can only survive a few hits and then you’re down for the count. Perhaps there are some upgrades or other things hidden in the game, that’s definitely possible.

The graphics aren’t bad here. I can give the game some credit there. Certainly nothing amazing or anything like that but it has some heart to it which is more than I can say for a lot of its competitors. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though, you won’t be thinking about that much while you try and get through the game. The technical aspects aren’t bad and at the very least they don’t hold the game back further.

In the end I would say the main thing holding the game back is the fact that there is no real reason to play through it. There are certainly many better games out there in basically every way. It’s not a poorly made game though and so I won’t give it a negative score. It does just enough where I can say that it balances out in the middle. I enjoyed one of the sequels a lot more than this one so at least I know that the series does get better as it goes on.

Overall, Gargoyle’s Quest is a reasonable game but one that can be annoying at times. You always have to be very careful with any game that has a big hub world and different puzzles to solve. When you mess up the balance then that is game over on a massive scale. I’ve played better and worse titles than this game though. At the very least I can commend it on having a real plot since that is something you can take for granted on older titles. A modern remake of this game on the PS5 or something like that could absolutely be a lot of fun though. The gameplay would be incredible and then you’d just need to add some more details to the story. It would be 100% feasible.

Overall 5/10

Battletoads/Double Dragon Review

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It’s time for the return of the Battletoads and this time they’re meeting up with the Double Dragons. It’s one of those games you wish they had waited like 20 years for though because we could have had a killer story with it. Instead, this is pretty solid for the gameplay but there’s not a whole lot to the story itself. Still, it is pretty fun to see the characters again after playing the other Battletoads title not too long ago. Would have been good to have had more dialogue out of the Double Dragons though since they didn’t get much dialogue at all here.

The basic plot is that the villains are back and causing chaos again so the Double Dragons and the Battletoads must unite and fight. That should give long time beat em up fans chills as you go through the levels. I opted to go with the double dragons and beat up the opponents with the old school techniques. It’s fun to hit them with the various combos and in this game enemies tend to wait their turns. That’s good because now I don’t have to worry about being surprised by a cheap shot from behind. Perhaps it makes things a bit easier but I can live with that.

In general you can see how they toned down the difficulties. None of the levels are anything close to the Battletoads racing levels. You still will be dying a lot and I had to use the rewind feature quite a bit but nothing compared to Battletoads. The game also feels a lot shorter here as the 7 levels go by in the blink of an eye. As long as you have your fundamentals on point then you will eventually score the W though. Just focus on landing those blows and your best bet is the dash attack.

When you time is right, no boss can hit you before you land it. Then you can back up and quickly do it again. I was able to land as many as 4 dash attacks in a row before quickly retreating, regrouping, and trying again. It’s an absolutely broken technique so you need to take advantage of that. Going in and trying to win with pure hand to hand combat is going to backfire and fail on you hard. The enemies almost always have better range at their disposal which is a big issue for your fists.

They are durable so you will need a lot of dash attacks but you will eventually win. Just make sure to walk up or down after the dash attack so the boss will follow you and that gives you enough time to land another one. If you follow this procedure the right way then you should definitely not have any issues. It is easier said than done so expect to get blasted a few times while you are perfecting this.

The graphics are pretty solid. The game is very colorful and also expressive. The characters have their eyes popping out whenever a villain shows up in total shock. Additionally you can pogo stick enemies into the ground and they panic as they sink deeper and deeper. The studio clearly had a lot of fun with the facial expressions and I definitely appreciate that. It helps make the whole thing more enjoyable. When the gameplay and graphics are on point then you have a winning formula.

The soundtrack is less memorable but it’s not bad. It’s just not something that you will really be humming in the parking lot afterwards or anything like that. In terms of replay value, there really isn’t any though. Perhaps the cutscenes are slightly different with other characters but I’m not sure. The double dragon I played as only had one line so if that’s the case with the others then you really aren’t missing out on much. It’s a great deal to play through the Switch Online but I would say it’s probably not one you would want to spend money on because of how short it is.

Overall, It is always fun to play through a crossover. They didn’t really do much with the concept as the two sides don’t interact among the main heroes but the game itself is very sound. As long as you enjoy playing beat em up titles then you will definitely be having fun with this game. It has no real weaknesses aside from being fairly short but I would say that’s more of a genre issue. In general none of the 2D beat em ups are all that long and mainly what extended the other Battletoads game was the crazy difficulty which was definitely limited in this one. I imagine after a while you may memorize the frames and attack animations though. At that point you will really be unstoppable. Final shoutout to the game for having a bunch of notable bosses. That was a nice touch not to have them look like normal minions. With these bosses you could tell that they jumped up a tier.

Overall 7/10

Cosmo Gang The Puzzle Review

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All right, it’s time for the Cosmo Gang! I tend to like puzzle type games like this where you match objects. Although personally I much prefer rearranging vs the style where the blocks are falling from the ceiling but it all comes down to execution in the end. Ultimately I didn’t think the execution here was all that good and the gimmick of needing arrow orbs to destroy the enemies fell flat for me. It should have been basic matching like match 3-4 of the aliens to destroy them. Then for the blocks you need to match 6 which I found to be super excessive. So in pretty much every way you could say that this game really did not meet my expectations.

There is a story mode of sorts with dialogue but it’s untranslated so that’s just how it goes. The main mode is about seeing how long you can survive as the blocks come down. Every minute or so you move up a level. You can start from level 0, 10, 50, and 100. Naturally the level 0 will be a lot easier than level 100 so that’s one thing to keep in mind. The main annoying thing though is that the score jumps up with you so there’s no point to choosing anything other than level 100. For example, if you start with level 0 you have a score of 0. If you manage to survive for a while, maybe you can get to 20,000 or so.

If you start at level 100, you begin with a score of 2 million so by default I shattered all the records. Even if you lose immediately you end up having a higher score which doesn’t really make sense. I suspect the developers didn’t think that through or perhaps originally this was something you had to unlock and the Switch Online just sped up the process. It’s hard to say for sure but either way it means the score is something you shouldn’t take very seriously. You’re going to have an extremely hard time beating that legitimately as you would need to be a real expert at this style of gameplay.

Even the gameplay feels a bit dated here. You can only move objects in a single direction so there is no going backwards or anything like that. You have to keep spinning until you get the right shape/formation that you want. I imagine you will eventually get really used to how the shapes interact but I would keep on getting confused and shift things to the wrong way. In a game like this that is naturally fatal though. A single misstep will set you back a great deal and there’s no real coming back from that. As it is, sometimes I felt like I was playing perfectly and I was still getting demolished.

I do consider these types of games to be among the harder ones out there though so that definitely tracks. You really need to have a long term plan at the ready in addition to just making matches as soon as possible. Because of how the arrow orb works, you even want to line up the enemies in a way where they can all be hit in a row. Of course, that also lowers the chance of getting a 6 way match so now you have conflicting goals. Good luck on survival, I will say while there is a good amount of RNG, there is also a lot of skill here as well. I don’t want to sell the big players short, it clearly does take talent to win here.

As far as the graphics go, the game looks pretty decent. I wouldn’t say it’s amazing or anything like that but it definitely gets the job done. Then for the soundtrack it’s more on the subdued side. Not exactly something that you will be humming in the shower but it doesn’t distract from the game either. So it won’t hold the gameplay back but it won’t take things to the next level either. In terms of replay value, I suppose it is endless here as you can keep on playing for as long as you find the gameplay fun. Due to the way the game operates, no two matches will be exactly the same anyway so that’s why it never ends. I just don’t find it quite so fun and since that’s the only real gameplay that the title has to offer, this ultimately dooms it in the end.

Overall, Cosmo Gang really wasn’t my cup of tea. I think the main problem is that there are just way better puzzle games of this style out there. Why play this when you can play the original Dr. Mario or Eggman’s Mean Bean Machine? Cosmo Gang just doesn’t beat those in any tangible way and when you have a game that is super basic like this, it helps to at least have some franchise appeal. Without a legendary character like Mario or Sonic around to help out, it meant that the game was really doomed from the jump. Great gameplay could have helped to bridge the divide but we didn’t get that. I would say to skip this one personally.

Overall 4/10

It’s Kunio’s Dodgeball, Assemble Everyone! Review

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I thought about leaving the title untranslated considering that Nintendo didn’t even bother to translate this one at all but let me put in the extra effort here. Unfortunately this game isn’t particularly good. The dodgeball mechanics really don’t hold up very well at all and the game is just too simple. Sometimes being simple is good for a sports game but there has to be something really fun about it. This one feels very low effort even considering that it is such an old game. Ultimately this holds it back in a very big way. Without more variety, there really isn’t anything to keep you going here.

The game doesn’t really have a story so you’re just jumping into a big Dodgeball match. There are probably more customizations and modes out there but of course with all of the text in Japanese you’ve basically just gotta guess through everything anyway. So in the game your goal is of course to hit all of the players on the opposing team. You have to do this a few times and once a player has taken enough damage, he turns into a ghost and leaves the arena. If you can do this to everyone on the opposing team then you will have won. Of course they will try doing the same to you. So when they throw the ball at you, you can try to dodge, catch the ball, or duck. Either one of these options can work although the safest option is naturally to catch the ball. Additionally if you do that, then the one who threw the ball takes some damage.

To confuse the opponent, the best thing to do is pass the ball around. Often times the computer won’ be able to keep up and then you slam them with a shot. If you shoot the ball normally, odd are that it will be blocked or caught. So you don’t want to just be running in there and taking shots without a care in the world. If you don’t have some level of strategy then you’re going to lose. The A.I. is not even that bad if you play it cleanly. If you abuse the passing mechanics then you will win without any real effort but if you don’t do that, it can come down to the wire.

So the game has reasonable difficulty but that’s not enough to stave off the repetition. Additionally I don’t think they thought things out very well. There is no timer here so if you’re holding the ball then you don’t have to do anything. You can just keep on holding it or walking around and the other team can’t do anything about it. There needs to be a timer because otherwise the game will never go anywhere. Additionally it just makes more sense. Of course with gentleman rules you can assume people won’t hold onto the ball but the fact that it’s possible isn’t a good look to the game in general.

We do have some super attacks like throwing the ball so hard it turns into an energy blast. It looks cool but the opponents still catch it every time so don’t bother with it too much. You’re better off with the trick of passing it until you get a good shot. In terms of graphics, the game’s not awful but it does feel like most of the sprites are effectively the same one just tweaked a bit. It doesn’t feel very high budget and the one song isn’t very inspiring. I would consider this to be one of the original cash grabs to be honest. Imagine spending money on this game? I’d be so sad I’d probably be in tears by the end. This is the kind of game you have fun with for a super brief time that wouldn’t even justify a Blockbuster rental. I’m glad I played it of course, but really only to warn you all about it. I’ve played better NES games and this is a generation after that.

It’s also a shame because as it is there aren’t very many Dodgeball games. It’s weird because the game feels perfect for one to be turned into a game. You have to be running, jumping, evading, etc. These are all really cool things to do in game and they directly translate into controls. There is no real RNG in Dodgeball either so it would be a satisfying win/loss. Hopefully Nintendo makes a full on Mario Dodgeball at some point to how the world how it’s done because we desperately need that.

Overall, This game just won’t hold your attention for very long. There is really not a whole lot to the game as it is. One mode and one stage can only take you so far. I had fun messing around in the game by passing the ball back and forth over and over again but even that can only stay amusing for so long. Unless you are a mega fan of Dodgeball then there really isn’t anything for you here. I would say this one’s worth a skip. Just go on to the next game because you will be done with this one within 15 minutes or so.

Overall 3/10

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review

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After all these years I have finally gotten to play one of the legendary Legend of Zelda games from the Gamecube era. I remember reading through the user guide for this one so many times back in the day. I think it was a double pack with Wind Waker’s or something but it was always cool reading up on it. The manga was also fantastic so I had high hopes for the game. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I can safely say that it is the definitive title for the main Link, even if Wind Waker will always be the head honcho.

Everything was going good for a while until Link and his village are attacked by a bunch of creatures. They quickly overwhelm the heroes and curse Link into being a wolf. Fortunately Midna shows up and agrees to help Link. She will help him save the world and protect his friends. In exchange he will help her gather all of the dark power so that she can crush the evil Zant who has taken over the world. Many lives hang in the balance but Link is ready to save the world. He is just the guy for the job.

It was pretty interesting to have a new villain in the mix here. Usually Ganondorf is the one running around so having Zant in here was cool. The guy actually makes for a great villain for most of his screen time. He talks really tough and is constantly in control. Unfortunately the mask starts to weaken later on and he loses a ton of hype. While he does sink pretty drastically from where he started, I can safely say that he is still one of the higher Legend of Zelda villains. He may not be head honcho material like Ganondorf but he can fight. I also thought he had the hardest boss fight in the game, even harder than ole Ganon himself.

The game takes everything very seriously as you journey through the realms. Outside of Majora’s Mask it would be fair to say that this may be the darkest game. The atmosphere is always intense and it’s nice to see all of the characters in their latest incarnation. The games do tend to recycle the same regions over and over again like the Gorons and the Zora so I would like to see that changed at some point though. Lets just have a true fresh start since it is a new adventure every time anyway.

While the game is darkly lit because of all the shadows, I would say the graphics are still pretty good. The art style doesn’t hold up as well as Ocarina of Time or Skyward Sword but it is still strong. The soundtrack is also good as well. The technical aspects don’t miss here and of course the gameplay is also on point. I always like a good 3D action game and you have so many different weapons and gadgets to choose from. It definitely allows you to play in a rather free way. For bosses you will have to fight them as the developers intended but for minions you can mix things dup a whole lot.

There are also several different gameplay styles here like being on foot, on horse, and as a wolf. The wolf gimmick is the main one that is new to the game. I can’t say that it’s my favorite but it doesn’t bring the game down or anything like that. I just tend to miss playing as Link himself whenever I’m in the Wolf form which is probably not the intent. It’s just that using the wolf’s sense abilities would usually feel like i was slowing down the game.

Meanwhile as Link, you really can’t go wrong with the fundamentals. Even the puzzles feel pretty smooth in this one. There were some puzzles that I couldn’t solve, but fortunately a good deal of them are optional. Even in the final dungeon, I couldn’t figure out why some of the doors wouldn’t open but I could just keep going. I definitely appreciated that, it’s a good balance of how these things ought to be.

One mild quality of life change I would like would be for you to be able to open chests even when your wallet is filled though. My wallet was always filled up so when a chest would have a rupee it would automatically close. The annoying thing about this is that the chest will still appear on the map so I would have to keep track of that while looking for the one item that I missed. They should let me take the rupees even if I’m at my limit. Also as another mild thing, Midna is often not helpful at all with the hints. They should have given her more things to say because half the time when you ask her for advice, she just reminds you of the plot. That’s not exactly what I was hoping for after all.

The game is quite long so you will definitely be getting a lot of bang for your buck. Nintendo is always delivering quite a lot with the Zelda series there. There is a ton of replay value as well. This is a game that you can stick with for quite the long time. As a final note, I like that most of the bosses have weaknesses that make practical sense. Zant is the one exception because I don’t get why arrows literally go through him but the others play their way around the items that the game doesn’t want you to use. It’s fairly creative as opposed to the game just making the weapons do 0 damage for no reason. Having actual explanations and everything is always the way to go.

Overall, Twilight Princess is great stuff. It is absolutely a title that all Nintendo fans should play at least once in their gaming careers. The boss fights are creative, the technical aspects are on point, and the characters are likable. You can’t really ask for much more than that in the end. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of and it’s why Twilight Princess is a game that can be enjoyed by any generation. There is also a ton of side content and dungeons to be tackled. I mainly just sped through the game and it still took me 30 hours which shows you just how long the game is. They did not cheap out in any area.

Overall 8/10

Big Run: The Supreme 4WD Challenge Review

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This one had some really long sub titles in there so I wasn’t sure how deep to in with this one. Either way I have to say that it is a very sub par racing game and one of the worst that I’ve played. This may sound harsh but they went way too far with the realism aspects that come at the expense of the actual fun. When I step into the car I want to feel the wind behind me as I go all out on the speed. I don’t want to be changing tires and things like that. This isn’t supposed to be a real world simulation!

The game starts off with you having to choose a sponsor which was the first red flag. Each sponsor has different amounts of money and starter equipment. For example the cheapest sponsor starts you off with the most spare tires while the most expensive one leaves you to your own devices. After that you can select who you want to hire to be on your crew for pit stops and emergency repairs. You can also go to the shop to buy engines and wheels. You have to balance out all of your cash here and be very economical because you don’t get any more money for the remainder of the game. The game is 9 levels long by the way and a single loss sends you back to the first level.

Another trope I don’t like. Never send me back to the first level. If I lose then I want you to send me back to the start of the level that I lost at, but sending me back to the first level is really overdoing it here. It’s a game that is so difficult, even the access points may not help you much because you will be absolutely stuck once you are out of inventory. I’m also not exactly sure how the pressure system works. It seems like the faster you go, the more you really burn out the tires but at the same time if you go slow then you’re not going to beat out the aggressive timer. The right speed is somewhere in the middle and it’s a very difficult tight rope to walk.

I suppose at the end of the day you really just have to try your best and keep on fighting. I do like the actual gameplay of driving through the roads, but it’s just overwhelmed by these other aspects. Even when I tune that out and just drive, I’m reminded of the system because my car’s engine suddenly gives out and I’m stranded on the road. No matter how quick you send the emergency crew out, you can bet that you will have just lost the race. So you have to make sure to repair really well after each race but I couldn’t figure out how to have enough money left over. The farthest I made it to was level 6 out of 9 and even that took me a lot of tries.

I imagine truly big fans of the inner workings of a car will get a kick out of this but it definitely didn’t do anything for me. I will say that the graphics are pretty good though. Everything is very bright and colorful which is always a positive. The levels may not have a whole lot to them in terms of details but at least while driving the car I can focus on that. There’s not much of a soundtrack but I’ll give it a bit of a pass there. I wasn’t really expecting one. I suppose there is a lot of replay value in trying to beat the game because that will take a long time. Don’t expect that you will be able to just turn this game on and win because that’s not happening.

I also think it would have been better if you could have seen other drivers to add some more competitiveness to this. For the most part it feels more like a time trial game as you try to beat the clock rather than fighting other drivers. So that also starts to miss the mark on why you’re playing a racing game. Sure, there are obstacles like signs and trucks that you can bump into but there are no scores or anything like that. In a way it’s like you’re all isolated here or you’re an illegal driver messing around on the highways.

Overall, Big Run falls into the trap of trying to be too realistic the whole time. The more realistic you get, often times the more you will just end up biting off more than you can chew. Games are fun because you get the end product without having to worry about the stuff in the middle. It’s very rare that I like a game that goes as far into the weeds as this one does. It just feels like a misplaced goal to me, at least that’s the way that I see it. Perhaps I am just missing the appeal here but the driving takes a back seat and in a racing game that is never the way to go. Go and play Need for Speed instead, you won’t miss out by skipping this game.

Overall 4/10

Blast Corps Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump Review

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Time for another one of those quick mobile titles. I figured I’d give this one a quick shot because of how absurd the whole concept was and it’s actually better than I thought it would be. It’s the kind of game that you would need to stick with for the long term to actually get to the end though. Raising a Magikarp is a whole lot of work and it’s set up in a way where you will go through many Magikarps before you actually get one that is strong enough to take you to victory.

The simplicity of the game is part of what makes it so addictive. At the same time, it is clear that they are hoping you will spend money on this game so the grind gets longer and longer as you go on. Before long you will either decide that you want to be in it for the long haul or not. For me, there are just too many hype games to stay with any one title for long but they still did a good job with the title. I made it up to level 25 before calling it a day here.

So the story is straight forward as you raise a Magikarp and work to obtain all 8 Gym badges. In this world, Magikarp is the only Pokemon that is used for battling and so every Gym Leader has one. Whichever Magikarp splashes the highest wins. You then have to fight through a few trainers before the next gym leader and repeat the process. Gym Leader may be the wrong word though, I think the game just refers to them as champions but it’s basically the same concept in the end. You don’t actually control Magikarp during the fights so you just watch it splash. Each fight only takes about 5-10 seconds which is fast and if you lose the first time then you can just skip the animation the second time. You do have to start the tournament from the beginning each time you lose but you don’t have to re-complete previous ones.

The actual gameplay comes into the picture between battles. To get your Magikarp stronger you have to feed it a bunch of berries. They spawn every few seconds and then you tap on them in the screen. Rinse and repeat as you go through the game. As you get stronger you will unlock different training equipment which the Magikarp can use every once in a while. You will also unlock Pokemon who appear in the background to help out. There s even a sub genre for this game, it’s known as an Idle mobile game. So the idea is you just play it for a few minutes here and there when you have time and your Pokemon will keep on getting stronger.

Of course Magikarp will eventually retire and then you start from scratch. Your next Magikarp will always be stronger though based on your trainer level going up as well as his motivation. There is no way around losing at least 100 Magikarp or so as you go through the journey but eventually you will have one that is strong enough to beat all of the leagues. The game itself is effectively dead at this point so once you beat the 8 leagues you would be all done. There is no post game so you can just keep on getting stronger forever. I called it a day after beating 4 of the tournaments.

There’s a lot more on the details side I could mention here but you get the general idea. You have coins and gems to buy upgrades and the game essentially runs on a loop. It may sound a bit overwhelming but once you are playing the game, you won’t think that is the case. It’s a game that has an incredibly good UI so you always know where to go next. They did an absolutely excellent job on this one. I definitely can’t emphasize that enough. There’s not really much of a soundtrack here but the whole thing is going for a really peaceful vibe.

The graphics are pretty solid. Nothing that will rock your world or anything like that but the game looks and feels nice. Naturally there is a ton of replay value here and beating the main campaign will take a long while either way. Pokemon has definitely had some really strong hits over the years and this one is no exception. Hopefully they continue to make more Pokemon mobile titles in the future.

Overall, Magikarp Splash is a lot of fun. Almost deceptively so I would say since the actual sessions are really fast but you want to keep going back in to play some more. You could easily get addicted if you aren’t careful so you should definitely watch out for that. At the end of the day though I tend to gravitate to more story based games in the end. Pokemon Go is really the big exception to that. If you are looking for a fun little game to play though, this is a nice one to have on your phone. There are also no ads at all which is really nice. I always give the developers credit for that on not being greedy.

Overall 7/10

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs Review

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It’s time to look at the Battletoads, one of the big SNES titles of legend! This game is known for being super tough and after playing through I can definitely confirm this. The levels absolutely go hard and in particular the second last level is insane. That one took me tons of tries and you gotta appreciate how anyone was able to do it back in the day. You do get a good amount of continues but it’s not unlimited or it didn’t seem that way. Imagine getting a full game over and going to the start? Would be brutal unless I’m mistaken there.

The basic plot involves a girl getting kidnapped and even one of the toads ends up going down for the count. The rest of them quickly get ready to save the day but they will have to take out powerful opponents and get past a lot of dangerous obstacles. It won’t be easy but hey they are ready for this. They’re no strangers to danger after all.

So the basic gameplay here is that of a 2D platformer/beat ’em up. You punch away at opponents and move forward to the goal. Some levels are standard beat em ups while others shake up the gameplay style a bit. For example one of them has you in a ship blasting away at enemies. It’s the easiest one for sure though. The beat em ups are also pretty easy for the most part at least relatively speaking. Nothing about the game is downright easy but it’s not nearly as bad as the others. Let’s talk about that toughest level.

You’re on a scooter and you have this guy on a motorcycle after you. He is trying to slice you in two and you have to stay ahead of him. It’s easily the most violent level because when you lose it really gets intense. Now the reason the level is tough is because you have to hold the control stick in the direction of the road at all times and there are a ton of twists and turns. If you are late to switch by half a second then it’s all over. The screen also doesn’t show you a full view for most of it so you have to just react very quickly. The level itself is only around 2 minutes but let me tell you that trying to not make any mistakes for 2 minutes with so many twists and turns is incredibly difficult.

It’s all about the timing and the interesting thing is that the way the momentum works, you actually get penalized for using the rewind feature because it completely stops your momentum. So you have to even time your access points just right like during a jump where you can recover really quickly. It took me so many tries but when I finally beat the level it felt really satisfying.

Then while not quite as tough, this next one was also a real doozy. This time it’s a vertical race as you are starting at the top of a tower and heading all the way down. You are chasing the villain as he runs down and you have to really move perfectly because he is faster than you. You can hit him to slow the guy down for a moment but if you miss the hit then you will have just dug an even deeper hole for yourself. So that definitely makes things tricky as well. Stay strong and just keep on going but good luck on memorizing the spots. This one didn’t take me nearly as long but was also a really crazy level.

I’ve already said this several times but the game is definitely insanely difficult and lives up to the reputation. The fact that it could be difficult with different gameplay styles like this is definitely impressive. It may make for a high barrier of entry but at least it isn’t artificial difficulty. They’re just making a fun game that is really hard but you always have a chance to win. You could argue that the two chases are the only ones that break this mold as there are obstacles you could never possibly anticipate on your first run.

The graphics look pretty good and the artstyle in general has aged pretty well. It’s definitely the kind of game that really leaps off the screen. The levels also have a whole lot of variety throughout with different backgrounds in addition to the gameplay styles. They put in a good amount of effort here without a doubt. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good. Battletoads definitely delivers on these fronts without any real issues. Mix that in with the fun gameplay and it’s easy to see why this is a solid title.

Overall, Battletoads is a pretty fun game. I’m not sure if I would have had as much fun without the switch online enhancements but it’s definitely a game that had a good amount of effort and creativity behind it. You can see why the series definitely got so well known over the years. If you have the switch online then I would definitely recommend checking it out. It’s one of the better ones on the console.

Overall 7/10