The Internet and iPhone App Store are full of games like Kitten Cannon, Learn to Fly and other titles of similar gameplay, with a lot of them being popular and successful, and some even earning a fan base. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Yeti Sports: Pingu Throw wasn’t that successful, but there hasn’t been any game like it on the PSP since—that is, until now, with Orbit, the latest game by British developer Laughing Jackal, hitting the PSN Store.
The National Space Programme has suffered a few cutbacks in funding due to the credit crunch and in actual fact has no money whatsoever. However, two less-than-gifted scientists have a solution to the problem. How? By collecting chunks of gold that are inexplicably floating around a variety of planets in space, of course. And how are they going to collect the gold? Well, by simply firing themselves out of a cannon and flapping like crazy to collect the gold—obviously.
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When Oyaji Games announced Mecho Wars for Minis a couple of years ago, it really caught my eye due to the nature of its gameplay (basically an Advance Wars clone) and the unusual style of the artwork. Apparently it was finished a long while ago (the iOS version came out in 2009), but for whatever reason, it didn’t finally come out until just now, published by Creat Studios (who, despite the name, mostly seem to be a publisher of Minis these days).
As mentioned, Mecho Wars is an Advance Wars clone, the long running and popular turn-based strategy game mostly found on Nintendo handhelds. To be fair, though, Advance Wars really only popularized the genre among console (or handheld) owners; the basic gameplay really dates back to Empire, which has spawned dozens, if not hundreds, of games over the last 35 years, including a Mini, History Egypt, and even a full-blown PSP game from Sony itself, Field Commander. Read the rest of ”Mecho Wars Review—Like Advance Wars on Something Besides Just a Handheld” »
I sort of wrote a warning in my Karoshi review to the Flash-based browser games developers: portability is not a feature worthy of a price. No matter how great a game is, I can’t find any reason to purchase it when you can play it on other platforms free of charge. It should have additional content, restructured level design, anything that is worthy of that price tag. The Minis version of Karoshi is very distinct from its brethren, as it not only retained their core gameplay but threw in new levels and added some storyline; and then, boom, enthusiastic review.
For this matter, Tiny Hawk is priced, as of this writing, at £2.49/€2.99, middle of the pack when it comes to Minis pricing in Europe. I played the Flash version of Tiny Hawk a long time ago and enjoyed it a lot. The PSP version employs new graphics. And I don’t like them, since what made the original Tiny Hawk charming (aside from the obvious word play on “Tony Hawk”) was its pixelated graphics. But aesthetics aside, is Tiny Hawk able to justify its price tag?
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No matter how much I want not to sound like a broken record, I just can’t help it. The SNK Minis do not have the best value for the price. Well, they are not expensive and are often offered with a discount or as a freebie in the PlayStation Plus program anyway. Still, direct emulations with not much in the way of bells and whistles, exclusive features (like software manual, art gallery, or sound test) or modern enhancements are worth a dollar, no more. With the exception of a few gems (only three, actually, Alpha Mission, Vanguard and Prehistoric Isle in 1930), most of these arcade classics would be better off offered in a bundle like they were originally meant to be, the canceled (outside Asia) SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 0.
Since these games are emulations, they do not replicate the arcade experience 100%. Hemorrhaging quarters to continue playing these arcade games will never be missed, that’s for sure. However, some players might crave some joysticks. I’ve never played P.O.W. – Prisoners of War in its arcade form, so I can never surely tell if G1M2 did a horrible, horrible job in porting the control system, or if P.O.W. was made with a P.O.S. control scheme in the very first place.
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PlaygroundSquad is one of those somewhat mysterious publishers of Minis, because they never really release any information about their games. But they’re back with another game, Ambassador Kane, developed by 60° North, and this time around they even put up a website for it. With a name like “Ambassador Kane,” I was expecting something involving diplomacy, possibly candy-related, or more likely vampires. Instead, it’s something of a Lemmings clone. With a sniper rifle added, that is.
Lemmings was a classic puzzle game from Psygnosis, now owned by Sony (which hasn’t done much with the property). Basically, you guided the path of a group of lemmings as they made their way from one part of the screen to the other. You didn’t have any direct control over the lemmings, but you could build things that would alter or define the path that the critters walked on. It was simple at first but grew quite complicated. It was always fun—even if you got frustrated, you could always make them all explode. Read the rest of ”Ambassador Kane Review—Lemmings…with a Sniper Rifle” »
Depending on your age, forgive me for using a Vertical Horizon/Drake song as a review subtitle. Still, Prehistoric Isle in 1930 is for the much older players to reminisce with. I am a 90s person, but I do have greater knowledge of the NES era and, to some extent, its arcade precursors. This particular arcade game was part of my early life in gaming.
I believe that most people who are into gaming have been able to experience this game, as this is widely available on every platform imaginable. This is probably one of the most emulated games out there. Oh, SNAP! I was actually referring to R-Type!
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