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!
Read the rest of ”Prehistoric Isle in 1930 Review—Best I’ve Ever Had” »
It takes an awful lot of time for me to review SNK Minis, compared to your usual Mini. I always try to finish the game with just one coin. When you try to finish arcade games by going all-out since you have limitless credits, it takes the fun out of Gaming (yes, the proper noun/gerund). I prefer to finish these classics based on my skills, not relying on infinite tries. Also, Minis releases are sparse at this time, so I might as well take my time and dissect the game more deeply than usual.
Psycho Soldier is one of SNK’s arcade classics re-released. This was supposed to be the sequel to Athena, which was also re-released as a Mini. Athena is an awful game, regardless of whether you played it today or back in the 80s. And I don’t quite get what a bored Greek goddess has to do with a high schooler and her boyfriend. Without consulting the Internet, I wouldn’t have known the backstory of Psycho Soldier, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Psycho Soldier is an improvement over Athena across the board.
Read the rest of ”Psycho Soldier Review—Sounds Familiar” »
Victory Road is the sequel to the classic arcade game Ikari Warriors, which has already been released as a Mini a few months ago. The original Ikari Warriors was a vertically scrolling shooter (or run & gun) where you controlled a Rambo-esque figure navigating through a jungle full of enemies, trying to rescue a giant Teddy Roosevelt, the only bit of strangeness in an otherwise fairly conventional setting.
The game is fairly simple to play. You move in four directions (using the D-pad or analog nub), can aim in eight (using two buttons to rotate through each direction), and fire your carried weapon or throw grenades in that direction by tapping buttons (X or O). Victory Road basically plays the same as Ikari Warriors, but the strangeness is present right from the start, not just at the end. Read the rest of ”Victory Road Review—The Road to Boredom” »
The world of gaming has seen some interesting fads over the last few years. Motion controls, 3D gaming, and “Indie” games, most notably. The last is perhaps the most confusing, because the games industry has always had small, independent developers—it’s just now a hip and trendy thing. It’s basically akin to how music works; some bands get a lot of hype and buzz, especially if they appear in a TV commercial, while others seemingly languish unknown and unappreciated.
Even though the vast majority of Minis have been made by Indie developers, the sort of buzz and hype shown towards those games on other platforms has mostly eluded them. Why is that? Maybe it’s a branding problem; maybe Sony should have called Minis “Indies” or “Indie Minis” or something like that. Maybe it’s the stigma of the PSP, which is unloved except in Japan, despite it being one of the greatest gaming devices ever. Or maybe it’s because most Minis have lacked the artistic intent or pretension (depending on your point of view) that most of the hyped Indie stuff has. Read the rest of ”Where is my Heart? Review—Cuter Than Hello Kitty! And Much More Fun!” »
Quirkat is not a first-timer on the Minis platform. You may not know this, but earlier this year, they released a bundle of quirky (sorry for the awful pun) ultra-niche titles: the Basha card games. These card games require a lot of patience to learn and a lot of effort to actually enjoy them. It is effectively required that you are familiar with the card games, since starting with them from scratch is like learning a new language.
Quirkat is a Jordanian game studio passionately producing games with local color. Mena Speed is a drag racing game proudly featuring Middle East locations. The Basha card games indeed are straight card games, but consider yourself warned: Mena Speed is a drag racing game that is not about drag racing, technically. It’s outlandish to hear that, right? But it isn’t, it truly isn’t.
Read the rest of ”Mena Speed Review—A Dragging Race” »
Aside from zombies, aliens are probably the most exhausted video game antagonist, protagonist and/or subject matter. There is nothing wrong with this, but if you really think about it, there is a breaking point for every gamer who always encounters the same things over and over again.
The Marbians is an alien-themed physics puzzler. Physics puzzlers in browser games format get released in bulk every day. I have played lots and lots of these physics puzzler-type games, enough so that I believe I am armed with the right to judge accordingly. The Marbians, though polished and streamlined, is nothing really special.
Read the rest of ”The Marbians Review—To a Flying Saucer, Can You Take Them There?” »
