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?
Read the rest of ”Tiny Hawk Review—Super Fun but Super Duper Short” »
Twisted Dragon Media, makers of M.O.Z.O.X. Space Salvager, have been working on a new game and releasing teaser shots. At first it wasn’t clear if it was going to be a Mini or not, but apparently it is. The first image (shown above) was of a gnome fleeing from some ants, while the second image seems to be a map of a backyard or garden.
1 new Mini in the world this week.
Mecho Wars is the long-awaited strategy game.
*Red = New Worldwide
NA Minis
- *Mecho Wars ($4.99)
EU Minis
Price Drops (EU)
- Mad Blocker Alpha: ROTF – Permanent – (Was £3.99/€4.99 – Now £1.99/€2.49) – Review
- Ninjamurai – Permanent – (Was £2.49/€2.99 – Now £1.74/€1.99) – Review
- Revoltin’ Youth – Permanent – (Was £1.74/€1.99 – Now £1.24/€1.49) – Review
PlayStation Plus (NA)
- Stick Man Rescue – Free
- *Mecho Wars – Free
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.
Read the rest of ”P.O.W. – Prisoners of War Review—Should Have Stayed Imprisoned” »
Although Alawar still hasn’t released all their titles that have previously been rated by the ESRB (going all the way back to May of last year), they keep getting more titles rated. This time around, the second in their very long running Farm Frenzy series, the creatively titled Farm Frenzy 2.
The first title in the time management series, Farm Frenzy, was ported to Minis about a year ago and has remained fairly high up on the PSN ratings charts.
Update: The ESRB also just rated a third Farm Frenzy title – Farm Frenzy: Pizza Party.
The last time I wrote about Mecho Wars was…over a year ago, and the attached trailer suggests a January 2011 release date. It didn’t happen, so we moved on. Now, finally, a release date is confirmed. Next week’s PlayStation Store Update (10th of January, 2012), Mecho Wars is coming, at least in North America. At around 7:00 in the latest US PlayStation Blog blogcast, it is mentioned by the hosts that indeed this game will be coming out. All right!