Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Black, White.

Whenever a conversation is brought up about Game Freak, these colors are used in sentences to specifically talk about the games that they’ve worked on, those games being Pokemon specifically.

And that’s about it, at least from what most people know, as they are a group specifically known for Pokemon, and nothing more.

I mean, who remembers Pulseman for the Sega‘s Mega Drive? Or 2005’s Drill Dozer for the GBA? (admittedly, these games were released in dying consoles in their respective times, so it‘s fair to say those wouldn‘t be remembered much).

But after some welcome changes in Game Freak’s internal structuring, employees were allowed to create new titles (while still working on Pokemon, mind you, that’s never going to change). And just like that, development began on this new game (surprisingly, this game was the brainchild of James Turner, who was the guy who created both Golurk, who is now loved by fans, and well… Vanille… But that’s besides the point).

That game, is called HarmoKnight.

Unlike anything previously created by the team, this title is a different breed altogether, not an RPG, not an action/adventure title, but instead; a rhythm/sort of platformer..

The story (yes, it has a story) put you in the control of Harmo, who after a meteor crashes on the planet, bringing along an evil entity known as Gargan that corrupts the planet, is send to deliver a note-shaped staff that has the ability to defeat this evil being to Symphony City, where someone who has the potential to become a HarmoKnight should be.

In all honesty thought, the story is forgettable, as are the characters, I applaud the effort to bring some sort of story telling, but it just falls flat and it just feels tacked on, then again, no one buys a rhythm game for the story.

The gameplay is where is at. You control Tempo, using only the A and B buttons, gameplay sometimes gets switched around every few stages to keep the game fresh, you are in control of a mine cart, other times you control an archer and fire away at far off enemies, and other times you use a drummer and a monkey… Yeah, don’t take this game seriously.

There are also boss stages sprinkled throughout the campaign, these stages are actually on the easy side, thanks to the fact that the game gives you the timing for each, another complain from these stages, is that you must always hit the last note, if you don’t, that means an automatic fail, which brought a frustrated grunt out of me more than once, since I had done it perfectly until then, fortunately, the stages aren’t overly long, so it’s not that much of a problem, although a skip for the first part of the track (EBA style) would have been nice.

(Don’t mind the German translation here)

The goal of each stage is to collect the most notes possible, this can be done by grabbing the notes floating around, hitting an enemy with the staff, as well as the instruments around the level, if enough are grabbed, a Royal Note that is needed to advance is received, this sounds easy enough, but this game is unforgiving in its rhythm and timing, if the hits are off by even a little bit, you will miss and will be damaged, or the target will bounce off completely missing the note, unlike past Nintendo rhythm games, this one can be a bit tough to master, even after I finished it, I still had trouble going through it.

How does the game look? It looks great! The graphics sport a cartoonish style that fit the lighthearted atmosphere of the game, even the enemies look silly for the most part, the models are well done and visible enough when they appear on-screen, allowing you enough time to react in order to hit them in the face while following the rhythm.

In the sound area? Well…  The sound cues are great, but the music itself is not the most catchy music ever created, I would go as far as to say it’s forgettable, I honestly cannot remember any of the tracks outside the Pokemon bonus tracks (which are a welcome addition to the game) and the Final Stage, which is only possible due to my repeated failure.

Another thing I noticed that other reviewers didn‘t address, was that the music in certain stages was recycled through each level, only being very minimally different, and the stages themselves being slightly altered, which is a lazy thing from the music department to do, seeing how the music was already forgettable enough, this is okay in games where platforming is key, but not in rhythm games, where music must definitely be good.

The game itself is also rather short, but for an eShop title, the length is to be expected, although the price tag of 15 bucks will surely put off some people.

But still, even with all of my complaints, I still can’t let this game go, using two buttons is simple enough, but mastering it has been a blast, I still think this franchise can do better, a sequel that deals with all of the issues this game has would be welcome, Game Freak, so when you are not working on Pokemon X and Y, that would be appreciated.

In conclusion, this is a game that I would only recommend to rhythm game fans, and for that matter, MAYBE Pokemon fans for the bonus tracks alone, although I don’t expect those guys to shell out 15 dollars for this game, it’s still a pretty solid entry that it wouldn’t hurt to have on your 3DS, but you really wouldn’t miss anything by waiting for the game to go on sale.

The Nintendo Gamecube released around 12 years ago, one chilly November day, and it came with quite a few games that have by now become well known classics; Super Monkey Ball, Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2, and Wave Race: Blue Storm, these are but a few examples of the launch lineup, but there was another game that caught the attention of the media.

Luigi’s Mansion.

It was a rather odd move from Nintendo, releasing a game not starring Mario, but instead starring his lesser known brother Luigi? What madness is this? So focused was this mindset, that the game received average reviews for the most part, something that was strange for a series made by Nintendo, bringing the series to an untimely demise.

But the real question is, why were the responses on this game mixed? Well, the answer is simple; the game was too different, it was something that many gamers  and critics could not comprehend at the time, the usual Mario staple was so engraved into everyone’s minds, that the sheer oddity of this game was just… Unprecedented? I think that is the correct word to explain that reaction.

Another such example of oddness would be another tittle from Nintendo: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, which was heavily criticized back then over its graphical style.

But still, many gamers embraced it (Wind Waker received a similar response), and they found something special in this title, and slowly, more were able to see how strangely appealing this game actually is, and so, after 12 years of waiting, we have a sequel at last; Luigi’s Mansion 2, or Dark Moon, the “edgy” and unnecessary subtitle given to the game here in the states, is finally out for the Nintendo 3DS.

The game begins with Professor E. Gadd, the scientist from the previous game that helped by giving Luigi the original Poltergust and the Game Boy Horror, now he occupies himself with studying ghosts, and everything is fine and dandy. That is until the Dark Moon (a mysterious crystal that hangs in the sky) is “mysteriously” shattered, the ghosts lose control, quickly wrecking havoc, and causing the good doctor to hide in a bunker. Unable to find answers, he unceremoniously calls on Luigi once more, who hesitantly agrees to go into not one, not two, but 5 mansions, and perhaps, find some answers.

Unlike the previous game in which you could explore one giant mansion at your own pace, this one uses more of a mission structure, basically treating each mansion as a world of sorts, and each mission as a level. Fans of the original will be turned off by this, but I feel like the straight path approach is more to the game’s strength. In any case, there are many secrets spread in each mission, allowing those who want to put the time to find them do so.

As Luigi, you can do a few different things in order to find secrets, as well as ghosts to capture; you can of course, suck and blow away things with your vacuum, you now also have 2 types of flashlights, the usual that allows you to frighten ghosts by flashing them with it, and the new Dark-Light flashlight, which allows you to reveal hidden objects in the environment. To those unfamiliar with this series, unlike pretty much every game with a Mario character in it, Luigi cannot use his supreme jumping skills, of course, the skill is unnecessary, you’ll be surprised how much you can do with the vacuum alone.

How does the game look? Pretty good, not the best, but it manages to do what it’s supposed to do, still, it looks great with and without the 3D, environments look detailed, and things like lighting effects and slight details like Luigi’s shadow help immerse you more into the mansions, which hold a rather eerie feel that in occasion, can be legitimately unnerving. The game runs smoothly for the most part, but when there is too much on-screen or there is a particularly crowded cut-scene, you notice a slight drop in the frame rate, it’s not game breaking, but it’s something to note. The ghosts themselves are very basic in looks, simply being different colored blobs of goo (minus a few exceptions and the Boos themselves), but each has different patterns and ways to attack, and the game introduces new variations of them, that spices up the gameplay as the difficulty appropriately ramps up.

The sound of this game is nothing to brag about, still, the music fits the style of the game, being more fitting to show the atmosphere than just to sound good, which it still does to some extent. Another thing to note is the sound effects, which sometimes go unnoticed, such as the sound of an object falling, or Luigi’s own footsteps, and maybe even the Toad’s squeaking sound whenever they move, it’s small details like this that do to the game’s favor.

The best thing in this game? I’m going to go with Luigi himself, of course. Luigi’s over the top reactions to everything, the short burst of slapstick humor thrown in (much to our hero’s chagrin) and the way he hums along with the music, I must admit, he oozes personality, something that his brother Mario has never had in any of his games, and something that Luigi proudly triumphs over in this one, it adds to the game’s charm.

But the game is not without its small flaws, as I noted earlier, the frame rate drops when action gets too chaotic on-screen, another thing is using the gyroscope to look around, it’s not quite as intuitive as it was in Ocarina of Time 3D, in which I actually PREFERRED to use it, another problem with it is that it’s also used to cross chasms by using wires, and this honestly, brings the game to a halt, as you have to accommodate yourself properly to do it correctly, or you will fall… A lot. Thankfully, these moments are few and far between.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon has a fantastic single player, but Next Level Games went the extra mile to give it an extra inclusion; the ScareScraper.

In this multiplayer mode (which you can play local, as well as online) you can play 3 different modes; Hunter in which you catch all of the ghosts on each floor. Rush, a mode where you need to find the exit before time runs out, and Polterpup; in which you need to find the ghosts dogs and catch them before time runs out.

It has some competitive aspects as well, as capturing more ghosts, getting more loot, and not fainting, net you a bonus reward of Gold at the end of the match, which goes into your vault. But as entertaining as this can be, it is nothing more than a small distraction at best, as it becomes repetitive quite quickly, it really depends on the player finding entertainment on the same environments each time, still, I would recommend to play this in small doses.

Overall, this game is excellent, it brings something rather different to the table, it’s entertaining, and like I said, it can be quite spooky at times, no joke. Next Level Games did a fantastic job by developing this one, they put effort, and it shows, as it feels like a game MADE by Nintendo themselves. I highly recommend this one, but not only for you Nintendo fanatics, but also for those who want a different experience.

The Nintendo 3DS has been out for nearly 2 years.

It’s a time in which it has slowly gained more recognition, depending less on the 3D it marketed with, and focusing more on the games, that as most of us know, is the main focus AND the selling point of any system.  Because some may not know this, but it had an abysmal start. A trend that other gaming devices followed, not learning from the mistake this particular handheld committed.

But we are not here to compare these systems, instead, I’d like to talk about what Nintendo did to dig themselves out of the hole they had sunk themselves into. It was an easy thing to do (albeit a somewhat risky decision) they lowered the price of the 3DS, allowing many to grab the system and increasing sales for an actual profit. But as it turns out, there was a small detail they hadn’t taken into account.

Only 4 months had passed since its original release, and of course, earlier adopters were furious.

So Nintendo did something odd; they announced something called the “Ambassadors Program” a sort of way to appease to those fans they had enraged by doing something so unexpected by, well, responding with something just as unexpected by giving the loyal fans free games.

20 games were given to these “ambassadors”, 10 NES games with titles such as the original Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda were part of that deal, but that’s not the focus here, since most fans were looking forward to the other 10 of the bunch: The Game Boy Advance titles.

This will be a weekly article, reviewing those games released for the system, that ideally, play like their original GBA counterparts. This will also be encouraging you, the readers, to perhaps find them and give them a chance if you can.

In any case, I will start today with my favorite game of the bunch – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.

Originally released for the GBA back in 2005, Minish Cap was the last title in the series to use the over the top perspective it had been known for, and unlike previous Zelda titles, it did not get the publicity it deserved, thanks to the Nintendo DS taking it away, since the system had just been released at the time. But 7 years later, thanks to the power of downloadable content, many of us were able to relive, or in the case of many, enjoy for the first time, this Zelda adventure.

The story starts with Princess Zelda visiting Link at his home, where she asks him to go with her to the Picori festival, an event that is celebrated every 100 years in the land of Hyrule. You spend the time hanging out with Zelda in the festival, looking around some knickknacks here and there, until you finally get your shield.

After the festival draws to an end, and a tournament (that happened off screen) winner has been declared, a ceremony is held for the winner, who is given the privilege to touch the Picori Sword as a special price, this is a sword that rests upon a tomb of sorts. But as it turns out, the winner is actually an evil mage by the name of Vaati, who opens the tomb, releasing monsters into the world, and then proceeds to turn Zelda into stone, defeating our hero while he is at it.

The Zelda story is slightly different, but the good ol’ Zelda staple remains: save the princess, save the world.

The game controls as well as any other Zelda title in the veil of Link to the Past, you move with the control pad, you assign items to buttons A and B, as well as having a roll with R to increase your speed and to dodge attacks faster, kind of like in Ocarina of Time.

But there is yet another element included in this title, and that is the Minish Cap (you know? The one from the title) and is a pivotal item of the game. On your way to the first dungeon, you find a lone talking hat being attacked by a pair of Octoroks, after saving it, it joins you (by riding Link‘s head and giving him his iconic green hat), and gives you the special ability to shrink down in size by stepping in special stumps.

This ability alone adds a clever integration of puzzles on dungeons, or even in the world itself. Being able to go through small holes in houses and finding small creatures called Picori (the same from the festival), or even activate a switch from another room, an entrance that the normal sized Link would never be able to get into, this alone creates a new way to navigate the temples.

As always, there are items, like the usual Boomerang, to Bow and Arrows, and of course, to newer items such as the Gust Jar, an item which you get in the first dungeon that allows you to absorb dust, shells from enemies, or even travel in lily pads One thing I like about the items in this game, is that they are used outside of the dungeons they came from and are actually useful in getting to different areas, unlike other games in the series where once they are used in the dungeon, and then they are useless pretty much everywhere else… I’m looking at you Twilight Princess and Spinner.

On the graphical side, this game brings the art style of the Wind Waker to the portable system, and it fits the game well, creating colorful environments, and even giving the enemies and NPCs a certain charm of their own.

The music isn’t necessarily memorable as it just is… There. Outside the classic Zelda overworld theme, a few tracks come to mind in terms of how memorable they are. It’s not the best Zelda music, but it has its moments.

As all Zelda titles, this game has some good replay value, whether it’s getting the usual pieces of heart, or getting Kinstone pieces, which are gems to fuse with NPC characters, affecting the world somehow, whether it is opening a secret cave, or paving the way to a piece of heart. You can also spend your time looking for the Tiger Scrolls, which allow you to do more advanced combat techniques. And lastly, the figurine collection minigame, in which you use shells and bet them to get new figurines that give some small backstory and details about the characters in the game. So as you can see, there are a few things that will keep you occupied even after the game is done

Another thing I’d like to add, is that this game was developed not by Nintendo, but by Capcom, and I must say they did a fantastic job with it. I hope they work on at least another title in the series.
.
Now, while this game is great, it has its small share of flaws, or must I say nitpicks from my part. There are only 5 dungeons in the game plus the final dungeon, making it a bit shorter than others, not to mention its difficulty. I was not particularly confused on any of its puzzles, and heck, I did not die even once when fighting against enemies… UNLESS you count the time I attacked a cucco, it’s sort of sad that they are the most threatening enemy in the entire game.

Overall, this game is fun, and while it may be an easy game, it is a pleasure to play, not to mention that it is accessible to newcomers thanks to said difficulty. But if you are one who has not liked Zelda and its previous releases such as Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening, this won’t appeal to you. Still, I say you are missing something good here.

To all the fandom, that has encompassed the many, many years, that the Legend of Zelda has graced our home consoles. To all the fandom, that has enjoyed each iteration of a new Zelda game, with fervor and gusto. To all the fandom, who has no clue, what is happening and in what order, since they began playing the great series known as ‘Legend of Zelda.’ To all the fandom, who first played an Legend of Zelda game, and thought the guy in the green, was Zelda, and to finally find out, he has a better, more badass name of Link! My fellow, Zelda fandom, our many prayers have been answered, and we have been award with the Tome of Truth… the Tome dubbed, Hyrule Historia!
The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, is an comprehensive guide first outlining the complete history and timeline of the series since its inception all the way up to Skyward Sword. The book explains everything that is known from the games and comics. The details are rather amazing of what some have missed and some people have made certainly ascertained from playing the game. As you read through the book, the timeline is broken down into a beginning timeline, until the timeline diverges into three separate branches, depending on the route of the hero, Link takes, given his failure leading to one, and his success being broken into two, each explaining the events during each era.

The introduction of the book is an preface written by Shigeru Miyamoto, going over the start of Legend of Zelda with his small team, and then into current day,where, he describes the making of Skyward Sword. I won’t give too much away about what he has to say in the first, but it gives you his mind set over the course of making each and every Legend of Zelda game. It also gives you a sense of awww, that many stories and characters, and over the years others, have fostered such an amazing story and stable of characters. After the preface, it goes into the artwork and decisions on how the characters would look, the reasoning behind certain details, certain aspects of the story and the flow as well. Additionally, seeing some of the characters that didn’t make it into game, or the pre-game designs of the characters, is simply astounding, how many changes they took before becoming final.

Which brings me to the artwork, and the artwork, in the Historia, for Legend of Zelda and its lore, is second to none. The crisp lines, the style and concept and final versions of Link or Zelda throughout each game, is simply weird to see the stages, but knowing the end result is always amazing. And with each drawing or concept drawing, you also get the notes that were left as if we, the reader, are a part of the process of selecting final image of the characters and stages. Additionally, you get at the end of the Historia; a 25pg manga following Link on an adventure… I won’t spoil anything, but its a great read.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, is a must have for any fan of Legend of Zelda, as well as a person just interested in the story and lore, without playing any of the games. But now, why wouldn’t you want to play any Legend of Zelda game, hmmm? The art allows you to reminisce over previous games played with more information on the events played out during and off screen. Allowing fans to appreciate the series as a whole even more, and wonder where the series will go from here on out. So I reiterate, Legend of Zelda fandom, GO OUT AND BUY THIS TOME! And make it your coffee table book!

“JET GRIND RADIIIOOOOO!!!” proclaimed exuberantly by Professor K. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Jet Grind Radio or, Jet Set Radio as it’s called in Japan, has been given the re-release and HD coat of paint, and the original Japanese title, Jet Set Radio. Now the question is: Can a decade or more game from the Dreamcast, hold up well, or crash and burn? This reveiw will primarily focus on the PSN and XBLA versions, there is an Vita version out as well.

I’ll start here, if you remember the game fondly, for everything that it gave you, and revolutionized gaming at the time. Guess what, every single thing holds up from the previous incarnation on the Dreamcast. I’ll go with good first. Sega kept the game exactly the same, to the game’s features as the first time it was released. Simply amazing, beautiful, and nostalgia factor off the scales. The graffiti in crisp 1080p, character models even more streamline with the up to HD quality. But I’ll start with the graffiti, since it’s the star of the show, more than the weird story, control the airwaves, and control Tokyo-To and the taggers story. Every single graffiti from the first is back as well as a dozen new ones, which Sega picked to be in the game. Link to the reveal video here:

Congratulations to the winners, personal favorite is Snack Attack! That is all. But additionally, they also kept the create your own graffiti feature in game… sadly, XBLA version didn’t have it included for some reason. Sega, also, added a better camera to the game, allowing for better controls while skating, and when the camera slightly reverses during certain tricks and moments after tagging walls. It’s not a bad thing, that the game remained the same. Also, the music, the music wasn’t touched, but reduced number, and it remains the same selection of pop, punk, rock, hip hop, instrumental, and electronic. The music and the graffiti made the game a cult classic, and I’m glad, they kept the music the same, while adding new graffiti to the mix. Plus, best GGs in the gang, are Cube and Garam… He’s the weird version of Spider Man and a foot ninja… look!

The guy on the far top left, that’s Garam, and on his left Cube

Now, onto the bad; remember, all the bad from the first version of the game on the Dreamcast. Well, they all persist in the HD version. I’ll start with controls… Seriously, remember having the inspector a 100ft from you and you have to finish that last graffiti with a full circle and half circle on the analog, and you’d be done finish the board? And for good measure, throw in, your one shot from restarting. And end result, you getting shot in the back, because your control wouldn’t register the freaking half circle. Yup my friend, that’s still present, love it or hate it. Even with the improved camera, it still has those moments where, you skate down the hall towards the Poison Jam for the boss fight, and you can’t avoid them, because the damn camera changed, and controls were inverted, yup still there. Also, with the new camera, it also, has rather random moments of pop-in and popup during levels. Also, another bad translation to HD, was the music during the cutscenes, tend to skip. Last thing, loading times, I don’t exactly remember the loading from the first iteration, but in the re-release, they seem rather long, but that could be me. Not a rage worthy long, but long load times, but a slight nuisance all the same.

Those new to the game, will probably guff at the simplicity of the controls and the feel of not doing the tricks, and everything being automated. But those who remember the game for what it really was, a romp through Tokyo-To, tagging everything from walls, to water towers, billboards, helicopters, rival gangs and the Inspector, you’ll love everything about this game, like first time you played it almost 12 years ago. The game style, humor, music, and fun have all translated well, as well as the quirky things that made you want to jump into the game and hunt down the GGs yourself. Even with the time that has passed on the game and franchise, the game with its new HD paint, character models sporting still very few polygons, and the game is worth the price tag.

Suda 51 (or Goichi Suda), is simply known to the general gaming community as a very strange, far out developer, even in the eyes of Japanese consumers, what with such oddball games such as Killer 7, No More Heroes, Flower, Sun, and Rain (anyone? No? Just me? Okay…) and most recently, Lollipop Chainsaw for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Liberation Maiden is a surprisingly tame game in terms of craziness, that is of course, in comparison to his other projects, because this game is crazy in its own right. This game is the first in the contribution effort ‘Guild01’ retail card originally released in Japan, and Suda51’s contribution to the package itself, the separate entry was released for the Nintendo e-shop in other countries, and it’s available by the time of this review.

The story is an odd one, 100 years in the future, where Japan is in a struggle, trying to liberate itself from “Dominion‘s“ ruling. This is being taken care of thanks to Japan’s decision to get rid of their parliamentary system( with its limited Prime Minister powers), and opting for a President instead. Here, you control high school student Shoko Ozora, who has now become President of Japan after her father has been assassinated, and her job is… To take charge herself and destroy the enemy forces using a mech suit… Mike Haggar has got nothing on this girl.

Story aside, this game looks… Okay. Sure there are much better looking games, since the 3D graphics nor the 3D effect will impress anyone, but the style serves this one well, the graphics look a bit dark, but it helps set up the war-torn mood of game. The voice acting and cut scenes on the other hand are great, the animation having been made by Studio Bones, and the English acting being top-notch, even if there isn’t much acting (or cutscenes for that matter) in the first place, it’s easy to like the few lines they do have. The music itself is great, providing a compliment to the action, from the kick-ass first stage music, to its boss track, the rest of the game brings more great music like this, even showing some mellow music that fits the area you may be in.

Where the game truly shines, though, it’s the gameplay. You control Shoko with the Circle Pad, you strafe side to side by holding L, and you fire by holding the stylus to the screen, and lifting it when you need to release your shots, but do be careful, since the shots fired come from your shield itself, and the more you fire, the more chances you give an enemy to damage your actual health bar, it‘s something that brings some strategy to the equation, and it‘s something worth addressing. On the same note, I will admit it’s a bit odd to control at first, but you can quickly get used to this, and it works marvelously, still, the controls may or may not remind you of games such as Sim and Punishment, or even most recently; Kid Icarus: Uprising.

After all of these good things, is the game perfect? In one word; No. For one, the game is short, VERY short, coming at 4 stages and a final encounter (no, a boss does not count as a whole stage), also, the game can get very repetitive, as the stages themselves give basically the same mission every time, that is normally destroying “lesser spikes” and then engaging in a boss battle with a “greater spike” simply said, there is not enough variety.

So, do I recommend this game to you guys? Yes, while its short length is a glaring flaw, players who love beating scores will certainly love this one, for those looking for a meatier experience, well, it’s an Eshop game, but it might still not be your cup of tea, so try looking elsewhere, but for the asking price, you’d be missing up on one very addicting game.

First released back in 2008 for the Nintendo DS, Professor Layton and The Curious Village became a hit with owners in America, and since then, has released a subsequent game every year with great success, and after 4 games on the original DS, the series finally moves to the Nintendo 3DS.

Professor Layton and The Miracle Mask is the latest game in the series, and with the move to the 3DS, the presentation has taken an obvious upgrade/downgrade depending of the point of view of the person.

The game begins when the Professor himself , accompanied by self-appointed assistants Luke Triton and Emmy Altava, visit the desert oasis of Monte d’Or, where strange incidents have been occurring. Soon after their arrival, they are greeted by the mysterious Masked Gentleman, who apparently has turned many of the carnival attendants into stone, he soon flees and is followed by the trio, only managing to escape in a cloud of smoke, this puts everyone on a journey for the truth, where even the past might have some answers.

The presentation in the Professor Layton games is always top notch, right from the opening anime video sequence (the game contains many of them for your viewing pleasure) the art style is very distinct and charming, the music in the game (just as before) is some of the most “classy” sounding from any videogame, it’s soothing and can help you concentrate on the puzzles, and even it can be downright beautiful at times, as shown in this video.

The gameplay in this game is simple, yet difficult. You spend your time touching things on the screen, finding characters to talk to, searching for collectable items and hint coins (more on that later), and finding puzzles. The hard part (to many) comes from the puzzles themselves, and this is the meat and bones of the game, there are over 150 different puzzles that are found at different points in the game, some are optional, and many are required to advance, the puzzles are varied, and range from arithmetic problems, to use of logic, to observational puzzles that when solved, give out points.

Speaking of points, puzzles are given rank with points dubbed “picarats“, the more picarats it’s worth, the more difficult it is, the value of the picarats decreases if the player gets it wrong, but you can get a hint in the form of “Hint Coins” that give tips ranging from minor, to “this is the answer” in order to conserve picarats. And some may ask; what is the point of picarats? Well, picarats are used for post-game content, ranging from character profiles to in-game movies.

The game adds variety to the mix by introducing some minigames in the form of a Robot (lead it to the right spot using a limited assorted of movements) a Shop (arrange items in the correct pattern to make an efficient sale) and finally, Rabbit, (help a rabbit become a great actor in order to be allowed back on the circus). These mini-games aren’t necessary for game completion, but each can give bonuses, one of such is the rabbit, which helps you find Hint Coins, Treasures, and even Hidden Puzzles in other areas.

The story keeps you immersed, switching between the past version of Layton and his present self in order unlock the mysteries surrounding the Masked Gentleman, the mask, and the city of Monte d’Or itself, as the Professor, the player will come across many colorful characters that may help, or most of the time, hinder you, not with violence mind you, but with puzzles, since that seems to be the answer to 90% of your problems in this game.

This game also has some replay value, that’s right, replay value, because from the day of release for one year, players will be able to download a different puzzle a day, testing the limits of your intelligence each and every day, the difficulty varies from puzzle to puzzle, but some might leave you stomped.

One of the complaints in the game comes from the graphics, while not my personal complaint (this comes more from other fans) is one of the most controversial to longtime fans. The character designs being changed from static images to all out 3D models was a low blow to purists, who think it makes the characters to be clunky looking and somehow removes the charm found in the previous games.

Another complaint personally, is that the series has not shied away from the usual fare, it still works mind you, but there will be a time when it just won’t cut it, thankfully, Level 5 is a dependable company and I’m confident they will give us gamers something new in the future..

I give this game an 8 out of 10. It is a great game that will appeal to those who enjoy text based games with an interesting story, or those who enjoy a good puzzle. But those who are trigger happy keep away, most of the gameplay involves poiningt and clicking.

To those whose interest has been piqued, here is a video with the first 15 minutes of the game.

Brandmania: Hidden Objects

This game in an interesting tidbit. Imagine playing the old find hidden objects book I Spy except that it doesn’t tell you exactly what you need to find and all the objects are related to famous companies and you’ve got Brandmania. You’re a detective of some form that has to find escaped logos and trademarks that have gone on a riot (I don’t get it either) in cities all over the world. At first it took me forever to figure out where some of these hidden trademarks are, which doesn’t mean the game itself is bad, it just means I fail as an American consumer.

Capitalism. Also the only thing I recognized on sight was the hidden Xbox logo.

With every city you get a scenery full of references to well known companies (like a guy with a book on his face for Facebook) and all you have to do is match something in the scenery to the brand you have to find, if you can’t find it at the moment you can switch to another. The game depends on a battery to smoothly keep on going, and to charge it you have to find hidden objects, switching between brands too many times and using too many hints lowers the battery. Between games you will be taken to a scene filled with regular objects to “recharge” your battery, it’s exactly like playing a regular game of I Spy.

This is not a complete game and to keep playing the other stages have to be bought, whether or not you do after the initial amusement is up to you. I can’t be bothered to buy a game that might as well be free considering it’s basically free advertisement.

4/5

Motorcycle Bike Race Fire Chase – Pro Racing Edition

This game is pretty annoying. You’re basically controlling a motorcycle with an invisible driver running away from an invisible fire you can only keep track of with a meter stick of how far away your motorcycle is from said fire the motorcycle keeps getting closer to. And that’s the biggest problem.

The game has multiple hills, to advance every time you go down the hill you’re supposed to tap the screen to speed up the motorcycle, because hitting the gas pedal is a bad idea when you head uphill since the bike gets incredible momentum from the downhill dive. Well if you perform this correctly you should be in midair, and here’s the real challenge: take the nosedive at the correct time, hitting downhill should propel you in midair again, hitting the middle or uphill, which is often unavoidable, results in you slowing down and getting closer to the fire.

That would be completely fine if you could actually get away from the fire, I went past many many hills after several mighty jumps, and I didn’t get a smidge bit farther from where I currently was with the fire. Yet, land in the wrong way and I end up closer after a half second halt. It’s challenging and becomes a quest to become more accurate, but after a while you begin wondering what else you could be doing with your time.

You know, since on the opening screen the motorcycle is on fire the entire game might just be a metaphor from how you can’t run away from the fire considering you’re fated to stay stuck on the same level. And the fire is symbolism for how bad this game is.

It’s like the game was purposely made to make you buy the motorcycles you can’t unlock until you buy them by making whatever progress the default motorcycle accomplishes insignificant. Throw in annoying repetitions of the messages “BOTTOM OUT!” every time you don’t land and “BIG FAT AIR!” after many good jumps and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

1.5/5

PuffOut

This is a very simple game made to pass some time. You move a fish in order to keep him away from three puffer fishes bouncing around the screen. The goal is to keep him from getting popped by avoiding the puffer fishes as long as possible. The challenge is they keep bouncing at ever increasing pace, occasionally slowing down, and they randomly puff up. Items like starfishes and lifesavers pop up and depending on the item give you additional seconds.

The biggest challenge to me is the screen only gives so much space, and because this is a very simple see how long you can last game there’s less engagement than more complex games that operate on survival like Jungle Run. Other than that the game is a decent way to pass time if you’re on the go, just turn off the volume and listen to some of your music.

3/5

Cpt. Backwater

This is a game made to exercise your mind without you noticing. You have to match items in closed chambers with every level revealing new obstacles like wormholes (I believe) and bombs that need to be set off during specific times.

In terms of progress, the game performs splendidly. Every level seems to get subtly harder as you go along and levels eventually need to get unlocked with coins and bananas you earn during gameplay. It is a demanding game, but not unreasonable.

For a simple game, it also has decent and graphics that go easy on the eyes. As a pirate themed game it also does a splendid job with sticking to its theme and remind you you’re out for booty! With 100 levels you’ll be able to enjoy the game for a long time. I’d say this is an app everyone needs to have.

5/5

I have played games created specifically for phones before, and I have found at least some form of entertainment on them, minor, sure, but entertaining nonetheless.

DeadGrind is an on-rails shooter, you are tasked to just shoot zombies, that’s it. There is no story, no actual motivation, and no endearing elements that would make you come back to it again, let me explain by telling you about the game in detail.

You control an unnamed character who is tasked with shooting zombies, shooting them fast is a must, because if you get hit at least once, you become infected and start losing health, you regain health by shooting zombies quickly and efficiently; in the head of course, you can also regain health by shooting crows flying about.

The visuals in DeadGrind are gritty, stylish cel-shaded graphics, everything is, and it feels a lot like a zombie film as you move forward, that’s probably the best thing, unfortunately, everything is forgettable, it gets stale, and it will become uninteresting, so coming back for more is out of the question.

The music is composed by 3 different tracks, the title screen, the main game, and of course, the game over guitar riff, I have to admit they aren’t half bad, tracks soundbut the tracks are forgettable either way, so you won’t remember much about them.

The worst part of this game is the gameplay, you have one gun (M16) and you can unlock a total of 6 guns by getting money from the main game, the thing is the main game gets old quickly, shooting zombies can be a bit fun the first time, but repeatedly, it gets dull, and getting the money needed to unlock the rest of the guns can be a huge drag, since you get a measly amount from killing each zombie, oh, and if you die, that’s it, game over, no going forward for you, the only way to get more enjoyment is by purchasing the premium version along with the gun packs, but once you do that, what’s the point?

All in all, I cannot recommend this game at all, it would be a waste of space on your phone, there was no fun to be had here, the game is free, but unless you like to mindlessly shoot stuff, you shouldn’t waste your time with this.

Well, if you want to spend some space for a game that you‘ll probably forget after the first few playthroughs, be my guest, you have been warned.

Bronies.

It’s a portmanteau that has been going around the internet for a while, and a term that the variety of fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show want to be labeled as, and yes, variety of fans, from little girls to grown adults enjoy this show, and its appeal and fame is something to behold in this day and age, and now, an official game has been released for them to enjoy.

Gameloft was put in charge of creating a game that could appeal to the mass fan base, and surprisingly, they came up with one decent free product, it isn’t as much of a game, in fact it’s more of building city-sim with minigames, and it even has a story, go figure.

You begin with a purple unicorn pony called ‘Twilight Sparkle’ your mission consists of getting all of the ponies who fled because of another evil pony called ‘Nightmare Moon’ and in order to accomplish this, you need to gain all 6 ‘Elements of Harmony’, and as well as getting rid of the darkness covering most of the land.

From here, you have to basically build places for the ponies to work (by buying them from a menu), and in turn, gain coins, gems, and experience that allows you to expand the land by getting rid of some of the darkness covering it, purchase more things in-game, such as more jobs, as well as even more ponies, including the main characters that are needed to access quests that allow you to gain even more coins, gems, and experience.

Calling this a “game” doesn’t really cut it at this point, but there is some sort of gaming that can be done. 2 minigames are available from the start and are alternated with each pony, one involves catching apples as they fall, and the other involves keeping a ball bouncing in rhythm to get more points, the points gained give the pony itself experience that in turn allows them to gain a star that in order to be obtained, needs to play another bonus minigame, which involves flying while getting coins. Getting more stars allow them to do jobs that require certain levels..

The game’s music isn’t much, but it’s there for the sake of having some, it contains basic sound effects as well, but surprisingly, it has voice acting from the actual actresses from the main show, which came as a surprise when I booted up the game, it’s surprising when actors actually voice their characters on games like this instead of stand-ins, listening to Tara Strong’s voice was certainly nice.

The visuals are the thing that impressed me the most, all of the characters are 3D models, and some have specific animations for each that can be “d’aww” inducing at times, the production values visually are actually a treat, most them are simple, but it gives the game a calm atmosphere, although with so many things on-screen, the game can slow down to a crawl.

All in all, this is a simple city simulator game, a free one for that matter, you can easily get it for Android devices and Apple devices such as IPhones, it has its problems with some slowdown, and it can get annoying, but many can look past that. I was reluctant of this game but I enjoyed it enough in small bursts, and isn’t that what mobile games are supposed to do?

Surprisingly, I actually would recommend this to the bronies themselves, if only because small children might not enjoy waiting for the minigames or want to build the city at a snail’s pace in order to see everything that it offers, dedication is at hand here, and the big fans will be very dedicated for a while.