Cassette Beasts Review: Going Viral in New Wirral
- Wed, Apr 30th 2025Have you ever had a game on your radar that just slipped you by for a while until for whatever reason, you finally cave and give it a try? That was Cassette Beasts for me. My first exposure to...
Seafrog Review
- Mon, Apr 28th 2025Is there anything slicker than a frog? What about a sea frog with a rocket-powered wrench expertly grinding and sliding his way around an overflowing amount of dangerous, varied, and exciting...
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami (iOS) Review
- Fri, Apr 25th 2025You’re on the case as the Duck Detective in the debut entry in the cozy and quaint series: The Secret Salami! I’ll be reviewing the iOS mobile app version that just released in April, but the other...
Pilo and the Holobook Review
- Tue, Apr 22nd 2025So there I was standing on the back of a space whale, looking for stickers to put in my book, when all of a sudden some weird tar appeared on the back of the whale! I knew immediately I had to save...
Willow Guard Review
- Thu, Apr 17th 2025Engaging storytelling devices paired with inventive spins on tried-and-true gameplay define Willow Guard, a new anthro character filled Medieval RPG by developer MiTale. You play as Ghweros, a...
Finding Frankie Review (Xbox)
- Mon, Apr 14th 2025What happens when you mix Mirror’s Edge with the movie The Running Man and throw in killer animatronics? You get Finding Frankie: A surprisingly decent, if short, mascot “horror” game that doesn’t...
Mother Machine Review
- Sat, Apr 12th 2025Have you ever started playing a game as a gremlin and looked at almost every interactable and wished you could eat it? WELL, do I have good news for you. If you can pick it up in Mother Machine, you...
Squirreled Away Review
- Wed, Apr 9th 2025Is there anything more whimsical than watching squirrels run around in the park, finding little treasures and chirping at birds that get too close? Maybe becoming squirrels and running around the...
Monster Hunter Wilds Review
- Mon, Apr 7th 2025Note: Most of this review has been written during the initial 1.000.02.00 launch I am very new to the Monster Hunter series. I know it has been going on since the original Playstation 2 back in...
On Your Tail Review - An Early Vacation
- Fri, Apr 4th 2025Welcome to Borgo Marina, a beautiful port town off the coast of Italy. They have everything here: shops, food, and mysteries to be solved. I’ll be your guide as we explore the scenic vistas and get...
- Written by Sean Phillips
- Category: Reviews
- Hits: 459
After the evil Baron Dante arrives at their valley home and captures the tiny Gobbos, it’s up to Croc to venture forth and free the Gobbos from the evil baron and reclaim their land. Now, I never grew up playing Croc, let alone heard of the reptile growing up outside of one small Nintendo Power ad for the Game Boy game, so I was going into this game with no nostalgia in any way and, I have to say, right off the bat? This is a fun game and one I’m surprised I never got around to playing until now.
- Written by Sean Phillips
- Category: Reviews
- Hits: 527
As I’ve stated many times, I grew up in an era when games for kids were well made, not rushed out, and designed so that everyone could enjoy them and that, lately, it seems games geared towards a younger audience have really been lackluster as of late, basically relegated to shovelware. Paw Patrol World, when I first saw this game, I thought it was going to be the latter but, to my surprise, it turned out to be the former. Yeah, this is honestly one of the better games for kids, for that matter a licensed game, that I played in a while!
- Written by Joshua Wyld
- Category: Reviews
- Hits: 704
Game dev has become so accessible over the past decade. With the advent of so many intuitive tools, code learning resources, and a community of passionate creators just like Zephyrix, who developed Ronny’s Climb and offered to let us give it a try, we as gamers are able to play so many games now as a result. Not every game promises to be as big as World of Warcraft or as high tech as Crysis 2 (throwback for the millennials!) but there’s nothing more pleasant and satisfying than a tightly crafted experience that oozes love and dedication to a vision, no matter how small. Ronny’s Climb is a perfect little example of this, as its platforming, writing, pixel graphics, and good, old fashioned 16-bit musical backing is a great experience all around.
Read more: Ronny’s Climb Review - A Cute & Classic Platformer
- Written by Joshua Wyld
- Category: Reviews
- Hits: 676
Sometimes you just wanna be a panda dancing to the beat as you eagerly explore a lush island dotted with other friendly pandas, helping them solve little problems while you search for your Nana. That’s the experience of Dancing Pandas: Ranger’s Path as you take on the role of Mico, who has arrived at the island in search of his grandmother after a mysterious letter arrived for him. The game is a nice and cozy stroll (and soar) from start to finish, lasting about 4-5 hours if you’re trying to find most of the stuff on the island. If this style of casual exploration and chatting with quirky characters is your vibe, Dancing Pandas will aptly scratch that itch for a couple good gaming sessions at a nice price ($12.99 MSRP.)
The gameplay consists of walking around the panda-filled island, which is actually much bigger than expected at first glance, and completing tasks to gain “Courage Hearts” that will allow you to do more confident things, like attempting harder tasks or asking more personal questions to fellow pandas. As you explore, you’ll pick up collectibles and find more pandas to talk to, which will give you helpful tips, some intriguing dialogue backstory, or allow you to purchase new tools or costumes. These little moments added to the world feel, and were sometimes more deep than I expected on the surface. It felt like a nice, quirky, lived-in slice of life for these pandas, and I couldn’t have been more chill while enjoying the gameplay style the game employed. The stakes were never too high, and the ability to fast travel after uncovering a portion of the map (using gems I had collected to buy the section) was a welcome option. I did want to make a note that the game doesn’t seem to autosave enough, and you have to go in and manually save in the menu to ensure it does. When I completed the game, there was no way for me to go back and save or continue after finishing, which was unfortunate, because I wanted to finish off a few more achievements.
Other than the obviously cute, wiggly, and adorably designed panda folks that inhabit it, Dancing Pandas’ World is a colorful blast of foliage and flora, with the various areas of the island covering all types of scenery, including sandy beaches, autumnal mountainsides, green valleys, and tropical seascapes. Eventually, you befriend a lovely bird named Sofi, who will help you find any valuable collectibles you may have missed nearby. The game helps you as much as you want it to with completing quests and exploring the island, which is helpful, because some of the items to collect are pretty small and can be easy to miss if you don’t know you’re looking for them for a quest. I wish there was actually more to purchase with my gems other than map pieces and a few Ranger outfit pieces, but I’m not expecting a huge wardrobe from a game like this, admittedly. Also, your movement is based on the camera’s orientation, which was a problem a few times when my camera would whip around because it hit an overhanging structure that would cause it to reorientate. It never caused any huge trouble, but it was a minor annoyance. I also ran into a quest later in the game where I had to figure out where someone was based on context clues and a dialogue box, and the dialogue box didn’t seem to be based on where this person was in the world, once I finally found them. I spent about 30 minutes running around on a random cliff, heh. In the end, I could’ve found them quickly if I knew where to look, but I seemed to be being pulled in a different direction at first. Overall, the small issues I had were just that: small.
As you explore, you’ll be audibly whisked away by the soundtrack, which composer Tom Schipper did a beautiful job with. Luckily as well, the game doesn’t crowd the peaceful music with tons of unnecessary sound effects, and as such you’ll really get to be carried by its flowing, melodic pace as you complete your tasks. Sometimes this lack of sound effects can seem like something’s missing, like a practical beep or snap or the like when completing an action or task. Overall, the music made up for anything I felt was lacking in the sound department, and I appreciated the touches that were there.
Dancing Pandas: Ranger’s Path is what you want in a cozy game like this: a little, lively world to explore, a few tasks to complete at your own pace, and an achievable goal to pursue. All the while you get to talk with panda people and be one yourself! You don’t get to do that in every game, right? At a price of $12.99, it’s a perfectly pleasing piece of gaming goodness.
- Written by Sean Phillips
- Category: Reviews
- Hits: 514
Ever have a game come along that instantly you know you’re going to enjoy thoroughly, to the point of calling it one of your favorite games of the year, if not of all time? Well, that’s what happened to me with Tails Of Iron II: Whiskers Of Winter, a game I originally wasn’t too interested in but now I can’t stop playing. Seriously, I never found myself wanting to keep playing a game, even after the credits rolled, as much as I did with this one.