LEGO Jurassic World (Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, 360, Xbox One, PC)
Jurassic Park is one of the most famous dinosaur films around, and the newest entry in the series is one of this summer’s big movie hits. And now you can enjoy all four movies in LEGO form with LEGO Jurassic World. Play as all the characters from the flicks as you explore the original Jurassic Park and re-enact all the famous scenes, and visit the new Jurassic World them park as well! Drive vehicles and even play as the dinosaurs themselves in the newest in the LEGO game franchise. It’s available for all current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.
Portal Pinball (360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, PC, iOS)
Adventures of Pip (Wii U, PC)
In a kingdom made of pixels, a princess is born with the power to create objects from those blocks. But the evil queen DeRezza wants that power, and kidnaps the princess and turns everyone into single squares. Now it’s up to Pip to save the day! Pip has always been a lowly red pixel, so he has nothing to lose. But on this 2-D platforming adventure, Pip will gain the ability to change into 8- and 16-bit versions of himself, and use different skills to defeat enemies and overcome obstacles. It’s made by ex-WayForward employees and has music by the same composer of Shovel Knight and Shantae, so you know it’s good. Adventures of Pip is downloadable on PC and Wii U (Wii U version reviewed here).
E3 Strikes and You’re Out!
Adios, Amiibos?
So recently, Nintendo released another wave of their Amiibo figures. In the past, I was able to easily get all the Amiibo figures because I could reserve them at the nearby GameStop. But for this last wave, GameStop decided to change their reservation process and have it be all online. Even if you reserve them at the store. So now I had to compete with the entire country, not just one place. They WOULD have to do this on the wave that had the Amiibo I wanted most: Pac-Man! I thought my Amiibo collecting days were done, but thanks to the graciousness of a good friend of mine, he drove me around to a couple of stores on the morning that the new wave of Amiibo figures would be released. So I managed to get nearly all the ones I wanted! So here’s a blog about them. Will this be my last Amiibo blog? Well, I guess we’ll just have to see what the next wave brings. I would like to get Palutena, Zero Suit Samus, and Dr. Mario, and maybe catch up on exclusives like Meta Knight (not to mention upcoming Chibi Robo and Yarn Yoshi). But we’ll just have to see when that time comes!
Pokémon Rumble World (3DS)
Nintendo is going hog wild lately with the free-to-play games, especially when it involves Pokemon. First we had Pokemon Shuffle, now this. In Pokemon Rumble World, you visit the Kingdom of Toys and meet the King. He’s jealous because an evil magician has more toy Pokemon than he does, so he commissions you to battle and collect toy Pokemon to show the magician who the real toy master is. Pokemon Rumble World is a top-down action game that plays similarly to Gauntlet, and you can download it for free on the 3DS eShop.
Nintendo World Championships 1990
In the last weekend of May, Nintendo held a new Nintendo World Championships at Best Buy stores around the country. Participants played the championship mode on the 3DS NES Remix game, and winners will play in the finals in LA during the week of E3! You may have read about many people on the Internet getting all excited over all this. But why? What’s the big deal? Well, it’s because for people who grew up in the NES generation, the original Nintendo World Championships 1990 was such a monumental event for those who attended it. Including me. So in this blog, I’m going to share with you my experiences with that original event, and how it shaped me as a game reviewer today!
High Strangeness (Wii U)
In the downloadable Wii U game High Strangeness, you play as a young adult man named Boyd. One day he wakes up in the middle of the night to find that his house is overrun with shadowy figures trying to attack him. And even stranger, his cat is talking to him! Boyd learns that only he can save the universe by collecting crystal skulls, so he goes off on an adventure with his talking cat and other friends. High Strangeness is a top down action adventure game similar to Super Nintendo titles like Soul Blazer, Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore. In fact, one of the main gimmicks in this one is that you can switch between 16-bit and 8-bit versions of the world.
Fearless Fantasy (iPad)
Bounty Hunter Leon receives a call to pick up a lady and take her to a specific location. But when they arrive, Leon finds out that the person who summoned him for the job WAS the lady in the first place! Turns out she’s a princess and is forced to marry an evil tyrant who owns a fearsome beast. Now it’s up to Leon, his friend, and the princess to defeat the monster and save the day. Fearless Fantasy is an RPG tailor-made for mobile devices, and is available to download on iOS (reviewed on iPad here).