Summer may be over, but you can still enjoy the season with a wakeboarding dog! Yup, they made a game about a wakeboarding dog. Now I’ve seen everything. Help Woody the dog avoid obstacles and collect coins in this free-to-play action game downloadable on iOS and Android (reviewed on iPhone here).
This isn’t your typical Solitaire game! It’s a mix of the familiar single player card classic mixed with RPG battle elements! Fight the monster armies of Emperor Stuck by challenging crazy characters. It’s available to download on iOS and PC, but reviewed on iPad here.
You may know HAL Laboratory best for their excellent Smash Bros. and Kirby series, but they’re no slouch when it comes to puzzle games either. They made the downloadable 3DS BoxBoy games, the original Picross 3D on the DS, and old fart gamers like me may remember the NES Adventures of Lolo series, all done by HAL. And now they’ve done it again with Picross 3D: Round 2, downloadable on the 3DS.
Shadow Archer is like something you’d play back on the NES or in an arcade from the 80’s. You play as a dark elven archer who must shoot arrows at an onslaught of spiders and spirits who have invaded a night forest clearing. You can tell the developers were trying to recreate a simple game from a simpler time in gaming. It’s available to download on Wii U.
I’m a big fan of Jay Ward Studios, and I even used to know someone who worked there. So what is Jay Ward Studios? Well they made a pretty well-known cartoon called Rocky and Bullwinkle. They also did a lot of animated advertising, and created a pretty popular cereal character. You may not remember Quisp and Quake, but you might recall a certain seafaring gentleman known as Cap’n Crunch. Another cartoon they did back in the day was George of the Jungle. Despite having two dopey live action movies and a lousy animated remake, George still has one of the catchiest theme songs on TV. So when I read about a George of the Jungle free-to-play downloadable game on iOS and Android (reviewed on iPad here), I was mildly curious.
Style Savvy is a fashion designer video game published by Nintendo. The newest entry in the series, Fashion Forward, was recently released on 3DS. Ali Capasso, a good friend of mine and also an accomplished elementary school teacher, reviewed this game for me. She’s also the wife of Leroy Capasso, another very good friend of mine who has written reviews here for me before. Anyway, Ali is a huge fan of the Style Savvy games, so you’ll definitely want to click here to read her review!
I’m a big fan of stop motion and clay animation. In fact, I even took a class on it once and now I have lots more respect for the folks who do that kind of stuff for movies and whatnot. Which is why I keep my eye out on what Laika does. Laika is a studio which has made stop motion movies such as Caroline, ParaNorman, and Boxtrolls. Their newest feature, Kubo and the Two Strings, takes elements form Japanese folklore and while the plot is a bit predictable, it’s still fun and visually stunning. Sadly, the mobile game tie-in, Kubo: A Samurai Quest, is yet another match-three puzzler, but I had to take a look at it anyway out of curiosity. It’s available free-to-play on iOS and Google Play, but reviewed on iPad here.
If you enjoy feeding and dressing up virtual pet cats by playing a match-three puzzle game, then Fancy Cats is for you! It’s a free-to-play mobile title (reviewed on iPad here). There are two parts to this game. You keep your cats in a garden where you can dress and feed them with various items you’ve earned by playing match-three puzzle missions in the square.
When I was in college I used to write game reviews for The Dallas Morning News. This was in the late 90’s and when Pokémon first got popular, I was writing tons of articles about the franchise. I even like to say that Pokémon helped pay my way through college! I even covered Pokémon card game tournaments back then, and purposely learned how to play just so I could write about them better. I have to say that because of having to use energy cards to perform moves, I didn’t really like the card game as well because I felt that slowed the game down. Me personally, I prefer SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Anyway, Pokémon has always been big since then, but with the recent release of Pokémon GO on mobile devices, I imagine the franchise will get a boost of popularity this holiday season, including the card game. So parents, here are some new things you may want to look out for this Christmas if you have a Pokémon card game fan in the family.
In the future, the last plant on Earth struggles to stay alive, but it needs sunlight. Unfortunately, the plant is at the bottom of a crystal-filled chasm, and the only way to it to obtain some sun is if the crystals reflect the light to it. In this free-to-play downloadable game, you must slice crystals on the touch screen so the angles will reflect the light so it reaches the plant. But it’s harder than it sounds! Gleam: Last Light is available for iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.
