Bust-A-Move Journey (iOS, Android)
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Posted on January 31st, 2018 by
There are TONS of bubble popping puzzle games on mobile (in fact I just reviewed one), but how did they all get started? Well, the very first one was Taito’s Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move series. It started way back in the 16-bit days on consoles like the SNES and NEO GEO, and featured characters from their popular Bubble Bobble arcade game. And it’s been on practically every console since (although not lately), and it’s one of my top three favorite puzzle games. You’d think Taito would’ve been more strict on their copyrights for this game, since there are tons of bubble popping puzzles on mobile now, but maybe they don’t mind, as even back in the day, Taito licensed out that idea to another company who made a similar NEO GEO game called Puzzle de Pon around the same time (not to be confused with Nintendo’s Panel de Pon). Anyway, now the Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move series has gone full circle and is now a premium mobile game again (meaning not free-to-play). I didn’t get to review it when it came out, but recently Taito had a sale on mobile games so I picked it up for two bucks (I think it’s normally five). So I decided I’d do a quick review of it now on iPad.
Snoopy Pop (iOS, Android)
Posted on January 29th, 2018 by
The most popular dog in newspaper comic strips now has his own free-to-play bubble popping game on mobile devices (reviewed on iPad here). It’s been out for a while, but I just now got to play it since upgrading my iPad. Woodstock and his pals are playing with a bubble machine, when they get trapped inside colored bubbles and Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang must save them!
Amazing Katamari Damacy (iOS, Android)
Posted on January 24th, 2018 by
Katamari Damacy is one of the weirdest game series you’ll ever play. You roll around a sticky ball that can roll up anything, including animals, people, and buildings, and try to make it as big as you can in a time limit. I love this series, and the first game was even my Game of the Year back in 2004. Recently, Bandai Namco, the makers of the game, have dabbled in some mobile Katamari entries, including an endless clicker I reviewed a while back. And now they’re tackling continuous runners as well with Amazing Katamari Damacy. It’s a free-to-play downloadable title for iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.
Puzzle Fighter (iOS, Android, Google Play)
Posted on January 22nd, 2018 by
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo is one of my top three favorite puzzle games, right on up there with Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble and plain ol’ Tetris. So I was really excited when Capcom announced a new Puzzle Fighter game for mobile devices (reviewed on iPad here). I was worried since it was going to be free-to-play, but you can read on to find out if my concerns were justified.
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch, PC)
Posted on January 15th, 2018 by
This game starts out with a grandfather telling his two grandkids a story. So they kind of act as narrators in the game. You play as Lily, a new knight recruit. When the king’s evil wizard brother casts a sleeping spell on the king, it’s up to Lily to search for ingredients to a potion to reverse the sleeping spell, and then find and defeat the evil wizard. Blossom Tales looks and plays nearly exactly like a 2-D Zelda title, and it’s available to download on Nintendo Switch and PC (Switch version reviewed here).
School Girl Zombie Hunter (PS4)
Posted on January 10th, 2018 by
Zombies are invading a Japanese girls’ only high school, and it’s up to five teenage girls to fight back and survive. School Girl Zombie Hunter is a downloadable PS4 third person action shooting game with plenty of guns, zombies, and Japanese quirkiness.
Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds Overdrive (Switch, PS4)
Posted on January 8th, 2018 by
Play as one of six chibi anime female archetypes (maid, priestess, schoolgirl) and battle thugs and demons in this retro styled 2-D beat ‘em up. It’s cartoony, silly, mindless, and pretty fun as well. The game is available to download on Switch and PS4, but reviewed on Switch here.
Creeping Terror (3DS)
Posted on January 4th, 2018 by
When I first saw this game, I thought it might’ve been based on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie of the same name, but I knew better than that. But this game could’ve been a low budget horror movie anyway. Four teens explore a haunted mansion rumored to have a monster inside. You play as Arisa, a Japanese foreign exchange student in the group. Shortly after arriving, an earthquake causes her to fall through the floor and into a cave under the mansion. Now she must escape the caves and find her friends, all the while avoiding the monster who haunts the place. Creeping Terror is one part survival horror, one part point and click adventure, and one part 2-D Metroid style game, downloadable on the 3DS.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)
Posted on January 3rd, 2018 by
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle comes out of nowhere to combine Nintendo’s headline characters and Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchise together into a turn-based squad combat game. Yep, turn-based squad combat. Take Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, or your other favorites and pair them up with crazy-minded rabbit-shaped copies for some squad based combat as you journey though lands to “fix” the mess first created by the rabbids. While not the deepest strategy game, it is a great introduction to the genre and provides a fun romp through a colorful world of characters.
Romancing SaGa 2 Remastered (PS4, Vita, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on January 3rd, 2018 by
Back when the Super Nintendo was hot, I was a teenager and was big into RPGs, mostly the ones from Squaresoft (now Square Enix). I couldn’t get enough of them. So it killed me when I’d see images of Super Famicom (Japanese SNES) RPGs in Nintendo Power magazine that would never see the light of day over in the US. One of those was the Romancing SaGa series. But now there is a remastered version of Romancing SaGa 2 that you can download on most US home consoles and handhelds (reviewed on PS4 here). So was it worth the wait, or should it have stayed in Japan? Read on to find out!
