Willy’s Wonderland: The Game (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S)
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Posted on July 26th, 2024 by
A couple of years ago, I watched this really horrible horror B-movie that was streaming only on Hulu and it was called Willy’s Wonderland. In the movie, a drifter takes a job as a janitor in a run down kids’ indoor amusement area called Willy’s Wonderland. But when the animatronic animal robots come to life in the restaurant, the janitor must fight for his life. If that sounds like a rip off of Five Night’s At Freddy’s (FNAF), it certainly is. But I think this came out a year before the FNAF movie. Either way, the movie is NOT for kids, as it’s pretty violent and has a gross and unnecessary sex scene in it. But then, FNAF isn’t for kids either but they seem to be drawn to it for some reason. As a kid, I was never really scared of the Chuck E. Cheese robot singers, but then, I was more interested in the arcade games. The funniest thing about Willy’s Wonderland is that Nicholas Cage is the star, but he has NO lines. All he does is fight robots, take breaks, and drink a soda every ten minutes. The only thing he says is sometimes after drinking a soda he’ll go, “Ahhhh!” And now you can play a game based on the movie! You’d think it would be similar to the FNAF games, but it’s actually a side scrolling beat ‘em up. It was originally on mobile devices, if that gives you an indication of the quality. But now you can play it on current consoles (reviewed on PS4 here).
The Smurfs: Colorful Stories (Switch)
Posted on February 14th, 2024 by
In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons. Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids. And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs. Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything. And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon. In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon. And there’s been a few Smurfs video games I’ve reviewed in the past couple of years, like a kart racer and two 3D platformers. And now the youngest players get their turn on the Switch with The Smurfs: Colorful Stories, a virtual coloring book on the Switch.
The Smurfs Learn and Play (Switch)
Posted on February 5th, 2024 by
In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons. Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids. And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs. Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything. And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon. In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon. And there’s been a few Smurfs video games I’ve reviewed in the past couple of years, like a kart racer and two 3D platformers. And now the youngest players get their turn on the Switch with The Smurfs Learn and Play! There are four games on here, so let’s take a look at them!
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on December 22nd, 2023 by
For several generations, youngsters have enjoyed watching shows on the Nickelodeon cable channel for kids. Heck, even when I was little back in the 80’s, I enjoyed watching Nick shows such as You Can’t Do that on Television, Danger Mouse, and Double Dare. Even more recently I’ve been known to watch shows on that channel like Invader ZIM and The Penguins of Madagascar. My younger brothers would watch shows on Nickelodeon, too, such as Rugrats and SpongeBob Squarepants. A couple of years ago we got a Smash Bros. clone featuring Nickelodeon characters from all generations, and now we get a sequel to that. It’s available on nearly all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on December 15th, 2023 by
Your favorite DreamWorks computer animated movie characters have come together to race each other in this kart game! Compete with characters and race on tracks based on all sorts of DreamWorks franchises like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Bad Guys, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, Boss Baby, Trolls, and Megamind! The game is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Dreamworks Trolls Remix Rescue (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on December 8th, 2023 by
With a couple of musical movies, holiday specials, and a TV series, Trolls is one of DreamWorks most successful franchises. And now there’s a new video game! An evil troll has hypnotized everyone by playing smooth jazz from his magical clarinet, and now it’s up to Poppy, Branch, and others to stop him in this 3D platformer. You can even create your own troll character to play as! The game is available on current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on December 1st, 2023 by
In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons. Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids. And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs. Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything. And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon. In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon. And that begat a few Smurfs games, too. Like a kart racer I reviewed last year, and a 3D platformer I reviewed the year before that called The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf. The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone is the sequel to that game. In this installment, Handy Smurf has invented the Smurfomix, a gun that shoots out pastries and cakes. But he’s having trouble getting it to work right so he decides to sneak into Gargamel’s Lair to use a magic green stone to help improve it. But when Handy accidentally breaks the green stone, a mysterious being named Stolas is freed and wreaks havoc and scattered green crystals everywhere. Now Handy, Brainy, Storm, and the other Smurfs must make a temporary alliance with Gargamel to stop the chaos and save the day. It’s a bit of a shock, but this game is actually kind of good, and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures (Switch, Mobile)
Posted on November 22nd, 2023 by
For nearly every little girl who loves to play with Barbie dolls, the ultimate dream is to own Barbie’s Dreamhouse, a giant dollhouse for Barbie and her friends. And now your little girl can have that dreamhouse without having to put in a second mortgage and spend all night putting it together with Barbie Dreamhouse Adventure. It’s basically a virtual dollhouse for the Switch. When I first popped this review copy into my Switch, the game seemed vaguely familiar. Turns out I reviewed this game five years ago when it was just a mobile app. But this version takes out all the in-game purchase crap and adds a bunch of new things, so that’s good. As a 47 year old man, I don’t have any interest in Barbie, but the franchise sure did get a boost of popularity this past year with that new live action movie that just came out (never saw it myself). But let’s take a tour of Barbie’s Dreamhouse and see what all you can do!
Pizza Pixel Podcast Episode 19: Top Five Favorite Video Game Movies
Posted on October 6th, 2023 by
On this episode of the podcast, we’re doing something a little bit different. Usually one of my brothers hosts the show with me, but this time we’re having a special guest. A good friend and co-worker of mine named Noah is here this time. And we’ll be talking about our favorite video game based movies, as well as a bunch of not so favorites! Please click on the link and give it a listen, and let me know your favorite video game based movies as well!
Pizza Pixel Podcast Episode 18: Favorite Transformers
Posted on August 25th, 2023 by
When I was a kid back in the 80s, there were a couple of years when I was really into the Transformers toy line and cartoon. Many years later when my brother Ben was a kid, he got into Transformers as well. So I thought it would be fun for us to talk about them in this episode of the Pizza Pixel Podcast! Please click on the link and give it a listen if you can!
