Snoopy’s Grand Adventure (Wii U, 3DS, PS4, 360, Xbox One)
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Posted on December 9th, 2015 by
Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang have been delighting readers of the comics section in the newspapers for more than half a century, and have also scored big with award-winning animated TV specials among other things. And now there’s a full-length computer animated Peanuts movie now in theaters (and it’s actually pretty good, I enjoyed it anyway). So in honor of that, Activision released a game based on the characters and style of the new film. In the game, Charlie Brown and his friends are playing hide-and-seek, and Snoopy and Woodstock must find them! But Snoopy has a pretty vivid imagination, so a bush can become a jungle, a brick fence wall can be ancient ruins, a cardboard box can be a rocket to the moon, his doghouse can be a flying WWI biplane, and much more! Guide Snoopy through stages inside his imagination and find all the kids in this 2-D platformer available for nearly all the current gaming consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.
Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations (Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One)
Posted on December 7th, 2015 by
Adventure Time is one of Cartoon Network’s most popular shows, and man, oh man are there a lot of games based on the franchise. Trust me; I’ve reviewed most of them! I think I’ve reviewed more games based on Adventure Time than any other cartoon license, and since I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years, that’s saying something! Most of the other Adventure Time games imitate other classic titles like top-down Zelda games and other dungeon crawlers. But when I first heard about the name “Finn and Jake Investigations,” I thought it might be like one of those Phoenix Wright games. But when I saw screenshots it looked more like a 3-D platformer! To my surprise when I actually played it, it’s really a point and click adventure game! In fact, if TellTale Games had this license, this would probably be like something they would make, at least a few years ago. At any rate, it’s one of publisher Little Orbit’s best games yet! It’s available for nearly all the current game consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.
The Portals of LEGO Dimensions
Posted on December 4th, 2015 by
Recently I played and beat the new holiday title, LEGO Dimensions. I was impressed with some of the worlds you explore and licenses used, so I decided I’d write a blog about it. In short, LEGO Dimensions is essentially Skylanders with LEGOs. You buy and build LEGO figures and vehicles, and then put them on a special pedestal so you can play as them in the game. Unlike Disney Infinity, any character and vehicle can go into any world at any time. That’s one thing that Skylanders and LEGO Dimensions does right. Half the fun was seeing all the worlds you could go into, and what surprises you’d find. In fact, brother Jeff (who I always play LEGO games with), described the game as ‘LEGO Kingdom Hearts’ and I like how he put that. So let’s dive into the portal and see what we can see!
Gravity Falls: Legend of the Gnome Gemulets (3DS)
Posted on November 30th, 2015 by
Gravity Falls is a cartoon on the Disney XD cable channel, and it has become one of my most favorite cartoons ever. I haven’t been this into a cartoon ever since DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, or Animaniacs. So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the Gravity Falls game from Ubisoft. In the show, preteen twins Dipper and Mabel are sent to stay with their Great Uncle Stan for the summer. “Grunkle Stan” as they call him, he runs a tourist trap museum called the Mystery Shack in the small town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. But while the artifacts in the museum are fake, Gravity Falls is shrouded in mystery as paranormal events happen nearly every day! It’s up to twins Dipper and Mabel to discover the secrets of the town, and have some fun and maybe learn a thing or two along the way. The show is great because it has a lot of adult humor, but as a Disney channel show, it’s also fairly clean, too.
Care Bears: Belly Match (iOS, Android)
Posted on November 16th, 2015 by
When I was a kid in the 80’s, Care Bears were pretty popular for a little while. They even had a couple of animated movies! (And the first one was surprisingly dark if I remember correctly.) Well, apparently the Care Bears are still around, because now you can play a free Match-3 puzzler featuring the Bears who don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves, but on their bellies instead! One day, Grumpy Bear was in such a bad mood that he accidentally caused a storm to split up Care-A-Lot! Now you must help Grumpy piece the land back together somehow by matching the different symbols on the Care Bears’ bellies, similar to other games like Bejeweled or Candy Crush. Care Bears: Belly Match is available to download on iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.
Cary’s Top Five Favorite Autobots and Decepticons!
Posted on November 6th, 2015 by
Recently I reviewed Transformers Devastation, and it got me to thinking about the franchise. When I was a kid in the 80’s, I was pretty big into Transformers for a couple of years. Ever since I was a kid I always wanted a GOOD Transformers game that was truly based on the cartoon. And now we finally got one with Transformers: Devastation (although I still like Fall of Cybertron better). So in honor of the release of this long-awaited game, here’s a blog about my top five favorite Autobots (good guys) and Decepticons (bad guys).
Transformers: Devastation (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, PC)
Posted on November 5th, 2015 by
When I was a kid, I was big into Transformers. I played with the toys and watched the old cartoon from the 80’s. It took nearly 30 years for us to get a GOOD Transformers video game, and even then, they weren’t based on the toys and cartoon I loved. But now, finally, there is a game based on the cartoon I watched as a kid, and it even has many of the same voice actors, too! Transformers: Devastation is a 3-D action game from famed game makers Platinum, and it’s reviewed on 360 here. It could almost be called, “Cary’s Childhood: The Game.”
Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden (3DS)
Posted on November 4th, 2015 by
Right in the middle of Toon Week, and we’re going to look at a game based on one of the most popular Japanese anime cartoons of all time: Dragon Ball Z! The newest game based on the popular animated series: Extreme Butoden, is now available on the 3DS from Namco Bandai! It’s a 2-D, one-on-one fighter from Arc System Works, makers of other great 2-D fighters like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear!
Ball of Glory Pinball Pack (Consoles, PC, iOS, Android, Amazon)
Posted on November 3rd, 2015 by
Next up on Toon Week here at GamerDad, we’re going to look at some more adult oriented cartoons. Animated shows with adult humor and themes are just as popular as the kids’ stuff. And Zen Studios knows this, so their latest batch of pinball tables for Pinball FX2 and Zen Pinball 2 feature FOX cartoons like Family Guy, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, and Archer! (reviewed on 360 here)
The Smurfs (3DS)
Posted on November 2nd, 2015 by
It’s Toon Week here on GamerDad.com, where we’ll look at games based on cartoons for kids and adults. Today it’s The Smurfs! Whether it’s a classic cartoon from the 80’s, an even earlier European comic strip, or a couple of recent computer animated movies, The Smurfs have been delighting children for decades. Heck, even I watched the cartoon when I was a kid (but only because it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon). I wasn’t a big fan of the show, but I did like Jokey Smurf and his exploding presents. I’m also glad I got to meet the voice of Papa Smurf a long time ago before he passed away. Anyway, now you can play a new Smurfs game on the 3DS, and it’s not what you’d probably expect!
