Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
Pocoyo Party (Switch, PS4)
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Posted on May 28th, 2021 by
Pocoyo is a children’s TV show co-developed by Spanish and British producers. It kind of reminds me of those old British clay animated kids programs from the 70’s and 80’s, which were also parodied by shows like Saturday Night Live’s Mr. Bill or Aardman’s Pib and Pob. Anyway, Pocoyo stars a four year old boy and his animal friends, like a duck and elephant, as they play games and learn lessons. Even though it’s computer animated, it still has that Claymation feel to it. In the US, the show was on Nick Jr. for a while, but hasn’t been on in a long time. But I think the show has found new life on YouTube. Anyway, now there is a multiplayer video game for very young players starring Pocoyo. In Pocoyo Party, Pocoyo is making invitations for his friends to come to a get-together. Angry Alien flies by and doesn’t see an invitation for him (Pocoyo just hasn’t drawn it yet). But Angry Alien gets, well, angry and steals all the invitations. Now it’s up to Pocoyo and friends to play mini-games to get them back. Pocoyo Party is available for Switch and PS4, but reviewed on Switch here.
D&D&D: Dungeons & Dragons and DEI (Tasha’s Cauldron)
Posted on May 27th, 2021 by
I feel like a broken record, but the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game continues to gain traction, particularly with the college/young adult set. Whether it is streamers, or pop culture icons (I suppose some are both) the hobby continues to make inroads to mainstream culture. The pandemic actually helped, as players turned to digital ways to connect and play with friends. When the current 5th Edition came out in 2014, it had been greatly revamped to make the game simpler and faster for new players while attempting to reclaim much of the early flavor of the game. Not content to sit on their laurels, for the past couple years, the makers of D&D (Wizards of the Coast) have gone to diversity training and are now putting out resources and other changes to make the game friendly to people of all walks of life. The creators have realized that it is just a game, and while it is an important one to many people there is no reason to have rigid rules on the “right” way to handle races, classes, and gender types. Several recent releases and themes continuing into the summer months give players even more ways to make their fantasy worlds their own. Kicking off this new direction was Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, released last fall (2020.)
Bungee Turtle (Mobile)
Posted on May 26th, 2021 by
Bungee Turtle is a pretty generic 2-D platformer for mobile devices (reviewed on iPad here). You can move left or right, double jump, throw rocks at enemies or hide in your shell. But the big gimmick in this game is that at certain points, you can jump onto a track that’ll activate a bungee cord, and then you can move left and right and bob up and down on your line, collecting fruit and coins and avoiding enemies and obstacles.
Relicta (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC)
Posted on May 24th, 2021 by
A few centuries in the future and we’ve got terraforming biome bases on the moon. Well, I’m assuming it’s the moon, they call it “Luna” in the game so it could be a moon on another fictional planet. Anyway, in Relicta you play as a scientist on one of these bases, and she’s testing a new pair of gloves that have the power to manipulate gravity and magnetism on nearby objects. When her daughter comes to visit and a freak accident puts her and other members of the crew in danger, it’s up to the scientist to use the special gloves to solve puzzles to save the day. Relicta is a 3-D first person puzzler available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Pac-Man 99 (Switch)
Posted on May 21st, 2021 by
Battle Royale games usually pit you against 100 or so other players as you fight to the death with the last one standing the victor. Most of these kinds of games are shooters, and because of that, I never thought I’d play a Battle Royale style game. But a couple of years ago, Nintendo released Tetris 99, which I still play from time to time. Later they released a similar game called Super Mario Bros. 35, which I dabbled in a little bit, but not much (I’m not as big of a fan of the original Super Mario Bros. game as people think I am). But boy they sure got me with their latest ‘99’ Battle Royale style game featuring a classic. This time with Pac-Man 99, where you play the original Pac-Man game against 99 other players! It’s available as a freebie to Nintendo Switch Online users. But how does it work? Well you’ll just have to read on to find out!
Chaser Tracer (Mobile)
Posted on May 19th, 2021 by
Aliens have created an artificial sun to destroy the Earth, and the only way to stop them is to decode their symbols by tracing over them before they do! OK, dopey story out of the way, this is just a game where you quickly trace over different symbols before the computer can. It has a nice 80’s neon theme at least. Chaser Tracer is available on mobile devices, but reviewed on iPad here.
World Splitter (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on May 17th, 2021 by
You are an alien-deer-rabbit thing and your spacecraft has crash landed on a planet. All of these little critters in your UFO escape, and one of them is chomping on a device like a dog chew toy. This device splits the world into two dimensions, and now you must solve puzzles while switching between the two worlds as you collect all your little critters. World Splitter is a 2-D action puzzle platformer and it’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
What The Dub?! (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X, PC)
Posted on May 14th, 2021 by
You wanna know what my all-time favorite TV show in the whole wide world is? It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000. Man I love that show! In it, a guy and two robot puppets are sent out in a space station by two mad scientists, and are forced to watch bad movies and make fun of them. You might’ve seen this show and not even realized it, because most of it is just the old movie with a silhouette of theater seats and the characters at the bottom talking all throughout the movie. It hasn’t been on TV in a long time, but you can still catch it in syndication and on Netflix. Some of the show’s creators and stars have gone on to do similar works, like Rifftrax, which are great, too. But MST3K is still my favorite. Since I like video games a lot, I always thought it would be neat if they made an MST3K video game. But until they do, What the Dub?! may be the closest thing to that. It’s a party game where you watch clips of old movies, type in missing dialogue in your phone, and vote on the funniest submissions. It’s available for nearly all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Narita Boy (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on May 12th, 2021 by
In the early 1980s, a famous computer programmer gets his memories erased by an evil computer program named HIM, and now that program threatens to take over the digital world. Meanwhile, a gamer who enjoys playing on the computer late at night gets sucked into the PC, and is transformed into the hero Narita Boy. Armed with the Techno-Sword, Narita Boy must defeat HIM and save the programmer’s memories. With the storyline and graphics, this game was clearly inspired by the classic movie TRON. The title screen even looks so much like the TRON movie poster, I’m surprised Disney didn’t sue! Anyway, Narita Boy is a 2-D platformer hack and slash with some Metroid-like exploration elements. It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Bite the Bullet (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on May 10th, 2021 by
In the far future, most humans have left Earth for other planets as food is scarce. The people who still live on Earth have cybernetic implants installed that allow them to eat anything. And I do mean ANYTHING. Rocks, metal, zombies, you name it, just to survive in this war-torn Earth where food is hard to come by. When trouble erupts, it’s up to Chewie and Chewella to run and gun and eat their way to victory. Bite the Bullet is a 2-D run and gun game where you can eat any enemy to boost your stats. The game has been out for a while, but has new DLC which adds, “new levels, enemies, double the frame rate for animation, and plenty of secrets.” The announcement of this new DLC is why I’m reviewing the game now, but since I didn’t play it before, I haven’t noticed the difference. But anyway, Bite the Bullet is available for nearly all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
