{"id":18763,"date":"2019-02-08T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T00:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=18763"},"modified":"2019-01-26T14:02:13","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T14:02:13","slug":"pang-adventures-switch-ps4-xbox-one-pc-mobile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/08\/pang-adventures-switch-ps4-xbox-one-pc-mobile\/","title":{"rendered":"Pang Adventures (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mobile)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So you may be thinking to yourself, \u201cWhat the heck is Pang?\u201d\u00a0 Well if you lived in the US in the 80\u2019s, you may know the Pang series better as Buster Bros.\u00a0 It was originally an arcade game where you play as two boys who use harpoons to pop bubbles bouncing around.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t quite as popular as others, but I still remember it as a kid at the local Mr. Gatti\u2019s Pizza, and I also have fond memories playing it with my brothers when Capcom published the Buster Bros. Collection on PSOne.\u00a0 So I was excited to find out about a new game in the series.\u00a0 It\u2019s available to download on most current game consoles, PC, and mobile devices, but reviewed on Switch here.<\/p>\n

Gameplay is pretty basic.\u00a0 You run around at the bottom of the screen and press the fire button to launch a harpoon in the air.\u00a0 When it hits the ceiling or a bubble, the harpoon will disappear and you can fire another.\u00a0 If a bubble hits any point of the harpoon (the tip or the chain), the bubble will pop and split into two smaller bubbles.\u00a0 Pop all the bubbles to clear the level.\u00a0 Bubbles bounce in different ways.\u00a0 Some go in an arc, while others bound around the screen like a billiard ball. \u00a0The color of the bubble determines how it bounces.\u00a0 If you get hit by a bubble, an enemy, or run out of time, you\u2019ll lose a life or have to start the level over, depending on what mode you\u2019re playing.<\/p>\n

If you can pop several bubbles in a row without missing, you\u2019ll earn a combo score. Sometimes you can pick up power-ups, too.\u00a0 These include extra harpoons so you can fire more than one at a time.\u00a0 Or a gun that lets you shoot rapid fire bullets at the bubbles or even a flamethrower.\u00a0 There are also shields that allow you to take an extra hit, hourglasses to stop time for a short while, and bonus foods that boost your score when collected.<\/p>\n

There are three modes of play in the game.\u00a0 The first is Tour Mode.\u00a0 This is most similar to the arcade.\u00a0 You\u2019ll fly to different areas on a map to stop aliens from covering the Earth with bubbles.\u00a0 The neat thing about this mode is some levels are like puzzles, where you must use power-ups or enemies to help you pop bubbles faster in the short time limits you get.\u00a0 After every 15 levels, you\u2019ll fight an alien boss.\u00a0 The only problem I had with this mode is that it\u2019s really hard.\u00a0 If you get hit, you must start the level over from the beginning.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember if the arcade game was like that or if it let you use your next life right away.\u00a0 But at least in Tour Mode you can start at the last level you left off at, or replay any level you\u2019ve already beaten to increase your score.<\/p>\n

Another mode is Score Mode, where you have three lives to make it as far as you can.\u00a0 But it only unlocks after you beat Tour Mode, so I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be doing that anytime soon.\u00a0 At least Panic Mode unlocks after only beating the first boss in Tour Mode.\u00a0 In Panic, you must pop an endless amount of bubbles, trying to get your score as high as possible.\u00a0 Make good use of the power-ups and exploding bubbles you get before you run out of lives!\u00a0 In all three modes, a second player can join in at any time, and it\u2019s so much more fun with another person anyway.\u00a0 Really the only problem I had with this game is the high difficulty.\u00a0 Otherwise I really enjoyed this one.\u00a0 If you like classic arcade style games, you\u2019ll want to check this one out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pang Adventures is rated E for Everyone with ESRB descriptors of Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood.\u00a0 If you get hit by a bubble or an enemy, you just say \u201cOuch\u201d and fall off the screen, but that\u2019s about as violent as it gets.\u00a0 But \u201cMild Blood?\u201d\u00a0 Yeah there\u2019s not really any blood in this game, but the ESRB classifies that category as any liquid that comes out of something living, whether it be bug guts or alien slime.\u00a0 And the boss aliens do ooze slime when you hit them.\u00a0 Reading skill is helpful for the menus, but not necessary just to play.\u00a0 Younger players may find the game too difficult, but at least a second person can join in to help.\u00a0 I certainly enjoyed playing the other Buster Bros. games with my little brothers, so I imagine kids will like playing this one with others as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you may be thinking to yourself, \u201cWhat the heck is Pang?\u201d\u00a0 Well if you lived in the US in the 80\u2019s, you may know the Pang series better as Buster Bros.\u00a0 It was originally an arcade game where you play as two boys who use harpoons to pop bubbles bouncing around.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18765,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763\/revisions\/18765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}