{"id":22716,"date":"2022-11-16T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T00:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=22716"},"modified":"2022-10-16T20:10:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T20:10:16","slug":"c-a-r-l-ps4-ps5-switch-xbox-one-x-s-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/16\/c-a-r-l-ps4-ps5-switch-xbox-one-x-s-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"C.A.R.L. (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X\/S, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Back in the early to mid 90s, many PC owners got their games via shareware.\u00a0 With shareware games, you usually could pick up a free disk at a computer store or in a magazine.\u00a0 The disk would have demos of games you could try, and if you liked them, there would usually be info on how you can order the full game, or even get a shareware catalog!\u00a0 Keep in mind this was before the internet was big.\u00a0 Many popular games back then started out as shareware: Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, heck even Wolfenstein!\u00a0 If you want to play a new 2-D platformer that has that old \u2018shareware\u2019 DOS PC feel, then C.A.R.L. is for you!\u00a0 C.A.R.L. stands for Computer Automated Resource Locator (acronyms are a running gag in this game).\u00a0 You are a robot equipped with a blaster and you must infiltrate a robot factory owned by a engineer who wants to take over the world.\u00a0 The game is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.<\/p>\n

In the game you\u2019ll start out in the D.U.M.P. where all the robots that have been thrown away from the factory go.\u00a0 This is the main hub area where you can talk with other robots and get upgrades later on.\u00a0 On the sides of the area are levels for you to tackle.\u00a0 In each maze like area, you\u2019ll solve puzzles, bypass obstacles, and defeat enemy robots to collect three chips.\u00a0 After you collect three, you can find a checkered platform and exit the level.\u00a0 Each area has about five levels plus a boss fight.\u00a0 When you defeat a boss, you\u2019ll learn a new skill.\u00a0 At first all you can do is jump and shoot, but after defeating a boss, you\u2019ll learn new moves like a double jump, ground pound, and dash.\u00a0 You\u2019ll use these moves to reach new areas and levels, and backtrack to older ones to nab secrets you missed before.<\/p>\n

Aside from the three chips in each level, you can also find other collectables.\u00a0 These include bonus chips, joysticks, blueprints, medals, and more.\u00a0 When you get enough of these, you can take them back to certain robots to get upgrades and other goodies.\u00a0 You can get health increases, more powerful weapons, new moves, and more.\u00a0 Some of the collectables are just for fun, like trading cards with all the characters in the game, or joysticks that let you play mock ups of classic arcade games like Galaga or Arkanoid.\u00a0 Before you start each level, you can see which items you\u2019ve collected and which ones you\u2019ve missed.<\/p>\n

While the game is mostly fun, it does have some problems.\u00a0 Controls, especially while jumping, feel a bit loose.\u00a0 Plus the game gets WAY too hard toward the end.\u00a0 If you thought the antigravity levels in Mega Man V were hard, hoo boy you should see the ones here!\u00a0 If the game REALLY wanted to have the classic \u2018shareware\u2019 feel, they should\u2019ve added cheat codes!\u00a0 If the game wasn\u2019t so hard at the end, I probably would\u2019ve beaten it and given it a better review!<\/p>\n

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

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

C.A.R.L. is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.\u00a0 Robots just explode into bolts when defeated, and that\u2019s it.\u00a0 Reading skill is helpful for the text, and younger gamers may find it too difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the early to mid 90s, many PC owners got their games via shareware.\u00a0 With shareware games, you usually could pick up a free disk at a computer store or in a magazine.\u00a0 The disk would have demos of games you could try, and if you liked them, there would usually be info on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22716","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\/22716","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=22716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22718,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22716\/revisions\/22718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}