Zoombinis is a fantastic game for young children. Not only does it educate them in the ways of logical decision making, but it teaches them about the crushing weight of discrimination at a young age.

Let me explain, the story follows the game of an indigenous race of creatures known as the Zoombinis, who are well known and respected throughout the world for their craftsmanship skills. This is until another race of creatures, The Bloats, arrive to Zoombini Isle, and establish a imperialist reign of capitalism over the Zoombinis, forcing them into slavery, and exploiting their hard work for the benefit of their new owners. The race of Zoombinis would now have to live their entire lives under this boot, all because they were simply a race of skilled workers, rather than greedy conquerors.

Already, the game teaches its players a powerful message about how often people will try to govern others if they have the power to do so. All the Zoombinis ever wanted was to live peaceful lives, and because of that are forced into lives of servitude against their will. As the player, your goal is to guide the Zoombinis through a sort of underground railroad and establish a new civilization far from the grasp of The Bloats.

This is when the message of the game becomes fully realized. The Zoombinis are judged by their looks almost each instance of this journey. From their eyes, to their hair, even the color of their nose. The inhabitants of the land are not afraid to discriminate over the slightest differences. Creatures like the Sneezing Cliffs, The Stone Guardians, Ula the hotel owner, Captain Cajun, all judge the Zoombinis by their characteristics alone. (To be fair however, The Sneezing Cliffs bias is based off severe allergies and not systemic distinction, and Captain Cajun's motives may just be due to a severe case of OCD.) Even many contraptions within the land are designed specifically to separate the Zoombinis such as Stone Rise, Lion's Lair, and The Bubblewonder Abyss.

Even the Zoombinis themselves are guilty of the sin of prejudice. There is a race of creatures in the game known as Fleens, who were once Zoombinis as well, but had become mutated by hair products and developed green skin. Much like the Zoombinis, they have distinctive hair, noses, and eyes, but are still considered an entirely different race of creatures by the Zoombinis. The Fleens are act highly hostile to the Zoombinis because of these circumstances.

Playing Zoombinis, you wouldn't expect a children's puzzle game to create such profound statements about intolerance. Teaching children these kinds of themes along with providing fun puzzle solving adventures is good for developing a childs intelligence. Kids need to learn about this harsh reality someday, and this game teaches them early in a fun, and exciting manor. Excellent videogame.

HOME doesn't feel like a fan game, it feels like an unofficial sequel. HOME is a remake off Mortis Ghost's very own OFF, where you play the game from the perspective of The Judge instead of The Batter. The game is generally a better version of off, story is still highly interesting, there are new areas to explore and monsters to fight, combat if MUCH more well implemented than the original. There is a great amount of strategy and understanding of the mechanics required to defeat the extra bosses. No more spamming the strongest attack until the enemy dies. You have to think for this game. I would highly recommend it if you are a big fan of the original like I am.

It's an art game, but it's really something you can only play once. It's good art, but not a good game. I think most of the things shown in this game would be better off as actual art pieces because making a whole game out of it puts much more leverage on the topics expressed through here. The game is essentially a collection of interactable art pieces. Drag the characters around and engage in hollow dialogue until it's over. It's short, repetitive, and doesn't really do anything ground breaking at all besides the bizarre visuals.

It's been a bit since I've played, but I'm guessing the game is trying to talk about sex, the relations between people, and how sex comes into play with that. I can compare this to one of my all time favorite short films, Ring of Fire, a beautifully crafted animation that expresses the differences between love and lust, and how sex tends to cause more pain than pleasure. Ring of Fire doesn't need to be made into a game because it's already amazing as a film. I know this originally was a short film, but it didn't need to be remade into a game. Plug & Play was better as a short film.

Mechanics wise, it's also just fun to see what discs get converted into what monster's. There is a ton of variety with monsters, allowing you to create hundreds of potential breeds! One major drawback I have is the combination system. It is extremely complex and the game won't forgive you if you make one little mistake during the breeding process. You have to do everything perfect if you want a champion to be born, instead of just another one to raise. There's also the very cryptic unlocking methods for certain monster breeds but I don't want this review to be 7 more paragraphs.

Besides all that, I think there's a much more important part of the game. Personally, I've never found a single Pokémon game to be very interesting. The series promotes the connection between you and your Pokémon, but ultimately this ideal turns out to be superficial when all you do is use them as fodder for your battles. Monster Rancher on the other hand, has you develop an actual connection between you and your monster. You have to pay close attention to your monster's strengths, weaknesses, diet, age, and especially their physical and emotional states. You are raising and training a living creature with it's own thoughts and feelings to become a powerful warrior. I don't think a game has ever left me so heartbroken and empty when my first monster died. Death is important in this game, it makes the time you have with your monster much more special. I think this game is far more powerful than any Pokémon game.

Very little to say about this game. You play as a pink ball, assuming that it's the "Celestial Hacker Girl" named Jessica, and roll around completing level after level. There's collectables you can pick up along the way but ultimately the game does not feel well established. The gameplay is generic ball rolling, the environments feel bland and cheap, and the collectables don't feel satisfying to collect. You should probably just go play Marble It Up!, a much more gratifying ball rolling experience.

An emotionally heavy story where you play as the game's creator, Nicky Case, and live out a semi-realistic recreation of their experience of coming out to their parents. The game is short, but powerful, and really puts leverage on the dilemma of coming out about your sexuality to family members, especially when their culture is typically against it. There are multiple dialogue options that provide personalized play, but ultimately all lead to the same heart aching conclusions. I'd recommend giving the game a shot.