Note that this isn't a proper review - more a recollection of what I remember about this game. I thought it was fine, I did Kotori's route, and it was kind of charming. Unfortunately, I then went for Ageha's route... and I HATED it. I hated it so much, it legitimately made me rage quit. The only other visual novel that made me rage quit is The Ditzy Demons Are in Love With Me. Except that VN is actually terrible, while this one was alright, but this one route absolutely soured my experience, and I didn't want to continue. Almost everyone becomes unlikeable, including Ageha herself, who was not obnoxious and actually a decent human during Kotori's route. I think I recall her sneaking into MC's room during night to snap photos, along with her sister... yeah, that's not questionable at all. Good character!

Besides that, I did notice another issue that persisted through the entire game - poor translation. Or rather, this game is FILLED with typos. Did no one care for quality control?

I do actually want to eventually come back to this one and see if it's any good... or if the rest of it is just as bad.

Beat Hero's route. A pretty solid action RPG for Game Boy Advance. It’s supposed to be a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest, but very different to the source material, having more to do with Mana series than Final Fantasy.

The combat in this game is pretty straightforward - unlike Secret of Mana, there's no cooldown for your attacks and you can attack at almost any point (I'm aware that you can technically do that in that game as well, but that'll do little damage), if your hit connects, then a calculation is ran the enemy manages to evade it or not – standard RPG stuff. The game instead changes the original's bar that fills over time with a meter that fills with every successful strike, allowing for a more powerful attack to be unleashed, just like in Trials of Mana. Certain weapons, such as a sword, rod or an axe also have an attack combo - press the attack button in a certain rhythm to unleash slightly more powerful attacks. While simple, I think the combat is pretty satisfying. Nothing beats seeing numbers and landing a successful combo and seeing enemies burst into bones or something else. Each of the game’s 9 weapons have its EXP progression – same as aforementioned Secret of Mana. Same with magic, use the spirit for attacks and level them up. Each spirit of the game grants two spells – one passive, giving some bonus like healing or defense up, and offensive. If you hold the magic button for longer, you’ll unleash a magical attack. The attack’s pattern depends on the weapon equipped, like a magical orb that you can guide if you have knucks, which is a neat detail I like.

Each enemy has a weakness and immunity towards a certain element or weapon. I don’t really mind the experimentation aspect, where you have to change your weapon or magic spirit if it doesn’t work on an enemy – changing them is a fairly quick process, just bring the ring menu, enter weapon/magic tab, boom, there’s your magic/weapons. I can understand it being annoying if the enemy in question is immune to many items and it takes a while to test all of them, but once you defeat an enemy, you’ll be granted an entry in Popoi’s Notebook, where you can check the enemy and its attributes.

The game features a few new things compared to the SNES classics. First, the ability to jump, which can be used to jump up or down ledges. I feel like it’s a bit of a gimmick, sometimes it doesn’t make sense why jumping over small gaps wouldn’t work. Though it can be used to jump over enemies that block your path, so there’s that. Second is sitting. Hold R+A, and you’ll sit still to recover MP. If, for some reason you find yourself short on MP healing supplies and are constantly struggling with MP and HP, there’s a baked-in solution. Just sit still, recover a bit of mana, then cast a healing spell. At first, the MP recovering rate is pretty pathetic, but after a bunch of level ups, it’s not so bad, and a totally valid strategy… although I don’t know how you would be running low on supplies, unless you were reckless with them. I thought most RPG gamers are item hoarders… like me. Lastly, there’s a “Hot House” feature. Apparently, this is something from Legend of Mana - you can combine two of the seed items you can find in the game, and plant produce, which can be used to tamper with a weapon or a piece of equipment for better stats, which is available later in the game. Same with forging a completely new item with better-er stats, again, you can find materials inside chests that are scattered about, or spawn when you defeat all enemies in an area. Pretty neat. Also… Li’l Cactus!

The game isn’t without flaws of course, it’s pretty much a staple of any good Mana game… or any game in general, really. First, I didn’t find the game to be that much of a challenge, especially the bosses. I think common enemies can be more dangerous than these guys. I don’t know if I’m just that good at the game, or I had overleveled somewhere along the way, as I beat the game only at level 50. Even the final boss was kind of a pushover. Although, honestly, I’d rather take these easy bosses over inconsistent/busted ones from Secret of Mana or those that seemingly refuse to die in Trials of Mana, but still. Maybe heroine’s path is more challenging? I’ll have to play that and see. Second issue – the AI controlled companion is generally worthless. I didn’t even bother using an Angel Grail to revive them – I think the game actually works best when you’re alone, as the companion tends to be your liability rather than an asset. One small positive the AI companion has is that Square Enix brought back action grid, which allows you to set their NPC behavior and stay away from enemies, use only the weapon, be more reckless with MP, etc. I still think Secret of Mana has the best action grid, as it felt like it had a more tactical use (in addition to AI companions not being quite as worthless), but hey, it’s better than having NO action grid like in Trials of Mana. Third – the way forward isn’t always clear. I’m currently replaying the game, this time as Heroine, and there’s an early part at Vinquette Vicinity that’s confusing on where to go... this is the second time already. Turns out you need to wait for night and approach the mansion's gate. There's a day and night system, similar to Trials of Mana, but the time only changes during transitions, instead of dynamically. I don’t remember any other confusing areas until much later In the game – Subland River, where you’re supposed to find those little spots that you hit and let the water out. I didn’t know that’s what you’re supposed to do, and I had to look it up. The dungeon right after isn’t much better – Subsea Volcano. It feels like a confusing maze of a dungeon, with no clear path forward. I didn’t really feel that confused in any other dungeon, not that I can recall, thankfully.

While it’s debatable whether this is a good remake or not, overall, I think Sword of Mana is a pretty good game in its own right, and should be considered a classic. It features simple, yet engaging gameplay, capturing what worked in Super Nintendo installments. It features classic “Square” pixel art that looks gorgeous, and a decent chiptuny soundtrack. And it’s quite polished – it may have some gameplay faults, but I never really encountered any technical issues. If you liked Secret of Mana, you may like this game as well, even if it’s a little simpler gameplay-wise. It may not be great, but it’s simply solid fun.

Mosters vs. Aliens, brought to you by the same devs as Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa DS, retains some of the same qualities, mainly, how decent the game actually is.

You play as the game’s titular monsters against titular Aliens (in a titular vs. ofc). First, you have Ginormica. Her main gimmick is that she can dash forward for enemy avoidance or platforming utility. There are also sections where you need to use touch screen to push some heavy stuff like closing doors to get past. Next, there’s B.O.B.. His main gimmick is that he can attach to any surface, which leads to a decent platforming potential. He’s not as combat-focused – all he can do is eat enemies and spit them back out. There are also tracing mini-games where you use touch screen to trace a shape to take that shape to hide from enemies, which doesn’t make much sense, since these enemies are pretty small – the same size all other enemies that B.O.B. can eat. If these enemies were large, then I’d understand the urgency to hide. Next, there’s Missing Link. Just like B.O.B., he can climb onto any surface, but he’s also more capable at combat, with groundpound and spit projectile attack in addition to standard attacks. The combat in general in this game, while simple, isn’t bad, similar to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa DS. The platforming is in the same vein – quite decent.

But there are more characters to play as. Next is Insectosaurus, in a tilted top-down view. Your goal is simply to get to the end, while smashing buildings along the way, which feels counter-productive, especially since doing so gives score. It feels a little sluggish to play – Insectosaurus is pretty slow, the normal attack is also slow, leaving some frames after the attack, which leaves you vulnerable. The projectile attack is the only reliable way to dispatch enemies without much hassle. Lastly, there’s Dr. Cockroach’s puzzles. They’re typical laser puzzles – move pieces that reflect projectiles to activate all green switches. None of the puzzles are particularly challenging, but they do serve a nice change of pace, and I did quite like them. Okay, there is one last play style on display, involving Ginormica on “roller scates”. Use the touch screen to move left and right, and a button to jump over obstacles. I don’t think these levels control all that well – it’s difficult to position yourself just right, as you have to slide left or right on the touch screen to make left and right movements, especially if you’re aiming for 100% completion. For the most part, the touchscreen controls and mic gimmicks are optional, like using microphone for Missing Link’s spitting ability, but it can also be done with a button. I don’t know why these sections couldn’t have been the same way – offer touch screen as an alternative, rather than requirement.

Speaking of 100%, each level (except for puzzle ones) have 5 fish bones scattered about, which can be used to unlock extras. These include a sound test, as you’d expect, it allows you to listen to the game’s music and sound effects. Next, there are alternate costumes, which alter the appearance of all characters, except for Insectosaurus, which is neat. Then there are standard upgrades to the playable characters, like health, attack power and so on, and lastly, extra Dr. Cockroach’s puzzle levels. I did unlock all of the puzzles. Unfortunately, they weren’t much of a challenge either, but still decently enjoyable. I did notice a few puzzles were still locked, perhaps a 100% completion bonus or something.

Graphically, the game is decent. The cutscenes are once again fully voice-acted and are animated in real-time, though I did notice more 2D stills. In general, I think the cutscenes in this game are more static – it’s easy to notice repeating animations, and characters usually just stand around and talk. The only noticeable difference I noticed to the animation is that it doesn’t have uncanny stretch-ness to it compared to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa DS, but I think the cutscenes in that game looked a little more interesting overall. The music is an upgrade compared to the aforementioned game, some of the music tracks are actually quite catchy and memorable and overall isn’t quite as generic.

Overall, though still flawed, Monsters vs. Aliens DS is still a surprisingly decent time, offering a good variety of playstyles to keep you engaged, and simple yet effective mechanics. Not a heavy hitter for sure, but you can always do worse.

Tangled for Nintendo DS screams shovelware to me. The game is basically a point-and-click sorta deal with mini-games sprinkled throughout. You go around different locations, talk with NPCs, do the chores and participate in mini-games, rinse and repeat. The mini-games themselves are mostly fine, but I think the game is lacking in variety, so after a bit, the game becomes boring to go through and I just wanted it to end. And some mini-games can drag on, like memory ones where you repeat the pattern over and over. Also, one of those memory games involves belching. Have fun! You can actually skip some mini-games if you collect suns, scattered in locations, usually hidden, so there’s a bit of exploration to be had, but some requirements for skipping are absurd, compared to the amount of effort it would take to do the mini-game legit. The game also has shockingly poor performance. Well, not always, but, for instance, there’s a loading time when you load the main menu, which is something I don’t recall seeing in any other game. Just pausing makes you wait! But there are a few moments of lag in the game itself, most notable to me is Snake-like mini-game where you grow Rapunzel’s hair. When the hair gets bigger and you turn frequently, there’s noticeable frame drops. The presentation is also average. The hand-drawn artstyle isn’t very consistent, but usually decent, but there’s also things like characters that look like they’re pre-rendered sprites with limited animations. I also noticed when Rapunzel turns as you walk, her hair gets noticeably cut-off, which makes it feel unpolished. Overall, I don’t think this is a good game, while it may be enjoyable for younger players who don’t know any better, they still deserve better than this.

Asteix & Obelix XXL 2: Operation Wifix for Nintendo DS is an action-platformer. Getafix got captured or something, and it’s up to the brave Gaul duo to make things right, in the land full of videogame references, because why not.

The game is primarily a 2.5D affair. Both Asterix & Obelix can double jump for added agility, and combat enemies with a few somewhat basic attacks, with Obelix being much stronger at it. The only perk that Asterix has over Obelix that I can think of is that he is smaller, and can fit into smaller passages, and he is slightly faster to move, I think. The goal is simply to get to the end, but there can be branching paths, with the required path being blocked, requiring you to go through mini-challenges, to light torches or find a key to backtrack to the gate that requires said key. There are times where you have to push blocks or pick up Bomberman-looking bombs to destroy obstacles (sometimes consisting of Tetris blocks). These tasks don’t really add anything to gameplay – typically you clear the path of enemies or other obstacles and then pick up the bomb and slowly bring it where it belongs, or slowly push the blocks. The level design in general is unremarkable. For the most part you just find and push levers, or play mini-games. There are rare instances where the gameplay introduces something interesting, such as a Donkey Kong-like climb while dodging incoming barrels (though that can be an exercise of frustration). The game really could’ve used more variety and take advantage of the game references. Well, better that it does already.

There are required combat sections. The combat is pretty basic, you can attack from standstill, you can jump on enemies which does inflict damage. You can also slide forward, which also counts as an attack. Unfortunately, the combat is not very satisfying and pretty repetitive. There’s no defensive maneuvers, at least I didn’t figure out if there’s any, if you perform a basic attack, you’ll be a sitting duck, and the attack only focuses on one enemy in front of you, which means a different enemy can pork you in the meantime. Jumping on enemies is usually a safe bet, though there are some enemies that require different strategies. These combat sections aren’t aided by the fact that you’ll be fighting enemies in double digits. Have fun beating up 10 or even 30 of the same enemy! Yet again, resulting in repetitive gameplay. Oh, and if you die, you’ll have to do these combat encounters again, which makes them even worse.

There are a few mini-games sprinkled throughout. The most common are Super Mario Bros.-style pipes that lead to a Sonic The Hedgehog 2-style tube section. Or maybe it’s Donkey Kong Country 3 GBA? Anyway, you’re running through the tube and avoid the bombs, while trying to snag a key. The controls are too sensitive, it’s hard to make precision adjustments, and you have to predict where the key will come from, or you’ll be running for longer. The second most common is a trolley – you have to trace a path on the touch screen, and it’s awfully strict – a small mistake, and you’ll have to start over. The first time I encountered this, I thought it was borderline impossible – the kaizo of tracing mini-games. Eventually, I got adjusted, or maybe the layouts got easier, I don’t know. In any case, these aren’t all that fun, as you can imagine, maybe even stress-inducing. Lastly, there’s a unique section that houses four different mini-games that aren’t encountered anywhere in the game. First is a variation of the tube challenge, only this time your goal is to smack the oncoming dudes cosplaying as Sonic The Hedgehog. This mini-game drags on, y’know, maybe because you have to eliminate 30 enemies?! Next is a slingshot mini-game. Use a slingshot to throw bombs at enemies, which is basically Angry Birds, 3 years before Angry Birds, though here it’s from the first person perspective. Again, you have to shoot 30 enemies. You can predict when the enemies come onto screen and shoot pre-emptively, and get into a rhythm, which can make the process go quicker, but it’s still no fun. Next, there’s a circular arena, where you run around laps, dodging enemies that have their spears lowered, while beating up those that don’t. Guess how many enemies you have to beat? 30!! Lastly, there’s a shooting gallery sorta game, shoot enemies that are flying towards you In different patterns. If you guessed it already, you have to destroy 30 targets, but I think this mini-game is actually one of the better ones, decent and doesn’t take as much time, relatively speaking. These mini-games result in, say it with me kids, repetition.

Repetition is pretty much the name of the game. Well, it’s actually Asteix & Obelix XXL 2: Operation Wifix, but y’know what I mean. Even boss battles are all pretty much the same. All you have to do is activate a lever to drop a weight onto the big guy, and watch the same unskippable animation of the guy dropping, then slowly getting up, After which you have to run around the circular arena, occasionally dodging hazards until the next lever. And to add insult to injury, later bosses have more health. As if this game wasn’t repetitive enough.

Graphically, the game is about average. At first, I thought 60 frames per-second meant that the game would settle for lower detail and smooth framerate, but that’s not true. It’s not consistent, usually fluctuating around 30, but it does occasionally get worse than that, especially towards the end in larger levels. As if the devs haven’t figured out a way to unload stuff to save on resources or were simply inefficient. The music is decent, especially the title theme. The dialogue does have some humorous moments. There are video clips, though they don’t have their audio, still playing the game’s background, so when the characters in video talk, it’s a bit awkward, since you can’t hear the talk.

Overall, Asteix & Obelix XXL 2: Operation Wifix for Nintendo DS is not a good game. As I’ve already outlined, the game is repetitive and feels like it’s padded to hell with. The platforming is basic, the combat is unsatisfying, and the mini-games are boring. Even the videogame references and “parodies” thrown in don’t add that much to the experience. The only fun parts I can think of about this game is that you can activate some levers through ceilings and the like, so there's speedrun potential. The PSP version looks like a more fun version than this DS rendition, or you should just stick to about any other actually good game. I don’t recommend this one.

Chicken Little: Ace in Action for Nintendo DS is a twin-stick shooter (or dual-control when it comes to any platform that lacks sticks), however, unlike Iron Man DS or Monster House DS, this game settles for a traditional control scheme reminiscent of Super Smash TV, where you use a D-Pad for movement and face buttons for shooting.

You take control of 3 characters in the game. As all characters, you can use L button to generate a shield that would absorb projectiles, though the shield charge is limited, though it does slowly regenerate over time. As Ace, you can dodge roll by tapping a direction on the D-Pad twice in quick succession to avoid hazards. Thankfully, this maneuver didn’t feel sensitive enough to the point where I accidently dodge rolled. Then again, I didn’t have moments where I needed to precision position myself, and for the most part, I was on a constant move. You can also hold R button to use limited grenades to do more damage or pick out multiple enemies at once. Speaking of limited, there are 4 ammo types for each character, with the standard shot being unlimited, naturally, with limited ammo refills that can be found as some of the game’s power-ups, and those unique types being generally more powerful, as you can assume. The next character is Runt, with his tank. He is a bit slower to move, including changing shooting direction, but dashing can be used to ram into enemies (the dashing actually takes away the shield charge), and the R button is used for locking explosives onto multiple enemies instead of throwing a single one, though it makes you a sitting duck, so it’s not very useful. I found his levels to be my least favorite, since he’s so slow to move, and the levels drag as a result. The last character is Abby, which presents a more traditional Sh’mup action. You can only “dodge roll” left or right, though here it’s a barrel roll and it can remove projectiles you move through. Since it’s an autoscroller, all you have to do is just shoot enemies, and that’s it. I had no trouble playing these sections.

The goals of most of the game’s levels are pretty simple – get to the end of the level, or destroy a few required things, THEN get to the end of the level. There’s admittedly not much variety. This also translates into enemy variety, which is a bit lacking. You don’t actually have to kill enemies, which I used to my advantage – I started ignoring enemies towards the end, to get the game out of my way. That’s the biggest issue I have with it – it’s a bit repetitive. When the novelty of “cool, twin-stick gameplay” wears off, the game becomes a little boring after a while, especially aforementioned Runt gameplay with its slower pace. At least the game isn’t very long, so it doesn’t turn into a complete borefest.

The game features an upgrade system. During levels, you can pick up little aliens, which act as the game's currency... pretty weird now that I think about it. After each level, you’ll be deposited into an intermission screen, where you can save your game or hit upgrades menu. You can upgrade maximum health, weapon damage, shield recharge, and so on, adding a little bit of depth to the gameplay, which is always appreciated.

There are some boss battles. They are a little inconsistent, and some of them can be easy, but overall they aren’t too bad. The first boss battle presented a surprise difficulty spike. It’s a giant furnace that can suck you in, so you’re required to dash away from it, by mashing your D-Pad, which doesn’t make for riveting gameplay, but otherwise isn’t too bad. Other bosses are a bit more fair, but generally easier. Even the final boss, Abby and Runt sections don’t pose much of a challenge. But the final round with Ace does, with clear patterns to learn, which is cool.

I’ve contemplated about putting Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS above Chicken Little GBA, because I thought the gameplay was cool and kinda fun despite some repetition later on. In the end, I decided that the GBA game is better, due to it’s variety and some interesting ideas (RPG-like Dodge Ball and even Ace gameplay itself with gravitational surfaces and challenging bosses). Still, Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS, even though average, isn’t a bad time. It does have a few humorous lines (the fact that the action takes place in the game within Chicken Little universe is also referenced), the graphics are decent, though framerate can be inconsistent, and the music is mostly solid. Not a bad game, but you can always do better. (Of note is that this game is by the same devs that made Hannah Montana DS, and this game is FAR more preferable than that one)

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore for Nintendo DS is a surprisingly decent action-platformer, which isn’t what I expected going in.

The game is primarily a platformer. You control one of the three protagonist animals. First, you have a dog named Diggs. His special ability is that he can push some crates, so basically a power character. He also has a laser which can be used to defeat some enemies without initiating a QTE. Next, there’s Seamus the Pigeon, who can fly, well, sorta. He has a feather meter, which shows for how long he can fly before slowly dropping down. There are feather items that can extend his flight, which allows to fly higher or further. I found the flight mechanic to be surprisingly janky. Or rather, trying to get off the ground can be surprisingly difficult, sometimes the input just doesn’t register correctly or you get a “jump” that doesn’t get you off the land. It can be quite frustrating. Also, there was one instance where I did combat in air, and after I was done, Seamus just dropped like a brick, even though the feather counter does not decrease during the fight, and it was over an insta-death water no less. Thankfully, it only happened only once or twice towards the end, but it was still annoying. Lastly, there’s Catherine the Cat. She has a double jump and can fight with a stick, initiating QTE with an enemy. I mean, all characters can fight, but I think her weapon is the strongest. The QTE simply asks you to perform a button combo, with each button increasing the stun meter for the enemy, so you can actually stall for slightly longer. The button prompts themselves also have an arrow attached, showing in which direction the button it is, which I think is a nice little detail.

The platforming is fairly standard, though there is a variety of missions. There are standard platforming levels, where you simply get from one end to another, there are “Delivery” missions, where you press X to attach or detach a device to you character, and while the device is attached, you can’t use special abilities such as double jump or initiating combat, so you have to drop an item. There are “Cat’s Cradle” missions, where you have to follow a platform and make sure it doesn’t stay offscreen for too long, basically an autoscroller but IMO these are the most interesting and fun even. On the other hand, there are “Escort” missions. You move from checkpoint to checkpoint, and when you encounter one, you take control of the carrier pigeon that you “escort”. Simply hold up or down to ascend and descend and collect pages floating about if you care for 100%. To be honest, there’s nothing challenging about controlling the pigeon, there are no new obstacles to navigate or anything like that, making these the most pointless. Still, it is nice to have some variety. One thing I appreciate, is that Engine Software decided to let go of the obligatory touch screen gimmicks, as the game has no mini-games or anything that requires a touch screen, which is nice. The touch screen can be used for minor things, but you can play the game just like any regular game with all the buttons.

There are more extras for those feeling up to it. Each level has a set number of chips that can be collected, either floating about or dropping from enemies, as well as three wrenches, and miscellaneous collectibles, such as collars that drop from enemies in "Dog Eats Dog" missions that are focused on beating enemies up. To be honest, I don’t really know what any of these collectibles are for. Maybe they’re used for ability upgrades such as a stronger laser, as you do occasionally get those, or unlocking bonus training missions, but it would’ve been nice to know for sure. There’s also apparently a “secrets” stat for the save file, with each secret unlocking a story board for the film, which is a nice bonus, but again, the game isn’t clear on what said secrets are meant to be. But back to bonus missions, they’re a nice way to get some extra gameplay, and aren’t too bad, though the difficulty is inconsistent, for instance Cat’s Cradle for training 1 mission 5 was legitimately challenging and engaging, but missions in training 2 were generally easy, even though the character dialogue implies the same level of difficulty. Also, after you beat a “world” consisting of 4 levels, you can to unlock a "BONUS ROUND!", which is basically Crash Bandicoot tier stuff. The very first one tasks you as Catherine the cat to platform on explosive crates that detonate after touching them, and it took me a bit before figuring out a proper path with all the collectibles. Other missions can be a bit more straightforward though, again the quality is a little uneven. Then the very last one has you play as Seamus the pigeon, flying above a pool of lava in a spacious room with few places where you can ground yourself, and there are even a couple medals that are very close to lava, so it becomes a challenge grabbing all the stuff. Again, most of this stuff is optional, but it definitely gives this game a more lasting appeal over Aliens in the Attic DS for instance.

Throughout the story, you obtain new abilities for each of the protagonist creatures. Diggs gets shoes that can be used to attach oneself to magnetic surfaces, which is typically ceilings. Neat, but I think it’s a bit of a missing opportunity that there isn’t much in terms of platforming with these magnetic shoes, you could’ve had walls you could walk up or something. Chicken Little GBA had some interesting design revolving different gravitational surfaces, and I wish this game had something similar. Next, Catherine get the ability to roll into a metal-like ball, and all it’s used for is mostly spectacle – you can roll into tubes, which shows a little cinematic view of you traversing through it. Nice shots, but this is basically just a cutscene trigger, and that’s pretty much it. A pretty underwhelming ability. Lastly, Seamus gets the ability of turning invisible. Press down on D-Pad when grounded and you can pass through detection, though you can’t jump. After this ability is introduced, there are more Stealth missions scattered throughout. They aren’t anything special or difficult. Slightly better than the sphere ability, but still. Also, I kind of lied about lastly. Each hero also gains another ability in one of the levels, which asks you to beat it using ONLY those abilities. These abilities use energy meter that refills automatically with time, but there are also energy items that can instantly replenish it. Diggs gets a strong bark ability as a combat option, Catherine in her metallic ball form can charge a roll (or something similar to a spindash in Sonic The Hedgehog series) through enemies and dishes damage to them and destructible obstacles, and Seamus gets the ability to… also dash forward midair, which can be handy for platforming. Again, kind of underwhelming overall if I’m going to be honest.

There are only three bosses in this game, and they get progressively better. The first one features assassin twins, and you’re tasked with QTEing them into one of the pipes, then roll into a ball to enter the pipe on the opposite side, then roll up the pipe the twin is stuck in, and that somehow does the damage. A pretty lame boss that utilizes a lame ability. The second boss is a bit better. You fight against a robot cat named Paws, which progressively loses fur and turns into an actual mechanical abomination, which is cool. As Diggs, you dodge it’s attacks a few times, then combat it into rage, after which you escape through a corridor which is filled with magnetic ceilings and TNT crates for the robot to bump into, making this a pretty cool and sort-of cinematic fight. Lastly, the titular Kitty Galore. You’re tasked with destroying the satellite antenna for the Call of the Wild machine or something, which requires you to platform on moving ferris wheel cabs. The more damage you deal to that machine, the more hazards appear to bump you off the platform in a form of homing missiles, and even including the Kitty Galore herself, who somehow teleports to you to slice you. After which, you deal with the main villain in the good ol QTE combat fashion I described earlier. Though I didn’t find the fight terribly difficult, mainly because of Catherine’s double jump which helped quite a bit to prevent me from falling off, the tense atmosphere and music helped the fight feel more epic.

Onto the game’s aesthetics, the game is developed by Engine Software, which I described in my Aliens in the Attic DS review as “(the company) seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics”, and they show off even stronger in this game. In my opinion, this game has some of the best graphics I’ve seen on Nintendo DS, with good looking 2.5D environments that have a nice amount of detail. The camera is also a bit more dynamic. Here are few screenshots of the game to show it’s graphics: One, Two, Three (I apologize if the quality of the screenshots doesn’t do the visuals justice, but they appear about the same as when I played the game on my 3DS). Unfortunately, this graphical wizardry comes at a cost – the framerate isn’t very smooth or consistent, with some lag scattered throughout. Also, I did notice some environments reused a few times, mainly towards the end. The music is also pretty good. Yet again, it’s Bart Roijmans. To be honest, I didn’t even know this game was Engine Software production, nor that it had Bart Roijmans working on it, this was definitely a random licensed game I picked unlike Aliens in the Attic DS or Ben 10: Protector of Earth DS which I picked intentionally due to his talent. And you know what, it was a pleasant surprise, with some amazing music. I don’t think it’s quite as good as in those two examples, mainly because I think the game could’ve used more tracks since it repeats music for many levels, but it’s still a pretty good soundtrack overall. Additional compliments to the game’s humorous dialogue, I did find a few lines to be hilarious.

Overall, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a surprisingly competent licensed game. I totally expected it to be low-tier trash, but it was actually pretty decent and actually enjoyable at times. It’s flawed for sure, perhaps the graphics could’ve been dialed down for better framerate, some mechanics can be janky, not all missions are created equal, some abilities are lame and other inconsistencies, but beyond that, it has decent platforming with a good amount of variety, replayability and extra content. I can actually see myself coming back to this to try and collect all the items, beat the rest of bonus training missions, and even getting better ranks at all the levels, since they’re graded based on your performance. It may not be truly a generational masterpiece, but a decent “flawed gem”.

The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved the World is the best visual novel that has Pizza, Delivery, a boy, saving the world, and, most importantly, The.

In the market of visual novels where majority go for an Anime art style that is just so cool and appealing (don't get me wrong, I myself do enjoy the cute kind of aesthetic), The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved the World opts for a photorealistic approach, presenting real world photographs for backgrounds, real life people, and of course, realistic pizza ("Pizza so realistic you'll eat your computer" is one of the key features). The visuals presented make for a more grounded kind of read, maybe even relatable to some. Though it does include an element of time travel, which is far from grounded. Anyway, the visuals are interesting, and I do like them overall. Some of the backgrounds look great, and the actors have a variety of poses and emotions, so they aren't boring to look at. The music selection, even though it's licensed and not originally composed, is picked well and I do like some of the tracks quite a bit.

Of course, the visual novel is all (or almost all) about writing, and I did find it enjoyable, with some good cheesy humor in it. The time travel aspect may seem weird, but I found some of the writing to be absurd outside of that, so I don't really mind. I do think the antagonistic group that tried to destroy the internet and rule the world could've been fleshed out a bit more, and shown to be more of a threat, but again, I think the writing is absurd enough in a B-Movie sorta deal that it's not too big of an issue.

However, there are legitimate criticisms to be had. For some reason, the game lacks many basic features found in many visual novels, such as a log to review dialogue that you may have accidently skipped, a fast forward button and any ability to see the key bindings. To be fair, I haven't really seen a Ren'Py visual novel that had an ability to rebind keys or view the defaults, but at least those that I did had the appropriate buttons on the hud for auto, fast forward, log and so on. Actually, the game does have a fast forward, but for some reason it's in the options menu (in this game it's called "Toppings"), not during gameplay, like in other VNs. Also, after playing Cat President - ~A More Purrfect Union~, one of the dev's previous visual novels, they removed the ability to disable HUD with the mouse wheel click, which is baffling. It does have a "Cheese Level" in the options menu, which is always at MAXIMUM and the screen shakes when you try to change it. Amazing.

Overall though, it's a nice slice of reading pizza for an hour or two, with good comedy and unique visuals. If you want to take a break from those cringy/generic anime romance visual novels, this game may prove a nice change of pace, and it's not too pricy, especially on sale on Steam.

By the way, I see the platform options for PS5 and Xbox Series, did this game get native ports or is it backwards compatibility? I'm curious.

I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy the game as much as I wish I did. It was very good at making me rage though. The platforming, on the surface level, is fantastic, with different maneuvers to make the traversal enjoyable, but the level design isn't always good at guiding you, and the mechanics don't feel as polished as they should be. For instance, I wished Faith would grab onto ledges more, because it can be easy to miss the jump and just fall to your doom. C'mon Faith, you should know better jumping from roof to roof. There were also times where the wall climbing didn’t register when I wanted to climb up somewhere, or I got caught onto geometry and started wall sliding when I didn't want to. The annoyances started from the very beginning at the tutorial, where you’re instructed to do a wall jump by doing a 180. In fairness, the move itself is fine, and I don’t remember having any issues with it past the tutorial. However, failing the trick had me rewatch the tutorial cutscene over and over, and it just bothered me. However, the game also introduces the combat, which in my opinion is little fun. Maybe I made the game worse to myself, because I refused to shoot people after taking their guns, as I wanted to be as pacifist as possible, but in the last level, the encounters started pissing me so much that I decided to start shooting people. Still, the window when you can disarm the enemy can be very strict, and the enemy can stagger you, after which you’ll perish quickly. The encounter with the agile person who kept jumping and sliding at you and blocking your attacks also wasn’t very fun, because it felt like a war of attrition, trying to get that window where you can disarm them. Oh, and there was also one quick time event where another guy jumps at you with a pipe, and failing it also felt like a time waste. I think the game should have focused purely on platforming aspect and polishing the mechanics and level design. The game is filled with little annoyances and trial-and-error design, turning it into a mediocre experience (not too dissimilar to Half-Life, a title beloved by many, but I personally am not very fond of).

However, there are some aspects that I do enjoy. I like the somewhat minimalistic graphics, with buildings being primarily white, some areas colored blue and red color used to hint at objects that can be used for a way forward with Runner’s vision (or whats-it). Now, the game is pretty ancient at this point, so I had to fix the physics of the game lagging the game horrendously by updating NVIDIA’s PhysX and changing a few files. Even then, the game did lag on occasion, and I’m not sure why. Still, the game does look visually pleasing. The music is pretty good. I also like the animated cutscenes, again, the artstyle looks interesting, though certain things like Faith’s running animation in one of those can look weird.

Overall, I wish I could say I liked Mirror’s Edge and it holds well, but it annoyed me so much that I wanted it to end. I’m actually thankful for its relatively short run time so I could get it off my disc space. Again, it could be that I made some things harder, skill issue or whatever, but the game just didn’t feel quite as polished or fun as it should’ve been.

PC/Home Console version is a pretty good game, but Madagascar GBA is (rather unsurprisingly) not great. It's a pretty mediocre 2D platformer. You can control 4 of the movie's main characters and switch between them, and each offers different abilities, and some abilities can be unlocked later in the game. After you beat a level, you can come back with all characters unlocked and all their abilities. Interestingly, this is exactly what Caddicarus mentioned you couldn't do in the Home Console/PC version of the game, but you can in this version. The platforming is pretty generic and there's not much variety. One issue is the camera, and how often I got ambushed by a hazard from offscreen, like a spider. Also the game doesn't allow you to pan the camera down to see what's below, which was fixed in Madagascar: Operation Penguin. There's also insta-kills in the form of water, only Gloria can swim, but I wish the game didn't kill you outright but placed you somewhere near and deducted a hit point. I got frustrated a few times because I landed in water that I didn't see as someone else. There are a couple stealth levels that aren't very good, because it's a lot of waiting. At least it features a nice zooming out effect that allows you to see further, I haven't seen any other game do that on GBA. And there are a couple mini-games, a dancing mini-game, that isn't a simple press a button when prompt enters an area thing, instead you have foosa on different platforms that correspond to a button or D-Pad direction, and when foosa jumps from that platform you press a corresponding button, so it's at least something more original, and the mini-game where you kick foosa on different platforms while the lemurs are getting rescued, pretty average. The graphics are pre-rendered once again, though certain things can blend with each other, like how I found metro area pretty distracting and how cacti hazards on the island didn’t stand out much against the scenery. Shin'en did the music, so I probably shouldn't tell you that the music is good. But I will. The music is good. Overall, I didn't enjoy this game that much. It's just kinda bland, though not totally offensive.

Also, this is the second game for the GBA that I know features loading screens, before cutscenes with movie stills, like Madagascar: Operation Penguin, though chronologically this is the first.

Spider-Man 3 for Nintendo DS is a 2.5D platformer beat 'em up, with a sort-of open world element to it. Compared to Spider-Man 3 GBA, the game seems to follow the plot of the movie much closer. I noted that version as one of the best licensed games I've played on my journey, does the DS version hold up as much?

The game includes obligatory touch screen controls where you flick the stylus in different directions or patterns to attack enemies, while D-Pad or face buttons are used for moving around. I think the touch screen controls make this game far clunkier than they should be. Since the combat is fast paced, I end up swiping in different directions for attacks, making these encounters a war of attrition. The game does encourage mixing moves up to avoid repetition (and because enemies would block the same moves) but it's hard to strategize with these controls. The movement is also a bit clunky at first, but its easier to adjust since it's using buttons. I did note the controls in GBA version's review, but at least with that version, I can see mastery of the movement leading to satisfaction and potentially fun speedrunning. I can't really say the same for this version.

I noted earlier that there's an """open world""". Basically, the game's hub is segmented into multiple areas that you can visit and all of these operate in the same side-scrolling environment. As you progress, you unlock races and challenges based on previously beaten levels. There are also hidden collectibles for 100% completion, though they can also be found in regular levels. You can also do crime watches where you beat up bad guys or rescue civilians to normalize crime level. They're optional, but I didn't ignore them, as that wouldn't be very hero-like, as the game puts it. As for the normal levels, they are linear affair. All the objectives are pretty much the same. Beat bad guys, destroy stuff or rescue civilans. Maybe flip a switch to progress further. The level design is nothing to write home about most of the time. The bosses are a little more interesting, most of the time you can't take them head-on, you usually need to find a way to weaken them, then figure out a way to actually damage them, then it becomes routine.

As I said, the game is set in a 2.5D space, the graphics look decent and the perspective is used well enough. The cutscenes are presented in a newspaper article style with moving parts. The graphics themselves look GBA-like. Compared to the GBA version, there’s a bit more story going on. You won’t find Kingpin, but there is Dr. Curt Connors with his Lizard cosplay and detective Jean DeWolfe who asks us to do some chores due to the lack of man power. Yeah, sure. The music is ok. A few good tracks in there, but I didn’t think of It as anything special.

I should note in-game shop that uses hero points. You obtain them by simply hitting baddies and racking up combos, or completing missions, and finding collectibles. In this shop, you can unlock more combat moves and expand Spidey’s health bar. It’s not very difficult to gain enough hero points to get all of the moves and then some. After you beat the game, the cheats are unlocked which are also purchased with dollarydoos. And they’re surprisingly cheap, I had quite a bit of spare change, and still left with a bunch of points left. These range from actual cheats, like invulnerability and black suit always on, which normally requires you to fill the rage meter by beating up enemies and it depletes. There’s even a collectible which is normally obtained only if you have black suit on, so this cheat can aid in 100% completion. Others are cosmetic, like changing all of the city to night time or changing bottom screen’s BG. Lastly, there’s Robot Mode, which replaces all thugs with robots that beep and boop. I like silly cheats like that.

In the end though, I think Spider-Man 3 DS is a mid experience. The controls make this game more frustrating than engaging, perhaps they’re not really fit for a fast paced game like this. I do admire the game’s ambition, but I would rather go with GBA version, even if that version isn’t as content rich, at least it’s more functional and enjoyable. Sometimes, less is more.

The only thing I remember liking about this read is all the options where you can choose to be an asshole. So, the premise is that Nekohime and the gang decide to make a visual novel for the cash cash money (a "Videogame", though Nikohime herself doesn't think visual novels are games, which is reasonable enough). And... um... that's pretty much it. There's probably a conflict in there somewhere, but it's not memorable. The girls sometimes goof off, sometimes do research for their visual novel, but that's all I can recall. It's not that interesting. Not as offensive as The Ditzy Demons Are in Love With Me or Petit Novel Series: Harvest December, but it's just kinda mediocre, and you can skip it. The second game on the other hand... well, I will give it proper attention some day in the future. Nevermind, I was compelled enough to do it this very day.

Aliens in the Attic for Nintendo DS is an action platformer, where you control 3 kid protagonists, Tom, Hannah, and Jake as they fight against Alien invaders.

The gameplay is a mashup of traditional platforming and shooty action. For combat, you have Tom and Jake shooting guns at aliens to dispatch of them. As Jake, you can also throw grenade-like things at enemies which can deal sizeable damage or even damage multiple foes. You can use standard controls, as well as use touch screen for precision aiming, and use up on the D-pad to jump that way. To be honest, I think it’s a bit clunky to have both of these control schemes, as you’ll still need to use some face buttons for some actions which aren’t available on the touch screen, and I don’t find jumping with D-Pad up to feel that good. I think the game should’ve focused on one control scheme or the other and perfected it. Better yet, it would’ve been nice to have a lock-on system, so you wouldn’t really need to use touch screen for aiming. Of course, there are a few other actions relegated to the touch screen, such as gadget and weapon swap, as well as an entire weapon upgrade screen.

More on combat, the game is kind of similar to Contra, you shoot various baddies and stuff. While the game does progressively introduce more different enemies, I feel there’s not much variety in terms of strategy. There are ground enemies, usually it’s just crawling enemies, or tank-like enemies that can spit their own explosive, there are flying enemies where the touch screen aiming can be more useful. Other than that, I can name giant rocket enemies that simply shoot rockets in a straight pattern and take quite a beating to destroy them, and little vessel-like robots that drop explosives, until you come close to them, after which they’ll reveal a gun that can be targeted, and the enemy is destroyed that way, the only really interesting enemy. Other than that, I feel the combat can be a bit repetitive.

You control 3 kids, between each you can swap with L or R. You can only attack with Tom and Jake, while Hannah serves as a platforming utility with her double jump ability and ability to crawl into tight spaces. I thought she would actually get defensive abilities, but no. Kind of a shame, but oh well. As I mentioned earlier, Jake can throw grenades, which is useful in combat. He’s also a power character, and can push some objects, and I think his shots are generally more powerful. Tom on the other hand can use alien gadgets that can be used in combat, and are required for bosses. These range from gravity stuff that can be used to slam enemies into the ground for an instant kill, stunning enemies or using sound waves by utilizing microphone or mashing X repeatedly. These can be handy if you want to rid of enemies quickly, since there are a number of areas where you’re required to destroy ‘em all.

The platforming is alright. I think it falls in the same category as Hotel Transilvania, where the level design is kind of generic for the most part, but it’s not boring. There are optional areas which are a little more challenging to get into, but all they offer are grenades and health pickups, which I usually had in spades. I think the game could’ve benefitted from optional collectibles to make these more justifiable. The only real “collectibles” for 100% completion are adults the kids can rescue. They are usually on-screen for you to find, and there are only 8 of them. Rescuing is usually actually beneficial, as they can give you an upgrade for the weapons. The game doesn’t seem to indicate which levels have said adults, so if you missed any… good luck finding them again. There are normal collectibles, which are bolts that are everywhere, and they also drop from enemies. Every 200 gives you an upgrade point for the guns, where you can attach parts you obtain and they give some kind of boost. There’s a manual in the game, telling what item does what. You can attach parts to the guns, or even change the projectile itself, for example, the default for projectiles is marbles, but using a spring will make them ricochet off surfaces. It also apparently can destroy enemy projectiles and bounce off enemy explosives, which is kind of OP, and makes the game marginally easier.

Of course, being on Nintendo DS, Aliens in the Attic does feature obligatory touch screen interactivity… some of which I already listed earlier. There are occasional doors which can be hacked with a touch screen mini-game. The goal is to spin a rotating thing and roll the appropriately colored orbs into the socket, if you roll the wrong colored orb, time is deducted from the timer. Later on, the thing that can be rotated gains an additional socket, so you have to be more vigilant about rolling correct spheres, though it can also make the process go faster. From what I can tell, losing this mini-game punish you, so it’s basically a time waste. I guess it would be a decent way to spice-up the gameplay, but I wouldn’t bat an eye if this mini-game was scrapped. Or if there were more than this one mini-game, it would be more interesting.

There are multiple bosses in the game, each “world” has a mid-boss and a proper boss. I think the bosses are generally decent, but not consistent. Some of them can take longer, some don’t, some can be frustrating, others not. I liked the spider-looking mid-boss, where the point is to shoot the thing which is always at the top of the screen, and you’re shooting at it, but it also moves upward, and it combines the platforming aspect decently well. One of the more interesting bosses. There’s also a fridge boss, that can suck you inside and turn you into ice. There are rare moments where you can get frozen, mash B to escape the cold cage, otherwise you’ll continuously take damage. The boss doesn’t take too long to beat, but it was an interesting idea. On the other hand, there’s bosses like the second alien boss, the gimmick is to shoot its hand until it… gets exhausted or something. Then you use a gravity device to drop a giant rock onto it to deal damage. This boss just takes so long, and I managed to die twice, which wasn’t very fun. Then, the third alien boss was actually really short, all you need to do is use the audio device to make it angry, and make it smash its hand into conveniently placed spikes. Do this just a few times, and they’re a toast. The final boss is basically a three in one, there’s a size machine that made these aliens big which you need to destroy, but it’s protected, so you need to do something to unlock it, depending on the phase. At first, I was really annoyed at it, the first phase asked you to push a giant explosive crate from the left side of the screen to the right. The problem is that there are regular enemies that can destroy said crate, resetting your progress, and they keep on coming. I was really annoyed, but then I realized that the gadgets are a perfect strategy for dealing with these annoyances, so I kept smashing them with a gravity gadget, and the crate does restore its durability over time if the damage stops. Another good point is that the enemies actually drop health pickups, so it’s not so overwhelming if you aren’t too careless. The boss became far more enjoyable and tense. Overall, the bosses are a bit of a mixed bag, but mostly decent. The music definitely helps.

Speaking of music, aesthetics! Graphically, the game looks quite good, with fairly detailed surroundings, and there’s a good variety in of locations to visit. The bosses are quite large, as well. Engine Software seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics. Just like how Bart Roijmans knows their stuff when it comes to music, gracing us with yet another banger of a soundtrack that sounds high quality for the hardware. It’s even better if we consider how relatively obscure this game is. Once again, I admit I wrote this game down to play solely because it has Bart Roijmans in the credits as a musician (just like Ben 10: Protector of Earth), that’s how good their music is, and this game didn’t disappoint in that regard.

Overall, Aliens in the Attic DS is a decent action platformer. While the combat and platforming mechanics aren’t too special, the game is not devoid of enjoyment. The music is great, and the graphics are solid. Not quite good, but far from a terrible pick on the handheld.

Iron Man for Nintendo DS is a pretty generic Twin-stick shooter. Except, Nintendo DS doesn't have sticks whatsoever, so the game settles for D-Pad for movement and a touch screen for shooting. It sounds like an interesting idea, but I don't think it works as well as actually having two stick control scheme. It can be difficult to aim with touch screen controls and the shots don't always fly the way you want them.

The main criticism I have for this game is it's really easy to take damage, usually because of enemy swarms that you have to deal with. Another main issue I have with the game is all you really do is shoot stuff and enemies. Maybe you'll be on a timer or have to destroy specific something but the gameplay is pretty much the same through the game, and there's pretty much no variety. There are air sections where you move in air shooting stuff and having freedom to move around, and there are a few on-land sections inside buildings, and while there are less enemies, I think these sections are worse because you can't dodge projectiles as easily, because when you shoot you move incredibly slowly. Despite having bullet hell, I don't think this game is terribly difficult if you're conservative with shield pickups that can appear when you destroy a construction. When you lose all your shield, you'll have a backup generator (or a battery, I don't remember), basically acting as a life in any regular arcade game, and you have three of these, at least on default "Hero" difficulty, which is the easiest one in the game. You restore your shield and generators upon transitions within missions, so that's nice at least. There were a few close calls, but I haven't failed due to losing all shield and generators. But I can see some players getting frustrated with this game because it can be pretty overwhelming at times. There are a couple boss fights, a giant vehicle thing that has multiple guns, and again the bullet hell can be overwhelming, and the very last boss, Stane, who is surprisingly easy, all you really have to do is keep behind him and shower him with bullets.

Iron Man besides just shooting normal shots has a few other tricks up his sleeve. First, there are homing missiles, which I used frequently because they can lock onto multiple enemies and deal decent damage, though they are limited and you'll have to seek out rocket bonuses. Iron Man can also summon an energy beam that acts as a powerful attack, but leaves him as a sitting duck, so it's not always useful since you can still take damage. There's also EMP stun that can temporarily stun enemies that are on-screen, and I almost never used that. Mostly because I just forget to use it. Even then, it's recovery time and stun times are trash on low levels, and not that great even after upgrading it. Speaking of upgrading, there's an upgrade system in this game. When you kill an enemy or destroy constructions, you get research points after you beat a mission that can be used to upgrade various stats, such as maximum shield, movement speed, upgrading rockets and so on. These are critical for beating this game, and upgrading shield and combat capabilities is important. It seems like the game encourages exploration for defeating all enemies and constructions for research points, but it can be annoying having to track these things for essentially 100% completion.

The graphics use 3D environments, but the terrain (or the lack of thereof) is not very interesting or varied, so the game ends up looking pretty plain, even inside buildings there's not much. The music (in levels) is some intense super hero sounding music. One of the tracks doesn't loop properly, which is interesting. Aside from that there's not much track variety and I think the music sounds kinda generic.

Overall, I think this is game is just mediocre. The shooting gets a little repetitive, there's enemy and projectile spam, and there's just not much variety. You're doing pretty much the same thing for 8 missions. If you're looking for some shooty super hero action, maybe you should look elsewhere.