Gamer’s Thoughts: NekoJonez’s Top 10 Played Games of 2018

2018 was an extremely strange year for me personally. A lot has happened in the past 12 months both good and bad. I have graduated this year. I’m now a bachelor in Computer Science – Networking. But on the other hand, I have gone through a lot of personal rough patches that did quite a number on my mental health. I’m slowly recovering and the support I’m getting is motivating me, even more, to go forward and get better. That said, I also played quite a lot of games this year. I got a Switch this year and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I also finished and completed a lot of games I started in the past few years so I had a bit of trouble putting this list together. So, for those who are new here, this list contains my 10 favorite games I have STARTED playing in 2018. The release date of the game itself doesn’t matter, what matters is that I started playing it in 2018. Before we get into the actual list, reminder, this list is my personal opinion. So, feel free to discuss it in the comments and also feel free to post your own list into the comments. I’m rather curious. Anyways, this introduction is getting quite long, it’s time to get into the actual list.

Place 10: Angels of Death (Nintendo Switch)

My review

At first, this game would have a higher place on this list. The story and theming of this game grabbed my attention so much, I felt the black hole after finishing this game quite hard. I wanted to spend more time in the world of this game and spend more time with the characters.

I think that my love for the Corpse Party series and the Zero Escape series made me enjoy this game so much more. If you are a fan of either series, I highly recommend that you check out this game.

In addition to that, this game might have one of the best soundtracks I have heard this year. How many times I have listened to it this year, I lost count already. And mind you, I found this game in late October.

Now, why is this game not higher on the list? I praised it quite a lot in my review and I might have given the impression that this game would be my game of the year… Well, it’s because I played another horror game this year that just did that bit more. Outside of that, the short length and gameplay; the game felt like a game I play in between big releases. So yeah. That’s why.

Place 9: Shining Resonance – Refrain (Switch)

Wikipedia

So, back in 2016, I played Stella Glow. I got quite into the story of music playing a big role in an RPG by giving buffs or debuffs. When I found Shining Resonance: Refrain on the Nintendo eShop on the Switch and read that music played an important role as well, I was sold.

When I started to play this game, I got flashbacks to Stella Glow. Even when this game plays quite a lot differently than Stella Glow. This game is more action-focused and in real-time while Stella Glow’s gameplay is more a big puzzle and turn-based.

While I haven’t even come close to finishing this game, I’m quite curious about what else I’ll encounter in this game. I’m at the midway mark of this game but I have been rushing through it. I think that the next couple of playing sessions will be to catch up with various side quests and improving my characters and their equipment since I quite a lot of trouble while battling the last boss.

Now, this game is a port of a PS3 game released in 2014. It’s also a part of the Shining series. If the other games in the series are as enjoyable as this game, I think I might explore this series in the future. Too bad that a lot of games in this series haven’t left Japan.

Place 8: Atelier Rorona – The Alchemist of Arland (Nintendo Switch)

Wikipedia

So, not too long ago, a bundle of three Atelier games got released on the Nintendo Switch. These games are the Arland trilogy. After I figured out what was the first game in the series, I started playing Atelier Rorona.

I was very surprised with the game actually. The game is quite enjoyable to play but it can be repetitive. The game is about an alchemy workshop with a very lazy owner. You play as her pupil named Rorona. When the kingdom orders the closure of the workshop, you get three years to prove the worth of the shop and finish various assignments of the kingdom. If you fail one of these, the workshop closes right away.

Now, what I didn’t know is how replayable this game is. These are so many mechanics I discovered during my first time playing this game, I also found out that there are a lot of various endings to the game. Now that I have beaten the game once, I think I’ll first beat the other two games before I do another playthrough to get an even better ending.

I personally really liked this game but I have to say that this game isn’t for everyone. I recommend this game to everybody who enjoys a more laid back RPG game. This game does have a lot of depth, but overall I found this game a more relaxing experience. That statement might change if I try to go for the other endings, who knows.

In any case, I’m rather curious about what the other two games have an offer for me. Since I’m going to beat those next. And who knows, these games might convince me to further check out the Atelier series, of which there are many… many games.

Place 7: Resident Evil 4 (PlayStation 2)

Wikipedia

When I started playing games like Corpse Party, Fatal Frame and Zero Escape; I knew that one day I’ll have to look into the horror genre. A long time ago, in one of my local toy stores, there was a PS2 booth where a demo of Resident Evil 4 was playable. I think I was 14 years old and while I enjoyed playing the game, I didn’t even know the title nor the impact that game was going to have in the gaming scene. I think I only played the game for like 10-15 minutes in total since the next time I went, the booth was replaced with a demo Gamecube with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

I actually forgot about the game until some of my favorite YouTubers started to talk about it on their channels. Back then, I was more into adventure and puzzle games, so I took note of the name and moved on.

Fast forward to this year. I was browsing the second-hand games in my local game store and I saw a copy of Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 for only 10€. I didn’t hesitate twice. I bought this game and after I came home I started to play it right away. While I was afraid that I would suck at survival horror, I was able to finish chapter after chapter.

I also got quickly used to aiming and firing a gun with a controller. Since that was one of my biggest fears. I tried playing various shooters with a controller in the past and I always had a lot of trouble.

So, because I was highly surprised at how much fun I was having, I felt that this game rightfully deserved a spot on this year’s list.

Place 6: Project Zero II (Fatal Frame II) – The Crimson Butterfly (PlayStation 2)

Wikipedia

So, due to Project Zero V – Maiden of the Black Water last year, I got quite into the Project Zero / Fatal Frame series. But seeing the pricing of getting other entries in the series ranging from 30€ to 60€, I had a hard time tracking down a copy.

To my surprise, around my birthday, somebody brought Fatal Frame I, II and III into my local game store and I was able to buy the three titles for 20€ each.

I started playing all three games to test out if the games worked or not. Yet, when I was testing Fatal Frame II, I found myself not able to stop playing the game. The concept of the story where one sister is always looking for her sibling just spoke to me on a personal level. It was quite tricky to get used to playing this game on the PS2 since I always tried to move the camera while moving the PS2 controller since I was used it that playing the other game on the Wii U.

I enjoy playing this game the most, late at night while I darken my room and turn off the lights so I have only the glow of the TV and the disc spinning in the PS2 to keep my company. This makes the game and the experience that more enjoyable. I can’t wait to boot up my PS2 again tonight and try to make some more progress in this quite enjoyable game.

Place 5: Death Mark  (Nintendo Switch)

Official website

It looks like I was in a horror rush this year. Death Mark is the 4th game on my favorite games of 2018 list. Now, when I wrote my Halloween special on Angels of Death this year, I actually completed the game before Halloween. So, I was looking for a new horror game to play on Halloween and that’s when I found Death Mark on the Nintendo eShop.

When I was looking at the screenshots and reading the description, it felt like a mixture of Corpse Party and the Zero Escape series. A visual novel horror adventure game that throws you in front of a lot of puzzles.

And that’s what the game delivers perfectly. An enjoyable story with multiple outcomes depending on your actions and one that gripped me to the end. While I was able to see some twists coming from a mile away, the pacing and writing the story more than made up for it.

The story is about a mysterious mark that appears on your body when you go to a haunted place and that mark spells death by dawn if you are unable to clear the grudge of the spirit that gave you the mark. So, if you enjoy a visual novel style horror adventure game, I highly recommend that you check out this game.

Now, Japan is getting a sequel/follow up to this game next year.  Now here is my call to the developers, please localize the follow-up game as well. Looking at the screenshots and the teaser, I’m quite interested! And here is my call to everybody who is interested in horror, please give this game a shot and share it around. This game is highly underrated and deserves more attention and love!

Place 4: Blossom Tales (Switch)

My review

I often check the Nintendo Switch store for interesting and unique games. When I came across Blossom Tales, I was sold. The game looked like a well made 2D-Zelda clone and as a big fan of the Legend of Zelda… Let’s just say it was a no-brainer.

And I didn’t regret that decision once. I enjoyed playing this game quite a lot. I felt right at home as a Zelda fan. Also, this game reminded me a bit of the Fairune games. It reminded me how fun that 2D Zelda games are and how much I miss that style of gameplay. I wonder that if we are going to ever see a 2D Zelda game again after the massive success that was Breath of the Wild.  Only time will tell, but for now, I’m happy to see that there are indie game studios that will create games in that style so I’ll always have a game in that style to look forward too.

What I liked the most about this game was the unique way the story was told. A grandfather telling his grandchildren a story since they are bored. That’s one of the biggest strengths of this game. It gives off so much charm and character to the game, for that alone I would recommend that you play this game. And, since we are in the holidays period, the charm is even better!

Place 3: Fire Emblem Warriors (Nintendo Switch)

My review

Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. This game is one of the reasons I bought a Nintendo Switch. I think the praise I gave in my review on this game made it pretty clear that this was one of the best games I have played in 2018.

Honestly, at first, I was afraid that I wasn’t going to like the game. Since I had put so many hours into Hyrule Warriors, I was afraid that I was burnt out on the formula and gameplay.

But Fire Emblem Warriors brings a lot of new and fresh mechanics to the table to make me enjoy the game even more. The only criticism I have about the game is that some parts are a bit too complex and not well explained enough in-game. Everything else is highly polished. Even the trick that Drakalus gave me to improve the frame rate in multiplayer aided quite a lot.

Thanks to this game, I got back into the Fire Emblem series. I think that in the upcoming months, I will start tackling my huge backlog of Fire Emblem games I have in my collection. I have at least 6 Fire Emblem games that I have started but never finished. I think it’s time to change that. This game convinced me that the series has quite a lot to offer and I can’t wait to see which adventures the world of Fire Emblem will bring me.

Place 2: Dragon Quest Builders (Nintendo Switch)

My review

When I saw a trailer for Dragon Quest Builders for the first time, I was hooked. I was disappointed when I learned that this game was going to release for the PlayStation 3, 4 and PSVita. At first, I was considering to buy a PSVita for this game (and Corpse Party Blood Drive before that got ported over to Android)

The game got ported to the Nintendo Switch, so I was able to buy it on the system I bought this year. And I’m glad I was able to play this game. I loved every moment of this game and I’m so extremely hyped for the upcoming sequel. The Japanese version released a couple of days ago. It’s quite tempting to look up let’s plays but I want to keep my experience as spoiler-free as I can.

The only new negative is that I’m unable to play the Terra Incognita mode. Since I have to pay for a Nintendo Online subscription and purchasing that for only that and a few NES games is currently not worth it for me in my opinion. But hey, that’s my opinion.

Honorable mentions

Now, I have played a lot of games and some games deserve a mention but haven’t made it on my list for various reasons. So, before I reveal my “game of the year” / number 1, it’s time for the honorable mentions.
Cleopatra – A Queen’s Destiny (PC), Knights of Pen & Paper (PC/Switch), Darkest Dungeon (Switch), Kamiko (Switch), A Magical High School Girl (Switch), Grumpy Cat (Android),
Etrain Odyssey 5 (3DS), Zack & Wiki (Wii), Steamworld Dig 2 (3DS), Silent Hill 4 (PS2), Telsagrad (Wii U), DuckTales (NES), Age of Empires – Definitive Edition (PC), Devil May Cry 4 (PS2).

Now, I know that a lot of major titles released in 2018 didn’t make it on my list or on my honorable mentions. In any case, I think it’s time to reveal the game I was most hyped for this year and I enjoyed the most. Which game is MY personal game of the year 2018? Let’s. Find. Out.

Number 1 – Game of the Year – Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PC)

My review

So, this experience. This game is my game of the year in 2018. Shadow of the Tomb Raider. When I was planning the Tomb Raider – Writers Raid collaboration, I claimed this game right away. I wanted to write about this game.

While some fans in the Tomb Raider series aren’t a big fan of the reboot since it’s a more action-focused and linear game; I enjoy the new direction of the series. Especially this game. The improved visual style, improved writing, the improved quality of life features… The game is just an amazing way to finish this reboot trilogy.

I seriously hope that this isn’t going to be the final game in the Tomb Raider series. Since I enjoyed myself with this game so much, I can’t wait to see where Lara goes next. Besides that, this year a new Tomb Raider movie got released. That movie I personally enjoyed quite a lot. For a movie based on a video game, I find that they did an extremely good job. I’m not really a movie review but if I have to grade the movie, it would get a 75/100.

Now, why did I enjoy this game so much? Why did I pick this game as my game of the year? For several reasons, the first reason is that this game’s story is the best story out of the three games in the reboot series. I had several moments where I felt the emotions of the characters, the voice actors did that good of a job.

The second reason is that this game is just beautiful. The visual presentation is just amazing. There are various spots where you look out over a huge forest from on top of a mountain or you get other breathtaking views. Now, a few moments had some minor visual glitching or some spots where the game could have look a bit better, but that might be because of my older GPU on my desktop. That might explain various lighting glitches I have in the post-launch DLC.

A third reason why this is my game of the year is that the Tomb Raider series just means a lot to me personally. I’m a huge Indiana Jones fan and I see and I have always seen Lara Croft as a sort of “sister” to Indiana Jones. But Indiana Jones doesn’t get a lot of attention in the video game scene while Lara does get that. So, being able to play games like Tomb Raider… Well, it’s my favorite genre and style of games after all. A mystery adventure game mixed with action and platforming segments.

The only disappointing thing is that I don’t have a physical copy of this game. The PC version of this game hasn’t gotten a physical release. And I feel it would be a waste of money to buy a PS4 or XBOX copy of the game just to have a physical version. But, if you want to know my actual opinion on the game, I advise that you read my review. Since I really detailed my opinion in that article.

So, if you will excuse me now. I think it’s time to wrap up this article so I can play the newly added tombs and story segments.

Wrapping up 2018.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, 2018 was an extremely weird year for me. I even got my articles stolen various times. Outside of that, I had 25,000 views on my blog. This is more than double compared to the number of views I got in 2017.

This inspires me to continue and write even more articles in 2019. I have a few in mind so I hope I’ll be able to welcome you on my blog next year. Blogging is my biggest hobby since I’m able to share my opinion on the games I have played with the world. I’m quite grateful for everybody who reads my articles and leaves comments or talks to me on social media or even in person about my articles and/or the games I have talked about.

I also love it when developers contact me and give me various chances to play unique and fun games. It also helps me to expand my collection and takes makes me even happier.

If I have to pick my favorite blogging moments of this year, I have to say how the community came together for helping me and other bloggers in fighting article theft, the Tomb Raider project and the various milestones I reached like 500+ followers on my Twitter. It’s still the best way to keep up-to-date with me.

2019 is going to celebrate the 9th year I have been blogging. Before 2013, I had a Dutch blog. That means that this blog will be 7 years old next year.

That will mean that 2020 will be an extremely special year for me. But, let’s focus first on 2019. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Speaking of 2019, I think I should talk about the games I’m looking forward to! That’s going to be (one of the) next articles on my blog. So, keep an eye out for that.

With that said, I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

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Gamer’s Thoughts: The struggles of a game blogger

My name is NekoJonez, at the time of writing this article, I’m 23 years old. Apart from writing this blog, my hobbies are playing games (duh), watching anime, going out with family and friends and acting on stage. Also, at the time of writing, I work full-time in the education sector and I also follow evening classes in applied computer science. I have quite a busy and eventful life in my opinion. And I’m enjoying it. All the high and low points. But there are a few struggles I want to talk about, and here they are. Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on them in the comment section down below. 

I have to play a new game each and every week!

Usually, I write about a game every week. And I try to take a look at a different game each and every week. Thankfully, I don’t care if the game is old or not and I also collect games, so I don’t have a shortage of games.

The struggle is in managing my personal life, playing the game and writing the article. It’s not the easiest of things to do in life.

I have to admit, that there are a couple of games I haven’t finished after I had written my first impression. Games like Elebits, Okami, Rachet and Clank and Magical StarSign are a few examples. In the past, I continued playing the game until I had finished it. But now, I stop playing it sometime after I have written the first impression.

But since the start of December, things are sort of changing. I have been playing games I haven’t finished or I have finished in the past. Games like RollerCoaster Tycoon, Hyrule Warriors and Fantasy Life come to mind.

We could possibly start a discussion about how I might be burning out of writing or something along those lines, but the reason is quite simple. I just felt like playing those games again. Trying to finish them up. I made a text file with games I have finished and can review when I haven’t played a “new” game in that week.

In the past, I asked the question if a reviewer can review a game twice. And I want to add a little bit to that section of the article. I think an updated review is possible, but should only be created if something huge changes. For example, a (fanmade) patch for a (very old) game that improves quite a lot or adds a lot of content. Another example is that a game gets an expansion pack that changes the whole game. Or games like Minecraft can be review twice in my opinion. Some updates change the game quite a lot and make old reviews… well, be out of date.

But for my blog, I have made a promise with myself. I won’t review a game twice since I still keep true to this statement from the original article:

But I try to only review a game once. While I replay games from time to time, also the ones I have written about, I think it’ll only create confusion for your readers. Or it would look like you have an article that praises and bashes the game. And that’s not a good idea.

Professional or not?

It’s not the first time I have asked myself this question. Should I go more professional with my blog or not. I have received a couple of emails from ad companies that offered me to be paid for writing my articles.

Currently, I think I will stay the way how I am doing things at the moment. While I would enjoy it when my articles would reach a greater audience, I wouldn’t enjoy writing anymore. I’m afraid that I will loose my passion and my creativity when I go professional. So, I choose to continue to write this blog as a hobby. Oh, and before somebody gets confused, what I mean by “going professional” is that I’m writing this blog for a living. I’m still going to try and make the best content I can make for this blog, no matter if I do it professional or not.

I see my blog as a sort of weekly diary of my gaming life. A lot of people strive to make their hobby their job, but I think that’s not the best thing to do. Since when you get bored with your job, you also get bored in your hobby.

Besides, I don’t want to give up my current job. As a child, I have dreamt to either work with computers, become a teacher or do something with writing. And as an adult, I can tick every box in a sort of way. I’m doing something with my love for writing stories and that is this blog, I’m doing something with computers and that are my evening classes. While I haven’t become a teacher, I work in the education sector, so I have come pretty close. My life is going the way I wanted and like I said in the introduction of this article, I don’t want to have it any other way.

When people from all around the world read my article, even when only 5 to 10 people read my article about a certain game I played, I’m happy. Because I was able to entertain and/or inform somebody about a game.So, I’m even more honored when developers use my contact page to offer me a chance to review their game. It gives me a special feeling inside. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like that somebody thinks that my writing, opinions and such are good enough to take time out their day to email me and give me a chance. So, thank you for all those opportunities.

Also, my biggest fear is that I’m going to burn out on gaming. Since my childhood, gaming has been one of the biggest ways to relieve stress and enjoy myself. It’s an amazing medium to connect with people and enjoy myself with friends and family. It has so many positive memories connected with it and honestly, it’s something I don’t want to loose. Ever. And the reason why I think I’m going to burn out on them is quite simple. Because I will see every game I play as work. Even when it’s not. Also, I’m convinced that game reviewers have to review games that they don’t enjoy and have to put on a face. Or companies pay for a good review to drive sales. And I want to say true to my opinion. Without any censor or editor. I just want to be me and nothing else. And that’s one of the biggest reasons why writing this blog will be a hobby of mine. A hobby that I love doing, I might add.

Conclusion

If I had to say one thing I could try and improve on, I have to say the ending of my articles. Since that’s the part I rewrite the most. I seem never able to close my articles in such a way that I think I wrapped it up.

So, in conclusion, what I tried to talk about in this article is that I might take a look at a game I have played in the past because I tried to finish a game I already reviewed. Also, I’m not going professional with this blog because I’m afraid I’ll loose gaming as a hobby and/or I’ll burn out on it.

In any case, thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this article. Next week will be an article on a game again, so stay tuned for that.

I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care!

My TOP 10 games of 2016 – Part 1: 10 – 6

Just wow, 2016 flew by so fast. I barely noticed that December started. So, it’s time to look back on a great year in my life. 2016 was something else. Both on my blog and in my personal life, a lot of things happened that will make 2016 extremely special to me. In my opinion, it’s one of the best years I had so far. So, this week I want to take a look at the bottom 5 games of my top 10 games  I played this year. Oh, one major footnote here. These games are games I started this year. If I started or played a game in another year, it’s not on my list. Also, since I play a lot of retro games, the games on this list didn’t have to be released in 2016! In any case, enough stalling with this intro. It’s time to take a look at a difficult to make top 10!

 #10: Ratchet And Clank (PS2)

First impression article

Past summer, I took two weeks off from work and I was home alone. In those two weeks; I chilled, updated my blog, worked on some personal things, watched some anime, spent some time with friends and family and above all… I played a lot of games.

My goal was mostly to play the games I had bought in the last years at garage sales but never really gave a chance. One of the best titles I played in that summer was Ratchet and Clank.

This game is a platformer, but honestly, I don’t really like platformers all that much. So, it’s double surprising to me I enjoyed it that much. I haven’t finished the game just yet, but I’m planning to do that in the near future! Also, I heard a lot of good things about the sequels of this game, so I’m looking forward to playing those. Now, I have to look for a copy of the second game in the original trilogy since I don’t own that one. So, I can’t wait to continue to play this enjoyable and charming game.

 #9: Lego City Undercover (Wii U)

Article on the 3DS sequel

Back in 2013, I watched a let’s play of this game. I watched it from the first episode to the last episode. I enjoyed it that much that I decided to go and buy the game… Three years later. The main reason that I delayed my purchase was because I knew all the plot details and I thought that I wouldn’t have as much fun with the game when I bought it. So, three years later, I see the game at my local game shop for 10€ and I thought to myself, why not.

So, when I returned home, I started playing this game and honestly, I enjoyed myself a whole lot. Thanks to the open nature of this game, I can explore and play the game how I want. And I discover new things and have a unique experience.

I’m halfway through the game and I dare to say that this is one of my most favorite Lego games I have ever played. The humor and charm of this game are just so well made, I have a tough time putting this game down. Here and there I play for a few minutes and those quickly turn into a play session of two or three hours. So, yeah. Oh, and during the play sessions of this game, various memories come back of me watching the playthrough. This game is so worth it to play it!

 #8: Rise Of The Tomb Raider (PC)

Link to my review of this game

So, this year a sequel came out of the reboot of the Tomb Raider games. The Tomb Raider franchise is one of my favorite franchises ever made. Since they are an amazing adventure and exploration games. I love exploring caves and having a big kick-ass adventure. It’s one of the reasons why I’m thinking about upgrading my video card.

But this game has personal meaning for me too. I reviewed this game to celebrate my 3rd year of blogging on this blog and my 6th year of blogging.

If you want to know my thoughts about this game, I recommend that you read my review of it. Since I go more in depth on this game in that article.

But this game is one kickass ride and I can’t wait until my desktop is fixed later this month so I can start playing the DLC and finish up this game. But seriously, this game is one of the most kickass games I have played all year. It’s only surpassed by one…

 #7: Mirror’s Edge – Catalyst (PC)

Talking about the original

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is one of the first games that nearly flew under my radar. If I didn’t check the pre-order list in one of my local game stores, I might have missed the release of this game completely.

Now, if you know me, I’m very bad at parkour. So, now you might wonder why I play Mirror’s Edge and it’s sequel. Well, that’s quite simple actually, the gameplay is just amazing.

I have gotten quite far into this game, but then the problems with my desktop started happening. Sadly enough, when your PC shuts down and you haven’t saved in this game, your save file corrupts and you have to start over from the beginning. So, yeah. When I get my fixed desktop back, I’ll surely start playing this game again.

Playing this game gave me a liberating feeling. I started improving my parkour skills and I started to miss fewer jumps. Even outside this game, I started improving in the parkour sections. After I played this game for over 10 hours, I was convinced. This kick-ass game had to get a spot in my top 10 games I played in 2016! So, that’s why it’s here. It’s just a very enjoyable game in my opinion and it gets a recommendation from me!

#6: Rayman Legends (Wii U)

Link to the review

Each year, we do a secret Santa in my family. This game was on my wishlist. Honestly, I had hoped that I got one of the other games on my wishlist. Since this game didn’t interest me that much.

But, when I got it as a New Years present, I was happy and thankful that I got it. But, the moment I started playing it with my friends, then… my whole opinion changed.

The game started to grow on me. The charm, the visuals, the gameplay, the excellent use of the gamepad and the soundtrack are just a few things that make this game great. Honestly, I think that this version of the game is one of the best to play with friends. Since you have two playstyles that perfectly complement each other.

The most fun with this game, I had on my trip to Germany this year. The countless soccer matches we had, the adventure through the whole game, the music levels and so much more. The memories with this game are going to stay with me for a while! So, playing this game is truly worth it!

The end of part 1

Oh yes, the top 5 games I played in 2016 is even harder for me to make. But, you will have to wait until next week in order to find out which ones I think were the best games I have played in this year.

I’m so disappointed that 2016 is nearly at an end. Since this year wasn’t only filled with great games and amazing things for my blog, it was also filled with a lot of amazing personal things. Just scroll through my Twitter feed and you will see why.

In any case, thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing this! I hope to be able to welcome you in another article on my blog. But until then, take care and have a great rest of your day.

 The rest of the list can be found here

Top 10 Wii games I played until now – Part 1

I’m planning to buy a Wii U next month. I have been delaying this purchase for too long. Another thing I have been delaying for too long is my article of my top 10 Wii games I ever played. Here is a bit of shocker. The Nintendo Wii is the first console I ever owned. Yes, I never owned a SNES or anything among those lines. I grew up on the Nintendo handhelds and various PC games. Now-a-days, I have a PS1 / 2, Wii and SNES. So, I can play some games I missed out upon. In any case, this list is my opinion and is based on the games I have played. I hope that the title made that clear enough. Feel free to make a comment with your favorite games on the Nintendo Wii. And as usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the content of this article. 

 

#10: Pandora’s Tower

This is one of the latest games I have started playing on the Wii. But it’s one of the best action adventure games I have played in a long while.

It mostly reminded me of a mixture of the Castlevania, Zelda and Metroid games. It also blew me away that the story of this game went quite deep. I honestly felt that it didn’t feel at home on a family friendly console. I always pictured the Wii for games that the whole family could play, but I have been proven wrong by this game.

The writing is excellent. Which shouldn’t have surprised me to be honest. xSEED games worked on this title. After seeing their work on the Corpse Party series, Zero Escape series and this game… I have high expectations of this game. It’s not letting me down.

I got interested in playing this game after I googled for new Wii games to play. (It also gave me the idea for this article. So yeah.) I also learned that recently this game has been re-released on the Wii U eShop. This is a big reason for you guys to go to your Wii U and give this game a shot. I have only played the first hour of this game and I like it that much that it deserves a spot in my top 10 Wii games.

If you like action & adventure games in the style of Zelda, Metroid and Castlevania this game is one that you don’t want to miss!

#9: Lost in Shadow

This game is based on something every kid did. Playing with shadows. Your fingers were Mario (or Sonic, depending which fanbase you were at in the past) who jumped from object to object.

A company that I thought didn’t exist anymore made this game: Hudson. Sadly enough, this is one of their last titles before they went under almost a year later. It’s quite a shame to see since I would have loved to see more games of them. But hey, we were talking about this game right…?

In this game you play a shadow that got separated from it’s body. Your goal is to get your body back. This game is a platformer that could mess with your mind if you play it for the first time. Since most of the action is actually taking place in the background. In some occasions you can jump to the parts in front to solve puzzles.

Also, I like how each dialogue part, each tutorial and each save point makes your shadow heavier. I haven’t gotten far enough into the game to know if this makes a change or not when you beat the game.

#8: Kirby Epic Yarn

The spin-offs of Kirby are always very creative and set standards. This game even got a spiritual sequel under the name of Yoshi’s Woolly World. In this game, they got rid of Kirby’s signature ability to suck up enemies. Oh, this mechanic was introduced in the 2nd game. The one on the NES.

In this game, you have to mess around with the background in some places. Which makes for some rather unique puzzles.

At it’s core, this game is a platformer with some on rail shooter sections. These on rail shooter sections are the parts where Kirby turns into a firetruck or a spaceship.

As you would expect from your usual Kirby game, this one isn’t too challenging. Once you know what to do and where to go, it’s rather easy. The tricky part comes in the bonus challenges. I remember them to be rather hard.

The visual style is something different. I seriously enjoyed my time in the Yarn World. Truth to be told, with the mechanic where you couldn’t die, this Kirby game was the most relaxing game I have ever played. When I came home from a busy day at work or when I just needed to relax, this game got me to the right state of mind each and every time. Only the Zelda games get me to that state of mind, so this is that exception on the rule.

I’m curious if the Yoshi sequel will have the same effect on me. So, I have Yoshi’s Woolly World on my “To buy” list for sure.

#7: PokePark Wii 1 & 2

So, this game is an adventure game with mini games mixed in. It was rather though for me to pick my favorite, so that’s why I decided to put them both on the 6th place. The first game set a fun standard for an interesting Pokemon spin-off game.

This game isn’t one of the best spin-offs. I can understand that this game is kind of “boring” for some people. The reason for that is that it’s repetitive. I’m one of the Pokémon fans who actually enjoyed this game. It was something different from the usual battling and collecting gym badges. I also have a weakness for games that try something different.

I have fond memories of the story of these games. It’s a story that underlines the power of friendship. Not once, but at least twice. The story made me smile many times.

The sequel came a little bit after Pokémon Black & White got released. And guess what, the main characters in those games are the Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Black & White. While I enjoyed the sequel more then the original… Like I said earlier, both games are equally as good. They are both worth it if your child or young relative is into Pokémon and has a Nintendo Wii. This is a perfect gift for the upcoming holidays!

#6: Metroid Other M

The amount of hate this game received for some story mechanics…. Well, honestly, I see where it comes from. This game isn’t perfect, I can agree with that. But the gameplay is anything I wanted from a 3D Metroid game. It even has some 2D elements that work perfectly for this game.

I haven’t finished this game and I really should. I was first putt off by all the bashing this game got on the internet— Actually, let’s try to not bash this game and look at it from another angle. Is this game actually fun? Well, if you haven’t figured out the answer to that question… I wonder if you have read the title of this article. 🙂

This game actually proves that shooters can work on the Wii. I have tried the Call Of Duty games on the Wii, and believe me… I pick this game over those anytime of the day.

I’m not going to talk too much about this game since I’m planning to write a more indepth article of this game in the future. So, I’m saving up my opinion for when I write that article. For now, I’ll say to you guys and girls that this game is a mighty fine game to play and it would be a shame to overlook it. Be ready for some amazing battles and an interesting story. Yes, I liked the story in this game. I personally think it was written quite well.

Wrapping up

So, I think it’s time to wrap up this article. Next week I will talk about my top 5 Wii games. I’m quite sure that some titles will come as no surprise.

Truth to be told, this list was quite hard to put together. The main reason is that I haven’t played that many games on the Nintendo Wii. Consoles don’t interest me that much since I play more (3)DS games and PC games. But writing this article actually made me willing to play on my Wii again. And yes, this might mean that in the future, I might write more articles on Wii games.

It also has been a long time since I played most of these games on my list. I actually wrote the parts out of memory without looking anything up. Since I think that the power of your memory makes articles like these even better. If a game deserves a spot in your top 10, it should leave an impression on you that you won’t forget anytime soon. But if you think that made the quality of this article not that good, feel free to let me know.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to welcome you next week where I reveal my top 5 Wii games and my honorable mentions. Until then, and take care.. Oh, and game on of course~!

Update: Part 2 is here

First Impression: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Fatal Conspiracy (PC) ~ Ah, CSI.

Wikipedia entry

Lately, I’m getting quite a lot into the series of CSI. I’m currently watching the original series to the end. Then the spin-offs. But the games, oh man, the games are something special. Published by Ubisoft and developed by TellTale Games. This game has mixed reviews all over the board. I have seen reviews ripping this game a new one and I have seen reviews praising this game. This is the latest PC game that came from the series. I have beaten the first two cases and I just started the 3rd case. Is this a good game in my opinion? Is this a game made for fans of the series or can it be played by everyone? Well, I took a look from both angles. So, I won’t get the criticism that I gave this game a positive review because I’m a fan of the series. So, let’s dive right into this game. And as usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the content of this article and or the game. 

TellTale made this

It’s quite clear that TellTale games made this game. The formatting is just like their other series. The game is 5 cases long. During the game, you get another partner every time. What seriously amazed me is that the characters from the show actually did the voice acting for this game.  This give me goosebumps. One of the goals of these games is trying to give you the feeling that you are part of the team. The voice acting helps a lot with this.

The writing is done on a very clever way. Some lines are left out. Information your brain can easily fill in. Questions you would ask if the game was voice controlled. This helps draw you in a bit more too.

Storywise, this game starts off quite interesting. The idea of having a storyline over the whole game instead of having five separate stories makes it very interesting. The only minor complaint I have here is that the pacing is a bit off. It distracts a bit from the case in my opinion. Truth to be told, you can’t avoid it.

 The individual cases are quite interesting. But they aren’t my favorite cases from the series. They are good but my favorite cases are from the second game in the series.

Why is it bad?

Visually, this game doesn’t look that well. This game has been released 5 years ago. I know for a fact that visually, games can look way better then this. Tomb Raider Legend, which released 4 years prior, looked way more cleaner then this game.

So, I played a little bit more of the game and found some blurring issues. It would surprise me if my computer is at fault here. I’m extremely sure it can run this game three times without slowing down my computer.

But for a licensed game, visually this game looks quite fine. Some things could have been animated to look a bit better. So, after closer inspection (see what I did there) the issue with the visuals is that some things like hair aren’t animated which giving the visuals a bad impression to a PC gamer. Thankfully, in an adventure game the graphics aren’t the priority. The actual adventure is a bit more important.

One thing I find a negative in this game is that you can’t walk around. In a previous installment, you were allowed to walk around on the crime scene. I was hoping they implemented this again. But now, it’s back to the old point-and-click interface. Which is quite fine by me, expect for one flaw. In the game you are scored on how thorough you are. A visual indication for this would be nice, there have been various times that I was searching on a spot that was actually clean. They did this in the previous installments.

Another thing I don’t understand is that they cut the lab into two area’s. It’s rather annoying when you need to switch between the two places. Also, it’s annoying to see a number showing with the evidence. I can understand that it’s to help you remember that are is something that needs your processing, but you have no visual indication which item you still need to take a closer look at. That number also doesn’t decrease when you investigate it with the proper machine.

Oh, I talked a bit earlier about the lab. Some instruction videos actually didn’t work and it played part of the intro for this game. This is the weirdest bug I have seen for quite a while.

The GUI (graphical user interface, the menus and such) in the lab is a bit lacking. In the past it was easier to switch between evidence. Now, you need to restart before you can continue.

Yet, the worst two issues is that you can barely alt+tab out of the game. Your screen will show some weird bars like a smashed LCD screen. And related to that, sometimes the sound cuts out on a scary way… as your headphones just popped.

What is good…?

Apart from the visuals, I find barely any major flaws, apart from some nitpicks here and there, in the game. The soundtrack in this game feels a lot like the series. Music that won’t go to your music library but is perfect to set the mood.

The design of the crime scenes and the locations you visit are well thought out. The “hiding spots” for the evidence are sometimes so well hidden, it’s easy to look over them. This is very lovely, since this gives the game a more challenging nature.

Also, there are achievements in this game. For the people who want to 100% this game, this is some replay value. You can try to avoid making the mistakes you made in the first playthrough.

The tips system is more streamlined. Sometimes you get mails from the night shift supervisor telling you what you should do or might overlook.

Is this game perfect? Hell no, it has some flaws that might hinder the experience. Is it good? Yes. Is it for everyone? Not really. I would recommend it to fans of the series and adventure gamers. I would also recommend it to people who like to solve crimes, virtually or in the real world.

If you are able to look past a few minor issues, this game is quite well crafted. When the developers had a bit more time, this game could be a bit better polished. That’s all I have to say about this game in my first impression. If I finish it, I might write a review about it and go a bit more in depth about certain area’s of the game.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this for you guys (or girls). I hope to welcome you at another article. But until then, have a nice day and game on~

First Impression: Boom Blox (Wii) ~ Demolishing with Strategy.

Wikipedia entry

If you haven’t noticed by my nickname (NekoJonez), I’m a huge fan of Indiana Jones. When I found out that the director of that movie series had his hand in a puzzle game, I was interested. I started searching for it, but everywhere I found it… It was a bit too expensive to my taste. And when I found it cheap second hand, the disc was too damaged to play the game. Yet, everything changed when my sister called me a few days ago. She found a copy on a yard sale for 10€ (~ 11.5 USD) She called me up and I said she could buy it for me. When she came home, I popped it in my Wii and started playing it. So, what did I think of it? That’s the reason why I wrote this article. And as usual, feel free to write a comment with your thoughts on this game and/or the content of this article. 

More than just destroying

This game has a story mode. When I started playing this game and came across the story mode, I was surprised. The story isn’t over the top or just dumb, it’s silly and it works perfectly for a causal game of this kind.

I won’t talk about the story that much since I haven’t played it enough to give a proper comment on it.

What I love the most is that the gameplay is extremely simple, yet very addictive. Other reviewers describe it as “try to get a structure to fall over”. Which is only half of it. Some levels in this game are more a puzzle where you need to pull blocks out carefully so that some blocks don’t fall to the ground.

Some blocks give you negative points and they are extremely nicely placed in certain puzzles. This game can be extremely difficult and will be challenging. Thankfully, this game teaches you the ropes before it gets too difficult.

You have so many different modes in this game, it pleases me. From you tossing a block around with a sticky hand or throwing balls… It’s all great fun. Each mode has its own challenges. But the game can get “nasty” on you. In one level I had to defend a castle and they surrounded spawn points with bomb blocks which were close to the castle I had to defend in the first place.

Presentation

If the designers of this game reads this article, you guys and/or girls deserve a pat on the back. This game is eye candy and it’s extremely charming. The actual attention to detail is well done.

Also, I love it when you miss a throw and the blow continues flying in the background… well, the audience will jump away from the ball. Or when you manage to hit an audience member, they will do the same animation as a single block being hit.

The animation of this game, well, that’s a hard one. There isn’t that much animation in the game when you compare it to different games. The falling and flying of the blocks is really well done, it would be a shame if it wasn’t.

I have only one complaint with the presentation. It might also be with the controls. The button to advance the menus has a function in game. It caused some accidental throws.

Also, during my playthroughs, I missed an option to bring up how many throws would give you gold, silver or bronze.

So, now that we moved on to controls; well they are pretty good. Apart from not registered throws, I didn’t have any game breaking issues with it.

Multiplayer

Some modes I haven’t tried out yet. There is a multiplayer mode in this game, which makes the game that more interesting. Without looking it up or anything like that, I guess it’s either random mini-games or you trying to compete in puzzles to get the highest score.

The other modes I haven’t tried out yet are some puzzle modes. Since I was mostly interested in the sticky hand one and the one where you had portal blocks that disappeared when you hit them.

Like the coluorful and happy visuals, the soundtrack and sound effects are happy and enjoyable. They put you in a really amusing mood and really help to set a nice and light-hearted atmosphere.

I didn’t want to say this, but I think I have to mention it. Did you guys know that this game was made by EA? I don’t play a lot of EA games since most of the games they produce aren’t in my genres I play often. Yet, I beg you EA, bring this series back one day. It’s underrated and it should be more in the spotlight.

Before I forget to talk about it, the physics engine is the star of this game. Since I learned how to write some basic code, I am always amazed by how games like this work under the hood. How gravity is programmed into the game. The gravity in this game is really well implemented. I wish I could see this game with Wii Motion Plus, but alas. This game was released before that.

So, that was everything I wanted to talk about in this first impression. While it’s a bit shorter then usual, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you in another article, but until then, take care~ Jonez.

Review: Fantasy Life (3DS) ~ Joyful RPG at it’s near finest.

Link to the Wikia – First Impression article

And the award for the most generic title goes to… Fantasy Life… Wait, what? I’m copying my buddy’s latest article title and making my own joke out of it? Oh sorry, I’m sure he won’t mind. I have been delaying this review again and again. But after nearly putting 75 hours into this game, I think it’s fair for me to review it. While I haven’t completed it 100%, I am already far beyond the point of beating the full game and the DLC story. So, without me reading the first impression article, this is the taste this game left in my month. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion of the content of this article and/or this game. 

Story time

So, one of the weakest points of this game is the story, apart from the DLC story. But don’t read me wrong: the story is solid and the characters are memorable. The huge issue is that thanks to the 12 different paths you can take, there are so many. Too much even for my young brain to remember. On the other hand, this makes each life unique with different characters and personalities.

The main story is a bit generic. It stands out in it’s writing, though. That’s extremely well done. People would easily skip over the story since it’s one you have experienced before: save the world. Yet, when you actually take the time to enjoy the story, you will be pleasantly surprised with it’s well done execution.

This is one of the first Level5 games I played where there is no voice acting. Well, apart from the few grunts from enemies, but I can’t comment on that.

So, let’s move on to the DLC. It truly expands on the main game nicely. It even adds more story and expands the game in nearly every area. The DLC is truly worth it, because the story alone has such a perfect ending, it actually touched me and made me laugh. Just the way how it’s written… Amazing.

All right, enough said about the story of this game. Let’s dive right into the other parts of this game. First of all, the sound design and music.

Just that

The music and sound design is good. Just that. Good. It isn’t bad, nor is it great. It helps to immerse yourself into the game, but I don’t see myself listening to the soundtrack on my mobile any time soon.

While I think Level5 generally makes great scores for their games, some tracks got annoying to me. “The theme of intrigue” is an example of a track I don’t like. While the “Theme of Courage” is such an amazing track and really hyped me up.

Also, the enemies don’t have a distinct cry. Well, not all. And in my mind, this is a really big issue. Some enemies start to feel bland, generic and cut-outs. Some enemies have some nice sound effects, but not enough.

For the sound design or music, it isn’t worth it to get yourself a headset to enjoy it. As I said earlier, it’s good, but it won’t be memorable. Some tracks are catchy and I remember some battles but that mostly wasn’t because of the sound and music design. It helped, but it wasn’t the most important factor.

The design of this game is something that is actually really well done. Apart from one major issue I will talk about later.

The game world looked bright and colourful or dark and gloomy when it needs to be. They give off the right atmosphere and the area’s are pretty well crafted. The animation looks crisp and neatly done. Some could argue that due to the overload of dialogue some voice acting would benefit the game, but the animation does such a nice job that the voice acting isn’t really needed.

So, about that major issue I had with the design. Well, it is something I feel really mixed about. Visually, it looks lazy… but game design wise, it is a great move. Some enemies, like the spirits, return in various area’s, but they have just a different colour. Looks lazy right? But on the other hand, in some lives, you get the quest to kill a certain amount of some enemy. This makes finding that enemy in later area’s much easier.

Oh, and one minor design flaw is that it’s sometimes really tricky to read an enemy’s name. Because if you come too close, the target marker pops up above their head.

The other parts

So, in my first impression I think I touch upon the controls. They are quite well done. Apart from the mercenaries life. They are quite flawed. It’s really unclear how you pull off certain moves in that life. Sadly enough, you need to do them in order to finish that life. “Press 4 times A”. Ehrm, I tried it and I wasn’t always able to pull off that move.

I still find it very remarkable that they made such a neat looking and easy to understand interface to display while you have some much content to offer. A nitpick I have is that the bounty clerks are sometimes too far apart.

The main story and the DLC story will take you around 15-20 hours to complete. Nice length. But the game can be a lot longer then that! You won’t be able to complete each and every life in even double the time. I have played this game for over 60 hours and I only fully completed one life.

The difficulty of this game is decent. While some area’s present some challenge, I barely died in this game. The game is also very forgiving in that regard. When you die, you can either revive (if you have a Life Cure) or go back to the nearest check point, or go home. You loose nothing. Also, when you are trying to mine a major gem later in the miner’s life… When you run out of SP, you can stop mining and drink some potions. When you then continue to mine the gem, the gem didn’t heal enough to loose that much of your progress. You aren’t able to do that in the fishing life and that’s one of my other nitpicks.

Before I wrap up this review, let’s talk about some of my other nitpicks. One is that some lives play similar to each other. While they are different and require a different play style, they can give off the same vibe. Mainly the crafting lives, they are all quick time event based. The animation is different, but the core mechanic isn’t.

Talking about crafting lives, the menu system is a bit flawed here. You aren’t able to see your quests when you start working.

The next nitpick is one that annoys the heck out of me. Certain lives have a dedicated shop. Like the carpenter and the woodcutter have a dedicated shop. But when you want to craft all the carpenter items, they won’t sell all those items in that shop. This means that you run around sometimes to get each and every item.

The next nitpick I have is that Flutter and your pets can only be accessed in one house: your starter house. Maybe I haven’t unlocked it through the bliss system, but I don’t think you will be able too.

So, the game is a nice experience but flawed. It’s really addictive and hard to put down for the people who enjoy these kind of games. But it lacks some polish. That also shows in the map. You can’t control the map at all. You can have an overview of the map, but you can’t see where all the shops are located.

Well, I think I talked about everything I wanted to talk about in this review. Time to wrap this one up.

Conclusion

The bad;

– While the writing is excellent, the story is one we have seen in different games a million times over. (Apart from the DLC one)

– The music and sound could have been done better.

– The game is overall too easy.

– The lack of bounty clerks in some area’s.

– Some small issues can hinder the experience and make it irritating.

The good:

+ Amazing visual world.

+ 12 different play styles to enjoy.

+ You can switch class when you want.

+ Very neat UI.

+ The character creation has a lot of features.

+ The animation is extremely well done.

+ Addictive.

+ …

Conclusion

So, is this game worth playing? If you enjoy games like Harvest Moon, Tomodachi Life or anything similar, odds are you feel right at home here.

The characters are memorable but they suffer from a weak(ish) story. The writing is funny and won’t get boring, but they also suffer from the weak story.

This game lacks some polish. While the game has a lot of polish in certain area’s, not every part of this game has been polished enough. This is one game that could have benefited from a bit more development time.

Be warned when you play or start playing this game, it’s difficult to put down. I haven’t played many other games for over a month because I wasn’t able to stop playing this game. It truly took me be surprise how fun it can be.

I love this game, I think it’s near perfection. But the reviewer side of my character disagrees and sees the flaws in this game. It isn’t perfect, but it’s near its finest form.

So, that wraps up my review of this game. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. (and playing the game in order to write this review.) And I hope to meet you another time here on my blog, but until then: take care and game on~

Score: 85/100

Review: Barbie – Secret Agent – Royal Jewels Mission (GBA) ~ Girl’s Game?

Gamespot entry

I can smell the comments already. I’m going to put my reputation on the line here. Oh, this review is going to be so much troll bait. You know what, I’m not to give a single care. Not only do I want to open my GBA month with a blast of an article, I want to prove something with reviewing this game. Since I got it so busy, I’m saying that the GBA month will last until roughly the end of November. I’ll write a Tumblr update soon to update my schedule. Anyway, let’s get serious. I’m going to review a girl children game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. I’m going to make it even better. Furthermore, I have beaten this game in my childhood, and I wasn’t ashamed of it at all. There is a reason why I approve my comments, to only accept the serious ones. Don’t worry, the troll ones on this one will be deleted. A moderated comment section has benefits. Yeah. As always, feel free to leave a relevant comment in the comment section underneath this article. 

Kids game

This game was originally owned by my sister when she was younger. Back then we couldn’t buy so many games, so I played every game I could get my hands on. My sister and I were playing this game together. This game is memorable to me because I have such fond memories with my sister playing this game.

But why would I be interested as a boy to play a game clearly meant for girls? Well, the subject material does a lot here. Why do boys want to be a superhero? Because that’s something that interests a lot of boys. Being a secret agent gives you that vibe of a superhero and to me, it doesn’t matter that it’s a girl’s toy.

The story isn’t anything to write home about, it’s as basic as a children game can get. But it does get one job done, it draws kids in. It gives a sense of purpose to the game. Thanks to the story we also visit different locations around the world, and it gives some great variety in the locations you visit in the game.

Discs

Tutorials, it can be such a pain. But this children game got it actually right. The first level is amazingly designed that little children learn to play this game with ease. You first start with a couple of jumps. Then the game hides the game mechanic that will drive children to explore the levels. In each level there are a certain amount of discs hidden. Getting all the discs will unlock a secret.

It never gets to explain what the secrets do. At first, it looks like a simple costume change. But it goes much further than that. Do you want to know what, well give the game a try? It’s worth it.

The goal of each level is trying to look for the exit. There are several levels ranging from England to China. Each level has various stages. So, this game isn’t a short one either. It doesn’t have a saving system, but it does have a password system. So, with this the developers avoid the flaw of having kids save over the progress of the file of their brother or sister’s.

In the later stages of the game, you will be asked to use your gadgets creatively. When I was replaying this game to give it a second look, I did get a challenging time here and there. Yes, even as a 21-year adult. When you aren’t clever, this game can catch you off guard quite easily.

A negative of this game that I remember are the mini-games in the final levels. It is the mini-games at the start but sped up to a crazy speed. So, you will need less skill and more luck. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this game has mini-games. These are used to open gates and locked doors.

The other thingies.

This game controls pretty well. It’s fluid and responsive. You will need that because this is a stealth game. The controls are really straight forward. Logical, a kid needs to figure it out.

Visually, this game looks pretty nice on the Game Boy Advance. I have seen screenshots from the PC version of this game and the visuals of this version are quite better. They aren’t anything groundbreaking, but they do the job quite well.

Earlier I said that the controls are great. A big part is the animation. Like I said for the graphics, it’s animated like a typical GBA would. This is actually a benefit of the game.

I want to address one final point of this game before I end this game, and that’s the music. Long time readers know that I can talk in great detail about the music of games. I even write a series about it. But there are low chances that the music of this game will appear on those lists. The reason for that is that it’s mediocre. It fits the mood and style of the game, but it isn’t memorable. I have a hard time remembering tunes from the game.

And with that said, it’s time to go to the conclusion.

Conclusion

The bad:

– Mediocre soundtrack.

– Mini-games are more annoying in the final levels.

– Weak plot, yet good enough to draw in kids.

The good:

+ Fun gameplay.

+ Rewards that are worth it to explore the level.

+ Different level styles. 🙂 (That’s something else for you to discover when you play the game.)

+ Great controls.

+ Password system.

+ Nice visual design.

Final thoughts:

So, if I haven’t proven my point yet; I think I will have to actually literally say it. This game is quite amusing. It isn’t the best game out there, but it’s better than you might think. It’s not just a game that you give your young daughter to enjoy herself. Likewise, it’s a game that can be enjoyed by young and old.

While the younger audience would be more engaged by the story and setting of the game because they have the more child fantasy, the older audience can find their enjoyment in the great level design and fun game that is presented.

This game might have some flaws, but the flaws aren’t game breaking bad. When you put aside the “Barbie games are for girls” mentally and remember in the back of your mind that this game has some flaws but is very enjoyable, you won’t regret it. Give this game a shot and try to remember what I said in the review. Hopefully you will see that this game is actually well crafted.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading this first article of the GBA specials. I hope to see you in another article. But until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Score: 70/100

CreepyPasta: You should have been playing. (Written by: NekoJonez)

As a hobby I maintain my own blog, forum and YouTube channel. For that I have made a Facebook page and people could request to join.

Writing is something that interested me since the beginning. When I discovered those horror stories about bewitched games and hauntings of cartridges my attention was caught right away. I watched a lot of video’s, read a lot of stories and enjoyed every second of them. Maybe with the help of some shameless advertising, I even made a few comments.

One day, a girl that wasn’t part of my forum wanted to join the Facebook page. I checked her profile out. She was pretty hot in my opinion. That aside, I checked her profile out to make sure it wasn’t a cover for some advertiser or some fake profile. And I accepted her. It didn’t take long before I got a friend request of her. I thought that she followed my links while reading my comments and to further spread my content, I gladly accepted the friend request.

After a week, we talked a lot over Skype and Facebook chat. Man, did we have a fun time. We also played a lot of games together. From Minecraft to Corpse Party. The single player games we played in screen share. Or we used something along the lines of TeamViewer. That depended on the resources the game asked to avoid lag.

But sadly enough, my holidays were running short and I had to go back to school. She was bummed out. She didn’t go to school anymore and she had nobody else to play games with. I felt sorry for her and I tried to spend my free time with her.

Winter arrived and I went out of town for a week. Enjoying my ski-trip with my classmates. Man, the teachers and we looked forward to it. But in the middle of it all, I realized that I forgot to inform her of all this. I shook it off, hoping that she would read it on my blog or the forum where I mentioned it several times. I didn’t need to be scared then… well yet.

When I arrived home, I hoped that she was online. Sadly enough she wasn’t. Yet her profile changed. It was much more filled with darker imagery. I rolled my eyes. I kept telling myself that it was another one of those times that she went obsessed with the games we were playing. And since we were recently playing horror games and games with a dark tone it didn’t came as a surprise to me.

But then strange things started happening. Thankfully nothing like “ultra-realistic blood” or “loud noises and freezing computers” like you read in many of these stories. Just something really scary. It started when I booted up my 3DS to play some Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. I found out that my capture device wouldn’t go out of my 3DS. I rolled my eyes and said to myself that it will be find. Maybe my desk was jamming the cable or something. I just wanted to play since I didn’t play the whole trip. Exciting.

So, those weird things. Yeah, those happened when I started my copy of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity. My savefile was completed. Everything was there, the whole story finished, all Pokémon captured and raised till the highest level. And the completion time was 12:12. I was confused. Did my little brother play on my 3DS? Could be, but finishing my game…. Nah, I can’t believe that. He didn’t know where I hid the charger.

I closed my 3DS and placed it away for the moment. I started up Minecraft to put my mind on something else. When I see that I can’t connect to the internet. I got irritated since I didn’t want to look like the default Steve. But my mom told me that it’s because a cable snapped in the garage that gave power to our router. My dad was out getting a new cable so I had to wait a bit for it to return.

I started up the world me and she had been playing the whole time. But when I entered the world, I found a lot of signs. Signs of one of her pranks I thought? But all signs said the same: “You should have been playing.” All of them. They were everywhere. Well, to be fair on all the places I had yet to finish building. And believe me or not, all parts where indeed finished.

I closed Minecraft. Another thing finished? Odd. And I can sit here the whole day talking about the other strange things I saw. But everything comes down to the same idea. Every game we played, was finished. To the max. And every game had a hint that I should have been playing.

I didn’t want to continue playing those games. I got scared. What sick prank are they pulling on me? Every game was finished. Who of my forum or my community was that bored to do all of this? I started up the last game we played together. Scared what I was about to find. It was a hacked version of Corpse Party some people on the internet made. It was a simple translation hack to make it in our native language.

But the final cutscene played when I booted it up. “We came home. Without the help of User-Laptop! He should have been playing.” Then I started to laugh uncontrollable. So, somebody just wrote a script that hacked my savefiles to 100% and he made a mistake there where he or she pulled my computer name and tried to use it as my normal name. “Hah!” I thought to myself. I was so glad that I took that name as pc name now. So glad that my laziness when I reformatted my laptop months ago pays off now.

Yet, it didn’t end there. A new chapter was unlocked. “Absence of friends.” I smiled heavily. I love Corpse Party a whole lot and new content, count me in. This would have been such a great distraction from this prank. I thought.

I explored around and when nearly finished the chapter, I found an empty-ish room. There was only a bed, desk with a computer and some other things. Well, in short, it looked like a bedroom. One I recognized. It was her bedroom. She once showed it to me when she turned her cam on at Skype. I was confused. Scared of what was going to happen, I saw there was a body on the floor. I stopped in my tracks. A connection in my brain was made that instant.

Did she commit suicide because I wasn’t playing with her? And did she finish all the games we played and killed herself out of sorrow? That might explain a lot of things. Mostly her profiles being so dark and empty. And the signs of me begging to play everywhere. I was about to freak out. This couldn’t be real. With major fear, I walked to the body and pressed “A”. …..

The story is too harsh and emotional to continue to tell. Yet, to this day I don’t know if it was real or if it was an effect of the darkening of my arrival here at Heavenly Host Elementary…..

Wait Jonez, what is this? 

Thanks for asking. Well, since this is my 50th article on this blog I decided to do something really special! I made my first attempt in writing a creepy pasta. Which is a story that isn’t true, made up. It’s written for your own entertainment.

It’s mostly a story about something really scary happening. Something unreal.

Anyways, let’s close this off with the usual cliché and generic stuff. Thanks everybody! Thank you ButtonSmashers for recognizing me and all the moments we spend together.

Thank you for helping me grow. My Arpegians and the ButtonSmashers. Even when you aren’t one of both, thanks for reading and supporting me. It’s so much fun to write, make video’s and do stuff like this. It really helps me get through the challenges that life gives me.

Anyways, if you want me to write more Creepy Pasta’s, I wouldn’t mind. Just leave me a signal and I’ll try to come up with some. But feel free to write in the comments your thoughts of this story and/or how you would improve it. Thanks for reading and hopefully I see you here a next time.

3 games I wish I finished.

Thanks Nhi for creating this

As a hobby-blogger and game reviewer, I play a lot of games. Yet, I can’t succeed in finishing them all. One of my general rules is that I need to finish each game before I make a review of it. So, I can give this game a fair review. Since there can always be something in the end that makes or breaks the game. But with so many games that catch my interest, a gaming neko like myself can easily be distracted. Or I try to play a game and finish it but I play so many of them at once I barely can keep up. So, in this article I will talk about the games I haven’t finished yet and I wish I finished. (For what ever reason.) Of course there are more games I wish I finished but hey, let’s keep it at three for now. 

Okami (Wii)

I love myself some Japanese gaming culture and this game is truly a gem of it’s kind. Okami was originally released on the PS2. But I like the port to the Wii a lot more. Since this game was made for more free movement and the Wii delivers just that.

After finishing the amazing Okamiden on the DS, I directly wanted to play the original game on the Wii. I was blown away with the quality, graphics, music and level design.

Everything wasn’t perfect though, sometimes my Wii movements didn’t got recognized, making for some frustrating moments in the game. Also, the combat is just a joke to me. Waving the Wii Remote gives painful feelings after repeated action.

But why didn’t I finish this game? Well, I was nearing the end and when a friend of mine tried out the game, he saved over my save file by accident. And my save file back-up was so close from the start, that I decided to restart. But the fun is a bit gone since it doesn’t have that “new” freshness you get from a game. But this game is surely one I’m going to finish on calm periods.

Mirror’s Edge (PC)

Everybody who watches and follows my video’s on the YouTube, know that I’m extremely bad at parkour. But why do I play the game known for only parkour? Simple, because it’s a great game. I got this title for an extremely low price of 5€ and I played it always until a certain point.

Then other games start to distract me and I leave this game at this side unfinished. But I heard on the MindCrack podcast that it isn’t a long game anyways.

This game is pretty and really pulls you in. The graphics, music, level design or difficulty aren’t any factors of this game holding me back to finish it. Also, I didn’t follow the story the first time around. Which I of course regret since it was the game which I wanted to use to make my comeback as reviewer on my forum.

Till this day, this game often appears in the “What are you playing” thread for me since I play short bursts here and there and I’m anything but progressing in the game. I should actually start playing this game after publishing this article so I can finally make a review of this game.

Hopefully my terrible jumping skills aren’t going to hold me back for ever since that’s a reason why I don’t play this game for very long. Also this game asks a lot of my graphics card of my laptop so, that’s holding me back as well.

Mystic Quest (GB)

I was so excited when I got this game for the cheap at a garage sale. When I came home, it was the only game I played for a while. I even put aside my laptop to play this game with the use of my Super Gameboy and my SNES on my TV.

It really gave me a Zelda-vibe and really kept my attention with the game. The neat graphics, decent difficulty and interesting, yet somewhat generic story, keeps me interested to play.

So why have I stopped playing this game and not finished it? Well, simple. I got stuck and didn’t really found my way out, not even with the help of a walkthrough. So, I stopped playing.

But this game is one I am willing to finish. It’s collecting dust right now and as game collector I can’t let that happen. I’m not that kind of a collector.

So, any tips for this game are welcome in the comments. Maybe you can help me. I know that I defeated a dragon for some spell and that I need to find some holy water. See, my memories are getting vague, it has been that long since I played this game.

Final words

Of course, there are a lot more games I wish I finished. And not because they are bad, but simply because I got stuck or got distracted with another game.

Which games do you guys and girls wish you have finished? And why? And why isn’t it finished yet? Let me know in the comments down below. Anyways, that’s all for me. Thanks for reading and have an enjoyable remainder of your day.