REVIEW: Kao the Kangaroo on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

I have been playing and enjoying Kao the Kangaroo on my Nintendo Switch Lite now for a few days, what a great little game here. What I didn't know was that Kao is part of a long running series of games going back over 20 years. Kao the Kangaroo (2000) - Dreamcast, Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 (2003) - PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Kao Challengers (2005) PSP and Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano (2005) - PC. So, there is a rich history right there across multiple consoles. But with any cute platform game, I think it is fair to say the Switch is the perfect home.

The story goes as follows, Kao's sister has gone missing, and it is up to Kao to not only find her, but also solve the mystery of what happened to his lone gone father. Kao needs to travel the world and confront various famous fighters who are influenced by the mysterious dark power.

Kao has his own Master in Walt who will help guide our hero. And along the way Kao will make new friends and strengthen old friendships.

Ultimately Kao needs to confront the Eternal Warrior and beat him to save the world! Classic platform story right there.

The game itself is easy to pick up, and has a great learning curve to introduce you into the mechanics. Everything looks great, and control of Kao is precise and easy to get used to. Fighting mainly involves punching your enemies with your fathers old magical boxing gloves, or throwing stones. You will collect coins and other secrets as you play, which will all help you in your quest.

Although the general gameplay is rather easy, the boss fights do throw up a challenge, and as you charge up your attack gauge, you can throw a finishing punch to destroy your enemies. You can also store elemental charges in your gloves, which will help you clear obstacles, as well as use a cool dodge roll attack.

All in all, this is a fun little 3D platformer, with enough content to please an experienced gamer as well as the younger gamer, of which this game is directed at.

The Good

Bright, colourful graphics, easy to pick up gameplay, fun story and characters.

The Bad

Perhaps a little too easy at times.

Overall

A really fun little game here, that is perfect for the younger gamer.

I score Kao the Kangaroo a solid 9/10

Out Now on Nintendo Switch - https://amzn.to/3sULk9F

TRAILER - Sonic Frontiers - Coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 8, 2022.

Sonic Frontiers is an upcoming platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. As Sonic the Hedgehog, the player explores the mysterious Starfall Islands to collect the Chaos Emeralds after Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Amy Rose separate when falling through a wormhole. Frontiers integrates platforming and traditional Sonic elements—such as rings and grind rails—into the series' first open world, where the player solves puzzles to collect items and fights robot enemies.

Worlds are colliding in Sonic the Hedgehog’s newest high-speed adventure! In search of the missing Chaos emeralds, Sonic becomes stranded on an ancient island teeming with unusual creatures. Battle hordes of powerful enemies as you explore a breathtaking world of action, adventure, and mystery. Accelerate to new heights and experience the thrill of high-velocity, open-zone platforming freedom as you race across the five massive Starfall Islands. Jump into adventure, wield the power of the Ancients, and fight to stop these new mysterious foes.

Race across five massive overworld islands brimming with dense forests, overflowing waterfalls, and sizzling desert landscapes, each with their own unique action-platforming challenges and hidden secrets to uncover.

Adventure across the Starfall Islands and see what each has to offer at the speed that only Sonic can deliver. Blaze a trail as you see fit and discover side quests, solve puzzles, scale enormous structures, go fishing, and encounter a friendly face or two along the way...

Discover portals scattered across the island and venture into Cyber Space levels through portals scattered across the islands featuring signature 3D platforming at Sonic speeds, packed with challenges to put your skills to the test.

The Starfall Islands are home to strange creatures Sonic has never encountered before. Use the all-new battle system and skill tree upgrades to fight strategically, combining moves such as dodges, parries, counters, combos, and the new Cyloop ability to take down mysterious foes and colossal titans.

Become Sonic and journey to uncover the mysteries of the remains of an ancient civilization plagued by robotic hordes. With nothing but a handful of questions and a disembodied voice to guide you, set out to save your friends and the enigmatic inhabitants of the Starfall Islands from a colossal, mechanized threat.

Pre-Order now at https://amzn.to/3Sien10

@gamingcouchspud #SonicFrontiers - #TGS Trailer #PS5 & #PS4 #Gaming #Sonic ♬ original sound - Jon

REVIEW: Trail Out on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Very much in the style of the Flatout games, comes Trail Out. An arcade style racer with a whole host of gimmicks and modes to keep even the most experienced of gamer busy for a while.

"You're in for a mad race in different parts of the world, your main goal is to live to the finish line and take the main cup of the festival! Exploding cars, flying and screaming drivers, the hype from the fans, and unseen destruction around the entire track - it's all waiting for you here! Relive the story of racer Mihalych, a simple story where you'll try to take the main cup of the festival by defeating all the bosses in unique battles."

40 cars to choose from, in different classes and from different time periods, we have a nice collection here to play with, throw in 45 tracks, derby arenas, and all sorts of crazy courses and mini games, this is a game that I have enjoyed playing so far.

There is a nice selection of game modes which you can read about below.

Cross - Race on tracks where halfway through you might encounter opponents coming the other way

Rush - Race on larger tracks where you have to fight your way to the finish line

Derby Classic - Classic destruction derby - last one standing wins

Derby Domination - Fight opponents to score points where the winner is the one with the highest score

Hunter - Destroy as many cars as you can, defeating your opponent's high score

No Time - Drive on a difficult section in time with special vehicles

Stunts - Various mini-games, such as, bowling, darts

Escape - Escape the armed aircraft that destroys anyone in the last place

All pretty straightforward and instantly recognisable for people who are fans of the genre.

In the story mode you will be able to buy cars from a scrapyard, fix them up, upgrade them, buy nitros and eventually make them good as new. As you race and complete challenges you will gain fans, beat bosses to collect licenses which in turn will allow you to unlock more cars.

There are even boss fights to be had, for example you might need to destroy a Monster truck in an arena, while his minion cars try to ram you, a tall task to say the least. As well as your classic boss races. 

The main story with the Mihalych character is pretty generic stuff, but due to the terrible English translations, it becomes pretty fun and more enjoyable than it would be with a perfect translation, I am sure.

There are split screen modes, which I was unable to try.

The Good

This game really does have a classic arcade feel to it, everything is fun, the tracks are gorgeous to look at, just seeing helicopters flying about shooting at people, while you are trying to race against a boss is the kind of detail and added excitement that many games miss. Pretty easy to get enough money to unlock all of the cars, so you will quickly be able to experience all the game has to offer.

I loved the mini games too, giant darts board, bowling etc, all great fun, as was the ragdoll physics on the driver as he flies out of the window of the car. There is just a nice mixture of the crazy stuff, and more serious stuff, that should appeal to a wide section of gamers.

Stunning graphics all round, destructive environments, damage to the cars etc, all look great.

The Bad

The storyline is hilariously bad, the translations are terrible, but does add its own charm. The car damage physics need work, and some of the boss fights, especially the Monster Truck boss are way too hard, if not impossible.

Overall

This is a fun game, I really enjoyed it, and will come back to it regularly.

I score Trail Out a solid 8/10

Out now on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1664220/TRAIL_OUT/

REVIEW: V Rising on PC (Steam)

 

Another mini review from my personal twitter account https://twitter.com/JonDonnisShow

This time I took a look at the Early Access release of V Rising on PC (Steam)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604030/V_Rising/

1/2 #GAMEREVIEW: #VRising

An Open-world #Vampire Survival Game.

The Good
Great graphics, fun gameplay, early access but very well developed.

The Bad
Not a fan of the camera, and needs gamepad support.https://t.co/smV8ZeCZZ6 #IndieDev #GameDev #IndieGameDev @VRisingGame pic.twitter.com/A8DpaeTMzm

— 🍊 The Jon Donnis Show www.jondonnis.com (@JonDonnisShow) May 31, 2022

REVIEW: Blood Waves on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

"Sometimes You" are back with their latest release Blood Waves. Released on consoles, Blood Waves is a hardcore and bloody shooter. Playing a bit like a mini game you might find in the Assassin's Creed franchise, but with a Lara Croft like character, your job is a simple one, repel wave after wave of zombies.

You start off the game with just a simple pistol and a knife, and are stuck in some kind of underground dungeon area. After dealing with the first wave of zombies, then the game opens up its main "gimmick", between waves part of the dungeon opens up and you spend a few minutes preparing yourself for the next wave. Luckily as you destroy zombies they will drop cash, you can then use this cash to buy ammo, upgrade your character or buy new weapons, but better still you can also buy and then place barricades and traps in the main fighting area. This brings in a whole extra level of tactics. Do you spend your money on more powerful weapons, do you place traps and barricades behind which you can hide, or do you spend the money upgrading yourself, giving you new abilities, more health and so on.

As you progress through the waves, just as you improve your abilities, the zombies themselves will have new and improved abilities, which in turn will need you to buy better weapons and defensives. The are even electrified zombies, zombies who can attack you from afar, some even learn how to avoid traps.

Every time you think you have the advantage, the zombies pull something new out to make you have to plan all new attacks and defensives.

When you eventually die, then you will need to start all over again, but each time you play, you will get a bit further, and you will learn to better prepare yourself using what you experienced previously as the perfect lesson plan.

Throw in a stamina bar which depletes when you run, the obvious health bar, and ammo limits, and there is something of a decent challenge to be had here.

The further your progress, the more points you will earn and the higher on the leader board you will go. 

The Good

Decent graphics, even on the small screen of the Nintendo Switch Lite. Controls are decent, and the game does have a strong replayability factor.

The Bad

Firing at enemies is not that accurate, and you seem to hit them more often than not, meaning not much skill is needed there. Also from the first wave shooting a zombie in the head didn't stop him instantly, which should always be the case. Although you can later upgrade the power of headshots.

Overall

A simple idea that works well.

I score Blood Waves a fair 7/10

Out now on Nintendo Switch, and coming to all consoles by the end of the month

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Blood-Waves-1523963.html