REVIEW: Joe Wander and the Enigmatic Adventures on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis:

"Joe Wander and the Enigmatic Adventures" is the latest 3D action puzzle platforming game made by Frozen Pixel. You play as an Indiana Jones-type character and travel across four different worlds, each with several levels to complete.

Each level has a set number of coins to collect and, ultimately, a colored diamond. When you collect enough coins and the diamond, you can then enter the next level, and so on until you complete that world and enter the next.

General gameplay consists of 3D platforming with a fixed camera. You can run, jump, and use your whip. The whip allows you to stun certain enemies, enabling you to jump on them and destroy them. It also allows you to grab onto items you need to move and helps you swing across gaps that cannot be jumped.

Each level will have puzzle elements where you will need to move things, activate things, and open doors to raise levels and so on, helping you finish the level.

Gameplay starts pretty easy and gets progressively tougher. When you complete the game, you will unlock three new modes: Hardcore, which gives you only one life per save game; Hard mode, where levels have no checkpoints; and Time Trial, perfect for those wanting to do speed runs.

The Good:

Stunning cartoon graphics with a great level of detail. Easy to play with fun and challenging puzzles.

The Bad:

The controls can be a bit fiddly at times, and the lack of being able to control the camera is frustrating as you cannot always see where you are. The graphics could be a bit better optimized. I noticed a few bugs here and there but nothing too bad.

Overall:

A straightforward fixed camera 3D action puzzle platformer. It delivers on its description. It is fun to play with a few graphical glitches here and there, but otherwise pretty smooth.

I score Joe Wander and the Enigmatic Adventures a fun 8/10

Out Now on PC (Steam) at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2063310/Joe_Wander_and_the_Enigmatic_Adventures/

REVIEW: POOSH XL on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Sometimes all you want in life is a super simple, pick up and play, one button arcade score chasing game, well guess what? POOSH XL is just that.

You only need to worry about pressing one button, no directions, no left and right, just press one button.

The main idea of the game is to climb as high in the level as you can and avoid the obstacles along the way. Take too long and the floor will catch up with you and kill you, hit anything and you die. You will see a circle on screen, with a moving directional arrow attached to it, when you press a button, you will fire off in the direction pointed at. The higher you get, the better your score, and really folks that is it.

The main game is just an endless climb, complete the odd challenge here and there to unlock skins, but basically just get as high of a score as you can, see the leaderboard to compare yourself to others and try to be the best.

There is some cool procedurally generated music by "veryhandsomebilly" Billy Mills, and the game is available in 11 languages, although you don't really need the language other than the menu.

The Good

Nice, clear, bright neon graphics, cool music, simple to learn, hard to master gameplay.

The Bad

Anything I could complain about, would just take away from the simplicity of the game.

Overall

Super simple, fun game, not much more can be said that that.

I score Poosh XL a simple 8/10

RELEASE DATE 8th May 2023 on Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Poosh-XL-2360584.html

REVIEW: Family Island (Farming game) on Android / App Store

Review by Jon Donnis

I rarely if ever review mobile games, I don't see the point, especially on ones that are free to download, as anyone can just try them and makeup their own mind.

I thought I would make an exception for Family Island. Read on to find out why.

Let's take a look at the official blurb.

"What would your life be without modern technology on the deserted island? Dive into simplicity of the primal world with the modern Stone Age family in this thrilling offline adventure game. Stranded on the remote island, a family of four - Bruce, Eva and their kids - needs your guidance and help starting a new family home from scratch and navigating through various family life situations with humour.

After their previous city had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption, help this family build a thriving town, all while looking for a way to reconnect with their family and beloved tribe. In this farm game, their world might seem ancient and alien without modern day technology, yet their daily family life and relationships are very relatable in today's world."

So to start with there has actually been an effort made to have a story, which is rare, especially in farming games. The general gameplay is simple, start off on your own little island, slowly construct things needed to survive, use the resources around you, build bigger and better things, as you progress learn to trade, and finally explore other islands. The game is full of time limited quests, and lots to explore.

Now comes the problems and sadly this is a problem with pretty much every game of this type. Every action you do uses up energy, and energy is time limited. So lets say you have a full bar of energy, say 60 energy points, to cut down a tree it might cost 20 energy, but in doing so you will earn wood needed to construct things, and you might even get a few points of energy back. Early on the game, this isn't much of a problem as you will level up pretty soon, each level up resets your energy. As you complete tasks you will get energy, so for about the frst 10 levels of the game, you will fly through it, and it is a lot of fun. Then the problems start, everything starts to become a grind, play for 5 minutes then you have to stop and wait a few hours because you have no energy, every task seems to take longer, and get harder as you need more things to complete, but you dont have them, so you have to do multiple other tasks first, but everything uses energy, and just as you pass level 10, the game believing you are hooked, will now start throwing endless links at you, for you to pay using real money, to buy energy, diamonds, everything in the game.

In other words the game tries to get you hooked, and then slows everything slows down so much so that the only realtistic way for you to progress is to spend real money, but the problem is that we are not talking about a few quid here, some tasks may literally cost you tens of pounds. And since this game is clearly advertised towards little kids, this becomes a major issue for me.

I managed to get to level 15, and then I just gave up, as everything just became a chore, I used every trick in the book that I have learnt over the years on games such as these, I followed advice online, but at the end of the day if I want to get further in the game and in a fun way, I need to spend money, and I refuse to do so.

When you start the game, you have to cancel about 5 pop ups which are all trying to get you to spend real money, it becomes frustrating, especially if you are just trying to play for a couple of minutes to use up your energy and then wait again til later. Oh and I never even mentioned the endless ads to watch, to get small rewards just to progress.

Games like this have two purposes, get you addicted, and then try to get money out of you.

Is the game fun? YES it is a lot of fun, upto about level 10. But then it becomes a slog, unless you want to spend real money.

Be very careful allowing your kids to play games like this, and make sure they have no payment details attached to the play store on the phone they use, as otherwise you might get a nasty surprise.

The Good

Nice story, fun graphics, addictive gameplay.

The Bad

After a few days of fun, everything turns into a drawn out slog, and you are bombarded with endless pop ups trying to get you to spend real money.

Overall

A fun game that is ultimate spoiled by greed.

Don't let kids play this, and only play yourself if you are familiar with this time of pay to play type game.

I score Family Island on Android a 6/10

Out Now on Mobile Formats.

TRAILER: Bumballon - From Ratalaika Games, Angelo Gamedev & 9Ratones

Come and join Bumballon on a cute but frantic adventure that spans across an incredible world full of dangers!

Explore seven unique worlds that overflow with beautifully animated graphics and retro game nostalgia.

Overcome various perils to save Bumballon's magical kingdom and rescue the beautiful Princess Moon.

In Bumballon's tough but fun and rewarding journey, every mistake becomes a lesson to overcome future obstacles.

Features:

Beautiful animated graphics.

Explore 7 worlds.

35 different levels.

5 unlockable skins.

Variety of action mechanics.

Bumballon  will be priced for 4.99 $ / € for all platforms and is out now!

REVIEW: Resoraki The Racing on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Resoraki is an interesting little arcade racing game, you can play solo or against friends online. There are the usual modes, championships, arcade, and time trial. Plenty of cars to choose from, and a nice selection of tracks in countries like Poland, Finland, Australia, or Greece. Different difficulty settings, and also Steam leaderboards.

Graphics are very cartoony, and are pretty eye catching. And the music is very catchy too.

In the time trial mode after completing a lap you will get the obligatory ghost car, in championship mode you need to win races to unlock more tracks, and in arcade mode, well you just get to choose your own races and have fun.

There are plenty of achievements to collect, which range from simply unlocking a track, to using a certain brand of car, there are even shortcuts to find.

Over 50 cars to choose from which range in style from Rally type cars to just regular ones.

Although advertised as having full gamepad controls, I couldn't get mine to work, so had to rely on using the arrow keys on the keyboard, not the best way to drive a car, although easy enough to get used to, but this game needs proper controller compatibility and it needs it now!

Resoraki is a nice, simple, straightforward racer, with nice graphics, and easy to enjoy gameplay.

The Good

Nice graphics, soundtrack and general play. Every looks and feels good.

The Bad

I didn't like the default camera view, and not sure if you can change it. Menus are a bit lacking. And gamepad did not work for me.

Overall

Simple and more importantly very cheap game, at less than a pound, you cant really go wrong here.

There is room for improvement, but I fear at this price this will be as good as it gets.

I score Resoraki The Racing on PC a fair 7/10

Out now on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2303180/Resoraki_The_racing/