PAKO Caravan [Tree Men Games]
(Nindie Choice!) -
Taking something old and juicing it up to help make it feel new again can be
tricky business. Having seen quite a few indie titles tackle the challenge of
improving on the simple-but-addictive play of the classic Snake without an
obvious success, that fact has been thoroughly proven. PAKO Caravan,
thankfully, manages to pull off the magic trick with a simple-but-effective
visual style, some key enhancements to make things a little more interesting
and challenging, and forcing you to continue to adapt to slightly different
vehicular behaviors as you progress to keep you from feeling too comfortable.
There are no brakes, you’re trying to avoid obstacles and your own caravan as
you continuously add to it, and additional objectives like knocking down cones
or collecting letters incentivize some risk-taking to claim stars that will
continue to unlock new scenarios. I do wish the turning controls weren’t quite
so consistently on the loose side, as your momentum can be hard to counteract
when you often are spending time along an edge or dodging obstructions, but as
a refined version of a classic it does its legacy proud.
Everhood [Foreign Gnomes] - As a huge fan of music of all kinds any
games that manage to incorporate music and rhythm into the mix tend to catch
my attention. Everhood is a bit of an oddball, looking and in some areas
feeling like an understated quirky RPG ala Undertale but veering off on its
own path with regards to its approach for battles. Rather than engage in
turn-based combat or any of the expected modes Everhood will have you working
your reflexes, often memory (as you try to memorize attack patterns), and your
sense of rhythm as you try to jump and dodge your way through each foe’s
onslaught. While you can opt to alter your skill level, really just getting
more lenient as you go down by allowing you to recover health quicker, from
even just the tutorial you’re going to get challenged more quickly than the
normal curve, and depending on your comfort level this could be a problem
discouraging players before they’ve even become invested in the story that
early on. It’s absolutely unique, and that has merit, but its minimalism,
early degree of difficulty, and story that pays off as you get further in but
just seems odd at first make it hard to say will be for everyone.
Super Metboy! [Rebuild Games] - Making games that are relatively simple
but challenging in their action and then incentive you in some way to
keep you playing over and over again can be a tricky business without a doubt.
In the old days the high score screen was the usual driver, and certainly
there are now online leaderboards, but sometimes just a solid provision for
local competition and some sort of meta progression where you unlock new
characters or abilities these days as well… something Metboy does admirably
with plenty of upgrades and varied core characters. With you simply trying to
bounce, shoot, and spin your way around the screen, taking out enemies, Super
Metboy additionally doesn’t inundate you with things to learn so that also
makes it quick to pick up and play, a feature that also lends itself to its
simple but fun multiplayer appeal. You and up to 3 friends can work
cooperatively while vying for high scores since it doesn’t take long to get
the hang of the mechanics. It’s not a revolution by any means but it’s quick
to pick up and enjoy, and there’s something to be said for that.
Wind Peaks [Actoon Studio] - Hidden item games are certainly one of the
early staples of the tablet and mobile gaming revolution, but to date have
only been marginally represented on the Switch. Working to add some value to
the proposition, Wind Peaks tries to change up the formula with a few
variations in your typical basic activities and looks great as well, sporting
visuals reminiscent of the likes of the cartoon Gravity Falls. One definite
issue is that while it is fun while it lasts the experience in this case seems
to come to an end more quickly than expected, clocking in only at a couple of
hours, so put up against a few contemporaries with a bit more content and not
wildly different experiences it falls down a peg on that distinction.
Bob Help Them [No Gravity Games] - I’ll be the first to say that it’s a
good thing that not all games are made for everyone, in fact there are niche
genres and offerings that are a godsend to smaller segments out there looking
for specific types of content. That said, there are also games that for
whatever reason don’t seem well-suited to particularly anyone either because
of their themes or other issues. Bob Help Them falls into this sort of black
hole in my eyes, essentially boiling down to a crafting game where you’ll
collect or combine certain items within a limited amount of time to satisfy
various people you’ll meet. The thing is, that’s pretty much all there is… and
very quickly it gets to be quite repetitive even if the specifics of what you
need to collect and combine may vary. Perhaps it would work as a game for
younger gamers who are trying to improve their memory skills, remembering
recipes for certain things, and then where people and resources may be but
that’s about it for this overly simple offering.
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