Cats and Seek : Dino Park from Publisher Silesia Games and Developer Noobzilla
Quirky cats hiding in a Dino themed park. More color customization options than you can shake a stick at. Peaceful and fun search and find game.
A simple hide and seek game starring Cats in a Dinosaur themed park. There are a total of 5 hand drawn pictures with 100 cats you must find hiding throughout the park. Each level also has some bonus Birds or Bees to find.
Sounds pretty simple, and it is, but where the game shines in with the details for each Cat. With each of the 500 cats you find, you get a brief card with their name and a little something written about them. If you have cats or have had cats before, you’ll appreciate the details even more as they fit very well. That is true about their hiding spots too since most of the cats are hiding in trees, boxes, and hanging from the walls/fences.
The game has simple controls with the standard zoom in and out and the thumbsticks to move the screen and cursor. It also has a help find button which moves the camera and puts a circle of stars around the area of a hidden cat. One of the little additions that we loved is when you get to the last 10 cats on a level you start to hear the cats meow when they are on screen. This helps you locate the remaining cats without using the help find button.
The game has a surprising amount of color customization options. This adds something extra for anyone who might have some visual impairments or who might have photosensitivity as you can change the colors of the background, lines, and even what color the cat becomes once you find them.
Between the simple controls, massive amount of color options, and cats, it’s easy to see why anyone would enjoy this game no matter their age.
Overall we really enjoyed this and it reminded us of some of the “find the hidden X” games we played as kids.
Cats & Seek Dino Park is available on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Steam
Nick Jr. Party Adventure from Publisher Outright Games and Developer Melbot Studios
Solid kids game enjoyable for both kids and former kids that grew up with these Nick Jr characters.
Nick Jr. Party Adventure is an autorunner platformer full of Nick Jr characters. You play along with 25 familiar characters from six popular shows from Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, PAW Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines, and a few others.
Dora is having a Fiesta and needs your help to pick up guests and party favors. There are a total of 6 different worlds based on classic Nick Jr characters. While playing through the worlds, you will need to use springs to make your character jump and move platforms into different positions to keep your character moving. You will also have other guests/characters join your party to help you pick up the party favors and collectibles.
There are a lot of character customizations that you unlock by playing levels and picking up the collectibles. These unlocked accessories are also based on the world of the Nick Jr character you are currently in (ie: Dora the explorer’s Hair Clip or shoes or Chase’s Pup Pack from Paw Patrol). Don’t worry if you miss one as all levels can be replayed once completed.
The game was designed for a younger audience with bright colors and Nick Jr characters. The game has a great save system as it autosaves after every level making it easier to play for short time frames as well as for short attention spans.
The platforming is really easy as you can’t really fail the levels. If you miss the platform your character will have a magic bubble form around them and move them back to a previous safe platform. This is also where the simple controls come into play. You will use a button or thumb stick to move the objects or bounce from the springs. Each time a new item for you to interact with is introduced you are provided with a simple tutorial letting you know what to do and how to do it.
There were a few things that became repetitive. Once you collect the other 3 characters and have them in your party you will need to complete the level with each party member no matter if you picked up the levels collectibles or not. The catchphrase sound clips that the main character of the world says is the same every time you complete a level and becomes a little much. The in game music is different for each world and is based on music from their show. Unfortunately, it is a short clip on a loop and is the same for every level in that world.
We did run into a few issues that broke the level but restarting the level fixed the issues. We have also reported those issues to the publisher and they are forwarding the info to the Devs.
Overall even though we aren’t the target audience, we did enjoy the game for what it was.
Nick Jr. Party Adventure is available on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Steam. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.
Alpacapaca Dash from Publisher and Developer Synnergy Circle Games
Alpaca runner with freaking laser beams shooting out their mouths.
Alpacapaca Dash is a side scrolling endless runner.You play as an Alpaca sent to save the Alpaca World from Eternal Darkness by running around shooting a laser beam from your mouth to destroy the evil darkness and restore the world.
There are 2 modes in the game, Easy and Hard Mode. Easy has auto-aim enabled which turns the game into a 2 button game; one for jumping and one for shooting the laser. Hard is where the challenge ramps up as you now have to add aiming into the run. Just like most endless runners, the game has you running on a set track at a set speed. All you can do is jump and shoot while the character moves for you. We would have loved to have a little control over the character as some of the jumps felt impossible to do correctly. We did figure out that you can run off the edge of the platform and jump right as you start to fall to get a little extra distance on the jumps.
While running around you will find items that will benefit or hinder your run. Items can give you a save for missing a jump, power up the laser beam, or cause you to lose all of your upgrades. The items are easy to see but sometimes hard to pick up or avoid as it all depends on timing for your jump.
While running on the platforms, your Alpaca starts to bring color back to the dark world. Running past dead trees brings them back to life. You will also collect coins during the run which can be used to purchase different skins as well as a “coin power up” bonus. Once the power up has been purchased you will find sacks of coins as well as treasure chests to collect.
There are a total of 11 different Alpaca skins to purchase. Some are a simple color shift while others add a little extra by changing the color of the Alpaca, adding a hat, tail, and changing the laser beam color.
Overall we enjoyed the game. It was good for pick up and play once we got used to the timing on the jumps. It also has several easy achievements.
Alpacapaca Dash is available on Xbox and PC. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.
Artifice: War Tactics from Publisher and Developer Silvine Games Studios
Enjoyable turn based strategy game with quality of life features that make it accessible even to gamers new to the genre. RNG item drops and quest rewards make replaying the game a different experience every time.
Artifice: War Tactics is a Turn Based Strategy game with roguelike elements. Taking place in a medieval fantasy world. You play as the leader of a conclave working for Sirion, the last of the relic holders, standing against Theosus, a self-appointed tyrannical God-King. As leader of the conclave, you will send your rebel champions on missions to overthrow the false god.
There are 12 champions that can be gathered. You start out with 3 Champions, Ranger, Pyromancer and Zephyr. As you make it further into the game you will be able to add other champions to your party. Each Champion has their own movement and attack patterns with varying ranges. This aspect, coupled with their varied abilities, adds to the strategies you need to learn in order to advance through the territories. Understanding what each Champion can do is a big part of the game. The Champions can be upgraded with new abilities, items, and by leveling up their default abilities.
Similarly to Champions, each enemy has their own attack and movement patterns. You can analyze these by holding the spacebar after selecting an enemy. Hovering over enemies also allows you to see their attack pattern (which lights up when they move). I really enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to guess if moving my Champion to a new position would cause them damage, where the damage would be coming from, or if it would put me in a position to attack one or more enemies.
Each territory has one of a few different battle types. The Escort game mode involves moving a bomb as if it is a 4th character (you start with 3 champions in your control as default). Ambush involves preventing enemies from reaching your starting positions either by killing them or using skills such as Behemoth’s “Enroot” or Zephyrs “Concussive Blast” to push enemies back 1 tile (this can be upgraded to pushback 2 tiles). In Capture mode you must damage the “Shade” until it collapses and then touch it to capture it and win this mode. These are some of the main quest objectives that must be completed to advance.
In addition to the main quest objective, there are also optional objectives that don’t have to be completed to get credit for successfully clearing the quest. However, completing them will grant additional rewards at the end of the mission so they’re worth shooting for. This was an interesting game play feature as you could get a victory without killing all of the enemies on the level unlike many other games in this genre that require defeating all enemies every time.
There are 3 island biomes to complete and 1 final boss fight. Each of the biomes have their own hazards to watch out for like Sandworms, Frost Wraiths, Poison Ivy, and Floating Runes. The hazards can be used for your benefit if you are skillful as attacking an enemy next to a hazard will cause extra damage but be careful, they can also be to your detriment if you get caught in the Area of Effect.
Customizing your heroes using items picked up in battle, or earned after defeating a boss, can help you overcome specific enemy types. Not every item grants purely positive effects, some have negative effects too, so you’ll have to decide if the tradeoff is worth it for you and your playstyle or the type or enemy you’re trying to beat.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. The visuals were spectacular, especially the champions themselves (So much so that I wish you could spin them around in the loadout screen!). The slow time events during some skills, especially when hitting critical hits were quite satisfying. Hoard your Jazis shards by keeping your champions alive and keep an eye on how many turns you have left or enemies you must kill in the upper right.
Artifice: War Tactics is available on Steam. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.
Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III from Publisher United Games Entertainment and Developer Taito
New chapter in a retro classic. Different game modes give both a classic retro game experience or provide more modern quality of life features.
A classic platformer brought to current consoles. For anyone who remembers Bubble Bobble from the NES days, this is a new version of the game where Bub and Bob have been turned back into humans. For those who are new to the series, Bub and Bob were dragons who blow bubbles to capture enemies.
The duo is back, on an adventure to save their solar system. There are a total of 8 planets to save, each with their own theme and enemy types. All of the planets end in a boss fight that provides a bit of a challenge. If you can learn the pattern, you can make it out of the boss fights without losing a life. As expected the later levels and bosses become harder and more challenging the further you make it.
The Parasol is used for both offense and defense. It can attack enemies, shield you from attacks, allow you to float around the levels, and collect water drops for charged attacks. After attacking an enemy you can turn them into projectiles to attack other enemies or to collect items for points. The game kept the retro classic controls from when you only had 2 buttons; one for attack, one for jump, and the D-pad or thumbstick for movement. Mixing that with the colorful pixel art style and the repetitive soundtrack really hits the nostalgia sweet spot and makes it an easy game for anyone to pick up and play for any gamer, young or older.
There are 2 different game modes to play; Arcade and Standard Mode. Arcade mode is the way the game was intended to be played as this is the only mode you can unlock achievements in. Standard mode gives you a lot of other options including cheats codes for unlimited lives, invincibility, multi-jump, and a few others. This makes the game a lot easier and more accessible. There are also some quality of life additions to the game like saving and rewinding the gameplay.
Sadly, the game is a little short as it can be completed in a little over an hour depending on skill and has little to no story but that was pretty standard for most retro games.
There is a high score challenge for 1 or 2 players. There are also leaderboards for the challenges letting you sort between friends and global leaderboard. Depending on how much you care about the leaderboard this is where the game’s replayability comes in.
Just like the original games, there is local co-op for the modes and the 2 player high score challenge.
Overall, I really enjoyed the game and was definitely hit in the nostalgic feels. The cheat codes and quality of life improvements they added for Standard mode are always great to see in updated retro games.
Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III is available on Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Playstation. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.
