WHEN WE LAST LEFT OFF ON THE PUTT-PUTT DOES THINGS SAGA…

We saw our great hero gather up many items so that he could join a parade, because that is a thing that people generally do in order to feel happiness in their lives, and not only was that parade QUITE the spectacle to see, but it also let Putt-Putt make plenty of new friends along the way, including his new trusted companion, Pep. But, things weren’t all so great in the world of Putt-Putt, because shortly after that, Putt-Putt and Pep were both BRUTALLY MURDERED! They were shot out into space by Crazy McScienceCar whose name I am too lazy to bother looking up, and they were sent to the moon to live out the rest of their lives, but it’s ok, because they managed to find a way back home, so they can live out the rest of their lives on a planet that has oxygen instead, even though cars don’t need oxygen to live, but IT WAS ALL FOR THE DOG! And now, as we approach the next chapter in the epic Putt-Putt Does Things Saga, we will find Putt-Putt taking on his greatest challenge yet…. SAVING AN ENTIRE ZOO…………………. yeah, it’s Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo.

Gonna be real with y’all, it has been a LONG time since I played this game, so I barely remembered anything about it. I do know there was a zoo, there were animals and cars in said zoo, and there was indeed a saving of said zoo, but aside from that, I don’t remember much else about this game. So, after one quick YouTube video later, I then realized that “Oh yeah, this was actually pretty good, wasn’t it?”, and you know what, I think I would have to agree with myself from 10 seconds in the past, as this is yet another solid entry in the Putt-Putt Does Things saga. It may not be as exciting as going to the moon, and it may not do…. anything different from other games to make it stand out, but it still manages to be a very solid adventure game for kids, and it may just be the best game in the series we have had so far.

The story is, once again, spelled out in the title, where Putt-Putt and Pep take a trip to the Cartown Zoo, which is about to have it’s big, grand opening for all of the people, but unfortunately, things aren’t going so hot, as six baby animals have gotten out of their habitats and are now lost somewhere in the zoo, so logically, it is up to this random kid and his dog to go exploring the zoo, find all of the baby animals, and make sure they are able to open in time, which is a decent enough set up, and it does make you wanna save the baby animals, cause you don’t wanna see them sad, afraid, or possibly dead! That would be tragic. The graphics are pretty great, getting rid of the hideous art style of the previous two games in favor of a new fancy hand-drawn animated style, and it works a hell of a lot better here, making the characters look much more appealing and alive rather then the soulless husks they were before, the music is… kinda whatever, just being full of a bunch of tracks that I just could not give a shit about, but I can’t possibly forget the greatest song in video game history, so it at least has that going for it, and the gameplay/control is……… well, if you don’t know at this point, then you have, like, four reviews that you gotta go catch up on, so get to that.

The game is a point ‘n click adventure game, where you take control of Putt-Putt once more, go through the many different standout locations in this zoo, as well as one or two areas outside of the zoo, interact with the many different cars, animals, and random things that you will find throughout the zoo to either learn about the place, help them out with their issues, or to get a new item to help you proceed forward, click on every single thing that you see to either get a new item or collectible, or just to see whatever whacky shit that this zoo has going on inside of it, and also play a couple of minigames on the side as well, just in case you are too bored of the EXCITING adventures to be found in the main game. It is definitely a Humongous game alright, and while this is definitely one of the best ones they have put out so far in terms of presentation, it is permanently trapped in a gameplay loop that may work out for them now, but will probably end up killing them fast.

Once again, we are back to boring car land with boring car people, which almost managed to make me fall asleep, but what helped keep me from doing that is, once again, the visuals. This is, without a doubt, the best looking and sounding Humongous game that we have played so far, as while the animations are still pretty limited, and the movement can be janky at times, everything is really colorful, the designs on all of the characters are very fun and charming, and the environments you travel through are very colorful and detailed. Plenty of effort was put into all of this, making it perfect for any younger players checking the game out, and the gameplay is still solid enough as well. There are plenty of things you can interact with, plenty of places to go, plenty of naturally goofy animations to witness, and even some instances of puzzle solving and quick-reaction times are put into here, making you finally use that brain of yours that you haven’t let be active for the past however many years.

But of course, this is still a Humongous game that we are talking about here, meaning that in terms of gameplay, what you have seen before is exactly what you get here. Ya run around, ya poke things with your mouse, ya watch the funny cartoon do things, and ya wonder how the hell this zoo is gonna be able to stay afloat with such horrible safety regulations on display. If you have played one Humongous point ‘n click adventure game, you have played them all, and this one is no exception, with it being able to appeal to the younger crowd that it was made for, but for literally everyone else, you aren’t gonna be getting any new experiences here. But hey, just like with most of those other Humongous games, the charm and appeal of these games are usually what elevates them in the first place, and this one definitely does that, so I see it as a memorable title regardless of all that.

Overall, despite the ever-occurring lack of change that has become common in these games, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo is still yet another decent entry in this franchise, one that manages to take the series to new heights with its art and animation, keeps the main gameplay focus just as fun and charming as ever, and has plenty of personality all throughout. I would recommend it to those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who have children who you wanna get into games in some way, because right alongside all of the other Humongous games, this would be a great place to start, and a memorable time for them all around. But anyways, NEXT TIME ON PUTT-PUTT DOES STUFF… Putt-Putt and Pep are going to go on their most dangerous, horrifying, and deadly adventure yet…… TRAVELING THROUGH TI- wait, that is actually all of those things……. huh. Well done, Humongous.

Game #620

I don’t know how in the world Atlus came up with an idea for a game that was half visual novel half puzzle with a splash of social sim/questions that would shape the many endings the game offers and revolve all of that around mature themes like love, death, and sex. But they did and it is brilliant.

I don’t know what I was expecting coming into this game but it was way more wild than I ever could have imagined. The story is goofy yet also very interesting and awesome. I loved how many of the choices they give you in the social sim are not so black and white and answering them can change Vincent’s romantic life as well as spell life or death of minor characters. I also loved many of the characters in this game especially the three “Catherin”s and Vincent’s main core of friends.

The puzzles were at first very frustrating, maybe because I am dumb, but once I got the hang of them I really enjoyed them. I think it’s awesome that they give you an option to skip the puzzles in case you want to just see the story unfold as well. I didn’t use that feature but it’s nice they added it in especially if you want to replay several times to see the multiple endings.

I never played the original but I know that Rin wasn’t in the original. I didn’t choose her path so maybe I would feel differently if I would have but I feel the game was clearly about Catherine and Katherine and you could feel Rin was an add on. For instance, again I’m sure if I chose her path it would be different, but in my playthrough it was building up to something big with her but then she legit just left and never came back. It felt off to me and knowing she was an add on to this version it made sense to me but if I didn’t know that I would have been wondering wtf that was all about.

The story has some amazing twist and turns and kept my interest for the 12 hour playtime. I only finished one path but I am going to go back and see how many different endings I can unlock but using the puzzle skip I spoke on earlier. But I am very excited to jump back in and see the various outcomes. If I enjoy them enough I may come back and give this game an extra half star or so but I feel like I know enough to rate and review it.

Catherine is a very unique game and it’s one I feel like you owe it to yourself to at least give it a shot even if visual novels aren’t your thing.

My 2024 ranked

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/

It made my top 100 (preliminary ranking. Will finalize after getting all endings)

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-100-video-game-of-all-time/

So we back in the mine.. YEAA YEAAA OO YEAAAH here go Sonik!! After arduous training, he has decided to start his chilli hot dog addiction 😨 fucked up his life at 12 years old. The game is a huge Sonic reference.... on the gear. Sonic I am not gonna sugarcoat here, u got me fuh'd up in the crib. 10 days in the joint made you a fucking pussy! Aside from small hiccups like going through platform, which you'd be excused for thinking it's a Sonic spin'off tradition, the cultural impact of Sonic GG (i played on Master System, eMuLaTeD obv, but the name is too cold sir 🥶) is that Yuzo Koshiro's company worked on the ports by sheer force of will. Whose force and whose will, I do not know.

Now here's what's gonna happen. You gonna say "I woke up, I found questionable level design, that's all I know". Do I need to state the obvious? I was not here. We goin undercover 🤯🤯 ohno, my credible cover! My ass is expectin today, so I don't take "um we made a mostly straight unilayered path with mischievous enemy placement 🤓" as the answer I'm craving for. It squashes your hope. Losing your entire wealth at the single touch of man? Now that is scary. Can't believe my grandparents are about to pass withour having experienced this. It's stomach-opening as they say. Chat, fill his belly with rings. He shan't starve again. Otherwise, the game's speed is...absolutely whelming. Now, it's like Sonic 1 genezis, so I find the defendant not guilty of this specific charge. Hold your hoes, trial not over.

Mr. Sonic GG, as the judge, jury and executioner, it pains me to admit... your visible world map bussin yo. There's nothing more I love in the morning that sip on my own of milk and cereal with the cereal before the milk before the Sonic before schooool and i have INTENSE diarrhea as I have consumed the boss fights!! A testament to my critical thinking, the constant one-shotting as me in intense bloodlust. The solution usually presents itself after a few tries lead to an unconventional method. Glory be to the CEO of sex, I suppose. World's smallest roller coaster... btw the rollercoaster loop things that Sonic used to be using are not there. So much the Master System can do I guess. But I disgress. I have a firm belief the boss fights are the same as Sonic 1, but it sure doesn't seem like it. The chase scene isn't here for instance, and it was that game's worst offender, after me.

Sonic GG has multiple of these offenders, as you've perhaps gathered at the present. El agua exploracíon takes the cake and shoves it down my throat. One of the slowest they've ever been, some are saying. Ancient truly had a fickle mind about Sonic's essence. Their good work and intentions undermined by so many circumstances. They do have peculiarities, first one being the pinball-like bonus arena. Now, I don't really remember how it triggered, but no matter, we're in this bithc!! Fairly simple stuff. The chaos emeralds... I don't know if there is a Mandela effect or something else at play, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you there were any. Google is my only witness on this. Glad Sonic GG exists, though! All life matters. But maybe not underwater, catch my drift. Hold on I should use this pun for a certain racing game's review..

Sure, I could get into what little is known about Sonic Crackers, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is how an extremely early alpha build of what would become Chaotix only plays marginally worse than the finished product.

It's still neat as hell that this is out there. I think the Sonic series has played a significant role in people's fascination with video game prototypes, and this might just be the earliest available build of a Sonic game, being in an even more bare and unplayable state than the infamous Simon Wai beta. The most complete zone, which is an industrial themed stage with a vertically oriented level structure, has several variations depicting it at different times of day, and much like Chaotix, it has you darting back and forth as you scale repeating chunks of geometry. It makes sense here where you'd want to pitch the whole dual momentum gimmick, but it's a little depressing to know level design didn't evolve much.

The second zone is carnival themed and largely unplayable due to busted collision issues, and there's a couple overhead maps that seem like they would serve a sort of "adventure field" function but were ultimately scrapped. That's about it. Very novel as a proof-of-concept, though I'm surprised anyone at Sega looked at this and thought "yeah I'll greenlight that" instead of immediately throwing whoever programmed this garbage into an agony booth. I suppose condemning Chaotix to the 32X is meeting in the middle.

It's surprising that none of this has been mined by the bloodsuckers at Sonic Team, who have apparently scratched through the bottom of the barrel and are now incorporating even more obscure beta/prototype elements in their games in a desperate attempt to claw at whatever nostalgia is left. It's not that they have no new ideas, just that 80% of them hinge on you remembering a thing and clapping because you saw that thing again. But maybe it's just a matter of time. I feel like one of these two Zones is either going to show up in a future game or someone will yank all the assets out and do a fan game that serves as a sort of "what if" look at Sonic Crackers had it been built upon in a more linear fashion.

Not rating this because c'mon, it's an alpha build.

This is by no means a proper postmortem of the "car combat" genre, but a recent viewer e-mail on The Jeff Gerstmann Show got me thinking about Twisted Metal and and the near total abandonment of the type of gameplay it innovated. To hear Gerstmann explain it, the advent of more sophisticated control schemes and adoption of first person shooters on console contributed to an erosion of interest in car combat. He points to the need to gas and brake to simulate the fluidity of movement FPS games required as being a problem later solved by analog controls, though some single-analog games still employ a similar control style, like KISS Psycho Circus, a classic! I see the logic here. Twisted Metal was the only franchise with legs, and the rapid pace of change game design was undergoing in the mid-to-late 90s meant a lot of genres phased in and out of existence.

I decided to put together a committee to further investigate the demise of the genre, comprised of my friends Larry Davis, TransWitchSammy, and Appreciations. When asked what they thought of Twisted Metal and what contributed to the withering of the genre, the most interesting answer came from Appreciations, who posited that games like Grand Theft Auto III incorporated some staples of car combat into larger and more ambitious experiences, which further lessened the need for more bespoke vehicle-based brawling. Satisfied, I pressed two of the big red buttons on my console and dropped Larry and Sammy into a subterranean furnace located beneath the conference room. Congratulations on your promotion, Appreciations...

This is a long walk to say I don't really know what the hell happened, because car combat was a genre that I never really cared for. Not because I have some long-standing beef dating back to the 90s, but because it just never interested me. It's always existed in the periphery. I played maybe 15 minutes of the original Twisted Metal on a classmate's PS1 which he brought to school, and it's funny to think back to that when Pokemon in all shapes and form was explicitly banned from campus. Beyond that, it's been a couple minutes here and there while testing ISO sets and demo discs over the year.

Two full hours with Twisted Metal Black is the most I've ever spent with one of these games in a single sitting, and I don't think I like it very much. True to the clip I linked, movement was my most immediate problem. Driving around feels fine, but getting your shots to line up is finicky, resulting in an over-reliance on homing missiles that often whiff against uneven terrain, which (while satisfying to get air off of) aren't conducive to getting a bead on your opponents. I frequently found myself the recipient of off-screen barrages that chewed through my health before I could flip a U-turn, and usually the attacking car would whizz by before I could line myself up to retaliate. Annoying.

After being assured by Larry that Black is just a hard game, I bumped the difficulty down and played a couple more levels only to find they still took an agonizing amount of time to clear and that I wasn't having much fun. Maye this is one of the worst Twisted Metal games, a series low point (it has a 3.5 average on here, so I'm guessing that's not the case), but I don't rightfully know because I've never given any of these much attention. I don't even know why I picked Black other than vague memories of it being billed at the time as a more mature Twisted Metal experience, one that had a bit of a harder edge. I like the cover, too.

I'm sure someone will tell me to play Vigilante 8 or I will "go in the contraption again," but guess what? I outfitted my 2003 Toyota Avalon with sidewinder missiles, and if you think I'm going back in there you got another thing co-- wait, the trigger isn't engaging oh NO

Yeah! This game's really charming and cool, like most Paper Mario games. We don't need another game like this, though. The combat is good because of it's simplicity and there wouldn't be anywhere else for it to go in a new game. I have a much greater appreciation for the other games in the Paper Mario series now specifically because of how they endeavor to be different from their previous iterations. Plus, I feel like the draw here is and always has been the witty writing and intriguing plotlines which is present in just about every Paper Mario game.

This game is very very good and we should be happy that Intelligent Systems got to (and still gets to from all indications) make different games with original ideas because of it.

Something something Bug Fables. 9/10.

Bugsnax uses cute, instantly likable creature designs to pull you into a story that's way more mature than it lets on. Not in a graphic violence way, but rather in the conflicts between people on the edge of being too different to work together. In Bugsnax, you're constantly working to restore the peace, a fickle thing thats buckling under the weight of petty grievances. Uncovering the mystery at the heart of the island is a compelling journey, but it still plays second fiddle to the small interactions between characters. Everyone has a core of humanity buried somewhere beneath the antagonistic behavior, and it's in bringing that part out into the light that Bugsnax shines the brightest.

It would be disingenous to say that the story is all that this game has, but I definietly wasn't impressed with the core gameplay loop and how it ties into said story. The vast majority of quests is just the game forcing you to engage with the mechanics of a few certain Bugs that populate the local area, and mechanically speaking it doesn't have much to offer. Sure, there is lots of variety in how the bugs interact, but the deliberate nature of their positioning makes the act of catching them way more restrictive than it lets on. It's not all bad, the controls are fine and there is a nice relaxing feel to going through each area, but the game is definietly carried by its compelling plot and characters.