blueblur98
1984
[PAC-MAN Museum+ 4/14]
Hey, look! They made a game based off of that one Smash stage that everyone hates!
A decent, if not super remarkable 2D platformer based off of, oddly enough, the Hanna-Barbera PAC-MAN cartoon that has a pretty good heaping of charm to its name. Level design is decent, controls are a bit odd but workable, and the presentation is good with colorful locales and expressive characters. It's a decently fun time, though it is a bit antiquated in some aspects.
Also notable for being... surprisingly influential? Like, this game was directly cited by Shigeru Miyamoto as a inspiration for Super Mario Bros.' gameplay. If Pac-Land was never made, the platforming genre as we know it would not exist. Thanks, Pac-Land.
Hey, look! They made a game based off of that one Smash stage that everyone hates!
A decent, if not super remarkable 2D platformer based off of, oddly enough, the Hanna-Barbera PAC-MAN cartoon that has a pretty good heaping of charm to its name. Level design is decent, controls are a bit odd but workable, and the presentation is good with colorful locales and expressive characters. It's a decently fun time, though it is a bit antiquated in some aspects.
Also notable for being... surprisingly influential? Like, this game was directly cited by Shigeru Miyamoto as a inspiration for Super Mario Bros.' gameplay. If Pac-Land was never made, the platforming genre as we know it would not exist. Thanks, Pac-Land.
2012
I can't relate to this because I don't have friends.
1983
[PAC-MAN Museum+ 3/14]
Huh. They really went and made Super PAC-MAN again. Though there are a few differences and additions here. The unlockable gates shtick unfortunately remains, but there are two new mechanics here to set itself apart. Pac & Pal is just fine, like its precursor.
Firstly is Miru (no, Museum+, I am not calling her Mil), who is a harmless ghost(?) that steals any uneaten fruit and cashes them in so that they're out of your hair. This seems like a detriment at first, and it technically is if you're trying to score high, but in the later rounds, when you're just trying to progress, having one less fruit to worry about can genuinely be pretty helpful. Then there's the special items; these replace the normal Power Pellets from the previous two games with an item that lets PAC-MAN fire a ghost-stunning beam. The differing animations the ghosts have when stunned are very cute and a great detail, and it's neat that some of them are nods to Namco's other arcade games from the same time like Galaga and Rally-X, but these items aren't as generally useful as the Power Pellet. Not helped by the fact that you only get two power-ups per round in this one, compared to four in the original PAC-MAN and six in Super.
This game and Super are basically the same in my mind, because they're the exact same game. Super only really gets a slight edge because the super Power Pellets are fun to use.
Huh. They really went and made Super PAC-MAN again. Though there are a few differences and additions here. The unlockable gates shtick unfortunately remains, but there are two new mechanics here to set itself apart. Pac & Pal is just fine, like its precursor.
Firstly is Miru (no, Museum+, I am not calling her Mil), who is a harmless ghost(?) that steals any uneaten fruit and cashes them in so that they're out of your hair. This seems like a detriment at first, and it technically is if you're trying to score high, but in the later rounds, when you're just trying to progress, having one less fruit to worry about can genuinely be pretty helpful. Then there's the special items; these replace the normal Power Pellets from the previous two games with an item that lets PAC-MAN fire a ghost-stunning beam. The differing animations the ghosts have when stunned are very cute and a great detail, and it's neat that some of them are nods to Namco's other arcade games from the same time like Galaga and Rally-X, but these items aren't as generally useful as the Power Pellet. Not helped by the fact that you only get two power-ups per round in this one, compared to four in the original PAC-MAN and six in Super.
This game and Super are basically the same in my mind, because they're the exact same game. Super only really gets a slight edge because the super Power Pellets are fun to use.
1982
[PAC-MAN Museum+ 2/14]
It's PAC-MAN, but worse. Like, it's fine, but not as fun or immediately understandable as the original PAC-MAN. Not a huge fan of the unlockable gates mechanic, but the super Power Pellets that make you super big and fast are pretty fun to use.
It's PAC-MAN, but worse. Like, it's fine, but not as fun or immediately understandable as the original PAC-MAN. Not a huge fan of the unlockable gates mechanic, but the super Power Pellets that make you super big and fast are pretty fun to use.
No.
2000
A very okay version of Rayman. Well, it's more of an original game that uses the console game's concepts and locales, really.
It's a very fine game. The levels are fine. The controls are fine. The graphics are fine. The music is... not fine, actually. It's just comprised of these poor chiptune renditions of Rayman 2 songs that are rather unpleasant to listen to. Other than that, it's all very fine. This is a very okay 2D platformer. You will probably have an adequate time here and then promptly forget everything about it right after you beat it. A nice novelty, but that's about it.
It's a very fine game. The levels are fine. The controls are fine. The graphics are fine. The music is... not fine, actually. It's just comprised of these poor chiptune renditions of Rayman 2 songs that are rather unpleasant to listen to. Other than that, it's all very fine. This is a very okay 2D platformer. You will probably have an adequate time here and then promptly forget everything about it right after you beat it. A nice novelty, but that's about it.
1980
[PAC-MAN Museum+ 1/14]
I mean... it's PAC-MAN. What else is there to say about this game that hasn't already been said?
It's one of the most important arcade games of all time. It's a very well-designed game with simple, easy-to-understand mechanics that just about anyone can pick up and enjoy. It's just some good, clean fun. I like the funny circle man. What else do you want me to type here?
I mean... it's PAC-MAN. What else is there to say about this game that hasn't already been said?
It's one of the most important arcade games of all time. It's a very well-designed game with simple, easy-to-understand mechanics that just about anyone can pick up and enjoy. It's just some good, clean fun. I like the funny circle man. What else do you want me to type here?
The rare licensed game that actually does its license justice, for the most part. Not only does it feel incredibly authentic to the original cartoon and its world, but it also manages to be a well-designed and enjoyable game just by itself. It felt like they wanted to make a good game first and foremost rather than just cash in on a popular IP.
What we have here is a Super Mario 64-esque collectathon platformer featuring SpongeBob and his cohorts. Exactly what you'd expect, more or less, but it's a well-made one with strong level design, fun objectives, varied gameplay and tight controls. It's just a fun game in general, with a decent amount of content and plenty of memorable moments. If I had to criticize anything, I'd say that there were some very annoying levels here. Kelp Forest's objectives just aren't very enjoyable, and Rock Bottom was a total pain in the ass to navigate. The game also could have used some more time in the oven; I often encountered really strange bugs and graphical glitches that, while not game-breaking, were definitely a bit offputting and strange.
What really elevates this title is its pin-point accuracy to the cartoon it's based off of. No other game has managed to get as close to feeling like a playable episode of SpongeBob as this has. As someone who grew up watching the show, exploring this digital recreation of Bikini Bottom was a delightful experience. The writing is very on point; the dialogue in this game does a great job at capturing the style of humor the series usually has, and all of the characters feel just like their normal selves. You can really tell that the people behind this were fans of the show, because there was clearly of love and care put into this project. While this really isn't anything mind-blowing, it is nevertheless a charming and enjoyable experience that is well worth playing, especially if you like the show in question. If you loved SpongeBob as a kid like I did, this game will take you right back to your childhood. Quite enjoyed this one.
What we have here is a Super Mario 64-esque collectathon platformer featuring SpongeBob and his cohorts. Exactly what you'd expect, more or less, but it's a well-made one with strong level design, fun objectives, varied gameplay and tight controls. It's just a fun game in general, with a decent amount of content and plenty of memorable moments. If I had to criticize anything, I'd say that there were some very annoying levels here. Kelp Forest's objectives just aren't very enjoyable, and Rock Bottom was a total pain in the ass to navigate. The game also could have used some more time in the oven; I often encountered really strange bugs and graphical glitches that, while not game-breaking, were definitely a bit offputting and strange.
What really elevates this title is its pin-point accuracy to the cartoon it's based off of. No other game has managed to get as close to feeling like a playable episode of SpongeBob as this has. As someone who grew up watching the show, exploring this digital recreation of Bikini Bottom was a delightful experience. The writing is very on point; the dialogue in this game does a great job at capturing the style of humor the series usually has, and all of the characters feel just like their normal selves. You can really tell that the people behind this were fans of the show, because there was clearly of love and care put into this project. While this really isn't anything mind-blowing, it is nevertheless a charming and enjoyable experience that is well worth playing, especially if you like the show in question. If you loved SpongeBob as a kid like I did, this game will take you right back to your childhood. Quite enjoyed this one.
2020
This review contains spoilers
The Pedestrian is incredibly cool on paper. Its clever idea of shuffling around street signs to solve puzzles is definitely a unique one, and there are some good uses of it and some genuinely good puzzles, but unfortunately there's one problem with the game that severely damages the experience: its consistent inability to give you any idea as to how you're supposed to make use of its mechanics.
The only thing the game lets you know about at all is the basic controls. Every single mechanic here is thrown at you with nothing to show how you're actually supposed to use it. It just drops something new in your lap and says "alright, good luck!" This wouldn't be as much of a problem if the mechanics were something that you could easily understand just by looking at it, but that is often times not the case. Even right at the beginning, there's nothing that lets you know that ladders and doors are only useable if they are close enough to the other door that you have it connected to. That's something I really would have liked to know from jump, instead of figuring it out by accident. Later on, there's a mechanic where you can paint certain panels green by connecting it to a paint dispenser. How, pray tell, was I supposed to figure out that painted panels don't have their contents reset when something is disconnected from them? That is a wildly specific thing for the game to just expect you to intrinsically know. I don't even want an extensive tutorial, all I need is an illustration or something in the corner of the screen so I have any clue as to what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.
The game also has some cases of needlessly obtuse puzzle design at some points. This really comes to a head at the end of the game, where it suddenly becomes a first-person game in-between the platforming segments. This was actually really cool at first, and a pretty nuts twist on the previous portions of the game. Then you get to the puzzles, and the game just expects you to know that pushing a crate into a corner on one of the panels makes a box materialize in the real-ass world, and that you're supposed to place that box on a random part of the floor in order to continue on the panels. It does not at all indicate that pushing the crate will spawn the box, it gives you no idea where it is at all, and it gives you no idea where you're supposed to place it in order to continue. This is just beyond all normal logic or reason, and expecting players to just know that is not particularly good game design. I genuinely do not know how they expected anyone to figure that out without a guide.
It sucks, because these devs are obviously very talented and passionate about their work, but this game is just not intuitive at all. They just expect you to know every one of its mechanics, and when the mechanics are often times not something you can figure out easily by yourself, it really drags the whole experience down. I did not like this game very much. But thankfully, it manages to wrap itself up before it really overstays its welcome.
The only thing the game lets you know about at all is the basic controls. Every single mechanic here is thrown at you with nothing to show how you're actually supposed to use it. It just drops something new in your lap and says "alright, good luck!" This wouldn't be as much of a problem if the mechanics were something that you could easily understand just by looking at it, but that is often times not the case. Even right at the beginning, there's nothing that lets you know that ladders and doors are only useable if they are close enough to the other door that you have it connected to. That's something I really would have liked to know from jump, instead of figuring it out by accident. Later on, there's a mechanic where you can paint certain panels green by connecting it to a paint dispenser. How, pray tell, was I supposed to figure out that painted panels don't have their contents reset when something is disconnected from them? That is a wildly specific thing for the game to just expect you to intrinsically know. I don't even want an extensive tutorial, all I need is an illustration or something in the corner of the screen so I have any clue as to what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.
The game also has some cases of needlessly obtuse puzzle design at some points. This really comes to a head at the end of the game, where it suddenly becomes a first-person game in-between the platforming segments. This was actually really cool at first, and a pretty nuts twist on the previous portions of the game. Then you get to the puzzles, and the game just expects you to know that pushing a crate into a corner on one of the panels makes a box materialize in the real-ass world, and that you're supposed to place that box on a random part of the floor in order to continue on the panels. It does not at all indicate that pushing the crate will spawn the box, it gives you no idea where it is at all, and it gives you no idea where you're supposed to place it in order to continue. This is just beyond all normal logic or reason, and expecting players to just know that is not particularly good game design. I genuinely do not know how they expected anyone to figure that out without a guide.
It sucks, because these devs are obviously very talented and passionate about their work, but this game is just not intuitive at all. They just expect you to know every one of its mechanics, and when the mechanics are often times not something you can figure out easily by yourself, it really drags the whole experience down. I did not like this game very much. But thankfully, it manages to wrap itself up before it really overstays its welcome.
2023
Couldn't really get into this one, unfortunately. To be honest, I couldn't tell you exactly why this didn't click with me, especially since I do really enjoy the series' mobile entry, KartRider Rush+, but I just wasn't really enjoying it very much and ended up deleting it.
Maybe the gameplay just doesn't translate particularly well to PlayStation 4 or something, but I felt that Rush+ was a lot more enjoyable all around. Something about KartRider: Drift just feels off to me. It felt slower, somehow less responsive despite using a controller instead of a touch screen, and overall there's just not a whole lot going on here, both in terms of its racing and its live-service elements. There's not many events or things to progress towards, whereas Rush+ feels like it's constantly popping off with something new to do.
It also seems like there's just absolutely no playerbase here. When I set it to only match me up with real players, I only ever got into one, single race after over four and a half minutes straight of waiting, and never got into another race after that. And this is with cross-platform play activated, mind you. Last time I played Rush+, I consistently found full-house races within 30 seconds, even when I was up in the higher ranked tiers. That just leaves you with racing against the CPU-controlled racers... who just blast off the starting line at top speed and never let up. I just can't catch up to them, no matter what I do. I don't know if it's a personal skill issue or if these bastards just cheat, but I was never able to finish ahead of... like, 6th place. So the choice is between trying to get multiplayer races in a game seemingly nobody is playing, or try and race against CPUs I have no realistic chance of catching up to. Either way, I'm not having fun, so I just stopped bothering with this.
The game has good qualities, such as its robust, ModNation Racers-esque suite of car customization features, wide variety of tracks, karts and characters and beautiful visuals, but when I'm not having much fun with the actual racing, I'm not gonna stick around for much time at all. It's a shame, because I really do like Rush+; unfortunately, this game failed to live up to that.
Maybe the gameplay just doesn't translate particularly well to PlayStation 4 or something, but I felt that Rush+ was a lot more enjoyable all around. Something about KartRider: Drift just feels off to me. It felt slower, somehow less responsive despite using a controller instead of a touch screen, and overall there's just not a whole lot going on here, both in terms of its racing and its live-service elements. There's not many events or things to progress towards, whereas Rush+ feels like it's constantly popping off with something new to do.
It also seems like there's just absolutely no playerbase here. When I set it to only match me up with real players, I only ever got into one, single race after over four and a half minutes straight of waiting, and never got into another race after that. And this is with cross-platform play activated, mind you. Last time I played Rush+, I consistently found full-house races within 30 seconds, even when I was up in the higher ranked tiers. That just leaves you with racing against the CPU-controlled racers... who just blast off the starting line at top speed and never let up. I just can't catch up to them, no matter what I do. I don't know if it's a personal skill issue or if these bastards just cheat, but I was never able to finish ahead of... like, 6th place. So the choice is between trying to get multiplayer races in a game seemingly nobody is playing, or try and race against CPUs I have no realistic chance of catching up to. Either way, I'm not having fun, so I just stopped bothering with this.
The game has good qualities, such as its robust, ModNation Racers-esque suite of car customization features, wide variety of tracks, karts and characters and beautiful visuals, but when I'm not having much fun with the actual racing, I'm not gonna stick around for much time at all. It's a shame, because I really do like Rush+; unfortunately, this game failed to live up to that.
A pretty solid way to play a handful of old Namco arcade games on your 6th-generation console of choice... if you like that sort of thing.
Pretty good variety across the board, with a good mix of the really iconic ones like PAC-MAN, Galaga and Dig Dug alongside the lesser known ones like Mappy and Rolling Thunder. The games also play quite nice as well. They obviously don't look particularly great, though that has more to do with the hardware and time of release, and they have the odd property of being pitched up by like a semitone, but they run very smoothly and are very responsive and smooth to play. The licensed music in the menus is a bit of an odd choice, though.
There are probably better Namco Museum entries out there, but this is a pretty solid effort all around. If you want to play Bosconian right after listening to a portion of Talking in Your Sleep by The Romantics, this game will let you do that.
Pretty good variety across the board, with a good mix of the really iconic ones like PAC-MAN, Galaga and Dig Dug alongside the lesser known ones like Mappy and Rolling Thunder. The games also play quite nice as well. They obviously don't look particularly great, though that has more to do with the hardware and time of release, and they have the odd property of being pitched up by like a semitone, but they run very smoothly and are very responsive and smooth to play. The licensed music in the menus is a bit of an odd choice, though.
There are probably better Namco Museum entries out there, but this is a pretty solid effort all around. If you want to play Bosconian right after listening to a portion of Talking in Your Sleep by The Romantics, this game will let you do that.
2018
This left me very... whelmed. Not underwhelmed; it's definitely not bad at all, and has some good parts to it. Not overwhelmed, either; not much in terms of fresh new concepts is brought to the table here. Just whelmed. It's... fine.
Gravel is a pretty bland and uninspired, but competently made and content-heavy racer with lots of tracks and cars to drive with. The controls are generally responsive, the graphics are pretty nice and detailed, and the track design gets the job done. There's just nothing particularly special about the experience; no spice, no secret sauce that really makes it unique. You want an okay racing game and nothing else? Then buy Gravel, because that's all you're gonna get, damn it.
I have some other issues with it; the physics engine is a bit wonky, often times causing my car to get flung in the air from a slight incline, there were a few bugs that, while not game-breaking, were definitely annoying, and the one original mode to its name, Smash-Up, is more frustrating than fun due to its randomized nature. But other than those issues... it's fine. Perfectly adequate. You'll play it, maybe get the Platinum trophy, have an alright time, then proceed to forget everything about it a week after you're done with it.
It would probably make for a pretty good podcast game, though.
Gravel is a pretty bland and uninspired, but competently made and content-heavy racer with lots of tracks and cars to drive with. The controls are generally responsive, the graphics are pretty nice and detailed, and the track design gets the job done. There's just nothing particularly special about the experience; no spice, no secret sauce that really makes it unique. You want an okay racing game and nothing else? Then buy Gravel, because that's all you're gonna get, damn it.
I have some other issues with it; the physics engine is a bit wonky, often times causing my car to get flung in the air from a slight incline, there were a few bugs that, while not game-breaking, were definitely annoying, and the one original mode to its name, Smash-Up, is more frustrating than fun due to its randomized nature. But other than those issues... it's fine. Perfectly adequate. You'll play it, maybe get the Platinum trophy, have an alright time, then proceed to forget everything about it a week after you're done with it.
It would probably make for a pretty good podcast game, though.
1995
A very polished, good-looking and good-sounding platformer with great controls, but the level design falls into unfair tropes just a bit too often. Lots of do-or-die moments, frustrating mechanics, and the rare instance of outright poor level design (such as a level where you have to reach the bottom, but every single platform bounces you upwards). The Eat at Joe's level violates a few of the Geneva Conventions, I think.
Also, the final level is completely inaccessible unless you have destroyed every single cage in the game. Screw that.
Also, the final level is completely inaccessible unless you have destroyed every single cage in the game. Screw that.
This is that newly-released fighting game that everyone's been playing, right?
I could write an obnoxiously long diatribe about all the intricacies of why this game is good, with long writeups about game mechanics or roster balance or whatever, but I'm not gonna do that because I don't want to. I like this game because it feels pretty good to beat the tar out of people, and there's a lot of ways to do that. It's probaly a pretty good sign that I enjoy this game as much as I do even though I can barely play it. I don't know what else I can say here. Fight game feel good. Fight game fun. Fight game good maybe?
I could write an obnoxiously long diatribe about all the intricacies of why this game is good, with long writeups about game mechanics or roster balance or whatever, but I'm not gonna do that because I don't want to. I like this game because it feels pretty good to beat the tar out of people, and there's a lot of ways to do that. It's probaly a pretty good sign that I enjoy this game as much as I do even though I can barely play it. I don't know what else I can say here. Fight game feel good. Fight game fun. Fight game good maybe?
2016
They just put these bastards into anything.