[Review] Scram Kitty and His Buddy on Rails
Posted on 9 years ago by Jack Johnson(@tupachologram96) in Features, Reviews, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment
System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: May 15th, 2013 (NA, EU)
Developer: Dakko Dakko
Publisher: Dakko Dakko
Author: Jack
I hate it when people label things incorrectly. It makes me very sad and upset. I can’t tell you how much compound irritation I’ve had to repress when, say, someone would write the wrong name down on an online order at work and offer me the duty of rectifying the situation over the phone with Mrs. Jihnson and her missing mail-order appliance, or when a past roommate not-to-be-named would intentionally label the cat food ‘dog food’ just to try to make me sick the next day.
This is why I possess such a vitriol for relatively new Welsh developer Dakko Dakko and their latest attempt at capturing the burgeoning Wii U indie scene (think Mutant Mudds, Cloudberry Kingdom, and all of the other titles I’ve referenced way too much in writing and on the podcast), Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails, a 2D shooter with strong open-world platforming elements. The ‘On Rails’ signifier at the end there implies imprison-y, limited bounds and pointed, one-dimensional gameplay design, whereas Scram Kitty, in its comparative sense of freedom to the recent litany of top-notch platformers we’ve seen reach the eShop, feels anything but. Scram Kitty, though confusing in name, scratches an itch not satiated fully by its contemporaries on the platform. By not being as singularly masterful in its level design elements as, say, VVVVVV or Mighty Switch Force!, Scram Kitty feels a little less uptight and neo-retro, yet crucially still achieves the same level of “old-school hardcore” as those luminaries do. I will not use any cat puns in this review.
[Review] Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition (Wii U)
Posted on 9 years ago by Jack Johnson(@tupachologram96) in Features, Reviews, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 4 Comments
System: Wii U
Release Date: April 3rd, 2014
Developer: Armature Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Author: Jack
Think prison life’s bad? Having been there twice already, let me tell you, it’s worse than what the movies and books would have you think. Imagine having to shape your masticatory and gastrovascular secretionary actions around predetermined intervals of time throughout the day, with no exceptions. Imagine a life devoid of privacy in being forced to share a toilet bowl in a confined space with a burly ex-construction worker named Red. Now, with that gruesome reality in mind, picture being in a prison taken over by three maniacal super-convicts bent on causing mayhem and destruction upon their escape. Seems like just enough to drive you over the deep end, right? Well, in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate — Deluxe Edition for Wii U, you, the player, as the eponymous Batman, find yourself in that very peculiar predicament.
[Review] Sonic Lost World
Posted on 10 years ago by Jack Johnson(@tupachologram96) in Features, Reviews, Wii U | 20 Comments
System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: October 29, 2013 (NA) – October 18, 2013 (EU)
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Nintendo/SEGA
Author: Jack
In a normative sense, Sonic as a platforming archetype ultimately aims to achieve one goal: create a constant chain of ephemeral pleasure via the utilization of perceived velocity the controllable gameplay object reaches in gameplay. While such a vision, an expanded AudioSurf if you will, perennially begets hedonistic intrigue, that seemingly one-dimensional objective for some dang reason hasn’t really ever come to fruition for Sonic Team over the past few console lifespans. A definite, tangible goal as such seems easy enough to reach, right?
Unfortunately, a granular obstacle to that simple speedy sentiment exists prohibiting fulfillment of that thought: the more the design team over at Sonic Team’s vision rides off in all directions (Sonic Unleashed’s Werehog levels being a prime example) as opposed to finding one meaning around which Sonic should revolve, the more plodding and forgetful each subsequent entry in the series gets. How can one ever hope to solve that ever-nagging dilemma?
