amphibious_ReViews

For a variety of reasons, board games don't always have successful transitions into the video game format. Many manage the platform jump, but come with enough compromises that they aren't worth playing anyways. Risk is not one of those games. Save for the AI players that make solo play pretty much impossible, this turned out to be a remarkably well-translated board game. With all of the original rules in-tact, as well as "house rule" style customization, Risk Global Domination  feels just as playable as the board game sitting in my closet, but without any of the setup or teardown. For those unfamiliar, Risk is a strategic game about becoming the leading world superpower while preventing your rivals from doing the same. As the name suggests, whether you have a good plan or not, your actions are going to involve a degree of risk. In order to dominate the world, you must conquer the geographical regions held by your opponents while defending the ones you currently hold

When the WiiU was unceremoniously sidelined by the Switch ,  began the grand effort of porting over every major game from the console to easily buff the Switch library with games that most people haven't played anyways. This effort resulted in a lot of "deluxe" versions of games that have more content but are still fundamentally the same title. However, Nintendo had so many ideas for their port of Splatoon that they ended up making it into a full-fledged sequel. After playing it myself, I think they added and replaced enough content to call it a new game , but when it comes down to it, this is really just another "deluxe" port. What I mean is, if you have played the original, you already know pretty much everything there is to know about Splatoon 2 . The competitive online portion of the game added some new weapon types and modified the controls a bit to make up for the lack of a second screen, but it is still largely the same as before. The story mode is c

The White Door is clearly a  Rusty Lake game, with the series' familiar art, puzzle, and storytelling styles permeating throughout the entire experience. This fascinated me, as The White Door sidelines the series' standard first-person room-escape gameplay for a unique and unfamiliar third-person two-panel system. In the previous games, you played as the title's respective main character, directing their actions in order to progress. In this game, you still technically control the main character, but the new approach to gameplay makes it feel more like he is directing you instead. With the game simultaneously feeling like a main-series title and something completely new, it ends up being a very unique and enjoyable "spin-off" that I wasn't expecting. Stepping aside from the narrative of Dale Vandermeer that had been kept at the forefront for most of the Rusty Lake franchise, The White Door dives deep into the mind of Robert Hill, ex-boyfriend of the late L

As WiiU games continue to get ported to the Switch , Nintendo keeps trying to find ways of making them worth buying for owners of the original versions. Why would you buy Super Mario 3D World at full price for your Switch when you just bought it for a third of that price on the WiiU ? The quality of life changes may be nice, but they usually aren't enough to make me double up on a purchase. However, a full new game would absolutely warrant my attention. That's what we got with Bowser's Fury . The way it was originally presented made me worried that it would just be some kind of inconsequential side mode like that of the Mario & Luigi remakes, but thankfully that was not the case. It does end up being a rather short game, but it is still a full, standalone experience, and it probably makes for the best re-release pack-in yet. Bowser's Fury starts with Bowser Jr. attempting to recruit Mario in an effort to defeat Fury Bowser. In Bowser's hunger for power, he we

I couldn't tell you how excited I was to finally get my hands on this game. Four Swords Anniversary Edition was released as a free download on DSi and 3DS to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda , and once again to celebrate the critical success of A Link Between Worlds . However, it was removed from the shop shortly after release both times and has never been re-released since. I'm a huge fan of the Zelda series, but I completely missed the limited availability of this title. I could technically have played the GBA original, but then I would need a second player with their own hardware, and I would miss out on all of the extra content. Luckily, I did finally end up getting my hands on the game. When Four Swords originally came out on the GBA packed in with A Link to the Past , it was the first of its kind. While it still looks and feels like a Zelda game, with its engine even being reused for The Minish Cap ,  the series-staple sprawling solo adventu

When I first picked up Time Pilot , I wasn't sure what to expect. Most of Konami 's arcade games escaped my attention up until recently, so they tend to be a surprise every time I pick one up. Although the game's title kind of gave away its concept, I was only seconds in before I started geeking out over traveling through time and battling weaponized aircraft from five different decades. It's still just as basic of a story as any other arcade game, but the concept just did something for me that shooting aliens without an origin didn't. When you boil it all down, Time Pilot is a game about shooting and surviving. You are given what seems to be a horizontal view of the sky with 360 degrees of navigational capability in which you must maneuver to avoid enemies and incoming fire. However, you won't be able to win as a pacifist. The game requires you to take out a certain amount of opposing aircraft before it spawns the boss-like enemy that you must defeat in order

Donkey Kong Country 2 was actually the only game from the original trilogy that I didn't grow up playing. My brothers and I passed around the first game on GBA all the time, and I played Double Trouble on the SNES to completion with my dad. We did briefly try out Diddy's Kong Quest on Wii Virtual Console , but paying coins to save just did not jive with me at the time, so much so that I didn't come back to it until now. Because of my general lack of exposure, I was pretty surprised to learn that this is popularly regarded as the best game of the three. However, even without being able to play as the series' titular ape, I now fully understand that consensus. The basic structure of this game, compared to its predecessor, is pretty much the same. You'll platform your way through linear levels, jumping on enemies, blasting out of barrels, riding animal buddies, and collecting items. On the surface, it may even seem like the developers just swapped out one of the K

Long before every flash game died in a terrible fire, Ninja Kiwi 's Bloons series, and its spinoff,  Bloons Tower Defense , consumed almost every free moment I had at a school computer. There was just something about strategically popping balloons with an army of dart-throwing monkeys that I enjoyed. I remember giving the original Bloons Supermonkey a try and having fun, but I hadn't discovered it until so much later, and I just wasn't quite so interested anymore. However, a recent hankering for bullet hell action led me to pick this one up on my phone, and it brought me right back. Like most other bullet hell games, Bloons Supermonkey 2 has you control a lone fighter against massive waves of opponents. The bulk of the game is broken into 100 bite-sized levels, with new opponents, mechanics, and even playable Supermonkeys being unlocked as you progress. Unfortunately, the levels start to feel pretty repetitive, with only the boss battles providing much of a challenge. T

It's pretty much impossible to live in the United States (and I'm sure elsewhere) without having at least a minimal understanding of what Minecraft is. The game has been released on practically every console of the previous few generations, has spawned spinoffs and countless imitators, is represented in the books, toys, bedding, and clothing sections of your favorite retailer, and has been on the minds of children everywhere for nearly a decade. You shouldn't let the overtly kid-centered marketing scare you away though. Even without owning a themed pajama set, you can enjoy the creative freedom that Minecraft offers its players.  The basics of the game are pretty simple. You are presented with a randomly generated world constructed largely of destructible blocks made of various materials. Despite it's blockiness, the world feels alive, with expansive forests, active wildlife, and even bustling villages! However, the true magic of Minecraft comes in the fact that you

Cube Escape: Paradox managed to achieve a lot of firsts for the series, offering a level of production previously unprecedented in the world of Rusty Lake . The biggest addition here is an absolutely fantastic short film based on the game, offering a more atmospheric dive into the mysterious world that we've come to love. Paradox is also the first Cube Escape title to offer DLC, letting you have both the usual full-size game for free and a more substantial second chapter for a little less than a Rusty Lake title. I honestly loved this approach, as I still got the game that I was expecting, and, as an excuse to support the developers more, I got an even better game to top it off.  Because Paradox encompasses two chapters and a short film, all of which take place in the same room, I found its premise to be very clever. Our favorite detective, Dale Vandermeer, returns to the spotlight as he attempts to learn the secrets of the room he's trapped in with the hope of eventually