amphibious_ReViews

Skylanders as a series holds a lot of nostalgia for me. I got the first game for Christmas when it came out, and played the series for years with my dad and brothers. In that time, we collectively amassed nearly 200 figures, all of which I recently rediscovered. Aching to relive that nostalgia, but not wanting to glue myself to a couch, I decided to play the only game in the series to make it to the Nintendo Switch . As the last game in the series, I expected some changes and growth in Skylanders Imaginators  that would bring the series to a new level, but I was surprised to find that it really just rehashed the story and mechanics of the first two entries, while adding light platforming of Swap Force . Like every other game in the series, Skylanders Imaginators asks you to protect the Skylands from the immature, power-hungry villain, Kaos. Instead of doing this with a set player-character, you can play as any one of the Skylanders released throughout the lifetime of the franchise,

When I first heard about Crash Bandicoot: On the Run , I was excited about the prospect of playing a Crash game on my phone, especially one built with the platform in mind. The pre-release screenshots inspired most of my hopefulness, making the game out to be a safe but enjoyable combination of Subway Surfers and the N. Sane Trilogy . The developer's history didn't inspire a lot of confidence in the potential player-friendliness of the game, but I stayed hopeful nonetheless. Upon release, I found that everything played out generally as expected, if not a little worse. It all looks and feels pretty great, but the execution is a total disaster. The primary goal in On the Run is to defeat interdimensional bosses and their henchmen, thereby returning them to their home dimension. You do this by avoiding obstacles and attacks in three-track auto-runner levels until you are close enough to hit your opponent with a portal weapon. If that was the whole game, I would be happy. Unfort

My first Crash Bandicoot game was The Wrath of Cortex . I chiefly played it with my dad, as I was not nearly good enough to get past more than the first few levels on my own, but it was always fun to watch him play. With the N-Sane Trilogy , I wanted to relive those memories a little bit, but hopefully have an easier time actually beating the games. Although the nostalgia did come back somewhat while playing this first game, I was surprised by how difficult and frustrating I found the whole experience to be. While there were a few stages that only took one or two attempts and werw a lot of fun, the more memorable ones either had VVVVVV -level platforming without the abundant checkpoints, or janky 3D jumps that just don't work for the bandicoot, making this a hard game for me to look back on positively. Crash Bandicoot has you playing as the titular anthropomorphic marsupial as he attempts to save his girlfriend from the mad scientist, Dr. Neo Cortex. This quest will take you from

  As a remake of Crash Bandicoot 's first racing game that also revisited his other kart-themed outings, this was definitely a game I was interested in trying. I mean, It's a rare game that can stand up to the juggernaut Mario Kart series. Plus, the jump from PlayStation polygons to modern graphics really looks superb. Unfortunately, my entire experience with the game was plagued with the thick, muggy air of free-to-play. This normally wouldn't be a problem for me - I will gladly grind more to get stuff the hard way if I didn't pay for the game on the first place. However, this game is not free. Setting that aside for now, my general experience with the game was a series of ups and downs. The controls took some getting used to after years of Mario Kart, and my instincts, especially when it comes to drifting, needed a lot of retraining. Though once I got the hang of it, if felt pretty intuitive! The difficulty was also a shock. As this game lacks things like "rubb

Alter Ego  is a game that wasn't originally even in my line of sight. I have a lot of games waiting to be played, so a DOS game about living a whole new life didn't even cross my mind. However, I was browsing through the Internet Archive 's collection of saved DOS games and I thought this one might be worth a go. I anticipated it to be a short little choose-your-own-adventure style game, and in a way I was right. However, this game isn't short, and the choices I made mattered more than I thought they would. Alter Ego  is a hard-hitting life simulator that pits you with nearly everything life has to offer, even the bits you would have never thought about. You are tasked with balancing your health, reputation, relationships, finances, education, and more while being given very little direction. Every choice and decision impacts your personal "stats," which in turn alter what choices you can make in the future and the consequences of those choices. What I rea

The leader in the toys-to-life genre released another gem with Swap-Force , bringing a lot of upgrades and changes to the game, but maybe a bit too many additions for its own good. Now, I could write an entire doctoral thesis comparing this game to its predecessors and successors, but I won't. Rather, I hope to delve into Swap-Force  almost as if it were a standalone. What I noticed immediately about this game is that it looks and feels gorgeous. Everything blends together seamlessly into one solid world that combines cartoony with colorful, creating a wide variety of aesthetically magnificent levels. The platforming is also quite enjoyable, coupled with a button-mashing combat that stays exciting thanks to a variety of enemies and playable characters. Even the story is worthwhile as multiple humorous cutscenes play during the (unfortunately long) loading times. However, there are flaws, and most come thanks to the franchise's inherent business model. As a game that