amphibious_ReViews

Tetris established itself as one of the greatest puzzle games ever made very early in it's life, and it has held that position with minimal competition ever since. In addition to the addicting gameplay, Tetris's  success may be attributed to the fact   it is extremely prolific, being playable on almost anything, from consoles to calculators. It also maintains interest by regularly releasing spin-offs that shake up the gameplay. However, they all generally maintain the structure of the original. Tasking players with fitting falling blocks together in horizontal lines, the basic gameplay is deceptively simple, but strategy is required, especially when the game starts to speed up. I have developed a technique that works for me, but I'm always trying to get better, which makes Tetris  engaging, even after playing it for ages. I have a lot of fun with  Tetris , especially competitively, but even when it's broken down to it's most simple form, it's addicting. Plus,

Hard-as-nails platformers don't often find a home on touchscreens due to the need for precise controls, but that didn't stop Ubisoft from giving it a shot. The controls are surprisingly tight, and the try-die-repeat loop is actually pretty fun, as long as you don't have Internet access. Otherwise, the ads become unbelievably invasive, forcing a 5-30 second pause between gameplay at almost every death (in a game where death is designed to happen a lot). To make matters worse, reports from other players claim that paying to remove ads doesn't actually work. I was able to actually play the game once I turned data off, and I ended up enjoying it for a bit. Escape encouraged me to learn the patterns and structures of levels, and I felt myself improve as I played, which was quite fulfilling. However, after 30 levels, I started to notice reused level pieces; after 60, I stopped feeling challenged; after 70, I was bored. Prince of Persia: Escape offers an enjoyable time-w

When I first heard about Pokémon Café Mix , I thought that it looked like a cute little game, but was probably just another Pokémon Shuffle . For context, Shuffle was an early free-to-play Pokémon puzzle game that was heavily pay-to-win, making it a pretty disappointing title. However, I'm a sucker for free, so I thought I may as well try  Café Mix , despite my low expectations. After playing it, I think it may be the most enjoyable free Pokémon game after Go ! The puzzle format is a physics-based gimmick-oriented icon-matching game. Put simply, it's Tsum Tsum meets Candy Crush . I found this game to be so delightful because the puzzles are structured in such a way that they provide a challenge, but are never unfair. As of this review, I'm almost 200 stages in without having used a single power-up, save for the one required in a training stage. For contrast, after a few dozen levels in Shuffle , I was using more than one paid item per stage. Café Mix is also absolutely

Probably the strangest mainline Mario title, Super Mario Bros. 2 gave America an unforgettable romp through Mario's deadly dreams. Starting as the Japan exclusive Doki Doki Panic , Mario 2 dropped the classic goombas and koopas in favor of  now-familiar baddies like birdos and shy guys that weren't even meant for the Mario universe. Mario's defeat-an-enemy-by-jumping-on-it superpower is also gone, replaced instead by the ability to pick up and throw almost everything. But most exciting, you can actually play as four different characters, each with their own abilities! Now, Nintendo claimed that they released this title in the US because it was easier than what we now know as The Lost Levels , but I'm not sure I got that. The game was definitely still difficult, which was exacerbated by the length of the levels. Plus the evil masks that chase you when you pick up a key are real jerks and I hate them. Despite my issues with the difficulty, this was a fun, albeit unorth

I think Harvey's Box is a hilarious representation of the Rusty Lake Universe. However, where Arles suffered in world-building, this title suffers in puzzles. Playing as the pet of the protagonist from the first two games was understandably delightful, but the puzzles often felt like they were trying to be annoying. That's not to say every puzzle was terrible. There was still plenty of Cube Escape magic to enjoy, and the now-familiar eerie atmosphere is still extremely engrossing. With the weakest puzzles in the series thus far, Harvey's Box is not the best in terms of gameplay, but it helps to develop the world in a unique way that I think can't be missed. It was also pretty short, as Cube Escape games tend to be, so the struggle with a few bad puzzles won't last too long. Overall it was an enjoyable little game, and it has my recommendation. The game can be played online here (as of 9/4/20): http://www.rustylake.com/room-escape-games/cube-escape-harveys-box.

Bioshock combines an eerie atmosphere, an engaging plot, morality-based decision-making, and phenomenal gameplay to create a hugely creative and enjoyable FPS experience. I found myself constantly being pulled deeper into the underwater dystopia of Rapture, and I almost wanted to stay as much as I wanted to escape! The gameplay centers around shooting your way through the surviving gene-splicing lunatic residents of the submerged city, but the real fun comes when you start splicing your own genes. Known as "plasmids," Bioshock gives players the opportunity to use inhuman powers to melt walls of ice, disarm traps, swarm enemies with bees, and more! However, most of the better plasmids need to be purchased using the genetic currency, "adam," which can only be collected from the mutated little girls of Rapture known as "little sisters." Bioshock challenges players to decide whether they want to rescue the girls and receive a small portion of adam, or mur

Being pretty much THE reason to own a Nokia phone in the 90's, Snake  has truly earned itself a place in gaming history. When it comes to the gameplay, the mechanics are simple; you are tasked with directing a moving snake around an enclosed arena so that it can eat and grow without running into a wall or its own grotesquely long body. The game starts out pretty easy, as the snake is short enough to be very easy to dodge. However, as it progresses, more strategy is required to avoid hitting the snake's tail while still traversing the small playing field. That mechanic is what I think makes Snake  unique amongst other arcade-style games. Games like Tetris or Pac-Man  force players to act faster by increasing the game's speed. Snake  forces the players to act faster by punishing their success with a longer snake. The speed never changes, but the playing field effectively shrinks. I never really spend a lot of time playing Snake  in any one play session, but the intelligent