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As I’ve stated many times, I grew up in an era when games for kids were well made, not rushed out, and designed so that everyone could enjoy them and that, lately, it seems games geared towards a younger audience have really been lackluster as of late, basically relegated to shovelware. Paw Patrol World, when I first saw this game, I thought it was going to be the latter but, to my surprise, it turned out to be the former. Yeah, this is honestly one of the better games for kids, for that matter a licensed game, that I played in a while!

Ever have a game come along that instantly you know you’re going to enjoy thoroughly, to the point of calling it one of your favorite games of the year, if not of all time? Well, that’s what happened to me with Tails Of Iron II: Whiskers Of Winter, a game I originally wasn’t too interested in but now I can’t stop playing. Seriously, I never found myself wanting to keep playing a game, even after the credits rolled, as much as I did with this one.

Outside of first person shooters, another genre of games I enjoy playing are the Fighting games. Games like Street Fighter VI, Mortal Kombat 11, Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the 2013 incarnation of Killer Instinct are some of my favorites to play (Not online as I am nowhere near THAT skill level yet to even attempt anyone online) now and then and I do get interested whenever a new fighting game is announced. However, sometimes, one can slip under my radar and go unnoticed by me for who knows how long and today’s game is one such game: Mostrocopy. I had no idea this was even in development until a friend told me about it and I gotta say? This is a fun fighting game though it has some minor issues that do affect my enjoyment.

I think of all the animals on this planet, Sharks are the ones that tend to be the most misunderstood, thanks to the many cheesy killer shark movies out there. According to a study by the Florida Museum of Natural History in 2023, in the States alone, even though there were 36 unprovoked attacks, there was only 1 fatality. In fact, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than you are to be bit by Jaws himself. Yet, that hasn’t stopped film makers from making such “classics” like Sharknado, Deep Blue Sea, 5-Headed Shark Attack, The Meg series, and Planet Of The Sharks. However, one area that this hasn’t penetrated was video games. Sure, there was Jaws on the NES and the Xbox’s Jaws: Unleashed, but, most of the time, sharks are relegated to being just either an obstacle or a random enemy to kill. Enter TripWire with their 2021 game Maneater, where you finally control a shark and do what Hollywood thinks it does best: Eat, Kill, and Destroy. While the game does those three well, it kinda falters in the other areas and has a few design choices that, I have to say, I’m not a real fan of, but it wasn’t enough to make me hate this title.

I’m not going to mince words here, but between all three Turok games? Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil is, arguably, my least favorite of the trilogy, which is funny because, back when the HD remaster first came out, I actually enjoyed this one more then the first one and said that this is what the first game should’ve been. But, time’s a cruel mistress and, over the years, my thoughts on Seeds have drastically changed and, unfortunately, not for the better.

As a 90’s kid, you’d think I’d be one of the many who grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Yet, I don’t remember ever watching the show as a kid at all, outside of renting the second TMNT movie from Blockbusters one day just out of sheer curiosity. To be honest, I was more into shows like Beetleborgs (which I’m still waiting for a game of that series) and Van-Pires (if you remember that show, you are my friend for life), so something like TMNT probably didn’t interest me at the time, though I could be wrong. But that doesn’t mean I know nothing of them. On the contrary, I do have some knowledge of the Turtles, thanks to the advent of the internet and the 2003 show which I do recall watching some episodes of when it aired, but not enough to say I’m a huge fan. With that being said, you’d think a game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge wouldn’t really interest me. Surprisingly, it’s actually one of those games I took a chance on and found myself really enjoying, even though it does have some shortcomings that prevent it from being anything really amazing.

I don’t think I ever saw a game with such a strong contrast of opinions as I did with The Thing. When I first heard of this game years ago, the reviewer I was watching called it another dime a dozen third person shooter, so I admit I passed this game up because of said review. But, as the years went on, I started to hear more praise for this game, with some calling it a hidden gem, and it did kinda stir my interests in it but not enough to find a copy for the PS2 or original Xbox. But, thanks to the talented people at Nightdive Studios, we now got a remastering of The Thing with The Thing Remastered and to be honest? I do fall in the camp of calling this a hidden gem, but I also fall in the camp of saying that the game does have some rough spots too.

Back in the day, one of the best game genres we had was the Car Combat genre. Games like the Twisted Metal franchise, Interstate ‘76, Vigilante 8 and its sequel 2nd Offense took many hours of lives as we strapped rocket launchers to our vehicles and blew each other up to cheesy rock music. However, for every classic one, we did get some stinkers like Streets Of SimCity or ones that went under the radar and never got the recognition they deserved and this is one of them. Released back on the GameCube, Xbox, and on the PS2 in Europe, Cel Damage had a mixed reception upon release back in the day but, it must’ve had a cult status as, between the years 2014 and 2019, an HD version, appropriately titled Cel Damage HD, released on modern consoles and it’s this version that’ll be the subject of this review. Is it any good or should this be sent to the scrapyard with the others?

What happens when you take the run-and-gun gameplay of a classic arcade game and replace it with strategy gameplay and sprinkle in roguelike elements as a topping? You get Metal Slug Tactics; A spin-off of the long-running iconic arcade franchise and, though it’s not a bad game, it’s one that does one area well but doesn’t really stick the landing in the other area.

Ever wanted to play a gun-totin’ llama engaged in a war against the evil alpaca empire? Then this game is for you! Speedollama (pronounced Speed-o-llama) is a fast-paced 2D side scroller where you choose one of three distinct llamas and battle your way through nine worlds in order to defeat the evil alpacas.

So, when I first heard of this game and saw the screenshots, I honestly thought this was another Contra-style game and, normally, I’d be less than thrilled. But, after playing the amazing Iron Meat, I was more open to another Contra-style indie game. Well, that’s what I thought I was going to get with this game but boy was I wrong. Not only is Speedollama nowhere close to Contra, it’s more akin to those run-and-gun flash games from sites like Newgrounds and Shockwave. Which is not a bad thing, mind you, as I grew up playing many titles with this style of gameplay on those websites back in High School. In fact, if I could boil this game down to one sentence, it’d be ‘Easy To Play and Easy To Master’ which, again, is not a negative.