Sunday Roundup: 9/6/15

Suddenly I’ve come into ownership of three M&M’s video games with this one. The GameStop employee who checked me out was pretty cool, and totally liked how I was buying this game we both knew was going to be terrible. She had a good point about it: sometimes you just need some awful games to cleanse your pallet for something bigger and better later. Yeah, we’ll go with that!

Cruis’n is a great example of a game series gone wrong. Back in the arcades of the 90’s you new you were going to have a good time if you heard that familiar Cruis’n USA jingle playing somewhere in the distance. After a few successful albeit not as cool home ports the racing series went kind of stagnant. And then this horribly reviewed Wii version of the series comes out. Interestingly, Cruis’n started its life as a Fast and the Furious game, but lost its license along the way and instead became a generic Wii racer. Oh, what could have been.

It was only a matter of time until I picked up the original Disney Infinity. I actually really enjoyed the second Marvel-themed game quite a bit: it was kind of like Skylanders but with more familiar faces. I’m pretty sure I won’t go out of my way to buy any play sets from this first game unless I see a great deal, so I probably won’t be playing this one all that much. And besides, Disney Infinity 3.0 is out now, with all its Star Wars goodness!

There have been copies of this game floating around GameStop’s for years now, but I only now picked it up. Seeing it complete and in great condition for one dollar I decided to pick it up. Interestingly the game has above average reviews online, and it sold well enough (at least on the 360 and PS3 anyway) to get a sequel, so it must be somewhat entertaining. For me, though, the World War II setting was never that exciting. Perhaps that’s a reason why I never got into the Call of Duty games…

Another dollar game from San Jose’s GameStop, Thrillville: Off the Rails is a theme park simulator game that I can’t help but compare to the PC classic Roller Coaster Tycoon. In Thrillville though, it seems you have some minigames to tend to as well as making your park awesome and keeping your guests happy. Just like Blazing Angels, though, this was mostly bought because of the price. But I do have more of an interest in this one.

I’m not sure if it is still going on, but in store and online GameStop was offering a ridiculous Buy 2 Get 3 Free sale on their used interactive game figures, so Amiibos (if they have any), Skylanders, and Disney Infinity. I ended up buying 30 figures online and in stores combined, but only dropped somewhere around 85 bucks. Since I still didn’t own anything from Skylanders: Trap Team, it was easy for me to find a boatload of new toys to add to my collection, including a great selection of game-specific Trap Master figures. They’re all in now, and with this game on PS4 (and a Trap Team portal that also was part of the sale and also works for the Wii U versions), I can’t wait to actually play this one!

I almost bought this game new at Amazon for $7 or something like that, but ended up waiting on it and decided I’d pass. Thankfully a $5 copy showed up at this used game sellers booth at PAX Prime! The game itself isn’t anything special, but it’s just one of those games I guess I had calling to me. The art style is reminding me of the Super Dodge Ball series, even though I know they have practically nothing in common.

Here’s a game I thought I’d never see: League of Legends on the DS! Haha, just kidding. LOL is a multiplayer only game that has you and your friends playing a dumbed down version of Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity. The quirkyness of the game and the likelihood not too many others gamers have this is reason alone that I’d want it for myself. That price tag wasn’t bad either.

I remember playing the first James Pond game back on the Genesis, I believe, when I was growing up, It wasn’t that exciting, but I think the punny name was what stuck with me all these years, and what really made it easy to pick this one up at the booth. This is a remake of the second game in the series, and like the entire series itself is full of mediocrity. It’s a cute premise, but nothing more.

They really missed a great opportunity to sell this game for seven bucks. Anyway, I was kind of impressed with Pink Gorilla’s booth at PAX I decided before we left after the convention was over I wanted to check out one of their three Seattle stores. One store was somewhat close to our hotel, so I made the journey there and picked up this game I’ve been eyeing online for several months. Neves is a puzzle game which has you recreating shapes and objects using only seven specific pieces. It’s like a souped up version of tangrams.

While reading Nintendo Power I got so hyped for this game. I loved Bomberman ever since my parents bought us a copy of the criminally forgotten Atomic Bomberman on the PC, and this game here had two versions: one where you can play as Bomberman, and one where you play as the newcomer Max. I always thought Max looked cool, with his armor and generically badass design. The duo of titles were good enough to spawn a sequel, but we haven’t heard much of anything new from Bomberman as of late. Which is sad: Bomberman is a fantastic character that deserves more than ports on every platform imaginable.