• Ironcast

    Ironcast is a turn-based strategy game that looks like a puzzle game on the surface. When I first got a glimpse of the game in action, it looked like a Puzzle Quest clone with a steampunk spin, but after playing the game, I came to realize that it has only aesthetics in common with that series. Originally launched on Kickstarter in the summer of 2014 by Dreadbit, Ironcast enlists the player as a pilot of a seven-meter tall walking tank called an ironcast. Only the most elite strategists are allowed to pilot these massive vehicles that are powered by a mysterious energy source called Voltite. The story revolves around an…

  • Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle

    I would like to preface this review with a statement, and the statement is thus: I am not the intended audience for this game. I have nothing against puzzle games, in fact I enjoy many of them. However, this particular genre of puzzlers is not my cup of tea…At all. If I was dying of thirst in a desert and all I had to drink was this cup of tea, I would just roll over and let death take me. That being said, on to the review! Ninja Usagimaru: The Mysterious Karakuri Castle is an action puzzler game. You move the aforementioned ninja rabbit around levels constructed with different types…

  • Geometry Ninja…I mean, Slice It!

    Can you cut it? No, seriously…Can you? This game aims to find out. Cutting a shape into pieces. When I was first told the concept of this game, my initial reaction was “Is that it?” Don’t be deceived, while the premise is simple, this game is not a total walk in the park and it will eat away at you gradually if you let it. Puzzle games usually come in two varieties, the fast and frantic “ACT NOW” variety and the “take your time and think” variety. This game is the latter (though there is a mode with a bit of the former too). You are given a shape, told…

  • Tetris DX

    Close your eyes and its there. Lie trying to fall asleep and it’s there. Put a Tetris DX cartridge into you Game Boy and, believe it or not, it’s there. I’m talking about the Tetris mindset. Falling blocks possessing your mind, endlessly being fit into each other. This is what happens when you play Tetris (or any good puzzle game). It stays with you…. FOREVER! Not that that’s a bad thing, especially when it’s portable. Tetris DX is the best incarnation of Tetris I have ever played. There are four game modes (more one those later) on of which is very innovative. You also get color, something lacking from the…

  • Bust-A-Move Deluxe

    If there’s one stereotype that the PSP consistently fails to break free of, it would have to be the one about how its library consists of little more than ports, sequels, remakes and compilation games. What? Were you expecting me to say this game breaks that stereotype? It obviously doesn’t – I mean, this is another sequel in the well-known Bust-A-Move series, which has crept its way onto several systems in the past. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, well, that isn’t really always a bad thing. Sure, Bust-A-Move Deluxe falls short in some areas, but it still delivers a nice take on the BAM series, as…