ToonTime...in the classroom

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Videoact V LC

ToonTime may be a case where I find a game to be terrible, but I kinda like it anyway. Make no mistake, though, this game is bad. I thought that this would be an educational game with cartoon characters helping make your brain grow. Instead, this is simply a game where you can select one of a handful of objects on the screen and have the shape of that object appear on screen for you to stretch and/or adjust in size…the catch is that in the background, six different cartoons play on a screen. The object that you manipulate also plays the cartoon…which really benefits nobody. You warped a party hat to look like last night’s dinner after you visited the loo in the morning…do you really want to watch a cartoon broadcast on that? The best way to enjoy this game, in my opinion, as a former animation student, is to completely ignore the "gameplay" and simply make the cartoon full-screen and enjoy roughly 45 minutes of Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd (lots of Fudd), Popeye, and even Superman. If you like watching old cartoons like I do, then you'll likely find some enjoyment here, regardless of any lack of real gameplay. If you popped this in expecting an educational experience (like parents in the 90s that likely bought this thinking it would help their child learn) then you'll likely be disappointed.

Review added: 02/18/2025

Trip'd

Also known as: N/A

Developer: WARP

You know….I like Trip'd quite a bit. I like the overall look of the game more than most other matching puzzle games…but looks aren't everything. Thankfully, Trip'd delivers in the gameplay department, too. It plays similar to the Puyo Puyo games, to a degree. If you're able to get 4 or more blocks of the same color to touch, then they'll disappear. If you make a square with the four blocks, then they'll form into a large head. To make the head disappear, you need to have 4 more blocks of the same color match the head, then you'll get a nice bonus…and even more of one if you're able to make multiple heads disappear at once. I like creating combos in puzzle games and Trip'd definitely allows you to do that. Unfortunately, one of the aspects of the game that technically helps the player also got me annoyed while I tried to set up potential combos. As you drop blocks and match them, you'll eventually "Level Up." When you reach a new level, then a few rows on the bottom of the screen disappear as a reward. If you're trying to set up combos, that can be pretty annoying…but I'll also admit that those rows disappearing also prevented me from seeing the gruesome game over screen - which shows a head getting an axe planted in it, resulting in the head puking out a purple liquid with "Game Over" written in it…yes, for whatever reason that is legitimately the scene that you see when your game is over. Anyway, it's a shame that Trip'd is hidden away on the 3DO because it really is a solid puzzle game. If you own a 3DO, it's well worth tracking down if you're a fan of the puzzle genre...or if you believe that when you lose in a video game, that someone should take an axe to the head, I guess this is for you, too.

Review added: 05/07/2025

Twisted: The Game Show

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Electronic Arts

Twisted: The Game Show is essentially what Mario Party became…except it's a less-fun Mario Party with live-action actors. Essentially, there's a cast of six characters that you can play as in this game…Most of them are just stereotypical characters like an obnoxious used car salesman, an obnoxious evangelist, an obnoxious fortune teller, etc. I guess the developers of Twisted liked them obnoxious folk, didn’t they? The game tries to be funny…but very, very little of it is. The only thing I really was amused by is when the drill sergeant got a bomb in her hands and she did the Looney Tunes reaction of trying to blow the fuse out before it blew up in her face. Beyond that, pretty much all attempts at humor fell flat with me. Anyway, the concept of this game is that you stop a screen which displays numbers, which dictates how many spaces you move. You'll often be participating in mini games, like trivia, picture and sound matching games, etc. Winning the game allows you to continue your turn. Theoretically, if you're lucky and skilled, you could completely dominate a game without anyone else being able to play. My time playing, though, was pretty close between myself and the other players for most of it, with me often in last or second-last place…at the very end, I did manage to get on a lucky streak and pull away to pull off the win, though. Speaking of which, moving 90 spaces is what you need to do to win the game and see a lame ending as a reward….and unless you’re playing with some good friends, moving those 90 spaces can feel like an eternity by the time that you’re done. While the gameplay isn’t awful, it does take around an hour to finish a single game. It can feel like a long hour when the jokes and gags start getting old, which didn’t take too long for me. Still, if you're looking for a so-so party game and an excuse to pull the 3DO out when you have friends over, Twisted isn't the worst choice that you could make.

Review added: 02/18/2025