Alien Hominid

Also known as: N/A

Developer: The Behemoth

Alien Hominid is a pretty dang good throwback to the 8-bit and 16-bit days of scrolling shooters, with enough of its own personality and charm shining through to make it feel like something new along with feeling like it’s a familiar old friend. This is mostly your standard run-and-gun shooter, but with a few features like charging your shots, obtaining shields to protect you from enemy fire, or burrowing underground to surprise attack your enemy added in to keep the game from feeling like some sort of clone. The amazing thing about this game is that it actually started out as a Flash game on the Newgrounds website. Due to its quality, it eventually made its way to consoles…and has since been released again in HD on more modern consoles. If you're a fan of older games with challenge, and want to play as a space alien that battles against the FBI while simultaneously saving the “fat kids” that you find, then you'll fall in love with Alien Hominid. I highly recommend picking up a copy and giving it a try.

Review added: 09/09/2019

Animal Crossing

Also known as: Doubutsu no Mori Plus (Japan)

Developer: Nintendo

I remember visiting friends in Seattle that worked at Nintendo at the time...They asked me if I wanted to purchase anything from the official Nintendo store with their discount. Animal Crossing was one of the titles that I wanted. I remember them coming home that day with the game stating that some of the folks that worked there thought I was a girl and was surprised that a guy wanted to play this game. Well, feel free to call me Pauline because I wanted to play it and I'm glad I did, dang it! Animal Crossing is simply a relaxing game to play here and there. There's nothing to kill or beat up, no engaging story to follow...You just wander around in the game's world, pick stuff up, and enjoy a virtual life in a town full of talking animals. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely a well-made game with plenty to do for those who get into it. Plus, it's got a bunch of NES classics to discover and play in the game. In all honesty, that alone was what initially got me interested in this game and for some, it may be worth playing the game for. But after playing for a while, the NES games were a great addition that made me put extra hours into Animal Crossing, but they were not necessary for me to love this game at all. Later games may have refined the formula, but the original Animal Crossing is still a fun one to revisit from time to time, and I gladly return to it on a fairly regular basis.

Review added: 07/10/2019

Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Lucky Chicken

Without saying too much, my opinion of this game is that had the game been about Aquaman's arm having an arm wrestling contest with a trident, like the box art leads me to believe (think of the movie 'Over the Top' - except Aquaman needs to win for the safety of all aquatic life rather than some snot-nosed brat) then this game would probably have been about twelve and a half times better than it actually is…maybe twelve and three-quarters times better. The controls made me want to throw myself into oncoming traffic. The gameplay is about as boring as listening to a mime talk into a microphone. AND, to make everything worse, there isn't a single moment of underwater arm wrestling to be found. Not one single moment. After playing this game, I felt it would be more fun to pretend I was Aquaman in the bathtub while playing with a toaster that was plugged into an electrical outlet.

Review added: 09/08/2019