Mario Kart 7
With every new Nintendo console comes a new Mario Kart.
Mario Kart 7 drifts on to the 3DS with retaliative ease making it a solid multiplayer racer for the 3DS library.
For the most part it’s the same formula Nintendo has be crafting for years.
The game takes you though 16 new tracks and 16 old tracks from previous installments of Mario Kart.
The drifting, hoping and steering feel accurately responsive and make the game easy to jump back into without having to learn anything more than a new line.
Mario Kart 7 introduces gliding and underwater sequences to each cup. They are simple deviations to the racing that don’t allow for any exploits. It mixes up the scenery having the racers glide through canyons and deep underwater canvas’.
Also, coins are brought back. Coins used to be a staple from the old Mario Kart’s where collecting coins gave your kart and slight speed advantage over racers with less coins.
Kart customization returns as well leting players alter their chassis, wheels and the glider to fit a player’s racing style. It has always been a minor thing but it give racers a sense of style on the race way.
Finding the perfect fit for your style will play a big role in the online realm.
The online service has been updated and offers the best Mario Kart online experience to date.
The game allows players to drive straight into matchmaking or players can join a league and compete for the top spot day-to-day. Private leagues are also possible, so you and your friends can keep close tabs on who is the fastest to the finish.
Nintendo has had some issues in the past with online performance and exploiting such as “snaking”. But those glitches and have been ironed out and Nintendo has established a simple but functional online-play. It doesn’t need to be more complex and it works well if you want to pick-up-and-play one or two races without being bothered with menus and buffering.
Mario Kart 7 offers little new but the same old kart racing and it is just as good as it was on the Super Nintendo. This is a title that should end up in any 3DS owners library.
4/5
Urban Trial Freestyle
Since Trails doesn’t exist on 3DS, developer Tate Interactive quickly cashed in on the absence of a Trails game and created Urban Trail Free Style.
Urban Trail Freestlye is a trail and error test of endurance and balance.
You race through six separate locations ranging from city limits to industrial courses.
For a game based on balance, the controls are tight but not as quick as you would except after playing Trails on consoles.
The game takes a fair amount of skill to achieve all of the unlock that are present in the form of bike upgrades and rider customizations.
Overall, if you need to get you Trails fix on a handheld this is not a bad intimation and it ‘s far better than the absorbent amount of offroad based flash iOS games.
But you can’t feel that there was little care put into this title. The music the art do nothing to set it apart from the ever growing market of offroad racers. It’s an imitation at best and it will only remind players of of better experience, which is Trials on consoles.
Urban Trial Freestlye bring absolutely nothing new to the table and if you are already satisfied playing Trails on Xbox 360 or PS3 continue to play it there.
2/5
Badland
Any still shot from ________’s Badlands will make for an erriely beautiful portrait. Bandland’s art style above all evokes a unsettling mood and captures a sence of isolation.
The style is very reminiscent of Limbo in the way the shadow and silhouettes add to the mood and the obstacles.
Players control a black fuzzball through dark vines and tangled foliage in a dense jungle.
Badland is saturated in style and it’s the first thing one will notice before they even start playing the game.
The foreground is void of color while the backdrop shines with deep shades of greens and blues.
Each stage is broken into a series of levels that span over an entire day. The colors signal in the dawn and dusk altering the mood and the challenges ahead.
Controlling your little fuzz creature is simple. Once you touch the screen it rises and move forward. As it rises and falls the screen begins to move the moment you touch the screen. If the little guy gets snagged on something and the screen catches up to it, game over.
There are invisible checkpoints that you’ll be thankful for on the later levels.
Stages are short lasting a minute top without any fails. Even on the tougher levels once you understand the lay of the level it will only add a few minutes to finish each level.
The environment has many obstacles to pass by. Saw blades, narrow passages and tumbling rocks are a few of the challenges ahead.
The best weapon the fuzzball will have against the environment is a series of creative power-ups that make the dark forest more of a fun playground to transverse.
The powerballs that hang from the environment become crucial towards how you complete a level. The power-ups are also stack-able on top of each other allowing the fuzzball to harness various abilities at once.
One stage will force you to dodge razor blades and fit through a narrow passage way on the other end. If you are nimble enough you will grab the “ time slowing” ball and the “shirking” ball so the fuzzball can dodge the blades with ease and fit through the passage on the opposite end.
They aren’t all for skill dodging. Some will force to quickly solve a puzzle like making sure you knock a series of rock on to a button to allow the fuzzball to acquire a power up.
They are not mind bending puzzles but when you are forced to keep moving they create some tension in getting to the end.
Getting to the end first is a challenge especially in multiplayer which allows four people to race to the finish, power-ups and all. This mode is best played on an iPad as the screen can get very crowed with everyone on tapping the screen to race their character.
Badland is such a great deal only $3.99 on the iOS store and recently Day 2 was released as free expansion adding doubling the amount of content.
It’s one of the best mobile games that embodies the quick pick-up-and-play and then set it down with a feeling of accomplishment.
5/5
Ridiculous Fishing
The title says it all.
Ridiculous fishing by Vlambeer takers you on a wild tale of redemption, or so the games says.
You start by casting you line in the ocean and by using the motion controls on your iPhone or iPad tilt the screen left to right to dodge fish to reach the max depth your line will take you.
Once you reach it or snag a fish – note that snagging a fish on the way down is not the objective – you then automatically begin to reeling in.
Now here you try to grab as many fish as you can. Beware of the jellyfish those will only hurt you cash out. All of the fish have different sizes, speed and prices.
Once the lures reaches the surface. The fish are immediate tossed high into the air. This is where your gun comes into play.
Like a crazy redneck fisher man you are, tap the screen to shot the gun at the fish receive a pay out for how ever many you kill while air born.
The game comes off as a simple motion touch phone game. But once you start to delve into the shop and equip your fisherman with different gear and weapons and lures you will find that it not only alters the challenge by allowing you to go deeper in the water, – eventually reaching the bottom where some of the rarest fish rest – but you’ll find this modifies the what kind of fish you are able to catch.
You’re in-game cell phone has a “poke-dex” of sorts showing you fish you’ve seen, caught and those that still need to be obtained.
How to catch these rare fish you can porous over the game’s fake Twitter feed where every day characters in the game will chat about things like TV shows, pop culture, fishing gear and hint at how to allure rare catches.
It’s a little thing that can offer a few chuckles and is generally warm hearted but it serves as another venue to hone your angler skills.
The game is reasonably priceed at 3.99. Four stages are enough for now and you’ll spend a lot of time with each environment. Whether it’s to reach the bottom and snag a rare whale or trying on different hats and fishing attire to attract that last fish, this game is ridiculous fun.
5/5
