Hey folks, I’ve got another batch of game reviews I’ve written lately over at GamerDad.com.  Please click on the links and read as many as you can and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  Also wanted to let you all know that this coming week, you probably won’t hear much from me here because I’m going to Disney World!

Yup, that’s right.  Since I couldn’t go to E3 this year, I decided to use my work vacation time and money to go to Disney World with my dad’s family instead.  I haven’t been on a vacation with them in a long time.  I think the last time I was on a vacation with them was when we went to Disney World back when I just graduated college nearly 15 years ago!  So it should be a really fun trip and I’m looking forward to it.  I’ll post pictures at the GamerDad site when I get back!

And thanks to all who gave me pretend birthday presents and tried my quiz on my last blog.  If you missed it, you can still give me a pretend birthday present in the comments section, and if anyone wants to know the answers to my quiz, just let me know and I’ll put them in the reply as well.  OK, on to the reviews!

My Birthday Cake 2014

On Monday, one of my co-workers made me a birthday cake.  Care to guess who’s on it?  You’ll just have to click to find out!  I got a lot of presents at work, too.  I’ll say one thing, I may not like my actual day job duties, but I do like the people I work with a lot.  They’re the reason why I keep coming back every day.  Now if I could just get them to answer the phone at work more.

2nd Opinion: Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake (iPad)

A while back, my good friend Leroy reviewed this game for me, and I said that it looked right up my alley.  Well, Cartoon Network Games was gracious enough to give me a review code so I could play it on my iPad, too!  So I decided to review it on my birthday since there is birthday cake involved in the game!  The game is a really cute console-quality block pushing puzzle game similar to Adventures of Lolo.  I’m surprised they don’t release it on consoles like the 3DS or Wii U, as it has an air of quality about it that sets it above most tablet faire.

G.P. the GamerPuppet Unboxes Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call Collectors Edition (3DS)

I LOVED the first Theatrhythm Final Fantasy game. I played it WAY too much and named it my Game of the Year for 2012.  So when the sequel came out this week, I splurged and got the Collectors Edition that you can only get on Square-Enix’s website.  Think of it as a birthday present to myself.  So I had G.P. the GamerPuppet unbox it for me.  Click to see what it all comes with, if you’re curious.

Pac-Man Friends (iPad)

It was bound to happen someday.  Pac-Man, being a round ball, would end up being in one of those marble maze rolling games eventually.  This one plays like Kirby Tilt N Tumble, except with Pac-Man.  And unfortunately, not near as good either.  Controls are just too sluggish and the game has a somewhat amateurish feel about it.

Panda Pandamonium (iPad)

This one plays like an arcade style Mah-Jongg puzzle game, where you must clear tiles to free cute little pandas.  It’s fun, the pandas are adorable, and even my mom loves this game!

DreamWorks Press: Dragons (iPad)

For some reason, I love reviewing kids’ games and apps, and will do so at every opportunity.  This is a storybook app for iOS devices, featuring characters and settings from DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon movies.  It’s done very well, with three reading skill levels to choose from and a long story.  However, I still don’t think it’ll ever replace actually sitting down with your child with a real book and reading to them and physically turning pages and whatnot.  My parents did that with me, and that how I think I learned how to read so early.

Mastering Minecraft (Book)

It’s just a Minecraft strategy guide.  It’s all right I guess, although I think most pros would already know what’s in this guide.  Probably only good for beginning or intermediate players.  The guide also doesn’t look as professional or as authentic as other BradyGames guides do.  But that’s not always a bad thing.  I read many unauthorized game guides and books back in the day that were just as good or better than the official guides.  The folks who wrote the Unofficial Unauthorized Nintendo Strategy Guides even helped inspire me to become a game reviewer myself (anyone else remember those?).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (3DS)

This one is based off the new movie, which I didn’t think was that bad a film at all.  The kids in the theater sure liked it.  The game plays like a dungeon crawler, with sewers and city streets replacing dungeon mazes.  It has some RPG elements, too.  I only wished it played more like the old arcade game.  I loved playing that as a kid.

The Walking Dead Pinball (360)

Zombies sure are big right now, and The Walking Dead is one of the most successful zombie franchises with an underground (not so much anymore) comic book, hit cable TV show, and best-selling point and click adventures from TellTale.  This Pinball FX2 and Zen Pinball 2 table is based on the TellTale games, so you’ll get more out of it if you’re familiar with those.  And even though The Walking Dead isn’t really my cup of tea, I have to say this is one of the better Pinball FX2 tables out there!  I wish they’d make other tables based on TellTale games, like Sam & Max!

The Brave Furries (iPad)

And finally, here is an iPad puzzler about little furballs trying to save their princess from an evil wizard by hopping over each other in spider web grids…somehow.  It’s really just a cleverly disguised jump-a-peg game like what you can play at Cracker Barrel while waiting for your food.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading and commenting on my reviews, and please pray that I have a safe trip to and from Disney World.  When I get back, I’ll post a Hyrule Warriors related blog, but then after that I’ll post a blog about what I did at Disney World.  Later!  --Cary