PSP

Hungry Giraffe – Review

Published By: Laughing Jackal, Developed By: Laughing Jackal, Genre: Puzzle, Release Date: Feb 7, 2012, Rating: E10+, Systems: PsP, Playstation 3 (minis).

Presentation: Hungry Giraffe is a lighthearted puzzle game featuring what else, a giraffe. When strictly dissecting this game’s presentation its a pretty good minis puzzle game. You have good atmosphere thanks to the visual and art design. The music also helps out. The gameplay at first seemed pedantic but would soon grow on me and became a challenging yet addictive puzzle game. During my playthrough of Hungry Giraffe i experienced no bugs, glitches or any significant framerate issues while playing on my Playstation 3.

The main title screen of Hungry Giraffe includes: Feed Me, Stats, Awards, Credits and Options. The Stats section keeps track of gameplay statistics like Fast Food Eaten, Times Vomited, Dumbbells Eaten and Calories Consumed. The Award section is basically an achivement/trophy section. Here you can unlock various in-game awards such as “Fast Food King” – Eat 3,000 Fast Food Items. Hungry Giraffe’s menus were easily navigable however the menu screen looks big and didn’t fit my TV like it should have.

Story: If there is a story to Hungry Giraffe i guess it would go something like the following. Its a story of survival. You must keep the giraffe fed or else he/she will die. There is no vegetation in jungle so you must steer the giraffe to eat fast-food, strawberries and stay clear of harmful substances and objects in the process. Gamers, there really isn’t a story here, its just a puzzle game.

Visuals: Hungry Giraffe has a light-hearted artstyle when it comes to visuals. Colors and texture work make there presence felt immediately upon playing. The design of the giraffe i thought really fit the game’s presentation. There isn’t alote to dissect visually in this game. You have a long winding giraffe neck and head eating food for the most part. The background designs do add some variety to Hungry Giraffe’s visual presentation. Although small on screen you can clearly see what your eating and what you’re suppose to avoid.

Sound: I enjoyed the orchestra music while playing Hungry Giraffe. I can’t help but feel i heard that music before. Maybe its just my mind playing tricks on me. As the giraffe eats yummy food he/she makes a soft “nom” sound. When the giraffe eats a bottle of green poison he/she pukes which sounds accordingly. Overall i like the sound design in Hungry Giraffe. It never overdoes it and every sound plays out accordingly.

Gameplay: Hungry Giraffe is a puzzle game. You have to steer a giraffe’s head with its long windy neck. Your main goal is to eat foods such as french fries, sandwiches, strawberries, apples and chili peppers. When you eat food you stay above the fold on the screen. Not only that you rise higher. If you drop below the fold of the screen you die. You gain points for gaining height. The higher you can make the giraffe’s head go the more points you get. The more points you get, the better chance you can unlock the next level. When you consume hardhats  they are stored in the bottom right of screen. You can collect three. What’s important about hardhats is that they can give you a massive surge of height, like a boost if you will.

You press X to activate hardhat and steer the giraffe with LS (Duel Shock 3). Hungry Giraffe has a challenging gameplay element to it. You didn’t think this puzzle game would be easy did ya? The challenge comes in the form of avoiding objects on screen to eat the food that gives you height. They are anvils, dumbells, green bottles of poison and psychotropic  pill bottles. Each hazard item has its own unique effect on the giraffe and must be avoided. Anvils immediately knocks the giraffe’s head downwards which makes it difficult to regain momentum upwards. Remember only good food gives your giraffe height and momentum. The dumbells are eatable and also knocks the giraffe’s momentum downwards.

Your probabaly asking why not just avoid all of the bad stuff and eat the good stuff. That is the addicting gameplay of Hungry Giraffe, its difficult avoiding the bad stuff. You also have green bottles of poison that are eatable and makes your giraffe puke a big glob of vomit that covers the screen. Not only is this semi gross but it hampers your vision greatly when trying to navigate for food. And last you have the psychotropic pill bottles that are eatable. These things literally make your giraffe trip and your controls are instantly switched to oppsoite. You go right you turn left and vice versa. The screen also has some weird trippy effect with wild colors and flashes disorienting you even more. The gameplay is challenging yet addicting. I didn’t expect to put so much time into this game but i did.

Replayability: Not much. You do have 10 different stages that offer alote of challenging gameplay. You also have the awards system that keeps tracks of in-game achievements. You also have a stats page to look at which doesn’t add any replay value.

Final Verdict: Hungry Giraffe acomplishes what it needed to do. It is a small yet addicting and challenging puzzle game. The presentation was solid regarding the game’s atmosphere, visuals and sound design. Its a solid little minis game. Thanks for reading.

7.5/10

Playstation Minis Review – Doodle Fit

Published By: Gamelion Studios, Developed By: Gamelion Studios, Genre: Puzzle, Release Date: September 6, 2011, Rating: E, Systems: iPhone, Android, PsP, Playstation 3 (Minis).

Presentation – Doodle Fit is a accurate fit (pun intended) for its name since this puzzle game’s presentation and core gameplay revolves around fitting blocks into shapes.  The opening intro music and visual design gave me an immediate “this is an educational puzzle game” vibe which was neat. Doodle Fit at first appeared to be a kid’s puzzle game but as you delve deeper into its core you are presented with some challenging puzzles.

The main menu screen had your normal handheld type menu options such as Play, Settings, Other Stuff and Help. I went into the Other Stuff section which had an About page, Stats page and More Games section. In the More Games section i saw I Must Run which was a game i reviewed on this site. It hadn’t dawned on me Gamelion Studios were the developers of both games till i saw that. The Stats page keeps track of Levels Solved, Solutions Solved, Games Played and Time Spent. The controls were basically me using just the d-pad to move/place blocks and X to set them into the shape. The presentation of Doodle Fit was decent.

Story – No story to write about regarding Doodle Fit.

Visuals – Average graphics for a handheld game. Nothing jumps out at you regarding textures colors or whatever. Its a puzzle game and does its job fine but the visuals are mediocre at best.

Sound – The opening musical tune gave me a old school 16-bit vibe and gave me the impression its a puzzle game. Sound effects were decent for this handheld to console port. Not much distortion or fuzzy sounds involved.

Gameplay – Gameplay is clearly the strength of Doodle Fit. Its addicting, challenging and fun and makes this game what it is. The first puzzle you have to solve involves filling up a Rectangle (appears as an outline) with three blocks. The blocks were all shaped differently and had different colors. It took me maybe two seconds to complete the first puzzle. But as time went on it took me longer and longer to solve the more complex puzzles.

The right side bar of Doodle Fit shows Solved 0/27, Solutions 0/41 and Hint Added. As you complete puzzles you will be required to use more blocks to fill in more exotic shapes such as a Hour Glass and Fire Demon design. You have to arrange and place over five blocks to complete those puzzles. You can use the Hint system by pressing X (Duel Shock 3) to see what type and where a piece should be placed. Using Hints are extremely limited so you have to use caution. The gameplay is what should make a game what it is. I am glad to write the gameplay dictates Doodle Fit completely.

Replayability – You can unlock 12 different themes as you complete levels. There are 350 different puzzles that will challenge your wits. Over 600 solutions when you count every way you can solve a puzzle. So unlike many handheld type games this one does have some lasting appeal.

Final Verdict – Doodle Fit is a fun addicting educational puzzle game. Its challenging and has replay value. If you enjoy puzzle games check it out. Thanks for reading.

7.5/10

Playstation Minis Review – RUMBLE Trucks

Published By: playerthree, Published By: playerthree, Genre: Stunt-Racing, Release Date: Nov 2, 2011 (PSN), Rating: E, Platforms: PsP, Minis (Playstation 3)

Presentation – Have any of you ever played a game so bad that it reminded you how bad videogames can get? *ding* *ding* *ding* Today we have a winner and its name is Rumble Trucks. I played Rumble Trucks via the Playstation 3 as a Minis title. Since i am a PSN+ member i payed $0. And thank God cause if had payed a pennie for this game i would’ve been P O. Rumble Trucks at its heart is a 2D stunt-racing game featuring wacky trucks. The most intriguing menu option i came across had to be the Achievements section. The Achievements section of Rumble Trucks keeps track of tricks you pull off like the Kangaroo: perform a long jump or Wheelie Master: perform a 10 meter wheelie. There are 28 unlockable achievements in Rumble Trucks.

Not all of achievements have to do with stunts either. Some are unlocked when you unlock all of the vehicles etc. When i think presentation i think “whole picture”. Rumble Trucks’s overall presentation is flat out uninspired in my opinion. Look at any one quality closely and it will scream low quality. Look at the visuals, sound design, atmosphere, controls, options with vehicles and tracks. The game is low quality. I played the game up and down and i tried to find positives but i just couldn’t. And the latter is coming from a optimistic gamer.

Story – No story involved with Rumble Trucks. No cutscenes, text or in-game cinematics no CGI. I’m kidding i don’t look for the latter with 99% Minis games so your safe Rumble Trucks.

Visuals – They suck.

Sound Design – Sounds got repetitive immediatly. The music was ok at first but then it became repetitive like everything else. Thank God i already forgot what the trucks sound like.

Gameplay – Track themes include Warzone, Jungle and Cemetary. Each theme has its own number of sub tracks with extra tracks you can unlock. Heres the deal, the tracks are unispired. Almost every track i raced on i was hiting X: forward and Circle: reverse. I was like a weeble wobble toy going forward and reverse over and over and over. Not to mention you can get “Stuck” too easy. You can make your truck hop with L1 and do wheelies with the Left-Stick which means nothing to me sense the game wasn’t fun. Every track is littered with gold stars to collect. There are trucks you can unlock. But once again they are all uninspired in design.

Replayability – The Achievements section is all the motivation you will ever need to keep playing. I won’t ever touch this game again but you may. The achievements themselves are interesting and should keep you playing a few hours.

Final Verdict – playerthree if your reading this i am just an avid gamer/blogger. I been gaming for over twenty-five years. I have no idea if this was your first game you guys developed or the twentieth. Its nothing personal just my honest opinion. If anything learn from this review if you choose.

2/10