It looks like Santa has made a jolly digital delivery for the year’s second-to-last weekly release listing. Up for grabs, we have a classic RPG, a piece of the puzzle pie we never knew was missing, a tower defense game, and what looks like an honest-to-goodness decent WiiWare game. Yeah, I’m surprised, too. Oh, there’s also some minigolf thing…meh. And in my typically late fashion, I should probably mention last week’s PlayStation Network offerings, I guess: Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two and PlayStation semi-rarity Castlevania Chronicles. So.
[[image:jh_081223_dlc01.jpg::left:0]]WiiWare: Tiki Towers
Realnetworks | Wii | Puzzle
This looks at first glace like a ripoff of the fantastic World of Goo, but it’s really not. Well, it sort of is –- you build wobbly scaffolding out of connecting pieces, but their purpose is for monkeys to climb along safely to the exit, and their movement can throw the structure off-balance. So it’s like World of Goo by way of Lemmings. Kinda.
[[image:jh_081223_dlc02.jpg::left:0]]WiiWare: Fun! Fun! Minigolf!
Shin’en Multimedia | Wii | Minigolf
The Wii Remote serves as a golf club, of course, in this WiiWare minigolf game in courses set all over the world. I like minigolf OK, I guess, but I can’t say I want to play a video game of it.
[[image:jh_081223_dlc03.jpg::left:0]]VC: Phantasy Star IV
Sega | Genesis via Wii | RPG
The fourth and reputedly one of the best of the Phantasy Star games arrives at last on the Virtual Console. And it was about damn time for something good to show up.
[[image:jh_081223_dlc04.jpg::left:0]]XBLA: Puzzle Arcade
Eidos | Xbox 360 | Jigsaw puzzler
Realizing this game’s existence brought to my mind a revelation: For all the hundreds of puzzle-game concepts, I can’t think of any that are dedicated to that old pastime of jigsaw puzzles. And Braid doesn’t count — those are only like a dozen pieces each. But now that gap is filled, like the final segment of a great genre jigsaw picture, with Puzzle Arcade. Rejoice, ye merry people.
[[image:jh_081223_dlc05.jpg::left:0]]PSN: Savage Moon
Sony | PlayStation 3 | Tower defense
A fancy tower defense game with something of a Starship Troopers paint job, this one looks like it could be a lot of fun for anyone who’s conquered PixelJunk Monsters but hasn’t had enough of setting up defenses to mow down approaching hordes.
PS4 is indeed quite nifty, but it really should be noted that it’s something like 80% fanservice, so you really need to play 1 and 2 first to get the proper impact.
no you don’t. i had never heard of phantasy star before i played 4, and ps4 is still one of my all time favorite games. there is fan service, sure, but it’s never obvious and never punishes you for not knowing your lore.
Apparently I’m in the Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online closed beta.
Is there anyone who would like to play this for me? Post a response here and maybe pop me an email too so that I notice if you’d like to do me this favor. I’m not a huge MMO person, but I’ve been known to dabble in Shaiya.
“Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online”
this spells disaster in the form of unhealthy IRL relationships between school staff and students
Now I’m trying to remember where I played a freeware jigsaw puzzle videogame: was it on an old Mac, or was it on a friend’s PC? I seriously could not tell you, but the point is: I played it SOMEWHERE. So it existed.
I think it was on the old fat macs, may have been packaged with the system software. I seem to recall messing with it on a Mac Plus.
There was a jigsaw puzzle game on SNES called “Pieces,” complete with anime-style anthropomorphized puzzle piece mascots. My grandmother gave it to me for my birthday one year.