Review Round-Up - September 2016

Wait a minute. What year is this?! It doesn't matter when you have the all-new Review Redux!

October is here, as is autumn! Before we delve deeper into this month featuring Halloween at its tail end, let's look back at the month that was September 2016 for a Review Round-Up!

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas kicked things off with its console version, scoring an A- for its wonderful effort. Then, the 700th review of SuperPhillip Central, concluding the Summer of 700 promotion, was in the form of an all-new type of review, the Review Redux. Super Mario 3D Land was the first of this type of review, earning a fantastic A. A pair of racers then proceeded to follow Mario with Bears Can't Drift!? (C-) and Riptide GP: Renegade (B-). Mekorama delivered isometric puzzling fun with the ability to create levels, so it got a great B grade! Did I mention that game is totally free to download and play? Finally, another Review Redux arrived, capping off this past month's reviews, with a return look at Mario Kart 7 (B+).

October is going to excite with its review output. Such games that might be featured include Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Paper Mario: Color Splash, Dragon Quest Builders, and some scary titles perfect for Halloween!

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas (PS4, XB1) - A-
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) Review Redux - A
Bears Can't Drift!? (PS4, Steam) - C-
Riptide GP: Renegade (iOS, Android) - B-
Mekorama (iOS, Android) - B
Mario Kart 7 (3DS) Review Redux - B+

The Review Redux also took us by land, sea, and air with a return look at Mario Kart 7!

Mario Kart 7 (3DS) Review Redux

Last week was SuperPhillip Central's 700th review, which introduced a new type of review to the site, the Review Redux. Now, the Review Redux returns again with another Mario game, but this time in a totally different genre. It's a look back at Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS!

Revisiting the wild, rigorous racing of Mario Kart 7!

While Diddy Kong Racing seems to still be the king for me when it comes to kart racers, when it comes to kart racing series, then it's no question that Mario Kart is still the king for me. I like to make any excuse to replay the games in the series, whether it's to play with my friends and family, or just because I'm totally bored. I went to back to Mario Kart 7 recently, as I was hoping the online community was still available. Plus, I still had some kart parts to unlock. Returning to Mario Kart 7 has been a rewarding time in my gaming life, and it's great to see that I still find a lot to love about the latest handheld Mario Kart from Nintendo.

Mario Kart 7 is the first Mario Kart in the series where kart customization is a feature as well as something that's important. While past Mario Karts had it where what weight of character you chose factored into that character's top speed and acceleration skills, Mario Kart 7 has it where choosing from three kart options: body, wheels, and glider, affects your kart's performance. It can affect your top speed, acceleration, handling, and off-road skills.

When you begin Mario Kart 7, you have a very meager selection of kart parts available to you. However, as you progress through the game, collecting coins as you race, you receive new kart parts at various total coin milestones. For instance, if you collect 1,000 coins throughout your Mario Kart 7 career, then you unlock a new, random kart part. Now this way of unlocking kart content isn't perfect-- actually, far from it. As I stated, not only do you unlock a random kart part at various coin milestones, which means that if you're wanting a specific kart part for looks or for function, then you're a slave of the RNG, but you can only collect a maximum of 10 coins per race. This means per cup you can only get 40 coins. For kart parts that take that aforementioned 1,000 coins to unlock, for instance, that is A LOT of grinding for kart parts. Even then, you're not guaranteed 10 coins per race, as getting hit by an item knocks three coins away from your kart.

I dunno, Mario. I still think your brother gives the best death stare out there.

Thankfully, unlocking Mario Kart 7's cast of characters to race as is far easier a goal. All you have to do is win the various cups on various difficulties. The selection of racers this time around is an eclectic bunch with some new additions like Metal Mario, Honey Queen from Super Mario Galaxy (though shrunk to ridiculous size to fit in her kart), and Wiggler. However, some of the characters who missed the cut are very much missed by yours truly, such as Bowser Jr., Diddy Kong, and the most egregious loss for the reason that he has his track from Mario Kart DS in the game as a retro track, Mr. Waluigi, everyone's favorite racing wah-rrior.

Absences like Waluigi and Bowser Jr. may sting when their
replacements are characters like Honey Queen and Metal Mario.

The biggest new addition to the Mario Kart series this time around gameplay-wise takes the kart racing action beyond just the regular ground and puts it underwater and in the air. While the former isn't too interesting, save for changing how the karts handle and their physics while submerged in water, the air parts of Mario Kart 7 are an absolute blast. There are specific parts of tracks in Mario Kart 7 where your kart's glider automatically opens up, allowing you to take big air as you soar along the sky. Many of the newer tracks of the game contain areas that give you this temporary power of flight before you lose altitude and return to the ground. It's especially fun to see how far you can glide, sometimes even being able to skip modest portions of track to trim off some seconds from your overall time. In the Grand Prix case, it's awesome to gain some extra distance over your opponents or to help you catch up with the pack.

Daisy soars over the idyllic settings of the track named after her, Daisy Hills.

As for the racing in general, Nintendo once again delivers a tight, responsive racer in Mario Kart 7. You can opt to race normally with the Circle Pad to control your kart, or you can use new tilt controls for an interesting racing experience placing you in the driver's seat, given a first-person viewpoint as your race.

Mario Kart 7 shares how karts handle from Mario Kart Wii, its predecessor. As you drift, instead of moving the analog stick (or the Circle Pad in the Nintendo 3DS's case) back and forth to produce energy to unleash a turbo boost, you get energy from maintaining a drift. The longer your drift, the bigger boost you get when you let go of the drift button. In addition to the Mario Kart Wii way of earning turbo boosts, you can once again perform tricks off of ramps and jumps to get a minor boost when you land. Thankfully, you need not shake anything to do this. All that's needed is a tap of the R button as you reach the end of a ramp or jump.

Donkey Kong shows off his drifting skills. A blue streak like this
one will turn into a red one for maximum boosting goodness.

Items have been an important part of the Mario Kart series since its inception on the Super Nintendo. Mario Kart 7 continues this trend, but this time the game offers three new items in addition to the ones featured from past installments of the series. The Fire Flower item gives the acquirer the ability to launch fireballs backward and forward until it runs out. These fireballs spin out racers for a brief period of time, but in a race, even a split-second's spin-out can win or cost someone the race. Then, there's the Tanooki Leaf that spawns a Tanooki tail on the rear of the user's kart. Not only can this swipe at and spin out opponents who veer to closely to your kart, but it can whack away items like shells and banana peels. Finally, the Lucky Seven item gives you a spinning roulette of items to use, most notably the Super Star. Just don't let your opponents steal it from you! The total amount of items in Mario Kart 7 is nice and varied, but yes, there is still the Blue Shell to worry about when you're in first place. Fortunately, it doesn't just fly over opponents as it reaches towards first place. Instead, it speeds along the track, able to collide and crash into other racers who are foolish enough to race in the middle of the track when it heads for first place.

Mario Kart 7 sports 32 unique tracks. Since Mario Kart DS, the unofficial rule has been that 16 of these tracks are brand-new while 16 are from past Mario Kart games. Mario Kart 7 follows this rule to a "T." The original tracks featured in Mario Kart 7 are wonderfully designed, sporting plenty of unique locales, treacherous turns, underwater sections, segments where you can soar with your kart's glider, and many shortcuts and alternate paths. Some favorites of mine this time around include the Netherlands-like Daisy Hills, a track that features many rolling hills, and a very fun ending segment where you glide past the blades of several windmills as you re-enter the cozy-looking village where the track started. Then, there's two tracks situated in Wuhu Island, a place originally featured in Wii Sports Resort. These two tracks show off a varied amount of geography, as you race through the town, through caves, bridges, cliff-sides, and more. These races are especially notable for not being traditional three-lap affairs. Instead, they're so long that they're actually three-segment races, where each segment is a different piece of the track-- it's like one long adventure through Wuhu Island. Finally, there's my favorite iteration of Rainbow Road in any Mario Kart to date, a three-segment tour of space, featuring racing on a planet's rings as well as on the surface of the moon.

The 16 retro tracks take some of the best tracks featured in Mario Kart history and breathe new life into them, giving some new sections that include Mario Kart 7's new underwater and gliding gameplay. New shortcuts have been added, such as Mario Kart DS's Luigi's Mansion, where you can use a Mushroom to boost up a ramp in the graveyard portion that allows you to glide over the graveyard's exit instead of navigating the turns inside. Favorites of mine here in the retro selections include Airship Fortress (DS), Koopa Beach (N64), Maple Treeway (Wii), Coconut Mall (Wii), Dino Dino Jungle (GCN), the aforementioned Luigi's Mansion (DS), among many others.

I know you're excited about winning, Shy Guy, but let's be responsible racers. Both hands on the wheel, please.

Content-wise, Mario Kart 7 is pretty lacking compared to the series's past two installments, DS and Wii. A major part of that is the total lack of a Mission Mode. Really, all you have single-player-wise is getting through all of the four Grand Prix cups and four difficulties of each, unlocking all characters in the process, grinding for kart parts, and doing time trials. Thankfully, Mario Kart 7's online community is still quite a bustling one, where you won't have to wait long to race against up to seven human opponents from around the world. You can still join specific Mario Kart 7 Communities, where you and whomever possesses the Community code can race in groups with predetermined rules like no items, Mushrooms only, and options of that nature. Local multiplayer is a feature, allowing 3DS's with copies of the game to race against one another, or you can even do Download Play, which gives the player without a copy of Mario Kart 7 to still be able to race on all 32 tracks via Grand Prix or Vs. Mode. The only caveat here is that they can't customize their kart and are stuck with using Shy Guy.

You can also gain new time trial ghosts via Spotpass and Streetpass, as well as race against said ghosts to try to improve your times in the game's 32 races. You can even compare your best times with the world on a very helpful and easy-to-read graph. Finally, Battle Mode is included, and this offers six arenas: three new and new from past Mario Kart games, to combat their opponents in with traditional non-team rules.

Mario Kart 7's visuals range from very good to not-so-much. For instance to the latter, the character models sort of have the look of being carved out of wood, with blocky sections to them that don't appear like the best the Nintendo 3DS could do, even at the time of its release. However, the actual track environments and textures are lovely. There's plenty of stuff going on in the environments and some really cool effects, such as on a turn in Mario Circuit where cherry blossom trees unload their pink petals into the air and onto the track. The frame-rate of Mario Kart 7 is smooth as butter, offering a delicious-running game. On the sound side, you get the typical character voices and taunts in and after races, and the music is full of terrific tunes that are easy to want to hum along with. Just don't get too distracted by the music that you don't notice that red shell coming towards you!

Mario Circuit is made even lovelier with these pink cherry blossom petals fluttering about the track.

After replaying Mario Kart 7 after these 4-5-odd years, I still enjoy the game and the racing experience as a whole. I think a major part of that is just loving how well the tracks are designed and how memorable they are. They're just plain fun to race on, and the addition of underwater and flying segments really make the tracks more exciting. Sure, grinding for random kart parts isn't my preferred way of unlocking content, but it does give you something to shoot for, though I'm still only at about 6,500 total coins after this many years and my next kart part-unlocking milestone is at 10,000. Makes for some hard motivation to continue grinding, as you can probably understand. Still, whether it's engaging in a long sessions of Grand Prix cups against the AI or just doing a race online with friends or strangers, Mario Kart 7 remains a wonderful kart racer that while lacking in content, more than makes up for in its tremendous gameplay.

[SPC Says: B+]

Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii) North American TV Spot

Paper Mario: Color Splash is due out on October 7th, which is a week from this Friday. Well, that is the release date for us North Americans. Regardless, the game is shaping up to a humorous, witty, colorful, and delightful adventure that skews close to the formula built by the Nintendo 3DS's Paper Mario: Sticker Star. However, Color Splash seems to improve on a lot of aspects and makes note of criticisms fans had of that game. We'll find out if Paper Mario: Color Splash is all it's cracked and colored up to be when I get my hands on it next month for the official SuperPhillip Central review!

Mekorama (iOS, Android) Review

SuperPhillip Central continues its review frenzy with another iOS and Android game. This time it's an isometric puzzle game called Mekorama. It's definitely worth checking out, and this review pieces out why!

Robotic Valley

Isometric puzzle games are quite fun, and they're especially handy on mobile devices. You can turn on your phone or tablet, jump into a level, beat it, and then go about your day. There's something cool about having a miniature world in your hand where you can interact with it in ways that are highly enjoyable and engrossing. Of course, the poster child for this type of game on mobile is Monument Valley, but there are other games in the genre of puzzle titles on iOS and Android. One of these is Mekorama, a game primarily designed by one person that delivers some brain-twisting gameplay and pleasant charm.

The goal of Mekorama is to guide a little robot through isometric obstacle courses of sorts, leading him from the start of each level to the goal. This is performed through tapping the screen to guide the robot. Levels are made out of a grid format, so tapping the correct space usually isn't too trying. Though with a screen with little real estate like on my iPhone 5S, I did occasionally tap the wrong space. Zooming doesn't really help for the most part, as the zoom function (done by pinching the screen in and out) doesn't zoom in on your robot. It zooms in on the center of the level. As levels are sometimes spread out horizontally rather than vertically, this can be an annoyance.

Regardless, if you're able to move the robot to the given space you tap on, a small white circle will briefly appear, showing that the robot will move to the space. If it cannot, due to an object or obstacle blocking the way, then a red X will show up on that space. Additionally, you can spin the level around in 360 degrees to get a full view of the obstacles in a level that await your robotic buddy.

Levels are devised up by one major move necessary to reach the goal in the beginning levels, and ramps up to eventually have a series of maneuvers required to reach the goal. In levels you can move and shift specific blocks around to transport the robot around when he stands on them to access new portions of the levels. Sometimes you'll even need to fall from higher elevations to reach lower platforms, or enter into building-like areas and come out from another side.

While the level design of Mekorama is generally good, there are some really poorly executed designs. Anything where you have to slowly push another moving character by tapping a space next to it to inch it along is annoying and quite tedious. Some levels require such precision timing that if you foul up, you essentially have to restart from the beginning. Since some levels can take minutes to complete, this can be quite the bother. There are also non-puzzle oriented levels like one where you have to guide a ball on a balance beam, carefully shifting the weight so the platform the ball rolls on doesn't topple over. For a supposed game to relax to, Mekorama doesn't always deliver a laid-back experience.

The 50 levels included in Mekorama are just a primer for the main feast of content in the game, the level creator. While some kind of tutorial to use the actual creator would have been appreciated, what you're able to do with it is use the same tools that the developer used to create the already included levels. This is where Mekorama truly shines. Through tapping blocks on the bottom of the screen and placing them in the blank canvas available to you (though another bother I have is that there is no grid available for easier building), you can build your own crafty concoctions, and then save them to your game. Each level you create gets its own QR code that you can share online. Whole communities and websites are dedicated to the publishing and sharing of levels via these QR codes, so if the developer's initial 50 levels already included with Mekorama don't give you enough content, the created levels by the community surely will.

In this regard, Mekorama is a fantastic value. It's even a better value when you consider the price tag. Mekorama itself is free, but you can make a purchase between 99 cents and around $30 to support the developer as well as gain the ability to be provided in-game hints towards the 50 included levels. Though, the latter isn't much of a bonus as online walkthroughs are common in the digital age. Regardless, it's a wonderful way of being able to give money to the developer, and even if you don't, you have the full game available to you. The only thing that comes up are occasional "do you want to support the developer?" prompt between every three or four levels that takes you to the purchase page.

Mekorama leads you into some relaxing and rewarding experiences, allowing you to use that ol' noggin of yours, solve some puzzles, and gain some satisfaction in doing so. Some of the included levels are more annoying to play than others, but even if you don't even touch them, you have a theoretically infinite amount of levels available to you via the community. Building your own levels to share is fun, though it takes some learning to get the process down pat. Overall, Mekorama is a free download that serves as a reminder of why a lot of people love puzzle games like this, and why Google Play and the App Store are great avenues to find little hidden treasures like this game and others like it.

[SPC Says: B]

Riptide GP: Renegade (iOS, Android) Review

From one racer on Sunday to another this morning. It's time for a smart device game review, and it's been a little while for one of those. The subject here is Riptide GP: Renegade, which also saw a release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Is this cheaper version a lesser one? Let's find out with this review.

Water you waiting for-- this racer is worth it!

From the developer of Hydro Thunder, Vector Unit, comes a new aquatic racer with some extreme attitude and the ability to pull off some gnarly stunts. Oh, excuse me-- I'm falling back into the '90s here. Regardless, Riptide GP: Renegade is far from a relic of that era. It's modern, it's well designed, and most importantly, it's fun. Although the game is also on home consoles and PC, this version for smart devices ends up being a winner regardless, and a better deal!

Riptide GP: Renegade sports a story complete with a talkative cast of characters-- well, save for your own racer who stays silent. The campaign or career mode plays out in a linear format. You play each racing event in a row, requiring you to at least earn a star (i.e. getting third place in an event) to move on to the next event. The story follows your racer who gets hustled and tricked, thus having him/her end up in jail. Your racer then must slowly go up the ranks, having various characters join your team to teach the person who orchestrated your trip to prison a severe and serious lesson.

Sometimes you'll have to contend with the police. Can't have an easy go of it, now can you?

There are nine tracks total in Riptide GP: Renegade, and some feature a traditional circuit-based design with laps while others are races from the top of the track to the very bottom with no return to the beginning. Many races contain ample opportunities for shortcuts to get a leg (or waterbike) up on the competition, and many of these are pretty challenging to find. In addition to shortcuts, the developers have included literal Easter eggs in hidden portions of the races, so exploration of tracks is recommended and very much encouraged.

With nine tracks and a myriad of events to go through, you might think that there will be some tedium doing the same tracks over and over again. Said possible tedium is lessened due to there being different event types, but the campaign can still get a little long in the tooth.

Regardless, there are regular races as well as slalom races, where the goal is to move through the track, jetting through the track while weaving in and out of slalom markers designating which side to take them. Then, there is a mode where eight racers speed through a track, where every 15 seconds the racer in last place becomes eliminated until there's only one participant left. Additionally, there is a means to unleash your inner trickster, performing tricks off ramps to score points to attempt to get the high score. The campaign also occasionally has championships where you compete in a series of events and the overall point leader is deemed the winner. Finally, boss battles are included, mano e mano races where winning earns you the right to race as that character and their vehicle.

The tracks feature plenty of eye candy, but don't get distracted-- there's a race to win.

As you play through Riptide GP: Renegade, you earn experience and cash after each event, win or lose. Obviously winning nets you more of both. Experience adds up to gain your racer levels, which give you skill points and a cash bonus. The skill points can be used to buy new tricks and special bonuses such as extra boost energy upon successfully performing tricks and extra speed when drafting someone. Conversely, cash is used to purchase upgrades for your various vehicles in accuracy, top speed, handling, and boost.

Riptide GP: Renegade sports a multitude of control options for your smart device, including tilt controls that work well (tilt settings can be optimized for each player), touch controls, as well as MFi controller support. If you have a particular setup you prefer, Riptide GP: Renegade has it, which is fantastic. However, the standard control setup, and the one I used throughout my playtime with the game, was tilt controls with using the touch screen for tricks and to brake. When getting air, you can slide your fingers on the left and right sides of the smart device screen to initiate a trick. Depending on which directions each finger flicks determines the trick you use. Of course, you need to have enough time to pull off the trick, or you'll end up bailing, costing you precious seconds as you furiously tap to reset your vehicle on the track.

Score mad air to perform crazy tricks. Just make sure you have enough room to land 'em!

Unfortunately, I did find myself struggling to get the game to read my double and triple flick attempts, resulting in bigger trick attempts. This was highly frustrating in the Freestyle events. Regardless, as you perform tricks, you accumulate energy in your boost gauge. You can then tap the boost icon to get a massive burst of speed, great for either making up distance or putting distance between you and your opponent(s).

Since this is an aquatic racer, waves undulate, some more unsettled on some tracks than others, and this makes for plenty of stunt opportunities. The risk vs. reward system makes it so yes, successfully completing a trick gives you boost energy, but make the mistake of jumping off a wave or ramp that doesn't give you enough time to finish your stunt, and you'll find yourself submerged in water. ...Since you bailed. But you already knew the conclusion to that hypothetical scenario, right?

Weave through the revolving machinery here to stay on course (and on your machine)!

Outside of the single player experience, there is asynchronous multiplayer (compete against friends' times on the game's nine tracks) and traditional split-screen and online multiplayer. The latter was difficult to find other people to race, but eventually I did, and it was plenty of fun with minimal lag.

Riptide GP: Renegade looks the part of an aquatic racer. The water glistens and sparkles, undulating to great effect, and many times water will splash and drizzle on the screen before dripping away. The environments sport plenty of detail, and they make for a post-apocalyptic feel in some tracks while sporting a peaceful feel in others. There is a lot of movement going on outside of the boundaries of many tracks, but it's always pretty clear where you need to make a given turn, thanks to numerous guide arrows. Characters and vehicles have a lot of intricate designs to them, making for a game that is consistent in its visuals and a delight to view. Sound-wise, you won't get a lot from Riptide GP: Renegade, save for vehicle sounds and a rock/electronic soundtrack. It doesn't get grating at the very least.

As you can see, everything down to the characters riding these aquatic machines is detailed.

Overall, the slightly repetitive nature of playing through the same nine tracks with slight event variations in the main campaign can invoke a sense of tedium, but ultimately it satisfies in both challenge and length. The tracks are well designed, and you can tell serious thought went into shortcuts, difficulty of turns, and environments. Riptide GP: Renegade feels like a much better deal on iOS and Android devices than it does on console, where it costs a mighty $14.99 USD compared to its $2.99 USD price on smart devices. If you're looking for an aquatic racer that is more than capable, Riptide GP: Renegade will get you wet with excitement.

[SPC Says: B-]