Dreamworks Super Star Kartz for Nintendo 3DS

Kart racing games have pretty much always been my favorites to play.  Of course, nothing beats Mario Kart, but I still like trying out other kart racing games for a change of scenery.  Thus, I just had to give Dreamworks Super Star Kartz a shot.

I like that you can be Skipper from the Madagascar series, but other than that this game was not enjoyable.  First of all, it seemed like I had played it before, which I believe may be due to playing other Dreamworks racing games like Shrek Smash 'n' Crash and Madagascar Kartz.  Secondly, the 3D part is absolutely horrible.

Bottom line not worth it if you have played other Dreamworks brand kart racing games unless you really want more of the same and even then go with another version such as the slightly cheaper regular DS version.

Nintendo 3DS: Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed

I found Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed to be a fun racing game.  I like how the Career mode has a variety of styles of racing challenges as part of it rather than just competing in cups like a lot of these style racing games.  This gives it decent depth and replay value including working through them in three difficulty levels that can be selected per challenge and not overall mode.

 

I also liked how depending on the course the vehicle is a car, plane, and/or boat. However, the graphics are kind of disappointing, especially when in 3D.  Not that I usually care much about graphics, but it is annoying when they make it harder to play the game.

 

Nintendo 3DS Screenshots: Face Racers Photo Finish

While I do not think anything can be up to the standard of Mario Kart, I tend to like kart racing games enough to not much care about them being ripoff of Mario Kart.  However, my standards for liking a kart racing game tend to be pretty low.  Thus, I at least expected to enjoy a few races of Face Racers: Photo Finish before returning the rental.

Sadly, though, I could only stand one single race (not even a full cup!) of Face Racers before I took it out and quickly got in back in the mail to Gamefly today to speed up getting my next rental.  Yes, the graphics are not that great, but I am not too picky about graphics being fancy or not.  For me it is mostly about the gameplay and in this case the controls made the gameplay no fun for me.

The first thing I did not like about Face Racers was when you go to cusomize your character you cannot use your Mii or built in animation, but rather have to use a photo.  I guess it makes sense with the name Photo Finish in it, but I do not really want my face in the game and the premade ones are rather bad, too.

If it was just the customization that annoyed me, it would not be a big deal.  The real thing that got to me, though, was the controlling of the kart.  It seemed like just a tiny bit of turning on the joystick caused it to move a lot in that direction.  Perhaps call the controls too responsive would be the way to put it.  Basically, it was way frustrating.

Kongregate Badge of the Day: Cartographic Crust

The Kongregate Badge of the Day for Friday, February 3, 2012 is the Cartographic Crust badge.  This is a Medium rated badge for the game CycloManiacs 2. To get the badge you need to unlock the first pizza slice.  For getting this Badge of the Day you get 17 Gamestop PowerUp Reward Points (32 if you are a KongPlus Member).

As always if you already have the badge, just go to the game and you will be awarded the extra points.

Comment if you have any other tips to help others get today's badge and help out those having trouble. Also, feel free to ask questions if you need help and I will try to help you out.

Complete Golden Gate to Empire State Quest for Chance at 1 Million PowerUp Reward Points

Currently there is a special Golden Gate to Empire State Quest on Kongregate.  Earn all 8 Badges in the quest and you gain a medal for your profile as well as an entry into the sweepstakes for 1 million PowerUp Rewards points.

Badges in Golden Gate to Empire State Quest

1. Rock the Stanza Badge: Earn Spectrum Runner achievement in Vector Stunt (earned by scoring 50,000 points in the Aerodrone song) - Easy Badge
2. Road Rage Rampage Badge: Score 60,000 points in Freeway Fury - Medium Badge
3. Reckless Driving Badge: Crash 3 Cop Cars in The Soul Driver - Easy Badge
4. Man of Steel Badge: Kill an enemy during the Superman power-up effect in Flood Runner 3 - Easy Badge
5. Radiant Rush Badge: Unlock the Supercar in Neon Race - Medium Badge
6. Scrapyard's Finest Badge: Take out 25 cop cars across all missions in The Heist - Easy Badge
7. Mind the Gap Badge: Survive for 1 minute in Solipski - Easy Badge
8. World Tour Badge: Complete all 6 tracks in Drift Runners - Medium Badge

Kongregate Badge of the Day: Time of Your Ducklife

The Kongregate Badge of the Day for Tuesday, September 20, 2011 is the Time of Your Ducklife Badge. This is a medium rated badge for the game DuckLife3: Evolution. To get the badge you have to complete the game.  For getting this Badge of the Day you get 17 Gamestop PowerUp Reward Points.

I found this game to be technically easy to beat, but it did take about an hour to play through because of all the training you need to go through to have good enough stats to win races.  Most of the races you do nothing.  Only in the Final Race do you need to do anything to win, which is shoot the Domo guys.

As always if you already have the badge, just go to the game and you will be awarded the extra points.

Comment if you have any if you have any other tips to help others get today's badge to help out those having trouble. Also, feel free to ask questions if you need help and I will try to help you out.

Kongregate Badge of the Day: Radiant Rush

The Kongregate Badge of the Day for Tuesday, September 13, 2011 is the Radiant Rush Badge.  This is a medium rated badge for the game Neon Race.  To get the badge you have to beat race 8 in under 1:20 to unlock the supercar. For getting this Badge of the Day you get 17 Gamestop PowerUp Reward Points.

It did not take me too much effort to get this badge, but it did take some getting used to the racing with the neon color tracks.  Also, the final race is kind of frustrating with the turns and the tunnels that block the view.  I found it not too hard, though, once I fully upgraded the wheels for better cornering.

As always if you already have the badge, just go to the game and you will be awarded the extra points.

Comment if you have any if you have any other tips to help others get today's badge to help out those having trouble.  Also, feel free to ask questions if you need help and I will try to help you out.

Kongregate Badge of Day: 16th Birthday

The Kongregate Badge of the Day for Friday, September 9, 2011 is the 16th Birthday Badge.  This is an easy rated badge for the game Drift Runners.  To get the badge you have to destroy 10 objects in one race. For getting this Badge of the Day you get 6 Gamestop PowerUp Reward Points.

This is an easy badge to get.  Just focus on destroying stuff as you drive around and do not worry about placing, although you can probably still do well and still get the badge.

Note: The award thing is messed up and does not currently show the regular info of getting bonus points and PowerUp reward points, but the points are awarded.

As always if you already have the badge, just go to the game and you will be awarded the extra points.

Comment if you have any if you have any other tips to help others get today's badge to help out those having trouble.  Also, feel free to ask questions if you need help and I will try to help you out.

Nintendo 3DS Screenshots: Ridge Racer

Ridge Racer is a decent racing game for the Nintendo 3DS.  I got it as a Gamefly rental and enjoyed playing it for several hours over the course of a week.  As just a racing game it is a lot fun, but as a 3D game it is only so-so.

The 3D graphics are not bad, but the aspect of a racing game and 3D graphics that require you to look at the screen straight on does not always work out well.  This is because if you are the kind of person that tends to tilt the controller and/or game system when playing racing games the graphics go blurry as you race.  I only do it a little every once in a while, so most of the time I did not have a problem with the 3D graphics, but boy could it cause trouble when I did tilt the 3DS just a bit.

While the 3D aspect does not really work great for a racing game, it is not the game's fault.  I still had fun playing through the first 5 to 7 Grand Prixes.  However, after a while the courses got boring and my thumb got really tired of using the B button.  For some reason, I can go way long if the button is the A button for acceleration.  Even after several hours of playing the game I still wanted to keep using the A button to accelerate at the start of some races.  I think you can change the controls, but not sure if it can be changed to A for the acceleration, as I did not think of changing controls until after I mailed the game back.

Overall Ridge Racer is not a bad game for the 3DS if you are into the Ridge Racer games and/or racing games.  However, if you are the type to tilt the system, it is not worth the 3D aspect.  Also, the first few Grand Prixes are kind of boring and you have to get past them before it gets even sort of challenging and more interesting scenery.

Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.

Kongregate Badge of the Day: Let's Get This Party Started!

The Kongregate Badge of the Day for Tuesday, May 17, 2011 is Let's Get This Party Started!  This is an Easy rated badge for the game Cyclomaniacs.  To get the badge you need to find all the red buttons/beat the game.  For getting this  Badge of the Day you get 5 Gamestop PowerUp Reward Points.

I already had this badge from completing the Beginner's Badge Quest.  I do not remember it being too difficult and I did not even buy any upgrades, as when I started playing today for the harder badges I realized I had not noticed the upgrades before.

As always if you already have the badge, just go to the game and you will be awarded the extra points.

Comment  if you have any if you have any other tips to help others get today's badge to help out those having trouble.  Also, feel free to ask questions if you need help and I will try to help you out.

Nintendo DS Screenshots: Puffins Island Adventure

This is an unique racing game, but it also has some adventure style parts where you have to fly around the map to do things to unlock new levels. Sounds different and it is, but it is also darn annoying and boring to have these in between things to do between the more interesting levels. I liked the racing and diving levels, but the in between stuff annoyed me so much I did not play for very long.

Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.

iPad Game Screenshots: Alpine Crawler HD

Alpine Crawler HD an interesting scenery racing game, but the controls stink and I quickly gave up on it. Sure I do not expect entirely awesome games when they are free, but they need to at least have the controls work smoothly and easy for games to be worthwhile as pushing you to get the paid version or at least play a lot and potentially clicking ads.

Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.

Nintendo Wii Screenshots: Madagascar Kartz

A couple weeks ago I played Madagascar Kartz on the Wii. I enjoyed it for about a week and then got tired of the racing. Part of the issue is it was too difficult to do well at some of the cups and it seemed like I crashed and ran into walls too often. The responsiveness seemed bad, but it actually had more to do with how I am used to holding the controller in a racing game. I usually hold it with the buttons towards me, but it works fine when I remembered to hold the remote with the buttons facing towards the ceiling.

Overall I really like the Madagascar Kartz racing. It is a lot like Mario Kart, but with the Madagascar characters and a few other Dreamworks characters that you unlock (such as Shrek and B.O.B.). I probably would buy this sometime if I saw it used at Gamestop, but it is not quite on my list of got to own right now.

Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.