In Tidbits, we cover games that are difficult to cover in our regular review template. In this Tidbits, we review Asfalia: Anger, Panda Punch, and Saomi.
Asfalia: Anger | 80% – Asfalia is a point & click adventure game aimed at kids and with added educational purposes as it also helps them talk about their emotions. You play as Charlie and the story starts off with him getting angry because his dog, Baya, refuses to play with him. This triggers Charlie to get warped into a fantasy world where he needs to help the strange but colourful inhabitants so he can get back home. The characters are quirky and well-voiced and the puzzles are very age-appropriate. I had my 7yo daughter Fé play and she managed to beat the campaign all by herself in about 1h30. She had a blast, but it’s important going into this that you lower your expectations of a multi-hour adventure. Instead, you’ll get a polished story that is perfectly catered to its core audience. The game ends on a cliffhanger with the next chapter, Fear, being introduced. It’s planned to become a 4-part series, and I can already share that my two kids are very excited to play them and even wanted to dive back in, to collect all the stickers that are hidden behind certain actions. Instead, they were only allowed to dive into their bedsheets, as it was way past their bedtime! A solid recommendation for young kids or older fans of Freddie Fish-like games with a modern coat of polish.
Written by: Robby
Reviewed on: PC
Panda Punch | 55% – I’m always excited when I start a new Ratalaika Games platformer. You can call it some kind of therapy for me. When I have two hours to spare I download the latest Ratalaika game for Xbox and finish it in one go. Known to be relatively short, easy to earn Achievements and simple but fun gameplay. Panda Punch isn’t any different, although the quality is a bit on the low side. Normally platformers published by our friends from Ratalaika are decent to really good but many things felt wrong while playing as our red panda. Long moments of simply walking without anything to do and panda’s bionic arm for combat felt out-of-place. You constantly have to punch enemies that are often annoying to hit (think flying bastards) in more than 50 levels that seem to lack any personality. Visually the pixel graphics are lovely to see, especially the main character but the levels are uninspired and most of the time even boring. Making up for that is a catchy soundtrack, all the love from developer Ninja Rabbit Studios seems to have found a place in Panda Punch’s audio.
Written by: Dae Jim
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Saomi | 30% – I love some challenging platformer experiences, Super Meat Boy for example! So at first, I was happy that Saomi is a really challenging platformer but spoiler alert: I don’t love this game. It has been a long time since I played such a bland game on Xbox. Slow (read very slowly) but surely you begin to unlock more moves that make Saomi slightly more interesting. It takes more than ten levels to learn a double jump, later on, you can also dash or wall jump. Out of nowhere, you learn new moves with no explanation as to why you couldn’t do them with previous levels… What you get in those levels are challenging platforming tasks like dashing correctly between spikes, or timing your double jump to avoid spikes. Or jumping on trampolines to avoid… spikes. A lot of Saomi’s level design is based on the same gameplay ideas over and over again. And while there is nothing wrong with a bit of repetitive level design in platformers, I really started to dislike it in Saomi. Everything is so basic, there is nothing in this game that brings anything fresh to the platform genre.
Written by: Dae Jim
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Hello, I’m Victoria. I’m from the UK and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember; back on DreamCast. I’ve pretty much fallen for Xbox since I was around eight years old and remember BioShock being my first game on the Xbox360. Although I find it thoroughly enjoyable to not only experience gameplay, I also find comfort in getting lost and engrossed in the online worlds that sometimes differ greatly from what we know. Another side of my Xbox passion would be achievement hunting and gamerscore. I thrive when I hear the little sound of one popping up on the screen and I’m always finding ways to work on my backlog when possible. Horror is my favourite genre so if you have any recommendations, don’t be afraid to send them my way!