Tidbits | Dyna Bomb 2, Cube Farmer and Strategic Mind: The Pacific

In Tidbits, we cover games that are difficult to cover in our regular review template. In this Tidbits, we review Dyna Bomb 2, Cube Farmer, and Strategic Mind: The Pacific.

Strategic Mind: The Pacific | 5% | Strategic Mind has got to be by far the most awful game I’ve played thus far in 2022. By promoting itself as an intense and suspenseful strategic turn-based strategy game it got immediately noticed by my radar. So, of course, I was extremely hopeful. Strategic Mind takes place in the Pacific around the time of WWII. You play as either the U.S.A or the Japanese. But that’s about as accurate as the game gets. The cutscenes are horribly animated, with either clipping of textures, voices that don’t match the characters, and not even an effort being done to lip-sync the words. Combat is even worse, with it feeling like playing rock paper scissors, with them being locked in a rock, and u locked in scissors. One time I had one destroyer nearly demolish my entire fleer because I kept doing 0 dmg, and their return fire always hit critical parts. And don’t think a tutorial is in place to explain the combat… no sir. I didn’t have 1 clue as to what I could do to make combat go my way… on Easy! And don’t even get me started on audio… with looping soundbites everywhere, Strategic Mind drilled itself into my purgatory hole… a shame, the premise was there, just the execution failed.

Written by Alexis

DYNA BOMB 2 | 55% | If you’ve grown up in the 80s you’ll probably do well while playing Dyna Bomb 2 or at least feel nostalgia because of it. You could also feel nostalgia for flash games because it both looks and feels like a flash game you could’ve played in your browser years ago. I haven’t played the first Dyna Bomb, but from the 14 levels I played of its sequel, I wasn’t a big fan of it. The soundtrack isn’t horrible, but it got on my nerves very quickly because of how fast it became repetitive, there was only one song per chapter and each chapter had 7 regular levels in it and a special chapter transitional level. I couldn’t test it, and I doubt it would’ve changed much, but a local co-op option is available. There are two playable characters with two unlockable skins and they not only play exactly the same, but they also share the same scream when damaged, and look pretty similar. You can buy temporary and permanent upgrades, they help increase your score, give you a 1-hit shield that lasts for a single life, give you new weapons, etc. The biggest pros I can say about Dyna Bomb 2 are that it has simple controls and that you can get all achievements in 30min – 1h way before completing the game. Someone may really enjoy this game, but that someone is not me.

Written by Colombo

CUBE FARMER | 85% | Cube Farmer has a straightforward concept, get the cube(s) to the hole in a specific orientation. The controls are as simple as the concept, you can choose where you want to go with WASD and press Enter to confirm your movement, move the camera with the arrow keys, reset the level with the space bar, and pause with Esc. Alternatively, you can play solely with your mouse by using the right button to move the camera and the left button to select directions and menus. The game was surprisingly charismatic, from its simple but charming visuals to its soundtrack that sounds like it could be from a Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons game. There are forty levels available, and as you progress things will get more complicated with you controlling multiple cubes simultaneously and going through portals. Despite its difficulty, this was a pleasant experience with no bugs or performance issues. If you’re a fan of puzzle games, play this one!

Written by Colombo