QCF: Crystal Crisis

n the short time since its release, the Nintendo Switch has obtained a fantastic selection of third-party games for almost every genre, but only Nicalis has really striven to have at least one quality game from every genre on the platform. Crystal Crisis is their recent entry in the Puzzle arena, and boy, does it do a good job of filling that niche.

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QCF: Lumines Remastered

s many can attest, falling-block type puzzle games are my jam. I love me some Tetris, Dr. Mario, Panel De Pon…you name it. If it has a block that falls and can be combinated with others for big score payouts, I'm there. One such game that I've spent a lot of time with over the course of its existence through many iterations of the franchise is Lumines, originally released on the PSP in 2005 with numerous sequels finding their way mainly to Sony consoles and handhelds with the odd installment appearing on XBLA.

Lumines ended up being one of the more addictive puzzle games I've played, going so far as instilling intense “Tetris-Effect” visions of the playfield on shower tile walls, square linoleum patterns on the floor, even just in my creeping subconscious with my eyes closed before drifting to sleep. At a certain point, I was also one of the best players in the world, holding high, top-10 rankings in the XBLA version and utterly crushing all of the local competition.

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PPR Presents Play Play: Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker

ne of most celebrated features in Super Mario 3D World were the Captain Toad sections; off-shoot mini-levels that involved the guidance of the intrepid Captain Toad through a gyroscopic stage of obstacles and danger—these sections were really dope.

In our review, George mentioned how this element of the game itself would be strong enough to be its own game; and just like that, as if Nintendo had its own NSA-like surveillance, they put their finger to the dial, and released an entire game centered around the dynamics of Captain Toad, in Captain Toad Treasure Tracker.

Join Catie and George as they give us a tour on what may be one of the most underrated exclusives that the Wii U has to offer in this brand new Play Play!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 120 - Twinkle Star Sprites

inter dreams has resumed for 2015! In this episode of Bullet Heaven HD, we take a look at yet another genre fusion with Twinkle Star Sprites. Previously seeing release on several consoles in the past, the Dreamcast release omits a lot of features from previous versions. But how does it stack up?

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QCF: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

side from a heroic blue android who shoots giant jellybeans of deadly plasma and a series of tournaments famous for hosting sparring matches on public roads, the iconic yellow and blue brand of games, Capcom, is memorable for one other type of venture when it comes to their software—crossovers, they’re practically experts on the sort of thing.

One such experiment however, utilizes all these ingredients and elegantly manages to expand the respective conventions and features through the mixture two licenses, and as a result, creates an incredible engrossing experience that engaging in its own right—one that doesn’t need to be completely carried by the fan-service of the subject-matter in order to be appealing.

Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a thoughtfully choreographed dance between two different classes of logic-driven gameplay that gracefully bounce off of each other with every step they take.

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QCF: Retro Game Crunch

t's certainly no secret that in my faded, old, dying eyes, the golden years of gaming are now a bygone era with only reminders of its glory remaining in my collection of cartridges and CD ROMs that, for the most part, currently reside in the closet of my studio. Pixels and bits trump system specs and polygons. FOR LIFE!

To that end, I'm loving PC gaming more and more, especially with the increasing number of retro-inspired and old-school feeling titles on services such as Desura, Steam and the Humble Store. Sure, there are typically zero physical copies appearing for the PC platform for these games, but that doesn't make the games any less fun and often times, they are nice and affordable.

One game that is sure to strike the fancy of any retronaut like myself is Retro Game Crunch, a delightful collection of 3^rd generation-inspired titles, complete with the huge pixels, lo-fi sound and often-brutal difficulty old-timers like myself crave the ever-loving bits out of. Each title is totally different from the last yet somehow manages to stay just as fun and fresh between games. But for $15, is it worth your time? Get ready for a Ser Flash Seven-Part Machine-Gun review for Retro Game Crunch!

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QCF: Full Bore

t’s refreshing to play a game that quite literally drops you into the wild and leaves you to your own devices after a relatively quick intro. The world exists on a 2D plane and you play as this little bore. You can move left, right, fall down, and climb adjacent blocks at 45-degree angles. The little bore can also tunnel through dirt and shove blocks around. As you explore you’ll meet the denizens of this underground world whom offer up subtle clues about the game play and the world they inhabit. To boil it all down you’re going to be collecting diamonds buried in the mine.

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QCF: Dr. Luigi

nfluenza, acute coryza, or in my case at the time of writing this, Bronchitis, are but a handful of the many viruses and illnesses we encounter through the years we live and breathe; in spite of the medical advances accomplished by mankind; we still face the threat of these infections to this day.

Which is why it truly speaks to the aptitude of Nintendo’s charm when they can translate the process of fighting infectious viruses through the aching road to medicinal recovery into something fun to play. Dr. Mario, a first-party brain teaser within the Big-N’s stable, still commands a strong following since it’s NES days, but time hasn’t been kind to the Italian physician.

The addictive puzzler has always lacked the depth of its peers to excel beyond the narrow scope of its core fundamental mechanics—which is why Dr. Luigi is more than just a second opinion.

 The year of Luigi has influenced the engineering to sequel that refreshes the formula in all the right ways and stands tall with the strongest doctrine of the franchise has seen yet.

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