PixlBit

It’s Christmas time, and I’ve got some presents for you!   Game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com.  Just what you wanted, right?  Right?  Anyway, please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  And just for fun, in the comments section, give me a pretend Christmas present.  It can be anything you want.  It’s the thought that counts...literally!  Then I’ll reply with a pretend present for you!  It's fun when it’s fun.  OK let’s begin!

Hallmark 2024 Video Game Christmas Ornaments

Hallmark always has a wide variety of Christmas ornaments every year, and in the past few years they’ve even had lots of video game themed ones!  I got a bunch of them this year as well, as I always do, so let’s take a look at them!

Pikmin Sprouts Up at Kura Sushi

There’s a chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants called Kura Sushi.  When you go there, if you eat enough sushi plates, you can win little prizes!  A couple of years ago, I went there for my birthday because they had Pac-Man prizes!  I wrote a big article about it then, so I recommend checking it out.  In October of this year, they had Pikmin prizes and promotions, so I decided to go back so here’s another little article about that.

Pearls of Atlantis (Switch)

Pearls of Atlantis is a match three style puzzle game that kind of reminds me of a cross between Puzzle Bobble and Peggle.  Drop colored pearls from the top of the screen into little baskets below.  When three or more of the same color touch, they disappear.  Your goal in each level is to clear out all the pearls that have little symbols on them, called “charms” in the game.  It’s a pretty fun little casual puzzle game.

Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel (PS4)

Back in the 90s, 2D platformers starring cartoony animal mascots were all the rage, thanks to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog.  One of the more prolific examples of this was Aero the Acro-Bat, who managed to get a sequel and a spin-off starring Aero’s rival: Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel.  Recently these games have been re-released onto modern consoles, and I’ve been lucky enough to review the first Aero and his sequel.  And now it’s time for the spinoff game.  Aero’s rival Zero’s forest homeland is being destroyed by the evil lumberjack Jacques LeSheets and now Zero must go off and defeat him.  Zero will use ninja throwing stars and dive moves to defeat enemies and bypass obstacles in this 16-bit 2D platformer.

Skater’s Solstice (PS4)

Help an ice skater collect stars and find the glowing exit on frozen ponds in Skater’s Solstice.  It’s a 2D top down viewed puzzler.  You can skate up, down, left, or right, but you can’t stop going in that direction unless you hit a rock or the edge of the pond.  You must figure out the correct path to take in each level (50 in all).

Amelia’s Garden (Switch)

Amelia is a young woman who finds a rooftop garden filled with broken pots, so she decides to fix them and plant things in them to restore the garden.  Help her do so by solving simple jigsaw puzzles and playing a planting mini-game on Nintendo Switch.  Amelia’s Garden is actually a sequel/spinoff to a game I reviewed a while back called Tell Me Your Story, Amelia just being a bit older since the last game.  But if it weren’t for the similar art styles and the fact that the press release told me so, I would’ve had no idea these two games were related (I didn’t even know Amelia was her name in the first game).

Magic Cats Pots (Switch)

Two reviews right in a row about piecing together pottery?  And from the same publisher no less?  What are the odds?  Anyway, here you piece together broken mugs, pots, plates, and more in this jigsaw puzzle style game.  Some of the pottery has pictures of cats or cat patterns on them, hence the name.

Stilt Fella (PS4)

When I was a kid, I always thought it would be fun to learn how to walk on stilts.  But where would you buy them?  And because of my disability, being blind in my left eye since birth and having limited depth perception and peripheral vision, it also affects my balance.  It’s why I’ve never been able to ride a bike or skateboard.  So stilts were definitely out of the question.  But maybe I could do it in a video game?  Well, here’s Stilt Fella, a game about guiding a dude through obstacles on stilts.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my reviews and posting ‘likes’ and comments on them.  I do appreciate it.  And don’t forget about the pretend Christmas presents!  Hope everyone has a good Christmas!  Later!  --Cary