Quick Review: Calico

“What’s your gaming like lately, Nic?” Oh, y’know, one day I play a beat’em-up, later I get progress done on a stealth game, next a viking survival, and now I play a cutesy relationship/kitchen game. Variety!

There isn't much in here yet, but that'll change soon.

Developed by Peachy Keen Games, published by Whitethorn Games and Maple Whispering Unlimited and released on December 15th, 2020, Calico is described as a community sim. Your character inherited a cat café set on a magical, star-shaped island, and it is your duty to bring it back to full glory. After the very intricate character creation, we appear on the very pink island and we meet the mayor, who explains how things work around here. There’s a lot of magic going around; don’t question it, we don’t have to explain it. The animals around the island are all perfectly tamed, you can choose any of them to join the café so your customers will pet and play with them.

Because I’m a rebel, my first café animal was a crow.

It's my café, I'mma do what I want. Crow it is.
I'm gonna call him Malphas.

Sometimes they even give you new recipes!

Of course, what’s a shop without customers? You befriend the residents by completing side-quests for them. Some have their preferences regarding the style in the café, so you can decorate with furniture to please everyone. Along the way, you’ll collect furniture, toys for the animals you adopt for the café, and clothes and accessories for your character. At first, the paths to the branches of the star are blocked off, leaving only the center to explore; you solve that by completing major quests involving the available NPCs, and in the new areas you meet new folks/customers, and get more quests to complete.

Bring out the home decorator in you!

Milk... sugar, spice, and everything nice...

You’ll also find new recipes. However, the way you make the recipes is... unconventional. You get shrunk and platform your way around the kitchen, carrying the ingredients to the cooking pot and playing mini-games to bake the pastries. I mean, sure, that makes it different from classic cooking games. Although, we walk all over our recipes, and we let a cat knead the dough. I don’t think that’s sanitary. *cough cough* I know, magic, yadda yadda. At least it leads to a decent variety in mini-games.

Yup! Thanks for coming to the café, by the way!

I appreciate the cozy atmosphere of this one, nobody can get hurt (Fall damage? What’s that?), there’s never any stress. There’s a lot to discover, be it the animals you can pet, carry, or befriend, the potions you can use for various effects (like making small animals big enough to be ridden), and other cute stuff like that. It oozes positivity all around, promoting body positivity, inclusivity, and open-mindedness.

No, this isn't an impromptu yoga session, I'm just
ragdolling like crazy.

The weaknesses now: There’s issues with collision and clipping all over the place, which is notable when your character walks around, goes uphill, or whenever ragdoll physics kick in and an animal becomes a writhing mess for a moment. The number of times a pet at the café got stuck on furniture... “Janky” is the best way to describe it. I would also say that there’s little incentive in doing recipes more than once. Though, you must replace those that get stale, and also you get paid more for a delicacy if you get a Gold or Silver star on it, by completing it quickly.

I’d also say there’s an issue with quests and character interactions. It’s a nice touch that every NPC has its own agency and moves around the world, but it can make finding them tricky (good thing the map always shows their location). It also leads to situations where you have someone asking you to talk to someone else, who can be right next to them. Writing is occasionally odd; you can close a quest with a character, then talk to them again right away, and they’ll open with, “Well since you helped me the other day...”

The flying broom is basically the reward for beating the game.
It lets you see the place in a whole new way.

It’s a game made to be casual and soothing. You’ll hardly find anything challenging here, but that’s by design. It’s the sort of game I'd recommend you get it for a child, but its features make it an alright option for anyone in need of something sweet and simple to wind down.

Calico is available on Steam for 11.99$ USD.

Quick Review: Asterix and Obelix: Slap Them All!

Goody goody goody, let’s beat up some Romans! Gotta slap them all!

Those are only the first Romans of... oh, a couple thousands.

Developed by Mr. Nutz Studio, published by Microids and released on December 7th, 2021, today’s title is my first Asterix game! It’s taken me so long to play one. Shame, too, I love that franchise! Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! is a great homage in three ways. One, it’s completely hand-drawn, with an art style very close to the original comics and animated films. Two, it’s a beat’em-up, the best genre you could  adapt an Asterix story into, since it’s the perfect way to have the titular Gauls punch and brawl their way through hordes of enemies. And three, its levels retell six stories from the comics.

"One free go on the carousel!" "Go see if I'm in Lutecia!"
"Let's clear the air!" Over and over.

Study Asterix and Obelix's vast movesets, and you’ll recognize many of their signature attacks. Both punching enemies upwards, Asterix doing a tornado of punches, Obelix slapping a Roman he's holding or wiping the floor with him... You can swap between Asterix and Obelix by pressing 1, can block by pressing 2. Standard attacks are done with Z, special moves with X. Grab enemies with C. Each Gaul has a meter of 5 thunders, which are spent on special moves. When they’re all gone, you must wait for them to refill before you can use special moves again. Combos are done by a combination of a direction arrow and an attack button. You can dash forward by pressing left or right twice. Every combat options comes with its little comments from each Gaul. Those comments tend to get repetitive.

Look at how diligent he is at slapping the sh*t out of any
enemy in his way. Roman, pirate, brigand, doesn't matter.

Oh, and if the health of the Gaul you’re playing as hits 0, you lose. No switching to the other. All you can do is start the level over. Did I mention levels in this game are long? Because they are. Asterix and Obelix play somewhat differently, as well. Obelix has more variety, but he’s slower and a larger target, so enemies hit him easily. Asterix is shorter and faster, so he’s easier to use in many situations. Bored with single-player? This game can also be played with a friend.

More of these would have been nice, for variety.

New enemies are frequently introduced, but aside from bosses, few have any interesting gimmicks aside from new attacks. In the end, it’s a beat’em-up where most stages are “go right, beat bunch of enemies, go right, beat bunch of enemies”. There’s a few minigames involving button-mash racing or breaking several barrels in a time limit. It’s fine for the first half, chapters 1 to 3... but by the fourth, and all the way to the end of the sixth, the repetitiveness is a sore point.

If that looks like complete and utter chaos... that's because it is.

There’s a lot of barrels to be found around stages, containing health-restoring items or extra coins for score. There’s a scoring system, with points earned when doing attacks, breaking obstacles, and picking up the coins dropped by enemies. A scoring system feels very unnecessary. After beating the game once, you unlock a Free Play mode allowing you to replay any stage you want.

Should you get it? If you want to see another awesome example of a hand-drawn game (as it does look great), or if you are a huge fan of the Asterix series, or a fan of beat’em-ups in general, then maybe. Just maybe. I enjoyed my time at first, but while it was fun to see some classic stories unravel, ultimately by the end it just felt long and repetitive. The sequel released last year promises more variety and content, as well as an original story, but I don't know if I'll ever get it.

If you are interested, Asterix and Obelix – Slap Them All! Is available on Steam for 24.99$ USD.

Road to the next reviews

Hey there! I know I haven't been posting anything in a bit. Well, here's why. First off, straight and simple, I needed at least a week without worrying about posting anything. The cycle of "Gaming Memories, full review, Gaming Memories" was fun but didn't leave me a lot of time to actually enjoy games, so I set aside some time for myself.

Second, I've run into a bit of a conundrum with the game I was hoping to cover - it's a fair bit more difficult than what I expected, and it might take me a while to actually get through it. That usually means I'll need more time to get the review done. It's a game that plays unlike what I'm used to. Doesn't help that in the meantime, I also wrote (and basically finished) my anniversary review, on a game which since has seen a massive update. Hopefully, I can work around that, as that review won't be published until July, which means I'll have some time to work on stuff while it gets posted on here.

However, I also bought a couple more games lately, so I'm actually going to re-edit my Year Plans 2024 to include them, as most games I got are pretty quick and I'll get through them at a decent pace. For the next few months, I imagine I can do a few Quick Reviews at the end of May and throughout June, post the big review in July, and then go back to the next Quick Reviews. The review of the game I'm currently struggling with? It's not clear when I'll post it, but I do hope it gets posted as soon as it's done; but I can't give a time window. Editing my Year Plans might take me a little while, as well. But no worries, hopefully something will be out Friday next week.

That's it for now. Stay tuned!

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby, my old friend! Long time no see! I remember when I reviewed every game in Kirby's Dream Collection on the Wii. I didn’t know if I’d ever return to the franchise – but I heard about today’s game a lot, so it was on my wishlist when I got a Switch.

Something happened here, you just know it.
P.S. I got the screenshots from RetroArchive's playthrough.
Go check it out if you want to see the full game.

I have a soft spot for the pink puffball’s adventures, because they’re so much more than they appear. They’re generally easy if your only goal is to get to the “final boss” (big air quotes), but if you want to fight the real final boss, you’ll face challenges that are much tougher. And that also applies to story: Kirby games are the cutest damn things ever but past the cozy, cutesy tone of Dream Land, there are nightmares on the sidelines. And it’s weird, but I’ve grown so accustomed to it that I now play these games knowing the other shoe will drop. It’s so well-known that the trick for this franchise now is to think up a good twist.

And of course, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is no exception. Developed by HAL Laboratory and released on March 25th, 2022, this new game features the core cast of the series in yet another major adventure, Kirby front and center as always. This is, notably, the Star Warrior's first adventure fully in 3D. What’s going on this time, and what IS the Forgotten Land?

For the record, since the game is recent, have a spoiler alert; I reveal the whole story.

We’re not in Kansas Popstar anymore

It was a normal day on Popstar when a vortex opened, creating a windstorm. Enemies and Waddle Dees getting sucked in left and right. Kirby fails to escape and winds up in the vortex as well. Weird things happen in the space between worlds, and the puffball awakens on a beach. Always jolly and eager for everything, Kirby sets out to explore. He meets the local wildlife, and winds up in the middle of... a city???

Carby.
That is all.

While inhaling doglike creatures known as Awoofys in an empty store, Kirby accidentally sucks up a car and, since it’s too large for him, it just... gets stuck in his mouth, with his body molding over its form. This is the new mechanic, “Mouthful Mode”, where Kirby can “inhale” a huge item and gain temporary new skills. The car goes fast and rams into enemies, the traffic cone can smash the ground, the pipe can roll down hills and break through walls, the lightbulb can light up dark areas... When in that mode, Kirby can no longer use his current copy ability, and the next level portion is designed for your Mouthful form.