PixlBit

Need for sleep.

This review is part of the 2014 Sh*tty Game Review Fest - read about the event here.

Believe it or not, the Dodge Ram license is the least offensively bad part of this bargain bin shovelware detritus that came out on Wii a few years ago. I'll grant that it's a fairly novel way to grab the attention of the idiot masses, and it's never been done before. Now that the good aspects are covered, it's all downhill from here.

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Kirby sucks harder than he’s ever sucked before.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Kirby: Triple Deluxe a special game. It’s not particularly challenging, it doesn’t do anything revolutionary, but every time I play it, I can’t help but smile. When it comes down to it, I have to believe that the exceptional level design is the root of it all. HAL Laboratories plays with the depth offered by the 3DS and takes every opportunity to create interesting set pieces and enemies that crisscross the two planes within each level. Hidden secrets, intriguing puzzles, and fun use of Kirby’s abilities combined with these set pieces help make each and every level in the game special.

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A single tear falls.

You might not remember this, but at one point in time* it was possible to play Wii and DS games online – you know, over the internet! Well, that’s all over now, but to send the online services off in style, we were able to gather a few members of the PixlBit family and have an intense session playing Mario Kart Wii. This helped remind us how much fun Mario Kart can be online, and how much of a hassle the Wii Friend Code system was. We were able to capture some footage of the races from Chris’s perspective and provide them to you as a video relic of our evening and proof that the Wii was once online capable.

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The other great way to park.

Oh, the rush of zipping around another car, missing its bumper by a tiny smidge, and slamming on the brakes as you pull into the perfect parallel spot before oncoming traffic T-bones you into oblivion! This is the heart-revving, nerve-rattling, airbag-exploding life of a Parking Star: a fantastical existence we can all now get a taste of thanks to Parking Star 3D! Alright, I can’t hide the fact that parking cars is lame, but thanks to my low expectations, after playing Parking Star 3D I almost feel like parking is really exciting.

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Classical music meets crowd-funded art.

It's been quite a journey for the game Spate, from initial conception, to successful Kickstarter campaign, to final release on Steam.  Dragged into reality by Eric Provan of Ayyo Games, the game is a dreamy, artistic experience. Ayyo Games might have struggled to make this game, but they didn't do it alone: they were accompanied by classical composer and game scorer Mike Raznick, who approached them during the Kickstarter campaign.  The result is a stark audio experience unlike most games.  Enamored with both the game and the soundtrack, we caught up with Mike Raznick to talk about how he created the score, his influences, and what he thinks of video game music. 

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