Gravity Falls: Legend of the Gnome Gemulets (3DS)
Gravity Falls is a cartoon on the Disney XD cable channel, and it has become one of my most favorite cartoons ever. I haven’t been this into a cartoon ever since DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, or Animaniacs. So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the Gravity Falls game from Ubisoft. In the show, preteen twins Dipper and Mabel are sent to stay with their Great Uncle Stan for the summer. “Grunkle Stan” as they call him, he runs a tourist trap museum called the Mystery Shack in the small town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. But while the artifacts in the museum are fake, Gravity Falls is shrouded in mystery as paranormal events happen nearly every day! It’s up to twins Dipper and Mabel to discover the secrets of the town, and have some fun and maybe learn a thing or two along the way. The show is great because it has a lot of adult humor, but as a Disney channel show, it’s also fairly clean, too.
Care Bears: Belly Match (iOS, Android)
When I was a kid in the 80’s, Care Bears were pretty popular for a little while. They even had a couple of animated movies! (And the first one was surprisingly dark if I remember correctly.) Well, apparently the Care Bears are still around, because now you can play a free Match-3 puzzler featuring the Bears who don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves, but on their bellies instead! One day, Grumpy Bear was in such a bad mood that he accidentally caused a storm to split up Care-A-Lot! Now you must help Grumpy piece the land back together somehow by matching the different symbols on the Care Bears’ bellies, similar to other games like Bejeweled or Candy Crush. Care Bears: Belly Match is available to download on iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.
Cary’s Top Five Favorite Autobots and Decepticons!
Recently I reviewed Transformers Devastation, and it got me to thinking about the franchise. When I was a kid in the 80’s, I was pretty big into Transformers for a couple of years. Ever since I was a kid I always wanted a GOOD Transformers game that was truly based on the cartoon. And now we finally got one with Transformers: Devastation (although I still like Fall of Cybertron better). So in honor of the release of this long-awaited game, here’s a blog about my top five favorite Autobots (good guys) and Decepticons (bad guys).
Transformers: Devastation (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, PC)
When I was a kid, I was big into Transformers. I played with the toys and watched the old cartoon from the 80’s. It took nearly 30 years for us to get a GOOD Transformers video game, and even then, they weren’t based on the toys and cartoon I loved. But now, finally, there is a game based on the cartoon I watched as a kid, and it even has many of the same voice actors, too! Transformers: Devastation is a 3-D action game from famed game makers Platinum, and it’s reviewed on 360 here. It could almost be called, “Cary’s Childhood: The Game.”
Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden (3DS)
Right in the middle of Toon Week, and we’re going to look at a game based on one of the most popular Japanese anime cartoons of all time: Dragon Ball Z! The newest game based on the popular animated series: Extreme Butoden, is now available on the 3DS from Namco Bandai! It’s a 2-D, one-on-one fighter from Arc System Works, makers of other great 2-D fighters like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear!
Ball of Glory Pinball Pack (Consoles, PC, iOS, Android, Amazon)
Next up on Toon Week here at GamerDad, we’re going to look at some more adult oriented cartoons. Animated shows with adult humor and themes are just as popular as the kids’ stuff. And Zen Studios knows this, so their latest batch of pinball tables for Pinball FX2 and Zen Pinball 2 feature FOX cartoons like Family Guy, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, and Archer! (reviewed on 360 here)
The Smurfs (3DS)
It’s Toon Week here on GamerDad.com, where we’ll look at games based on cartoons for kids and adults. Today it’s The Smurfs! Whether it’s a classic cartoon from the 80’s, an even earlier European comic strip, or a couple of recent computer animated movies, The Smurfs have been delighting children for decades. Heck, even I watched the cartoon when I was a kid (but only because it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon). I wasn’t a big fan of the show, but I did like Jokey Smurf and his exploding presents. I’m also glad I got to meet the voice of Papa Smurf a long time ago before he passed away. Anyway, now you can play a new Smurfs game on the 3DS, and it’s not what you’d probably expect!
Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? (3DS)
Hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader is a TV game show where adult contestants try and answer school questions that 5th graders are required to know and learn in class. If the grown-ups forget or if that subject is a little fuzzy, they can call upon actual elementary school kids to help them out for a limited time. And now you can test and see if you’re smarter with the 3DS game based on the television series.
Paddington: Adventures in London (3DS)
I never really read any of the Paddington Bear books when I was a kid, which is where that character got his start. But when I was little, I do remember seeing lots of Paddington Bear stop-motion animated shorts on TV and on filmstrips at school (I’m really aging myself here). In fact, Paddington had a perchance for eating marmalade sandwiches, and when I was a kid I had never heard of marmalade. So when I saw it at the grocery store when I was little, I convinced my mom to buy some so I could try Paddington’s favorite treat. I learned something that day, marmalade is DISGUSTING! Why couldn’t he have liked pizza instead? Fast forward to earlier this year. A new Paddington Bear movie hit theaters, and I recently saw it on video. It really wasn’t that bad of a movie at all, a very charming family flick that stays true to the source material. And now you can play a game on the 3DS based on Paddington’s adventures.
Adventure Time: Puzzle Quest (iPad)
Adventure Time is one of Cartoon Network’s most popular shows, and Puzzle Quest is one of the most famous puzzlers in the past ten or so years. So put them both together as a free-to-play game downloadable for iOS devices, Google Play, and Amazon for Android (reviewed on iPad here), and you get a winner, right? Well, read on and find out!