Recent reviews by DogToon64 #PippoGang

More than seven years later and it's still one of my favorite Classic Sonic games.

8.8/10

It's Sonic; it's an adventure; it's the "deluxe" version, but not the "director's cut" version. It's Sonic Adventure DX.

7.8/10


(PS. I recommend playing the game with mods (if you use SADX Mod Installer and plan to get all of the game's achievements, make sure you install the Steam Achievements mod[gitlab.com]!).)

Spent little money, got big money.

7.8/10

IT'S A MASTAPIECE!

I would definitely recommend trying it out!

10/10

This game changed my life. Move over Pizza Tower, step aside ANTONBLAST, beat it Wario Land, this game is where it's at! Not even the Super Mario Maker games can compare to this masterpiece!

999,999,999/10
Would recommend!

So I decided to revisit Sonic 4: Episode 1 sometime last year since it and the second episode were on sale to see if it was as bad as I remembered. Is it as bad as I remembered? Well...

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is a platform game made by Dimps and Sonic Team and published by SEGA for PC, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, mobile devices, and the OUYA (which we don't talk about). It's claimed to be the "long-awaited sequel" to the Genesis Sonic games from the 90s, and it's a pretty mediocre one. In fact, compared to those games, Sonic 4: Episode 1 is basically an insult to them.

If I'm being honest, Sonic 4 should never have been called Sonic 4 in the first place; it was initially planned to be a mobile game called "Sonic the Portable" but was renamed to Sonic 4 during development. If the game were released as Sonic the Portable, it probably wouldn't have gotten as much hate as it got. But enough talking about that, let's move on to the game itself:

Two of the game's glaring issues are the controls and physics. The controls feel janky, and the physics are pretty poor. For example, you come to an almost-immediate halt when you stop holding the left or right buttons, and you don't gain momentum when rolling down a slope.

The graphics are mediocre. They're not the worst I've ever seen, but they are far from the best. The level environments look primarily lifeless, and the cel shading on the characters doesn't fit very well with the levels.

Most of the game's music isn't very good or memorable. However, there are a few catchy songs, such as Casino Street Zone Act 1's music.

The game's zones, Slash Hill, Casino Street, Lost Labyrinth, and Mad Gear Zones, are practically knockoff versions of Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth, and Metropolis Zones, respectively. I don't usually mind it when developers take inspiration from existing worlds (or in this case, zones), but it's evident that the zones are uninspired and lack any creativity.

The special stages are downright terrible. They're based on Sonic 1's special stages, but instead of the stage rotating automatically, you control it by rotating it left and right - with barely any control over where Sonic goes. Yep, it's as awful as it sounds.

Overall, I give the game a 4/10 (no pun intended). It's not the worst Sonic game I've ever played (I'd certainly play it over Sonic Blast), but it's definitely not the best. If you want to play a Sonic game for the same price as Sonic 4: Episode 1, you'd be better off buying the second episode (which I may review later). Heck, if you have some extra money to spend, you could buy Sonic Mania or the recently released Sonic Superstars - both of which are much better games.


(PS. If you want a more in-depth review of the game, which also covers the second episode, watch Cybershell's "Why Sonic 4 Sucks".)

It's like Antonball Deluxe, except it's lighter and discontinued.


Wait a minute, why the hell are you here? You could've bought the full game, but no, you're just sitting there wasting your time. Seriously, there are a lot of other things you could be spending your time doing besides reading this review. So what are you waiting for? BUY ANTONBALL DELUXE!

First of all, I just want to mention that I'm completely new to the Kao the Kangaroo series and that this review is coming from someone who had never played any game from said series before playing the one I'm reviewing. Anyways, let's get on with the review:

Kao the Kangaroo is a platform game developed and published by Tate Multimedia (it was originally published by Titus Interactive - the company behind everyone's favorite Nintendo 64 game, Superman 64 /s) and was released throughout 2000 and 2001 for Windows and the SEGA Dreamcast (there was also a Game Boy Advance game, but that was a completely different game).

The game stars a cute kangaroo named Kao (get it? It's a pun to "K.O."), who is living with his family in the jungle. But one day, a hunter captures Kao and his family. He then shortly finds boxing gloves next to his cage and goes on a mission to save them. Yeeeeah... I'll be honest, the introduction wasn't explained very well. But I guess it's better than having no introduction at all... Anyways, moving on from that and onto the game itself:

The gameplay is decent, it may not be the best nor is it anything special, but it's not terrible. The controls are alright for the most part, however they do have a few issues which prevents Kao from jumping in a couple directions (eg. jumping while walking in the upper-left direction), not sure if that's a problem in the Steam rerelease or if that's always been a problem from when it initially launched. The graphics don't look too bad, just about what you'd expect from a game from the 90s-00s (don't get me wrong though, I personally don't mind 90s-00s era graphics). The music is ok; there are a few soundtracks that are pretty catchy (such as the first level's song), but some of the others can get a bit old - especially if you're playing one of the longer stages.

While the game is pretty decent, it does have multiple flaws:
Firstly, the control problems I mentioned in the previous paragraph. They can sometimes tend to screw you up when you're jumping over a hazard, such as a pit - especially if you aren't aware of what the controls are like. Kao sometimes doesn't grab onto a ledge when he probably should have, which can sometimes lead to an unfair death. The hitboxes for the hazards can linger for a second or two before despawning.

Checkpoints aren't placed in certain points of a stage, but instead, they're collectible objects that you can place anywhere in a stage. While the concept of being able to place checkpoints down may sound cool, there are a couple problems with it:
1. If you accidentally place a checkpoint over or next to a hazard or right near where an enemy respawns, you'll most likely lose part of your health
2. If you forget to place a checkpoint, then you'll either start from the previous checkpoint or play the whole level all over again, the latter can get pretty tedious

The bosses aren't very good. Most are either not well designed or confusing. However, there were a couple bosses that were fairly straightforward when you figure out what to do.

There's also a graphical glitch that I had to fix by renaming three files in order to get the textures to display correctly. While that fixes the graphical issue, it seems to disable the ability to screenshot. It's not too big of a deal, but it's still pretty inconvenient that you have to do that in order for the game to look right.

The game lacks Steam features such as achievements and cloud saving, which is quite disappointing since Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 had features like that. The game also lacks controller support (which means you won't be able to play the game with a Dreamcast controller), something Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 and Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano both have.

While the game has an unfinished feel to it, it simultaneously has a bit of a charm to it. I'm not exactly sure how to put it into words, but you might get what I mean.

Despite the game's flaws, it's still a pretty decent game. The game is pretty hard so it'll give you a challenge. If you're interested in playing Kao's first three games, a fan of old-school games from the early 2000s, or are looking for a hard game to play, then I guess it doesn't hurt to check Kao the Kangaroo out. I mean come on, it's only $1.99, it's not that expensive.

6/10


Before I end this review, I would also like to mention something real quick:
If you really want to play the game with a controller, I suggest playing the Dreamcast version. I personally think it's better than the PC version, especially since it has better controls. The Dreamcast version is available online (but it's not going to be cheap...). But if you're lucky enough, you could possibly find it in someplace like a thrift store. There are "alternate ways" of obtaining it which I'm not going to talk about for obvious reasons.

Even though I haven't completed the Dreamcast version yet, here's the rating I'm currently going to give it:
6.6/10

I found out about Tembo the Badass Elephant a month or so ago when I was looking up a list of games Game Freak developed on Wikipedia and happened to stumble across a page about the game. After trying out the demo, I was pretty interested and bought the full game.

Tembo the Badass Elephant is a short, but fun platform game made by Game Freak (yes, the same company who makes the Pokémon games) and published by SEGA.

The gameplay feels like a mix between the Wario Land, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong Country games. The game's not too easy and not too difficult (some of the later levels took me a few to several attempts to complete). The level design and art is pretty good as well. Charging into a row of enemies and destroying giant mechs feels so satisfying and rewarding. One of my few complaints I have about the game is the minor issues with the physics. Not really sure how to explain it, but if you've played the game and experienced Tembo's physics you'll probably know what I mean. But of course, there's more good things about the game than bad.

So overall, the game is an underrated hidden gem on Steam I would recommend checking out.

7.2/10

(PS. I would also be interested in seeing a sequel to Tembo the Badass Elephant one day.)

Very fun game. It has plenty of content to entertain you, references that you may recognize (eg. Super Mario Bros., Portal, ETC.), and jokes that might get a chuckle out of you.

One complain I have (while I know is a minor issue) is that you have to downgrade the game to be able to play the Thanksgiving levels to earn the corresponding achievement. While it's pretty easy to do (especially with the help of a guide in the game's community hub), it would still be nice to be able to earn said achievement without being forced to downgrade the game for that specific reason.

Other than that, the game's pretty good. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
7.9/10
8.3/10


PS. For those that are interested, here's the guide for the achievement I mentioned above:
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2774029998

UPDATE: The game updated recently, the achievement is now obtainable and you no longer have to downgrade the game to earn it.