It’s time to digest a 2nd bag of sweet tasting budget priced titles for gamers on a budget. The purpose of these articles isn’t to give readers an in depth review but brief detail about a game I’ve played, enjoyed and recommend to folk on tight budgets. Game prices will range from 89p up to a maximum price of £15. So what delights await us this week?
Pan-Pan – Nintendo Switch
Pan-Pan is a really interesting game. Unknown to me prior to researching the term, Pan-Pan is an international emergency call that vessels use in order to announce an urgent situation that isn’t immediately dangerous but potentially life threatening. This fact alone brings shines new light upon Pan-Pan because it begins with a air crash, which requires the game’s female protagonist to explore and solve puzzles within her mysterious new environment in order to repair her craft and return home. The game boasts a basic but nice visual presentation and atmospheric sounds. I’ve yet to complete Pan-Pan, but I’ve already solved a number of puzzles that involve exploration, finding and using available objects, activating switches, and interactions with interesting alien creatures. There are also plenty of save points which means players can play Pan-Pan in short bursts if required.
The game currently costs £4.99 in the UK, €5,00 in Europe, and $5.00 in US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WpNygqCIV4
Tetra’s Escape (Nintendo Switch/PS Vita)
I have a weakness for puzzle games like Tetra’s Escape. I became instantly intrigued by it as soon as I saw it’s cute block characters, bright levels and tetrominoes. Surely, any puzzle game featuring tetrominoes must be worth playing? Well, probably not, but thankfully, Tetra’s Escape is definitely worth playing.
The game is made up of different kinds of tetras and each tetra apart from the black type have transformation capabilities. It’s the job of the multi-coloured Tetra’s to create a path which will enable one tetra to reach the exit. Depending on stage and type, tetra’s can transform into a variety of iconic tetromino shapes which are used to fill gaps and build platforms. And even though some tetra’s are capable of multiple transformations, they can only be used once, and your choice can’t be reversed without restarting the stage. Shape’s can’t be placed on screen if infringed by surrounding platforms, shapes, or tetras. Early stages are simple enough but the difficulty begins to ramp up around world 3 and the game introduces new elements throughout.
Tetra’s Escape is a fun puzzle game for those on a tight budget, and you can find a in-depth review for it here.
Mahjong Huntress (Switch)
Mahjong Huntress is the much-beloved puzzle game with a twist. It boasts a nice mystery based story, a nice graphical style, set level objectives, and nice in-game features such as a pendent in order to store tiles, and various helpful powerups that adds a nice twist to Mahjong gameplay. It even includes match 3 puzzle stages which means the game offers more than the name suggests.
Mahjong Huntress is a nice casual game that’s very pleasurable to play.
Super Stardust Delta (PS Vita)
If you enjoy traditional arcade shooters then you’ll love Super Stardust Delta. The game is something of a hybrid between asteroids and geometry wars. It looks, sounds, and controls fantastic and costs less than £7 in the UK. If you’re interested in trying the game before you buy then a demo is available to download via PSN.
Picopict (DSi/3DS)
My last game of the week is Nintendo’s Picopict. This is a great touch based puzzle game that requires gamers to uncover a hidden picture by matching different coloured blocks, which in turn are used to colour parts of the hidden image. Images are pixel based and includes a number of famous characters from a nice mix of Nintendo system games.
And that’s all folks!
This concludes this weeks gaming Pick ‘n’ Mix selection. If you choose to purchase or replay one of the above titles, then let us know in the comment section below. Also, if you would like to have a particular game featured; please let us know.
If you are craving more Pick ‘n’ Mix and missed last week’s bag: 1st Bag of Pick ‘n’ Mix Games