Author: MichaelD
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9th Dawn III (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: Valorware What I Paid: $5.62 Verdict: Not Shovelware. What I Say: Normally the death-knell for any game is to mention the word “mobile”. Combine this with “solo developer” and you quickly develop a sense of dread. NOT SO for this unbelievably amazing RPG. Once you get over the pixel graphics, you are in for…
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The Case of the Golden Idol (Microsoft Xbox Series X)
Publisher: Playstack What I Paid: GamePass Verdict: Not Shovelware. 100%ed it. What I Say: Look at and examine the images carefully. Read the text carefully. Slowly unravel the mystery of the Golden Idol. The graphics may not be state of the art, but the puzzling sure is hard work (in a fun way). Essentially you…
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Zombie Harvest: Survival Farming Simulator (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: GOGAME CONSOLE PUBLISHER What I Paid: $1.50 Verdict: Shovelware. What I Say: There are many excellent games with the word Zombie in the title. This isn’t one of them. The claim is that you are a farmer with nothing but a cabin and you need to build up your farm to survive and protect…
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Bid Battle: Auction War Simulator Storage Hunter (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: DEZVOLT GAMES What I Paid: $1.99 Verdict: Shovelware. What I Say: There’s not much to this game apart from the obligatory signs of shovelware; the Made by Unity logo, the massively keyword spammy title and the worse than desultory gameplay. The gameplay consists of travelling to a location, locating a small number of objects…
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Demetrios – The BIG Cynical Adventure (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: COWCAT What I Paid: $1.50 (Nintendo Switch), $2.24 (XBox Series X) Verdict: Not Shovelware. What I Say: In short: Bargain! Classic point ‘n’ click with modern conveniences. Watching the end credits of this game made me realize that this was a Kickstarter assisted solo-developer project, so I did some reading on the project’s background…
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9 in 1 Puzzles (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: Kistler Studios What I Paid: $1.50 Verdict: Shovelware. What I Say: I guess the first clue that this is shovelware is in the title – 9 in 1 Puzzles. The second clue is in the download size – 60Mb. The third clue comes when you run this for the first time and discover that…
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Barn Finders (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: MD GAMES What I Paid: $7.12 Verdict: Not Shovelware. What I Say: I wanted to like this game. It had a redneck charm about it indicating that considerable effort had been made with the artwork creating a suitable atmosphere. Unfortunately, the game engine severely limits the game’s playability and makes exploring a chore instead…
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Twin Mind: Ghost Hunter Collector’s Edition (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: Ocean Media What I Paid: $4.50 Verdict: Not Shovelware. Game Breaking Bug. What I Say: Ocean Media publish a huge range and variety of Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure games. This title has some variants on their usual fare; the puzzles are harder than usual, some of the hidden object screens are quite difficult and…
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Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The First Cases (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: Microids What I Paid: $6.99 Verdict: Not Shovelware. Stodgyware What I Say: In a word: stodgy. There are two cases to solve in this game. The first involves theft of a piece of jewellery, the second blackmail and murder. Solving the cases involves some hot spot hunting, sitting through lots of stodgy dialogue and…
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Puzzle Balls (Nintendo Switch)
Publisher: Entity3 What I Paid: $1.49 Verdict: Not Shovelware. 100%ed it. Very Short What I Say: This is a very simple puzzle game where you have to move your blue ball into a green circle. Not overly difficult, but I spent several hours with it completing all levels with 3 star scores (the less moves…