This was Kirby’s second main game on the Game Boy and I think it did a really good job of refining the formula established in Kirby’s Dream Land and Kirby’s Adventure.

Once again, King Dedede is causing trouble for Dream Land and has broken the connection between the seven Rainbow Islands. This time, however, Dedede is not quite to blame as he has been possessed by an evil force known only as Dark Matter…

Kirby has to get through several levels on each island in his quest to restore the balance. Not only is he helped by his ability to inhale enemies and absorb their power, but also by three animal friends: Rick the hamster, Kine the fish and Coo the owl. All of these animals have each of their own abilities and each of them respond differently to Kirby having absorbed different powers, which helps to add some good variation to the gameplay. My favourite was probably Kine, because I love how Kirby goes inside his mouth and he flops around on dry land.

The levels are all quite fun and the music is nice and catchy. It’s a pleasant game and always enjoyable to play. The levels are never too hard, but it’s not without its challenges. The hardest things to do is probably to collect all of the “Rainbow Drops” (there’s one hidden in each world) and this is something which is definitely worth doing, as you get a good reward for it. Thankfully, unlike the first Dream Land game, you can also save your data now.

I like this more than the earlier two Kirby games and think of it as one of the best side scrolling games on the original Game Boy. Rating: 8.1/10

Buy it here.

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Slender: The Eight Pages was a fantastic game, but since it was free, it wasn’t a very big game. Slender: The Arrival is a sequel which builds upon the original in every way (although, unlike its prequel, it is not free.)

The game follows several different characters who are investigating strange goings on in a small mining town. At first you’re exploring the house of a woman who disappeared and you go on from there into the nearby woods. You end up exploring all kinds of different places, like the mountains and the mine itself and all of them are very eerie locations. The whole time you have the persistent risk supernatural horrors lurking in the shadows. Many of the locations are very beautiful too, calming even, which perhaps makes the horrific things that happen even more potent.

Like the previous game, everything you see and do is through the perspective of “found footage” which helps to make the whole experience much more real and immersive. Many of the game’s locations are really dark too and all you have to light your way is your torch – the limited visibility ends up making things even more tense.

One thing I’ve not really drawn enough attention to is how frightening this game is. I’ve honestly never consumed a piece of media which frightened me more – and I love that! The combination of the cryptic story, the perfect sound direction and horrifying surprises help to create an amazing piece of horror fiction. There’s a particular scene in a church which I found especially scary, but obviously I don’t want to spoil it.

You might think that you shouldn’t play this game without first playing Slender: The Eight Pages, but actually there’s a segment of the game which is essentially a remake of it and since everything in this game is better than its predecessor, you’re not missing out on anything by jumping straight in with this one. As it’s quite cheap and a really great game, you should download it next time you’re looking for a new game. The only downside is that, while longer than the first Slender game, it still felt too short.

Rating: 9/10

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The Slenderman was always something which I found very interesting: an evil entity that looks like creepily proportioned tall and thin man in a suit with no face and a mysterious origin… how could you not be intrigued? I loved reading the stories about Slenderman and I loved looking at the images people had created. So as I’m sure you can guess, I was very excited when a Slenderman game was created!

Slender: The Eight Pages is quite a basic game, but it does a good job of creating a rather spooky experience. You are a random person who’s out in the woods and investigating Slenderman. The story is never really delved into very far, but there are eight pages scattered throughout the forest which you need to find – each of them has some kind of creepy Slenderman related sketch on it. What makes finding them hard is that Slenderman hunts you the whole time…

The game is shown through the camera footage of the person who headed into the forest (and who presumably wanted to capture Slenderman on video) and this helps you to feel quite immersed. It’s the middle of the night and the forest is very dark, you can only see with the help of a torch, but the longer you take to complete your task, the higher the chances of your torch power being drained! Your torch can and will run out and then you’ll be left in almost total darkness – when you know Slenderman is near, this is very unnerving.

When the game starts, all you hear is the sound of your footsteps and the wind, but music slowly builds up in the background as Slenderman beings to pursue you more and more aggressively and it becomes rather intense as you get more and more pages! Then there’s also the fact that Slenderman causes the camera to make weird, screeching noises, meaning you get a creepy warning whenever he’s near. It all adds up to make a very creepy little game.

Overall, it’s really fun to play, especially late at night, in the dark, with your headphones, but it isn’t a hugely comprehensive title. I can’t rate it too highly, because it is essentially just one “thing” but what it is, is very good and since it’s free, I can’t really complain.

Rating: 8/10

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