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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Kirby’s Dream Land is an excellent little Game Boy game and the one which introduced us all to Kirby. The only downside to Kirby’s Dreamland is that it’s a very short game and Kirby’s Adventure takes the building blocks of Kirby’s Dream Land and turns it into a full game.

Like the last game, it’s a regular 2D side-scrolling platformer game – it’s not too hard and quite pleasant and relaxing to play. There’s a nice soundtrack and a lovely magical tone to the game. What’s most exciting, however, is that Kirby has a new ability: after eating his enemies, he can the steal their abilities. There’s a ball creature that shoots lasers and if you eat it, Kirby can fire laser beams from his hands. There’s a little flying saucer enemy which turns Kirby into a flying saucer when he swallows it – using these abilities and choosing which ones to keep and which to discard adds a fun element of strategy to the game. I also found it exciting whenever I found new enemies, because I always looked forward to seeing what new powers they’d yield.

Story-wise, I’m quite impressed too. You don’t expect very much at all in terms of a storyline from an 8-bit platformer, but there’s quite an unexpected twist towards the end of Kirby’s Adventure. We’re also introduced to Meta Knight, who has since become one of the icons of the Kirby series. He, along with King Dedede, help to make the story quite interesting.

But while there is a lot to like about this game, it does have a few problems. Firstly, while there are a couple of new additions and features, it does feel a little too similar to Kirby’s Dream Land to me. I also think that the game starts to get a little boring before you get to the end, because it just starts to feel a little stale. I think they needed to introduce a few new things as the game went along. The first game may have been too short, but this actually feels too long (and it’s not even that long, so that’s bad.)

Nonetheless, Kirby’s Adventure is a fun little game and definitely worth a try for fans of platformers, Nintendo or Kirby. A solid second entry which is just as good as the first, but that’s potentially a little disappointing, as it could have improved.

Rating: 7.4/10

Buy it here.

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This is the third game in the cult Mother series and, honestly, is one of the best games ever published by Nintendo. The sad news is that it has never been officially released in English, which means that you won’t be able to properly appreciate it without either finding a fan translation (and there is a very good one) or being able to read Japanese.

The story follows the lives of a family (parents Flint and Hinawa and two kids, Lucas and Claus) who live in Tamzily Village in the Nowhere Islands. I shan’t spoil what happens (and it’s hard to describe any of the plot without revealing anything important) but they soon find themselves caught up in something quite big, all of them being affected in very different ways. It’s a really fantastic story which is both surreal and deeply emotional and one of the best I’ve ever encountered in a video game.

What’s particularly noteworthy about this game is the fact that it’s evoked both some of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had from a game but it’s also the saddest video game I have ever played. Once or twice, I actually I avoided playing it because I thought it might be too much of a downer. But you never know what’s going to happen: sometimes you’ll play and find yourself laughing hard at it’s bizarre humour.

What helps to really emphasise those emotions, is the fact that this game has a truly superb soundtrack. There are so many musical tracks in Mother 3 which are so beautifully melancholy – just hearing them triggers the sad association in my mind with the upsetting events of the game. It’s one of those games where the soundtrack is so good that I go back to listen to it whenever I can.

If you’ve not played any of the earlier Mother games, you’ve got nothing to worry about; while there are small connections to the previous title, the story is basically a strong, standalone thing.  If you do get the references though, it will help you to appreciate the game even more.

I realise I’ve gotten to the end of this review without really mentioning the gameplay! It’s a solid RPG with a colourful, vibrant world to discover. I really like the somewhat minimalistic art style of Mother games, it’s just kind of cute and fits perfectly with the style of story. Sadly, it’s through the gameplay that we come to the one weak point of the game: there are a few times when the regular enemies seem far too strong – it’s never unmanageable, but occasionally frustrating.

Overall, an amazing game. I really hope more people get to play it soon. Rating: 9.9/10

Buy it here.

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