Game Time,
YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG is by no means perfect. It makes no pretenses about its Earthbound roots, and because it draws inspiration from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System cult classic, it manages to be a winsome look at a not-too-long-ago era spiced up by alternate realities. Unfortunately, it also sets itself up for misplaced comparisons. As an aside, the turn-based combat mechanics, affecting in their use of otherwise-nondescript items as weapons, suffer from uneven pace and balance. On the whole, though, it delivers on its promise of 20-odd hours of immersive gameplay. (8/10)
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! — Humor abounds in the title developed by Daylight Studios as part of its Holy Potatoes! series of management sims. You get to run a shop that forges all manner of weapons for characters that go by familiar-sounding monikers in an effort to protect the legacy of your famous grandfather. You’re free to adopt whatever leadership style — or lack thereof — you prefer, hopefully enabling the potato smiths under your tutelage to help grow your business. Be good at what you do, and heroes will spread the word and endorse your work.
The ultimate objective looks and sounds simple, but the journey winds up to be a blast because Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? offers you challenges without taking itself too seriously. You craft weapons, try to find buyers for them, make unique ones, and forage for the required supplies, the seeming tedium broken up by unexpected developments compelling you to take action, not to mention by the constant reminders that, hey, you’re a potato head dealing with other potato heads sporting names of venerable figures. When you interact with such notables as Claude (with — what else? — the Busted Sword), Luke Spudwalker, Wolverinnie, Nyandalf the Grey, and Hairy Pota(to), levity is assured. (8/10)