User blog:Scrooge200/Online Game Review

So, just for fun, I thought I'd play through some of the Arthur games on the PBS Kids website and rank them on my rating scale: Vomitrocious, Bad, Okay, Good, Great. I won't be playing Music Box, Scoop!, Binky's Story Scramble, Global Gizmo, or D.W.'s Art Studio as they don't run on my computer. This review won't include the various activities like Elwingo, but it will include the Postcards from Buster games. My reviews will factor in aspects of the game such as length, music and audio, and graphics. The most important aspect is just how much fun it is to play, and that's mostly what I'll be ranking the games based on.

About Face
The animation of Pal running to the poster and barking, then Arthur throwing him a bone takes a little too long. Arthur looks kind of strange in this game, especially when he's throwing the bone. Some of the emotions in this game don't exactly look right (Francine's "determined" in particular) and I wish that the description would appear before you click on it. I don't like that there's no way to tell which stories you've already played. But other than that, this game is good. It's a little simple, but I do like the stories and the gameplay is unique.

Arthur Comics: So Funny I Forgot to Laugh!
This game takes a really long time to load. The endings in this game are kind of depressing if you don't make the right choices. It's okay and the worst of the comic games.

Arthur Delivers!
So, this game works in concept. It's one of those overhead-view traffic-directing games, nothing too special. I like how you get more characters, but the problem is that the water station stays in one spot and there's only one of them. Arthur, Buster, and Francine move at a snail's pace, and their speed is massively decreased if their water meter gets low, so it takes forever to regain speed. Also, there are power-ups, but I never got any during my playthrough. The art style is unappealing and the music is grating because it repeats every few seconds. This game is vomitrocious!

Arthur's Park
I enjoy this game. The "good day" and "bad day" cards are creative and there's a lot of variety. This game has some replay value because there's a good amount that's randomized. I think the bake sale section can go on for a bit too long, but I did enjoy playing this game and I'll rate it good.

Arthur's Top 20
This game is really easy, even on hard mode. The minigames don't have too much depth to them, and the music consists of repetitive loops. I like the game's concept and all the references to previous episodes. This game isn't a waste of the 10 minutes it'll take you to beat it, and it's okay.

Ask Prunella
There is not much substance to this game. You click Prunella's crystal ball and are given a fortune. Some of the fortunes are funny, but there aren't too many and I don't see myself playing the game for very long. It's okay.

Baby Kate Stickers
This is hardly even a game. Like, I'm stretching this by even including it in this review. You click four stickers and that's it. This is bad.

Binky's Facts and Opinions
This game is kind of repetitive. You answer five questions and watch a low-res clip of an Arthur episode. The questions aren't very interesting and there's no way to finish the game. It's okay.

Build-A-Flag
I'm not a big fan of these types of creative games. It's just okay.

Buster's Growing Grudge
If you've seen my Season 3 Review, you'll know that I gave "Buster's Growing Grudge" a Vomitrocious ranking. This game is a comic retelling of the episode, except with rather nightmarish images of a green monster appearing from Buster's backpack. There isn't much to this game besides the comic, but at the end, you get to advise Buster on what to do and see what happens. I think it does a better job at teaching a moral, and this isn't entirely a bad game. I'll give it an okay, and that's the same rating I expect to give the other comic games.

Coast to Coast
This game is boring. It's just geography quiz questions. There's no penalty for getting them wrong, either. It's an okay game.

Connect the World
This game isn't very fair. Even if you play super well, Buster plays perfectly and it's just a matter of RNG. Hope that you'll get a good card that isn't on Buster's board. This Postcards from Buster game is as lame as the show itself, so it's okay.

D.W.'s Island Bugball
I don't like golf very much, but this game surprised me with how creative it is. Every hole has a new gimmick and layout, and there's even an instant difficulty adjuster that adjusts the amount of obstacles! The physics are good and there's even a level creator with almost every object in the game. The biggest downside to this game is that collecting the three objects in each level doesn't seem to do anything, and it can get kind of tedious going back to previous levels and beating them on easier difficulties. Still, I'd rate this good.

Dear Adil
This game is like the Buster's Growing Grudge one, but it's based on a different episode. Instead of choosing the right choices to weaken the grudge, this game has you asking questions to Adil about Turkey. You can either ask real questions or just go for the insensitive ones ("Do you listen to regular music or just snake charmer music?"), and both Arthur's questions and Adil's responses are interesting or amusing. This is still an okay game overall.

Fern: The Effective Detective
This game has two modes of gameplay and I enjoy both of them. For your turn, you choose three unique characteristics so Fern can identify one single character using that information. For Fern's turn, she gives you three traits and you have to identify a character. I'll give this game a good.

Groovy Garden
Yeah, the questions in this game are kinda strange. Apparently it's "greener" to sleep outside, go outside on a rainy day, and watch frogs. Some questions are downright stupid, like "Which is the greener kind of dragon? A dragon with a carbon particle filter" or "Which is the greener Halloween costume? A forest creature made from branches and twigs." Basically, it's saying that you should go outside and not play Groovy Garden. And there are certainly things I would rather do than play Groovy Garden. It's an okay game.

Moonlight Mazes
This game is kind of strange. D.W. doesn't talk at all despite being a main character, and Buster says "D.W. thinks..." a lot. Could they not get her voice actor for the game? Anyways, I'm not a very big fan of maze games. I like that this game's art style is similar to Francine's Tough Day, but the gameplay is kinda bland. You go around the maze and find four objects, then exit. The rocks aren't very hard to find and the game overstays its welcome at 12 almost identical levels. Your reward for beating the game is nothing. No congratulations message, not even an end screen. It's pretty disappointing. The 10th and 12th levels are hard, but it's mostly because the mazes are really big. Walking back from a dead end feels like a waste of time. I'm not going to call this game bad because I can see it appealing to younger kids and the graphics are nice. If you play this game, you can probably stop after the first three levels. It's okay.

Planet Pal
This game bores me. It takes too long before the blank Pal appears and you can fill it in, and I've never made it very far before quitting. I'll give it a light bad.

The Tibble Super Action Challenge
I played this game with my brother a lot. The multiplayer mode is fun, and even singleplayer mode is pretty good. This game is good, even if D.W. looks a little creepy.

Treehouse Designer!
This game feels lazy. It's like the Comic Creator game but way more limited. The sentence and audio mixing is bad, so there are very noticable splices in speech. It's a bad game.

Un-Matching Game
This is a pretty underwhelming game. There isn't much variety and the graphics are really bad (it's stock art of Francine with her head flipping around, against an entirely white background). It fails to hold my attention for very long, and it's bad.

Where's Buster?
What a pointless game. The questions are almost insultingly easy. You can even highlight a question to see exactly which states could be right answers! It's bad solely because there's even less substance than in Coast to Coast.

You've Got To Be Kidding!
This game is really funny. Some of the sarcastic responses and the interesting problems make this game enjoyable to play. I'll give it a good.

Rating Counts

 * Great: 0
 * Good: 6
 * Okay: 11
 * Bad: 5
 * Vomitrocious: 1

Ranking

 * 1) D.W.'s Island Bugball
 * 2) Fern: The Effective Detective
 * 3) You've Got To Be Kidding!
 * 4) Arthur's Park
 * 5) The Tibble Super Action Challenge
 * 6) About Face
 * 7) Binky's Facts and Opinions
 * 8) Arthur's Top 20
 * 9) Moonlight Mazes
 * 10) Dear Adil
 * 11) Buster's Growing Grudge
 * 12) Arthur Comics: So Funny I Forgot to Laugh!
 * 13) Ask Prunella
 * 14) Build-A-Flag
 * 15) Groovy Garden
 * 16) Coast to Coast
 * 17) Connect the World
 * 18) Planet Pal
 * 19) Where's Buster?
 * 20) Un-Matching Game
 * 21) Treehouse Designer!
 * 22) Baby Kate Stickers
 * 23) Arthur Delivers!