The Wii U port for Super Meat Boy may not necessarily bring anything new to the table, but it's still an enjoyable experience. The new music is great. The level design is brilliant. The gameplay is difficult, yet satisfying. It's an excellent ode to original platformers, and a nice middle-finger to a lot of games that hold your hand throughout your experience. Super Meat Boy is trial by fire; here's hoping you make it out alive!
Epic Dumpster Bear is the epic adventure of a dumpster-diving bear as he attempts to battle against the evil corporation, and proof that you should never judge a book by its cover. The title sounds ridiculous, because the premise for the game is ridiculous, and everything looks ridiculous… but that's the charm. This fairly robust platformer does have some balancing issues but is hiding under a hilarious layer of ridiculousness and provides a surprising amount of challenge and fun. Plus, while you wait for levels to load, you get interesting little tidbits about bears. "Don't camp on the shore of a spawning stream".
As you can probably tell by now this game isn't feature-rich. In the end it's still just a Match-3 puzzle game (a game type that is available around every corner on the web and on mobile phone app stores); while it doesn't bring anything new to the table, it does offer a classic on a newer device that didn't have many options in terms of the genre. If you're a fan of the genre or the original Jewel Quest games, it's a fun pick at $4.99, and the 72 levels can be quite challenging.
Full 100% completion, for us, took roughly 45 minutes. At $2 USD - at launch - it's hard to say if that's worth your time or not. Responsive controls and an old-school style of teachings (without tutorials) harkens back to the "good ol' days" of platforming on the NES. Unfortunately, Ascent of Kings can at times feel sparse, and it doesn't exactly scream replayability; that's an issue for a game that can be completed so quickly.
Overall, Pumped BMX+ is an impressive bicycle motocross game with interesting physics, impressive real-life tricks, and a challenge system that will keep you coming back for more. Not only does it play well, but visually it has lots of polish and works well both on the TV and on the GamePad.