I’ve now had the chance to spend some time with the H6Pro over-ear headset, and I was equally pleased.

The quality begins with the physical appearance of the H6Pro. Available in three color options, the metal and plastic build works well aesthetically and structurally. The unit never feels flimsy or loose when wearing, and it’s sturdy enough to withstand typical gaming and transportation abuse. The memory foam padding of the earcups provides a soft touch, and the cans are wide enough to allow even larger ears to fit fully inside. The metal headband is nicely padded as well, but you’ll still want to adjust the sizing so it doesn’t press too hard on the top of your head.

Another great physical feature is that EPOS seems to understand you’ll want the headphones to work for more than just gaming. Most headsets will allow you to push the mic up out of the way or even slide into the earcup. The H6Pro, on the other hand, allows you to quickly detach the entire mic. It’s held in place with magnets that allow for easy removal, but they’re strong enough to hold it firmly in place during use.

And when you aren’t using the mic, you can replace it in the connecting area with a magnetic cover to make sure the headset doesn’t look busted. You’ll be managing various removable parts to keep everything looking good, but we’ve all got to accept some responsibility, right? And if you should lose or break anything, the ear pads, cover, and microphone can all be purchased separately for replacement.

While the microphone attaches to the left earcup, the right side sports a circular volume control. This large dial makes it very easy to adjust sound level with a simple spin of your finger or thumb during use. Other than that, the H6Pro has no buttons or dials to mess with, allowing the unit to look sleek and minimal.

This all works in tandem to provide a functional setup that’s comfortable for prolonged use, with one possible exception. The large ear cups don’t squeeze against your head, but they are snug. As such, if you wear glasses, the H6Pro will press the arms tightly against your head. This issue is inherent with most over- and on-ear headphones, but can be alleviated with flexibility in the hinges where the headband meets the cups. There is some flexibility with the H6Pro, and they naturally want to squeeze in from the bottom, not the top. Still, it’s something to consider when determining what style of headphones you prefer to use. If you have the opportunity to wear these for a bit before buying, do that.

None of this would matter if the headset didn’t offer solid performance, but no worries there. The mic does a great job of picking up your voice while eliminating extraneous audio from getting through. Those I played with confirmed my voice was coming through clearly. And when you want the mic off, you simply need to push it up towards the headband…no need to fully remove it, despite having that capability.

The audio is just as good, although I should first mention there are two models available for the H6Pro: open and closed acoustics. Simply stated, the closed acoustic model helps to block out external audio, while the open model allows that audio to filter through. If you tend to game at home where you want to hear what’s going on around you, open acoustic is the way to go. If you’re playing on the bus or airplanes, however, closed acoustic is the better option. EPOS provided us with the open acoustic model for review purposes, and I quickly grew to appreciate the technology.

The open acoustics prevented the headphones from becoming oppressive over time, allowing me to wear them for longer periods than I otherwise would have. Also, being able to hear my family while not making them deal with the sound effects from, say, Shin Megami Tensei V was kind of wonderful. On the other side of the speakers, I liked (usually) not having to repeat myself when getting my son’s attention as he was playing.

The aforementioned sound effects, by the way, sound great with the H6Pro. The large ear cups do a great job of giving the audio the room it needs to get deep and full. I expected the big, violent effects to be impressive, and they were, but the headset really shines at allowing you to hear the more subtle audio cues. Ambient effects that tend to get smashed together and muddied in lesser headsets or earbuds were allowed to clearly separate here, creating a more immersive and entertaining experience. The same can be said of in-game chats; the voices of other players felt like they were coming from the same room, not from within the game itself.

At $180, the EPOS H6Pro is a somewhat pricey headset option. It’s also an option that’s definitely optimized for gaming, and therefore doesn’t make much sense for music when the need arises (especially the open acoustic model). But if you’re looking for an impressive plug-and-play headset that checks the majority of gaming boxes without fuss, it’s a great way to go.

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It helps that the 3D implementation adds to the game’s retro charm, and Miles & Kilo is all about the retro charm. The graphics are a spot-on homage to its 8-bit forebearers, as are the chiptune music and sound effects.

The story is, too; Miles and Kilo are flying over a haunted island when an evil ghost appears and causes their plane to crash. Said ghost then has the nerve to steal the plane’s parts and scatter them over the island. You couldn’t ask for a better setup for 36 levels of platforming fun.

This being a single-player affair, you’ll control Miles and Kilo at the same time. Miles plays like your standard Mario character. He can throw fruit just like Mario can throw fireballs, but he can only carry up to five at a time. Switching to Kilo activates more speed and longer jumps, including the ability to hone in on enemies with a targeted attack. Remind you of anyone else? Kilo, however, also moves at his own pace. He never slows down or stops (gotta go fast, someone once taught him), so playing as him creates a rather difficult experience.

That difficulty is something to consider. Although most of the game feels fair, there are certain points where the difficulty spike is a bit annoying. “I’m done with this” type of annoying. It doesn’t help that a few of the built-in moves require hitting the action buttons in quick succession that I found difficult to pull off on the 3DS. It could be that my system is just too old and the buttons have become unresponsive, or maybe I’m just old and my fingers have become unresponsive. Either way, there was a training segment early in the game that gave me such difficulty I tried to find an online guide to make sure I was even doing it right.

Once I got past all of that, however, I had a good deal of fun with Miles & Kilo. The pacing is quick, the levels are diverse, and the tone is upbeat. More importantly, the gameplay is unique enough to make platformer fans feel like they’re doing more than just trudging through another rehash. And once you play through all 36 levels (with five boss fights), achievements, level rankings, and the game’s time attack mode will keep completionists coming back.

The question is whether you should get it on the 3DS. Miles & Kilo is also available for the Switch (on sale for $3.99 at press time), as well as on most mobile devices ($2.99), as mentioned earlier. Personally, I think the smaller screen and the game’s nice use of 3D make the 3DS a natural home for Miles & Kilo. Don’t bother digging your old unit t of storage, but it’s definitely worth the $7.99 price if your 3DS just needs a light dusting to get it going again.

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Although I would caution against it.

Silver Fallsl: 3 Down Stars is a survival horror game that can only be played on the New Nintendo 3DS. You read that correctly; developer Sungrand has released a game for the 3DS in 2020 that the majority of 3DS owners can’t play. It’s a gutsy move, and I’d applaud it if the game was good. But it’s not (although not for lack of effort).

The action takes place in Silver Falls, a tiny, remote forest town that’s low on people but jam-packed with all of the creepy buildings you’d expect to explore when trying to determine what has turned the local wildlife into bloodthirsty killers. We assume it has something to do with the alien craft that’s been spotted around town, but you’ll never know until you approach it with an ax, right?

You’ll play the game as three different characters: the local sheriff, a visiting composer, and the woman in charge of the annual Moose Steak Festival. I like that the people we get to control aren’t all equipped to handle this sort of thing (no marines or employees of secret scientific corporations), and their stories do add a bit of depth to the proceedings.

Unfortunately, those proceedings are annoying and very buggy (and they’d still be annoying without the bugs). The majority of the game is spent exploring the area in a third-person action perspective. You move with the left control stick and rotate the camera with that tiny nub of the New 3DS, hence the requirement. Playing this game reminded me of just how much I hated using that nub even when it was well implemented, and it’s really not here. It also doesn’t help that camera issues prevcent you from easily seeing where you’re going or what you’re attacking.

In fact, let’s focus on attacking here to get it out of the way. You’ll often have to defend yourself from enemies, mostly animals you’ll hear before you’ll see. If you’re not able to find them before they get near, they’ll attack and you’ll start losing health. You can fight back with your close-range weapon, but there seems to be no precision to this. If I’m being attacked by a wolf, and I’m facing that wolf and aiming straight at it, I should be able to hit it with an ax, right? Well, maybe. Landing a hit appears to be arbitrary, forcing you to take more damage than you should. Also, the enemies seem able to withstand more punishment than they should.

You can try to shoot the animal if you spot it in time, but the game doesn’t give you a lot of ammunition. And when it does, it’s a crazy mix of options (in a cumbersome UI) that’ll often leave you guns and ammo that don’t match. You’re limited in the amount of items you can carry, making it difficult to stay properly stocked with the ranged weapons you need. I’d often find myself backtracking to weapons I’d left behind just because I suddenly found myself with more ammo for them, making what’s kind of already a slog even “sloggier.” After a while, I’d either just try my best with my current melee weapon or attempt to flee. Maybe that’s the point; in real life, I’ve traditionally been much more likely to run and hide than to attempt to take on a large, rabid forest animal.

Sadly, though, the problems aren’t relegated to combat and inventory control. I’ve sat on reviewing this for a while now in hopes that updates would solve the myriad gameplay glitches. Some have. The game does crash less now, but it’s still bothered by wonky combat physics, graphical glitches, etc. There was one point early on where I got stuck between a fence and a picnic table and couldn’t get out, forcing a restart from my last save. That’s the kind of thing I expect to happen in real life, sure, but not in video games.

Although the story has its moments, there are times where the linear narrative breaks in annoying ways. The three-protagonist approach often becomes disjointed, and you’ll occasionally find yourself unable to proceed because you’ve chosen to use the wrong character. That’s fine, but the game does nothing to tell you you’ve got the wrong guy or girl. As such, you often won’t realize it until you’ve spent a lot of time engaged in futile exploration. This resulted in me constantly second-guessing myself as I pushed through the game.

I’m also not impressed with the graphics. They’re retro, in a way, calling to mind the games of the early to mid-‘00s that inspired Silver Falls, but are those graphics we really want to revisit? The environments are mostly bland and empty, and the character models—with their expressionless faces and creepy eyes—are unsettling. I don’t know…maybe this all contributes to the overall feeling of dread that Silver Falls does present quite effectively. You can tell the developers have some strong ideas here and some skill in making the player uneasy at the appropriate parts.

It also helps that the music and ambient effects do their job well. The game suggests you wear headphones while playing, and I second that motion. The audio helps pull you into the game’s immersive environment even if other elements are frequently jarring you right back out of it.

Finally, there’s another gameplay mode called Frontier Fighters which presents quick, action-based missions for you to complete. Considering my issues with combat, I didn’t really see the point. Those who dig the game, however, will be able to spend some more time here once they’ve worked through the story.

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The story of the game is rather simple. It’s Thanksgiving Day and there is still a ton of work to be done before the big feast. It is up to you to save Thanksgiving!

While trying to find what is needed, you have the full range of your house. Finding the needed items won’t come easy because you will have to find a way to keep your little brother occupied, and deal with your younger cousins who are running frantically through the house.  If you can’t find all that you need in your house you can try the neighbor’s house who looks very similar to Ned Flanders. He doesn’t seem to notice you or care that you are taking things from his house.

Need a break from trying to solve the puzzles? Not to worry, there is a mini-game called “Fat Dragon” which although simple gives a change of pace of the game. It even has a high score you can attempt to beat. 

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with Turkey, Please!. Overall, it was a charming game. That being said, Turkey, Please! is still no turkey as it isn’t stuffed full of content. This might not be enough to blow the dust off your 3DS, however, it is worth a look due to the game’s cheap asking price. Especially, if you never let your 3DS collect dust.

If you want a few other games of similar nature, you can check out Quarters, Please and Quiet, Please.

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Actually, that is right because this is Shakedown: Hawaii—another in the long list of games styled after Grand Theft Auto. In this title you get to steal cars, buy businesses, shake down shop owners, beat up gang members, run from the police, and even steal a body in a hearse. Good times, right?

Well, they would be better if Shakedown Hawaii wasn’t stubbornly determined to look like it’s straight out of 1993. I appreciate the nostalgia of some of the older games and the attempt to keep the look and feel alive, but this game should’ve made an attempt to look good. There is a lot of detail in there: buildings, people, cars, trees, and so on. Most of these you can smash, shoot, burn, or crash into and run over. The damage is well visualized and, since almost everything is on the table for destruction, it is apparent the programmers put a good deal of effort into making the world as interactive as possible. The 16-bit approach, however, makes it all look messy on the small 3DS screen, making the Nintendo Switch version the better choice even in handheld mode.

If you’re not on board with my “enough of the pixilated retro look“ rant, then fair enough; let’s get into the game play.

Most of the gameplay is handled with the D-pad (movement) and the B (jump) and Y (attack) buttons. You can use the bottom touchscreen to interact with the map, change weapons, and so on. Sometimes there are alternate uses for the X button, like for flushing the toilet (don’t worry; there isn’t any “business” in the bowl, just a little bathroom sabotage). When using your attacks, be judicious with your weapons; guns will run out of ammo, but the ball bat is good forever. Also be very careful with the flamethrower; it’s a lot of fun, but you can set yourself on fire, which is not so much fun.

The story revolves around a heretofore lazy businessman with no ethics or morals. Once his greed is aroused there is basically nothing he won’t do to turn a profit and keep his company from falling into the hands of another. Our master of mayhem has a son who sees himself as an up-and-coming rapper who wants to get some “street cred” and make it in the music business. Unfortunately for pops, junior’s activities often end up costing the old man a little headache and some financial setbacks (but this is no surprise).

The game is structured as a series of missions which step you from one business decision to the next. Unfortunately, most of the real decisions are made for you; the game presents you with one option at a time, and you can either not buy (usually because you don’t have enough money) or buy and move on to the next opportunity for skullduggery. Along the way, be on the lookout for small skull icons which show you some mini missions you can take on. They are mostly shootouts and obstacle courses. Some of the mini missions are more challenging than the main event, so they are worth exploring.  Sadly, the main missions get a bit stale after a while as they become a somewhat sedate mission grind. The highlight of all of this comes when you do something which gets the attention of the police. Then you get to have a car chase, a shoot-out, and even push some cars in the water in your attempt to elude the fuzz. The game also provides some “coins” floating in random locations which will provide you two seconds of “cop invisibility.” During those precious two seconds you can put some distance between you and the cops to make a clean getaway.

I did experience a few occasions during all of this where the game seemed to forget what my character should be doing. You can follow a yellow mission line on the map, but when my avatar got to the “destination” there was nothing to do and no update to the mission. Wandering around for a while or pausing the game and restarting seemed to reset things, but it was a bit annoying. The save points could’ve also been a bit more precise; when I came back into a couple saved games I had to complete the previous mission all over again.

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Destroy all enemies in an endless cycle of levels.

That, by the way, is the game’s entire description in the Nintendo eShop. Not very useful, considering it’s pretty much the point of every arcade game made between 1979 and 1991, but it’s admittedly better than my suggestion; “A repetitive, nondescript first-person shooter that’ll make you wish you’d just taken your dollar, folded it into a fun shape, and tossed it into the street.”

As with the other VG && IG games I’ve reviewed, there’s nothing here to tell you what’s going on or why. No intro video or text. Not even an explanation of the controls. You’re just suddenly in this barren, barricaded area with a gun and a bunch of enemies running at you.

Of course, this being a video game, your objective is to shoot everything. After killing a designated number of enemies you need to find a portal and move on to the next of the “endless cycle of levels.” I’m not sure exactly how you die in the game. You lose health if the enemies touch you, but sometimes I was just suddenly dead. Did I get attacked from behind? Did I run out of time? Perhaps the gaming gods took pity on me and just ended the thing.

As far as I can tell, your gun never runs out of ammo. There are other guns to pick up and try out, but they don’t really change things all that much in either visuals or impact.

The enemies don’t change much, either. They get faster and more powerful, but not in a way that really adds interest to the proceedings. One guy who couldn’t seem to be killed made me fondly recall Evil Otto, which made me recall fun, which made me want to quit playing Fatal Fracture.

It doesn’t help that the level design is as flat as flat can get, and maybe a bit flatter than that. Remember the Atari 2600 game Adventure? Imagine a 3D representation of the castle and that’s kind of what you’ve got here, only with fewer giant ducks.

There are some blurry obstacles to avoid and structures in which to hide, but for the most part you’re just running around in open space trying to kill some things before they catch you and deplete your health bar.

To its credit, Fatal Fracture does have a decent control scheme. Movement is handled with the left control stick: forward, backward, strafe left and strafe right. The direction you’re looking is determined by the right action buttons. Y and A will look left and right, respectively. X aims up, B aims down. You fire your gun with the right shoulder button, and jump with the left. I found this all pretty easy to master, even if I had no real reason to do so.

Again, there’s just little in this game to provide a reason to play it. Leaderboards? What do you think this is, the Ritz? Fatal Fracture doesn’t even keep score, let alone allow you to compare yours to those of other players (not that other players even exist).

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This action game is aptly named, as it is indeed a mess. The floating island, described as a ‘small mountain in the clouds’ is one you can fall clean through. Your battling is limited to tapping the A button repeatedly, and (maybe) dodging enemies if you don’t tumble through the ground. The early enemies have dozens if not 100s of health points to your 10. They leave experience which you might be able to pick up if the detection decides to work and you manage not to fall. You use the experience to upgrade things such as your power and health, but it’s just an illusion of some depth as you’ll reset as soon as you die. This is no role-playing game, no matter how it’s marketed.

To describe the battling even as basic would probably be giving a misleading impression. Honestly, I almost feel that if I could get Homer Simpson’s drinking bird away from the “any key” it could play this game. There’s not even music or local leaderboards to elevate the grossly underdeveloped gameplay.

Mountain Peak Battle Mess is an “Endless game with permanent death” and mindless battling, in an aesthetically weak and buggy package. It’s sad when a score of 1 out of 10 feels generous, but the 3DS deserves to go out with some dignity. This feels more like a newcomer’s demo template. 

Looking for a better, recent 3DS release? Try Quarters, Please!

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This compilation comes from Nostatic Software, who earlier released Quiet, Please! on the 3DS eShop. That collection had a few arcade games included within it, but the arcade has been expanded in this standalone release.

The five games included in this package aren’t originals, but replicas of “oldies but goodies”. Fear not, as these are higher quality than you might expect. The titles include Meteors (Asteroids), Nebula (Galaga), Dino Dig (Dig Dug), Face Invaders (Space Invaders), and Bound ‘n Bash (Bump ‘n’ Jump). With the exception of Face Invaders, I find all of them pretty fun, although one letdown is that Badger (Frogger), a prior Nostatic arcade game, is curiously missing-in-action here—it was my favorite.

Each game has a top five local leaderboard where you can enter your initials. And yes, these save so you’ll have something to aim for on replays. The game even remembers the last entered letters, so you don’t have to cycle through them each time. That’s a small touch, but very much appreciated, as many would have overlooked it for a budget release on old hardware.

Another appreciated touch is the way the games are laid out. Rather than a bare-bones menu, they are packed within a small, but lively, neighborhood arcade. After selecting a character from more than a dozen pixel characters, you can explore the arcade’s two floors—adjust the lighting, change the song on the jukebox, even tweak the time of day to see background changes. It won’t take long at all to see everything that’s offered, but all of the animated extras show Nostatic cares about the quality they bring to their collections.

While I think Quiet Please! is certainly the better value at just $2.99, Quarters, Please is also priced fairly. The $4.99 launch cost breaks down to just 99-cents a game, which is great when you consider that games like Dig Dug and Galaga sell on the eShop for $4.99 each.

Quarters, Please! has charm, is entertainingly retro, and replayable. Yes, it has cut a few games, but it’s added even more in their place. It’s basic but fun, and the latter has become a real rarity on the Nintendo 3DS in 2019. While I hope to see a return to the Quiet series at some point, this is a solid spinoff.

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As such, I continue to seek out games to play. Games I wanted to play but never did. Games that are worth playing again or, honestly, finishing the first time. And every now and again I try something new. Now, some of you might be saying, “Kirk, there are no new games coming to the DS, be it of the 2D or 3D variety.” Yeah? Tell that developer VG && IG. Their new game, Squarcat, was just released this month for Nintendo 2DS and 3DS, and…

…I’m sorry, you’re right. Down with the ship, I go.

Squarcat is a little puzzle game in which you must help a (square) cat reach a goal. All the cat can do is jump (B button), so you’ll have to manipulate the environment to help the cat along. Turn on fans, move platforms, knock over trees, push boxes, etc.

The puzzles stretch from the bottom to the top screen, but because the gameplay is touch-based, you can only interact with objects when they’re on the lower touchscreen. Sending a platform to the top screen, in other words, means it’s stuck there. If you needed to be on it and weren’t you’ll have to start the puzzle over again.

Gameplay is basic, but it could’ve been pretty fun if handled properly. Sadly, it isn’t. For example, the physics are just weird, making chores out of something as simple as getting a fan to lift you to another platform; if you’re slightly misaligned you’ll blow the wrong way and not reach your goal. In addition, you jump with the B button and control direction with the d-pad or joystick, but you have to tap the screen to manipulate objects. This gets very awkward when timing is an issue.

It doesn’t help that the game is so…sparse. The graphics are very basic, giving you only the platforms, the obstacles, and the occasional tiny cloud to look at.

The colors are flat. There’s no support for 3D. The audio is nearly as bad. I’m fine with no background music, but there’s not even a celebratory chime when you reach your goal. The only sounds to be heard are effects such as the fans blowing and trees falling over. Oh, and the seagulls. Always with the seagulls. The description at Nintendo’s site states the game has a “soothing atmosphere,” but I found it somewhat unsettling; the lack of audio effects made me think there was something wrong with my New 3DS.

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Now the previous title we reviewed in the Timberman series (Timber Tennis Versus) did not score well with Michael. However, I think this casual game is a better fit on 3DS for a few reasons. New releases crowd the Switch eShop on a weekly basis, but on the 3DS this game can stand out more amongst the scant new titles. Repetition is also likely to feel lessened on a system that you might only play for a few minutes at a time. Lastly, the basic graphics are easier to accept on the aged handheld.

Timberman has four tree-chopping modes. Classic has you leveling up against a timer. Every 50 chops of the infinite tree increase your level. It records your best run. Hero mode has you chopping a tall tree to rescue birds from a forest fire. You can see your progress on the touchscreen, and the game keeps track of how many times you succeed in saving the birdies. Race mode has you racing to 100, 200, or 300 chops. Stats record how many races you win against the three CPU opponents. Lastly, 2-player VS mode has one player chopping with the d-pad while the other uses the A and Y buttons. Needing only one system is cool, but be prepared to sit close to each other.

Chopping is as simple as hitting the left and right shoulder buttons, corresponding to the side of the tree you wish to chop. Speed and speed alone is what trips you up, not complex controls. Menu selections are done via the touchscreen. I’m not sure why traditional controls don’t work in that case; I suppose it reflects the mobile origins.

Timberman has lots of characters to unlock! Even if they aren’t given full names, you’ll recognize most of them. My favorite so far is Eddie (Edward Scissorhands). I’ve only unlocked approximately 15%, so I’m looking forward to characters based on Mario, Peach, Darth Vader, and Tom Brady to name but a few.

Even if you only end up playing for 10 minutes at a time, Timberman is a fair addition to the 3DS eShop for just $1.99. Just don’t expect any depth. Add a point if you play on playing it while enjoying buttered scones for tea.

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