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[Can you handle the heat of a sun in this puzzle game?]

1

TalkBack / Solar Flux (Switch) Review

« on: January 28, 2019, 06:09:44 AM »

Can you handle the heat of a sun in this puzzle game?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/49525/solar-flux-switch-review

Physics-based puzzle games can either be a lot of fun or a broken mess. Solar Flux lands somewhere in the middle for me. The space-themed experience has definite high points, but also some decisions that hinder enjoyment, making for a flawed yet enjoyable time.

In Solar Flux, you are a small ship trying to collect solar energy and then launch it back into the depleted suns. When you return all suns to 100%, the level is over. Within these levels are two different types of challenges, namely being fuel consumption and shield levels. In fuel levels, you try to get the level done using as little fuel as possible, which is expended when you use thrust to control the direction of your ship. These levels task you with using the orbits of objects and the burst from the suns to move efficiently. Conversely, shield levels give you a set amount of shield that is lowered when you are close to a sun. These levels task you with moving quickly to collect and deposit the solar energy while taking breaks in the shadows to let your shield recover. The shield levels can be the most frustrating, because at times it feels like even at max speed you cannot collect the energy quick enough. A nice variation of these levels and what they do with them is really inventive and makes you think.

The controls vary depending on if you have it docked or in portable mode. When you have the Switch in portable mode, the game does not let you use your Joy-Con and you must control using the touch screen. The touch controls work well and feel nice to use. The developers managed to put a lot of functions in with simple controls. In docked mode you use the Joy-Con to control the game and it is not as good of a control system as the touch is. At times the movement of the left stick feels like it moves in big jumps and not the more fine-tuned controls you need. One big problem in the early levels is that the reticle showing where you are launching the energy is red. While this may not seem like a big deal, the suns from the first set of levels are all red and so you lose the reticle completely if you are near a sun. This led to me launching the energy in the wrong direction by mistake because I couldn’t see where I was aiming.

With fun levels, Solar Flux is definitely a good physics-based puzzle game if you are taking it on the go. With scoring based on how much fuel or shield you use, the game encourages you to play levels over to perfect your strategy. Unfortunately, the Joy-Con controls made things frustrating making me not want to play on the TV. Solar Flux does have some bright spots that certainly make it a game worth playing.

[A solid Meowtroidvania held back by a number of flaws.]

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TalkBack / Hunter’s Legacy: Purrfect Edition (Switch) Review

« on: January 05, 2019, 02:46:05 AM »

A solid Meowtroidvania held back by a number of flaws.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/49236/hunters-legacy-purrfect-edition-switch-review

Metroidvanias have no shortage of representation on the eShop with the qualifications of inclusion in the genre up for debate. As a mercenary cat tasked with collecting relics, Hunter’s Legacy feels a lot like Metroid with its exploration and platforming. A little hint of action-adventure is also mixed in when the relics must be used to fight a supreme evil that had been contained in the past by a great hero.

A good story is always necessary but the most important detail is whether the platforming feels good, and Hunter’s Legacy delivers. Jumping doesn’t feel floaty and the controls are tight so that if you run into spikes you know it was your own fault. The one mechanic that did not feel as precise was grabbing ledges. At times I felt like I put myself right at a ledge for my cat to grab but she wouldn’t, and I’d have to try again. This is not the biggest problem, but it did cost me health on a few occasions.

While the platforming feels good, the same cannot be said of the combat. Your cat has a nice assortment of unlockable weapons and abilities but they are useless against enemies that can float and shoot through walls, ceilings, or doors. The level of frustration was high after having platformed to a switch to open a door only to have an enemy spawn behind that door that to shoot fireballs at me. Even after navigating that headache he followed me through the door and proceeded to continue shooting fireballs from an area I couldn’t access, leaving me with no choice but to try to outrun him. Some of the boss battles have their own inconsistentcies in their mechanics. One boss has you jump in bubbles to float up so you can gain a vantage on its weak point, Only for the boss to appear right above me so I couldn’t do anything. It didn’t make sense to teach a player a boss fight mechanic that they cannot execute due to randomness.

The world is charming, featuring bright colors and interesting looking enemies. I never felt bored exploring the environment as there was always something worth looking at. Teleport pads help with backtracking since like any good Metroidvania you’ll need to head back after you gain a new ability. The next main objective is always highlighted but does not force you to head straight there. You quickly see in even the beginning areas certain obstacles that you cannot get past but the style is consistent through each area so when you get a new ability you recognize where you can use it in old areas. The customization economy felt really weird. You collect gold from defeating enemies but then the early upgrades require ore that is found in special chests. Most of the game I had maxed out the amount of gold I could hold as the ore was the much harder resource to find.

Flaws in the combat really hold Hunter’s Legacy back from being one of the better indie Metroidvania titles. It does feature solid platforming and an interesting world that make it worth picking up. If you like cats and can deal with some cheap deaths then this is definitely a game worth playing.

[If you like rockets you might enjoy this, otherwise eh.]

3

TalkBack / RocketsRocketsRockets (Switch) Review

« on: December 12, 2018, 03:51:34 PM »

If you like rockets you might enjoy this, otherwise eh.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/49146/rocketsrocketsrockets-switch-review

Some party games are great and allow you to have endless fun times with your friends. RocketsRocketsRockets is not that game. The core game of RocketsRocketsRockets is fun, and the visuals are nice, but once you tire of the single game mode there is nothing else to hold your attention.

The main mode of Rockets is a battle where you can shoot rockets at your opponents, who are also rockets. You also have mines that hang behind you and bombs that drop vertically down. Each player has three lives and you can be hurt by your own mines and bombs. You have four options of rockets to play as that affect things like your movement speed. Each match moves at a frantic pace that can at times feel chaotic and uncontrollable. You can play the mode with anywhere from two to four players. This can be just one player-controlled character and any others will be filled with AI.

Playing alone can lead to a lot of waiting. When I first started playing there was a learning curve so I tended to be the first player out. This led to almost as much dead time, where I was watching the AI finish the match as I had spent playing. This is clearly a game designed to be played with friends and not by yourself. Being able to talk and play against your friends makes this mode quite a bit of fun. The fun lasts for a few rounds but then it starts to feel monotonous. This is where the worst part of the game shows up, the fact that this is the only substantive mode. The only other mode is a zen mode where you can fly around and create pictures with the trail your ship leaves behind. There are a number of different maps that are available to fight in, but they don’t feel that different. The ships are so small compared to the size of the map that once it zooms into the ships you lose the view of the map and they all just feel the same.

Overall the main mode of Rockets is fun but once you move beyond that there is nothing to do in the game. If you have a lot of game nights where you have friends over and the one mode appeals to you, this game can be fun. If you are a solo gamer or think you and your friends would get bored of this quickly then there are plenty of other party games with more to offer.

[Point-and-click Misadventure]

4

TalkBack / MechaNika (Switch) Review

« on: November 26, 2018, 07:51:56 AM »

Point-and-click Misadventure

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/49012/mechanika-switch-review

A lot of TV shows are out now that tackle more mature themes while having a more benign look to them. Shows like Rick and Morty illustrate that visuals don’t have to match the content of the show. MechaNika follows this trend with an interesting story wrapped up in a charming visual aesthetic. While the story is entertaining, the puzzles did not do enough to really hold my attention.

You know you are in for an interesting time when the main character introduces herself as a 7-year-old whose special drink is cognac and cocoa and who has a desire to build a robot to destroy anything that isn’t cool. This continues into the story with hookers at a construction site, beastiality, and a murder. While strange, and at times dark, the story did hold my attention, successfully building the world and providing reasoning for every action.

Point-and-click adventures rest on the strength of their puzzles and use of items. This is where MechaNika really falls short. Most of the puzzles simply involve getting the right item to give to someone else or getting someone to leave the room where the item you need is. There is no need to cleverly combine items in your inventory to create the perfect item, which is really disappointing when your character loves building things and carries tools with her.

Another frustration was the control scheme. The two sticks control different things. With the left, you control Nika in the world; with the right you control the mouse pointer. This became frustrating because I would move Nika somewhere and try to interact only to remember that I actually needed to move the mouse. If what you are looking for is on the screen, then there is no need to move Nika. Moving Nika is only useful for scrolling the screen.

Nika is a fun character and all the other characters in her world are just as lively. The visuals and characters bring the world to life and create a unique place to play the game. Unfortunately, the puzzle mechanics do not match the level of world building.

[Less like a strong knight and more like a self-destructing golem.]

5

TalkBack / Exorder (Switch) Review

« on: November 09, 2018, 09:40:54 AM »

Less like a strong knight and more like a self-destructing golem.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48873/exorder-switch-review

Being the commander of a troop of medieval soldiers is always a fascinating concept for a game. Strategy RPGs are an effective way of letting you play out this fantasy. While Exorder tries to do this, many frustrations hold it back. The concept might be strong, but the execution is not as fascinating as the dream it tries to fulfill.

One of the best parts of an RPG for me is the ability to play the way that I want to. Whether this is picking my character’s jobs and abilities or choosing how I tackle a level. This is the first area that falls short. Each level felt like it was pushing me to one strategy and I would fail if I didn’t use it. In one level I tried to play a more defensive and controlling style but failed due to a computer-controlled character messing up. In the next level, I went with the aggressive style that won me the previous level to simply die with no hope. While levels will be different and lean towards different styles, Exorder almost requires you to go with one specific playstyle in each level.

When it comes to ways to play, controls are another important aspect. Strangely in a grid-based strategy RPG, you cannot use the D-pad. You have to use the sticks, with the left stick used for “snap” movement and the right used for “free” movement. The free movement felt sluggish and imprecise, while the snap was faster, but so sensitive that I often flew past the space or character I actually wanted to select. This led to putting units on the wrong space or wasted time, as I then had to cycle through many units and buildings before finally getting back to the unit I was intending to select in the first place.

The overall visual style is nice looking clean and bright. It works well for some of the silly units on display and the bright colors pop to make it fun to look at. While the story is predictable it doesn’t get in the way of the gameplay and sets up the different missions well.

At a base level, what is present in Exorder is good. However, some frustrations take away from what could be an otherwise pretty good or even great game. SRPGs should be about planning out your next move and not figuring out how to fix your unit going to the wrong place because of the twitchy “snap” movement as you pressed A. If you are a fan of SRPGs and you have some patience to work around these shortcomings, then this might be a good pick-up for you, otherwise you may want to find one of the better titles on the eShop.

[Sophomore season improvements make a solid playoff contender]

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TalkBack / NBA Playgrounds 2 (Switch) Review

« on: October 23, 2018, 10:52:36 AM »

Sophomore season improvements make a solid playoff contender

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48716/nba-playgrounds-2-switch-review

When NBA Playgrounds first came to the Switch, a lot of controversy surrounded it, resulting in early purchasers receiving the new Shaq Fu for free. Luckily, everything was seemingly sorted out, and developer Saber Interactive partnered with 2K for the sequel. Some changes and tweaks were made, but for the most part, the solid arcade basketball experience remains the same, though with added polished. Changes to some of the modes and how characters can be unlocked make NBA Playgrounds 2 an enjoyable game.

One major issue players had with the first Playgrounds game, was the amount of time and luck that came along with trying to unlock the entire roster, and more specifically the players you wanted. While the unlock feature is back, with the same $9.99 option to unlock the entire roster, some changes were made to unlocking. Leveling up and winning tournaments earned you card packs in the first game, but now as you and your players gain experience, you earn points. These points can be spent on the same packs that were in the first game, but now you are also able to unlock specific characters for an increased cost. This allows you to unlock your favorite players without the luck that comes along with the packs. Each team also has one character locked behind winning season mode with that team. While being able to unlock the players I wanted was a welcome change, the rate at which you earn points combined with the cost of packs felt like I was earning packs at a slower rate than in the first game.

Exhibition and online game modes are back, but the tournament mode from the first game has been replaced by season mode. Season mode consists of 15 weeks of games and playoffs, which are all best-of-three series. This mode is well done but restricted to teams that you have two players unlocked. One of the fun things in the tournament mode was putting together whatever two players you wanted, which is lacking here.

The basketball gameplay has been polished to be even better. Your chance to hit seems to be clearer, allowing easier baskets. There are also new lottery power-ups, such as a frozen basket where your opponents must attempt three shots to break the ice over their basket and one that offers double points for three-pointers. Much like the power-ups in the first game, these can be incredibly powerful, completely shifting the momentum of the match or fall flat and feel totally useless. When I was doing season mode the two players that I had on my team were not very good outside shooters so when I got the six-pointer powerup I felt it was useless and just had to ignore it.

If you liked NBA Playgrounds then this game will surely be a solid improvement you enjoy. If the first game was too buggy, or there were too many issues, then Playgrounds 2 fixes many problems. There are still reasons to be cautious with things like roster unlocks and limitations in the game modes, but it is overall a solid package.

[Going back to school is a surprisingly enjoyable experience.]

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TalkBack / Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story (Switch) Review

« on: October 15, 2018, 11:08:02 AM »

Going back to school is a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48654/valthirian-arc-hero-school-story-switch-review

Plenty of games are out there about heroes and mages, but have you ever wondered where they went to school to learn it all? In Valtherian Arc, you are the new principal of an academy for heroes. It does a fairly good job blending city building, character management, and dungeon crawling, but at times sags under the weight of the varied concepts.

The city building aspect is handled well for being on a console. The menus and interface have been adjusted to a controller in an effective manner. While very few time-sensitive actions need to be taken, trying to move around your school can be a little slow at times. Seeing the students walking around your school in between different activities makes it feel alive. While exploring the school, minor decisions pop up that involve a short scenario and two options to handle it. They’re cute - usually involving things like a lost wallet or a student arriving late to class - but often felt random. If you stumble upon the better outcome, you earn experience and more, but they all feel more like little diversions than anything substantial.

The character management feature is one of the weaker elements, though. I was confused on what to do at multiple points because there was only minor explanations or none at all. In the beginning, your characters will all be apprentices, but you begin to unlock classrooms that allow you to promote your characters. One thing the game doesn’t tell you is that weapons have set classes who can wield them. I upgraded all my level 10 characters to knights when I first unlocked them only to realize all the weapons I had, and could make, were not available to knights. This, combined with all the levels becoming more difficult, left me in a position where I was stuck and had a hard time moving on. You also only get three parties of four students. Only having spots for 12 students became a problem when my school continued to grow, and I had 20 students enrolled at a time. New students still came it at the first level, and so I ignored them until I maybe had a spot on a team with three high-level characters who could help pull the newbie up.

The dungeon crawling levels are fun at first, but quickly become stale. They mostly consist of running around one of a few generic zones and killing a certain number of monsters or collecting certain items. Combat is just mashing the A button over and over, while occasionally mixing in one of your abilities. Errand missions sometimes show up where you simply assign a team to them and the mission is completed once the proper time has been reached. These missions are really useful for raising the level of your newer students, but there were not enough of them. If the game offered you the ability to complete every mission in this manner, there might have been a little more depth. Once you complete every errand mission, there is no use for having three parties because you can only take out one at a time. When errand missions are available and you can send all of your teams out, you are stuck just sitting and waiting for time to pass as no fast-forward option exists. Difficulty spikes happen often that made me feel like I needed to focus all my attention on one party so that I could be ready when the next difficulty jump came, but I also needed to be raising the levels of my other students.

Valtherian Arc is an enjoyable experience that simply needed a bit more polish to be really effective. Unlocking new classes and skills is fun and offers a fresh change in the combat. While there are some frustrating features and gameplay mechanics, Valtherian Arc can still be fun for many players.

[Two teens on adventures: one to save the world and the other trying to cure his boredom.]

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TalkBack / Broken Age (Switch) Review

« on: October 02, 2018, 06:16:45 AM »

Two teens on adventures: one to save the world and the other trying to cure his boredom.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48539/broken-age-switch-review

An early Kickstarter success that originally released in two parts, Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game designed after classics like Grim Fandango. Fashioning itself after these older adventure titles, Broken Age shares in what made those games great, but also falls into many of the same pitfalls. With some updates for a modern era, it is certainly worth playing, but some issues hold it back.

Broken Age tells the story of two teens, Shay and Vella. These two start off in very different situations at the beginning and have very different motivations, and you get to choose who you start off with. I started with Shay but quickly thought his story was boring, so switched over to Vella. The game allows you to switch between the two at any time. While this is optional through most of the game, later on some puzzles will require you to switch and find the answer in the other person’s story. While Shay didn’t interest me at the beginning, the story develops nicely and I enjoyed his parts as well. The writing is excellent, and except for the slow beginning, I found myself intrigued and wanting to keep the story moving. The writing is aided by beautiful art and terrific voice work. The watercolor style brings out the vibrancy and wonder in the world, while the voice acting makes the characters feel alive and organic.

One of the most important aspects for a point-and-click adventure game is the quality of the puzzles. If puzzles are too easy or too hard then the player becomes disinterested. On the whole the puzzles here were clever and fun. A few later in the game are frustrating and felt more like trial and error than a puzzle with a solution for the discerning player, which is one area where Broken Age maybe should not have adhered so close to its roots. Adding in a more modern hint system would have been quite the aid in places where the player just cannot figure out a tricky puzzle. Guides might be out there if you get stuck, but an in-game system with simple hints instead of the answer would feel more rewarding and still let players feel a sense of accomplishment.

The soundtrack is pretty hit or miss, with some songs making me want to just stop and enjoy for a minute, while others made me actively want to rush through a section, just so I didn’t have to hear it anymore. While the voice acting is well done, some of the dialogue trees seemed to go on for way to long. I was never sure if there were things I needed to get out of the conversation so that I could solve a puzzle or if there was just dialogue there so you could talk to the characters. This got tedious and dragged down the pace.

Broken Age is a faithful callback to the Golden Age of point-and-click adventures. While this holds in back in some respects, the game was a joy to play with fun puzzles and a captivating story.

[A frustrating experience through the fan favorite escort mission.]

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TalkBack / Fall of Light: Darkest Edition (Switch) Review

« on: September 16, 2018, 03:16:36 PM »

A frustrating experience through the fan favorite escort mission.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48390/fall-of-light-darkest-edition-switch-review

Some games are designed to be difficult as a challenge and many players find those games enjoyable. Others however are difficult and just frustrating. Dark Souls caused many developers to make difficult games in a similar vein, and Fall of Light is one of these games, but has many problems that hold it back from being even a faithful imitator.

Some of the things that make it so maddening were clearly intended by the developers. Not only was the game made to imitate Dark Souls with its general RPG structure and difficult sword fights, but the developers decided to also add in a generally hated mechanic: the escort mission. You are escorting your daughter through the landscape and trying to clear out enemies attempting to take or harm her. The incentive to keep her close is that you deal more damage when she is nearby. Unfortunately, there are many things that hold the game back because of your daughter. When you die, which happens quite frequently, your daughter dies where you did, and you must trek from your last save point to revive her. Since your daughter is no longer with you, fighting the enemies just to get back to the point where you died the first time is made even harder. You are also not able to activate any of the shrines to save or level your character up without your daughter. Additionally, you lose all of your experience towards leveling up when you die. When it comes to saving at the shrines, all enemies are revived. In a game about challenging combat, bringing back all of the enemies you’ve fought so far is a confusing decision. These deliberate decisions make the game difficult in ways that just feel frustrating rather than challenging. It feels like you are constantly taking steps backward.

While playing, I also found a number of technical problems that made everything even more annoying. A decent input lag makes doing precise maneuvers during fights difficult. This problem is something that I came to learn and adapt to and felt like less of a problem the longer I played, but was a sizable hurdle at the beginning. I also experienced numerous bouts of slowdown that saw me getting killed when visuals started slowing on the Switch’s screen. Enemies also have inconsistent hitboxes, which led to more frustrating, obnoxious deaths.

Fall of Light features multiple weapons and fighting stances, but these features just did not feel different enough to me to combat all the problems that I experienced. If you are looking for a Dark Souls experience, I would wait and spend the money when the remaster comes out rather than subject yourself to Fall of Light.

[Collecting carrots in feudal Japan has never been so fun.]

10

TalkBack / Ninjin: Clash of Carrots (Switch) Review

« on: September 03, 2018, 08:01:00 PM »

Collecting carrots in feudal Japan has never been so fun.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48225/ninjin-clash-of-carrots-switch-review

I don’t know about you, but I will always chase someone down when they steal my carrots. Ninjin, the ninja rabbit, and Akai, the ninja fox, seem to think this, and chase their village’s carrots all over the country to get them back. While some might see the animal characters and write this game off as childish, there is depth in the gameplay and customization to make it worth your time. With a silly story and dumb humor, Ninjin continued to bring a smile to my face as I played it.

Ninjin is an auto-scrolling beat-em-up, where you fight through waves of enemies trying to get your stolen carrots back. Different levels test your use of abilities like projectile weapon use or using your dash. New enemies are introduced consistently, forcing you to play in a different way and hone new skills, all while keeping the game fresh. The levels feature an ebb and flow, where I would play a level that took a few times to beat, but then get through the next on my first try. Changing up what is tested in the levels allows all players to feel like there is a challenge, but also some fun easier levels.

A customization system lets the player choose their main weapon, projectile weapon, and artifacts with different buffs. The weapon system is interesting as there are different weapon classes and range classes within those. You can go through with a short heavy ax weapon, or the Carrot Blade, a long knife. Each class of weapon has a different attack pattern making each feel distinct. Projectile weapons have options like bouncing off of enemies or piercing through them to hit behind them. Between the main weapons and projectiles, there is surely a combination for everyone. With an endless wave mode and level grading, there is plenty of reason to keep playing the game after the first playthrough.

While overall the game has a good flow, a stretch of levels part-way through frustrated me to no end. These levels felt more like a bullet hell game than a beat-em-up. There were so many enemies and projectiles on screen at the same time that it was hard enough to just avoid everything and not take damage, let alone take those enemies out. Some of the bosses also seemed to feature a large difficulty spike, or to focus on only one ability. If you don’t have a good handle on that ability, then that fight can be a real headache. The customization of weapons is fun and allows for experimentation, but if you want to collect or try out a large variety of weapons, you have to grind out the carrots needed to buy everything. This can be tedious and puts a fun feature behind a wall.

Ninjin was a surprise title that I had a great time with. Both local and online coop modes will allow more people to join in on this adventure and win back their carrots from the Mole Shogun.  If you are looking for a fun game with silly humor and quick gameplay, give Ninjin a shot.

[Not quite the Dark Souls of procedurally generated, first-person-shooter roguelikes.]

11

TalkBack / Polygod (Switch) Review

« on: September 02, 2018, 02:50:45 PM »

Not quite the Dark Souls of procedurally generated, first-person-shooter roguelikes.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48213/polygod-switch-review

Having your game considered truly challenging was something that many developers would have aimed for just a few years ago. Today though, every other game that comes out is “the Dark Souls” of its genre. While some may try to use this to describe Polygod, I think that comparison does a disservice to Dark Souls. Polygod does not have the tight controls of the Souls series and often left me feeling like there was something lacking.

Polygod prides itself on being an extremely hard game with a steep learning curve. This procedurally generated, first-person-shooter roguelike is a mash-up of many different types of games, but does not do any of them very well. As a shooter, the controls felt too loose. Even with gyro aiming turned on and sensitivity tuning, I never felt like I had precise control over my movements. The roguelike part plays in with the ability to use the souls of vanquished enemies to buy upgrades for your gun. While this seems cool in theory, with upgrades that split your bullets, freeze enemies, and more, the controls often made me feel like I needed to focus exclusively on damage and rate of fire upgrades so I felt like I could more consistently hit enemies.

Being a roguelike, you keep none of these upgrades when you die, and you go all the way back to the beginning with nothing. Not having any checkpoints was super frustrating because you could be fighting the third boss for the first time after spending an hour getting there and then you go all the way back to the beginning with nothing. While some roguelikes allow you to keep your upgrades to make you feel like there is a point each time you go in, Polygod views the challenge as the reward. One important note is while the game runs fine on TV, in handheld mode I experienced some serious slowdown that caused issues with playing and I did have the game crash on me once.

A few aspects work well. Running on a seed system means that each time you start a new game, you get a seed code that you can send to a friend or write down for another play. This allows some consistency as it will allow you to play and become familiar with the same level over time. The aesthetics are simple but consistent and used to create a world that is interesting to look at. While I did feel shoehorned into certain upgrades to be able to go far in any given round, exploring and experimenting with upgrades can be fun as long as you aren’t hoping to progress too far.

While there are some interesting aspects of Polygod to explore, I more often wanted to just stop playing than go back in to explore more.

[A watercolor puzzle adventure through the lore of Russian tribes.]

12

TalkBack / The Mooseman (Switch) Review

« on: August 17, 2018, 02:30:18 AM »

A watercolor puzzle adventure through the lore of Russian tribes.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48035/the-mooseman-switch-review

There are a number of games today using tribal history and stories. The Mooseman uses a combination of stories on how the world was created and how each day comes and goes from the Komi Permians, Komi Zyrians, Mansi, and Saami tribes who lived in Russia and Scandanavia. The story told is extremely interesting, and blends really well with the water color art style. The art and colors of the game play significantly into the game and how it is played. The beautiful visuals give a sense of wonder to the world, and aid in telling the story by having a story book feel that illustrates these stories that have been passed down from one generation to another.

The Mooseman is an adventure puzzle style game where to move further through the level you must switch between the real world and the spirit world. This mechanic works well and is used in a number of different ways quite well. About halfway through the game you gain another mechanic of being able to hold a light in your staff. By adding this lighting mechanic to the spirit mechanic, new puzzles are allowed to develop. While the puzzles present all feel pretty fresh and individual, there were some puzzles that did not seem to have a clear solution and became frustrating. The game also seems slightly short for the price it is offered at, lasting between 3 and 5 hours if played straight through.

Each checkpoint you reach unlocks a new portion of the story of how the worlds were created, and how the cycle of days and weeks came to be. This story is really interesting and in most cases mirrors your journey through the game which often helped me to further engage in what was happening besides just how to solve the puzzles. There are also secret emblems that you can collect throughout the game. Some of these are as easy to find as walking backwards when you arrive in a new area, but others involve clever puzzle sections that use the spirit mechanic in innovative ways. These also help tell the story of the tribes as they are emblems of actual artifacts found in the region and your collection screen will tell you about these and where they are currently housed.

The Mooseman was a beautiful adventure that gave me an appreciation for a culture I had never been aware of before. The art and story told through The Mooseman kept me extremely engaged for my relatively short time with the game. Overall, The Mooseman is a game that offers a fun puzzle mechanic wrapped in a pleasing package.