The coziest kid in gaming gets a bit deeper.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/74300/lil-gator-game-in-the-dark-switch-review
Lil Gator Game is a Zelda with no combat, puzzles, or dungeons. Instead, the little green Hero goes on an imagined fantasy adventure across the park to unite the kingdom and hopefully distract their older sister from her homework. The gator, equipped with a stick sword, pot-lid shield, and T-shirt paraglider, destroys cardboard monsters placed across the park’s two islands while meeting and befriending other kids at the park. It’s cute, controls great, and is about as short as its lil gator hero.
Its In the Dark DLC sees Darklord, a bratty pig kid, threaten to destroy the cardboard town on the playground just minutes after the original story’s end. The Hero and friends chase Darklord underground to find pretty much the same setup as the original: cardboard monsters to destroy, kids to befriend, and three main quests. While not big or different enough to stand alone as a sequel, In the Dark builds on the original Lil Gator Game in surprising ways that still feel natural.
Gator keeps the costumes from the first story, including the secret reward that grants unlimited climbing stamina. In the Dark answers with a beautiful underground maze full of interwoven paths and verticality that would look strange in the overworld’s playground. Platforming takes much more of a focus here, but not enough to be considered a challenge. The cave is almost too big to get away with not having a map.
A second stamina system, represented by star charms dangling from new weapons, grants the gator awesome new movement abilities. Double jump, hover, and dash make traversal a total speed fest, especially when paired with the base game’s shield surfing. That’s all they can be paired with, though, as those abilities are tied to weapons that can only be equipped one at a time.
As fun as it is to move around, it’s all in service of hunting down new friends. The writing delights in small, interpersonal vignettes that each explore some coming-of-age insecurity through a nonchalant innocence. Very few friends take more than seconds to recruit, most just needing a short chat with the extra friendly Hero. Characters have defined personalities accentuated by unique typing styles for each; the Hero’s rejection of capital letters reflects a youthful indifference to conventions, and Darklord’s random all-cap words feel like a kid throwing a tantrum.
Whether these kids’ mini existential crises are enough to carry the experience depends on the player. While everything is so cute and incredibly well-written, it straddles the line between relatable for children and a saccharine wistfulness for one’s own youth, a story that played out well enough in the base game. In the Dark’s plot is less special but doesn’t feel out of place.
Lil Gator Game: In the Dark is just as cozy as the base game. Zipping around the island looking for cardboard monsters to smash and new friends to make stays wildly relaxing, but the lack of any challenges dampens the sense of accomplishment. The cool new moves don’t have much of a purpose, and the lack of a map can get one lost. Maybe that’s the point, to get lost playing with movement tech while you think your thoughts. If so, they nailed it.
Topic: Lil Gator Game: In The Dark (Switch) Review (Read 11 times)
