A more mobile focused title for the Nintendo Switch.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/45822/king-oddball-switch-review
While the folks at 10Tons Ltd have delivered some of my favorite twin-stick shooters on the Nintendo Switch, they also like to dabble in casual games as well. Their marble shooter Sparkle 2 was a great take on the genre which has been well defined by the classic Zuma Deluxe. But this time with King Oddball, they’ve taken a new direction with a physics-based puzzler. Taking some cues from the likes of Angry Birds, King Oddball is a one-button game that takes a solid shot at providing some casual but challenging fun on the Switch.
I’m not certain there’s any story to speak of but apparently you play as King Oddball, who for some reason is determined to throw rocks at various military pieces of military equipment and personnel, flung from his very long tongue. His motivation is never made clear, whether for political reasons, or that he is set on conquering the Earth, or he’s simply a character stuck in an unusual game, nobody may ever know. All you’re armed with is the knowledge that pressing your button will make him release a rock and send it hurtling with the power of physics in a particular direction with a certain amount of angular velocity generated by the point of his pendulum-like swinging tongue. Does it make any sense? Not a shred, but it is a simple mechanic to grasp that you’ll find consistently challenging to master.
What’s nice is the progression of difficulty and the various alternative modes you’ll unlock as you complete smaller areas that then combine to make a larger square on a grid. As you complete each major square the next one will open and you’ll be able to make your way through it until all the levels have been completed. Each area then generally has a special space that will have a variety of functions from helping you track special achievements to tracking your core overall stats. New modes are earned such as Diamond Mode or Demolition Mode. In Diamond Mode you’ll be trying to complete levels using less rocks. In Demolition Mode you’ll be throwing grenades instead of rocks and trying to position their explosions effectively to help clear out the enemies. So you’ll get a pretty steady challenge curve rising as you get into each new area accompanied by a new special space and potentially some extra surprises.
In terms of the downsides this is very much a budget casual title in the way it plays but that isn’t to say it isn’t challenging by any means. Unlike a game like Angry Birds where you have a pretty fair degree of control over your angle and power, in King Oddball you’ll have to get the sense of timing to your releases and you’ll also need to quickly begin doing some rough estimations of how your rock will fly once you’ve hit something. There are usually shots that will wipe out either all or most things on the screen but knowing what you’ll need to pull that off won’t always be obvious. Inevitably, enjoyment will come down to whether or not you enjoy the setup and appreciate the many levels and challenges it lines up.
For the budget price of admission, King Oddball actually provides quite a lot of content that would take you several hours to likely be able to work through. Once you add on the levels in the additional modes and the challenge of some of the more unusual achievements you could likely double that time. The question will be whether you’ll want to stick out the ride long enough to enjoy it all. That will ultimately come down to tastes, what you’re looking for, and how you’re planning to play the game. Using it to fill gaps in your day 15 minutes at a time would probably be great, playing for hours at a time probably not so much.
Topic: King Oddball (Switch) Review (Read 1745 times)
