A broken family, lovely puzzles and a short little journey. What more do you want from life?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/46942/sallys-law-switch-review
There are puzzle platforming games big and small, but my favorites are those that tell a narrative. Sally's Law, a new game from POLARIS-X, explores an intense relationship between two people. This is combined with jumping and rolling action that requires you to stay on top of things. Your attention needs to be on two sides of the screen to survive some intriguing challenges along the way.
Sally's Law tells the story of Sally and her father. At the beginning, you learn about the death of her mother and how that impacted them. This impact caused a huge rift between them, and sees Sally moving to the city. Fortune is afoot for this young woman when the dad gets struck with a terrible illness. Sally travels back in five chapters, all the while discussing events of their time together. The game presented you with spoken dialogue while you play, but you will be likely reading it. The spoken words are only in Japanese, which might be annoying to some. Personally it struck me as being more heartfelt, and the narration was, frankly, really good.
The gameplay in Sally's Law depends on how you play the game. When played alone, you will play each level twice. The first run will be completed with Sally, who keeps moving. The only thing you can do is jump, which you use to cross gaps and create options for your second run. This is where the father comes into play, who can only roll around. This roll will be helpful to get to items and obstacles, though he can't do it on his own either. He will need to jump on Sally to reach separate paths and get the tools needed to succeed. The way you create your own path and try to use it perfectly in the second run is awesome. Every action has an impact, which I appreciate.
The game can also be played with a friend. It is here that you control each character separately and try to get through a level in a singular run. Luckily, Sally can roll here, so you do have some flexibility. That being said, if Sally hits something, you are sent back regardless of mode. Luckily, every level has three checkpoints, so you will never go too far back. Even at then, Sally's Law isn't that hard of a game. I got through it in a couple of hours with ease. While it annoyed me somewhat, the it is more meant to be a simple laid back experience. What annoyed me is that after a solo and co-op run, there isn't much else to do here. The game is a little bit short, and ends before it can truly peak.
Negatives aside, the presentation was quite nice to look at. The colorful backgrounds, sound effects, and music compliment each other fantastically. The music is performed with a piano and adds a tension I wasn't expecting. When the story bits were being told, you couldn't help but feel a little sad. You wanted to root for them all, and see a conclusion being reached. This side of Sally's Law is rather wonderful.
Despite Sally's Law being much shorter than I would've liked, I can't deny my enjoyment while playing. The underlying message is quite a nice one, and certainly stays with you. From a gameplay perspective, it is also rather fun to nail down puzzles the best that you can. It doesn't matter if that is alone or with a friend, because the game tweaks it enough to serve both audiences well. If you are in the need of a brisk yet engaging puzzle platformer, Sally's Law deserves a spot on your Nintendo Switch.
Topic: Sally's Law (Switch) Review (Read 1416 times)
