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Energy Invasion (Switch eShop) Review

by Daan Koopman - January 10, 2018, 7:51 am EST
Total comments: 3

1.5

A migraine inducing utter annoyance of a video game.

Usually, I write a fun little introduction to the game I'm discussing, but the product in question doesn't deserve it. I'm not going to give it the pleasure of being something that it's not. So anyway, let's talk about Energy Invasion.

Energy Invasion is an infuriating little product made by the singular developer over at Sometimes You. It’s a breakout style game where you launch an energy sphere to the playing field. By moving the left stick, you control the paddle at the bottom so that you can keep said orb alive. This is important, because that keeps you in the game. That being said, the sphere can't actually destroy blocks. You will need to flick the right stick to make a ball fly out. You barely have any control over said ball, and it gets destroyed immediately upon impact. It transforms the energy sphere more into a weapon than anything else. A flimsy, hard to nail down weapon.

Now you might think this could be alright. From a distance, you are absolutely right, however Energy Invasion is painful to look at. The game goes for psychedelic imagery built from screensavers, basic assets and bad video effects. On top of that, the game pulses for no other reason than to give you a migraine. Add to that the energy sphere and paddle, and you have a mixture of pure hostility. And before I move on, the pause screen has this fantastic grain effect that really adds to the ''charm''. In a vacuum, the game could be perhaps described as decent, but the overly electronic sounds just adds to the annoyance.

Three modes of play are available. With the Invasion and Linear modes, you get 25 levels each that you need to clear. If you need more after that, Energy Invasion gracefully offers an endless mode that you can play to your heart’s content. It’s here that the worst elements from the other modes are combined to an even bigger mess. There are blocks you need to hit multiple times, enemy balls that show up to destroy your paddle in one hit and spots that can cause even worse effects to show up.

Energy Invasion is a bad game. It’s currently the game I hate the most out of everything I’ve played so far on the Nintendo Switch. Outside of maybe the music, I can't name a single aspect that I liked about it. Most importantly, I felt worse mentally after playing it and that is simply the worst.

Summary

Pros
  • It works
Cons
  • Controls are annoying
  • Just an unpleasant game in general
  • Terrible imagery and visual effects
  • Will give you a migraine

Talkback

LemonadeJanuary 10, 2018

Is this now the lowest rated Switch game on NWR?

Vroom was the bottom of the barrel until now.

KDR_11kJanuary 11, 2018

Wow, you like that music? It seems utterly unfitting for this type of game.

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Switch

Game Profile

Genre Puzzle
Developer
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Energy Invasion
Release Jan 10, 2018
RatingEveryone
eu: Energy Invasion
Release Jan 10, 2018
Rating3+

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