by prfsnl_gmr Sun Jan 30, 2022 12:41 am
Trying to catch up to my man, Elkin! Not quite there, though…With one shining exception, this last batch of Switch games was pretty rough, and I put a few of them aside for a bit. Hopefully, the next batch will be better.
….
1. Space Warrior (Switch)
2. Itta (Switch)
3. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (Switch)
4. Mask of Mists (Switch)
5. Metagal (Switch)
6. Foxyland 2 (Switch)
7. Submerged (Switch)
8. Back to Bed (Switch)
9. Thoth (Switch)
10. 140 (Switch)
11. Infinite: Beyond the Mind (Switch)
12. Ninja Striker (Switch)
13. Kid Tripp (Switch)
14. Miles & Kilo (Switch)
15. Neon Junctions (Switch)
16. Golf Zero (Switch)
Ninja Striker is a really fast, really fun action platformer in which you, a cute ninja, rack up giant combos by dispatching as many enemies and collecting as much yen as possible without touching the ground. Similar to The Messenger, striking an enemy with your sword lets you jump again, and you can air dash from one enemy to the next. You’ll quickly be jumping from one enemy to the next and racking up combos in the triple digits. (My record was a fast and furious 400+ hit combo.) Your score at the end of each level is multiplied if you finish the level quickly and if you finish without taking any damage, and a higher score earns you a higher rating. The game features 5 stages, each with four levels, and a boss battle. You can likely roll the credits on the game in under an hour, but getting a three-star rating in each level with each of the game’s four playable characters might take you months. Recommended.
Kid Tripp is a level-based auto runner that takes a lot of cues from Hudson’s Adventure Island (or Westone’s Wonder Boy). It features a tropical setting and you can throw a projectile in an arc. You also run forward automatically, but you can slow your pace. You can also stop completely if you run into a non-lethal obstacle. Each level contains a bounty of coins, and you receive a medal if you collect all of the coins in a level. The game has very pleasing pixel art, but the viewpoint is zoomed in too much, making it hard to see what coming. You also run way too fast. As a result, the game is more frustrating than fun, and I simply tolerated it until I rolled the credits. Not recommended.
Miles & Kilo is another platformer by Four Horses, which also developed Kid Tripp, and I didn’t enjoy Kid Tripp, I went in with pretty low expectations. Thankfully, however, I was very pleasantly surprised, and I ended up absolutely adoring Miles & Kilo. Even more so than Kid Tripp, Miles & Kilo is inspired by Hudson’s Adventure Island. (So much so, in fact, that if you know the patterns of certain enemies in Adventure Island (e.g., green frogs, purple frogs, etc.), you will be able to predict their movements in Miles & Kilo.) Unlike Kid Tripp, however, Miles & Kilo isn’t an auto-runner, and unlike any game in the Adventure Island series, Miles & Kilo is tremendous fun. The levels are varied and well-designed, and the game features some really stupendous boss battles, each of which sees you chasing a boss to recover a part to your damaged plane. Miles, a boy, controls really well, running, jumping, and throwing fruit, but when you reach your dog, Kilo, the game transforms into an auto-runner, as Kilo adorably pulls Milo along with his leash. (Kilo, apparently, never learned to heel.) These sections are fast, fun, and, since they aren’t so zoomed in, fair, and they add some variety to the gameplay. You receive a rating for each level based on how long it took you to complete the level, how many coins you collected, and how much fruit you had to spare at the end. Getting a “S” rank on each level is difficult, but by no means grueling, and I gleefully replayed each level until I had perfected the game. Miles & Kilo is just a really, really fun old-fashioned platformer, and anyone who has ever halfway enjoyed an Adventure Island game will surely love it. Very Highly Recommended.
Neon Junctions is a first-person puzzle game where you place blocks to complete circuits. The puzzles are very easy, and you can beat it in an hour or so. It’s not bad, but it’s pretty dull. While you should definitely play the developer’s subsequent game, Mask of Mists, you can very safely skip Neon Junctions. Not Recommended.
Golf Zero combined Super Meat Boy precision platforming with golf. That is, you run and jump to avoid swinging blades, spikes, and buzz saws before attempting to hit a ball into a hole. You get three shots, some of which you must sometimes use to hit a button or disarm a trap, and you have to get at least one ball into the hole to complete each level. Time also slows down for three seconds while you are aiming your shots, and each level usually concludes with you leaping to your doom as you fire off one last shot at the pin. It’s a compelling concept, but unfortunately, the execution is lacking. The platforming physics can be unpredictable, and whether you get the ball in the hole at the end of each level is sometimes even less predictable. Accordingly, you have to replay levels frequently despite overcoming the platforming challenges. The game is also too long, and ends up being not that fun, despite the novel concept. Not Recommended.
Last edited by
prfsnl_gmr on Sun Jan 30, 2022 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.