Mighty Switch Force!
Available on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS
I can’t say I’m a big user of the eShop; heck, I barely check it. I’ve never even made a purchase on there, let alone anything on the Wii Shop channel. A member here (Arpegius, to be precise) had gotten this game around its release, but I thought nothing of it.
When watching a random video on YouTube, there was this incredibly funny bit and the music caught my attention so much I went on a mission to find out where it was from. And I was brought to the Mighty Switch Force! OST. I listened to a few tracks and fell in love. So much so that I felt the sudden urge to purchase it.
On a whim, I jumped into the eShop, read the information and then decided I’d get it. For $9 (AUD; I believe it’s $5 in the US), it was pretty cheap and no skin off my nose if it decided to be a flop.
The end result is that I am pretty happy with my first ever eShop purchase! So much so, I want to write a review to highlight this lovely little game!
Mighty Switch Force! Is an eShop game for Nintendo 3DS. It’s an interesting blend of platforming action and on-your-toes puzzles. The concept is extremely simple, it’s like “capture the flagâ€. Grab all 5 “flags†and go to the exit. There isn’t a time limit as far as I know, but there is a timer that you can use for time-trials.
There isn’t much of a plot, so don't expect any deep, thought provoking stories. Here's my little synopsis, written in the form of marketing material:
The Hooligan Sisters are in town after just having escaped custody! Now they’re making trouble all throughout Planet Land! It’s up to the police force’s best and brightest, Patricia Wagon, to save the day and catch the evil doers! With her trusty robot Corporal Gendarmor and the “Ugly Twitching Dogâ€, she will make her way through futuristic space environments in pursuit for the sisters. When the going gets tough, Officer Wagon can use her special siren helmet to alter the environment around her to catch those pesky criminals!
Stop, in the name of the law!
The gameplay is great. The controls are simple and work well, and the level design is great. It’s a nice mixture of hard and fun I think. I only had one level where I took 8 minutes on my first try, but that was near the very end. All in all, every level was a blast to work out. The fact that it’s an in-your-face puzzle game made it so appealing because I was having fun while working out how to do stuff quickly.
Doesn't look very puzzling at the moment with all the explosions, but it is.
The game is amazing in how there are no tutorial levels. Not one. Not even any in-game hints. You just use your intuition to figure out the controls (which is what I did). I had no trouble in picking up the basics, but others who aren’t as game savvy may have issues. There’s the traditional game manual you can read outside the game which covers all bases (and is written rather nicely), but there are no crummy tutorial levels or dialogue to read in the game, which I thought was great.
Your actions are simple. Move left and right with the d-pad or control stick, jump with B, shoot pellets with Y and activate your Switch Siren with L or R. Really nothing confusing here. The controls are fluid and responsive, which is great. If you make a mistake, it’s because your timing is off or your misjudged a jump.
In terms of levels, there are a total of 16 for you to try (not a spoiler because you see when you first get the game there are 16 empty slots). You progress through them chronologically however, and each one, naturally, is harder than the last and introduces new elements or skills.
Level design is nice, with lots of clever puzzles. Some will have you snapping your fingers, but most of the time you’ll know what to do in each situation. Experimenting is vital to learn how to do things, but be careful, as you can only take three hits before ending the level and getting sent back to the level select screen (there are heaps of life refills mind you, which are either placed in the level or dropped by enemies).
Quickly! Run before you get smooshed into the screen, Wagon! Also note this is a screenshot from the upcoming WiiU game (explained at the end), but is still a level in the 3DS version.)
The combat system is limited, which isn’t much of a bother. Enemies serve both as obstacles and pieces of the puzzle. Shooting bombing enemies create explosions to take down heavy rocks, whereas killing strange slug-like creatures will open big gates which are required to progress.
Finding the Hooligan Sisters that you have to nab isn’t hard. There is a radar on the touch screen that tells you where your closest victim is and how far away they are, but admittedly, I never paid attention, haha.
All in all, the game is relatively short, but it is an eShop game at the end of the day and it is less than $10. In my own experiences, I cleared it 100% in two days, but don’t let that hinder you from buying it. It’s a blast to clear 100% and so much fun to play. I will definitely play it whenever I get bored, because it’s so easy to get into and start strategizing game plans.
The style they’ve used here is excellent. It shows that 2D games still deserve to be on the 3DS as much as stunning 3D games. The animations are cute and pretty amusing, and each character has their own personality which you can really appreciate.
The 3D effect is nice. It adds depth and makes it all look nice. With the “switchesâ€, the switches that are on not only fade out but sink back into the screen, while the active ones light up and pop out ever so slightly.
You can also see enemies get smooshed into the screen!
It’s a really nice game. The graphics aren’t groundbreaking for a 2D game that consists of sprites but they are of a great quality.
As a bonus, there’s a bit of artwork that you see throughout the game (usually at the end of a level), and the 3D works well on those. Again, each piece of artwork has lots of life and character in it. They also do a bit of a Metroid with the main character, Patricia Wagon…
…win the game and she gets her uniform off for you.
This is what convinced me to buy it. I really and truly love it to bits. It’s so catchy and gets you in the mood. One of my favourites is called “Caught Red Handedâ€, which is also the first level's theme.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCkoI4PGZNk[/media]
What’s better is the guys at WayForward seem to like making their OSTs publicly available for download at no extra cost, so you can find the entire soundtrack by clicking here.
I loved this game for what it is. Yes, it’s a bit short, but it’s got so much thought put into it that you can’t just say it’s bad for being a little short lived. A longer game with 50 levels would have been amazing, definitely, but I’m happy with what I got.
Trying to 100% is an awesome challenge and really gets you thinking. You’ll become an automated robot in some of the levels, memorizing where to sound your switch siren and when to time your shots.
For an eShop game, and considering its price, this game is great and definitely worth a look. Heck, if you like the OST you may as well buy the game as a way of saying thanks to WayForward for putting it up for free.
For these reasons, I give it 6 out of 10! A great game for the 3DS from the eShop!
(Oh, and for those who love this game, they’re remaking this and naming it Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive for Wii U. 1080p graphics that look more cartoony and scrap the pixel graphics for clean cut animations. With “hyper drive†versions of each level, it seems like there’ll be double the content to take head on.)
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