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The Switch, Nintendo’s latest entry in the console market has been in the wild for just over two weeks now. I’ve had considerable time to put the system through it’s paces and now its time to break down the pros and cons of this new hybrid console.
To start with, the Switch is very small and light. The hardware feels sturdy and durable, without the cheap plastic feel of the Wii U gamepad. The 720p screen on the handheld is bright and crisp, but the lack of pixel density when compared to something like an iPad or many of the latest smartphones is somewhat noticable. Don’t get me wrong, the screen looks great with colors popping and is viewable even in direct sunlight. However, you can tell the display isn’t a full 1080 affair.
As many may know, the main feature of the Switch is it’s hybrid nature. It can be placed in it’s charging dock to output your game to a tv, propped up using it’s built in kickstand to play on the go, or held in the hands controllers attached to either side of the screen. These Joy Con controllers add a ton to the flexibility of the system. While it takes some adjustment to using a Nintendo system without a full fledged D-Pad, the quartet of smaller buttons on the left joycon do a servicable job, while still allowing each Joy Con to be used as a fully functional, albeit small, one person controller for local co-op or multiplayer. Each Joy Con contains and impressive amount of technology including HD rumble, and NFC reader in the right Joy Con and an IR sensor. Curiously there are few games that use all these features, and it remains to be seen how they can be used in future titles.
In terms of the overall design of the Switch, it is a comfortable to use handheld, and many of my concerns that the Joy Cons were too small have been quickly put to rest. However, there are a small number of things I dislike about the Switch hardware. For starters, the charging port is on the bottom of the system, meaning it is impossible to play the system in kickstand mode and charge it at the same time. The dock itself feels flimsy and cheap, which makes a certain sense considering that at it’s core the dock is just a proprietary HDMI passthrough with additional ports for power and USB cables. While my dock has so far been fine, there are widespread reports of the dock scratching the screen of the Switch tablet. Lastly the kickstand feels rather flimsy, and the decision to place the MicroSD card slot under it is just odd.
The menus and Home screen are custom Nintendo. The interface is slick enough, but navigating it can feel a bit unintuitive sometimes. Launching games is snappy, as is adjusting the brightness of the screen or putting the system to sleep. Annoyingly enough, the eShop is still a clunky frustrating mess. Another aggravation of the system is how it handles saves. Save files are stored directly on the system itself, rather than to your game cartridges. If something happens to your Switch then you can kiss all of your game progress goodbye. Saves are also non-transferable in yet another head scratching move.
All in all, the Nintendo Switch is an impressive piece of technology with some odd, typically Nintendo design decisions. Battery life is acceptable, but I would like a larger battery. It remains to be seen how the Switch will do long term, but the actual technology on display here is fairly impressive. Still, I would hold off on buying one right now, unless you absolutely have to have the new Zelda game. Once more titles launch, I can easily recommend the system.
…Oh, and it has Friend Codes. Nintendo, please stop that.
Welcome to your weekly look into the world of gaming campaigns on Kickstarter.
Starting with our catch-up, there have been a number of campaigns cancelled due to it seeming that they wouldn’t reach their targets in time. These are Legion 1917: Rise of the Bolsheviks, Xenosis and Daymare: 1998 all of them cancelled 5 days ago at time of writing. The Legion team wrote to thank those who supported them with backing and vowed to make the game somehow, sending out surveys to people for feedback; the Xenosis one was cancelled because of new possibilities that had arisen behind the scenes and a bigger update has been promised soon; and the Daymare team have thanked people for the support on Greenlight and revealed that they’re in talks with partners to get the game funded in another way. Also of note is the the FictionSphere team did not cancel their campaign, but all the same have finished up unsuccessful in raising the money needed – but at the same time have vowed that the game is not dead yet. Behind the Rose is also struggling, with just under seven-tenths of its goal to raise in under 6 days.
First up we have an RPG that deals with the themes of loyalty and revenge.
Sacred Fire is a strategy game, where your progress and paths are tied more to how the characters think and feel as opposed to just weapons, attacks and powers. You do not start as a leader, but you must become one. How you choose to do it through is up to you – will you be a fair, just ruler or take control through blood and fear? Can you exercise self-control or will revenge mean more to you?
Sacred Fire has a $50,000 goal, of which it has made $20,910 so far. It has 23 more days left to run.
Dragon Lore is a turn-based tactical game that boasts of 20 hours of main quest and over a hundred of side-quests, and will be available in English, Korean, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. The graphics are 2d pixel art turned 3d voxels and the gameplay and story take place over several floating islands with an air ship in between that you can call down for an attack!
Dragon Lore has made $11,147 with 15 days left to go to reach its $50,000 goal.
Now we have a game that is inspired by 90s games of the same genre.
Stardust Runelord is an action adventure game that sees you venturing into ruins and dungeons to take and and defeat monsters and demons while searching for upgrades and level ups. The game has a demon available that’s linked on the campaign page and looks to be done in a 2d pixel style with the maps done in a room-by-room network to be navigated and explored. The developer says that he is hoping for an early summer release if successful
Stardust Runelord has 6 days to go and a lot to make up as its made only $11 or it’s $6,000 goal. Go check it out and back it if you like the look of it!
Finally we end with something completely different from everything else.
Cheap Golf is a game that combines golf with surreal humour. This is another of the 7-day campaigns that have been popping up on Kickstarter in the last month and some of the campaign rewards will be offered even if they don’t reach target. The game is low-poly so it might not be for everyone, but the page says it’s apparently “50% Atari-style mini golf, 40% surreal comedy and 9% rainbow ice cream” and the pledges do start from $3 so it’s probably worth a look at.
Cheap Golf has 6 more days to run to make $9,000, and has made $671 so far.
So, who remembers the game Kick Ass Commandos from a previous article? For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t about, Kick Ass Commandos was one of the games I covered in my Kickstarter Gaming Round-Up article of November 1st 2016. It had a small target and the team hoped to use gamecodes to give their backers early access for Christmas. And now, we have one for review.
Kick Ass Commandos was published and developed by Anarchy Enterprises. The game is a top-down shooter where you can choose to play as any of the commandos in the pack (starting with just the one but the roster expands as you complete the ‘rescue’ missions) to complete missions with objectives such as rescuing commandos or hostages, taking out something or someone in particular or simply clearing the level of enemies.
There are a number of different level packs, and you will start with a few of those missions unlocked with you having to complete those before you can unlock further missions down the chain. Each pack ends with a ‘boss’ level which can take the form of one hard-to-kill opponent to three tough opponents at once backed up by an army of enemy players. Weapon-wise you often start off with your standard gun, although some levels will start you off with a knife/machete to hack at opponents instead. Most levels will have special temporary pick up weapons though which give you the use of a special weapon for a set period of time – such as flamethrowers or my personal favourite the rocket launcher.
Levels are also pretty damn destructible, if something’s there you can probably shoot it. This just lends itself to the game’s atmosphere of being a crazy, guns-blazing, rampaging game and it’s true that you can play it like that if you wish to. It’s a bit like a top-down Broforce in that way.
However, there’s also a lot to be said for slowing down and planning. Sometimes when you shoot down an item or an enemy you get health packs, but they despawn if not picked up and used quickly enough. You can also find and rescue other commandos, mostly NPC ones but sometimes, especially during their rescue mission, you will find one of the other ‘named’ commandos. Keeping your assembled team alive is a good idea because more firepower equals better chance of winning, and your NPC allies can also make use of health packs. So a little strategy is a very good way to approach this game.
I enjoyed this game for having that openness, of being able to run and gun it if I felt like just destroying everything or being able to plan ahead if I needed to. I enjoy games like this and succeeding with either strategy made me feel like a badass, as games of this type should do.
Do I recommend it? Hell yeah, Kick Ass Commandos is amazing fun and it’s nice to see one of the games I covered in my Kickstarter articles making it into our review box.
