Mighty Switch Force Review

Mighty Switch Force Review

By: Julian MacDonnell

For Nintendo 3DS

To say the 3DS is still lacking in the amount of games in it's library(let alone those that aren't ports or re-releases) is slowly becoming untrue. With the recent release of Resident Evil Revelations and Kid Icarus Uprising, as well as a slew of other games being released over the 3DS's E-Shop, it seems Nintendo has caught up to where they should have been about three months into the life cycle for its newest system. As to whether most of these titles are actually worthy of purchase or if we're about to see a repeat of the shovel-ware released for the Wii during most of its life span is hard to say just yet.

So when I went looking in the E-Shop for new games to play, it should be no surprise that any new title I saw would meet my hesitant stare. I know I could have just as easily gone down the safe route and purchased a game from the virtual console selection, but then again I didn't get my 3DS just to play old gems I could still find for their respective systems today. So when I saw Mighty Switch Force pop up after a little digging, I was hesitantly drawn to it. As I would find out, this small download title comes to us from WayForward Technologies, the same developers of a little known title on the GameBoy Advance called Shante. Having only played a bit of their earlier work, I was immediately hooked on seeing what they were going to do with the 3DS's hardware, and thankfully my curiosity was rewarded.

Mighty Switch Force's story is definitely not why you will pick this up.You play a police officer in-charge of getting back several dozen escaped convicts who have been released through reasons that are not clear to you. Though while there is no deep narrative to speak of, the graphical style of the game is quite striking with all the characters being drawn in WayForwards' iconic Shante/chibi-esque fashion where they have greatly exaggerated features with small bodies. Like Shante before it, it's their take on this style that will catch your attention. They then take it one step further by fleshing out the background of each stage with what appears to be a more futuristic city scape(very reminiscent of some Mega Man X stages) with occasional traffic buzzing by. But the most surprising of all was how well the 3D effects complement this entire package. While you don't need to see the game in 3D to get the most out of it, it does add a depth of field effect to the backdrop. In doing so the backgrounds actually look as if you're quite a ways away from the city, while making the main stage you play on seems to be so close you could actually reach out and grab the enemies running around. With the 3D slider turned all the way on, I was able to really see every detail the designers put into the world and it's characters; and while the layouts for each stage may alter greatly between each other(most likely do to it's more bite sized nature), the design of each level doesn't seem to differ that much between stages. I never did find this to be a problem and was still in a bit of awe every time I actually got to slow down and take a look around at the work put in by the design team.

Now the reason why you'll actually want to get Mighty Switch Force is the game play. It seems to pull a trick on the player where it almost starts to promise levels of classic run and gun with lots of platforming very reminiscent of older games such as Mega Man or Metroid. Though while you will get those sections every once in awhile, the actual game is more puzzle based than action platformer. You have two objectives: Find all the escaped inmates in each level, and then locate the exit. The player is given three buttons in which to control the main character with(d-pad not withstanding). As you would imagine, two of these buttons are dedicated to jumping and shooting. However the third button is what's used for the puzzles. What starts off simply as pressing this button to cycle in and out certain blocks to create new paths in the environment is then quickly turned into timed sections where you have to be constantly on the move and watchful of when you pull the trigger for this switching. If you aren't careful, you will either catch your self in one of the blocks, or have the character plummet to her death. Get ready for this to happen, a lot!

And there's the other thing I love; when I died, it was my own fault. The controls are so tight that I never ran into a situation where I missed a jump or switch due to the controls not recognizing the input at the right time. Recognizing patterns and learning where and when to switch is the key to success. And you'll need to master these controls if you want to beat the par times for all the courses. Now according to the manual, you are supposed to be rewarded for beating par times. It's hinted that you will be granted upgrades for doing so, but as I have beaten a little over half of the par times for all of the courses in the game, I was never given anything more than a blue star next to each stage I beat. I'm guessing if you get all 16 stars you'll get a reward, but as of writing this review I have yet to beat the last few stages listed par times. The only reward I was ever given was an upgrade to the main weapon upon completing all the levels and making it to the credits.

With no difficulty to speak of(unless you go for the par times) Mighty Switch Force, while not easy, is not the toughest game to beat. The first five or so levels are basically a breeze with the next five increasing in difficulty. The last ten levels of the game are where you'll find the most challenging. As I alluded to, some of the stages are actually not designed with the platforming tradition of 'start at point A and work your way across the level to point B' to win. Instead, a good half of the stages force you into a boxed-in arena where you have to be able to switch between blocks to move around and catch the escaped convicts. These stages are where you'll find mastering the controls and timing key to winning.

With me having played this on the go for most of the review process, I was unable to hear a few of the stages themes. However, the stages I did sit down to play with had the speakers on full blast, and what came from speakers caught my attention to listen to the very up beat techno/16 bit tracks. Even on the stages I found myself either repeating a great deal or continuously playing for more than ten minuets, I never found the soundtrack to drudge on or feel horribly repetitive. The sounds of the game are very satisfying as well. From the sound of your bullets hitting the enemies with a satisfying thud or dink depending on the surface it hit, to the simple mechanical noise used to indicate the switching of blocks, I couldn't find a bit of audio in the game that I didn't care for or though was out of place.

While it's unfortunate that there is no real multiplayer to speak of or even leaderboards for use of competing locally or worldwide for best stage times, I still had a great time with this little title. I wished there were a few more levels, maybe some that focused a bit more on platforming specifically, but I still found myself getting a few good hours out of it all for what I payed. The cute graphical style with a detailed background was very attractive and striking while the game play is very solid. I highly recommend anyone with a 3DS and a few bucks to spare to pick this up. It's not a system seller, but it is just one more reason I find myself holding onto my 3DS.