Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 2nd, 2019. Lots of new releases today, though as usual there’s a fair bit of chaff around the wheat. I’m catching up on my review backlog that accumulated while I was feeling under the weather and taking time off for birthday stuff, and that means you get three reviews today. Toss in a bit of news and some largely unexciting new sales, and that’s about the lot for this Friday. Let’s have a look, shall we?
News
Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers Can Play ‘Mario Tennis Aces’ Free For One Week
Do you like free games? Sure, we all do! Nintendo seems to be groping around in the dark trying to find something, anything, that adds value to its Nintendo Switch Online paid service. With the NES titles starting to sputter out, Tetris 99 going retail, and the Voucher program finished, the latest idea seems to be offering up a free game. Temporarily. In North America and Europe, subscribers will be able to download and play Mario Tennis Aces in its entirety between August 7th and August 13th. After that, you won’t be able to play it anymore, but if you want to buy it there will be a 30% discount until August 20th. Japanese subscribers get a different game: Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker. Honestly, it’s not a bad incentive in a vacuum. You can get what you need to from both games within a week. Just keep reminding yourself how cheap Nintendo Switch Online is and maybe it won’t bother you that the other two companies give you multiple free games every month that you can play for as long as you subscribe.
Reviews
Raiden V: Director’s Cut ($29.99)
The Raiden series has often managed to find success in places where other shoot-em-up franchises failed to, giving the brand name about as much pull as any shooter of its era could have. It has had its ups and downs, with one of the bigger downs being when original developer Seibu Kaihatsu disbanded in 1998. Some of the members who worked on the Raiden series eventually formed MOSS and in 2005 bought the rights to the series, reviving it with Raiden III. In 2008, Raiden IV was released exclusively for the Xbox 360, and an improved version called Overkill eventually made its way to other platforms in 2014.
Raiden V has followed a remarkably similar path to its immediate predecessor, first launching exclusively on the Xbox One in 2016. The next year, an enhanced Director’s Cut was brought to other platforms, and now here in 2019, the Nintendo Switch has received its own port. This is the first time the series has appeared on a Nintendo console since Raiden Trad came out on the Super NES back in 1991. So how much has changed? A lot and a little. This is still a vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up for one or two players. Although considered quite heavy on bullets in its day, by modern terms it sits somewhere between a traditional shoot-em-up and the bullet-hell style that has become so prevalent. The purple toothpaste laser is still here and ready to twist its way across the screen, searing a path of a destruction in its wake.
Naturally, this game packs in its own complement of levels and weaponry, and the graphics look quite a bit more gorgeous than, say, the Super NES version’s did. You’re no longer dealing with one-hit kills and a stock of lives, either. You have a shield that allows you to take a few hits before dying, but that’s that. Of course, you can continue as needed if you want to. The scoring system carries over a lot from previous versions, focusing on taking out the baddies as quickly as possible, but there’s also a combo system at play this time around to spice things up. There’s also the rather bizarre Cheer Attack, which supposedly allows you to cheer on other players while they cheer you on, boosting your sub-attacks temporarily.
This is also a remarkably chatty game, with tons of dialogue and story that, honestly, I just couldn’t bring myself to care much about. It’s okay that the developers wanted to add some context to the action, I suppose, but I’ve never really needed much context for my laser-blasting action and I doubt that’s going to change today. For those who like numbers: three different ships, three different main weapons with three different variations each, eight main stages, two extra stages, and ten levels of upgrades for each and every variant of every weapon. There’s a lot to do here, and lots of ways to do it, giving the game quite a bit of replay value. The game also offers an extra boss rush mode and a nice gallery full of art to sift through. There are online leaderboards, and a good selection of options to mess about with.
The game runs really well on the Switch in both docked and handheld mode, though you unfortunately do not have the option to rotate the screen in spite of the game’s vertical orientation. The action is the same solid stuff the series has always been known for. I’ve always appreciated how lively the enemies in the Raiden games are, and this installment is no different in that regard. There’s also quite a lot of variety between stages, giving you plenty to look forward to as you move forward. Each stage features branching paths based on your performance, so you’ll never see everything on one playthrough. The local co-op multiplayer is fun, if a bit chaotic, and the large variety of ship and weapon configurations means that the gameplay stays fresh for quite a while.
Raiden V: Director’s Cut is another excellent shoot-em-up on a system that is practically drowning in them. Its combination of a more traditional shoot-em-up style with a modern presentation really makes it stand out. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the pricier choices. Do I think this game is worth thirty dollars all on its own? Sure. It’s an enjoyable, surprisingly accessible shoot-em-up with lots of content. Could you use that thirty dollars to buy two or three other equally-fun shoot-em-ups for the Switch instead? Well, yes. It’s too bad because I feel like the new shield system and overall design of the game makes this one of the more beginner-friendly Raiden titles released thus far, but that price is going to probably chase away everyone who isn’t already a big fan of the genre. It’s a great game, though, and if you feel like the price is a little much I do encourage you to at least keep it in mind for when it inevitably goes on sale.
SwitchArcade Score: 4/5
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden – Deluxe Edition ($44.99)
There are two things I feel I need to stress in this review of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. First, this game is excellent. I was blown away at how enjoyable and utterly compelling it was. I expected the arrival of Fire Emblem: Three Houses to make me want to put this game down immediately. Imagine my surprise when I found myself instead longing to come back to finish off Mutant Year Zero while I was playing Fire Emblem. So yes, it’s a wonderful game that combines exploration, stealth, and turn-based strategy into a satisfying whole. It’s a game you ought to play, and I suppose if the only means you have to do so is on the Switch, that’s where you can do it.
The second thing, though? This is an admirable port that falls well short of where it ideally needs to be. It runs well enough most of the time, at least. If you’re playing docked, it’s… acceptable after the day-one patch. Acceptable. But there were a lot of compromises that had to be made to get this game running on the Switch, I fear, and they’re at their most noticeable when you’re playing undocked. The resolution takes a massive hit to the point that it can be hard to distinguish loot and other pick-ups. It sometimes feels like you’re looking at an impressionist painting of the real game. Even docked, it looks really rough compared to every other version. But if you want to take it on the go, be prepared for a lot of squinting and second-guessing. It speaks immensely to the quality of the game itself that I tolerated this for the twenty or so hours it took me to whip through all of its content.
Anyway, about the game itself. It’s a post-apocalyptic setting where humans are all but gone from the face of the Earth. The remaining intelligent life is comprised largely of mutant animals, who are holed up in a safe area known as the Ark. Supplies are dwindling in the Ark, so certain industrious members of the community venture out into the dangerous world outside to find food and other essentials. Just what happened here? Perhaps you’ll find out as you play. You control of team of mutants who head out into those dangerous Zones. You’ll start off with a mutant boar and a mutant duck, but you’ll have the chance to recruit others as you go along. You explore the world in top-down, realtime gameplay. Enemies are everywhere and it’s often a good idea to sneak around them and create ambush opportunities.
When it’s time to fight, things switch over to a turn-based strategy-style system. Move your characters in turn along a grid, choose whatever attack or ability you like, and so on. Once the enemies are cleared out, the game switches back to the free exploration mode, leaving you free to pick up the spoils and move on. As you gain experience and level up, you’re able to choose new abilities and mutations from a skill tree. This gives you a bit of customizability over your team. There’s a genuinely great loop at play here. You explore a bit, find trouble, deal with said trouble, beef up your team, then explore a bit more. It always feels like you’re making significant progress, and each new situation is good at piquing your interest.
This is a five-star game with a two-and-a-half-star port. It has a great story, solid gameplay, and moves along at a surprisingly lively pace. I enjoyed it enough that I’m giving it the slightest nudge in the positive direction for the final score. But I’ll say it again for the cheap seats: you really should only play this on the Switch if you have no other choice as to where to play it. Even the usual handheld advantage is somewhat negated thanks to how nasty it is when you’re playing undocked. So if you can play it elsewhere, you probably should. If you can’t? Well, the game itself is strong enough that it absolutely shines through in spite of how rough it all looks. If you must play Mutant Year Zero on the Switch, it’s still worth it. At least, in my opinion it is.
SwitchArcade Score: 4/5
Sweet Witches ($9.99)
I’ve been playing a lot of fairly heavy games lately, so Sweet Witches was kind of a nice break in some ways. Not because it was an easy game, because by and large it’s more difficult than you would think. But because it seems to call back to an earlier era of gaming, where having the player run around a single-screen level collecting stuff while enemies chase them was good enough for most. With its bright, colorful visuals and overall cute design, you might expect this game to be a pushover. It doesn’t take too long before it reveals its true nature, however. If I had to pick a game series that it reminds me of most, it would be probably be Kemco’s infuriating Crazy Castle games. Not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps sometimes a bad thing for me.
Anyway, the basic idea in this game is that you need to run your chosen witch over all of a certain type of block on each screen to make flowers grow. Once you’ve stepped on all the blocks, you’ll move to the next screen. You have a basic attack at your disposal that stuns some enemies and kills others. You can also make exactly one ladder at any given moment that you can use to climb up or down between levels. Be careful, because enemies can also use any ladder you place. You cannot jump, so you need to use your ladder carefully to manage vertical movement. Some stages offer up item boxes that will give you a random contraption you can use. Typically this takes the form of a weapon or trap that will permanently remove an enemy from the level.
The enemies come in a wide variety of types, each with their own movement and attack patterns. You need to learn them all, because they don’t generally give you a lot of time to react when they get a bead on you. Using your ladder to manipulate them can be a lot of fun, but if you get boxed in they’ll make short work of you. One touch will take one of your precious lives away, and you’ve only got so many you can use for each set of levels. You can get a second player to join in with you, but you’ll be sharing the pool of lives. As we all know, such a mechanic will only lead to agony in the end for one of the two players. Assuming you aren’t killed, you can get through the story mode in under an hour. There are a little over 50 stages, and each one takes around a minute or less to finish if nothing goes too ca-ca along the way. There are other modes and unlockable characters, so there’s definitely more to do after finishing a single playthrough.
But gosh, it can be tough. The enemies really are relentless in their pursuit at times, and when you get combinations of them together you really have to think carefully and quickly about how you’re going to move around the stage. Once you get a proper handle on a stage, it’s not too tough to clear it again, but that can definitely be a frustrating process. It can be particularly frustrating if you keep running out of lives on a screen late in a set. You can continue, but you’ll have to work through all of the easier screens again to get back to where you were. Which is pretty much how these things go, so I won’t complain too much.
Sweet Witches is at its core a very traditional kind of gameplay experience, and it’s a decent game if not a particularly inspired one. The presentation is cute, with adorable, well-animated characters and eye-catching level designs. The music is, I think, public domain stuff but it fits the action well enough. I don’t know. At various times I found myself having a good time with the game and hating it, but I was at least engaged in some capacity in both cases. While it isn’t the most exciting Switch game around, Sweet Witches will likely appeal to fans of classic action-puzzlers like Crazy Castle. Kids might also go in for its straightforward gameplay and cartoony style. In my case, I had a good evening or two with it, if not much more than that.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
New Releases
Swaps and Traps ($8.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This clever little platformer seems like the same old when you start off, but it soon reveals its hand and it’s quite a doozy. Sections of the level will be torn off and swapped around, but you’ll still interact with them like they’re exactly where they started off. It does a real number on your noggin, and makes for a wild and highly challenging experience. There are more than 100 levels, and the game keeps on throwing out interesting twists to keep things spicy the whole way. I’ll be doing a review of this one in a bit, but if you like tough platformers like Super Meat Boy, you’ll probably enjoy what Swaps and Traps is selling.
Pandemic ($19.99)
The digital version of Pandemic has been around for a while on other platforms, most notably on mobile. This is pretty much that, but on your Switch and for three times the price. Granted, it’s a bit easier to get couch co-op going here than it is on your iPhone. Given the nature of the game, that’s probably a useful selling point. Unfortunately, there’s no online multiplayer in this version either, so you’ll have to have some friends in the room to enjoy the game at its best. The two DLC expansions aren’t available yet in this version, but they will be coming at a later date. It’s a fun game, but unless you plan on teaming up with your buddies pretty often, you’re probably better off saving a few bucks and getting it on your mobile device instead.
Pelican and Medjed ($7.99)
This just sort of dropped in out of nowhere, and I don’t know what to think of it. It’s a pretty basic retro-style platformer with 16 levels and some hidden secrets. There is some light puzzle-solving along the way, and the eponymous pelican sort of chills out around the maps and gives you hints. It doesn’t look too bad, but it’s not exactly calling me to buy it, either. But I guess if you’re looking for a platfomer that is cute and humble in its ambitions, Pelican and Medjed might be worth investigating.
M.A.C.E. Tower Defense ($3.99)
If this looks like a middle-of-the-road example of the tower defense genre, congratulations! That’s exactly what this is. Initially a mobile game, M.A.C.E. (Millions of Angry Crabs Eaten?) eventually moved over to the PC and is now available on Switch. It’s okay, and not much more than that. It feels like a game where you just have to plop down towers, and if that’s not doing the job, just plop down another one. Not a whole lot of strategy involved, and no particularly inventive twists on things. Oh, the description says that M.A.C.E. means ‘Military Alliance of Common Earth‘. Okay, that’s good to know. Single-player only, and the best thing I can say about it is that it’s pretty cheap. Sadly, OTTTD is on sale right now and is even cheaper as a result. And much better. That’s where we are.
The Church in the Darkness ($19.99)
This seems promising as a concept, but I’m a bit concerned about how it’s going to run on the Switch. Anyway, the idea is that your nephew has joined a religious cult and moved to a compound in South America. You need to stealthily infiltrate the commune, figure out what’s really going on, and try to do what’s best for your family. It’s set in the 1970s and, yeah, it’s really only barely hiding the real thing that it’s based on. But it’s a really good idea for a stealth game, and what makes it even better is that a bunch of factors are randomized every time you play, so you’ll never quite face the same story or challenges. I haven’t had a chance to put hands-on with this one yet, but I’m hoping to do a review of it. We’ll see how it goes.
Burger Chef Tycoon ($4.99)
Yeah, we all know exactly what this is. One of those typical time management games where you have to put together orders from customers before they lose patience and storm out. This one uses a burger shop as its theme, but it’s pretty much the same as all the other ones that use this basic theme. Not bad, not especially interesting. I think a person would be wiser to pick up Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! if they’re into this kind of thing, but if you only have five bucks and are just super into making burgers, don’t let me stop you.
Super Wiloo Demake ($4.99)
I suppose it’s time to spin the ol’ Ratalaika Games wheel of fortune again. Some of the stuff they pick up ends up being a lot of fun, especially for the price. Others, not so much. This game is a re-imagining of a mobile platformer called Wiloo that was honestly kind of poor. Even though it’s called a demake and the graphics really don’t look great at all, take my word for it when I say the original looked a lot worse. You get fifty levels for your fiver, and there are plenty of power-ups to keep things fresh. It definitely has that “indie mobile platformer" feel to it, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Saboteur II: Avenging Angel ($8.00)
Following in the footsteps of last year’s enhanced port of the classic Saboteur is this similarly-expanded take on its sequel, Saboteur II: Avenging Angel. Take on the role of the original Saboteur’s sister as you infiltrate an enemy base, seek out evidence and information, and make your daring escape. Will you do it the noisy way or the quiet way? It’s up to you. The game offers up options to play it in five different graphical modes to match your nostalgia of choice, and once you’ve finished the relatively short original mission, you’ll find there’s quite a bit more to play. These games probably aren’t going to convince anyone who wasn’t already a fan, but if you have fond memories of those old days of gaming on your microcomputer, this is a great way to relive them.
Sales
Yeah, there are a lot of new sales today. Some of them look very familiar because they were on sale a couple of weeks ago. Or, you know, the day before yesterday in Moorhun‘s case. Highlights today include the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, and Brave Dungeon + Dark Witch Story, all of which are decent and go on sale quite rarely. The outbox for this weekend has little in it to be concerned about, but dungeon crawler fans may want to pick up Vaporum while it’s cheap.
New Games on Sale
Brave Dungeon + Dark Witch Story ($6.29 from $8.99 until 8/15)
Syberia ($8.99 from $29.99 until 8/14)
Syberia 2 ($8.99 from $29.99 until 8/14)
Sparkle 2 EVO ($0.49 from $4.99 until 8/21)
Letter Quest Remastered ($2.99 from $11.99 until 8/21)
Caveman Warriors ($3.24 from $12.99 until 8/15)
Slain: Back From Hell ($5.99 from $19.99 until 8/21)
Party Planet ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/15)
Bleed ($3.59 from $11.99 until 8/21)
Bleed 2 ($4.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
The Coma: Recut ($5.99 from $19.99 until 8/21)
Nightmare Boy ($4.99 from $9.99 until 8/12)
Tachyon Project ($1.99 from $9.99 until 8/19)
Aeternoblade ($10.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Layers of Fear: Legacy ($3.99 from $19.99 until 8/12)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 8/8)
Hollow ($1.99 from $19.99 until 8/21)
Neonwall ($6.99 from $9.99 until 8/15)
Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut ($4.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Zombillie ($0.49 from $4.99 until 8/21)
Late Shift ($6.49 from $12.99 until 8/15)
Don’t Die, Mr Robot! ($1.34 from $8.99 until 8/21)
Three Fourths Home: Extended ($1.79 from $8.99 until 8/21)
Super Chariot ($5.99 from $19.99 until 8/14)
Never Stop ($2.49 from $4.99 until 8/8)
Ice Cream Surfer ($1.60 from $8.00 until 8/15)
Blazblue Cross Tag Battle ($14.09 from $29.99 until 8/8)
Parallel ($2.99 from $9.99 until 8/8)
Otto ($2.49 from $4.99 until 8/9)
Anima: Gate of Memories ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/12)
Anima: Gate of Memories – The Nameless ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/12)
Anima: Gate of Memories – Arcane ($23.99 from $29.99 until 8/12)
INK ($2.69 from $8.99 until 8/21)
Hacky Zack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Paranautical Activity ($1.59 from $7.99 until 8/21)
Frost ($3.89 from $12.99 until 8/21)
1979 Revolution: Black Friday ($3.59 from $11.99 until 8/21)
Unexplored ($4.50 from $15.00 until 8/21)
State of Mind ($13.59 from $39.99 until 8/21)
Spectrum ($2.99 from $11.99 until 8/21)
Fall of Light: Darkest ($3.74 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Shikhondo – Soul Eater ($4.75 from $13.99 until 8/21)
Super Inefficient Golf ($3.99 from $7.99 until 8/9)
Danger Mouse: The Danger Games ($3.99 from $4.99 until 8/21)
Nefarious ($4.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Vertical Drop Heroes HD ($2.49 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Shift Happens ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Joggernauts ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/15)
Deployment ($2.49 from $9.99 until 8/9)
Freaky Awesome ($7.14 from $12.99 until 8/12)
Demon’s Crystals ($8.24 from $14.99 until 8/12)
Mars: Chaos Menace ($4.99 from $9.99 until 8/12)
Steamburg ($2.49 from $4.99 until 8/15)
Gear.Club Unlimited 2 ($23.99 from $59.99 until 8/21)
Ethan: Meteor Hunter ($3.99 from $9.99 until 8/15)
Inside My Radio ($3.99 from $9.99 until 8/15)
A Ch’ti Bundle ($6.39 from $15.99 until 8/15)
Awe ($3.49 from $4.99 until 8/12)
Leopoldo Manquiseil ($1.99 from $3.99 until 8/12)
Cake Laboratory ($1.99 from $2.99 until 8/21)
Omega Strike ($4.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Blacksea Odyssey ($3.24 from $12.99 until 8/21)
Diggerman ($0.49 from $4.99 until 8/21)
Pipe Push Paradise ($4.39 from $10.99 until 8/21)
Uncanny Valley ($3.39 from $9.99 until 8/21)
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human ($3.89 from $12.99 until 8/21)
Double Cross ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/15)
Mars or Die! ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/9)
#KILLALLZOMBIES ($13.99 from $19.99 until 8/19)
Gnomes Garden: New Home ($3.49 from $4.99 until 8/11)
Observer ($10.49 from $29.99 until 8/12)
Oniken: Unstoppable ($4.99 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Odallus: The Dark Call ($5.99 from $11.99 until 8/21)
Glass Masquerade ($5.99 from $11.99 until 8/21)
City of Brass ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/8)
The King’s Bird ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/15)
Strikey Sisters ($7.99 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Surfingers ($0.49 from $4.99 until 8/21)
Rad Rodgers Radical ($17.99 from $29.99 until 8/15)
Teddy The Wanderer: Mountain Hike ($2.49 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Bad Dream Fever ($2.49 from $9.99 until 8/21)
Mechstermination Force ($9.59 from $11.99 until 8/15)
Monster Slayers ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Shalnor Legends: Sacred Lands ($7.49 from $9.99 until 8/15)
Black Paradox ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Reverse Crawl ($6.49 from $12.99 until 8/21)
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories ($11.24 from $14.99 until 8/12)
Submerged ($3.99 from $9.99 until 8/8)
Verlet Swing ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Vosaria: Lair of the Forgotten ($3.74 from $4.99 until 8/15)
Forest Home ($10.49 from $14.99 until 8/15)
Royal Roads ($7.99 from $9.99 until 8/19)
Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe ($11.04 from $12.99 until 8/15)
Sudoku Relax 2 Summer Waves ($4.50 from $5.00 until 8/21)
Shinobi Spirits S: Legend of Heroes ($6.29 from $8.99 until 8/22)
Pix the Cat ($7.99 from $9.99 until 8/14)
Spoiler Alert ($2.49 from $4.99 until 8/8)
Wreckin’ Ball Adventure ($3.49 from $4.99 until 8/23)
Burger Chef Tycoon ($3.74 from $4.99 until 8/22)
Mini Trains ($3.99 from $5.99 until 8/23)
Boxing Champs ($3.80 from $9.50 until 8/22)
Dead Dungeon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 8/13)
Bring Them Home ($5.59 from $6.99 until 8/23)
Moorhuhn Remake ($5.59 from $6.99 until 8/23)
Sales Ending This Weekend
Car Mechanic Simulator ($9.74 from $14.99 until 8/3)
Operation Pig ($3.29 from $10.99 until 8/3)
Candle: The Power of the Flame ($4.99 from $19.99 until 8/4)
Crimson Keep ($5.99 from $19.99 until 8/4)
HoPiKo ($1.99 from $9.99 until 8/4)
Them Bombs! ($9.79 from $13.99 until 8/4)
Vaporum ($17.49 from $24.99 until 8/4)
That’s it for today and this week, friends. Next week, we can look forward to such releases as Subdivision Infinity DX, Pillars of Eternity, The Pyraplex, and more. We will probably also find out what the sad little NES Nintendo Switch Online update will be for August. And of course, whatever news and sales come will surely offer up a few surprises. Can I catch up on my review backlog? Stay tuned, friends. Stay tuned. As always, thanks for reading!
