Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 22nd, 2024. It’s a new week, and in new week fashion I have a bunch of reviews for you to check out. All from yours truly today, as I look at Rose & Camellia Collection, Ready, Steady, Ship!, Sokobalien, and A Tale of Paper: Refolded. Will any of these excite me? I guess you’ll have to read on to find out. After that, we go over the new releases of the day, such as they are, and then finish up with the lists of new and expiring sales for the day. Let’s get this show started!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Rose & Camellia Collection ($19.99)
What can you really do with many of the popular Flash games of the past? Most of them were designed for quick fixes, short bursts of creative expression that you would play from start to finish on a coffee break. Some might say even a fiver is too much for many of them, but they’re undeniably an important part of gaming history. With Flash itself in the rear view mirror, how can we keep these games accessible? WayForward takes a slap at it with Rose & Camellia Collection, which takes developer NIGORO’s well-liked Flash series and presents it with as much shine as it possibly can. Is it enough?
The basic pitch for Rose & Camellia is Punch-Out!! mixed with Victorian high society melodrama. You get five different games here, each of which sees you take on several opponents in a slap fight to the finish. You slap your opponent, they slap back, you try to dodge with the right timing and counter-slap. Whoever’s life bar depletes first loses. There’s a little bit more to it than that, but not much more. Watch for the tells and get out of the way. You can do that using motion controls in docked mode or with touchscreen swipes in handheld mode. The former works fairly well, the latter really doesn’t. No pure button controls either way. Just play it with the motion controls, it’s the best way to enjoy it. You get to make with the slaps yourself, and if no one is looking you can even act like a self-righteous high society lady.
I like the quirky idea behind Rose & Camellia, and with voice acting, a fancy opening, and plenty of cut-scenes, this collection shores up the charms of that bizarre set-up. The big problem, however, comes from the very nature of Rose & Camellia. It only takes a few minutes to go through each game/episode, and none of the fights even rise to the level of complexity of the second or third battles in the Punch-Out!! games. You can rinse the entire collection in well under an hour, and a lot of that is just going to be watching the story scenes play out. There’s a multiplayer mode here, and it’s good for a few additional laughs, but that’s about it. Throw in the fact that it’s just about unbearable in handheld mode, and the negatives start to push up hard against the positives.
Keeping the legacy of Flash games alive is important, and in that sense I’m glad Rose & Camellia Collection exists. But its slight nature and clumsy controls make it hard to recommend with much vigor despite its charming presentation. Apart from adding some standard button controls I can’t imagine someone making a better Rose & Camellia collection than this, so if you loved the series on your computer back in the day by all means go for it. Otherwise, I’m not sure there’s enough here to chew on at the price it’s commanding.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
Ready, Steady, Ship! ($14.99)
Sure, this is clearly a game that is trying to catch some of that Overcooked magic. You’re doing some kind of a job that involves a number of simple tasks, but the combination of said tasks and a timer can lead to quite a bit of enjoyably frantic chaos. Amusing enough alone, but extremely fun with friends. It’s a solid formula, even if here the “friends" is limited to “a friend". Two players only, local co-op only. The job in question is preparing and loading up boxes for shipping, a process that allows the developers to throw in all kinds of fun wrenches as you work through the thirty stages on offer.
Like most games of this sort, Ready, Steady, Ship! isn’t a whole lot of fun to play on your own. Grab a friend and you’ll get what is effectively the real game, as you try to split tasks in order to more efficiently complete the goals for each stage. It starts off simply enough, seeing you setting up conveyor belts to help the boxes reach the trucks. Then you get multiple trucks and box colors, then vehicles, then broken parts that need to be repaired and maintained, plus boxes that need to be filled and sealed using special machines, and so on. The game never really sits still with any particular mix of elements long enough for you to get bored with them.
With that said, Ready, Steady, Ship! does suffer from a lot of weird bugs and glitches. Boxes often fell right out of the game environment through invisible cracks and holes, making it impossible to get 100% without restarting. You can get things stuck in inaccessible places if you’re not careful, too. In some ways, these glitches can make for an even funnier time, but if you’re focused on scoring all those stars it can be annoying to miss out because a box fell into the Phantom Zone.
Being limited to only two players keeps Ready, Steady, Ship! from being the next party fix for Overcooked fans, but there’s enough enjoyment to be had here that those who don’t mind the smaller player count will find it worth their while to check out. It’s a little awkward and glitchy, but that’s really only a problem if you’re shooting for the best performance in each stage. Otherwise, it’s an added bit of tomfoolery in a game that only benefits from such things.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
Sokobalien ($4.99)
This is about as straight forward a take on Sokoban-style puzzles as you can get. There’s a cute theme here where you’re an alien pushing livestock into your tractor beam instead of being a guy pushing crates into designated squares, but that’s really the only distinctive feature of the game. Oh, and you can unlock hats. From an audiovisual standpoint, it comes off like the five-dollar game that it is, but the actual gameplay does what it has to. If you’re a Sokoban fiend that needs another fix, this will tide you over. Others are unlikely to find much charm in it.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
A Tale of Paper: Refolded ($14.99)
There are parts of this game I enjoyed, but A Tale of Paper: Refolded suffers from poor technical performance and a lot of bugs in this Switch incarnation. Loading times are lengthy, visual quality and framerate are all over the map, and I had to reset the game multiple times due to some glitch or another. Sometimes the camera got stuck in a weird place and wouldn’t come loose. Sometimes I got stuck in a weird place and couldn’t get loose. I’m saying this upfront because it frankly ruined the experience for me. This is a game where you’re meant to be experimenting with your abilities and the environment in order to solve puzzles, but doing so is the surest way to find one of the game’s many issues.
The game itself is an interesting puzzle platformer where you play as a paper creature who can take on various forms to help overcome the obstacles in his path. It’s relatively atmospheric, though its wordless nature isn’t well-handled and it feels like it isn’t saying much of anything as a result. Still, if you like games like LIMBO, you’ll probably enjoy the process of going through this game. You know, provided you don’t get fed up with the aforementioned problems. Play it elsewhere, if you can.
A Tale of Paper: Refolded takes a decent enough swing at the cinematic puzzle platformer genre, but this Switch version is probably the worst way to play it. From the usual technical issues that often come with an Unreal Engine game to a bevy of bugs that lead to a frustrating amount of resets, A Tale of Paper‘s numerous issues pile up to make it hard to recommend in this form. Those who are interested in the premise would do well to try it out on other platforms instead.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
New Releases
Risky Chronicles and the Curse of Destiny ($9.99)
This has massive five-dollar Switch platformer energy, but due to inflation it costs ten dollars for one of those now. Anyway, guide the titular Risky Chronicles (now there’s a stripper name if I’ve ever heard one) on an adventure that is assuredly legally distinct from those of Dr. Jones. Run! Jump! Swim! Ride a motorbike in a scaling 3D sequence! Maybe you’re in the Arctic sometimes! That’s kind of weird! Well, it is what it is. Some folks are going to buy it, and that might even include you.
The Bin Bunch
Ping Race ($0.99)
Helichapter X ($2.99)
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
A pretty hefty list in the inbox to get things cooking on this Monday. Is any of it good? Well, there are a few nice games in there. Nothing I’m jumping up and down about though, so I’ll leave looking it over to you. The outbox is short and really doesn’t have much I would recommend in it, but I’m not the ancestral ruler of your funds so do what you will with it.
Select New Sales
Mimi the Cat: Mimi’s Scratcher ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Sokobalien ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Wild Seas ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
PuzzlePet: Feed Your Cat ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Storyblocks: The King ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Mighty Aphid ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Lord of the Click Interstellar Wars ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Lord of the Click II ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Lord of the Click III ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
One Hell of a Ride ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/29)
Cursed Island ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Words of Wisdom ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Toadomination ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
The Snow Fable: Mystery of the Flame ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/29)
Ancient Stories: Gods of Egypt ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/29)
Scrap Garden ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/29)
Whiskey Mafia: Frank’s Story ($2.99 from $5.99 until 4/29)
Whiskey Mafia: Leo’s Family ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Pukan, Bye-Bye! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
.T.E.S.T: Expected Behaviour ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/29)
Alexio ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Gav-Gav Odyssey ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Final Shot ($2.99 from $5.99 until 4/29)
Road Stones ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Looking for Aliens ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/29)
Speedgunner Ultra ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Mr. Brocco & Co. ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Berserk Boy ($16.00 from $20.00 until 4/29)
Suzerain ($4.49 from $17.99 until 5/2)
Barbie DreamHouse Adventures ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/3)
Gungrave G.O.R.E. UE Edition ($27.99 from $39.99 until 5/6)
Scar of the Doll ($3.29 from $9.99 until 5/10)
Itorah ($3.99 from $19.99 until 5/10)
Fall of Porcupine ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/10)
Lies as a Starting Point ($1.99 from $8.00 until 5/10)
Growth ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/10)
Three Minutes to Eight ($3.74 from $14.99 until 5/10)
Hypnospace Outlaw ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/10)
Nowhere Prophet ($2.24 from $24.99 until 5/10)
Yes, Your Grace ($2.99 from $19.99 until 5/10)
Scheming Thru the Zombie Apocalypse Ep2 ($3.99 from $4.99 until 5/10)
Angel Whisper ($5.99 from $9.99 until 5/11)
Dungeon Limbus ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
DREDGE: Deluxe Edition ($18.89 from $26.99 until 5/12)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Counter Recon: The First Mission ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Counter Recon 2: The New War ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/12)
ANIMUS: Revenant ($3.67 from $22.99 until 5/12)
Pirate Bloopers ($3.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Counter Delta: The Bullet Rain ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Counter Delta 2: Eastern Crisis ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
World War: Tank Battle ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Modern War: Tank Battle ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Doomsday Hunters ($10.79 from $17.99 until 5/12)
Dead Rain: New Zombie Virus ($2.96 from $10.99 until 5/12)
Bunker Life ($6.74 from $14.99 until 5/12)
World War: Prologue ($6.74 from $14.99 until 5/12)
The Legend of Shadow: MotF ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Last 4 Survive: The Outbreak ($12.74 from $14.99 until 5/12)
World War: D-Day Part One ($10.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
World War: D-Day Part Two ($10.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
World War: Combat Guardian ($6.74 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Crime Busters: Strike Area ($2.39 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Adventure World: Around the World ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Haunted Zombie School ($1.99 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Haunted Zombie Slaughter ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Haunted Zombie Slaughter 2 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, April 23rd
Bus Driving Simulator 22 ($2.99 from $27.99 until 4/23)
Farmer Simulator Evolution ($2.99 from $19.99 until 4/23)
Pinball M: Duke Nukem Pinball DLC ($4.66 from $5.49 until 4/23)
Raid on Taihoku ($6.59 from $10.99 until 4/23)
RichMan 4 Fun ($8.99 from $11.99 until 4/23)
Super Soccer Blast ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/23)
Super Tennis Blast ($4.49 from $14.99 until 4/23)
Super Volley Blast ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/23)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more reviews, more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. I’m running way late today, as has often been the case on Mondays recently. Hopefully I can get home before the dinner gets too cold. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!
