Mighty Switch Force Hands-On - Playing With Blocks Has Rarely Been this Fun
By:
Andre Segers
|
December 15, 2011, 12:02 pm

What it is...

In this 2D puzzle-platformer, you play as Patricia Wagon, a cybernetic police officer who’s on the hunt for the escaped Hooligan Sisters. You’ll explore 16 levels (called “incidents”) as you solve simple puzzles in an effort to track down the five sisters hiding in each one.

Now as the name suggests, you’ll have to make use of “switching” in order to fully explore each level. You see, scattered throughout every level are different kinds of blocks--some simply serve as platforms, others will blast you to higher areas. The catch though is that the blocks can exist either in the foreground or the background, and you’ll have to “switch” their positions with a tap of the button.

For example, I encountered a shaft obstructed by two blocks--the top one was in the background while the lower one was in the foreground. To climb it, I first had to “switch” the blocks, causing the lower one to recede and the upper one to emerge. As I jumped past it, I “switched” the blocks again to cause the lower one to pop back out, creating a platform I could land on. I then repeated the process for the one above, allowing me to reach the sister at the top. It might sound complicated, but in practice, it really couldn’t be simpler. Most of the puzzles are built around this mechanic, but they’re surprisingly diverse, particularly as different kinds of blocks are introduced.

Though each level is relatively small, they feel very open thanks to their non-linear nature. What this means is you can pursue the five sisters in any order, though a radar on the touchscreen helpfully points in the direction of the closest one.

The game makes good use of the 3D screen, drawing a clear distinction between the recessed blocks in the background and the closer ones in the foreground. Also, props to whoever decided to have the main character crash into the screen if you accidentally pop a block into the foreground while she’s standing in front of it. It’s touches like these that go a long way.

Early thoughts...
Mighty Switch Force was one of my favorite games I played at Nintendo’s 3DS eShop event (which is saying something, as I enjoyed them all). The extremely tight gameplay combined with the non-linear level design really appealed to me. And I loved the fun atmosphere the game captured, thanks both to the great art style, but also the sense of humor, such as the unfortunately named Ugly Checkpoint Dog who--you guessed it--marks the checkpoint.

And the developers wrangle a lot of mileage out of the simple block-switching mechanic, which works extremely well. And you won't have to wait long to try it yourself, as it's launching worldwide on December 22nd!

 

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