Tag: Nintendo Switch

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51 Worldwide Games

Click. Clack. Clunk. 

I love quirky presentation and interface design, and Nintendo and NDcube have nailed it with 51 Worldwide Games. Flipping through the games is like rifling through a box of board games in your attic, and presents the same pleasing click, clack and clunk. Cute, animated icons represent each game, and I often sit and scroll through them just because it feels so good. 

Must stop scrolling…

My procrastination would be a problem if the games weren’t fantastic, but the quality is clear. Hanafuda cards fly onto the table with satisfying slaps; Yacht Dice rattle around with neat HD Rumble and Four-in-a-Row counters land with a delightful bounce that makes beating my buddies even more gratifying.

The skits are low on detail but great fun

Shiny little plastic figures introduce every game in a cheesy skit. While you may find them grating (pun intended), and light on rules, I found them charming and was comfortable to learn how to play via the following static screen. 

Of the myriad board, card and miscellaneous games available, my favourites are those that I’d never played.

Mancala, an ancient board game based on sowing seeds, is simple, addictive, and polished. The bright, glassy pieces drop into their compartments with rhythmic thunks.

You addictive little devil

Card game President is a capitalists dream. The winner of each hand pilfers the best cards from the plebs, perpetuating their stay at the top. Outside skilful play (or a sloppy leader) the sole method to topple the administration is to reverse play by laying four of the same card. I’ve developed a mild obsession with it. 

It’s cool, but is this it?

Slot Cars is the Scalextric kit I always wanted. But highlights my main issue with 51 Worldwide Games: the lack of replayability in the miscellaneous games. Slot Cars comes with a measly three uninspiring tracks, and while you can create your own, you can only do so in Mosaic Mode.

Mosaic Mode allows you to line up multiple Switches in any configuration and swipe across them to create a unique track. It’s a clever, but expensive way to offer variety in a single Switch household. Further, while well made, I lost interest in Toy Boxing, Tennis, Football and Baseball, even in multiplayer, after one round each.

The quality of NDcube’s offerings has always been mixed (see Mario Party 10 and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival). But I’m impressed with 51 Worldwide Games and 2018’s Super Mario Party. While there’s no doubt they’re making Super Mario Party 2 after the original sold 12m, I’m excited to see what NDcube pulls from the attic next.

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps’ bosses are tough. So tough, I’d gotten so good at fighting friendly ‘Guardian of the Marsh’ turned corrupted murder-toad, Kwolok, and died so many times, that I earned the associated achievement for speed-running his encounter the first time I licked his froggy face. 

That’s not to say that Wisps is frustrating. On the contrary, it’s a ‘if you die it’s your fault game’. I was to blame for every death.

Like each Metroidvania before it, you begin Wisps controlling a laughably underpowered character and end it feeling like a god. At the outset, Ori can scarcely muster a double jump. Ten hours later, you’ll be chaining triple jumps, wall grabs, grapples, bashes, dashes, burrowing, swimming, gliding and 360-degree ‘launches’ without touching the ground and wondering how you ever coped without them.

Ori can use Launch and Bash to pause in mid-air and shoot in a straight line in any direction

Executing all of this feels incredible. Ori is lithe and nimble and flows across the screen in graceful arcs, but, can also turn on a dime; pausing in mid-air and launching in a straight line in any direction. It’s exceptionally responsive and immensely satisfying and, while the skills above may seem a lot to learn, Moon Studios award them a perfect pace, so you never feel overwhelmed.

So many shards

In addition to permanent abilities, Ori can collect Spirit Shards; upgrades you can turn on and off at any time. These range from the scarcely noticeable to the game-changing. The Lifeforce Shard, for example, merely raises damage dealt by 10% when above half-life. In contrast, the Triple Jump Shard, adds, you guessed it, a third jump to Ori’s repertoire, allowing you to reach inaccessible areas far earlier than had you chosen not to utilise it. 

Struggling with a platforming section? Switch on the Sticky Shard to stick to and climb on walls. Troubled by a tricky fight? Turn on the Life Harvest Shard to seize more life orbs from your vanquished foes. It’s a fascinating system, allowing you to change the difficulty and mechanics available to you in both traversal and combat at any time.  

Splinter and Quickshot transform a single arrow into shower of death

My favourite Shards are Splinter and Quickshot. Both augment Ori’s new ‘Spirit Arc’ ability, a ranged attack allowing Ori to fire a single arrow in any direction. Splinter and Quickshot alter it by splitting the arrow into multiple arrows and allowing you to fire 25% faster respectively. These upgrades feel like collecting a power-up in a ‘shoot ’em up’ like Darius or R-Type – widening and accelerating your shots – and dramatically alter the character of combat.

Wellspring Glades and the Darunia-esque Grom the Builder

You can upgrade Shards by trading Spirit Light (Wisp’s lowest level collectable) in the game’s central hub, Wellspring Glades. A pleasant autumnal haven you can develop by trading Gorlek Ore (another collectable) with the ‘Goron-Esque’ Grom the Builder. I relish the chance to build-out towns in action games – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s Monteriggioni, for example, is excellent – and Moon Studios put the mechanic to good use with each upgrade granting access to more collectables and shortcuts.

Without spoiling anything, the ending of Wisps is definitive. While there is always some wriggle room for the series to return, it appears Moon Studios will not lead it. They’re reportedly moving on to an Action RPG and, based on the polish manifest in Wisps, I cannot wait to see what they produce.

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Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers

It’s good to be back

It’s remarkable just how much Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers feels like Persona 5. Scramble is not Dynasty Warriors with a coat of Persona-paint, but rather a full sequel to P5 in all but name and battle mechanics.

Battles unfold in true Musou style. Hordes of enemies charge at you, and you must dispatch them in real-time using a combination of light, heavy and special attacks. But the flourishes of P5’s battle system have been integrated so thoroughly, that Scramble feels like it was designed from the ground up as a P5 action game, not a Dynasty Warriors clone.

All-Out Attacks, Enemy Weaknesses, Equippable Personas, Skills and Skill Points have all transferred. So you can, for example, ‘pause’ a battle to pull up Arsene’s Ehia skill from a menu, use it to knock down a pack of Pixies and prime them for an All-Out Attack.

P5’s insane level of polish returns

Where Dynasty Warriors duplicates Hyrule Warriors’ and Fire Emblem Warriors’ combat felt soulless, Scramble’s has absorbed all of P5’s vitality. Turquoise HP hearts materialise above the shadow’s heads as you fight, your controllable character’s scowl tears through the screen as you hit an enemy weakness and intensified editions of the customary P5 sound effects support.

Omega Force and P-Studio have set all of this to remixes of P5’s already classic battle themes – a metal arrangement of Last Suprise is the standout. It’s a testament to just how much P5 has burrowed its way into gamers’ psyche in the three short years since its release that pangs of sweet nostalgia hit me on hearing them and the returning (unaltered) tracks.

Given its length and multiple distinct arcs, I, like so many others, played P5 over a couple of years and hearing the loping beats of Beneath the Mask again during a Scramble subway interstitial took me back to relaxing rainy days playing P5 between my newborn’s naps on paternity leave.

Yes, I am delighted to report that interstitials, the calendar system and overworld exploration all return too. I’ve based my thoughts on the demo of Scramble that’s available on the Japanese eShop which takes place across a couple of days and lets you explore Yongen-Jaya and a little of Shibuya Crossing.

A corrupted idol is the focus of the first palace… I think?

My Japanese, however, extends to being able to order gyoza, a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen and a whisky highball, so I cannot begin to detail the plot for you. Still, it starts with Joker, Skull and Mona entering the Palace (?) of a corrupted idol and ends after an hour with them leaving (?) with an Android (?) named Sophia they met along the way. Yeah, I’m confused too. Being a short demo of the beginning of the game, I cannot tell whether Confidants return, but based on the level of polish I’ve seen so far, I hope and trust that they will.

Scramble just released in Japan, but Atlus has not yet divulged a Western release date. The wait will be excruciating. I guess I’ll use the time to sharpen my Japanese. Maybe I’ll learn how to order something a little more nutritious.