Nintendo Okie

My original review for Mighty Switch Force was going to simply say, “BUY MIGHTY SWITCH FORCE NOW!!!” I thought about it a little bit and thought you deserved some explanation as to why. 2011 is ending on a high note for the 3DS eShop with three very solid titles coming in the last few weeks of the year.

It’s no surprise that I have a lot of respect and admiration for the developers at Wayforward. They take old school game design, and meld it with new school play mechanics and technologies to create some truly wonderful experiences. They have almost no equal when it comes to 2D sprite art and it shows in their latest release, which also adds some very high quality 3D effects in the mix.

What You Need to Know

Mighty Switch Force is a 2D puzzle platformer that stars you, as Officer Patricia Wagon (think about it) as she attempts to apprehend the five Hooligan Sisters who have escaped from jail and are wreaking havoc all over Planet Land. The main mechanic of the game is the ability to use your Siren Helmet to switch the positions of blocks to create new paths and platforms, as well as use them as weapons. You have a gun to shoot monsters roaming the levels and a radar to help you pinpoint the hiding spots of the sisters. You must get all five of them in every level and make it to a preset extraction point.

Switch Mechanic is Fun

The main gimmick of the game is the ability to hit a button and switch blocks in and out of reality to create new platforms. It’s simple enough to understand, which is good because there is no in game tutorial of any kind. The first few levels give you the basic idea of how to use the blocks, but very quickly you’re given new blocks, with no explanation of them, and you have to figure out how to use them.

Solid colored blocks can be moved in and out of position, but as you progress you’re given blocks that will lock themselves into position and can only be switched if you’re not standing on them. These blocks are used in conjunction with other colors to create some extremely tricky, but very clever puzzles to solve. Other types of blocks must be blown up by bomb enemies, or give you the ability to shoot through them and all of these blocks are used together more and more as the game progresses.

It’s another in a long line of simple to learn, but difficult to master types of games, but Wayforward uses this one mechanic in wonderfully creative ways. The platforming itself is well done. The controls are ultra responsive, which is good because there are some points that you have to jump, switch the blocks and shoot enemies all at the same time, and it just works. You never feel like the game wronged you. Timing is critical and the game works well in that respect.

Gorgeous Visuals

Games like BloodRayne: Betrayal and a boy and his blob showed that Wayforward knows how to create some very detailed and pretty to look at art assets. That’s been the hallmark of the developer and their claim to fame. Mighty Switch Force is their first effort on the 3DS and it shows just how talented they are with adding another dimension to their titles. Everything about Mighty Switch Force is beautiful. The early screenshots of the game that I saw showed something that didn’t look great. The pictures often showed the game overly pixilated and couldn’t really get across just how beautiful this game is.

All of the characters are highly detailed with tons of personality and animation. The level design with the cityscapes in the background seem to go on forever and give you the sense that you’re in a highly urban area with lots of buildings and places to walk on.

Explosions seems to jump slightly off the screen and any time your character or an enemy is flung into the screen it simulates the screen cracking and is one of the best 3D effects I’ve seen on the system to this point.

It’s Over Already?

If there’s one failing of Mighty Switch Force it’s that it ends too soon. Just when you feel like you’ve really been able to master the mechanics of the game it’s over. There are only 16 levels in the game and you could easily breeze through them in a couple of hours. There is one reason to keep coming back and that’s to get the “par time” for the level, but it’s not much of a reason to come back as it doesn’t really give you anything. There’s nothing to unlock and no bonus levels to find.

The par time is going to take you a few playthroughs to obtain, but because there’s no real payoff there’s no real reason to try to achieve them other than to say you did something the developer thought was difficult.

Conclusion

As I said before the end of 2011 has been stellar for the 3DS eShop. Titles like Pushmo and Freakyforms have set the stage. There’s plenty to love about Mighty Switch Force. The platforming is solid. The visuals are amazing and the soundtrack is one you’re going to want on your music device of choice. The only bad thing is the game isn’t too long. Maybe we’ll see some DLC in the future in the form of new levels, until then though, if you’re into platformers and beautiful pixel style art then you’re going to want to download this one.

Final Score:

Review copy of the game purchased in the Nintendo eShop.
Played through all 16 levels, obtaining par time in half of them.
Total Play Time: 3 hours