
Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, in this instance, it’s more a question of ‘how?’ rather than ‘why?’. The chicken is nestled in a busted toilet that’s been kitted out with propulsion rockets and the road has been replaced with a dangerous menagerie of traps, bombs and barrel cannons.
YouTube 'sensation' Pewdiepie has teamed up with developer DoubleMoose - a studio featuring Armin Ibrisagic, one of the devs behind the immensely popular Goat Simulator – to bring Switch owners something a little different in the form of Animal Super Squad; and it’s a title well worth your attention. The standalone adventure may be on the short side, and home to some overly familiar inspiration *cough* Donkey Kong Country Returns*cough*, but there’s enough meat on the bone to keep coming back for another bite.

Animal Super Squad is one of those games that’s equal parts ‘WTF?’ and ‘this is awesome!’. The premise is simple: get the chicken, sloth, fish or another animal of your choice to the end of the level in one piece. There are no coins to collect, no KONG letters to grab – just get from A to B. Think along the lines of BMX stunt title Trials and the recently released Bridge Constructor Portal and you’re halfway there.
Avoid spikes, lava, spring-loaded boxing gloves and other dangers to make it to the finish line safely and the reward is access to the next brilliantly designed level. An abundance of checkpoints are scattered throughout, and with a simple push of '-', warping back to keep retrying those tough-to-beat sections is simple and quick. It’s not too dissimilar to the quick-fire retries that you get in the Runner series. Tucked away are bonus stages – one per level - that provide an extra challenge for the fans of 100% completion, and although these stages are much shorter in length, they’re considerably more challenging to beat. Still, having a world that’s thoroughly completed provides heavy incentive to meticulously explore all this game has to offer.

With physics being at the forefront of gameplay (take one look at the marketing and you’ll see), you'll need to use the control stick so your Chicken hero can tilt his mode of transport for a long jump - or a lethal nosedive if misjudged. Tilt too much and the chances of blasting full-speed to your death are vastly increased. A few levels in and mastering the art of gradual flight and reaching the finish line safely becomes less frustrating and more enjoyable and is helped by the gradual and comfortable learning curve.
Without any voice-over and very little text, the game still manages to pack in some subtle but effective humour. To the amusing (and cute) chirping of Chicken as he patiently sits in his jetpack car, to the ragdoll physics of the sloth dragging his lanky, hairy arms across the platforms; points of repetitive frustration are easier to swallow with tiny details that frequently keep us smiling from ear to ear.
In addition to the imaginatively-designed levels in the single-player mode, a fully-fledged level editor is available to use from the get-go. It’s daunting to use at first but sit down and invest some time with the editor and there's plenty of scope to create your own impressive pieces of work - but patience is advised as it’s a little on the fiddly side. While being given generous access to all the assets the developer used when creating the title might not interest some, having the option to let the creative juices flow will be happily received by many.

The active community has already conjured up some imaginative masterpieces, and with a nifty upvote option, we quickly stumble across a replica of an iconic Super Mario level, a stage so intricate that it blows our tiny minds and some truly mind-boggling mixtures of brilliance and functional nonsense. There are, however, creators out there in the community with their main aim to troll as there’s a deluge of creations impossible to even start; a small annoyance, but then again it’s an open platform and it’s to be expected. Having a constant stream of stages to jump in at any time is an attractive and accessible feature making Animal Super Squad even more replayable as there’s never really a shortage of content to sink your teeth into.
This indie title won’t take the world by storm in the same way Goat Simulator did when it hit consoles and PC a few years ago, but DoubleMoose has managed to create a title that’s packed to the rafters with content that sits comfortably in a tight package that’s predominantly driven by a creative community. While the lack of a multiplayer mode is sure to dishearten those couch co-op readers out there, the freedom to build levels of your own by using an intricate stage editor certainly helps makes up for it.
Conclusion
Dripping with charm and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, Animal Super Squad is a good example of when physics-based gameplay is done right. There are some elements such as boss battles, multiplayer and HD rumble that aren’t in this game and the lack of these features will be bothersome for some Switch users. However, this little gem is a formidable first entry into the indie scene for the YouTube personality and positively paves the way to what's looking to be a successful new venture for DoubleMoose.
Comments 62
Nope.
I had to sit through 1 month of felix advertising this game instead of his chair 😓
In the end all the ass jokes were worth it.
Looks like everyone here hates pewdiepie...
Serieus question, how many of you have actually seen any of his video’s since april 2017? He’s become a real great guy since then and much more down to earth.
A big no for ... reasons.
PewDiePie? Sorry, I don`t buy anything that associates itself with that person.
eh,
So many people who aren't scumbags deserve money for their efforts; this one's easy to pass up for me.
@MattFox - Curious if you're opinion of the studio changes later in its life even though PDP may not be involved in his projects but the reality is they are still close.
Regardless the game looks like light fun, but one of those games that my purchase hinges on a physical release.
@Paraka I will not boycott every game, just the ones PewDiePie might be involved with. I have nothing against the devs, but I will not buy anything that is in any way tied to PDP.
@MattFox - Though unorthodoxed, I cannot blame people's virtues over a simple thing such as a game.
I asked cause I have seen some pretty vitriol for Earthworm Jim releasing vinyls and lynchmobs against Playtonic even after the JT fiasco cause they even remotely considered him in the first place.
A lot of emotional responses here... It’s best to separate your politics from the games you might want to play.
@darkswabber I don't hate the bloke, I just don't lose any sleep not sharing his sense of humour.
Thanks for reading my review everyone
@Richard_Atkinson Are you new to the crew?
@GrailUK I joined a couple months back
@GrailUK that’s understandable. It’s sometimes as a fan just infuriating to see people hate him based on what some journalist said rather than what they actually know about him.
@Richard_Atkinson sorry for distracting people from your review. Great review BTW.
@Richard_Atkinson Ah, then I'll bid you a late welcome ^^
Sigh... Why can't anyone at least give PewDiePie a chance?
Looks like a fun game, I'll probably check this out later. Haha
I don't know and I don't care to know why everyone hates PewDiePie. I'll just be blissfully ignorant.
Oh man, this comment section. So painful to read.
Good review though, might pick it up now.
@darkswabber — I feel ya. Never got into his Let's Play videos years back, what with the screaming, but I recall the hubbub around his poor judgment (or lack of judgment) for those...speechy occasions, though I never delved deep into coverage on the matters. However, my boyfriend started me watching his newer stuff (around the time of the beard) in the past half year or so, and while I don't think Felix and my frames of mind and humors overlap as well as I'd prefer, I overall think he's not "a bad person". Seems with all the backlash that's occurred, it's led him to step down from the abundance of works he'd been involved in, and I think that's been good for his state of mind.
But, if he keeps %^$&ing up like he had in the not-so-distant past, I'll still decry his detriments to any communities affected.
@G-Boy - PDP's YouTube content can go die in a fire, and that has been my stance prior to making everyone's opposing political opinions everyone else's moral agenda a standard social media norm. It's just, as my friend said appropriately before I, "squeaky garbage."
This however has no sway on the game, he may been a part and is friends to a few within the studio, but ultimately this isn't just "his game." I just don't see much depth.
@Spanjard Separating the art from the artist has merit in some cases, depending on the misdeeds, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with deciding that someone isn't worthy of your cash or that supporting a person's creation is tantamount to a vote in their direction. And, frankly, a flawed person's work could be important and meaningful enough to sway you into investigating it, but the vacuous idiocy and frankly racist underpinnings of PewDiePie's character have been weighed against this trifle of a game, and I find myself uninterested in the game itself and further bolstered in my decision in knowing that I'm in no way supporting someone who needs less of a pulpit, not more.
quite remarkable how many people have such a poor opinion of pewdiepie based on what journalists looking for a juicy scoop wrote about him. i understand though, i was there with you, thought he was a scumbag, entitled a$$hole… then i actually watched him and realised he's a pretty genuine bloke. any of us could easily mess up like he did, the only difference is none of us will have a media witch hunt after us if we did. he comes across as a pretty down to earth person and it's totally in contrast with what I (and probably a lot of you) read about him in the media. anyway, regarding the game, seems like fairly light fun, may have a look in to it… i also may just wait till it's discounted lol
(also, good review Richard, keep it up!)
The great thing about capitalism is you can vote with your wallet. I find PDP odorous, and so will not go near this game; but I’ll often buy games with poorer ratings as I like the devs. My wallet, my choice
I have a poor opinion of Mr. Pie because I watched some of his content.
Yeah the comments are more fun to read
@Richard_Atkinson i see your word count has increased since mynintendonews lol
@Keldorek Do all you want. As far as I’m aware, he apologized for using the N word if that’s what you are referring to. But don’t act like you can read minds, because you can’t.
If you want to cast a stone at someone for making a mistake in public, you can do that. I don’t want to live in that world.
@darkswabber It's ok, I expected it given the recent-ish goings on. I made a conscious effort to emit all references to the controversies in my review XD - thank you reading and for the feedback
@Sidon_ZoraPrince Ha! Hello there yep, my time at MNN was very different but loving it here in the cosy towers of Nintendo Life <3
@quinnbad Thank you for the feedback. I'll get cracking on my next review in a few hours!
@Saego covers eyes awesome, thank you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I am
@GrailUK aw, thanks
@Spanjard Ah. The old “don’t cast stones” argument.
Listen, you may find his use of the N-word excusable. It’s absolutely inexcusable to use that word without proper context and using the word carelessly often indicates a serious character flaw, not some isolated incident. And then there’s his Nazi foibles. And there’s the fact that I find him deeply annoying in general.
This isn’t about mind reading or not believing in forgiveness. This is about a pattern of behavior I choose not to reward. Simple as that. Support him if YOU like; that’s absolutely your choice and right.
Aw man I'm so glad people read the review and are actually judging it based on that instead of immediately shunning it because Pewdiepie is associated with it and he said a NAUGHTY WORD on a livestream. I'm so glad we have such a great community!
@Richard_Atkinson I would imagine it to be very different. Hopefully in many positive ways.
I go to MNN for the quick turnaround of conscise and varied articles, a lot of smaller stories are reported there but not here.
I come here for the detailed articles, personality and the comment section which is far better in terms of opinion and humour.
Two very different sites, and i imagine its very different behind the scenes.
Congrats on the new-ish gig lol
@Richard_Atkinson Good welcomes and great review. Like overs have said bit of a shame it was about what is apparently a touchy subject but great to see you focused on the important part.
@Keldorek Ok. You went from accusing someone you don’t know of being a racist to saying he has a character flaw. I say we are making progress!
I didn’t say it was excusable, now did I? There you go mind reading again. And these so called “patterns” you see are what’s called ‘confirmation bias’. You just don’t like the guy, like you said, and that’s fine. We don’t disagree, we both hate racists.
I’m not even a fan myself and that’s also fine.
No one cares lmao if you dont like pewdiepie, just ignore this review and move on with your life. (Although it was a good review)
@Keldorek HAHAHAH his nazi foibles? It was a damn joke, and prob one of the funniest videos I’ve seen back then. I
no thanks
@Richard_Atkinson great review! Very articulate and you were very fair and objective. Your review had a very pleasant flow that segued into each topic in a nice way. Looking forward to more of your work!
@Richard_Atkinson Good on you for not politicizing your review. Games deserve to be judged on their own merits.
Not sure I'm sold on the game, but I thought your review was pretty good. Keep it up!
Not interested in the game, but great review, @Richard_Atkinson ! I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from you.
Poor Pewdiepie can't catch a break.
Probably wasn't a smart idea for the developers to team with up with an Alt-Rightard.
I have much better things to do with my money than support a white supremacist
All these people hating on PewDiePie. Lol. The dude can't get a break.
This section is so funny, and honestly one of the most pretentious
to read ... like reminds me of other sites circa 2007.
I want to remind everyone of what the Daily Stormer said on one occasion regarding PDP's jokes: "it doesn’t matter” (if PDP is joking or sincere about supporting Nazism) “since the effect is the same; it normalizes Nazism, and marginalizes our enemies.” Those are the words of the US's biggest Neo-Nazi website, and they have probably never said anything truer.
Folks, when the actual, real-life Neo-Nazis think you're doing great work, it's time to think good and hard about what you are doing with your life.
This is not a case of a stupid teenager accidentally using the N-word one time in the heat of the action and asking us for a second chance at living a good life. This is a guy who used Nazi jokes again and again and again, and when Charlottesville happened he begged for the public's forgiveness (again) and claimed he never knew there were actual Nazis around anymore. Of course, a month later he was in trouble again for using a different kind of language endorsed by the Daily Stormer, Stormfront and every other white supremacist publication you can think of.
Once again for the slow readers: white supremacist hate groups, people who are on actual FBI watch lists for endorsing, planning and committing real-life hate crimes, are among Felix Kjellberg's biggest fans. He's their favorite YouTuber ever. They call him "our hero" without a shred of irony.
Those are the people you're siding with here.
"However, this little gem is a formidable first entry into the indie scene for the YouTube personality"
@Richard_Atkinson A lot of comments here so I'm not sure if someone said it, but this is not PDP's first game.
As for the game itself, I won't hold it against PDP and not buy the game. I still won't buy the game though because I don't have throwaway money or time.
I can't download user levels. Does somebody has that too?
@FNL "Alt right"? Okay, I've heard some serious stretches for things people like to claim PewDiePie is but that is a totally new one.
Okey i m tired of these things on switch
This entire page is Top Kek! xD
Whiny Pewdiepie haters letting their emotions run wild and stand in the way of playing what turns out to be a decent game.
Knowing this only makes the game that much sweeter to play ^_^
Will not buy because PewDiePie. Let's stop making stupid people famous.
If PewDiePie wasn't directly involved with this game, it would have been called PewDieBait. Or is it now a different kind of PewDieBait, Pew himself baiting other streamers/let's players with his game to make money off of them? 🤔
@JasmineDragon You know that the Daily Stormer also named itself "the number one Wall Street Journal fanpage" after that article came out? The alt-right are a cesspool of trolls with identity politics leanings. Why should anyone believe what any of them says? They have no credibility and their style of "debate" is based around trolling the other person rather than presenting arguments.
PewDiePie has nothing to do with alt-right. WSJ was trying to bully YouTube into compliance by attacking the most popular YouTuber and gain some traction for their failing newspaper (PDP could probably outright buy WSJ).
Ridiculing Nazis doesn't make people want to be Nazis.
To quote Mel Brooks:
"Rhetoric does not get you anywhere, because Hitler and Mussolini are just as good at rhetoric. But if you can bring these people down with comedy, they stand no chance."
@SmaggTheSmug You raise some valid points, and for the record I have no reason to believe PDP hangs out with the alt-right people or identifies with their politics. I think he's just the kind of schmuck who will do anything for clicks, and is completely oblivious to the effect that it has on people.
The problem is, whether or not he really is, and whether or not the Daily Stormer are full of it (yeah, they are), that quote is true. Stunts like the ones PDP pulled for years DO normalize hate. Look how many people in this thread alone have said variations on "it was just a joke, no big deal" about a guy whose most famous stunt was literally getting two guys to put up a sign demanding genocide.
I can pretty much guarantee this is not what Mel Brooks had in mind. I mean, the man made half a dozen movies and a Broadway musical satirizing racism and Antisemitism in MUCH more pointed ways. When he was lampooning the Nazis and other racist groups, you knew damn well that he was skewering them. PDP's idea of satire seems to be "oh, the Final Solution was a really good idea, ha ha, isn't that funny?"
And no, I'm not going to support people who make jokes about exterminating my people. When I was a kid I went to temple with Holocaust survivors who lost their entire families, saw their communities erased, and barely survived. It's not a freaking joke, it's a nightmare that actually happened, a mere two generations ago. It's just flabbergasting that people can actually defend this behavior. To me, this is like a guy who went to the site of the World Trade Center and took a dump in the memorial pool, YouTubed the whole thing and said "oh, it was just a joke"... and became rich and famous for it.
Except, you know, much much worse.
@CurtBro Okay this comment was not necessary, watch the profanity.
I hear all these comments about racism and Nazism etc and I am like...are we talking about the same guy? I can't stand racism and yet I have been watching his videos for years and never thought he was racist :/ I know he said a really dumb thing but if we are being uncomfortably honest with each other here.....that word is used A LOT. I mean, when I was kid it was the norm to call everything gay. Im not saying it is right, I am just saying that society cannot normalize a word and use it frequently in pop culture (every song out at the moment...) and then act surprised when people use it. I am not a bigot and yet sometimes I still slip and say something is gay and I am Bi with a lot of gay friends....Luckily they know me and so know I don't mean it. I feel like its really sad to judge a guy based on this :/ And that nazi stuff was nibelsnarfing pathetic.
@MattFox You sure give PDP a lot of power in your life, lol.
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