SwitchedOn_Games

Whilst not being my favourite genre, I am a sucker for just really really good games of any genre if they are well done. A member of my Discord was banging on about it and I had to get involved! I went the eShop route rather than import and ended up setting me back about £40 after spending some gold and affiliate payments from Play-Asia.

Super impressed. I've really tried to learn a lot more about SHMUPs after playing this and the whole sub-culture is fascinating - as well as being just a brilliantly polished game and from what I understand like the reviewer, a labour of love port job with loads of extras.

I'm still learning how to play the game and practicing at it, but I really love it and if you have a passing interest in SHMUPs its definitely worth considering paying out for it.

Finally, great review Mark, not often I can say that of a NL review, but you obviously know your stuff and care for the genre and that came across. I'd maybe have put in the fact its Japanese only as a 'con' due to the expense and trouble of setting up a JPN account for the more casual player, but thats just me. Thanks for an entertaining and informative read!

Oh for those confused about the title, most people call it "Esprade" (S-Praid)

Nice to see so many people comment it "deserved more" and is "the second best racing game on Switch" as that's exactly where I placed it in the "top 10 racing games from 2019" video I did the other day.

It's super fun to drive and as I've said in my review, should put bigger teams of developers to shame what @brownmonster has managed to squeeze into this one. Any racing fan should 100% own it!

I've had all 3 versions and actually like the controller set up. Uses the hot keys lets you get around fairly quickly. For me mouse->controller->touch screen.

I'm with you on this one PJ!! Pretty, pretty, pretty bad!

Noticing your scoring is pretty harsh PJ. I mean that as an observation, not a dig! You gave WRC8 a 5 and now this a 7 where you're review is pretty positive on the whole and other outlets are erring towards a 9 - which is the ballpark I'm heading towards in my review.

Just interesting! Do you feel you judge games harshly for any reason? Anyways, nice review and its a really fun game isnt it!?

@Damo Cool that's your prerogative. 👍🏻

@Damo Good figures, though doesn't actually mean Nintendo fans viewed it exclusively. I'd imagine a lot of the views just came from general gamers searching for information.

But anyways, I'm definitely interested in the content and I watched your review of it on YT. I think the point I'm making (and have made) is people primarily come here for Nintendo content. If I want multi-platform game news, there's plenty of other places. I'd rather you guys put your efforts into making more Nintendo content personally, but that's just me.

Like I said, can see why you did it from a business POV from the viewing figures

NL (particularly Damien) get very snotty if you dare mention some of their articles aren't Nintendo based, so be very careful!

They'll claim a loose affiliation between some random Capcom game also being on Switch....

@mist YES! Also it took the 12 year old that did ALL the art work, only 27 minutes, which to this day still stands as a world record in any video game.

Motorsport Manager is a superb game and board game fans should be all over For The King!!

@Mii_duck Thank you!!!!

@60frames-please Thank you! I've tried to mix it up and do as many in 60 as I can. Not sure the difference comes through onto YT as well as it does sitting in front of the game though.

Overall, I prefer the look of the graphics mode though, so I'll be sticking with that!

I've got a shed load of coverage over on my channel if anyone wants more info. Feels a bit mean of the review to mark it down for lack of multiplayer when it's been confirmed as coming - but I don't understand you can only review what's in front of you and not what might be.

Personally I've followed this game from the iOS launch and Feral are incredibly dedicated to their games, so I have upmost confidence they will deliver on their promises and I'd suggest picking the game up and getting some practice in for when multiplayer hits!!

@BulbasaurusRex Ah... are you American? It's very popular in the UK and on TV a lot, especially the big tournaments.

@BulbasaurusRex Ha what a quite ignorant thing to say, Snooker has a massive, massive following!!

Theres about 5 'budget' pool games on the eShop as well. Premium Pool Arena is probably the best of a bad bunch. The superb looking "This Is Pool" was due this year, but its been delayed till 2020.

@Daftbomb Unfortunately not, but its an oft requested feature. FTW, I gave it an 8 on my channel and pointed out a lot of the same good and bad points.

This is par for the course for Asmodee. Their first Switch game, Carcassonne was similar bad in the same ways. I didn't bother with Catan but believe that is also not very good.

I'm a big fan of all 3 of these games in cardboard form, but they really not doing a good job of converting them at all.

@Moroboshi876 Yea sounded like it was totally F2P.

@Moroboshi876 Works on a sub basis - £12.50 A MONTH!!! as a starter package.... £99 for the year.

think you've missed some stuff between this and the next part?

@Wazeddie22 Defo - I gave it a 9.5/10 on my channel when I reviewed it and also have a "10 Tips" video on there too if anyone is stuck at all.

Ooof... that feels low Like @CairiB says above, I prefer it to Stardew in many ways, which itself is an excellent 9/10 game!

NINTENDO Life.... the clue is in your name. Why are you even posting this??

I'm sure this was listed as $19.99 on the US eShop all the way to going live today, when its now gone up to $29.99. Was going to buy at around that £15 mark, but definitely not seemingly worth £25+.

Might pick it up in a sale at some point.

@TAndvig There is some stealth yea, but in instances of say breaking into a house, its pointless as the cops get called anyways.

I wouldn't call it run and gun either. The gunplay isnt great, especially with the awful AI of the cops. I have a clip on my channel of me with wanted stars, standing next to a cop. He does nothing. So I punch him in the face.... nothing lol. You can literally walk away from them and they still cant catch you up and arrest you, preferring to just stop every now and again to take pot shots (which usually miss).

I wouldn't buy it for stealth or gunplay at all!

@John_Deacon Thanks John - and no, nothing to do with them apart sharing a name I guess

Too be fair, the devs have commented on the video ands said they are looking at the points that were raised. They've already released a stability/performance patch pretty quickly, so thats a good start.

@John_Deacon Personally I have a few problems (if you not seen my review on YouTube, then please check that out - channel is SwitchedOn).

My main issues are;

1) Police appearing from out of nowhere instantly when you have a prang
2) Casing a house is POINTLESS. The police turn up regardless - as the review mentions above, can be in the middle of the night, nobody at home and a house in the middle of nowhere. Break in 'silently' and instantly the police are on their way.
3) Handling is generally poor at high speeds
4) Cop AI is AWFUL.
5) Performance wasnt great, which has been slightly resolved.

But I think there are solutions for all the above and I've been in contact with the devs with my thoughts.

1) Stop police instantly reponsding to prangs
2) If you successfully case a house and confirm every room is empty, then dont (always) trigger the police call
3) Cop AI... should be improved.

I'm hopeful they will fix these things and I will raise my score from 5.5.

I have never agreed with a Nintendo Life review more! My own review which has been smashing it on YT was a 5.5/10 and highlighted pretty much every point you've brought up above.

I released a new video yesterday as there was a performance patch, so at least the devs are heading in the right direction with it.

@kupocake Thanks for the reply - yes, I've had it around 4 weeks as well and as you say, the more you play it the less fun it gets. Oddly, a lot of NIS games are like that. I've scored it less personally, but each to their own - there is a lot to like in the game and at least for an NIS game, the price is a bit fairer than their usual releases!

"Nippon Ichi Software has hit a great formula that avoids the worst excesses of repetition or frustration"

Eh? The whole game is very repetitive from the level design (actually re-using the same layout over and over) and the gameplay is always the same. What an odd statement!

@Stargazer Yea, absolutely awful. As bad as V-Rally 4, but somehow more distracting!

@Rob3008 Haha! I consider myself told... "calm yourself" lol... I said its insinuating its the Switch version, by being on a Nintendo website and promoting the Switch release. I'm just saying a helpful note "may not be representative of the Switch version" or something.

I'm trying to stop people wasting a LOT of money, so anything I can do to help that, I will.

@Erchitu Please wait for reviews - check my video how it runs on Switch.

Thats NOT Switch footage.

Switch runs below 30fps at the moment. A day one patch is apparently coming to improve it - but nobody knows to what yet.

Drop £45 at your own peril!!

NL as bad as the eShop here allowing that to be shown insinuating its the Switch game.

Here's my take on the situation.... https://youtu.be/Q8YMvXM3F6U

I fear this is going to score well just because it stands out rather than based on any sort of decent amount of gameplay. £13.50 for a couple of hours play to see everything and yes I dont doubt the gameplay looks fun to a degree, it needed something more as a hook.

Leaderboards, some sort of online? Would be good like 7 guards played by humans vs 1 ape sort of thing.

Nice as an art experiment, but should have been like £5.

@rhaydeo why? It's a great game.

@YANDMAN I love them. Slower the better. Sounds like it just isn’t for you, which is fine. Most reviews- especially for Switch - are excellent for this. Is everybody wrong?

@YANDMAN @0muros This has a lot of positive reviews in the 8s/9s for a reason. Yes, it starts off slow, but even from the 2nd/3rd room onwards it really ramps up.

I did a video review myself scoring an 8.5.

https://youtu.be/Gn8PdABAQpY

Such a good game this - highly recommend it, its addictive AF.

Excellent! Really enjoy this on mobile

@e0ne0ne Yea I'm on a healthy eating kick, so hoping this will help - probably combine it with some DDP Yoga!

@e0ne0ne I'm starting mine today! You felt any difference to fitness or anything yet?

@Equinox You cant win today @scully1888

@Carnictis I had a list a week ago;

Sheltered x
Battle Pincess Madelyn x
Jewel Fever 2 x
Mana Spark
Super Treasure Arena
Omega strike
JCB Pioneer
Aaero

So far, the first 3 haven't reviewed particularly well anywhere. And to be honest, looking at Steam, I'm not holding out much hope on the others (with the exception of Aaero)

Was so hyped for a long list of indie titles over this past week and slowly ticking them off as no-buys one by one!

@BionicDodo Yea I hope so too, I get what you are saying now about how well arcade racers ran on those systems. Would have been great to have Burnout remastered on Switch, think a lot of people were expecting that when it was announced.

I'm amazed like I said that nobody has done a port yet of a Burnout or NFS.Surely only a matter of time.

@Mii_duck Put it this way - and this isn't a dig at @scully1888 - but I'm sure if Chris reviewed it, it would similarly get a 4-5/10 as it shares a lot of the same issues as V-Rally and GC. Downgraded graphics, some slowdown, doesn't look good (one of the worst looking 180+ Switch games I own!) on handheld.

BUT... again, I've personally found some fun in it. I ended up paying £31 for it for some reason, so wasn't quite as bad as if I'd paid full whack of £45, but probably not worth that either. Its on sale at the moment, not sure how much, but like I said, there is some fun to be had in it for sure.

Generally docked, it looks ok and runs well with no noticeable slowdown. Has a LOAD of modes, starting out in GP2 equivalent and having to work your way up and upgrade your bike, move teams etc.

Has handlebar view and usual 3rd person views. Cant recall if it has a rewind feature (sorely lacking in VR4 tbf), but I seem to think it does.

So in summary; compromised port like VR4, some fun and challenge for sure, pick it up in a sale!

@BionicDodo But how can you compare if they aren't on the Switch? You said the Switch is "...more than capable of running a realistic looking game with a solid frame rate..." - my argument is, "is it?" Because nobody has made one yet.

Given the decent job Feral have done on iOS with Grid, I'm expecting that to be very good and to tick the boxes you are asking for. But even that, that is a 5 year old game and even on iOS needs a chunky spec to run with cut back effects (although too be fair, they have started to patch stuff back in and open up what it can run on).

But apart from that, every other 'sim' on the Switch has performance issues. The Gear Clubs, MotoGP18, The MX games, Mudrunner and now this. So no... perhaps the Switch cant run a good looking sim and maybe we have to accept if we want these sort of games, we need to compromise our expectations.

Does that mean devs get a free pass? No - I said that above. But also like I said, I'll take this game with a few technical hitches, than not have developers at least try to bring them to the switch.

Its personal tolerance. As a gamer, VR4 is within the limits I am prepared to accept on the Switch to have it on the platform and the chance to play it portably,. Would I accept this same performance on my Xbox X? No, course not.

@scully1888 Didnt so much question it, as respect it - as I've stated!

@BionicDodo Doesn't that happen anyways? Launch titles do normally get higher ratings for that reason! (well, I think so anyways). If you look back at some of the launch window titles and re-reviewed them, I bet they'd most likely score lower.

Anyways, we going round in circles, I'm happy to disagree with you on this one. As I said, all about opinions! BTW, have you played V-Rally 4 on Switch? Not a dig, genuine question. Just find it odd though when people have a strong argument against a game when they haven't played it.