Nintendo Switch - Game Previews (4 of 5)

Thanks to the fine folks at Nyteworks (www.nyteworks.net), I got advanced hands-on experience with the upcoming Nintendo Switch and many of its games. I’ll be covering my game experiences this week, ordered alphabetically for the sake of simplicity, and will be covering my hardware experiences on Episode 36 of the BumbleKast (scheduled Monday, Feb. 6th).

Sonic Mania

Release Date: Q2 2017

Styled after the classic Genesis-era games, Sonic Mania has Sonic, Tails and Knuckles play through reimaginings of past levels and brand new ones. The demo on display had Green Hill Zone and Studiopolis Zone playable as Sonic and Tails together.

There’s no need for embellishment – this game feels perfect. The controls don’t feel like an approximation, like in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but instead they feel precisely like the classic era games. Sonic gets all of his perks from the elemental shields ala Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, and Tails retains his ability to air-lift Sonic for a short time. The only real change is that the game feels a little more forgiving about putting Sonic onto platforms that Tails flies him through. That and Sonic gets the new “Drop Dash” move that lets you zip off the moment to land from a jump.

As for the Sonic/Tails dynamic, if you’ve played Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, you already know how it goes. Sonic will easily out-pace his little buddy. If (when) you get left behind, Tails will eventually respawn and fly to Sonic’s side. Tails defaults to computer-controlled, but immediately becomes player-controlled when you use the controller.  And since Tails doesn’t drop any rings when damaged, he’s great to send ahead into danger.

In short: This is shaping up to be, potentially, the greatest Sonic game ever.

Splatoon 2

Release Date:Q2 2017

Splatoon is the best new IP to grace the Nintendo stable in a while, and the sequel is shaping up nicely. I got to play the demo version which was a 4-on-4 Turf Wars match, where the objective is to cover more of the ground in your team’s color than your opponents can in the alotted time. There were four loadouts to choose from. I went with my tried-and-true Roller and the new Splat Duelies.

The Roller has been tweeked to throw a narrow, vertical stripe of ink when you swing it while airborne, but otherwise felt the same. The Special attached to it was a jetpack that lifted you on torrents of ink and gave you a bazooka. Despite making you a very obvious target, the amount of damage you could do was delightful, especially since you could potentially temporarily access enemy territory. Once the Special ran out, it appeared to detonate, and I was launched to back to the spot where I activated it.

The Splat Duelies are dual rapid-fire pistols with a quick omni-directional roll-dodge. The guns themselves felt nice enough – good rate of fire, nice spread, and a good amount of coverage for your ammo. The real treat for me was the roll-dodge. It was incredibly fast and responsive, and it’s so unlike the rather plodding run speed you usually have, it was very easy to throw off the opponents with it. Its Special was a leaping ground-pound that created a shockwave of ink.

Everyone was playing with the Switch Pro Controller, which defaulted to the gyroscopic controls. I don’t know if these will be mandatory, but they felt really good here. They were solid in the original Splatoon, but I never felt comfortable with them there. Here in Splatoon 2, while still a little weird, I was much more at ease with them. The lack of the second screen removes some of the tactical options, but the map function that replaces it  works well enough.

In short: A promising sequel that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but instead adds some fresh ideas.