Capsule Review: Mighty Switch Force!

A puzzle platformer based around the “switch” mechanic. Each level features blocks that can move between the foreground and the background. By hitting the switch button, the player can toggle the position of all such blocks in the level simultaneously. The player must use this ability - along with standard running, jumping, and shooting - to navigate the level, avoid hazards, and defeat enemies. In each level, the player character must round up five escaped convicts and then reach the exit.

The game has an energetic soundtrack and a charming aesthetic, so long as you aren’t put off by the cheesecake (the cop and the five convicts are all busty cartoon women). The switch mechanic is progressively built on to create a series of interesting puzzles that can be satisfying to solve. Unfortunately, the game is far more frustrating and punishing than it needs to be. Many of the puzzles focus on precise timing or require waiting for elements to line up, meaning that a lot of time can be spent knowing the puzzle’s solution and just having trouble pulling it off or waiting around for the next chance to try. Worse, there’s a totally unnecessary limited health meter that kicks you out of the level if you take too much damage, meaning that if you screw up too much on a puzzle late in the level you will be forced to replay the early part of the level and redo puzzles you’ve already solved in order to get another try.

I Stopped Playing When: After clearing ten levels (out of an apparent sixteen on the 3DS version), the high levels of punishment associated with increasingly deadly enemies and precision-demaning puzzles got to be too much. I was spending more time redoing things I’d already done than working out how to solve new puzzles. This made the game too frustrating to continue and I put it down.

Docprof's Rating:


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