New Free Switch Games, Bon Iver's Return, and More: Fanboy Roundup #4
August 24th, 2020: Fanboy Roundup #4
8/24/20
Topic #1: "Ninjala" Review
The Nintendo Switch eShop's well-known variety of indies vary in quality, and quite a few of these are free games. Naturally, free games on other platforms would be published by big companies and riddled with micro transactions, but Nintendo's been different for the most part. Today, we're discussing two new somewhat heavily-marketed free Switch games that were released at the end of June this year. The first of which is called "Ninjala"; a game described as a ninja and bubblegum game. At first glance, this is clearly a free-to-play Splatoon ripoff. It's a game in a more American style of Splatoon's said Japanese punk. When the game launched, the multiplayer was notoriously bad, which immediately turned people off of the game. It had a way bigger install base than initially planned, but that's no excuse for unpreparedness. Nonetheless, many people realized they had overhyped the game, and the gameplay was nothing very fun or special. In Splatoon, you have a variety of opposing colors splashing everywhere at once, and consistent battles of people on different teams to provide more action. The maps are condensed and precise, but Ninjala's maps are lackluster and relatively boring. The melee combat may sound like a cool idea, but it doesn't feel to provide enough character personality or variety. Overall, the game was an experience lacking in content, and nothing I would personally want to go back to. Though, maybe patches have made it better, and I suggest anyone reading this with a Switch should try out the game on the eShop for free.
Topic #2: "Pokémon Café Mix" Review
The next free game on the system is a game called "Pokémon Café Mix"; a pretty peaceful touchscreen-exclusive game that marked probably the first truly mobile-game experience on the Switch. In the gaming industry, mobile games generally mean they are more downgraded or worse than bigger console games, but this game was actually pretty fun. The plot follows you running a café with a growing staff of Pokémon to help you out. The real gameplay involves you connecting the faces of Pokémon with your fingers only and reaching a certain goal to prepare a customer order. The game's narrative follows that of a "Papa's" flash game; where you just have customers. Though, in this game, I believe you have a human boss character that guides you through what to do. The story's simple, but it's what it needs to be. Instead of being something big or the main focus, it basically just adds context to the gameplay. This works fine, and creates a great free addition to the Switch.
Topic #3: A Crash Bash! (State of Play Discussion)
On August 6th, a relatively uneventful PlayStation "State of Play" occurred. With the rumors at first, people were gearing up for new PS5 games that would be mainly set for next year. Though, two days before the event in its announcement, they said it would have a heavy focus on PS4 and PS VR games. While people were disappointed, they still hoped for one big announcement, perhaps saved for the end, for a new PS5 game. Though, we got none of that, and the direct ended with a very boring segment about more details on an upcoming game "Godfall". Before all of the uninteresting stuff came a lovely godsend about "Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time". We got over five minutes of new information, and all of it was glorious in my opinion. This makes me want the game five times more, and it's hard for me to even wait until October.
Topic #4: New Bon Iver Songs
Recently, a band with a folk-turned-strange genre called Bon Iver, started something they call "season five". This is obviously relating to their upcoming fifth album, which I assume will be a compilation of singles that's further spread out than "i,i". This is exciting, especially seeing as the first song released, I thought, was better than any song in "i,i". In fact, I liked the next song even better. The songs so far have been stylized as an abbreviation of five words, which may likely be a theme with this album. So far, the songs have been very mellow and have held my attention from start to end. The lyrics have all been very pretty, and everything seems to mesh very well together to make two great songs. The expectations for this album seem high now, but I think Bon Iver has the power to live up to them all.
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