Nintendo Switch Demos!
Jan. 8th, 2025 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juliewolffang64This is another long post but more than likely due to how this is being stretched out over the span of a few days. In reference to my previous entry about the game burnout, one of the ways I mentioned using to cut back on the chances of buyer's remorse when getting games is trying out demos.
Some were good, some were bad, and others were just down right weird... This is going to be a little more loose than a review of each one so I encourage giving one of these a try for yourself because you might find it enjoyable or stumble upon something I seemed to overlook since that tends to happen more often than not. For this first one, I'll limit myself to a small handful of five game demos and then do another set up until I at least finish my personal demo backlog. Which of course, I still have my own Backloggd to tend to as well - segues! Again, not a personal sponsor but because I want to support the site despite not being able to financially. Nonetheless, I don't consider these reviews but rather just personal thoughts after the fact. Keeping in mind that most of these don't exactly feel one to one with their retail releases, I give them each a benefit of the doubt that the game isn't fun when the demo feels much of the same. The full retail product could be better than what was displayed there but the only way to know is if I either purchase it or someone else does and drops a video of the game in full.
When I first saw this game on the eShop, it felt so reminiscent of the older 3D Sonic games that I wanted to give it a try. Not only did it fit the vibes but it also had Klonoa art style with a mix of Kirby influenced objectives. Unlike the Sonic games, time isn't much of a limited factor of the game but instead the number of falls is as much of a factor.
While you're not exactly timed, you're ranked on how long it takes to get from point A to B. Same as the number of retries/falls and collected gems, you're ranked on those as well which in turn influences your overall rank for the stage.
In comparison to the ones from the modern Sonic games, the ranking system for the most part is pretty fair in terms of grading you. Even if you take super long but collect all the gems in a stage without falling, you still get a higher rank than the E for the time elapsed.
The camera is probably the worst mechanic of the bunch to me. It seems like a little bit is enough to make it go a bit wild. There has been a couple of times where I get disoriented due to the camera, and some even resulted in a failed run. Getting the camera aligned isn't the issue as much as constantly fighting the thing.
Definitely a nice little callback to the early days of 3D gaming but I'm politely passing on this one.
A lax but personally not too engaging for a real time RPG adventure game. Nothing against the creator as the art style is fairly charming enough to consider trying the demo for, but nothing is really enough to make this stand out.
It's something I don't find particularly interesting especially since it's not exactly memorable to me to write about... It feels more akin to a tower defense game but the tower moves and you constantly have to be on guard. Not that I don't mind the need to be vigilant, but the lack of other content around the gameplay behind straightforward is enough to consider passing this one as well.
It felt like a unique platformer with the option between cat and dog with color options to boot. On one hand, the customization options would've been an automatic win considering my life long history of being attracted to the option of customizing my gaming experience. On the other hand though, it was just a platformer that has a good story but nothing more.
Not a bad game at all, but not something that sets itself apart from various other platformer games I've played prior. I wouldn't mind keeping tabs on this one and give it another look, but so far - not one I feel confident in buying anytime soon.
This one... was weird. It was a mix between Suika Game and Bust-a-Move. You combined like mushrooms to make bigger mushrooms. Simple enough, but I can't say much because of the 3.5 minute time limit. And they said the demo disks from back in the day were stingy. Yeesh!
The aesthetics of the forest really fit the game title and I did get some enjoyment out of it - even if that time limit soured whatever hopes I had for this game. Would be willing to try if I end up with a friend that bought this game and I came over to play with them. If they also had the multiplayer DLC of course because this game does that too... Money hogs.
It's not really much of a secret that I'm deep into puzzle games, and Picross is not an exception here. The fact that it features various Sega franchises from the 8 bit and 16 bit eras should've been an instant win - but I noticed one big personal flaw that keeps it from being so: no error penalties...
What is that and why is it a big deal for me? Best way to answer that is with a recommendation: Mario's Picross. Heck, any of the older ones up to the 3DS Picross games would do. Most of those games are just as straightforward as this flavor of Picross S: color in blocks based on numbers for each row, cross out ones that falsify the numbers, and complete the picture. The big difference that really holds this one back - is the lack of penalty for making a mistake.
You fill in a square that's not supposed to be filled in and your timer goes up a certain amount each time. For the older Mario themed ones, it does down and when the time reaches zero there it's game over. The newer ones have the incentive to learn the game better by limiting the amount of time you take in order for the image to come out in color. It does take away the potential losing part of what would make them a game, but at the same time it feels more akin to golf in some retrospect.
The Switch games - including this one? Nothing. Nothing seems to be stopping me from just spamming the "A" button and getting corrected every single minute aside from patience. And maybe I'm missing something but it defeats the purpose of giving a darn to play.
What is worse is the fact that this same feature is in the other installments of Picross across the Switch games. I did try the Namco(t) themed one and had the same issue there as well. Heck, this problem was what caused the rough review I have for Kemono Friends Picross.
Now I've not played the original game for the Wii (or was it the Wii U this game came out originally?), but I was willing to give the game a fair chance Disney licensing not withstanding. Not hating the company, but man they made some pretty shifty decisions lately...
The story is interesting without dropping spoilers and on par with the character. To me, it was a mix of Super Mario Sunshine meets Disney sort of vibes and while the enemies took a bit to defeat it wasn't too bad. Controls were well adjusted and the tutorials told me right then and there what button would do what - but again, that would've been a nice time to be told how to defeat enemies aside from a somewhat vague relevance to the ink and varnish mechanics. Just pointing that out now!
Environments found within the demo were cartoony while a bit darker than usual. All in all, it did get me curious about trying the retail product even if it had less than stellar reviews.
Probably the only one of these demos that I ended up snagging the full game of recently, and for good reasons. UFO was definitely a nice throwback to the older puzzle games of back then. Mainly Wario's Woods but I could also see a bit of Collapse! Deluxe hidden in there - or Sega Swirl. The tutorial is probably the best one I've seen in a while since it gives you the basics of the game and an objective to clear the tutorial, no handholding - just pure simple instructions. I like that.
Definitely not a game you would want to play five rounds of in one sitting (unless you want to) but it can come off as chill when you want it to. It could also come off as tougher than nails as well if you focus on objectives and the bonus ones as well in the full game. Back to the demo though, I have to applaud it for giving you at least the first stage to play around with. Whether or not it has a certain play limit I don't know. Other than that stage limit, you can't transfer your demo save over which is not a big deal unless you put 15+ hours into the game...
I do recommend the game, but it's best to keep an eye on it for when a sale comes around as I snagged my digital copy of it for at least 3$.
Needless to say, I have a bit of a problem with demo hoarding especially when you have a fraction of the games you own that require a massive update that takes a ton of space on top of taking screenshots like a mad dog. Which to be fair, it's a lot better to have free demos attached to your account that you can't fit in all at once than spend $60+ on a digital game that you end up playing once and hate it. Not downing the digital only games by any means, I just don't see the need for everything to be digital when I don't own it myself aside from a license.
I still have a few more game demos to cover in the future but I'm also needing to clear out the backlog of that mess so I can at least look back and say "Oh yeah, I tried the game and didn't like it. Guess it's not worth the 4$ on sale to buy it and play it once". While I praise the game devs that allow a demo to be downloaded and played for free for the player to try, it does have its issues. Some tend to take the limited amount of time and space a bit too much and have a rather dull experience that would discourage interested players in buying the full game. While others do it well, and just well enough to where that decision was already in the books around 5 minutes of gameplay.
Not every game is worthy of getting a small sample for users to try (Pokemon specifically, although Let's Go did a good job of it), but there's some that would've benefitted from having a demo to try before you end up with a purchase you regret...
Still, I haven't been exactly on board with the idea of making game reviews to this extent, let alone demo'd games I've tried but it was more on experimenting and trying things out since I got a way to do so without going on camera and making a fool of myself...
Some were good, some were bad, and others were just down right weird... This is going to be a little more loose than a review of each one so I encourage giving one of these a try for yourself because you might find it enjoyable or stumble upon something I seemed to overlook since that tends to happen more often than not. For this first one, I'll limit myself to a small handful of five game demos and then do another set up until I at least finish my personal demo backlog. Which of course, I still have my own Backloggd to tend to as well - segues! Again, not a personal sponsor but because I want to support the site despite not being able to financially. Nonetheless, I don't consider these reviews but rather just personal thoughts after the fact. Keeping in mind that most of these don't exactly feel one to one with their retail releases, I give them each a benefit of the doubt that the game isn't fun when the demo feels much of the same. The full retail product could be better than what was displayed there but the only way to know is if I either purchase it or someone else does and drops a video of the game in full.
Lunistice
When I first saw this game on the eShop, it felt so reminiscent of the older 3D Sonic games that I wanted to give it a try. Not only did it fit the vibes but it also had Klonoa art style with a mix of Kirby influenced objectives. Unlike the Sonic games, time isn't much of a limited factor of the game but instead the number of falls is as much of a factor.
While you're not exactly timed, you're ranked on how long it takes to get from point A to B. Same as the number of retries/falls and collected gems, you're ranked on those as well which in turn influences your overall rank for the stage.
In comparison to the ones from the modern Sonic games, the ranking system for the most part is pretty fair in terms of grading you. Even if you take super long but collect all the gems in a stage without falling, you still get a higher rank than the E for the time elapsed.
The camera is probably the worst mechanic of the bunch to me. It seems like a little bit is enough to make it go a bit wild. There has been a couple of times where I get disoriented due to the camera, and some even resulted in a failed run. Getting the camera aligned isn't the issue as much as constantly fighting the thing.
Definitely a nice little callback to the early days of 3D gaming but I'm politely passing on this one.
Secret Summoner
A lax but personally not too engaging for a real time RPG adventure game. Nothing against the creator as the art style is fairly charming enough to consider trying the demo for, but nothing is really enough to make this stand out.
It's something I don't find particularly interesting especially since it's not exactly memorable to me to write about... It feels more akin to a tower defense game but the tower moves and you constantly have to be on guard. Not that I don't mind the need to be vigilant, but the lack of other content around the gameplay behind straightforward is enough to consider passing this one as well.
Paw Paw Destiny
It felt like a unique platformer with the option between cat and dog with color options to boot. On one hand, the customization options would've been an automatic win considering my life long history of being attracted to the option of customizing my gaming experience. On the other hand though, it was just a platformer that has a good story but nothing more.
Not a bad game at all, but not something that sets itself apart from various other platformer games I've played prior. I wouldn't mind keeping tabs on this one and give it another look, but so far - not one I feel confident in buying anytime soon.
Land of Mushrooms
This one... was weird. It was a mix between Suika Game and Bust-a-Move. You combined like mushrooms to make bigger mushrooms. Simple enough, but I can't say much because of the 3.5 minute time limit. And they said the demo disks from back in the day were stingy. Yeesh!
The aesthetics of the forest really fit the game title and I did get some enjoyment out of it - even if that time limit soured whatever hopes I had for this game. Would be willing to try if I end up with a friend that bought this game and I came over to play with them. If they also had the multiplayer DLC of course because this game does that too... Money hogs.
Picross S: Genesis & Master System Edition
It's not really much of a secret that I'm deep into puzzle games, and Picross is not an exception here. The fact that it features various Sega franchises from the 8 bit and 16 bit eras should've been an instant win - but I noticed one big personal flaw that keeps it from being so: no error penalties...
What is that and why is it a big deal for me? Best way to answer that is with a recommendation: Mario's Picross. Heck, any of the older ones up to the 3DS Picross games would do. Most of those games are just as straightforward as this flavor of Picross S: color in blocks based on numbers for each row, cross out ones that falsify the numbers, and complete the picture. The big difference that really holds this one back - is the lack of penalty for making a mistake.
You fill in a square that's not supposed to be filled in and your timer goes up a certain amount each time. For the older Mario themed ones, it does down and when the time reaches zero there it's game over. The newer ones have the incentive to learn the game better by limiting the amount of time you take in order for the image to come out in color. It does take away the potential losing part of what would make them a game, but at the same time it feels more akin to golf in some retrospect.
The Switch games - including this one? Nothing. Nothing seems to be stopping me from just spamming the "A" button and getting corrected every single minute aside from patience. And maybe I'm missing something but it defeats the purpose of giving a darn to play.
What is worse is the fact that this same feature is in the other installments of Picross across the Switch games. I did try the Namco(t) themed one and had the same issue there as well. Heck, this problem was what caused the rough review I have for Kemono Friends Picross.
Epic Mickey: Rebrushed
Now I've not played the original game for the Wii (or was it the Wii U this game came out originally?), but I was willing to give the game a fair chance Disney licensing not withstanding. Not hating the company, but man they made some pretty shifty decisions lately...
The story is interesting without dropping spoilers and on par with the character. To me, it was a mix of Super Mario Sunshine meets Disney sort of vibes and while the enemies took a bit to defeat it wasn't too bad. Controls were well adjusted and the tutorials told me right then and there what button would do what - but again, that would've been a nice time to be told how to defeat enemies aside from a somewhat vague relevance to the ink and varnish mechanics. Just pointing that out now!
Environments found within the demo were cartoony while a bit darker than usual. All in all, it did get me curious about trying the retail product even if it had less than stellar reviews.
UFO: Unidentified Falling Objects
Probably the only one of these demos that I ended up snagging the full game of recently, and for good reasons. UFO was definitely a nice throwback to the older puzzle games of back then. Mainly Wario's Woods but I could also see a bit of Collapse! Deluxe hidden in there - or Sega Swirl. The tutorial is probably the best one I've seen in a while since it gives you the basics of the game and an objective to clear the tutorial, no handholding - just pure simple instructions. I like that.
Definitely not a game you would want to play five rounds of in one sitting (unless you want to) but it can come off as chill when you want it to. It could also come off as tougher than nails as well if you focus on objectives and the bonus ones as well in the full game. Back to the demo though, I have to applaud it for giving you at least the first stage to play around with. Whether or not it has a certain play limit I don't know. Other than that stage limit, you can't transfer your demo save over which is not a big deal unless you put 15+ hours into the game...
I do recommend the game, but it's best to keep an eye on it for when a sale comes around as I snagged my digital copy of it for at least 3$.
In conclusion...
Needless to say, I have a bit of a problem with demo hoarding especially when you have a fraction of the games you own that require a massive update that takes a ton of space on top of taking screenshots like a mad dog. Which to be fair, it's a lot better to have free demos attached to your account that you can't fit in all at once than spend $60+ on a digital game that you end up playing once and hate it. Not downing the digital only games by any means, I just don't see the need for everything to be digital when I don't own it myself aside from a license.
I still have a few more game demos to cover in the future but I'm also needing to clear out the backlog of that mess so I can at least look back and say "Oh yeah, I tried the game and didn't like it. Guess it's not worth the 4$ on sale to buy it and play it once". While I praise the game devs that allow a demo to be downloaded and played for free for the player to try, it does have its issues. Some tend to take the limited amount of time and space a bit too much and have a rather dull experience that would discourage interested players in buying the full game. While others do it well, and just well enough to where that decision was already in the books around 5 minutes of gameplay.
Not every game is worthy of getting a small sample for users to try (Pokemon specifically, although Let's Go did a good job of it), but there's some that would've benefitted from having a demo to try before you end up with a purchase you regret...
Still, I haven't been exactly on board with the idea of making game reviews to this extent, let alone demo'd games I've tried but it was more on experimenting and trying things out since I got a way to do so without going on camera and making a fool of myself...
