Even before taking it out the packaging, our expectations for Maximum Games’ Troll & I were low. We expected a low budget The Last Guardian, but it couldn’t even meet that shameful standard.
Instead, we were pretended with a broken and blatantly unfinished mess. It’s so bad that the Xbox One achievement ratios suggest that less than 10% of players stuck with it for more than an hour.
We were hoping that the Switch version would be a marked improvement, given the extra development time and Nintendo’s quality control procedures. Alas, it’s not to be. If anything, it’s even worse. We’ve seen footage where the main character, Otto, falls through the floor just moments after an auto-save – rendering progress impossible – and another video showcasing terrible lag and a game-breaking 10fps frame rate.
At £19.99 (the current Amazon price; eShop price – £24.99) it may be one of the cheapest Switch retail games, but don’t be tempted. Put your money towards Breath of the Wild’s DLC instead.
ACA NeoGeo Magician Lord (£6.29) has something of a reputation, too. It was a NeoGeo launch title and, well, it shows. While not a travesty of Altered Beast proportions, it wasn’t long after launch that the NeoGeo started giving us the good stuff, plenty of which is already available on Switch.
From bad to good. Sonic Mania (£15.99) is off to a rip-roaring start, with the Switch version’s Metacritic score currently standing at a lofty 91%. “The occasional bug and a couple of brief and cheap areas deprive it of Sonic-style perfection, but it’s pretty darn close,†said Nintendo Life, who awarded it a 9/10.
Aside a Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition demo, The Jackbox Party Pack and The Jackbox Party Pack 2 (£18.99 each) are the week’s only other new Switch releases.
The first Jackbox collection includes You Don’t Know Jack 2015, Fibbage XL, Drawful, Word Spud and Lie Spotter, while the sequel includes Fibbage 2, Earwax, Bidiots, Quiplash XL and Bomb Corp. Most support up to 8 players.
After a few quiet weeks, the 3DS bounces back with a trio of titles. Chicken Wiggle (£13.49) is the most enticing, being a cutesy 2D platformer with a level designer.
Little Adventure on the Prairie (£2.99) meanwhile is a worryingly low budget platformer.
Then we have SmileBASIC (£8), a portable version of the age-old programming language, complete with support for voice input and local multiplayer. It isn’t clear if it teaches BASIC, or if you need to know the basics of BASIC beforehand. Best check the product listing if you’re curious.
As for discounts, the only one that stands out is FAST Racing Neo (£8.20) on Wii U. The rest are titles that are on offer umpteen times a year. Hopefully next week will see a Switch game or two on offer.