The Nintendo has proven repeatedly
that they can succeed with a less powerful console. But even with their amazing
games, Nintendo can’t support the Switch themselves – they’ve learned that with
the Wii U (RIP). At this point in time Nintendo doesn’t have the same 3rd
party support as the Wii U, but they have an abundance of Indie developer
support that will trickle throughout the year to fill the gaps in between big 1st
party releases. The first game that caught my eye was Graceful Explosion Machine.
Graceful Explosion Machine is a 2D colorful, frantic, twin-stick arcade shooter
by the makers of We Are Doomed,
Vertex Pop. We Are Doomed is like Graceful Explosion Machine in many ways,
it’s a vibrant, hectic, twin-stick shooter, the only difference is with We Are Doomed it’s from the top-down
perspective as oppose to the side-scrolling perspective on Graceful Explosion Machine. Once you see how similar the games are,
you see why Graceful Explosion Machine
is well fleshed-out.
In Graceful Explosion Machine, you play as a small ship trying to take
back 4 planets, but don’t be deceived by the size, it also packs a punch with
many arrays for abilities. The first two levels in the first world is a
tutorial which introduces the players to the new abilities. The first ability
that is obtained is the Blaster. This is the primary weapon that shoots single
projectiles and will be used most. The second ability is Energy Sword, this
surrounds yourself with a blue-energy wave that will hit anything in its range.
Another skill you’ll learn is Sniper Beam, this ability is a massive beam that
shoots across the map. Also, using missiles is useful, unleashing multiple projectile
(depending on the charge) that will bounce off walls. The Energy Sword, Sniper Beam, and Missiles
all share energy gauges, while the blaster has its own meter to keep track of. These
offensive skills are essential in completing each world, but there is one
ability that is just as important – the Dash. This will give you the ability to
evade ships it can go through enemies, but not projectiles. Using all these abilities
together is a beautiful mess of bullets, and fast reaction time makes this game
hard to put down.
At face-value Graceful Explosion Machine looks simple
and it is easy to pick up and learn, but with these skills combined it can get
difficult. Even when it gets difficult failing and trying again is fast,
completing a level is also quick. A level can last 2-4 minutes depending on how
fast you can complete it. Therefore, Graceful
Explosion Machine is the perfect game for the Switch, small bits of a game
that you can take to go is the ideal Switch game. I’ve spent car rides playing
and every time I lost the sense of time.
The use of the HD rumble on
the Switch is utilized in a different manner than I thought it would be used
for. With every shot, I felt a rumble that feels like a recoiling mechanism, that’s
just the blaster. Each weapon has a different feel when fired. The use of audio
driving the HD rumble is a cool unique idea that hope to see in more games.
For the competitive audience,
there is a leaderboard system to compare to another player around the world.
Every level can be recorded differently, for every kill a multiplier is
increased, but if you get hit or don’t kill an enemy in a small window of time
the multiplier resets. Getting a kill or not affects your overall leaderboard
score.
Graceful Explosion Machine is the most fun I had on a handheld device, most of that
is because of the bit-size levels that I can go in and out with easy. The
leaderboard brings the competitor out of me, reaching a new high-score doesn’t
require an internet connection unless you want it on the leaderboard. With all the
abilities harmonizing together it can become a beautiful, frantic mess of
bullets and with the Switch you can not only see but feel every shot and
mistake you make with HD rumble.
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