Unpacked
(This
review is spoiler free!)
In recent years, Nintendo consoles
have included a pack-in title, usually one that’s made for the sole purpose of
demonstrating the hardware through a bunch of minigames. The most famous of
these tech demos is Wii Sports, a
game with such a gargantuan impact on popular culture that you still see people
talking about it over a decade later. Similarly the Wii U saw Nintendo Land, a great bunch of
minigames that required a bit more skill than Wii Sports, inspired by some of Nintendo’s greatest franchises.
While the Switch didn’t come with a
tech demo inside the box, it also saw a game along the lines of those I
mentioned in the form of 1-2-Switch.
The biggest concern here is that Switch costs
a good $60 for what basically amounts to a collection of minigames, which isn’t
exactly pretty compared to how Nintendo gave away their previous two tech
demos.
But ignoring the price, how is the
game on its own merits?
1-2-Switch
is everything it says on the tin. It’s a party game, collecting 28
different minigames that are each meant to show off what the Switch and Joycons
are capable of. They’re mostly fun games, although there are several games that
make you scratch your head and wonder who on Earth thought they would be fun.
The first thing you’ll note upon
starting up the game is that it has some very unique charm and personality
unlike much else on the market. Each minigame opens with a live action
instructional video where two lovely people demonstrate how to play the game,
often with hilarious results. They honestly remind me of 90’s PC games and
their unintentionally hilarious full-motion video cutscenes, and they’re
actually surprisingly adept at demonstrating how to play the game.
How much fun you have with 1-2-Switch is absolutely dependant on
how over-the-top the people you’re playing with are willing to be. Many of the
games require those playing into silly and often awkward scenarios, and half
the fun is watching others playing. Yes, you can win most of the minigames by
just waving the Joycon around, but when you really make a show of it the game
becomes that much more entertaining.
This does lead to a bit of an issue I
have with the game: it’s required that you have a second player. This isn’t Wii Sports where the minigames can be
swapped between single and multiplayer and still be the same. 1-2-Switch is exclusively multiplayer,
save for a couple of the less-fun minigames. If you’re not planning on playing
this game with family or friends, it is absolutely not worth the price.
But let’s move onto the minigames! Are
they worth your time?
Well, that’s more or less a toss-up.
Some of them are hilarious fun, but as I mentioned before there are a few
bruised bananas in this bunch.
My personal favourite, as well as the
one Nintendo has been advertising everywhere, is “Quick Draw”. This game is a
classic western standoff, with each player needing to raise the Joycon at their
opponent and press the trigger fastest to win. It’s a quick and solid game, one
that can be played several times without getting bored. For more of a challenge
there’s also “Fake Draw”, where the announcer will shout other words before
commanding you to shoot in an attempt to throw you off.
Other highlights include “Telephone”,
a simple but hilarious reflex challenge, “Wizard”, a Harry Potter-esque duel, “Ball
Counting”, an awesome demonstration of the Joycons HD Rumble feature, “Safe
Crack”, a game where players must find slight rumbles to open a door, “Treasure
Chest”, an extremely fast paced puzzle, and “Soda”, which is basically a more
intense take on Hot Potato.
There are several other games that are
just average, such as “Gorilla” and “Table Tennis” that are worth a look at
least once, but let’s get into the games that truly should be avoided.
The worst game in the entire
collection is known as “Baby”, which involves everyone needing to be silent
while one player cradles the Switch console as if it were a child. This is the
only game that cannot be played on the TV, and is frankly a poor way to
demonstrate the Switch’s namesake. Almost equally as bad is “Zen”, where
players partake in the intensity of…standing still for a while. How exciting.
Still, the good minigames outweigh the
bad, and while 1-2-Switch will never
be as well remembered as its older sibling Wii
Sports, it’s a decent spiritual successor to it that is great to bring to
parties. I do think it should’ve been packed in with the console itself, as $60
isn’t exactly worth a bundle of minigames you can burn through in about an hour
of playtime, and singleplayer mode is literally non-existent here. If you’re
the type of person without someone to play games with, avoid 1-2-Switch like the plague. Otherwise, I’d
say it’s worth picking up if you’re looking for a new minigame-fest to play
with friends, although it may be worth waiting until the price drops in a few
months.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
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