Twitch action platformers are among some of my favourite games, and the Switch has already been graced with the amazing Slime-San plus the likes of The End is Nigh from Edmund McMillen (as well as some installments of Super Meat Boy) are on the way. Adding to this growing list is one of this weeks eShop releases, The League of Evil.
The Details
Title: League of Evil
Genre: Twitch action platformer
Players: 1
Developer/Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Release Date: 31st August 2017
Price: $7.99/€7.99
File Size: ~54mb
Review Playtime: ~5 hours (90 missions completed, 3 levels created, about a dozen downloaded from server)
Announcement Trailer:
The Game
League of Evil is yet another addition to the growing number of mobile games that have made their way across to the Nintendo Switch, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Voez and Piczle Lines DX. Assuming the role of a cybernetic secret agent, the player aims to thwart the dastardly League of Evil across 4 chapters of challenging levels where the league try to exert their evil in different ways.
In all there are around 140 levels that you must work through. You must kick, punch and double jump your way through hazard filled mazes all while avoiding being shot, maimed and killed. One hit kills you, but thankfully the same can be said for most enemies in the game. A quick kick or punch swiftly decapitate your adversary with a lovely pixel spray of blood, and once you dish out your own form of justice to the evil scientist that each level contains, you’re done! New elements, be it traps or enemies, are added to levels regularly to keep you on your toes and to offer new challenges as you get deeper in to the game.
Stages are timed, and as such speed running is encouraged! You are awarded 1, 2 or 3 stars depending on how fast you finish a level and to further add to replayability, in each level there is a hidden briefcase to collect, which is usually out of the way and behind a wicked set of traps! Outside of personal pride and your own sense of completion getting stars and briefcases go towards earning the in game achievements but seemingly nothing else.
When it comes to twitch platformers, the most important aspect in my opinion are controls. From its mobile roots, League of Evil was originally created with touchscreen in mind, but this console port takes full advantage of physical controllers to make it the ultimate version. You have two buttons, one to jump and one to attack and movement is managed by the dpad/stick. Coming in from other twitch platformers means i was rather comfortable with the controls from the off, but actually found myself struggling with the double jump mechanic at first. I also encountered the odd unresponsive movement or two when a level first started if you hold down a direction while waiting for it to begin; once the level starts even though you have pressure on the dpad, your angry war machine doesn’t want to move!
Outside of trying to complete all the pre-designed stages, the game also features a pretty comprehensive create a level mode and online level sharing. The latter means that even once you have completed the game, there should always be new things for you to try from the community. Levels from across PC, 3DS, Wii U and Switch are sharable, so hopefully the stream of additional content should flow quite nicely once the Switch version is released.
Create a level mode is extremely easy to use, and I have turned my hand at a few. In handheld mode you can use a combination of physical controls and the touchscreen to edit the level, placing flooring, walls, enemies, traps et al. When docked the physical control prove fine to use, so should bode well if Super Mario Maker ever makes the jump to Switch! As with Mario Maker, League of Evil requires you to complete your level before you can upload it, so this means that even though they might be difficult there is always a way to finish them.
Visually the game is rather basic in its presentation, but that’s part of the charm in my opinion. What looks so simple actually hides within extreme difficulty at times. As you move through the chapters and levels, the core visual design stays the same but the cosmetics change to show movement from the jungle, to deserts to industrial locations. The pixel characters are all well designed though and easy to distinguish, and were my favourite visual element of the game. Audio wise there are some great chiptune tracks playing in the background. As you can die several dozen times in any given level, it is a plus that the music is good as you may well be listening to it for some time!
The Verdict
Some quarters of the switch userbase have expressed apathy towards mobile games being ported across to the Nintendo Switch, but in my opinion as long as they are good quality titles and offer something fun, there’s really no reason why more mobile ports shouldn’t occur. Originally starting life as a trilogy of games, this latest incarnation has plenty of new features that help differentiate it from its mobile origins and proves a perfect time killer on the Nintendo Switch. Dying and restarting are so painless (for us, not the main character!) that you can easily pick this up for a few minutes at a time and still get plenty of gameplay out of it.
In all, this is a simple, high quality twitch platformer with solid difficulty, a great create a level mode and a boatload of content which should keep you occupied for a lengthy time. Well worth the asking price.
NindieNews 