Sonic Dream Team (Apple Arcade) Review

Two Mondays in a row with a new review? That must be record, at least post-2021! We return to the review realm and the dreamscape itself with a new entry in the Sonic series: Sonic Dream Team. This game is currently an Apple Arcade exclusive, as of the time of this review. Let's dig in, and hope we don't have to dream on for a better adventure featuring SEGA's Blue Blur.

 Dream a little dream with Sonic and friends

There are some terms that might be complete non-starters or worse, turn-offs for certain sects of the gaming fanbase. For instance, "Apple Arcade-exclusive" and heck, maybe if you're really down on the series, "3D Sonic" as well. Sonic Dream Team fits both of those descriptions rather aptly, being one of those rare high-profile Apple Arcade exclusives that also happens to be a truly stellar 3D Sonic game. 

I don't damn with faint praise either when I say that, as a lot of us know--it's only been repeated ad infinitum, ad nauseum--Sonic hasn't had the best experience in three-dimension realm. Regardless, Sonic Dream Team offers a compelling take on the boost formula that rivals the enjoyment I had with its console big brother, Sonic Frontiers. Perhaps THAT'S damning with faint praise, as Frontiers, while a nice new foundation for the series, was hardly the best interpretation of 3D Sonic for me. 

Sonic Dream Team takes players through four worlds of boost-centric 3D Sonic action. Unlike Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations (the latter of which receives an impressive-looking new edition this fall), Sonic Dream Team's levels are fully 3D. There are no 2D sections to speak of, where the camera switches perspective from 3D to 2D or vice versa. Instead, it's all open goodness for Sonic and friends to trek on, speed through, and for players to hopefully enjoy.

Have rail, will grind!

The level design is all about finding your groove. It's highly satisfying to speed through levels--chaining boosts by collecting energy from defeating Eggman's badniks or picking up stray energy littered along the levels themselves--to go for fast times. Conversely, it's also enjoyable to thoroughly explore levels, searching high and low and in corners and crevices for Red Rings and blue tokens, of which there are five for the former and dozens upon dozens of the latter respectively in each level.

Charging through or otherwise homing attacking to enemies grants
you more energy for even more boosting goodness.

Levels are built with mobile devices and chiefly mobile controls in mind, offering wide platforms for the most part. However, you can also practically connect any game controller under the sun to play, giving you a more traditional console experience with the game. The touch screen controls are serviceable, but I found when trying to do anything requiring speed or a tight time to complete, these were more of a hinderance than anything else. Thus, an additional controller was a requirement for me, essentially.

I've mentioned "Sonic and friends" multiple times throughout this review, and the reason, of course, for that is that Sonic is not the only playable character within Dream Team. While the Blue Blur is the character you start with, as you progress through the game's story, new characters are rescued and join the titular Dream Team. Sonic and Amy serve as the speed characters, with the specialty of a light dash to rush along paths of rings in the air. Meanwhile, Tails and Cream the Rabbit use the power of flight. Finally, Knuckles and Rouge the Bat utilize their gliding and climbing prowess to cross lengthy expanses and scale specially marked red walls. Characters can be switched between on the fly as long as your current character is standing still on solid ground. The only other time this option isn't available is during special acts where a character type is automatically assigned.

Tails and Cream are fantastic flyers, but their flight time is limited, of course.

These aforementioned special acts are basically miniature, obstacle-laden levels that are usually linear in nature, unless you're tasked with tracking down five shards. Then, these levels are a bit more open in design. Either way, you have an assigned character class to use to clear them. Unlike the standard levels, these are very short experiences, but they are much greater in number.

Aside from the more explorable main acts and the multiple miniature-sized acts that Sonic Dream Team contains, each of the four worlds or zones in the game conclude with a boss encounter. These, too, stick you with a character class and have you battle a big boss in a multi-phase fight. From a giant inflatable crab that you burst for massive damage (that reference NEVER gets old...) to an Eggman mining robot split up into four parts that transforms into a massive robot close to the fight's finale, these encounters are rather spirited, albeit relatively easy to beat.

Bust this crabby boss balloon's claws to deflate its ego (and its ability to appear anywhere near as menacing!)

Thus, each zone in Sonic Dream Team features three main levels, about a handful of sub-levels, and a boss encounter to wrap it all up. Team Sonic's adventure in the dreamscape sees them speed through a colorful, vibrant world with inflatable foliage and tropical beach environment, a factory filled with lava and manufacturing equipment, a maze of platforms of varying gravity in a nightmare-style space, and a city that's basically an ode to Eggman himself, complete with the villain uttering lines over the loudspeaker in a semi-regular fashion. 

A recent update added a fifth zone, Sweet Dreams, completely separate from the Sonic Dream Team story, which features difficult checkpoint-free levels. Additionally, ranks were introduced as well, offering S ranks for quick completions of acts. These are truly tricky to achieve.

As for the story of Sonic Dream Team, it features Cream being abducted by Eggman, the latter of which is using an omnipotent Dream Machine to attempt to make his dreams--or rather nightmares for everyone else--come true. A mystic being in charge of protecting the dreamscape, the cleverly named Ariem, does her best to hold off Eggman's attempts, but brings Sonic and his other friends into the dream world to assist their friend and Ariem's struggle against Eggman as well. The story is told through still-frame cutscenes as opposed to something in real time, giving it and the overall game package a decidedly budget feel. 

However, what doesn't feel so budget is how well Sonic Dream Team plays. It somehow feels more authentic to the Sonic series than Sonic Frontiers, with the now-standard "gotta go fast" gameplay that puts into a groove that feels great. Its levels are ones that are crisp, colorful, and cartoony. (Nor is there a tremendous amount of rails and other objects popping into the environment from out of nowhere, but I'll digress now as I'm sort of bullying Frontiers by now. My apologies!) 

Knuckles isn't here to chuckle; he's here to flex his muscles.

Perhaps the weakest link in Sonic Dream Team is with regard to its music, featuring nothing too memorable musically or melodically. For a series with such constant bangers, it's a bit of a letdown, even knowing Sonic Team didn't directly develop the game (SEGA Hardlight did). That said, it's hard to find too much fault with the music. It's serviceable, pleasant enough, and never distracting.

Amy Rose may not have the natural power of flight like Tails or Cream,
but she's gaining lots of height here all the same!

Sonic Dream Team is one of those games that most likely (and perhaps SHOULD) make non-Apple Arcade subscribers or those without a device upon which to play the game a bit envious. To say folks are currently missing out on one of my favorite 3D Sonic experiences would be a bit of an understatement. That said, I also don't wish for this game to languish in perpetuity on a subscription-based digital service. The more people that get to enjoy this game, the better, so throw in my attempt to not be a pathetic beggar for console ports, but yeah, SEGA, please. Between the satisfying ways to link Sonic and friends' movements together through the well designed and well realized levels, to the sensationally fun feel of the game itself, Sonic Dream Team plays and handles like a--well... dream!

[SPC Says: A-]

Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker (iOS) Review

We're in the latter half of May already, and we've yet to encounter our first review of the month. Well, that is until NOW. SuperPhillip Central continues its run through the wondrous world of Apple Arcade exclusives with this next game, a mix of Captain Toad, Super Mario Maker, and The Legend of Zelda. That's good company to keep! I'm talking about Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker, and here is the SPC review.

An Apple Arcade exclusive with a lot of heart(s of Adventure)

Take one part Captain Toad and mix with the design and creation sensibilities of a Super Mario Maker or a LittleBigPlanet game, and you have the general idea of what Aquiris Game Studio's Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker is all about. It's playing adventures, creating adventures, and sharing adventures to the world. In some regards, Wonderbox reminds me heavily of The Legend of Zelda series in its gameplay execution, and that is a rather flattering comparison in favor of  Aquiris Game Studio's title.

Fortunately, you're not simply thrust into the adventure-making side of Wonderbox immediately. There is a robust campaign of various stories and levels to play through. All of these are simple in the tales they tell, but they naturally introduce new concepts, mechanics, tools, and obstacles to play around with in levels. 

Look before you leap by spinning the camera around to survey each diorama-like room in Wonderbox.

The Captain Toad reference in my review opener deals with how levels in Wonderbox are lovely little dioramas. You can spin them around to notice hidden paths, get a better view of the area, and help guide your custom-made hero or heroine through enemy and hazard-filled levels. Unlike Captain Toad, however, Wonderbox levels are generally comprised of multiple screens. Many later levels are maze-like designs with multiple pathways, multiple routes to take, and plenty of opportunities to double-back or backtrack through these areas. 

The number of environments in Wonderbox's campaign is wide and varied.

The main goal of each level is to acquire a Heart of Adventure within them. In the practical sense, these are the "goal poles" of the level, as once they're retrieved, the level is successfully completed. However, they're not always sitting out in sight. Some levels you're tasked with a trade sequence of sorts, where you must find either coins or other tradeable goods to exchange for the Heart of Adventure. These levels become engaging little scavenger hunts for the player to collect the necessary materials to eventually claim their prized Heart of Adventure.

Ah, a hero's appetite for adventure can only be satiated by the Heart of Adventure!

Wonderbox features a fair amount of tools for your avatar (of which this character earns new clothing, skins, and more upon leveling up from completing adventures). Throughout Wonderbox's campaign, you'll acquire swords and axes to slay monsters and enemies, bows to fire arrows at faraway foes, shields to block incoming attacks, bombs to blast open cracked walls and boulders, a Zelda-style Hookshot to pull yourself across chasms, and a spinning thingamajig which whirls you up into the air to gain some much needed verticality in levels. You can only carry so many tools at once, so many times in levels you'll be required to switch between tools, essentially trading them away for new ones.

Aim well and launch yourself across gaps with this Hookshot-like tool.

For someone like myself who is quite unaccustomed to playing an action-adventure game such as Wonderbox with touch controls, I originally found myself seriously struggling to move, jump, attack, change items, and move the camera around when needed. Having to do two or more of these tasks at the same time was pretty much a "forget about it" proposition for me. Fortunately, like many Apple Arcade games on the service, Wonderbox supports controller via Bluetooth, so once I made the shift over I discovered a more enjoyable game. It was still difficult at times, but generous checkpointing made sure that I was never overly frustrated while playing and enjoying Wonderbox.

Can I go a review where there's a picture of a bat without mentioning the word "batty" as a pun?
Well, technically, no, not in this review either!

As its subtitle implies, Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker is more than just an diorama-style adventure game; you can also create your own adventures. Not just create simple adventures, which by all means is quite possible, but you can also craft some rather complicated creations of your own. Essentially, the adventures created by the developers for Wonderbox's campaign are tutorial and inspiration to help players and prospective creators make their own adventures. While there are thousands of adventures made by players already--and understandably quite a few of them are less than wonderful, to put it generously--it's pretty easy to find well done adventures.

You can basically create anything that you see in the campaign, and I wouldn't be surprised if the devs used their own adventure maker tools to create the campaign in some shape or form. There's a robust toolset available, and through playing the campaign you unlock loads to enjoy to make adventure masterpieces of your own. The process is relatively simple, though to craft something truly terrific and enjoyable, you'll need to put forth an adequate amount of effort. Essentially, your entertainment coming out of The Adventure Maker part of Wonderbox will stem from how much you put into it, as one would expect. 

Wonderbox doesn't have the most exciting art style, but there's no doubt this game is a beauty.

Thus, if you put a great deal of work into your own created adventure, you'll discover plenty of players and flattering compliments (though all of these will be generic ones from a list of choices instead of player-created ones) to make all of it worth it. And overall, it IS worth it. Wonderbox is simply put, an enjoyable creation tool to make fun and quite complex adventures. It helps that the base gameplay is rather enjoyable as well, pending you can either get a handle of the sometimes clunky touch controls or opt for a Bluetooth controller instead. With more adventures planned from the developers themselves and a seemingly endless amount of created adventures from the player base, Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker seems like a great game and creation tool to keep your Apple Arcade subscription running. 

[SPC Says: B]

Way of the Turtle (iOS) Review

I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Apple Arcade exclusive goodness! After Sunday's first Apple Arcade game review, Clap Hanz Golf, SPC changes genres to a platformer of the Metroidvania variety: Way of the Turtle. Is the way of the turtle one you should follow? Let's find out with the SPC review.

 A shell-shockingly fun Metroidvania on Apple Arcade

There are all kinds of turtles in the world. Some are cool, such as your Galapagos turtles or your Teenage Mutant Ninja variety of turtles, and some are not so reputable, like Mitch McConnell, for instance. The pair of turtles that star in Illusion Labs' Way of the Turtle, a 2.5D Metroidvania game exclusive to Apple Arcade, rests firmly in their shells in the "cute" category, being a pair of lovebirds, er.... love "turtles" in this case. 

When the two find themselves shipwrecked and separated on an island teeming with gopher life (among several unfriendly faces not of the gopher persuasion), it's up to the two of them to not only reunite but to find a way off the island. This answer to a "way off the island" presents itself when the two reunite early in the game at a village filled with gophers, and the gopher chief informs them that he will help them off the island but only if they take care of the volcano threatening to erupt. 

In order to access the volcano and discover the way to save the gophers and their island from impending doom, our turtle heroes must open the gate by hitting three different switches. Unfortunately for them, this means journeying around the island looking for the abilities needed to reach them. Fortunately for us, as players of Way of the Turtle, this is a shell of a good time... for the most part.

Way of the Turtle is a unique Metroidvania. By virtue of being on mobile, your turtle is always on the move with the only way of stopping them is to have them hide in their shell. Swipes left and right on the touch screen change their direction as they move, but I found that a controller was my preferred way to play. Not only did it give me a greater degree of accuracy and precision, but also lesser bouts of annoyance and frustration stemming from touch inputs not registering properly, such as having swipes be read as presses. Thus, instead of changing directions, my turtle would leap into the air accidentally. 

Both turtles have the same base abilities, so it's more an aesthetic choice of which turtle to choose.
You can switch between turtles on the fly at specific points in the game world.

Another key thing that makes this Metroidvania unique is that Way of the Turtle plays out in 2.5D environments, where paths circle around one another and shift perspectives often. Rather than always being a straight-up side-scroller, the camera occasionally looks over your turtle's shoulder at an angle. The camera isn't always optimal, as foreground objects can and will sometimes obscure enemies and hazards, such as spikes and bottomless chasms. Fortunately, taking damage, or worse, dying, aren't penalized severely. There is always a checkpoint nearby to regain your bearings and continue from.

These retracting spiked walls really know how to get to the point!

Speaking of these checkpoints, these shell totems of sorts serve not only as places to return to upon death and to save progress, but they also allow you to switch shells on the fly. There are three different shell types in Way of the Turtle, and each possesses a different power/ability. The blue shell allows our turtle heroes to hide inside their shells, perfect for staying in one place when it's absolutely necessary, such as specific precision platforming moments where timing is everything. The green shell gives our turtles the ability to boost forward either on the ground or in midair, allowing them the capability to cross chasms otherwise impassable. Finally, the red shell serves as a great means to attack enemies easily, especially those with spikes that can't be beaten any other way. It can also flip levers to transform the environment and move platforms, for instance.

The dashing green shell is but one of a trio of shells our turtle protagonists uncover in their island adventure.

All three shells are discovered in a Metroid-style fashion. Once they're available, new portions of the world open up for exploring, as well as the ability to venture into previously adventured areas to uncover new paths and collectables in old places. Each shell has an upgrade that can be found in the world, and these range from the blue shell's ground pound, to the green shell's dash ability allowing it to smash through specific weakened walls, to the red shell's aerial spin that allows it to glide as it descends. 

Outside of mandatory upgrades to acquire in Way of the Turtle's game world, there are also two types of collectables to attain: shards and lost gophers. The latter is more for 100% completion's sake, but the shards serve as a currency that can be returned to various shop locations around the map and exchanged for increased health. Four shards can be exchanged for a new heart to be added to both turtles' overall health. Other items in the shop help discover the locations and whereabouts of the shards and gophers, revealing an audible clue when either are nearby the player, as well as revealing on the map how many shards or gophers are left in a given area of map.

Don't cry, little gopher! You're soon to be safe and sound!

While we're on the subject of the map, Way of the Turtle's arguably impressive 2.5D environments to move and jump through are both a help and a hindrance. They help make the world more interesting to explore, but they definitely hinder the simple act of navigation. The map itself doesn't really show much of anything in-depth. It just shows what areas connect to what, but it's difficult to determine in 3D environments which exits lead to where on the 2D map. So many times I'd want to get to a location on the 2D map, but didn't know how to manage it from the area I was currently at in the 3D space. A better, more detailed map would go a long way to helping with this confusion.

Way of the Turtle is a game that continues to be released in parts, so it's difficult to review somewhat. I know that I spent a good 7-10 hours with what's currently available, but had I'd just joined in on the first part, which would have ended after opening the volcano gate, I would have been none too pleased, asking "that's it?!". As it stands, I'm chomping at the bit to see what happens after battling the game's current final boss inside the volcano, because as of now, what happens immediately after beating the boss is a quick "to be continued" followed by the credits. 

Part two of Way of the Turtle's story updated with this brand-new, enjoyable volcano area.

Currently, with what is available in Way of the Turtle feels like a complete title gameplay and length-wise, just with a sudden cliffhanger that left me wanting more. That's a good thing--the "left me wanting more" part, as it shows that I did enjoy my time with the game. Inconsistent touch controls, occasionally poor camera angles, and an unhelpful, undetailed map are issues with the game, but on the whole, Way of the Turtle gets from me a recommendation like a turtle's shell: a solid one!

[SPC Says: B-]

Clap Hanz Golf (iOS) Review

The Masters was last week, and the golf season continues to be in full swing--and yes, that was definitely some play-on words for you there on this Sunday. SPC brings to you the first review of its kind on the site--an Apple Arcade exclusive game review. It's Clap Hanz Golf, the first self-published game from the eponymous developer, formerly of Everybody's Golf fame. Is this first solo trip to the tee for Clap Hanz a Cinderella story, or is its golf game struggling? Let's find out with the SPC review!

How about a round of applause for this great game of golf?

I love the Hot Shots Golf / Everybody's Golf series. I love it because it strikes a brilliant balance of arcade-y golf goodness and simulation-style gameplay. It also doesn't hurt that Clap Hanz hasn't really bogeyed on an entry of the series yet, and this is after nearly a dozen entries across multiple PlayStation platforms. However, now Clap Hanz is on its own with a self-published, non-Everybody's Golf round on the links, and my admiration for the developer and its prestige games was the bait that got me to bite on an Apple Arcade subscription. The studio's first--and hopefully not last--self-published game is the not-so-creatively-titled Clap Hanz Golf, essentially taking the charm, the fun, and the accessibility of the Everybody's Golf series and giving it a mobile (back)spin. The end result is a solid round of golf for pros, beginners, and everyone in between!

If you've played a Hot Shots or Everybody's Golf game in the past, then you'll no doubt feel right at home with the presentation of Clap Hanz Golf. You have your similarly cartoon-y anime-style characters to play as, though they only show personality through their movements as there is no voice acting for them. You also have the familiar HUD elements, helpful menu prompts, and much more. 

Everything is pretty much Hot Shots Golf / Everybody's Golf with a new name. Though, that's not to say it's the same golf experience on Apple Arcade. Gone is the traditional three-click / three-button-press swing system from past Clap Hanz projects, where clicking once started the gauge, a second time set the power, and the final click set the accuracy. Instead, whether you're playing via touch screen or using a compatible controller, you're using a flick system to swing, drive, chip, and putt. 

Clap Hanz Golf is essentially Everybody's Golf on Apple Arcade.

This swing system utilizes a vertical bar that has you drawing a line downward to set the strength of your upcoming shot, and then flicking upward on the screen to initiate said shot. Depending on how straight your flick upward is, that determines if your shot will be hit straight or not. Of course, things like wind velocity and lie of the ball also affect your shot's trajectory. Flicking up all the way will result in topspin for your shot, which I found happened a lot until I discovered that the game just wanted me to flick halfway up the vertical shot gauge. However, occasionally my shot would peter out quite quickly, traveling but a short distance from my golfer through doing it this way. 

Furthermore, putting is a bit challenging, and I think the developers understood this as the greens in Clap Hanz Golf are nowhere near as steep or as complicated in undulations or curves as in the Everybody's Golf series. It was difficult for me to putt straight, oftentimes resulting in frustration when putts that would otherwise be a piece of cake in any other golf game with a different swing system would find themselves just short of the hole in any number of directions. Even with a controller and flicking the right analog stick upward to putt or hit, my shots often went astray. 

The greens are rather generous, but my putting ability in this game is certainly not!

That said, I must admit that part of that is because Clap Hanz Golf isn't the most accessible golf game for someone with my condition. I suffer from tremor in my hands, so it's difficult for me to use a touch screen or hit straight consistently with a controller's analog stick. Even so, I can't say I loathed the controls of the game or found them overly frustrating.

There's a good reason for that, too. Perhaps lessening the burden of lesser skilled players or for the mobile audience, Clap Hanz Golf isn't anywhere near as challenging a game as past titles from the developer. Even earning multiple pars on holes and the occasional bogey or birdie can result in a win rather than needing to be incredibly consistent like past games. Match play rounds often saw the AI hitting their shots in errant directions or missing otherwise easy putts. And tournament rounds didn't require high scores even late in the game's primary mode.

Look at that ball fly!

While we're on the subject, Clap Hanz Golf's primary mode is Tour Mode. This mode has you collecting characters and going up the ranks by earning stars from completing different events around a world map. The higher the rank you get, the more characters, courses, and events open up to you, the more challenging the latter gets, and the more stars you earn from completing said events. 

It's a golfing expedition around the world in Tour Mode.

Rather than taking one golfer in a round in Tour Mode, Clap Hanz Golf mixes things up considerably. Instead, you take a team of golfers into a round, and on each hole, the preceding character "tags in" the next character. There's a bit of strategy involved in picking which character to use on which hole. Obviously, you don't want to select a character who can't strike the ball far to lead off on a Par 5, for instance. 

Tag! You're it and you're IN!

Aside from 3, 6, and 9 hole rounds of golf, which can be suspended at any time in a mobile gaming-minded way, there are other event types to play through as well. Match play rounds pit you and your team of golfers against one computer-controlled character. The winner of the most holes serves as the victor. If you end of winning, you get that character added to your team. There are also drive challenges and closest-to-the-pin challenges, where you and a CPU opponent both get three shots to hit as far on the fairway or as close to the hole as possible, and the average distance of all three determines the winner. Unlike tournament-style rounds, these events don't earn you stars. Instead, winning unlocks new costumes and color variants for each character. Tour Mode also throws in different rules occasionally in events, such as mirroring the courses, playing a round without any wind, or the much maligned by yours truly "bunkers are out of bounds" or worse yet, "rough is out of bounds" rules.

You can build up quite the impressive assortment of golfers, each with various unlockable costumes and color variants.

Regardless of whether you win or lose an event, it's worthwhile to play through the round. Characters that participate in an event, even they don't step onto the tee, earn experience just for being on the team. Leveling up increases their maximum driving distance by a small amount, but this adds up with continued levels earned. Additionally, each golfer has a specific ability (such as being great at playing out of bunkers) and club that they favor, allowing them to make otherwise impossible shots possible, especially on-the-fringe-chip-ins that would otherwise never happen with a 3-wood, for example. 

Speaking of an alternate costume and color variant, here's one right now.

If you want a traditional round of golf where you play as one character for the entire round, then Score Attack is the mode for you. Offering the ability to play a nine-hole round of golf on any course you've unlocked with any character you've already unlocked, this mode offers plenty of fun. Depending on your character's score on a given course, they earn a ranking, which in turn, earns them points--up to five per course. After reaching certain point thresholds, they earn new costumes and color variants. Another way to unlock additional content outside of the Tour Mode.

Touching and pinching the screen to move around the camera and zoom in/out respectively
feels quite natural on the iPhone/iPad.

Clap Hanz Golf contains plenty of fun and content to keep players enjoying themselves on the links. However, the lack of any online multiplayer or even leaderboards is a bit disappointing. (CORRECTION: I was made aware on Twitter that there are online leaderboards for Score Attack and Survival modes.) Only local multiplayer is available currently with no news on any plans for online multiplayer. Furthermore, there is no way to record memorable shots to view them later. Past Clap Hanz games have had a way to view memorable shots and holes, so it's also just as disappointing that there is no such feature in this particular game. 

Between the over 20 characters to join your golfing team, 6+ themed courses taking place in locales like New York City's Central Park or the Egyptian pyramids, and hours upon hours of thrilling golf gameplay, Clap Hanz's first foray into self-publishing is a great success. While the swing system takes a lot of getting used to, as it has a somewhat steep learning curve, the overall difficulty of the game isn't that high that it creates a ton of frustration. Sure, I wanted to curse the golf gods when yet another shot of mine went off track or I missed a simple putt, but ultimately, I kept plugging and putting away, enjoying myself with Clap Hanz Golf. 

[SPC Says: B]

Shinsekai: Into the Depths (NSW) Review

SuperPhillip Central's next review for August arrives from deep beneath the ocean blue. It's a former Apple Arcade-exclusive game that recently arrived on the Nintendo Switch. It's Shinsekai: Into the Depths, and if you haven't yet tried this game out, "water" you waiting for?

Not unfathomably great, but still a game worthy to take the plunge on

Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive, Capcom's Shinsekai: Into the Depths puts players in the role of one of the last submariners in an iced-over world. As the ice has utterly decimated the world, humans retreated to the briny deep below, but even there, the ice has started to penetrate into the waters. This is where Shinsekai's story begins, with the submariner being forced out of their underwater safe house due to encroaching ice. Now, they must journey through the dangerous and mysterious waters of the world to find a new place to call home.

The story of Shinsekai: Into the Depths is an understated one, featuring a total lack of dialogue. Instead, the game prefers a show and not tell approach, offering myriad pictograms and slides to view, leaving it up to the player to decipher them and the story as a whole themselves. Still, even if you wish to shut off your brain completely when it regards to the game's tale, you'll still get an enjoyable underwater adventure. It's just that Shinsekai: Into the Depths' experience is heightened through better understanding the overall narrative... I imagine. I'm dumb as a box of rocks, so the hell if I know what was going on most of the time. That's okay, though, because I bet you, reading a review of mine, probably care more about the gameplay of Shinsekai: Into the Depths than my boasting about my eighth grade level of media literacy anyway.

Rather than eat this submariner whole, how about a spear to tide this overgrown creature over?

Regardless, moving around the underwater world of Shinsekai sees our intrepid submariner using the pack on their back to jettison through the water, and that involves having you, the player, keep an eye on their oxygen tanks. The more you propel the submariner through the water to gain height, the more oxygen is used. Hostile creatures and even things like falling from painful heights will damage your oxygen tanks, resulting in them becoming cracked and eventually unusable. Fortunately, there are extras aplenty throughout the game world to pick up, though you can only hold a small capacity of tanks at the start of the game. When all of the oxygen and air are used up, it's game over due to asphyxiation.

There is a plethora of spots to excavate minerals from,
so intrepid explorers will want to be on the lookout for them.

The major gameplay loop of Shinsekai has you slowly but surely being able to survive higher areas of pressure, aka reaching deeper and deeper levels of the mysterious ocean abyss. This is performed by acquiring the right amount of resources to build new suit upgrades on the fly, and that is done through finding materials in storage containers and mining points, both sprinkled throughout the game world. Smartly, while the resources required for you to level up your suit to reach deeper portions of the ocean change with each upgrade level, the resources you need to find never require you to backtrack; that is to say, they're always in the general area of where you need to go next. Excavated resources and materials found underwater can also be used to craft limited use weapons, helpful items, and permanent upgrades that increase your oxygen capacity and strengthen your suit's defense when it concerns extreme temperatures.

The red line on the mini-map in the corner of the screen (and this uninviting red water)
show depths that house too much pressure currently for our submariner friend's suit.

Thus, Shinsekai: Into the Depths is a clever Metroid-structured game, where the main method of progression isn't item or ability-based (though those are used here and now, of course), but instead, it's based on upgrading your suit to tolerate higher underwater pressures, thus allowing you to access and explore new areas of the game world. That's not to say this aforementioned "clever Metroid-structure" is perfect. The foundation certainly is there, but it can be frustrating to traverse underwater, having the submariner cling to walls when you don't want them to, stumbling around areas to find specific materials, and learning to come to terms that even the shortest of falls can result in damage to your character. The latter point is a bit annoying, especially early in the game where you lack a plentiful amount of oxygen tanks, resulting in one or two cracked tanks leaving with you with little health to work with.

Later in Shinsekai: Into the Depths, you come across your own submarine, which allows you to access to new areas completely, using its drill to serve as the "key" to power through the ice "gates" that separate major unique areas of the game. It's also used in combat, particularly well done in one boss battle. Speaking of those, encounters in Shinsekai can be intense to the uninitiated, but each have a method and weakness to defeating them. The part that can be difficult is figuring that out.

While some areas can be quite claustrophobic, others are wide open to explore. Great for one's submarine.

Shinsekai: Into the Depths isn't a terribly lengthy game. I completed it with most of the in-game achievements in tow in just over seven hours. However, a second run mode, the potential for players to miss certain collectibles, and the simple joy of replaying the game make an argument for some more longevity. That and the game being a general and genuine pleasure to play and being a poignant experience adds to that aforementioned argument as well.

As a game originating on iOS devices via the Apple Arcade initiative, it didn't take much housekeeping for Capcom's game to arrive on the Nintendo Switch in a positive manner, but Shinsekai: Into the Depths is a successful port of a sublime and creative take on the Metroidvania genre. Aquaphobics may feel some unease playing this particular title, but for everyone else, Shinsekai: Into the Depths delivers an engaging, if not short-lived underwater adventure worthy of diving in and enjoying.

[SPC Says: B]