Snipperclips - Cut it out, together! (NS) Review

We're rapidly approaching SuperPhillip Central's 750th review of all time. It's a big milestone which requires a big game. That doesn't mean that these games leading up to it, #748 and #749 aren't of importance, though! Regardless, we're at #748. and here it is, the wonderful game to bring out at parties, Snipperclips - Cut it out, together! (Just leave me a comment if you don't understand the review tagline, and I'll explain it! No worries-- it's somewhat obtuse for non-Full House fans.)

A fantastic social gaming experience for the Switch; Not a game you play with Dave Coulier

Right out of the gate the Nintendo Switch is pumped and primed, ready and able, capable and competent, and whatever other pair of words you can think of to describe how strong the system is as a multiplayer device to get people playing together. No launch title best encapsulates this than a digital download, Snipperclips - Cut it out, together, a game that can, in fact, be played by one's lonesome, but it's exponentially better with a pair of players, much more a full four-player group.

The prime mechanic of Snipperclips is the ability to maneuver two or more characters, either simultaneously in multiplayer or one at a time in solo mode, rotating and using each others' bodies to cut into one another. The ability to reform is always available, making any unintended snip or clip easily remedied and quite quickly.

Most of the content in Snipperclips focuses on cooperative multiplayer, which is what makes the game truly shine. Actually, scratch that. It's the many ways that you can solve the game's multiple levels, having every play session spawn a different means of progression to the end result, which makes the game truly shine. It also makes Snipperclips immensely replayable, particularly in a group setting.

Do they let the Warriors get away with players standing on each others' heads for dunks like these two are doing?

Different puzzles and levels require different necessary methods to complete them. There are some where you have to cut one another to form shapes that fit a tracing. You need to be as close to perfect as possible in filling in the mold to be victorious in these levels. Others have you getting on your inner Lebron James and sinking a basketball into a net for a two-pointer. Sure, you won't really be dunking the ball, but you're clearing the level and that's all that matters. Pop balloons, gather fish, lead a butterfly to the goal-- there are a vast amount of objectives to the levels to overcome.

Cut your buddy up to be a prick to these balloons. No, I mean a LITERAL prick, a stabby thing. Not an insult.

I talked before about how multiple levels have various ways you can clear them. For instance, there's a level where you need to carry a pencil across the length of the level, and then somehow drop it into a sharpener to clear the stage. I did this in two ways with different players. For one, the other player and I just moved the pencil across each others' Snipperclips characters' bodies, juggling the pencil into the sharpener. Then, the next time with the next player, she had me rotate my Snipperclippers' body and made an incision, a pocket, where I could hold the pencil and walk the level's distance to T sharpener itself. Those two ways are hardly the only two solutions to solve that particular level.

And it's not just the various ways you can complete the levels either. It's the various social interactions you're having with other players. One run or attempt of a level will be different than any other. It's these ever-changing moments, whether busting into laughter and then tears after a failed attempt, chastising your partner for messing up at the last possible moment, or slapping a very hard high five after a puzzle is completed, that make Snipperclips such an uproarious good time.

This level requires scooping up the green and pink fishies and dropping them into the body of water to the left.

Outside of the levels in Snipperclips, the game also offers multiplayer mini-games in the form of basketball and hockey. Basketball is played like a 2D platformer of sorts with basketball hoops on opposing sides while hockey is played like Pong. Both bring some quick and satisfying party shenanigans, but they don't have much staying power overall. Unless your party is drunk, but doesn't every mini-game have staying power when your party is drunk?

The replayability of Snipperclips is definitely there, but really, it's only for multiple players. As a solo experience, Snipperclips is short lived. You won't really want to again pursue through the game's three worlds of a dozen or so levels each unless it's to try to solve them in alternate ways. It doesn't help that a significant amount of content is locked behind having 2-4 players, and even some puzzles requiring 3-4 players. Even small things like leaderboards, target times to beat, and so forth, would greatly up the replay value for solo players, and it would also benefit groups in the process. The point I'm trying to make here is that if you're searching for a Nintendo Switch launch title to enjoy by your lonesome, Snipperclips isn't it.

Be ready to be unable to complete instructions while being able to spout
absurdities in fun gaming sessions with friends, family, or just total strangers!

Overall, Snipperclips is a success at what it sets out to do, and its true entertaining factor comes from the experiences you have interacting with other players. Even those who seldom pick up a game controller of any type can easily get into the game, which says a lot about Snipperclips as a party game for family outings. Nintendo picked up a serious winner when they nabbed Snipperclips for the Switch, and while it offers little longevity for solo players, it's an embarrassment of riches for groups, friends, and families.

[SPC Says: B]

Little Deviants (Vita) Review

Time for an early morning review to start your day off right. (Well, it's early morning if you're in the GMT -6 time zone like I am!) This next game was a launch title for the PlayStation Vita. Unfortunately, it's a rather weak mini-game collection. The charm is there, but something got in the way of making this game truly good. It's Little Deviants time on SuperPhillip Central!

These are not the deviants you are looking for.

Can you believe that the PlayStation Vita is already over two years old? With every system launch, there are titles that stand out and titles that are better left forgotten. While a fair share of the games that released were top-tier titles, the mini-game collection known as Little Deviants serves as an example of the latter type of title. Serving as a combination of a tech showcase of the Vita's various functionality and a mini-game collection, Little Deviants was a game that launch buyers of the Vita should have avoided.

During a flight through space, the deviants' ship suffers a crash landing on a foreign planet home to some very ferocious creatures. Through completing mini-games, the deviants collect various broken fragments of their ship in order to get the overall goal of escaping the planet in one piece. 

There are two modes in Little Deviants, a "Story" mode that has you playing through the 30+ mini-games, trying to earn the bronze trophy needed to unlock a new game, and a "Games" mode which allows you to play any of the mini-games you have already beaten in Story mode without having to cycle through as many menus as you would otherwise.

This is the map in Story mode where you
select which mini-game you'd like to play.

The PlayStation Vita hardware comes packed with a plethora of functions on it, and Little Deviants aims to use all of them, whether that's a beneficial thing to the whole product or not. You see, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. That's the case with Little Deviants. Many times I cursed the awkward controls, whether they be touch, motion, or sound-based, wishing I was using traditional analog or button inputs.

While the different control ideas used in Little Deviants are ingenious, the way they are executed leaves a lot to be desired. For example, take a game where you have to roll your little deviant friend through a landscape, collecting keys, avoiding obstacles, and making it to each level's goal. Sounds easy enough, but when you factor in that you move the deviant around by fiddling with the imprecise and impractical rear touch screen to create hills to "push" your character, things get very frustrating very quickly. This is especially so when you need precise movements with a control setup that is anything but precise.

Many times you'll want your deviant to
move one way, yet he'll move the other!

Other games feature augmented reality, having the player shoot down enemy UFOs trying to snatch deviants in midair. You circle around in your position and aim the Vita to shoot down foes. My issue here is that for a portable system that is supposed to be for on-the-go usage, why do so many mini-games in Little Deviants make it so you'd look like a fool playing them in public? This isn't like "I'm too insecure to play a portable gaming system in public", it's more like "I already suffer from mental illness-- I don't want to make myself look crazier in public than I already am."

Don't mind me. I'm just spinning around
in the middle of my block like a madman.

Now not all of the games are hindered poorly by shoehorned use of the Vita. There's a mini-game where windows open on a series of apartments, and your job is to tap either the front or rear touch screens depending on where they face. Of course, you have to be careful of hitting friendly characters, as you will get a time penalty for every friendly you smack.

No vacancy for you evildoers!

Regardless, outside of the controls themselves, what makes many of mini-games so annoying is each one's duration. The majority of games in Little Deviants take upwards of five minutes to pass them, and that's not including trying to go for the rare gold trophy, earned by scoring a massive amount of points on a given mini-game. If you're a completionist, you'll most likely continuously need to play each mini-game just to slowly boost your score each time. This is a major time commitment and makes many of the mini-games feel less mini and more crazy.

Like Pac-Man, but with tilt controls
thrown in for bad measure.

Furthermore, when one thinks of a mini-game collection, they most likely think of something for the whole family or a group of friends to sit down and play. Little Deviants deviates from this norm by only containing single player for all of its games. All you get with this title are friend leaderboards and a means to takes jabs at others for besting their scores. Disappointing is an understatement, to say the least.

I bet this is a better product than the WWE these days.

Little Deviants is what you get when a developer gets a little too ambitious and takes every feature of a new piece of hardware and makes a collection of tech demo mini-games out of them. Such an end result of this is what you see with Little Deviants. With myriad times where traditional controls would work better than what is provided, no multiplayer at all, and most mini-games taking way too long to play through for the player to receive a respectable score, Little Deviants is a difficult mini-game compilation to recommend. For a better introduction to the features of the PlayStation Vita, and a free one at that, the already included Welcome Park application is where owners of Sony's portable need to turn to. 

[SPC Says: 4.0/10]