Nintendo Switch Critic Reviews

A masterful example of how to do an arcade shooter right. Eye-catching visuals and extremely fine-tuned gameplay combine to make this a memorable and compelling experience for anybody looking to get into a faster paced, action focused game. That being said, there is a minor element of repetitiveness which never goes away entirely; the selling point comes not from the amount of levels, but from how many times you'll be playing each one. We give Graceful Explosion Machine a very strong recommendation, all told; considering the amount of polish and replayability on offer, this is quite the bang for your buck.

Graceful Explosion Machine is the perfect arcade style shooter, and one of the best Switch games available right now. Its fluid, addictive gameplay and flashy yet minimal visuals pair well with a variety of challenging enemies, and it’s great for sessions lasting for a few minutes or a couple hours.

Graceful Explosion Machine is an intelligently designed 2D shooter for the Switch. The developers obviously put a lot of thought into the weapon and high score systems and made a title that you’ll want to replay over and over. The Nintendo Switch may still have a low number of retail releases, but Graceful Explosion Machine is another indie title that will keep you enthralled on both the go and at home.

For what Graceful Explosion Machine aspires to be – that is, a stylish high score-focused shoot-'em-up – it excels in spades. [Issue #28 – July/August 2017, p. 21]

Graceful Explosion Machine is arguably the go-to arcade game that every Switch owner should definitely consider buying. It mixes pleasing visuals with great gameplay to make it one of the best arcade shooters I've played. You can beat the four worlds in around four hours, but you will find yourself playing these over and over again as you chase down those high scores!

Graceful Explosion Machine is a white-knuckle shooter that barely allows for a moment’s rest as swarms of weird alien creatures arrive one after the other to crowd you off their planet, never quite realizing that the denser they swarm, the higher the multiplier can get. They’re not too bright that way, but with a little careful weapons management, it will all work out fine.

Will the lack of punishing difficulty turn away the genre’s more hard-core fans? I doubt it. The prestige they crave can be had via leaderboards. By the end I was scoring a D on pretty much every set of levels, with low marks for style, time, hits taken, and lives used. These are the sorts of things genre devotees can master and brag about and hold over the heads of we lesser shmuppers...More serious players might, however, take some issue with the overall simplicity of design.

Graceful Explosion Machine is a little, smart and fun shoot'em up that perfectly suits the Switch's hybrid nature.

Graceful Explosion Machine builds an intense, addictive shoot-em-up around a satisfying weapon-juggling system and smart enemies. The Switch’s HD Rumble adds a unique feeling to every explosion in this colorful shooter, and earning a good spot on the leaderboard is an intense challenge thanks to dense swarms of enemies. But even when a pesky foe slapped down my scoring run, I always had the urge to jump back into these crowded corridors and try again.

An extremely refined shooter, that is definitely a must have for Switch owners that love challenges and games that rotate around global leaderboards. It's a perfectly balanced act, that does its thing perfectly but offers very little to anyone not interested in its genre and meticulously crafted mechanics. Still, quite the pleasant surprise.