Nintendo Switch User Reviews

Run the Fan is a ball maze puzzle game with electric sparks to lead along paths to fans. Reminded me of Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction's Decryptor gadget (ball & electric sparks to it's end goals) with connectors & particular ends to follow along. Run the Fan does sets itself as its own. Run The fan takes things further with obstacles of capacitors, ribbon cables, ports (USB, other cable ports), etc. More challenging aspects like no walls or more gaps with spaced out walls so ball has to avoid falling off edge in Stage 2 levels & more electric spark spawner/fans Ok menus, good level presentation. Some paths can seem to lead somewhere, others are ideal paths. The ball is pretty fair of movement & like R&C TOD very similar of moving around like a ball & awkward to move in place. Run the Fan has RZ/:Z to hold the ball in place (very useful feature I appreciate). When the ball is near connector ends, it will make the electric spark pass so be careful when moving along the levels depending on the pace the spark is going along the connectors faster The player will have to sometimes work around 2 or 3 sparks at once & go one side of the level to the other. Capacitors, cables or walls can be in the way so the player has to navigate the ball around 1 electric spark is necessary per 1 fan, so 3 sparks & 3 fans. The game can be played with motion controls/accelerometer on or off. Left & right stick sensitivity, but left & right stick or can be used. No d-pad support. So only sticks & LZ/RZ are used for controls, the rest is up to the level design & key details. 18 levels are available per stages. With 3 stages. Green is stage 1, blue & walls removed sometimes in parts so it challenges a bit more besides obstacle/connector placement. Some levels can be crowded with walls to work around, pausing the game only shows the menu buttons so unless you want to screenshot to get an idea of the map you can' really tell where to plan out your ideal path to the goals. Some paths can make you go around in circle so make sure to plan out your route to avoid this as some connectors aren't reachable from other sides & you don't want to go along some & find out you loop back around or hit a dead end. I do think the game balances more around connector paths, obstacles & levels don't put too many gimmicks in which I think kind of works to it's benefit. I like variety or level gimmicks but with how many & enough can be a challenge with just multiple sparks/fans, or different path layouts I think it's good enough. The ball movement is loose but also kind of makes sense even if it can seem like it's on ice in how it looks/may feel. There are no holes to escape from or higher objects, it tries to stick being a believable com[uter design layout. The game is very much just levels, no additional modes which I think is fine. The levels are well designed even if can be a bit too much based around connector layouts more so to challenge which can be ok but also not that exciting even if the simplicity/consistency I can understand. Or not more mechanics then need be also makes then then making new ones, balance it, how often it appears/has worth, & other factors besides as much for the player to remember. Assets/artstyle look really nice, sound is good, few songs in the game, I thought it was per page of levels but now I think it's just how it feels like it/ There is probably some structure to it or whichever stages it applies to to mix it up but I forget which. When playing though it's noticeable, but when going back to old levels it isn't clear to me. The sounds are calm but electronic enough to fit, the sound effects are alright, the victory sound is really nice. Hitting a wall is noticeable with a sound & feeling for it. Navigation can vary due to the ball physics & how walls/other obstacles blocking the paths can be. It's a great puzzle game not just because it was similar to another game's minigame & does more to be it's own thing. I just enjoyed a lot of aspects of it to fit the themes well, good music, controls, looks good & play well for a good puzzle game. I do look for a good one from time to time & mostly have enjoyed more PS1/PSP platformers, but finding this & never knowing with any ball maze type puzzle games like a Labyrinth Plus Edition for Microsoft Plus Windows XP & most being pretty eh with eh physics, lacking maze layouts or holes/other mechanics to them. But no issues with more Mercury, Cube, Practical Intelligent Quotient, Kula World/Gravity Trickster, & other types as my preferred puzzle games of a character, some doors, laser, etc type obstacles, yeah this one was different enough but still in my realm of puzzle game type of games to engage with. Like Collide a Ball on 3DS with ramps/other things. I think the Switch puzzle game selection is pretty good this one just caught my eye more. It could offer more Run the Fan but for what is here I think it's a fair game for what is still offered.

Fantastic concept, okay execution. Visuals (apart from the cheap menus) are nice, and the gameplay, with a unique mix of puzzler and arcade that actually works, is definitely engaging. The problem comes in that the levels are quite easy to complete, and they mostly lack new mechanics or challenges as the game progresses. Still, a simple but smart game. I liked it.