atomicblue

I can see how the enjoyment of 1-2-Switch would depend largely on the kind of people you're friends with (and also on whether you have many friends, I guess); it's well-suited to people who don't take themselves too seriously. For our little group of eight testing it out on launch night, though, it happily kept us busy for a couple of hours. Some mini-games were definitely bigger favourites than others, but to my surprise there wasn't really any one in there that seemed like a dud. Stand-outs that I remember from our test run of the game: Copy Dance - perfect if you're happy to make an idiot of yourself by striking poses. We were. Runway - see above, but you also get to channel your inner Naomi Campbell. Or, if you've got less co-ordination, your inner wind-up tin soldier. Milk - It's weird. We played it a lot. Safe Crack, Ball Counting, Joy-con Rotation - All three of these were great at showcasing how far motion controls and rumble have come in ten years, they felt surprisingly precise and subtle. Joy-con Rotation had the interesting twist of having players take turns to lift and rotate their Joy-con as far as possible without wobbling it; taking turns meant you could see how well the other player did as you were accumulating scores (from each degree you turned, with three attempts each), and seeing the other player's score was psyching some of us out. Speaking of psych-outs... Samurai Training - The eye contact in this one gets kind of intense. It really is one where you've got to watch the other player, because you're paying attention to their movements and trying to catch their sword swings without falling for fake-outs. Sneaky Dice - Another good one for psyching each other out, where you know how much the other player has rolled on two dice (via rumble) but not how much you've rolled. One of my friends had a lot of fun messing with people by telling the complete truth with that hint of an inflection that made it seem like he was lying. Quick Draw, Telephone - Two enjoyable reflex-based games. Table Tennis - I haven't seen this one mentioned a lot, but I loved it. The ball is invisible, so it's almost like you're playing "sound tennis" instead, listening to the ball sounds to determine how quickly the ball is approaching you. More than most games, its enjoyment really hinges on what you're like as a person and how you socialise. If you don't really like party games or you don't like to be silly in front of others, deduct four points from my score. If you do like these things, it's not the greatest party title ever but it's light-hearted, silly fun and it could make a good games-night staple for you. Oh, and it's very camp. So it helps if you appreciate camp.

How can one make a game based around falling blocks and not have it feel like Tetris? Simple: have the player manoeuvre blocks after they've fallen rather than steering them while they're airborne. In doing so, Meteos becomes one of the best puzzle games I've played, forging a much faster, more physics-based style of play that doesn't feel like it could work without the DS. (Also, as a sidenote: anyone complaining about using the "scribble" technique to cheat has obviously not played the game enough. At anything beyond an intermediate difficulty level, the game is far too fast and punishing for that method to consistently help a player.)

I was subjected to this game by my friends' 7-year old son. The game makes wanton use of comic sans, which tells you every thing you need to know, really. I so frequently found myself unable to control my character because of the awful camera you're provided with as player 2 that I had to dictate this review to my friend just to keep my brain occupied.