Developed/Published by: Wayforward Technologies
Released: December 22nd, 2011
Completed: 21st June, 2015
Completion: Finished all main levels.
Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Wayforward are my bête noire. I sincerely cannot think of a studio that more gets on my tits. Why? well because in pretty much every game they’ve ever made, they’ve got stunning, just stunning art. And yet playing their games is like… let me put it this way. It’s like Scarlett Johansson whispering in your ear that she’s absolutely gagging for it, and then you get her home and she explains she was gagging for you to throw a hotdog as far as you could in an empty warehouse. Repeatedly. Oh, and she won’t be there while you do it, but you do need to do it for about eight hours or so. (I genuinely wish I had a more gender-neutral idea of my disappointment of Wayforward, but them’s the breaks.)

They just make boring-ass games due to their incredibly uninteresting, generic level design. And yet, thanks to their lovely art (and, I’m told, hilariously low bids) they get basically every single brand that I think to myself “that would make a superb game.” Consider their Adventure Time and Regular Show games. Or, instead, just develop a machine that murders dreams, and murder your dreams!

(I tell you, when they’re announced as doing the Steven Universe game, it will the the true symbol that we as a species are unsaveable.)

“Hang on, Mathew,” you’re saying, “this is some insane hyperbole. It’s like you’re one of those types. You know who I mean.”

I suppose it is a bit over-the-top, but the missed opportunities are galling. Galling. However, bête noire or not, it’s not like I don’t live in hope! I’ve actually even got a copy of Aliens Infestation on my to-play pile, and when I saw this in the ol’ Humble Bundle, I thought “why not.” Especially as I’d been told by someone that it was good, right down to the level design.

So here’s what I have to say about Mighty Switch Force: it’s your usual boring Wayforward shite, but at least it’s only got sixteen levels.

Will I ever play it again? No.

Final Thought: Mighty Switch Force is a puzzle-platformer where the trick is that you “switch” the position of blocks in 3D space in 2D game—so basically pushing blocks forward and back. You use this to, for example, kill enemies in front of a block, or create platforms. It is, by all accounts, a decent idea! And as usual the art is nice, though notably it’s really samey (this is kind of a Wayforward thing, actually, once the shine has worn off in any Wayforward game) in that I never really noticed the level art changing. I’m going to be charitable here and say that the problem with Mighty Switch Force is that it can’t decide if it wants to be a true puzzle-platformer or an action-platformer with a twist. Some levels are puzzles, but it’s choked by the fact that the amount of screen you can see isn’t enough for a game where you’re searching for things and manipulating the level, and the levels that are straightforward action are killed by the fact that enemies have no inherent challenge. I mean, seriously, one just, like, floats there. So your main fun interaction is basically “jump, and do a switch before you land so there’s a platform there.”

Oh, and to emphasise the lack of commitment to the idea, the final level automates switching, changing the game more or less entirely and there’s even a final boss that doesn’t use any of the switching mechanic like, at all???

It just doesn’t work. It’s dull and unfocused. As I said: usual Wayforward shite.