The Nintendo Switch videogame landscape, in recent months, has started to get richer and more varied. With the arrival of important titles scheduled for this 2020, the owners of Nintendo's hybrid know they can sleep peacefully and, indeed, these early years have interesting surprises in store, perhaps even beyond expectations. In this context it places itself without too much effort Snack World: Dungeon Scouts - Gold, colorful and ramshackle Dungeon Crawler in rolistica sauce coming next 14 February, exclusively on the console that recently celebrated the 50 million units distributed around the world.
The title in question is the western conversion of the new license plate series Level-5, whose release on Japanese soil now dates back to the "distant" April of 2018, anticipated by another version, which arrived exclusively on Nintendo 3DS exactly one year earlier. Needless to go around it: Level-5 seems to focus a lot on the new brand, of which animated adaptations, comics and more have also arrived, and after having spent many hours in the company we certainly have a more precise idea of why. The imagery created by the studio is in fact one of the strengths of a product that works well even on the most important level, that is the playful one, the result of an overall simple formula that works and above all that is fun and demanding from first to last. minute.
Clearly, Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is not a perfect title, nor does it want to be, but in its simplicity it is surprisingly valid, obviously contextualizing it to the slice of user it aims at. To find out more, you just have to continue reading our complete review!
A world to… munch on!
After creating your own weird alter ego, through an honestly modest character creation editor, the game quickly catapults us into the action, letting us immediately get to know who will be, for the duration of the game, the most important characters and representative of history. The kingdom of Tutti Frutti, a peaceful and colorful portion of the game world, sees the meek King Papa-ia as its sovereign, who in the company of his very spoiled daughter, Princess Melonia, reigns with peace and prosperity. The King will be fundamental for the beginning of our adventures, since he will be the one to give hospitality to our hero, mysteriously found by the soldiers right at the gates of the city without any memory of himself or of what happened in the past.
From here on, with great honesty, the elements related to the narrative sector stop being truly complex and elaborate - which is fairly standard for the genre - bringing on the screen a quick step to action, for the most varied reasons. Basically, our alter ego is sent here and there by the King himself, in most cases to satisfy the requests of the whimsical daughter.
With the passage of time, however, the story begins to extend in different and much more "complex" directions, albeit with the necessary limitations. In short, our explorer will be called upon to defend the kingdom from a dark but well-rooted threat, also linked in some way to the mysterious past of our protagonist. As a good dungeon crawler, however, the game quickly catapults us into what is the gist of the experience itself: exploration. And it is precisely here that the game shows its muscles, but not only on the playful level, which we will analyze later, but on the thematic and structural level. If the plot is not in fact exactly original or predominant, what is striking is the great imagery built by Level-5 guys around the production.
The world of Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is simply brilliant in terms of not only artistic inspiration, but also in terms of creating places and situations that are always over the top and very inspired. The references to what is the main subject of the work, namely food, are incredibly spot on and continuous, and even the writing in general proves to be much more layered than one might imagine. Soon, therefore, we will find ourselves exploring a world that is alive and rich more than ever in non-revolutionary but effective ideas, the daughters of a conscious and orderly direction, which in its simplicity manages to return a feedback of the highest level for the entire duration of the adventure.
A jara is forever!
Clearly, however, the real tip of the scale lies in the gameplay. Like any dungeon crawler, it has a strong role-playing imprint given that the game focuses on the exploration and resolution of dungeons characterized by multiple levels - whose conformation is generated in a procedural way - full of colorful enemies and beautiful to see and to face . Most of the dungeons end with a clash with a boss, all in truth very beautiful and well defined and above all integrated into a playful structure at times unassailable.
Let's immediately make a necessary premise: we were really impressed, right from the start, by the depth of the game system and we say it with sincere enthusiasm and above all dismay, because we do not hide the fact that we have underestimated (and a lot) the production itself. Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is in fact a title of an important and unexpected depth, which requires the player to have a level of attention and planning of the clashes that is predominant compared to many other productions.
In Monster Hunter style, the playful formula puts in front of the player main and secondary missions, which can be faced with the support of helpers moved by the AI, whose management is once again entrusted to those who move the controller from the other side of the screen. Once a mission has been accepted, it is therefore necessary to carefully choose the right Jare to take with you, that is, the weapons and shields, which - although not very numerous in aesthetic terms - enjoy active and passive bonuses that are often different from each other and more or less suitable for a type of fight and so on.
But not only that: the choice of weapons is not the only fundamental element for a correct use of the title. Even the protections are decisive to better face a level: while the armor and the helmet offer vital parameters related to the magical and physical defense, the accessories instead offer various passive bonuses often decisive, such as elemental resistance, more hit points, less time charging and so on. And, with great amazement, there is no shortage of statistics to be maxed out, fairly numerous and able to give the avatar a strong characterization. You can decide, for example, to focus on Beauty and thus increase your magical strength, or enhance your Cunning to have an advantage in Critical Hits.
In short: you will have a lot to decide, and it will be right, because Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold, although "cute and cuddly", hides a punitive nature almost impossible to anticipate. Net of what it might seem, in fact, throwing yourself into the fray will almost always prove to be a more than wrong choice and that will force you to repeat the mission.
Whether it's secondary or main, Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold will always keep you busy with an ever-increasing level of challenge with, in truth, some difficulty peaks that sometimes partly ruin the overall great gaming experience, a experience enhanced by a fundamentally simple but tremendously functional combat system. The keys to press are the inevitable "duo" made up of heavy and light attacks, the second of which is linked to a bar to be reloaded and above all by an effect that is always different based on the alarm held. Without getting too technical and letting you discover the rest of the features of the title, we tell you in no uncertain terms that the exploration of the levels is always pleasant, from start to finish, and you will not easily tire of, rightly, going in search of treasures . These often also translate into the collection of simple objects used for crafting, another role-playing aspect of the game, although honestly not as important and developed as the others. Long story short, don't be fooled by its looks: Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is a tough title and underestimating it could be a fatal mistake. But you will love it (and a lot) for this too.
Fun in company
Several times we have talked to you, referring to the game, of a strong similarity with the Monster Hunter brand and it is no coincidence. The element that most unites the two productions is the management of the party for the various missions. Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold has a management very similar to that of the Capcom game, allowing you to bring with you some helpers driven by the AI that here are called - obviously - Snack. This management appears to be even more accurate, since the snacks themselves (a bit like it happened in the older MH) are divided into different categories: attack, support and defense (plus a special that we do not want to anticipate), to be carefully selected to depending on the type of mission. The good news, for lovers of social challenges, does not end there. The Level-5 title, in fact, allows you to tackle the missions (only the secondary ones, however) in the company of a friend or players met online, but also locally. Through the invitation system, in fact, it is possible to play with friends both sitting all together on the sofa at home and on the move, but also each one at home, for an experience that, even if we have not yet tested it thoroughly, we can guarantee you will know. make the sparkling dungeon crawler even more fun and rewarding.
Beautiful yes, but with some limitations
At this point in the review you are probably thinking that Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is an almost perfect title. But clearly this is not the case. The title of Level-5 in its overall goodness is not free from defects, which are revealed mainly with regard to the structure of the missions and the difficulty curve. As we also said at the beginning, some sections appear significantly more difficult than others and in general not all dungeons are well organized and designed. Nothing sensational, of course, but that leaves a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth due to the great care with which the many details of the game have been treated.
The real limit of production, however, lies in the technical sector. The porting nature of the 3DS is all felt, particularly when analyzing factors such as pixel density and frame rate which, especially in portable mode, sometimes make the experience less enjoyable than it deserves. With more monsters on the screen, then, the situation worsens considerably, albeit without ever becoming truly disabling. In any case, we would have liked more work, in this respect, to be combined with a highly inspired and colorful thematic sector that accompanies the game throughout its (vast) duration. Why yes, Snack World: Dungeon Explorers - Gold is also a long-lived title, without ever getting bored. We got to the end credits (skipping a lot of secondary) with 46 hours of play on the back, a sign of great expertise also in this important aspect.
Snack World: Dungeon Scouts - Gold is everything a dungeon crawler lover could want. Long-lived, colorful, fun and playfully complex and satisfying, the Level-5 title will give you a challenge for the entire 35-40 hours of gameplay required to complete it. All this without forgetting the possibility of playing with a friend both locally (with two consoles) and online. Too bad for a difficulty curve that is not always well thought out and for a decidedly subdued technical sector, but which does not in any case affect the overall quality of the product, a real small masterpiece of the current panorama. In short, we are facing the umpteenth Nintendo center, capable of bringing to the market, once again, a fresh and at the same time complex product that, we are sure, will make many Nintendo Switch owners happy.
