Developer: Project R3D
Publisher: Drageus Games
Platform: iOS, Android, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Bridge Strike – Review
The Switch has been the perfect platform for mobile games to be ported to. Since the time the hybrid console was released and now, there have been loads of mobile ports added to the eShop, most of them being rather poor in quality. It feels as if Nintendo does no proper quality control on its digital storefront and this allows many shovelware titles to be released. This time we encountered the game Bridge Strike, which is already out on Android and iOS and we first had our doubts about a game that pretty much only uses a control scheme of one button. While the game will not win any premium moments in the spotlight, we did have fun with this pocket title.
Story
If you boot up the game, you’ll get a short introduction of having enemy forces at the borders. You then get a lot of grammatically incorrect lines about taking action and having to fend off the attackers. For an arcade game, this small offset suffices in creating an incentive in blowing things up. Of course, afterward things make less sense when your army has aircraft carriers every two hundred meters, while the enemy only possesses a single boat and airplane every now and then.
Graphics
The game uses a fairly simplistic but cute pixilated style, which suits what is going on. You’ll be treated to cute looking airships and a few quirky flying objects that will serve as your attack vehicle. The areas are somewhat the same throughout the game, with bright rivers, desert-like backdrops and different sprite models that are clearly your enemies. Other than that, you’ll notice a day-and-night cycle, a few weather conditions, and all this blended together makes a nice whole. We did notice a totally different graphical style when you visit the hangar to unlock your new vessels. These are presented in a 3D voxel-style, rather than the normal 2D graphics the rest of the game has.
A small mention goes to the cockpit overlay that overlaps what is going on on the screen. It’s quite fun to see the pilot messing around with the joystick quite accurately when you flick about the stick on the console.
Sound
The sound design is quite simple. You’ll have a fairly modest soundtrack playing in the back, that’s actually barely audible compared to the loudness of the SFX. Nonetheless, the minimalistic sound design suffices for a simple arcade title such as this. Even though we could have done with some upbeat and rock-ish themes during our raids on bridges and enemy vehicles, this also feels suitable.
Gameplay
Bridge Strike is a fairly classical arcade experience, where you just have to fly an airplane (or different vehicle) and shoot your enemies, while keeping an eye on your fuel levels. The game does make things simple by utilizing a control scheme that depends on a single button, in combination with the left stick. You’ll just have to fly around, dodge obstacles, shoot enemies and align yourself with aircraft carriers to refuel. There is actually not that much more to the game.
The game offers different modes of play, ranging from short missions in the Campaign mode, in which you have to destroy a specific number of targets, to the Raid mode, in which you fly around endlessly until your lives run out. Everything in this game revolves around gathering coins, and with these coins, you can purchase new vehicles. How everything is built, it clearly feels like a mobile game, as it involves a lot of grinding to unlock the only extra content available; new vehicles. While it’s fun there’s an incentive to keep playing, things get repetitive really fast.
Conclusion
Bridge Strike is a fun arcade experience, but it has little meat on its bones. While this title is certainly very amusing and entertaining to be played on mobile phones, it falls a bit short on the Nintendo Switch. This doesn’t mean the game is bad, it’s just a bit simplistic at times, and depends on a lot of grinding to allow you to unlock new vehicles. When this game’s price drops to a dollar/euro we can certainly recommend it, but paying full price might be a bit too steep.
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