Developer: Inertia Game Studios
Publisher: Inertia Game Studios
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Catastronauts (Switch) – Review
Back in October we waded through the gameplay of the intergalactic party game Catastronauts, which is on paper an Overcooked clone, but ended up being very original in terms of gameplay and mechanics. With a fair amount of success, and an availability on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, it was only a matter of time before the game was ported to the Nintendo Switch. Here we find ourselves again, at the doorstep of yet another adventure that requires teamwork, a good amount of reflexes and perhaps a pinch of craziness to make it to the end of the game in one piece.
Story
This ported version still comes without any actual story value, except for the fact that your spaceships are constantly under attack, and the only way to make it stop is to battle every evil alien that crosses your path, and make it to the evil overlord. You’ll get a few short dialogues at the beginning of the levels, which certainly have a bit of charm, but you won’t miss or need a story to properly enjoy this title.
Graphics
Graphically speaking there isn’t that much difference between the versions on the Xbox One, PC, PlayStation and Switch. This means that the game keeps its cutesy qualities that are somewhat resembling those of the Overcooked series, with a space theme. While there isn’t that much difference between the different assets used in the variety of spaceships, the backgrounds and the items you interact with do look quite good. As you progress more and more items are introduced to create a somewhat diverse look, but like we mentioned in the original review, it’s the characters themselves that feel a bit bland, as it seems like the developers always took the same character model, altered some colors and threw a cheap new skin on them. We would have loved to see a few more ‘alien’ and funny characters in the cast of selectable characters.
Sound
The upbeat music will get you through the game, but you’ll mainly have to do with the sounds of lasers trying to destroy your vessel, or when you return fire. Alarm sounds and other effects will let you know what to expect and when to intervene. The voice acting that is present are just some mumbling sounds to make the game more alive, but it doesn’t add that much value to the overall sound design.
Gameplay
Catastronauts is a very hectic party game that has ported to the Switch, making it available on pretty much all of the mainstream platforms. In this game, you’ll have to work together with a maximum of three extra players to keep your spaceship afloat and to destroy the enemy vessels trying to take you down. Even when playing solo, you’ll still have to control two characters to make things work out. From start to finish you’ll be learning new patterns in all the different levels, all to man different types of weapons, put out fires, fix broken machines, patch up the ship, and even learn how to create nukes, fend off missiles, throw out mines and so on.
The game doesn’t shy away from making things more difficult at a fairly rapid pace. You’ll have to do new things quite often in new levels, making the gameplay diverse and interesting enough to press forward. While there are certainly difficulty spikes, the game is manageable to clear, especially when playing with more players and by dividing things evenly.
Unlike Overcooked where dividing things to do was certainly important, in Catastronauts it’s easier to stick with your assigned roles when playing with a bigger party. You can easily have people running around solely occupying themselves with the weapons, while others fix the ship and perhaps another player that handles the level’s unique mechanic, such as deflecting missiles, preventing the core from exploding (which can need two players), and so on.
Conclusion
We weren’t surprised that the Switch version of Catastronauts proved to be quite identical to the one that was released a few months ago. The Switch port has been done properly and you will still be able to enjoy the game alone or with friends for a very hectic party experience. The game offers enough content, and getting three stars on every level will prove to be quite a challenge. While the game is clearly a spin-off of the Overcooked series, the theme and the things you have to do will prove to be different enough to place both series in your collection.
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