Developer: WeirdBeard Games
Publisher: WeirdBeard Games
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, Linux, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Tricky Towers (Switch) – Review
When Tricky Towers originally came out over two years ago, the game was already received as very positive. And it stayed positive. People were so happy playing it that shortly after the Switch became popular, it started raining questions to also publish the game on the Nintendo Switch. People saw it as a very nice game to not only play wherever you want, but also as something that’s fun to do anywhere with anybody. And WeirdBeard Games heard their fans, so here it is! Tricky Towers (on the Switch)!
Story
There’s no real explained story in Tricky Towers. Most you will get out of the graphics when you play the single player ”Trials” mode. Here you see that some enemy wizards are trying to hold you back from building amazing towers. There’s not a single comic-style picture or cinematic that explains anything else, but that’s alright in its own way. In this aspect, like as well as other elements of the game, it represents a lot of old-school arcade action that looks a lot like Tetris.
Graphics
The game looks cute! The tiny wizards that float on their clouds almost look like dressed up kids, and the blocks that fall look like a more polished type of Tetris blocks. These blocks follow the exact same rules as Tetris in terms of design. A square that’s four units long, an L-shaped form, etcetera. You can change the looks into a Christmas or Halloween-themed appearance, and there are a few optional microtransactions available for i.e. candy-themed blocks or crystal-themed. This is also one of the more disappointing parts of the game on Nintendo Switch. You’d expect a possible addition of content or maybe some included free optional content such as the themes or extra characters. At least, it’s already been over two years after the original release. This edition does none of that.
Sound
The music and sound effects are nice and wacky with sounds that sometimes sound like they are being made on pots and pans and happy tunes all over the place. It’s a bit on the kiddy side, comparable to games such as the Rayman series, but who doesn’t love those right? Besides, it fits the rest of the game so there are no arguments here about what could be done better for the sound section.
Gameplay
Tricky Towers is a blend of old-school arcade puzzle games with modern physics. A game like Tetris has certain slots for you to fill in a 2D space. Basically, you could say that in a playing field that consists out of say, 20 by 10 units long, every block could fill up a precise amount of those units depending on the shape they had. Tricky Towers breaks this rule by allowing blocks to slide off, fall down, and being held together when you mash them into the open side sockets of the structure you are building. So the fact that the traditional outer borders are removed and gravity is added, is the first biggest addition to the game. The main goal this creates is to staple together a stable tower, no matter the game mode.
Secondly, there are special powers that help you to keep your structure stable or win a match. In the single player trial mode, this means you will mainly use them to solve puzzles or survive a time or handicap-related trial. In multiplayer, you will also sometimes have something to annoy your ”enemy” player buddy. The trial mode of this game is pretty nice and challenging thanks to its variation in gameplay where more puzzling modes or more arcade modes are presented. The endless modes that are derived from these trials are fun, but best played with more players due to the repetitive nature of the arcade action. It’s a point of the game that could have been improved. No matter the reforming of a classic Tetris piece of gameplay into something new, eventually Tricky Towers starts to repeat itself just as much as games from that era. And that’s something that the core of this game really presents: It’s more fun with others. Luckily, the Switch’s always equipped with two controllers, detachable for your pleasure. And that’s why the game is a great addition to the console.
Conclusion
In the end, Tricky Towers is an arcade game at best. It has enough challenging parts to keep people busy in single player, and the multiplayer is very nice to play, but the overall amount of replayability when on your own is a bit disappointing. Granted, the game does not have a steep price ($14.99/€14.99), but taking into account that it’s over two years old, doesn’t get any extra content or even optional DLC, and doesn’t have that many options to change the gameplay, are still somewhat of a downer. That being said, if you are looking for a competitive arcade type of game for you to easily bring with you or play on the couch against a buddy to prove your worth, it might be just what you are looking for.
Tricky Towers (Switch) - Review,
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[…] Pre-orders for Tricky Towers: Collector’s Edition start on the 28th of May on the site of super rare games. If you’re interested you’ll have to be quick since there are only 4000 super rare versions available. We already reviewed the switch version of Tricky Towers, check out our review here. […]